The Golden Age of Science Fiction Vol. XIII by Various
Author:Various [various]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Goodreads: 9428948
Publisher: Halcyon Press Ltd
Published: 2010-08-26T04:00:00+00:00
* * *
Contents
WORLD BEYOND PLUTO
A âJohnny Mayhemâ Adventure
By Stephen Marlowe
Johnny Mayhem, one of the most popular series characters ever to appear in AMAZING, has been absent too long. So hereâs good news for Mayhem fans; another great adventure of the Man of Many Bodies.
They loaded the over-age spaceship at night because Tritonâs one spaceport was too busy with the oreships from Neptune during the day to handle it.
âSymphonies!â Pitchblend Hardesty groaned. Pitchblend Hardesty was the stevedore foreman and he had supervised upwards of a thousand loadings on Tritonâs crowded blastways, everything from the standard mining equipment to the innards of a new tavern for Triton Cityâs so-called Street of Sin to special anti-riot weapons for the Interstellar Penitentiary not 54 miles from Triton City, but never a symphony orchestra. And most assuredly never, never an all-girl symphony orchestra.
âSymphonies!â Pitchblend Hardesty groaned again as several stevedores came out on the blastway lugging a harp, a base fiddle and a kettle drum.
âCome off it, Pitchblend,â one of the stevedores said with a grin. âI didnât see you staying away from the music hall.â
That was true enough, Pitchblend Hardesty had to admit. He was a small, wiry man with amazing strength in his slim body and the lore of a solar system which had been bypassed by thirtieth century civilization for the lures of interstellar exploration in his brain. While the symphonyâthe all-girl symphonyâhad been playing its engagement at Tritonâs make-shift music hall, Hardesty had visited the place three times.
âWell, it wasnât the music, sure as heck,â he told his critic now. âWho ever saw a hundred girls in one place at one time on Triton?â
The stevedore rolled his eyes and offered Pitchblend a suggestive whistle. Hardesty booted him in the rump, and the stevedore had all he could do to stop from falling into the kettle drum.
* * * * *
Just then a loud bell set up a lonely tolling and Pitchblend Hardesty exclaimed: âPrison break!â
The bell could be heard all over the two-hundred square miles of inhabitable Triton, under the glassite dome which enclosed the small city, the spaceport, the immigration station for nearby Neptune and the Interstellar Penitentiary. The bell hadnât tolled for ten years; the last time it had tolled, Pitchblend Hardesty had been a newcomer on Neptuneâs big moon. That wasnât surprising, for Interstellar Penitentiary was as close to escape-proof as a prison could be.
âAll right, all right,â Pitchblend snapped. âHurry up and get her loaded.â
âWhatâs the rush?â one of the stevedores asked. âThe gals ainât even arrived from the hotel yet.â
âIâll tell you what the rush is,â Pitchblend declared as the bell tolled again. âIf you were an escaped prisoner on Triton, just where would you head?â
âWhy, I donât know for sure, Pitchblend.â
âThen Iâll tell you where. Youâd head for the spaceport, fast as your legs could carry you. Youâd head for an out-going spaceship, because it would be your only hope. And how many out-going spaceships are there tonight?â
âWhy, just two or three.â
âBecause all our business is in the daytime.
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