1 MOON of the UNFORGOTTEN A Captain Future Novelet By Edmond HAMILTON Curt Newton and Otho plumb the perilous secrets of the Jovian Moon Europa—where Ezra Gurney, friend of the Futuremen, has fallen prey to a mystic cult ! Back across the empty leagues of the void, in reply to that urgent summons, CHAPTER I came a ship, driving hard for Europa, moon of Jupiter. There was a man in the The Second Life small ship and one who had been a man and two who were manlike but who were not truly human. The ship came down toward the dark The machines hummed and whispered side of Europa with the rush of a shooting star and landed in the rigidly restricted and a man's life changed. He was an old Patrol area of Europolis spaceport. The man, with an old man's burden of four came out of it and looked around in weariness and sorrow. But now that burden the magnificent glow of Jupiter. Then they dropped from him and his years dropped heard the light running steps and the urgent from him and he was young again. voice. He felt the hot blood burst along his “Curt !” And again, with a desperate veins and the singing excitement in his gladness, “Curt, I knew you’d hurry !” nerves, the pulse and throb of long- Curt Newton took the girl's tense forgotten youth. For youth was his once outstretched hands in his own. He thought more and once more a whole universe of for a moment she was going to weep and adventure lured and beckoned, far-off he spoke to her with an affectionate worlds calling and calling to him. roughness, not giving her time to be And Ezra Gurney, he who had been old, emotional. “What's all this nonsense about shouted a glad young cry that was answer Ezra ? If anyone but you had sent that to that call. message …” “Its true, Curt. He’s gone. I think—I * * * * * think he won't ever come back.” Newton shook her. “Come on, Joan ! A message went to Earth's Moon, Ezra ? Why, he’s been up and down the flashing across the millions of empty System since before you and I were born, miles. It went by a secret wave-frequency first in the old space- frontier days of the that only a half-dozen people knew. 2 Patrol and now with your Section Three. vaguely heard him. His gaze had followed He wouldn't get himself into any jam.” Joan's out into the alien night. “He has,” said Joan Randall flatly. “And This was not his first visit to Europa. if you'll stop being comforting I have all And he was surprised to find that Joan had the data ready to show you—what there is put into words exactly what he had always of it.” felt about the silent moon, the old old moon that was scarred so deep by time. SHE led the way toward the low buildings Here, on one side, were the modern glare and thunder of the spaceport, busy of Patrol headquarters. The four followed with freighters and one or two sleek liners. her, the tall red-haired man whom the Beyond the spaceport was Europolis, a System called Captain Future and his three glow of light behind a barren ridge. But on companions, his lifelong friends, the three the other side, before him and behind him, who were closer to him even than this girl was a sadness of ancient rock and distant and the missing Ezra Gurney—Grag, the hills, of brooding forest hung with shadow, metal giant, Otho, the lithe keen-eyed of great plains empty in the red glow of android, and Simon Wright, who had once Jupiter, dusty wastes where no herds had been a human scientist but who for half a grazed and no armies fought for a hundred lifetime now had been divorced from thousand years. human form. The woods and plains were scattered It was the latter who spoke to Joan. His with the time-gnawed bones of cities, dead voice was metallic and expressionless, and forsaken even before the last issuing from the artificial resonator set in descendants of their builders had sunk into one side of his “body”. That “body” was a final barbarism. A thin old wind wandered hovering square metal case that contained aimlessly among the ruins, whimpering as all that was human of Simon Wright—his though it remembered other days and wept. brilliant deathless brain. Newton could not suppress a slight “You say,” said Simon, “that Ezra is shiver. The death of any great culture is a gone. Where precisely did he go ?” mournful thing and the culture that had Joan glanced at Simon, who was built the shining cities of Europa was the watching her intently with his lens-like greatest ever known—the proud Old eyes as he glided silently along on the pale Empire that once had held two galaxies. traction beams that were his equivalent of To Curt Newton, who had followed the limbs. shadow of that glory far back toward its “If I knew where I wouldn’t hide it from source, the very stones of these ruins spoke you,” she said with an undertone of of cosmic tragedy, of the agelong night irritation. that succeeded the blazing highest noon of In the next breath she said contritely, human splendor. “I'm sorry. Waiting here has got me down. The functional gleaming Patrol building There’s something about Europa—it's so brought his mind back to the present. Joan old and cruel and somehow patient...” took them into a small office. From a Otho said wryly, “You need a double locked file she drew a neat folder of papers hooker of something strong and cheering.” and placed it on the desk. His green slightly-tilted eyes were “Ezra and I,” she said, “were called into compassionate beneath their habitual irony. this case some time ago. The Planet Police Grag, the towering manlike giant who had been handling it as a routine matter bore in his metal frame the strength of an until some peculiar angles turned up that army and an artificial intelligence equal to required the attention of Section Three. the human, rumbled a question in his deep “People had been disappearing. Not booming voice. But Curt Newton only only people from Earth but other planets as 3 well—and nearly all of them older people. arrived here had simply dropped out of In each case when they vanished, they took sight. The Europans themselves refused to most of their wealth with them. talk to us. But Ezra wouldn’t give up and “Planet Police discovered that all these finally got a lead. He found that the missing persons without exception had missing folk had hired native mounts at an come to Europa. And here in Europolis inn called the Three Red Moons and had their trails ended.” ridden out of the city. Simon Wright asked in his toneless “Ezra planned to follow that lead out voice, “Did they leave no clue as to why into the hills. He made me wait here—he they came to this particular moon ?” said he had to have a contact here. I waited “A few of them did,” answered Joan. “A many days before Ezra got in touch with few of them before they left talked a little me through our micro-wave audio. He of something called the Second Life. That spoke briefly to me and switched off—and was all—just the name. But they seemed I've never heard from him since.” so eager and excited about it that it was “His message ?”asked Curt tensely. remembered.” Joan took out a slip of paper. “I wrote it She continued, “Since they were nearly down word for word.” all aging people it seems obvious that the Curt read aloud. “Listen carefully, Joan Second Life they were hoping for was ! I' m all right—safe, well and happy. But some form of rejuvenation. A form of I'm not coming back, not for a while. Now rejuvenation that must be illegal in nature this is an order, Joan—drop the or it wouldn't be carried on secretly.” investigation, and go back to Earth. I'll Curt nodded. “That sounds reasonable follow you later !” enough. 