Captain Future 19 - Outlaw World (Winter 1946) Read online

  Dimly he heard a thunderous crash of falling rock that drowned even the roar of rockets. His brain rocked, and he felt as though he were floating in space.

  Dizzily he came back from semiconsciousness to a foggy awareness that he was lying half-buried by rock fragments, with Joan still held protectingly in his arms. “Joan, are you hurt?” he asked hoarsely. “No, only dazed,” she gasped.

  Captain Future struggled to his feet in sudden alarm. His atom-pistol had been knocked from his hand, and he bent to search for it.

  “Don’t look for it,” said a smooth voice a few feet away from him. “If you do, we’ll have to kill you both, and I wouldn’t like to do that.”

  Curt knew that unctuous, purring voice! He turned, and stiffened at the scene that confronted him in the silvery moonlight.

  The blasting beam had torn tons of rock from this part of the valley floor, and this whole section of the chasm had collapsed. The Futuremen, Ezra, Bork King and his Martians were entombed!

  Ru Ghur’s cruisers had landed while Curt lay stunned.

  And Ru Ghur himself, with a score of his motley raiders, stood before Curt and Joan.

  The fat, bald, yellow Uranian had an atom-pistol in his hand. His moonlike face was bland — and beaming, but his coil eyes narrowed as he surveyed Captain Future and the girl.

  “So you and Bork King were here with the Futuremen, helping them set this little trap for me?” he said to Curt.

  “It’s that prisoner from the Orion who got away from us with the Martian on Leda!” Kra Kol, his fishy-eyed Saturnian subordinate, exclaimed in amazement.

  Ru Ghur nodded. “Yes. And I might as well tell you now who he is. He’s Captain Future.”

  “CAPTAIN FUTURE?” yelled Kra Kol. He and the other raiders instantly raised their weapons. That instinctive action was a tribute to Curt Newton — a tribute to the hate and fear of all such as they for Captain Future.

  “So you got away on Leda after all, and came here and joined up with the Futuremen?” Ru Ghur was saying to Curt. “You completely fooled poor old Ru Ghur on Leda, lad. But now your clever Futuremen are buried under tons of rock. Old Ru Ghur is clever too.”

  Captain Future’s gray eyes stabbed the Uranian, “Not so clever but that the Patrol won’t find your Outlaw World in time, and destroy you.”

  Ru Ghur chuckled. “If you only knew how unlikely that is, Future. If you only knew where Outlaw World really is!”

  “There’s no radium here, Chief.” Kra Kol interrupted uneasily. “We ought to finish these two and get back to base before the Patrol gets after us. They may know of this ambush.”

  Ru Ghur’s face stiffened. “We’re not going back until we get the radium we came after. Since there’s none here, we’ll get it elsewhere.”

  “Chief, it’s too dangerous right now!” Kra Kol objected.

  Ru Ghur’s bland expression did not change, but his voice lashed his subordinates.

  “You fools! We only need one more big haul to assure the success of our great plan Then we’ll be able to smash every vestige of opposition to us in the System!”

  Captain Future was only half listening. His mind was torn between his apprehension for Joan and his agony over the fate of the Futuremen and Ezra and Bork. It seemed impossible that any of them could still live, buried beneath the masses of shattered rock.

  “When are we going to get this last haul of radium?” Kra Kol was asking doubtfully.

  “There’s one possible source we haven’t touched,” muttered Ru Ghur. “I’ve had it in mind a long time, but thought it too risky. But we’ll have to take the risk, since we can’t get radium elsewhere.”

  He turned, shot a harsh question at Curt.

  “Where is Bork King? I know he was here, for that was his ship we shot down.”

  “If you know he’s here, find him,” Captain Future said coolly.

  “I saw him running into that chasm with the Futuremen,” volunteered Kra Kol.

  “The devil!” snapped Ru Ghur. “Then he’s dead. And he had information that could have helped us.” His small eyes rested on Curt Newton’s face. “But Future must have that information too. We can get it from him or the girl. Tie them up and carry them into the Falcon. We’ll take off.”

  Curt and Joan, helpless in the face of a dozen guns, were bound and dragged into Ru Ghur’s flagship. They were dropped roughly into chairs in the Uranian’s laboratory-cabin.

