Captain Future 16 - Magic Moon (Winter 1944)

by Edmond Hamilton

CAPTAIN FUTURE realized that if he persisted in his refusal, he might arouse suspicion. He would have to accede, and then arrange it so that his mission failed. He thought he saw how he could do that.

  “Well, if you’re sure there’s no danger, I’ll do it,” he finally said. “But I don’t like the idea.”

  “I’ll go with you, Carson," Kin Kurri said quickly. “Then you’ll be quite safe. Nobody would harm me, a System Council member.”

  Curt Newton understood. Kin Kurd still harbored suspicions of him. That was why the Saturnian wanted to accompany him.

  “Your going along is a good idea, Kurri,” said Jon Valdane. “To make it even safer, we’ll have Rob Rosson go with you too.”

  Newton was dismayed. With two of Valdane’s associates along, he would have a harder time making his mission fail. But fail it must, just the same.

  “Get your Captain Future make-up on at once, Carson,” Lewis said briskly. “I’ll call the troupe back so that we can follow you in the rocket-trucks, within a few hours.”

  Newton went down to his cabin and soon had transformed himself from Chan Carson to Captain Future, even to the gray zipper-suit and stage pistol. Before returning to the others, he slipped down to the dark property-room.

  “Grag — Simon!” he whispered. They came to his side at once, and he told them rapidly of the mission on which he was being sent ahead. “I’ll fix it so the Stygians won’t cooperate, and the telepicture party that’s to follow me won’t reach their city. But I want you to get Joan to stay here with Ezra, if you can.”

  “I will try to make her do so, if I have the chance, but you know better than I how stubborn she is,” said the Brain dryly.

  “She’s got to,” Newton exclaimed. “Su Thuar will be with the telepicture party when it leaves here, and she’d be in danger out there.”

  He hurried up to the others. Kin Kurri and the hard-faced Earthman, Rosson, were waiting. Both had belted on heavy atom-pistols. The Saturnian led the way out of the ship. Rosson and Curt Newton followed him, Newton moving with obvious reluctance.

  They went toward the flimsy metalloy buildings of Planet Town, more than a mile away. Though it was mid-day, the drinking and gambling establishments along the sordid streets were in full swing. The click of “quantum roulette” wheels, the brawling voices, the shrill clamor of music-machines, were loud all along the main street they passed through.

  Curt Newton felt disgusted. He did not blame the peaceful Stygians for resenting the incursion of those rough diamond-seekers and the horde of traders, gamblers, harpies and criminals who followed them. And what was worse to the machinery-hating Stygians, the coming of these outsiders had brought mechanical devices and metals and ships to this world which they had always deliberately kept half-primitive.

  Kin Kurri, Curt Newton, and Rosson tramped through the brawling town and headed northward through the mists of the shallow valley. They soon passed rocky gorges in which they could descry dozens of prospectors of all planetary races, working with picks, hammers and power-drills.

  These, Curt Newton knew, were the diamond-diggings whose discovery had drawn the toughest adventurers of the System to Styx. Prospectors had staked their claims in disregard of the Stygians’ protests. But each of them had to maintain his ownership with his atom-gun, since the Patrol was forbidden by treaty to come here. Thus there was no law except that of force and violence.

  The party passed out of the misty, shallow valley and tramped northward across a rolling plain of blank white grass which was veiled by thicker banks, of fog. They moved through a silent white obscurity, seeing nothing except an occasional clump of the huge white club-mosses which towered up like vague, spectral giants.

  The Saturnian took his direction from a pocket gyro-compass he had brought. For more than an hour, they moved northward.

  “We ought to be near that Stygian city,” Kin Kurri said, in worried tones. “We’ve come at least a half dozen miles, and —”

  “Good grief, look there,” yelled Rob Rosson suddenly, his brutal face blanching as he pointed wildly ahead.

  Captain Future, as he gazed sharply ahead, felt his own blood chill at the incredible horror that had loomed suddenly from the mists.

  A half-score huge, scaled gray monsters were approaching them through the fog. The creatures were of elephantine bulk, with humped, six-legged bodies and massive, hideous snouted heads. Their small red eyes were blazing and their opened jaws displayed cruel, menacing fangs as they charged toward the three men who were no more than pigmies before them.