'The Second Life'—the term is a That was all. new one to me. However, Jupiter and its Otho said sharply, “He was forced to moons retained the civilization and make that call !” science of the Old Empire long after the “No.” Joan shook her head. “We have a other planets had relapsed into barbarism. secret code. He could have said the same To this day odd scraps of that ancient words and yet could have let me know that wisdom keep rising to plague us.” he spoke under duress merely by a certain “Quite,” said Simon dryly. “You will inflection. No, Ezra was talking of his own recall the case of Kenneth Lester, also that free will.” of the Martian, Ul Quorn. Europa in “Maybe he fell for this rejuvenation particular has always had a reputation in process, whatever it is ?” suggested Grag. the System as a repository of knowledge “No,” said Simon decisively. “Ezra that has been lost elsewhere. It's an would not do anything so foolish.” interesting problem. It occurs to me —” Curt nodded agreement. “Ezra has had plenty of tragedy in his life that few people JOAN know anything about. It's why he's always cut him short, genuinely angry a little grim. He wouldn't want to live a now. “Are you and Curt going to start on second life.” that archaeological obsession of yours at a “Second Life ?” murmured Otho. “The time like this ? Ezra may be dead or dying name tells nothing. Yet there must be a !” clue in it.” Captain Future said, “Steady on, Joan— Captain Future stood up. “This isn't a you haven't yet told us exactly what case for cleverness or subtlety. Ezra may happened to Ezra.” be in danger and we're going to work fast. Joan caught a deep breath and went on We'll go into Europolis and make those more calmly. who know something talk.” “When we came here to investigate we found that the missing people who had 4 THE city lay in a shallow bowl between Otho, his eyes sparkling, sprang to his feet. Grag took a clanking step toward the two spurs of a range so worn by the door. scuffing ages that it was now little more “Wait, Curt.” Joan's face was worried. than a line of hills. Under the red glow of “You know the Patrol can't legally arrest Jupiter the lordly towers slept in a sanguine Europan citizens on their own world—” mist that softened the scars of the broken He smiled without much mirth. “We're stone. The cool light filled the roofless not Patrol. We'll take the consequences if colonnades, the grand and empty avenues, any.” and touched with a casual pity the faceless “It's not that,” she cried. “I have a monuments that had long outlasted their feeling that since Ezra’s vanishing you forgotten victories. Futuremen have been expected—and Curt Newton stood in a still and prepared for.” shadowy street and listened to the silence. Curt Newton nodded gravely. “Very On the near side of the ridge he could likely. However, we're not exactly see the outworld settlement near the unprepared ourselves.” He turned to the spaceport—infinitely farther away in time others. “Simon, will you stay here and go than it was in distance. There were the over Joan's data on the case till we return ? brilliant lights, the steel and plastic And you, Grag—you'll remain to guard buildings of today, crowned by the white them both.” facade of the resort hotel. They had a Grag looked and sounded as upset as his curiously impermanent look. He took three physical structure would permit. “But steps along the winding way and they were there’s no telling what kind of trouble gone. you'll run into ! You’ll need me with you The paving stones were hollow under !” his feet, rutted by the tread of a myriad “Joan needs you worse. She's i every n generations. The walls of the buildings bit as much danger as we are.” rose on either side, some mere shells with That was partly true. It was also true the coppery planet- light shining through that Grag’s seven- foot- high clanking bulk their graceful arches, others still tolerably was somewhat too conspicuous for what whole with window-places like peering Curt Newton had in mind. Otho started to eyes, showing here and there a gleam of say so and Curt stopped him by saying, light. “Let’s go.” Otho, moving catlike at Curt’s side, He went out and Otho followed him, lifted his shoulders uneasily. “My back chuckling. itches,” he said. “Save your humor,” said Curt dryly. Curt nodded. “We're being watched.” “We may wish we had old Bone-crusher There was nothing to show that this was so with us before we're through.” but he knew it as Otho did, without They walked swiftly toward the slope of needing to see. the low ridge beyond which lay the city. They came out into a wide square, from The thin dust blew beneath their feet and which many streets led off. In the center the old wind sang of danger out of its long was a winged monument, so effaced by long memories of blood and death. millenniums of wind and dust that it had the look of a grotesque skeleton, its eroded pinions stark against the sky. Curt and CHAPTER II Otho paused beneath it, tiny figures beside that hundred- foot bulk of greenish marble. The Inn of the Three Red Moons Nothing stirred in the square. The deserted avenues stretched away, edged with clotted shadow. The fallen palaces 5 and shattered temples reared to unknown He said with an odd sort of courtesy, gods stood still and brooding, “There is no passage here for strangers.” remembering the banners and the glory, the Captain Future smiled. “Come now, incense and the crimson robes. father—surely a thirsty man may refresh One or two of the streets showed life, himself with wine.” where flaring light marked the wine-shops The old man shook his head. “You do and the inns. not come for wine. Return to your own “Down there,” said Captain Future and kind—there is nothing