  Captain Future’s heart sank. He had been a prisoner in this room before. In it was the Lethe-ray apparatus with which Ru Ghur had kept him stupefied.

  Joan was pale, but she was not thinking of herself.

  “Oh, Curt,” she moaned. “Simon and Otho and the others, entombed under the rock —”

  “They’re hard to kill, Joan,” he murmured encouragement, “Don’t give up hope.”

  “No talking!” rasped Kra Kol, who stood over them, weapon in hand.

  The Falcon rose with the three other raider cruisers on roaring jets, heading through the asteroid zone away from Zuun. Ru Ghur waddled into the cabin, puffing from exertion. The fat Uranian dropped into a chair, sighing with relief.

  “Now we’re comfortable,” he said. “And now I want to ask you a few friendly questions, Captain Future.” He leaned forward. “Where is the secret Citadel of the Guardians of Mars?”

  The question startled Curt. “What makes you think I would know that?” he retorted. “It’s the most sacred secret of the Red Planet.”

  “Yes, yes, I know that.” Ru Ghur nodded. “But Bork King was a Guardian of Mars before he was outlawed. He knows all about it. He must have told you in these days you have been working together.”

  “He told me nothing,” Captain Future answered flatly.

  A sorrowful look came into the Uranian’s yellow face.

  “Now, lad, you’re not going to lie to old Ru Ghur, are you? He must have told you something.”

  “Why do you want to know about the Guardians?” Curt asked.

  “My reasons wouldn’t interest you,” Ru Ghur countered smoothly. “What did Bork King tell you?”

  “I repeat, he told me nothing,” Captain Future answered grimly. “Even if he had, you’d not get it from me.”

  “I was afraid you’d take that attitude,” mourned the Uranian. “That’s why I brought Miss Randall along. I believe you’ll comply with my simple request rather than let her suffer harm.”

  “Pay no attention to his threats, Curt,” Joan said contemptuously. “I’m not afraid.”

  “Believe me, Miss Randall, I don’t want to do anything to you,” Ru Ghur said earnestly. “It would nearly kill me if I had to let my men torture a girl like you. But I’ve a great purpose to carry out, and I’ll have to do that if Future won’t talk.”

  In his deadly anxiety for Joan, Curt tried to play for time.

  “If I did tell you anything I knew, you’d just kill us afterward,” he said.

  “No, I wouldn’t,” Ru Ghur assured. “Of course, I couldn’t let you go. I’d keep you both as hostages, under the influence of the Lethe-ray, to make sure that you didn’t try any tricks.”

  “It’s not much of a choice — death or that drudged existence,” Captain Future said. “Let us think it over.”

  RU GHUR’S beady eyes narrowed. “I’ll give you twenty minutes, no more.” He rose wheezingly to his feet, “Keep your gun on them, Kra Kol,” he ordered. “I’m going up to give the pilot our course.”

  The Saturnian sat down in a chair facing the two prisoners, his heavy atom-pistol pointing toward them. His pale eyes never left them.

  Captain Future felt trapped, and at wrists and ankles as he and Joan were, and with that Saturnian guarding them alertly there appeared no possibility of action.

  The raider ships were flying through the asteroid zone and Curt estimated that their course now was toward Mars. Why did the Guardian of Mars, the great mystery of the Red Planet, so interest Ru Ghur? There could only be one answer — radium. Somehow, radium must be
connected with the Guardians.

  “And he said they only need one more haul to carry out their great plan and master a world!” Curt thought with deepening dismay. “What is that plan? What is Ru Ghur going to do to the System?”

  Chapter 12: The Flare in the Void

  GRAG had no sooner dropped onto the ledge with the others, back in the chasm on Zuun, than he raised his great arms to catch Joan when Curt dropped her. But at that moment, the robot heard the thunderous impact of atomic beams and saw Curt whirl back with Joan.

  There was a deafening reverberation, and the wall of the chasm split and buckled and leaned ominously out as it was ripped by the energy of the beams.

  “The wall’s going to collapse!” bellowed Grag. “Get in that niche!”

  He had glimpsed a small niche off the ledge. He shoved the others, including Bork King and his Martians, into the precarious protection of the shallow cavity.

