Adventure on Venus

James Abraham Carter

Preface

This story is set in an alternative reality where the laws of nature and history are different from what we know. For example, Giordano Bruno (1548 – 17 February 1600), the Italian philosopher, alchemist, and cosmological theorist, was a historical figure in our world, but not a contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519). The solar system of the story, with its mechanistic planetary spheres that keep the worlds in their orbits around the sun, is, of course, based loosely on the geocentric cosmology of the ancient Greek astronomer Eudoxus of Cnidus (born c. 395–390 BC —died c. 342–337 BC).

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Florence, 1498. The expansive workshop of the renowned Renaissance polymath, Leonardo da Vinci, was a wonder to behold. Shelves were lined with esoteric books. Benches groaned under the weight of alchemical equipment, and mysterious mechanisms of polished brass gleamed in the early dawn light that streamed through large windows, illuminating the amazing clutter of diverse scientific and occult paraphernalia.

Lorenzo Rossi, nephew to the renowned master, stood awestruck before a geometric behemoth of carefully caulked, airtight wood that was sheathed in burnished copper. Twenty feet in diameter, its dodecahedron form gleamed, reinforced with iron straps embossed with potent mystic symbols. Twelve faces, eleven adorned with small bullseye windows, and one a hermetic hatch. But the most amazing thing of all was Leonardo’s astounding claim that his creation, the very thing both men now stood before, could travel to other worlds.

“To fly among the celestial spheres like an angel,” Lorenzo breathed, the words escaping him before he could censor them. He met his uncle’s gaze, his mind a roiling mix of wonder and trepidation. “I do not doubt your claim, Uncle. You are an honest man and would not lie to me. But I fear that the Church will accuse you of the darkest blasphemy should they hear of this. The Inquisition recently burned the philosopher Giordano Bruno for his cosmological theories - that the stars are other distant suns with living worlds circling them. They will see your invention as an even greater heresy as it intrudes on the realm of the divine.”

Leonardo’s shoulders sagged slightly. “I know,” he replied, his voice imbued with a weariness Lorenzo rarely heard. “The Church tolerates magic and science so long as they do not trespass into the domain of theology. The Pope is blinded by dogma and superstition, unable to conceive the true nature of the Creator and the diversity of the cosmos He has made. That is why we must test my invention in utmost secrecy. You are young and strong, Lorenzo, and I know you crave adventure. But think carefully before you accept my offer to captain this vessel of the stars. Venus is an unknown world, more distant and mysterious than unexplored Africa. Who knows what lies beneath her veil of clouds?”

The challenge, whispered in the hushed tones of illicit discovery, ignited a spark in Lorenzo’s soul. He had chafed against the predictable rhythms of his life as a lowly clerk in the Florentine government’s bureaucracy, dreaming of horizons beyond the Tuscan sun. “It will be a journey of discovery greater than that of Marco Polo,” Lorenzo said, his voice firming with thoughtful resolve. “If I don’t go, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life. Despite the danger, I gladly accept your offer.”

A flicker of pride crossed Leonardo’s face. “Then take this,” he said, unclasping a large, intricately crafted pendant from his neck and placing its tingling form into Lorenzo’s palm. “This is a powerful talisman of my own devising. I pray it keeps you safe. Now, come with me, and I’ll show you the workings of the vessel.”

The two men entered the dodecahedron. The interior was polished timber, constructed similarly to the hull of a seagoing ship. A gleaming brass column containing complex clockwork machinery rose from the center of the floor, and mounted on it was a large gimbal mechanism containing an alloy bar faintly glowing with silvery radiation.

“This bar,” explained Leonardo as he reverently touched the mechanism, “is an astrological magnet attuned to the planetary aura of Venus, and when activated, it will unerringly draw the dodecahedron toward this world. When the vessel of the stars enters the aural field of Venus, sensitive mechanisms within the column will detect the change, automatically reverse the magnet, and bring the ship gently down to a safe landing on the planet’s surface.”

