Captain Future 08 - The Lost World of Time (Fall 1941) (11 page)

"Koom is rising," he announced. "Honor to the Sacred Star!"

Every feaster made the reverent gesture.

"To the Sacred Star!"

They resumed their seats after the brief ceremony. The chamberlain led Captain Future before the dais.

"This is the conjurer they talked of, Highness," said the official obsequiously. "He is ready to show his tricks."

Luun waved negligently to Curt.

"Proceed with your wonders, man."

Curt whispered to the little meteor-mimic in his arms, sending Oog through one metamorphosis after another. Laughter and applause came from those who feasted and drank at the tables. Then Curt took from his jacket his disk-shaped apparatus and faded from view as the invisibility force drenched him. When he reappeared, oaths of wonder went up from the crowd.

"Your tricks are original, conjurer," conceded Luun graciously. "Can you do anything else magical?"

"Ask him if he can read the future," growled a thin-faced old noble near the king. "Then we'd know what that devil, Zikal of Katain, means to do."

A towering younger noble guffawed.

"Sure, he should be able to read the future. Why, that new prisoner down in the palace dungeon claims that he
came
from the future."

Captain Future felt a sharp thrill of hope. Here, for the first time, was news of Otho. It must be Otho who was in the dungeon of this palace.

"Can you read the future, conjurer?" King Luun asked scoffingly.

Curt bowed. "Yes, Highness, I can. I cannot read the near future, but I can read the far future. I can see this world as it will be a hundred million years from now."

A shout of laughter went up, in which the monarch joined.

"So you can see a hundred million years ahead," he gibed. "Why, this is a great conjurer, indeed! Speak, man. Tell us what you see in that far time."

With skeptical grins, the whole throng of feasters bent to listen. And Captain Future, looking with somber gravity past them, began to speak. A gradual hush fell upon the hall.

"I see this planet after a hundred million years have rolled across its face," he said. "I see a dying, desert world. The great oceans have all disappeared. On all the deathly crimson deserts there is no water, except the scanty trickle brought down by canals from the polar snows, which barely supports the life of the few people surviving on this world.

"Othar and all the other mighty cities of this time are but wrecks of stone, half-covered by the drifting desert sands. The sand-cat and the moon-owl are their only tenants. And when the bitter chill of night descends, through the crumbling ruins wail the winds that are like the whispering ghosts of you who now hear my words."

SUCH an accent of utter truth rang in Captain Future's solemn words that, despite themselves, the feasters were held in a trance of silence and awe.

"I do not like such gloomy visions!" the king suddenly snarled. "Be gone, conjurer."

Curt bowed, picked up Oog and backed respectfully from the banquet hall. He heard nervous gaiety break out again among the feasters.

"You're lucky the king didn't have you flogged for conjuring up such a nightmare!" snapped the chamberlain. "Best not linger here, man."

Captain Future went through the corridors toward the front of the palace. No one appeared to be following him. When he saw a flight of stairs leading downward, he quickly darted into them. He found himself in a maze of dusky, ill-lit stone passages underneath the palace. The dungeon in which Otho and Ahla were confined must be down here somewhere. But where?

Curt had an inspiration. He put Oog down on the floor.

"Find Otho," he whispered.

Instantly Oog started down a passageway, hurrying on his fat little legs. The creature sensed Otho's presence, Curt knew. He followed it. A sharp voice suddenly spoke behind him.

"What are you doing here?"

Curt whirled. The captain of guards who had brought him to the palace was frowning suspiciously. He held a Martian gas gun trained on Captain Future.

"My pet got away from me," Curt explained. "He's somewhere down here. I must find him. My tricks with him are half my livelihood."

"I'll help you find him. Outsiders aren't permitted in this part of the palace."

They hastened after Oog, who was running down stone steps to a still lower lever. Emerging into a shadowy corridor below, Curt perceived that Oog was sniffing and scratching at a heavy locked door, in front of which two Martian guards were stationed. Captain Future realized instantly that Otho and Ahla must be behind that door. He quickly decided upon a desperate plan.

"Ah, there he is!" he exclaimed with pretended relief.

Hurrying to the door, he bent as though to pick up Oog. But his hand grasped the proton pistol inside his jacket and pressed the intensity ratchet back. He had to overcome these Martians, but he couldn't kill them in cold blood. He straightened, the proton pistol in his hand, triggering with blurring speed. The pale ray of the weapon flew like a lightning bolt, hitting the three Martians in quick succession with a beam reduced to stunning force. The three men sank unconscious.

Curt tried the door. It was locked. A search of the stunned guards showed that none of them had the key.

"Otho!" he called softly.

There was no sound from inside. The door was too heavy and close-fitting to allow sound to penetrate. Curt hastily jammed his proton pistol back into his jacket and took from his belt a tiny tubelike instrument. At that moment came a sharp cry of alarm from back in the corridor.

"He seeks to free the hostages. Kill him!"

Curt spun around. Two Martian officers had entered the corridor, apparently on inspection. They had already leveled their gas guns. From the weapons, little clouds of deadly green gas
whuffed
toward Curt.

AS HE whirled around and saw the two Martian officers triggering their gas guns at him, Captain Future swiftly changed his turning movement into a spinning leap that sent him to the floor at one side of the corridor. As he hit the stone floor, he had his proton pistol out and was firing it. The stunning beam dropped the two Martians in their tracks. The gas clouds they had fired grazed over Curt's head.

"Devil take such close shaves as that!" Curt panted as he scrambled back to his feet. "If any more of them show up —"

He was already at the door of the dungeon, at which little Oog was whining and scratching. Curt applied the tiny tubelike instrument he had taken from his belt. It jetted an invisible but powerful magnetic beam that probed into the lock. He finally got a grip on the tumblers and turned them.

