Cast with unerring accuracy, the nets prisoned the Futuremen (Chap. XVI) Curtis Newton, wizard of science, and his trio of futuremen blaze a trail across the stars to forestall the coup of Dr. Zarro – leader of a legion of peril! Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE all the resources of the System. I and my Legion must CHAPTER I have temporary dictatorship over the System, if this ter- The Menace from Space rible danger is to be averted." The figure of Doctor Zarro vanished from the televi- T HE big liner Pallas throbbed through space on it sor screen, leaving the operator and the mate of the Pal- regular run from Venus to Earth. In the brightly las thunderstruck. lighted saloons of the big shop, throngs of men and "Who the devil was that?" gasped the stocky mate. women drank, laughed, talked or danced to the haunt- "He didn't look completely human!" ing music of the native Venusian orchestra. The young operator shook bis head dazedly. Now Up in the televisor room, "Sparks" yawned over his the Earth Spaceport dispatcher, reappearing in the tele- instruments. Then the youthful Earthman operator visor, cried: looked up quickly as the stocky first mate of the liner "Did you get that broadcast of the man who caned entered the room. himself Doctor Zarro? He crowded onto all wave-bands "Call Earth Spaceport Four and tell them we'll dock – every televisor in the whole System heard him!" at ten sharp tomorrow," the mate ordered. The dispatcher switched hastily off. Young Sparks Sparks punched his switches, pressed the call-but- looked excitedly up at the mate. ton. The televisor screen broke into light. In it appeared "Do you suppose there's anything to his warning? If the chief dispatcher, on duty at Earth Spaceport 4. a dark star really is coming toward the System –" The dispatcher heard the report and then nodded. "Nuts, there can't be anything to it," the mate de- "Okay, Pallas. We'll have Dock Fifteen ready for –" clared. "It's just a publicity stunt, but a queer one." Then it happened! "It didn't sound like a stunt," Sparks muttered uncer- The televisor went blank as an untuned wave of in- tainly. credible power crowded onto it. Then the image of a He pressed switches, tuning in on many stations. A man appeared in it. kaleidoscope of faces passed across the televisor, "What the devil –" Sparks gasped. The man in the screen. A hurricane of messages was being flashed screen was an extraordinary-looking individual. He back and forth between planets, concerning the startling seemed an Earthman, yet his tall, gaunt, black-clothed broadcast of the self-styled Doctor Zarro. figure, his enormous bulging forehead and skull, and "He's sure stirred up the System!" the operator de- his hypnotically burning black eyes, gave to his aspect clared. "And judging from the messages, not everybody some indefinable but startling aura of the superman. is as skeptical as you." "Doctor Zarro calling the Solar System peoples," he A buzzer sounded from atop the televisor set. rasped in a deep, harsh voice. "People of the nine "General Government Call!" exclaimed Sparks, his worlds, I bring you warning of a dreadful peril – a peril youthful face stiffening. He reached and touched a stud. which your bungling, stupid scientists have not yet An official of the System Government appeared in even discovered. the televisor. He spoke with decisive firmness. "A huge dark star is rushing upon our Solar System "This is to inform the System peoples that the so- from the boundless abyss of outer space! This colossal called Doctor Zarro who broadcast a warning tonight is dead sun is coming from the direction of the constella- merely a cheap faker trying to scare the System," said tion Sagittarius – its exact position is Right Ascension, the official. "His assertions are not true. Astronomers seventeen hours, forty-one minutes, Declination, minus have quickly checked the position in space he gave, and twenty-seven degrees, forty-eight minutes. It is coming found nothing. The dark star does not exist!" straight toward us and will reach our System in several "What did I tell you?" scoffed the first mate as the weeks, at its present speed. This on-coming monster System official switched off. "Just a crazy fake, that's will wreck our System – unless it is turned aside." all." "Maybe," muttered the operator. "But that man did- D OCTOR ZARRO'S rasping voice deepened into a n't look like a faker. He looked queer, powerful – super- reverberating thunder. human!" "I can tum aside that oncoming dark star, if I am giv- "Rats – he's just a crank alarmist," repeated the en power to do so in time!" he shouted. "I alone! I am stocky mate. "The Planet Police will soon hunt him master of forces unknown to your ignorant scientists, down." for I am not really a native of this System at all. Who I B am or what I am does not matter in this emergency. UT the Planet Police did not hunt Doctor Zarro "I am going to form a legion of men who believe in down. Two weeks later the Mercurian newscaster me and will help me avert this peril – a Legion of was announcing: Doom! But to prepare the forces that can turn aside the "– and so the Planet Police have been completely onrushing menace, I must have complete authority over unable to find the mysterious Doctor Zarro who made 1 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE that broadcast, for his wave was of a strange new type shop. A Government announcer was on. whose source could not be located or analyzed. "People of the System, our scientists have now lo- "Karthak, Saturn: A disastrous atomic explosion in cated a dark body of some kind in Sagittarius," admit- this colony today took toll of–" ted the official; "But there is no danger from it! As far The crowd of chromium-miners and engineers in as the scientists have ascertained, it has almost no mass. this little drinking-shop in one of the Twilight Cities of So there's nothing to fear." Mercury paid no further attention to the news bulletins. "See?" exclaimed the bald Earthman miner tri- One of them, a big, bald Earthman miner, had started umphantly. "I told you it was all nonsense." arguing with a little Mercurian engineer. But the others looked worried. One of them, the "I tell you, I heard that broadcast," the Mercurian in- younger Mercurian, voiced what all were thinking. sisted, "and that Doctor Zarro wasn't any Earthman! He "The scientists said at first there was no dark star at looked –" all! Now they admit that Doctor Zarro was right, that "Look – there he is now!" yelled one of the crowd, there is a dark star. They claim it lacks sufficient mass pointing at the televisor. to harm us, even though it's big. Suppose the scientists They stared stupefiedly. The newscaster had been are wrong again? Suppose Doctor Zarro's warning is crowded off the ether, and the tall, gaunt, burning-eyed right?" image of Doctor Zarro had appeared in the screen. They looked at each other in wild surmise. "You did not believe my warning, people of the nine "If it is, then Doctor Zarro is the only one who can worlds," Doctor Zarro thundered. "you chose to believe save us from the dark star! He was the one who told us your stupid 'scientists' instead. But now you shall see about it when our scientists denied even its existence –" for yourself. The dark star approaching is now grown The bald miner shook his head. Like all modern so large that it can be seen in small telescopes. people, he had always had complete faith in the scien- "Look for yourselves to the position in space I men- tists of the System. That faith was still unshaken, even tioned, and you will see that monster dead sun that is though Doctor Zarro had proved the scientists wrong coming nearer to us each fateful minute. Look – and once. see for yourselves whether your 'scientists' or Doctor "I still take our scientists' word against this mysteri- Zarro was right." ous Doctor Zarro's," he declared stubbornly. "They'd The figure of Doctor Zarro vanished from the televi- tell us if there was any real danger –" sor, leaving the gathered miners and engineers gasping. This particular Earthman might persist in his faith. "Another fake warning!" cried the bald Earthman. Others, in various quarters of the System, were losing it "I wonder," muttered the little Mercurian engineer. rapidly. He turned to a younger Mercurian. "Atho, you have a "There is danger! Terrible danger to the whole Sys- small telescope, haven't you? Get it and set it up – we'll tem! And only Doctor Zarro can avert it!" see for ourselves." The speaker was an Earthman colonist of Saturn, a Presently, in the dark street of the metal Mercurian deeply-tanned man of forty whose face could not con- city, they were crowded around the small electro-tele- ceal his deep-seated worry. scope that was pointed toward a spot in the constella- His wife and family and a few friends were gathered tion Sagittarius. with him in his ranchhouse living room. Outside in the "There is something there!" the young Mercurian night stretched the vast plains of Saturn, with lanky Sat- cried. "I can see it!" urnians riding to and fro on their grotesque steeds in the One by one, they stared through the eyepiece. They light of the brilliant moons, herding the queer planetary saw a tiny disk of darkness out there in the Milky Way. cattle. "It's a dark star, all right," muttered the little engi- "The dark star exists – the scientists can't dispute neer. "And it must be of great size, to present a visible that – and it's coming on toward the System at terrible disk far outside the System." speed, judging from the way its visible size increases," the rancher continued earnestly. "If it isn't turned aside T HE motley interplanetary group of men looked at somehow it will wreck the whole System. And Doctor each other. A chill of doubt had settled on them. Zarro's the only one who can possibly turn it aside." "If a dark star is rushing toward the System, it will "How do you know that even Doctor Zarro can do wreck the nine worlds as Doctor Zarro warns!" cried a that?" demanded a Colonial Office clerk skeptically. wide-eyed Venusian. "Maybe we ought to give him the "I don't know, but who could do it if he can't? He System-wide authority he asks for." discovered the approaching dark star long before the "Aw, I still don't believe it," declared the bald Earth- scientists could even see it. Hence, he must have pow- man miner. "Let's see what the Government has to say ers greater than any known to our science. I say: give on it." him the System-wide power he asks, and let him do They crowded back to the televisor in the drinking what he can." 2 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE "It means setting him up as a dictator over the whole it the statements of this Doctor Zarro, but to have faith System," pointed out a neighbor Earthman rancher. that there is no danger –" "It's better to have a temporary dictator than to see "Have faith?" cried the rancher of Saturn. "How can the nine worlds wrecked by a catastrophe!" we have faith in the scientists' assurance that there's no The Earthman voiced what more and more people in danger, when they've fled to save themselves? There is the System were thinking. The scientists had been danger – and Doctor Zarro is the only chance we have proved wrong once by Doctor Zarro. What if they were to avert it!" wrong again? The answer to that meant life or death for "I believe now you're right," his neighbor rancher the System. agreed troubledly. "We'll have to force the Government to turn over all power to Doctor Zarro!" M ORE and more people were proclaiming that I they believed Doctor Zarro's warnings. And the N front of the great tower that housed the System mysterious prophet's followers, his Legion of Doom, Government, in the city of New York on Earth, a had appeared throughout the System. They all wore a vast crowd was demonstrating this night. black, disklike emblem on their sleeves and carried a "The President – and Council – must resign – and similar emblem on the bows of their space cruisers. yield their power – to Doctor Zarro – and the Legion – They sped through the spaceways of the alarmed Sys- till the danger is past!" the crowd was shouting in uni- tem, mysterious couriers of the enigmatic Doctor. son. "Doctor Zarro always broadcasts at this time," the James Carthew, the President of the System Govern- rancher's wife was saying. "Let's see if he's on tonight." ment, stood at the window of his office, looking down They switched on the televisor. Minutes later, the at the surging, terrorized throng. His secretary waited impressive figure of the doctor crowded on the screen. anxiously beside him. "People of the System, your scientists have told you "This can't go on," Carthew said tightly as he looked there was no danger," he shouted. "But where are those down at the swaying crowd being held back by police. scientists now? Where is Robert Jons, the Mercurian "A little more of this, and they'll overturn the Govern- astronomer who ridiculed my warnings? Where is Hen- ment by force." ry Gellimer, the astrophysicist who denounced me as a His fist clenched. faker? Why have the great .scientists' who laughed at "This Doctor Zarro is a cunning plotter playing upon my warnings disappeared? the fears of the System to attain dictatorial power! He's "Those scientists have escaped from the Solar Sys- the most diabolically ingenious schemer that has ever tem to avoid being trapped by the coming catastrophe!" threatened this Government!" Doctor Zarro thundered. "They have fled with their North Bonnel, the young secretary, shook his head families, going outside the System in space ships to in troubled doubt. wait until the catastrophe is over, and then they will re- "But, sir," he reminded, "Doctor Zarro did foretell turn to whatever worlds are spared. They are saving the coming of the dark star, when our greatest scientists themselves, while you billions of people who believed with the most powerful telescopes could not even see in them will perish!" it." As the dark prophet vanished from the screen, the "I know, and I can't understand that," Carthew ad- Earthman rancher and his friends, stunned, looked at mitted. "But that doesn't change the fact that we're up each other. against a devilish scheme to usurp power over the "If those scientists have really fled from the System, whole System. There can't be any real danger in that ap- that proves that Doctor Zarro is right!" cried the ranch- proaching dark star when it has such a ridiculously low er. mass. The public only thinks there is danger, and Doc- "We don't know yet that it's really happened – Doc- tor Zarro is fanning their fears higher every hour." tor Zarro may be lying about it," said the clerk worried- The door of the office burst open. The man who en- ly. tered wore a dark uniform with silver stars on the "Here's a Government bulletin!" shoulders. He was Halk Anders, commander of the The harassed face of a System Government official Planet Police. on a System-wide hookup appeared in the screen, for "Sir, I have to report," he told the President breath- the Government was now following each of Doctor lessly as he saluted, "that those crowds are getting out Zarro's broadcasts with reassuring statements. This of hand. We can hardly hold them out of this building statement was not reassuring. now. I've had calls from headquarters on the other plan- "People of the System, it is true that many of our ets, and the people there are rioting too, calling for most eminent scientists and their families have disap- Doctor Zarro to be given full emergency authority." peared. But we are sure they have not fled – we believe Carthew's lined face whitened. foul play is responsible. We beg the System not to cred- "Haven't you been able yet to locate this Doctor 3 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE Zarro?" he cried. "If we could arrest him and stop those to be annoyed with matters the regular authorities call inflammatory broadcasts of his –" handle –" The stocky commander shook his head. The secretary stiffened. His lips trembled. "We've been unable to find Doctor Zarro's headquar- "You mean – Captain Future?" ters. His broadcasts are on a new-type wave that we "Yes, Captain Future," the President said, his eyes can't track down. We've tried to trail the ships of his still fixed on the rising moon. "If anybody can stop Legion of Doom, but they always manage to give us the Doctor Zarro and his Legion, Captain Future and those slip in space." three weird comrades of his can do it." "What about Jons and Gellimer and all the other sci- He turned abruptly, desperate determination written entists who vanished?" Carthew asked. "Have you on his kindly, bewildered face. learned anything?" "Televise an order to have the North Pole signal- "No, sir." flare set off at once, Bonnel!" North Bonnel turned haggardly to his superior. A half hour later, amid the frozen wastes of eternal "What are we going to do, sir? If the public terror ice at the North Pole, there blossomed a huge flower of increases like this, the Government will be in Doctor flame as a great, dazzling magnesium flare was detonat- Zarro's hands in a week!" ed. Far out in space that brilliant beacon was visible. J AMES CARTHEW'S pale face set. He looked out Throbbing, winking and blinking, it cast its beams out through the eastern window of the tower room, at through the void in silent, urgent appeal. the fun moon that was rising majestically in the heav- "Calling Captain Future!" ens like a great silver shield. "There is one man who can smash Doctor Zarro's Calling the great, glamorous foe of evil, to a strug- plot, if anybody can," he muttered. "I did not want to gle with the mysterious Doctor Zarro's plot against mis- call upon him before this, for he is not the kind of man led humanity! 4 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE CHAPTER II The Futuremen A BARREN, deathly white waste stretched across the surface of the Moon. Beneath the glare of the blaz- ing sun, the lunar plains rolled in eternal silence toward the colossal craters that towered like menacing jagged fangs. Upon this desolate world there was no air, no sound, and no human life – except in one place. Upon the floor of Tycho Crater glittered something like a round crystal lake. It was a big, glassite window set in the lunar rock. Underneath that window, excavated out of the soft rock, was the artificial cavern that was the lab- oratory and home of the most famous man in the System – Captain Future. The big laboratory of the cavern home was bathed in light from the window above it. Here loomed mechanisms and racks of instruments in bewildering array. Giant gen- erators and condensers that could furnish limitless atomic power. Big telescopes and spectro-telescopes whose tubes protruded through the lunar surface. Saturnian rope-snakes pinioned Curt's limbs (Chap. III) 5 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE Chemical and electrical apparatus of bewildering com- "You're an old fraud, Simon," he accused. "You plexity and design. All the crowded equipment of the know as well as I do that I could never have achieved it System's supreme master of science! if you hadn't worked with me." The two individuals working tensely in a corner of At that moment, there was a sudden explosion of an- the laboratory could be heard over the throbbing of a gry, arguing voices from another chamber of the cavern machine. home. One was a loud, Booming, mechanical-sounding "Time to shift the electron-flow, Simon?" the deep, voice. The other voice was hissing, sibilant and furious. clear voice of one was asking. "Grag and Otho are at each other again!" exclaimed "Not yet, Curtis," answered the other's voice, a rasp- Captain Future impatiently. "I swear those two will ing, metallic, unhuman one. "Transmutation is not com- drive me crazy yet." plete yet." He raised his voice in a call. "Grag! Otho!" These two were working with a spherical machine Two creatures of unhumanly weird appearance en- into which the great atomic generators were pouring tered the laboratory in answer to his call. vast power. One of them was a rubbery white android, or syn- One of the two was a big, red-headed young man in thetic man. Otho, the android, was manlike in figure, a gray synthesilk zipper suit. His lithe, broad-shoul- his synthetic flesh having been molded into human dered figure towered six feet four. His tanned, hand- form when he had been made. But his hairless white some, debonair face and flashing gray eyes had a rol- head and face, his slitted green eyes that were flashing licking humor in them that could not hide keen intelli- now with anger, were not like any human's. Nor could gence and deep purpose. any human move with his wonderful quickness and He wore a big ring on his left hand – a ring whose agility. nine jewels were motivated by a tiny atomic power en- Grag, the metal robot, was the other disputant. Tow- gine that kept them moving slowly around a glowing ering seven feet high, his mighty metal arms hinted in- central jewel. This ring, whose jewels represented the credible strength. The chief features in his bulbous met- nine worlds, was known to the whole System as the al head were his two photo-electric eyes that gleamed identifying emblem of Captain Future, the wizard of with living light, and the mouthlike opening of his science and the implacable foe of evil. speech mechanism. There was no creature in the whole Captain Future – or Curtis Newton, by the name so System stronger than Grag, the robot. few knew – stood ready by the lever of the spherical Perched upon Grag's shoulder was a queer, bearlike machine. On a pedestal, watching the gauges of the little animal of inorganic silicate flesh, with strong mechanism, was his fellow-worker. paws, a sharp, inquisitive snout, and bright little black This was Simon Wright, the Brain. He was just that eyes. It was a moon-pup, one of the strange non-breath- – a living human brain that had no body. Instead, his ing creatures found on the lunar plains, who assimilated brain was housed in a square, transparent serum-case, food elements by direct ingestion of the mineral they in the front of which was his resonator speech appara- could crush in their powerful teeth. The little gray crea- tus, on the stalks of which in turn were his lens-eyes. ture was contentedly chewing on a piece of copper "Transmutation's almost complete now," the Brain now. declared in his metallic artificial voice, his glass lens "Now what's the trouble between you two?" Captain eyes closely watching the gauges. "Stand ready to shift Future demanded of the robot and android. "Can't Si- the electron flow." mon and I work for a minute without you two getting A moment later he spoke quickly. "Now!" into your arguments?" Curt Newton slammed down the lever. The throb- "It's Grag's fault!" hissed Otho furiously. He pointed bing of power into the spherical machine ceased. to the little gray bearlike animal. "That damned moon- The red-headed scientific wizard unclamped a door pup pet of his has eaten up one of my best pistols!" and opened it. Out of the mechanism poured a stream G of white powder. RAG, the robot, cuddled the little gray moon-pup "That's done it!" Curt exclaimed. " A hundred protectively with a great metal hand. "It's not pounds of copper, transmuted into pure isotopic boron." Eek's fault, master," he told Captain Future in loud in- dignation. "Eek was hungry – and he loves copper." H E stepped back and mopped bis brow, and then "Either that moon-pup leaves here or I leave!" grinned at the Brain. "Whew, that was a job! But stormed the android. "The beast eats any metal it can it will save us a trip all the way to Uranus, to get that get its paws on – and when it gets hold of some pre- rare isotope." cious metal, it gets howling drunk on it! It's got a lot of "Aye, lad," rasped the Brain. "This transmutation of other habits that make it a pest. It was crazy of Grag to elements is one of your greatest achievements yet." catch the cursed thing and make a tame pet of it." Curt's gray eyes twinkled at him. "We humans like to have pets," the robot defended. 6 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE "Otho does not understand, master, because he is not man. These two artificial creatures, intelligent, strong human like us." faithful, showed Roger Newton that he had at last real- "Not human like you?" Otho howled furiously. ized his dream. "Why, you walking machine-shop, anyone can see that Then disaster struck. The evil plotters who coveted I'm a flesh-and- blood human while you're nothing but a Newton's scientific secrets had trailed him to the Moon. clever mechanism! If I –" There was a fight – and Roger Newton and his young "Now don't start that argument again!" Captain Fu- wife were slain, before the robot and the synthetic man ture interrupted hastily. "I've heard enough of it." killed the murderers. "Aye, and so have I," rasped Simon Wright, the Dying, Elaine Newton entrusted her infant son to the Brain, his lens-eyes dourly surveying the two dis- care of the three unhuman creatures, Brain, robot and putants. "You two are always arguing about which is android. She begged them to rear him to manhood and the most human. And I, who really was human once, implant in him a hatred of all those who used scientific can tell you that it's nothing worth arguing about." gifts for evil ends – to train him as a relentless foe of an "Simon is right," Curt Newton said severely. "Every such as would oppress or exploit the System people. time you two have any time on your hands, you start Simon Wright and Grag and Otho had kept that scrapping with each other, and I'm getting tired of it." promise. They had reared little Curtis Newton to man- Despite his severity of tone, there was a fond twin- hood. And the Brain, with its wonderful scientific kle of affection in the gray eyes of the big red-headed knowledge, had so schooled him that he became a wiz- scientific adventurer, as he surveyed the robot and the ard of scientific ability surpassing his teacher. Grag, the android and the Brain. robot, strongest of living beings, had fostered his These were the Futuremen, the loyal trio of com- strength until it was superhuman. And Otho the an- rades who had fought and sailed around the whole Sys- droid, swiftest and most agile of all creatures, had tem with him! These three weird comrades of his, un- taught him unmatchable speed and deftness. human in form yet superhuman in abilities, had stood at Thus Curtis Newton had grown to manhood on the his side in more than one great struggle out in the solar lonely Moon, with his three unhuman tutors. When he spaces. And, furthermore, the three had reared Curt had reached manhood, the Brain had told him the story Newton from babyhood to manhood, in this very cavern of his origin, and had repeated the dying wish of his home on the Moon. mother that he become champion of the System's peo- Twenty-five years before, Captain Future's parents ples against those who would oppress them. had come secretly to the moon. Roger Newton was a "Will you take up this crusade against interplanetary young Earth biologist who dreamed a great dream. He evil, Curtis?" the Brain had asked. "Will you embark on hoped to create life – artificial, intelligent living crea- this crusade, this fight for the future of the System?" tures who could serve mankind. But his work was in Curtis Newton had made his fateful decision, one danger. Certain ambitious men coveted his scientific that was to change history. discoveries and tried to steal them. "Yes, Simon – someone has to stand up for the Sys- Roger Newton had decided to seek refuge on the tem peoples against their exploiters. And, with you wild, uninhabited Moon. He had sailed secretly in a three helping me, I'll do my best." small rocket for the Moon. And with him had gone his He had added half-humorously: "Since you say I'll young wife, Elaine, and his loyal co-worker and assis- be fighting for the future of the System, I think I'll call tant, Simon Wright – the Brain. myself – Captain Future." Simon Wright had been a famous, aging scientist As Captain Future, then, Curt had offered his ser- who was about to die of incurable disease. Newton had vices to the System President in the war against inter- by brilliant surgery removed Simon's brain and trans- planetary crime. At first doubtful of this strange, red- ferred it into a special serum-case. Ever since, the Brain headed young man, the President had in a desperate had been his most loyal friend. emergency called upon his aid. Newton and his young wife and the Brain had Captain Future and the Futuremen had demonstrated reached the Moon safely, and had built an underground their power, swiftly, relentlessly. Since then, the Presi- home beneath Tycho Crater. There, soon after their ar- dent had called him time and again by the agreed sig- rival, a son was born to the man and woman – a boy nal. And time and again, Curt Newton and his three whom they named Curtis. And there they began the strange, loyal comrades had gone forth in perilous work of creating artificial living creatures. struggle. G C RAG, the robot, was the first creature created by URT was thinking of all that now, as he faced his Roger Newton and the Brain. Their second cre- three comrades. "You two are more than human to ation was not of metal but of synthetic plastic flesh me," he told Grag and Otho impulsively. "So why can't molded into a manlike android – Otho, the synthetic you quit this continual jealousy about which is the most 7 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE human?" mander Anders of the Planet Police, spun around star- "Otho is too overbearing," Grag boomed, cuddling tledly. the moon-pup in his metal arm. "He should remember "Captain Future!" cried Carthew, his voice shrill that I was made before he was." with relief, his fine face working as he came hastily for- "Of course you were-you were such a bad job that ward. they had to try again and make me before they were sat- Y isfied," Otho jeered, with a mocking gleam in his slitted OUNG Bonnel and the burly Commander stared, green eyes. not without awe, at the tall young wizard of sci- "Will you let him talk so, master?" appealed Grag ence and his companions. angrily to Curt Newton. "He –" Curt Newton's big figure radiated power and confi- "The signal!" cried the Brain suddenly. dence as he stood there, the weird trio of the Futuremen Simon's lens-eyes had glanced up through the win- behind him – giant Grag, the Brain he held, and the rub- dow overhead at the great green sphere of Earth. The bery android. cry of the Brain made the other three look up instantly. "What's wrong, sir?" Curt demanded of the Presi- There upon the great cloudy green planet hanging in dent. "What does that rioting crowd down there want?" starry space, upon the white patch at the North Pole, a "They want me to turn the System Government over blazing pinpoint of light was pulsing and throbbing. to Doctor Zarro and his Legion!" burst Carthew. "It is the signal!" Captain Future said gravely. "Doctor Zarro?" Curt's eyebrows rose. "Who the "We're needed." devil is that?" Captain Future's debonair tanned face had changed, "You haven't heard him?" cried Bonnel incredulous- grown grim. His nostrils were flaring, his brilliant gray ly. "Why, the whole System has heard his broadcasts eyes had something chill and hard as steel in them now. about the dark star." The Futuremen were gripped by the same strange "What dark star?" snapped Captain Future. "I've emotion. The call from Earth! The tocsin that sum- heard nothing. Simon and I have been engaged for moned these four to action! It was for this call that they weeks in advanced electronic experiments. Tell me waited through long weeks, living and working in the what's been going on." lunar laboratory . James Carthew told him, in hasty, stumbling words. Captain Future's voice rang like a silver trumpet "Nine-tenths of the people now believe utterly in summoning to battle. Doctor Zarro's warnings!" Carthew finished hoarsely. "To the Comet! That call admits of no delay. The "They want me to turn over all power to him, because President never calls for nothing." he claims he can avert the peril." "Pick me up, Grag," rasped the Brain's calm, metal- Curt's gray eyes snapped. lic voice. "Obviously this Doctor Zarro is merely using the The robot picked up the handle of the Brain's case. dark star as a pretext to usurp dictatorial power. You With the moon-pup clinging to his other arm, Grag say the System astronomers are convinced that there is started with hasty strides after Curt Newton and Otho. no real peril in the dark star?" Ten minutes later a small ship shaped like an elon- "Yes. They all agreed that the dark star has far too gated tear-drop rose from an underground hangar on the small a mass to be a danger. Though it is hard to be- lunar surface. It was the Comet, super-swift craft of the lieve so large a body could have so small a mass." Futuremen, known far and wide through the System as "Simon and I will check on that by observing the the swiftest ship in space. dark star for ourselves," muttered Curt. "But first this Two hours later, so swift was its flight, the Comet Doctor Zarro has to be caught and silenced before he screamed down through the stratosphere of Earth's spreads more panic." night side. Curt Newton dropped the little craft straight Commander Anders shook his head hopelessly. toward the great Government Tower that rose above all "We can't find Doctor Zarro! It is impossible to lo- other structures of brilliant New York. cate the hidden base he and his Legion are using. And The Comet came to rest on the truncated tip of the more scientists keep disappearing – Kansu Kane, the tower. As Curt and the Futuremen emerged, they saw in astro-physicist of Venus Observatory, vanished an hour the plaza far below a great crowd that surged riotously ago!" against a line of Police. "It's legitimate to infer that Doctor Zarro's Legion is Curt's lip tightened. behind these vanishings," Curt said. "We must have a "Something's damned wrong, from the look of starting point. I think we'll go to Venus and try to pick things. Come on – hurry –" up the trail –" They hastened down a stairway that led directly into The desk televisor buzzed suddenly. Commander the private office of the System President. The three Halk Anders sprang toward it. men in that office, Carthew, his secretary, and Com- "I ordered all calls from Venus routed to me here," 8 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE he exclaimed. "It may be one of our agents there –" tonight for the attempt. When they come, I'll be waiting He pressed a button. In the televisor screen appeared for them!" the face of a strikingly pretty Earth girl, with dark, The Brain's lens-eyes doubtfully watched the keen, wavy hair. Her small, firm face was pale, her brown eager brown face of the young scientific wizard. eyes flashing excitedly. "But if the Legion men heard Joan telling us of their "Joan Randall!" exclaimed Curt Newton. plans, they won't be foolish enough to come here," he He recognized the girl as one of the ace secret objected. agents of the Planet Police. She had helped him on "I doubt if they heard. We've got to chance it. Jupiter recently in the case of the Space Emperor. They'll have Joan and Kansu Kane with them as cap- "Captain Future!" cried the girl joyfully. "Then tives when they come to kidnap Gatola. We'll turn the you're working against Doctor Zarro? Thank heavens!" tables on them – if we're lucky." Grag the robot shifted his great metal body uneasily. S HE spoke with urgent rapidity. "I think I've got a He had been standing listening with Otho and the lead to this Doctor Zarro. I was here on Venus Brain, with the little bright-eyed moon-pup chewing when Kansu Kane, the scientist, vanished an hour ago. playfully on his arm. He was kidnapped by the Legion of Doom. I trailed the "Of course we can overcome these Legion men, Legion men who did it to their ship, and heard them say master," he said with heavy subtlety. their next job would be to seize Gatola, the Martian as- Curt grinned at him. "Nothing doing, Grag – you tronomer –" stay here in the ship with Simon. Otho goes with me." Joan suddenly stopped. She exclaimed: "Someone's "You always take him!" Grag complained loudly. trying to get in here! If the Legion saw me and followed "Why can't I go too?" me –" Otho laughed jeeringly. "Do you suppose we want a She disappeared from the screen. They heard the bunch of rusty machinery clanking along with us crash of a bursting door, then a scream. The televisor through the city? You stay here with your crazy little went dark. pet – and keep him from eating up my equipment, or I'll "Joan!" cried Captain Future. There was no answer. toss him out into space somewhere." "The Legion of Doom realized she was spying on Eek, the gray moon-pup, thrust its sharp snout to- them! They've kidnapped her too, lad!" rasped the ward Otho and made a furious grimace, its chisel-like Brain. teeth clashing. The moon-pup was telepathic, that being the only means of communication evolved by its species on the airless, soundless moon. It fully understood Otho's dis- CHAPTER III like, and reciprocated heartily. On Desert Mars "You have hurt Eek's feelings!" Grag boomed wrath- T fully. "you are always picking on him, just because he HE cold night wind whispered across the Martian has to have a little metal to eat sometimes." desert, seeming to murmur of mystery and a "A little?" echoed Otho. "The cursed beast ate half a mighty past. It sighed like a chill, alien breath toward steelite stanchion today before we stopped him!" the lighted towers of Syrtis, the equatorial Martian C metropolis in the distance. URT NEWTON had turned and was speaking Out here in the moonlit desert a mile from the city earnestly to the Brain, whose case rested on his Syrtis, the Comet lay motionless between two conceal- special pedestal. ing sand dunes. Inside the little ship, in the super-com- "Simon, while I'm gone you can make some photo- pact laboratory that occupied its mid-section, Captain graphic and spectroscopic studies of the dark star. Es- Future was rapidly preparing for a perilous enterprise. pecially, we need some accurate measurements of its His red hair almost touched the ceiling as his tall mass." figure strode to and fro, explaining his plan to the Fu- "Aye, lad," rasped the Brain. "I should have them all turemen. in a few hours." "It's our one chance to get Joan Randall out of the The mid-section of the Comet, in which Curt and the hands of the Legion of Doom, and to get a lead to Doc- Futuremen now were, contained all the facilities the tor Zarro!" he explained, his gray eyes alight. "That's Brain would need for his researches. Electro-tele- why I wanted to come straight to Mars from Earth, after scopes, spectro-telescopes, bolometers, and compact we realized Joan had been captured. Joan said that the spectro-heliographs crowded the corner devoted to as- Legion, or those of it who kidnapped Kansu Kane, were tronomical science. Marvelous photographic equipment coming next to Mars to abduct Gatola, the astronomer- occupied a place next to the file, which contained spec- director of Syrtis Observatory. They should arrive here tra of all System bodies and of thousands of stars, and 9 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE atmosphere-samples of all worlds. Earthmen colonists, planters, prospectors and space- Yet this was only a corner of the flying-laboratory sailors were in the crowds. They were out-numbered by of the scientific wizard. The botanical section held hun- the throngs of native Martians, big-chested, stilt-limbed dreds of specimen plants and vegetable drugs from men with leathery red faces and bald heads. many planets. In the mineralogical cabinet were sam- Captain Future heard an Earthman colonial official ples of minerals from Mercury to Pluto, The chemical speaking with