CHAPTER 10

 Jonner, a free man again, rode into Mars City in a groundcar with Sir Stanrich O'Kellin. Stein and Aron had remained at Marsport for the time being. Marsport was completely in the hands of the Rebels, and efforts were being made to get through by radio to Phobos to give the Marscorp forces there a surrender ultimatum¹.

"What's happened to the Mars City dome²?" asked Jonner in astonishment³ as they approached the city. The once-transparent dome was cracked and badly discolored.

"Plan Blue," answered Sir Stanrich with a smile.

"Look, sir, how about telling me what happened?" said Jonner. "When we got captured in the middle of our wild goose chase with Marscorp's Egg, our troops had been driven into the ground at the Isidis base and we got the impression it was only a matter of time before that fell. Then the radio goes out for a few days and we land here to find Mars City overrun with our troops."

"Why," said Sir Stanrich, his mustache quirking mischievously⁴, "we counter-attacked. We came out of the base, defeated the Marscorp army there, drove across the desert to Mars City and took it. Task forces are out now, taking over the other cities. That's all there is to it."

"Simple!" snorted Jonner. "Except that they outnumbered us four or five to one, and probably outgunned us more than that."

"Science wins wars now; my boy, not numbers and guns."

They had entered the Mars City airlock and were driving down the broad Avenue of the Canals. Rebel soldiers swarmed⁵ through the city. The few men and women they saw in Marscorp uniforms staggered around, groping blindly, their faces and arms fiery⁶ red and peeling from sunburn.

"You'll get a medal out of it, too," commented Sir Stanrich.

"Why? Why me?"

"Because you followed orders, even though your mission appeared useless. It was your 'wild goose chase' that made our victory possible.

"You see, only the blue mist of Mars protects its surface from the hard rays of the sun. Without it, we'd have no more protection than a naked man in space. The reason we're in for a bad sunburn every year is that the blue mist dissipates partially⁷ at every Earth-sun conjunction."

"But what would The Egg have to do with that?" asked Jonner.

"The Egg amplifies⁸ the effect of magnetic fields, the way a lens concentrates light rays," answered Sir Stanrich. "It's the Earth's magnetic field, not that of Mars, that interferes⁹ with the blue mist every time the Earth passes between Mars and the sun. And to amplify¹⁰ Earth's magnetic field, we had to place The Egg directly between Mars and Earth during the Earth-sun conjunction—and you put it there when you got the Egg into an Earthward orbit on schedule."

"But, Sir Stanrich, I've been sunburned a dozen times at these conjunctions...."

"Not like this. When the blue mist was stripped away completely this time, everyone on the surface was affected¹¹. Marscorp's troops were put out of action as an effective fighting force when they received severe burns over most of their bodies and were afflicted¹² with acute conjunctivitis so badly they were half blinded. That's why we abandoned Charax and Regina and pulled all our people to the Isidis base while the conjunction was under way, we were all protected from the sun ... underground!"

They had reached the center of the city. Above the old Syrtis Major Hotel, which had served as Marscorp's supreme¹³ headquarters, the flag of the Charax Rebels was fluttering in the breeze from the city's air circulators.

Marscorp was beaten. Mars was free.

The End

1 ultimatum   

n.最后通牒

参考例句：

• This time the proposal was couched as an ultimatum.这一次该提议是以最后通牒的形式提出来的。
• The cabinet met today to discuss how to respond to the ultimatum.内阁今天开会商量如何应对这道最后通牒。

2 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

3 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。

4 mischievously   

adv.有害地；淘气地

参考例句：

• He mischievously looked for a chance to embarrass his sister. 他淘气地寻找机会让他的姐姐难堪。 来自互联网
• Also has many a dream kindheartedness, is loves mischievously small lovable. 又有着多啦a梦的好心肠，是爱调皮的小可爱。 来自互联网

5 swarmed   

密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• When the bell rang, the children swarmed out of the school. 铃声一响，孩子们蜂拥而出离开了学校。
• When the rain started the crowd swarmed back into the hotel. 雨一开始下，人群就蜂拥回了旅社。

6 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

7 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

8 amplifies   

放大，扩大( amplify的第三人称单数 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• Gain is the number of times the amplifier amplifies a signal. 增益就是放大器放大信号的倍数。
• Such panicky behaviour amplifies the impact of the Russian export ban. 这样的恐慌行为放大了俄罗斯小麦出口禁令的影响效应。

9 interferes   

vi. 妨碍，冲突，干涉

参考例句：

• The noise interferes with my work. 这噪音妨碍我的工作。
• That interferes with my plan. 那干扰了我的计划。

10 amplify   

vt.放大，增强；详述，详加解说

参考例句：

• The new manager wants to amplify the company.新经理想要扩大公司。
• Please amplify your remarks by giving us some examples.请举例详述你的话。

11 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

12 afflicted   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• About 40% of the country's population is afflicted with the disease. 全国40%左右的人口患有这种疾病。
• A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。

13 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。