Leonardo’s explanations flowed; the savant waxed lyrical on the arcane principles of magnetic force and the aetherial spheres composed of quintessence, the fifth element, that kept the planets in their orbits around the Sun. Lorenzo, his mind a sponge, absorbed the intricate details of the complex exposition. It was a symphony of science and magic, a testament to his uncle’s unparalleled genius.

With the systems explained, the moment of departure arrived. The two men clasped hands, a warm, firm connection that spoke volumes about their shared bond, made strong through common interests.

“There are enough provisions aboard to last seven days. May the Creator watch over you and keep you safe,” said the savant with feeling. And with this parting benediction, Leonardo exited, the hatch sealing with a soft thud, leaving Lorenzo alone in the heart of his uncle’s marvelous invention. Lorenzo’s hand trembled in anticipation as he grasped the starting lever. He pulled.

A low hum permeated the craft. The alchemically created astrological magnet, nestled at the core of the machine, pulsed with an intensified glow. With a gentle lurch, the dodecahedron rose, its immense form gliding through the open workshop doors with the grace of a drifting cloud. Then, with an astonishing burst of speed, it leaped skyward, a gleaming blur against the dawn light, aiming for the morning star that was Venus.

Lorenzo pressed his wondering face to a bullseye window, watching the familiar landscape of Italy recede, shrinking with breathtaking speed. Higher rose the ship, breaking the chains of the Earth’s attraction, passing beyond the ghostly magnetic aetherial sphere in which the mother world was embedded - the Creator’s colossal mechanism that kept each planet in its proper orbit.

The star-strewn void rushed past, a blur of light and shadow. The young man marveled at the stellar immensity that stretched out before him in stupendous breadth. It was an amazing, breathtaking sight, one he would vividly remember for all his life. It was also a humbling one - humans, with all their conceits, were small things indeed when compared to the vastness of creation. Within an hour, Venus swelled in the forward viewport, a swirling, opalescent orb embedded in the aetherial sphere of quintessence that kept it in its orbit, its secrets veiled in a thick blanket of obscuring clouds. The vessel slowed, its descent into the alien atmosphere a fluid transit of controlled power.

Lorenzo stood before a moisture-beaded window, his heart pounding with excitement and anticipation as he eagerly stared out. What lay below? What marvels would he see? Then, as the ship broke through the vaporous veils, the world beneath was revealed in all its startling wonder. Lorenzo gasped. Zenbu, a city of astounding beauty, rose from a vibrant emerald jungle whose lacy leaves reached toward the misty heavens. Spires of gilded marble, soaring, slender, and elegant, pierced the sky, while gleaming domes of polished gold shone brightly. The buildings possessed vast windows and skylights, allowing their airy interiors to be bathed in warm, diffuse light. Directly below the descending ship, a coliseum-like structure dominated the fantastic cityscape.

A guttural cry was torn from Lorenzo’s throat as bright wonder turned to dark horror. As he neared the arena, an atrocious scene unfolded. A nude woman, her form delicate and vulnerable, was bound to a stone pillar in the center of the sandy expanse. Towering over her, a creature born from the darkest nightmares, its form a grotesque amalgamation of scales, fangs, and claws, prepared to strike.

The dodecahedron descended, Lorenzo frantic. The cruel spectacle unfolding before him was a sign that the condemned was no true criminal, but rather a helpless victum in need of desperate rescue from the clutches of brutality. The vessel bumped against the arena’s sandy floor. The ship’s arrival was completely unexpected and astonishing. A ripple of panic passed through the crowd of green-skinned beings. Chaos erupted as they scrambled for the exits. The monster, too, had been disturbed. It snarled a vicious snarl as it gazed at the ship with dark malevolent eyes, the bound and helpless woman quite forgotten.

Then the hatch hissed open, and Lorenzo burst forth, his strange appearance creating an even greater stir. The young man’s sword was drawn, his uncle’s talisman a cool, tingling weight against his chest. Raw outrage and the deeper calling of innate justice were a hot spur that swiftly propelled him across the sand. The horrid creature madly gnashed its teeth as the Earthman sped toward it. The monster roared furiously. It charged.