hoarse earnestness to the seething crowd. section held containers of every element known to sci- "Don't let Doctor Zarro's alarmist broadcasts drive ence. as well as wonderfully complete chemical appara- you to rash action!" he shouted. "The Government and tus. And the bio-medical corner comprised every neces- scientists have assured us there is no danger from the sary instrument for exhaustive biological research, as dark star –" well as a folding operating table upon which Captain "The scientists!" jeered a fierce Martian voice. Future had more than once shown his superlative skill "They denied at first there was any dark star at all! And in surgery. now most of them have fled out of the System for safe- The laboratory was completed by an exhaustive ref- ty." erence library – a library without books. It was a square "Yes!" yelled a chorus of supporting voices. "They metal cabinet that held every scientific book and mono- can't help us in this peril. Doctor Zarro is the only one graph of value that had ever been published, reduced to who can save us. Give Doctor Zarro the power he microfilm which could be read through a special appa- asks!" ratus. "The crazy fools!" muttered Otho. "Begging for a "I'll check all data on the dark star," the Brain was dictator, just because they're scared by a pack of lies." repeating to curt. "But you be careful, lad!" Curt's tan face was grave. "Unless Doctor Zarro and "I'll look out that he doesn't do anything rash, Si- his broadcasts are stopped soon, he'll be the System dic- mon," promised Otho importantly. tator. Things are worse than I thought – we've little "And who'll look out for you, you crazy excitement- time!" hunter?" demanded the Brain witheringly of the an- H droid. "Trouble draws you like a magnet." E and the android pressed on across the city and Curt laughed at the crestfallen android. soon reached the Syrtis Observatory. It lay a little "Come on, Otho – the observatory is on the other outside the city in the desert, its huge dome bulking side of Syrtis, two miles away. We'll have to hurry." black and silent. They emerged into the nipping chill of the Martian In the shadowy interior, a bald, red, middle-aged night, tramped through the sands toward the lighted Martian sat at a lighted desk beneath the great tele- towers of Syrtis, Curt in a long, swinging stride, Otho scope, calculating. He sprang up with a cry as he moving as lithely and soundlessly as a shadow. glimpsed Curt and the unhuman android. Curt looked up with a tingling of his blood at Pho- "What – who –," he stammered. Then as Curt held bos and Deimos, the two brilliant moons hurtling low out his left hand, he glimpsed the big ring. "Captain Fu- across the brooding desert. It had been months since he ture!" had been on Mars, and the magic of this old world of "You're Gatola, director here?" Curt said sharply. whispering deserts touched him strongly. The Martian, staring awedly at him nodded. Ahead bulked the city. It was a typical Martian city "A party of the Legion of Doom is coming to kidnap of slender stone towers whose upper stories were larger you. They'll be here any moment." than the lower, giving them a topheavy look. Dizzy gal- Gatola's eyes dilated. "Gods of Mars, if they –" leries and stairs joined the towers. Only on a low-gravi- "But you're not going to be here when they come, ty world was such architecture possible. Gatola," Curt continued. "Otho, my comrade, will take Captain Future could see that the brightly lit center your place." of the city was crowded. From it came a babel of excit- He turned to the android. ed voice. "All right, Otho – make up as this Martian. And hur- "Shall we see what's going on?" Otho asked eagerly. ry it!" The devil-may-care android was always drawn by ex- "Do I ever lag?" hissed Otho indignantly. He was citement. clawing his disguise-equipment from a square pouch at "No,we've enough on our hands now," Curt told him his belt. severely. "We mustn't lose any time getting to the ob- From a small lead flask, Otho sprayed a colorless servatory." chemical oil onto his head and body. Otho's rubbery white synthetic flesh was wholly un- H E and Otho skirted the crowded central streets, like ordinary flesh. It could be softened by chemical keeping their concealing cloaks and hoods agents, and when soft, it was as plastic and easy to wrapped around them. mold as clay. That fact made the android the greatest 10 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE "So this miserable brain in a box is the famous Brain," mocked Doctor Zarro (Chap. IX) 11 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE master of disguise in the System's history. them, do anything short of getting yourself killed, to de- In a few minutes Otho's queer flesh became soft and lay them in here. That will give me a chance to get into putty-like – all except his hands, which he had been their ship and get Joan and Kansu Kane out." careful to leave unchanged. Now he began to mold the "It sounds dangerous for you!" Otho protested. flesh of his own body into new outlines, like a sculptor "Why couldn't we have had a squad of the Planet Police working on himself! here to seize these mysterious devils when they come?" His legs he molded into thin, stilt-like ones similar "The Legion would resist and Joan would probably to the Martian's. He expanded his chest. And finally he be killed," Curt retorted. "And I'm counting on getting a molded his face into an exact replica, feature for fea- lead to Doctor Zarro from what she's learned." ture, of Gatola's face. "And you are sort of anxious about this Police girl anyway, aren't you?" Otho asked slyly. Curt gave him a cuff that sent the laughing android spinning. "This isn't any time for your damned nonsense. Get over to that telescope and try to act as though you knew something about astronomy." "What do you mean, 'act'?" Otho hissed indignantly. "I know more about other worlds than the old men who sit in these places and peer at them. I don't study astron- omy – I live it!" Chuckling, Curt hastened back out of the shadowy observatory .He crouched down in the shadow, loosen- ing his proton-pistol in its holster, and waited. Time passed slowly. But Captain Future had learned patience from Grag the robot, who could sit for a week without moving his metal limbs. The red-haired scientific wiz- ard remained concealed, watching and waiting. Presently Phobos set. The night became pitch dark, except for the thin rays of the great hosts of stars shin- ing down upon the age-old deserts. A little wind moaned through the night. Curt noticed a small black object circling high against the stars. At first, he thought it was a Martian Captain Future owl. Then his super-keen hearing caught the dim throb- bing of muffled rocket- tubes. Then his flesh hardened, grew rubbery and firm "The Legion of Doom ship!" he muttered. "Coming again, retaining the new outlines. Rapidly Otho stained for Gatola –" himself with red dye from his make-up pouch. And Otho finally stood, an exact replica of Gatola, as though N OW the ship was swooping down in a wide spiral an uncanny twin. toward the observatory, swinging down out of the "All done, Chief," Otho reported to Captain Future, stars without lights and with its rocket-tubes almost speaking in an accurate reproduction of the Martian's silent, a black, phantom craft – its attached space boats voice. and grim batteries of atom-guns vaguely outlined. It Gatola's eyes were protruding in amazement. But came to rest near the observatory, and Curt saw its Curt gave the Martian no time to voice his bewilder- door opening. ment. A dozen men emerged, soundlessly as shadows. "Leave here at once, Gatola," Captain Future or- Two took up their places as guards outside the ship's dered. "Otho will take your place here for tonight. Un- door, the starlight glinting on their atom-pistols. The derstand?" others moved silently and rapidly toward the observato- "I don't understand," said the Martian dazedly, "but ry. I'll go. I'll go home, and stay there." Captain Future crouched lower in the shadow as When the Martian had gone, Curt gave Otho his fi- they passed. In the starlight, they appeared as Earthmen nal instructions. wearing a gray uniform, on each shoulder the black "If the Legion of Doom ship comes, it will land out- disk of the Legion of Doom. Led by hulking, heavy- side. Part of its crew at least will come in here to seize treading giant, they entered the building. Gatola – you. I want you to argue with them, resist "Damn those guards!" Curt thought, peering at the 12 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE two Legionaries standing outside the ship door. compartment. He stared at Curt, then reached for his He drew out a disklike instrument from his tungstite atom-gun. belt. "Annoying, but necessary," he muttered. "I'll have Curt was already triggering his proton-pistol. It to resort to invisibility, if I want to avoid their giving an could be set either to kill or to stun, and it was a stun- alarm." ning ray that licked out now. The pale, thin beam One of the greatest secrets of the red-haired scientif- dropped the man in his tracks. ic wizard was his power of making himself invisible. Then Curt saw the door in the corridor that had a bar He did it by giving his body a temporary charge of across it. He unbarred and swung it open. Inside was a force which refracted all light around it, making him dark little blank-walled chamber, but he could see two completely unseen. The effect lasted only for ten min- people. utes – but that should be time enough, Curt thought. One was an Earth girl in a gray silk zipper suit, sit- He held the disklike instrument over his head, and ting with her dark head bowed tiredly in her hands. The pressed its stud. An unseen force streamed down other was a little, withered, wasplike old Venusian. through his body, tingling through every fiber. Looking "Joan! Kansu Kane!" Curt whispered tensely. down at himself, he saw his body becoming rapidly "Come on – we're getting out of here!" translucent, misty. At the same time, darkness seemed Joan Randall looked up, and as she saw the tall, to close around him. broad-shouldered, red-haired young man standing with He heard an uproar from inside the observatory – pistol raised in the doorway, she uttered a little cry of Otho shouting in Gatola's voice, a clatter of feet and pure, tremulous joy. banging of furniture. Otho was doing his part to hold up "Captain Future! I knew you'd come –" the Legion men in there. "Not so loud!" Curt cautioned. Then he whirled Curt found himself in utter darkness. He knew that round. "Too late – you've done it now!" be was now completely invisible. All light was being A shout of alarm from somewhere in the ship had refracted around him – and that left him entirely with- followed the girl's cry. Legion men from the stern ap- out power of vision. peared in the corridor, running toward them. Curt's pro- But Captain Future had spotted the exact direction ton-beam flashed and dropped half of them. But others and distance of the door of the Legion ship. Now be were yelling to the party in the observatory. moved toward it. "It's a trap of Captain Future! Come away!" Curt, from long practice, and because of bis super- Curt plunged forward, triggering his proton-pistol. keen sense of hearing, could move without sight almost But one of the Legion men, an evil-faced Earthman as well as an ordinary man who saw. He crept hastily dwarf, had produced a handful of wriggling things that forward, and as he neared the ship he could bear the he flung at Captain Future. breathing of the two guards outside its door. "Rope-snakes!" screamed Joan. "Look out –" He passed right in between them, stepping up It was too late. The pink, wriggling things were Sat- through the air-lock of the ship and into a metal corri- urnian rope-snakes, tamed and used by interplanetary dor. He heard voices, throbbing cyclotrons. He stood, criminals. waiting tensely for the invisibility to pass – he must They flashed around Curt's limbs with incredible have sight, to find Joan in this ship. The uproar from in- speed and tightened, pinioning him. Others had fas- side the observatory was louder. Otho was doing nobly tened around Joan and Kansu Kane. Curt struggled to in the job of making trouble for his abductors. Curt break the living bonds. could imagine that the android was having a wonderful The evil-faced Legion dwarf was shouting to the time in there. The darkness enveloping Captain Future outside. began to dissipate. His invisibility was passing. In a "Kallak, come on! Let Gatola go – we're blasting moment, he could see. off!" He stood in a corridor leading toward the stern of The Legion men from the observatory, led by a the Legion cruiser. Back there were the droning power- huge, hulking Earthman giant, came rushing back into cyclotrons, and the voices of the men who tended them. the cruiser. Curt, from his encyclopedic knowledge of space craft, "Cyclotrons on – blast off!" the dwarf yelled. concluded the prisoners would be forward. The ship's rocket-tubes roared. It lurched up from the ground as Captain Future fought furiously to free T HE big red-headed young man found a corridor himself. leading forward and raced soundlessly along its But Otho had come running toward the rising ship. dim length, bis proton-pistol gripped in his hand. His eyes blazing, his body battered by fighting, the syn- "Otho can't keep that up much longer," he muttered thetic man leaped up toward the still open door of the under his breath. "Where the devil –" ship. A Legion man popped out into the corridor from a No one in the System but the android could have 13 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE made the incredible leap. Otho's hands clutched the The dwarf was drawing an atom-gun from his belt edge of the door, and he dangled in space as the ship when one of the Legion men stepped forward, roared up across the dark desert. These men of the Legion of Doom, Curt saw, were all Earthmen. Yet there was something queer about C URT, struggling, yelled a warning as he saw a Le- their appearance, something that did not escape Captain gion man stoop to drag Otho into the ship so the Future's keen eyes. There was a whiteness and immo- door could be closed. The Legionary, still believing bility about their faces, a lack of expression in their that the android was Gatola, was trying at the last eyes. Even their clothing had a strange, stiff look. minute to capture him. "Roj, you cannot kill this man," said the one who Otho and the Legionary who had grabbed him were had stepped forward, in a slurred, husky voice. "Re- struggling when the ship lurched wildly as more rocket- member the orders of Doctor Zarro." tubes were cut in. Curt was struggling to get to the aid The dwarf swore, but put his pistol back into his of the android but could not. belt. Then Otho and his antagonist, dislodged by the sud- "I'll call the Doctor," he said. "I think he'd want me den lurch, were hurled out of the open door and fell to get this devil Captain Future out of the way." downward together into the darkness. And the Legion The televisor apparatus of the ship was in a cubby cruiser roared on up into the starry sky. off this corridor. Curt saw the dwarf approach it and switch on the set, then push the call-button. He heard Joan and Kansu Kane, pinioned like him- self by rope-snakes, twisting futilely near him on the CHAPTER IV floor. Flight into Peril "Take it easy, Joan," he whispered. "We'll get out of this somehow." His mind had settled into a calm, stern C APTAIN FUTURE struggled to break free of his resolve. living bonds. The girl's voice was choked. It was impossible. A half-dozen of the pink rope- "It's all my fault you got into it, Captain Future! If snakes had wound around his arms and legs by now. you hadn't tried to rescue me –" These Saturnian serpents had incredible strength in Roj had got his call through. In the screen of the their supple bodies. The criminals of the System had televisor appeared the head and shoulders of a man. long made use of them, taming and training the crea- It was Doctor Zarro. And Curt, lying helpless, stared tures. up at the image of the supreme plotter he had vowed to The Legion dwarf came over and looked down bale- smash. fully at Curt. He was an Earthman of past middle age, D with a seamed, repulsive face and malevolent black OCTOR ZARRO'S gaunt, black-clothed figure eyes. was rigid, his enormous, bulging skull poised Beside him stood the hulking Earthman giant he had stiffly as he heard the dwarf's report. Then his burning, called Kallak, an incredibly huge man with enormous hypnotic black eyes looked down from the screen at the shoulders, a small head, and a rather stupid face. prisoners. The dwarf kicked Curt's bound body viciously. "So – Captain Future, the supreme meddler of the "So the famous Captain Future decided to set a trap System, tries to meddle with me," rasped Doctor Zarro for the Legion of Doom?" he snarled. "And then fell in a harsh, deep voice. His superhuman eyes flamed at into his own trap!" Curt. "You fool! I am the only one who can save the Curt, recognizing the futility of struggle, looked up System from the peril rushing toward it!" calmly. "Don't try to tell me that," Curt retorted, his gray "I know you," Captain Future said levelly. "Your eyes and tanned face contemptuous. "If there really was name is Roj – you were a biologist with criminal ten- any peril and you could do anything, you'd put your dencies. You made that man Kallak a giant by glandu- abilities at the service of the Government. You're sim- lar injection, and used him to help you in your crimes. ply scheming for power. You were caught five years ago, and you and Kallak "I've met others like you," Curt continued stingingly. were given life sentences on Cerberus, the prison "The Lords of Power, who had half the System in their moon." grip. The Space Emperor, who loosed an evil blight on "Your memory is good," said the dwarf venomously. Jupiter. I broke their devilish schemes. And I'll break "But you forget to mention that it was the evidence you yours. That's a warning." obtained against me that sent me to Cerberus." "You warn me?" echoed Doctor Zarro violently. His eyes were ugly. "I've a score to settle with you, "You forget, Captain Future, that you're the prisoner!" Captain Future. And I'll never have a better chance –" "Shall I kill him at once, Doctor?" the dwarf Roj 14 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE cried eagerly. "I have never been so rudely treated in my life! The "No, you must not kill him – and you know why," idea of tossing the head of the South Venus Observato- the black prophet rasped to the dwarf. "Bring him on ry, the discoverer of the Cepheid Nebula, the author of out here to headquarters with the others. I think he'll the double-spectra theory, like a sack of vegetables!" like our Hall of Enemies." He fairly sputtered. "I shall make these men rue this! Roj sniggered with evil mirth, "Yes, yes, Doctor – I'll prosecute them through the interplanetary courts! I he will enjoy the Hall, and so will the girl and the am not a vengeful man, but this treatment is too much!" Venusian." Curt could not help grinning at the testy little man's Kansu Kane, the captive Venusian astronomer, shrill indignation. raised his voice in shrill protest. "Calm down – you can't prosecute them just yet," he "This is all an outrage!" shrilled the waspish little told the Venusian. Venusian to the image of Doctor Zarro. "I shall take ex- Joan Randall had come to Curt's side. She looked up treme steps, unless you release us. I shall report you to at him, her brown eyes wide and her fine, firm little the Police, sir!" face pale with self-reproach. Curt Newton, despite his situation, could not help "If I hadn't cried out when you appeared, this would- smiling at the angry little scientist's threat. n't have happened, " she said heart-brokenly. Doctor Zarro paid the astronomer no attention. He Curt patted her shoulder. "You couldn't help it, Joan. was rasping orders to the dwarf. And you did more than any other secret agent when you "Make all speed for headquarters," he told Roj got on the trail of the Legion of Doom at Venus, and harshly. "And see that you keep that devil Future safe – gave us the tip that they were coming here to Mars to he's got the reputation of being slippery, remember." abduct Gatola. It's too bad that the scheme Otho and I "He won't slip out of my hands," Roj promised with prepared fell through." malevolent emphasis. "Do you think Otho was killed when he fell from the Doctor Zarro disappeared from the televisor. The ship with that Legion man?" Joan asked anxiously. dwarf turned and snapped orders. "That's worrying me, though Otho can stand a lot," "Put all three prisoners back in the supply room, Curt said. His lips tightened. If any harm had come to where we were keeping the girl and the Venusian," he him, God help these Legionaries, he thought. He'd have commanded. revenge for Otho! The huge, stupid giant Kallak stooped and lifted "What could you do about it?" said Kansu Kane Captain Future's bound form as though he were a child. gloomily. "We can't even escape from this chamber." Curt realized that this glandular giant's strength was Captain Future smiled at the morose little man. "I've colossal. been in tighter places than this, and got away." Legion men picked up Joan and Kansu Kane. They Through the window, he looked out on interplane- were tossed unceremoniously into the small chamber in tary space. The Legion cruiser, quivering to the thrust the fore of the ship, where Joan and Kansu had previ- of its rocket tubes, was throbbing at ever-increasing ously been confined. speed through the void. Roj took Captain Future's tungstite belt and proton- The red disk of Mars and the blazing sun lay dead pistol from him, and tossed them out into the corridor. astern. The cruiser was flying directly outward. Then the dwarf brought out a small instrument which "We're heading for the outer part of the System," he touched to bring forth a long, twanging sound. Curt muttered. "The only two planets in the sector of space ahead of us are Uranus and Pluto. Doctor Zarro's A T that sound, the pink rope-snakes that pinioned base may be on one of those two worlds." the prisoners relaxed and uncoiled. The creatures "Captain Future, who are these men of the Legion?" flashed wrigglingly out to the dwarf in the corridor, and Joan asked. "I don't mean Roj and Kallak – I mean the into the bag he held. others. They look like Earthmen, yet there's something Captain Future sprang up instantly. But as he did so, strange and stiff about them. Their voices are queer, the door of the chamber was slammed and the bar fell too. And when one of them touched me, his hands did- across it outside. n't feel like the hands of an Earthman at all." Curt helped Joan Randall and the Venusian to their "They're certainly an odd-looking bunch," Curt feet. agreed, frowning. "I wonder if –" "This is a nice little cage to get myself into," he de- T clared disgustedly. He was feeling the sting of self-re- HEN he broke off impatiently. "This is no time for proach. speculation. The important thing is to break loose Kansu Kane, the withered little Venusian, was before we're delivered to Doctor Zarro. I don't know bursting with wrath, and his indignation exploded shril- what his Hall of Enemies may be, but I've an idea it's ly. something highly unpleasant." 15 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE Curt felt the loss of his tungstite belt. Inside that and call the Futuremen to come in the Comet – and then belt, hidden in secret compartments, were compact in- we'll find out whether Doctor Zarro's secret base is at struments and tools that had gotten him out of more Uranus or at Pluto." than one tight spot. Curt approached the door, listened, and then, satis- He inspected the window, a mere little glassite loop- fied that no one was in the corridor outside, turned his hole. tiny instrument against the metal at the edge of the "If we broke this, we'd simply perish of asphyxiation door. when our air leaked out into space," he muttered. "So A that's out." LITTLE jet of white atomic fire burst from the The door was the only other alternative. It was solid diminutive improvised blaster. It burned into the metal, and the bar outside it was heavy. Strength would heavy metal in a ragged, scorched gash. Deeper and not avail here. deeper it cut. But he thought he saw a glimmering chance. He sat Curt was tense. His little jet of force was now burn- down and took off the big emblem ring on his left hand. ing deep into the metal, but he knew that the atomic en- With deft fingers, he began taking the famous ring ergy stored in the tiny instrument must be almost ex- apart. hausted. He played the jet up and down, seeking to cut "There's a tiny atomic engine in this ring that keeps through the bar outside. its 'planet' jewels moving," the red-haired wizard of sci- The hissing fire-jet sputtered, then went out. The lit- ence told his companions. "But it'll take me time to take tle tool was exhausted, useless. it apart." Captain Future pressed gently against the door. It "I don't see w hat good your tiny engine will do did not give. The bar outside still held. you," said Kansu Kane, staring. He felt a pang of disappointment. Putting his shoul- Curt smiled. "You never can tell! Maybe I can book der against the door, he heaved with all his strength. it up to the ship's rocket-tubes, and make the craft turn The door flew open. The bar had been almost cut around." through – and his strong push had broken it completely. Kansu Kane looked astounded. "Hook it up to the –" "Come on!" Captain Future whispered to the others, Then the Venusian stiffened. "You're joking, young his gray eyes snapping with excitement. "There's a man. And your jokes are in bad taste, considering our space-boat on the starboard side forward – I noticed it situation. My great work on the nature of the An- when the ship landed back there at the observatory." dromedan binaries is only half completed, and here I They started forward in the corridor. Curt was look- am, being hauled off to the wild outer regions of the ing for something as he advanced. Then he saw what he System! And you, sir, can make jests about it!" sought. Curt chuckled. "Calm down, Kansu. If my idea There was a small gun-locker at the side of the corri- works, we'll get you back to the Andromedan binaries." dor, hung with atomic weapons and tools. In there, The cruiser throbbed on and on. As he worked on upon a hook, hung his own gray tungstite belt and pro- the minute parts of the ring mechanism, Curt was think- ton-pistol. ing of the Futuremen. He knew that they would never "I was hoping I could find this," he exclaimed joy- rest until they found him. But they would have no idea fully, taking a rapid step toward the locker. of whither he had been taken. Lacking a clue, they "Captain Future!" Joan's cry was low, agonized. would have to comb space helplessly in blind search. A stiff-faced Legionary had just entered the corridor "We must be well beyond the orbit of Jupiter," Kan- from the control-rooms forward. The man reached for su Kane declared. "And still flying on outward. I his gun. thought you had some wonderful idea for getting us out Curt was already diving for the gun-locker. With the of here." phenomenal speed that Otho the android had taught "It isn't very wonderful, but it may do the trick," him, he snatched his proton-pistol, whirled, and fired. Curt replied, getting to his feet. He held out the tiny in- The thin, pale beam lanced down the corridor and strument in his hand. "I've made the little atomic engine dropped the Legionary stunned in his tracks. of my ring into an atomic blast. It will spend all its en- "Quick!" cried Captain Future, buckling his belt on ergy in a few minutes, but it may be able to cut through hastily. "They'll find this man in a minute." the metal of the door and the bar." He was leading them into a low, cramped compart- "And even if it does, and we get out of this dismal ment at the starboard side. Outside its wall, bolted to chamber, what then?" asked Kansu Kane gloomily. the hull of the cruiser, was one of the little space-boats "Are you going to try to capture the ship?" intended for use as life-boats in case of wreck. A round "Too many of them for that," Captain Future said. door gave entrance through the wall of the cruiser into "We'll try to sneak away in one of the space-boats. If the little craft. we can do that, we can get to a televisor somewhere Joan Randall scrambled through into the space-boat. 16 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE Kansu Kane was following, when the little astronomer The old thrill of space-fighting came to Captain Fu- stopped. ture as he twisted and dodged out here between the "I've got to go back to our cell!" he exclaimed. "I stars. But the cruiser had too great an advantage in left some of my notes on the Andromedan binaries speed to be shaken off. And twice the space-boat ran there – I was studying them and left them on the floor" into strong ether-currents that tossed it violently, mak- The little Venusian actually started back. But Cap- ing it lose ground. The Legion cruiser was steadily tain Future grabbed him in time. overtaking them. "Are you crazy?" Curt demanded. "Get in there after Curt wondered why the cruiser didn't blast them out Joan." of space with its atom-guns. They could have done it, Kansu Kane sputtered. "You can 't order me around he knew. Why had Doctor Zarro been so determined to like a servant, sir! I have rights –" make them prisoners? Curt ended the argument by shoving the irate little "They're getting closer ," Joan faltered. astronomer bodily into the space-boat. He leaped in af- The space-boat was suddenly caught by another and ter him, spun shut the round door of the space-boat; and stronger ether-current, that gripped it and swept it away then began hastily unscrewing the bolts that held it to despite the force of its rocket-tubes. the cruiser hull, With the wrench hung there for the C purpose. APTAIN FUTURE fought to break clear of this strong, invisible current, but the rocket-tubes T HE last bolt gave way. Captain Future leaped for- seemed utterly powerless. At appalling speed, the ward through the single compartment of the space- space-boat was whirled through the void. boat, to the simple controls. He opened one of the throt- He realized the terrible peril into which they had tles carefully. fled. Its nearness had been haunting him during all this The space-boat veered aside from the towering wall time. of the racing cruiser, and began moving off in a course "The cruiser has given up the pursuit!" Joan cried at right angles to that of the larger ship. It was impelled joyfully. "They're turning back – leaving us!" by a subdued blast of its own small rocket-tubes. Captain Future's tanned face was grim. The Legion ship, a black, unlighted mass, moved on "They're doing so because they don't want to be away through the vast gulf of starry space, rapidly dis- trapped as we're trapped." appearing. Curt turned the space-boat in a course back "Trapped?" cried Kansu Kane. "What do you Sunward. mean?" "We've made it!" Joan cried eagerly. "Oh, Captain "We can't get out of this ether-current," Curt gritted. Future, I never thought –" "It's too strong. And its whirling us on into the most Kansu Kane interrupted wrathfully. dangerous spot in space, one from which no interplane- "All my notes, all the fruit of weeks of work left in tary ship has ever escaped." that ship!" he sputtered to Captain Future. "And you Joan's hand went to her throat. "You mean –" dared lay hands on me –" Captain Future nodded grimly. "Be quiet – we're not out of danger," Curt interrupt- "Yes. We're being carried into the Sargasso Sea of ed sternly. "They'll find that stunned man quickly. Space." When they do, and discover our escape in this boat, they'll turn back –" He was opening the throttles to the limit as he CHAPTER V spoke. The little space-boat darted Sunward at mount- Trail to Pluto ing velocity. W Abruptly it shuddered, bucked wildly, and then HEN Otho, the android, and his antagonist, were righted itself and sped smoothly on again. hurled from the speeding ship of the Legion of "What was that?" Kansu Kane asked startledly. Doom, the starlit desert was fully fifty feet below. "Ether-current," Curt replied briefly. The tanned Plunging down through the darkness, fiercely face of the red-headed scientific wizard tautened. clutching his opponent, Otho made a supreme effort to "We're in a dangerous part of space –" twist his own body uppermost. "Captain Future! They're after us!" Joan cried. The synthetic man, the swiftest and most agile of be- Curt turned swiftly. Back there against the stars, the ings, succeeded in his maneuver. In the split-second of black mass of the Legion of Doom cruiser was again fall, he turned his antagonist beneath him, and it was rapidly growing visible. that other man who hit the ground and cushioned Otho's "I thought they would be," Curt said between his fall. teeth. "And they've got more speed than we –our only Even so, the shock of impact nearly stunned Otho. chance is to duck and dodge until we lose them." 17 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE Groggily, after a moment, he staggered to his feet. the Brain to inspect. "Devils of space, that was close!" he hissed panting- The furred body was heavy , as Otho slung it across ly. his shoulders. But in his throbbing anxiety and anger, He bent over his opponent, whose body had been he hardly felt its weight. Again he started across the crushed beneath him. The Legionary lay still, instantly sands, intending to skirt around the city Syrtis to the killed. hiding-place where the Comet waited. Then Otho's eyes bulged from his head. He stared Only the stars' white eyes looked down on him. down at the dead body as though unable to credit his Only the stars, and the whirling sand-devils that glided senses. before the night winds and whispered of the mysteries "Am I going crazy?" he exclaimed to himself. "How of old Mars. in the name of the nine worlds –" Otho kept well out from the lighted towers of Syrtis. An incredible, unnervingly fantastic thing had hap- And finally he stumbled up to the gleaming, quiescent pened. bulk of the Comet, lying silent between the concealing The Legionary with whom Otho had struggled had sand dunes. been an Earthman. As they had fought up there in the He touched the secret button in its side and the door door of the ship, as they had fallen in the starlight, Otho slid open. Otho stumbled in, and dropped the body on had seen that clearly. the floor. But now, in death, the Legion of Doom man had The compact laboratory in the mid-section of the magically changed into a creature of weird and un- Comet was in semi-darkness. The Brain was peering heard-of aspect. through the biggest telescope toward Sagittarius, while His crushed body was now that of a semi-human be- Grag, the robot, was exposing photographic plates on a ing covered from head to toe with short, thick white smaller telescope at the Brain's directions. fur! The feet were two-toed, and the grotesque hands Grag's great metal figure turned quickly, and the two-fingered. The head itself was a flattened, unhuman lens-eyes of the Brain turned to see also, as Otho en- one, even the face covered with white fur. There were tered. two eyes, huge, black, pupil-less orbs staring in death. "It's me – Otho!" the android said hastily, seeing that The creature wore a leather harness. To its belt had they did not recognize him in the Martian disguise. been attached a cylindrical metal instrument or weapon, Simon Wright guessed instantly from Otho's bat- but this had been crushed to fragments by the shock of tered appearance that something was wrong. impact. "Where is Curtis?" the Brain rasped sharply. "Have I gone delirious from the shock?" gasped Otho gulped. "They've got him – the Legion of Otho. "I can't be seeing this!" Doom. It was my fault, partly." Then a far-off, dying drone of rocket-tubes recalled The android told rapidly what had happened. When his attention. He looked up and saw the Legion of he had finished, there burst from Grag a booming roar Doom cruiser, a tiny black spot, rocketing up into the of rage. starry sky and disappearing. The great robot, his photo-electric eyes blazing, ad- Wild dismay and anger filled the android's mind at vanced ominously toward the crestfallen android. the sight. "You let them take him?" boomed Grag. He "They're gone – with the chief their prisoner! And clenched huge metal fists furiously. "I told the master there's no telling where they're taking him!" you would get him into trouble! I wanted him to take His rubbery body, still in its Martian disguise, was me. But no, you talked him into taking you. I knew this rigid in impotent wrath. would happen!" "If I was just in that cursed ship – !" "It wasn't altogether my fault," flared Otho defen- Otho had one trait that was even stronger than his sively. "I waited in the observatory as he ordered, and devil-may-care lust for excitement and adventure. And when the Legion men came in, I delayed them as long that was his loyalty to Captain Future. And now he had as I could, dodging about and not letting them catch let Doctor Zarro's dark Legion take his chief prisoner. me. But then there was an alarm from the ship and they 'I've got to get back to the Comet!" he told himself returned to it – I tried to follow, but was pushed off." fiercely. And then he groaned. "What Grag will say to "If I had been there I would have torn that ship apart me about letting the chief be taken! And I deserve it!" before I would have let them take away the master in it!" Grag shouted. O THO started across the starlit desert in a swift run, The cold, austere, rasping voice of the Brain cut but in a moment he turned and came running back. across their argument like an icy sword. He had remembered the dead body of the magically "Be quiet, Grag," Simon Wright ordered. "This will transformed Legionary. That weird, furry corpse might get us nowhere. We must follow that ship, quickly." be a clue to Doctor Zarro's Legion. He would take it for "I don't know where it's heading for," Otho admitted 18 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE miserably. Then the android added quickly: "But I did The two other Futuremen relaxed their angry stiff- bring back one of the Legion of Doom – dead. And the ness. Bodiless the Brain might be, unable even to move queerest thing happened to him as he died." without help, yet both Otho and Grag were subservient to the vast, calm intellect housed in that transparent H E told them of the magical transformation of the serum-case – the intellect that had helped create them. Earthman Legionary into a strange furred crea- "Put this body on the operating table under the X- ture, in death. ray lamps," the Brain ordered. "I've been studying its "I want to see that body," said the Brain instantly. eyes, and I think I have a clue to where it came from." "Grag, put me down by it." Otho unfolded the operating table, and Grag laid the The Brain's lens-eyes moved to and fro on their flex- white-furred body on it and switched on the powerful ible stalks, keenly inspecting the grotesque corpse. X-ray lamps. "I've never heard of a race like this before," mut- Through fluoroscopic spectacles that were slipped tered Simon. "And I can't understand how it could look on over his lens-eyes, the Brain studied the interior like an Earthman when it was living." anatomy of the furry corpse. "It did look just like an Earthman, dressed in a uni- "I was right!" he declared finally. .'This creature is a form." Otho affirmed emphatically. native of Pluto or somewhere near it." "Did it feel like an Earthman when you were strug- "How can you tell?" Otho asked doubtfully. gling with