The Star Kings cotsk-1

by Edmond Hamilton

  That was reassuring. Gordon was still wildly excited by this unprecedented adventure into a future age, but he hated to think that he might be marooned indefinitely in a stranger's body.

  Vel Quen explained to Gordon in detail the amazing scientific method of contacting and exchanging minds across time.

  He showed him the operation of the telepathic amplifier that could beam its thought-message back to any selected mind in the past. And then he outlined the operation of the mind-exchange apparatus itself.

  "The mind is an electric pattern in the neurons of the brain. The forces of this apparatus detach that pattern and embody it in a network of 'nonmaterial photons.'

  "That photon-mind can then be projected along any dimension. And since time is the fourth dimension of matter, the photon-mind can be hurled into past time. The forces operate in a two-way channel, simultaneously detaching and projecting both minds so as to exchange them."

  "Did Zarth Arn himself invent this method of exchanging minds?" Gordon asked wonderingly.

  "We invented it together," Vel Quen said. "I had already perfected the principle. Zarth Arn, my most devoted scientific pupil, wanted to try it out and he helped me build and test the apparatus.

  "It has succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. You see those racks of thought-spools[1]? In them is the vast mass of information brought back by Zarth Arn from past ages he has explored thus. We've worked secretly because Arn Abbas would forbid his son to take the risk if he knew."

  "Arn Abbas?" repeated Gordon questioningly. "Who is he, Vel Quen?"

  "Arn Abbas is sovereign of the Mid-Galactic Empire, ruling from its capital world at the sun Canopus. He has two sons. The oldest is his heir, Jhal Arn. The second son is Zarth Arn."

  Gordon was astounded. "You mean that Zarth Arn, the man whose body I now inhabit, is son of the greatest ruler in the galaxy?"

  The old scientist nodded. "Yes, but Zarth is not interested in power or rule. He is a scientist and scholar, and that is why he leaves the court at Throon to carry on his exploration of the past from this lonely tower on Earth."

  Gordon remembered now that Zarth Arn had said he was high in the Empire. But he had had no suspicion of his true exalted position.

  "Vel Quen, what exactly is the Mid-Galactic Empire? Does it take in all the galaxy?"

  "No, John Gordon. There are many star-kingdoms in the galaxy, warlike rivals at times. But the Mid-Galactic Empire is the largest of them."

  Gordon felt a certain disappointment. "I had thought the future would be one of democracy, and that war would be banished."

  "The star-kingdoms are really democracies, for the people rule," Vel Quen explained. "We simply give titles and royal rank to our leaders, the better to hold together the widely separated star-systems and their human and aboriginal races."

  Gordon could understand that. "I get it. Like the British democracy in my own day, that kept up the forms of royalty and rank to hold together their realm."

  "And war was banished on Earth, long ago," Vel Quen went on. "We know that from traditional history. The peace and prosperity that followed were what gave the first great impetus to space-travel.

  "But there have been wars between the star-kingdoms because they are so widely separated. We are now trying to bring them together in union and peace, as you unified Earth's nations long ago."

  Vel Quen went to the wall and touched a switch beside a bank of lenses. From the lenses was projected a realistic little image of the galaxy, a flat, disk-shaped swarm of shining sparks.

  Each of those little sparks represented a star, and their number was dizzying to John Gordon. Nebulae, comets, dark clouds-all were faithfully represented in this galactic map. And the map was divided by zones of colored light into a number of large and small sections.

  "Those colored zones represent the boundaries of the great star-kingdoms," Vel Quen explained. "As you see, the green zone of the Mid-Galactic Empire is much the largest and includes the whole north and middle of the galaxy. Here near its northern border is Sol, the sun of Earth, not far from the wild frontier star-systems of the Marches of Outer Space.[2]

  "The little purple zone south of the Empire comprises the Baronies of Hercules, whose great Barons rule the independent star-worlds of Hercules Cluster. Northwest lies Fomalhaut Kingdom, and south of it stretch the kingdoms of Lyra, Cygnus, Polaris and others, most of these being allied to the Empire.