Lorenzo bravely met his rushing, nightmarish foe. The ensuing combat was one of unrestrained savagery. Lorenzo, fueled by unbending chivalry, met the beast’s brute force with intelligence and skill. His swordsmanship, honed through years of training, was pushed to its limits. Strength, stamina, courage – all were tested against the raging, brutal power confronting him.

The young man nimbly dodged the horrid beast’s mad rushes and scything claws. He struck with all his strength, but time and again his flashing blade bounced off its scaled hide. Sweat dripped from him. His breath came in ragged gasps. His strength and stamina began to fail. Then he saw it - a narrow opening in the monster’s mad attack. With a desperate lunge and a wild cry, Lorenzo drove his rapier deep into the brute’s reptilian eye - the only vulnerable part of its scaly body. The horrid creature screamed in agony - the sound like metal being torn apart. It staggered back, foul ocher jetting from its wound. Then it fell, and with a final convulsive twitch, expired on the sand.

Turning to the woman, relief flooding his being, Lorenzo drew his dagger to cut the cruel ropes binding her. As he approached, his breath caught. Her skin was a pale, flawless green; her eyes were a deeper, captivating shade. Her hair, a cascade of emerald hues, was not hair at all but a mass of slender, living tendrils, each bearing delicate leaves and yellow flowers resembling roses. He stared at her, mouth open in amazement at her unearthly beauty. In turn, she gazed at him, her eyes wide with a mixture of fear and dawning wonder. Lorenzo managed to put aside his astonishment. The monster was dead, but other threats no doubt remained. He must quickly free the woman and swiftly escape with her aboard his ship. Swiftly but carefully, he severed her restraints. The woman spoke her thanks, her voice a cascade of melodies, like the sweetest birdsong.

As Lorenzo freed the woman, Morlax, tyrant of Zenbu, looked on in utter disbelief from the vantage of the arena’s royal box. Hot anger flared in the tyrant’s debased brain. An unknown interloper had audaciously slain the beast. His pleasure of seeing the cursed rebel torn apart in a bloody spectacle was ruined. There was no curiosity about who the stranger was, or his origin. Morlax was too shallow a man for that. Only rage was there. The sadistic tyrant shouted to his guards. They swiftly moved at his command, for to hesitate was death.

Before Lorenzo could even indicate his inability to understand the woman, she tensed. His gaze snapped to where she looked. Morlax’s guards, as startlingly nude as the fleeing throng in the arena, were hurtling toward them, intent on succeeding where the beast had failed. But they did not run; they flew. Gemstones affixed to broad metallic belts around their waists glowed with a vibrant blue luminescence, a levitating force that held them aloft. The grim-faced rushing warriors raised strange weapons – ebony rods tipped with crimson crystals. Beams of ruby light erupted from the strange gemstones, searing the air with actinic light.

But as the deadly rays leaped out, a coruscating counteractive force swiftly bloomed from the talisman around Lorenzo’s neck. A shimmering shield of pure energy erupted, deflecting the flashing crimson bolts. The guards faltered, their expressions a mask of confusion and disbelief. Their weapons should have been invincible.

Before they could regroup, ten other flying figures descended from high above, diving at the men like avenging falcons. Darts, sleek and lethal, flew through the air, felling all the guards but one. From the sole survivor’s weapon, a deadly beam of blazing light erupted. It swept upward in a hissing blade of destructive light. Attackers screamed. Charred and dismemberd bodies fell in a sickening rain. Lorenzo overcame his horror. He cast his dagger in a wild throw, and the hurtling weapon struck down the final foe.

As the guard fell, swift hands grabbed Lorenzo beneath his armpits; another rescuer clasped the woman in a similar manner. They were whisked upward, high into the air, soaring over the city of Zenbu and out into the verdant expanse of the wild jungle. The speed and unexpected event took Lorenzo’s breath away. His hands tingled from the dizzying height and the fear of falling. Heart racing, he looked back, expecting swift pursuit. None came. It was only later that he learned the flying belts were uncommon due to the rare elements needed for their manufacture.

Lorenzo gazed at the man carrying him. The fellow smiled reassuringly and said something, but his words were swept away by the wind of their swift passage. The young man refrained from looking down. They must have been at least a thousand feet above the ground. A terrifying depth lay beneath his dangling feet. The beast of the arena seemed less terrifying.

