INTRODUCTION
Many have had the idea of going to Mars and building a settlement upon
it, though why we would want to go there other than to satisfy our wanderlust
is beyond me. Sure, I would like to walk around (or leap lightly) on the
surface and even climb Olympus Mons, just to say I did. But after that,
what? Sit around in some kind of protective bubble, performing scientific
experiments on red dust while fearing a meteor might strike any minute
and decimate my habitat? No thanks. If John Carter and the Tharks were
there, it might be worth it. But we know that the world of Barsoom as ERB
recorded it either exists on a planet in another solar system or in another
time.
And likewise Africa. Tarzan's Africa is not the same as
it was back when the Ape Man was first born and roamed there. Nowadays
even he likes to adventure in other areas of the world, rather than the
populous African plains and modern cities, plus there's a proliferation
of murderous revolutionaries running about with machetes. Not that Tarzan
couldn't handle them but, if you don't have to, why bother?
But there is one ERB world untouched by the progress of
time or the cruel reality of fact. And best of all, the government is not
interested in going there and exploring it, let alone "civilizing" it,
because the government doesn't believe it exists.
This is the world of Pellucidar, also known as the Inner
World, that wondrous land inside of our own globe, where the upward curving
horizon beckons the adventurer ever onward and the landscape always basks
in brilliant daylight, lit up by the sun which hangs in the exact center
of the earth, making the time to be eternally noon in the Inner World.
Did I say "time"? I speak in Earthly terms. To an outer-worlder
like me, it would seem like noon, but to a Pellucidarian native the word
"time" has no meaning. And while having no concept of a thing called time,
each Pellucidarian seems to measure it differently. A man could leave his
home for what might seem like a few months, only to return to find his
baby son now five feet tall...and growing.
It would cost millions to go to Mars, and it is impractical
to go to Venus. But an airplane ride could take an adventurer over the
polar opening to the inner world and a parachute would work in lieu of
a landing strip. From there, one would be on his or her own.
You could not walk to Africa from the United States, nor
could you walk to Mars, Amtor, or even Caspak. But you could, theoretically,
walk to Pellucidar. From any place on the globe, one could simply head
north and probably, with the aid of satellite photos carefully studied
before leaving, trek across the northern ice to the huge polar opening
to the inner world.
The trouble with going to a Burroughs world is that the
residents are not likely to realize you are a friendly fan who read about
them in ERB books and that you would like to adopt their culture and wed
one of their exotic and beautiful women. Instead, they are likely to think
of you as an enemy, and try to kill you!
Therefore, one should go adequately armed, with backup
weapons and ammo as well, hidden in various places about the body. Nonetheless,
it's likely that before getting too far in a place like Pellucidar, you
might be the victim of a surprise attack by a Sagoth or get into some other
predicament which would result in the loss of those weapons!
