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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a01d2c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #63309 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63309) diff --git a/old/63309-h.zip b/old/63309-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 0061618..0000000 --- a/old/63309-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/63309-h/63309-h.htm b/old/63309-h/63309-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 89bf3b0..0000000 --- a/old/63309-h/63309-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1729 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Chimera World, by Wilbur S. Peacock. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -.caption p -{ - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0; - margin: 0.25em 0; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - -.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } -.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; } - - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chimera World, by Wilbur S. Peacock - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Chimera World - -Author: Wilbur S. Peacock - -Release Date: September 26, 2020 [EBook #63309] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHIMERA WORLD *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>CHIMERA WORLD</h1> - -<h2>By WILBUR S. PEACOCK</h2> - -<p>Don Denton had walked into the weirdest<br /> -enigma he had ever encountered. Dead men<br /> -<i>lived</i>, and ships vanished without sound.<br /> -And to top everything, when he tried to<br /> -unravel the puzzle—he found that <i>he</i><br /> -had been dead for more than a week.</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Planet Stories Winter 1944.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Don Denton, trouble shooter for the Inter-World Mining Corporation, -watched the sailors stowing the supplies aboard his small scout rocket, -checking the items from the manifest sheet as they were packed in the -storage compartments.</p> - -<p>"That takes care of that," he said finally, signing the sheet with his -thumbprint. "Now, I'll be on my way."</p> - -<p>The Skipper nodded, scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I suppose so," -he agreed. "Are you sure you won't stay to dinner? I've got a cargo -of Martian <i>panyanox</i> that should taste plenty good to you after two -months of spacing on vitamins."</p> - -<p>Don Denton grinned, scrubbed a heavy hand through the reddish, curly -mop of hair that flamed above his craggy face. He shrugged, the leather -jacket growing taut across his deceptively wide shoulders.</p> - -<p>"Nothing I'd like better," he said, "but I've got orders to get to -Venus and find out why the <i>Lanka</i> shipments haven't been coming -through on schedule."</p> - -<p>"Trouble?" Interest flared in the Skipper's eyes.</p> - -<p>Don Denton laughed. "I doubt it," he said. "Probably some space tramp -landed and sold the men some Martian <i>Ganto</i> seeds. They're probably -nursing such large hangovers that they can't work. I'll just take the -supplies on, give the boys a pep talk, then head back for Earth."</p> - -<p>"All loaded, Captain," a sailor's voice came from the televisor screen.</p> - -<p>Don Denton lounged to his feet. "So long, Captain," he said, "I'll -remember that <i>Panyanox</i> invitation, the next time I run into you on -Mars."</p> - -<p>"Sure, sure, of course!" The Skipper flushed. "Er, ah—, Denton?"</p> - -<p>"Yes?" Don Denton turned from the door.</p> - -<p>"I've got a passenger I want to transship to Venus."</p> - -<p>Don Denton grinned, shook his head. "Sorry, Captain," he said, "but no -can do; company rules, you know."</p> - -<p>"But this passenger—?"</p> - -<p>"No," Denton said decisively. "In the first place, I can't carry -passengers on the scouter; and in the second place, I haven't the -slightest desire to be holed up with anybody. Sorry, but your passenger -will have to get a charter job for the trip."</p> - -<p>"What I'm trying to tell you," the Skipper said, "is that Miss Palmer -has a Company pass to ride with you."</p> - -<p>"Miss Palmer!" The trouble shooter frowned belligerently. "Any relation -to Palmer who is the manager on Venus?"</p> - -<p>"Daughter, I think."</p> - -<p>"Well, you can tell Miss Palmer for me that she's out of luck. Hell, -I'll make a bet she's one of two kinds of dames: Either she's the -flighty kind who thinks it's just too too divine to explore another -planet, or she's the needle-nosed kind who'd drive me nuts with her -complaints in half a clock-around!"</p> - -<p>"I can assure you that she fits neither of those descriptions," the -Skipper said, smiled. "In fact, she's about the nicest bit of meteor -fluff that's crossed my rockets in many a day."</p> - -<p>"Thank you, Captain," Jean Palmer said amusedly from behind Don Denton. -She walked past the trouble shooter, turned to face him squarely. -"Woman hater?" she finished quizzically.</p> - -<p>Don Denton flushed, his tan deepening, his startlingly blue eyes -evading the mocking, brown eyes of the girl. He shifted nervously from -foot to foot, his collar suddenly tight and constricting.</p> - -<p>"Er—no!" he said defensively, "I—er, well, just don't want any -company on my ship."</p> - -<p>He felt the flush deepening beneath the level glance of the girl, and -hot blood was suddenly pounding at his temples.</p> - -<p>The Captain had been right; certainly she didn't fit either of the -descriptions Don Denton had given. She was tall, her softly waved crown -of hair almost even with the trouble shooter's mouth. And the mannish -cut of her plastic dress only served to emphasize the femininity of her -body.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>But Don Denton was not noticing such minor details; he was conscious -only of the incredible redness and smoothness of her lips and of the -level appraisal of her eyes. He shivered suddenly, vaguely aware that -he was unshaven, gangly, with too prominent teeth and ears.</p> - -<p>"I have a pass to ride with you," the girl said mockingly. "Do you -think you can get around it?" Her tone changed, became suddenly, -subtly, frightened and bewildered. "Please," she finished, "I must go -with you! I haven't heard from my father in three months; I know that -something has happened to him!"</p> - -<p>"Well," Don Denton frowned, was suddenly aware of the dim perfume of -her hair. "I guess, if you've got a pass, there's nothing I can do but -take you along."</p> - -<p>"That's fine!" the Skipper said heartily, a trifle relievedly. "I told -Miss Palmer you'd probably be glad to give her a lift."</p> - -<p>"I knew Mr. Denton wouldn't let me down," the girl said quietly, "I've -heard too many stories of his bravery and gallantry."</p> - -<p>Don Denton grinned sheepishly, not absolutely certain as to whether the -girl was being ironical or not. He searched her face, felt a distinct -shock to his nerves when his gaze met with hers.</p> - -<p>"Just routine," he countered deprecatingly.</p> - -<p>He shrugged, shook hands quickly with the Skipper. "I'll see you in a -couple of months. Thanks for bringing the supplies out of your regular -lane; it saved me several weeks of spacing to Earth and back."</p> - -<p>"That's all right, Denton," the Captain said, "I still remember the -fight you put up when those Gillies attacked my ship off—"</p> - -<p>"Sure, sure!" Don Denton cut the flow of the other's words, swung to -face the girl. "I'll have a man put your duffle aboard, Miss Palmer."</p> - -<p>She smiled, her teeth flashing whitely. "Thank you, but I had them -taken aboard half an hour ago."</p> - -<p>Don Denton blinked in surprise, and the corners of his mobile lips -twitched in a wry smile. "All right, then," he said, "let's be getting -on; if we miss connections, we'll have to chase Venus halfway round the -sun."</p> - -<p>He led the way down the corridor, his thoughts a maelstrom in his -mind. He was not a woman hater, nor did he care for them especially, -but there was something about the level-eyed slender girl at his back -that stirred him deeply. He shook his head slightly, wished that he had -not stopped to pick up the supplies from the freighter. He had a vague -premonition that the even tenor of his life was destined to be rudely -shattered by an indefinable something that he could not fight with the -strength of his rangy body nor the solidness of his fists.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The <i>Comet</i> sped in a long parabola from the side of the freighter, a -long skid-mark of flaming rocket gas in the darkness behind, and headed -obliquely toward Venus which gleamed greenly far ahead.</p> - -<p>Don Denton pressed the last of a series of studs on the control panel, -cut in the robot-pilot, then grinned admiringly at Jean Palmer.</p> - -<p>"Sorry I was rude back there," he apologized.</p> - -<p>The girl's answering smile was like a ray of light in the cabin. She -stretched lazily in the padded seat, brushed a vagrant lock of hair -from her eyes.</p> - -<p>"I guess it was my fault," she admitted. "I never stopped to think that -you might not like the job of playing space taxi with me. But," her -eyes were suddenly serious, "I simply have to see if anything is wrong -with my father."</p> - -<p>Don Denton grinned. "There's nothing to be afraid of on Venus," he said -confidently. "I've been there half a dozen times, and all I've found -was a water world, with very little land. About the only life on the -planet is of a fish type, which lives deep in the oceans."</p> - -<p>"That's what my father told me."</p> - -<p>"Well, he was exactly right; it's about the deadest world I've seen. -There are nine patches of land, probably mountain tops, and each of -them are covered with <i>Lanka</i> plants. I suppose you know that that is -what your father is doing there—that is, he's cutting and rendering -the plants for their oil?"</p> - -<p>Jean nodded. "Yes, he told me. But after all—"</p> - -<p>She screamed suddenly, clutched wildly at the arms of her seat. And the -motion sent her flying into the air, where she struggled for a balance -that wasn't there.</p> - -<p>"Easy," Don Denton said, reached out, drew her back to her seat. "It's -that blasted gravity rotor again!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>He went sideways from his seat, catching a flashlight from a wall-clip -as he did so, then pulled himself by the wall hand rail toward the rear -of the cabin.</p> - -<p>"I'm going to be ill," Jean said weakly.</p> - -<p>"Chin up," Don Denton said sharply. "I'll have everything all right in -a moment. The clutch on the gravity rotor is about shot, and it quits -on me every now and then. When the gravity gets back to normal, you'll -feel all right again."</p> - -<p>He turned on his back, wedged himself beneath a small metal box -clamped to the rear wall, swinging the light of the hand flash into -the interior of the box. He made a one-handed adjustment, and normal -gravity grasped them again.</p> - -<p>The light of his flash faded, went out, as the gravity became -stabilized, then flashed on again the moment the trouble shooter edged -from beneath the gravity rotor.</p> - -<p>Jean Palmer gasped, and slowly color came back to her white face. Don -Denton nodded to himself, strode back to the pilot's seat, slumped -indolently into its padded depths. He flicked the switch on the -flashlight, pushed it into its wall-clip.</p> - -<p>"What made the light go out?" Jean asked curiously.</p> - -<p>Don Denton shrugged. "The rotor creates some sort of an energy -shield," he said, "that blankets out all electrical energy." He gazed -solicitously at the girl. "Feel better now?"</p> - -<p>She nodded. "I think so," she said. "I just felt so funny—as though -everything in me was upside down."</p> - -<p>Don Denton grinned. "I know," he said, "I started spacing when a man -rode a ship with the seat of his pants; I've been plenty sick from lack -of gravity. Hah! this new crop of spacers don't know what it is to live -without gravity for months, then find they can't walk the minute they -land on some planet—because of gravity pull."</p> - -<p>"You've done that?" Jean's eyes were wide with wonder.</p> - -<p>Don Denton grinned self-consciously. "Without bragging," he said, "I -think I've just about done everything and seen everything. There's very -little that would surprise me."</p> - -<p>Jean laughed, and the sound was a tinkling overtone above the dim roar -of the rockets. "You know," she said, "you're a rather remarkable -person!"</p> - -<p>Don Denton flushed, dry-washed his hands in embarrassment. "Aw," he -said self-consciously, "I'm just doing a job."</p> - -<p>"Well, I like you."</p> - -<p>Don Denton became very busy with the compact integrator, his hands -suddenly all thumbs.</p> - -<p>Jean Palmer leaned over, touched his arm with a slender hand. "I'm glad -you're the one taking me to my father," she said. "If there is anything -wrong, I'm certain you can straighten it out."</p> - -<p>"I'll try." Don Denton met the girl's eyes squarely. "Now you'd better -take a dose of sleep rays; after all, it will be about eighty hours -before we land."</p> - -<p>"Sleep rays on a space ship!"</p> - -<p>"Yes!" Don Denton paused with one hand on a control stud. "You see, a -scouter isn't like a pleasure craft or a freighter. Nine-tenths of the -time aboard is spent sleeping—conserves food and oxygen."</p> - -<p>"All right, Don," Jean said, relaxed comfortably in the cushions.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Don Denton pressed the stud, sighed deeply as the purple ray coned -down from the overhead bulb and bathed the girl in its nimbus. He -straightened the girl's arms a trifle, careful not to permit his head -to be touched by the rays, then swung back to the integrator. Jean -slept peacefully, a slight smile skidding a dimple into sight, the -curves of her breasts rising and falling in a gentle rhythm.</p> - -<p>Don Denton shrugged, bent again over the integrator. He set up the -combination he desired, pressed keys, glanced absently at the answer. -Nodding, he set the course on the robot-pilot, sighed gustily, sank -tiredly into the heavy cushions of his seat.