Brain of Venus by John Russell Fearn
Page 2
The Brain of Lu Sang
denoted the late rocket man.
“Well, anyhow, something’s got to be
done. We must fire all tubes away from THE mysterious disappearance of Liner 762
Venus—”
was the one topic of conversation on both
Mars and Earth for many a long day
DESPERATION caused Mason to leave his
afterward. The mystery vied in popularity with
sentence unfinished. He floundered from the
that of the old time sea vessel, Mary Celeste.
cabin, pursued by the alarmed Benson. No thought of mutiny seemed to enter Together they entered the control cabin and
anybody’s head; there had been no suspicion
tried fiercely to calculate intricacies that it had of it upon departure. Communications of
taken trained men many years to master. It
sympathy were sent through the void from
simply couldn’t be done.
every tenanted planet, even from the strange
Benson stared with a blanched face at
denizens of distant Pluto, who sent, in their
the growing face of Venus, world of mystery,
own queer fashion, their deepest condolences.
far ahead. Venus, the world unknown. A
Scout machines tirelessly searched the
strange icy terror crept the length of his spine.
spaceways for some sign of the missing liner,
Venus—so lovely, so radiant, yet hiding but no traces did they find. Venus was thought beneath her dense, watery atmosphere with its
of as the possible solution—but only thought
high light reflective capacity, the first forms of of. There had yet to be a man with nerve
squirming, terrible life. Those who had dared
enough to risk again the mysteries of that
to descend on Venus’ surface had never awful world. So the mystery of 762 remained returned.
a mystery.
And with the seconds Venus was
Perhaps the most interested of all in
growing. Mars was far away now, retreating
the disappearance was the lean, saturnine Roy
with every second. The space ship, Jefferson, chief scientist and radio head of the uncontrolled, unmanageable, raced with ever
New York space depot. Mysteries in space
growing speed through infinity, chained by the
were his hobby, tempting danger his only
planet’s gravitation.
delight in life. For a long time after the
In the stateroom the passengers milled
general hue and cry had died down the
to and fro, battling to obtain a view through
mystery of 762 continued to absorb his mind,
the windows at the inevitable death speeding
though even he could make no move toward
through space toward them.
solving it. Nevertheless, he was alive for the
Faster—faster, through the growing faintest possible clue, and in a good position minutes, while two rocket men tried vainly to
to receive any, for through him came all
figure the right way.
interstellar messages.
Brain of Venus
7
And while he pondered through the
healthy life that teemed about it, gathering
passing months, something strange was strength, living, arising from the gulfs of occurring on Venus, within half a mile of the
mental suspension into which an earthly
wreckage of 762. At first sight the view was
anaesthetic had originally plunged it.
but that already familiar to the hapless
Venus, the hell planet, receptive to life,
explorers who had come from Earth—and in its early evolutionary stages. Its heavy never returned.
atmosphere, permeated with a rich gaseous
Gigantic trees, overburdened with content, and the raw chemicals abundant in dense, over-ripe foliage of a bilious green hue
the protoplasmic soil all helped the alien brain towered upward from the steamy and to grow, expand and live. Cell tissue growth impassable undergrowth that rioted on the accelerated; and Nature, highly adaptive on spongy ground. Everywhere there was embryonic Venus, quickly created a protective steam—the dank and insufferable heat of a
healing shell for the brain that would guard it
very young and deadly world, twenty-six against harmful bacteria and unfavorable million miles nearer the sun than Earth, filled
climatic conditions. Mental life had come to
with gases mainly poisonous in their sheer,
Venus, mental life destined to go on,
undiluted potency. Occasionally clouds drifted
unhindered.
in the brilliantly blue sky, but in the main the sun blazed eternally on this, the day side, of
FOR two years after the disappearance of 762
Venus. Long since had Earthlings disproved
events came and went uneventfully upon all
clouds as the cause of Venus’ brilliance in the
the populated planets—Earth, Mars, Saturn
sky; water-vapor in enormous quantities was
and Pluto. Then on the memorable night of
the explanation.
