Captain Future 09 - Quest Beyond the Stars (Winter 1942)

by Edmond Hamilton

  “Hol Jor! Ki Illok!” he commanded. “Bring in your wings against the Korian flanks with all your power!”

  The Korians, triumphantly pushing back the central column, were slow to perceive what followed. The two Thruunian wings, under command of Hol Jor and the Sagittarian suddenly dashed forward. They smashed aside the light enemy forces detailed to hold them and swung as on pivots toward the flanks of the Korian triangle, and around its base.

  Before the Korian command comprehended, the Thruunians completely encircled its massed ships. And Curt and his two lieutenants had flung out flies of cruisers above and below to prevent any escape.

  “We’ve got them ‘boxed’!” Otho yelled exultantly.

  Curt’s brilliant maneuver had succeeded in effecting a “box,” most difficult yet most dreaded of all space battle tactics.

  “Pour it on them, men!” Hol Jor’s voice could be heard roaring. “Let go with every fire-rod you’ve got!”

  The Korian ships were the target of fire poured in from every direction. Milling confusedly, their organization shattered by Curt’s audacious stratagem, they made wild attempts to break free. But the net moved with them, continuing to hold them in its meshes of fiery death. Balled in a hopeless jumble, the Korians could not use a fourth of their own weapons. More and more of their cruisers were drifting away, shattered wrecks. Captain Future switched the audio to an all-wave band and called into the instrument.

  “Larstan, will you surrender and stop further bloodshed?”

  Back from the audio came a shaking voice.

  “We surrender, Thruunians.”

  FIRING ceased at Curt’s order. He commanded the Korian cruisers to maintain position while Thruunians boarded and disarmed them.

  “That wasn’t Larstan who surrendered!” Otho was exclaiming.

  “Then he must have been killed, thank space,” Grag declared.

  Captain Future drove the Comet toward the Korian flagship. It was battered but not badly damaged, he noticed. In their space-suits, the Futuremen boarded the enemy craft. Sullen, scared green Korian soldiers stood with hands raised in surrender as they strode toward the bridge of the conical cruiser. Curt saw nothing of Larstan. But he recognized the gray hair and wizened, raging face of the commander of the fleet.

  “Uzhur!” he muttered. “So you were in command. Where is Larstan?”

  Uzhur’s rage seemed to abate a little, and the old green noble laughed.

  “You’ve won this battle with your tricks, stranger, but you’ve lost everything else. Thruun is doomed, and so will your outside worlds in time fall beneath our conquest.”

  Curt felt sharp alarm. He strode forward and took the sly Korian’s neck between his hands.

  “Tell me what Larstan is doing or I’ll choke it out of you!” he snapped.

  Uzhur gasped, choked, nodded in wild assent. The old noble panted vindictively. “Very well, I’ll tell you, and may it make you happy. Larstan did not come with our battle fleet at all. He knew the Thruunian patrol around the Birthplace would be called in to meet our fleet, and that the way there would be open. So Larstan and a small crew sailed for the Birthplace while the rest of our forces attacked here. The old noble’s eyes glared in triumph as he pointed through a window at the great spinning thing of light. “Our king is there in the Birthplace now, seeking the secret of matter mastery on the world of the Watchers. He will emerge with that power in his grasp and will sweep you Thruunians and your forces from existence!”

  Chapter 15: World of the Watchers

  CURT NEWTON’S heart bounded with alarm. He realized that he had made the fatal mistake of underestimating Larstan’s cunning. The Korian king had sent his space fleet out with the double object of crushing the Thruunians and of drawing away their patrol so that he himself could enter the forbidden Birthplace. “When did Larstan start there?” Captain Future demanded fiercely of Uzhur.

  “At the same time our fleet started,” replied the noble. “By now, the king is inside the Birthplace and has reached the world of the Watchers.”

  “I thought you Korians said that the Watchers were only a myth!” Otho accused ragingly.