</p> - -<p>He sat quietly for moments, the smile going from his eyes, a slight -frown thinning his mobile mouth. He was more worried than he would -have admitted. For this was the first time in eighteen months that the -<i>Lanka</i> shipments had not come through on schedule from Venus.</p> - -<p>The fern-like <i>Lanka</i> plants were of incalculable value to the -inhabited worlds, for the oil rendered from the plants was the only -perfect cure for cancer and numerous other diseases. Its curative -powers had been discovered accidentally by two wrecked spacers on -Venus three years before when one of the spacers had been cured of -space-tuberculosis by an enforced diet of cooked plants and Venusian -fish.</p> - -<p>Don Denton remembered the regularity with which the shipments had been -coming through and the worry the head office had felt when the oil had -failed to arrive on time two months before. He had been called in as -a last resort, because he knew the planet from past experience, and -because of his reputation as a trouble shooter who always got results.</p> - -<p>He was worried now. For despite his assurances to Jean Palmer, he knew -that there were dangers on Venus. In the depths of its oceans, great, -foul, nightmarish creatures lived sluggish lives, and if some accident -should rouse them to action, they might well wipe out an entire camp in -a few moments. Then again, because of the incredible value of the oil, -space pirates might have raided the base camp, murdered the men, then -escaped with the oil already rendered.</p> - -<p>"Damn!" Don Denton said thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>He glanced at the sleeping girl, smiled slightly. He felt a sudden -protective instinct in his heart that had never been there before, and -his hands clenched unconsciously at the thought of what disappointments -and heartaches might lie ahead for her.</p> - -<p>He shrugged then, grinned wryly into space. Well, there was nothing he -could do now but wait. If there was some sort of trouble on Venus, he -would have enough trouble then in trying to cope with it; there was no -sense in worrying himself stiff about it now. He'd know soon enough.</p> - -<p>He clicked on the automatic mechanism of the sleep ray, drifted into -dreamless slumber as the purple rays erased all conscious thought from -his mind.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">II</p> - -<p>Venus was no longer a green planet; it loomed ahead like some woolly -ball spinning in space. The <i>Comet</i> circled it warily, Don Denton's -fingers resting lightly on the control studs of the instrument panel, -his lips pursed a bit as he drove the ship closer to the clouds.</p> - -<p>"It will probably be several hours before we land," he explained to the -wide-eyed Jean at his side, "Trying to find the <i>Lanka</i> camp in that -soup down there is quite a job in itself, even after I get the <i>Comet</i> -through fifteen miles of cloud banks."</p> - -<p>Jean was a trifle pale, but there was a spark of confidence in her -eyes. "I think," she said quietly, "I feel like you must have felt the -first time you landed here."</p> - -<p>Don Denton smiled. "There's no feeling like it," he admitted. "I felt -it first on the Earth's Moon, and I knew then that I'd never be able -to settle down into some routine job. I suppose I'll end my life still -feeling that thrill, still seeking out hidden places in the universe."</p> - -<p>He pressed a firing stud, and the <i>Comet</i> flashed down toward Venus. -For the first time, there was a sense of movement, as the spinning -clouds rushed to meet the ship. Always before, with nothing relative -to compare their speed with, and because the inertia-field sent all -molecules of ship and contents ahead at the same rate of speed, there -had been the sensation of staying at rest in the blackness of space. -Now, there was something breathtaking in the way that the ship seemed -to be dropping.</p> - -<p>Then the first tendrils of cloud whipped lazily about the <i>Comet</i>. -There was the thrum of the rockets rising to a higher crescendo, and -the force screen's voltemeter leaped higher to combat the friction of -the tenuous air. Another second, and the great cottony batts of cloud -pressed with invisible force against the ship.</p> - -<p>And then there was only a grey darkness outside, all light from the sun -nullified by the thicknesses of clouds.</p> - -<p>Don Denton drifted the ship lower, his fingers flying over the control -studs, handling the ship's weight as a horseman controls his mount by a -light touch of the reins.</p> - -<p>There seemed to be no mental passage of time while the ship was -sinking. Moments flowed into each other, and always the clouds seemed -to be pressing with a tenuous strength at the quartzite ports.</p> - -<p>Then they were through the clouds, and a thousand feet below the ocean -tossed and tumbled with a majestic silence that was thrilling and -menacing.</p> - -<p>Don Denton's breath escaped with a tiny sigh of relief, and his eyes -flashed to the girl's face, then back again to the window. He was -conscious of the close scrutiny she had given him during those tense -moments, and he wondered, irrelevantly, if he measured up to her -standards.</p> - -<p>"Where's all of the light coming from?" she asked curiously.</p> - -<p>"From some sort of minute animal life in the oceans. The water is so -filled with tiny worm-like forms of life that I doubt if you could -find one cupful of clear water anywhere. They glow like fireflies, and -the light generated is reflected back from the low clouds." Don Denton -grinned. "I used to call Venus the 'Light bulb planet'!"</p> - -<p>"It's beautiful!" Jean breathed in rapture.</p> - -<p>Don Denton nodded, swung the <i>Comet</i> directly North. Beneath them, the -ocean was a shifting, white-capped wash of silvery light, gleaming -with a phosphorescent sheen, its turbulence a shifting kaleidoscope of -shattered colors.</p> - -<p>And then the water was broken, and a scaly, blunt something darted out -of the water, fell crashing in a spray of light.</p> - -<p>"What was that?" Jean whispered.</p> - -<p>Don Denton swallowed heavily. "I don't know," he said slowly. "Probably -some deep sea monster; and he must have been fully three hundred feet -long!"</p> - -<p>He sent the <i>Comet</i> flashing ahead, the memory of the scaly monster -tensing his broad shoulders in a shiver of disquiet. Jean sat silently -at his side, quiet for once, and he felt a quick stab of emotion when -he read the worry that lay deep in her eyes.</p> - -<p>They cruised for almost an hour before Don Denton located the base -camp. It had moved from island One to island Three, and its earthly -regularity in the green of the <i>Lanka</i> jungle was pleasant to see.</p> - -<p>"Five minutes," Don Denton said cheerfully, "and you can surprise your -dad."</p> - -<p>"Oh, hurry!" Jean said, bent close to the port-window.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Don Denton nodded silently, but there was suddenly a great fear in him. -For nowhere in the camp below was there a sign of life.</p> - -<p>Smoke was not bulging from the short stack of the rendering plant, and -men did not dart from the small shacks to greet the landing ship. The -camp appeared to be deserted.</p> - -<p>"I don't see anyone?" Jean said puzzledly, fearfully.</p> - -<p>Don Denton forced a confident laugh, but his eyes were entirely -serious. "They're all probably out in the jungle grubbing up the best -grade of plants. Don't worry, when they hear the rockets, they'll come -stringing in plenty fast."</p> - -<p>He set the <i>Comet</i> down squarely in the middle of the clearing, touched -studs, and there was an immediate cessation of noise and vibration.</p> - -<p>"This is it," Don Denton said quietly. "Slip on an oxy-helmet, and -we'll take a look around."</p> - -<p>He smiled away some of the growing fear in the girl's eyes, but there -was a growing panic in him that he could not quell.</p> - -<p>He could see no one; there was not the slightest sign of life. Yet -there should be fifteen men working here. Don Denton shrugged, and -there was suddenly a steely gleam in his eyes. He slipped the light -helmet over his head, fastened the air-tight cloth beneath his chin.</p> - -<p>"Let's go, Jean," he said into the tiny transmitter of his helmet. "Be -careful not to dislodge your helmet; the air will make you ill unless -you are acclimated to it."</p> - -<p>He could see the tiny tremulous smile on her lips, and he held her hand -tightly for a moment. Then he spun the cogs of the port-door, felt the -slight breeze about his body as the higher compressed air of the ship -soughed into the heavy air of Venus.</p> - -<p>He helped the girl to the muddy ground, lifted the ati-gun from his -belt, paced slowly toward the main hut, his eyes flashing everywhere -for the slightest sign of danger, absolutely certain now that things -here were even worse than he had conceived them to be.</p> - -<p>There was an indefinable threat of danger in the stillness of the great -clearing that tightened Don Denton's nerves. Far away, could be heard -the dull rumble of the eternal waves on the island's edge, and closer -could be heard the soft hissing of the air through the green <i>Lanka</i> -fronds.</p> - -<p>The clearing had been baked brick-hard with an ati-cannon; now its -surface was spotted with soupy puddles of green mud where the every-day -rains had seeped into some hollow.</p> - -<p>Two freighters squatted near the North edge of the clearing, their -dulled sides scabrous with great patches of growing rust, their empty -ports like great blank staring eyes watching the two terrestrials -slowly approach the main hut.</p> - -<p>"Don," Jean pressed close to the trouble shooter's tall body, "where is -everybody?"</p> - -<p>Don Denton shook his head, a furry spider of apprehension crawling -up his spine, his eyes piercing and searching as he held the ati-gun -in a tremorless hand. He walked slowly forward, the eeriness of the -silver-lighted scene touching his sensibilities.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> - <div class="caption"> - <p><i>The dis-gun wailed in Denton's fist.</i></p> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>He fired the moment the slug-like creature came from the hut's door, -the wailing hiss of the gun strangely loud. There was a silent scream -that crescendoed and titillated in diminishing waves, then the creature -collapsed into a protoplasmic mass that quivered horribly for a moment -and then was still.</p> - -<p>"Don!" Jean said fearfully.</p> - -<p>The trouble shooter's face was like chiselled granite, and he stepped -to the door of the hut and rayed the stinking mass of bubbly flesh out -of existence. He handed the twin ati-gun to the girl, nodded toward the -hut's interior.</p> - -<p>"Stay here," he snapped, "while I take a look inside. Shoot at anything -that moves."</p> - -<p>He smiled then for the first time, seeing the determination in the -lines of the girl's chin. Then he whirled, stepped within the doorway, -his nerves icy cold, the flat muscles of his body ready for instant -darting action.</p> - -<p>He stopped, his breathing a startled gasp. Eight men were within the -hut, eight men lying in the stillness of death.</p> - -<p>"Good God!" he said, paced swiftly across the floor to the tiers of -bunks along the far wall.</p> - -<p>He went from man to man, feeling for a pulse on each man, the cold -sweat of terror breaking on his forehead when he was finally convinced -that all eight of the hut's occupants were dead.</p> - -<p>He shivered, backed to the door, his eyes darting about the cabin, a -sharp prodding prescience within him that every movement of his was -being watched. He closed the door, stood speechlessly beside the girl -for a moment.</p> - -<p>"What is it, Don; what did you find?" Jean's fingers tightened on his -biceps.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Don Denton swallowed heavily, avoided the girl's eyes. "Let's take a -look at the other sleeping hut," he said tonelessly, tried to keep the -horror he felt from his expression.</p> - -<p>"There is something wrong; I know it!" Jean went rigid, her breath -catching in her throat. "My father's in there!"</p> - -<p>Don Denton shook his head. "No," he said sharply, "he isn't in there; -he's probably in the other hut." He caught the girl's arm. "Let's take -a look, before something happens that's too big for me to handle."</p> - -<p>They walked swiftly, their guns ready for instant firing, strangely -comforted by each other's presence. At the doorway of the second hut, -Jean again stood guard while the trouble shooter entered.</p> - -<p>He stood for a moment within the doorway of the hut, his nerves -crawling when he saw an almost exact duplicate of the first scene. The -only difference lay in the number of men supine in their bunks: there -were but six here.</p> - -<p>Don Denton winced, recognizing a corpse on a lower bunk as the -grey-haired father of the girl outside. He felt a sick futility beating -at his mind, when he remembered the reassuring words he had spoken to -the girl but a few short hours before.</p> - -<p>He moved about the hut, seeking for the slightest clue as to the cause -of the men's deaths, finally turning back to the door, his search -unrewarded, his mind a maelstrom of conflicting theories and thoughts.</p> - -<p>"Jean?" he said quietly, closed the door behind him on the horrible -scene within.</p> - -<p>Blood drained from his face, leaving it suddenly haggard and drawn. -He whirled, with his back to the hut's wall, the ati-gun jutting -nervelessly before him in complete command of the clearing.</p> - -<p>Not a thing moved; there was only the slightest of breezes. He felt the -sweat trickling down the flat planes of his cheeks, and the metal of -the hut felt incredibly warm against his back.</p> - -<p>"<i>Jean?</i>" he called again, desperately.</p> - -<p>There was only the muffled hollow vibration of the eternal waves -pounding against the island. No voice answered his cry.