January 10th, 1999, there came the first hint of And, near the ruins of 762, there was
something amiss—a desperate cry from the
undoubtedly a change. Something grey and
denizens of Pluto, flashed to Earth by ultra-
indeterminable lay in the undergrowth, radio, and Jefferson, in charge, was the first to something veined and throbbing, nauseous in
receive it.
appearance—the brain of Lu Sang. Flung from
“Mental changes affecting Pluto’s
the table where it had been placed by Newton,
inhabitants. Please investigate. Very urgent.”
in the space ship’s crash it had rolled through
That was all, like a cry in a storm, and
a rent in the wall and dropped, practically
all efforts to recommunicate with Pluto failed
unharmed, into the midst of the loam and
completely. Jefferson dutifully submitted the
nutrition rife in the Venusian forest land. Life message to Headquarters. Scout machines
stalked every corner of that weird vastness—
went out to investigate, and found nothing.
life in its first mysterious stages, chemical
Jefferson, however, the mystery of 762 still
change.
hovering in his keen brain, pondered the cry
The very ground was saturated with
deeply, and as the days went on it became
the elements of protoplasm—carbon, evident that the Plutonians had not sent their hydrogen, phosphorus, calcium—all along the
warning without cause. Something was
scale of chemicals. And into the midst of this,
amiss—a strange and incredible thing,
into the midst of an atmosphere plentifully
affecting now the inhabitants of both Mars and
supplied with carbon dioxide, had fallen a
Earth, and in a lesser degree on account of
brain that still lived, a brain independent of a their slow receptive powers, the Saturnians.
body that would otherwise have killed it—a
Men underwent inexplicable
brain absorbing unto itself all the young and
transformations. They varied between
Thrilling Wonder Stories
8
supreme genius and profound idiocy, able to
disappearance of Liner 762?”
understand the entire cosmos in one moment,
and yet baffled by a simple addition sum the
“I’ve never ceased to think of it, sir.”
next. Man lost touch with himself; he began to
“Aboard that liner was a criminal
feel the influence of an immense and brain, alive; it belonged to Lu Sang, the overpowering mentality exerting its effect Chinese criminal. I wonder if 762 landed on upon him. From somewhere in space a Venus and the brain rooted itself there? Is it gigantic brain force was in action.
entirely beyond possibility?”
At the very first sign of the mental
Jefferson stared at his superior blankly.
disturbances Jefferson went direct to the “I think your guess is dead correct, sir. Venus commandant of the spaceways.
must be visited right away. I’d like that
“There seems to be danger about, sir.
opportunity, sir; it is the kind of thing I’ve
A menace is threatening us and we’ve got to
been longing for for years.”
find out where it is coming from. Where there
The commandant nodded wearily. “I
is danger, that is where I can be found. What
have no time to haggle; the danger is very real
are my orders, sir?”
and imminent. You have my permission to
Commandant Bradley pondered.
leave the moment you are able. I’ll assign
“I hardly know, Jefferson. The whole
Andrews to take over. But for the love of
thing is so sudden; we don’t know where to
heaven, man, watch your step! Venus is no
look. I have a report here from Grafol of Mars.
child’s playground.”
His etheric detectors place the disturbance as
The lean radio chief nodded
coming from or near Venus. The periods of
composedly.
mental perturbation are varied. They continue
“If it were I wouldn’t be going!”
for so long, stop suddenly, then go on again.
The reason for the momentary stoppages WITH the sunset Jefferson departed from remains a mystery at the moment. But we do
Earth in a small express space flier,
know that the mental oppression is getting
accompanied only by two of his closest
worse. All of us have felt it. But the idea of
comrades who, like himself, were never happy
Venus being behind it is absurd! Venus is a
unless endangering their lives in some way or
young world, a world from which no man has
other. Stanhope and Bragg were their names,
ever come back alive.”
the one small and heavy, the other tall and
“Early pioneers without modern sinewy, and both of them loyal to the cause in equipment, sir,” Jefferson replied promptly.
which they had spent their lives.
Then, more seriously, “From my own
With terrific speed the space machine
observations it seems that this mentality is no
shot from Earth into space. Out here in the
ordinary one. It is gifted with finesse and
void, the three adventurers felt the mental
polish, able to exact its requirements no matter forces in all their intensity. Beating waves of
what is incurred. A brain of high training, on
mental compulsion that brought the sweat to
Venus! But!— how? ”
their faces in the effort of concentrating
“Wait!” the commandant interrupted against them.
suddenly, his expression changing. “A brain
“Whatever it is it’s sure got a hell of a
of high training—Good God, I wonder if it is
kick,” breathed Stanhope, turning a strained
possible!”
face. “How do you figure on beating it, Jeff?”
