Lost World of Time

Another of the pulp fiction stories from Planet Comics, transcribed from the original JPEG fiche scans to make them easier to read and reformat. The two pages that this came from are included at the bottom.

Lost World of Time

By Lin Davies from Planet Comics #7, July 1940.

Caught in a terrific time-warp, Capt. Dexter Ames ans his gallant space-ship crew turn their ray-rifles on the shaggy Hun-hordes of Attila.

Captain Dexter Ames, biting his lip, stood spraddle-legged in the control cabin of the space ship Discoverer, facing his chief engineer. Beside him, pale of face, the second in command of the Earth expedition, little Doctor Phillips ran a trembling hand over his brow.

"You are sure," Ames asked Engineer Morgan, "that our motors must be repaired before we can try to return Earth."

The Engineer nodded. "The pirate's blasting shells wrecked our batteries. We can reach a planet by careful use of the motors, and if the atmosphere is favorable we can soon make repairs."

Ames Nodded. "Give us what speed you can." Another nod dismissed the engineer, and Ames turned to Phillips. The little scientist was already poring over the stellar chart. He looked up suddenly.

"This is strange," he exclaimed. "The chart is vague about this corner of the heavens. But the asteroid lies yonder."

"Let us make for it then," Ames spoke though the tube, and heard Morgan's grunt. He gave the course to the helmsman, and the space ship swung, awkwardly, like a crippled thing, on her new course.

As it hurtled through space a strange feeling came over Ames. Halfway to Medona, he began to sense a mystery in their surroundings. He was pacing the deck when the lookout called out in alarm. "Planet ahead, sir!"

"Nonsense! snapped Ames. "Medona is--"

"It isn't Medona, sir," stammered the lookout, stupefied. It's Earth!"

"Earth!" repeated Ames. "Why, man, Earth is two million miles away!"

For answer the lookout stepped away from the great telescope, and Ames took his place. He took one look, gasped, and shouted to Morgan, "Reduce speed!"




Phillips ran up. Ames waved him to the telescope. The scientist squinted through the great quartzite lenses, and his jaw fell.

"Earth!" he muttered.

"Are we all drunk, Doctor?" asked Ames, smiling for the benefit of the terrified lookout. Panic would sweep the ship, he knew, if this evidence of some strange doom were to be followed by similar disclosures.

Phillips was blinking rapidly, thinking hard. "Ames," he said solemnly, "can you stand a shock?"

"Try me," grinned Ames. He winked at Phillips, indicating that the lookout should not hear.

Phillips lowered his voice, but the lowered tones could not hide his excitement. "It is Earth, Ames. but not the Earth of our time! It is Earth of some other day! We have slipped past a time-warp!"

Ames nodded slowly, his eyes widening. "So that's it!" He glanced ahead where the planet was still invisible to the naked eye. "What time period, then?"

"Ah, that we'll know when we land," countered Phillips. "If," he added hopefully, "we are to land."

They swept down to see a vast range of mountains, snow-peaked. The Alps, Phillips thought. They turned south, and found the land stretching away in a plain, cut by winding rivers. They swept lower, and could make out a vast army, moving southward.

"There are beasts, and men," murmured Phillips.

"An army," prompted Ames.

Phillips nodded.

"NO need to land among them," Ames declared. "We'll go farther south."

"But as they cruised, more armed columns appeared. Then they saw the first sign of pitched battle. The army streaming south was overwhelming the defenders of the land. They swept still further south, and Ames gave the order to land.

The Discoverer slid to a landing in a flat valley, where a bright sun gleamed on white walls. A fort lay on the far end of the valley, and scattered houses dotted the ground near them.

"Italy!" cried Phillips.

"The Roman Empire!" added Ames. He ordered a landing party to arm. the great doors rolled back, and he stepped forth from the hull of the Discoverer. Behind him came gunner Hatch and twenty Earth-men armed with ray-rifles. They moved to a well-paved road, and cautiously moved toward the town under the fort's walls.

