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ERB'S EMBRYONIC JOURNEY:
THE TRIMESTERS OF CASPAK

INTRO AND CONTENTS PAGE
Part Fifteen
by
Woodrow Edgar Nichols, Jr.
(Dedicated to George McWhorter)

THE PEOPLE THAT TIME FORGOT
(Chapter Five continued)

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AT THE DUM DUM
I had an interesting experience last Friday, August 17, 2012, at this year’s Dum Dum. I went on a bus tour to the office of Edgar Rice Burroughs at ERB Inc. and was standing around a large, low, round coffee table with several ERB items displayed thereon, listening to a gentleman explaining how people in the business had spent two million dollars pitching a John Carter movie to Paramount, that was declined, and then went on to explain that he was developing a HBO like series with a “steam punk” theme.

I asked him what steam punk was and he looked surprised. He said, “I would expect a person that looks like you to know all about steam punk.” I don’t know what gave him that impression, but he explained the gist of it and gave me the website for the project he was developing, which was lanterncitytv.com.

Now, the whole time this conversation was going on, I kept thinking, I’ve seen this guy somewhere before. Was it on TV or a movie, or both? I hurried into the adjacent room where the lovely Cathy Wilbanks was standing behind ERB’s old ornate mahogany desk, got her attention, and asked her if she knew who the TV/ Movie actor was standing around the coffee table. “Oh,” she said, “that’s Bruce Boxleitner.” I snapped my fingers in recognition. My God, it was Tron! He had been my two daughters’ hero when they were growing up watching the Disney Channel on cable TV. And he was looking for ideas in steam punk. 

Well, here’s an idea for you, Bruce. If you’ve seen American Pickers on the History Channel then you will get the premise of plot. It’s called “Time Pickers.” A pair of pickers come across some old junk in some old Long Island barns. Legend has it that they once belonged to Nicolas Tesla’s giant tower for the wireless transmission of electricity, Wardenclyffe, and were pilfered in the early days of its demise. They find the steam generator that was used by Tesla to allegedly provide the power for 100 million volts. They also find a strange contraption with dials and whatever, that once assembled, resembles an H.G. Wells type of Time Machine.

Well, as you probably have guessed, they open a business that recovers precious historical artifacts for rich collectors. The first two episodes deal with the recovery of the Spear of Destiny and the Ark of the Covenant, with all of the dangers and thrills that go along with it. Hope that helps, Bruce.

This was my first Dum Dum and I may never go to another in fear that none will top it. I had some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my life, playing Mucker Jeopardy (I was clueless most of time since they concentrated on the Westerns I hadn’t read), competing in the Tarzan yell contest (my traditional Tarzan yell sucks and I only competed because a young girl who was behind the registration booth dared me: thank God you could do an alternate yell, and I chose the horrid Herman Brix yell, a real loser), getting to meet and hear Lee Chase speak about his days with ERB (by the way I got to ask him if he remembered what book ERB had sent the Hawaiian fisherman who had left a message in a bottle, and he said he couldn’t recall, thought it was a current one, and told me that it was actually him that found the bottle), and of course, getting to hear Dr. Jane Goodall’s Cheetah yell and then the next night at the dinner, to hear how Tarzan was such a major influence on her life. What a wonderful weekend. 

Well, I guess we have to get back to our story now. As you recall, Billings has just rescued a Kro-lu warrior who was about to be put to the dance of death by hostile Band-lu warriors. Tom and Ajor, his savage babe, approach the Kro-lu, who witnessed his rescue still as as a statue.

