Free Captain Future 08 - The Lost World of Time (Fall 1941) by Edmond Hamilton Page A

the Emigration or Invasion parties on Katain?"
    "Never heard of either of 'em. I'm from the far future, though I'm getting used to the fact that no one will believe me. The only Katainian I ever heard of is a scientist named Darmur."
    "Darmur?" cried Jhulun, "He is my father!"
     

     
Chapter 9: On the Rocket Trail
     
    CAPTAIN FUTURE felt sharp dismay as he, Grag and the Brain looked at the mute evidence of struggle in the ancient quarry on Earth. The broken spear of Ahla and the scuffed ground told a clear story. "Otho was trapped with Ahla in the quarry when that space ship suddenly landed in it," Curt guessed. "Maybe he thought at first they were Katainians, as we did."
    "Katainians wouldn't have captured him when he told them he had come from the future to help them!" burst out Grag.
    "Grag's right, lad," rasped the Brain. "But if they didn't come from Katain, where did they come from? There must be another world in this past age which has developed science and space-travel. But which?"
    "We'll never find out by standing here and debating about it," Curt Newton stated striding back to the Comet. "Come on. We'll see if we can't pick up their rocket-trail and overtake them. We've got to get Otho out of this jam before we can go on to Katain."
    "And a whole world that desperately needs our help has to wait because that rubber-headed, cocky android went blundering off into trouble!" boomed Grag vehemently as they entered the ship. "It never fails. No matter where we go, that crazy mess of chemicals gums up everything. Next time we go anywhere, he'll either stay at home on the Moon, or I will." Curt took the space-stick and sent the Comet screaming up into the sky at a speed that proved its cycs and tubes were all now working perfectly. Captain Future knew they couldn't hope to trail the black ship by sight. It had had a half-hour start and by this time was far out in space. It might be heading in any direction.
    But in the Comet was an apparatus that might enable them to pick up the trail. A super-electroscope, devised by Curt and the Brain, its principle hinged on the fact that the rocket-tubes of a space ship left a continuous trail of ions behind them. In an atmosphere the trail was soon dispersed by air currents, but in empty space the ionized particles remained for a long time. Once the electroscope located it, they could follow the enemy ship.
    For hour after hour, out in space beyond the limits of Earth's atmosphere, the Comet circled around, vainly searching for the trail. Grag piloted while Curt and the Brain swept space with the powerful concentrating lenses of the electroscope. They followed a methodical plan, patiently examining one sector after another.
    Inwardly Curt was chafing at the delay. It was all they had met with since they had started their time voyage back into this remote age on their mission to aid Katain. A world that had called through time for help urgently needed their scientific assistance, yet they were being hindered from giving it by one mishap after another. They could not think of abandoning Otho to an unknown fate, however.
    Finally Simon located the trail. Through the electroscope it showed as a thin streak of shining ions.
    "They've headed for Venus, which might be where they came from," Curt said. "Slam on all cycs, Grag. Simon and I will watch the trail."
    With all the power of its mighty cyclotrons, the Comet plunged through the solar spaces. The second planet swiftly grew in size to a brilliant white disk. They were traveling far faster than could any ordinary ship, Curt knew. Yet the hours of delay in finding the trail made it uncertain that Otho's captors could be overtaken before they reached the cloudy world.
     
    HIS fears were soon realized. As they approached Venus, they had not yet sighted the ship they trailed. The shining stream of ions led down into the vast, cloudy atmosphere of the planet.
    "Here's where we lose the trail!" boomed Grag in dismay.
    "They must be