After an hour of rapid flight, they arrived at a high mountain. The entrance to a cave, hidden by gnarled trees growing on a ledge before it, was their destination. The party landed among the growth. Lorenzo could have fallen to his knees and kissed the earth, but he controlled himself and followed his rescuers, his mind brimming with curiosity.

The spacious cavern they entered was brightly lit by large glowing gemstones, and Lorenzo saw that a group of fifty men and women, all entirely nude, were expectantly awaiting their arrival. Standing at the forefront was an elderly woman, her eyes wise and kind. This was Payu, their leader, an aristocrat with a social conscience and a practitioner of the occult. The young woman whom Lorenzo had rescued from the monster rushed into Payu’s arms, her reunion with her mother a poignant display of familial love.

“Oh, Tryllia, my beloved daughter,” Payu gasped as she embraced the girl. “When you were captured in the disastrous raid on the palace armory, I feared I would never see you again, except in death. Praise be to the Supreme Being that my warriors were able to rescue you. I feared greatly for your life when I heard you had been sentenced to death in the arena by Morlax, the tyrannical king whom we are fighting to overthrow.”

“It was not only your warriors who saved me,” the girl explained avidly. Trillya then recounted her rescue, emphasizing the miraculous protection of Lorenzo’s amulet against the deadly energy weapons of the guards, and his courage and skill in single-handedly slaying the vile uvis, the frightful monster that would have brutally killed her but for his swift intervention.

“Mother,” she concluded, “we failed to steal the ray-rods from the palace armory, but this man, so different from us, must surely have been sent from Heaven in answer to our desperate prayers. You are a skilled sorceress; if you can replicate the talisman he wears, then Morlax’s weapons, which give him a tremendous advantage, will be neutralized. But how can we gain his cooperation when he does not speak our tongue?”

Payu, with a sage smile, removed a magic ring from her finger in response to Trillya’s question. “Here lies the answer,” she said as she turned the ring’s bezel to a new setting and offered it to Lorenzo, miming for him to put it on. 

Lorenzo, who had been trying to follow the conversation between mother and daughter, hesitantly accepted the item. It was covered in what looked to him like mystic symbols, and it had that odd tingling quality denoting the presence of occult power. He gazed at Payu, trying to judge the woman’s character and wondering what kind of situation he was in. He had deduced that these people were partisans, but was their cause a just one? His rescue of Trillya been instinctual, seeing her as a victim. But was he mistaken? He reflected that his rescuers could have left him in the arena. He was a stranger, an alien intruding on their world, but they had chosen to save him. Payu, like the others, had the look of an honest, decent person despite her strangeness. He decided to trust the woman.

As Lorenzo slid the ring onto his finger, a profound change occurred. The melodic chirping of Trillya’s voice now resolved into clear, understandable words. In an instant, he could comprehend and speak their language. The cruelty of Morlax, his love of public torture, and other perversities - the kidnapping of young woman for his sadistic pleasure - deeply revolted Lorenzo when the atrocities of the dictator’s brutal rule were explained to him by Payu. The young man’s sense of justice and decency was outraged, and he readily agreed to aid the rebels.

“Here,” he said as he removed the amulet and handed it to the sorceress. “You may have this to study. Your cause is just, and I pray you will succeed in ending the oppressive reign of the tyrant. I am willing and eager to offer whatever aid I can.”

While Payu began her study of the talisman in a makeshift laboratory at the rear of the cavern, Lorenzo and Trillya conversed. He told her of Earth, its people and cultures, and he, in turn, learned of her people’s unique customs, most striking to him being their complete nudity. He wasn’t as prudish as other people of his era, for he was skeptical of the Church’s doctrine that nudity and sex were sinful; but even so, the sight of so much naked flesh was rather jarring.

The girl, sensing his embarrassment at being surrounded by entirely naked people, asked an insightful question. “You wear strange fabrics, whereas we do not. I assume this is the cause of your unease?”

“Well,” replied Lorenzo, who had been doing his best to diplomatically hide his discomfort, “where I’m from, your lack of clothes is… rather unusual.”

