[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
am a jewel-collector. I can afford to pay a good price
for your stones, since a space-ship invention of mine a
few years ago made me fairly wealthy. You can check
my references, if you wish. I'd like to see the jewels."
Curt looked over the documents Thaine handed him.
They seemed authentic. Yet he was certain that this
man was the Chameleon.
A SURPRISE ATTACK
He nevertheless went to a secret cupboard and took
from it the little casket in which were the eleven blaz-
ing yellow sun-stones.
"There they are, Mr. Thaine," he drawled. "Beauties,
aren't they? You sure you can afford to buy one?"
"Yes, of course," said Thaine. As he stepped for-
ward, his hand went into his jacket-pocket.
"No you don't, Chameleon!" exclaimed Curt, and
plunged forward before the man could draw the gun in
his pocket.
Captain Future's surprise attack caught the other be-
fore he could resist. Curt's swift ju-jitsu onslaught had
the man overpowered in a moment.
Ten minutes later, Commander Halk Anders of the
Patrol came in answer to Curt's call.
"There's your Chameleon, Halk," grinned Curt,
pointing to the prisoner.
"You must be crazy!" said Norman Thaine. "I'm not
the Chameleon."
"Then why," Curt asked him dryly, "were you reach-
ing for the atom-pistol in your pocket?"
"I wasn't reaching for that - I was reaching to show
you the money in my pocket, to convince you I could
buy one of the jewels." Thaine retorted. "I carried the
gun, for protection of my money."
"He did have a big sum of money in that pocket,"
Otho reported.
"Sure stolen money," grunted Halk Anders. "He's
the Chameleon all right."
"But I'm not!" Thaine insisted. "Those identity-pa-
pers -"
"All forged, without doubt," the Commander snort-
ed. "Captain Future, you've done the Patrol a big ser-
vice getting this fellow. I'm glad that I can tell those
scary shipping companies now that it's safe to go
through Sector l6, since the Chameleon's caught now."
THAINE PROVES HIS IDENTITY!
The telenews blazoned the news to the whole Sys-
tem in the following hour. The Chameleon captured at
last - by Captain Future!
27
THE FUTUREMEN: No. 10 - Captain Future Trails the Chameleon
People remarked, "Well, he was slick enough to fool
the Patrol a long while, but the Futuremen were a dif-
ferent matter."
But, up in headquarters of the Patrol in Government
Tower, Commander Anders was not feeling as tri-
umphant as he had felt at first.
"I can't understand this!" the commander told Cap-
tain Future. "We checked that fellow's papers, just as a
matter of routine - never doubting they were forged.
But they're not forged. Apparently, this man has a
solidly-established identity as Norman Thaine, Earth
inventor ."
"Of course, I'm Norman Thaine!" insisted the pris-
oner. "This is all nonsense about me being the
Chameleon."
Curt was unconvinced. "You're the Chameleon, and
we both know it," he asserted. "And I'm going to prove
it."
But, in the following days, Curt found that he could
not shake the identity of Norman Thaine. Thaine was
identified by several people, in particular, by the presi-
dent of the space-ship factory to whom he had sold an
invention a few years before.
"Yet he is the Chameleon, beyond doubt!" Captain
Future declared. "I see it all now. He's been clever
enough to establish two or three different identities,
through the past years, in preparation for just such a sit-
uation as this."
RELEASE!
"But we can't prove he's the Chameleon," Halk An-
ders said helplessly. "None of the Chameleon's former
victims can positively identify him. Yet he's not using
make-up or disguise - apparently the only disguise he
uses is cunning alterations of expression, and posture.
We can't prove he's the Chameleon, or even that he in-
tended to rob you of the sun-stones that night. And he
can prove he's Norman Thaine."
"And he's hired a lawyer who's demanding his re-
lease under the habeas corpus clause of interplanetary
law," put in an official.
"We'll have to release him, then," groaned Halk An-
ders. "By law, we can't hold him longer when we have
no proof of his guilt."
"But we know he's the Chameleon!" Curt Newton
exclaimed.
"Sure we do, but we'll have to let him go anyway,
and admit to the System that we didn't catch him after
all," Halk said unhappily.
Norman Thaine was brought into the Commander's
office, and handed his release. Not by an iota, did he
display any exultation.
"I'm going to charge you all with false arrest," he de-
clared indignantly.
THE DOOMED SPACE-LINER
Curt Newton knew that even as he spoke, the mas-
ter-thief was laughing to himself behind that indignant
mask.
"Get out of here, before I lose control of myself!"
Halk Anders blazed at Thaine. "If there was just one
shadow of proof -"
At that moment, there came an interruption. The
captain of the Mars station of the Patrol appeared, in
the televisor-screen nearby.
"Calling GHQ!" he was exclaiming. Then as Halk
Anders snapped a switch, the officer continued hastily,
"Just picked up SOS from the liner Starmaid! She was
running through Sector l6 of the asteroid zone when an
uncharted meteor-swarm caught her."
