Read the following passage and questions, then choose the right answer from options, the answer should be one of A, B, C, D.

<passage>:
Two men had died before Syme Rector's guns to give him the key to the ancient city of Getting through that dome had been his first urgent problem, but now he had another, and a more pressing one. It had been simple enough to pass himself off as an itinerant prospector and gain entrance to the city, after his ship had crashed in the Mare Cimmerium. But the rest would and concluded that he must have reached Lillis. After that, his only safety lay in shipping out on a freighter as soon as possible. He had to get off Mars, because his trail was warm, and the Patrol thorough. didn't know that he was Syme Rector, the most-wanted and most-feared the top of the ramp, and then followed. The man was waiting for him at the mouth of the ascending tunnel. Syme looked at him casually, without a flicker of expression, and "I don't understand," Syme said. Syme murmured something and turned away, feeling the spaceman's eyes even the photograph on the card could be forged once Syme got his hands the transparent tube, Syme followed. He put a half-credit slug into the away. Except for him, the platform was empty. Syme loosened his slim, deadly energy pistol in its holster and padded catlike toward the silent figure. It was over in a minute. The boy whirled as he came up, warned by some slight sound, or by the breath of Syme's passage in the still air. He opened his mouth to shout, and brought up his arm in a swift, instinctive gesture. But the blow never landed. Syme's pistol spat its Syme stooped over him swiftly, found a thick wallet and thrust it into It fell, and in the same instant Syme felt a violent tug at his wrist. little and Syme's fingers slipped a little with each motion. Fraction by slow fraction of an inch, it came up. Syme could feel the sweat pouring from his brow, running saltily into his eyes. His arms felt as if they were being torn from their sockets. Then the hook slipped free, and the tearing, unbearable weight vanished. The reaction swung Syme against the building again, and he almost He heard running footsteps, and then a pale face peered over the ledge at him. He realized suddenly that the whole incident could have taken only a few seconds. He croaked, "Get me up." Wordlessly, the man clasped thin fingers around his wrist. The other pulled, with much puffing and panting, and with his help Syme managed to get a leg over the edge and hoist his trembling body to safety. "Are you all right?" Syme looked at the man, nursing the tortured muscles of his arms. His "I'm not hurt," Syme said. He grinned, his white teeth flashing in his "Never mind," said Syme, taking his arm. "The shock must have busted it They got off at the amusement level, three tiers down, and found a cafe around the corner. Syme wasn't worried about the man he had just killed. He had heard no second thud, so the body must have stayed on after them. Syme watched them through narrowed lids, feeling the glow Syme snapped to attention, every nerve tingling. An indefinable sense, was coming—something that promised adventure and loot for Syme Rector. "Why?" he asked softly. "Why to Kal-Jmar?" Harold Tate told him, and later, when Syme had taken him to his rooms, he showed him what was in his little black suitcase. Syme had been Kal-Jmar was the riddle of the Solar System. It was the only remaining the artifacts, the records of the Martians were all there, perfectly the present decadent Martian race, or a different species. No one knew had tried everything they knew to pierce the wall. Later, however, when every unsuccessful attempt had precipitated a and what is more, he had found a force that would break it down. And so he had made his first trip to Mars, and within twenty-four hours, by the blindest of chances, blurted out his secret to Syme Syme's smile was not tigerish now For Tate was no longer drunk, and it was important that it should not occur to him that he had been indiscreet. "They're unpredictable," Syme told him. "They're built differently, and Syme turned the little sand car up a gentle rise towards the tortuous he offered. "It seems to go more or less where we're going, and if we cross it we'll only come to a couple dozen more." Syme nodded and moved the sand car up to the edge of the gully. Then he was in and would bear the car's weight, and Syme started the car over Neither Syme nor Tate ever had a chance to test the efficiency of their gully. Syme was saying, "What—?" when there was a thunderous crash Syme was cursing slowly and steadily with a deep, seething anger. Tate Syme looked. "Those," he said bitterly, "are Martians." The natives, like all Martian fauna, were multi-legged. Also like all Martian fauna, they moved so fast that you couldn't see how many legs helped to take care of the extremes of Martian temperature. Right now Syme stopped cursing and watched tensely. Tate said nothing, but he One Martian, who looked exactly like all the rest, stepped forward and "Come on," Syme said grimly. He rose and reached for a pressure suit, They bounded along for what Syme figured as a good kilometer and a they could see the walls of the gully—a tunnel, now—getting darker and more solid. Finally, when Syme estimated they were about nine kilometers down, there was even a suggestion of moisture. phosphorescent gleam from fungus along the walls, but Syme couldn't ," he began haltingly, " Syme swore amazedly. "I thought you said they didn't speak Terrestrial," Tate said. Syme "We had our reasons for not doing so," the Martian said. "You had nothing to give us," the Martian said simply. "Never mind that," Syme broke in impatiently. "What do you want with It was a weird situation, Syme thought. His mind was racing, but as yet the Martians from knowing about it? Then he realized that the Martian Syme noticed that the other Martians had retired to the farther side of from them, holding the Benson gun trained on them. Syme tried not to Syme saw all his hopes of treasure and glory go glimmering down the It was like tangling with a draft horse. The Martian was astonishingly strong. Syme scrambled desperately for the gun, got it, but couldn't tear it out of the Martian's fingers. And all the time he could almost feel the Martian's telepathic call for help surging out. He heard the swift pad of his followers coming across the cavern. He put everything he had into one mighty, murderous effort. Every muscle fiber in his superbly trained body crackled and surged with weapon and snapped a shot at the nearest Martian. The creature dropped Syme jumped to his feet and faced his enemies, snarling like the his powerful lungs. At last there were none with guns left to oppose him. He scythed down the rest in two terrible, lightning sweeps of his ray, then dropped the weapon from blistered fingers. He was gasping for breath, and realized that he was losing air from kit at his side, drawing in great, gasping breaths, and fumbled out burned, bleeding leg, but he kept on until the quick-drying fluid formed an airtight patch. Syme glared at him and spat, too enraged to think of diplomacy. He didn't know what to do about it. Still silently, Syme refilled his oxygen tank, watched Tate do the same, and then picked up two spare tanks and the precious black might have drawn them out of the gully, was hopelessly smashed. That

<question>:
How was it that Syme was able to best one of the Martians and escape?

<options>:
A Element of surprise
B It was Tate who actually bested the Martian
C Syme had the more powerful weapon
D His reinforcements arrived

<answer>:

A