  Chapter 12: Masters of Magic

  RIVETED with horror, Captain Future for a moment could not believe his eyes. He had been on Styx before, and he knew that there were no animals upon this moon of such monstrous dimensions as those now charging down upon them.

  Suddenly Curt Newton understood. He had seen something on his past visit here of the wonderful powers of illusion of the Stygians. Despite their primitiveness in some ways, these Stygians were masters of magical and hypnotic arts. Their legendary fame in this regard was the reason why all the nine worlds called their world Magic Moon.

  These charging monsters were illusions. His reason told him that it was so, even though his eyes assured him the creatures were hideously real. Curt Newton swiftly realized that their approach to the Stygian city that lay somewhere in the mists ahead had caused the furred natives to project these fearful phantasms, to scare them back. Kin Kurri and Rosson had whipped out their atom-pistols and fired crackling bolts at the charging monsters. But it did not stop them.

  “They don’t even feel our atom-blasts,” Kin Kurri exclaimed. He seemed stupefied.

  “Run for it,” Curt Newton cried, in simulated panic. “Back, before they kill us.”

  Thus Curt Newton tried to take advantage of the situation to bring about the failure of his mission. But unfortunately for his design, Rosson suddenly stopped on the point of flight. The tough-faced Earthman uttered an oath.

  “Those creatures ain’t real. If they were, wouldn’t we hear them?”

  It was true that the solid-looking monsters made not the slightest sound as they rushed forward. The fact had given Rosson the clue to their nature.

  “They’re only fakes — magic of the cursed Stygians,” the Earthman exclaimed. “I’ve heard about these Stygian tricks.”

  As he spoke, the onrushing monsters suddenly vanished. Nothing remained except shrouding white mists.

  “The Stygians are using these tricks to keep us from getting near their city, blast them!” swore Rosson. “But they won’t stop us.”

  He started forward again, and Curt Newton and the Saturnian were forced to follow. A hideous reptilian head suddenly appeared through the mist. A serpent of incredible size was writhing toward them.

  “Just more illusions,” said Rosson hoarsely. “Come on.”

  The great snake also vanished. Now they entered a grove of leafless, black trees such as Curt Newton had never before seen on Styx. The trees suddenly reached tentacular branches to seize them. Captain Future recoiled with a cry of pretended terror.

  “You fool, it’s only more tricks,” exclaimed Rosson. “See, they’re not real.”

  And he passed his arm through one of the solid-looking trees. The whole grove disappeared. They were alone again in the mist.

  “I won’t go any further on this devil’s world,” Newton exclaimed.

  “Maybe we had better go back,” muttered Kin Kurri doubtfully.

  “The boss said to go to their city and we’re going,” growled Rosson. “These illusions can’t hurt us. And the Stygians are harmless.”

  Curt Newton’s endeavor to balk the mission had failed. The tough Earthman insisted on going forward. Now the mists ahead were thinning. They came suddenly out of the thicker mist, into view of a far-stretching landscape of rolling, white plain. They all three stopped short. A half-mile ahead, there rose a cluster of octagonal towers of pale stone. The Stygian city!

  But it was not that
that had stopped them so short. Just in front of them stood a half-dozen Stygians, facing them. The white-furred, hollow-eyed men wore curious objects like glittering diamond lenses strapped upon their foreheads.

  “These are the Furries who’ve been playing those cursed illusion-tricks on us to stop us,” swore Rosson.

  Captain Future knew it was so. On his previous visit to Styx, he had learned the use of those curious forehead lenses.

  THE Stygians, who lacked almost all mechanical science, were masters of a mental science older than history. They had a power of projecting telepathic suggestions, somehow amplified and focused through the strange lens-devices, to set up perfect illusions in others’ minds.

  The foremost of the Stygians now spoke to the three men, in the interplanetary lingua franca. His voice rang with a warning note.

  “You will go no further. No aliens may approach our capital city Dzong.” Rosson nudged Curt Newton.

  “Do your stuff, Carson. Tell them you’re their friend Captain Future.” Newton stepped forward, his mind grappling with the problem. He must try to impersonate Captain Future — himself — for Rosson and Kin Kurd were watching him. Yet his impersonation must fail.

