Captain Future 14 - Worlds to Come (Spring 1943)

by William Morrison

  “I’d like to keep my mind to myself!” declared Hol Jor.

  Chapter 18: The People of Gorma Hass

  HALF an hour later, Curt Newton spoke thoughtfully.

  “It appears then, that we all have the ability to receive and transmit thoughts by telepathy to some extent. Grag and Otho have the ability least; Joan has it practically to perfection. And the chances are that the inhabitants of this Universe, accustomed to telepathy, will have less trouble reading our minds than we shall have reading theirs.”

  “Right, lad,” said the Brain. “Which means that for our own safety, in case we meet with hostile creatures, it would be advisable to develop mental shields.”

  Curt nodded, “I think that we already have an idea of the principle we’ll have to use. At least you had, Simon, and now that I’ve caught your thought, I have, too. Seeing that thought waves are transmitted only by space of higher curvature, we can cause a special kind of space warp, an untwisting, so to speak, by means of oscillating waves of the right frequency, and thus bring about their absorption.”

  “I can’t argue with you, lad,” said Simon, “not when you express my own thoughts!”

  It was not until several days later that the shields were completed. They were crude in appearance, but they functioned fairly well, and of all those aboard the Comet, only Joan could catch faint snatches of thought from any one who wore them.

  Meanwhile the Comet had been driving ahead. Small bright suns lay on both sides of its path, and several times they passed by apparently uninhabited planets. And then one day — they did not know when, for every chronometer aboard ship had gone out of commission in this strange Universe — a faint white sun came into view. For a long time, despite an increase in brilliancy, it remained a distant star, even though the Comet stormed ahead toward it under the full power of the vibration drive.

  “A central sun, as you expected, lad,” rasped Simon, his eyes peering at it through the Comet’s visor plates. “We’ll keep on the lookout for planets.”

  “There’s one!” exclaimed Otho suddenly.

  He pointed out a tiny reddish disk that lay ahead of them, and slightly off to the left. Curt and Simon interchanged glances.

  “Make for that, Otho,” ordered the Brain.

  As they approached, Otho cut off the vibration drive and set the rockets to blasting again. The red planet became unexpectedly blue as they drew closer to one side.

  “Desert on one hemisphere, ocean on the other,” decided Curt. “There’s plenty of variety in the climate, and the spectroscope indicates that the air is breathable. There should be living creatures. I wonder what they’re like.”

  Otho set the Comet down on a smooth stretch of red sand along the ocean shore. The individual gravity equalizers were still able to operate, and now that they had become accustomed to this strange Universe, every one felt entirely at ease as the door of the teardrop-shaped vessel slid open, and they stepped out on the shore.

  “There’s life here, all right,” said Otho, and pointed to the water. The rounded side of a huge sea-creature cut through the waves and then disappeared.

  “That’s not what we’re looking for,” rumbled Grag. “What we want is something with intelligence. Something —” Crag’s steel jaw remained suspended in midair, the sentence unfinished.

  Half a dozen creatures were approaching along the shore. They were tall and gray, and they had beastlike faces of a sort that were vaguely familiar. They strode along steadily, at a fast unfaltering pace that seemed ominous.

  “The Sverds!” gasped Ber Del. “They look different, but they’re still Sverds! We’ll have to run for the ship!”

  Joan shook her head. “They’re friendly,” she said, “We’ll wait for them.”

  THE Sverds came close and stared at them. Curt was aware of curious phrases forming in his mind, of vague and half-formed thoughts that began by seeming to have a meaning, and then dying away.

  “They’re talking,” said Joan. “Mentally, of course. It’s the only way they know. They’re asking what we’re doing here. They don’t understand why they aren’t left alone. The Masters promised to leave them alone.”

  “The Masters? That would seem to be the race of Gorma Hass. Tell them, Joan, that we’re looking for the Masters.”

  “They say you will find them up above,” the girl answered almost instantly.

  “On some other planet?” asked Curt.