"The devil!" groaned Halk Anders. "I told the ship-
ping companies not to start going through Sector l6
again until it had been freshly charted!"
"The Starmaid was hard hit, sir," the other reported
tautly. "She telaudioed information that the ship was
completely crippled, that its passengers and crew were
abandoning her in the life-rockets, but that they had
only four life-rockets - the rest were smashed. Crowd-
ed in like that, they haven't air enough for more than
twenty hours."
"Good God!" muttered the Commander, appalled.
"They're doomed, then. We can't get a relief cruiser
from Mars station to that sector in less than ninety
hours."
"Isn't there any habitable 'toid in that sector where
they can land?" asked the Martian officer tensely. "I
could advise them -"
"You know there isn't - nothing but those meteors
and a couple of airless asteroids," groaned Anders.
"Not a place in that whole sector with air enough to
keep them alive that long -"
THE SECRET BASE
He stopped suddenly, as he saw that Captain Future
was looking at Norman Thaine, quietly and steadily.
"You have a secret base in that sector, Chameleon,"
Curt was saying. "There'd be air enough there to keep
those people alive. They could get to it - if you told us
where the base is."
"How can I tell you that?" Thaine retorted. "I'm not
the Chameleon - I don't know where his base is."
"There'll be women and children in those life-rock-
ets," Curt went on quietly. "Women and children who
will die of suffocation twenty hours from now, unless
they reach a place with air."
Sweat stood out on Norman Thaine's forehead. His
face took on a gray pallor, and he clenched his fists.
When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. "All right,
Captain Future. Tell those life-rockets to make for the
asteroid Ferronia. There's a crater-peak near its north-
ern pole. Down in that crater they'll find an airlock, and
28
THE FUTUREMEN: No. 10 - Captain Future Trails the Chameleon
beneath it is my cavern-base. It has oxygen-generators
enough to keep them all alive until help comes."
When Halk Anders had repeated that information to
be relayed by telaudio to the life-rockets, Captain Fu-
ture looked fixedly, at their prisoner.
"You realize, of course," Curt said to Norman
Thaine, "that you have just convicted yourself of being
the Chameleon?"
The Chameleon laughed harshly. "Sure, I know.
And just when I was free to walk out of here. I'm the
prize idiot of all time, eh?"
PLUTO PRISON FOR LIFE!
Anders said, movedly, "I wish I could tell you that
this would cancel out your record, Chameleon. But it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl akte20.pev.pl
am a jewel-collector. I can afford to pay a good price
for your stones, since a space-ship invention of mine a
few years ago made me fairly wealthy. You can check
my references, if you wish. I'd like to see the jewels."
Curt looked over the documents Thaine handed him.
They seemed authentic. Yet he was certain that this
man was the Chameleon.
A SURPRISE ATTACK
He nevertheless went to a secret cupboard and took
from it the little casket in which were the eleven blaz-
ing yellow sun-stones.
"There they are, Mr. Thaine," he drawled. "Beauties,
aren't they? You sure you can afford to buy one?"
"Yes, of course," said Thaine. As he stepped for-
ward, his hand went into his jacket-pocket.
"No you don't, Chameleon!" exclaimed Curt, and
plunged forward before the man could draw the gun in
his pocket.
Captain Future's surprise attack caught the other be-
fore he could resist. Curt's swift ju-jitsu onslaught had
the man overpowered in a moment.
Ten minutes later, Commander Halk Anders of the
Patrol came in answer to Curt's call.
"There's your Chameleon, Halk," grinned Curt,
pointing to the prisoner.
"You must be crazy!" said Norman Thaine. "I'm not
the Chameleon."
"Then why," Curt asked him dryly, "were you reach-
ing for the atom-pistol in your pocket?"
"I wasn't reaching for that - I was reaching to show
you the money in my pocket, to convince you I could
buy one of the jewels." Thaine retorted. "I carried the
gun, for protection of my money."
"He did have a big sum of money in that pocket,"
Otho reported.
"Sure stolen money," grunted Halk Anders. "He's
the Chameleon all right."
"But I'm not!" Thaine insisted. "Those identity-pa-
pers -"
"All forged, without doubt," the Commander snort-
ed. "Captain Future, you've done the Patrol a big ser-
vice getting this fellow. I'm glad that I can tell those
scary shipping companies now that it's safe to go
through Sector l6, since the Chameleon's caught now."
THAINE PROVES HIS IDENTITY!
The telenews blazoned the news to the whole Sys-
tem in the following hour. The Chameleon captured at
last - by Captain Future!
27
THE FUTUREMEN: No. 10 - Captain Future Trails the Chameleon
People remarked, "Well, he was slick enough to fool
the Patrol a long while, but the Futuremen were a dif-
ferent matter."
But, up in headquarters of the Patrol in Government
Tower, Commander Anders was not feeling as tri-
umphant as he had felt at first.
