The Edge of Beyond

by WE Johns

Genres: Action & Adventure; Science Fiction; Sci-fi Action & Adventure; Alien Contact

Synopsis

Tiger, Rex and the Professor are the heroes of the day!

After saving far flung planets from invaders, helping to re-colonise Mars, and taking on monsters unimaginable, they have been granted the use of the Tavona for as long as they need. The Professor is delighted - what scientific discoveries could be make with this opportunity? Of course, for this crew there is no science without adventure!

From deadly space rays to a seeming Utopia where negative behaviours are trained out of people, Tiger and his companions will need their wits about them to see it through.

THE EDGE OF BEYOND is book five in Captain W.E. John's high-octane space adventures, perfect for fans of classic, vintage science fiction!

Release date: December 6, 2022

Publisher: Orion

Print pages: 320

Sample

For three months Rex, with his father and Doctor Toby Paul, had stayed on at Glensalich Castle, the Professor’s retreat in the lonely Scottish Highlands, sometimes helping the Professor with his notes, sometimes doing nothing in particular. The fact that they had no homes of their own may have been responsible in the first place for their acceptance of the Professor’s invitation to stay with him; and this, in course of time, as can so easily happen, had become an understood arrangement that was no longer questioned by anyone.

The Professor obviously liked having them there to discuss their discoveries, and the others, having nothing else to do, were content to accept his hospitality. It did sometimes occur to Rex to wonder how long this could go on but he did not broach the subject. Actually, he was a little afraid that it might end, for his thoughts were now so far removed from normal Earthly considerations that an ordinary routine existence was not easy to contemplate. How could he, knowing what he knew, devote his attention to anything on Earth without a feeling of futility? No. He had, he perceived, travelled too far down a road from which there could be no turning back.

The planet Mars came into ‘opposition’, as near to Earth as it could come. By night he watched it almost with affection. By day he read with a smile the theories of the leading astronomers about what might be happening there. They were mostly guessing. He knew.

It was with something of a shock that one day he heard his father say when they were alone in the library: ‘Rex, you’re growing up. Don’t you think it’s time you were seeing about getting a job?’

‘J – job?’ stammered Rex, making it clear that no such thought had occurred to him. ‘What sort of a job?’

Tiger shrugged. ‘Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps something in the engineering line.’

‘But I’m not qualified,’ argued Rex, weakly.

‘You never will be if you stay here,’ Tiger pointed out.

‘But a job!’ protested Rex. ‘After where we’ve been and what we’ve done even the most exciting job I could think of would be a pretty dull business. I doubt if I could stick it.’

‘You used to be crazy on motor racing.’

‘Motor racing,’ sneered Rex, ‘to me, now, that would be crawling. I’m sorry, guv’nor, but with my head full of astronautics I couldn’t give my mind to anything else.’

‘I was afraid of that,’ returned Tiger, understandingly. ‘How about aviation?’

‘Horizontal flight! I’d as soon be a bus driver. For me it’s vertical flight or nothing. That’s something for which I’m better qualified than anyone outside this house.’

‘You’d find it difficult to get anyone to believe that,’ stated Tiger. ‘Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, there are no jobs yet in astronautics.’

‘What about the people who are making artificial satellites? I could give them a tip or two.’

‘That, to you, would be like designing a locomotive as obsolete as Stevenson’s Rocket. You know what the Professor thinks about them. As you know, since we have taken to using borrowed Minoan ships the Professor has abandoned his own experiments with spacecraft, saying there is no point in them because he could never design one with a performance to compare with some we know, ships that have been developed over centuries of time.’

‘Using the Professor’s workshop I could make a flying saucer of my own, just to potter about in.’

Tiger shook his head. ‘I’m sure the Professor wouldn’t hear of it. Once he realized that we were suspected of making unorthodox experiments here he was particularly careful that no flying saucers should be seen in the vicinity. For that reason alone he has refrained from putting out landing signals. All the same, I don’t quite see how what we are doing now can go on indefinitely.’

