A planet's strength was determined in the
Arena where brute force emerged victorious. But
the Earthman chose a forgotten weapon—strategy!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
April 1951
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
I got the bad news as soon as we landed on Mars. The minute I got offthe spacer, the little yellow Martie was standing there with a yellowenvelope. He said, "Gladiator Jak Demsi?"
I admitted it and he handed me the envelope. Made me feel kind of good,as though I was somebody important, which I'm not. I'd been takingplenty of guff on the trip. Not only from Suzi, but from Alger Wilde,who was also along. Yeah, between them they'd ridden me as well as theliner, all the way from Terra.
I handed the Martie a kopek and put the yellow envelope in my pocket,as though I was used to getting spacegrams.
I said to Suzi, "Let's hit the chow line." I don't usually talk thatfancy, but I was trying to impress her with my knowledge of antiquephrases. Both Suzi and Alger Wilde are students of ancient times andlove to lard their conversation with such stuff.
Suzi said, "Sure, Jak. Come on Alger," which wasn't what I'd meant atall. And then she said, "Aren't you going to open that spacegram, Jak?It might be important."
"Probably is," I said carelessly. "But it can wait, whatever it is."
And it did. I opened it after we'd ordered at the spaceport restaurant.I should have waited until after I'd eaten, but I couldn't know thatuntil I read:
SPACER TRANSPORTING GLADIATOR EARTH-MARS FOR INTER-PLANETARY GAMESLOST. YOU HAVE BEEN APPOINTED EMERGENCY REPLACEMENT REPRESENTINGEARTH. GOOD LUCK.
I gulped. If you don't know all about the Interplanetary Meet which isheld every decade, then maybe you don't know why I gulped. If you do,you do. It's tough enough being a gladiator on Terra but at least youhave a chance of coming out alive; you've even got a chance of winning.But at the Interplanetary Meet! Who ever heard of a Terran coming outin one piece? Not to speak of winning.
Sure, I'm a gladiator, but I've always been strictly a second rater; infact, some of the sports writers call me a third rater. Anyway, I'vealways worked in the smaller meets where the gladiators, even when theylose, usually get off with their lives. In the small town stuff, theydon't kill expensive gladiators, if they can help it.
My head was doing double flips trying to figure out some way of makingmyself scarce, when Suzi said, "What is it, Jak?"
Like a fool, I handed the message to her and she and Alger read ittogether.
Suzi's eyes widened and she started to say something, worriedly, butAlger stuck out his hand and said, "Congratulations, Jak. I knew youhad great things in you. Now they'll be coming out.... Er.... That is,just think, one of the three gladiators representing Terra. What anhonor!"
I was sunk.
The Interplanetary Meet was just three days off and I had three days tolive.
I wouldn't have been on Mars in the first place if it hadn't been foran argument I had with Suzi back on Terra just before she was scheduledto blast off for Mars to cover the Interplanetary Games. Suzi is asports reporter, see. She covers the meets from the woman's angle. Whatshe really wanted to do was write books about primitive culture; andwhat I wanted her to do was spend the rest of her life being my wife.Neither of us seemed to have much of a chance of making good.
As usual, Suzi was giving me kert. I