it?" "Those huge-pupiled eyes prove that the creature Otho hesitated. "I don't remember very well – yes. I originated on a world of eternal dusk, one with less do remember now! It felt furry in my grasp, as we fell. light even than Neptune," the Brain answered. "The fur- I'd forgotten that." ry, light-boned body must have evolved on a cold, "Then," the Brain declared, "this creature was never medium-sized world. That means Pluto, for it's the only an Earthman. It simply had some means of making it world in the System which answers those conditions." appear like one, some strange means of giving the illu- "But maybe the creature came from some world out- sion that it was an Earthman." side our System completely?" Otho suggested. "But why should the illusion vanish so suddenly "No, that's impossible," rasped the Brain, "for its when the thing died?" Otho demanded. eye-retinas are adapted to ultra-violet radiation exactly "You see that broken instrument at the creature's like that of our Sun. No two suns emit exactly the same belt?" the; Brain said. "It's too badly shattered to find kind of radiation. This creature comes from within our out anything from. But I believe it may have been a de- System – from Pluto." vice to create the illusion that disguised this creature as "But no one has ever seen such creature as this on an Earthman. The instrument was shattered in the fall, Pluto!" Otho objected. "The native Plutonians don't and so the illusion vanished." look like this." "It seems a pretty far-fetched idea," muttered Otho. "Pluto is still largely unexplored," Simon reminded "And yet it's about the only one that explains what hap- him. "That icy planet and its three moons may hide pened." more than one unknown race in their frigid wilderness- Grag had been pacing to and fro in wild restlessness, es." with clanking strides. Now the robot uttered an angry "Then Doctor Zarro's and the Legion's headquarters shout. must be out there at Pluto?" Otho cried eagerly. "Why do we stand here talking, when master has "I'm sure of it," the Brain replied. "It is possible that been taken?" he boomed furiously. "Why don't we fol- all the men of the Legion of Doom, who seemed to be low?" Earthmen, are really creatures like this one, in some il- "We have to know where to follow, Grag," the Brain lusion-disguise." explained calmly. Otho gasped at that suggestion. But Grag's mind "Yes, we can't just comb the whole System for that clung to one thing – his master. ship," Otho added. "They will have taken master to Pluto, then?" he "Don't talk to me!" Grag told the android. "It's all I cried. "We go there after them?" can do to keep from giving you a thrashing, as it is." "We go at once!" the Brain snapped. "Blast off Mars "You and ten thousand metal junkmen like you at once and lay a course straight for Pluto." couldn't do that!" flamed Otho, springing to his feet. A few minutes later, with Grag at its controls, the Eek, the moon-pup, had awakened and had ambled Comet rose from the starlit Martian desert, shot up over to the group. Now, sensing its metal master's anger above the lighted towers of Syrtis, and rocketed head- with Otho, the little gray beast bared its teeth belliger- long into the void. ently at the android. "Better turn on the ship's camouflage, now that we're "No more of this quarreling!" Simon Wright's cold clear of Mars," the Brain rasped. "We don't want that voice lashed. "That is an order." Legion ship to spot us pursuing them." 19 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE Grag obeyed, pulling down a burnished red lever be- path of the camouflaged Comet, and would collide with side the throttles. The result was amazing. it head-on. CHAPTER VI Graveyard of Space-Ships M EANWHILE, what had happened to Captain Fu- ture and his companions? The Sargasso Sea of Space! The legendary, mysteri- ous peril to navigation that was dreaded by every space- sailor in the System! Joan Randall's pretty face was pale and stricken, and little Kansu Kane stared bewilderedly, as Captain Fu- ture told them that their space-boat was being drawn into that deadly trap. The space-boat was still being carried at frightful speed through the void by the ether-current gripping it. The Legion of Doom cruiser, recoiling from the danger, had vanished. "It's my fault," Curt Newton said, his tanned face Doctor Zarro self-accusing. "I knew from the currents that we were getting near the Sargasso. But I thought I could escape The Comet suddenly became a real comet! Captain it and shake off pursuit." Future had long ago devised this perfect method of "You were wonderful to get us out of that ship!" camouflage for his craft. It was achieved by projecting Joan cried loyally to the red-haired scientific wizard. a dense discharge of glowing ions from the rocket- "And you'll get us out of the Sargasso – I know you tubes. That cloud of electrified atoms, clinging around will." the ship and trailing behind it in space, made the Comet "What is this Sargasso of Space you're talking to all appearances live up to its name. about?" Kansu Kane demanded. "I'm no space-sailor – I The camouflaged ship rushed on. As the hours never heard of it." dragged by the Brain used a small telescope in the con- "You know what an ether-current is, don't you?" trol-room to continue his scrutiny of the tiny dark spot Captain Future asked him. "Well, there are many strong in the constellation Sagittarius. ether-currents, strange running tides in the luminiferous "How can you think of that dark star now, when the ether itself, out in this part of the System. They all flow chief is in danger?" Otho exclaimed to him. into a central vortex, and anything that is carried into the vortex can't get out again, against the currents. That S IMON glanced at the android with cold, calm lens- central vortex is the Sargasso Sea of Space." eyes. Curt reached for the throttles. "I'll try once more to "I am as worried about Curtis as you," he said, "but I break out of the current," he muttered. "But I'm afraid must continue these studies of the dark star he asked me –" to make. He will need all possible data to combat Doc- He opened the throttles to the limits. It was futile. tor Zarro's plot." The power was not enough to get them out of the re- "He will, if he's still living," Otho said gloomily. morseless grip of the ether-current that was sweeping "Master still lives!" boomed Grag loudly, with per- them fatally on into a dreaded, unknown region of fect faith. "We will find him – you will see." space. Otho gloomily resumed his survey of space ahead. Captain Future shut off the rockets. "No go," be In a moment there was a hissing cry from the android. said, shaking his red head. "Might as well save our "Something ahead! It may be the ship we're after!" power, until we get into the central vortex. Then we'll They saw it – a big, queer-looking space ship com- see what we'll see." ing toward them, driving nearer by the second. Joan smiled at Curt shakily. She had an unchange- "It can't be the Legion ship, for that's going the other able confidence in him. Curt knew. He wondered way –" gloomily if that confidence was to be destroyed. For he "It's diving on us – it's going to ram us!" could see only a thin chance of escape from this strange The strange ship ahead was swooping down into the space-trap. 20 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE "Better get some sleep," he said, and she obeyed. travel began. No ship has ever escaped here – all that Captain Future peered ahead, bis handsome, tanned blundered in are still here." face keen and unafraid. He sensed that they were ap- He steered the space-boat straight toward the edge proaching the central vortex of the vast maelstrom of of the vast wreck-pack. Now they could see it more ether-currents. For the space-boat was now being rolled clearly. over and over and bumped roughly as it was borne on. In the pack were space ships of every kind that had Joan awoke from the motion, and rubbing her eyes, ever sailed the System. Great Jovian grain-boats, came anxiously to bis side. There was still nothing visi- dumpy Martian freighters, streamlined liners from the ble to the eye, yet they knew they were entering the Neptune and Uranus routes, black cruisers of the Planet boiling heart of the vast invisible whirlpool. Police, ominously armed pirate ships, even small space- "Hang on to a stanchion," Captain Future told the yachts. These dead ships floated, rubbing slowly other two in a low voice. against each other's sides. And between and among them floated all kinds of interplanetary debris that had C LINGING for support, they felt their craft batted been swept into the maelstrom – meteors large and about by titanic, unseen tides. Everything was top- small, fragments of splintered asteroids, bits of metal sy-turvy. wreckage, and stiff, space-suited bodies of dead men Then, after terrifying minutes of chaotic movement, who perhaps had floated in the void for years before the space-boat seemed to enter smooth. undisturbed drifting into this last resting place. space. It floated now as placidly as though on a U millpond. NUTTERABLY awe-inspiring was the sight, here "Why, we're out of the currents now." Kansu Kane in the thin, pale sunlight of outer space. Here was faltered, peering out with myopic eyes. the end of many a brave-hearted voyage. Here many a "We've escaped from the Sargasso?" Joan cried joy- good ship that had once throbbed from world to world fully to Captain Future. had come to peace and quiet at last. Here was a Valhal- Curt shook his bead. "I'm sorry to disillusion you. la of space ships and space-men. whose eternal tran- We've reached the dead-center of the whirlpool of cur- quility and silence would not be disturbed until the Sys- rents, an area of undisturbed space at the heart of this tem ended. space-maelstrom." "Do you think there are any living people in those He opened the throttles, starting up the rockets. ships, Captain Future?" asked Joan Randall in a low "We'll try to buck our way back out, but I'm pretty voice. sure it's useless." "I'm afraid there's no chance of that. The air-supply Rockets flaming, the little boat shot back in the di- of any ship that drifted in here would soon be exhaust- rection from which it had come. In a half-minute it ed, and then any living people aboard would die." plunged again into the titanic, invisible ether-currents. "Then we will perish when our boat's air-tanks are The currents grasped the craft once more and flung it empty?' the girl cried. "Only two days from now?" like a toy back into the dead-center. "We're going to try to get out of here before then"' "Thought so," Curt muttered. "We're in here to stay, Curt said grimly. "There's just a chance that if we fitted unless we can devise enough new power to carry us up this space-boat with additional cyclotrons taken out." from some of these wrecks, it would give us enough "Where do you expect to find any additional source power to fight out through the currents. We'll have to of power in this empty hole in space?" Kansu asked go through the wrecks first and see if we can find hopelessly. enough cyclotrons in good condition," he added. "There," said Captain Future quietly, pointing Joan shuddered. "Search through those deathly, ahead. silent ships?" They stared. Far ahead, avast jumbled metal mass "You can wait in the space-boat with Kansu Kane, if floated motionless in space. The mass was lenticular in you want," Curt told her. "It'll be strenuous work shape, and hung at the very center of the dead-area here searching." in the maelstrom. "No, no, I want to go with you!" the girl cried. As their craft hummed closer, they saw that this far- "Well. I don't," Kansu Kane said sourly. "Maybe I flung, jumbled mass was a great aggregation of space can, reconstruct my lost Andromedan notes from mem- ships and debris of all descriptions. All this flotsam was ory, while you two are scrambling around in there." held together by its own slight mutual gravitation. Curt and Joan donned the black suits and glassite "What is it?" Joan Randall whispered awedly. helmets. He tested the suit-phone to make sure it was "It is the graveyard of space ships," Curt said. "The working, and then they passed out through the tiny air- last resting-place of every ship that has been sucked lock of the space- boat. into the Sargasso Sea of Space since interplanetary They stepped out into sheer space and floated to- 21 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE gether, seeming suspended magically in nothingness at gasso." the edge of the vast wreck-pack, with stars above them His gray eyes kindled with scientific interest. "We'll and stars below them. Then Curt drew the impeller-tube take a look. Come on, Joan." from the belt of his suit. He fired it, and its tiny rocket- They started toward the enigmatic cylinder. But they blast sent him gliding toward the nearest wreck. Joan stopped again, before they reached it. stricken with followed, using her impeller also. Curt bumped against wonder by the appearance of the craft that floated next the side of the wreck. It was a cargo-ship that bore the to it. name, "Thenia, Venus," on its bows. They clambered T back along the top of its torpedo-shaped hull, and found HIS was a space ship of ridiculously small size and the whole stern was crushed as though by a giant hand. flimsy appearance. It was crudely designed, with "A meteor did that," Curt told the girl through the projecting rocket-tubes of an ancient, inefficient type. suit-phone. "No use looking in it for good cyclotrons. The little vessel was the most antiquated and obsolete Come on." of any they had seen yet. The next wreck, a big liner, was the "Paris. Earth." It "Why, it looks like one of the first space ships that seemed undamaged, and Curt and Joan managed to en- was ever built!" Joan cried. "Could men ever have ter it through an air-lock whose doors were wide open. sailed space in a craft like that?" Inside the liner, an unnerving scene met their eyes. Curt's tanned face was suddenly tense and strange. The enclosed decks were strewn with dead passengers, "I've an idea I know what craft this is," he said. Martians, Venusians, Earthmen and men and women of "Yes, I'm right-look at the name on its bows!" other races, lay about, stiff and frozen. Yet, perfectly The name was Pioneer III. preserved, they all seemed sleeping. "Pioneer III?" cried Joan. "Why, that was the ship "What happened to this ship?" Joan whispered, her of Mark Carew, the first man ever to –" face white inside her transparent helmet. "The first man ever to sail beyond Jupiter," Captain 'They must have blundered into the Sargasso and Future finished softly, staring almost in reverence at the then run out of air," Curt muttered. "Looks like some- clumsy little craft. "Mark Carew, the second great trail- body here opened the air-lock doors finally, to bring a blazer of space – the man who first visited Saturn and quick, merciful death." Uranus and Neptune, and who was lost in space in a lat- Curt went back down to the cyclotron-rooms. The er voyage. And this is where he was lost, here in the great, cylindrical generators of atomic power were un- Sargasso." harmed. The mystery of the interstellar cylinder was forgot- "So far so good. We've got to have more." ten for the moment in the intense interest aroused by They entered an old-looking liner of the type built this new find. Curt and Joan pried with a bar until they long before, that had been attacked by space-pirates. Its were able to enter the little Pioneer III. strong-room had been looted, its officers blasted down, The ancient little ship had carried a crew of only six and then the attackers had punctured its hull by atom- men. They lay dead, frozen, eternally preserved– those gun fire, slaying all in it. Earthmen who long and long ago had roared out into "I never realized so many horrible things had hap- the void in their tiny craft, to blaze the trail for all those pened in the System in the past," Joan said, shivering. who would come after. 'This particular thing happened a long time in the Awedly, Captain Future stepped gently toward the past," Captain Future remarked. .'The ships here in the control-cubby in the prow. There, in the pilot's chair, center of the wreck-pack are all old ones. We'd better sat the frozen body of a dark, thin-faced man of middle- work back out toward the edge of the pack, where we'll age. He sat there, his worn face seeming almost lifelike, be more likely to find good cyclotrons in the newer his open black eyes staring out eternally through the ships"' window of his little ship. But when they scrambled out of the liner of long- "Mark Carew!" breathed Joan, in a hushed whisper. ago tragedy, Joan pointed suddenly deeper into the "I've seen so many monuments and pictures of him. The wreck-pack. second man ever to sail space – only Gorham Johnson "What can that be, Captain Future?" was before him." Curt stared. She was pointing at a strange object Curt's eyes bad glimpsed the notebook clutched in several ships away. It was a cylinder of blank gray met- the dead explorer's hand. Gently, he took it from the al several hundred feet long, without the lines of a ship stiff fingers. at all. It was a diary. He and Joan together read the last en- "I don't know – it's certainly no space ship of our tries on its open page. System," Curt declared. "It may be from outside the System – a queer wreck out of interstellar space that ]an. 22. (Earth calendar.) Our voyages are over. drifted into the System and was caught here in the Sar- We shall never reach Pluto, as I had hoped. That is re- 22 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE served for some , other pioneer. For yesterday we ran from a tiny aperture into a circular opening ten feet into appalling ether-currents, that swept us into this across. dead, empty area from which we cannot escape. Our "What opened that door?" cried the girl, panic- air cannot last long, we were almost out and had stricken. "We weren't even near it." counted on replenishing our supply on Saturn. Curt's gray eyes flashed. "That door must be tele- pathically operated-when I wished a door would open, Jan. 23. We found one of our air-tanks, on which we it opened!" had relied, empty. It had sprung and leaked, unknown His scientific passion kindled. "What kind of a race to us. Death is a matter of hours. We have sat here, would devise such mechanisms? Come on, Joan!" silent, thinking of the Earth we shall never see again. W Will our bodies ever be found, we wonder? It does not ith fearful reluctance, the girl followed him matter – yet I would like to see Earth's blue skies through the magically opened door. They found again. themselves in the interior of the great cylinder, a maze of girders, catwalks, and machines of unguessable de- Jan. 24. Crew half unconscious – air failing – par- sign and purpose. tial asphyxiation. This is – the end. The end of us, but Along the sides were metal shelves, atop each of not – of our work. Others will come after us. I seem – which glowed a purple lamp. The purple beams of each to see – all space filled with ships – in some future lamp bathed a grotesque, motionless creature lying ap- time. Maybe – Gorham Johnson and I and our men – parently frozen on each shelf. will be remembered. Hand stiff – eyes failing – can't The creatures were wholly alien. write – more – They looked like horrid hybrids of octopus and man. Each had a scaly body with horny protuberances along That last scrawled entry trailed away. There was no its spine from the head down, and four tentaclelike further writing in the little book. arms. Captain Future, a hard lump in his throat, raised his "They must have come from another star – drifted hand to his helmet in salute to the sitting, staring into the Sargasso here while exploring our System, long corpse. ago," murmured Captain Future. "They don't look like air-breathing creatures to me." "What is the purple light over each of them?" Joan asked fearfully. CHAPTER VII "I don't know – some kind of preservative force," Encounter in Space Captain Future muttered. "There's a mystery here." T He found some tanks along the wall. All were emp- HE red-haired scientific wizard and the girl ty. They had contained a reddish liquid, whose traces climbed out of the silent little ship that was mute remained. monument and tomb of brave men. "Blood was carried in these tanks!" Curt asserted. "It Captain Future's attention was at once re-engaged by must have been their food. And when they ran out of it the big gray metal cylinder that floated in the wreck- –" pack close by. He had momentarily forgotten it, but He approached the front end of the cylindrical ship. now his interest was rekindled. There was a control board there, with levers, dials and "That cylinder must be a ship from outside the Sys- switches of unfamiliar aspect – fruit of an alien science tem!" he exclaimed. "Come on – we haven 't much and mechanics. time, but I'm going to have a look at it." A Joan Randall clambered pluckily with him to the GLOW of colored light broke out around the con- side of the enigmatic, huge cylinder. They hung there, trol board as Captain Future and Joan approached peering along its curved wall. There seemed no doors it! Their nearness had actuated some delicate mecha- or port-holes in it anywhere. nism amid those tangled devices. "I don't like the look of it," faltered the girl, her Then Curt noticed that the purple lamps over the brown eyes distrustful. "It looks too strange and alien." two octopus-creatures nearest the control-board had "There can't be anything living in it after all this gone out. And that those two creatures were stirring. time," Curt assured her. "And there must be a door in it "I understand now!" he cried, leaping forward, alarm somewhere. I wish we could find and open it." in his eyes. "They ran out of food – blood – and so they Next moment, he stiffened inside his space suit and put themselves into suspended animation. But they set a heard a sharp cry from Joan. A door was opening in the detector to wake their two leaders whenever any warm- cylinder. blooded creature entered this ship –" It opened like the iris shutter of a camera, expanding He was pawing desperately at the grotesque control- 23 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE board, seeking to smash the detector, wherever it was. "If those two wake completely, they'll wake all the others by turning off the lamps – our lives won't be worth anything. They need our blood!" "Captain Future!" screamed Joan. Curt whirled around, and at the same moment was gripped by scaly tentacles. The two octopus-creatures had awakened more rapid- ly than he had dreamed possible! One had seized him, sliding a tentacle around his knee, another around his throat, two others around his chest. The other creature was scrambling toward the glow- ing control-board, to wake all the others lying in sus- pended animation! Joan Randall, her face ghastly white inside her space suit helmet, was trying to tear away the tentacles around Curt. Captain Future, by a fierce effort, got his arm free and snatched out his proton-pistol. He fired point-blank at the octopus-creature who was reaching his four tentacles to the switches of the control- board. The proton-beam dropped the grotesque creature in a scorched heap. The thing holding Curt whirled him up to dash him against the floor. But Curt shot again, down at the thing whose tentacles held him aloft. The proton-beam tore into the scaly body, and Cap- tain Future tumbled to the floor as the octopus-man slumped dead. Curt staggered up and looked around wildly. None of the other octopus-men sleeping under the purple-lamps had stirred. The detector which had been set off by Joan and himself had been designed only to awaken the two leaders of the alien crew, who had then meant to awaken all the others. "That was close!" Curt panted. "Food was what they Dead ships floated around them (Chap. VI) 24 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE wanted – blood. Where in the Universe could they have of ether-currents that raged around this central dead- come from? Intelligent creatures, immune to cold of area. space and airlessness, but requiring vital blood-ele- For a moment, Curt thought the end had come. That ments –" hell of boiling, invisible currents batted at the space- "Let's get out of here, Captain Future!" pleaded Joan boat like giant hands, seeking to force it back into the shudderingly. "This place is unclean, unholy!" center of the vortex, while its super-powered rocket- Curt Newton would have given a year of his life for tubes forced it wildly forward. the opportunity to study and analyze the products of an But the space-boat's super-power was driving it out unhuman science which were all around him. But he of the vortex of currents! recognized that it was impossible, with time and danger Curt dared not cut down the power yet. Tense min- pressing upon him as they were. utes passed, as the small craft fought out through the Reluctantly, he left the gloomy, mysterious vessel. weakening currents. Then abruptly they were out of the Once outside, he wished that the door would close. And last current; and the space-boat was hurtling through silently, the aperture shut. undisturbed space like a meteor. "Those others in there they'll sleep on, perhaps for- Instantly Captain Future cut all the cyclotrons but ever now," he said, staring at the strange ship. two. Explorers from far off in the Universe, sleeping on "Whew!" breathed the big red-haired young man. eternally at the heart of the graveyard of space ships! "You're the only man in history who ever brought a ship back out of the Sargasso Sea of Space!" cried C URT looked around at the jumbled ships of the Joan, her brown eyes shining. wreck- pack, at whose center they were. "And now that we're out, what?" Kansu Kane de- "We'll work back to the space-boat," he decided, manded, looking sourly around the vast emptiness of "and search the newer ships out at the edge of the pack. space. We ought to find more good cyclotrons out there." "We'll run back toward Jupiter," Captain Future And so it turned out. As Curt freed each cyclotron, snapped. "Get a call through to the Futuremen from he dragged it out of the wreck and hauled it along the there." edge of the wreck-pack to their little space-boat. "And I can get a ship back to Venus from there," Hours passed as Captain Future toiled. Finally he said Kansu Kane emphatically. "This knocking around had ten cyclotrons crowded into the stern power-com- space may be all right for those who like it, but I don't." partment of the space-boat, and bolted precariously to T its floor. HE little craft throbbed Sunward, toward the white He was panting as he finished the task and looked speck of Jupiter. But in a few moments, Curt New- up at Joan, who had helped him as much as possible. ton peered closer ahead, the muttered a joyful exclama- "Will we be able to get out now?" she asked eagerly. tion. There was a most unbecoming smear of grease on her "Here come the Futuremen now!" he cried. "They nose. must have got onto our trail somehow." "We'll either get out or blow ourselves into the next Joan Randall and the little astronomer peered with dimension. You and Kansu all ready? Here go the fire- him, but saw only an ordinary-looking, little, glowing works!" Comet that was approaching in an outward direction. He switched on the cyclotrons as he spoke. A dozen "I can't see anything but that little Comet," com- huge conical generators of atomic energy began throb- plained Kansu Kane. bing back in the compartment that had originally "What Comet is it?" Curt asked him blandly. housed but two. Their droning became a quivering vi- Kansu scratched his head. "Why, I don't know – bration that seemed to be shaking the craft apart. It was come to think of it, there's no Comet follows an orbit deafening. Unnerving – yet Curt turned the power high- like that." er still. Captain Future laughed. "It's not a Comet – it's the Then when the space-boat seemed about to come Comet, my ship. The boys are using my Comet-camou- bodily apart from the vibration, Curt opened the throt- flage." tles of the stern rocket-tubes. "How are you going to hail them without a They were slammed deep into their recoil-chairs by televisor?" Joan asked anxiously. the crushing thrust of an unimaginable acceleration. A "I'll have to take a chance to stop them," Curt said. torrent of atomic flame was bursting back from the "Hold tight!" rockets, hurling the little boat forward at dizzying He moved the throttles and sent the space"boat div- speed. ing straight down into the path of the Comet as though The wreck-pack dwindled behind them. Curt held intending to bring about a collision. And that was what the throttles tense, ready. Then they hit the maelstrom Grag and Otho had seen! 25 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE As the two ships rushed together, Curt's keen eyes work"" got a lightning-glimpse of Grag and Otho and the Brain "That theory is the most impossible hypothesis I in the control room of the camouflaged ship. He waved ever encountered," rasped the Brain. "How could you his hand, and at the last moment to avoid collision sent possibly advance it?" the space-boat curving upward. The little astronomer bristled. He forgot his awe of "They'll have seen me!" he told Joan confidently. the Brain in his indignation. "The eyes of those three don't miss much!" "You must be crazy to question it!" he cried furious- In fact, the glowing Comet was rapidly decelerating. ly. "I proved conclusively in my calculations that –" Presently it and the battered space-boat hung side by "Let's postpone the scientific arguments till later," side in space. Captain Future suggested hastily. "We're wasting time Captain Future and his two companions, in their here. Grag, start up again – the course is straight for space suits still, floated in a few moments to the side of Pluto." the Comet. A moment more and they were all shedding "Yes, Master," boomed the big robot joyfully, and their suits and helmets inside the little tear-drop ship. hastened with clanking strides to the control room. "I'll "Master, I knew nothing could happen to you!" get up full speed again." boomed Grag the robot in deafening tones, gripping "Later, I want to inspect that furry body you spoke Curt's arm in a metal grasp that was almost crushing. "I of," Curt told the Brain rapidly. "Meanwhile, what told Otho that we would find you safe-though it's small about your observations of the dark star"" thanks to him." "I'm puzzled, Curtis," the Brain confessed. "That "What happened to you on the Legion of Doom dark star is undoubtedly of tremendous size, according ship, Chief?" Otho hissed eagerly. "Did you fight your to my photographs and visual observations. Yet the way out? Did you kill many of the scum?" measurements of its mass show a small mass such as is "No, my bloodthirsty friend, I did no killing," Curt impossible for so large a body." laughed. "I contrived to get us out without that – and "Could some unknown factor be putting your mass- then like a fool, I blundered in my flight right into the measurements in error?" Curt asked. Sargasso Sea of Space." "It's possible," admitted the Brain. "I'd need more "The Sargasso?" Simon Wright's lens-eyes hung and bigger equipment to ascertain that." questioningly on his face. "How did you get out of "When we get to Pluto, you can make some studies there, Curtis?" with the equipment at Tartarus Observatory. If it turns Curt told them. "I'm sure now that the base of Doc- out that that dark star really possesses large mass, it tor Zarro and his Legion is on Uranus or Pluto," he fin- will threaten the System with disaster, Simon." ished. "I know," muttered the Brain. "The whole thing is "It's on Pluto, boy," the Brain told him. And Simon puzzling." went on to tell of his study of the strange, white-furred Captain Future turned and found Joan sitting in a body of the disguised Legionary , and of their start for space-chair, her face pale. Pluto. "Grag," he ordered, "set the automatic pilot and get "Pluto, eh?" Curt muttered, his gray eyes staring out some food. Joan is starved." thoughtfully. "Then my guess was right." The big robot obeyed, coming back and unfolding a jointed table, and then bringing forth a queer variety of H IS eyes flashed. "We're going on to Pluto at once, substances and instruments for the "dinner." To Joan then! There's not much time for us to smash this and Kansu Kane, sitting around the table with Curt Doctor Zarro. The whole System is already in such pan- Newton and the Futuremen. it was the strangest meal ic that a few more days will see that plotter given the they had ever partaken. dictatorial powers he wants." C Kansu Kane, the little astronomer, had been staring URT, Joan and the Venusian ate ordinary inter- in appalled wonder at the trio of unhuman Futuremen. planetary food brought from a vacuum preserving- The little man shrank back in panic when great Grag compartment. There was frozen Earth beef, Martian turned his photo-electric eyes on him. desert-apples, flat, hard cakes of "space-bread" made "Who is this, Master – a captive?" boomed the metal from Jovian grain, and a big flask of black Venusian robot. swamp-grape wine. "No, it's Kansu Kane – the Venusian astronomer the Otho could eat ordinary food in case of necessity, Legion kidnapped," Curt said hastily. but preferred the pure synthetic chemical food-elements Simon Wright's lens-eye fixed on the little man. by which he best satisfied his hunger. The android "The Kansu Kane who was author of the double-spectra quaffed down an unappetizing-looking glassite bowl of theory?" asked the Brain. pure chemical liquid, and was done. Kansu straightened proudly. "Yes, that was my Simon Wright had no need to eat, for he had no 26 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE body to keep alive. The Brain habitually took his re- She looked back at Captain Future. The big red- freshment in a stimulating massage of vibrations. Grag haired young man was lounging back in a space-chair, had put a little projector of such vibrations over the staring off into nothingness while his strong fingers transparent case of the living Brain, and Simon silently plucked absently at his pet instrument, a twenty-string basked in the refreshing force. Venusian guitar. Grag himself, whose huge metal body was powered Haunting music of a half-dozen different worlds, by atomic energy, calmly opened a hinged plate in his drifting snatches of subtle, unearthly melodies, came mighty metal torso, and placed a small mass of copper from the instrument. Yet Joan watched Captain Future's in the receptacle there, to keep his power-plant going. brooding, handsome face and abstract gray eyes, knew He closed the plate, and then fed the rest of the copper that his mind was far from music. to Eek. The little gray moon-pup gulped up the pure She knew that it was of Doctor Zarro he was think- metal instantly, bis eyes gleaming with satisfaction. ing, of the struggle with that dark prophet-plotter and "Will he eat any metal at all?" Joan asked the robot his weird Legion that lay ahead of them at Pluto, the wonderingly, as she watched Eek. perilous life-and-death battle for the System toward Grag showed bis pleasure at having his pet noticed. which they were rushing through space. "Yes, he will eat any metal," he boomed, "but he likes the heavier metals best." "Why doesn't Eek eat your fingers?" Joan asked the CHAPTER VIII robot curiously. "They're metal – and he's always chew- On the Arctic World ing on them." D "My body is of impregnable 'inert' metal which even OWN through the dusk of Pluto's day, toward the Eek's teeth can't make any impression on," Grag told great dome of the colonial capital Tartarus, her. "Besides, he prefers copper, and especially silver flashed the Comet. or gold, to anything else." Captain Future himself held the controls, and his "He certainly liked the flavor of my silver tube of keen eyes were fixed on a beacon a little north of the make-up dye," hissed Otho, staring belligerently at the domed city. moon-pup. "He must have, for he ate it an up." "That's the space port beacon," he commented. "you Joan took a heavy gold bracelet from her wrist and remember, Simon – we've been here before." held it out to the moon-pup. "I remember too," muttered Otho. "We almost froze "Take it, Eek," she said. to death out in one of the equatorial blizzards." "He cannot hear – you must think, and he will hear The android was staring with intense dislike at the your thought," Grag told her. dusky forbidding landscape beyond the city – a vista of Joan obeyed. As the moon-pup telepathically sensed frozen black plains stretching into vast white ice-fields her permission, it accepted the bracelet instantly. that rose far away into vague, gleaming ranges. Otho It chewed the gold with every appearance of ex- hated cold. treme pleasure. In a few moments, though, its limbs be- Grag, to whom heat and cold were all alike, stared gan to wobble. imperturbably beside the Brain. And Joan Randall and "Too much gold makes Eek a little sick sometimes," Kansu Kane had crowded into the control room too, Grag said anxiously. and were watching anxiously. "Sick? You mean drunk!" jeered Otho. "Any metal "Who's in charge of the Planet Police on Pluto of higher atomic number than zinc gives that beast now?" Curt asked the girl agent. delirium tremens. Look at him now!" "Marshal Ezra Gurney," answered Joan. "You re- In fact, Eek was unsure of his movements and bis member him?" bright little eyes seemed somewhat glazed. "Old Ezra? Of course I remember him – that hardbit- "He's probably singing at the top of bis voice, tele- ten old interplanetary marshal and I have met all over pathically ," laughed Captain Future. the System. Last time was at Jupiter in the Space Em- W peror case." HEN the strange meal was over, Grag returned "He was promoted for his bravery during that awful to the controls with a definitely intoxicated Eek. time on Jupiter," Joan said. "He's chief of this whole di- The Comet fled on through the void. Simon Wright vision of the Police now, with headquarters down here and Kansu Kane resumed their argument about the in Tartarus." Venusian's theory .Otho, always easily bored, amused "We'll see him first thing, then," Curt declared. himself by trying one disguise after another. It made Just west of the spaceport, a little out from the great Joan shudder despite herself to see the android time af- dome of the city, rose a squat, curved-roofed building. ter time soften his flesh, and mold it into new features "Tartarus Observatory ," Curt observed. "It bas to be and shapes. 