He knew then that the Alius were not material, whatever else they might be. But what were they? Bodies of black gas? Of force? Did they even exist outside his own chaotic mind? Was he dreaming all this?
“Stand still, Earthman!”
The command rang inside Curt’s brain like a clear, spoken voice. Yet he knew that it had not been spoken. It had been thought by the Alius, and the thought had reached his brain.
At the same moment, he felt his mind grasped by a powerful force. He had the same chilling, uncanny sensation as when the power of the Alius had reached from Querdel’s black sphere to crush the Cometae rebels.
Curt Newton stood rooted to the floor, unable now to move a muscle. Mentally, he was like a child in the grasp of these alien, shadowy creatures.
The foremost Alius — the one he still thought of as Ruun — was but inches from his face. That dreadful black silhouette was clear in every ghastly outline against the background of the lighted laboratory.
Captain Future’s dilated eyes now perceived that from the shadowy black figure of Ruun, a strange, thin filament led to the end of the cruciform chamber, to disappear through the solid wall. That filament moved when Ruun moved, remaining always attached to his immaterial black figure. Each of the other Alius had similar filaments, leading in the same direction out of the room like weird puppet cords.
“Earthmen, you have penetrated our deception,” The icy mental voice of Ruun was sounding in Curt’s brain. “It is unfortunate that you did so. We Alius hoped to attain our ends with you painlessly, through deceiving you into willing cooperation. Now we must use other methods.”
Curt found his voice. He could not move, but he could still speak. And strength and resolution were coming back into his numbed mind.
IT WAS the threat implicit in the monster’s words that had galvanized him out of that deadly numbness. Curt Newton was a fighter. A challenge, a threat, was the most powerful of all stimulants to his indomitable nature.
“Then everything you Alius said was a lie,” he said huskily. “You did come from outside our universe! No part of our cosmos ever spawned creatures such as you.”
“It is true, we came from Outside,” replied Ruun’s icy thought. “Your cosmos of curved, three-dimensional space is merely a bubble floating in the abyss of extra-dimensional infinity. In your cosmos, you are like insects crawling around the inside of a spherical shell. You have never burst out of the shell, have never penetrated the outer abyss in which we Alius live.
“For our home is in that abyss Outside. There, where the laws of force and matter differ far from the laws of our universe, we grew to power and wisdom. We planned finally to enter the bubble of your cosmos. But, with all our power, we could not open a door through its shell from our side alone. The door must be opened from both sides.
“So, Earthman, we sent our thought through the wall to the man of the Cometae you call Querdel. We could contact him. For thought, mental force, could pass from one universe to another, where matter could not. We promised him, and promised him truly, that he might attain immortality, if he would but follow our instructions and help us open the door between universes:
“We chose him as our agent, chose a man of this comet world, because the vast electric power of the comet would be needed to open that door. And he opened the door, and we came through.”
The commanding mental voice of the alien creature came more strongly into Curt Newton’s brain, as he stood paralyzed and listening.
“Earthman, why do I tell you these things? It is because you must realize that we are beings from a universe vaster than your own. Our powers make resistance on your part a futile folly.”
Captain Future’s hoarse voice was steady as he countered with a question.
“Why did you come into our cosmos. What do you plan?”
There was a tinge of amusement in Ruun’s mental answer.
“Earthman, your thoughts are childishly clear. You fear we mean harm to your universe, to this little System’s worlds. That perhaps we plan to attack them.
“You may dismiss such apprehensions from your mind, Earthman. We have not the remotest intention of attacking your petty worlds and peoples. Of what concern can they be to us, the lords of the Outside?”
“I don’t believe that,” Captain Future spat. “If that is true, why should you have dragged ships of my worlds into to this comet, through your Cometae tools?”
The creature answered with bored disdain.
“The Cometae are our servants, it is true. We have used them, and have made sure that they did not escape, transforming them into electric creatures who cannot now survive beyond this comet.
“But we need other servants than these people for what we plan. We need men from outside the cornet, men of your System’s worlds, whose minds hold scientific knowledge about your cosmos that will be necessary to us in our work here. Men such as you, Earthman.”
“You’ll get no knowledge or help from me,” Curt Newton answered unshakenly. “In spite of your denial, I’m convinced that you’re planning an invasion of my System or an abduction of its peoples to your worlds.”
THE thought-reply of Ruun had a quality of exasperation in its icy impact.
“We would not want to live upon your System’s petty planets, even if we could. And we could not abduct your peoples into our universe, for matter of one universe cannot exist in the alien dimensional conditions of another. All that we want out of your cosmos is power.”
“Power? Energy?”
It was as though a searing flash of lightning illuminated Captain Future’s mind. He saw it now, the reason for this long labor of the Alius to penetrate his own cosmos.
Ruun had read his thoughts, it seemed.
“Yes, Earthman — it is energy that we are after here. Energy that we Alius need in our home Outside, which we have come into your cosmos to obtain.”
“You mean — you’ll drain the energy of this whole comet through your door into the Outside?” Curt whispered unbelievingly.