  Uzhur smiled scornfully. “We said that, but we lied. We think the Watchers did once exist, and our astronomers have detected inside the Birthplace the world upon which they must have dwelt. We believe that the Watchers perished long ago, but the secrets of their power of matter mastery may still remain upon their world.”

  Curt Newton had swift, appalling vision of the dread possibilities of this unforeseen situation. If the crafty, ambitious Larstan already were laying hands upon the greatest secret of the universe — He turned quickly. “We’re going into the Birthplace after Larstan! He mustn’t succeed in what he’s attempting.”

  “You’re too late, strangers!” mocked old Uzhur. “Larstan has been in there for many hours. By now he must already have learned —?”

  Curt paid the old Korian no further heed. He bounded back across the narrow gulf of space to the Comet with the Futuremen.

  Into the audio he gave command to the Thruunians to take Uzhur and the other Korian leaders into custody and proceed with all the captive ships to Thruun. Then he called his star rover allies.

  “Hol Jor! Ki Illok! Ber Del! Come aboard the Comet!”

  “What’s up?” cried Hol Jor when he and the others were aboard. He gasped when he heard. “Larstan in the Birthplace, now?”

  “We’re going after him,” Curt rapped. “This is the showdown.”

  Captain Future was already in the pilot chair. He sent the Comet driving through space straight toward the Birthplace. As they tore through the electronic haze toward it, the mysterious heart of the universe seemed an incredible spiral nebula of blazing light. From its spinning, gigantic arms streamed the torrents of free electrons that choked space with their glittering haze. Invisible currents rocked the ship as it drove on toward the appalling thing. This place was a swirling maelstrom of unimaginable cosmic forces, sucking in radiation from far away and mysteriously transmuting it into the swarming electrons that it pumped outward to form the dust of the universe.

  Curt Newton perceived that the terrific currents of force were affecting the operation of the ship. The cosmic ray compass was a wreck, the meteorometers had gone wild. But the copper coating of the hull was screening out the electronic barrage.

  “Look at it!” breathed old Ber Del. “We’re approaching it at last — the flaming heart of the universe.”

  “The secret that so many star rovers have sought and never found — it’s in there!” muttered Hol Jor, his eyes burning. Like the others, a trembling eagerness that was almost superhuman possessed him.

  CURT NEWTON felt that same terrific tension as they drove toward the goal that had beckoned daring men from all the stars for ages. But it was not only that wild hope, but the fear of what Larstan might be doing in there now, that made him drive the ship recklessly onward.

  “Gods of space, we can’t go through that storm of force!” gasped Otho, staring wildly ahead. “It’ll tear the Comet to bits.”

  “We’re going to try to slip between the whirling arms of the spiral,” gritted Curt, gripping the controls. “If Larstan could make it, we can.”

  Now the Comet was driving fairly between two of the vast curved arms of the glowing spiral. The ship was a tiny midge in comparison with the cosmic object it was seeking to penetrate. And the wild waves of energy on which it tossed threatened to hurl it directly into one of the spinning arms. Captain Future fought to keep the lurching craft on a steady course. The tingling of their bodies was becoming an itching irritation. Desperately, he threw in more power. At almost suicidal speed the ship swept onward.

  The Birthplace of Matter now lay clear before their dazzled eyes. It was a titanic sphere of flaming force from which curved the long, brilliant spirals. Both the central sphere and the spirals were rapidly rotating Its glare was so terrific that he knew rather by sense than by sight that they were rushing closer to i
t.

  “Here’s where we hit that sphere of force!” he called. “Stand by for anything.”

  “We’ll never get through!” came Ber Del’s choking cry. “Gods of Vega, what a place to end up in!”

  Next moment, the Comet was flung about by roaring, awful forces that seemed to choke space with a blaze as of a thousand suns. The Futuremen were hurled violently against their chair-straps. Curt felt his head spin. Blindly, his fingers clung to the controls. Then as if by magic, the tumultuous roaring around them died. The Comet raced easily on an even keel. And Curt perceived that they were now moving through a void. He looked wildly around. They were surrounded by the brilliant shell of energy that constantly spun like a gigantic centrifuge —

  “A centrifuge?” thought Curt. An electric thrill stabbed his mind as the comparison occurred to him. He looked up with dilated eyes at the spinning shell of energy. Could that be the mysterious secret of the Birthplace?

