Captain Future 06 - Star Trail to Glory (Spring 1941) (14 page)

Curt went on to the front of the strange ship. Jan Walker followed hesitantly. In the front end was a towering control board, its switches, gages and indicators wholly unfamiliar in design. For the next hour Walker watched helplessly as the wizard of science closely inspected the controls and gages, and then the towering, enigmatic mechanisms in the rear of the ship.

"It's a puzzle," Curt admitted. "Apparently the craft operates by some kind of beam-pressure instead of rocket-tubes, but I can't fathom the mode of operation. I could figure it out in time, but it might take weeks."

"Then what are you going to do?" Walker asked a little hopelessly.

Curt's eyes had strayed to the empty tanks along the wall. He went to one and closely examined the traces of reddish liquid in it.

"A queer kind of synthetic blood, as I thought," he muttered. "There's no doubt that the creatures used it for food, and ran out of it. It's made of combinations unknown in our System, but I'm sure I could duplicate the stuff from ordinary elements here."

"What good would that do?" asked the young Rocketeer.

Captain Future's face was grave.

"I'm going to take a big chance. We've got to get out of here and contact my Futuremen. This star ship could get us out of the Sargasso to wherever we wanted to go. We can't operate it, but these sleeping star men can."

"You mean — " Walker's voice trailed off unbelievingly.

"Yes," Curt Newton said. "I'm going to take the chance of waking these star men. It's possible we can bargain with them to take us out of the Sargasso."

"Bargain with them? What can you offer them?"

"You'll see," Captain Future predicted grimly. "Want to get out of here before I wake them? They may jump us, you know."

"I'm sticking with you," stated the young Rocketeer.

"Good boy," approved the wizard of science. "All right, here goes. Snatch out your gun and stand by for trouble!"

CURT went to the first of the sleeping creatures. He reached up and fumbled with the lamp till he found a switch. The purple light went out and the weird sleeper stirred slightly. He opened white eyes whose pupils were a fiery red and looked up into Curt's face. Instantly he swung out of the bunklike shelf with incredible speed, his tentacle arms reaching. Captain Future shot a quick thought at the star man.

"We are your friends!"

The star man paused, his red eyes searching their faces suspiciously. Then a powerful thought beat on Curt and Walker's minds.

"What manner of creatures are you? Why do you wear those suits?"

"We cannot live without breathing a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen," Curt thought back quickly. "We are natives of this Solar System. You are from another star, are you not?"

THE star man's suspicions seemed to be abating a little.

"Yes, we come from a giant red sun far away across the Galaxy from this little system. For a long time I and my comrades have been searching the Galaxy for a new sun similar to our native one, to which our whole race can migrate."

"Why do you wish to migrate from your native star?" Captain Future asked.

"Because our sun is dying," was the star man's telepathic answer. "Therefore we were sent forth in this ship to explore the Galaxy in search of a sun possessing worlds upon which we could live. They must be worlds with certain elements without which we cannot exist and they must not be too warm. They must also be worlds without air, for we evolved upon an airless world and could not stand the crushing pressure of a planetary atmosphere.

"For long we have been cruising the Galaxy in search of such a system. We carried large supplies of the synthetic blood which my people inject into their bodies for nutritional purposes.

"But while searching this section of the Galaxy, our supply of synthetic blood gave out. We faced slow death by starvation, so we sent a message back to our home system far away by space torpedo. Then we placed ourselves in suspended animation.

"We had asked our people, in the torpedo-message, to send a relief expedition after us. But the space torpedo must have met with accident in the vast interstellar reaches, for I perceive that a long time has passed and the relief expedition has never come."

"I understand," Captain Future thought. "Your ship, with all of you in suspended animation, drifted on toward our Solar System and was sucked into this Sea of Space, where it has remained ever since."

"Will their ship be able to get out of here?" Walker blurted.

The octopus-like star man received the thought, and turned his red-pupiled eyes on the young Rocketeer.