</p> - -<p>Jean Palmer was gone as though she had never been.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Don Denton stood rigidly for a moment, a nameless fear tugging at his -mind, his blue eyes suddenly black with fear for the safety of the girl.</p> - -<p>"Jean?" he called again, knowing that there would be no answer.</p> - -<p>He ran lithely across the end of the clearing, burst into the first -living-hut, made a quick search, dashed back outside, a monstrous fear -and hate intermingled in his mind.</p> - -<p>He went more slowly toward the first freighter, slipped within the -uncogged port, moved even more slowly as he made a complete search of -the shadowy corners of the hold and cabins. He found nothing but the -mold and rust that came from the steamy atmosphere.</p> - -<p>The second freighter proved to be empty also. And he stood for a moment -outside its rusty length, his lips a thin white line, his eyes narrowed -into slits.</p> - -<p>Then, never permitting himself to relax, he made a complete search of -the grounds, investigating the huts again, searching the rendering -sheds, finally stopping, his heart thudding painfully, in the exact -center of the clearing.</p> - -<p>He considered the situation briefly, and his mind came to an abrupt -stop against a wall of thought. Either the girl had disappeared into -the <i>Lanka</i> jungle because she thought she had seen something or -someone there, or she had been captured, silently, by the menace that -had murdered the fourteen men who lay in the bunks within the huts.</p> - -<p>Don Denton backed slowly toward the <i>Comet</i>, his ati-gun tight in his -hand, never relaxing, ready to fire at the first sign of a living thing -that moved. He uncogged the door-port, slipped through, cogged the door -shut again. Then he searched the tiny ship from bow to stern, making -absolutely certain that he was alone.</p> - -<p>Satisfied that he was safe for the moment, he sagged into the -cushions of the pilot's seat, tried to make sense out of the sudden -disappearance of the girl.</p> - -<p>Obviously, there was something wrong with the island. Fourteen men were -dead, <i>Lanka</i> plants rotting in the shed, the freighters empty hulks on -the clearing's edge.</p> - -<p>But what could that menace be? He knew, personally, that the only life -on Venus was in the oceans, a life that had not progressed far enough -to permit it to cope with the brains and skill of men.</p> - -<p>Yet Jean Palmer was gone, taken by the—the <i>things</i> that had slain -fourteen men without leaving wounds on their bodies.</p> - -<p>Don Denton swore bitterly, his hands clutching the arms of the seat -until the knuckles were like polished bone. It was only too evident -that the terror had struck but recently; the men's bodies were not -decomposed in the slightest.</p> - -<p>The trouble shooter came from his seat, slid back the panel of the arms -cabinet. He slipped into the silk-like folds of the cellu-ray suit, -first discarding the oxy-helmet. Then he fitted on the wide belt that -held the super ati-guns, checked them to make certain their loads were -at maximum power.</p> - -<p>He felt a slight dizziness from the tainted air that had filled the -ship when the port had been opened, shrugged the feeling away with the -knowledge that his space-hardened body could easily combat the slight -toxic poison without effort.</p> - -<p>He packed a small knapsack with a compact medicine box and food, left -a water bottle behind, knowing that he could find rain puddles in the -heavy <i>Lanka</i> leaves.</p> - -<p>The rain started then without warning, coming down in a solid smashing -sheet, the blasting wind rocking the <i>Comet</i> with titanic strength. Don -Denton scowled through the storm, his vision stopped five feet from -the quartzite port window by the smashing curtain of water from the low -hanging clouds.</p> - -<p>He paced the control room in tight anxiety, feeling the fear mounting -within him, conscious of the driving urgency of quick action, but -knowing that he could not fight the torrential downpour.</p> - -<p>The rain battered down in a solid sheet for more than an hour.</p> - -<p>And then the rain was over, and there was only the eerie silver light -reflected from the clouds. Don Denton uncoiled impatiently from his -seat, fitted on the knapsack, slipped the oxy-helmet over his head, -tied the bottom strings about his throat.</p> - -<p>He felt a momentary panic at the thought of stepping from the safety of -his ship on the land where death might strike unseen. Then he grinned -wryly, shrugged broad shoulders. He had his job to do, a job that he -had elected for himself. Too, there was the memory of Jean's presence -that drove him on. If for no other reason, he could not desert the girl -who had expressed such complete faith in himself.</p> - -<p>He twisted the cogs of the port, set the vibra-ray so that no one else -could open the door unless he was along. He slipped a bit on the mud of -the clearing, turned, slammed the port shut. Then, with a super ati-gun -in his right hand, he started across the clearing toward the break in -the jungle that was obviously a path cut by the <i>Lanka</i> hunters.</p> - -<p>It was then that he halted, his eyes widening in surprise, the sound of -his breathing loud in his oxy-helmet. He swung in a complete circle, -stifling his gasp of wonder, feeling the fear knotting in his stomach, -and conscious of the scaly fingers of insanity plucking at his reason.</p> - -<p><i>For men moved about the rendering hut, and steam spurted from the tall -stacks.</i></p> - -<p>Don Denton half-crouched, and a soundless snarl of amazement twisted -his lips. His eyes flashed from the working men around the clearing, -blinked bewilderedly at what they saw.</p> - -<p>Or, rather, what they didn't see.</p> - -<p>For the freighters were gone, vanished from where they had been, only -deep gouges in the ground to show that they had ever landed.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">III</p> - -<p>Don Denton swore soundlessly to himself, and the gun sagged momentarily -in his hand. He felt the insane desire to laugh, fought down the -feeling with an iron will.</p> - -<p>This was too much; this was carrying things too far. Those men moving -about the rendering shed were dead, so dead that there had been no -pulse of heart-beats in their veins. Yet they walked and worked with a -smooth efficiency about the shed five hundred feet away.</p> - -<p>And the freighters had vanished into the clouds. Yet that, too, was -impossible; for the rocket blasts would have created such a roar in the -air that he could not have missed their going.</p> - -<p>It was as though his mind had tricked him, had conjured chimeras and -mirages out of the air to strip his reason away.</p> - -<p>He stiffened, the gun lifting in his hand, as one of the men working -about the shed turned and ran directly down the field. He gasped -silently, recognizing the greyed hair and ruddy face of Jim Palmer.</p> - -<p>His hand snapped to a small button on his helmet.</p> - -<p>"Hold it, Palmer, don't come any closer!" His voice roared from the -tiny annunciator built into the top of his helmet.</p> - -<p>Jim Palmer skidded to a stop, menaced by the ati-gun, fell, sprawling -in the green mud, as his sudden stop tripped him on the treacherous -ground. Amazement made a round O of his mouth, and the glad greeting -faded from his eyes.</p> - -<p>"What the hell, Denton?" he said sharply. "Have you gone space batty?"</p> - -<p>Don Denton laughed without humor, shifted the gun muzzle slightly.</p> - -<p>"I don't know," he admitted. "But I'm not taking any chances on -anything until I find out what's going on!"</p> - -<p>"What do you mean: 'What's going on'?" Jim Palmer pushed himself to his -feet, wiped slimy mud onto his breeches' legs. "Hell," he finished, -"all of us thought you were dead!"</p> - -<p>"You—," Don Denton swallowed, blinked desperately, "You thought I was -dead?" he croaked.</p> - -<p>"Why, sure!" Jim Palmer waved an expressive hand. "We tried to get into -your ship for more than a week, but couldn't. And we could see you -crumpled in the pilot's seat. So we figured you had died."</p> - -<p>"Look, Palmer," Don Denton said, "I like jokes as well as the next -spacer. But I don't like the smell of this one! Now, what's the set-up -here?"</p> - -<p>"Well, it's just like the one I had on island Seven. I—"</p> - -<p>Don Denton's voice was like chilled steel. "Keep up that clowning," he -snapped, "and I'll blow it out of you with an ati-gun blast!"</p> - -<p>Jim Palmer paled, took a backward step. "Now, look, Denton," he said -placatingly, "I'm not looking for a fight with you; I've always figured -we were friends. If you've got some gripe, get it off your chest, and -maybe we can get it straightened out!"</p> - -<p>Don Denton felt insanity growing in his mind. He sucked in a deep -breath, never taking his eyes from Palmer's sweat-streaked face. He -didn't know what was going on, could not find a coherent answer for -anything, and the empty feeling it left within him frightened him as he -had never felt fear before.</p> - -<p>Less than an hour before, he had locked himself in his ship, after -seeing fourteen dead men in the huts and after Jean had disappeared; -and now Jim Palmer was telling him that that had happened more than -a week before. Too, he was implying that Don Denton was mentally -unbalanced.</p> - -<p>Don Denton then felt the prescience of an alien presence at his back.</p> - -<p>He whirled, spun to one side, his finger tight on the firing stud of -the atomic gun in his fist.</p> - -<p>Then, his face working in surprise, he turned slowly completely about, -finally facing Jim Palmer again. His eyes went wide, when he saw the -furtive, fearful steps the other was taking toward the safety of the -rendering shed.</p> - -<p>"Well, Denton," Palmer said worriedly, "I'll talk to you later."</p> - -<p>"Stand right where you are!" There was a quiver to the trouble -shooter's voice despite his iron control. "I've just started to ask -questions. First, where's Jean?"</p> - -<p>"Why she went back to Earth on the <i>Moonstone</i>, the larger freighter. -That was four days ago. She was pretty well broken up when she thought -you were dead."</p> - -<p>Don Denton's forehead washboarded in thought. "There's something fishy -here that I don't understand," he said, "but I'm going to get to the -bottom of it."</p> - -<p>"Look, Denton," Palmer's tone was solicitous. "Why don't you let -Carter, the doctor, take a look at you. I mean no offense; but you -sound as if you either had a concussion or a touch of space fever." He -gestured comfortingly. "Come on, take off your helmet, and the Doc'll -find out what's wrong."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Don Denton was fumbling at the lace of his light copper helmet -unconsciously, before he realized what he was doing. For some unknown -reason, he felt that Palmer might be right and that he might have some -brain injury. Then some vague stubbornness filled his mind, driving -away his sudden compliance. His free hand snapped to his belt, whipped -out the second ati-gun.</p> - -<p>"How is it that you and your men are walking around?" he asked, "I -could have sworn you were dead?"</p> - -<p>He waited for the other's answer, conscious of an agonizing headache -that had sprung out of nowhere. He still felt that he and Palmer were -not alone, but his quick whirl a moment before had failed to disclose -any lurker in the vicinity.</p> - -<p>And now, for the first time, he saw the eyes of Jim Palmer clearly. -There was something in them that he could not understand, a pleading -to be understood that escaped his senses. And the something that was -in them was oddly at variance with the smile on the ruddy face and the -reassuring words.</p> - -<p>"You must have seen us when we were asleep," Jim Palmer explained, -"After working on these <i>Lanka</i> plants for so long a time, you get such -a slow steady heart action that it takes a stethoscope to find it."</p> - -<p>"Maybe?" Don Denton said skeptically. "But I still think you were dead."</p> - -<p>Jim Palmer laughed, the sound a long booming roll of mirth that drew -curious glances from the workers at the rendering shed. His lips -writhed back, and his shoulders shook with merriment, but his eyes -never changed expression.</p> - -<p>"Do we <i>look</i> dead?" he asked mirthfully.</p> - -<p>"It isn't what you look like, it's what you are that counts," Don -Denton countered. "I've seen Martian Zombies that got around pretty -well."</p> - -<p>"Yes," Jim Palmer nodded. "I've seen them. But they don't breathe or -eat; and I can assure you that my men and I do both."</p> - -<p>He stepped forward, stretched his hand in a friendly gesture. "Come -on," he finished, "put away your guns, and come meet the men. Maybe the -Doc had better take a look at you, too; you don't look so well, you've -probably got a touch of fever giving you hallucinations."</p> - -<p>Steam hissed from the muddy ground between them as the trouble shooter -fired his left hand gun. "I'm not joking," he snapped. "Make a move I -don't like, and I'll be damned certain you're dead!"</p> - -<p>Jim Palmer sucked in his breath with an audible gasp, and muscles -rippled in his heavy shoulders as his arms came up in a threatening -gesture.</p> - -<p>"You're making a mistake, Denton," he said brittlely.</p> - -<p>And, without warning, his face white and strained, he sprang at the -other, his whipping arms smashing the guns aside.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The twin ati-guns roared in a wailing scream of unleashed power, their -released streams of energy charring the ground, as Don Denton's hands -clenched in sudden reflex.</p> - -<p>Then the guns were hammered aside, and the bull-like body of Jim -Palmer was straining at the trouble shooter's lithe strength. For -one interminable instant, Don Denton wavered on his feet, then he -went backward, carried by the other's weight, his mind numbed by the -paralyzing shock that came from a sledge-like fist hammering at his -chest.