Captain Future 15 - The Star of Dread (Summer 1943)

by Edmond Hamilton

  “Doctor Winters is right,” supported Cole Norton quickly. “It would be a crime to suppress a scientific secret of such tremendous value.”

  “It would be a worse crime to turn that secret loose in our System,” Curt Newton retorted.

  His searching gray eyes swept their faces in the firelight, and he spoke with earnest deliberation.

  “I’ve seen a good bit of the universe,” he emphasized. “And I’ve seen enough of what misdirected science can do, that I’ll never give anyone a chance to unloose a power like that of artificial evolution upon our human race.”

  He drew his proton-pistol as he spoke. “I’m so convinced on the subject, that I am going to make sure that the clue to that secret which this inscription holds will never fall into wrong hands.”

  Winters uttered an anguished cry and sprang forward. He was too late. Curt’s pistol had jetted a brilliant white beam that splashed over the ancient inscribed tablet. It disintegrated it to nothingness!

  Chapter 2: Treachery in Camp

  AFTER Captain Future’s weapon had wiped out the last traces of writing on the tablet, Dr. Winters stood for a moment as if transfixed. Cole Norton’s face was a picture of frustrated fury.

  “You blind fool, you’ve destroyed it,” shrilled the agonized Winters. “You’ve destroyed the only clue to the greatest secret of the ages.”

  “No, I’ve not destroyed it,” Captain Future said. “I know the location of the Chamber of Life at Deneb. I memorized it. I also had the Futuremen, Joan and Ezra memorize it, too, in case something happened to me.

  “So the clue to the secret of artificial evolution won’t be completely lost. But it will never now fall into evil hands, as it might have done.”

  Raging, Winters was about to loose a torrent of accusation. But before it left his lips there came alarming interruption.

  A discordant, screeching cry had gone up from the dark jungle a moment after Captain Future destroyed the ancient tablet. Now it was echoed by a wild tumult of cries from all around the camp — a heart-checking chorus of savage fury.

  “Chief, that’s the Titanians!” cried Otho. “They saw you destroy one of the Sacred Stones, and now —”

  “And now the green devils are goin’ to attack,” yelled Ezra Gurney.

  Captain Future realized the imminence of their peril. The green-lit jungle was alive with the shadowy forms of moon-tribesmen. Their angry uproar filled the night.

  Curt Newton took command of the situation. He called a sharp order to those of the expedition who had hastily secured their atom-guns.

  “No shooting — that would only precipitate things. Wait here, all of you. I’m going out and talk with the Titanians.”

  “Curt, don’t do that.” Joan Randall’s pretty face showed alarm and she clung to his sleeve. “They won’t listen.”

  “I think I can soothe down their superstitions,” Curt told her. “I’ll explain that the tablet we destroyed was not one of the Sacred Stones, but an evil thing. Let me handle them.”

  Grag flexed his huge metal arms. “Let me handle ‘em, Chief.”

  “All of you stay here,” Curt Newton ordered. “Remember, no shooting. We’re not going to kill any of those poor devils just because their superstitions have misled them.”

  Captain Future strode boldly toward the jungle, his hand upraised in the immemorial gesture of friendship. The others watched tensely.

  They heard Curt Newton’s clear voice, speaking to the shadowy Titanians as he reached the jungle. They tried to make out what he was saying.

  One of the expedition was not watching or listening. Doctor Philip Winters, totally ignoring their sudden peril, had stooped beside the scorched remnants of the inscribed tablet that Curt had destroyed.

  The little biologist was still beside himself with emotion. His thin face was raging as he looked up at Cole Norton, who had followed him.

  “The criminal folly of destroying this tablet,” Winters exclaimed bitterly. “Why did it have to be a stupid reactionary like Future who found this clue? Why couldn’t it have been found by someone who would appreciate the value of that secret to our race?”

  “You’re right, Winters,” Cole Norton agreed. “I can’t understand why Future is so blind. Why, that secret of artificial evolution would be of inestimable value.”