"Yes, this craft can easily break out of this ether-vortex. But we are still without nutritional supplies. We must somehow secure a new supply of the synthetic blood before going on with our search of the Galaxy for a new home. At this moment we are very near starvation."

"That works out well!" Captain Future thought elatedly. "The reason I awoke you was to offer my help in making new supplies of the synthetic blood. In return I ask only that you take us where we wish."

"The bargain is accepted," the star man telepathed instantly. "Not knowing the chemistry of this alien system, it would take us long to devise from its unfamiliar substances the complex compounds that make up our nutritional liquid. You are familiar with the elements and compounds of this System and can aid us greatly."

"You don't suppose these creatures would trick us?" Jan Walker whispered uneasily to Captain Future. "They're looking for new worlds for their people. What if they decide to invade our System's worlds?"

"I comprehend what you are saying," came the calm, powerful thought of the star man. "Your apprehensions are without foundation. I have already read from your minds a description of this System's worlds. They all have atmospheres, and we could not live on such worlds."

"That's true," telepathed Captain Future shrewdly. "That's one reason why I took the risk of awaking you. It was obvious that you were non-breathing creatures who could not long exist on our planets."

"I will now awake my companions," thought the star man. "We shall have to prepare synthetic blood before doing anything else. Our bodies are badly in need of nutrition."

HE MOVED rapidly down the rows of shelves upon which his companions slumbered in suspended animation. He turned off the glowing purple lamp over each sleeper. Soon there were scores of the creatures awake and gathered around the leader whom Curt had first revived. Curt and Jan Walker vaguely sensed an interplay of swarming telepathic messages as the leader of the epic expedition explained the situation to his comrades.

"We are eager to begin preparing our nutritional liquid," he finally explained to Captain Future. "Our bodies are weak from hunger and we cannot maintain physical activity for very long."

"Carbon, chlorine, nitrogen, sulphur and bismuth are the bases of your synthetic blood, are they not?" Curt thought. "Those elements are plentiful in this System."

"Yes, but they are in unfamiliar compounds. Long before we could analyze and break them down, we would have perished. That is why we need your help. If you can quickly furnish us a supply of those elements —"

"Follow me!" Captain Future telepathed rapidly. "You too, Walker. We'll have to get the necessary raw materials from the wrecks outside."

He led the way hastily out of the ship. The star men were obviously in an advanced stage of weakness, yet their resolution was unfaltering. They clambered over the wrecks with Captain Future and the young Rocketeer. Curt picked out masses of minerals from wrecked freighters in the pack. The star men staggered back to their ship with containers of the precious mineral gripped in their unhuman tentacle arms.

"I think we have enough raw materials now," Captain Future stated, lifting a heavy metal case he had filled with minerals. "Hurry, Walker!"

When they entered the star ship, they found some of the octopus creatures had already collapsed. Suspended animation had only postponed death from starvation.

"Got to be quick about this," Curt declared tautly. "Wish I had the
Comet's
laboratory here. I don't know this equipment."

The leader of the star men weakly assisted Curt Newton, bringing the necessary chemical apparatus and explaining its design. Captain Future hastily began breaking down their raw minerals into the chemical elements. He was working against time, for the life of the star men seemed to be fading fast. By the time he had accumulated sufficient stores of the necessary elements, the octopus creatures were too feeble to take up the work of synthesizing them into the nutritional liquid.

"It is — too late — stranger," came the weakening thought of the leader from where he lay. "You have tried — to help us — We are grateful — But here ends our vain — search for a new home for our race."

"No, don't give up!" Curt telepathed urgently. "Think the directions for the synthesis to me. I'll try to carry them out."

JAN WALKER'S bulging eyes witnessed an amazing scene as the dying leader began telepathing his instructions to Captain Future. The wizard of science, following those instructions with unfamiliar equipment, was building up the formula of synthetic blood. The complicated mechanism of glass bulbs, tubes and chambers into which he was pouring his elements began to function. From its bottom tube, a stream of dark red fluid poured into the supply tanks.