Suddenly from a declivity in the land a javelin whistled. It struck Ames' helmet, and glanced off. The Earth-men raised their rifles.

"Don't fire!" Ames warned. He raised his voice, first in English, then in Latin, the tongue of the old Romans. "Ho! We come in friendship!"

"Instantly a head appeared above the stonework. Sun glinted on a bronze helmet of the sort that Ceaser's centurions wore. "Speak if you are a friend!" the strange officer growled.

Hatch muttered a warning. But Ames stepped forward alone. He saw the centurion was supported by a mere score of soldiers, all in the helmets and breastplates of the old Romans. Short swords and spears and shields were their armament.

"Who attacks you?" asked Ames.

The centurion growled, and his men muttered in astonishment. "All the world knows," cried the centurion, "that Atilla the Hun rides on Rome."

Then Ames knew. This was the time into which the Discoverer had flown!"

Let us aid you against Atilla," he urged.

The centurion looked doubtfully at the space ship. "You are demons?" he asked at last.

"Not we," Ames assures him. He made no effort to explain the magic of flight to this grizzled veteran of old Rome. "Where is the Hun advance guard?"

"Not more then a league away," responded the centurion. He pointed. They will march into sight in one turn of the hour-glass. We cannot hope to hold the valley but we must fight to the last."

"Then," decided Ames, "we shall help you." He wheeled and shouted orders to Morgan to begin repairs.

The Romans marveled as more men poured out of the great hull and began to bore into the motor compartment. In an hour the sounds of trumpets was heard. The centurion was looking askance at Ames, as if to remind him of his promise.

Ames pointed to his men. "Let us march ahead," he proposed. "We will meet Atilla's scouts."

The centurion nodded. "Let there be no treachery," he warned darkly.

Ames nodded, gave a command, and the twenty men of the Earth of the new day set out to battle for the Earth of an ancient century. They met Attila's advance in full view of the fort and town.

First came shaggy ponies, carrying bearded giants in helmets crowned with cow's horns. They spurred when they sighted the little party. The Earth-men waited, undismayed by marveling at the long swords high in air, and listening to the wild cries. The Huns charged.

The ray-pistols spoke. The Huns tumbled from their saddles, five, ten at a time. Twenty fell as if struck with one blow. The rear-most Huns pulled up. They retreated.

"By Jove!" cried the centurion as he ran up. "You fight like demons, whoever you may be!" He embraced Ames. "The Emperor will surely make you a prince. Look! -- the commander is coming to give thanks!"

Sure enough, a glittering procession was issuing from the fort. But at that moment Morgan came up. "Repairs are made, sir," he said simply.

So Ames turned with regret to the centurion. "We must go."

"How now? Go?" the centurion was offended.

"It is duty," Ames explained.

"Oho! That is another thing," the centurion admitted. And he stepped aside to permit Ames and his men to embark once again for Earth.





End.


From the original fiche scans of Planet Comics #7 at Golden Age Comics, uploaded there by Rolster.

The Star Pirates

by Lin Davies. From Planet Comics #6, June 1940.

Homeward-bound with his vital secret of Sun control, Captain Dexter Ames of the Space-Ship Discoverer runs into pirate trouble!

Yes, there were three specks in the stratosphere, far off to the right. The quartzite lenses did not lie. Captain Dexter Ames of the Earth-ship Discoverer drew back from the squat telescope with worry furrowing his forehead.

Three space ships! Where did they come from? Were they friends or enemies of the exploring craft hurrying home with fateful news? He pressed a button to summon his second in command, and in a moment Doctor Phillips was at his side.

"What is it, Captain?"

Ames focused the telescope and gestured. "Take a look."

The little scientist squinted through the space-revealing tube and exclaimed in alarm. "What are they?"

"They're not Earth-ships," said Ames Grimly.

"Perhaps they're Inter-Planet patrol craft," suggested the doctor hopefully.

Ames shook his head, "They don't cruise in threes."