  Broken rock was already thundering down. Grag flung himself across the niche, bracing his giant metal body to shield those inside it.

  As shattered stone fell upon him, he managed to remain erect, by exerting all his massive strength. Then he felt himself enveloped in thundering darkness. As the reverberations ceased, Grag tried to move. He could not. He was buried by tons of rock debris.

  “Simon — Otho!” he called, his voice muffled.

  He heard the Brain’s muffled reply.

  “We’re trapped here in the niche. The stone has sealed it.”

  “It’s sealed me up so I can’t move even a finger,” Grag called. “I’m completely buried in rock.”

  “You aren’t smashed, are you. Grag?” Otho asked anxiously.

  “No, I may be a little battered, but it takes more than falling stone to hurt me,” the robot answered. “What about Eek and Oog?”

  “You would worry about your cursed moon pup even when you’re buried alive,” muttered Otho. “They’re all right. They ducked into the niche with us.”

  “We’re got to get out of here!” Grag said. “The Chief and Joan are still up there!”

  The giant robot exerted all his strength to move his arms. It was useless. He could not stir his limbs even an inch.

  “I can’t move,” he finally had to admit to the others.

  “Then we’re all goners,” Ezra Gurney muttered. “The air in this niche won’t last long.”

  “I’ll use my atom-pistol to cut a way out,” roared Bork King. “That yellow devil, Ru Ghur, is up there, and I’m going to kill him.

  “Cool down,” the Brain raspingly advised. “Your pistol-beam would only kick back on us if you tried using it in this pocket. Maybe I can get out. I’m the smallest of you all.”

  They realized then that the Brain, whose boxlike case was all the “body” he had, could get through apertures the rest could not.

  “We’re going to try picking a little tunnel through the broken rock for Simon,” Otho called to Grag. “Stand still, or you’ll bring the whole mass down on him.”

  Grag heard the chip and rattle of rocks, as those trapped inside the niche began to work carefully. After a time the Brain wormed his way into the tiny opening they had made, and used his tractor-beams as hands with which to tug at the debris to open the way more.

  An hour passed as the Brain patiently wormed his way through interstices in the mass of shattered rock. Grag waited impatiently, not daring to move lest he imperil Simon’s safety.

  Finally came the distant, almost inaudible call of the Brain.

  “I’m through! Now I can start removing the rock!”

  Grag heard the rattle of masses of rock being rolled off. The Brain was working as rapidly as he could, but it seemed a long time before the stone debris was cleared from around the robot’s head and shoulders.

  “All right, Simon — I’ll take over from here,” grunted Grag, once he got his arms free.

  He made the rock masses fly, hurling the fragments into the chasm. Soon he had the niche unsealed. The others clambered hurriedly out.

  “Come on!” called Otho. “Let’s see what’s happened to the Chief and Joan!”

  When they reached the surface, their atom-pistols held ready, dawn was brightening across the rocky face of Zuun. They stared around the shattered rock valley and their hearts sank. The raider ships were gone. So were Captain Future and Joan.

  “That double-blasted Uranian has taken the Chief with him, and this time he’s got Joan too!” howled Grag.

  “Looks like it,” muttered old Ezra. “An’ this time we’ve no chance of findin’ ‘em.”

  “How the devil did Ru Ghur know that the radium strike here was a fake?” Otho demanded furiously. “His ships just circled once overhead and they seemed to know, and attacked.”

  “Ru Ghur’s uncanny knowledge where radium is concerned is as big a mystery as Outlaw World itself,” murmured the Brain thoughtfully.

  EZRA GURNEY turned to Bork King and his half-dozen men. “Bork,” he said, “you’re outlaws and I maybe ought to arrest you. But Cap’n Future gave his word that you were to go free, so I won’t.”

  For a moment a heavy look came to Bork’s face, and his shoulders sagged a little. Then he started on a run across the rock valley.

  “I’m going to find the Red Hope, he yelled. “It crashed up there!”

  The others hastened after him. They soon reached the spot, where the Martian ship had crashed. One look was enough. The Red Hope’s cyclotrons had exploded when it crashed. Nothing was living in that tangle of ripped, scorched metal.

