A NOVEL
“I keep my promises, my friend. I’m taking this boat
to Pluto, and I’ll kill a lot of them before they
finally get me. But—even though you have won, you have
lost as well. Because you’re going with me too!”
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Astonishing Stories, October 1942.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
FOREWORD
Late in the Twentieth Century Man, for the first time, burst through theinvisible barrier that had always kept him chained to his planet. A newand almost uncharted ocean lay before him, its vastness illimitable, itsmysteries as yet unexplored. Magellan, Columbus, Leif Ericsson—theseprimitives expected great wonders as the searoads opened before theprows of their ships. But the first spacemen thought—mistakenly, as itproved—that the airless void between the worlds could hold littleunknown to them.
They did not foresee that actual experience of a thing is far differentfrom abstract knowledge of it. They did not foresee the death thatleaped upon them from the outer dark, the strange, enigmatic horror thatkilled men without leaving trace or clue. The ships came back, crewsdecimated. Out there lay a menace that slew with blind, ravening fury.
For a time space held its secret. And then the Varra spoke to us, warnedus, told us why space was forbidden.
The Varra—glowing balls of light that hung in the void, vortices ofelectro-magnetic energy, alive and intelligent. For generations, theysaid, they had tried to communicate with us. But they could not existexcept in airless space, or under specialized conditions. They were notprotoplasmic in nature; they were beings of pure energy. But they wereintelligent and friendly.
From them we learned the nature of the menace. A race of beings dwelt onPluto, so different from both humanity and the Varra that they werealmost inconceivable. This race had never mastered space travel; it hadno need to leave its dark world. Only the immense power of thePlutonians’ minds reached out through the void, vampiric, draining thelife-energy from living organisms over incredible distances. Likemedieval robber-barons they laired on their planet, and the tentacles oftheir minds reached impalpably out for prey. Vampires of energy.
Vampires of life.
But the Varra they could not touch or harm. The peculiar physicalstructure of the Varra rendered them safe from the Plutonian creatures.
A World Fleet was sent out to subdue Pluto, against the advice of theVarra. It did not return.
In the end we made a pact with the Varra. They conveyed us throughspace, protecting us, as far as they were able, from the Plutonianvampires, though they did not always succeed. Each man who ventured intothe void was guarded and guided by a Varra, and therefore many lived whowould otherwise have died. No ship went beyond the orbit of Neptune;even that was dangerous. No ship ever landed on Pluto.
Only those guarded by the Varra were permitted to leave Earth. For therest—space was forbidden.
CHAPTER ONE
Hijacker from Hell
The Arctic blizzard swept needles of stinging ice against Saul Duncan’sface. Doggedly he plowed on, head lowered, heavy shoulders hunchedagainst the fury of the winds. Once he heard the drone of a heliplaneoverhead, and flung himself flat till the sound had been swallowed bythe gale. Then for a few moments his body refused to obey the grimdemands of his mind. Deceptive warmth was stealing over him, invitinghim to rest. But that, he knew, meant death then and there....