The little doctor glanced worriedly about him, as though seeking the cause of their trouble. His eyes fell on the great figure sprawled upon a bench in the wing of the control cabin. Ames, too, glanced that way, his eyes running over the ten-foot giant, and suddenly his eyes gleamed.

"I've got an idea, Doc!" He gestured to the helmet, made of metallic coils, on the doctor's head. "Let's show the Prince the ships in the scope, and you test his thought-reaction!"

The doctor rubbed his hands. Quickly he led their amiable guest-hostage, the Prince of Alpha-Astra, to the glass. The big fellow stared while the doctor fiddled with the tubes of his thought-transference helmet. When the giant straightened there was a glitter of hostility in his eyes that made Ames' pulse beat faster.

The doctor's eyes were half-closed, his lips parted as he strained to catch the drift of the giant's thoughts. Then, "Ames! Ames!" he cried excitedly. "I've got it! The Prince identifies -- apparently with some doubt in his mind -- those ships as pirates from Neptune!"


"Pirates!" whistled Ames. "We've had no word of pirates in these parts!"

The doctor pushed the helmet off his wrinkled brow. "You think they'll attack us?"

Ames shook his head. "Don't know. But they certainly will if they've any idea how much they could win by blasting us to dust." He turned to the speaking tube and his voice roared with clear command. "Attention! Battle stations!"

Through the listening tube came sounds of quick movement, a swishing of soft-soled shoes on metal decks in the far recesses of the ship. Then came the responses. "Guns ready, sir!" That was Chief Gunner Hatch's clipped quick voice. "Engine-room standing by, sir." Chief Engineer Morgan drawled down in the bowels of the moto-room. Behind the captain a door popped open and the communications man poked his head out. "The board's dead, sir, but we're trying."

The captain nodded. "Watch it carefully. Try to tune in on the Neptune band, and report instantly if the three ships off the starboard bow try to speak to us."

"Three -- ships, sir!" The communications man's eyes popped wide. "Yes, sir!" He vanished.

Ames watched the gunners in the shoulders of the control cabin at their job of ranging the big proton guns on the tiny targets ahead, calculating speed, debating projectile types. At the scope the little doctor fidgeted. "They're bigger, Captain. You'd better take a look."

Ames took one look and nodded to Doctor Phillips. "We're in for it. Those are the Neptune pirates."

"The doctor paled. But he nodded matter-of-factly. "Perhaps we have speed on them."

Ames compressed his lips. "I doubt it. The Discoverer was built for a long cruise, not for fighting. "However--"

He paced the bridge. The next few minutes might spell their safety or doom. Everything depended upon the way he fought his ship. Could he give the pirates the slip, or, failing that, trounce them in battle? It was three to one -- and those Neptune ships looked like war craft.

They came up fast, flying at a tangent that would put them on his starboard quarter. But no -- they were crawling up, showing a speed that made the Discoverer look like a cripple. Ames barked into the speaking tube. "Morgan! Are you getting all the speed you can?"

Back came the answer, "The last gasp, Chief!"

The lean space-devils loomed larger. Ames could make out the ports where the muzzles of proton guns gleamed. Suddenly the leading ship fired.

Ames slammed the elevators hard down, and the Discoverer dived. As the great space ship slipped out of her course a dull boom sounded through her length, and she shivered. Ahead, a bright glow appeared. A shot across the bows -- a warning to heave to!

Gunner Hatch's voice sounded eager and quick. "We have the range, sir!"

"Not yet," warned Ames. "Don't fire. When you do, take the leading ship first."

He flung the Discoverer off her course, seeking to elude the pirate trio. But the move gained only a few seconds. When he scanned the rearward air again, the third pirate ship had crept up on one side. "Hatch!" he shouted. "Take that one -- to port!"

"Aye, sir!" And the port stern-chaser spoke with stunning concussion. Staggering, the pirate ship fell off, and Ames heard the gunners cheer. But in the next instant a crushing blow struck the Discoverer, hurling Ames to the deck, where he lay senseless.