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F. Tom Billings (continued):

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“The Kro-lu stood watching us with stolid indifference. I presume that he expected to be killed; but if he did, he showed no outward sign of fear. His eyes, indicating his greatest interest, were fixed upon my pistol or the rifle which Ajor still carried. I cut his bonds with my knife. As I did so, an expression of surprise tinged and animated the haughty reserve of his countenance. He eyed me quizzically.
“‘What are you going to do with me?’ he asked.
“‘You are free,’ I replied. ‘Go home, if you wish.’
“‘Why don’t you kill me?’ he inquired. ‘I am defenseless.’
“‘Why should I kill you? I have risked my life and of this young lady to save your life. Why, therefore, should I now take it?’ Of course, I didn’t say ‘young lady’ as there is no Caspakian equivalent for that term; but I have to allow myself considerable latitude in the translation of Caspakian conversations. To speak always of a beautiful young girl as a ‘she’ may be literal; but it seems far from gallant.
“The Kro-lu concentrated his steady, level gaze upon me for at least a full minute. Then he spoke again.
“‘Who are you, man of strange skins?’ he asked. ‘Your she is Galu; but you are neither Galu nor Kro-lu nor Band-lu, nor any other sort of man which I have seen before. Tell me from whence comes so mighty a warrior and so generous a foe.’
“‘It is a long story,’ I replied; ‘but suffice it to say that I am not of Caspak. I am a stranger here, and – let this sink in – I am not a foe. I have no wish to be an enemy of any man in Caspak, with the possible exception of the Galu warrior Duseen.’
“‘Du-seen!’ he exclaimed. ‘You are an enemy of Du-seen? And why?’
“‘Because he would harm Ajor,’ I replied. ‘You know him?’
“‘He cannot know him,’ said Ajor. ‘Du-seen rose from the Kro-lu long ago, taking a new name, as all do when they enter a new sphere. He cannot know him, as there is no intercourse between the Kro-lu and and the Galu.’
“The warrior smiled. ‘Du-seen rose not so long ago,’ he said, ‘that I do not recall him well, and recently he has taken it upon himself to abrogate the ancient laws of Caspak; he has had intercourse with the Kro-lu. Du-seen would be chief of the Galus, and he has come to the Kro-lu for help.’” (PTF/5.)

Oh, what strange fate has Caspak placed into the lap of Tom Billings. First, there is the unheard conspiracy between the Galu and the Wieroo, and now the ancient laws are again broken by a conspiracy between the Galu and the Kro-lu, which we will discover, is just another part of the overall conspiracy of the Wieroo to be the dominant species on Caspak. Can Billings put a stop to all this Caspakian madness and restore order to its strange evolution?

“Ajor was aghast. The thing was incredible. Never had Kro-lu and Galu had friendly relations; by the savage laws of Caspak they were deadly enemies, for only so can the several races maintain their individuality.
“‘Will the Kro-lu join him?’ asked Ajor. ‘Will they invade the country of Jor my father?’
“‘The younger Kro-lu favor the plan,’ replied the warrior, ‘since they believe they will thus become Galus immediately. They hope to span the long years of change through which they must pass in the ordinary course of events and at a single stride become Galus. We of the older Kro-lu tell them that though they occupy the land of the Galu and wear the skins and ornaments of the golden people, still they will not be Galus till the time arrives that they are ripe to rise. We also tell them that even then they will never become a true Galu race, since there will be those among them who can never rise. It is all right to raid the Galu country occasionally for plunder, as our people do; but to attempt to conquer it
and hold it is madness. For my part, I have been content to wait until the call came to me. I feel that it cannot now be long.’
“‘What is your name?’ asked Ajor.
“‘Chal-az,’ replied the man.
“‘You are chief of the Kro-lu?’ Ajor continued.
“‘No, it is Al-tan who is chief of the Kro-lu of the east,’ answered Chal-az.
“‘And he is against this plan to invade my father’s country?’
“‘Unfortunately he is rather in favor of it,’ replied the man, ‘since he has about come to the conclusion that he is batu. He has been chief ever since, before I came up from the Band-lu, and I can see no change in him in all those years. In fact, he still appears to be more Band-lu that Kro-lu. However, he is a good chief and a mighty warrior, and if Du-seen persuades him to his cause, the Galus may find themselves under a Kro-lu chieftan before long – Du-seen as well as the others, for Al-tan would never consent to occupy a subordinate position, and once he plants a victorious foot in Galu, he will not withdraw it without a struggle.’
“I asked him what batu meant, as I had not before heard the word. Literally translated, it is equivalent to through, finished, done-for, as applied to an individual’s evolutionary progress in Caspak, and with this information was developed the interesting fact that not every individual is capable of rising through every stage to that of Galu. Some never progress beyond the Alu stage; others stop at Bo-lu, as Sto-lu, as Band-lu or as Kro-lu. The Ho-lu of the first generation may rise to become Alus; the Alus of the second generation may become Bo-lu, while it requires three generations of Bo-lu to become Band-lu, and so on until the Kro-lu’s parent on one side must be of the sixth generation.” (PTF/5.)

