Flash Gordon 3 - The Space Circus Read Online Free PDF

“How many prisoners do they have in this circus?”
    Jape, the four-armed man, answered, “At present Barko owns nearly fifty of us.”
    “Is Barko the fat one who does the bidding at the auctions?”
    “That’s him,” said Sixy.
    “A renowned liberator,” said Zumm, “must have fetched an impressive price.”
    “I can only guess at the price tag they hung on me,” said Flash. “Since they never got around to mentioning it out loud.”
    Huk said, “The blue men apparently communicate only through thought waves.”
    Rubbing at his chin with one of his four hands, Jape shook his head. “I’m not certain, Huk, if that’s exactly it.”
    “Jape has a theory,” explained the hawkman to Flash, “that the helmets they all wear aid their telepathic communications in some way.”
    “However they do it,” said the pretty blonde Narla, “they think anybody who doesn’t is pretty low on the chain of evolution. People who communicate by talking are no better than yapping animals to them.”
    “A theory not completely lacking in merit,” said Zumm. “In the abstract, I hasten to add. In practice it has forced me to modify my dining habits considerably.”
    “That explains the raw meat,” said Flash.
    “Yes,” said Huk, “they assume we eat like the lower animals of their own planet.”
    “How long have you been here?”
    “Myself, six months,” replied the hawkman. “But Sixy is our veteran.”
    “A year and a half,” said the pudgy high-wire man.
    “Seems to me,” said Flash, “they’d have noticed raw meat wasn’t your favorite dish by now.”
    “Perhaps they have,” said Jape. “But they probably also consider us stubborn.”
    “Animals in captivity don’t always behave the way they do when roaming free,” said the girl. “That’s probably what they think.”
    “Do they make any attempt to communicate with you?”
    “Only with those shocksticks of theirs,” said Huk, ruffling his feathers.
    Flash began pacing as far as his ankle chain would allow. “And when we’re not performing, we’re kept here?”
    “They allow each of us an exercise period once a day,” said Jape, “to look after our personal needs. The rest of the time we spend in chains.”
    “Is the circus permanently quartered here?”
    “We move around,” said Sixy. “I’ve been all over since they grabbed me. The whole planet is a hothouse.”
    “I wasn’t thinking about the climate,” said Flash. “They chain us for the trips, too?”
    “Most travel on Mesmo is done by monorail,” said Huk. “Barko has several special railroad cars for us.”
    “Each of us is chained to a seat,” said Narla.
    Jape rubbed two of his hands together. “You’re thinking, Flash, that it might be easier to escape while the circus is moving.”
    “Yes,” answered Flash.
    “We’ve thought of that, too,” said the hawkman. “So far there’s never been an opportunity.”
    “Those chains are as strong as these,” added Sixy. “Even Mallox can’t snap them.”
    “Who’s Mallox?”
    “Our strongman,” said Sixy. “He’s a real wild man. They captured him in the forest of the planet, Anmar.”
    A door opened. Two blue men entered, dragging a battered Booker with them, bleeding from several gashes and cuts. The two men chained him to the wall and left, not paying any attention to the other captives.
    With a groan, Booker sat up. “What the devil is this anyway?”
    Narla was closest to the new arrival. She went to his side; her chain was long enough for that. “They put you in the wrestling cage, huh?”
    “I guess,” said Booker, wiping a tattered sleeve of his tunic across his bloody face. “Had me tangling with a bear and some other hairy thing I couldn’t identify. What is this place?”
    “Barko’s Interplanetary Circus,” said Huk. “Welcome.”
    “A circus? You mean that fat guy bought me to be a circus freak?”
    “It is a fate similar to that which has befallen all of us,” said