27 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE outside the city so its telescopes won't be impeded by gasping, and had opened the leather tunics which were the dome. As soon as I come back from talking with their customary garment. Ezra Gurney, I'll take you over there for your research "What's that uproar?" Joan asked, as they passed on the dark star, Simon." near a bright-lit street from which came a continuous "I am going with you into that city, Master," Grag babel of cries. declared firmly. "I won't let Otho get you into trouble Curt smiled. "That's the Street of Hunters – the again." Earthmen who go out into the ice fur-trapping like to "Yes, Grag, I'm taking you, but not for that reason. celebrate, when they get back to Tartarus. You are impervious to cold. Go get that mysterious fur- "Here we are!" he exclaimed a moment later, as they ry body Otho brought in. I'll want Gurney to see it." approached a square, two-storied black cement struc- Curt sent the door sliding open. A blast of freezing ture. air struck in at them. The emblem of the Planet Police was over its door. "Cold as ever!" Curt declared. "This planet will nev- And an officer in the black uniform of the service er be a winter resort, that's sure." stopped them as they entered, staring a little wildly at They stepped out into the bitter dusk, Joan on one Grag's great figure. side of the big red-headed adventurer, and Grag and his Curt Newton held out his hand, showing the big burden on the other. Eek, the moon-pup, was curled "planet" ring whose mechanism he had rebuilt during around Grag's neck as usual. the voyage. Night was coming – the night of Pluto, hardly darker "Captain Future!" exclaimed the officer. He stepped than its day. Charon, the largest of the three moons, back, saluting respectfully. shone as a white disk near the zenith. Cerberus and Out of an inner office came hurrying a grizzled, Styx, the other two moons, were just rising to cast a gray-haired man who wore the Police uniform and a strange, mingled, shifting radiance across the frigid marshal's badge. His cold blue eyes lighted up at sight landscape of their icy parent planet. of the tall red-haired adventurer of space. "Captain Future!" he yelled. "Danged if you're not a C APTAIN FUTURE glanced keenly up at the sight for sore eyes! And Grag an' Joan, too! What the moons. Cerberus was the far-famed Prison Satel- devil are you doing way out here on Pluto?" lite, the bleak penal moon to which the worst interplan- E etary criminals of the whole System were sentenced. ZRA GURNEY, veteran interplanetary frontier On Charon were trapping posts of the Earthmen who marshal, was pumping Curt's hand as he spoke, his hunted the rare fur-bearing animals there. Only Styx pleasure manifest. had never been settled or visited by Earthmen. since it "Is there trouble here?" he asked hopefully. "There was completely water-covered and a landing on it was must be if you're here, Captain Future – you're sort of impossible. the stormy petrel of the System." Presently Curt and his two companions found them- "Same old Ezra," Curt grinned. "Always looking for selves inside the dome of Tartarus, having entered by a a scrap. Don't you think you're too old for such sliding door automatically operated by an electric eye. deviltry? Here inside the dome was a balmy warmth that was "Me old?" cried the weatherbeaten marshal indig- grateful contrast to the freezing chill outside. nantly. "Why, I can take on any –" Captain Future looked across the dusky city, whose He stopped suddenly. He had seen the grave look streets were lighted by flaring atomic lamps. There that lurked in Curt's eyes. were comparatively few people abroad. They met a few "What is wrong, Captain Future?" Earthmen colonists, who stopped and stared in wonder "It's Doctor Zarro," Curt answered. "You've heard at the great metal figure of Grag, and the moon-pup his broadcasts?" clinging to his shoulder. They met a few native Plutoni- "Who hasn't?" Ezra Gurney said soberly. ans too. "I'm out to stop him," said Captain Future. The Plutonians, indigenous natives of this frigid A cold light sprang into Ezra Gurney's eyes. "I re- planet, were manlike people whose hulking bodies were member a fellow back on Jupiter that got too ambitious completely covered by thick, long black hair. It covered for his own good," he said meaningly. "You stopped even their round heads, and through its shaggy locks, him, all right." their saucerlike, phosphorescent eyes peered forth as "Doctor Zarro's a greater menace, for he has fright- though from deep caverns. ened the people of the System into supporting him!" This long black hair, evolved as a protection against Curt declared. "I've got to find the base of him and his the cold of the ice-fields in which they dwelled, seemed Legion, quickly." to make them uncomfortably hot in this warmed Earth- Ezra stared. "You don't think it's out here on Pluto, man city. For most of the hairy Plutonians were visibly do you?" 28 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE "I know it's here somewhere," Curt retorted. He told tigate. He wanted to know how it came that Roj and the old marshal of the captured Legionary of Doom Kallak, the criminals who were supposed to be in that who had turned into a furred, strange creature when he prison, were in fact leading the Legion. died, and had given them the clue that had brought Victor Krim, the fur-magnate of the moon Charon, them to Pluto. "There must be a race of such creatures was first to arrive. He was a stocky, aggressive man here somewhere – and there's where Doctor Zarro's with a square face and suspicious eyes. Curt disliked base is!" him at first sight. "Let me see the critter you're talking about." Rundall Lane, the warden of the famous Interplane- Grag unwrapped the stiff body. The old marshal tary Prison on Cerberus, did not look to Captain Future stared wonderingly at the dead creature's white-furred like the type of man who would be set to guard the Sys- figure, its strange two-fingered limps, its flattened head tem's most dangerous criminals. He was thin, elderly, and huge, pupil-less eyes. nervous-looking, constantly glancing around. "I never saw anything like this before," Gurney mut- "I've heard lots about you, Captain Future," Lane tered. "There ain't any race like this on Pluto that I said. "you sent a good many men to our prison, you know about." know." "Who would be most likely to know about this, if "I sent two there that didn't stay there," Curt said anyone does?" Curt asked. grimly. "I mean that dwarf biologist, Roj, and Kallak, Ezra Gurney stroked his chin, considering. the accomplice he turned into a glandular giant. Those "I guess Cole Romer would be the best bet. He's two were sent to Cerberus for life some years ago. But I chief planetographer here, head of the Pluto Survey know they're not there now." that's tryin' to explore the planet. He's here in Tartarus Curt saw Rundall Lane pale, as though taken aback now – I can call him over." by his knowledge. "Roj and Kallak escaped a few months ago," he ad- C OLE ROMER, when he arrived a few minutes lat- mitted. "They're almost the first men to escape Cer- er, proved an Earthman of forty, whose fine, schol- berus. We can't understand how they accomplished it." arly face was hardened and reddened by long exposure The story sounded a little lame to Captain Future. to the fierce, frigid winds of Pluto on many exploring He resolved to investigate further, but not now. expeditions. The planetographer's intelligent eyes in- "Did either of you two men ever see or bear of a spected the dead, furred creature with mounting per- race of furred creatures like this on Cerberus or plexity. Charon?" he asked. "I never even heard of a race like this on Pluto, Cap- Both Rundall Lane and Victor Krim stared without tain Future!" he exclaimed. "Of course, there are vast recognition at the grotesque, white-furred body. stretches of ice-fields and marching glaciers out there L which we know nothing about. But this looks like a ANE shook his head. "I don't think there's any member of an intelligent race, such as would have species of creatures like this on Cerberus. Of made themselves known before now." course, I don't know much of the moon beyond the Curt's tanned face was thoughtful. Prison, but my guards have explored it and they've nev- "What about the moons?" he asked. "Could such a er spoken of such creatures." race exist on one of them?" "That thing, whatever it is, didn't come from "It's possible," Romer admitted. "Of course there's Charon, " said Victor Krim loudly. "In fact, it couldn't nothing on Styx, which is all water-covered, but a lot of have come from anywhere out here at Pluto." Cerberus, and more of Charon is unknown. The stocky magnate sounded a little too certain "But I'm not the one to tell you much about those about it. two moons," he went on. "Victor Krim, the fur-magnate "What makes you so sure?" Curt asked. whose company has settlements on Charon, and Run- Krim answered boastingly. "I know Pluto and its dall Lane, the warden of the Interplanetary Prison on moons better than anyone else. My trappers and hunters Cerberus, would know more about those two." go places even the explorers don't dare to go. You can "Krim and Lane are both in Tartarus now, Captain take my word for it that there's no such race here." Future," put in Ezra Gurney. "Krim came in today from "You can't be so sure as that, Krim," protested Cole Charon to meet fur-buyers from Earth, and Rundall Romer. "There's lots of Pluto your men haven't seen." Lane's here about the supply-ship that goes from here to Victor Krim snorted. "I suppose you and your Planet Cerberus each month." Survey know more about this world than I do? Well, I "Call them over here too," Captain Future ordered. haven't time to argue about it. I'm a busy man and I've His keen gray eyes had narrowed. got fur-buyers waiting for me right now. Anything The name of the warden of the Cerberus prison had more, Captain Future?" made Curt remember a matter he had resolved to inves- "Nothing more, for now," Curt answered evenly. 29 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE "You can all go – and thank you for your help, gentle- "Yes," said Tharb, "he lives with my people in their men." ice-town, far north of the Marching Mountains and the But as Krim .and Lane and Romer left, Curt was icy sea, which you Earthmen call the Sea of Avernus." thinking ruefully that they had not really been any help "I'm going out and see this chap's grandfather." Cap- at all. tain Future said decisively. "You didn't learn anything of value from them?" "It's pretty forbidding country up there beyond the Joan asked. Marching Mountains," Gurney said. "Nothing much," Curt answered, though his face "Nevertheless, I'm going," Curt rapped. "You'll lend was thoughtful. He turned to the old marshal. "Ezra, I me a Police rocket flier, Ezra? I'll take Tharb along as want to show this creature to one of the native Plutoni- guide." ans. Can you get one here?" "And me too, master?" cried Grag anxiously. "Got one right here in the buildin'," chuckled the old Curt saw the robot's eagerness. and smiled. "Yes, marshal. "A hairy devil named Tharb, we use as a guide you too. Grag – but you'll have to leave that moon-pup when police business takes us out into the ice-fields." behind." He stepped to the door and called an order, and Grag seemed a little crestfallen. "Eek will be lone- presently Tharb, the Plutonian guide, entered doubtful- some while I am gone. But I will leave him." ly. Captain Future hastened back out of the city with Tharb was a typical member of the hairy native race Joan and the robot and Tharb, the Plutonian. He went of the icy planet. His six-foot form was completely cov- directly across the frozen, dusky spaceport to the ered by long, shaggy black hair, from bullet head to toe- Comet. There he told Simon Wright of the lead that was less feet. His round, phosphorescent eyes peered awed- taking him into the interior wilderness of Pluto. ly at Curt and at Grag's huge figure. "Otho and Joan will stay with you," he told the Then the Plutonian asked Ezra Gurney, in slurred, Brain. "You can make your studies of the dark star over broken Earthman speech: "You want me go outside?" there in the Tartarus Observatory while I'm gone." "The hairy nuisances is always wantin' outside in the Grag put little Eek into a corner of the ship and then ice," Gurney told Curt. "It's too warm in here for them." told Otho: "Take good care of Eek while I am gone." The old marshal pointed to the dead white-furred be- Otho, already furious at being left behind, exploded. ing that lay on the table. "Take care of that drunken moon-pup? Do you think "You see thing like that before, Tharb?" I'm cut out to be a nursemaid for that little metal-eating Tharb turned his queer phosphorescent eyes upon monstrosity?" the dead creature. Then the hairy Plutonian recoiled "If you were human like me, you would appreciate with a sharp cry. how nice a pet Eek is," Grag calmly informed the rag- "A Magician!" he yelled. ing android. Curt jumped forward. Ten minutes later, Captain Future and Grag and "You've seen such creatures before?" he asked Tharb were in a small streamlined Planet Police flier, quickly. "Why do you call it a Magician?" rocketing up from the spaceport and beading north- Tharb was showing every evidence of an extreme ward. Curt wore a suit of furs, but the hairy Tharb and superstitious fear and awe as he stared at the dead crea- the impervious robot needed no protection. ture. At high speed, the little flier zoomed north across "I never see such things before.," he stammered. nighted Pluto, beneath the weird shifting radiance of "But I hear of them. My grandfather, Kiri, who is very the three big moons. The bubblelike dome of Tartarus old, tell me of the Magicians." disappeared from sight behind them. They flew on Curt dropped into the native Plutonian singing lan- above endless fields of glittering ice. Through the ice- guage. fields, a swift, wide river flowed almost due north. "What did your grandfather tell you of them?" "That is the salt river, Phlegethon," said Tharb. "We follow it straight to the icy sea." T HARB answered volubly in his own tongue. "My C grandfather said that when he was a young man, URT nodded. He was peering toward the towering long ago before the Earthmen came here. his people white masses that loomed up vaguely ahead. used to see the Magicians. They were furry white be- "Those are the Marching Mountains, Grag," he told ings, who had great powers and strange wisdom." the robot. "Remember them?" "Did he tell you where the Magicians came from?" Grag nodded uneasily. "Yes, I don't like them." Curt asked eagerly. "My people too are afraid of them," Tharb con- "He never told me that – I never asked him." fessed. "They have often times destroyed the towns of Curt felt baffled for a moment. Then he asked the my tribe"' Plutonian: "Your grandfather Kiri still lives?" The Marching Mountains of Pluto, one of the great- 30 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE est natural wonders of the System, were soon almost exception. Reared as he was by us three unhuman below them. guardians, he has an unhuman capacity for concentra- This particular range was a vast wall of ice, a thou- tion and research. Yet he has remained human enough sand feet high, that advanced with a shifting, flowing to appreciate human needs and desires and hopes." movement over the ice-fields in a southwestward direc- The Brain looked impatiently at Otho. tion. The crackling, crashing roar of its progress .'To the Observatory, Otho! I asked you minutes ago reached their ears as a deafening cannonade. to start there." Mountains of ice, marching! The Marching Moun- Otho picked up the handle of Simon Wright's serum- tains were really vast glaciers, that moved at a speed case, and they all emerged from the little tear-drop ship many times faster than any glacier of Earth. Around and approached the Observatory .They passed through and around this frigid planet eternally. their mighty a heat-lock into its shadowy interior, whose warmth ranges moved like ponderous, walking white giants. was grateful after the outside cold. "Master, above us!" Grag yelled suddenly. A hesitant-looking young Earthman astronomer ap- A dark space cruiser. with the black disk of the Le- proached them, looking a little awedly into the lens- gion of Doom on its bows, was diving down on them. eyes of the Brain, the legended unhuman master of sci- "Ambush!" Curt cried, his gray eyes suddenly blaz- ence. ing. "I might have known –" "The Observatory is at your disposal," he told them. He swept their flier aside with a lightning move- "A call from Marshal Gurney asked us to turn over to ment. It was too late. The guns of the cruiser blasted you." atomic fire. "Very well, you can go," rasped the Brain. "Otho, The whole flier rocked sickeningly as its tail and take me up to the eyepiece of the big reflector." rocket-tubes were blasted away. Then it plunged toward Once his case had been securely attached so that he the ice hundreds of feet below, while the Legion cruiser could peer into the eyepiece of the great instrument, the zoomed up and away. Brain spoke to Kansu Kane. "We're going to fall in front of the Marching Moun- "I'm going to check the size and mass of the dark tains!" cried Tharb wildly. "It is certain death!" star again. Will you stand by to assist?" Otho and Joan watched from the floor of the great room, peering up at the two astronomers, human and unhuman, as they began their study high at the eyepiece CHAPTER IX platform of the great telescope. Coming of Doctor Zarro With a soft throbbing of atomic motors, the shutter in the observatory dome rolled back, giving vision of a A FTER Simon Wright had watched Captain Future strip of brilliant, starry sky. The whole dome revolved and his two companions depart, he turned his until the constellation Sagittarius was in the telescope's lens-eyes toward the others who remained in the field of view. Comet. Out there in the Milky Way in that constellation, a "Fly the Comet over to that Observatory, Otho," or- small disk of blackness was very clearly visible. It was dered the Brain. "I want to begin my studies of the dark ominously bigger than it had been, obscuring more than star with their equipment." one star in that crowded area. "I'll go along and act as your assistant, if you wish, " T offered Kansu Kane. HE Brain rasped monosyllabic orders, and Kansu "Ha, Kansu Kane," the Brain rasped, "that is spoken Kane obeyed, touching verniers and screws with like a true scientist able to sink his pride where Truth is expert skill. And as the Brain peered into the eyepiece, involved." the dark thing out there in the starry void leaped into A strange brooding quality crept into the Brain's his vision, enormously magnified. metallic voice. It appeared to the Brain as a vast, spinning black "Yes, it is the search for truth that has occupied me sphere, looming portentously against the star-strewn all my long life, long ago when I was a human like heavens as it thundered on toward the System. A dark yourselves with a body, and through all the years that I star, a dead sun that had once flamed with blazing life, have dwelled bodiless in this serum-case. For a real sci- but that was now only a great cinder of the cosmos, entist must never ask where his truth is taking him – he hurled by fate toward the nine worlds. must only ask that he find it." Simon looked without fear at the awesome and terri- "Captain Future is a real scientist – the greatest in fying spectacle. To the Brain, almost all human emo- the System's history," Joan replied loyally. "And yet he tions such as fear and hatred had ceased to exist long can consider the welfare of the System's peoples, too." ago, when he had been transferred out of his pain- "That is true," agreed the Brain. "But Curtis is an racked human body into his new strange form. Only his 31 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE deep loyalty to and protective love for the helpless baby gas? The android was impervious to almost any poison he had reared to brilliant manhood remained of the and could breathe air that would kill a human, but that Brain's emotions. did not harm his lungs. The Brain checked the apparent diameter of the dark Then the Brain understood. This gas being pumped star, using Kansu Kane to take down the readings. in was one which affected, not the lungs, but every cell "It is nearer – much nearer," the Brain rasped when in the body, paralyzing cellular chemical activity and the result had been computed. "Within very few days it thus "freezing" the whole body. Otho and Joan and will be an alarming spectacle, even to the unaided eye." Kansu Kane must still be conscious like himself, but "What about the actual dimensions?" Kansu Kane their bodies were utterly paralyzed. inquired keenly. And the Brain could do nothing! His only powers of "We'll check that now," Simon answered, "and see if movement were his ability to move his flexible eye- it agrees with my former determination." stalks. He could only wait. When the new readings had been made, and the The hissing of gas ceased. Simon heard the sound of computing done, the Brain's voice held a quality of sur- a door opening. Twisting his eyes downward, he saw a prise. half dozen men in space suits enter the building. "The same as before – that dark star is at least fifty They wore the black disk of the Legion of Doom on thousand miles in diameter! It's unbelievable that it their shoulders. They were led by a tall, space-suited should have so little mass. Something must be distort- man, whose transparent helmet allowed his enormous, ing our mass-measurements." bulging forehead and skull, and gaunt face and burning "That problem has baffled me, too," confessed Kan- eyes, to be seen. su Kane. "I am beginning to believe now that my mass- "Doctor Zarro himself!" muttered the Brain. "I measurements have been in error." might have known." "Prepare the magnetoscopes and we'll make new Doctor Zarro looked down contemptuously at the measurements," directed Simon. stiff, helpless forms of Joan and Otho and Kansu Kane. The Brain brooded over the problem as Kansu Kane Then, while his men guarded the doors, the tall, burn- bustled around the instruments. It was the greatest sci- ing-eyed prophet climbed the metal ladder to the eye- entific mystery he had ever encountered. That colossal piece-platform of the great reflector. dark star thundering toward the System should, in the Doctor Zarro and the Brain stared at each other, the natural course of things. have enormous mass, but all burning black orbs of the black prophet and the cold, astronomical measurements had indicated that its mass glittering lens-eyes of Simon Wright meeting and clash- was negligible. ing in tangible shock. But if those measurements were really in error, if "So this is the famous Brain," mocked Doctor Zarro the dark star really was as massive as it might naturally in a deep, harsh voice muffled by his helmet. "So this is be expected to be, Doctor Zarro's prophecy of solar dis- the greatest scientist in the System, except for Captain aster was not unfounded! Such a huge and massive Future – this miserable brain in a box!" body, if it struck the System would rip through the The Brain, completely unmoved, asked a question. planetary orbits and suck worlds into it as it moved. "Have you killed my friends?" And if it collided with the Sun, half or more of the Sys- Doctor Zarro laughed mirthlessly. tem's worlds might well perish in the titanic catastro- "They are not dead – they are not even unconscious! phe! But they cannot move, while the freezing-gas holds The Brain became suddenly aware that Kansu them." Kane's bustling movements had ceased. The waspish The dark prophet bent closer. little astronomer had sunk down and lay prostrate, his "I heard you were coming here, Brain – and so I eyes staring up emptily. came too. You are going to tell me just how much you "Kansu! What is the matter?" rasped the Brain. and Captain Future have learned about me and my Le- gion. If you tell, I will grant you the gift of quick death. T HERE was no answer. Simon turned his lens-eyes If you refuse –" down to Joan and Otho. They too lay prone, stiff, "I will tell you nothing," replied the unfrightened unmoving. Brain coldly. Then the Brain's keen microphone ears caught a "You had better think twice!" warned the tall hissing sound, as of flowing gas. prophet. "You are utterly helpless in my hands. I can "Overpowering gas of some kind!" flashed the make you long for death." thought of the Brain. "It's being pumped into the build- S ing –" IMON WRIGHT was calm. "A great many men in That, he knew, could be the only explanation. But the past," he said, "have threatened me. They why, he wondered, had Otho been overcome by the thought themselves safe to do so because I have no 32 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE body and cannot resist. But all those men regretted their pletely destroyed the ship, thanks to Curt's swiftness of threats." reaction in dodging. But the whole tail and rocket-tubes "You think your Captain Future will avenge you?" were shorn off, and icy air was screaming into the Doctor Zarro's harsh voice was ugly. "Get rid of the wrecked flier as it tumbled toward destruction, turning idea, Brain! He is already destroyed – before ever I over and over . came here, I gave orders that have by now been carried Curt saw just one chance to avoid death in crashing out." impact below. While Tharb the Plutonian howled in The Brain uttered a rasping laugh. panic, and Grag clutched amazedly to a stanchion to "You're not the first who has thought he had elimi- keep from being thrown out, Captain Future took the nated Curtis. You'll find you are mistaken" one chance left him. Yet inwardly, the Brain was wondering. The quick- He threw himself back to the stern of the falling fli- ness with which Doctor Zarro had learned that Captain er. The single cyclotron that powered it was still there, Future was on Pluto was highly suspicious. It might be unharmed. Clinging to it, Curt tore away the output that the black prophet had in fact laid a deadly trap for power-tubes that had led to the now vanished rockets. Curt. Then the young wizard of science scrambled back to Doctor Zarro was speaking menacingly. the controls. "I know that you and your red-headed captain trailed "Master, we're going to strike!" yelled Grag. me here through the dead body of one of my Legionar- Turning over and over, they were now very close to ies. What else have you found out?" the .gleaming ice. All that had happened had taken but The Brain remained coolly silent. seconds. "I'll make you talk!" the dark doctor cried. Curt's tanned hands grabbed the throttles. He waited He reached out to a little switch on the side of the an instant until, in its turning, the falling flier's stern Brain's transparent case. It was the switch of the com- was downward. Then he opened all throttles wide. pact perfusion pump which circulated serum through From the cyclotron, down out of the blasted tail, Simon's living brain, constantly purifying and stimulat- raved an uncontrolled blaze of atomic energy. That ter- ing it. rific fan of force, hitting the ice-field only yards below, The switch clicked off. The perfusion-pump stopped checked the fall of the flier by its reactive push. instantly. And at once the Brain felt the effects. Next moment the crippled craft, turning on over, lost A dull ache was his first sensation. Then the aching the braking effect. But it had been enough to slow their became stronger, became an increasing agony that fall. They hit the ice with a crashing impact that seemed to spread fiery pain through every fiber of his stunned Curt Newton partially, but that did not destroy brain. them as it would have except for his stratagem. The Brain's vision and hearing blurred as that tortur- Curt got to his feet. Still a little groggy from the ex- ing agony increased, as his starved cerebrum-cells cried perience, he saw the hairy Plutonian and the big metal for the serum whose flow had been stopped. robot staggering up likewise. "Are you ready to be helpful now?" questioned Doc- "The Legion cruiser is gone!" Curt announced, peer- tor Zarro mockingly. ing up through a shattered window of the wrecked flier. The Brain could hardly see the dark figure hovering "They thought we were as good as dead when they saw over him. But he answered, his rasping voice thick, us fall." slow. "We are as good as dead!" yelled Tharb, the hairy "The answer is the same," he mumbled, in- Plutonian's big phosphorescent eyes dilated with terror. domitably. "Listen to that!" He dimly heard Doctor Zarro's fierce exclamation of Curt became aware of a thunderous, cracking, crash- impatience. Then the rending, torturing agony became ing sound that seemed growing louder and nearer by the so intense that Simon could neither see nor hear. minute. "The Marching Mountains!" Tharb howled. "We fell right in their path!" Captain Future's heart skipped a beat. He sprang out CHAPTER X of the tangled metal wreck, the other two following. The Marching Mountains In the brilliant moonlight, he stood petrified for a moment on the rough ice, staring northeastward. He A S Captain Future's disabled rocket flier plunged and his companions looked frozenly up at an awful per- down toward the ice-fields after being hit by the il thundering down on them. Legion cruiser that had attacked them, the red-haired The Marching Mountains! The vast thousand-foot adventurer's brain was working with lightning rapidity. high range of icy hills that was but one of similar The blast of the cruiser's atom-guns had not com- glacier-ranges which perpetually moved around the 33 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE planet! istic dignity in the hairy Plutonian's bearing. "This is our end," he said, and stood gazing dully T HE forefront of the appalling walking ice-range back at the oncoming glacial cliffs. was a towering, gleaming cliff that was only a few "Our end – nothing!" Curt yelled. bis gray eyes hundred yards from them. And the whole cliff was ad- flashing in the moonlight. "Grag. help me push one of vancing on them, moving at an incredible speed of these ice-cakes into the river! If we get one of these many yards a minute, pushed forward by the vast cakes into the river, we can float down on it and maybe glacial masses of ice behind it. From the icy moving get out of the path of the glacier-range before it reaches cliff fell great bergs and masses of ice, over which the the river! That current is terrific – it will take us miles main range moved crushingly as it came on. in a few minutes!" "Out of here!" Captain Future yelled, "We'll have to T run for it – this way!" HARB, spurred out of his despair by the thin "There is no use running from the Marching Moun- chance suggested, sprang with Curt toward a great tains," cried Tharb hopelessly. "We cannot get out of flat ice-cake that lay partly in the water. They pushed their path and they will soon overtake us." with all their strength to slide the mass into the river. Yet the hairy Plutonian joined Curt and Grag as they Grag's physical strength was almost unlimited. Be- started in a dead run away from the crackling, crashing neath his tremendous push, and that of Tharb and Curt, glacial range. the big cake began to slide slowly into the water. Then It was characteristic of Captain Future that even as it moved faster. he and the robot and the Plutonian fled over the moonlit "Jump onto it before it floats clear!" Curt yelled. ice-fields from the pursuing death, his keen mind was "Hurry, Grag!" trying to solve the problem of how that Legion of The flat ice-cake was already swirling out into the Doom cruiser had come to attack him. super-swift current, as the three comrades leaped. It must be, Curt thought tensely, that Legion cruisers Curt Newton and Tharb landed in a heap on the had been in hiding somewhere near the city Tartarus. frozen surface. Grag, following, sprang a little short. And Doctor Zarro had ordered one, perhaps by televi- The big robot's metal body began to slide over the edge sor, to follow Captain Future and destroy him and his of the cake. companions. Curt gripped his metal wrists, and pulled mightily. But how had Doctor Zarro even known that he was He just dragged back Grag's great figure in time. here on Pluto? No one in Tartarus had known it except "Dig hand-grip holes out of the ice!" Captain Future Ezra Gurney, and the three men he had called in to ask yelled to his companions. "It's going to be hard to hang for information – Victor Krim, the Charon fur-magnate, onto this thing!" Rundall Lane, the warden of Cerberus prison, and Cole "See – the Marching Mountains come on!" Tharb Romer, the government planetographer. cried fearfully. "They will reach the river before we are Could one of those three be Doctor Zarro? None of past them!" them had looked like the dark, burning-eyed prophet. "Maybe not," Curt gritted. "Though it's going to be But Curt, remembering the mysterious, baffling way in close." which the white-furred creature had been disguised as The scene was like one of nightmare. The three an Earthman, wondered flashingly if Doctor Zarro's im- great moons of Pluto, looking down upon the silver-lit, pressive appearance was not a similar strange disguise. frigid world. The wild salt river raging northward "The ice gains on us, Master!" Grag's booming voice through the ice-fields. The gigantic, portentous range of yelled over the ominous crackling roar from behind. glacial white cliffs advancing thunderously and inex- "Faster, Grag!" orably toward the river, from northeastward. "It is useless!"cried Tharb a moment later. "See – And in the center of the racing, whirling river, the we can go no farther!" big ice-cake riding the current at dizzying speed, and Captain Future's heart chilled as he saw what lay bearing on it the clinging trio – the fur-clad form of ahead in the moonlit ice-field. Captain Future, the crouching, hairy shape of Tharb, It was the salt river Phlegethon, which they had been and the huge, gleaming metal robot. following northward when the attack bad come. A The icy range of the Marching Mountains was now wide, deep racing torrent whose roar could be heard within a hundred yards of the river, bordering it like a even above the deafening thunder of advancing ice towering white cliff, for many miles. Curt could see, far from behind, ahead, the end of the walking range. Would they pass it They reached the icy shore of the torrent. One before it stamped over the river and crushed them? glance showed Curt that to swim that wide, raging deep His ears were deafened by the combined roar of flood was impossible. , maddened waters and thunderous crashing of the ad- Tharb turned to them, and there was a certain fatal- vancing glacier. The crazy pitching of the ice-cake they 34 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE were riding threatened each moment to dislodge them of a sickening sense of falling into thunderous abysses. from the precarious hand-holds they had scratched out Then as they clung, they became gradually aware of the ice. that the whirling and pitching of the ice-cake was dwin- Now the advancing cliffs were within a few yards of dling, that the roar of waters was rapidly lessening. the river. They towered over the racing current in omi- Drenched and half-frozen, Curt raised his head. nous, on coming precipices. Great masses continually They were out on the moonlit ocean – their ice-cake fell from them, and were crushed under by the main ad- had been borne out onto the heaving waves with unbe- vancing glacial bulk. lievable quickness by the rapids. Now their forward Curt glimpsed the end of the looming cliffs, a little motion was slowing down. ahead. The current, as though sensing their dire peril, "We had better get to shore quickly," said Tharb ap- leaped faster. The ice-cake shot past the end of the prehensively. "This ocean teems with monsters who moving range, at the moment that great white chunks would have us at their mercy on this clumsy mass of were already falling on them from it. ice." "We're safe from the Mountains, anyway!" They started paddling with their hands in the icy wa- Curt cried encouragingly. ter, urging their makeshift raft back across the moonlit "Master, look at that – the ice mountains conquer ocean to the nearest shore, from which the river had the river!" Grag cried wonderingly, staring back. ejected them. Their progress was painfully slow, but Captain Fu- C APTAIN FUTURE glanced back and saw that the ture's hopes were mounting elatedly. If Tharb's grandfa- vast glacier was grinding on across the river, ther, old Kiri, could tell the dwelling-place of the queer, marching steadily on. white-furred Magicians, it was almost sure that the se- "Don't those Marching Mountains fill up the river cret base of Doctor Zarro and his Legion would be every time they cross it?" he cried to Tharb. found in that same place. The Plutonian shook his head. G "No, for most of the river's real current runs in deep RAG suddenly stopped paddling. "Look, master!" underground channels, and as soon as the mountains The robot's metal hand pointed toward a ripple have passed, the current clears away the ice left above." that was approaching them through the moonlit water – They were soon out of sight of the appalling walk- a ripple that was ominously deliberate and steady in its ing ranges. But the thunder of waters in their ears was advance. still loud, their speed still slowly increasing. "It's a bibur – one of the greatest and most terrible "We can't get off this ice-cake until the current sea-monsters of our world!" yelled Tharb. "Paddle slows down," Captain Future shouted. away!" "It will not slow down – it will rush faster, in the But their attempt at retreat was too slow to be of any great rapids that flow into the icy sea!" Tharb cried. avail. That rippling came closer, and they could clearly "The icy sea? The Sea of Avernus?" Captain Future see it was caused by an enormous body swimming be- shouted. "That's right – this river Phlegethon does flow neath the surface. into that ocean. And your people live beyond that sea, Then out of the moonlit sea a huge living thing you said?" broke surface. It was of brontosaurus bulk, its immense, "They do, but I doubt now that we will ever see sleek, wet, furry body urged forward by webbed paws, them!" yelled the fearful Plutonian. its snaky neck ending in a snarling head of great fangs The river rushed them on. And presently Curt New- and blazing red eyes. ton glimpsed that ahead there was a sheer brink beyond Captain Future's proton-pistol flashed into his hand. which he could see nothing. He set it at highest power with a flick of his finger, then "Here's the rapids! Hold tight!" he yelled. leveled it, pulled trigger. The ice-cake was to the brink in seconds. For a mo- The thin, pale beam hit the base of the bibur's neck ment it seemed to hover there, terrifyingly poised. and a sizzle of smoke rose from the wet fur. But the Curt had a glimpse in that moment of what lay be- creature, not seriously hurt, came on with a hoarse yond. A long, icy slope, down which the river rushed in shriek of rage that sounded like a steam-whistle. foaming rapids toward a great, moonlit, heaving ocean "You can't kill it!" Tharb cried wildly. "Their hide is that stretched far out into spectral, shrouding mists. too thick for any weapon to penetrate!" "Here we go!" cried Captain Future, with a reckless The enraged bibur was coming on through the water laugh. at express-train speed. Curt shot again, this time at one The ice-cake plunged down into the rapids. The next of its eyes. moments were a jumble of overwhelming sensations, of The blazing right eye of the monster vanished as the foaming white waters seeking to wash them off their ray hit it. The furred terror uttered another terrific precarious raft, of a dizzy spinning around and around, shriek, and stopped to claw furiously at its head with a 35 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE giant webbed paw. "One of my comrades has sunk – he's down at the "Some of my people are coming!" Tharb suddenly bottom now." said Captain Future. "I need your help to screamed, pointing back out across the moonlit ocean. get him out!" "They'll help –" Tharb goggled. "But he is drowned, by now!" Curt turned for an instant, saw a small fleet of boats Captain Future laughed. "Grag can't drown." of some kind hastening toward them, flaring torches at Captain Future had already devised a simple plan their bows. Then a booming cry from Grag made him for getting the robot out of his predicament. At his re- swing back around. quest, the Plutonians gave him the strong hide anchor- The bibur was resuming its interrupted charge. The ropes from all their boats. Rapidly, Captain Future fas- monster, its small brain enraged to the last pitch by the tened them together in a strong, long line of double pain in its eye, foamed through the water and reared up strength. above the ice-cake and its three riders. His