  “I don’t know,” replied Joan doubtfully. “All I get is a vague idea that the Masters are up in the sky. It may be a religious concept. I don’t think the Sverds themselves are sure where the Masters are.”

  “At any rate, they’re not here.”

  “We’ll make a search,” put in Simon. “We’ll cover the surface of the planet, then leave.”

  The Sverds watched them with curiosity as they returned to the ship. “Strange,” mused Simon. “They’re not dangerous at all — here. It would appear that they owe their destructiveness among our worlds solely to Gorma Hass.”

  Shortly afterward they were blasting off again. They skimmed over the surface of the planet from a height of a few dozen miles, dividing the total area into zones, and searching each in turn, but there were no signs of buildings, or other artificial structures. Finally, they left the planet behind them, to resume their course toward the central sun.

  As the planet’s blue side dwindled behind them, Otho turned to Curt. “Shall I give her the vibration drive, Chief?”

  Joan spoke suddenly, “No, Otho! Cut off the rockets, too!”

  Curt looked at her sharply. “What’s wrong, Joan?”

  “I just thought I had made contact with a mind — some place back there —”

  Otho looked a question. “What shall I do, Chief?”

  “Cut off the power. We’ll just drift for a while and see what happens.”

  The next moment the Comet was drifting silently through space. There was an intent look on Joan’s face. Curt’s own expression was uneasy as he glanced at her, but he knew that Joan had not imagined what she had talked about. For now he too sensed a mind trying to contact him from outside the Comet.

  And then the outlines of the huge teardrop-shaped vessel began to waver. In several places, something was coming through the walls. This something appeared to ooze through silently, and swirl within the Comet like a cloud of vapor. In a few seconds Curt was conscious of three distinct clouds, each with a penetrating, overwhelming mind of its own.

  Curt was aware of a tautness in his throat. This was not the first occasion on which he had encountered minds like these. Alone in space, he had been almost trapped by one of them. And now — he had a sudden panicky feeling that every one in the Comet was in their power.

  A VOICE spoke in his brain. The words were indistinct, but the meaning was clear enough. “You need have no fear. We are not like those others. We are friendly.”

  Then there was a persistent silence. It lasted until Curt began to wonder whether the strangers would ever break it. He himself had no desire, almost no power, to talk.

  It was Joan who finally spoke. “They want to talk through me. In that way we’ll all understand most clearly what the actual situation is.”

  The Brain’s voice grated sharply. “We are listening.”

  “I shall talk,” said Joan, “as if I myself were Ystal, who is speaking to me. This is what he says:

  “ ‘I have examined your minds, and I understand why you have come here. You are seeking a way to destroy Gorma Hass, whose material body you know to be in this Universe.

  “ ‘You can not destroy him here. His body is hidden safely, and we ourselves do not know how to find it. To defeat Gorma Hass you must return to your own Universe.

  “ ‘He has told you that he is fighting to save our race, which is threatened by deadly radiations you human beings continually create. But that is only part of the truth.

  “ ‘He has gone into your Universe without our consent. We have given him no command to slay
as he has been slaying. It is his own evil mind that is responsible for that.

  “ ‘Before Gorma Hass, there were others that made the trip into your Universe for a purpose similar to his, taking their material bodies with them. But these bodies were so weakened by the change in conditions that they became almost helpless. Their minds even had difficulty in controlling the mind of the tall red-haired youth among you. They could not carry out their original plans.

  “ ‘Gorma Hass has escaped some of these difficulties by making the trip only mentally. But the power of even his mind was weakened to some extent. Otherwise, none of you would have been able to resist him at all. It will continue to become weaker as time passes and it remains separated from his body.

  “ ‘To carry out his plans, Gorma Hass took with him many Sverds. These have long regarded us as their Masters, and they could not refuse his orders. Gorma Hass equipped them with instruments of war which he did not invent himself, but which came from our museums.