"I can't understand this!" the commander told Cap-
tain Future. "We checked that fellow's papers, just as a
matter of routine - never doubting they were forged.
But they're not forged. Apparently, this man has a
solidly-established identity as Norman Thaine, Earth
inventor ."
"Of course, I'm Norman Thaine!" insisted the pris-
oner. "This is all nonsense about me being the
Chameleon."
Curt was unconvinced. "You're the Chameleon, and
we both know it," he asserted. "And I'm going to prove
it."
But, in the following days, Curt found that he could
not shake the identity of Norman Thaine. Thaine was
identified by several people, in particular, by the presi-
dent of the space-ship factory to whom he had sold an
invention a few years before.
"Yet he is the Chameleon, beyond doubt!" Captain
Future declared. "I see it all now. He's been clever
enough to establish two or three different identities,
through the past years, in preparation for just such a sit-
uation as this."
RELEASE!
"But we can't prove he's the Chameleon," Halk An-
ders said helplessly. "None of the Chameleon's former
victims can positively identify him. Yet he's not using
make-up or disguise - apparently the only disguise he
uses is cunning alterations of expression, and posture.
We can't prove he's the Chameleon, or even that he in-
tended to rob you of the sun-stones that night. And he
can prove he's Norman Thaine."
"And he's hired a lawyer who's demanding his re-
lease under the habeas corpus clause of interplanetary
law," put in an official.
"We'll have to release him, then," groaned Halk An-
ders. "By law, we can't hold him longer when we have
no proof of his guilt."
"But we know he's the Chameleon!" Curt Newton
exclaimed.
"Sure we do, but we'll have to let him go anyway,
and admit to the System that we didn't catch him after
all," Halk said unhappily.
Norman Thaine was brought into the Commander's
office, and handed his release. Not by an iota, did he
display any exultation.
"I'm going to charge you all with false arrest," he de-
clared indignantly.
THE DOOMED SPACE-LINER
Curt Newton knew that even as he spoke, the mas-
ter-thief was laughing to himself behind that indignant
mask.
"Get out of here, before I lose control of myself!"
Halk Anders blazed at Thaine. "If there was just one
shadow of proof -"
At that moment, there came an interruption. The
captain of the Mars station of the Patrol appeared, in
the televisor-screen nearby.
"Calling GHQ!" he was exclaiming. Then as Halk
Anders snapped a switch, the officer continued hastily,
"Just picked up SOS from the liner Starmaid! She was
running through Sector l6 of the asteroid zone when an
uncharted meteor-swarm caught her."
"The devil!" groaned Halk Anders. "I told the ship-
ping companies not to start going through Sector l6
again until it had been freshly charted!"
"The Starmaid was hard hit, sir," the other reported
tautly. "She telaudioed information that the ship was
completely crippled, that its passengers and crew were
abandoning her in the life-rockets, but that they had
only four life-rockets - the rest were smashed. Crowd-
ed in like that, they haven't air enough for more than
twenty hours."
"Good God!" muttered the Commander, appalled.
"They're doomed, then. We can't get a relief cruiser
from Mars station to that sector in less than ninety
hours."
"Isn't there any habitable 'toid in that sector where
they can land?" asked the Martian officer tensely. "I
could advise them -"
"You know there isn't - nothing but those meteors
and a couple of airless asteroids," groaned Anders.
"Not a place in that whole sector with air enough to
keep them alive that long -"
THE SECRET BASE
He stopped suddenly, as he saw that Captain Future
was looking at Norman Thaine, quietly and steadily.
"You have a secret base in that sector, Chameleon,"
Curt was saying. "There'd be air enough there to keep
those people alive. They could get to it - if you told us
where the base is."
"How can I tell you that?" Thaine retorted. "I'm not
the Chameleon - I don't know where his base is."
"There'll be women and children in those life-rock-
ets," Curt went on quietly. "Women and children who
will die of suffocation twenty hours from now, unless
they reach a place with air."
Sweat stood out on Norman Thaine's forehead. His
face took on a gray pallor, and he clenched his fists.
When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. "All right,
Captain Future. Tell those life-rockets to make for the
asteroid Ferronia. There's a crater-peak near its north-
ern pole. Down in that crater they'll find an airlock, and
28
THE FUTUREMEN: No. 10 - Captain Future Trails the Chameleon
beneath it is my cavern-base. It has oxygen-generators
enough to keep them all alive until help comes."
When Halk Anders had repeated that information to
be relayed by telaudio to the life-rockets, Captain Fu-
ture looked fixedly, at their prisoner.
"You realize, of course," Curt said to Norman
Thaine, "that you have just convicted yourself of being
the Chameleon?"
The Chameleon laughed harshly. "Sure, I know.
And just when I was free to walk out of here. I'm the
prize idiot of all time, eh?"
PLUTO PRISON FOR LIFE!
Anders said, movedly, "I wish I could tell you that
this would cancel out your record, Chameleon. But it [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]