Trillya laughed good-naturedly at his indirectness. She then explained that her people’s health, like that of plants, depended on significant exposure to light and that prolonged darkness was detrimental to them. She spoke of their reproductive cycle, of their flowers that, when fertilized by insects, yielded seeds. These seeds were then planted in special gardens where they grew into a kind of vegetable womb in which the fetus developed.

After about ten months, the vegetable womb opened like a seed pod, revealing a baby that was breastfed and grew to maturity in the manner of human children. This surprised Lorenzo immensely, for the Venusian men and women had genitalia that resembled those of their earthly counterparts, which seemed entirely unnecessary if they reproduced like plants. For the sake of science, he decided to put aside all prudishness and ask about the functions of these organs.

It was then Trillya’s turn to be surprised. “We give each other pleasure with these body parts.” she frankly explained. “Is it different in your world? Has the Supreme Being denied you such joy? This is a topic we have not yet discussed.”

“Well,” replied Lorenzo, considerably amazed,“in humans, these organs are not just for pleasure but are also involved in reproduction. In that regard, we of Earth are rather different from your people.”

They had wandered outside during the discussion to the ledge in front of the cave entrance. Trillya was sitting on a rock, sunning herself in a bower among the concealing trees. Lorenzo was resting by her side, considerably impressed by the young woman’s charm and intelligence.

“Fascinating,” she said as she parted her legs and, with her fingers, spread herself wide open for his examination, her motivation curiosity rather than either lust or lewdness. “Am I very differet from a human woman?”

Lorenzo stared, eyes wide and mouth agape. “I don’t think you are at all,” he replied, managing to overcome his shock at her utter lack of human inhibitions. Trillya, not bound by a sense of sin or concepts of earthly modesty, encouraged him to explore her body. But what began in the spirit of a scientific examination quickly evolved into something more. As the blood of youth ran hot, very soon both were entwined in a wild, passionate embrace that proved beyond all doubt that humans and Venusians were not so very different after all.

**********

A few days later, Payu announced her success. She had grasped the occult principles of Leonardo’s talisman and had manufactured enough amulets based on the great man’s design. The rebels, now equipped with their new protective talismans, donned their flying belts and armed themselves with swords, lances, and darts. They ascended into the night sky, Lorenzo among them, and arrowed toward Zenbu under the cover of darkness. Venus has no moon, and the eternal clouds block out the stars, but the misty heavens glowed with a faint fluorescence, and this dim light was just enough for them to find their way as they raced above the now dark and brooding jungle.

The night patrol flying above the palace spotted them as they drew near the ornate building of domes and spires, and an enemy warrior blew a strident alarm on a curling war horn. The two squadrons of flying fighters rushed toward each other like charging knights in a wild joust. Lorenzo gripped his lance with both hands as a savage foe flew directly at him. A crimson ray burst forth from his attacker’s weapon. The Earthman’s amulet flared, and the raging beam was harmlessly deflected. Lorenzo’s lance struck home and shattered. His foe screamed in a death shriek and tumbled from the sky, the steel point buried in his chest.

Another speeding enemy swiftly took his place. This man, seeing his ray weapon would be useless, drew his sword. Lorenzo, blade in hand, met him in a wild whirl of gleaming steel. The two men fought a brief and violent battle. It was like a dogfight, but one with swords, not blazing guns - a deadly aerial dance of loops and whirls. But at last, Lorenzo gained the upper hand, and as the Earthman drove his steel into his opponent's chest, he saw that his companions, protected by their talismans, had also overcome their foes.

But the danger was far from over, for other warriors, a hundred strong, had been summoned by the bellowing of the horn. They erupted from the palace like an angry swarm of vicious hornets and swiftly rose, their ray-rods blazing with hissing beams that slashed the sky with burning crimson light.

Lorenzo, like his compatriots, quickly drew envenomed darts from a bandolier across his chest and swiftly hurled them at the rushing reinforcements. Hundreds of barbed projectiles slammed into the enemy ranks. A rain of bodies fell from the sky. But Lorenzo’s side was not without casualties. Some of the amulets had failed when multiple rays were unleashed upon the wearer, and he was horrified to see half a dozen of his allies fall, Trillya among them. A hissing beam had grazed her flying belt, and she tumbled from the sky, her wild screams spurring him into rapid action.