drenched clothing was like a shroud of ice Captain Future loosed his beam, driving it steadily around him, for the wind was blowing stronger. The six into the empty eye-socket of the creature. And what he copper boats tossed uneasily on the surface of the silver had hoped for, happened. The potent beam pierced ocean, while their hairy crews puzzledly watched this through bone into the brain. big, red-haired young Earthman working by the light of The upreared bibur fell forward, dying. But its out- the three moons. flung paw hit the ice-cake and tipped it. In an instant, "I do not like this wind," said Gorr, looking uneasily all three of the companions were in the icy water at flat clouds coming up across the western sky. "We Curt went down but came up instantly, sheathing his cannot , stay here long." proton-pistol and treading water. He looked around the "I'm almost done," Captain Future said quickly. moonlit sea. The enormous body of the dead monster "This rope should be long enough to reach bottom." was floating nearby. Tharb was swimming and yelling He took from his belt his little atomic lamp, turned it to the advancing boats. on, and tied it to the end of his long leather rope. Then But Grag was not in sight. The great metal robot had he lowered the brightly-burning little lamp down into sunk like a stone to the bottom. the moonlit sea. He had paid out almost all his rope before he felt the lamp reach bottom. He waited. then. Grag, down there, should be able to see the lamp and go to it. CHAPTER XI "A blizzard-storm is coming up," Tharb said anx- In the Ice City iously. "It will be dangerous out here on the sea." There came a sudden strong tug at the leather line, C APTAIN FUTURE felt a sharp dismay as he dis- and Captain Future uttered an eager exclamation. covered that Grag had sunk. He was not worried "Grag has the line now! Help me haul him up." about the robot's life, for Grag did not breathe and Making sure that the robot understood his plan and could live under water for a long time. But it would be was holding the leather rope, Captain Future and the a difficult task to get him out of the depths. Plutonians in the boat started to hoist Grag. Treading water, hampered by his furs and chilled by T the icy sea, Curt turned and saw the little fleet of boats HE enormous weight of the metal robot, even bearing down upon them in answer to Tharb's cries. though partially compensated for by the fact that The boats were small copper craft. propelled by sails of he was in water, strained the muscles of Curt and his sewn hides. They were filled with hairy Plutonians like hairy helpers. But foot by foot, the tough leather rope Tharb, staring at them across the moonlit waves. came up and at last Grag's metal head and shoulders ap- The boats dropped their sails and came gliding to peared above the water. them. Hairy arms reached out and hauled Captain Fu- Captain Future helped the robot to scramble into the ture and Tharb aboard. Curt saw that these Plutonians boat. Then the red-haired adventurer burst out laughing. had been fishing – there were masses of queer, silvery Grag was a ludicrous sight. Sea weeds were fish and coils of leather lines in the bottom of this boat. wrapped around him like festooned flowers, and he was Tharb had been talking swiftly to one of the Plutoni- smeared with ooze. ans in this boat – a big, hulking individual. "I do not know why you laugh, Master," sputtered "This is Gorr, chief of my people." Tharb told Cap- the big metal man. "It was a dark, bad place down tain Future. "They were fishing and heard our fight there. And a huge fish attacked me – it tried to bite off with the bibur." my arm." "You are a brave man to have slain a bibur. Earth- "I'll bet it got the surprise of its life when it found man," the chief, Gorr, told Captain Future, his phospho- your arm was metal," chuckled Curt. rescent eyes respectful. "Up sails!" the chief Gorr was shouting over the 36 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE moan of winds. "Unless we get off this sea before the es and chairs were of solid ice, monolithic with the blizzard comes, we'll never see the city Qulun again!" floor, and covered with furs. Hastily the hide sails were raised. As the rising wind A dozen Plutonians of both sexes, all wearing sim- caught them, it sent the little fleet of copper boats spin- ple leather garments, stared wonderingly with their ning swiftly over the heaving, moonlit ocean. They phosphorescent eyes at the big, red-haired Earthman steered a northeastward course, the craft of Gorr lead- and his huge metal companion. The hairy Plutonians ing. did not seem to feel cold, but to Curt the chill of this Captain Future's drenched furs were frozen stiff by place was penetrating. the icy wind, and blinding salt spray dashed his face as "Food and drink for my friends!" ordered the hulk- he crouched with Grag and Tharb in the stern of the lit- ing Gorr in a lordly manner. tle boat. The scream of wind and roar of waves around As some of the Plutonian women hurried out of the them made speech impossible. room to prepare a meal, Curt found Tharb tugging at And yet Captain Future laughed softly. Danger was his sleeve. a wine of excitement in his veins, whether it be danger "Here is my grandfather," the Plutonian told him, met in the vast starry vaults of space or on some weird leading him to a corner of the big room. "This is Kiri." world like this one. It was in such moments that Cap- In the corner, wrapped in heavy bibur-furs, sat an tain Future felt that he was living the most. ancient Plutonian whose thick hair had turned grayish "Qulun harbor!" shouted Gorr in a stentorian voice. white with age, and whose dimly shining eyes peered "Helms over, or we'll run past it!" up weakly from a shriveled face. The copper boat threatened to capsize, but recovered "It is Tharb, your grandson," the younger Plutonian and shot past the looming cape, into a small cove told the blinking old one. "I bring an Earthman who de- rimmed by an icy shore. sires information. He wishes to know about the Magi- The other Plutonian boats followed. Presently their cians." keels grated on ice. The hairy men leaped out and "The Magicians?" echoed old Kiri in a shrill, qua- pulled the boats safely up beside others that lay vering voice. "The Magicians have not been seen here beached along the frozen shore. since long ago – since the Earthmen came." Captain Future glimpsed Tharb stumbling toward "I know that," Curt said quickly to the old Plutonian. him through the screaming snow that now clogged the "But where did the Magicians dwell? Was it near air. here?" "My city Qulun is near," Tharb shouted over the "No, the Magicians never dwelt here," old Kiri roar of storm. "Come with us." replied. "They came here in strange flying ships. They Curt Newton and Grag accompanied the Plutonians were strange, white-furred people, who had great pow- along a narrow path that wound back through glistening ers and wisdom. They could look like anything they ice-hills. wanted to – like us, or like an animal, or even like a The darkness was intense but Gorr and his men lump of ice. That was a great witchcraft." seemed to know their way perfectly. Presently they en- Captain Future's pulse quickened as he heard. Then, tered a small enclosed valley, in which stood the city of even long ago, these so-called Magicians had possessed the Plutonians. the power of creating disguising illusions? It was a city of ice. Every one of is square one and "Yet though their powers were great," old Kiri was two-storied buildings was a monolith of glittering ice, continuing, "they came in peace. They traded with us, constructed by the simple process of setting up forms giving us fine metal tools in exchange for certain min- and pouting in fresh water which immediately froze, erals which we dug out from below the ice. But all this and remained frozen. stopped, after the Earthmen came to this world. The Gorr led them to a big, square ice-building that was Magicians never came again – and I am almost the only larger than any of its neighbors. man of my people who now remembers them." "My house," the Plutonian chief shouted to Captain "But where did they come from?" Curt asked the an- Future. "You shall be my guests." cient Plutonian tensely, Curt turned to Tharb. "But I want to see your grand- "They came down from the moons!" Kiri answered. father, old Kiri," he reminded. "That's why I came "Yes, in their flying-ships, they came from the moons, here." and went back to their homes there." "He will be here, if he still lives," Tharb answered. "From the moons?" Curt repeated amazedly. "Which The Plutonian added a little proudly, "Gorr, the chief, is of the three moons?" of our family." "I do not know that," Kiri quavered. "I only know that their home was on one of the moons." T HE big room was lit by flaming torches of bone CURT was startled by the information. He saw at soaked in oil, stuck into metal sockets. The bench- once how much it narrowed the field of his search. 37 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE The secret home of the Magicians, he reasoned, call-wave on to guide you here." must be on either Cerberus or Charon. The third moon, "Coming at once, Chief!" Otho answered excitedly. Styx, was completely water-covered and so out of the C question. But how was he to find out on which of the URT frowned as he put the instrument back into two other moons the Magicians dwelt? his belt. "Otho sounded upset," he muttered. "Do you remember anything more about the Magi- "Wonder what's happened?" cians?" he asked the old Plutonian. "I hope nothing has happened to Eek, Master," said "Little more," old Kiri confessed. "I remember that Grag anxiously. they would not eat our food – they said it did not have They approached the feast that had been prepared, enough cobalt in it to suit them." around which Gorr and Tharb and the other Plutonians "Cobalt?" Captain Future repeated. His eyes nar- were waiting. rowed. "Then they must have come from a world whose "You went to too much trouble to prepare all this for soil or water was rich in cobalt salts." us," Captain Future told the hairy chief in polite protest. And now Captain Future remembered something "No, this is our usual style," the chief replied that had puzzled him when he had made scientific ex- grandiloquently. "The house of Gorr does not starve, as amination of the dead body of the white-furred crea- you see." ture, on the way out to Pluto. They all seemed proud to have an Earthman as their That was the queer blue color of the creature's guest, though they looked a little dubiously at great bones. He had not had time to analyze it then. But he Grag, sitting beside Captain Future like a metal statue, realized now it was due to food or water with a high and eating nothing. content of cobalt salts. As Captain Future ate and laughed with the Plutoni- "If we can find which moon, Cerberus or Charon, ans, and heard their tales of perilous exploits amid the has indigenous life with a high cobalt content in its Marching Mountains arid the icy oceans, his mind was skeleton, we'll know then on which moon the Magi- feverishly anxious to follow up his new lead to Doctor cians live – and where Doctor Zarro's base is!" Zarro. He was convinced now that the master-plotter's Grag stared puzzledly. "But the man, Victor Krim, base was on Cerberus or Charon. said there was no such race on Charon, Master. And The meal over, Captain Future and Grag went out Rundall Lane, the warden of Cerberus prison, said the into the street, into the teeth of the ferocious blizzard, same about Cerberus." the Plutonians following. "They said that, yes," Captain Future retorted mean- Presently a thin, drumming drone reached their ears ingly. "But one of them could have been lying." through the howl of the gale. Curt flashed his lamp in Captain Future already had reason to connect Victor signal. Krim and Rundall Lane with Doctor Zarro. For they, Down out of the blinding snow came the Comet, and Cole Romer, had been the only ones besides the swooping fast to a landing in the street. Captain Future Police who had known that he was on his way to Pluto shouted farewell to Gorr and his companions, and hur- – the only ones, so it seemed, who could have given the ried toward the open door of the little ship, with Grag information to the Legion of Doom in time for it to and Tharb. make its murderous surprise attack on him. Otho sprang to meet them as they entered the tear- If Krim or Rundall Lane were connected with Doc- drop ship. The android's green slit-eyes blazed with tor Zarro, the guilty one would naturally lie about the emotion. Magicians. "The Brain;s gone, Chief!" he hissed. "The Legion But Captain Future meant to use the cobalt clue to of Doom has taken him!" ascertain whether it was on Cerberus or Charon that the "Simon kidnapped?" Curt Newton's gray eyes mysterious Magicians dwelt! flashed. Now he understood why Otho bad sounded so Gorr, the hulking chief, came up and interrupted upset. "When did it happen?" Curt's rapid thoughts. "Just a little before you called," cried Otho. "I was "Our feast is ready, Earthman," he announced. in the observatory with Joan. while Simon and Kansu Captain Future rose, thanking old Kiri for his infor- Kane were up at the telescopes. I heard a queer, gur- mation. But before following Gorr to the feast, he drew gling sound – next moment I and the others dropped to his pocket-televisor from his belt and pushed its button the floor, unable to move a muscle. to call Otho. "I wasn't unconscious – I could still see and hear – In a moment came the answering buzz from Otho, in but I seemed to be frozen! I heard men come into the distant Tartarus. observatory. I was lying on my face and couldn't see "Come at once in the Comet," Captain Future or- them, but I heard one of them climb up to the telescope dered. "Our flier was destroyed and it's imperative that platform, and heard him speaking to Simon, though I I get back to Tartarus as soon as possible. I'll leave the couldn't make out what he said. Then soon, all these 38 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE men left. And after awhile I was able to move. We bad attack my flier. And he came with other Legionaries to been overcome by some heavy gas pumped into the snatch Simon away from his studies here." building, and as it was dissipated through the door, we Suddenly a startled expression crossed Captain Fu- revived. But Simon was gone!" ture's face. "Back to Tartarus, full speed," ordered Captain Fu- "But why should Doctor Zarro go to such lengths to ture, his tanned face dangerous. stop the Brain's study of the dark star? Can it be that he The Comet rose through the blinding snow and was afraid the Brain would –" roared southward across the nighted, storm-swept plan- Curt stopped, but he filed away in a corner of his et. mind the astonishing idea that had come to him. "I can't understand why Doctor Zarro didn't recap- ture me when he had the chance!" Kansu Kane was say- ing bewilderedly. CHAPTER XII "He had no reason, now," Captain Future declared. Interplanetary Prison "You see, the Legion originally captured you, Kansu, T like the other scientists – to make it seem that you had HE domed city, Tartarus, shone through the bliz- disappeared, had fled out of the System to escape the zard like a magical bubble of light and warmth. coming catastrophe. The Comet swooped down through the screaming "But, after you disappeared once, you had appeared snow, not toward the domed city but toward the small here on Pluto again. So the observatory officials and round Observatory outside it. The flight back had taken others here knew you had not fled out of the System at but minutes, yet to Captain Future it had seemed hours. all. Recapture of you now would be too late to make it He was obsessed by an overpowering anxiety for the appear that you had fled. The plan was spoiled, but it Brain. isn't very harmful to them at this stage." As he and Otho and Grag hastened to the door of the C little ship, Captain Future turned for a moment to APTAIN FUTURE began an intent search of the Tharb. observatory. Nothing escaped his keen eyes. Yet "You'd best go back into the city, Tharb," he told the he found nothing until he climbed to the eyepiece-plat- wondering Plutonian. "You've helped me a lot." form of the great telescope. Blinded by stinging snow, nearly swept from his There the red-haired wizard of science bent sudden- feet by the wind, Captain Future plunged toward the ly over a smear of crumbly white soil upon the plat- Observatory entrance. The great domed interior blazed form. He scraped it up and examined it. It was a smear with light. Curt saw Joan Randall hastening toward of soft white nitrate rock-soil. him, with Ezra Gurney and Kansu Kane behind her. "Is there any white nitrate soil like this around Tar- The girl's face was pallid. tarus?" he asked Ezra Gurney. "Was it Doctor Zarro himself who came here with "Not that I know of, Captain Future." the Legion and took Simon?" Captain Future asked "I'm going out to the Comet to analyze this," Curt swiftly. said. "You'd better come along – there's nothing more "Yes, it was Doctor Zarro!" Kansu Kane babbled. "I here." was overcome by the gas, but I was not unconscious – I Inside the compact laboratory of the Comet, Curt be- lay up there on the telescope platform, unable to move, gan a painstaking analysis of the white nitrate. He pre- but near enough to hear what went on." pared samples of it with deft, expert skill, subjecting And the little astronomer told of how Doctor Zarro those samples to mysterious chemical treatment and had tortured the Brain by shutting off his perfusion- then studying them through the bulky electro-micro- pump. scope. "But the Brain wouldn't tell anything," Kansu con- All were silent as Captain Future worked. All knew cluded, "and so Doctor Zarro and his Legionaries took that they were watching the most brilliant scientist in the Brain with them. Roj and Kallak were among those the System, though what he was doing was beyond Legion men." their knowledge. "So Doctor Zarro tortured the Brain," Curt gritted. He finally straightened, finished with his inspection. He was shaken by such anger as he had seldom felt. To His gray eyes were gleaming as he turned to them. Curt, the Brain was not the cold, austere, unhuman be- "As I thought!" he exclaimed. "This nitrate came, ing he seemed to other people, but was his oldest com- originally, not from any place on Pluto, but from one of rade and tutor and guardian. the moons!" "Doctor Zarro's motives are clear enough," Curt de- "How can you tell?" Kansu Kane asked puzzledly. clared. "He is afraid of my smashing his plot for power. "The soil contains nitrogen-fixing bacterial life," So he ordered one of his Legion cruisers to ambush and Curt replied. "It is too cold on Pluto for such bacterial 39 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE forms as this particular one to flourish. But on the from which he was sending forth his Legion on their moons. which are a little warmer than Pluto, such bac- nefarious errands. teria could readily exist. The only place this could Of course, Doctor Zarro did not look like any known come from is one of the moons." Earthman. But Curt was now sure that the appearance Curt turned to the grizzled Planet Police marshal. of the gaunt, bulging-skulled, burning-eyed prophet was "Ezra, will you go back into Tartarus and bring Rundall an illusion-disguise of the same nature as that which Lane and Victor Krim here – also that planetographer, had made the white-furred Magician look like an Earth- Romer?" man! "Sure – won't take but a few minutes," retorted the And if Doctor Zarro was some Earthman here, he old marshal. Wrapping his furs around him, he plunged must be an Earthman connected somehow with one of outside. the moons. For the white-furred Magicians had lived on "Then you think Doctor Zarro's base is on one of the one of the moons, according to old Kiri. Among that moons?" Joan exclaimed eagerly. "That he's taken the mysterious, hidden race must be the arch-plotter's head- Brain there?" quarters. And since water-covered Styx was ruled out, "I know Doctor Zarro's headquarters are on one of the moon in question must be either Charon or Cer- the moons now." Curt affirmed. "The only question is – berus. which one?" Thus, Doctor Zarro was an Earthman connected Presently, Ezra Gurney returned. But there was only with either Charon or Cerberus. And this clue pointed one man with him – Cole Romer. the scholarly plane- to Cerberus – tographer. "I'm going to Cerberus in the Comet," Curt an- "Where are Krim and Rundall Lane?" Curt demand- nounced. "I've some things to ask Rundall Lane. Grag ed. and Otho will go with me. Joan, I want you to stay here "Lane went back to Cerberus a short time ago," the and see if you and Ezra can find Victor Krim, if he's grizzled marshal replied. "As for Victor Krim, none of still in Tartarus." my men could locate him. We don't know if he's re- "Isn't there anything I can do?" little Kansu Kane turned to Charon, or what." asked Curt earnestly. .'The Brain is a great scientist – Cole Romer was obviously perplexed by the sum- I'd do anything to save him." mons, and was looking wonderingly around the famous "There's something you can do for me that's very im- ship. portant, Kansu," Curt told the little Venusian as- Captain Future showed him the smear of nitrate. tronomer. "I want you to ascertain whether any of the "Ever see soil of this peculiar sort on Cerberus or fixed stars around the dark star have been displaced Charon?" he asked. since the dark star appeared." R K OMER'S scholarly face furrowed in doubt a:s he ANSU stared. "I can do that all right in the Obser- examined the white nitrate. vatory here, though I don't see just how it will be "I think there's a soil of this type on Cerberus, near of much help." the Interplanetary Prison," he answered slowly. "I may "It's an idea I have," Captain Future said briefly. be wrong, though – I've been on Cerberus but a few The four people left the Comet and plunged out into times, since Warden Lane objects to visitors." the whirling snow, wrapping their furs close around "Why doesn't Rundall Lane want visitors?" Curt them – Kansu Kane heading toward the Observatory asked. again, and Joan and Ezra Gurney and Cole Romer start- "I don't know. But he doesn't." ing back to the domed city. "That's true, Captain Future," confirmed Ezra Gur- Captain Future held the throttles as the Comet's ney. "Lane doesn't even like us Planet Police coming rocket-tubes spurted white fire, hurling the little tear- there. Of course, he's not a Policeman himself – he's a drop ship up through the blizzard. Otho and Grag political appointee." crowded anxiously beside him in the control room, the "Do you happen to know if Victor Krim is still in robot holding his moon-pup pet, who was wriggling Tartarus?" Curt asked Romer. with pleasure at being reunited with its metal master. "I think he is," the planetographer said uncertainly. In a space of seconds, the little ship had climbed out "but I'm not sure. He may be in the fur-hunters' quar- of the storm into clear space. The nighted, tempest- ter." vague surface of Pluto lay beneath. In the starry void Captain Future stood, his mind busily assessing the above shone the mottled white disk of Cerberus, while situation. He had come to certain definite conclusions. Charon and Styx were setting. He was quite sure that Doctor Zarro was some The ship roared straight up through space toward Earthman of Pluto, who had a secret base here. from Cerberus, flashing out on wings of fire. which he was broadcasting his ominous warnings, and "You think either Rundall Lane or Krim is Doctor 40 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE Zarro, Chief?" Otho was asking excitedly. "It must be across the moon. Lane, if that clue in the observatory really came from "Remain here. Grag. and guard the Comet," Curt Cerberus." told the robot in a low voice. Grag's great metal form was ominous with menace "But Otho –" Grag began to object. as the robot's photo-electric eyes stared up at the C largening moon. URT cut him off. "I'll be sending Otho back too. I "If the man Lane tortured and kidnapped the Brain, think. with something to do. But I don 't want the he will answer to me," vowed the metal man. ship unguarded for a minute." "Only after l get through with him, Grag," corrected Curt and Otho set off then toward the massive black Otho. stronghold, all having set their gravitation equalizers "You? It is your fault Simon is in trouble,". boomed before emerging. the robot. "You are bad luck to have near. For master As he walked, Curt's eyes searched the rocky plain went with you on Mars and master was captured, and over which they moved. Presently, as they neared the we left you there on Pluto with the Brain, and the Brain great gates of the prison he saw what he was looking was kidnapped. It keeps me busy all the time undoing for an outcrop of soft white rock. He picked up a frag- the harm you do." ment – it was crumbly nitrate. Otho was for a moment speechless with sheer rage "The same kind of rare nitrate as that smear that at this booming indictment. Doctor Zarro left in Tartarus Observatory," he mut- "This is too much!" choked the android. "It's bad tered. enough I to have to knock around the System with a Then he looked around. The only living things in loud-mouthed, dim-witted machine, but when that ma- sight were some of the swift little moon-lizards native chine starts lecturing me –" to small, hostile Cerberus. "Come off it, you two!" Captain Future ordered "Otho, I want you catch one of those lizards and sharply. "Simon is in deadly danger – the whole System take it back to the Comet and wait for me," Captain Fu- is in danger – and all you two can think of is to call ture ordered. each other names!" "Devils of space; did I come here only for a lizard- "You're right, Chief," Otho said loudly. "After all, hunt?" Otho cried astoundedly. "I don't understand –" there's no sense in arguing with a hunk of metal." "You will," Curt chuckled. "And you won't find Grag was about to make furious retort, when his at- those things easy to catch." tention was distracted by Eek. The little gray moon-pup He left the android to the task, and strode on toward had sunk his amazing teeth into a burnished control- the great gates of Interplanetary Prison. lever, had found the taste of the metal good, and was As he approached the gates, he impinged on an in- diligently trying to eat the whole handle. visible zone of force that set a bell ringing in the guard- "If we don't get rid of that beast, there won't be tower beside the gate, and flashed brilliant searchlights much left of the Comet," Otho declared savagely. onto him. "Eek must be hungry – you did not feed him enough "Stand where you are!" ordered a guard's voice. while I was gone," Grag defended. "Who are you and what are you doing here? Visitors "I gave him a chunk of copper big enough to choke are forbidden." him. The little pest doesn't know when he's full." Curt's tall, lithe figure and tanned, forceful face Grag silently projected a telepathic command at were bathed in the glare as he calmly held up his left Eek, and the moon-pup quit chewing the handle and hand. curled up on the robot's broad metal shoulder. "Captain Future, to see Rundall Lane, the warden," Now Cerberus was broadening in the starry vault he clipped. ahead. The famous prison moon, only a scant two hun- "Captain Future?" exclaimed the unseen guard, in a dred thousand miles from its parent planet, loomed as a changed voice, staring at the ring on Curt's band, whose dull saffron disk. nine "planet" jewels slowly revolved around the glow- Captain Future stared broodingly as he drove the lit- ing "sun" jewel. tle tear-drop ship into the thin, cold atmosphere of the That ring, and that name, could open any door in the big moon. He had been here before. And he had sent Solar System, by official command. Yet this guard hesi- scores of other men here, for life – interplanetary crimi- tated. nals he had brought to justice, who had been sentenced "I'll tell the warden you're here," be said. to the dreaded System penitentiary here. "You'll admit me at once!" snapped Curt. "Open Now he sent the ship swooping downward in a long these gates!" glide. He landed the Comet on the rock plain a half mile The tremendous prestige and authority embodied in from the prison. Now he and Grag and Otho stepped this tall, red-haired young man overcame the guard's re- out of it into the chill wind that sighed and screamed luctance. 41 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE The great gates, moved by humming atomic motors, that we've no real information about their escape," he swung slowly open, and then closed again as Captain said. Future entered. Curt, riffling through the records in the two files, "Take me to the warden's office," he ordered crisply. soon discovered that that was true. Then as he looked "Yes, Captain Future – this way," faltered the man. up, he saw that there were scores of files in the cabinet Rundall Lane, the thin, elderly warden of Interplane- whose numbers were dark. tary Prison, sprang nervously to his feet as Curt en- "Do all those dark numbers represent prisoners who tered. have escaped?" he demanded. "Captain Future!" he exclaimed startledly. Dismay "Yes," answered Rundall Lane uneasily. "As soon as was plain on his face. "What are you doing here? We they get outside the force-zone of the prison, it breaks have a rule against visitors –" the radio-rapport between their badges and our telltales "Forget your rules," Curt said sharply. "I'm here on here, to warn us." the trail of Doctor Zarro." "How did they all get away?" Curt asked. "It's un- "Doctor Zarro?" echoed Lane in apparent amaze- heard of for even one man to escape here, let alone so ment. "But you don't think that his base is on many as that." Cerberus?" "We haven't any idea of how they're getting away!" "I don't know yet," Curt declared. "But some things Lane affirmed. "It's an unfathomable mystery." point that way." "Have all these escapes been reported to the System Government?" H E was watching Rundall Lane closely. The un- Lane twisted uncomfortably. "No, we haven't report- easiness of this man, an Earth politician who had ed them," he said desperately. "It would mean losing schemed himself into appointment as warden here, my job. So I've kept it quiet, hoping to recapture the es- seemed suspicious to Curt. Why did Lane seem so caped prisoners. You won't report me, will you, Captain afraid of him? Future?" he begged. "I've reason to believe," Curt said, choosing his "I certainly will!" blazed Curt Newton. "You have words, "that the white-furred creatures like the dead let scores of the most vicious criminals loose on the one I showed you in Tartarus, the Magicians, inhabit ei- System, either by carelessness or deliberate design. ther this moon or Charon." You're not the man for this place." "It must be Charon, then!" Rundall Lane exclaimed. S "There's nothing on Cerberus except this prison." USPICION was strong in Curt's mind, now – suspi- "How can you know?" Curt demanded. "You told cion of this political jobholder he had already me before that you didn't know what was on the rest of proved derelict to his duty. this moon." "Call in your guards," he ordered harshly. "I've some "I don't, but my guards do know most of it," Lane things to ask them." explained quickly. "Some of them have been here for "I'll have to get them," Lane replied unhappily. "I'll years. They've never seen any such race as you showed only be a moment." me." The warden went out of the little office building and "I want to talk to your guards," Captain Future said Captain Future bent to examine more of the records in coldly. "But first, there's another matter – the two for- the cabinet. mer prisoners here, Roj and Kallak, who are now lead- The more be examined, the more he became con- ers of Doctor Zarro's Legion. How did they escape from vinced of Lane's wrong-doing. The scores of prisoners here?" who had escaped had apparently done so through com- "I told you we don't know. We just found them gone plicity. Nothing else was possible. one morning." Curt was suddenly drawn from his investigation by a Curt's eyes narrowed. "Let me see the records on shrill cry from outside. He leaped to a window. A guard those two," he demanded. was running out of the great main cellhouse, shouting Reluctantly, Rundall Lane went to a big cabinet. In- wildly. side it were several thousand little flat metal filing-cas- "Mutiny!" he was yelling. "The prisoners are es, on the edge of each of which glowed a lighted num- mutinying!" ber. On his heels, out of the cellhouse poured a mob of Curt knew the system. Each number corresponded to wild prisoners, shouting and brandishing atom-guns the glowing badge-number worn by a prisoner, badge they had apparently snatched from guards they over- and file being in radio-rapport with each other while the powered. prisoner was serving time in the prison. Guards up in the wall-towers opened fire but were Lane took out two files whose numbers were dark. shot down by the blazing atom-guns of the convicts, in- Here are the files on Roj and Kallak, but you'll find stantly. 42 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE "The office building!" yelled the leader of the con- nation. victs, a fat, gross-looking Earthman. "That's where Cap- "They must be crazy! While Captain Future is fight- tain Future is, men!" ing to smash Doctor Zarro's plot, they're helping the "Get Captain Future!" went up the fierce cry from plotter!" the outrushing prisoners. They rushed toward the office The old marshal glanced at her. "You think quite a structure. bit of Captain Future, don't you?" he asked shrewdly. Curt heard, and understood. There were hundreds of Joan flushed, "Yes, I do." interplanetary criminals in here whom he had sent here "Well, so do I," smiled the old interplanetary veter- and who hated him more than any other man alive. an. Now they were surging around the office building, They reached the two-story cement structure that Martians, Saturnians, Earthmen and others – cutting off was division headquarters of the Planet Police. Ezra all possible escape. And from every throat went up the Gurney snapped orders to the trim-uniformed officers. same raging cry. "I want to know if Victor Krim's gone back to "Death to Captain Future!" Charon," the old man crackled, "and if he hasn't, I want him brought in here. Get goin'!" When the officers had gone, the old marshal settled back into a chair with a sigh. CHAPTER XIII "Not as young as I used to be," he complained. "Get Street of Hunters tired a lot easier. Time was, forty years ago, when I was J a young man and the interplanetary frontiers were new, OAN RANDALL stood in the raging blizzard, that nothin' tired me. Now I'm just a poor, weak old watching the Comet roar up into the storm on its way man ready for the retirement list." to Cerberus. The girl secret agent would have given Joan Randall forgot her anxiety long enough to much to have been inside it with Captain Future and laugh at him. Grag and Otho. "You're just looking for sympathy," she accused. "Come along, Joan," shouted Ezra Gurney as the "Twenty years from now, you'll be laying down the law Comet vanished above. "This storm will blow us off in some planetary boom-town, and enjoying it." our feet." "You're a hard, unfeelin' young woman," grunted "It's pretty bad now," agreed Cole Romer, a muffled Ezra. "And you haven't got the proper respect for your figure in his furs, "but it'll let up before long." elders." The old police marshal and the planetographer has- I tened back with the girl toward the big domed city. N a quarter-hour, the televisor on the desk buzzed Once inside the transparent dome of Tartarus, they suddenly. seemed in another world. Outside, the ferocious bliz- "One of the boys may have located Krim," Ezra said zard might scourge the night, but in here the air was hopefully, quickly switching on the instrument. balmy and warm in the lighted streets, the great atomic But it was Cole Romer's serious, scholarly face, air-conditioners functioning perfectly. highly excited now, that showed in the televisor-screen. "We'll get to headquarters and get every man I've got "Marshal, I've found out where Victor Krim is!" the out looking for Victor Krim." Ezra Gurney was saying. planetographer cried. "You won't believe it, but –" "While you're doing that, I'll look for Krim myself," A flash of fire crossed the screen, and then it went Cole Romer said, his scholarly face thoughtful. "I've an black. The connection had been broken. idea where he may be, if he's not returned to Charon." Ezra leaped to his feet with a swiftness that belied "If you find him, call us," asked the old marshal as his recent complaints of age. His faded blue eyes were the planetographer parted from them. wide. As Ezra and Joan went through the lighted streets "Something's happened to Romer!" he exclaimed. and parks of exotic interplanetary vegetation, they saw "You saw that flash? It looked like the flash of an atom- little knots of Earthmen colonists talking anxiously on gun!" every corner. And one name came to their ears. over The old marshal sprang toward the door. "You stay and over again. here, Joan. I'm goin' out and get the men organized into "Doctor Zarro!" a dragnet. First we'll post guards at the doors of the Ezra's weatherbeaten face tightened. city-dome, so Krim can't get out of Tartarus if he's still "People here are gettin' more and more scared about here." that dark star, same as all over the System," he mut- Left alone in the office, a sudden memory came to tered. "And Doctor Zarro's broadcasts ain't calmin'. Joan. Cole Romer had said, in answer to a question of their fears any." Curt Newton's that Victor Krim, if he were in the city, Joan Randall's pretty face flashed with vivid indig- might be in the fur-hunters' quarter. 