Read Online Captain Future 11 - The Comet Kings (Summer 1942) by Edmond Hamilton - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Edmond Hamilton
Tags: Sci Fi & Fantasy
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electric-glowing figure of beauty, her radiant face was taut with apprehension.
Khinkir had turned startledly at her cry. The guards, too, had glanced sideward. That moment was enough for Grag. The great robot’s mighty metal arms reached out and seized the Cometae captain!
“Kill them!” shrieked Khinkir. But his scream was choked off as Grag’s arms crushed him.
With yells of alarm, the Cometae soldiers triggered their strange weapons to loose crackling blasts of electric force at the Futuremen. But Joan had bravely flung herself against the guards, distracting them and spoiling their aim. The blasts missed Curt Newton and Otho and Simon.
One of the electric blasts struck Joan’s shining body. Mad with apprehension for her, Captain Future plunged in at the soldiers with whom she was struggling.
He touched one of those Cometae guards — and was flung back half senseless by the paralyzing electric shock of contact. He fought to get to his feet, and was dimly aware of a tumult of shouting and running about him.
Curt’s eyes began to clear, as the first effects of the shock passed. Staggering drunkenly, he found himself witnessing an amazing scene of conflict.
Zarn and Aggar had arrived! With them were a score of other Cometae. All carried swords, and were hacking down the Cometae guards who had come with Khinkir. Even as Curt stumbled forward, the last guard fell a mangled, radiant corpse.
Khinkir himself lay on the corridor floor, a crushed and broken thing. And big Grag was straightening grimly.
“I told you that I could touch them!” the robot boomed.
The Futuremen were all unhurt. But Curt stumbled toward Joan Randall.
“Joan, are you all right? That electric blast that hit you —”
“It couldn’t hurt me,” she breathed. “No electric force can harm a Cometae, Curt.”
Zarn was close beside Captain Future, speaking wildly. “We’ve little time! The alarm will be given when Khinkir doesn’t return to the palace!”
“Release Tiko Thrin and Ezra Gurney and all the other captives,” Curt ordered. “You brought swords for us?”
“Yes, here they are,” said Aggar, pointing to a bundle of long, gray, saberlike weapons. “We had them hastily forged of dielectric metal. You can use them, even against the Cometae.”
JOAN spoke now in a sobbing rush. “Curt, I was afraid I’d be too late! I came here as soon as I heard that your executions had been ordered, though I didn’t know what I could do —”
“Joan, tell me quickly,” he interrupted. “You didn’t join the Cometae because you really wanted to, did you?”
“Oh, no, Curt! It broke my heart to have to keep up that pretense when I met you yesterday in the throne room.”
“But why did you keep it up with me?” he asked bewilderedly. “We were talking in our own English, which the Cometae couldn’t understand.”
“There were captives who had become Cometae, like myself, in the throne room,” she said earnestly. “If they’d heard and betrayed me —”
“Of course. What a fool I was not to think of that!” Captain Future exclaimed. “But even so, I knew it wasn’t the real you talking.”
“Curt, I only pretended to join the Cometae,” Joan cried. “I pretended to be allured by the prospect of immortality — but only because I thought it the only way in which I could learn the secret of this comet’s mystery.”
She came closer, her eyes wide and haunted as she looked up at him.
“Curt, there’s a threat in this mysterious setup. A strange, unguessable threat to our Solar System from those Alius who came from outside our cosmos. It’s not a physical menace, I feel certain of that.
“I’m convinced the Alius have in mind nothing so crude as a physical attack upon our System. But they are planning something! They direct everything the Cometae do, as incomprehensible details of some dark, baffling plan.”
Her shining face was earnest.
“I wanted to find out, to carry a warning out to the
Khinkir had turned startledly at her cry. The guards, too, had glanced sideward. That moment was enough for Grag. The great robot’s mighty metal arms reached out and seized the Cometae captain!
“Kill them!” shrieked Khinkir. But his scream was choked off as Grag’s arms crushed him.
With yells of alarm, the Cometae soldiers triggered their strange weapons to loose crackling blasts of electric force at the Futuremen. But Joan had bravely flung herself against the guards, distracting them and spoiling their aim. The blasts missed Curt Newton and Otho and Simon.
One of the electric blasts struck Joan’s shining body. Mad with apprehension for her, Captain Future plunged in at the soldiers with whom she was struggling.
He touched one of those Cometae guards — and was flung back half senseless by the paralyzing electric shock of contact. He fought to get to his feet, and was dimly aware of a tumult of shouting and running about him.
Curt’s eyes began to clear, as the first effects of the shock passed. Staggering drunkenly, he found himself witnessing an amazing scene of conflict.
Zarn and Aggar had arrived! With them were a score of other Cometae. All carried swords, and were hacking down the Cometae guards who had come with Khinkir. Even as Curt stumbled forward, the last guard fell a mangled, radiant corpse.
Khinkir himself lay on the corridor floor, a crushed and broken thing. And big Grag was straightening grimly.
“I told you that I could touch them!” the robot boomed.
The Futuremen were all unhurt. But Curt stumbled toward Joan Randall.
“Joan, are you all right? That electric blast that hit you —”
“It couldn’t hurt me,” she breathed. “No electric force can harm a Cometae, Curt.”
Zarn was close beside Captain Future, speaking wildly. “We’ve little time! The alarm will be given when Khinkir doesn’t return to the palace!”
“Release Tiko Thrin and Ezra Gurney and all the other captives,” Curt ordered. “You brought swords for us?”
“Yes, here they are,” said Aggar, pointing to a bundle of long, gray, saberlike weapons. “We had them hastily forged of dielectric metal. You can use them, even against the Cometae.”
JOAN spoke now in a sobbing rush. “Curt, I was afraid I’d be too late! I came here as soon as I heard that your executions had been ordered, though I didn’t know what I could do —”
“Joan, tell me quickly,” he interrupted. “You didn’t join the Cometae because you really wanted to, did you?”
“Oh, no, Curt! It broke my heart to have to keep up that pretense when I met you yesterday in the throne room.”
“But why did you keep it up with me?” he asked bewilderedly. “We were talking in our own English, which the Cometae couldn’t understand.”
“There were captives who had become Cometae, like myself, in the throne room,” she said earnestly. “If they’d heard and betrayed me —”
“Of course. What a fool I was not to think of that!” Captain Future exclaimed. “But even so, I knew it wasn’t the real you talking.”
“Curt, I only pretended to join the Cometae,” Joan cried. “I pretended to be allured by the prospect of immortality — but only because I thought it the only way in which I could learn the secret of this comet’s mystery.”
She came closer, her eyes wide and haunted as she looked up at him.
“Curt, there’s a threat in this mysterious setup. A strange, unguessable threat to our Solar System from those Alius who came from outside our cosmos. It’s not a physical menace, I feel certain of that.
“I’m convinced the Alius have in mind nothing so crude as a physical attack upon our System. But they are planning something! They direct everything the Cometae do, as incomprehensible details of some dark, baffling plan.”
Her shining face was earnest.
“I wanted to find out, to carry a warning out to the
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