Neil R. Jones

“ Substantiating Jasper's discovery, there came a chorus of yells from all sides. Heads came into sight above the tall grass. Darts flew thick and fast, yet every one found its mark. The cave men of Venus brandished their weapons preparatory to rushing in upon us in overwhelming numbers.
The outlaws blazed away at the savages, but the latter proved to be difficult targets at which to aim. They were always on the move, running, hiding, reappearing to launch their deadly darts from another direction. ”

“ Ledageree dropped his armful of the precious metal and screamed an order.
"Into the ship!"
It was then that I noticed the curious fact that none of the passengers or crew of the C-49 had been hit. The remaining outlaws attempted to herd us into the ship. Their numbers rapidly diminished under the hail of darts cast at them so accurately by the troglodytes. Many of the cave men toppled over in death as the outlaws made a hit, but more came to take the places of those fallen.
"There's the white man—the renegade!" shouted Quentin. ”

“ Raising the black weapon, he aimed carefully at his fellow outlaws. The man's strange actions amazed me. He was turning upon his own comrades. Several of the brigands fell backward off the deck of the outlaw craft.
Cragley, beside me, was speechless in surprise at the rapid succession of events. The outlaw's strange weapon which emitted no flash had us all wondering. Later, we discovered that it was a radium gun, a new instrument of destruction still in the experimental stage.
"Who is he?" voiced Cragley.
"Can't be the fellow we heard over the speaker," observed Quentin. ”

“ There's enough poison in one breath to kill twenty men!"
Instinctively, we recoiled from the milky haze.
"How are we to cross?" asked Quentin.
"Put on the space helmets!" ordered Cragley. "That stuff can't hurt you unless you breathe it!"
To prove his words, Cragley donned his space helmet and advanced into the mist. Looking back through the transparent facing of the helmet, he beckoned to us. Previously, many of the passengers had rebelled against Cragley's persistence that they carry the added weight of the space helmets. ”

“ A man, fully dressed, ran out of sight with the troglodytes, melting into the shadows of the surrounding jungle. Cragley ran up beside me and saw him too. He was out of sight before either of us had a chance to fire. At first, I had thought the man to be one of our party, but his flight with the cave men disproved the assumption. ”

“ Captain Cragley steadied himself on the threshold of my room. The captain and I had become intimate friends during the trip from the earth. In his eyes I saw concern.
"What's wrong?" I queried.
"Don't know yet! Come—get out of there, man! We may have to use the emergency cylinder!"
I followed Cragley. The crew, numbering seven, were gathered in the observation chamber. Most of the passengers were there too.
The C-49 carried twelve passengers, all men, to the Deliphon settlement of Venus. In the earlier days of space travel, few women dared the trip across space. ”

“ The C-49 was far below us and dropping fast.
"No danger now," he assured the passengers. "We'll come down like a feather. Then all we have to do is radio Deliphon to send out a ship for us."
Cragley was equal to the situation. In this year of 2342, when the days of pioneer space flying were commencing to fade into history, it required capable men to cope with interplanetary flight. If Cragley brought his crew and passengers safely through this adversity and also salvaged the valuable cargo of the C-49, it was another feather in his cap. ”

“ Probably pick us off one by one at their leisure. They seem to be going to a lot of unnecessary trouble for no reason at all."
Three sharp blasts of sound issued from the outlaw ship. A pause, and then followed three more. I watched Cragley to see what action, if any, he would take. He seemed undecided. I began to grow uneasy.
"Not a chance of breaking through that screen of electricity," said Quentin. "They got us right where they want to keep us."
"But why?"
Quentin shook his head. "If it was just the platinum, they could destroy every one of us, then come in here and take it." ”

“ The order, established since the perfection of space flying, was comprised of men pledged to keep the space lanes and colonies safe from the lawless element.
"We'll be in the death unit when Ledageree and his men come back," cracked Ben, chuckling at his own grim joke. "Did you plant the platinum, or is it back there?"
"Back there," echoed Cragley dejectedly. "We haven't a chance. I thought maybe we could make Deliphon with the stuff before these outlaws got wise."
"We followed the trail easily from the air," remarked Cartley. "First, we found the space ship and the cylinder. ”

“ If there's a battle, we haven't a chance in our present condition!"
"Where'll we go?" asked Quentin. "Somewhere and hide?"
"We'll head for Deliphon. It's a long, hard tramp, but it's our only chance. Get things ready to leave. Pack everything we'll want to take with us. Just before we start, we'll have this execution over with."
Quentin immediately apprised the crew and passengers of the C-49 of Captain Cragley's intentions. He stated the fact that brigands were expected shortly, telling of what they would do to luckless passengers who fell into their hands. ”

“ I blew out the radium repellors of the C-49 and planted the evidence in Brady's room. I knew if anything happened Raynor and Davy would identify him as the man from whom they took instructions. That left me a loophole."
"The case against you is completed, Hantel!" Cragley's face was stern and set. "You're the one who's going to be shot this time, and there won't be any chance of falling before my men fire, either!"
"Just a minute," interposed Jezzan, thrusting back the angry captain. "We've got a say here. Headquarters wants this man. He's got more information than he's given. ”

“ Raising his electric pistol, he fired, and the passenger from the ill-fated C-49 joined his companions who had futilely rushed the electric barrier.
A voice from the space ship of the brigands suddenly gave out an order. The voice came from a speaker and was many times amplified.
"Crew and passengers of the C-49—come out in the open. Bring the platinum with you. Keep away from the electric fence unless you wish to die. Come out—or we shall come in and hunt you down." ”

“ Several of the crew worked feverishly at the controls above the instrument board.
"What's our altitude?" demanded Cragley.
"Fifteen thousand feet!" was the prompt reply. "Our drop is better than a hundred feet a second!" ”

“ We've got to get that platinum shipment off the C-49 and get into communication with headquarters at Deliphon somehow. The proximity detector tells us we're over two hundred miles from there."
One of the passengers spoke up with a suggestion. "Can't we go the rest of the way in this? You can send back for what's left of the ship. I've an important reason for arriving in Deliphon quickly. If—"
"Not a chance," cut in Cragley, both amused and annoyed. "The cylinder wouldn't take us anywhere. All the cylinder is good for is an emergency descent. It has no driving power." ”

“ Quentin prophesied we would be on the march for fully twenty rotations of Venus unless we struck the comparatively clear country which Cragley was sure existed between us and Deliphon.
Fearsome beasts menaced us at all times. ”

“ There will be the terrible climatic conditions on other worlds to be faced, strange beasts and plants; and perhaps desperate and greedy men. That was the case when every new land was opened on earth and it may be expected to be true when we conquer the solar planets. ”

“ The troglodytes were led by the man who had broken into our camp on the previous night. Seizing a pistol from one of the fallen brigands, Ben hastily pointed it at the yelling cave dwellers who were running full force in our direction, the renegade at their head. ”

“ For a moment I thought we'd struck the planet."
"Yes—there was an explosion," Cragley replied, a bit reluctant to voice the admission. "It occurred somewhere in the mechanism operating our radium repellors. ”

“ Spacewrecked on Venus By NEIL R. JONES
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Wonder Stories Quarterly Winter 1932. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
A beam of electricity leaped from the ship. Instantly shafts of light spread from the nearest projectile to the ones on either side of it.
NEIL R. JONES
Interplanetary commerce, if and when it begins, will be fraught with all of the dangers that accompany pioneering expeditions. ”