The Martian Pendant Read Online Free PDF Page A

leave the rocky heights and begin the migration north to cooler weather. Part of an ongoing amnesia, the existence of the spaceship would soon be lost to their memories.
    “It was soon recognized that their stun guns were losing power as they left the vicinity of the power source in the ship. Because of this, it was necessary, before moving out of range, to fashion weapons that would be adequate for protection and for hunting. They had been accustomed to relatively advanced personal weaponry on Mars, but now, amnesic, they would have to start from scratch. Sharp points and heavy clubs. 
    “When they reached the escarpment, its sheer wall of granite looming immediately in front of them, they were not a little awed. They made camp that night in its shadow, cast by the setting sun. With a successful hunt, sleep came more easily, even for the few infants, who were content with ample supplies of their mother's milk. In the first light of dawn, a definite defile was found, allowing a slow passage up between the sheer cliffs on either side. In the last rays of the sun, they could see the vast grasslands through which they had journeyed, and in the distance, still wavering in the residual heat of the day, was the glint of the shiny hull of the ship.
    “The night at first was uneventful, with the clear black sky forming a dome overhead for the millions of sparkling stars and the few planets. One such object stood out directly overhead, but the red of the denuded soil and rock was unrecognized by any of the throng.
    “Everyone except the sentries were asleep when the tranquility was shattered by the sudden shaking of the rocky ground beneath them, accompanied by the rumbling roar of falling stone. All were instantly awake, but could do nothing more than hang onto each other, trembling in fear, until the tumult ended. The rest of the night was spent in sleepy consternation as aftershocks continued until sunrise. There had been no seismic activity at home for a million years.
    “Morning sunshine greeting them was as pale as that on Mars, partially obscured as it was by the dust of the earthquake. As they packed up to move, the breeze was early that day. The dust that obscured the view began to clear. Once again, the panorama of the route they had taken was laid out below them. At first glance, not much seemed changed, but for those looking more closely, in the distant fault line, the ship was gone.
    “The migration from the landing site continued, taking around two hundred thousand years. The continued heat of the sun kept the more fair-skinned among them searching for cooler climes. As their numbers grew, factions broke off, forming tribes of their own. Of these, some moved westward into the interior, while many followed the shore of the great ocean they found to the east.
    “There was occasional contact with naked primitive native people, short and slim, with small heads, and so timid that they would often vanish into the bush when approached. They communicated by means of clicking sounds, lacking laryngeal development that would permit speech. At times, however, due to mutual curiosity, by means of sign language, communication and close inspection would occur, particularly of the Martians' furs and fairer skin. Ever-more-frequent encounters of this type, however friendly, would lead to the demise of these indigenous peoples, whom we know generally as early hominids. The Leakeys’ ‘Lucy’ was one of their ancestors.
    “The Martians had brought with them our now-common viral diseases, which until their arrival had never existed here. For the invaders, most of these maladies carried a low virulence, much as they do now, as they had become nearly immune to them over many millennia. For the little pre-humans, the diseases would contribute to their extinction. These viral afflictions were disasters for native earthlings. Entire races of these little hominids were wiped out, far more completely than in the epidemics that