</p> - -<p>He rolled as he fell, twisted, and his right hand lashed out in a -desperate effort to reach one of the fallen guns. A heavy knee pinned -his arm to the ground, and he gasped from Palmer's weight on his chest.</p> - -<p>He arched his body, tossed Palmer to one side, smashed at him with -a two-handed attack that hurled the heavy man a dozen feet away. He -slipped as he tried to follow his advantage, felt Palmer's hands -tearing at the globe of his oxy-helmet. He felt a lace break below his -chin, and then his right hand came up in a vicious right cross.</p> - -<p>Palmer sagged, half unconscious from the blow, went entirely slack, as -the trouble shooter crossed his left and then his right.</p> - -<p>Don Denton crouched for a moment, staring into the blank face of the -camp manager, his chest heaving, feeling a slight dizziness as the air -of Venus mingled with that of his damaged oxy-helmet.</p> - -<p>Then the wailing hiss of an ati-gun brought him to his feet. He dived -for his twin guns, turned, raced for the safety of the <i>Comet</i>, feeling -the tingle of released energy as his cellu-ray suit dissipated the -shock of a direct ati-blast on his back.</p> - -<p>He fired twice, as a warning gesture, at the men streaming from the -rendering shed, smiled grimly as the tight knot of pursuers broke into -individuals.</p> - -<p>And then he was at his ship, the vibra-ray lock swinging the port open -automatically. He spun through the port, cogged it shut behind him, -sagged against its solid friendliness, utterly worn with the furious -action of the past few minutes.</p> - -<p>Gradually, his breathing slowed to normal, and some of the unnatural -fright of the past moments loosened their icy clutch from about his -heart. He removed his oxy-helmet, dropped it carelessly to the floor, -went slowly to the control room of the ship. He stared from the -quartzite port, his brow furrowing in puzzlement.</p> - -<p>Two of the <i>Lanka</i> workers were helping the stunned Palmer to his feet, -while the rest of the men gazed woodenly toward the <i>Comet</i>. Then, as -though turned by some common command, the entire group whirled, stalked -back across the field, disappeared within the rendering shed.</p> - -<p>Don Denton shook his head in bewilderment, sank tiredly into the -pilot's seat, found one of his carefully rationed cigarettes in a panel -box. Touching a radi-light to its end, he leaned back in the cushions, -drew slowly on the fragrant smoke.</p> - -<p>"Whew!" he sighed explosively, winced when his exploring fingers found -the great bruise on his chest where Palmer had struck so viciously.</p> - -<p>He went over the entire, bizarre situation point by point; and as the -moments passed he made less sense out of the entire proceedings. He -couldn't figure the slightest of reasons from what was happening. He -tried to rationalize the events, ended at a blind alley of thinking.</p> - -<p>First, he had the fact that the <i>Lanka</i> shipments had failed to make -their scheduled appearances. So he had been sent to investigate. Jean -Palmer had come along, ostensibly to see her father. Then, after -landing, he had killed some Venusian slug, and found fourteen dead men -in their bunks. Right after that, Jean had disappeared into thin air. -An hour and a half later, the dead men were alive, and he had been -attacked by Jim Palmer, whose friend he thought he was.</p> - -<p>Don Denton scowled bleakly into space. This set-up was too screwy for -him! He thought for a moment of rocketing into space and bringing back -the Space Patrol to make a complete investigation.</p> - -<p>His blue eyes narrowed abruptly, as he caught sight of the perpetual -calendar on the wall. Hell! It was still the same day as the day he had -arrived on Venus.</p> - -<p>Which meant that Jim Palmer had lied.</p> - -<p>He snapped his fingers in sudden thought. Palmer had not tried to -injure him, instead, he had merely tried to remove the oxy-helmet.</p> - -<p>And that meant another mystery. For Palmer knew that the faintly -tainted air of Venus would not knock out the trouble-shooter.</p> - -<p>The trouble-shooter growled deep in his throat, crushed out the -cigarette, stood and paced to the port window. He frowned from the -port, watched the men coming toward the rocket ship. He felt no -uneasiness, for he knew that the hull would be impervious to any -ati-blasts they might fire in trying to force an entrance.</p> - -<p>Then he stiffened, the blood draining from his face.</p> - -<p>For walking quietly in the middle of the tight group was Jean Palmer.</p> - -<p>Don Denton swore briefly, didn't move. He watched, as the group came -quietly to a halt a hundred feet from the <i>Comet</i>, their tightness -melting away as they stopped.</p> - -<p>Then Don Denton saw Jim Palmer lift a heavy strip of leather belt, -swing it with a brutal viciousness at the slender shoulders of his -daughter.</p> - -<p>Don Denton whipped around, a white hot rage blazing in his mind, his -breath a choking mass in his throat, as he dashed for the port door. He -uncogged it with trembling hands, pushed it open, dropped through, the -ati-guns cold in his sweaty hands.</p> - -<p>He ran toward the silent group, conscious that Palmer's arms was -lifting for another blow. His hand swept up for a snap-shot.</p> - -<p>"Drop that gun, Denton," Palmer snapped.</p> - -<p>Don Denton snarled soundlessly, squared the muzzle of the ati-blaster -on Palmer's broad chest, squeezed the firing stud.</p> - -<p>Then a great paralysis seemed to fill his rangy body. He came to a dead -stop, his guns still jutting before him, but utterly without the will -to press the firing studs.</p> - -<p>"Holster both guns, Denton," Jim Palmer barked.</p> - -<p>Instantly, without a word, the trouble shooter's hands flicked the twin -guns back into their sheaths. He stood rigidly, great veins ridging his -temples, then all resistance went from his body as he waited for the -other to approach.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Jim Palmer halted but a few feet from the trouble shooter, the leather -strap dangling from his right hand, his feet wide-braced. He bent -forward a trifle, stared directly in Don Denton's eyes.</p> - -<p>"Can you hear me, Denton?" he asked quietly.</p> - -<p>Don Denton fought the unbreakable control that held his mind and body -in complete abeyance. Veins stood in high relief on his forehead, and -perspiration rolled down his cheeks. He gagged a bit from the noxious -air, tried to turn his head from Palmer's piercing gaze.</p> - -<p>"I can hear you, Palmer," he said woodenly.</p> - -<p>"Fine." There was still that <i>something</i> far back in Palmer's eyes, but -there was absolutely no expression on his face. "Now, this is what you -are to do: You will act as the pilot on the <i>Moonstone</i> for the rest of -us men. We are turning pirates, and intend to set up our headquarters -here. You will get your instruments and whatever else you need from -your ship; we leave within the hour."</p> - -<p>Don Denton turned without volition, and even the hypnotic control that -directed him could not keep the gasp of astonishment from his throat.</p> - -<p>For there on the edge of the clearing, exactly as they had been before, -were the two freighters that had vanished so mysteriously thirty -minutes before.</p> - -<p>But the astonishment was immediately erased from his mind, and he -turned robot-like toward the <i>Comet</i>. He caught one flashing glimpse of -the emotionless faces of the men and Jean Palmer, then he paced slowly -toward the gaping port of the scouter.</p> - -<p>Jim Palmer walked quietly at his side, staring straight ahead, no -emotion touching his ruddy features.</p> - -<p>Don Denton tried to think, but a soft impenetrable band of nothingness -seemed to absorb all of his thoughts. His only thought was of the -command he had just received, and, strangely, that thought seemed to be -a perfectly natural thing.</p> - -<p>"You go in first, Denton," Palmer said quietly.</p> - -<p>The trouble shooter obeyed silently, climbing through, standing rigidly -until the other had joined him. Then he turned, stepped forward. His -breath whooshed in a startled gasp, as his right foot stepped squarely -on the dropped oxy-helmet, and then he was falling forward, his hands -outstretched in a futile effort to regain his balance.</p> - -<p>He felt his head strike the wall, struggled vainly to get back to his -feet. Then dull blackness wiped all consciousness from his brain.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="ph1">IV</p> - -<p>He couldn't have been out for more than a second. He blinked his eyes -shook his head slightly when he saw the tiny box of the gravity-rotor -over his head, shifted a bit so that he gazed squarely at Jim Palmer.</p> - -<p>He laughed then, feeling the tight control-band gone from his mind, -sensing the advantage that had come back to him. He twisted a bit, -still not understanding all that had happened, and his mouth opened in -surprise at what he saw.</p> - -<p>There were two of them, two grub-like slugs resting quiescently on the -metal floor, each of them the exact duplicate of the thing he had shot -upon landing on Venus.</p> - -<p>All of the maelstrom disappeared then from his mind, and his thinking -grew crystal clear. He saw Jim Palmer bending toward him, and then the -ati-guns were in his hands, and their wailing crescendos of unleashed -power filled the <i>Comet</i> with screaming echoes.</p> - -<p>For an interminable instant, the slugs seemed to absorb the ati-rays, -then they collapsed into puddles of obscene flesh that disappeared into -charred flakes of ash.</p> - -<p>Don Denton lay where he was, the guns silent in his hands, seeing the -intelligence that flashed into Jim Palmer's eyes.</p> - -<p>"Oh, my God!" Jim Palmer said stupidly, stared at the strap he still -held in his heavy hand.</p> - -<p>Don Denton rolled from beneath the gravity-rotor, came to his feet, -dodged around the dazed man, tugged open the nearest panel in the wall. -He took two small, belt gravity-rotors from a shelf, handed one to -Palmer, buckled the other about his head.</p> - -<p>"Put that rotor about your head, Palmer," he ordered. "We've got some -work to do."</p> - -<p>He switched on his own rotor, felt nausea cramp at his stomach when the -gravity field pulled at his neck muscles. Hooking his foot beneath the -ship's rotor, he helped Palmer fasten the rotor over his greyed hair, -then handed the older man one of the ati-guns.</p> - -<p>"Come on," he said. "We've got some hunting to do."</p> - -<p>He led the way, jumping from the port-door, the gun blasting in his -hand, conscious of the <i>Lanka</i> manager's bulky body at his side.</p> - -<p>They went side by side down the field, the wailing roar of their guns -screaming in the air, the slugs dying hideously, one by one.</p> - -<p>And then Jean was in Don Denton's arms, her slender shoulders shaking -in a torrent of sobs, and he was soothing her with a clumsy gentleness -that felt strange and good to him.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They sat in the control room of the great freighter, <i>Moonstone</i>, their -faces were turned to where Don Denton stood at the control panel. -The trouble shooter grinned at the fifteen people that made up his -audience, and he summed up all of his thoughts and theories.</p> - -<p>"Those slugs," he explained, "were little more than animated brains. -They lived somewhere in the oceans, and probably discovered the -<i>Lanka</i> camps by accident. They had no ways of subduing you men by -physical means, because of their grub-like bodies, so they took control -of your minds. Unluckily, they failed to gain control of one of you men -and of both of the freighter pilots; and the three men tried to escape -in a small rocket. The rocket crashed, killing all three of the men."</p> - -<p>Jim Palmer nodded. "That's what I've got figured out," he said, "But -I've just got a hazy memory of the past three months."</p> - -<p>"Well," Don Denton continued, "these slugs must have got the idea of -going to Earth and the other inhabited planets, and taking control of -them. But they needed your help and a space pilot to transport you and -them. They put all of you in a cataleptic state, while waiting for some -space pilot to appear. They left a guard, the slug I shot down the -moment I begin searching the camp. But before he died, he sent out a -call that brought a single slug into camp."</p> - -<p>Jean Palmer shivered, held tightly to the trouble shooter's hand. "I -know," she said, "I took off my helmet to adjust the oxygen valve, and -I looked up to see that whitish thing at the corner of the hut. Before -I could call out, something seemed to grab my mind—and then I was -running toward the jungle. I tried to scream to you, when you found me -gone, but I couldn't move."</p> - -<p>Don Denton smiled, tightened his strong fingers over the girl's. "It's -fairly easy to reconstruct from there on," he said carefully. "The -slugs tried to get control of my mind. But because thought is of an -electrical nature, absolute control wouldn't pass through the copper of -my oxy-helmet. They set a scene to make me think I was crazy, and sent -Palmer to take off my helmet."</p> - -<p>"I remember that," Jim Palmer said thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>Don Denton nodded. "Well," he went on, "their mental control was -enough that it played tricks with my mind. They blanked out my vision -when I looked at them, and later, they blacked out the sight of the -freighters, trying to make me think that I was so crazy I should take -off my helmet for an examination."</p> - -<p>"I escaped from Palmer, went back to the <i>Comet</i>, then raced out of -the ship to save Jean from a beating." He shook his head slightly when -he saw the pain on Palmer's face. "Of course it was just a trick to -get me outside without my helmet. Well, I fell for it; and the slugs -took control, making me believe that Jim Palmer was the master mind -engineering everything. But on entering the <i>Comet</i>, I slipped and -fell beneath the ship's gravity-rotor. The field of gravity-energy -neutralized the electricity of the thought waves—just as it blanks out -the power of a flashlight—and I was able to think again. I blasted the -slugs, got two portable rotors and fastened them to Palmer and myself, -and the two of us cleaned out the slugs."