Captain Future 01 - The Space Emperor (Winter 1940) Read Online Free PDF Page B

“They’ll drift in to Callisto and we’ll land there with them, and capture whoever’s in that ship.”
    “You think they were sent by the Space Emperor — the mysterious figure behind the Jupiter horror — to ambush us?” rasped Simon Wright inquiringly.
    “They must have been!” Otho declared. “The Space Emperor, whoever he is, didn’t want Captain Future coming to Jupiter to investigate him.”
    Curt Newton interrupted, his gray eyes lit.
    “But this may give us a lead right to the Space Emperor! If we can capture the men in that ship and make them talk —”
    The black enemy craft was now drifting in a spiral around Callisto, ever approaching nearer to that barren-looking gray moon. Curt kept the Comet trailing the other ship, but far enough away to be out of range of its flare-guns, and with the ion-discharge apparatus now cut off.
    “But lad,” said Simon Wright’s harsh voice, “how could the Space Emperor know that Captain Future was coming to Jupiter? The only person there whom the President would notify of our coming would be the Planetary Governor.”
    “Yes,” said Curt meaningly, “and that may give us another lead to him. But right now our best chance is to wring information out of the men in that ship.”
    Curt’s mind was vibrant with eager hope. His mysterious foe had struck at him already, even before he reached Jupiter. But it might be that the attack of the unknown plotter was going to recoil on his own head.
    “We near Callisto’s surface, master!” came the booming voice of Grag.
    Captain Future’s gray eyes lit with a reckless gleam. “Get ready for a scrap then, Grag!”
    Down through the thin atmosphere of Callisto the black ship was sinking, falling faster and faster. Still the Comet clung to its trail, grimly following it down toward the barren surface of the big moon...
     

     
Chapter 4: World of Creeping Crystals
     
    AT EVER increasing speed the small black space-cruiser and its grim pursuer sped down toward the surface of Callisto. This was the sunward side of the big moon, and in the pale sunlight it presented a drear and desolate landscape.
    A forbidding desert of drab gray rock, rising into low stony hills, it was infinitely repellent. The air here was barely breathable, as on all the larger moons, but because of its barrenness and also because of the grotesque, dangerous forms of life known to exist on its surface, few Earthmen had ever visited this world.
    Now the black ship was only a mile from the glaring gray rock surface. It hurtled downward at slowly increasing speed.
    “They won’t crash with much force,” Curt observed. “Callisto’s gravitation is not strong. It’ll be enough to shake them up and stun them for a moment, though, and we’ll jump them before they make trouble.”
    “I’d enjoy seeing their ship hit hard enough to splash them all over Callisto,” hissed the emotional android.
    Captain Future grinned.
    “You’re too bloodthirsty, Otho.”
    Otho stared at him puzzledly. “I can’t understand you humans some times,” he complained.
    Curt chuckled. Then he turned his attention below, ready for action.
    The black ship was falling toward the rocky plain. A moment later it struck the stony desert, bounced violently, then hit the ground again with a sharp impact and lay still.
    Instantly Captain Future sent the Comet speeding downward in a gliding swoop that brought it to a jarring landing close to the other ship. He jumped up from the controls.
    “Come on, Grag!” he shouted. “Otho, you stay here at our proton-beams, just in case.”
    “Be careful, lad,” cautioned the Brain.
    Curt paused to adjust the gravity equalizer he wore on his belt. Every interplanetary traveler owned one of these clever devices. Its “gravity charge” of magnetic force of selected polarity and strength made its wearer feel exactly as light or heavy as he was on Earth.
    Then Captain Future and the big metal robot emerged from the Comet into pale