“What,
sir?”
“I don’t,” Jefferson answered grimly.
“Do you remember the mysterious “I just want to locate it on this trip. How to
Brain of Venus
9
beat it will come later. You’ve got to show me
edge of a blinding crescent—the edge of
the thing—even if it is a brain—that can Venus itself.
defeat the science of nineteen ninety-nine.
“A Venusian moon—amazingly tiny!”
Now hang on—we’re going places!” So he gasped. “A small planetoid of some kind of saying he increased the acceleration. Never for
metal. But still a moon. Too small almost for
an instant did the unknown power of Venus
observation from Earth.”
relax. With the shortening distance its
“And we’re caught in its tiny attractive
intensity grew, until when at last the hurtling
field,” commented Stanhope. “Well, it’s
flier was within a few thousand miles of the
interesting anyhow. What’s next?”
white planet, it was almost more than the men
“Have you noticed,” Jefferson said
could do to concentrate on their tasks. The
slowly, “that the mental compulsion had now
mentality waves were forcing them to turn
ceased?”
back, to leave Venus to its own devices and,
“Odd,” was Bragg’s comment.
little by little, they began to submit. The ship
“Odd nothing; it can mean only one
gradually came to a near standstill over the
thing. The metal of this satellite is of such an glittering atmosphere of the planet.
order as to block mental waves. It probably
Jefferson turned a rigid, ashen face to
blocks all sorts of other electrical waves as
his comrades.
well. Mental waves are electrical basically,
“We’ve—we’ve got to obey,” he must be. It’s obvious now why mental muttered mechanically. “Turn back.”
compulsion on Earth stops periodically and
He moved to the controls, then then resumes. It must coincide with the time suddenly—staggeringly so—the mental when this moon comes between the Venusian compulsion
ceased.
Something large and brain and Earth. All the other planets report dark, moving with considerable speed, blotted
the same occurrence,” Jefferson informed him.
out the vision of Venus’ glaring surface. The
“And Venus itself?” Stanhope
space ship swung around violently, snatched
questioned. “What do we do? Explore?”
by a sudden strong gravitational field.
Jefferson shook his head.
Instantly the three were hurled off their feet,
“Too dangerous. We’d never stand it.
crashed helplessly into the wall, and lapsed
We can take it for granted that Lu Sang’s
into insensibility.
brain somehow took root in the chemicals of
Jefferson returned to his senses aware
Venus, which has given it overpowering and
that the space ship was in the midst of the
increasing mental force. No, the best course is
blackest shadow, relieved only inside the to anchor a section of this satellite’s surface cabin by the faint light of the stars. Puzzled,
and take it back to Earth as a protection
aching, he revived his two comrades and they
against mental attack. Thus shielded we can
moved in bewilderment to the window. work out a plan to defeat this trouble—if it’s Instantly their eyes became fixed to a small
>
humanly possible.”
and desolate landscape, shining grey and
metallic in the starlight. As the moments JEFFERSON paused and looked around as the passed they did not, as they expected, move
radio contact to earth suddenly buzzed
across the terrain; it kept steady pace with
urgently. In an instant he had the receivers to
them.
his ears. The voice of Commandant Bradley
Jefferson screwed his head around the
came to him over the infinite distance.
angle of the deeply sunk window and peered
“That you, Jefferson? What have you
above. Then and then only did he behold the
found?” Then before Jefferson could reply the
Thrilling Wonder Stories
10
urgent voice continued, “Something terrible is
The rocket-tubes roared and under
happening! We’ve received news from the their influence the ship began to pull away Saturnians that space itself is changing. from the tiny satellite’s weak gravitation, drew Distant nebulae and galaxies are disappearing,
slowly out into the void away from Venus, the
being swallowed up in void. The trouble is
section of severed moon trailing at an
also affecting our own solar system. Pluto has
unvarying distance in the rear, weightless,
gone; Neptune reveals signs of also vanishing.
chained only by the space ship’s own small
We’ve had to use a couple of power ray gravity and powerful magnetizers.
machines to keep Earth steady because of the
Little by little the immense bulk of
shifting of the balance. We’ve got one trained
Venus began to appear as the distance
on the sun and the other on Alpha Centauri.
increased and the satellite’s width
That’ll keep us safe for the time being. But
correspondingly lessened. And as it did so the
that isn’t all. Some sort of protoplasm has
mental compulsions returned.