</p> - -<p>Don Denton flicked his gaze about the room. "Now, if you men intend -to stay, you've got to wear tiny gravity-rotors on your heads. It -apparently isn't the quantity of power put out that blankets the -thought waves, it's possible to use a very weak power. I don't think -the slugs will try anything again, but if they do, you shouldn't have -any trouble getting rid of them."</p> - -<p>"We're staying on," Jim Palmer said grimly, nodded approvingly at the -confident glances given him by his men. "And I hope those damned things -show up again. I'd like nothing better than to take an ati-blaster to a -bunch of those uncanny devils."</p> - -<p>He grinned suddenly, looked squarely into Don Denton's eyes.</p> - -<p>"How about staying on for awhile?" he asked, "There might be a little -excitement on this planet that you could dig up?"</p> - -<p>Don Denton shook his head. "Sorry," he said, "but I've got a date with -some friends of mine on Mars; we're going to explore some of the new -tombs they discovered two months ago. I guess I'll be getting along."</p> - -<p>He felt the insistent tugging of Jean's slender fingers on his. A smile -lifted the corners of his lips, and he bent over, kissed her with a -quick possessiveness.</p> - -<p>"My mistake," he said warmly, "<i>we'll</i> be getting along!"</p> - -<p>He and Jean were smiling into each other's eyes then, reading there a -future that held many promises of adventure and love and—and things -that would be utterly nothing to others than themselves.</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chimera World, by Wilbur S. 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Peacock - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Chimera World - -Author: Wilbur S. Peacock - -Release Date: September 26, 2020 [EBook #63309] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHIMERA WORLD *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - CHIMERA WORLD - - By WILBUR S. PEACOCK - - Don Denton had walked into the weirdest - enigma he had ever encountered. Dead men - _lived_, and ships vanished without sound. - And to top everything, when he tried to - unravel the puzzle--he found that _he_ - had been dead for more than a week. - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Planet Stories Winter 1944. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Don Denton, trouble shooter for the Inter-World Mining Corporation, -watched the sailors stowing the supplies aboard his small scout rocket, -checking the items from the manifest sheet as they were packed in the -storage compartments. - -"That takes care of that," he said finally, signing the sheet with his -thumbprint. "Now, I'll be on my way." - -The Skipper nodded, scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I suppose so," -he agreed. "Are you sure you won't stay to dinner? I've got a cargo -of Martian _panyanox_ that should taste plenty good to you after two -months of spacing on vitamins." - -Don Denton grinned, scrubbed a heavy hand through the reddish, curly -mop of hair that flamed above his craggy face. He shrugged, the leather -jacket growing taut across his deceptively wide shoulders. - -"Nothing I'd like better," he said, "but I've got orders to get to -Venus and find out why the _Lanka_ shipments haven't been coming -through on schedule." - -"Trouble?" Interest flared in the Skipper's eyes. - -Don Denton laughed. "I doubt it," he said. "Probably some space tramp -landed and sold the men some Martian _Ganto_ seeds. They're probably -nursing such large hangovers that they can't work. I'll just take the -supplies on, give the boys a pep talk, then head back for Earth." - -"All loaded, Captain," a sailor's voice came from the televisor screen. - -Don Denton lounged to his feet. "So long, Captain," he said, "I'll -remember that _Panyanox_ invitation, the next time I run into you on -Mars." - -"Sure, sure, of course!" The Skipper flushed. "Er, ah--, Denton?" - -"Yes?" Don Denton turned from the door. - -"I've got a passenger I want to transship to Venus." - -Don Denton grinned, shook his head. "Sorry, Captain," he said, "but no -can do; company rules, you know." - -"But this passenger--?" - -"No," Denton said decisively. "In the first place, I can't carry -passengers on the scouter; and in the second place, I haven't the -slightest desire to be holed up with anybody. Sorry, but your passenger -will have to get a charter job for the trip." - -"What I'm trying to tell you," the Skipper said, "is that Miss Palmer -has a Company pass to ride with you." - -"Miss Palmer!" The trouble shooter frowned belligerently. "Any relation -to Palmer who is the manager on Venus?" - -"Daughter, I think." - -"Well, you can tell Miss Palmer for me that she's out of luck. Hell, -I'll make a bet she's one of two kinds of dames: Either she's the -flighty kind who thinks it's just too too divine to explore another -planet, or she's the needle-nosed kind who'd drive me nuts with her -complaints in half a clock-around!" - -"I can assure you that she fits neither of those descriptions," the -Skipper said, smiled. "In fact, she's about the nicest bit of meteor -fluff that's crossed my rockets in many a day." - -"Thank you, Captain," Jean Palmer said amusedly from behind Don Denton. -She walked past the trouble shooter, turned to face him squarely. -"Woman hater?" she finished quizzically. - -Don Denton flushed, his tan deepening, his startlingly blue eyes -evading the mocking, brown eyes of the girl. He shifted nervously from -foot to foot, his collar suddenly tight and constricting. - -"Er--no!" he said defensively, "I--er, well, just don't want any -company on my ship." - -He felt the flush deepening beneath the level glance of the girl, and -hot blood was suddenly pounding at his temples. - -The Captain had been right; certainly she didn't fit either of the -descriptions Don Denton had given. She was tall, her softly waved crown -of hair almost even with the trouble shooter's mouth. And the mannish -cut of her plastic dress only served to emphasize the femininity of her -body. - - * * * * * - -But Don Denton was not noticing such minor details; he was conscious -only of the incredible redness and smoothness of her lips and of the -level appraisal of her eyes. He shivered suddenly, vaguely aware that -he was unshaven, gangly, with too prominent teeth and ears. - -"I have a pass to ride with you," the girl said mockingly. "Do you -think you can get around it?" Her tone changed, became suddenly, -subtly, frightened and bewildered. "Please," she finished, "I must go -with you! I haven't heard from my father in three months; I know that -something has happened to him!" - -"Well," Don Denton frowned, was suddenly aware of the dim perfume of -her hair. "I guess, if you've got a pass, there's nothing I can do but -take you along." - -"That's fine!" the Skipper said heartily, a trifle relievedly. "I told -Miss Palmer you'd probably be glad to give her a lift." - -"I knew Mr. Denton wouldn't let me down," the girl said quietly, "I've -heard too many stories of his bravery and gallantry." - -Don Denton grinned sheepishly, not absolutely certain as to whether the -girl was being ironical or not. He searched her face, felt a distinct -shock to his nerves when his gaze met with hers. - -"Just routine," he countered deprecatingly. - -He shrugged, shook hands quickly with the Skipper. "I'll see you in a -couple of months. Thanks for bringing the supplies out of your regular -lane; it saved me several weeks of spacing to Earth and back." - -"That's all right, Denton," the Captain said, "I still remember the -fight you put up when those Gillies attacked my ship off--" - -"Sure, sure!" Don Denton cut the flow of the other's words, swung to -face the girl. "I'll have a man put your duffle aboard, Miss Palmer." - -She smiled, her teeth flashing whitely. "Thank you, but I had them -taken aboard half an hour ago." - -Don Denton blinked in surprise, and the corners of his mobile lips -twitched in a wry smile. "All right, then," he said, "let's be getting -on; if we miss connections, we'll have to chase Venus halfway round the -sun." - -He led the way down the corridor, his thoughts a maelstrom in his -mind. He was not a woman hater, nor did he care for them especially, -but there was something about the level-eyed slender girl at his back -that stirred him deeply. He shook his head slightly, wished that he had -not stopped to pick up the supplies from the freighter. He had a vague -premonition that the even tenor of his life was destined to be rudely -shattered by an indefinable something that he could not fight with the -strength of his rangy body nor the solidness of his fists. - - * * * * * - -The _Comet_ sped in a long parabola from the side of the freighter, a -long skid-mark of flaming rocket gas in the darkness behind, and headed -obliquely toward Venus which gleamed greenly far ahead. - -Don Denton pressed the last of a series of studs on the control panel, -cut in the robot-pilot, then grinned admiringly at Jean Palmer. - -"Sorry I was rude back there," he apologized. - -The girl's answering smile was like a ray of light in the cabin. She -stretched lazily in the padded seat, brushed a vagrant lock of hair -from her eyes. - -"I guess it was my fault," she admitted. "I never stopped to think that -you might not like the job of playing space taxi with me. But," her -eyes were suddenly serious, "I simply have to see if anything is wrong -with my father." - -Don Denton grinned. "There's nothing to be afraid of on Venus," he said -confidently. "I've been there half a dozen times, and all I've found -was a water world, with very little land. About the only life on the -planet is of a fish type, which lives deep in the oceans." - -"That's what my father told me." - -"Well, he was exactly right; it's about the deadest world I've seen. -There are nine patches of land, probably mountain tops, and each of -them are covered with _Lanka_ plants. I suppose you know that that is -what your father is doing there--that is, he's cutting and rendering -the plants for their oil?" - -Jean nodded. "Yes, he told me. But after all--" - -She screamed suddenly, clutched wildly at the arms of her seat. And the -motion sent her flying into the air, where she struggled for a balance -that wasn't there. - -"Easy," Don Denton said, reached out, drew her back to her seat. "It's -that blasted gravity rotor again!" - - * * * * * - -He went sideways from his seat, catching a flashlight from a wall-clip -as he did so, then pulled himself by the wall hand rail toward the rear -of the cabin. - -"I'm going to be ill," Jean said weakly. - -"Chin up," Don Denton said sharply. "I'll have everything all right in -a moment. The clutch on the gravity rotor is about shot, and it quits -on me every now and then. When the gravity gets back to normal, you'll -feel all right again." - -He turned on his back, wedged himself beneath a small metal box -clamped to the rear wall, swinging the light of the hand flash into -the interior of the box. He made a one-handed adjustment, and normal -gravity grasped them again. - -The light of his flash faded, went out, as the gravity became -stabilized, then flashed on again the moment the trouble shooter edged -from beneath the gravity rotor. - -Jean Palmer gasped, and slowly color came back to her white face. Don -Denton nodded to himself, strode back to the pilot's seat, slumped -indolently into its padded depths. He flicked the switch on the -flashlight, pushed it into its wall-clip. - -"What made the light go out?" Jean asked curiously. - -Don Denton shrugged. "The rotor creates some sort of an energy -shield," he said, "that blankets out all electrical energy." He gazed -solicitously at the girl. "Feel better now?" - -She nodded. "I think so," she said. "I just felt so funny--as though -everything in me was upside down." - -Don Denton grinned. "I know," he said, "I started spacing when a man -rode a ship with the seat of his pants; I've been plenty sick from lack -of gravity. Hah! this new crop of spacers don't know what it is to live -without gravity for months, then find they can't walk the minute they -land on some planet--because of gravity pull." - -"You've done that?" Jean's eyes were wide with wonder. - -Don Denton grinned self-consciously. "Without bragging," he said, "I -think I've just about done everything and seen everything. There's very -little that would surprise me." - -Jean laughed, and the sound was a tinkling overtone above the dim roar -of the rockets. "You know," she said, "you're a rather remarkable -person!" - -Don Denton flushed, dry-washed his hands in embarrassment. "Aw," he -said self-consciously, "I'm just doing a job." - -"Well, I like you." - -Don Denton became very busy with the compact integrator, his hands -suddenly all thumbs. - -Jean Palmer leaned over, touched his arm with a slender hand. "I'm glad -you're the one taking me to my father," she said. "If there is anything -wrong, I'm certain you can straighten it out." - -"I'll try." Don Denton met the girl's eyes squarely. "Now you'd better -take a dose of sleep rays; after all, it will be about eighty hours -before we land." - -"Sleep rays on a space ship!" - -"Yes!" Don Denton paused with one hand on a control stud. "You see, a -scouter isn't like a pleasure craft or a freighter. Nine-tenths of the -time aboard is spent sleeping--conserves food and oxygen." - -"All right, Don," Jean said, relaxed comfortably in the cushions. - - * * * * * - -Don Denton pressed the stud, sighed deeply as the purple ray coned -down from the overhead bulb and bathed the girl in its nimbus. He -straightened the girl's arms a trifle, careful not to permit his head -to be touched by the rays, then swung back to the integrator. Jean -slept peacefully, a slight smile skidding a dimple