  He spoke haltingly in the lingua franca to the Stygians. “Do you not remember me? I am Captain Future. You told us Futuremen that we would always be welcome on your world.”

  The leader of the Stygians started. He peered closer at Curt Newton. Then excitement flashed in his eyes.

  “It is Captain Future,” he exclaimed to his companions.

  Then he broke into the native Stygian language, addressing Curt Newton with eager rush of words.

  “We did not know that you had returned to our world. You and your friends will be welcome in our city Dzong.”

  Curt Newton perfectly understood the Stygian language. But he looked bewildered and turned helplessly to Rosson and Kin Kurd. “I can’t understand that language,” he said in assumed panic.

  “The devil — that may give us away,” swore Rosson. “Tell him you’ve forgotten his language.”

  Curt Newton obeyed, speaking in the lingua franca to the Stygians. “It has been so long since I was here, that I have forgotten your tongue.” The Stygians instantly showed suspicion.

  “That is strange for you spoke it perfectly when you were here before,” said the leader. “It may be that this man is not really Captain Future at all, Th’ Thaan,” one of the Stygians warned the leader. “It may be a trick.”

  “We can soon find out beyond all doubt,” snapped the leader, Th’ Thaan. He turned suddenly to Curt Newton. “Look!”

  He pointed as he uttered that sharp order, to the glittering lens upon his forehead. Startled, Captain Future glanced at it.

  Instantly Curt Newton realized his mistake. He had forgotten the hypnotic powers of which the Stygians were masters.

  The glittering lens seemed to revolve in a spinning blaze of light. It and the hollow, probing eyes of Th’ Thaan seemed to whirl and coalesce, as the hypnotic power seized Curt Newton’s brain. As though from a remote distance, he heard the deep voice of Th’ Thaan speaking to him.

  “Declare your true identity. Are you Captain Future?”

  Dimly, Curt Newton heard like a faint echo the raging cry of Rosson. “Don’t answer him. He’s hypnotized you.”

  Curt Newton did not want to answer that question but he could not refrain from doing so. The hypnotic grip of the Stygian had short-circuited his own will in his brain, so that he was forced to speak the truth.

  “I am Captain Future,” he heard himself dully saying. “I took the identity of Chan Carson, an actor hired to impersonate myself, so that I could thwart the plots of an evil man against this world.”

  The hypnotic spell abruptly snapped and Curt Newton found himself standing stiffly facing the Stygians. And the Stygian leader now was stepping forward with gladness in his eyes.

  “You are really he, our friend. For a moment, we doubted —”

  Curt Newton spun around with desperate swiftness. He knew in a flash the disastrous implications of the admission he had made under hypnotism. He was too late. Rob Rosson had his atom-pistol already in his hand, and Kin Kurd had flashed out his gun, too.

  Rosson’s eyes were bulging as his deadly weapon held level with Curt Newton’s chest. The hard-faced Earthman spoke in a strangled whisper.

  “You’re really Future. You, Chan Carson. By Jupiter, you’ve fooled us the whole way.”

  DEADLY hatred flashed in his eyes. “But I found out in time!”

  He was going to fire, Curt Newton knew. He gathered himself for a hopeless lunge. For it was hopeless. The crackling blast of Rosson’s gun would rip through him before he got halfway to the Earthman. Nor could the Stygians help him, for they had no physical weapons whatever.

  An incredible thing happened. Kin Kurri, behind Rosson, had raised his gun. The Saturnian suddenly brought it down on Rosson’s head. And the Earthman criminal sank to the ground unconscious. Captain Future looked at Kin Kurri, unable to believe his eyes. Kin Kurri, with a queer grin on his solemn blue face, lowered his weapon.

  “That was a little too close for comfort, chief,” he said. And the voice of Kin Kurri was the familiar voice of Otho!

  Curt Newton found his voice. “Otho! It’s you?” he cried, thunderstruck.

  “None other, chief,” was the flippant reply. “You never guessed it, did you? If I do say it myself, this disguise of mine as Kin Kurri is the greatest feat of make-up I ever pulled off.”

  Newton was still amazed.