  “I’m not thinking of the value of the secret in money,” declared the fanatic biologist. “It’s what it could accomplish for our race that I have in mind. Just think, with that power we could accelerate and direct the course of evolution. We could make the System peoples superhuman.”

  His eyes were glowing behind his spectacles. Norton saw and understood. This aging little man was a true fanatic of science. The younger man cunningly played upon that fanaticism.

  “I feel the same way about it,” he told Winters forcefully. “We shouldn’t let that great secret be lost to our peoples. We ought to go to Deneb after it, ourselves.”

  Philip Winters stared up at him. “How could we? No ship except Future’s Comet has sufficient speed to cross the hundreds of light-years that separate us from Deneb.”

  “Then we ought to take the Comet, and go in it,” Cole Norton declared boldly.

  WINTERS’ jaw dropped. “But that would be piracy.”

  “Not really piracy — we’d return the ship to him when we came back,” the big young physicist said. He added hastily, “Besides, what do a few legal formalities amount to beside the potentialities for the advance of humanity which lie in that Denebian secret?”

  “You’re right,” muttered Philip Winters, frowning. The fanatic light was strong in his eyes, “If Future is too blindly reactionary to see it, we’d be justified in making use of his ship.”

  “I could pilot and navigate the Comet,” Norton said in eager tones. “I’m a licensed space-pilot, and during the time we’ve been camped here, I’ve used every opportunity to study the unique features of the Futuremen’s ship. I thought I might learn something valuable — valuable to my work, I mean.”

  He added the last phrase hastily, but Winters had not noticed. The little biologist seemed lost in thought.

  The two were not being noticed by the others in the camp, since all those others were tensely listening to Curt talking with the Titanians.

  “I don’t see how we could do it,” Winters said gloomily. “Go to Deneb for the ancient secret, I mean. For even if we got there in the Comet, we wouldn’t know where to look for that Chamber of Life in which the secret of artificial evolution lies. We don’t know the clue that was in this inscription.”

  “That Randall girl knows it,” Cole Norton pointed out coolly. “We’ll take her along. She’ll tell us the clue to the Chamber of Life when she wants badly enough to get back home. We won’t need to harm her.”

  Philip Winters hesitated. Norton perceived that his bold plan of action had given pause to the biologist despite his rage against Future.

  Norton pressed home his final argument. “Of course, if you agree with Future that that secret ought to be suppressed —”

  Winters uttered an exclamation of anger. “I’ll never agree to that. I’m a biologist, and I’ll never consent to seeing the supreme discovery of biological science smothered by stupid scruples.”

  His bald head jerked with sudden decision. “I’m with you on this, Norton. We two are scientists, and we’re not going to let the greatest scientific achievement of the ages be kept hidden. We’re going to Deneb after it.”

  A brief gleam of triumph shone in Cole Norton’s hard blue eyes, but he wrung Winters’ hand with every appearance of earnest sincerity.

  “Good! Now we’ll have to plan fast, if we’re to get away in the Comet. We’ll need a few men for crew, men we can depend on.”

  “The technicians —” Winters began doubtfully.

  “We couldn’t count on them — they’re hypnotized by Future’s fame like everybody else,” Norton said quickly. “But I know a couple of men over on Uranus whom we can bank on to fo
llow us anywhere. I’ll go over on some excuse and get them. In the meantime, I’ll want you to fix things here to insure our getaway. Here’s what I want you to do —”

  While Norton talked rapidly in low tones to the biologist, Curt Newton was speaking slowly and clearly to the Titanians in the fern-jungle.

  The anxious watchers perceived that the shadowy green tribesmen had gathered to hear Captain Future, and had ceased their angry outcries.

  “He seems to be winning them over,” Joan Randall said hopefully, the worry on her face lessening.

  “Never was anybody like Cap’n Future for handlin’ strange planetary peoples,” remarked Ezra Gurney admiringly.

  Curt’s colloquy with the moon-tribesmen ended. The Titanians melted back into the jungle, and Captain Future came striding back through the green planet-glow to his friends.