43 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE That quarter must be where Romer had gone in "Are any of Krim's hunters here now?" Joan asked search of Krim, then. She was sure of it. And that must them, looking anxiously along the crowded street. be where Romer had met with disaster in his search. The bearded Earthman shook his head. "Krim's men Joan wasted no further time in speculation. Time never come to Pluto, except a few that come with him might be all-important. She would search in that part of to bring his shiploads of furs. Matter of fact, the rest of the city herself. us boys can't figure what kind of men he's got, that are She hurried out of the Planet Police building and crazy enough to stay out there on Charon." started through the streets and parks toward the western Joan felt a hand tugging her sleeve. She recoiled part of the city. There lay the noisy, brightly lighted with a little cry as she saw that it was one of the hairy, streets that Curt Newton had told here was the hunters' phosphorescent-eyed Plutonians who stood at her side. quarter. "Let the lady alone. you monkey, or I'll boot you She stopped an Earthman coming along the street. clear through the wall of Tartarus!" threatened the "Is this the way to the Street of the Hunters" she Earthman. asked. "This Earthgirl knows me!" claimed the Plutonian in He stared at her. "Yes, it is. But that's a pretty rough broken Earth speech. He asked Joan anxiously, "You neighborhood for a girl, miss." remember me – I Tharb, the guide – I take red-haired Joan hurried on unmindfully. An uproar came man out to my grandfather." vaguely to her ears from ahead. She passed dark fur and "Of course, I remember you now!" Joan exclaimed. mineral warehouses, and turned suddenly into the blaz- She told the two hunters: "It's all right – I know this ing Street of the Hunters. Plutonian." It was an uproarious place. The rest of the city, the "Well, if you need any help, you just yell, lady," rest of the whole System, might be obsessed by grow- drawled the big hunter. ing dread of colossal catastrophe, but dark stars and And with a grandiloquent, drunken bow, the brawny warnings of doom meant little to the wild hunters who hunter and his Martian companion passed on down the made this place their mecca, and squandered here the street. money earned by weeks of toil and hardship. Tharb the Plutonian was eyeing"Joan with an eager The street was lined thickly with blazingly illumi- expression. nated drinking shops, taverns and gambling halls, typi- "Is red-haired Earthman here?" he asked. "He is cal of all planetary frontier towns. Two hunters, one a great man – he save Tharb's life when Marching Moun- big, bearded Earthman and the other a red, solemn- tains nearly kill us." faced Martian, stopped in front of Joan. A strong fra- Joan perceived that Captain Future had inspired in grance of some potent planetary liquor came from this Plutonian the same hero-worship that the in- them. domitable red-haired adventurer had aroused in many "You're the prettiest girl I ever saw in the Street of others. Hunters," declared the big Earthman. "Want to go "He is not here," she told Tharb, "but he and I need dancin'?" help, Perhaps you can help us, Tharb." "No, no," Joan said hurriedly. "I'm looking for "I do anything to help red-haired man," Tharb someone." vowed. "You know Victor Krim?" Joan asked quickly. T HE half-drunk Earthman stared at her. Then he re- "Have you seen him down here tonight?" moved his fur cap with a hasty gesture. "No see Krim," Tharb replied. "Maybe he go back to "Sorry, ma'am – I didn't know I was speakin' to a Charon. Bad place, Charon – many korlats and other lady," he apologized. "Don't see many of 'em down here terrible beasts." – and it's not a very good place for one to be, if you'll Joan began to feel utterly baffled. But a new line of let me say so." search occurred to her. "I'm looking for Victor Krim, the fur-magnate," she "Have you seen Cole Romer, the planetographer?" said eagerly, "Are you one of his hunters?" she asked. "I know he found Krim down here tonight. "Victor Krim's hunter?" echoed the big Earthman, Do you know him?" "No, ma'am! I may be a little crazy, but I'm not crazy Tharb bobbed his strange hairy head. "Tharb knows enough to sign up to hunt on that devil's moon of Romer – guide some exploring expeditions for him, Krim's!" long time ago. And I see Romer here, little time ago." "Nor me either," declared the Martian. "It's bad "Where did you see him?" Joan asked eagerly. enough on Pluto here, with the ice-bears and the ice- Tharb pointed a black, hairy arm down the street. cats and the Biburs, but Charon – why, those hellish ko- "He going to door of old warehouse down in next rlats on Charon – will kill a hunter before he can see street." them." "Take me there," the girl begged immediately, and 44 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE Tharb at once led the way. of Doom. The seamed-faced dwarf, Roj, and the giant Many in the rowdy throng looked curiously at the Kallak. were at their head. Joan recognized the two as pretty Earthgirl and the hulking, hairy Plutonian as they she fell to the floor, hopelessly pinioned by the rope- passed. snakes. Joan felt a little encouraged. Cole Romer had found "Quick, take her below!" snapped Roj to the stupid Krim, she knew, from Romer's interrupted televisor giant. "The Plutonian is done for." can. And if she could follow the planetographer's trail – "You killed him – he second you've killed!" accused "Will red-haired man need Tharb for guide again?" one of the Legion men. "There was to be no killing, the big Plutonian was asking hopefully. Roj!" "Perhaps he will." Joan answered. "I had to do it – he'd have got out and given the "I go anywhere with him," Tharb declared. "I like alarm!" retorted the dwarf viciously. "Come on – down him much – all my people like him much." below with her." Tharb pointed at a tall, dark cement structure. Joan, half dazed by the suddenness and unexpected- "I see Cole Romer going to door of that place," he ness of her capture, felt herself carried behind the bales asserted. of furs toward a concealed trapdoor. Joan looked at the place doubtfully. There seemed She glimpsed, in a corner, a human body charred to no sign of life about, and there was no sign over the a horrible, unrecognizable mass by atom-guns. Remem- door. bering Cole Romer's interrupted televisor can for help, But a few doors down the street was a warehouse she shuddered. that bore the sign: "Charon Fur Company –Victor Beneath the trapdoor was a lighted room hollowed Krim, President." out of the rock. Joan's eyes flew to a tall, gaunt black "I'm going to have a look inside," she said. starting figure with bulging, hairless skull and burning black toward the door of the dark. silent place opposite her. eyes – Doctor Zarro. Tharb followed her wonderingly. She tried the big On a table beside the arch-plotter rested the trans- door – to her surprise, it was unlocked. She and the Plu- parent serum-case of the Brain. Joan was tossed to the tonian stepped inside, into a dark, musty-smelling inte- floor nearby. rior. "It's that girl Police agent!" Roj cried to the black Joan flashed a tiny beam from her ring-lamp. It prophet. "She and a Plutonian were snooping above." showed a huge cement room, with nothing in it but Joan, held by the repulsive living bonds, cried to the some molded bales of old bibur-furs. There was no sign Brain nearby, while Roj was making report to his mas- of recent occupancy. ter. "I'm afraid you were wrong, Tharb, when –" she "Simon, how long have you been here?" she cried. started to say. The Plutonian abruptly interrupted. "Since Doctor Zarro and his men kidnapped me "Listen! Something alive inhere!" he exclaimed. from the observatory," answered the Brain. "They Then Joan heard it, a queer, rustling, sliding, sound brought me in here through a tunnel under the city wall. that was vaguely familiar, and that chilled her blood. The Legionaries held me here, while Doctor Zarro left She recoiled a few steps, then uttered a cry of terror. for a time – the Doctor only came back here a short A cold, snake-like thing had suddenly whipped around time ago." her ankles. At the same moment. Tharb uttered a yell. "Cole Romer must have tracked down this place," Joan frantically flashed her light downward. A she cried. She told of the planetographer's interrupted dozen pink snaky shapes were wriggling toward them call, "And there's a horrible dead body above –" from behind one of the moldering piles of furs. Two of "It must be Romer's, then," the Brain rasped. "I them had already coiled quickly around her legs and heard the voices of Romer and Victor Krim shouting in others were leaping up at her upper body. the upper room, and then atom-guns firing, just before "Rope-snakes!" she cried. "Doctor Zarro's men are Doctor Zarro came back down here." here – get away. Tharb!" "That must have been when Romer was killed!" The Plutonian, tearing away the living bonds that cried Joan. "He said in his call that he'd found Victor had partly whipped around him, started toward the Krim – then there was an atom-gun flash and his televi- door. sor went dead." A blast of atomic fire crackled down the dark room Joan told the Brain of the attempt made to kill Cap- from behind the piles of furs, and hit Tharb's back. The tain Future by attacking and forcing down his rocket Plutonian collapsed, a big hole burned between his flier. hairy shoulders. "I understand," rasped Simon. "This is Doctor Zarro's secret Tartarus hideout. He sent out Roj and O UT from behind the piled furs men came running. Kallak alone in a cruiser to ambush Curt's flier. And the Earthmen who wore the black disk of the Legion Doctor himself and some of bis Legionaries went out 45 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE through the secret tunnel to raid the observatory." id rock under the city by atomic blasts, apparently a While Joan and the Brain talked, one of the Le- long time ago. gionaries was complaining loudly to Doctor Zarro. "Fur-thieves opened this secret tunnel, years ago, in "Roj killed the Plutonian," the Legionary was accus- case you're interested, my dear Brain," Roj was saying ing. "You said there would be no killing, but two have gibingly. "The Doctor found it, and kept quiet about it. been killed." It serves us well." "I had to do it," the dwarf muttered venomously. The tunnel ended in a flight of steps upward. They "There will be no more such deaths," Doctor Zarro emerged into the freezing, bitter night, on the rock plain assured the Legionaries, almost placatingly. Then the far out beyond the wall of domed Tartarus. The bliz- dark leader continued quickly. "It is time for us to get zard was over. The stars shone brilliantly. out of here, before others discover us. There is no more A dark cruiser with the black disk of the Legion of reason for staying. Go out through the tunnel and see if Doom on its bows was waiting here. The brain and the the way to the ship is all clear." pinioned girl were carried inside and flung into a corner of the main cabin. A moment after the door slammed, W HEN they had gone, Doctor Zarro turned toward they felt the cruiser lift skyward with a roar of rocket- Roj and Kallak with an air of suppressed fury in tubes. his bearing. "Why did you kill that Plutonian?" he demanded harshly of the dwarf. "You know my orders." CHAPTER XIV "He was going to get away – I had to blast him Cobalt Clue down," retorted Roj sullenly. "You are a clumsy bungler!" stormed the Doctor. C APTAIN FUTURE, when he heard the cry of "You bungled the abduction of Kansu Kane and Gatola, "Death to Captain Future" ring out, realized in a and let Captain Future save them both. When I sent you flash that it was not mere chance that had unleashed and Kallak in the ship to kill Future without the Legion this mutiny at this time. Someone had released the con- knowing, you bungled that too." victs, someone had told them he was here in the offices. "I was sure we'd succeeded, when I saw Captain Fu- "Rundall Lane!" he gritted. ture's flier crash in front of the Marching Mountains," He dashed to the door and locked it, slammed shut defended the dwarf. "How was I to know that the red- the heavy metal shutters inside the windows. headed devil would escape?" Hardly had he done so when the mob of prisoners "You should have made sure! Now we're going to reached the door and began hammering furiously upon get out of here and get back to headquarters. It's time it. for the last broadcast – the one that will finish the busi- "You might as well come out and take your ness." medicine, Captain Future!" yelled the hoarse voice of a Roj's seamed face lighted up with evil eagerness. leader. "You're going to make the last broadcast? Then in Curt snatched out his pocket televisor and pressed less than two days, you'll be master of the System! its call-button. Otho and Grag could get here in a few You've got the people of all nine worlds shouting for moments in the Comet, and scatter this mob with the you now." ship's proton-guns. "They'll not only shout – they'll force the System But there was no answer to his call. Then he real- Government to yield authority to me, when they've ized it was not getting through. All prisons were con- heard me again!" structed with a rayproof layer inside all walls. He A Legionary came hurrying back out of the tunnel. couldn't call Grag and Otho. "Way's clear to the ship," he reported. Coolly, the red-haired adventurer considered the "Come on, then," Doctor Zarro snapped. "Kallak, possibilities of getting out of this murderous trap, pay- you carry the girl, and you take the Brain, Roj. We've ing no attention to the bloodthirsty mob hammering at got to get back to the moon, at once." the door. "The moon?" whispered Joan to the Brain. "Then Curt thought of using his invisibility device, and their base is on one of the moons. And it must be –" then rejected it. Invisible or not, he couldn't get out She was picked up suddenly by the heavy-faced, va- through that solid, murderous throng without being dis- cant-eyed giant, Kallak. Roj had snatched the handle of covered. the Brain's serum-case. They followed Doctor Doom's He could hear them blasting at the door now with tall, gaunt figure into the rock tunnel, the Legionary their atom-guns. They'd be inside in a few minutes. He lighting their way with a small atom-lamp. had to act quickly. Yet how? The tunnel was so cramped and narrow that Kallak His keen eyes, running around the interior of three had to bend his head. It had been blasted out of the sol- 46 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE rooms that comprised the warden's offices, lit upon a rushed in. low, heavy metal door in one wall. It was marked "Ar- They stopped short, frozen momentarily by the un- senal." expected sight that met their eyes. Captain Future A desperate expedient came to Captain Future's rac- stood, his tall, lithe form lounging at the open arsenal ing mind. Down in that arsenal of the prison would be door, his curly red head cocked back as he surveyed stored many cases of atom-shells, guns and atomic them with a cool, scornful smile. bombs. If he could get to them – His proton-pistol hung in his hand, not pointing at He sprang to the door. It was locked, of course. And them but aimed down the stairs into the arsenal. it was of impregnable "inert" metal that would defy any The fat Earthman who led the convicts uttered a atom-blast. hoarse, exultant shout. Curt examined the lock. It was a "permutation lock" "That's him, boys – that's Captain Future! And no- – one especially devised by mathematicians to defy body kills him but me, you hear!" picking. There were twenty little buttons, in four color- "Go ahead, Lucas!" cried the vicious throng behind groups. They had to be pressed in a certain numerical him. "Blast him down!" and color-order, to open the lock. There were millions The fat Earthman advanced a step. His atom-gun of possible permutations, only one of which was right. was ready in his hand. Yet Curt did not raise his own Yet Captain Future did not despair. He had delved pistol. deeper into mathematical knowledge than any of the "Do you remember me, Captain Future?" hissed the scientists who had made this lock. If he had time to get obese convict. necessary data, he might be able to solve the secret of "Of course I remember you." Curt Newton's drawl the lock. was cold as the winds of Pluto. "You're Lucas Brewer, He snatched a piece of thin metal from his belt, a who was mixed up in the Space Emperor case on tiny steelite saw blade. Bending it double, he tapped it Jupiter. You were given a sentence here for running against the lock. It acted as an improvised tuning-fork, atom-guns to the Jovians." sending steady waves of sound into the lock, which "You were the one that had me sent here, Captain were reflected back again. Future!" hissed Brewer. "Have you got any last words Curt listened, shutting resolutely from his ears the before we finish you?" distant howling of the bloodthirsty mob outside. He jot- Curt's voice cut like a whiplash as he answered. ted down a few figures. Then he tapped a different part "I've got my pistol aimed down into the arsenal. If I of the lock with his tuning fork, listened, and again jot- fire, it will set off a ton of atomic bombs and shells ted down figures. down there. It will blow this building and the whole In- In a few moments he had fathomed the construction terplanetary Prison clear off of Cerberus!" of part of the intricate lock. He must discover the rest Brewer and the other convicts, staring beyond Cap- of the lock-secret by mathematical extrapolation from tain Future down into the arsenal, suddenly gasped. his scant data. It was a problem that would have daunt- "We'll all go up together," Curt mocked. "What do ed the most brilliant mathematician. Could he solve it you say to that, Brewer?" in time? "You wouldn't do it!" gasped the fat criminal. "I would, and you know it," Curt flashed. "I'd do R OARING atom-guns outside were blasting away at anything rather than see a bunch of wolves like you the door. It might give way at any moment. Yet turned loose upon the System again. Unless you drop Captain Future, hunched by the arsenal door, computed your weapons in ten seconds, I'll fire that shot." with icy coolness. There was silence, a tense, frozen silence. The cold The door gave way partly. There was a hoarse howl gray eyes of Captain Future clashed the dazed ones of from the leader of the mutinous convicts. the convicts. "All together, boys – it'll go downs now"' I Curt sprang to his feet, his gray eyes flashing. At T was a test of nerve. And Curt won. For every man last he had found the permutation he sought. there knew, as all the System knew, that Captain Fu- He pressed the twenty buttons swiftly, in a compli- ture never broke his word. He had said he would fire, cated series. He waited, with utter faith in his result. In and they knew he would. a second, the lock clicked. The weapons of the mutineers clattered to the floor. He tore open the arsenal door. Cement steps led A tight band seemed to relax from across Curt's breast. down from it into an underground chamber in which He had known that he was taking desperate chances, were stacked cases of atom-shells and atomic bombs, but he had resolved not to let these enemies of society and racks of guns. escape. Crash! The outer door went down. And the blood- "Call the guards!" he ordered. "Shout to them that mad convicts, led by the fat, gross-faced Earthman, you surrender!" 47 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE H The cowed prisoners made no resistance as the E hastened back out into the chill, windy night guards herded them back into the main cellhouse. Only and strode rapidly across the rock plain to the dis- then did Curt Newton relax his tension. tant Comet. When Grag and Otho heard of his experi- "A cursed ticklish ten minutes, that," he muttered to ence, the android's green eyes blazed, and the big robot himself. Then his tanned face hardened. "Now for Mr. clenched his metal fist. Lane." "I ought to go back there and kill Lane for his at- He went out searching, and found Rundall Lane tempt on you, Master!" lurking in a dark corner in one of the corridors of the "No time for that, Grag," said the red-haired adven- big cellhouse. turer. "Otho, did you catch one of those moon-lizards?" "Come on out, Lane," Captain Future said stinging- "I did, and the devil of a job it was," Otho declared ly. "Your little plot to stop me by letting the prisoners disgustedly. "To think of me chasing lizards while you out on me has failed." were in there having a rousing time –" Lane babbled protestations of innocence, but Curt "Why do you want the lizard, Master?" Grag asked cut him off. puzzledly. "You're relieved of office here – I'll call Planet Po- Captain Future had put the wriggling little thing un- lice headquarters to send a temporary warden out. Un- der a spectroscopic X-ray instrument of his own inven- less you want to draw a long stay here as a prisoner, tion. you'd better talk truthfully." "I want to find out if it has high cobalt content in its Rundall Lane seemed broken in nerve. "What – bones," he answered, bending to the eyepieces. what do you want to know?" "The cobalt clue – I understand, Chief!" Otho ex- "I want to know what really happened to the prison- claimed. "If the Magicians have so much cobalt in their ers you said escaped," Curt rapped. skeletons, all life on the world they inhabit would have "I released them," Lane confessed. "I did it at night, cobalt in its bones too!" secretly – there was a ship waiting to take them to "Yes, but this lizard doesn't," Curt said frowningly, Charon." straightening from his examination. "That means the "To Charon? To Victor Krim?" Curt pressed. guards told the truth – that there's no such race as the Lane nodded shakily. "Yes, Krim had made an ar- Magicians on Cerberus!" rangement with me. You see, Krim needed hunters but The android was staggered. couldn't get any men, because Charon is so dangerous, "But Rundall Lane is Doctor Zarro, isn't he? Doesn't no ordinary hunter would sign on for there. So Krim of- the smear of nitrate that came from here prove that?" fered to pay me a big sum if I'd let out a bunch of pris- Curt shook his head. "It proves that Lane is not Doc- oners who would rather hunt for him than stay con- tor Zarro. I had guessed that before we came here." fined. "I don't understand!" Otho exclaimed. "There didn't seem any danger of discovery," Lane "That smear in the observatory was left purposely added, "for the men wouldn't dare leave Charon or by Doctor Zarro, to mislead us into thinking he came show themselves in Tartarus or elsewhere, lest they be from Cerberus," Curt explained. "Remember that Doc- caught. They would have to stay on Charon and hunt tor Zarro was wearing a space suit when he entered the for Krim, and he wouldn't even have to pay them." observatory, to protect him from the drugging gas. It Captain Future stood a moment in deep thought. So was the shoe of his space suit that left the smear, then. that was how Roj and Kallak and the other prisoners But how could he have got that smear on his shoe here? had escaped. He wouldn't have been wearing his space suit here on He called in the guards, who had the prisoners Cerberus, which has an atmosphere." locked up now,and addressed their chief officer crisply. "Of course, I see now it was a plant!" Otho ex- "Hold Rundall Lane under arrest – you're in charge claimed dumfoundedly. "But if the cobalt clue shows until the Government sends out a new warden," he or- that the Magicians don't live on Cerberus, their home dered. must be on Charon!" Then Curt asked them: "You men know all Cer- "That's the way it looks now," Curt replied. berus. Have you ever encountered a queer, furred race "And if Lane turned Roj and Kallak over to Victor living secretly here?" Krim, it's Krim who is Doctor Zarro!" the android con- He described the Magician, but the guards shook tinued. their heads wonderingly. None seemed ever to have "We're going back to Pluto at once," clipped Captain heard of them. Future. "Gurney and Joan may have found Krim there "There's no race like that here, sir," they vowed. by now." Curt accepted their assertion with reservations. He A scant hour later the flashing Comet tore down meant to find out for himself – by the cobalt clue! through the cold atmosphere of Pluto, and landed in the dusky dawn beside the domed city Tartarus. The bliz- 48 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE zard had blown itself out. had been found. Curt led first to the observatory. "I want to see Kan- "Victor Krim's company leased this old place not su Kane a moment before we go into the city," he told long ago, sir," the officer reported. them. They hastened inside. In a moment they found the charred thing in the corner that had once been a living K ANSU KANE came hurrying to meet them. "You Earthman. checked the positions of the fixed stars around the Curt inspected the horribly blasted body closely. He dark star as I asked?" Curt asked the little Venusian. was looking for something, but could not find what he The answer of the waspish astronomer was astound- sought. ing. "All that's left of Cole Romer!" gritted Ezra. "Poor "Yes, I did. There hasn't been any displacement of devil – he was looking for Krim, and he found him." those stars whatever!" Captain Future's eyes roved, then spied the trapdoor. "There hasn't!" Curt's tanned face took on a queer In a moment he was down through it to the rock room expression. "Then that settles one thing about this busi- below. ness beyond all dispute." H "Settles what, Master?" Grag asked puzzledly. E came back, his tanned face grim. "There's a tun- "Something tremendously important," Curt snapped, nel leading out under the whole city. But there's and led the two Futuremen out. no one there now." In Tartarus city, he hastened with his comrades to "Doctor Zarro has taken Joan and the Brain to his the Planet Police building. base, then!" Ezra cried. "And if Krim's the Doctor, then Ezra Gurney jumped to his feet as Curt entered. The at Charon –" old marshal's weatherbeaten face was drawn and worn. They hastened back to the Police building. Grag was "Did you locate Victor Krim yet?" Curt shot at him. there, bending over Tharb. The robot said solemnly: "My men have combed the whole city and haven't "He is dying." found him – he must have gone back to Charon," Ezra Tharb's fading, grotesque eyes clung to the face of declared. "And, Captain Future, Joan's gone – I think Captain Future. she went lookin' for Krim. And Cole Romer's been "I – liked you – Earthman," the Plutonian whis- seized and probably killed." pered. "Romer killed?" Curt's eyes flashed. "How did that Then his eyes dimmed as death relaxed his body. happen?" Captain Future felt a deep, moving emotion as he Ezra Gurney explained. He was just finishing the looked down at him. explanation when excited Planet Policemen crowded He turned to Ezra Gurney. "Where can I get full data into the room, carrying with them a limp, hairy Plutoni- about the moons?" an in whose back was a scorched. gaping wound. "In the Pluto Survey office, I suppose," Ezra an- "We found this Plutonian crawling in the street swered. "Of course with Romer, the chief planetogra- down off the Street of Hunters!" one officer cried. "It's pher, gone –" Tharb, one of our own guides." A startled cry came from one of the Police officers "Tharb?" Captain Future sprang to the side of the who had been making a televisor call. Plutonian. It was evident that the hairy man was dying. "I was calling Elysia headquarters when they were Yet at the sound of Curt's voice, he opened fading crowded off the ether," the man cried. "It's another phosphorescent eyes. broadcast by Doctor Zarro!" "Who did this, Tharb?" cried Curt, the wild anger he Captain Future sprang to the televisor. In its screen felt throbbing in his voice. had appeared once more the tall, black figure of the "Doctor Zarro's – men." whispered the Plutonian. prophet of disaster, his hollow, burning eyes blazing "They – seize Earthgirl and blast me down – in ware- out at all in the System as his powerful wave crowded house. They think me – dead – but I crawl out to street onto their televisors. –" "People of the Solar System, this is your last chance "Then Doctor Zarro's got Joan, as well as the to save yourselves!" thundered Doctor Zarro. "Look up Brain!" cried Ezra. "We're going down and search those at the Milky Way and see for yourselves how catastro- warehouses!" phe is rushing upon you. The fateful sands of destiny "Look after Tharb, Grag!" Curt ordered the robot as are running out fast – the monstrous dark star approach- he followed the old marshal hastily out to a waiting ing us from outer space is now so close to the System rocket-car. that it will require herculean efforts for even my knowl- The car hummed through the dusky dawn of the edge and power to project the forces that will turn it streets, almost deserted at this hour. The Police driver aside. drew up in front of the warehouse near which Tharb "That catastrophic visitant can still be turned aside 49 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE by the forces I can bring to bear upon it, if the resources that uproar?" of the whole System are placed at once at my disposal. "There's a big crowd gathering over there in the park But there is only just time. A day or two more will be in front of the Colonial Government building," Otho re- too late! Not even I can then save the nine worlds from ported from the window. cosmic wreck! Curt stopped for a moment, looking at the amazing "So you must act at once, to save your lives. The scene. as he and the two Futuremen left the building. scientists who claimed there was no danger have fled The park, in the distance, was crowded by a great from the System to save their lives. The Government, throng. Most were men and women colonists from which claims there is no danger, is doing nothing to Earth, but there was a scattering of hairy Plutonians and avert it. Unless you rise and force that Government to other planetary natives. give me the authority that will save us in this fateful The crowd was surging heedlessly over the green hour, you and your families, and your peoples, and per- lawns and exotic interplanetary vegetation of the park. haps all of your worlds, are doomed!" Its focus of attention was the big Colonial Government building. "We call on the System Government to abdicate at once to Doctor Zarro!" a big Earthman leader was CHAPTER XV shouting. Monster Trap A roar of approval went up from the milling throng, D a shout that had in it the quality of hysteria. OCTOR ZARRO disappeared from the televisor "Give power to Doctor Zarro before it's too late!" as suddenly as he had appeared. Ezra Gurney ut- men and women cried. And others yelled, "Where's the tered a cry. Governor? He's got to petition the President to yield "Doctor Doom's done it this time! That warning, on power to the Doctor!" top of all that's gone before, will set the System peoples "Doctor Zarro's last broadcast is working," Curt said crazy! The Government won't stand for twenty-four between his teeth. "Crowds like this will be swarming hours now!" in every world and city in the System, right now!" "Grag! Otho! Come on!" Captain Future crackled. H "I'm going to the Pluto Survey office to get the data E saw Ezra Gurney and a half dozen Planet Police about the moons which I want. And then we're blasting hasten from the nearby Police building, and run to off – for Charon." hold back the crowd. The old marshal stepped up on the In the Pluto Survey offices, in files and cabinets, terrace and held up his clawlike hand to quiet the was assembled all the planetographic and scientific in- crowd. formation which Cole Romer and his men had gathered "There's not a bit of use in your yellin' for the Gov- in ten years of exploring expeditions. Curt hauled out ernor, for he's in Elysia, a thousand miles away," coolly the material on Charon, the second moon. Cole Romer, drawled the grizzled interplanetary veteran. the record showed, had made two exploring trips there "Then we'll take over the government here our- alone – in the second trip, in the preceding year, the selves, and tender authority to Doctor Zarro!" yelled the planetographer had spent three months exploring that crowd leader. wild world. "You won't do it while I am here," crackled Ezra, his Krim had leased the whole moon Charon from the piercing blue eyes sweeping them, his gnarled hand System Government some few years back. There were dropping to the butt of his atom-gun. "You're acting records that showed that Krim had shipped a fairly like children, letting yourselves be scared by Doctor large amount of valuable korlat furs in those two years, Zarro's fake warnings." and also a number of living korlats to the zoos of other "They're not fakes!" yelled the crowd. "We can see planets. But there was little more that Curt could learn. that dark star coming on! The Doctor's the only one "What are we poking around here for?" Otho was who can turn it aside!" demanding, restlessly pacing the office. "Why don't we Yet the crowd did not yet dare to advance against head right for Charon and seize Krim, if he's Doctor the threatening guns of Ezra and his officers. Zarro?" "Shall we help Ezra scatter that mob?" Otho hissed "Yes, there's no telling what may have happened to to Captain Future. the Brain," said Grag anxiously. "No! We've got work to do, and Ezra can keep them Captain Future's thoughts reflected the anxiety of under control a little longer," Curt replied. "To the the robot. His worry about the safety of Simon Wright Comet!" was as overwhelming as that of the two Futuremen. As he and the two Futuremen hurried out through "We're going now," Curt rapped. Then as he turned the streets of Tartarus, which had been emptied by the from putting away the files, he asked hastily: "What's converging of the panicky population toward the cen- 50 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE tral park, Curt looked up through the great dome at the sessed the six legs characteristic of Charonian life. The dusky, starry daylight sky. front pair of limbs were used to grip and tear. There, low on the horizon, swung the glittering con- The beast raised its enormous head and snarled at stellation Sagittarius, and amid its star-clouds the little the passing Comet, showing great fangs. black disk of the dark star was perceptibly larger. So "No wonder Victor Krim had to get his hunters from fatefully large it looked that Curt wondered if his idea Interplanetary Prison!" Otho exclaimed. "No ordinary was not wrong. hunter would want to trifle with beasts like that." "No – it must be the answer to the riddle!" he told A little later Curt saw a low structure on the tundra himself fiercely. "Crazy as it seems, the non-displace- far ahead. ment of the stars around that dark star is clinching "That's Krim's post! Land just outside it, Otho." proof!" "I don't see any ships here," Otho muttered as he They emerged from the balmy warmth of Tartarus swept the Comet to a landing. "Yet Krim must be here into the icy chill of the Plutonian day, and hurried to somewhere." the Comet. Curt gave the android orders when they landed. Little Eek woke from the sleep in which the moon- "While Grag and I are in there, Otho, I want you to pup had been curled, and joyously scrambled up to his hunt down a moon-hog for me, so that I can give it the usual perch on Grag's shoulder as they entered. Otho cobalt test." jumped to the controls. "First I'm a lizard-chaser and now I'm a hog- "Straight for Charon!" Captain Future ordered. hunter!"" complained Otho loudly. "Why not have Grag "Now we're getting somewhere!" exulted the fierce- do it?" ly eager android as he started the cyclotrons. "Master and I have more important work to do," the After more than an hour's flight, Charon filled an big robot retorted patronizingly. space ahead, a great gray globe into whose thin atmo- Curt exploded. "Will you two prima-donnas drop it? sphere the little ship was now tearing. Do as I say, Otho, and instantly." They rushed down on a long slant through the dusk "All right," grumbled Otho. "But be careful in there of the moon's daylight side. Then Otho checked the Chief. Remember, Krim's hunters are all escaped pris- Comet's descent a thousand yards from the surface. oners." "It's a wild-looking little world, all right," the an- Curt and the robot strode toward the gate of the droid declared. walled post, Eek clinging to Grag's shoulder and staring "It reminds me of the great plains of Saturn," Grag about this new scene with bright, curious eyes. boomed, bis photo-electric eye staring. "Except it looks The air was thin and cold, but not so cold as on Plu- colder." to. For Charon, like the other two moons, possessed a greater store of interior radioactive heat than its parent Y ET there was life here. Herds of grazing Charoni- planet. an deer galloped off wildly as the ship passed The gate in the wall was open. Curt and the robot above them. They were big, gray animals, with the usu- went, through, and then unceremoniously entered the al six legs – it was the unique characteristic of Charoni- main cement building, walking into a big room littered an fauna that it was almost wholly sextupedal. Beside with piles of furs. the deer were smaller sextupedal, tusked beasts. A half-dozen men – a Jovian, two Martians and "Moon-hogs," muttered Otho, "I don't see any kor- three Earthmen – leaped up startledly and grabbed for lats, though." their atom-guns as the big, red-haired young man and "Bear northwestward," Curt Newton ordered the an- the huge robot entered. droid. "According to the maps in Cole Romer's office, "Hands off those guns!" Curt rapped, his own pro- Krim's fur-post is located a few hundred miles south of ton-pistol in his hand. "Grag, break those weapons." the north pole." The robot instantly obeyed, grasping the heavy hunt- Otho sent the Comet racing low across the gray tun- ing atom-guns and breaking them with one motion of dras of the cold, forbidding moon. More of the Charo- bis metal hands. nian deer, terrified by the speeding ship, darted wildly "Now," Curt Newton said harshly, "where is Victor away below. Krim?" "There's a korlat!" Grag exclaimed. All three of T them peered down at the great animal, as they sped HE green, flipper-handed Jovian had been staring above it. at the big "planet" ring on Curt's hand. Now the The korlat, ferocious beast as renowned throughout man looked up at the red-haired adventurer's tanned, the System as the Jovian "crawler" or the Uranian cave- hard face in sudden fear. tiger, looked not unlike the grizzlies of Earth, except "Captain Future!" he exclaimed. that it was much larger, had long gray fur, and pos- "You've guessed right," Curt retorted, his gray eyes 51 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE boring the Jovian's scared green face. "Where is Krim?" injured, reared up with an enraged roar to leap again at "He's – he's in his office," answered the Jovian. Captain Future's tense, crouching figure. "This way." Then Grag acted! The big robot sprang upon the fur- The Jovian led Curt and Grag to a door. Without ry back of the beast and grasped its neck from behind, opening the door, he called through it. encircling that massive neck with his metal arms, and "Mr. Krim, here's Captain Future to see you!" straining it backward. Curt and Grag strode through the door. They were There followed an unbelievable scene. Big as was amazed to find themselves, not in an office, but in a ce- the great robot, he looked small in comparison to the ment-walled court or pen whose roof was a grating of mighty beast on whose back be clung. The korlat heavy metal bars. threshed and rolled and roared, seeking to dislodge its Curt whirled instantly. But too late. The door had attacker. But Grag held on, exerting all his tremendous slammed shut behind them, its lock clicking. strength to jerk the beast's bead backward. "A trap, and I walked right into it!" Captain Future Captain Future dared not fire at the struggling pair, exclaimed disgustedly. "But this won't do those fools lest he hit Grag and disablingly damage his mechanism. any good. Break that door down, Grag." Eek was cowering nearby, his teeth chattering with Grag put his little moon-pup pet aside and put his fear. Then came the climax to the weird struggle. shoulder against the door. Little Eek, set down on the Grag's metal body tensed as be put all bis strength floor, began to scramble fearfully to his master again, into one mighty effort. His arms jerked back the korlat's his eyes panicky. head still farther. There was an audible snap. And the "Eek senses danger telepathically ," Curt rapped, his great furry beast went limp, its neck broken. bronzed face tightening. "I wonder – Grag!" Grag stood swaying over his dead conquest, his pho- Curt's yell of warning came as a section of wall at to-electric eyes blazing, a booming roar of victory the other side of the court suddenly slid upward. breaking from him. Out of the cage or room beyond that opening a huge, Nothing else was said. But as the strange eyes of the furry gray bulk was shambling forth into the court – a robot and the brilliant gray eyes of the red-haired Earth- towering six-limbed monster. man met, another link was forged in the chain that "Devils of space, a korlat!" Curt shouted. "So that's bound Captain Future to the Futuremen – the chain their game –" which had begun on that long-dead day on Earth's He realized instantly the nature of the trap. This moon when Curtis Newton, an orphaned infant, had beast was one of the korlats captured alive by Krim's looked up with trustful baby eyes at the robot and an- men, to be shipped to some planetary zoo for a great droid and Brain who were to rear him to splendid man- price. Now it had been let loose in here to destroy them. hood. The korlat's great head stiffened as its big, pupil-less Curt sprang to the locked door of the trap into which eyes glimpsed the man and robot. With an appalling they had come and which had so nearly proved deadly. roar that shook the building, the beast charged them. "See if you can get this open, Grag," he asked. "Use Curt's proton-gun spat a thin, pale beam of highest your chisels." power. He saw the ray bum deep into the huge beast's The robot obeyed, taking from a little locker in his side. But it was not enough – no weapon in the System metal torso several sharp chisels. He removed several was enough – to knock down a charging korlat. of his detachable fingers and inserted the chisels in The furry monster came on, with incredible speed. their place. Its two great front limbs grasped Curt and its jaws dart- Then Grag, with his chisel-armed hands, attacked ed toward him, its hot breath and blazing eyes right in the cement around the door frame. In a few moments he bis face. had chipped an opening through it, and could reach through and unhook the lock. Captain Future dashed out into the big room of Vic- tor Krim's post. The half-dozen hunters there were now CHAPTER XVI fleeing in dismay as they saw their trap had failed. World of Illusion "Stop! Come back here!" Curt ordered, firing his beam over their heads. C APTAIN FUTURE ducked out of the korlat's F grasping limbs by a movement of incredible agili- EARFULLY, the men obeyed. Captain Future's ty, the monster's claws tearing the sleeve of bis gray gray eyes bored into the face of the Jovian who had zipper suit. As he recoiled from the furry beast, Curt led them into the trap. fired at it again with his pistol. "You had: a neat little idea to murder me, but it Again the thin proton-beam burned into the huge failed," Curt said bitingly. "Now talk fast. Is Victor body, seeking a vital center. But the korlat, not fatally Krim on Charon?" 