He knew nothing of the motors' futile thrumming as the Discoverer, her rudders jammed by the hit, swung into a giddy circle. Or of how the two unhurt pirate ships, matching the Discoverer's speed, came alongside. He roused to see, dimly, the port and starboard bulkheads crashing in under the fire of the pirates' protons, and a swarm of lean-faced hot-eyed Neptune men pouring through the breaches.

Fear of them rushed into the control room, herding little Doctor Phillips before them. The leader surveyed the spacious control room.



"We can use her," he jeered in slurred Earth-language, "for cargo. And as for you--" he jabbed Ames with a ray-pistol, "--you and your people will slave in our laboratories." He gestured to the guards, and Ames and Phillips were jostled aft, into half-empty cargo hold. The bulkhead slammed, and quiet fell in the big chamber.

Ames rubbed his throbbing head, and looked about him. The whole crew was gathered here, desperation their faces. In one corner sat the giant Prince, broodingly fingering a great gash on his forehead; evidently he had been stunned before he was captured.

The ship rolled, and Ames knew that the course had been changed. The realization stirred him to frantic thoughts. "Once we're on Neptune, we won't have a chance," he told himself. "No, if we ever make the break, it must be now."

But below him was a metal deck. Walls and ceiling were just as impregnable, and as for the door -- he shook his head.

Then he sighted the giant again. Those broad shoulders --.

Ames jumped to his feet. "Men!" he cried. "Let's try a break! If we can force that door, it'll be split-second work to capture the prize crew. Are you ready?"

Morgan gave Ames an odd look, glancing sideways at the ponderous door. But Hatch was on his feet. Ames tapped the giant on the shoulder. "It's up to you, Prince."

The giant of the first star shook his head at the unfamiliar words. But his eyes gleamed when Ames rammed his shoulder at the door then stood back. In a flash the ten-footer was on his feet. His first thrust made the stout door tremble, while he caromed off it as if he had been a cork on water. But his second try cracked a hinge, and the crew gave a suppressed yell. On the third plunge the giant Prince laid the door flat.

And over his sprawled body the Discoverers crew raced. In two minutes the ship was safe from stern to stern, with the prize crew of surly Neptune men in irons.

"Well, Doc!" cried Ames. "Earth's alliance with Alpha Astra is working already. Hey, Prince?"

The ten-foot Prince of First Star grinned understandingly.

End.


Below are the jpeg scans from Golden Age Comics. Where the full issue of Planet Comics #6 is available for download in CBR format.

Slave of the Lizard-Men.

By Don Varick.

Ravaged by quakes and floods, Earth sends Captain Dexter Ames through outer space to discover the mysterious secret of Sun-control.

Captain Dexter Ames, guiding the spaceship Discoverer out of gloomy canyon walls for a survey of the mystery planet Alpha Astra, wheeled eagerly when Doctor Phillips, his second in command, sputtered in amazement as he stared groundward through the powerful, squat telescope in the wing of the control cabin.

"Well, Doc?"

"There! Down there -- among the Lizard-Men!" stuttered the little scientist, staring.

"What!" exclaimed Ames, "More of the scaly devils? Like the ones we fought off in the canyon?"

"Yes, yes," snapped the doctor. "But that's not all!" He fidgeted at the scope. There he is! A giant, Captain, a giant!"

"A what?"

The bald little doctor danced a jig about the scope. "See for yourself! An amazing fellow! He might be an Earth-man like us, but for his size."

"Sure the light hasn't fooled you?" asked Ames, stepping to the scope as Chief Gunner Hatch took over the controls.

"No! The Lizard-Men are all around him, rearing up to their six feet. You can judge his hight by them!"

It was so, Ames saw. Down on the level plain a horde of the scaly green Lizard-Men swarmed about a great platform. And chained to the middle of was the doctor's giant.

Ames eyes sparkled. "A giant!" he cried. "There's other life, than, on the oldest star of them all! A giant! Perhaps it's his people who know the secret of Sun-control -- his people who just now are touching off quakes and floods on Earth!"