  "This big black blot southeast of the Empire is the largest dark cloud in the galaxy, and within it lies the League of Dark Worlds, composed of suns and worlds engulfed in the perpetual dimness of that cloud. The League is the most powerful and jealous rival of the Empire.

  "The Empire is dominant and has long sought to induce the star-kingdoms to unite and banish all war in the galaxy. But Shorr Kan and his League have intrigued against Arn Abbas' policy of unification, by fomenting the jealousies of the smaller star-kingdoms."

  It was all a little overwhelming for John Gordon, man of the 20th Century. He looked in wonder at that strange map.

  Vel Quen added, "I shall teach you how to use the thought-spools and then you can learn that great story."

  In the following days while he learned the language, Gordon had thus learned also the history of two thousand centuries.

  It was an epic tale that the thought-spools unfolded of man's conquest of the stars. There had been great feats of heroism in exploration, disastrous wrecks in cosmic clouds and nebulae, bitter struggles against stellar aborigines too alien for peaceful contact.

  Earth had been too small and remote to govern all the vast ever-growing realm of man. Star-systems established their own governments, and then banded into kingdoms of many stars. From such a beginning had grown the great Mid-Galactic Empire which Arn Abbas now governed.

  Vel Quen finally told Gordon, "I know you want to see much of our civilization before you return to your own body and time. First let me show you what Earth looks like now. Stand upon this plate," He referred to one of two round quartz plates set in the floor, which were part of a curious, complex apparatus.

  "This is a telestereo, which projects and receives stereoscopic images that can see and hear," Vel Quen explained. "It operates almost instantaneously over any distance."[3]

  Gordon stood gingerly with him on the quartz plate. The old scientist touched a switch.

  Abruptly, Gordon seemed to be in another place. He knew he was still in the tower laboratory, but a seeing, hearing image of himself now stood on a stereo-receiver on a terrace high in a great city.

  "This is Nyar, largest city of Earth," said Vel Quen. "Of course, it cannot compare with the metropoli of the great star-worlds."

  Gordon gasped. He was looking out over a mammoth city of terraced white pyramids.

  Far out beyond it he could glimpse a spaceport, with rows of sunken docks and long, fishlike star-ships in them. There were also a few massive, grim-looking warships with the Empire's comet emblem on them.

  But it was the great city itself that held his stunned gaze. Its terraces were flowering green gardens with gay awnings and crowds of pleasure-seeking people.

  Vel Quen switched them to other stereo-receivers in Nyar. He had glimpses of the interior of the city, of halls and corridors, of apartments and workshops, of giant underground atomic power plants.

  The scene suddenly vanished from John Gordon's fascinated eyes as Vel Quen snapped off the telestereo and darted toward a window.

  "There is a ship coming!" he exclaimed. "I can't understand it. No ship ever lands here!"

  Gordon heard a droning in the air and glimpsed a long, slim, shining craft dropping out of the sky toward the lonely tower.

  Vel Quen looked alarmed, "It's a warship, a phantom-cruiser, but has no emblem on it. There's something wrong about this!"

  The shining ship landed with a rush on the plateau a quarter-mile from the tower. A door in its side instantly slid open.

  From it poured a score of gray-uniformed, helmeted men who carried weapons
like long, slim-barreled pistols, and who advanced in a run toward the tower.

  "They wear the uniform of Empire soldiers but they should not have come here," Vel Quen said. His wrinkled face was puzzled and worried. "Could it be-"

  He broke off, seeming to reach a sudden decision. "I am going to notify the Nyar naval base at once!"

  As the old scientist turned from John Gordon toward the telestereo, there came a sudden loud crash below.

  "They have blasted in the door!" cried Vel Quen. "Quick, John Gordon, take the-"

  Gordon never learned what he meant to tell him. For at that moment, the uniformed men came rushing up the stair into the room.

  They were strange-looking men. Their faces were white, a pallid, colorless and unnatural white.

  "League soldiers!" cried Vel Quen, the instant he saw them thus close. He whirled to turn on the telestereo.

  The leader of the invaders raised his long, slim pistol. A tiny pellet flicked from it and buried itself in Vel Quen's back. It instantly exploded in his body. The old scientist dropped in his tracks.