52 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE "No, he isn't," answered the scared Jovian. "He has- of Charon," he muttered as he worked, "this animal and n't come back yet from Pluto." all native life here will have bones of high cobalt-con- "Who ordered you to try to kill me?" Curt lashed. tent, the same as they." "Nobody ordered me," answered the cowed Jovian "It will have – there's no doubt the Magicians are sullenly. "When I saw you were Captain Future, I somewhere here on Charon," Otho declared confident- thought you had come here to re-arrest me and the other ly. "For we know it's on one of the moons their home is, hunters." and we ruled out Cerberus." "Shut up!" one of the Martian hunters told the Jo- They turned to the machine. vian harshly. "He doesn't know about us." B "On the contrary, I know all about you," Curt an- UT a shock awaited them. When Captain Future swered stingingly. "You're escaped convicts from Inter- finished his X-ray inspection, he looked up with planetary Prison – Rundall Lane, the warden there, let an exclamation. you go on condition you become Krim's hunters here. "There's not a trace of cobalt in this animal! The Where are all the others who escaped?" Magicians can 't have come from Charon, either!" Appalled by Captain Future's knowledge, the Jovian Otho was staggered. "But they must have! We know answered. "The rest are out hunting. We were to guard from what old Kiri the Plutonian said that they came the post." from one of the moons. And if it wasn't Cerberus, it "The prisoners Roj and Kallak escaped at the same must be Charon –" time as you other convicts, didn't they?" Curt pressed. Curt Newton was not listening. The seeming failure "They did, but Roj and Kallak disappeared soon af- of his cobalt clue had detonated a bombshell of knowl- ter we reached this moon." edge in his brain. "How did you escape being detected as escaped Everything tied up together. And it all pointed to a prisoners by Cole Romer when he explored Charon last fantastic but inescapable conclusion. year?" Curt asked. "We know that the Magicians live on one of the "Krim kept us out of the way during the week or so moons," he said slowly. "And the cobalt clue has that Romer was here," the Jovian criminal replied. proved that they don't live on Cerberus or Charon. But Curt Newton considered the information, his face Pluto has three moons." thoughtful. The pieces of the puzzle were beginning to "You don't mean Styx?" Otho gasped. "But they take shape! couldn't live on Styx – nothing could! It's completely "I'm leaving here," he rapped, "but you convicts water-covered." aren't going to get away. I see there's no ship here, so "Nevertheless, start the Comet up and head for you'll be safe till Planet Police can come to return you Styx," Curt ordered. an to Cerberus prison." "But it's crazy –" Otho started to protest further, And Curt led the way out of the post, with Grag fol- when Grag interrupted with a stern command. lowing in great strides, Eek perched again on his shoul- "Do as master says, Otho!" der. With incredulity still strong in his eyes, Otho Otho was waiting in the Comet, and an unconscious obeyed. Soon they were out in clear space again. Pluto moon-hog, stunned by a proton-beam, showed that the bulked huge and white on their left. Straight ahead android had been busy. gleamed the bright third moon, Styx. "There's the moon-hog you wanted – what did you Curt felt vibrant excitement rising to a high pitch in find out in there?" the synthetic man demanded. him as they hurtled toward the third moon. He knew his "We nearly found out what it's like to be dead!" reasoning was logical, yet it pointed to a conclusion Captain Future said ruefully. "I was so busy thinking that was unbelievable. He combed his mind for some things out that I walked right into a trap like an absent- way of testing his fantastic theory. minded fool." Then, remembering something, he took from a lock- Otho swore when he heard their story. "And while er the crushed, shattered remnants of a small mecha- I've been chasing moon-hogs, you were fighting a kor- nism. It was the mechanism worn by the white-furred lat!" Magician who had been killed in the fall on Mars – the "Yes, and Grag killed it with his bare hands," Curt instrument which had enabled that strange being to told him. The red-haired adventurer grinned at Otho. masquerade somehow as an Earthman. "No human could have done that. Remember that when Curt had closely studied the shattered thing during you're taunting Grag about not being human." the voyage out to Pluto. It was too badly shattered to be Then, in the compact laboratory of the Comet, Curt re-constructed even by the scientific wizard. But he had began X-ray spectroscopic inspection of the stunned fathomed that it operated by projecting a field of force. moon-hog. How such a force-field could make the furred Magician "If the Magicians really do dwell in some secret part look like an Earthman, he still could not see. 53 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE But now, studying the shattered remnants, of the He felt that he could smash that plot, now and at thing in the compact laboratory of the flying Comet, once. But also, he felt that first his duty was to find and Captain Future bent all his attention to discover just rescue the Brain. Tensely weighing alternatives, Curt what frequencies of radiant force the mechanism had came to a decision. been designed to emit. With delicate electrical and "Take the Comet down into that ocean, Otho," he di- magnetic instruments, with microscopic examination of rected. the fragments, and most of all with his unparalleled "Down into the water?" cried Otho unbelievingly. mental powers, the young master of science labored on "But that's death! The currents and waves of that sea the problem. will hurl the Comet to destruction against some rock or The Comet hurtled on toward Styx, whose gleaming shoal!" disk expanded slowly. Grag sat petting the moon-pup "Oh, so you've lost faith in me, have you?" Captain and looking ahead. Otho, at the throttles, was looking Future grinned at the android. more and more skeptical as they neared the third moon. Otho's green eyes flashed. And back in the laboratory, Captain Future worked on, "You know I haven't, Chief! I'd steer into the Sun if rapidly and deftly. you told me to, and you know it!" And Otho determinedly opened the throttles and A T last Captain Future finished. He had constructed sent the little ship gliding down toward the seething, a small instrument designed to detect radiated shoreless sea. force such as the shattered mechanism had emitted. His The android braced his rubbery body for the \hock detector was so small he could thrust it into a pocket of as the Comet dropped toward the raging waves. And his gray zipper suit. Grag, looking inquiringly at Curt but saying nothing, "This ought to test my theory about Styx," he mut- also seemed a little uneasy. tered. "If it's true, it explains everything." The Comet plunged in a moment beneath the surface "It's sheer waste of time to go to Styx," Otho de- of the sea. clared as Curt came to his side. "We can't land there – And instantly that sea vanished from around them! no ship ever has landed on that moon, covered as it is That great ocean abruptly disappeared, and they found by ocean from pole to pole." themselves hovering in air a few hundred feet above "We'll see," Captain Future replied tightly, his ner- solid land! vous tension rising as they approached the third moon. T Styx, smaller than either Charon or Cerberus, ex- HE transition was staggering. There was no water panded in the starry void ahead. It was known to have in sight now. Far away to the horizons in the dusky an atmosphere. The air whistled around the Comet as it daylight, stretched a rolling landscape, blanketed by a cautiously descended. thick forest of giant white club-mosses – a weird, un- A few hundred feet below them rolled the shoreless earthly jungle. green sea that covered the whole surface of Styx. The "Devils of space – what's happened?" yelled Otho. big, dark waves of hat unbroken ocean heaved skyward "We ought to be under water, and the water's all van- and bared teeth of white foam at the hovering little ished!" ship. "What has become of the ocean into which we "Now what?" Otho demanded disgustedly. "We plunged, Master?" Grag asked wonderingly. can't land here when there is no land. We've just wasted "There was no ocean," Captain Future declared. our time." "But we saw it!" Otho cried. "We'll soon see if we have," Curt muttered. "What we saw was an illusion," Curt told him. "An He had taken from his pocket the little detector in- illusion similar to that by which the Magician made strument which he had built. He turned on the watch- himself look like an Earthman – an illusion somehow like thing. projected as a field of force." Instantly a tiny red light flashed out on the detector. And Curt explained quickly. "When I found that the A signal that it was near a powerful force-field of a cer- Magicians didn't live on either Cerberus or Charon, that tain frequency. left only one place where they could live – Styx! Yet "I knew it!" Captain Future declared, his gray eyes Styx had always been known to be completely sea-cov- shining. "By heaven, I've solved it – an age old plane- ered. I couldn't understand it. tary mystery – the riddle of Doctor Zarro's secret base!" "Then it occurred to me that the sea-covered appear- "What are you talking about, Chief?" Otho demand- ance of Styx might be an illusion. I knew, from your ex- ed. perience on Mars, and from what old Kiri had told me, Captain Future was silent, trying to make up his that these white-furred Magicians were masters of illu- mind. He knew he had penetrated the heart of the great sion. Suppose that they really dwelt on Styx and that plot against the System. the appearance of this moon as sea-covered was only an 54 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE illusion maintained by them – a super-camouflage of passed them. their world? I built the detector to see if that was so, "We'll reconnoiter that city on foot," Captain Future and it showed me it was." said rapidly, loosening his proton-pistol in its sheath. "I "But Styx has always looked ocean-covered, ever think it's safe to leave the Comet in this hidden spot since the first exploring Earthmen reached Pluto!" Otho without guard." objected. He was opening the door as he spoke. Cold, pungent Curt nodded gravely. "Yes, and I have an idea that air rushed in upon them. the coming of the Earthmen had something to do with Otho followed the tan red-haired adventurer out into the way the Magicians camouflaged their world. Re- the cold, dusky daylight. Grag followed, with Eek member what old Kiri said – after the Earthmen came, clinging to his shoulder . the Magicians were no longer seen on Pluto?" "You're not going to take that moon-pup with us on They looked up. In the sky above them seemed a dangerous mission like this?" Otho demanded of the stretched a wavering, semi-opaque curtain – the myste- robot. "Leave him locked up in the ship." rious field of force that maintained the planetary illu- "Eek is too frightened to be left alone – he has been sion. scared ever since he saw that korlat on Charon," de- Then they looked down again, across the weird, fended Grag. silent forces of giant white mosses and grass that Otho raved. "It isn't enough that the chief and I have stretched far away in an unearthly vista. to be hampered by a ton of walking machinery – we "And to think that every Earth explorer, and space- also have to drag along a moon-pup that gets staggering traveler has been frightened away from this moon by a drunk every time it finds any precious metal, and that's mere illusion!" burst Otho. scared of its own shadow!" "Not every one," Captain Future declared meaning- "Eek is as brave as anyone!" replied Grag indignant- ly. "At least one Earthman penetrated this illusion." ly. "He's just nervous when he's on these strange "Victor Krim!" burst the android excitedly. "By all worlds." the gods of space, I see it now! Krim must be Doctor "Nervous? I'll say that he's nervous!" Otho retorted. Zarro, but his base isn't on Charon at all – it's right here "He's so nervous that his teeth clatter together every on Styx!" time anything bigger than a Martian sand-flea comes Curt Newton was studying his ingenious detector, as near him!" the Comet throbbed low over the white jungle of moss- "Let Grag bring him, Otho," Captain Future said es. He was taking successive directional readings, and hastily. "If we left him in the ship, the little devil might then he rapidly computed. try to eat his way out." "Head a little west of southward, Otho," he directed. Curt and the two Futuremen started through the "The force-field that maintains the illusion centers white forest toward the distant towers. somewhere there, so there must be the Magicians' city It was a ghostly forest. The enormous, pallid club- – and the base of Doctor Zarro." mosses around them loomed a dozen feet above their "And the Brain will be there too, then, Master?" heads. A cold, sluggish wind whispered in their ears. A asked Grag eagerly. small, hairy white rodent darted across their path. There Curt nodded, his handsome face stern. were no other sounds. Overhead stretched the semi- "That's my first objective here – to find and rescue opaque curtain across the whole starred, dusky sky. Simon." Eek, clinging to Grag's shoulder, craned his head down and bit off a branch of one of the bluish shrubs, T HE Comet hummed southward above the weird which the moon-pup chewed with evident relish as they white forest, while a common excitement and hope moved on. gripped the young scientific wizard and the two Future- "I never saw Eek eat any plants before," Grag said men. surprisedly in a low voice. "I thought he ate only metal "Stay very low, and keep the speed down," Curt or- or rock." dered the android. "That plant has a high cobalt-content," Captain Fu- They had flown almost a half-hour when Captain ture pointed out. "See how the broken end of it glistens. Future's keen eyes descried a cluster of pale stone tow- The soil of this world Styx must be heavy with cobalt, ers rising above the forest far ahead. The vague towers and that proves that we've found the home of the Magi- clustered around a lofty, slender metal column crowned cians at last – remember my cobalt-clue?" by a large glowing globe. T "Down!" rapped Curt instantly. "We'll land here – HEY went more slowly and carefully as they came we daren't go closer in the Comet." nearer the pale stone towers. Curt Newton eyed the Immediately Otho brought the little ship to rest slender metal column, that was crowned by a glowing among the towering mosses. Oppressive silence encom- globe, with keen interest. 55 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE H "Unless my guess is wrong, that's the broadcaster of E was drawing his proton-pistol as he shouted, the force-field that creates the whole planetary and in the same moment, with loud cries, the Sty- illusion," he muttered, his scientific curiosity mounting. gians urged their mounts upon the three comrades. And "Someone coming!" Otho hissed suddenly. the white-furred riders were swinging their hunting-nets "Into the grass!" Curt ordered, flinging himself over their heads as they charged. down into the tall, concealing white grasses. Curt's proton-beam, set at stunning force, toppled Grag and Otho instantly followed his example. Rais- two of the charging Stygians from their saddles in the ing his head a little, Captain Future looked toward the split-second of blurring action. But the heavy metal- city, from which direction was coming an increasing mesh nets were now flying through the air. sound of muffled thudding. Cast with unerring accuracy, the heavy nets settled Then he saw who came. They were a dozen of the around Curt and the two Futuremen in prisoning, pin- so-called Magicians – semi-human creatures with bod- ioning folds. ies covered by short, thick white fur, two-toed feet and two-fingered hands, and flattened, unhuman heads out of which stared huge, black, pupil-less eyes. CHAPTER XVII The Magicians were riding white, hairy beasts that Hall of Enemies reminded Curt of the ancient Earth kangaroo – beasts of J burden that hopped along in giant leaps on two power- OAN RANDALL and the Brain were helpless to ful legs, their heads held erect by reins running back to move from the corner of the Legion of Doom cruis- their strange riders. er, into which they had been flung. The Brain, of "Stygians – natives of Styx!" muttered Captain Fu- course, had no powers of movement at any time, and ture as he stared from hiding. "That's what the so-called the girl police agent was tightly bound by the repulsive Magicians really are – a race whose existence the Sys- rope-snakes which held their grip upon her, and would tem has never suspected." hold it until they received the twanging signal of re- He noticed the folded nets of metal-mesh that each lease. Stygian rider carried on his saddle. "Doctor Zarro must be taking us to his base," the "They're going hunting," he guessed. "Probably they Brain reflected aloud in his rasping metallic voice. "At hunt and trap those hopping creatures they ride, and least, we'll find out for certain where that is." then tame them." "It can't be to Cerberus, can it?" the girl asked. "If The Stygian hunters passed at a short distance from Victor Krim is really Doctor Zarro, they must be taking the crouching trio, and the sound of their passage died us to Charon." away. Her eyes flashed. "And Captain Future will soon Curt and the two Futuremen crept on, more cau- learn where we are and follow!" tiously now. Presently they peered from behind a loom- Joan tried to loosen the cold grip of the rope-snakes ing clump of white moss at the city of the Stygians. but could not. Nothing but the release-signal which It was not large, but had an indescribably ancient they were trained to obey could do that. But she man- look. They could see many of the white-furred Stygians aged to work her bound figure into a sitting position abroad in the stone metropolis. Some few of them rode from which she could look out through one of the small the hopping beasts of burden. Others were engaged in round space-windows of the compartment. cultivation of a narrow zone of carefully-tended vegeta- She uttered a startled cry. tion which belted the city. "We're not going toward Charon, or Cerberus either! "Doctor Zarro's somewhere in there – and Simon They're both over on the right!" too," Curt muttered. He reached toward his belt. "I'm "Then we must be heading toward Styx," said the going in there – invisibly. You two wait." Brain instantly. "You can't!" Otho objected. "Your invisibility will "Styx?" Joan's face expressed her incredulity. "But expire before you get halfway into the place!" that moon's completely sea-covered. No one has ever "I have a plan –" gone there – we can't be going there." He stopped suddenly. Little Eek, looking fearfully "Nevertheless, that is where we are going," said a back from Grag's shoulder, was squirming terrifiedly. deep, harsh voice. Sensing peril in the telepathic moon-pup's actions, Cap- The eyes of both Joan and Simon Wright turned to- tain Future whirled around. ward the speaker. It was Doctor Zarro. The dozen Stygian riders they had seen shortly be- The tall, burning-eyed prophet had entered the com- fore were silently coming up on them from the rear! partment, followed by the dwarf Roj, and three of the "Those hunters!" Curt yelled. "They ran across our Earthmen members of the Legion of Doom. trail in the grass and tracked us!" "Yes, we are going to Styx," Doctor Zarro repeated 56 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE harshly. "You are about to see things unsuspected by and a pale stone city toward which they were descend- the whole System – though you will never return to tell ing. about them." "The sea wasn't real!" Joan cried amazedly. "It was Roj chuckled evilly. "The girl will make a nice addi- just –" tion to the Hall of Enemies, Doctor." "An illusion," the Brain finished for her. And Si- Joan's blood chilled at the sinister, mysterious men- mon's lens-eyes glittered. The cruiser landed. Its door ace in the dwarfed criminal's mirth. But she faced them opened and chilly air, with a pungent sharpness to it, bravely. rushed in upon them. Roj picked up the Brain. The big, Doctor Zarro had turned and was speaking to the slow-moving, silent giant, Kallak, took the bound girl. Earthmen Legionaries. "You can discard disguise, They followed Doctor Zarro and the furry crew out- now," he told them. side. Joan and the Brain, as they were carried along, The three Legionaries put their hands to their belts, had their first glimpse of the secret city to which they and touched something. had been brought. At once the three changed magically from ordinary- Octagonal towers of pallid stone rose all around looking Earthmen into white-furred, queer, semi-human them, bordering paved streets in which were many of creatures, whose great hollow black eyes stared the furred Stygians. Some of the creatures were afoot, solemnly. At the belt of each of them was a small cylin- others riding hopping beasts. All of them wore only a drical mechanism. leather harness, seeming not to feel the cold. "My Stygian friends are always glad to shed the illu- The Stygians crowded forward, staring with their sion that disguises them as Earthmen," Doctor Zarro great, solemn black eyes at Doctor Zarro and his fol- was saying. lowers. There was a strange quality of disapproval in "Why do you not shed your disguise, Doctor?". the attitude of the crowd. asked the Brain coldly. "We know that your impressive The Brain heard Roj mutter to Doctor Zarro in a low appearance is only a similar illusion – that you are an voice. Earthman. And we think we know just what Earthman "They don't like us bringing more prisoners to the you are." Hall of Enemies. And they'll be angrier still when they hear that we had to kill two people on Pluto."' D OCTOR ZARRO laughed harshly. "What you "I can handle the Stygians all right," replied Doctor think does not matter any longer, Brain. The peo- Zarro's harsh voice confidently. ples of the System think that this is my true appearance, Simon and Joan Randall saw that they were being that I am some super-scientist from mysterious realms carried toward a squat stone structure from which arose outside the System, who alone can save them." a slender metal column topped by a glowing sphere. The dark prophet turned brusquely to the little The prisoners were carried into the squat structure, dwarf. through corridors and ante-chambers into a circular "Roj, watch these two until we reach Styx. The girl room of great size that blazed with light. is clever, and I won't feel sure of her till she's in the A Hall of Enemies." T one side of this room was a massive cylinder "She won't get away again, be sure of that," chuck- from whose interior came a drone of electrical led the dwarf. "There's no chance of Captain Future machinery, never ceasing. Cables from it led into the finding her where she's going." slender, hollow metal column that rose up through the The dwarf seated himself in a chair farther down the roof and far above it. compartment, his atom-gun on his knee and his beady Near this, Joan and the Brain saw a powerful televi- eyes constantly watching the helpless girl and Brain. sor transmitter of a design unfamiliar to both of them. Doctor Zarro went aft. The rest of the room was filled by a weird and ap- Joan felt a wave of hopeless despair sweep her. palling collection. "They can't really be taking us to Styx, can they?" "My Hall of Enemies," stated Doctor Zarro grimly, she asked the Brain desperately. with a gesture of his black arm. "It should interest you "I don't know, but I'm afraid so," muttered the Brain. two, for you are about to join it." "There's some great mystery here." The collection was one of several dozens of glassite That mystery was soon explained. The cruiser cases, several feet high. A few were empty. But most of slowed down, and through the window Joan and Simon them were occupied – by men, women and even chil- saw that they were dropping toward the raging waves of dren, who sat utterly motionless as though in death, the sea covering Styx. each in one of the transparent, airtight cases. Then, to their utter amazement, the cruiser plunged Joan's eyes ran appalledly over the unmoving faces. down into the waves – and the waves vanished. They There were men of all planets in this strange collection, glimpsed a solid landscape of white mosses and grass, many Earthmen and also Martians, Mercurians and oth- 57 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE ers. whose door swung open. She was tossed inside. As she "I know those men!" she cried to the Brain. "There's tried to sit up, the door was shut and locked, prisoning Robert Jons, the Mercurian astronomer, and Henry Gel- her in the air-tight case. limer, the Earth astrophysicist, and their families too! Joan glimpsed Roj turning a valve at the side of the These are the missing abducted scientists!" case, A cold, invisible vapor with a faintly pungent "That is correct," stated Doctor Zarro grimly. "My scent was rapidly pumped into the case. from a source Legion, composed of disguised Stygians led by Roj and somewhere below. Kallak, brought these men here. And the System peo- Joan tried frantically not to breathe, as she struggled ples thought that the scientists had fled out of the Sys- to a sitting position. But her lungs, starved for air, tem to escape the oncoming dark star catastrophe. opened against her will, and the gas rushed into them. Which is what I wanted the peoples to think. " Instantly the girl felt a sensation of freezing cold, "To further your plot, you killed all these men!" and at the same time all power of muscular movement Joan accused, loathing in her brown eyes. left her. She could not stir from the seated position into "Not killed – they are not dead," Doctor Zarro cor- which her helpless body had sagged. She could not rected harshly. "I would much prefer to have killed wink an eyelid, or stir a finger. them, for that would have been far less trouble. But my And yet her mind was as clear as ever. She could see Stygian followers have certain prejudices against out through the glassite wall of her case, though she killing anyone, as you have doubtless noticed. It would could not turn her gaze even a fraction of an inch. have turned the Stygians against me to have killed all She saw them place the Brain beside her case, and these scientists, so instead I have consigned them to a saw the glass lens-eyes of Simon Wright look up at her living death in which they are safe as though they were as though trying to convey a message. But Joan could dead. not move a muscle in return. "They are in suspended animation, in those cases. Then she saw, across the room, Doctor Zarro ad- The cases are filled with a gas of Stygian invention vancing to the powerful, unfamiliar televisor transmit- which paralyzes absolutely the vital processes of a liv- ter. Roj had started the transmitter throbbing – she ing body. Even the smallest cell, even the metabolism could hear it quite plainly. And then the screen broke process, is paralyzed by the gas. So those men cannot into light, as Doctor Zarro stood facing it. move a muscle, cannot breathe – and yet they are en- Joan knew that the black prophet's image was tirely conscious and can see and hear us at this mo- crowding onto every televisor in operation in the Sys- ment." tem. She heard Doctor Zarro thunder forth his warning. Joan was shaken by a shuddering horror. "And "People of the Solar System, this is your last chance you've kept them in that awful state for weeks!" to save yourselves!" The Brain's strong scientific curiosity, even in this Joan heard him go on, warning the System peoples desperate moment, had been aroused. that dark star doom was close at hand, that they must "It is the same gas, I suppose. that you pumped into force the Government to yield authority to him if they the observatory at Tartarus?" he rasped to Doctor wished to escape disaster. Zarro. " I would be interested in learning its formula." When Doctor Zarro finished and turned off the "I am afraid there is no time to gratify your curiosi- transmitter, she saw him turn to the dwarf. ty," Doctor Zarro replied grimly. Then the black "That ought to do it, Roj! If that warning, and the prophet turned to the dwarf. "Put the girl in one of the appearance of the dark star as it is now, doesn't scare empty cases"' them into yielding power to me, nothing will!" " And the Brain?" inquired Roj. "It will work, Doctor!" grinned the dwarf across all "He doesn't breathe, so the gas wouldn't affect him. his ugly face. "They'll pitch out the Government and Besides he can't move. so he's powerless to escape. Just beg you to take the rule before another day has passed." put him down by the cases – but disconnect his speech- Doctor Zarro and the dwarf left the great circular apparatus so he can't bother us by his talking." hall, and Joan saw that they had left no guards. No Roj approached the girl, whom Kallak was still guards were needed in this Hall of Enemies whose pris- holding. The dwarf produced a small instrument, which oners could not even move an eyelash! he used to sound the twanging note that was signal for The girl valiantly fought to keep the horror of her the rope-snakes to release their hold. position from crushing her. She knew that in this living The pink living ropes scuttled into the bag Roj held death, it would be easy to go mad. And the thought of for them. Joan struggled with cramped limbs, but the going mad and still not being able to move was a terri- giant Kallak silently held her in inescapable grip. ble one. Time passed – time that to Joan was utterly unmea- K ALLAK, at an order from the dwarf, carried the surable, frozen as she was. She thought it must have weakly struggling girl to one of the glassite cases. been at least a few hours, yet it might have been years, 58 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE centuries, eternities, so far as she could tell. doesn't matter! All that matters is that little Eek may be She heard a tumult and babel of voices outside the frightened!" Hall. Curt Newton, despite the gravity of the situation, Doctor Zarro and Roj came striding in. Excitement could not help chuckling at the furious indignation of of the highest pitch was visible in the dwarf's face. Otho. "Your friend Captain Future has come with the other "Eek is free and he'll take care of himself and be all two Futuremen, to visit you!" Roj shouted to the Brain. right," Curt reassured Grag, and added ruefully: "Which is more than we can ,say for ourselves, I'm J OAN'S heart bounded with wild hope. But next mo- afraid." ment, that hope crashed into blacker despair than Their Stygian captors carried them into the big, cir- ever before. cular room inside the squat building. And there, three For into the Hall of Enemies came a mass of the persons, evidently apprised of their capture, stood wait- furred Stygians, bearing three captives helplessly pin- ing. ioned in strong metal nets. The three were Doctor Zarro and Roj and Kallak. And the three new prisoners were Captain Future Curt Newton and the two Futuremen were dumped and Grag and Otho! down in front of them. "You have done well to capture these three!" Doctor Zarro commended the Stygians. "They are the deadliest enemies of your race. Now you may go." CHAPTER XVIII As the Stygians departed, Curt was glancing swiftly Dark Star Secret around the interior of the great room. W He saw the great machines, and then his eyes fell on HEN the hunting-nets of the Stygians had fallen the collection of glassite cases in each of which one of on Captain Future and his two comrades, Curt the missing scientists sat frozen motionless. had made a violent effort to tear away the clinging Curt's lips tightened as he saw Joan Randall sitting mesh folds, but could not. The flexible metal nets had in one those cases, rigid, unmoving, her eyes staring been designed to hold great animals. fixedly toward him. And beside her case rested the Near him. Otho was struggling and swearing, the Brain. lithe android exerting all his strength to win free of the "Simon!" cried Otho as from his prone position he meshes and failing. Big Grag, by dint of his tremendous too glimpsed the Brain. "What have they done to you?" strength, started to tear away the net around him. But The Brain did not answer, but his lens-eyes twisted hastily the Stygians cast two more nets over the robot, on their stalks to glance down significantly at bis which held even him powerless. speech-resonator. Little Eek had disappeared at the moment the Sty- "So we meet face to face at last, Captain Future!" gians charged. The moon-pup, which had telepathically said the black doctor in harsh, loud tones. sensed the nearness of the trailers before the others re- C alized, had bolted into the giant grasses and vanished. URT looked up coolly into the burning black eyes. "Curse these furry devils!" Otho was hissing in "We have met face to face before," he told Doctor foaming rage. "Trap me in a net like Neptunian fisher- Zarro bitingly, "but you were not then wearing that illu- men, will they? I'll show them what kind of fish they've sion-disguise and using a disguised voice." caught if I get loose!" Roj and Kallak, and the two helpless Futuremen, "Take it easy, Otho," Captain Future called. "We were watching tensely. For there was drama in this mo- can't break these nets. Wait till our chance comes." ment. Despite his encouragement to the android, Curt's Here in this secret city of a hidden race, the two heart was like a stone. He felt a bitter humiliation and great antagonists at last faced each other in the open. self-reproach. He, Captain Future, surprised and cap- D tured in this simple fashion! OCTOR ZARRO, the mysterious figure whose Curt could hear Grag's booming, anxious voice, as power and cunning had cast the whole Solar Sys- he was borne along. tem into panic, and whose vaulting ambitions toward "Are you all right, Master? And did you see where dictatorship stood on the brink of success! Eek fled? He was terribly frightened." And Captain Future, legendary adventurer of the fly- "That's right, worry about that cursed moon-pup," ing fists and reckless smile and scientific wizardry , hissed Otho's voice furiously from the head of this who had bestrode the System like a championing colos- strange procession. "We three are captives, the Brain is sus for years! in danger somewhere, and Doctor Zarro's plot is de- "I will admit, now," Doctor Zarro was saying harsh- stroying the system Government right now, but all that ly, "that I have been a little afraid of you, Captain Fu- 59 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE ture. I know what you have done in the past. I have not mind," Curt concluded, "If the dark star had any mass, felt safe until this moment" it would have deflected the rays from those stars by the "We're not safe while Captain Future lives!" burst Einstein effect of gravitation on light, and the stars out Roj, the dwarf. "More than one man has thought he would have seemed displaced. But they were not dis- had this red-headed devil in his power, and thought placed, hence the dark star was wholly without mass. wrong. I say, kill him now!" That meant it could only be an image of some sort – an "No! We dare not do that yet!" the Doctor declared. illusion deliberately created to terrorize the System!" "The Stygians are already uneasy about the two we Doctor Zarro replied to this softly. killed – we daren't kill any more at present. Don't worry "You are clever, Future – cleverer even than I had – Captain Future will be safe enough with the others, thought. If you guessed all that, why did you not go out here in my Hall of Enemies." and destroy the dark star illusion?" "So that is what you call your pitiful collection of "The Brain was in deadly peril here, and I meant to prisoners?" Captain Future said scathingly. "You keep rescue him first." them frozen in the same gas you used when you raided Doctor Zarro laughed harshly. "Your loyalty to your the observatory, do you? It's a thing worthy of your comrade will cost you dear. For the ship which pro- criminal mind." duces the dark-star image is rushing on toward the Sys- The bitter contempt in his voice seemed to sting the tem, and the terrified System peoples who see the mon- arch-plotter. ster dead sun coming ever closer are at this moment "My mind is great enough to win lordship of the overturning their Government." System for me, against all your efforts!" Doctor Zarro The dark prophet chuckled. "And when that Govern- declared. "Yes, even now on every one of the nine ment has been overturned and power has been yielded worlds, terrorized people are rioting and forcing the to me, I will only need to turn that image-ship away Government to yield all its powers to me! To me, to the from the System, and then tell the System peoples that I only person in the system who can turn aside the ap- saved them by turning aside the dead sun that would proaching dark star!" have destroyed them. And I can use my powers of illu- "You needn't keep up your boasting with me," Cap- sion to keep myself in power indefinitely, by again ter- tain Future said cuttingly, "I know the core of your plot. rifying the System with illusory perils should there be I know the secret of the dark star." any future revolt against me!" "You know?" exclaimed Doctor Zarro, seeming star- "Your powers of illusion?" Curt Newton repeated tled. contemptuously. "You never invented this secret of il- "Yes, I know," Curt said grimly. "I know that the lusion. These Stygians developed it, long ago. You are