  “ ‘Those of us opposed to him have no use for physical violence. We regard material things as evil, and wish to free ourselves from them. Because of the means he has employed, Gorma Hass will not earn our gratitude even if he succeeds in destroying the source of radiations deadly to us.

  “ ‘As you can see, we are no longer bound to the planets, which were formerly our homes. All space belongs to us now. We seek constantly to improve our minds, and we are succeeding.’ ”

  There was a slight pause, and Curt, breathing more freely, was able to cut in. “But how could you come in through the walls of our ship? That’s control of material things.”

  “ ‘Through long evolution we have developed the power to change the planes of vibration of our atoms at will. Thus we can pass through material objects.’ ”

  “But you say that you don’t count on Gorma Hass to prevent the radiations that are so harmful to you. How then do you expect to control them?”

  “ ‘By mental power alone.’ ”

  CURT shook his head. “That hasn’t worked so far. You admit that yourselves. Although you have mental abilities far beyond ours, they give you control only of minds, your own as well as others. To control material objects you must use physical methods.”

  “Right, lad,” agreed the Brain.

  “ ‘But it is base to be dependent upon matter. The mind should be above such things,’ ” objected Ystal through the medium of Joan’s voice.

  “We’ve seen people who thought the same,” replied Curt grimly, “and they suffered for it. Both mental and material things are important. You can’t neglect either without suffering.”

  There was a pause. Joan spoke slowly again, repeating the words that were not hers. “ ‘Then you believe you have a solution for our problem?’ ”

  “Simon and I can invent a device that would protect a single individual or a whole planet. So could almost any scientist of our own world. We have long known how to deal with such radiations.”

  “It would take us a day at most,” agreed Simon.

  “ ‘Once given a device of the proper type, we ourselves could duplicate it easily,’ ” said Ystal. “ ‘Nevertheless, I do not know how my people will receive this answer to their problem.’ ”

  “First we’ll make a radiation-absorber, and then you’ll see,” replied Curt. “Grag,” he cried, “are you ready for work?”

  “Sure, Chief,” returned the twisted metal figure that was now Grag.

  “Dig up two or three of the smallest induction coils, and half a dozen condensers. Otho, set up a micro-size atomic motor. We’re starting on those absorbers right now.”

  Simon had thought the devices would take them a day or two to make. To Curt, laboring enthusiastically, it seemed that no more than a few hours had elapsed before three absorbers were ready. They consisted simply of tiny generators which emitted spherical damping rays intended to neutralize the harmful vibrations.

  Curt was conscious of what was going on in Ystal’s mind. While he had been working, Ystal and his companions had sifted his thoughts, and appropriated the information necessary to make the shields themselves. The sole question now was whether they would wear them and thus admit the usefulness of the hated materialism.

  Ystal seemed to be reaching a decision. “ ‘We shall use these devices,’ ” he declared finally, “ ‘not merely to guard against the radiations, but because their presence will remind us of our own weakness. They will help mortify our minds.’ ”

  Curt stared. Then he laughed. This was an acceptance of the situation, and at the same time a neat method of saving face.

  But Ystal was not offended. “ ‘Now we must consider how you are to deal with Gorma Hass,’ ” he said. “ ‘Your powers of will are not fully developed, but even after I teach you to make proper use of them, you will still be inferior in strength to him. Nevertheless, if you catch him by surprise, you may be able to meet Gorma Hass on equal terms.’ ”

  “If we catch Gorma Hass by surprise,” answered Curt, “we’ll know how to deal with him.”

  Ystal probed his mind, “ ‘Your plan is a good one,’ ” he decided. “ ‘And now it is my turn to act. You will permit your mind to become blank.’ ” He paused, “ ‘No, do not resist. Try not to think at all.’ ”

  Curt did his best to obey.

  Chapter 19: The Way Back

  HALF an hour later, Curt awoke. He had been vaguely aware of fingers moving within his mind, snipping connections here and there, and then joining them together again in new ways. Now he had a curious feeling as of heightened consciousness. He seemed to be more awake than ever before in his life.