into sight, the -curves of her breasts rising and falling in a gentle rhythm. - -Don Denton shrugged, bent again over the integrator. He set up the -combination he desired, pressed keys, glanced absently at the answer. -Nodding, he set the course on the robot-pilot, sighed gustily, sank -tiredly into the heavy cushions of his seat. - -He sat quietly for moments, the smile going from his eyes, a slight -frown thinning his mobile mouth. He was more worried than he would -have admitted. For this was the first time in eighteen months that the -_Lanka_ shipments had not come through on schedule from Venus. - -The fern-like _Lanka_ plants were of incalculable value to the -inhabited worlds, for the oil rendered from the plants was the only -perfect cure for cancer and numerous other diseases. Its curative -powers had been discovered accidentally by two wrecked spacers on -Venus three years before when one of the spacers had been cured of -space-tuberculosis by an enforced diet of cooked plants and Venusian -fish. - -Don Denton remembered the regularity with which the shipments had been -coming through and the worry the head office had felt when the oil had -failed to arrive on time two months before. He had been called in as -a last resort, because he knew the planet from past experience, and -because of his reputation as a trouble shooter who always got results. - -He was worried now. For despite his assurances to Jean Palmer, he knew -that there were dangers on Venus. In the depths of its oceans, great, -foul, nightmarish creatures lived sluggish lives, and if some accident -should rouse them to action, they might well wipe out an entire camp in -a few moments. Then again, because of the incredible value of the oil, -space pirates might have raided the base camp, murdered the men, then -escaped with the oil already rendered. - -"Damn!" Don Denton said thoughtfully. - -He glanced at the sleeping girl, smiled slightly. He felt a sudden -protective instinct in his heart that had never been there before, and -his hands clenched unconsciously at the thought of what disappointments -and heartaches might lie ahead for her. - -He shrugged then, grinned wryly into space. Well, there was nothing he -could do now but wait. If there was some sort of trouble on Venus, he -would have enough trouble then in trying to cope with it; there was no -sense in worrying himself stiff about it now. He'd know soon enough. - -He clicked on the automatic mechanism of the sleep ray, drifted into -dreamless slumber as the purple rays erased all conscious thought from -his mind. - - - II - -Venus was no longer a green planet; it loomed ahead like some woolly -ball spinning in space. The _Comet_ circled it warily, Don Denton's -fingers resting lightly on the control studs of the instrument panel, -his lips pursed a bit as he drove the ship closer to the clouds. - -"It will probably be several hours before we land," he explained to the -wide-eyed Jean at his side, "Trying to find the _Lanka_ camp in that -soup down there is quite a job in itself, even after I get the _Comet_ -through fifteen miles of cloud banks." - -Jean was a trifle pale, but there was a spark of confidence in her -eyes. "I think," she said quietly, "I feel like you must have felt the -first time you landed here." - -Don Denton smiled. "There's no feeling like it," he admitted. "I felt -it first on the Earth's Moon, and I knew then that I'd never be able -to settle down into some routine job. I suppose I'll end my life still -feeling that thrill, still seeking out hidden places in the universe." - -He pressed a firing stud, and the _Comet_ flashed down toward Venus. -For the first time, there was a sense of movement, as the spinning -clouds rushed to meet the ship. Always before, with nothing relative -to compare their speed with, and because the inertia-field sent all -molecules of ship and contents ahead at the same rate of speed, there -had been the sensation of staying at rest in the blackness of space. -Now, there was something breathtaking in the way that the ship seemed -to be dropping. - -Then the first tendrils of cloud whipped lazily about the _Comet_. -There was the thrum of the rockets rising to a higher crescendo, and -the force screen's voltemeter leaped higher to combat the friction of -the tenuous air. Another second, and the great cottony batts of cloud -pressed with invisible force against the ship. - -And then there was only a grey darkness outside, all light from the sun -nullified by the thicknesses of clouds. - -Don Denton drifted the ship lower, his fingers flying over the control -studs, handling the ship's weight as a horseman controls his mount by a -light touch of the reins. - -There seemed to be no mental passage of time while the ship was -sinking. Moments flowed into each other, and always the clouds seemed -to be pressing with a tenuous strength at the quartzite ports. - -Then they were through the clouds, and a thousand feet below the ocean -tossed and tumbled with a majestic silence that was thrilling and -menacing. - -Don Denton's breath escaped with a tiny sigh of relief, and his eyes -flashed to the girl's face, then back again to the window. He was -conscious of the close scrutiny she had given him during those tense -moments, and he wondered, irrelevantly, if he measured up to her -standards. - -"Where's all of the light coming from?" she asked curiously. - -"From some sort of minute animal life in the oceans. The water is so -filled with tiny worm-like forms of life that I doubt if you could -find one cupful of clear water anywhere. They glow like fireflies, and -the light generated is reflected back from the low clouds." Don Denton -grinned. "I used to call Venus the 'Light bulb planet'!" - -"It's beautiful!" Jean breathed in rapture. - -Don Denton nodded, swung the _Comet_ directly North. Beneath them, the -ocean was a shifting, white-capped wash of silvery light, gleaming -with a phosphorescent sheen, its turbulence a shifting kaleidoscope of -shattered colors. - -And then the water was broken, and a scaly, blunt something darted out -of the water, fell crashing in a spray of light. - -"What was that?" Jean whispered. - -Don Denton swallowed heavily. "I don't know," he said slowly. "Probably -some deep sea monster; and he must have been fully three hundred feet -long!" - -He sent the _Comet_ flashing ahead, the memory of the scaly monster -tensing his broad shoulders in a shiver of disquiet. Jean sat silently -at his side, quiet for once, and he felt a quick stab of emotion when -he read the worry that lay deep in her eyes. - -They cruised for almost an hour before Don Denton located the base -camp. It had moved from island One to island Three, and its earthly -regularity in the green of the _Lanka_ jungle was pleasant to see. - -"Five minutes," Don Denton said cheerfully, "and you can surprise your -dad." - -"Oh, hurry!" Jean said, bent close to the port-window. - - * * * * * - -Don Denton nodded silently, but there was suddenly a great fear in him. -For nowhere in the camp below was there a sign of life. - -Smoke was not bulging from the short stack of the rendering plant, and -men did not dart from the small shacks to greet the landing ship. The -camp appeared to be deserted. - -"I don't see anyone?" Jean said puzzledly, fearfully. - -Don Denton forced a confident laugh, but his eyes were entirely -serious. "They're all probably out in the jungle grubbing up the best -grade of plants. Don't worry, when they hear the rockets, they'll come -stringing in plenty fast." - -He set the _Comet_ down squarely in the middle of the clearing, touched -studs, and there was an immediate cessation of noise and vibration. - -"This is it," Don Denton said quietly. "Slip on an oxy-helmet, and -we'll take a look around." - -He smiled away some of the growing fear in the girl's eyes, but there -was a growing panic in him that he could not quell. - -He could see no one; there was not the slightest sign of life. Yet -there should be fifteen men working here. Don Denton shrugged, and -there was suddenly a steely gleam in his eyes. He slipped the light -helmet over his head, fastened the air-tight cloth beneath his chin. - -"Let's go, Jean," he said into the tiny transmitter of his helmet. "Be -careful not to dislodge your helmet; the air will make you ill unless -you are acclimated to it." - -He could see the tiny tremulous smile on her lips, and he held her hand -tightly for a moment. Then he spun the cogs of the port-door, felt the -slight breeze about his body as the higher compressed air of the ship -soughed into the heavy air of Venus. - -He helped the girl to the muddy ground, lifted the ati-gun from his -belt, paced slowly toward the main hut, his eyes flashing everywhere -for the slightest sign of danger, absolutely certain now that things -here were even worse than he had conceived them to be. - -There was an indefinable threat of danger in the stillness of the great -clearing that tightened Don Denton's nerves. Far away, could be heard -the dull rumble of the eternal waves on the island's edge, and closer -could be heard the soft hissing of the air through the green _Lanka_ -fronds. - -The clearing had been baked brick-hard with an ati-cannon; now its -surface was spotted with soupy puddles of green mud where the every-day -rains had seeped into some hollow. - -Two freighters squatted near the North edge of the clearing, their -dulled sides scabrous with great patches of growing rust, their empty -ports like great blank staring eyes watching the two terrestrials -slowly approach the main hut. - -"Don," Jean pressed close to the trouble shooter's tall body, "where is -everybody?" - -Don Denton shook his head, a furry spider of apprehension crawling -up his spine, his eyes piercing and searching as he held the ati-gun -in a tremorless hand. He walked slowly forward, the eeriness of the -silver-lighted scene touching his sensibilities. - -[Illustration: _The dis-gun wailed in Denton's fist._] - -He fired the moment the slug-like creature came from the hut's door, -the wailing hiss of the gun strangely loud. There was a silent scream -that crescendoed and titillated in diminishing waves, then the creature -collapsed into a protoplasmic mass that quivered horribly for a moment -and then was still. - -"Don!" Jean said fearfully. - -The trouble shooter's face was like chiselled granite, and he stepped -to the door of the hut and rayed the stinking mass of bubbly flesh out -of existence. He handed the twin ati-gun to the girl, nodded toward the -hut's interior. - -"Stay here," he snapped, "while I take a look inside. Shoot at anything -that moves." - -He smiled then for the first time, seeing the determination in the -lines of the girl's chin. Then he whirled, stepped within the doorway, -his nerves icy cold, the flat muscles of his body ready for instant -darting action. - -He stopped, his breathing a startled gasp. Eight men were within the -hut, eight men lying in the stillness of death. - -"Good God!" he said, paced swiftly across the floor to the tiers of -bunks along the far wall. - -He went from man to man, feeling for a pulse on each man, the cold -sweat of terror breaking on his forehead when he was finally convinced -that all eight of the hut's occupants were dead. - -He shivered, backed to the door, his eyes darting about the cabin, a -sharp prodding prescience within him that every movement of his was -being watched. He closed the door, stood speechlessly beside the girl -for a moment. - -"What is it, Don; what did you find?" Jean's fingers tightened on his -biceps. - - * * * * * - -Don Denton swallowed heavily, avoided the girl's eyes. "Let's take a -look at the other sleeping hut," he said tonelessly, tried to keep the -horror he felt from his expression. - -"There is something wrong; I know it!" Jean went rigid, her breath -catching in her throat. "My father's in there!" - -Don Denton shook his head. "No," he said sharply, "he isn't in there; -he's probably in the other hut." He caught the girl's arm. "Let's take -a look, before something happens that's too big for me to handle." - -They walked swiftly, their guns ready for instant firing, strangely -comforted by each other's presence. At the doorway of the second hut, -Jean again stood guard while the trouble shooter entered. - -He stood for a moment within the doorway of the hut, his nerves -crawling when he saw an almost exact duplicate of the first scene. The -only difference lay in the number of men supine in their bunks: there -were but six here. - -Don Denton winced, recognizing a corpse on a lower bunk as the -grey-haired father of the girl outside. He felt a sick futility beating -at his mind, when he remembered the reassuring words he had spoken to -the girl but a few short hours before. - -He moved about the hut, seeking for the slightest clue as to the cause -of the men's deaths, finally turning back to the door, his search -unrewarded, his mind a maelstrom of conflicting theories and thoughts. - -"Jean?" he said quietly, closed the door behind him on the horrible -scene within. - -Blood drained from his face, leaving it suddenly haggard and drawn. -He whirled, with his back to the hut's wall, the ati-gun jutting -nervelessly before him in complete command of the clearing. - -Not a thing moved; there was only the slightest of breezes. He felt the -sweat trickling down the flat planes of his cheeks, and the metal of -the hut felt incredibly warm against his back. - -"_Jean?