for you here but they went on, their boots ringing on the sorrow.” paving blocks. “It has been told to me,” said Curt They entered the street that Curt had slowly, “that others have come here chosen. And as they walked a little crowd seeking joy.” began to gather, softly, unobtrusively, the “Does not all mankind seek for joy ? dark-faced men in dusty cloaks coming That is why I tell you—return to your own without sound from the doorways, from the !” mouths of alleys, from nowhere and CURT looked over the heads of the old everywhere. They were not the young men, the hot- man and the other men who were old and handed fighters. Most of them were grey the men who should have been young but and some were bent and even the youngest were not. He looked at the sign of the of them had an indefinable look of age, a Three Red Moons and he said quite softly, thing of the spirit rather than the flesh. “Will you stop me, father ?” They did not speak. They watched the tall The old man's eyes were very sad. “No,” Earthman and the lithe one beside him that he said, “I will not stop you. I will only tell seemed to be a man. Their dark eyes you this, that no man nor woman has yet glistened and they followed the strangers, been harmed nor will be harmed—but that borne with them like a ring of tattered he who comes in search of death shall shadows shifting, flowing, thickening. surely find it.” There was a coldness on Curt Newton’s “I shall remember,” Curt said and began flesh. It was an effort to keep his hand again to walk f rward against the crowd, o away from the butt of his weapon. with Otho close beside him. “There it is ahead,” said Otho quietly. The ranks held unbroken, the rows of “The sign of the Three Red Moons.” silent hostile faces, until he was almost The soft- footed multitude around them touching them. Then the old man raised his swirled and coalesced into a silent barrier hand and let it fall again in a gesture of across the windy street. finality. The crowd broke and the way was Curt stopped. He did not seem to be open. Curt passed on and behind him the afraid or even angry—merely curious. He men vanished one by one into the shadows regarded the wall of men with a patience again, like old leaves caught by the wind equal to their own. and whirled away. An old white-bearded man stepped Curt and Otho entered the Inn of the forward. He was shorter by a head than the Three Red Moons. Earthman but he stood erect and there was The common room was large, with a an ancient beauty in his high-boned face, a vaulted roof of stone, black as though deep grand sorrowful pride. His cloak was carved from jet. Lights flared in the as old as he, dun-colored with the sifting corners and a score of men sat around dust but he carried it as splendidly as antique massive metal tables. They glanced though it had been fashioned of the purple at the two strangers, then ignored them. cloth of kings. 6 Curt and Otho sat down in an empty A man came toward the m from one of place and presently a dark girl came and the ruined sheds. He was old and not brought them wine and slipped away again. nimble. He wore the leather tunic of a They sipped the strong spicy brown hostler and it was not even clean. But still liquid. They might have been no more than there was about him the same look that two spacemen off from the port for a Curt had seen before, the look of pride and night’s pleasure in old Europolis. And yet inward vision, as though he saw the flaunt they knew that eyes watched them, that the of silken banners in the wind and heard the inn was too quiet. Captain Future's muscles trumpets sounding far away. quivered with anticipation and Otho's gaze Captain Future repeated his request for was very bright. two mounts. Presently Otho said in a language not He had expected refusals, at the least likely to be understood, “That young chap arguments and evasions. There were none. at the next table hasn’t taken his eyes off The old man shrugged and answered. us since we came in.” “You will have to bridle them yourselves. “I know. ” The dark fierce young face In the day there is a young man here to and hungry glance were only too obviously hold the brutes and rein them—but the turned toward the strangers. Curt thought fools who wish to ride at night must catch that if anything happened it would be men their own.” like this they would have to deal with, men “Very well,” said Curt. “Give us the still free of the withering taint of age that halters.” seemed to overtake the Europans in their The old man produced two prime. arrangements of leather straps, bitted with He beckoned to the girl again. “We're iron. “Get them by the combs,” he grunted, minded to take a ride into the hills,” he “and watch their forefeet.” said. “Can we hire mounts here ?” He led the way to the paddock gate. The girl's face was expressionless. Curt looked around. The court was “That is Shargo's province.” empty. It was very still. Otho whispered, “And where may we find Shargo ?” “What are they waiting for ?” “Through that passageway. The “Perhaps they want us clear of the city,” paddocks are behind the inn.” Curt answered. Another disappearance in Curt laid a coin on the table and rose. the shadowy hills would be preferable “Come on, Otho, it's getting late.” from the Europans' viewpoint. They crossed the common-room and Otho nodded. “The trap could be at the entered the passage. Without seeming to other end. These beasts have been there notice Curt saw that the young man who before. They must know the way without had watched them left swiftly by the front being guided.” door and that the others bent together in a “One thing sure,” said Captain Future, sudden murmur of guarded talk. “they'll have to stop us somewhere.” The girl glanced after them. Her face The old man lifted the heavy bar of the held bitter resentment. gate. The passage was long and shadowy. The paddock was not too large for the They traversed it swiftly, hearing nothing herd of twenty or so Europan mounts that to warn them of any danger. At its end it it contained. They were huddled together, opened into a court containing ruined drowsing in the Jupiter- light—serpentine outbuildings and a stone-walled paddock in scaly creatures with powerful legs and tails good repair. The wall was high, for the like wire lashes. Their narrow heads were Europan beasts are good jumpers, and the crowned with fleshy yellow combs. They gate was of iron bars. blinked and peered at the men with shining wicked eyes as red as coals. 