I am not sure if I get this part of Caspakian evolution for it sounds like having first, second, and third generations involves childbearing, which just doesn’t occur in Caspak, except among the Galu and Wieroo. If someone else understands how this works, please contact me at woodrownichols@aol.com. I think Tom Billings felt the same.

“It was not entirely plain to me even with this explanation, since I couldn’t understand how there could be different generations of peoples who apparently had no offspring. Yet I was commencing to get a slight glimmer of the strange laws which govern propagation and evolution in this weird land. Already I knew that the warm pools which always lie close to every tribal abiding-place were closely linked with the Caspakian scheme of evolution, and that the daily immersion of the females in the greenish slimy water was in response to some natural law, since neither pleasure nor cleanliness could be derived from what almost seemed a religious rite. Yet I was still at sea; nor, seemingly, could Ajor enlighten me, since she was compelled to use words which I could not understand and which it was impossible for her to explain the meanings of.
“As we stood talking, we were suddenly startled by a commotion in the bushes and among the boles of the trees surrounding us, and simultaneously a hundred Kro-lu warriors appeared in a rough circle about us. They greeted Chalaz with a volley of questions as they approached slowly from all sides, their heavy bows fitted with long, sharp arrows. Upon Ajor and me they looked with covetousness in the one instance and suspicion in the other; but after they had heard Chal-az’s story, their attitude was more friendly. A huge savage did all the talking. He was a mountain of a man, yet perfectly proportioned.
“‘This is Al-tan the chief,’ said Chal-az by way of introduction. Then he told something of my story, and Al-tan asked me many questions of the land from which I came. The warriors crowded around close to hear my replies, and there were many expressions of incredulity as I spoke of what was to them another world, of the yacht which had brought me over vast waters, and of the plane that had borne me Jo-oo-like over the summit of the barrier-cliffs. It was the mention of the hydro-aeroplane which precipitated the first outspoken skepticism, and then Ajor came to my defense.
“”I saw it with my own eyes!’ she exclaimed. ‘I saw him flying through the air in battle with a Jo-oo. The Alus were chasing me, and they saw and ran away.’
“‘Whose is this she?’ demanded Al-tan suddenly, his eyes fixed fiercely upon Ajor.
“For a moment there was silence. Ajor looked up at me, a hurt and questioning expression on her face. ‘Whose she is this?’ repeated Al-tan.
“‘She is mine,’ I replied, though what force it was that impelled me to say it I could not have told; but an instant later I was glad that I had spoken the words, for the reward of Ajor’s proud and happy face was reward indeed. 
“Al-tan eyed her for several minutes and then turned to me. ‘Can you keep her?’ he asked, just the tinge of a sneer upon his face.” (PTF/5.)

We must not forget that this mountain of a man is involved in a conspiracy with Du-seen to conquer her father’s land. How much easier that would be if he already possessed Jor’s daughter. Surely Tom must be thinking along these lines as he is challenged in his possession of Ajor.