dark star does not really exist at all – that it too, is an Earthman who somehow persuaded these people to only a gigantic illusion!" become your allies and give you the illusion-secret for your own use." D OCTOR ZARRO stared amazedly down at him. "Perhaps, since you know so much, you know the Roj uttered a cry. secret of how the illusions are produced?" Doctor Zarro "Didn't I tell you this redhead was the devil? He's said mockingly. ferreted the whole secret out!" "I "Is it true, Chief?" cried Otho from his helpless THINK I do," Curt answered coolly. "They trussed position nearby. are created by a force-field that tampers with "It's true – that dark star which looks so huge in the the reflection of light A man looks like a man to my heavens doesn't exist," Curt answered. "Out there in eyes because the light-rays which strike him are reflect- space is some kind of ship or craft which for weeks has ed off him according to the simple laws of reflection, been approaching the System, and which carries appa- and bring my eye-retinas the picture of a man. But if ratus that creates a great illusion similar to the illusion the light-rays striking that man are warpedly reflected which camouflages this world – a huge, real-looking from a force-field around him, as they would be from a image of a dark star. rock instead of a man, that man will look to my eyes "That huge image is unreal and immaterial, except like a rock instead of a man. to the eye. Therefore it has no mass. When the System "That's the secret, isn't it? The illusion-machines astronomers could not measure any mass of the dark worn by the Stygians which make them look like Earth- star, they could hardly believe their measurements. It men, the machine you wear yourself to disguise your- seemed so incredible such a huge body would be with- self, the great machine here that camouflages Styx, and out mass. That fact cast doubt on all their measure- the one out on that ship that creates the dark star illu- ments. sion, all work on that principle, don't they? They all "But the check I had Kansu Kane make of the fixed project a force-field which warps the reflection of light stars around the dark star settled the matter in my according to pre-controlled patterns, and so creates an 60 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE entirely unreal illusion?" But Roj had heard too. The dwarf ran to the door, "Your reputation has not been exaggerated, Captain then came flying back, his vicious face livid. Future," said Doctor Zarro, with a ring of genuine ad- "That red-haired devil has kept you talking on pur- miration in his voice. "You've fathomed the illusion se- pose to delay!" Roj yelled to Doctor Zarro. "And now cret from scanty data, correctly." Limor is coming!" "One thing I would like to know," Curt said calmly, "The Stygian king?" Doctor Zarro was apparently "is how you managed to induce the Stygians to become instantly alarmed. "Captain Future mustn't have a your allies and give you their secret – if you don't mind chance to speak to him. Quick, into the cases with telling." them!" Curt was playing for time. He had heard Doctor Curt's hopes sank. The dwarf and the giant Kallak Zarro say that the Stygians were displeased with his were already snatching up his trussed form and dump- methods. He was hoping for a chance to appeal to the ing him into one of the empty glassite cases. Stygian rulers against this plotter who was using their As the door of the case slammed upon him, Curt science to terrorize the System. scrambled furiously to free himself of the net. It had Doctor Zarro laughed. "I don't mind telling you that, been a little loosened by the movement and he was be- since the game is in my hands now. I came to this ginning to free himself, when there was a hissing of gas world, drawn by old Plutonian legends of a time when a into the case as Roj turned a valve. great race dwelt on one of the moons – a time when Captain Future felt the pungent gas enter his nostrils Styx was not water-covered. I penetrated the camou- – and then freezing cold gripped him and all powers of flage-illusion and landed here and was captured by the movement left him. He could not stir a muscle. He was Stygians. still conscious, still able to see and hear, but he might "They treated me well enough, for they are a peace- as well have been a frozen statue. ful race who hate war and killing. I learned why they Otho, squirming, swearing and fighting, was tossed had camouflaged their world. They were afraid of the into a neighboring case. The android froze motionless Earthmen. They had seen the pioneering, colonizing too as the deadly gas filled his case. Earthmen streaming out through the System toward "What about this robot?" Roj cried, pointing to the Pluto, and feared these newcomers would invade and great metal figure of Grag, lying bound in many metal conquer their ancient moon-home. So, for safety, they nets. "He doesn't breathe, so the gas won't affect him!" used their secret of illusion to make Styx look like a "I think I can put him out of commission," muttered water-covered world, and so Earthmen never came Doctor Zarro, bending over the helpless, giant metal here. figure with an atom-pistol. "He must have an electrical "When I learned this, Captain Future, I saw my nervous system –" chance for power – a chance such as no man had ever The gun in Doctor Zarro's hand spat a blast of atom- had before. I played upon the fears of the Stygians. I ic fire that the dark prophet aimed at the joint in Grag's told them that sooner or later the Earthmen would pene- metal neck. trate their camouflage and would invade Styx, and con- The scorching blast of force penetrated the joint. quer them and enslave them. I told them their only Grag's wild struggles suddenly ceased, his photo-elec- chance for safety was to help me gain power over the tric eyes went dark. Curt realized that the robot's elec- whole System –then they, my friends, would always be tric nerve-wires had been cut. safe. They were convinced by my arguments, and gave "That does for him," panted Doctor Zarro, straight- me the illusion-secret, and helped me build ships. One ening. ship, containing a great illusion-generator, we sent out "Here's Limor," warned Roj. into outer space to create the dark-star image that A tall Stygian, his leather harness encrusted with would terrify the System. The other ships, manned by jewels, was entering the room, followed by a small ret- Stygians who had learned my language and who were inue. disguised by illusion as Earthmen, formed my Legion The hollow eyes of the Stygian king, Limor, sur- of Doom. The Stygians built this great televisor broad- veyed the lifeless robot and then Captain Future and caster for me, and I –" Otho in their cases. Captain Future, pretending to listen closely to the "More prisoners?" the Stygian ruler exclaimed to boasting of Doctor Zarro, had in reality been listening Doctor Zarro, in stumbling, slurred Earth-speech. "I do for something else. Now he heard it – Stygians ap- not like this. It is wrong to hold all these people in that proaching from outside the building. terrible living death. My people only used that secret gas for therapeutic purposes." H IS hopes bounded. If he could appeal to the Sty- "It is necessary, Limor," Doctor Zarro told the king gian rulers, make them see their folly in aiding the earnestly. ."These people would destroy my great plan dark doctor – if they were free. Once the plan has succeeded, once I 61 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE rule the whole System as I soon shall, then all these "Here's a flash – Venus and Mercury have just instruct- prisoners will be released." ed their Council members to vote full power to Doctor Zarro! Another flash – Uranus is reported to have in- C APTAIN FUTURE, hearing that, felt bitter disbe- structed its Council members also to cast their vote for lief. He knew well how little the plotter ever meant Doctor Zarro, alleging that he is the last hope of saving to free them. the System. When the Council meets in fateful session "It is not only the prisoners – you have killed two a few hours from now –" men, an Earthman and a Plutonian;" Limor said trou- D bledly. "We are a civilized race, we Stygians, who ab- OCTOR ZARRO switched off the televisor and hor bloodshed. I am almost sorry that ever I acceded to straightened, his tall, disguised figure trembling your plan, since it has brought murder with it," with exultation. "The killings were an accident," Doctor Zarro said "We've won, Roj!" he cried. .'The Council is going smoothly. "There will be no more, for I hate bloodshed to yield me full power when it meets. I – I – the master as much as you do. But remember, Limor, that unless of every world from Mercury to Pluto!" my plan succeeds, there will be much bloodshed on this Then Curt saw the plotter get a grip on himself, and moon when the Earthmen invade it and conquer your heard him address the dwarf sharply. people. Yes, they will destroy all of you except those "We'll take a ship and speed out to the illusion-ship they keep as slaves!" in outer space at once! Then as soon as the Council "I know – it must be true, since you, an Earthman votes me power, we'll start turning the 'dark star' aside a yourself, say so," admitted Limor. He sighed heavily. little to show the System peoples that I will be able to "The necessity compels us. But I wish that it were all avert the danger." done." "Shall we leave Kallak here to guard the Hall of En- "It will be done soon. Within hours, the System peo- emies?" Roj cried, glancing at Captain Future's case. ples will acknowledge my rule," Doctor Zarro replied "There's no need – there's not a single way in which eagerly. "Then, as head of the System Government, I any of them can escape from those cases," Doctor Zarro shall be able to prevent the Earthmen from ever coming declared. "And the Stygians are around the building to this moon." anyway. Come on!" Limor and his retinue, with a last troubled glance at Captain Future, sitting frozenly, saw the tall black the frozen prisoners in the Hall of Enemies, departed. prophet and his two followers hasten out of the build- Doctor Zarro stepped up to the case in which Curt ing. A few moments later he heard the roar of a space was imprisoned, and laughed harshly at him. cruiser taking off outside. "You were clever to stall for time, Captain Future – Captain Future felt an agony of spirit. He had failed but not quite clever enough," he mocked. the System peoples when they needed him most. The Curt could make no answer, could not wink an eye- plot of Doctor Zarro was succeeding, and he was pow- lash even. He could only star stonily back. erless to prevent it as though he had been dead. But his mind was seething. If he had had a chance to For he was dead, to all purposes, he and Joan and talk to Limor, he might have won over the Stygian Otho and the Brain, and even Grag. All of them, unable king! to move or speak or do anything at all but think, pris- "Doctor, look here!" Roj called excitedly from the oned here in the inescapable living death. televisor. "I've picked up a newscaster – listen!" In the televisor screen appeared a Martian newscast- er, shouting excited bulletins. CHAPTER XIX "– whole System is in a mad turmoil of panic as the In Outer Space dark star comes closer, for all can look up and see it H now. Mobs are reported storming Government Tower OW many hours had passed? Captain Future on Earth, demanding that Doctor Zarro be voted full could not be sure. Time had become almost mean- powers by the Council. ingless to him as he sat frozen here in his case. "James Carthew, the President, has issued a last- He knew that at least several hours had elapsed, for minute plea to the System. He says: 'I beg the people of night had come. His field of vision took in the door, the nine worlds not to give way to terror. Doctor Zarro and outside it he could see a dark sky. cannot turn a dark star aside – no man can. I plead with He had heard a ship land outside, before night came. the System peoples to refrain from giving away their And he had known that it was the return of the ship liberty to this would-be dictator, and to rely on Captain which had taken Doctor Zarro and Roj and Kallak out Future, who even now is working to solve this mystery.' to the "dark star." "But even the name of Captain Future can't quiet the Nothing else had happened. No one had come into terror of the peoples now!" the newscaster continued. 62 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE H this brightly lighted Hall of Enemies where he and Joan E knew that the moon-pup's method of communi- and Otho and the Brain sat on in dreadful stillness and cation was by telepathy – Grag talked to his pet in silence, along with all the other frozen prisoners. that way, and Curt had sometimes given the little beast Captain Future had been in terrible situations in the telepathic orders. past. But never one so terrible as this. Never had he Could he do that now? Could he get Eek to do the been so utterly helpless. He could not stir a muscle, thing that would give them a fighting chance for free- could not even speak. The only thing that he could do dom? "Eek, come toward me at once!" he thought was think. And his thoughts were torture! fiercely. Curt could picture James Carthew, the President, The gray moon-pup stopped its dismayed pawing of frantically trying to delay that fatal vote that would set Grag's face and looked up sharply. It turned its eyes to- up a dictatorship in the System. He knew that Carthew ward Curt. would be wondering wildly why Captain Future had It had got his thought, Captain Future exulted! He failed him. repeated that thought-command with redoubled force. He would not fail the President! The old in- "Come toward me, Eek!" domitable resolution that had brought him through a Slowly, doubtfully, the moon-pup started toward the thousand ordeals rose in Captain Future's soul. He glassite case in which Curt sat imprisoned. The little made a terrific mental effort to force his frozen body to animal stopped in front of the case and looked up at stir, to shake off the drugging influence of the freezing Curt puzzledly. gas that filled his case. "Eek, you must chew out a piece of the glassite at The effort was useless. His body, gripped by cold the bottom of this case!" Curt thought. "It is very good paralysis of the freezing gas, could not obey bis mind. to eat – it contains much precious metals such as you There was absolutely no way in which he could move love." while be sat in this ghastly, indestructible, gas-filled Eek's whole appearance brightened as he got that case. thought. Temporarily forgetting its dismay over its life- Fiercely, he fought back despair. There must be less master, the moon-pup approached the bottom of the some way out of this hideous captivity. But what? glassite case. He could think of nothing. He and the Futuremen It nosed a corner of the glassite, as though sniffing it and Joan and all the others were helpless as though in with its own strange senses. Then it looked doubtful. their graves. "It is very good to eat," Curt repeated his telepathic Captain Future became suddenly aware of move- blandishments. "It contains much metal." he lied. ment at the door, of some small thing peeping hesitant- Persuaded by Captain Future's telepathic assurance. ly into this room. Eek fastened his jaws on the glassite corner of the case. A sharp, inquisitive little snout poked around the His chisel-like teeth bit into the glassite as easily as into edge of the door, and two bright, fearful eyes peered in. metal or rock. It was Eek, the moon-pup! Eek had almost bitten through the glassite – but not Curt had not thought of the little pet of Grag since quite. The moon-pup chewed the bite and then looked their capture, when the moon-pup had frightenedly es- up at Curt with visible indignation. caped. Now he realized that Eek had trailed them Eek seemed almost to be saying: "You told me that through the city to this room. stuff was good but it has no flavor at all". Shivering with fright, Eek peered until his bright "It is better further in – it is rich in silver that you black eyes rested on Grag's prone, motionless metal love. Eek."Curt thought urgently. "One more bite!" form. Then the little gray beast scampered gladly to- Doubtfully, as though persuaded against his better ward the lifeless robot. judgment. Eek took another bite of the glassite. He It nuzzled Grag's head, seeking to arouse him. And chewed it, then looked up with an injured, crestfallen when the robot did not stir, Eek pawed his metal face expression as he found it no more flavorsome than his distressedly. first sample. And Captain Future, watching, saw the thousand-to- But the moon-pup had bitten through the glassite one chance of escape for which he had been praying! this time! And Curt could hear the heavy freezing gas Fantastic, impossible – yes! But still the only slen- in his case hissing, leaking away. der chance left of getting out of this terrible captivity. Swiftly as the gas poured out, powers of movement Curt concentrated all his mind on one strong came back to Captain Future. The blessedness of being thought, a thought projected at the moon-pup. able to move again, he thought, as he tried to stagger "Eek, come to me!" he ordered telepathically. up. "Come to me!" He found himself still tangled in the hunting-net that had been used to capture him. It took minutes to wrig- gle free of it. Then, Captain Future burst open the glas- 63 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE site door of his case with a heave. Future exclaimed. "There's only one way to end their He sprang out onto the floor, his heart pounding. He panic, and that's to destroy the dark-star illusion that's dashed to the case in which Otho sat frozen. and tore terrifying them –" the door open. As the freezing gas rushed out and dis- "Stygians are coming!" yelled Otho urgently. "They persed. the rubbery android came back to life. Curt must have heard this uproar!" freed him of the net that held him. Captain Future himself could now detect a chorus of "Devils of space. I thought I was going to sit like alarmed cries and sound of running feet in the darkness that forever!" swore Otho wildly. "I'll kill that cursed outside the building. Doctor by torture for doing that to us!" "We're going through them to the Comet!" he cried. "We've got to make it!" C URT was freeing Joan Randall. The girl staggered, He swung to the bewildered, newly-released mob of weeping, as she revived and left her glassite Doctor Zarro's captives. prison. "You stay here – the Stygians won't harm you and "Curt, I knew you would get us out somehow!" she I'll be back for you if I succeed." sobbed. "I couldn't see how anyone could, but I knew A you would." STYGIAN appeared in the door, his hollow eyes "Steady, Joan," the big red-haired young adventurer goggling out of his white-furred face at the crowd told her urgently. "Help Otho release all those other inside. prisoners while I see to Simon and Grag." "The Doctor's prisoners are escaping!" the creature Curt bent over the Brain first. Simon's speech-appa- yelled back out into the night. ratus had been disconnected – a moment's work set that Curt's proton-pistol shot a thin, pale beam of stun- aright. ning force that dropped the creature unconscious in his "Good work, Lad," rasped the Brain then. "But I fear tracks. it's too late, maybe." "Grag – Otho – come on!" Curt yelled. "Joan, you "Not too late if we can get to the Comet," rapped bring Simon!" Captain Future. "But Grag has been disabled –" The girl snatched up the handle of the Brain's case. He tore away the nets around the robot and exam- Curt and the other two Futuremen were in front of her ined him. Then Curt rapidly removed two of the metal as they all plunged out into the cold, windy night. plates of Grag's neck, exposing the robot's electrical In the dark Stygian city, lights were bobbing and nerves. voices yelling as a crowd of the white-furred beams Three of Grag's vital nerve-wires had been severed. swarmed toward the building in answer to the alarm. Curt worked tensely with tools from his belt, resplicing "Through them!" Captain Future shouted. "It's now those wires and then replacing the neck-plates. or never – but use your pistol only to stun them, Otho!" Grag's photo-electric eyes shone with revived life, Triggering the pale knockout beams in all directions. and the great robot stirred and rose clankingly to his Curt and Otho ran at the head of the little group. Joan feet, none the worse for his experience. followed closely with the Brain, and Grag brought up "What has happened, Master?" he boomed bewil- the rear with the moon-pup clinging terrifiedly to his deredly. "How did you get out of the case?" shoulder. "Eek got me out – I gave him a thought-command to They forced their way, fighting through streets into chew into the case," Curt told him as he turned quickly which more and more Stygians were pouring. But the to the others. beams knocked down those in their way, and those who Little Eek had sprung onto Grag's shoulder and was sought to snatch them from the rear were swept back by clawing the robot's neck, in a frenzy of joy at seeing its Grag's mighty, flailing metal arms. metal master revived. They fought thus to the edge of the city, beyond "Eek did that?" Grag cried. "For that, Eek, you shall which stretched the dark, grotesque forest of giant club- have all the silver you can eat!" mosses. Otho and Joan had released all the other prisoners in "They're following us!" Otho hissed as they plunged the Hall of Enemies. And those men and women of all running through the towering mosses. "Name of a thou- planets, dazed by sudden deliverance from their weeks sand sun-imps, how did we get out of the city?" of horrible captivity, were stumbling to crowd around "Those Stygians are an unwarlike people, unaccus- Captain Future, babbling incoherently. tomed to fighting, or we couldn't have done it," Curt "Lad, what's your plan?" cried the Brain. "If you panted. Then his voice flared exultant. "There's the broadcast to the System that the dark star is only an il- Comet ahead!" lusion, you can maybe stop the Council's action –" The little ship had not been disturbed. But two Sty- "It wouldn't work, Simon – the peoples of the Sys- gian guards had been posted over it, who emerged wild- tem are too panic-stricken now to believe it," Captain ly now. 64 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE Curt's beam knocked them flat. Then he and his real than a shadow. comrades tumbled into the ship. The Comet was inside the vast dark-star illusion, A horde of Stygians, bewildered by unaccustomed now. All around them, enclosing them, stretched the violence and conflict, were still pouring after them semi-opaque curtain of force that maintained the illu- from the city. sion. "Up, in the name of all that's holy!" yelled Otho as Curt Newton pointed ahead to a gleaming metal Captain Future leaped to the controls. speck at the center of the great illusory image. Curt laughed recklessly as he slammed the cyclotron "That's the illusion-ship that maintains the image!" switch and then opened the throttles. he cried. "That's where Doctor Zarro is." The Comet roared up into the dark sky like a living, He sent the Comet zooming upward, and then dived leaping thing, pluming a great tail of white fire. down toward the illusion-ship in a dizzy swoop. Curt drove it out at dizzying acceleration, through "Stand by the proton-guns, Otho!" he yelled. "I'll the semi-opaque curtain of the illusion-camouflage. blast them out of space!" hissed the android, catlike Glancing back, Styx again seemed covered by rolling eyes gleaming brilliant. ocean. "No, just disable them!" Captain Future ordered. They were out in open space now. Pluto bulked vast "There are Stygians in that ship – poor, scared devils and white on their right, Cerberus and Charon setting who were tricked into this plan by Doctor Zarro. beyond it. Ready!" Out in the brilliant stars of outer space, amid the Otho was at the breech of the Comet's heavy proton- star-clouds of Sagittarius, bulked a black disk incredi- guns. As the little tear-drop ship dived headlong, the bly big. And Curt headed the little ship straight toward guns spat pale, lacing beams at the tail of the other ship. it. Curt saw the beams blast the tail rocket-tubes of the "We've got to end the dark-star illusion," he cried. illusion-ship into a fusing wreck. The progress of the "Only that will convince the System peoples there's no other craft faltered – it drifted on through space, still danger." maintaining the vast curtain of the illusion. "On space suit!" Curt cried to the android. "We're T HE tear-drop ship, fastest craft in space, picked up going to try and board it." velocity at an appalling rate. Out of the System it- He had brought the Comet up behind the other craft, self they were rushing, out into the shoreless sea of in- setting its throttles so that it clung beside the enemy terstellar nothingness to meet the colossal, illusory dead ship. Now, struggling into bis space-suit, he led Grag sun that was coming toward the System. and Otho to the air-lock. The speed was the highest Curt had ever called forth "Stay here with Simon, Joan!" he ordered the pale from the Comet. So great was it that Pluto was dimin- girl. "There'll be fighting on that ship." ishing visibly to a small white disk behind them, and Then Captain Future and Otho, in their suits, and the illusory dark star was expanding across the heavens Grag, passed out through the air-lock and leaped across at an incredibly swift rate. the narrow gulf of space to the side of the drifting illu- "It can't be just an illusion!" Joan exclaimed wildly sion-ship. staring. "It looks too utterly real!" They reached the metal wall of the craft and clung "Are you sure that it is not real, Master?" asked there, floating with it. Grag uneasily. "Get this air-lock door open, Grag!" Curt cried. The appearance of the unreal dark star was T formidable enough to daunt the bravest. Utterly solid HE big metal robot had replaced two of his fingers and real it seemed, a colossal, jagged black dead sun with drills. In a few seconds he had drilled holes turning in ponderous majesty on its axis as it thundered into the metal. Then, hooking bis fingers into them, he toward them. tore open the door. "You'll soon see that it's not real," Curt told them They tumbled into the air-lock, shutting the outer with a flashing smile. "I'm going to drive right into it." door after them. Curt pressed the switch that opened the The Comet hurtled toward the oncoming dead sun inner door. Proton-pistol in his hand, he plunged ahead with what would have seemed suicidal intent to any ob- of Grag and Otho into the interior of the illusion-ship. server. Two blasts of atomic fire thundered down the main The huge black mass filled all space before them. Its fore corridor at him the instant he entered. Doctor Zarro black, jagged, cindery surface rushed headlong to meet and Roj stood with Kallak a few feet down the corridor, them. Joan closed her eyes with a little scream. firing at him. The ship hit the jagged black surface, and plunged Beyond those three huddled a half-dozen terrified on through it unchecked. They had felt no slightest Stygians, beside a big, throbbing cylindrical mecha- shock or check. That black, jagged surface was no more nism. 65 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE Grag's great arm knocked Captain Future aside as A worn smile lit Captain Future's face. "I'll bet the the deadly gun-blasts thundered. The streams of atomic peoples of the System can't believe their eyes when force hit the robot instead of the scientific wizard. They they see the dark star suddenly gone entirely." splashed harmlessly off the broad metal breast of Grag. "Here are Joan and Simon!" Grag announced. "Get them!" Curt yelled, plunging down the corri- The girl, in space suit and carrying the Brain, had dor, his proton-gun spitting its beam. entered the ship. She looked sickly around the scene of His beam grazed past Doctor Zarro as the arch-plot- battle, and then her eyes fastened on the prone figure of ter, with a fierce, raging shout, lunged to meet him. Doctor Zarro, still shrouded by his illusion-disguise. The black prophet's empty atom-gun was raised to "Doctor Zarro – Krim – is dead?" she faltered to club Curt's skull. The lightning swerve of Captain Fu- Captain Future. ture saved him from the blow but it struck his wrist, "He's dead, yes," Curt nodded grimly. "But it's not knocking away his pistol. Victor Krim." Savagely Curt's hands sought the throat of Doctor "What?" yelled Otho. "You mean that Krim wasn't Zarro. His fingers penetrated the immaterial illusion- Doctor Zarro?" disguise of the plotter and closed around the real man's "Who else could it be?" cried Joan dazedly. "You neck. said it wasn't Rundall Lane, and Romer is dead, and Doctor Zarro was hammering fiercely at him with that leaves only Krim –" the clubbed atom-gun. But Curt Newton, half-dazed by For answer Captain Future reached down and fum- the shower of blows, hung to his grip. bled till he found the little cylinder at Doctor Zarro's He was aware of Otho and Roj standing and shoot- belt which had maintained the arch-plotter's illusion- ing, crackling atom-blast against hissing proton-beam. disguise. He found a switch, touched it. And he heard as from a great distance the booming bat- The illusion that Doctor Zarro's forbidding appear- tle-yell of Grag as the robot locked in titanic struggle ance had been, suddenly vanished. A different-looking with Kallak, the giant. man lay there, a dead, middle-aged Earthman with a Then Doctor Zarro's mad blows weakened, and fi- fine, scholarly face. nally ceased. The plotter went limp in Curt's deadly "Cole Romer!" hissed Otho wildly. "But it's impos- grip. And Captain' Future knew that the murderous sible – Romer was killed –" would-be dictator was dead. "Romer was not killed." Curt denied somberly. He dropped his dead enemy and staggered around. "That charred body in the Tartarus warehouse was not Roj had been cut almost in half by Otho's beam, while Romer's – it was Victor Krim's!" Otho himself was holding his hand to a great blast-burn "Then Romer was Doctor Zarro!" Otho gasped. on one rubbery arm. Captain Future nodded. And Grag had smashed in the skull of the giant "When I inspected that charred body that was sup- criminal Kallak with a tremendous blow of his metal posed to be Romer's, I had already suspected three men fist. of being Doctor Zarro – Rundall Lane, Victor Krim and "Gods of space, what a fight!" panted Otho, his Romer. But the nitrate clue which the Doctor planted to green eyes blazing. "Is the Doctor dead?" implicate Lane proved that Lane was not the Doctor. "Yes," answered Curt shakenly. "I had to kill him – "That left Krim and Romer. But Romer had suppos- or be killed myself." edly been killed when he was calling Police office by He looked up at the terrified Stygians clustered televisors. He was supposed to have been blasted down around the throbbing cylindrical mechanism. It was that by atom-guns as he was making the televisor call. But mechanism, Curt knew, that was generating the con- there was no sign of his pocket-televisor around his stant force-field which maintained, by subtle warping body – if he had been suddenly blasted, it would have of reflection, the illusion of the dark star. been blasted too! I guessed then it was not his body, The Stygians shrank fearfully as the tall, red-haired that the call was faked. Whose body was it? Who but young Earthman strode toward them. But he made a re- Victor Krim's? Krim had leased that old warehouse assuring gesture. lately. I believed that Krim had stumbled on the secret "You are not going to be harmed". he told them. hideout and tunnel which Romer, as Doctor Zarro, was "But turn that thing off – at once!" using, and had been murdered by Romer who knew that Krim's body would be thought his body. That's why H ASTILY, the Stygians slammed levers and Romer made that televisor call and pretended he was switches on the front of the big machine. And killed while making it – so that the body would be Captain Future, looking out, saw the vast semi-opaque found, he would be thought dead, and nobody would curtain of the illusion suddenly disappear. wonder about his absence when he took up the identity The dark-star illusion – the illusion that had almost of Doctor Zarro permanently! changed the history of the System – was gone! "Romer knew the fur-hunters' quarter would be 66 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE searched for him sooner or later, since he'd let it be Curt was saying. "It won't be much out of our way." known that he was going there to hunt for Krim. When "Aye, and on the way I can prove to you the absurdi- the quarter was searched, the burned body would be ty of your double-spectra theory," the Brain added to found, his interrupted call would be remembered, and the little astronomer. everyone would think that body was his – Romer's. Kansu Kane declined the invitation uneasily. "I'd rather take the regular liner back," he told Cap- "O NE more fact clinched my suspicion of tain Future. "Too many things happen when a person Romer," Curt continued. "I found in his offices travels with you, I've found." of the Pluto Survey, samples of minerals from every Curt Newton chuckled. "Well, maybe you're right. moon of Pluto. He would have had easy access to a What about you, Joan? Sure you don't want to have us sample of Cerberus nitrate such as Doctor Zarro had take you back to Earth?" used to point suspicion at Lane. No one else would be "I wish I could go with you," Joan said, her brown likely to have such a sample!" eyes wistful. "But I have to obey the orders of the Plan- "But Doctor Zarro – Romer – told you that he'd been et Police headquarters. They want me to stay here a lit- on Styx for weeks," objected Otho. "Why wasn't he tle longer." missed?" "Yes, there's plenty work going to be piled on us, ar- "Because he said that he'd been exploring Charon," ranging things with this new world Styx and its Captain Future replied. "Actually, as I learned, he'd people," drawled old Ezra Gurney. been on Charon only a short time – long enough to en- Curt nodded understandingly. list Roj and Kallak in his scheme." "You'll find the Stygians only too anxious to be And Curt Newton added, looking down broodingly friends with the rest of the System, now that their fear at the dead plotter: of the Earthmen has gone." "It was a vast scheme, surely. He even maintained Days had passed since Captain Future and his com- his identity as Romer. to avoid suspicion being caused rades had destroyed Doctor Zarro and his vast plot. by his sudden disappearance. A vast, cunning scheme – Days in which the Solar System peoples had dazedly and he almost succeeded." awakened to the fact that they had been victims of a gi- "He couldn't succeed with you against him, Captain gantic hoax which had nearly robbed them of their lib- Future!" cried Joan. erty, and which Captain Future had barely frustrated. Curt Newton shook his head. looking soberly out Curt had spent part of those days on Styx. He had into the vast, awesome gulf of the eternal void. found the Stygians terrified, believing that now the "I think that it was not us alone who defeated Doctor Earthmen would take terrible vengeance upon them. Zarro, but the workings of some mathematics of fate But Captain Future, always most skillful of men in that bring justice to all such as he," he said. dealing with native planetary races, had finally con- "Aye, lad," rasped the Brain. "And the workings of vinced the Stygians that the Earthmen would be friends, that mathematics are beyond even our science – and al- not enemies, and that their long dread was without rea- ways will be." son. Gladly, the Stygians had accepted the proffer of friendship. They had ended the planetary camouflage which made their moon appear sea-covered. An an- CHAPTER XX cient, hidden race was about to take its place in the Sys- Trail in the Stars tem's friendly family of peoples. T "The whole System is ringing with your name again, HE wan, dusky day of Pluto, cold world of eternal Captain Future!" Joan was saying warmly. "Billions of twilight, was drawing to an end. The stars were people bless you and your comrades." shining forth more brightly, and the big transparent Curt shifted uncomfortably. dome of the city. Tartarus, shimmered like a brilliant "There's no reason for them to. Hang it, it's only the bubble as the night closed in around it. fun of the thing that leads me off on these adventures." Freezing winds swept over the darkening rock plain "You're not foolin' anybody when you say that," outside the city. Here at an edge of the spaceport lay a Ezra Gurney drawled. "But it's what I'd expect you to small, tear-drop shaped craft that was poised for a leap say." into space. Captain Future and the Futuremen were Otho broke into the conversation. The android had about to start home. been staring suspiciously at a big bundle under Grag's Captain Future and his comrades faced three fur- arm, a bundle at which Eek, the moon-pup, was eagerly clad figures – Ezra Gurney, Joan, and little Kansu sniffing. Kane. "What have you got there – another nuisance pet of "I can give you a lift back to Venus easily, Kansu," some kind?" the android demanded of Grag. 67 Edmond Hamilton – CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE Grag, for answer, unwrapped the thing. It was a "We're sure to be seein' you if there's trouble afoot!" huge chunk of pure silver. called back Ezra Gurney. "I got it in Tartarus for Eek," the big robot said Joan said nothing. But as the Comet lifted skyward proudly. "I promised it to him for what he did." with a roar and flash of rocket-fire, her eyes clung to it. "You're going to feed him all that silver?" cried She watched the little tear-drop ship zooming up Otho."Why, he'll be staggering drunk all the way home! into the dusky sky, leaving a shining rocket trail across That much silver will give him a hang-over for a year to the stars as Captain Future and his band headed Earth- come!" ward, Moonward, homeward. "It will not," Grag defended indignantly. "And I do Then the fading, shining trail amid the stars seemed not want to hear you speak ill of Eek again, Otho. Re- to blur as her eyes filled. She felt Ezra's hand patting member, you owe your life to him." her shoulder and the old marshal's drawling voice was "I owe my life to that pest?" Otho repeated furious- understanding. ly. "He's got to go, Joan – he's got a job to do, the "Yes, you do," Grag said severely. And then the big biggest one any man ever had, watchin' over the whole robot spoke to the moon-pup, voicing the thought he System," drawled the old veteran. "But we'll be seein' was projecting. "It's all right now, Eek. Uncle Otho will him again, like he said. Sooner or later, we'll be needin' be your friend." him again – and he'll come." "Uncle Otho – uncle to that nuisance?" Otho "Yes, I know that," she said, her voice a little un- choked, and for once could say no more. steady. Curt Newton was laughing. He held out his hand to It was the truth, she knew. The future of the System, Ezra Gurney and Joan, in goodbye. of an expanding, space-pioneering race, bulked big with "We'd better be blasting off," he grinned. "It's back threatening dangers. to Earth's Moon for us, where Simon and I have some When those dangers came, the great signallight on interesting experiments to resume if we can keep these Earth's northern pole would flare its summons again to two quiet." the wizard of science and bis comrades, calling Captain The Futuremen were already entering the Comet. Future. Curt turned at the door, waving his arm. And then – and always – Captain Future would an- "See you in space sometime!" he called. swer that call. 68