The frantic Earthman dove after her in a mad rush. Down he plunged, like a shooting meteor. His outstretched hands caught the terrified girl. She clung to him in wild fear. Morlax’s few surviving guards rushed past in a panicked retreat as he arrested Trillya’s dizzying fall. The way was clear of foes, and the rebels shot toward the palace in swift attack.

“I’m not hurt,” said Trillya, her composure now regained. “My sword arm is steady. We must join the fight.”

Lorenzo nodded grimly. He swiftly followed the rebels as they descended upon the palace. Hurled darts shattered the throne room’s windows, and unopposed, the fighters swept into the room. The Earthman landed and set Trillya on her feet. The chamber appeared empty. The partisans spread out, searching, vengeance etched upon their faces in hard lines. Morlax’s quarters were adjacent to the throne room. He could not be far away. But the dictator, a creature of malice and cunning, swept down from the darkness of the high ceiling like a hawk upon its prey. He violently seized Trillya, and pressed a wicked dagger to her throat.

“I have Payu’s daughter,” he shouted with malicious triumph. “Surrender now or she dies.”

Lorenzo, who had been looking behind a pillar, was out of Morlax’s sight. The Earthman stepped swiftly around the ornate column. Rage and fear beset him at the sight of the helpless girl in the grip of her ruthless and brutal captor. Jaynar, leader of the rebel squadron (Payu was too old to join the fight), saw Lorenzo.

“What guarantee do we have that you won’t kill her if we comply?” Shouted Jaynar, his words designed to distract the dictator and thereby aid the Earthman’s slim advantage. “How can we trust you?”

Moving with silent, deadly intent, Lorenzo crept up behind the arrogantly grinning despot as he spoke. “You have no choice,” Morlax sneered. “And now I’ll make her bleed a little as punishment for your hesitation.”

Lorenzo bit back an oath. He sprang with all the wildness of a snarling tiger. Grasping Morlax’s arm with both hands, he swiftly wrenched the deadly blade away from Trillya’s throat. The young woman broke free as the two men grappled fiercely. The fight was swift and desperate, a violent mix of dirty wrestling and brutal fisticuffs that left livid bruises and bloody wounds on both combatants.

In the end, Lorenzo’s strength and skill prevailed. He ducked a savage strike and drove the heel of his palm beneath the tyrant’s chin. The dictator’s head snapped back as he reeled from the vicious blow. The Earthman stepped in close. With a wild cry, he seized the stunned despot and hurled him to the floor. Morlax’s head struck hard against solid marble with a sickening crack. It proved a fatal injury, and thus the sadistic brute’s cruel tyranny was finally extinguished.

**********

Three days had passed. The rebels were in full control of the government. Those nobles who had served the tyrant had done so mostly out of fear and were glad to see him gone. Thus, Payu was enacting her reforms unopposed, which the population of Zenbu jubilantly celebrated. It was now early morning. Trillya stood by Lorenzo; their relationship was now much more than the shallowness of erotic infatuation. Hand in hand, the couple watched the dodecahedron ascend into the misty sky and vanish among Venus’s eternal clouds.

“Are you sure you won’t regret your decision?”

Lorenzo turned to Trilliya, who had spoken. Seeing her eyes shining with love and her selfless concern for him, he felt his own heart swell. This exquisite flower-maiden of Venus was everything he could desire in a woman.

“I’d rather cut off my right arm than lose you,” he replied sincerely. “I’m sure my uncle will understand.”

The ship, on automatic, was carrying a written account of his extraordinary adventures back to Earth, along with descriptions of Vehusian society as well as skillful drawings of the city and its inhabitants. To Leonardo, he explained his decision to remain on Venus. He had found not just adventure but a love as vibrant and exotic as the world itself, a love he knew would last a lifetime.

The couple embraced, their hearts aglow and their minds filled with wonder at the bright future that lay ahead of them.

The End