"We are — too weak to — feed ourselves," came the feeble thought of the leader. "Use — the injector you see by — the — tank."

Curt snatched up the super-hypodermic needle which he filled with the synthetic blood. At the dying star man's direction, he injected the red nutritional liquid into the octopoid body at the neck. The result was astonishing. In a few minutes the leader rose to his feet, strength returning to him incredibly fast. He took over the task of feeding his comrades by injection. It was not long before all the star men had recovered full vigor.

"Whew!" breathed Captain Future. "That was as tough a job as I've had for a long time."

"You have saved our lives, stranger!" The star man's thought throbbed with gratitude. "You have enabled us to continue our search of the stars. We shall keep our bargain. Where do you wish to be taken?"

Curt pointed out the misty green speck of Kansu's Comet, far over in space.

"To the little solid world inside that comet."

The leader went to the towering control board of the strange ship. His four tentacle limbs moved over the bewildering array of switches, relays and levers. There was no sound, but the giant cylindrical craft rose smoothly out of the wreck-pack that had long surrounded it.

"This ship is powered by some form of force-pressure, is it not?" Captain Future asked keenly.

"That is so," corroborated the star man's thought. "The reactive push of a powerful vibration against the ether drives it forward."

There had seemed to be no windows in the ship, but Curt and Walker found that parts of its walls could be made transparent. The star ship hovered above the floating pack, then shot forward with breath-taking velocity. It tore through the maelstrom of ether-currents and flew at tremendous speed toward the far green speck of Kansu's Comet. Their speed was unguessable, since the gages on the board all bore undecipherable markings, but it seemed an incredibly short time before they were approaching the comet.

"That coma possesses a powerful electrical charge," Captain Future warned the star man. "Can your craft penetrate it?"

"Yes, and it will not harm this ship. The metal of its walls is a perfect dielectric."

THE glowing, flaring coma of Kansu's comet was like a green sun. Boldly the star ship dived down through it. Without harm it ripped through the flaring shell of electrical force. Beneath lay a small world blanketed by fantastic yellow-green vegetation.

"Circle this world," Curt asked the star man. "We seek an ancient wreck that should be somewhere here." He turned to Jan Walker. "Grag and Otho are here hunting for the wreck of the old
Star
Streak.
If we find the wreck, we should find them."

"I see a wreck of some kind down there now!" Walker exclaimed.

His eyes had caught the dull gleam of a long, corroded metal mass half-concealed by vegetation that had grown up around it.

"That must be the
Star Streak
— and there are Grag and Otho!" Captain Future cried.

HE ASKED the star man beside him, in a quick thought, to land there. They saw Otho's lithe rubbery figure and Grag's giant metal form standing in front of a group of strange, erect mechanisms.

"What in the name of space are those things?" Walker stammered.

"They're machine men, semi-intelligent mechanisms of the same kind as the space ship hijackers," Curt replied. "What's happening down there?"

Otho and Grag had drawn their atom guns and were standing ready to defend themselves as the giant cylindrical ship rushed down, thinking the space ship thieves were returning. But when Curt Newton emerged, a glad cry went up from the android and robot.

"Chief!" yelled Otho joyfully, running forward. "What are you doing here? I thought you were with the Rocketeers!"

Then both Otho and Grag shrank back at sight of the octopus-like star men.

"Devils of space!" yelled Grag. "Who are those things?"

"They're friends, and good ones," Curt assured quickly.

In a few brief words, he told of Walker's and his experience. He was interrupted by a thought from the star leader.

"If you wish nothing further from us, we would like to leave you. We now have sufficient nutritional supplies for a long time, thanks to you. And we are eager to continue searching the Galaxy for a new home."

Captain Future impulsively held out his hand. The star man a little hesitantly, for the gesture was strange to him, grasped it in his own strange tentacle-arm.

"Good-by, and good luck in your search," Curt wished warmly. "I hope you find a splendid new home."

The star ship rose smoothly into the air, arrowed out through the glowing coma and disappeared in space.