“I laid my palm upon the grip of my pistol and answered that I could. He saw the move, glanced at the butt of the automatic where it protruded from its holster, and smiled. Then he turned and raising his great bow, fitted an arrow and drew the shaft far back. His warriors, supercilious smiles upon their faces, stood silently watching him. His bow was the longest and the heaviest among them all. A mighty man indeed must be to bend it; yet Al-tan drew the shaft back until the stone point touched his left forefinger, and he did it with consummate ease. Then he raised the shaft to the level of his right eye, held it there for an instant and released it. When the arrow stopped, half its length protruded from the opposite side of a six-inch tree fifty feet away. Al-tan and his warriors turned toward me, and then, apparently for Ajor’s benefit, the chieftan swaggered to and fro a couple of times, swinging his great arms and his bulky shoulders for all the world like a drunken prize-fighter at a beach dance-hall.
“I saw that some reply was necessary, and so in a single motion I drew my gun, dropped it on the still quivering arrow and pulled the trigger. At the sound of the report, the Kro-lu leaped back and raised their weapons; but as I was smiling, they took heart and lowered them again, following my eyes to the tree; the shaft of their chief was gone, and through the bole was a little round hole marking the path of my bullet. It was a good shot if I do say it myself, ‘as shouldn’t’; but necessity must have guided that bullet; I simply had to make a good shot, that I might immediately establish my position among those savage and warlike Caspakians of the sixth sphere. That it had its effect was immediately noticeable, but I am none too sure that it helped my cause with Al-tan. Whereas he might have condescended to tolerate me as a harmless and interesting curiosity, he now, by the change in his expression, appeared to consider me in a new and unfavorable
light. Nor can I wonder, knowing this type as I did, for had I not made him ridiculous in the eyes of his warriors, beating him at his own game? What king, savage or civilized, could condone such impudence? Seeing his black scowls, I deemed it expedient to terminate the interview and continue upon our way; but when I would have done so, Al-tan detained us with a gesture, and his warriors pressed around us.
“‘What is the meaning of this?’ I demanded, and before Al-tan could reply, Chal-az raised his voice in our behalf.
“‘Is this the gratitude of a Kro-lu chieftan, Al-tan,’ he asked, ‘to one who has served you by saving one of your warriors from the enemy – saving him from the death dance of the Band-lu?’
“Al-tan was silent for a moment, and then his brow cleared, and the faint imitation of a pleasant expression struggled for existence as he said: ‘The stranger will not be harmed. I wished only to detain him that he may be feasted tonight in the village of Al-tan the Kro-lu. In the morning he may go his way. Al-tan will not hinder him.” (PTF/5.)

Like we really believe him. Note how he left out any mention of Ajor. Of course, Billings has little choice in the matter. Deception is another common law in Caspak, as it is in our everyday world.

“I was not entirely reassured; but I wanted to see the interior of the Kro-lu village, and anyway I knew that if Al-tan intended treachery I would be no more in his power in the morning than I now was – in fact, during the night I might find opportunity to escape with Ajor, while at the instant neither of us could hope to escape unscathed from the encircling warriors. Therefore, in order to disarm him of any thought that I might entertain suspicion as to his sincerity, I promptly and courteously accepted his invitation. His sastisfaction was evident, and as we set off toward his village, he walked beside me, asking many questions as to the country from which I came, its peoples and their customs. He seemed much mystified by the fact that we could walk abroad by day or night without fear of being devoured by wild beasts or savage reptiles, and when I told him of the great armies which we maintained, his simple mind could not grasp the fact that they
existed solely for the slaughtering of human beings.
“‘I am glad,’ he said, ‘that I do not dwell in your country among such savage peoples. Here, in Caspak, men fight with men when they meet – men of different races – but their weapons are first for the slaying of beasts in the chase and in defense. We do not fashion weapons solely for the killing of man as do your peoples. Your country must indeed be a savage country, from which you are fortunate to have escaped to the peace and security of Caspak.’
“Here was a new and refreshing viewpoint; nor could I take exception to it after what I had told Al-tan of the great war which had been raging in Europe for over two years before I left home.” (PTF/5.)

Leave it to ERB to take pokes at modern man’s crazy customs, making a total savage afraid of a world where there is little fear of being devoured by wild animals. I mean, which is worse?