Rex pursed his lips. ‘Well, I don’t know what to do and that’s a fact. All I can say is, there’s nothing like a cruise round the planets to get a fellow thoroughly unsettled. Everything else seems so deadly dull in comparison.’

Tiger smiled ruefully. ‘I feel a bit like that myself,’ he admitted.

‘Frankly, I’ve been hoping the Professor would suggest making another trip if only as far as Mars,’ said Rex moodily.

‘I’ve been expecting that, but he seems entirely engrossed with the papers he intends to leave to the Royal Society in his will,’ replied Tiger.

‘And what is it you’ve been expecting?’ inquired the Professor, walking into the room.

‘I was wondering if you intended making another trip,’ explained Tiger. ‘The matter arose when I suggested to Rex that it was time he looked for some sort of employment.’

‘How did he take that idea?’

‘Not very well. He seems to think he’s out of step with events of everyday life on Earth.’

The Professor pushed up his glasses and regarded his colleagues. ‘The boy’s right,’ he asserted. ‘After what he has done and what he has seen it would be asking too much to expect him to settle down in a humdrum routine occupation.’

‘You think that?’

‘I am sure. For what purpose would he work? People work, and when I say work I mean just that, for one reason only. Money. Money to provide the necessities of life and perhaps an occasional luxury. Rex has no need for money. I have more than I could spend.’ The Professor smiled whimsically. ‘And if I ever did need more it would only be necessary to make another trip to one of the planets we know where the things most prized on Earth, merely because they are scarce, such as gold and diamonds, are as common as pebbles on a shingle beach. Money is the incentive to labour. Without an incentive work would be tedious indeed.’

‘But we can’t loaf about indefinitely doing nothing.’

‘I never intended that he should. That also applies to you.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I had always assumed that you would wish to come with me on my next interplanetary voyage.’

Tiger’s eyes opened wide. ‘So you are going off again! I thought you had settled down to write your memoirs.’

The Professor chuckled. ‘Tut-tut, my dear Group-Captain. The malady which the Germans so well named wanderlust is one of the most difficult to cure. Indeed, when applied to space flight I would say it is incurable. Of course I shall go again. My notes are almost complete. I shall finish them in a few days. It was always my intention to embark on another flight of survey. Did I forget to mention that? Dear, dear. How thoughtless of me. Vargo will be watching for our signal and I am sure he will be disappointed if we fail to call him down, for we are of as much interest to his people as they are to us. Besides …’ the Professor’s eyes twinkled in a sidelong glance at Rex … ‘We can’t leave Morino to die of a broken heart.’

Rex blushed. ‘I admit I’d like to see her again. She’s such jolly good fun.’

Said Tiger, looking at the Professor, ‘Have you any particular object in view?’

‘Naturally, as I was largely responsible for it I would like to see how the work of restoration proceeds on Mars. That should not take long. Afterwards, I have been toying with the idea of pushing out to worlds beyond those known to our Minoan friends. We might even reach the distant fringe of the Galaxy. We will ask Vargo what he thinks about it.’

For a moment Tiger looked startled. ‘That would mean we would be away for months, perhaps years.’

‘Can you think of anything more exciting, more entertaining, to do?’

‘Er – no.’

‘Of course not. That’s how I feel about it.’

‘So far we have been lucky. One day we shall fail to return from one of these jaunts.’

‘What of it? If we are to die, as one day we must unless we discover the secret of rejuvenation, let us be original and find a last resting place on a wandering star rather than return to dust on a world with the millions of others who have preceded us.’

‘This is becoming a cheerful conversation, I must say,’ remarked Tiger, sarcastically.

The Professor smiled and turned to the door. ‘We will continue it after dinner,’ he suggested, as he went out.

Tiger looked at Rex and shrugged. ‘Well, that seems to have settled that,’ he observed.

‘You’ll go with him when he goes?’

‘Of course. What about you?’

Rex made a little grimace. ‘It gives me a sinking feeling in the stomach to think about it but I’d hate to be left behind.’