7 “Take your choice,” said the old Dimly through the dust and turmoil he Europan, standing by the gate. saw Otho. An ordinary man would have Curt and Otho went forward with the been trampled to death in those first bridles. seconds. But Otho was not a man. Swift, sure-footed, incredibly strong, the android AT their approach the beasts hissed softly had imitated Curt's example and had swung himself to the back of his plunging and backed away. Their padded feet made mount, getting an iron grip on its comb. a nervous thumping on the ground. Curt It was only temporary escape. The spoke soft ly but the herd began to shift. maddened beasts had turned to fighting “I don't think they like the smell of us,” among themselves. Curt knew it was only said Otho. a matter of time and not much of it before Curt reached out swiftly and caught one his creature would fall or be thrown. The golden comb. The creature plunged and paddock was a swirling madness of leaping whistled as he fitted the rude bridle. Then bodies and tearing jaws and dust and noise. suddenly from behind them there came the Nothing could stand for long in that. clang of the gate-bar dropping and he knew The old Europan remained beyond the that there would be no waiting for the gate. He held another of the makeshift silence of the dark hills, that this, here and torches in his hands, waving it slowly back now, was the trap—and that they were in and forth so that all the beasts shied away it. from the opening. Otho had spun around, holding his A solemn proud fine-cut old man. Later bridled mount. He was cursing the old he would be very sorry for this tragic man. Curt kept his grip on his unwilling accident. He would know nothing more mount, turning with it to keep clear of the than tha t two spacemen had drunk wine in clawed forefeet. The paddock walls were the tavern and had then gone staggering in high, worn smooth as glass by the rubbing among the beasts and frightened them and of many flanks. There was no escape that been most regrettably slain. way. Even in that moment of fury Curt found The herd was stirring uneasily, moving time to wonder what strange madness with a hiss and flickering of scaly tails, a drove these men—the madness of the quivering of muscles. Curt cried out a mysterious Second Life that urged them to warning to Otho but it was already to late. any length. A makeshift torch of flaming rags He was trying to reach the gate when his whirled in over the gate, leaving a trail of mount stumbled over another that was oily smoke. Curt heard the old man's voice down and kicking its life out in the dust lifted in a cracked Hai-hai, urgent, shrill. and blood. He heard a wild yell from Otho A second wad of burning cloth shot in, and a commotion by the gate. The straining dropping in the middle of the herd with a body under him staggered and fell. burst of sparks. Instantly there was brute Desperately he pulled the creature's head panic, pent up and turned upon itself by the back, forcing it up, forcing it on its feet paddock walls. again, and suddenly there was a rush past Plunging, trampling, screaming, the him of slaty backs and outstretched necks, penned beasts tried to flee the smoke and a squealing stampede outward and the gate the stinging fire. Curt’s mount reared and was open. dragged him and he clung to its comb with He fought his mount to keep it back. the grip of a man who knows he is lost if Over the wall, Otho was riding a frantic he lets go. He dug his heels into the dusty demon, twisting its comb until it shrieked. ground, twisted the brute's head until its In a matter of seconds they were alone in neckbones cracked and leaped up, the paddock and the herd was stamping clamping his legs around the slender belly. 8 through the courtyard, scattering away There had been no alarm behind them down the dark alleys. and there was no pursuit. The warning The old man was gone, presumably to night was blank and still. Captain Future cover in one of the sheds. led the way at random until he found a “The young one,” Otho panted. “Stand place that suited him. Then he stopped and still, you son of a worm's egg ! The young motioned Otho to dismount. one that watched us inside the inn—he The young man was conscious. Curt drove the old man off. He opened the thought he had been conscious for some gate.” time but he had made no move. He was The court was clear now. From the breathless now from the jolting of the shelter of a broken wall a figure leaped and beast. He crouched where Curt had set ran. him, shaking his head, gasping. “Get him !” Curt yelled. “Get him !” Presently Curt asked, “Why did you He sank his heels in the scaly flanks and open the paddock gate ?” the creature hissed and went hard after the The young man answered, “Because I running shadow. did not wish for you to die.” “Do you kno w why we were supposed to die ?” “I know.” He looked at them and his CHAPTER III eyes were hot and angry. “Yes, I know !” “Ah,” said Curt Newton. “Then you do The House of Returning not worship the Second Life.” Otho laughed. “He doesn’t need rejuvenation.” THEY caught him. They rode him down “It is not rejuvenation, ” said the young man bitterly. “It is death, the death of my in a narrow alley, the dark young man with world and my people. Almost before our the fierce eyes, and he fought them but he beards are grown the Second Life take hold did not draw any weapon. of us and we forget the first life that we Curt had no time for pleasantries. He have not yet lived. Our walls fall about us leaned over and struck the young man hard stone by stone and we have not cloth to on the side of the jaw, and pulled the limp wrap our bodies in and the great change in body up before him. other worlds does not touch us—but all “Out of the city,” he said to Otho. “This that is nothing so long as we live the way, toward the hills. After that we can glorious life, the Second Life !” talk.” He sprang up, glaring at Curt and Otho They found their way out of the maze of as though he hated them, but it was not alleys into a broad avenue spanned by their faces he saw. It was the sere and massive arches, broken now, their heroic sterile faces of men grown old before their carvings shattered by the slow hammers of time, dead men on a dying moon. time. Curt and Otho sped beneath their “You of the other worlds are not like us. shadows, alone with the wind and the Life goes forward for you. Men learn and blowing dust. grow and the fields are rich and the cities Beyond the arches there were no more are bright and tall. Even your oldest worlds buildings but only the straight road that ran have young minds—is that not so ?” into the hills between two rows of ancient Captain Future nodded. “It is so.” stelae, stark and rigid under the glow of the “Yes. But on Europa what is there for a great planet. Beyond the stelae there was young man ? Dust and dreams ! There is a nothing, only the gaunt slopes and the wall against us and after a while we learn sighing in the stiff dry grass. 