“On the march to the Kro-lu village we were continually stalked by innumerable beasts of prey, and three times we were attacked by frightful creatures; but Al-tan took it all as a matter of course, rushing forward with raised spear or sending a heavy shaft into the body of the attacker and then returning to our conversation as though no interruption had occurred. Twice were members of his band mauled, and one was killed by a huge and bellicose rhinoceros; but the
instant the action was over, it was as though it never had occurred. The dead man was stripped of his belongings and left where he had died; the carnivora would take care of his burial. The trophies that these Kro-lu left to the man-eaters would have turned an English big-game hunter green with envy. They did, it is true, cut all the edible parts from the rhino and carry them home; but already they were pretty well weighted down with the spoils of the chase, and only the fact that they are particularly fond of rhino-meat caused them to do so.
“They left hide on the pieces they selected, as they use it for sandals, shield-covers, the hilts of their knives and various other purposes where tough hide is desirable. I was much interested in their shields, especially after I saw one used in defense against the attack of a saber-tooth tiger. The huge creature had charged us without warning from a clump of dense bushes where it was lying up after eating. It was met with an avalanche of spears, some of which passed entirely through its body, with such force were they hurled. The charge was from a very short distance, requiring the use of the spear rather than the bow and arrow; but after the launching of the spears, the men not directly in the path of the charge sent bolt after bolt into the great carcass with almost incredible rapidity. The beast, screaming with pain and rage, bore down upon Chal-az while I stood helpless with my rifle for fear of hitting one of the warriors who were closing in upon it. But Chal-az was ready. Throwing aside his bow, he crouched behind his large oval shield, in the center of which was a hole about six inches in diameter. The shield was held by tight loops to his left arm, while in his right hand he grasped his heavy knife. Bristling with spears and arrows, the great cat hurled itself upon the shield, and down went Chal-az upon his back with the shield entirely covering him. The tiger clawed and bit at the heavy rhinoceros hide with which the shield was faced, while Chal-az, through the round hole in the shield’s center, plunged his blade repeatedly into the vitals of the savage animal. Doubtless the battle would have gone to Chal-az even though I had not interfered; but the moment that I saw a clean opening, with no Kro-lu beyond, I raised my rifle and killed the beast.
“When Chal-az arose, he glanced at the sky and remarked that it looked like rain. The others already had resumed the march toward the village. The incident was closed. For some unaccountable reason the whole thing reminded me of a friend who once shot a cat in his backyard. For three weeks he talked of nothing else.
“It was almost dark when we reached the village – a large palisaded inclosure of several hundred leaf-thatched huts set in groups of from two to seven. The huts were hexagonal in form, and where grouped were joined so that they resembled the cells of a bee-hive. One hut meant a warrior and his mate, and each additional hut in a group indicated an additional female. The palisade which surrounded the village was of logs set close together and woven into a solid wall with tough creepers which were planted at their base and trained to weave in and out to bind the logs together. The logs slanted outward at an angle of about thirty degrees, in which position they were held by shorter logs embedded in the ground at right angles to them and with their upper ends supporting the longer pieces a trifle above their centers of equilibrium. Along the top of the palisade sharpened stakes had been driven at all sorts of angles.
“The only opening into the inclosure was through a small aperture three feet wide and three feet high, which was closed from the inside by logs about six feet long and laid horizontally, one upon another, between the inside face of the palisade and two other braced logs which paralleled the face of the wall upon the inside.
“As we entered the village, we were greeted by a not unfriendly crowd of curious warriors and women, to whom Chal-az generously explained the service we had rendered him, whereupon they showered us with the most well-meant attentions, for Chal-az, it seemed, was a most popular member of the tribe. Necklaces of lion and tiger-teeth, bits of dried meat, finely tanned hides and earthen pots, beautifully decorated, they thrust upon us until we were loaded down, and all the while Al-tan glared balefully upon us, seemingly jealous of the attentions heaped upon us because we had served Chal-az.
“At last we reached a hut that they set apart for us, and there we cooked our meat and some vegetables the women brought us, and had milk from cows – the first I had had in Caspak – and cheese from the milk of wild goats, with honey and thin bread made from wheat flour of their own grinding, and grapes and the fermented juice of grapes. It was quite the most wonderful meal I had eaten since I quit the Toreador and Bowen J. Tyler’s colored chef, who could make porkchops taste like chicken, and chicken taste like heaven.” (PTF/5.)

Thus Chapter 5 comes to a conclusion. After such a great feast, what possibly can go wrong? Stay tuned, same channel, same time, to find out.