‘It’ll be a month before we go,’ said Tiger. ‘There’s a full moon tonight, which means that Vargo will be watching for the signal; but obviously the Professor isn’t going to send it or he would have said so. He’ll probably go next month.’

Nothing more was said then, but after dinner, with Toby present, the subject was reopened, and it was then that the Professor announced his intention of definitely pushing deep into the heart of the Galaxy, always assuming that their Minoan friends would lend them a ship and its crew for that purpose.

‘It is likely,’ said the Professor, ‘that this, the most ambitious project I have as yet contemplated, will present new dangers. I mention that in order that you may decide whether or not to come with me. You need not feel under any compulsion to do so.’

The others brushed aside any suggestion that they should stay behind.

‘That is capital,’ declared the Professor. ‘I would have been sad to go without you. Half the pleasure of these trips lies in our being able to discuss our discoveries en route. I will make plans accordingly.’

Later in the evening, after darkness had closed in, Rex made his way to the top of the hill, as he often did when the weather was fine, to watch the constellations pursuing their age-old courses, and to ponder on what he knew about them.

It was a wonderful night, with the air crystal clear if a trifle chilly, so finding a soft patch of heather he lay on his back the better to survey the vast dome of heaven. Naturally enough his eyes went to Mars, which by now he almost regarded as a home from home; and as he watched it, wondering what changes had been made to its arid surface during their absence, it disappeared as if it had been snuffed out. But only for a moment. Soon it was back, still shining with reflected sunlight.

For a few seconds Rex was puzzled, startled, for there was not a cloud in the sky. Then a smile softened his features as he found the probable explanation of the phenomenon. Something had passed between him and the planet. It was not an aircraft or he would have heard it. It could only be Vargo in his ship, returning as he had promised on the night of the full moon, to watch for signals. Good old Vargo, always reliable. Rex was tempted to make the signal which would call him down, merely for the pleasure of having a chat with him, but resisted it knowing that the Professor would be displeased by what he would regard as an unnecessary risk.

So he contented himself with watching, thrilled by the knowledge that friends were so near. More stars were blotted out with increasing frequency, and suddenly it struck him that this could only mean one thing. The spaceship was coming lower, and nearer. He sprang to his feet, eyes trying to probe the gloom for a glimpse of the ‘flying saucer’. When he did make it out, or rather, when suddenly it loomed large over him like a colossal umbrella, he realized with a shock that it was very low indeed. What was it doing? Did Vargo intend to land?

The answers were soon forthcoming. With a faint hiss from its exhausts the ship settled on the heather within a hundred yards of where he stood. The doubt crossed his mind that it might not be Vargo. What if it was that dangerous man Rolto, up to one of his tricks? He would soon find out, he decided, and raced towards it.

As he arrived the double doors were opened and against the pale blue glow of the interior of the ship he saw the lean figure of Vargo step forward to look out. Running up he caught him by the hand and shook it warmly, saying: ‘Hello, Vargo. How nice to see you again. This is an unexpected pleasure. But why have you landed? Is something wrong?’ Without waiting for an answer, seeing the ship’s captain and navigator inside he went on, ‘Hello, Gator. Hello, Borron. This is wonderful! We were only talking about you this evening.’

Vargo stepped down, breathing deeply. ‘Excuse me,’ he said, in his thin voice. ‘This air of yours, to those not accustomed to it, is so rich and heavy that it is like drinking water. It nearly chokes me at the first gulp. My heart beats too fast. Phew!’

‘Take your time and then tell me why you have landed,’ requested Rex. ‘We did not make the signal.’

‘I landed to see you,’ stated Vargo. ‘I would have come to the house, the lights of which I could see.’

‘You’re not in any trouble, I hope?’ said Rex, anxiously.

‘Not exactly trouble, but there is a little difficulty. The work on Mars goes on so fast that we bring more and more people from Mino and Ventos. That means bringing more food for there is not yet enough on Mars to feed them all. We could use more ships, and for that reason the Council is disinclined to leave this one with nothing else to do than watch for your signals.’

‘What you mean is, you are short . . .