  Until that moment, ignorance and bewilderment had held Gordon motionless. But he felt a hot rage burst along his nerves as he saw Vel Quen fall. He had come to like the old scientist, in these days.

  With a fierce exclamation, Gordon plunged forward. One of the uniformed men instantly raised his pistol.

  "Don't blast him-it's Zarth Arn himself!" yelled the officer who had shot down Vel Quen. "Grab him!"

  Gordon got his fists home on the face of one of them, but that was all. A dozen hands grasped him, his arms were twisted behind his back, and he was held as helpless as a raging child.

  The pallid officers spoke swiftly to Gordon. "Prince Zarth, I regret we had to blast your colleague but he was about to call for help and our presence here must not be detected."

  The officer continued rapidly. "You yourself will not be harmed in the slightest. We have been sent to bring you to our leader."

  Gordon stared at the man. He felt as though all this was a crazy dream.

  But one thing was clear. They didn't doubt he was Zarth Arn. And that was natural, seeing that he was Zarth Arn, in body.

  "What do you mean?" he demanded furiously of the other. "Who are you?"

  "We come from the Cloud!" answered the pallid officer instantly. "Yes, we are from the League and have come to take you to Shorr Kan."

  It was still all baffling to John Gordon. Then he remembered some of the things that old Vel Quen had told him.

  Shorr Kan was leader of the League of the Dark Worlds, which was the greatest foe of the Empire. That meant that these men were enemies of the great star-kingdom to whose ruling house Zarth Arn belonged.

  They thought that he was Zarth Arn and were kidnapping him! Zarth Arn had never foreseen anything like this happening when he had planned the exchange of bodies!

  "I'm not going with you!" Gordon cried! "I'm not leaving Earth!"

  "We'll have to take him by force," rasped the officer to his men. "Bring him along."

  3: Mystery Raiders

  There was a sudden interruption. Into the tower came running a uniformed soldier, his face livid with excitement.

  "The radar officer reports three craft of cruiser size heading in from space toward this quarter of Earth!"

  "Empire patrol-cruisers!" yelled the League officer. "Quick, out of here with him!"

  But Gordon had seized the moment of their alarm to bunch himself. Now with a violent effort he broke free of their grasp.

  He grabbed up a heavy metal tool as the pallid men rushed him and struck savagely with it at their faces.

  They were at a disadvantage for they did not want to kill or injure him, while he had no such reluctance. His savage blows dropped two of the soldiers. Then the others seized him again and wrested his makeshift weapon from him.

  "Now to the ship with him!" panted the pallid League officer. "And hurry!"

  Held by four big League soldiers, Gordon was dragged down the stairs and out of the tower into the biting, frosty air.

  They were halfway to the shining ship when he saw the grim black gun-muzzles that projected from its side swinging suddenly to point skyward. Volleys of small shells burst upward from them.

  The pallid officer yelled as he looked upward. John Gordon glimpsed three massive, fish-shaped warships diving straight down toward them.

  There was an immense explosion. It hit Gordon and his captors like a giant hand and hurled them from their feet.

  Half stunned, Gordon heard the deafening drone of great ships swooping toward the ground. By the time he stumbled to his feet, it was all over.

  The League ship was a wreck of fused metal. The three cruisers that had destroyed it were landing. Even as they touched the ground, their small guns flicked deadly explosive pellets that picked off the dazed League soldiers who still sought to fight.

  Gordon found himself standing, his late captors a heap of torn, blasted corpses less than a hundred feet away. The doors of the cruisers were sliding open, and men in gray helmets and uniforms came running toward Gordon.

  "Prince Zarth, you're not hurt?" cried their leader to Gordon.

  The man was big and burly, with bristling black hair and a craggy, knobby face whose complexion was faintly copper-red. His black eyes were snapping with cheerful excitement.

  "I'm Hull Burrel, captain commanding a Sirius-sector patrol," he told Gordon, saluting. "Our radar spotted an unauthorized vessel approaching Earth, and we followed it to find it at your laboratory here."