The energy of this comet comprises not a fraction of what we need!” throbbed the icy answer. “We require power on a vast scale. Your universe generates power on a scale commensurate with our needs.
“We shall have our Cometae servants build here for us a great transformer, which will first draw into itself all the energy generated by your sun. That energy will flow through the door we have opened, into our world Outside.”
“Of course,” the alien being added as an afterthought, “our power needs are so great that in time they will exhaust your sun. But there are many other suns in this universe. It is not like our own dark, power-starved universe.”
Captain Future had listened in growing horror. At last he understood the devil-spawned purpose behind these nightmare creatures from outside the cosmos.
An inter-cosmic theft of energy on a stupendous scale was what the Alius planned! At the thought of what that would mean to his own System, of its worlds starved of all power, of all the radiant energy of the sun itself being sucked into the outer abyss, apprehension froze Curt Newton rigid.
The shadowy creature before him now delivered its ultimatum.
“You can help us willingly with all your knowledge of this universe, and be rewarded by electric immortality. Or you can refuse. In that case, we will strip your mind of all knowledge and then destroy you immediately.”
Curt’s brain seethed with impotent rage. Yet he knew that anger against the Alius was foolish. They, the utterly alien offspring of a strange cosmos, saw no wickedness in the monstrous theft of energy they proposed. The morality of his cosmos was completely outside their minds.
With such alien beings, parley would be futile. The only answer to their plan was to destroy them. Yet how could that be done? Never had Curt Newton felt so helpless. His body was petrified by the mental grasp of the Alius upon his brain. Even had he been free, how could he harm creatures who seemed wholly immaterial Shadows?
“You cannot harm us in an
y way.” Ruun read and answered his thought. “No weapon of this universe could make the slightest impression upon us. I advise you to see the folly of resisting our will.”
Captain Future made a desperate, rapid decision. To get himself destroyed would remove all chance of his acting against the Alius. He must play for time — must pretend to cooperate with them, but must actually withhold any information that might be of help.
HE HAD no sooner hit upon this plan than Ruun’s thought impinged upon his mind. And the mental voice of the creature held an ironic contempt.
“Do you really think that we are as easy to deceive as that, Earthman? I thought I had made you understand our mastery over you.”
Curt realized that Ruun had read the desperate plan he had formed, even as he had formed it! “Their knowledge of his mental processes was almost absolute.
“It is regrettable that you did not choose to cooperate willingly with us,” the alien being’s mental words continued. “It will require needless time to strip your mind of all your scientific knowledge. But I perceive now that this is what we must do, and then destroy you.”
“No!” Curt Newton thought fiercely with all his mental power. “You’ll get nothing from me — I’ll give you no knowledge —”
He concentrated upon mental resistance, seeking to keep his mind resolutely blank.
But he felt his resistance weakening as the vast, alien intelligences of the shadowy creatures assailed him. These masters of mental pressure crushed down his defenses. He could feel their thoughts probing the innermost recesses of his memory.
Then came a dark senselessness.
Curt drifted out of unconsciousness, to find himself still standing in the cruciform laboratory. The group of shadowy Alius were a short distance from him now, and appeared to be in deep mental conference.
Captain Future realized what had happened. They had stripped his mind of all his scientific knowledge! They now knew everything about the laws of his cosmos which he himself knew. He did not doubt that they were discussing this newly gained knowledge in relation to their gigantic plan.
Curt realized that for the moment they had relaxed their mental grip upon him. But he well knew that as soon as they had made certain of extracting his last scrap of knowledge, they would destroy him.
His mind searched feverishly for a way out of this dreadful trap. His body was temporarily free, but he realized the futility of physical action. Neither a physical attack upon the Alius nor an attempt at flight had the slightest hope of success. Yet he must somehow keep them from destroying him, must gain time in which to work against them.
A desperate idea came to him. It was a stratagem that had perhaps only a slim chance of success, but it might work if he could keep his mind steady.
The group of nightmare shadows was turning again toward him, each Alius dragging with him that curious filament so like an immaterial tether. Again, Captain Future felt himself seized by Ruun’s mental grasp.
“We have gained much helpful knowledge from your mind, Earthman,” pulsed Ruun’s thought. “It is unfortunate that we cannot utilize you as a servant, since a scientist of your caliber would be valuable. But your very clear hostility to our purposes makes it necessary to dispose of you.”
Captain Future, in this moment, was thinking furiously, concentrating on the idea which had suggested itself to him.
“They looted all my other scientific knowledge, but they didn’t learn about the thermodynamic constant of energy-flow in this cosmos!” Curt thought. “They don’t know that constant will prevent them from ever conducting energy in great volume to their outer universe. I mustn’t let them learn about that. I must keep that factor hidden in the depths of my mind above all else!”
RUUN’S cold thoughts pulsed in sudden sharp alarm.
“Earthman, have you managed to conceal some of your knowledge from us? What is this thermodynamic constant?”