9 that we cannot break it down. Then we too “So there's still a bit of pride left if a grow old.” man can find it ! Set him up here, Otho.” He turned away. “Go back to your own He swung up onto the scaly back of his world. You have life. Keep it.” mount and received the Europan between Curt caught him by the arms. “What is his arms, where Otho lifted him as though the Second Life ?” he had been a child. “Death,” said the young man, “to those “Now,” said Curt, “which way ?” who live it—and to those who would The young man pointed. destroy it. We know. We have tried.” They rode on through the dark hills, and A sharp light came suddenly into Curt after awhile the dawn came and found Newton's eyes. “Then there are others in them before the shadowy throat of a pass— the city who feel as you do ?” the dawn of pale far Sun that was only a “Oh, yes—all of us who are still little lighter than the night. young.” He laughed. It was not pleasant Curt dismounted and stood holding the laughter. “We banded together once. We bridle. He said to the Europan. “Go back to went up to the valley, angry, full of hate— the spaceport, to the Patrol base. Tell those we were going to make our world free. who wait there for us where we are.” And they shot us down in the pass—the A gleam that was almost a light of hope old men shot us down !” began to show in the young man's eyes. He shook himself free of the Earthman's “And you ?” he asked. grasp. “I have told you. Go back to your Curt nodded toward the blind notch of own while you still live.” the pass. “We are going in.” “No,” said Captain Future softly. “We “Perhaps,” whispered the young man are going to the valley. And you will guide softly, “perhaps it is true that you can end us.” the Second Life—you and those who wait The eyes of the young man widened. He for you. We know of you even here, where stepped back and Otho caught him from we know so little. I will go. And after I behind, holding him helpless. He turned have said your message I will go into the his head from side to side and cried out, city to gather those who fought once and “Three men, where a hundred of us failed ? who can fight again !” You don't know Konnur, the Guardian of CAPTAIN FUTURE let go the rein. The the Second Life. You don’t know the punishment. I am a proscribed man ! I am young man wheeled the squealing beast forbidden the valley !” around and sent it flying back toward the “Proscription, punishment !” Curt city. Otho's mount ran with it. Newton's voice was heavy with contempt. “Let us hope,” said the android dryly, “You don't deserve your youth. Your “that our boy doesn't come to grief along bones are already crumbling.” He reached the way.” out and slapped the young man's face, He turned and walked with Curt up into lightly, deliberately, one cheek and then the darkness of the pass. the other. “If the Second Life isn't rejuvenation, “You will guide us to the valley. After what is it ?” Otho asked. “Some kind of that, you're free to tuck your tail and run. pleasure-dream by artificial sensory stimuli We can end the Second Life without such ? No, Ezra wouldn't stoop to that.” help as yours.” “No, it isn't that,” Curt said. “I'm Captain Future saw the flame of anger beginning to think that it's something more leap in the young man's eyes, the dark pitiful and terrible than that.” flush in his cheeks. He strained against the It was quiet in the pass. The screes of android's grip and Curt laughed. broken rock rose up on either side, with here and there a stunted tree. An army 10 might have hidden there and been unseen “I am. And you are Curt Newton and— but even Curt's keen ears could detect no ah, yes, the one who is called Otho.” sound of life. Konnur made a slight inclination of his And yet he was not surprised when, as head. “I have expected you. The man they reached the end of the pass, he looked Gurney was afraid the girl would send for back and saw men closing in behind them. you in spite of his message.” He waited for them. They were “And where is Gurney ?” youngish men and strong but in their eyes “I will take you to him,” said Konnur. already was the shadow of decay. He could “Come.” see why the young Europan had called He led the way down the long dim these “the old men” too. corridor and Curt and Otho followed. “I have come to speak to Konnur,” Behind them still came the grim- faced Captain Future said to them. men. The one who seemed to be the leader Konnur paused beside a massive door of nodded. “He is waiting for you. You will some tarnished metal and pushed it open. give us your weapons, please.” “Enter,” he said. They had weapons of their own and Captain Future stepped through into a there was not much point in arguing. Curt long low hall that might have held a and Otho handed them over. Then they regiment. And he stopped with a queer walked on and the men with the old eyes chill shiver running through him. Beside came close behind them. him he heard Otho catch his breath. The valley was deep and there were There was a stillness on that place. forests in it and a thin stream. Not far from Above it and below it and through it was a the pass was a massive house of stone, sound, a deep and gentle humming that very long and wide, that looked as though only made the silence greater. it might have been a place of learning in Spaced along the hall were many slabs the days when the moon was young. of marble, mortuary couches hollowed “There,” said the leader, and pointed to deep by the pressure of uncounted bodies. a gateway of which the valves were fine- Above each slab there stood a cowled worked gold, bright as the day they were machine as ancient as the marble, of a hung there. Captain Future passed between manufacture utterly foreign to any prosaic them with Otho at his side. mechanism of Earth. They had been kept Inside there was the soft gloom of bright with loving care but even so a vaulted chambers, cool and dim, with old number of them seemed worn out and flagged floors that rang hollow under their useless. It was the machines that made the striding boots. The great house was only a humming, the whirring song of sleep. shell of stone, stripped of all but its Men and women lay upon the slabs. enduring bones. It was empty and very Curt lost count of their numbers in the still. uncertain shadows. They lay as though in They waited and presently a man came slumber, their limbs relaxed, their faces walking toward them down a long passage, peaceful. Around each sleeper's head was a tall man, erect and very proud. An aging bound a strap of some unfamiliar metal, man but not dusty, not decayed. His eyes having round electrodes fitted to the were bright and clear, the eyes of a fanatic temples. The electrodes were connected, or a saint. not by wires but by tendrils of glowing Looking at him, Curt knew that he was force, to the hooded mechanism above, faced with the most dangerous kind of an from which a somber light poured down. enemy—a man with a belief. Otho whispered, “There they are—all “You are Konnur ?” he asked. the old ones who have disappeared from other worlds.” 