"If we can rescue him," the doctor began, "and take him aboard --"

"We'll rescue him, all right," snapped Ames. "Our ray-guns can take care of those Lizard-Men. We proved that in the canyon."

The Discoverer was cruising slowly over the plain. Ames called to Hatch. "Turn her toward that platform, Gunner. Then give her to me, and call your gun-crew to battle stations!"

Hatch swung the ship dexterously, then relinquished the controls with a gleam in his eyes. "Are we landing, sir?"

"We are," Ames assured him. "More of those green targets Hatch!"

"The more the better, sir," Hatch grinned, and vanished.

Ames, peering down, saw the plain so thickly swarming with the half-human saurians as to appear green to his eyes, loom nearer as the ship glided down. The scene on the platform was clearer now.

"He's a prisoner of the Lizard-Men," he guessed. "We may have a hot fight, Doc. but we must have him! We'll cut him loose and give him a chance to help us find the ray-machine that's thrown the Sun out of gear. If he's hostile, your thought-transference magnet may read his mind enough to point us to his city, or cave, or whatever may be the base of that disastrous ray-work." He settled the space hood closer to his head, called through the speaking tube "Are you ready gunner?" and heard the clear answer, "Ready, sir!' Ames nodded significantly to Phillips, punched the decent lever and steered the ship to the ground beside that broad platform.

The Lizard-Men saw the ship all at once. The larger mass parted swiftly. Hundreds of the green creatures darted out of the ship's path, toward cave mouths. But other hundreds swarmed up and over the platform, as if they planned to thwart any attempt to rescue their captive.

"Gunner Hatch!" cried Ames "Fall in twenty men with ray-guns!" And he set the Discoverer down ten paces from the first low step that led to the platform floor.

"Take over the ship, Doc," grunted Ames. I'm going to open the starboard and clear the way to our giant." His eyes glowed. "I never could see those Lizard-Men playing the scientific role up here! The giant is the answer! If the lizard boys won't hand him over, they get theirs!" He moved to the right wing of the control cabin and through the corridor to the main gangway.

Hatch and his men waited, eager and expectant. "They may rush the doors," Ames warned them. "If they do, mow they down!" A score of voices murmured tensely, and Ames touched the buttons that swung the doors with a click into their sockets.

Instantly, a roar of hissing sounded through the ear-tubes in the Discoverer's crew space hoods. It was like the hissing thunder of a great cataract, yet Ames knew it was the venomous voice of the lizard people. A dozen scaly snouts thrust forward, wicked little eyes gleaming, long curved claws reaching for Earth-men's throats.

"Fire!" roared Ames.

The ray-guns spoke, and every rearing snout fell away. They were picked men, these twenty.

But their work was just begun. Now came the main rush of the spitting, leaping green devils. The very press of their rush threw several through the very doors. There they died, forming a barricade over which their followers tried to slither. But the ray-guns piled the dead in heaps. A high-pitched whine sounded in their rear, and they fell away, scurrying to the far caves. In ten minutes not a movement was to be seen in the wide space surrounding the platform.

"Now!" cried Ames. "To the platform!" Kicking a dead scaly one aside, he leaped for the platform. In three strides he was on the top, staring at the giant.

He was a monster of a man. A full ten feet tall, he strained at the massive chains that held him by wrists and ankles to the stone floor, while he stared with gleaming eyes under shaggy brows at Ames. Naked save for his leather loin-cloth, he was a powerful figure.

Ames halted beyond the reach of the convulsively closing hands. "We are friends!" he cried.

The giant seemed to understand. He relaxed, growling, and touched a manacled hand to his breast.

Doctor Phillips appeared at Ames' elbow. "Let me try the thought-detector," he begged.

Ames cast a worried glance backward. "Who's guarding the ship?" he asked in reprimand.