  “But how long have you been masquerading as Kin Kurri?” he asked. He gazed at the Stygians who had taken to their heels when the fight began, and were now pausing uncertainly, some distance off.

  “Ever since we left Jupiter,” was the calm reply.

  “Since Jupiter? But we thought Kin Kurri had killed you on Jupiter.”

  Otho’s disguised face grew grim. “Kin Kurri tried to kill me there. He suspected I was following him along that jungle trail, and ambushed me. He had his gun against me, and was going to use it. But I’m quicker than any ordinary man, as you ought to know. I twisted the gun around the moment before he fired. His gun-blast killed himself.”

  Captain Future began to see light. “I get it now. You buried Kin Kurri there.”

  “And took his place,” Otho said. “I figured that as Kin Kurri, one of Valdane’s associates, I could get to the bottom of the plot. So I took Kin Kurri’s clothes, and used the make-up kit I always carry at my belt, to make myself exactly like him. Neither Valdane nor anyone else suspected that I was anyone but Kin Kurri.”

  “But why in blazes didn’t you tell me?” Curt Newton demanded.

  “Chief, I tried to,” Otho said earnestly. “The night we left Jupiter, I slipped into your cabin to tell you. I had a bottle of make-up remover with me so that I could prove to you I was Otho, if you doubted.”

  He grimaced. “But you conked me before I had time to explain. When I came to, the others were around and I couldn’t speak. I told Valdane I’d had suspicions that made me go to your cabin. Valdane told me I was a fool, and ordered me to stay away from you. So I didn’t dare get you apart to tell you, from then on, without running the risk of arousing his suspicions by disobeying his order.”

  Captain Future mopped his brow. “You certainly pulled me out of a nasty hole right now, even though you gave me the shock of my life doing it.”

  The Stygians had recovered from their fright. After some hesitation, they slowly returned and began to stare at Newton and Otho curiously.

  “Otho, what’s Valdane planning?” he asked. “As his associate, you must have learned something of his scheme.”

  “Chief, I’ve learned almost nothing,” Otho answered ruefully. He swore. “That cursed Valdane was too cunning to betray himself.” The Stygians had been standing, wondering witnesses of their rapid colloquy. But now Th’ Thaan, their leader, grasped Newton by the arm.

  “We do not understand
, Captain Future,” he said. “Why did your companion stun this other man? And what is the plot against our world of which you spoke? Will you come into Dzong with us and tell our council?”

  Captain Future nodded in quick decision. “Yes, we’ll do that. Your people ought to know what confronts them.”

  Otho was deftly binding the senseless Rosson with strips torn from his jacket.

  “Bring him along, Otho,” Curt Newton directed.

  They moved across the misty plain with the group of Stygians toward the pale stone city that lay a mile away. Though not large, the city Dzong was immeasurably ancient. Its close-clustered octagonal towers were surrounded by a stone wall, and this in turn was bordered by a wide belt of carefully cultivated land.

  THEY passed with Th’ Thaan and the others through the open gates of the metropolis and made their way along paved streets toward the largest, central tower. Stygians in the streets stared in wonder at the spectacle of two aliens carrying another unconscious alien through their city. A small crowd formed, and followed them.

  Captain Future had been in this city before. It was as he remembered it, an ancient but not unbeautiful place of narrow streets and tall towers half-veiled by the drifting mist. All the architecture here was of massive stone there was not a scrap of metal in evidence. And there were no machines, no mechanical devices, no vehicles except the low carts drawn by the kangaroo-like beasts of burden of the Stygians.

  Th’ Thaan led them into a big, eight-sided stone hall that formed the ground floor of the central tower. The council of the Stygians was sitting, earnestly deliberating. Its ranking member, an old Stygian, peered at Curt Newton with wide eyes.

  “The Futuremen have returned,” he exclaimed. “Let this be a day of gladness in our city. For you alone of all alien peoples are welcome here, my friend.”

  “Thanks, Qu Lur,” Curt Newton said earnestly. He remembered the aged head of the Stygians’ council well, from his former visit. “I wish I had come with more cheerful news than I bring.”

  “He says that the space-ship which carne today to our world has brought men who plot to take our whole world away from us,” Th’ Thaan informed the old council head.