Captain Future 05 - Captain Future and the Seven Space Stones (Winter 1941) Read Free

against Doctor Zarro out there on Pluto, and —”
    “Come on, we don’t want to see a lot of fake souvenirs,” Curt said, taking Joan’s arm. “We’d better leave while we can still restrain Otho from murder.”
    The android had not lost his fury when they reached the bright, crowded midway. To placate him, Curt pointed to a big group of metal pavilions over which flared a bright diffraction sign.
     
    INTERPLANETARY CIRCUS — LAST WEEK ON EARTH
     
    “Come on, Otho — maybe the circus will console you,” Curt suggested.
    But Otho was still fuming as they approached the pavilions. “Let’s go in and see the freaks,” Curt invited.
    The side-show was an ingeniously compact auditorium, containing metal benches and a stage. Under soft krypton lights, one of the “Nine World Wonders” was performing.
    “The Chameleon Man!” an Earthling master of ceremonies was chanting. “Watch him change, folks. Watch him!”
    The Chameleon Man was an ordinary-looking, blue-skinned, lanky Saturnian. But when he moved in front of a green square of the vari-colored curtain, his skin abruptly changed to an exactly matching shade of green. He moved before a red part of the curtain, and at once his skin turned red.
    “How in the world does he do that?” Joan wondered.
    Curt had quickly fathomed the secret.
    “He’s being subjected to a ray that can alter skin pigmentation swiftly, just as actinic rays burn a white skin brown. His skin has been chemically prepared.”
    The Chameleon Man was replaced by a peaked-headed, cadaverous gray Neptunian, who possessed enormous, round, cuplike ears.
    “The Hearer can hear a leaf fall from a tree ten miles away,” boasted the showman. “Whisper to your neighbor, as low as you can, and he’ll tell you just what you said.”
    Various members of the audience tried it and were amazed to find that the Hearer could detect each almost inaudible sound.
    “His ears have been enlarged and made supersensitive by some surgical process, Chief,” Otho declared.
    Curt nodded. “Must be, though it would take a master physiologist to do it.”
    “And now, before the main show begins in the circus, we present our greatest act,” the stagemaster was announcing. “You have all heard of the scientific powers of the ancient Martians, the mighty dynasties that perished long before any Earthman ever traveled space. You’re going to see a man who has discovered the great secrets of those ancient wonder-workers. The Magician of Mars!”
    “The prize faker of all,” jeered Otho.
    Future stiffened as a man came out on the stage, holding two cumbersome, puzzling instruments in his hands. He had the red skin of a Martian but Earthly black hair, black, intelligent eyes that surveyed his audience with veiled scorn, and smooth, handsome features.
    “Why, that’s Doctor Ul Quorn!” Curt exclaimed.
    “Ul Quorn?” Joan repeated. “Who is he?”
    “He was as brilliant a scientist as the nine worlds possessed,” Curt said thoughtfully. “He’s half Earthman, a quarter Martian, a quarter Venusian. He had a high post at the Institute of Interplanetary Science before certain rather ghastly experiments of his were discovered, which got him a year in Cerberus prison and made him an outcast among all decent scientists. I’m sorry to see as brilliant a man as Quorn doing cheap scientific fakery in an outfit like this. I suppose it’s the only way he can live, though.”
    “Look at what he’s doing!” Otho blurted.
    An attendant had brought out a small Earth rodent, a furry, frightened little animal. Ul Quorn placed it on a suspended metal plate and aimed one of his instruments at it. The animal suddenly fell through the solid metal! Quorn passed the plate around to show it was perfectly solid.
    “Imps of space, this Quorn has something!” Otho swore. “That’s the same dematerialization effect the old Jovians had mastered, that gave us so much trouble in the Jupiter case.”
    “Yes,” Curt frowned.