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

the moon-pup in his metal arm. "He should remember "Captain Future!" cried Carthew, his voice shrill
that I was made before he was." with relief, his fine face working as he came hastily for-
"Of course you were-you were such a bad job that ward.
they had to try again and make me before they were sat-

Y
isfied," Otho jeered, with a mocking gleam in his slitted OUNG Bonnel and the burly Commander stared,
green eyes. not without awe, at the tall young wizard of sci-
"Will you let him talk so, master?" appealed Grag ence and his companions.
angrily to Curt Newton. "He тАУ" Curt Newton's big figure radiated power and confi-
"The signal!" cried the Brain suddenly. dence as he stood there, the weird trio of the Futuremen
Simon's lens-eyes had glanced up through the win- behind him тАУ giant Grag, the Brain he held, and the rub-
dow overhead at the great green sphere of Earth. The bery android.
cry of the Brain made the other three look up instantly. "What's wrong, sir?" Curt demanded of the Presi-
There upon the great cloudy green planet hanging in dent. "What does that rioting crowd down there want?"
starry space, upon the white patch at the North Pole, a "They want me to turn the System Government over
blazing pinpoint of light was pulsing and throbbing. to Doctor Zarro and his Legion!" burst Carthew.
"It is the signal!" Captain Future said gravely. "Doctor Zarro?" Curt's eyebrows rose. "Who the
"We're needed." devil is that?"
Captain Future's debonair tanned face had changed, "You haven't heard him?" cried Bonnel incredulous-
grown grim. His nostrils were flaring, his brilliant gray ly. "Why, the whole System has heard his broadcasts
eyes had something chill and hard as steel in them now. about the dark star."
The Futuremen were gripped by the same strange "What dark star?" snapped Captain Future. "I've
emotion. The call from Earth! The tocsin that sum- heard nothing. Simon and I have been engaged for
moned these four to action! It was for this call that they weeks in advanced electronic experiments. Tell me
waited through long weeks, living and working in the what's been going on."
lunar laboratory . James Carthew told him, in hasty, stumbling words.
Captain Future's voice rang like a silver trumpet "Nine-tenths of the people now believe utterly in
summoning to battle. Doctor Zarro's warnings!" Carthew finished hoarsely.
"To the Comet! That call admits of no delay. The "They want me to turn over all power to him, because
President never calls for nothing." he claims he can avert the peril."
"Pick me up, Grag," rasped the Brain's calm, metal- Curt's gray eyes snapped.
lic voice. "Obviously this Doctor Zarro is merely using the
The robot picked up the handle of the Brain's case. dark star as a pretext to usurp dictatorial power. You
With the moon-pup clinging to his other arm, Grag say the System astronomers are convinced that there is
started with hasty strides after Curt Newton and Otho. no real peril in the dark star?"
Ten minutes later a small ship shaped like an elon- "Yes. They all agreed that the dark star has far too
gated tear-drop rose from an underground hangar on the small a mass to be a danger. Though it is hard to be-
lunar surface. It was the Comet, super-swift craft of the lieve so large a body could have so small a mass."
Futuremen, known far and wide through the System as "Simon and I will check on that by observing the
the swiftest ship in space. dark star for ourselves," muttered Curt. "But first this
Two hours later, so swift was its flight, the Comet Doctor Zarro has to be caught and silenced before he
screamed down through the stratosphere of Earth's spreads more panic."
night side. Curt Newton dropped the little craft straight Commander Anders shook his head hopelessly.
toward the great Government Tower that rose above all "We can't find Doctor Zarro! It is impossible to lo-
other structures of brilliant New York. cate the hidden base he and his Legion are using. And
The Comet came to rest on the truncated tip of the more scientists keep disappearing тАУ Kansu Kane, the
tower. As Curt and the Futuremen emerged, they saw in astro-physicist of Venus Observatory, vanished an hour
the plaza far below a great crowd that surged riotously ago!"
against a line of Police. "It's legitimate to infer that Doctor Zarro's Legion is