The door flew open and Otho the android bounded out of it, his green eyes blazing with excitement as he recognized Captain Future.

"Chief, am I glad to see you! I've been working on that lock myself for hours, but —"

"We're getting out of here!" Curt interrupted. He took from his jacket the little square pocket-televisor, pressed its call button urgently, then spoke swiftly into it. "Grag? Bring the
Comet
back over the city top speed to pick us up. I'll signal with my pistol where to land. Hurry!"

Ahla, the pretty Earth girl, had appeared in the doorway beside Otho. Behind them were three pale, excited young men whom Curt had never seen before. They were white, but unlike the Martians they were dressed in gleaming garments of woven gold cloth.

"Chief, these are Katainians," Otho babbled. "This one is Jhulun. He's the son of the scientist who sent out the time message!"

"Darmur's son?"

Captain Future looked sharply at the Katainian. He was a handsome, blue-eyed youth, tall and striking in his belted, knee-length tunic of woven gold.

"Jhulun and his pals were captured by the Martians weeks ago and have been held as hostages," Otho was rattling on excitedly. "Chief, he's told me the whole story about the situation at Katain. It's unbelievable —"

"No time now, Otho," Curt cut him off. "Grag and Simon will be blasting for here in the
Comet.
We've got to get out into the palace gardens before things blow up in our faces."

He led the way down the dusky corridor at a run. The five followed him hastily through the dungeon passage of ancient Mars. Otho was snuggling the overjoyed Oog in one arm. Ahla, the Earthgirl, ran lithely, clad in her snakeskin garment. Jhulun and the other two Katainians brought up the rear, visible by their gleaming gold tunics. Captain Future cradled his proton pistol in his fist, but luck seemed to be favoring him. They met no other guards or officers as they climbed a stair to a higher level.

A cool, inrushing draft of air led Curt toward a door that was open to the palace gardens. They ran out into the light of the two moons. Behind them bulked the massive pile of Luun's palace, its windows blazing light. In front of them, the moonlit gardens with blossoming trees and shrubs stretched to the streets of the surrounding city. Othar was still gay and festive.

B-r-room!

Across the city came that drumming drone. At the unfamiliar sound, thousands in the city stared up into the sky. Then shouts of fear and wonder arose as the Martians glimpsed the unfamiliar, gleaming shape of the
Comet,
rocketing low across the spires and domes.

"Come on, Grag, step on that cyc-pedal!" groaned Otho.

MARTIAN soldiery were pouring out of the palace in answer to the alarm. Captain Future had pointed his proton pistol into the air and was pressing its trigger. The white beam shot up through the night like a thin beacon. The
Comet
changed course and came toward them.

"Look out!" yelled Otho. "Here comes those devils!"

The Martian guards were running through the gardens toward them, firing their gas guns. Flying clouds of green gas whizzed through the trees and where the gas touched the vegetation there were black ashes. The aim of the soldiers was uncertain in the moonlight. Their charge was halted by panic in a moment, for the
Comet
was diving down on them with its rocket-tubes flaming thunderously.

The ship came to rest nearby, its keel jets plowing up the turf of the garden.

"Get in!" Curt yelled. "Hurry, before they get over their panic!"

They plunged toward the ship. Its airlock door flew open as they approached. The Brain had seen them coming. Curt thrust his companions in and tumbled after them.

"Up, Grag!" he shouted as he slammed shut the heavy door.

The thunder of the rockets was deafening as the
Comet
literally stood on its tail and raced skyward. Curt, Otho, Ahla and the three Katainians were jammed in around the crowding time-thruster in the cabin with hardly room to move: By the time they had scrambled to their feet, the lights of Othar were already a great distance below and the ship was screaming out through the Martian atmosphere toward the stars.

"They'll never catch up with us now!" Otho crowed. "Those Martian ships can no more overtake the
Comet
than I could run down a meteor."

"Head for Katain at full rocket, Grag!" Curt called to the big robot at the space-stick.

"Check, Chief," replied Grag. "Say, couldn't you have left Otho behind in the rush? Yeah, I suppose that would be too much to hope for."

"You perambulating junk-heap, you nearly left us all behind, you were so slow coming to pick us up!" Otho exploded. "What were you doing — taking a little nap on the way?"

JHULUN, the young son of Darmur, and his two Katainian companions were looking wonderingly around the interior of the
Comet.
Their gaze had a quality of almost frightened awe as they stared at big Grag and then at the Brain, who was poised in mid-air, impassively eyeing them.

Curt asked the young Katainian the question that was in his mind.

"Jhulun, exactly what kind of scientific assistance does your father need that made him send the time message into the future?"

"I don't know. I didn't know about the time message myself until your comrade, Otho, told me in prison. You see, I have been a prisoner on Mars for weeks. My father must have sent out the time message since I left Katain. And you four are really from the far future? It seems unthinkable, yet only men of the future could build a ship like this. Maybe your science will be great enough to save my people."

"How long will it be, according to your father's calculations, before Katain will explode?" the Brain asked.

The faces of the three Katainians darkened, as though the words had brought the shadow of disaster upon them.

"It will be very soon," whispered Jhulun. "Less than two months remain before the fatal, final conjunction with Jupiter that will destroy our world forever."

Jhulun and the other Katainians stared with yearning, hopeless eyes at the distant speck of yellow light toward which the ship was racing. Bright as a drop of gold hung the doomed planet against the stars, companioned by the glittering spark of its moon.

Katain's beauty outshone even the white radiance of Jupiter, which lay to the left in the sky.