To Worlds Unknown

by WE Johns

Genres: Science Fiction

Synopsis

The Tavona and its crew of intrepid heroes, led by Tiger Clinton, are back and exploring the galaxy once again.

On a routine trip to Mars, a chance visit to a new planetoid leads to kidnap! Another planet is populated entirely by identical twins. Even simple streams are not as they appear, and everything holds hidden and unexpected dangers.

Using their wits, their skills, and with the help of friends made on their travels, Tiger Clinton and his team are ready to face anything - and they'll have to!

Release date: January 1, 1960

Publisher: Orion

Print pages: 320

Sample

THROUGH a night-dark sky, surrounded by countless points of light, some bright, some dim, that were the suns, the moons, the stars and planets of the eternal Universe, the Minoan interplanetary ship Tavona sped on through the cold, silent void, which on Earth is known as “space”.

In his heavily-cushioned seat by an observation porthole, gazing into the vast emptiness around the ship as an ocean voyager will sometimes regard a lonely expanse of sea, sat Rex Clinton, now aged seventeen, tall, lean, fair, grey-eyed, citizen of England, part of an insignificant island on the planet Earth. His expression, if his face revealed one at all, was of thoughtful resignation, with perhaps a little apprehension; for although he had made many interstellar journeys he had never been able quite to conquer the heart-chilling fear that came from knowing he was detached from the world of things he knew and understood. He was also aware that he might never see them again.

There was nothing physical about this fear. He was not afraid of death. That was bound to happen sooner or later wherever he might be; but he would have preferred this, when his time came, to occur on his home planet. There was something repugnant in the idea of leaving his bones on a distant star, or in a metal coffin, in a spaceship, whirling for all time in some remote region of the infinite Universe.

He had long ago analysed this peculiar form of fear. Ordinary fear, he perceived, arose from the presence of a peril that could be seen, heard, or felt. In such cases the chances of survival could be calculated. In space there was nothing, no particular object, to fear. The emotion sprang from the unknown, the awful immensity, the utter loneliness, the majestic solemnity of the Universe itself. It was this alone that caused the brain to reel and the heart to quail.

Perils there were, of course. He had encountered many, and would, he had no doubt, experience more; but these had invariably been of such a nature that not by the widest stretch of imagination could they have been foreseen. Therefore there had been no anticipation of the event; and physical fear is, after all, nothing more than the expectation of death.

Rex was ageing faster than his years, the result of the burden of the tremendous knowledge he possessed. Of this he was certain: no man having made a voyage in space could ever be quite the same again. The discovery on Earth of the power of steam had changed the face of that particular globe, for every invention since had stemmed from it. The splitting of the atom and the invention of the hydrogen bomb had again altered the outlook of the population.

When these same people knew, beyond all shadow of doubt, reflected Rex, that there were other worlds in the Universe inhabited not only by intelligent beings, but by civilizations compared with which Earth had barely emerged from primitive barbarism, the shock might be so great as to throw everything into a state of chaos. It was for this reason that the space explorers had remained silent.

Perhaps the people of Earth would never know the truth. One day, and it could happen at any time, there would be a blinding flash and Earth, and possibly the whole Solar System, would be no more than a few cinders drifting in space. Rex had seen this happen to other worlds. Astronomers on Earth could see it happening, too; they called it “nova”; but either they had not grasped the entire significance of it or preferred to ignore it in the fond belief that while this could happen to other worlds it could not happen to theirs. Collision between worlds, and worlds and their moons, or satellites, were by no means uncommon.

What would be even worse, Earth could die a slow death. It needed such a small thing to bring that about. A slight change in the orbit, taking Earth farther away from its sun, and the water would turn to ice and the soil to the hardness of granite. A movement nearer to the sun would scorch from its face every form of life, animal and vegetable. Rex had seen worlds after such disasters. He also knew there were civilizations so far advanced in science and astronautics that they could, should they so decide, destroy all life on another planet. Rolto, Captain of a Minoan Remote Survey Fleet, was in favour of liquidating Earth, holding its careless experiments with bombs and rockets to be a danger to every other world in the Galaxy. Fortunately he had been overruled by prudent statesmen.

The simple truth was, pondered Rex, everything had its day, its hour of perfection, before decline and death. That was a basic law of the Universe and planets were no exception. What amazed him was the folly of men on Earth who behaved as if there were no end to life or anything else. If they knew what he knew, had seen what he had seen, they might renounce war as futile and cease their frenzied rush to acquire wealth, power, or whatever it was they imagined could produce happiness. Other worlds had learned their lesson and he could only hope Earth would come to its senses before it was too late.

