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Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from Astounding Stories November 1931. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.
Hawk Carse
_A Complete Novelette_
By Anthony Gilmore
* * * * *
CHAPTER I
_The Swoop of the Hawk_
_The Hawk stood there, both arms hanging easily at hissides._]
[Sidenote: One of the spectacular exploits of Hawk Carse, greatest ofspace adventurers.]
Hawk Carse came to the frontiers of space when Saturn was the frontierplanet, which was years before the swift Patrol ships brought Earth'slaw and order to those vast regions. A casual glance at his slenderfigure made it seem impossible that he was to rise to be the greatestadventurer in space, that his name was to carry such deadlyconnotation in later years. But on closer inspection, a number oflittle things became evident: the steadiness of his light gray eyes;the marvelously strong-fingered hands; the wiry build of hissplendidly proportioned body. Summing these things up and adding thebrilliant resourcefulness of the man, the complete ignorance of fear,one could perhaps understand why even his blood enemy, the impassiveKu Sui, a man otherwise devoid of every human trait, could not faceCarse unmoved in his moments of cold fury.
His name, we know, enters most histories of the period 2117-2148 A.D., for he has at last been recognized as the one who probably didmost--unofficially, and not with the authority of the EarthGovernment--to shape the raw frontiers of space, to push them outwardand to lay the foundations of the present tremendous commerce betweenEarth, Vulcan, Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter. But, littleof his fascinating character may be gleaned from the dry words ofhistory; and it is Hawk Carse the adventurer, he of the spittingray-gun and the phenomenal draw, of the reckless space shipmaneuverings, of the queer bangs of flaxen hair that from a certainyear hid his forehead, of the score of blood feuds and the one greatfeud that jarred nations in its final terrible settling--it is withthat man we are concerned here.
A number of his exploits never recorded are still among the favoriteyarns spun by lonely outlanders in the scattered trading posts of theplanets, and among them is that of his final encounter with Judd theKite. It shows typically the cold deadliness, the prompt repaying of ablood debt, the nerveless daring that were the outstanding qualitiesof this almost legendary figure.
It began one crisp, early morning on Iapetus, and it ended on Iapetus,with the streaks of ray-guns searing the air; and it explains whythere are two square mounds of soil on Iapetus, eighth satellite ofSaturn.
* * * * *
Carse pioneered Iapetus and considered its product his by right ofprior exploration. One or two men had landed there before he came tothe frontiers of space and reported the satellite habitable, possessedof gravital force only slightly under Earth's, despite itstwelve-hundred-mile diameter, and of an atmosphere merely a triflerarer; but they had gone no further. They had noticed the forms ofcertain strange animals flitting through the satellite's jungles, buthad not investigated. It was Carse who captured one of the creaturesand saw the commercial possibilities of the pointed seven-inch hornthat grew on its head, and who named it phanti, after the now extinctVenusian bird-mammal.
There were great herds of them, and they constituted Iapetus' highestform of life. The space trader cut off a few of their opalescent andgreen-veined horns and sent them as samples to Earth; and, upon theirbeing valued highly, he two months later established his ranch onIapetus, and thus laid the foundation for the grim business that mensometimes call the Exploit of the Hawk and the Kite.
No doubt Carse expected trouble over the ranch. To protect thevaluable twice-yearly harvest of horn from Ku Sui's several bands ofpirates, and other semi-piratical traders who roamed space, he built aformidable ranch-house with generators for powerful offensive rays anda strong defensive ray-web, and manned it with six competent men.Moreover, he came personally twice a year to transport the cargo ofhorn, and let it be known throughout the frontiers that the sign ofthe Hawk was on that portion of Iapetus, and that all who trespassedwould have to answer to him. This should have been, ordinarily,enough. But there was always the sinister, brilliant Dr. Ku Sui,plotting against him and his belongings, and reckless others to whomthe ranch might look like easy pickings. From these Carse had longanticipated a raid on Iapetus.
* * * * *
And now he was worried. Clad as usual in a faded blue tunic, open atthe neck, soft blue trousers and old-fashioned rubber soled shoes, heshowed it by pulling occasionally at the bangs of flaxen hair that hadbeen trained to hang down his forehead to the thick, straw-coloredeyebrows. In his new cruiser, the _Star Devil_, he was within anhour's time of Iapetus, which lay before the bow observation ports ofthe control cabin like a giant buff-tinted orange, dark-splotched byseas and jungles, on the third of his semi-annual voyages for theharvest of horn. Away to the left, scintillating and flaming in theblackness of space, whirled Saturn, his rings clear-cut and brilliant,his hard light filling the control cabin. Carse was staring unseeinglyat the magnificent spectacle when the giant negro standing nearby atthe space-stick rumbled:
"Well, suh, Ah cain't think they's anything wrong--no, suh. They'snobody'd _dare_ touch that ranch! No, suh--not Hawk Carse's ranch."
This was "Friday," the herculean black Earthling whom Carse hadrescued years before from one of the Venusian slave-ships, and now amember of that strange trio of totally dissimilar comrades, the thirdof whom was Master Scientist Eliot Leithgow, now absent and at work inhis secret laboratory. Friday thought the Hawk just about the greatestman in the Solar System, and many times already had he given proof ofhis devotion.
Carse looked full at him. "You're a good mechanic, Eclipse," he said,"but in some ways very innocent. Crane hasn't replied to us forseventy minutes. He knows we're coming and he should be on duty. Thatcargo's valuable, and it's all ready and packed."