  “Simon!” Curt’s voice rang with quivering excitement. “Simon, it’s beginning to dawn on me — the nature of the Birthplace secret —”

  The others were petrified by the words. The metallic voice of the Brain chattered with unprecedented excitement as he answered.

  “Lad, what do you mean?” he cried. “What have you learned?”

  “It’s only a guess — a wild, crazy guess, but maybe a true one!” Captain Future exclaimed, the words tumbling from his lips, his gray eyes brilliant.

  “Electrons of matter are simply tiny charges or droplets of electricity,” he went on excitedly. “This spinning Birthplace is a natural whirlpool of force that sucks in electrical energy from all over the universe. I believe that its whirling currents act as a giant centrifuge to coagulate the electrical energy into tiny charges or electrons, which are thrown off in streams to combine with the cosmic dust.”

  “Lad, I believe you’ve guessed it!” whispered the Brain awedly. “I begin to see now — yes, you must be right.”

  Hol Jor and the others looked at Curt incredulously, numb with wonder. “I still don’t understand —,” muttered the Antarian bewilderedly.

  “There’s a planet!” cried Grag, pointing ahead. At the heart of the Birthplace hung a small world that looked like a round blue jewel.

  “It must be the world of the Watchers!” Curt exclaimed. His eyes flared. “Larstan must be there now!”

  HE DROVE the Comet headlong toward the blue planet. In his overpowering urge to come to grips with the Korian king before it was too late, Captain Future forced back into his mind the stupendous scientific secret which had just begun to dawn upon him. The blue planet had atmosphere. And, amazingly, it was a geometrically perfect sphere. Its glassy blue surface curved smoothly away beneath their descending ship, unbroken by even the most minute irregularity. This little planet was indeed a jewel world.

  “It’s some illusion!” Hol Jor gasped. “No planet was ever such a smooth, perfect globe as this.”

  “No naturally created planet ever was,” rapped the Brain. “Don’t you see — this world must have been artificially built!”

  “How could a planet be created artificially?” cried Grag.

  Captain Future spoke tensely. “The secret of matter mastery could create even a world, I think. The Watchers must have used it to create this planet for themselves long ago.”

  Old Ber Del’s hands were shaking, his eyes wild. “The core of the universe, this world!” he breathed. “And somewhere on it is —”

  The Comet was scudding over the blank, shining surface of the globe at a height of a few miles.

  “Watch for Larstan’s ship,” ordered Curt Newton tautly. “It’s here somewhere — unless he’s found what he wanted and left.”

  “I see something ahead but isn’t a ship!” announced Ki Illok. “It looks like a city!”

  He pointed. Captain Future felt heightening excitement as he discerned a distant cluster of glittering pinnacles that rose from the surface of this glassy blue world. He drove the Comet screaming down to lower altitude. The Futuremen and star rovers peered fascinated at the strangely beautiful city ahead.

  It seemed a city of translucent glass towers. Shimmering, fairylike spires of incredible slenderness and grace were clustered around a central citadel whose flashing tip was the summit of the city. Airy, high-flung bridges joined the upper levels of the pinnacles, and a high, translucent wall enclosed the whole metropolis. But all this was dead. There was no sign of movement in or about the magic place. Glittering as brilliantly as if created yesterday, this city of the blue jewel world was shrouded by an atmosphere of somber lifelessness.

  “The city of the Watchers!” breathed Otho. “It must be that. But there is no one there.”

  “The Watchers must long ago have passed away, as the Korians guessed,” muttered the Brain. “This artificial world and city of theirs would endure unchanged for indefinite ages.”

  “I see a ship!” cried old Ber Del. “A Korian ship!”

  Captain Future had seen the craft at the same moment. It was parked on the glassy blue plain, just outside the wall of the city.

  “That’s Larstan’s cruiser,” Curt said rapidly. “We’re going to jump them at once. Be ready to move when I land.”