_" he called again, desperately. - -There was only the muffled hollow vibration of the eternal waves -pounding against the island. No voice answered his cry. - -Jean Palmer was gone as though she had never been. - - * * * * * - -Don Denton stood rigidly for a moment, a nameless fear tugging at his -mind, his blue eyes suddenly black with fear for the safety of the girl. - -"Jean?" he called again, knowing that there would be no answer. - -He ran lithely across the end of the clearing, burst into the first -living-hut, made a quick search, dashed back outside, a monstrous fear -and hate intermingled in his mind. - -He went more slowly toward the first freighter, slipped within the -uncogged port, moved even more slowly as he made a complete search of -the shadowy corners of the hold and cabins. He found nothing but the -mold and rust that came from the steamy atmosphere. - -The second freighter proved to be empty also. And he stood for a moment -outside its rusty length, his lips a thin white line, his eyes narrowed -into slits. - -Then, never permitting himself to relax, he made a complete search of -the grounds, investigating the huts again, searching the rendering -sheds, finally stopping, his heart thudding painfully, in the exact -center of the clearing. - -He considered the situation briefly, and his mind came to an abrupt -stop against a wall of thought. Either the girl had disappeared into -the _Lanka_ jungle because she thought she had seen something or -someone there, or she had been captured, silently, by the menace that -had murdered the fourteen men who lay in the bunks within the huts. - -Don Denton backed slowly toward the _Comet_, his ati-gun tight in his -hand, never relaxing, ready to fire at the first sign of a living thing -that moved. He uncogged the door-port, slipped through, cogged the door -shut again. Then he searched the tiny ship from bow to stern, making -absolutely certain that he was alone. - -Satisfied that he was safe for the moment, he sagged into the -cushions of the pilot's seat, tried to make sense out of the sudden -disappearance of the girl. - -Obviously, there was something wrong with the island. Fourteen men were -dead, _Lanka_ plants rotting in the shed, the freighters empty hulks on -the clearing's edge. - -But what could that menace be? He knew, personally, that the only life -on Venus was in the oceans, a life that had not progressed far enough -to permit it to cope with the brains and skill of men. - -Yet Jean Palmer was gone, taken by the--the _things_ that had slain -fourteen men without leaving wounds on their bodies. - -Don Denton swore bitterly, his hands clutching the arms of the seat -until the knuckles were like polished bone. It was only too evident -that the terror had struck but recently; the men's bodies were not -decomposed in the slightest. - -The trouble shooter came from his seat, slid back the panel of the arms -cabinet. He slipped into the silk-like folds of the cellu-ray suit, -first discarding the oxy-helmet. Then he fitted on the wide belt that -held the super ati-guns, checked them to make certain their loads were -at maximum power. - -He felt a slight dizziness from the tainted air that had filled the -ship when the port had been opened, shrugged the feeling away with the -knowledge that his space-hardened body could easily combat the slight -toxic poison without effort. - -He packed a small knapsack with a compact medicine box and food, left -a water bottle behind, knowing that he could find rain puddles in the -heavy _Lanka_ leaves. - -The rain started then without warning, coming down in a solid smashing -sheet, the blasting wind rocking the _Comet_ with titanic strength. Don -Denton scowled through the storm, his vision stopped five feet from -the quartzite port window by the smashing curtain of water from the low -hanging clouds. - -He paced the control room in tight anxiety, feeling the fear mounting -within him, conscious of the driving urgency of quick action, but -knowing that he could not fight the torrential downpour. - -The rain battered down in a solid sheet for more than an hour. - -And then the rain was over, and there was only the eerie silver light -reflected from the clouds. Don Denton uncoiled impatiently from his -seat, fitted on the knapsack, slipped the oxy-helmet over his head, -tied the bottom strings about his throat. - -He felt a momentary panic at the thought of stepping from the safety of -his ship on the land where death might strike unseen. Then he grinned -wryly, shrugged broad shoulders. He had his job to do, a job that he -had elected for himself. Too, there was the memory of Jean's presence -that drove him on. If for no other reason, he could not desert the girl -who had expressed such complete faith in himself. - -He twisted the cogs of the port, set the vibra-ray so that no one else -could open the door unless he was along. He slipped a bit on the mud of -the clearing, turned, slammed the port shut. Then, with a super ati-gun -in his right hand, he started across the clearing toward the break in -the jungle that was obviously a path cut by the _Lanka_ hunters. - -It was then that he halted, his eyes widening in surprise, the sound of -his breathing loud in his oxy-helmet. He swung in a complete circle, -stifling his gasp of wonder, feeling the fear knotting in his stomach, -and conscious of the scaly fingers of insanity plucking at his reason. - -_For men moved about the rendering hut, and steam spurted from the tall -stacks._ - -Don Denton half-crouched, and a soundless snarl of amazement twisted -his lips. His eyes flashed from the working men around the clearing, -blinked bewilderedly at what they saw. - -Or, rather, what they didn't see. - -For the freighters were gone, vanished from where they had been, only -deep gouges in the ground to show that they had ever landed. - - - III - -Don Denton swore soundlessly to himself, and the gun sagged momentarily -in his hand. He felt the insane desire to laugh, fought down the -feeling with an iron will. - -This was too much; this was carrying things too far. Those men moving -about the rendering shed were dead, so dead that there had been no -pulse of heart-beats in their veins. Yet they walked and worked with a -smooth efficiency about the shed five hundred feet away. - -And the freighters had vanished into the clouds. Yet that, too, was -impossible; for the rocket blasts would have created such a roar in the -air that he could not have missed their going. - -It was as though his mind had tricked him, had conjured chimeras and -mirages out of the air to strip his reason away. - -He stiffened, the gun lifting in his hand, as one of the men working -about the shed turned and ran directly down the field. He gasped -silently, recognizing the greyed hair and ruddy face of Jim Palmer. - -His hand snapped to a small button on his helmet. - -"Hold it, Palmer, don't come any closer!" His voice roared from the -tiny annunciator built into the top of his helmet. - -Jim Palmer skidded to a stop, menaced by the ati-gun, fell, sprawling -in the green mud, as his sudden stop tripped him on the treacherous -ground. Amazement made a round O of his mouth, and the glad greeting -faded from his eyes. - -"What the hell, Denton?" he said sharply. "Have you gone space batty?" - -Don Denton laughed without humor, shifted the gun muzzle slightly. - -"I don't know," he admitted. "But I'm not taking any chances on -anything until I find out what's going on!" - -"What do you mean: 'What's going on'?" Jim Palmer pushed himself to his -feet, wiped slimy mud onto his breeches' legs. "Hell," he finished, -"all of us thought you were dead!" - -"You--," Don Denton swallowed, blinked desperately, "You thought I was -dead?" he croaked. - -"Why, sure!" Jim Palmer waved an expressive hand. "We tried to get into -your ship for more than a week, but couldn't. And we could see you -crumpled in the pilot's seat. So we figured you had died." - -"Look, Palmer," Don Denton said, "I like jokes as well as the next -spacer. But I don't like the smell of this one! Now, what's the set-up -here?" - -"Well, it's just like the one I had on island Seven. I--" - -Don Denton's voice was like chilled steel. "Keep up that clowning," he -snapped, "and I'll blow it out of you with an ati-gun blast!" - -Jim Palmer paled, took a backward step. "Now, look, Denton," he said -placatingly, "I'm not looking for a fight with you; I've always figured -we were friends. If you've got some gripe, get it off your chest, and -maybe we can get it straightened out!" - -Don Denton felt insanity growing in his mind. He sucked in a deep -breath, never taking his eyes from Palmer's sweat-streaked face. He -didn't know what was going on, could not find a coherent answer for -anything, and the empty feeling it left within him frightened him as he -had never felt fear before. - -Less than an hour before, he had locked himself in his ship, after -seeing fourteen dead men in the huts and after Jean had disappeared; -and now Jim Palmer was telling him that that had happened more than -a week before. Too, he was implying that Don Denton was mentally -unbalanced. - -Don Denton then felt the prescience of an alien presence at his back. - -He whirled, spun to one side, his finger tight on the firing stud of -the atomic gun in his fist. - -Then, his face working in surprise, he turned slowly completely about, -finally facing Jim Palmer again. His eyes went wide, when he saw the -furtive, fearful steps the other was taking toward the safety of the -rendering shed. - -"Well, Denton," Palmer said worriedly, "I'll talk to you later." - -"Stand right where you are!" There was a quiver to the trouble -shooter's voice despite his iron control. "I've just started to ask -questions. First, where's Jean?" - -"Why she went back to Earth on the _Moonstone_, the larger freighter. -That was four days ago. She was pretty well broken up when she thought -you were dead." - -Don Denton's forehead washboarded in thought. "There's something fishy -here that I don't understand," he said, "but I'm going to get to the -bottom of it." - -"Look, Denton," Palmer's tone was solicitous. "Why don't you let -Carter, the doctor, take a look at you. I mean no offense; but you -sound as if you either had a concussion or a touch of space fever." He -gestured comfortingly. "Come on, take off your helmet, and the Doc'll -find out what's wrong." - - * * * * * - -Don Denton was fumbling at the lace of his light copper helmet -unconsciously, before he realized what he was doing. For some unknown -reason, he felt that Palmer might be right and that he might have some -brain injury. Then some vague stubbornness filled his mind, driving -away his sudden compliance. His free hand snapped to his belt, whipped -out the second ati-gun. - -"How is it that you and your men are walking around?" he asked, "I -could have sworn you were dead?" - -He waited for the other's answer, conscious of an agonizing headache -that had sprung out of nowhere. He still felt that he and Palmer were -not alone, but his quick whirl a moment before had failed to disclose -any lurker in the vicinity. - -And now, for the first time, he saw the eyes of Jim Palmer clearly. -There was something in them that he could not understand, a pleading -to be understood that escaped his senses. And the something that was -in them was oddly at variance with the smile on the ruddy face and the -reassuring words. - -"You must have seen us when we were asleep," Jim Palmer explained, -"After working on these _Lanka_ plants for so long a time, you get such -a slow steady heart action that it takes a stethoscope to find it." - -"Maybe?" Don Denton said skeptically. "But I still think you were dead." - -Jim Palmer laughed, the sound a long booming roll of mirth that drew -curious glances from the workers at the rendering shed. His lips -writhed back, and his shoulders shook with merriment, but his eyes -never changed expression. - -"Do we _look_ dead?" he asked mirthfully. - -"It isn't what you look like, it's what you are that counts," Don -Denton countered. "I've seen Martian Zombies that got around pretty -well." - -"Yes," Jim Palmer nodded. "I've seen them. But they don't breathe or -eat; and I can assure you that my men and I do both." - -He stepped forward, stretched his hand in a friendly gesture. "Come -on," he finished, "put away your guns, and come meet the men. Maybe the -Doc had better take a look at you, too; you don't look so well, you've -probably got a touch of fever giving you hallucinations." - -Steam hissed from the muddy ground between them as the trouble shooter -fired his left hand gun. "I'm not joking," he snapped. "Make a move I -don't like, and I'll be damned certain you're dead!" - -Jim Palmer sucked in his breath with an audible gasp, and muscles -rippled in his heavy shoulders as his arms came up in a threatening -gesture. - -"You're making a mistake, Denton," he said brittlely. - -And, without warning, his face white and strained, he sprang at the -other, his whipping arms smashing the guns aside. - - * * * * * - -The twin ati-guns roared in a wailing scream of unleashed power, their -released streams of energy charring the ground, as Don Denton's hands -clenched in sudden reflex. - -Then the guns were hammered aside, and the bull-like body of Jim -Palmer was straining at the trouble shooter's lithe strength. For -one interminable instant, Don Denton wavered on his feet, then he -went backward, carried by the other's weight, his mind numbed by the -paralyzing shock that came from a sledge-like fist hammering at his -chest. - -He rolled as he fell, twisted, and his right hand lashed out in a -desperate effort to reach one of the fallen guns. A heavy knee pinned -his arm to the ground, and he gasped from Palmer's weight on his chest. - -He arched his body, tossed Palmer to one side, smashed at him with -a two-handed attack that hurled the heavy man a dozen feet away. He -slipped as he tried to follow his advantage, felt Palmer's hands -tearing at the globe of his oxy-helmet. He felt a lace break below his -chin, and then his right hand came up in a vicious right cross. - -Palmer sagged, half unconscious from the blow, went entirely slack, as -the trouble shooter crossed his left and then his right. - -Don Denton crouched for a moment, staring into the blank face of the -camp manager, his chest heaving, feeling a slight dizziness as the air -of Venus mingled with that of his damaged oxy-helmet. - -Then the wailing hiss of an ati-gun brought him to his feet. He dived -for his twin guns, turned, raced for the safety of the _Comet_, feeling -the tingle of released energy as his cellu-ray suit dissipated the -shock of a direct ati-blast on his back. - -He fired twice, as a warning gesture, at the men streaming from the -rendering shed, smiled grimly as the tight knot of pursuers broke into -individuals. - -And then he was at his ship, the vibra-ray lock swinging the port open -automatically. He spun through the port, cogged it shut behind him, -sagged against its solid friendliness, utterly worn with the furious -action of the past few minutes. - -Gradually, his breathing slowed to normal, and some of the unnatural -fright of the past moments loosened their icy clutch from about his -heart. He removed his oxy-helmet, dropped it carelessly to the floor, -went slowly to the control room of the ship. He stared from the -quartzite port, his brow furrowing in puzzlement. - -Two of the _Lanka_ workers were helping the stunned Palmer to his feet, -while the rest of the men gazed woodenly toward the _Comet_. Then, as -though turned by some common command, the entire group whirled, stalked -back across the field, disappeared within the rendering shed. - -Don Denton shook his head in bewilderment, sank tiredly into the -pilot's seat, found one of his carefully rationed cigarettes in a panel -box. Touching a radi-light to its end, he leaned back in the cushions, -drew slowly on the fragrant smoke. - -"Whew!" he sighed explosively, winced when his exploring fingers found -the great bruise on his chest where Palmer had struck so viciously. - -He went over the entire, bizarre situation point by point; and as the -moments passed he made less sense out of the entire proceedings. He -couldn't figure the slightest of reasons from what was happening. He -tried to rationalize the events, ended at a blind alley of thinking. - -First, he had the fact that the _Lanka_ shipments had failed to make -their scheduled appearances. So he had been sent to investigate. Jean -Palmer had come along, ostensibly to see her father. Then, after -landing, he had killed some Venusian slug, and found fourteen dead men -in their bunks. Right after that, Jean had disappeared into thin air. -An hour and a half later, the dead men were alive, and he had been -attacked by Jim Palmer, whose friend he thought he was. - -Don Denton scowled bleakly into space. This set-up was too screwy for -him! He thought for a moment of rocketing into space and bringing back -the Space Patrol to make a complete investigation. - -His blue eyes narrowed abruptly, as he caught sight of the perpetual -calendar on the wall. Hell! It was still the same day as the day he had -arrived on Venus. - -Which meant that Jim Palmer had lied. - -He snapped his fingers in sudden thought. Palmer had not tried to -injure him, instead, he had merely tried to remove the oxy-helmet. - -And that meant another mystery. For Palmer knew that the faintly -tainted air of Venus would not knock out the trouble-shooter. - -The trouble-shooter growled deep in his throat, crushed out the -cigarette, stood and paced to the port window. He frowned from the -port, watched the men coming toward the rocket ship. He felt no -uneasiness, for he knew that the hull would be impervious to any -ati-blasts they might fire in trying to force an entrance. - -Then he stiffened, the blood draining from his face. - -For walking quietly in the middle of the tight group was Jean Palmer. - -Don Denton swore briefly, didn't move. He watched, as the group came -quietly to a halt a hundred feet from the _Comet_, their tightness -melting away as they stopped. - -Then Don Denton saw Jim Palmer lift a heavy strip of leather belt, -swing it with a brutal viciousness at the slender shoulders of his -daughter. - -Don Denton whipped around, a white hot rage blazing in his mind, his -breath a choking mass in his throat, as he dashed for the port door. He -uncogged it with trembling hands, pushed it open, dropped through, the -ati-guns cold in his sweaty hands. - -He ran toward the silent group, conscious that Palmer's arms was -lifting for another blow. His hand swept up for a snap-shot. - -"Drop that gun, Denton," Palmer snapped. - -Don Denton snarled soundlessly, squared the muzzle of the ati-blaster -on Palmer's broad chest, squeezed the firing stud. - -Then a great paralysis seemed to fill his rangy body. He came to a dead -stop, his guns still jutting before him, but utterly without the will -to press the firing studs. - -"Holster both guns, Denton," Jim Palmer barked. - -Instantly, without a word, the trouble shooter's hands flicked the twin -guns back into their sheaths. He stood rigidly, great veins ridging his -temples, then all resistance went from his body as he waited for the -other to approach. - - * * * * * - -Jim Palmer halted but a few feet from the trouble shooter, the leather -strap dangling from his right hand, his feet wide-braced. He bent -forward a trifle, stared directly in Don Denton's eyes. - -"Can you hear me, Denton?" he asked quietly. - -Don Denton fought the unbreakable control that held his mind and body -in complete abeyance. Veins stood in high relief on his forehead, and -perspiration rolled down his cheeks. He gagged a bit from the noxious -air, tried to turn his head from Palmer's piercing gaze. - -"I can hear you, Palmer," he said woodenly. - -"Fine." There was still that _something_ far back in Palmer's eyes, but -there was absolutely no expression on his face. "Now, this is what you -are to do: You will act as the pilot on the _Moonstone_ for the rest of -us men. We are turning pirates, and intend to set up our headquarters -here. You will get your instruments and whatever else you need from -your ship; we leave within the hour." - -Don Denton turned without volition, and even the hypnotic control that -directed him could not keep the gasp of astonishment from his throat. - -For there on the edge of the clearing, exactly as they had been before, -were the two freighters that had vanished so mysteriously thirty -minutes before. - -But the astonishment was immediately erased from his mind, and he -turned robot-like toward the _Comet_. He caught one flashing glimpse of -the emotionless faces of the men and Jean Palmer, then he paced slowly -toward the gaping port of the scouter. - -Jim Palmer walked quietly at his side, staring straight ahead, no -emotion touching his ruddy features. - -Don Denton tried to think, but a soft impenetrable band of nothingness -seemed to absorb all of his thoughts. His only thought was of the -command he had just received, and, strangely, that thought seemed to be -a perfectly natural thing. - -"You go in first, Denton," Palmer said quietly. - -The trouble shooter obeyed silently, climbing through, standing rigidly -until the other had joined him. Then he turned, stepped forward. His -breath whooshed in a startled gasp, as his right foot stepped squarely -on the dropped oxy-helmet, and then he was falling forward, his hands -outstretched in a futile effort to regain his balance. - -He felt his head strike the wall, struggled vainly to get back to his -feet. Then dull blackness wiped all consciousness from his brain. - - - IV - -He couldn't have been out for more than a second. He blinked his eyes -shook his head slightly when he saw the tiny box of the gravity-rotor -over his head, shifted a bit so that he gazed squarely at Jim Palmer. - -He laughed then, feeling the tight control-band gone from his mind, -sensing the advantage that had come back to him. He twisted a bit, -still not understanding all that had happened, and his mouth opened in -surprise at what he saw. - -There were two of them, two grub-like slugs resting quiescently on the -metal floor, each of them the exact duplicate of the thing he had shot -upon landing on Venus. - -All of the maelstrom disappeared then from his mind, and his thinking -grew crystal clear. He saw Jim Palmer bending toward him, and then the -ati-guns were in his hands, and their wailing crescendos of unleashed -power filled the _Comet_ with screaming echoes. - -For an interminable instant, the slugs seemed to absorb the ati-rays, -then they collapsed into puddles of obscene flesh that disappeared into -charred flakes of ash. - -Don Denton lay where he was, the guns silent in his hands, seeing the -intelligence that flashed into Jim Palmer's eyes. - -"Oh, my God!" Jim Palmer said stupidly, stared at the strap he still -held in his heavy hand. - -Don Denton rolled from beneath the gravity-rotor, came to his feet, -dodged around the dazed man, tugged open the nearest panel in the wall. -He took two small, belt gravity-rotors from a shelf, handed one to -Palmer, buckled the other about his head. - -"Put that rotor about your head, Palmer," he ordered. "We've got some -work to do." - -He switched on his own rotor, felt nausea cramp at his stomach when the -gravity field pulled at his neck muscles. Hooking his foot beneath the -ship's rotor, he helped Palmer fasten the rotor over his greyed hair, -then handed the older man one of the ati-guns. - -"Come on," he said. "We've got some hunting to do." - -He led the way, jumping from the port-door, the gun blasting in his -hand, conscious of the _Lanka_ manager's bulky body at his side. - -They went side by side down the field, the wailing roar of their guns -screaming in the air, the slugs dying hideously, one by one. - -And then Jean was in Don Denton's arms, her slender shoulders shaking -in a torrent of sobs, and he was soothing her with a clumsy gentleness -that felt strange and good to him. - - * * * * * - -They sat in the control room of the great freighter, _Moonstone_, their -faces were turned to where Don Denton stood at the control panel. -The trouble shooter grinned at the fifteen people that made up his -audience, and he summed up all of his thoughts and theories. - -"Those slugs," he explained, "were little more than animated brains. -They lived somewhere in the oceans, and probably discovered the -_Lanka_ camps by accident. They had no ways of subduing you men by -physical means, because of their grub-like bodies, so they took control -of your minds. Unluckily, they failed to gain control of one of you men -and of both of the freighter pilots; and the three men tried to escape -in a small rocket. The rocket crashed, killing all three of the men." - -Jim Palmer nodded. "That's what I've got figured out," he said, "But -I've just got a hazy memory of the past three months." - -"Well," Don Denton continued, "these slugs must have got the idea of -going to Earth and the other inhabited planets, and taking control of -them. But they needed your help and a space pilot to transport you and -them. They put all of you in a cataleptic state, while waiting for some -space pilot to appear. They left a guard, the slug I shot down the -moment I begin searching the camp. But before he died, he sent out a -call that brought a single slug into camp." - -Jean Palmer shivered, held tightly to the trouble shooter's hand. "I -know," she said, "I took off my helmet to adjust the oxygen valve, and -I looked up to see that whitish thing at the corner of the hut. Before -I could call out, something seemed to grab my mind--and then I was -running toward the jungle. I tried to scream to you, when you found me -gone, but I couldn't move." - -Don Denton smiled, tightened his strong fingers over the girl's. "It's -fairly easy to reconstruct from there on," he said carefully. "The -slugs tried to get control of my mind. But because thought is of an -electrical nature, absolute control wouldn't pass through the copper of -my oxy-helmet. They set a scene to make me think I was crazy, and sent -Palmer to take off my helmet." - -"I remember that," Jim Palmer said thoughtfully. - -Don Denton nodded. "Well," he went on, "their mental control was -enough that it played tricks with my mind. They blanked out my vision -when I looked at them, and later, they blacked out the sight of the -freighters, trying to make me think that I was so crazy I should take -off my helmet for an examination." - -"I escaped from Palmer, went back to the _Comet_, then raced out of -the ship to save Jean from a beating." He shook his head slightly when -he saw the pain on Palmer's face. "Of course it was just a trick to -get me outside without my helmet. Well, I fell for it; and the slugs -took control, making me believe that Jim Palmer was the master mind -engineering everything. But on entering the _Comet_, I slipped and -fell beneath the ship's gravity-rotor. The field of gravity-energy -neutralized the electricity of the thought waves--just as it blanks out -the power of a flashlight--and I was able to think again. I blasted the -slugs, got two portable rotors and fastened them to Palmer and myself, -and the two of us cleaned out the slugs." - -Don Denton flicked his gaze about the room. "Now, if you men intend -to stay, you've got to wear tiny gravity-rotors on your heads. It -apparently isn't the quantity of power put out that blankets the -thought waves, it's possible to use a very weak power. I don't think -the slugs will try anything again, but if they do, you shouldn't have -any trouble getting rid of them." - -"We're staying on," Jim Palmer said grimly, nodded approvingly at the -confident glances given him by his men. "And I hope those damned things -show up again. I'd like nothing better than to take an ati-blaster to a -bunch of those uncanny devils." - -He grinned suddenly, looked squarely into Don Denton's eyes. - -"How about staying on for awhile?" he asked, "There might be a little -excitement on this planet that you could dig up?" - -Don Denton shook his head. "Sorry," he said, "but I've got a date with -some friends of mine on Mars; we're going to explore some of the new -tombs they discovered two months ago. I guess I'll be getting along." - -He felt the insistent tugging of Jean's slender fingers on his. A smile -lifted the corners of his lips, and he bent over, kissed her with a -quick possessiveness. - -"My mistake," he said warmly, "_we'll_ be getting along!" - -He and Jean were smiling into each other's eyes then, reading there a -future that held many promises of adventure and love and--and things -that would be utterly nothing to others than themselves. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chimera World, by Wilbur S. 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