"Hmff," Friday grunted. "But who you think'd dare try an' swipe itwhen we're so close? One o' Ku Sui's gang, maybe?"
"Perhaps. I haven't heard anything of Ku Sui for some time, and he'snever more dangerous than when he keeps silent," said the Hawkthoughtfully. "But Crane might be sick. Or his radio might have brokendown temporarily. Still--"
It was then that the third man in the cabin, Harkness, the navigator,straightened abruptly and put a sharp end to the trader's last word bycalling out:
"Radio, sir!"
* * * * *
A red dot of light was winking on a switchboard. Friday watched theHawk move in his quick, effortless way to it and pull a lever down,all in the same motion, and then the negro's neck muscles corded as helistened to the sounds that came, choking and barely intelligible,from a loudspeaker:
"Carse--Hawk Carse--Crane speaking from the ranch. We'rebesieged--pirate ship--outnumbered--can't hold out much longer. We gotmost of the cargo inside here, but our generators--they'reweakening--and I'm fading, I guess, and the others that're left arewounded. Carse--hurry--hurry...."
Five words went back into the microphone before the receiver wentdead.
"I'm coming, Crane! Hold on!"
Friday had seen the Hawk in such moments before, and he knew thesight; but the navigator, Harkness, had not been with Carse very long,and now he stood silent, motionless, while despite himself a shiverran down his spine as he stared at the tight-pressed bloodless lipsand the gray eyes, cold now as spac
e. He started nervously when theHawk turned and looked him in the eye.
"I want speed," came his quiet, soft, deceptive voice. "I want thathour's running time sliced by a third. Streak through thatatmosphere."
"Yes, suh!" answered Friday.
"And you"--to Harkness--"be very sure you get out every ounce she'sgot. Tell the engineer personally."
"Full speed. Yes, sir," said the navigator, and felt relieved whenCarse turned his eyes away. For the Hawk, as always when he learnedthat property had been ravaged and his friends shot down, seemed lesshuman than the Indrots at the far end of the frigid deeps of space heroamed. His face was mask-like, graven, totally expressionless: bloodhad been shed, and for each ounce another had to be spilled to balancethe scales. At a speaking tube that reached aft to the three othermembers of the crew, he whispered: "Fighting posts. Arm and be readyfor action. Pirates are attacking ranch," and then went noiselessly tothe forward electelscope. Meanwhile Friday kept his eyes strictly onthe dials before him and held the space-stick rigid, while aft, in theship's other compartments, three men strapped on ray-gun belts andwondered who was doomed to be caught in the swoop of the Hawk.
* * * * *
Carse himself wondered that. The raider so far showed as a newcomer tothe frontiers of space; he was one who as yet had never faced theHawk, one to whom the tales that were told of him seemed laughable, towhom the rich consignment of horn looked like a gift. Certainly suchan open attack did not resemble Ku Sui's subtle methods, or those ofhis several henchmen, pirates of space all; they, rather, struckbehind his back, and then only when the infamous Eurasian had preparedwhat seemed an escape-proof trap.
"Foolish to raid when I'm so close!" he murmured as he trained theelectelscope and peered into its eye-piece. "Stupid! Unless...."
Friday, at the space-stick, mopped the trickles of sweat from his browand with a vast sigh shifted his bulk. The job of speeding into anatmospheric pressure was always ticklish, and it was with some reliefthat he reported "Into th' atmosphere, suh," according to routine. Hewaited for the usual acknowledgment, and when it did not come repeatedhis observation in a louder voice. Two full minutes of silence passed.Then, finally, Hawk Carse turned from the electelscope, and even thenegro shivered at sight of the deadly mask that was his face.
For the ranch-house in its clearing had dimly appeared in theelectelscope just as Friday had spoken.
Carse spoke.
"More speed, if it burns us up," came his almost whispered words. "Iwant much more speed."
Harkness gulped. "Yes, sir," he said, and, moistening his lips, hereturned to the engine-room. The frigid gray eyes swung back to thesight that was revealed on Iapetus.
The long, lean shape of a rakish space ship was resting on the soilsome three hundred yards from the ranch-house, and between were thehazy figures of six men, busily dragging as many boxes towards theircraft. The boxes contained the whole half-year's harvest of phantihorns, and had obviously been looted from the house. The resistancehad been overcome; the pirate raid had succeeded. The trim,gray-painted ranch-house was lifeless....
* * * * *
The Hawk switched off the electelscope. His colorless lips werecompressed very tightly. "I'll take the helm," he said curtly toFriday. "Turn on the defensive web, and prepare all ray batteries."
"Yes, suh!" The negro's big, yellow-palmed hands worked dexterouslyamong the instruments to his right; then, amidships, grew a shrillwhine which keened upward in pitch. A few sparks raced by the _StarDevil's_ after ports, quickly to disappear after they left the almostinvisible envelope of delicate bluish light that entirely wrapped herhull.
She was making dangerous speed. The wind screamed as she streakedthrough the satellite's atmosphere, and the great friction of herpassage raised her outer shell to a perilous glow. The altitudedial's finger almost jumped from forty thousand to thirty-five.
"Ready for bow-ray salvo."
"Aye, sir!" replied Harkness, and a moment later repeated crisply:"All ready for bow-ray salvo, sir!" His voice showed no sign of thefear within him--fear that the _Star Devil's_ outer hull would reachthe melting point--but his lips fell apart and his face lost itsdiscipline when the Hawk next spoke and acted.
"Steady," came the low whisper to his ears--and he saw the controllingspace-stick being shoved down as far as it would go.