  Curt was counting on a surprise attack. He sent the Comet screaming down on a dizzy slant for a speed landing that almost no other pilot would have dared attempt. The ship of the Futuremen hit the blue, glassy plain on flaming keel-rockets, skidded Wildly over the smooth surface and caromed into the side of the parked coppery cruiser with hard impact.

  “Get them before they recover from that!” Curt Newton yelled, scrambling up and drawing his proton-pistol as he plunged outside.

  The Futuremen followed hastily, all but the Brain slipping and staggering on the polished blue glass surface. The door of the parked Korian cruiser had been left open to the soft warm air. The Futuremen and star rovers charged through it into the enemy ship.

  FOUR green warriors had been left to guard the ship. But the unexpected impact of the Comet against their craft had hurled them about inside the main cabin, and they picked themselves up to face the nerve-shattering sight of the charging Futuremen and their allies.

  “The enemy strangers!” yelped the Korian captain. “Kill them!”

  He and one of the other men raised their fire-rods. But Otho and Hol Jor were already charging, the Antarian roaring his battle yell. They knocked the two resisting men from their feet before they could act.

  “Don’t kill them!” Curt yelled to the battle-mad red star rover and equally fierce android. “They’re surrendering!”

  Appalled by the overwhelming surprise, the Korians were dropping their weapons and raising their hands. In a few moments they were manacled beyond possibility of escape to stanchions of their ship.

  “Where’s Larstan and the rest of the crew?” Curt demanded then.

  A scared green captive stammered answer. “The king and the other twelve of our crew are in that strange city. They have been in there for many hours. We were left to guard the ship.”

  Curt swung to his followers, his eyes brilliant with purpose. “We’re going in — all except Simon, who can’t be of much help in a fight. For it’s going to be a fight in there — a finish fight with Larstan.”

  Hol Jor brandished his atom pistol in the air.

  “Good!” cried the Antarian. “A fight for the greatest prize in the whole universe!”

  They hastened out of the ship and started on a run across the smooth blue plain toward the wall of the city. Futuremen and star-rovers were following Captain Future toward the citadel of cosmic power, eager for the battle that must soon climax an age-old quest. Curt Newton, as he led his variegated followers, became aware that the Brain was gliding beside him.

  “Don’t tell me to stay behind,” warned Simon Wright. “I’d risk life itself to get inside this alien city,”

  They hurried toward the gate of the high, translucent wall. It was a broad portal, whose tall lea
ves were opened inward. Inside, Captain Future and the others stopped involuntarily. Facing them on either side of the entrance towered two incredible statues. They were not statues of men or of any manlike being. They were black, shapeless masses of unidentifiable substance. In the front of each amorphous figure, two great, round yellow eyes without pupils stared solemnly at the adventurers. Curt’s voice was a whisper.

  “If those are statues of the Watchers, then the Watchers were indeed alien to our universe.”

  “They were apparently liquid of body,” muttered the Brain. “No ordinary evolution could produce intelligent creatures like that.”

  They started forward between the two weird statues. An unnerving thing happened. A solemn voice seemed to speak inside their minds.

  “Strangers who come at last to enter our ancient city, be warned!”

  Chapter 16: Star Trails

  CURT started violently, and the others recoiled. But after a moment, the explanation came to Captain Future.

  “It’s some mechanism that automatically projects a recorded telepathic message, when you come within its aura,” he said hoarsely.

  “We, the last of the race whom you call the Watchers, are natives of a different universe. We came here to study this Birthplace of Matter of your universe. But we did not create this Birthplace! No living beings could do that, for this pulsing heart of your universe was created by the Force that created the universe itself. We merely tapped its wondrous powers and thus brought into being this world and city and devised the instruments that embody the secret. We leave one of those instruments for you to possess and utilize, believing that when you attain sufficient knowledge to reach this place, you will be too wise to misuse the power. For not lightly may the cosmic secrets of creation be utilized for selfish ends. Should you attempt that, you may well destroy yourselves and all your race!”