11 Old men, old women—the sad, the passing re-experience that was called burdened, the careworn. They slept here on “memory.” the ancient slabs and Curt saw that in their The Twentieth Century psychologists faces there was more than peace. There had speculated long ago that what they was happiness, the joy of young days when called “redintegration” might seize upon the sun was bright and the body strong and one single remembered impression and tomorrow was only a vague mist on the evoke from it all the many sensory horizon. impressions of which it had formed a part. There were many Europans also and they The subtle probing rays of these machines too had found happiness under the accomplished “redintegration” in the humming machines. But in their faces was fullest sense. reflected a different joy—a lofty pride as “And the memories of the fathers lie though behind their closed eyelids passed buried in the brains of the sons,” Konnur visions of magnificence and strength. was continuing. “Those parts of the brain formerly thought purposeless are a great KONNUR beckoned. “Here your friend storehouse of ancestral memories, inherited through some unimaginably subtle change lies sleeping.” in the chromosomes that even the ancients Curt stood beside the slab, looking could not understand.” down into the face of Ezra Gurney. The “So that you can reach back through familiar face that to Curt was almost that those layers of buried inherited memory ?” of a father—and yet it was not the bleak exclaimed Curt. “How far back ?” face he remembered. The grimness was “Far and far,” Konnur replied. “Back to gone, the scars of time and pain had the days of our world's glory, indeed—and softened. The mouth smiled and it was the is it wonderful that we prefer to live in the smile of a young man, a boy who has not great past of Europa and not in its sad yet lost the laughter from his heart. present ?” “Waken him !” cried Curt. Captain Future said soberly, “But that is And Konnur said, “Not yet.” a rejection of the only real life. It is a Otho asked, “But—is it all illusion ? Is retreat, a dying.” he drugged or dreaming ?” “Yet it is glory and triumph and joy,” “No,” said Konnur. “He is remembering said Konnur. —returning—reliving. Everyone has times His hand reached out to touch the within his life that he would like to live humming mechanism. There was again. The man Gurney has recaptured the something reverent in the gesture. period of his youth. He is young. He walks “We do not understand these machines and speaks and feels, reliving every action that give us the Second Life. The ancients as he lived it then. That is what we call the had the knowledge and it is lost. But we Second Life.” can duplicate them bit by bit. You will see “But how ?” said Curt. “How ?” that many of them are worn out, beyond “These instruments of the ancients,” repair. We needed rare metals, the said Konnur, “enable man to remember— radioactive substances that are the core of not just as a vague flitting vis ion but to the machine. recall with every one of his senses so that “They are found no longer on Europa he completely relives the remembered and so we needed money to buy from other experience.” worlds, to build new machines. That is Curt began to understand. Each why we brought these people here.” He experience left a new neural path in the nodded to the aging folk of Earth and the synaptic labyrinth of the brain and the brief other planets who had come to Europa to retraveling of that path roused a partial live the past again. 12 Captain Future faced Konnur. He spoke Irresolute, with a whiteness around his almost in the words of the young Europan. mouth, Curt Newton looked from Konnur “This is not life but death ! Your cities to the guards and back again and a tremor are crumbling, your people are wasting ran through his muscles that was more of away. This poison of the Second Life is excitement than fear. destroying your world and must be stopped Otho sighed. !” The guards moved forward one short “And,” asked Konnur softly, “will you step. Curt shrugged. He lifted his head and stop it ?” glanced at Konnur, challenging him, and “Yes ! I have sent for the other Konnur pointed to an empty slab. Futuremen and behind them are the Captain Future lay down, in the Patrol—and some hundreds of your own hollowed place. The marble was cold people, Konnur, the young men who prefer beneath him. to live one life rather than to die in two.” Another man had come, an old man in a “It may be so,” said Konnur. “And yet threadbare gown who stood ready at the who knows ? The man Gurney came here controls of the machine. Konnur set the to stop it. He changed his mind. Perhaps metal band on the Earthman's head, fitting you will change yours !” the chill plates of metal over his temples. Curt gave him a look of contempt. He smiled and raised his hand. “You can't bribe me with memories of my The machine came humming into life. youth. They're too close behind me—and A somber glow illumined Curt's face and most of them were not pleasant.” then two shining tendrils of force sprang Konnur nodded. “I would not attempt out and spun themselves swiftly anything so childish. There are other downward. memories. The whole System knows of They touched the twin electrodes. Curt your long struggle to delve into the ancient Newton felt a flash of fire inside his skull past, the lost cosmic history of mankind. and then there was the darkness. You, yourself, can live in that past. Through ancestral memory, you can live again in the days of the Old Empire— CHAPTER IV perhaps even before it.” He smiled and added slowly, “You have The Unforgotten a thirst for knowledge. And there are no limits to the learning you might acquire in the Second Life !” ONE Curt stood silent and there was a strange by one disjointed far-separated look in his eyes. slices of his past suddenly came real and Otho laughed, a peculiarly jarring living again to Curt Newton. Each one was sound. “There is nothing in this for me, farther back in the past. And he did not just Konnur. I had no ancestors !” remember them. He lived each one with “I know. The guards will care for you.” every one of his five senses, with almost Konnur turned to Newton. “Well ?” all his conscious being. “No,” said Curt, with a curious Almost all—but not quite. Some inner harshness. “No ! I won't have anything to corner of his mind remained aloof from do with it.” this overpoweringly vivid playback of He turned and there was a solid phalanx memory, and watched. of men against him, barring his way. He was striding with Otho and Grag and Konnur's voice came to him softly. the gliding Simon upon a night-shrouded “I'm afraid you have no choice.” world. In the heavens flamed the vast stunning star-stream of Andromeda galaxy 13 and out of the darkness ahead of them To Curt’s infant eyes it was a whirl of loomed the mighty Hall of Ninety Suns... staggering figures, a spurt and flash of He was in the bridge of the Red Hope, light—and then Grag standing with Otho Bork King’s ship. That towering Martian over the broken bodies of the men. pirate stood beside him and the brake- The scene darkened—but the aloof rockets were crashing frantically as they untouched corner of Curt’s adult mind came in fast, fast, toward the red sullen knew that he had seen the death of his own sphere of Outlaw World... parents and their avenging by the He was running, running toward the Futuremen... ships. The whole world beneath him was "Back beyond his own memories !” rocking and shaking, the sky wreathed in whispered the voice. "His father's and his lightnings and great winds moaning. He father’s father’s...” was back on Katain, that lost world of time He was in an ancient 20th Century that was rocking now toward its final airplane. Curt felt—felt, even though he cataclysmic doom... knew it was a 20th Century ancestor who “Back farther—farther—” whispered had really felt it—the pressure as he swung the faraway voice, and the humming note the plane around to dive toward its target… of the machines seemed to deepen. He was on the sun-parched deck of an “You will do as I say, Curtis !” old sailing-ship, becalmed, its sails Curt stood, rebelliously facing the hanging limp and dead. He started toward implacable gaze of Simon Wright, in the the stern... corridor of the Moon- laboratory under He was one of many men, men clad in Tycho. He was only a fourteen- year-old bronze and leather, carrying long spears. boy and he felt all a boy's resentment of They were running into a rude village of restrictions, of fancied injustice. huts and somewhere there was a “All I've ever seen is this place and you shrieking… and Otho and Grag,” he muttered. “I want Under a somber sky on a sere brown to go to Earth and Mars and all the other hillside he stood as a skin-garmented worlds.” savage. The chill wind ruffled the dead “You will someday,” said Simon. “But grass but he saw the movement down on not until you are ready. Grag and Otho and the slope that was not of the wind and he I have reared you here, in preparation for raised his heavy stone axe more alertly... what is to come. And when the time arrives “Farther—” you will go... ” Thunder shook the night sky and He could not see very clearly nor could reverberated across the city of glittering he understand. He had only an infant's eyes pylons in the nearer distance as one by one and an infant's mind. the great liners came swinging majestically It was the big main room of the Moon- down. laboratory. A man and woman lay Curt Newton—or the faraway ancestor sprawled on the floor and other men with whose memories he now relived—spoke weapons stood over them. with casual interest to the grave robed man Simon Wright, his lens-eyes facing who was walking with him toward the those men, was saying tonelessly, “You starport terminal. will pay for this very quickly. Death is “We'll see wha t kind of officials Deneb coming now.” is sending us this time ! I must admit these There was a rush of feet. Grag and Otho bored sophisticates from the capital, with burst into the room. A terrible booming cry their patronizing attitude toward our Earth came from the metal giant and he leaped and its System, get on my nerves !” forward. “But after all we're only a tiny part of the Empire,” the other reminded. 14 “Administrators who have to think of “Now !” spoke the vo ice and light worlds across the whole galaxy can't crashed destroyingly upon the whole consider our little System as too scene—and he was Curt Newton wholly important.” and lying upon a cold slab and waking— “It is important ! Even though it has waking... only nine little worlds it's as important as It was cruel, that awakening, any part of the Empire !” unendurably cruel—to have gone so far “Perhaps it will be someday. The and yet not far enough ! He heard himself Empire will last forever and someday—” cry out, an incoherent fury of demand for the machine to hum again, to send his EVEN as the scene changed the watching memories plunging back along the endless track of time. corner of Curt's mind knew that for a Then his sight cleared and he saw Otho moment he had actually lived in the watching him, his green eyes calculating legendary Old Empire... and ironic. He saw Konnur, smiling. "Back farther still—farther—” Curt stripped off the metal band and He could hear them singing the song stood erect. His hands were unsteady and through all the ship. The old song that was somehow he could not meet Otho's gaze. like a banner streaming, the song that they He tried to speak but the words did not had sung for generations in the mighty come and in his mind, already fading, was ships that went on and on through the still the burden of that song and the intergalactic void. blinding light of galaxies untouched and “How many, many centuries since the new, ready for the conqueror. last of the First Born died—the First Born He shivered and Konnur said as though who raised us from the dust ! How many he knew quite well what was passing in the centuries since we men went forth !” Earthman's thoughts, “Remain here then. He heard and he looked ahead through You can order the others away and remain the port and there was nothing but the here and follow your own dream. There are same eternal scene—the vast maw of no limits to the memory of man.” oceanic deep space with the hosts of the “Yes,” said Curt to himself and not to far-flung galaxies mere drowned points of Konnur. “One limit—the beginning, the light. time before ever there were men, before All except the one galaxy ahead, the the First Born. Who—and where and how mighty wheel-shaped continent of stars ?” that slowly, slowly, kept growing into a “Learn,” said the quiet voice of Konnur. universe of fire and