  Ystal and his companions had disappeared, and the Comet was headed outward from the central Sun. Otho was using the rocket-drive, and they were not yet going at a very high rate of speed.

  “How do you feel, lad?” asked the Brain anxiously. “None the worse for your experience?”

  “Somewhat the better for it,” answered Curt. “I feel as if I’d like to come to grips with Gorma Hass right now.”

  “Beware of overconfidence, Curt. Remember what Ystal said. You are still no match for Gorma Hass.”

  “I told Ystal I thought I knew how to handle him, and I do. In order to send an object traveling through the fourth spacial dimension, Simon, there’s no need for us to go with it. We can use a projector. It would be something like a four-dimensional cannon.”

  “And your idea is to project Gorma Hass back into his own Universe?”

  Curt shook his head. “Not exactly. If I did that, he might return. I intend to project him out of our Universe into some other that is alien to both him and us. Without a projector of his own, he’ll be unable to get back. And with mind and body permanently separated, both will weaken and eventually die away.”

  “But how will you get him to put himself within range of your projector?”

  “I have a plan for that, too. We won’t have to search for him, Simon. He’ll come to us.”

  The Brain stared at him, puzzled. Suddenly there came an interruption from Joan.

  “Stop the ship!”

  Otho, at the controls, spoke without turning his head. “Are those orders, Chief?”

  “No, Otho, keep going.” Curt’s eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong, Joan?”

  “There’s an invisible planet ahead! We’re going so fast that we’ll collide with it! Stop the ship quickly, Curt!”

  The Brain spoke unexpectedly. “She’s right, lad! There’s a dark body ahead! We must stop!”

  Otho’s white face betrayed uneasiness. “I’m putting on the brakes, Chief! We don’t want to smash!”

  The others were looking dazedly at Otho. Curt sprang into action. He ran toward a compartment in the rear of the Comet and threw it open. But while reaching in, he stopped abruptly. Then, clenching his teeth, he forced his hand forward against some invisible resistance. He found one of the mental shields that he and Simon had made, and fastened it slowly over his head.

  At once the invisible resistan
ce disappeared. He ran back to Otho and the others with the remaining shields.

  A moment later, Otho’s face betrayed confusion. “Say, Chief, what was I stopping for?”

  “Never mind now, Otho. Keep right on going. Use the vibration drive.”

  The Comet knifed ahead through space. The Brain stared at Curt again and spoke.

  “What happened, lad?”

  “There was an invisible planet,” said Joan dully.

  “There was no invisible planet, Joan. Those orders to stop the ship came from outside. Your mind, being most susceptible, received them most rapidly and most completely. But I felt them myself. And only the shields saved us.”

  “But, Curt, who gave those orders? Surely not Ystal?”

  “Not Ystal, but others of his race. You remember that Gorma Hass wasn’t alone in his evil intentions. Some of those who thought as he did traveled to our Universe. Those who stayed here undoubtedly read our minds, and tried to detain us. If we had stopped the Comet, they would have come on board, and that would have been the end.”

  “How did you have the strength to resist even for a short time, lad?” asked the Brain.

  “I think I owe that to what Ystal did to my mind,” mused Curt. “And now, Simon, let me tell you how I expect to make Gorma Hass come to us.”

  Chapter 20: Showdown

  AS CURT predicted to the Brain, there was little difficulty. Back safely in their own Universe once more, with the Comet and themselves again taking on their usual shape, they sought out in turn the different planets where the soldiers of Gorma Hass were expected. The Comet’s hull was sufficiently tough to repel the ordinary atom-rays that were directed at it unless the rays were fired at point-blank range. Curt did not let his enemies approach close enough for that. The result was that the soldiers of Gorma Hass quickly learned to shun the teardrop-shaped vessel, and to wait for the Sverds to overcome it for them. But the Sverds, for the first time, proved useless.