Astounding Stories, August 1937 by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub

IN ANOTHER MINUTE the interior of the great plani-sphere swarmed with the henchmen of Ku-mer—the scum of the planets—men of the several worlds, outlaws from the decrees of the council, desperadoes carefully gathered from the spaceways, ready to slit a throat or scuttle a luckless freighter with the utmost nonchalance. They were perfect tools for the sinister, deep-laid purposes of the Martian.

In utter silence, Webb permitted his arms to be pinioned. Stet shook off the first of his attackers like an elephant surrounded by snapping dogs, but a word from Webb brought him to scowling, unwilling submission. The girl was not bound.

She stood a little apart, slightly breathless, her color heightened. If there was fear in her, it did not show; if there was triumph, it, too, was veiled by long, curving lashes.

The sphere swerved, sped not more than fifty miles above the black planet, parallel to its heaving depths. Clinging to the sphere, guiding it on its flight, were the black ships of Gar-Mando.

Webb’s thoughts were divided: horror at the abysmal creatures whose nightmare forms swirled in the slimy seas beneath; bitterness at the way in which he had walked into the neat trap set by Ku-mer—and wonder about Susan Blake. In the beginning he had deemed her the emissary of the invisible invaders—for he had placed no credence in the fantastic idea of entities from beyond the system. It had been a toss-up whether she had come from Ansel Pardee of the Moon, or had allied herself with Qys, lord of the Jupiter Planets, in a sudden bid for power. Then Ku-mer had injected himself into the picture.

With the knowledge of the girl’s true identity, the whereabouts of her vanished father, Jim Blake, grew to certain proportions. Nor had the Martian himself been free from suspicion of collusion. But now——

“You had been preparing this coup a long time, Ku-mer,” Webb said aloud.

The Martian bowed blandly. “Ever since,” he admitted, “my researches into the essential nature of thought brought certain fascinating possibilities to light.”

Webb looked puzzled. “Thought?” he echoed. “What has that to do with your present thrust for power, your kidnaping of all those who might have been able to oppose your will?”

Ku-mer smiled thinly. “Soon you shall see,” he promised.

But there was that in the words which stirred uneasy sensations up and down Webb’s spine.

They were flying steadily, scudding the surface. So low did they skim that hideous monsters reared themselves from the tarry seas, snapped with mile-wide jaws at the hurtling sphere—jaws that could almost gulp its bulk entire between serried, crunching fangs.

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