splendor. “Send the others away whe n they come “By the arts that the First Born taught and remain and learn.” us, by the sacred behest that they laid upon From a great distance then there came to us, we go forth to create the cosmic dream Curt the sudden sound of fighting in the they dreamed !” pass. The blinding revelation came only to For a moment he stood motionless, that little part of his mind that was still caught between that song of lost eons and Curt Newton—the revelation of that first the pitiless present. Then, savagely, like a epic coming of men to found the Empire of creatur e driven against his will, he moved. old, to fulfill the command of the He tore the metal band from Ezra Gurney's mysterious First Born. head and shook him and shouted, “Wake If he could hear that song a little longer, up, Ezra ! Wake !” that marching-song of the elder human The guards had started forward. Otho race as it followed its destiny from far said sharply, “Wait ! If you touch him beginnings ! If he could hear but a little more— 15 now, it will only mean complete guess there's nothing else to do but go and destructio n for you all.” face Joan. Is she angry ?” Konnur listened to the sound of fighting “Not now,” said Otho, grinning, “but in the valley. He sighed and motioned the she will be !” guards to halt. Ezra smiled back gratefully but his heart “Yes,” said Konnur, “let us wait. There was not in it. is always time to die.” They went out of the place of the Ezra Gurney was looking up at Curt, his sleepers, down the long passage to the eyes bewildered and full of outer chambers. The noise of strife had uncomprehending pain. ceased. They heard a tumult of many Captain Future turned away. He said voices shouting and then Grag came heavily, “Konnur, go and tell your people striding mightily through the tall gates. to lay down their weapons. There is no He bellowed, “Are you all right, Curt ? need for bloodshed.” I knew Otho would get you into a jam !” “Perhaps,” said Konnur, “it would be Simon Wright glided beside him and better for us to die fighting for the Second behind them a press of eager dusty young Life.” Europans crowding like wolves. Curt shook his head. “The Second Life “Shall we destroy them now ?” they must be ended for Europa. By bringing in shouted. “Shall we break the machines ?” these folk from other worlds you have give “No !” Curt told them. “Hold your the Planet Police and the Government tempers ! And listen. Konnur ! Where is power to act and they will act very swiftly. Konnur ?” But…” They thrust him inward through the Konnur’s eyes blazed. “But ?” crowd.. They had handled him roughly but “It need not be destroyed. Go now and even so he had not lost his dignity nor his speak to your people.” pride. He stood waiting. Konnur hesitated. His gaze was fixed on Curt Newton spoke slowly, so that Curt's. Then, abruptly, he turned and went everyone should hear and understand. away. Curt took Ezra Gurney's hand. He “This, is my proposal. There are many of said gently, “Get up, Ezra. It's time to go.” the old ones who have lived so long in the The old man got slowly to his feet and Second Life of memory that without it they then sank back, sitting on the edge of the would die—and the secret itself is too slab, his face between his hands. valuable to be lost. “Therefore I offer this solution—that the PRESENTLY he said, “I couldn't help it, machines shall be removed to one of the small uninhabited moons of this system Curt. It was a chance to go back to the time and that those who wish to shall go with when I was young, to the time when we them. It would be a sort of quarantine, were together and all that had not yet under the authority of the Planet Police, happened…” and the Second Life would be gone forever Curt did not need to ask whom he meant from Europa. Does that meet with your by “we”. He was one of the few who knew approval ?” Ezra's tragedy, the loved brother whom he He looked at Konnur, who had no had long ago been forced to slay as an choice and knew it, but who did not care as outlaw in space. long as his beloved dream was safe. He took hold of Ezra's shoulder. “It is well,” he said. “Better than I had “Sure,” he said. “Sure, I understand.” hoped.” Ezra looked up at him. “Yes,” he “And you,” demanded Curt of the muttered. “I think you do. Well…” He young Europans, “what is your word ?” stood up, groping for something to say, something normal and expected. “Well, I 16 “They had many words among “The Second Life ?” rumbled Grag. themselves. They shook their fists and “Why, now, come to think of it maybe I argued, hungry for destruction, but at the should.” last the young man who had come with “Certainly,” Otho told him. “It would be Curt and Otho from the city stepped a fascinating experience to learn how your forward and said, “As long as the Second ancestral pig- iron felt in the forge.” Life goes forever from this world we will Grag turned on him. “Listen, android—” not oppose you.” He paused, then added, Curt’s voice cut them short and their “We owe you that much. If it had not been step quickened as they went on toward the for you we would never have broken free.” ships. Curt felt a great relief, greater than he But Ezra walked last, slowly, the should have had for the mere saving of a shadow still on his lined old face as he bit of antique science. Again he avoided looked back—back to the remembered Otho's gaze and even more the cold past, the bright lost days, the forever penetrating glance of Simon Wright’s lens- unforgotten. eyes. He said to Konnur, “It is done then. Waken the sleepers and let them have time to think and choose. I will see that the arrangements are made to trans-ship and settle all those who wish to go.” He took Ezra by the arm, shaking him from the reverie into which he had sunk again. “Come on,” he said. “We're finished here for good.” * * * * * They were walking across the spaceport, the six of them, the Futuremen and Joan and Ezra, heading for the ships under the red glow of Jupiter. And Simon Wright said something that had been on his mind to say these days during which Curt had labored to finish the removal of willing exiles to a remote and barren moon. “Was it out of pity for them, Curtis—or did you wish to live the Second Life again yourself some day ?” Curt answered slowly. “I'm not sure. It's too dangerous a thing to meddle with overmuch and yet—much knowledge could be gained that way. If a man could be sure of himself, of his own mind…” He shook his head and Simon said dryly, “The last thing a man is ever sure of is the strength of his own mind.” Otho looked up at Grag. “But you really ought to try it some time, Grag.” 17