  In Bork King’s eyes was a look of agony. “Qi Thir and nine other good men, all dead because they followed me on a crazy quest!”

  “What quest?” Ezra demanded. “What started you into piratin’ after you was outlawed?”

  Bork King shook his head somberly. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

  “Bork,” the Brain said quickly, “We have to pursue Ru Ghur. Are you and your remaining men willing to go along with us, or would you prefer we took you to some place where you can get another ship?”

  A flame leaped into the Martian’s eyes. “We’ll go with you!” he said promptly. “We, too, want to catch Ru Ghur!”

  “Then come on,” said Simon Wright. “We’ll get the Comet and start searching the zone for Ru Ghur’s ships!”

  They raced along the valley to where Grag and Otho had parked the Comet down in the dark chasm. They had started down toward the broad ledge on which the ship rested, when they suddenly stopped short.

  “Great space imps, we can’t get the ship now!” swore Ezra. “Them cave apes is all over the ledge!”

  The fungus grove on this dusky ledge appeared to be a favorite hunting ground of the giant cave apes. A dozen or more of the great white creatures were hunting amid the tall fungi.

  “We can’t fight our way through them critters to the ship, with only a few atom-pistols!” said Ezra.

  “Then Grag will have to go down and get the ship,” Otho declared. “He fooled them before into thinking he was a young cave ape. He can do it again.”

  Grag still wore the coat of white paint, but the robot objected strenuously to the plan.

  “I’m not going to play ape again if we never get the ship!”

  “Grag,” snapped the Brain, “Curtis is in deadly danger.” That overruled the robot’s objections.

  “Oh, all right,” he groaned. “Here, you hold Eek, Otho.”

  Otho took the moon pup, whose teeth were chattering from terror at sight of the monsters. Then Grag started down to the dusky ledge, shambling like a young ape. But hardly had he reached the edge of the fungus grove, when one of the big apes sighted him and started toward him.

  “It’s all up with poor old Grag!” muttered Ezra.

  “No, wait,” Otho said. “Yes, it’s just as I thought. It’s Grag’s ‘mama!’ ”

  The giant mother ape who had attempted to adopt Grag on the previous occasion lumbered forward with uncouth bounds of joy, and grabbed Grag, huggin
g him with all the joy of a mother who has found her long-lost young. Big as he was, the robot was helpless in the huge eighteen-foot creature’s grasp. He struggled furiously, and received a resounding slap.

  The mother ape seemed a little puzzled by her adopted child’s metallic skin. But the great creature evidently decided to ignore this shortcoming, for she sat lovingly snuggling Grag in her arms. Otho and Ezra were shaking with laughter, yet they realized the seriousness of the situation.

  “We’ve got to get him out of that, somehow,” said Ezra.

  “He’s yelling to us!” shouted Bork King.

  Grag, clutched in those giant loving arms, was bellowing at the top of his voice: “Scare her away from me!”

  Grag’s bellowing had an effect on which he had not calculated. The mother ape, apparently deciding that her adopted child was crying from hunger, dropped him and started purposefully into the fungi.

  GRAG scrambled up to run for the ship. Before he got more than a few steps, the giant creature was back and seized him again. She proudly offered him a small cave crab. Grag pretended to eat the thing, then he set up another lusty bellowing, louder than before.

  As he had hoped, his “parent” took it as a sign that his hunger continued. Again the great ape put him down and started hunting for another such tasty morsel.

  Grag wasted no time in stretching his metal legs through the fungus grove. He reached the Comet, switched off the protective electric charge, tumbled into the ship, and sent it roaring upward with a roar that frightened all the hunting monsters.

  When he landed the ship on the surface, and the others hastily entered it, Grag roared: “The first one of you who ribs me about my ‘mama’ will get his head broken!”

  “Why, no one said a word,” Otho replied innocently.

  He was putting down Eek as he spoke. But Oog, who remained in his arms, suddenly underwent an amazing transformation. Oog was a fat little white animal with chameleon-like powers of changing his shape and appearance to imitate other creatures. Suddenly he twisted himself into an exact miniature replica of Grag as he had looked when snuggled into the cave ape’s arms. And Oog uttered a loud, whining cry similar to the outcry Grag had made.