"Not a lizard in sight," the doctor assured him cheerily. He fiddled with a tube under his ear, and squinted his eyes. Instantly he cried out. "It's very clear! He's a prince of his people, betrayed into the lizard's hands by personal enemies."



Ames called for a blow-torch, and soon a man came running. The young captain applied the flame, and in a trice the chains fell away from the giant's limbs. He stared at the strange device, lifted his hands, then grinned in his wild beard.

"Okay, pal," Ames assured him. "Now how about a cruise with us?" He turned to lead the way to the ship.

It was then that the Lizard-Men rallied to the attack. Under cover of the ship, unguarded on the far side by reason of the little scientist's defection, the swarmed around bow and stern and barred the way to the Discoverer's doors. Screaming, spitting, clawing, they charged with a slithering, lumbering rush.

Hatch and his men formed a hollow square, with Ames, Phillips and the giant inside, and the ray-guns took toll until the light tubes glowed white-hot. But the lizards came on. Half of Hatch's men went down. Phillips vanished under a surge of green snouts.

Ames moved like lightning. He played his blow-torch, and a dozen green snouts turned away with cries of pain and fear. But a claw fastened on the captain's ankle, and he felt himself tottering. Fear gripped him -- not fear for himself, but a cold realization that he had failed in his mission to save the Earth.

He had forgotten the giant. With a roar that seemed to shake the green devils off their feet, he charged. Ugly snouts disintegrated under his swift triphammer blows. Ames felt the clutch on his ankle lessen. Then the big fellow caught up a Lizard-Man by the scaly tail and swung the creature like a club.

That was enough. Hatch and his men, bleeding but elated, rose and the ray-guns spoke again. In two minutes the party was at the space-ship's doors.

"Great work old scout!" Ames cried clapping the giant on the rump. "Come aboard!"

The big hairy one grinned and obediently stooped to enter, while the Earth-men formed a double line and cheered him to the echo.

End.




Below are the original pages. The full scan is available at Golden Age Comics.




















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The Lizard - Men of Alpha Astra

by Lin Davies. From Planet Comics #3, March 1940.

Piloted by Capt. Dexter Ames, 21,000 A.D. outward-space Columbus, the rocket-ship lands on the mystery-planet of Astra, only to be overwhelmed by the rodent-faced Lizard Men.

Captain Dexter Ames caught his breath. The swirling vapors, miles in depth, had blown clear, and through the magnifying transparent shield of the space ship's control room he could see the feared mystery planet straight ahead. He turned exultantly to the white-haired man beside him.

"There she is, Doctor! Just where the observatory plotted her!"

Doctor Phillips smiled wistfully. And you think we can succeed in finding the secret of Alpha Astra's control over the Sun?"

Ames clapped a hand affectionately on the old man's shoulder. "I hope so, for all our sakes." There was meaning in his voice, and unconsciously his gaze shifted to the slim figure of the girl who stood a few paces away, staring at the strange newly-discovered Alpha Astra, first of the stars.

"There may be great danger ahead -- dangers that we of Earth have never known," Dr. Phillips reminded the captain.

"We'll have to take our chances," said Ames soberly.

The doctor turned to join Ames in an avid survey of the great star whose form grew in size even though the space ship was coasting through the heavens. Now that they were getting close, young Captain Ames wished that Cara Phillips, the doctor's daughter, was back on Earth, for the landing on Alpha Astra bade fair to be a memorable one.

He sounded the alert. "Stations!" he called through the control tube. "Prepare to land!"

As he adjusted his ray pistol the girl moved to his side. "Good luck, Captain."

"And to you, Cara," Ames rejoined. "Stay with the ship."

She nodded, her eyes troubled. The Ames turned and took the controls himself for the landing. He shot the rocket ship into a narrow but straight canyon and set her down with hardly a jar.


The landing crew, led by engineer Sept Morgan and Gunner Hatch, waited tensely behind the triple doors. Morgan opened a valve, and held a mouse-cage up to the hissing vapor. The white mouse inside sniffed, but continued to cavort.