  He glanced at the dead men. "Cloudmen, by Heaven! Shorr Kan has dared send men to abduct you! This could be cause for war!"

  John Gordon thought swiftly. These excited Empire officers also naturally took him for the son of their ruler.

  And he couldn't tell them the truth, couldn't tell them he was John Gordon in Zarth Arn's body! For Zarth Arn had made him promise to tell that to no one, had warned that to do so would mean disaster! He'd have to keep up the strange imposture with these men until rid of them.

  "I'm not hurt," Gordon said unsteadily. "But they shot Vel Quen and I'm afraid he's dead."

  They hurried with him to the tower. He ran hastily up the stairs and bent over the old scientist.

  One look was enough. A gaping hole had been blasted in Vel Quen's body by the explosion of the tiny atomic pellet.

  Gordon was appalled. The death of the old scientist meant that he was now completely on his own in this unfamiliar future universe.

  Could he ever get back to his own body and time? Vel Quen had thoroughly explained the principle and operation of the mind-projecting apparatus. He might be able to operate it if he could get into telepathic contact with the real Zarth Arn.

  Gordon quickly made up his mind. It was vital for him to stay here in the tower with the apparatus which alone could restore him to his own body and time.

  "I must report this attack at once to your father, Prince Zarth," the captain named Hull Burrel was saying.

  "There is no need," Gordon said quickly. "The danger is over. Keep the whole matter confidential."

  He expected his authority as son of the sovereign to overawe the captain. But Hull Burrel, surprise on his craggy copper face, demurred.

  "It would be a breach of duty if I failed to report so serious a matter as a League raid like this!" the captain protested.

  He went to the telestereo and touched its switches. In a moment on its receiver-plate appeared the image of a uniformed officer.

  "Chief of Fleet Operations speaking from Throon," he said crisply.

  "Captain Hull Burrel of the Sirius-sector patrol wishes to report a matter of the utmost importance to his highness, Arn Abbas," declared the big coppery captain.

  The official stared. "Cannot the matter be submitted to Commander Corbulo?"

  "It cannot-its importance and urgency are too great," Hull Burrel declared. "I take the responsibility for insisting on this audience."

  There was a little wai
t. Then on the telestereo the image of a different man flashed into being.

  He was a massive giant, well past middle age, with shaggy, bristling brows over penetrating, hard gray eyes. He wore a brilliantly embroidered cloak over a dark jacket and trousers, and his great, graying head was bare.

  "Since when do mere naval captains insist-," he began angrily, and then as his image looked past Hull Burrel he caught sight of John Gordon. "So this concerns you, Zarth? What's wrong?"

  Gordon realized that this massive, bleak-eyed man was Arn Abbas, sovereign of the Mid-Galactic Empire and Zarth Arn's father-his father.

  "It's nothing serious," Gordon began hastily, but Hull Burrel interrupted.

  "Your pardon, Prince Zarth, but this is serious!" He continued to the emperor. "A League phantom-cruiser clipped in to Earth and made an attempt to kidnap the prince. By chance my patrol was making an unscheduled stop at Sol, and we detected them by radar and followed them here just in time to destroy them."

  Arn Abbas uttered an angry roar. "A League warship violating Empire space? And trying to kidnap my son? Curse that devil Shorr Kan for his insolence! He's gone too far this time!"

  Hull Burrel added, "We weren't able to take any of the Cloud-men alive but Prince Zarth can give you the details of the attempt."

  Gordon wanted above all else to minimize the whole thing and finish the nerve-racking strain of having to keep up this imposture.

  "It must have been just a surprise sneak attempt," he said hastily to Arn Abbas. "They won't dare try it again-I'll be in no more danger here."

  "No danger? What are you talking about?" rumbled Arn Abbas angrily. "You know as well as I do why Shorr Kan was trying to get his hands on you, and what he'd have done if he succeeded!"

  The massive ruler continued commandingly to Gordon. "You're not going to stay there on Earth any longer, Zarth! I've had enough of your slipping away to that remote old planet for your crazy secret scientific studies. This is what comes of it! We'll take no more such chances! You're going to come here to Throon at once!"