Captain Future 01 - The Space Emperor (Winter 1940) by Edmond Hamilton Page B
Authors: Edmond Hamilton
Tags: Sci Fi & Fantasy
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government.
Somewhere there, he was certain, was a key to the mystery that had shrouded this planet in a spell of dark horror.
Chapter 6: Monsters That Were Men
THE governor’s mansion stood in parklike grounds of big tree-ferns and banked shrubbery. It was a large rectangular structure, built of gleaming metalloy like all the rest of the Earthman city. Tonight, its many wide windows were glowing with light.
Curt approached it silently through the dark grove. Brilliant rays of the three big moons struck down between the fronds of the towering tree-ferns and glistened on his determined face. Perfume of beautiful but forbidding “shock flowers” was heavy in his nostrils. High above glided moon-bats, those weird, iridescent winged creatures of Jupiter that appear only when one or more moons are in the sky.
He reached a terrace on the west side of the big metal mansion. Soundlessly, Captain Future advanced to an open window that spilled forth the bright white glow of powerful uranite bulbs. He peered keenly into the office inside, and at once recognized the governor of the Earth colony, from the President’s description.
Sylvanus Quale, the colonial governor, sat behind a metal desk. Quale was a man of fifty, with a stocky, powerful figure, iron-gray hair, and a square face that had a stony impassivity. He looked as inscrutable as a statue, his colorless eyes expressionless.
Captain Future saw that Quale was talking to a girl in white nurse’s uniform.
“Why didn’t Doctor Britt bring the report from Emergency Hospital himself, Miss Randall?” Quale was asking.
“He’s worn out and on the verge of collapse,” she replied. Her eyes were shadowed as she added, “This terrible thing is getting too much for us.”
Curt saw that the girl was strikingly pretty, even in the severe white uniform. Her dark, wavy, uncovered hair framed a small face whose brown eyes and firm lips gave an impression of cool steadiness and efficiency. Yet deep horror lurked in her eyes.
“Mr. Quale, what are we going to do?” Curt heard her appeal to the governor. “There are over three hundred cases of the blight in Emergency Hospital now. And some of them are getting — ghastly.”
“You mean they’re still changing, Joan?” Quale asked, forgetting official formality in his deep thoughtfulness.
The girl nodded, her face pale.
“Yes. I can’t describe what hideous monsters some of them have become. And only days ago they were men! You must do something to stop it!”
Curt stepped into the office through the open window, silently as a shadow.
“I hope there is something that I can do to stop it,” he said quietly.
Joan Randall turned with a little startled cry, and Sylvanus Quale half rose to his feet as he saw the big, red-haired, gray-eyed young man who stood inside the room, gravely facing them.
“Who — what —” the governor stammered, reaching toward a button on his desk.
“You needn’t call guards,” Curt told him impatiently. “This ring will identify me.”
Curt Newton held out his left hand. On that hand he wore a ring with a curious, large bezel. At its center was a little glowing sphere of radioactive metal, representing the sun. This was surrounded by nine concentric circular grooves, in each of which was a small jewel.
The jewels represented the nine planets. There was a tiny brown one for Mercury, a larger pearly gem for Venus, and so on. And the jewels moved slowly, circling the little glowing sun. Motivated by a tiny atomic power plant, they moved exactly in accordance with the planets they represented. This unique ring was known from Mercury to Pluto as the identifying emblem of Captain Future.
“Why, you’re Captain Future!” Sylvanus Quale exclaimed startledly.
“Captain Future?” echoed Joan Randall, staring with sudden eagerness at this big, red-haired adventurer.
“President Carthew notified you that I was coming here?” Curt asked the governor.
QUALE nodded
Somewhere there, he was certain, was a key to the mystery that had shrouded this planet in a spell of dark horror.
Chapter 6: Monsters That Were Men
THE governor’s mansion stood in parklike grounds of big tree-ferns and banked shrubbery. It was a large rectangular structure, built of gleaming metalloy like all the rest of the Earthman city. Tonight, its many wide windows were glowing with light.
Curt approached it silently through the dark grove. Brilliant rays of the three big moons struck down between the fronds of the towering tree-ferns and glistened on his determined face. Perfume of beautiful but forbidding “shock flowers” was heavy in his nostrils. High above glided moon-bats, those weird, iridescent winged creatures of Jupiter that appear only when one or more moons are in the sky.
He reached a terrace on the west side of the big metal mansion. Soundlessly, Captain Future advanced to an open window that spilled forth the bright white glow of powerful uranite bulbs. He peered keenly into the office inside, and at once recognized the governor of the Earth colony, from the President’s description.
Sylvanus Quale, the colonial governor, sat behind a metal desk. Quale was a man of fifty, with a stocky, powerful figure, iron-gray hair, and a square face that had a stony impassivity. He looked as inscrutable as a statue, his colorless eyes expressionless.
Captain Future saw that Quale was talking to a girl in white nurse’s uniform.
“Why didn’t Doctor Britt bring the report from Emergency Hospital himself, Miss Randall?” Quale was asking.
“He’s worn out and on the verge of collapse,” she replied. Her eyes were shadowed as she added, “This terrible thing is getting too much for us.”
Curt saw that the girl was strikingly pretty, even in the severe white uniform. Her dark, wavy, uncovered hair framed a small face whose brown eyes and firm lips gave an impression of cool steadiness and efficiency. Yet deep horror lurked in her eyes.
“Mr. Quale, what are we going to do?” Curt heard her appeal to the governor. “There are over three hundred cases of the blight in Emergency Hospital now. And some of them are getting — ghastly.”
“You mean they’re still changing, Joan?” Quale asked, forgetting official formality in his deep thoughtfulness.
The girl nodded, her face pale.
“Yes. I can’t describe what hideous monsters some of them have become. And only days ago they were men! You must do something to stop it!”
Curt stepped into the office through the open window, silently as a shadow.
“I hope there is something that I can do to stop it,” he said quietly.
Joan Randall turned with a little startled cry, and Sylvanus Quale half rose to his feet as he saw the big, red-haired, gray-eyed young man who stood inside the room, gravely facing them.
“Who — what —” the governor stammered, reaching toward a button on his desk.
“You needn’t call guards,” Curt told him impatiently. “This ring will identify me.”
Curt Newton held out his left hand. On that hand he wore a ring with a curious, large bezel. At its center was a little glowing sphere of radioactive metal, representing the sun. This was surrounded by nine concentric circular grooves, in each of which was a small jewel.
The jewels represented the nine planets. There was a tiny brown one for Mercury, a larger pearly gem for Venus, and so on. And the jewels moved slowly, circling the little glowing sun. Motivated by a tiny atomic power plant, they moved exactly in accordance with the planets they represented. This unique ring was known from Mercury to Pluto as the identifying emblem of Captain Future.
“Why, you’re Captain Future!” Sylvanus Quale exclaimed startledly.
“Captain Future?” echoed Joan Randall, staring with sudden eagerness at this big, red-haired adventurer.
“President Carthew notified you that I was coming here?” Curt asked the governor.
QUALE nodded
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