"Atmosphere looks safe, but keep the air hoods ready!" called Ames. "Follow me!" He stepped upon the soil of Alpha Astra.

The air was clean and pure. The canyon seemed sliced by a god's knife, and sloping ledges offered a way up to the top. He started up.

The ledge was wide, the slope was easy. As he led his party of explorers along the grey, vegetationless canyon, Ames began to plan a long search for the secret of the star -- the strange force that Earth's scientists argued could subdue or intensify the heat of the sun so as to lessen tropical heat and Arctic cold, and stop the series of earthquakes that were taking heavy toll of life on Earth. But at the top of the canyon, after one glance down at the ship, he gave up all plans of further exploration.

"Morgan! Hatch!" he yelled. The urgency in his voice made them run to the dizzy edge.

Far below, a strange horrible thing had happened. Even as the Earth-men watched, gliding shapes passed in and out of the space ship's doors.

"They've captured the ship!" cried Hatch.

"And look at them!" gasped Morgan. "What are they? Captain, what in heaven's name are they?"

Ames brushed his hand over his eyes, and stared. "They're saurians," he said huskily. "Lizards. But look -- they can walk upright! And -- ah! Look! They're dragging Cara Phillips off!" He leaped back, pulled his ray-pistol and dashed for the ledge. "Come on!" he cried.

Morgan and Hatch followed, and it was well for them. For behind them rose loud cries of terrible fear. Ames knew what had happened; some of his men had been seized by other bands of lizards.

But he dared not stop. His duty was to the ship. Like an avenging demon he hurtled down the slope and leveled his ray-gun. Point-blank, he fired at the nearest slinking lizard. It collapsed with a whimpering cry, and Ames shuddered in amazement as he saw its half-human face.



Then Morgan and Hatch opened up, and saurians fell in heaps. The doors yawned, and Ames burst in. He found a white-faced Doctor Phillips still in the control room.

"It was all so sudden!" whispered the ashy-faced doctor. I saw the take her -- that way --"

Morgan burst in, "Everybody safe but the girl!" he cried. "And the boys have captured a lizard-man!"

In a flash Ames adjusted the precious aura-cap, jealously guarded though-transference marvel of Earth-rulers and Earth-police. "Let's see him," he said grimly. "He may not talk, but it won't be necessary."

"The lizard was half-stunned, and crowded behind a welter of steel boxes and wedged bars. He whined when Ames spoke, cackling and muttering a weird gibberish. But Ames paid no heed. He adjusted the aura-cap to suck the thoughts of the scaly green head. Hardly was the aura-cap adjusted before he cried out in relief. "She's held prisoner, with the others! We can save them all!"

--

On the ground outside lay the still bodies of the lizard-men. Ames called for volunteers for the chase. For a moment they hung back. "Come on!" he cried. "A woman's life hangs in the balance!"

Quickly twenty men stepped forward. Ames laughed harshly. "Here we go! Doctor, guard that door. Now, let's give it to them!"

They caught the lizard-men in a great cave, seated on a circle, thousands of them, mumbling and grunting in a chorus, while green jaws gaped as a dozen guards held the struggling Cara Phillips and eleven of the space-ship's crew.

Ames fired. But no lizard-man fell. He tried again. His men began to lag. "Come on!" he cried savagely, and rushed at the screaming saurians. At ten paces he fired at the first attacking lizard, an this time the shot told. The beast writhed and fell. Behind him the crew took heart, and rushed the cave. Lizards dropped by twos and threes, and soon the girl and white-faced Earth-men were free.

The race back to the ship was touch and go, for the hoard of lizards slithered swiftly at their heels. But once safe behind those doors, Dexter Ames slipped an arm over Doctor Phillips' shoulders and another around the waist of a trembling girl, and said happily, "Well, we made it. And we haven't yet finished with the Lizard Men of Astra. Before we're finished we'll unbear the secret of their world."



The original pages from which this story was transcribed are below (via Golden Age Comics)






















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