"Edmond Hamilton - Calling Captain Future" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Edmond)

fully. "you are always picking on him, just because he
HE cold night wind whispered across the Martian has to have a little metal to eat sometimes."
desert, seeming to murmur of mystery and a "A little?" echoed Otho. "The cursed beast ate half a
mighty past. It sighed like a chill, alien breath toward steelite stanchion today before we stopped him!"
the lighted towers of Syrtis, the equatorial Martian

C
metropolis in the distance. URT NEWTON had turned and was speaking
Out here in the moonlit desert a mile from the city earnestly to the Brain, whose case rested on his
Syrtis, the Comet lay motionless between two conceal- special pedestal.
ing sand dunes. Inside the little ship, in the super-com- "Simon, while I'm gone you can make some photo-
pact laboratory that occupied its mid-section, Captain graphic and spectroscopic studies of the dark star. Es-
Future was rapidly preparing for a perilous enterprise. pecially, we need some accurate measurements of its
His red hair almost touched the ceiling as his tall mass."
figure strode to and fro, explaining his plan to the Fu- "Aye, lad," rasped the Brain. "I should have them all
turemen. in a few hours."
"It's our one chance to get Joan Randall out of the The mid-section of the Comet, in which Curt and the
hands of the Legion of Doom, and to get a lead to Doc- Futuremen now were, contained all the facilities the
tor Zarro!" he explained, his gray eyes alight. "That's Brain would need for his researches. Electro-tele-
why I wanted to come straight to Mars from Earth, after scopes, spectro-telescopes, bolometers, and compact
we realized Joan had been captured. Joan said that the spectro-heliographs crowded the corner devoted to as-
Legion, or those of it who kidnapped Kansu Kane, were tronomical science. Marvelous photographic equipment
coming next to Mars to abduct Gatola, the astronomer- occupied a place next to the file, which contained spec-
director of Syrtis Observatory. They should arrive here tra of all System bodies and of thousands of stars, and

9
 Edmond Hamilton тАУ CALLING CAPTAIN FUTURE

atmosphere-samples of all worlds. Earthmen colonists, planters, prospectors and space-
Yet this was only a corner of the flying-laboratory sailors were in the crowds. They were out-numbered by
of the scientific wizard. The botanical section held hun- the throngs of native Martians, big-chested, stilt-limbed
dreds of specimen plants and vegetable drugs from men with leathery red faces and bald heads.
many planets. In the mineralogical cabinet were sam- Captain Future heard an Earthman colonial official
ples of minerals from Mercury to Pluto, The chemical speaking with hoarse earnestness to the seething crowd.
section held containers of every element known to sci- "Don't let Doctor Zarro's alarmist broadcasts drive
ence. as well as wonderfully complete chemical appara- you to rash action!" he shouted. "The Government and
tus. And the bio-medical corner comprised every neces- scientists have assured us there is no danger from the
sary instrument for exhaustive biological research, as dark star тАУ"
well as a folding operating table upon which Captain "The scientists!" jeered a fierce Martian voice.
Future had more than once shown his superlative skill "They denied at first there was any dark star at all! And
in surgery. now most of them have fled out of the System for safe-
The laboratory was completed by an exhaustive ref- ty."
erence library тАУ a library without books. It was a square "Yes!" yelled a chorus of supporting voices. "They
metal cabinet that held every scientific book and mono- can't help us in this peril. Doctor Zarro is the only one
graph of value that had ever been published, reduced to who can save us. Give Doctor Zarro the power he
microfilm which could be read through a special appa- asks!"
ratus. "The crazy fools!" muttered Otho. "Begging for a
"I'll check all data on the dark star," the Brain was dictator, just because they're scared by a pack of lies."
repeating to curt. "But you be careful, lad!" Curt's tan face was grave. "Unless Doctor Zarro and
"I'll look out that he doesn't do anything rash, Si- his broadcasts are stopped soon, he'll be the System dic-