  “I think I convinced them that we mean no harm to the Sacred Stones,” he said. “But it was touch and go there for a moment.”

  He added musingly, “It’s queer, their superstitious reverence for these old Denebian ruins. Undoubtedly, it’s a racial tradition from the long-dead time when the men of Deneb colonized these worlds.”

  Cole Norton had unobtrusively joined their group, and now the blond physicist advanced an earnest proposition.

  “Those Titanians may get ugly again when they see us continuing our study of the ruins, Captain Future. Why don’t we set up a protective electrified barrier around our whole camp? Then if they did attack, we could repel them without needing to kill them.”

  THE proposal appealed to Curt Newton. He wished to continue their study of the ruins. Yet he did not want under any circumstances to be forced to take the lives of any of the superstitious Titanians.

  “We haven’t the material and equipment here to set up a barrier,” he pointed out. “I suppose we could get it over at Uranus.”

  “I can go over there in the Lightning and have the stuff back by tomorrow night,” Norton offered quickly. He was referring to the small space-cruiser in which the scientists and technicians had come to Titania.

  Curt’s face cleared. “That’s good of you, Norton. I’ll send Otho along with you to help you.”

  “I won’t need him,” Norton said hastily. “And you have plenty of use for every pair of hands here.”

  Otho looked disappointed. “Hang it, I wouldn’t mind the trip. I like that city Lulanee over there.”

  “You ought to like it,” the Brain said acidly. “As I remember it, the last time we were in Lulanee you staged an historic brawl in the space-men’s quarter after you were crazy enough to drink ‘radiura highballs.’ ”

  Cole Norton, with a final meaning glance at the nervous-looking Winters, took off less than an hour later in the Lightning. The small cruiser rose into the green planet-glow, circled once, and then darted away with a blast of fire from its rocket-tubes toward vast green Uranus.

  Most of the members of the expedition were retiring to their huts for the night. Grag, who never slept, was standing guard around the edge of the camp.

  Curt Newton stood in the greenlit silence, looking up at the starry heavens. His shadowed face was thoughtful as he contemplated a bright white star that shone in solitary splendor amid a host of lesser suns.

  It was Deneb, the mystery star of the galaxy, six hundred and fifty light-years across the universe. His thoughts leaped out across that mighty abyss, as they had done many times before.

  “You’re not regretting your decision?”

  It was Joan Randall who spoke at his side, half chaffingly but half in earnest.

  He slipped his arm around her, and shook his head. “No, Joan. That old Denebian secret must remain secret.”

  His voice was brooding. “I’ve seen things out in the nearer star-systems which have convinced me for all time that there are limits beyond which science should not transgress. Using biological powers to tamper with the human race oversteps those limits.”

  “I wondered, because you were looking at Deneb so wistfully,” said the girl.

  Captain Future smiled. “Deneb has always held a fascination for me, I admit. I’ve always wanted to go there, distant as it is, and learn the answer to that great riddle of why its ancient empire fell.”

  His gray eyes kindled. “Just think of what a man might find at Deneb. It was the well-spring of the human race and of human civilization. Its science may have been far beyond anything we know. One might find there a super-civilization ripened by ages of culture, a people wonderful beyond our dreams.”

  Joan Randall saw the leaping eagerness in his eyes, and knew that the ancient pull of galactic mystery was tugging again at this wild, star-roving spirit.

  “But Deneb and its riddle will have to wait,” Curt Newton added in a sober voice. “Our System is in too great a ferment these days, from its first interstellar expansion, to take time now for such a long voyage across the galaxy.”

  Chapter 3: Abducted into Space

  MEMBERS of the archaeological party had retired to their huts, and the green-lit encampment was soon wrapped in slumbering silence. Only the Brain, brooding in the Futuremen’s hut in an unfathomable reverie of scientific speculation, and Grag, strolling watchfully around the circle of the camp, remained wakeful.

  Neither Simon Wright, the Brain, nor Grag saw or heard Philip Winters when he crept forth from his shelter an hour later. His face a sickly white in the viridescent glow of great Uranus, the little biologist soundlessly entered the metal shack that contained the expedition’s equipment and supplies.