Apart from Rex there were eight persons in the Tavona, his usual companions and a skeleton crew. In their customary places were Group-Captain “Tiger” Clinton, one time of the R.A.F., Rex’s father, an older edition of his son, going grey at the temples but still agile and cleareyed, Professor Lucius Brane, elderly, thin, below average height, mild-looking, clean shaven with unruly hair and steel-rimmed spectacles usually balanced on the end of his nose. His eyes, under bushy brows and a high forehead, were blue and curiously bright. Also, as usual, he was carelessly dressed and from time to time dipped into a paper bag for one of the caramels he preferred to tobacco. The third member of the Earth party was Squadron-Leader (Medical) Paul, also ex-R.A.F., in which Service, by reason of a burly physique and humorous expression, he had been known to his friends as “Toby”. At the moment he was passing the time by rearranging his medicine cabinet.

The crew, all men of wide experience in space travel, comprised Gator, the Tavona’s regular commander, Borron, the navigator, and Vargo Lentos, who had now assumed the position of interstellar relations officer. The other two were crewmen-engineers, both from the planetoid Mino: Nibo, a signals expert, and Lesta, a mechanic. All spoke English fluently from long association with their friends from Earth. These were sufficient to operate the ship in view of its simple mission, which had been no more than to pay a call on the Professor at his Highland home, Glensalich Castle in its remote glen.

After their last perilous voyage* Rex had a feeling that it might be the last. All agreed they had been lucky and it was unreasonable to suppose that such good fortune could continue indefinitely. Moreover, the Professor, who was keeping a detailed record of their flights and discoveries, had as much work to do as was likely to keep him fully occupied for the rest of his days.

But after a few months on Earth there had come the usual restlessness, the desire to see more, to know more. It is a disorder common to most explorers and well described by the German word wanderlust. The only cure for it is to set off on another voyage, and Rex knew it was only a question of time before the Professor announced his intention of making contact with the Tavona with the object of making “one last trip”. Every flight was to be the last. But Rex knew in his heart there would be no last flight until the day came, as he was sure it must, when they would “fail to return”. They would, he was convinced, face the dangers of the Unknown once too often. For that he had long been prepared and had ceased to worry about it. He had only one regret. He would have liked to see the effect on Earth of the publication of the Professor’s papers, which on his death, not before, were to be handed to the Royal Society.

In the event, the necessity of putting out visual signals to bring down the Tavona had not arisen. One night Vargo had merely walked in to see how they were getting on. He brought no news of particular importance, but the result was inevitable. When at dawn the Tavona had taken off they had departed with it.

There was no immediate danger, or so it was assumed, for the object of the voyage was no more than a run to Mars to see how the work of restoration, for which the Professor had largely been responsible, was progressing.* As a matter of fact, signs of this were now visible through the Professor’s telescope, and Rex found himself wondering how long it would be before the astronomers in the big observatories on Earth noticed the changes brought about by the cultivation resulting from the clearance of the old irrigation canals.

Not for a moment did Rex expect the flight to end there. Under the pressure of the Professor’s insatiable curiosity it would continue to the planetoids Mino and Lentos, and from thence to the Second or Third Region of the Galaxy. It was not unlikely that they would go on to that amazing planet, Terromagna, on the far fringe of it, the excuse being to call on their friend, the super-scientist, Multova.

That was the trouble, pondered Rex. There was no end to the business. With millions of planets in the Universe space exploration could go on indefinitely. Even with space travel achieved, no one man could in his lifetime hope to see more than a microscopic section of the everlasting heavens. It was significant that the Professor had taken to misquoting the saying often heard in the Victorian Era, “Out of Africa always something new.” His version of it was: “Out of the Universe there will always come something new.”

That, of course, was what the Professor adored. Something new. Even Rex had to admit that there was an irresistible fascination about a new planet. It was the same curiosity multiplied a hundredfold which from the earliest times on Earth had lured explorers on to see round the next bend of an unknown river, or beyond the next range of mountains. Rex hoped there would be no new planets to distract them, for a while, anyhow. Although he could not have suspected it, these hopes were doomed even earlier than he had imagined possible. In the meantime there was nothing to do except sit and think. There were books in the Tavona, but Rex had found it almost impossible to concentrate on reading while in transit through space. The doings of people on Earth seemed so trivial compared with what was going on elsewhere.

After a long period of silence the Professor suddenly exclaimed: “Do my eyes deceive me or is there a newcomer in the zone of planetoids?”

“It is new,” answered Borron, who by this time spoke English fluently. “I have been watching it for some time.”

“You didn’t mention it.”

“I thought it better not to.”

“You were afraid I might want to go to it, you rascal.”

“Yes. My orders were to return to Mars.”

“How do you account for the appearance of a new planetoid almost directly on our course?”

Vargo answered. “It must be one of those that move on an exceptionally long orbit. You don’t need me to tell you that most of these small bodies which you call planetoids have an . . .