|
Attention, all
wavebands! We now transvize to Terra City, to the annual contest awards
of the Youth For Science convention...The winners of the first honors
in the Mysta Fellowship tests will be introduced by the chairman...
"This award, a year of instruction in the laboratories
of Mysta of the Moon...Advanced research under the personal direction
of the Queen of Science...And the winner...Bron of Earth sphere
six! Now if the circuit is clear, Mysta herself will confirm the appointment,
my boy!" says the Chairman of Science. On a huge wall monitor appears
the lovely image of Mysta of the Moon from her moonbase.
"Congratulations, Bron, your thesis on astrophysics
impressed me greatly..." But as Mysta speaks on, men of evil also listen...
"But I don't get it, Face! This contest stuff,
where do I fit in?" asks a Bron lookalike.
The Face replies, "Elementary, my pretty brain-boy!
With your scientific training, you are the ideal replacement for this
unlucky Bron!"
"Replacement? Why I couldn't..." but he is cut
short...
"Shut up! I've been planning this for months.
It's all arranged! In four lunar hours she will pick you up at Space Terminal
Zeta...as for your credentials...here they come now!" cackles the Face.
"A zap from the dark as he left the convention
and...Presto! You are Bron! Dispose of him, men!" orders the Face.
"No, Face...don't feed him to your tanks! I can't...I
won't..." Again the Face cuts him off.
"You won't? You would rather return to Kafka's
colony? Your flesh rotting...bones like straw...your mind in torment night
and day?" taunts the Face.
Later at station Zeta...
"Circus spacers clogging all the entry ramps,
robot!" Mysta says with impatience.
"Wait! There's
our in-flash! Controls to neutral and ride their tractor-ray!" Mysta commands
her robot companion. As Mysta and her faithful robot exit their ship...
"And now for our prize winning student...stay
here...I'll find him," commands Mysta.
"So much viso haze...his features blurred...perhaps
I'd better page his name" thinks Mysta.
"There she is...Mysta! She's looking at me...she
must suspect!" worries the Bron impostor.
Suddenly a scream rings out..."Look out! That
cage..." and a huge cage breaks loose from its chains in midair.
"Cables slipped...ape cage crashing! And the Pluto
buzzardons!" cries out a worker as the cage slams to the ground and the
deadly beasts are set free!
"To me, robot! Ultra-speed!" Mysta quickly commands.
"That man...the apes got him! And I can't risk
a full ray shot! But now I can!" Mysta thinks as she ray-guns the first
ape.
"Eat this lightning, killer! And the other one...the
staircase... after him, robot!" orders Mysta!
"Swamp plague on those buzzardon's talons! And
six to kill! That's one!" Mysta ray-guns down the deadly alien bird.
"Four down--five down...and now the last one!"
Mysta gleefully chants. Bestial snarls of rage erupt as primitive fury
and man-made force clash in battle.
"The heat ray, robot!" Mysta again commands her
robot. And it is flaming death for the loser's lot! Soon...
"These papers! It is Bron our student!" cries
out Mysta as she holds the impostor in her arms.
"That first ape clawed...Quickly, robot! To our
cruiser with him!" Mysta and her robot hurry to their space ship with
the injured fake Bron.
"Check his blood-tag, administer plasma in 12
gram flow...we must get him to the lab...the heart pump!" Mysta states.
"Three hours...The ape-virus at crisis-plus in
him. But there is still hope...land on beam!" orders Mysta.
In the lab...
"The virus count lowers! We've done it! He is
saved! Come, let him sleep!" And, with that, Mysta and her faithful robot
companion leave the impostor Bron to sleep off the deadly effects of his
ordeal, his life saved, yes, but for what evil end?
|

Click Image to Enlarge
|