  He came out, hugging something to his breast. Waiting until Grag’s circle had taken the robot to the opposite side of the camp, Winters darted silently through the looming fern-trees toward the ancient Denebian ruins.

  He returned some minutes later, stealthily slipping back across the camp without being observed by Grag, and regaining his own metal cabin.

  “Everything quiet,” Grag reported to Captain Future next morning. “I don’t think the Titanians will give us any more trouble.”

  Curt Newton nodded. “Just the same, I’ll be glad when Norton gets back with the stuff for a protective barrier.”

  Throughout the day, the Futuremen and the other members of the expedition continued their intent investigation of the extensive ruins.

  Captain Future had discovered this ruined Denebian city. He had reported the discovery to the Planetary Institute on Earth, and had acceded to the Institute’s eager request that some of its scientist-members might accompany the Futuremen in an investigation of the ruins.

  They labored throughout the day, clearing away the dirt and debris from around the great stones. Philip Winters was nervous and distraught while he worked. As they returned to camp at sunset, the little biologist continually consulted his watch.

  Captain Future noticed and misinterpreted the biologist’s anxiety. “Norton should be back with the Lightning any minute now,” Curt Newton told him. “Then it won’t take long for us to put up a protective electric barrier.”

  Winters started, and then nodded hastily. “I’ll be glad when he gets back,” he muttered.

  The little, sinking Sun cast level rays across the vast fern wilderness of the jungle moon. All was serenely tranquil as they prepared the evening meal, except for the interminable arguing of Otho and Grag. Then the low drone of distant rocket-tubes became audible.

  “Here comes Norton with the Lightnin’,” drawled Ezra Gurney, pointing toward a gleaming little speck now gliding down toward the camp.

  Boom! A thunderous detonation rocked the ground beneath them with startling suddenness. A cloud of dirt fountained upward west of the camp.

  “Imps of space, what was that?” Otho gasped. “It sounded like an atomic bomb letting go.”

  Curt Newton’s tanned face flashed alarm. “Something’s wrong! That blast came from the ruins. Grag — Otho — come on!”

  He started plunging back toward the ruins, with the Futuremen and most of the other members of the expedit
ion behind him. But Philip Winters hung back, and laid a delaying hand on Joan Randall’s arm as she started to follow.

  “Don’t go, Miss Randall,” warned the little biologist shrilly. “There may be danger there.”

  “He’s right, Joan — stay here,” Captain Future ordered peremptorily as he ran.

  His proton-pistol was in his hand as he dived through the dusky jungle with the Futuremen and Ezra and the technicians close behind.

  They could hear the roar of the rocket-tubes as the Lightning landed in the camp behind them, but they paid Norton’s return scant attention at this moment.

  When they reached the ruins, Curt Newton stopped. He and the others surveyed the scene in appalled silence.

  The great carven stones that had stood here for ages had been shattered and wrecked by an explosion of such power that it had gouged a big, raw crater from the ground.

  “Holy Space-fiends,” yelled Otho. “Somebody has planted a charge of atomite here and blown up the ruins.”

  AT THIS moment, two new sounds claimed attention. One was a shrill screech of rage from a Titanian throat, a little away in the jungle.

  The other cry was a muffled scream that came from back in camp. And Curt Newton recognized that voice.

  “That’s Joan!” he shouted. “Back to camp — this blast was a ruse to get us out here!”

  They whirled and started back to the encampment. Before they reached it, they heard again a deep drone of powerful rocket-tubes.

  But this was a louder, stronger drone than that of a few moments before. Every one of the Futuremen instantly recognized the sound.

  “That’s the Comet!” Grag bellowed, running. “Who in the devil is —”

  Captain Future sprinted. But he emerged from the fern-jungle into the encampment, too late.

  The Comet was soaring steeply up into the dying light. Its take-off was ragged but so swift that, almost in a split-second, the ship was out of sight in the sky.