The Alius had taken the bait! There was no such thing as a thermodynamic constant that would prevent energy-flow. It was merely scientific gibberish that Captain Future had improvised for his purpose.
His sole aim was to gain time. The Alius would not destroy him as long as they believed he had valuable knowledge which they had not secured. Especially, they would not destroy him if they thought he possessed secret information about a factor that would thwart their great plan.
“Tell us!” commanded the Alius leader sharply.
“What is this factor you managed to conceal?”
Curt answered with seeming bewilderment.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You are hiding something from us,” Ruun insisted. “You possess more mental resistance than we had suspected, since you were able to conceal from us the existence of this important scientific factor.”
So far, the Alius had been completely deceived by Curt’s subterfuge. They now thoroughly believed that he guarded a secret of the scientific laws of this cosmos which was vital to them.
The Alius were great scientists — far greater even than Captain Future. Yet he had finally managed to deceive them on this one point! For their science was of an alien universe, and the physical laws of Curt Newton’s world were wholly strange to them. From their point of view, it was quite plausible that there might be some limiting thermodynamic factor, which would upset their scheme of stealing the System’s energy.
“If you will not tell us willingly, we shall soon take your secret from your mind forcibly,” declared Ruun.
“I know nothing of such a factor, I tell you,” insisted Curt.
His protestations were of no avail. Again the combined mental power of the shadowy entities beat down his mental defenses.
Again, he went into darkness as they probed his mind.
When Curt reemerged from that darkness, he sensed a quality of bafflement in the attitude of the shadowy figures.
Ruun’s thought came ominously.
“Earthman, you are stronger than we supposed. Even while your mind lay completely helpless before ours, you managed to persist in your denial of all knowledge of the thermodynamic factor.”
The creatures had read Curt’s mind. They had read there that he knew nothing of the supposed scientific secret, that it was all a fake. They had read the truth — but they had not believed it!
Captain Future had introduced a psychological element of doubt into the calculations of the Alius. They could not be certain now that the thermodynamic factor did not exist, in spite of the sincere mental denials of Curt’s brain.
They could not be certain, either, that those denials were not mere pretense on his part.
Curt intercepted an Alius thought.
“Let us destroy this Earthman, Ruun. His so-called thermodynamic factor is purely an invention.”
“You may be right, Siql,” was Ruun’s cold reply. “But we must be certain! If there is such a vital factor regulating energy-flow in this cosmos, we must learn of it or our whole purpose will be thwarted.”
“Physical torture of the Earthman might produce the truth,” came the chilly suggestion of another Alius.
“No. My reading of this man’s mind convinces me that he would remain obdurate to the last degree under such pressure,” replied Ruun.
CURT could “hear” this mental discussion, for he was still gripped by the vast mental force of the Alius, and hence en rapport with them.
“There is another means of forcing him to unfold the truth,” Ruun went on. “As we have already observed, the intelligence of these human creatures is very largely subservient to their irrational emotions.
“I have already read in this Earthman’s mind that his strongest emotion concerns a girl of his own race, whom we made into a Cometae some time ago. I believe that the threat of physical harm to that girl would constitute the strongest pressure we could bring upon him.”
Captain Future felt a stab of agonized alarm. If he had brought terrible danger on Joan —
He realized instantly that he mu
st suppress such alarm. But it was too late. Ruun, as always, had read his thoughts.
“You observe that the Earthman betrays deep fear lest harm befall the girl,” commented the Alius leader. “This proves that a threat to her safety is the strongest compulsion we can use upon him. Therefore, I will call Querdel and order him to return here at once, with that girl.”
The shadowy, monstrous silhouette of the Alius leader glided toward the black sphere in the alcove, which Curt had already divined was the means of communication between the Alius and Querdel.
Ruun’s special black shape hovered beside the sphere a moment, then came back.
“Querdel had just reached Mloon. He is starting back here at once with the girl,” Ruun announced.
“You can’t do this!” Captain Future cried: “I tell you, it was all a fake on my part! There is no thermodynamic factor!”
“You will return to your cell,” came Ruun’s commanding, icy thought. “We shall summon you for further questioning when the girl arrives.”
Curt made a frantic mental effort to break free, to attempt somehow to attack the shadowy group, it was quite futile. The minds that gripped his own sent him stumbling against his will from the cruciform laboratory, down the long, curving passageway into his prison.
As he entered the little room, the mental compulsion upon him ceased. But now the curtain of haze had sprung across the doorway once more. When he tried to go through it, he found that the mental barrier was impassable.
Curt Newton sat down, overwhelmed by a horror greater than anything he had yet felt. His stratagem had recoiled upon himself. It had gained him time, but it had put the girl he loved in deadliest danger. The Alius would torture her until he told them about the thermodynamic factor.
And he couldn’t tell them, for there was no such thing!
Chapter 13: Secret of the Invaders
OTHO crouched frozenly upon the roof of the vast black Alius citadel, gazing down with incredulous eyes at the fantastic scene within the great central court.
Captain Future 11 - The Comet Kings (Summer 1942) Page 10