Captain Future 06 - Star Trail to Glory (Spring 1941) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Captain Future's domain.
    Curt hurried into the ship, the Brain gliding beside him. Grag followed, with his moon-pup perched on his shoulder, Ezra Gurney was waiting, his faded blue eyes still bewildered as Captain Future took off his space-suit.
    "Order your crew to blast for Venus full speed, Ezra," Curt requested.
    Unquestioningly the veteran marshal gave the order. The cruiser roared up from the Moon into space and curved around till its bow pointed at the white, gleaming speck of Venus.
    "Now tell me how Cap'n Future's ship is stolen right under his nose," Ezra demanded.
    "Yes, and where's Otho?" asked a girl's vibrant voice.
    Curt Newton turned. Beside him stood a dark, pretty Earthgirl in mannish jacket and space-slacks, her brown eyes kindling with excitement. It was Joan Randall, secret agent of the Planet Police, who had worked with Captain Future in the past.
    "I might have known that you would be in on this business," Captain Future declared. "You're always on deck when there's trouble."
    Ezra grinned widely. "Sure, she got herself put on detached service so she could bother us men when we had work to do. Do you think I could keep her from coming along when I got your call? Not a chance!"
    "It's the only chance I ever get to see you," Joan said calmly to Curt. "You've never been polite enough to invite me up to that Moon-home of yours. And while it's not much of a romance to go charging all over the System with you, it's better than none at all."
    "Romance?" Curt retorted. "You're just excitement-crazy. If you weren't so darned good at Police work, I'd have kicked you out into space long ago."
    "Don't believe him, Ezra," said Joan. "It's just a front he puts up. I'll bet he spends all his time on the Moon thinking of me."
    "Listen, we've got things a danged sight more important to think of right now," Ezra Gurney protested. "Cap'n Future, who took the Comet?"
    "I wish I knew," Curt said bitterly. He told of what had happened. "We have only that last interrupted call from Otho about a strange force hitting him, and the fact that they've taken the stolen ship to Venus."
    Ezra smacked his knee with his bony hand.
    "By the ice-fiends of Pluto, it all ties up together! Cap'n Future, your ship's been stolen by the same mysterious crowd that's hijacked hundreds of new space ships lately from the Rocketeers who were testin' them. That's what the President was callin' you about."
    "Hundreds of space ships stolen?" Curt's brows knit. "How were they taken?"
    "Same way as the Comet was snatched from Otho, it seems," Ezra replied. "A queer weapon of some kind hit the Rocketeers pilotin' them and they woke up in space. The ships were gone, we don't know where. And maybe you don't think those space ship magnates on Mercury are goin' crazy! I was there investigatin' and I couldn't learn anything, so I blasted back to Earth and had the President call you."
    The Brain's voice broke the momentary silence that ensued. Simon Wright had poised behind Curt, listening until now.
    "Then the same criminals who have been — stealing ships from the Rocketeers also took the Comet" he rasped. "They must have intended not merely to steal our ship but to get you, Curtis. They'd figure that we'd all be in our ship, on our way to answer the President's call."
    "I believe you're right, Simon," Curt muttered thoughtfully. "But what's the purpose of the organization behind all this? And what's this mysterious weapon they use to overcome pilots inside their ships?"
     
    EZRA GURNEY and Joan had for the first time noticed that the Brain was poising in mid-air on his beams, between Curt and Grag.
    "Why, Simon can move now!" Ezra exclaimed.
    Curt explained briefly about Simon Wright's new equipment. Then Captain Future continued:
    "You were right in having the President call me, Ezra. These space ship thefts are serious. The ring that's pulling them apparently possesses secret new scientific powers against which ordinary precautions are useless. We'll