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CHAPTER ONE

MYSTERY PLANET

So far from the world of Earth as to be beyond the reach of any scientific instruments, there drifted the Ultra, spaceship base and home of the Cosmic Crusaders.

At the moment the giant machine, created by the incredible minds of the Golden Amazon of Earth and Abna of Jupiter, was drifting in space at the center of the spawning flux of stardust unimaginatively named ‘The Milky Way.’

When the Cosmic Crusaders had begun their mighty plan to spread science and peace amongst the stars, there had only been three of them—the Amazon, Abna her husband, and the copper-haired Viona, the product of their twin minds in fusion. But now there was one other, as mighty in physique and mentality as the original Crusaders—Mexone. Formerly an inhabitant of a planet now countless light-years away, the course of destiny had made him the husband of Viona, and that had automatically demanded that his physical and mental status be brought to the level of that of his wife and her parents.

So now the four Crusaders stood at the enormous bow window in the prow of the Ultra and surveyed. Surveyed as gods might, studying with an immeasurable indulgence the possibilities that lay before them.

“Do you suppose,” Viona asked presently, her intense sapphire eyes surveying the deeps, “that there is anything more we can really do, father? Do you, mother?”

“Really do?” The Amazon turned in surprise—this graceful, majestic blonde with the muscles of forged steel. “But what a question! Of course there is!”

“Tired of wandering?” Abna inquired, with a dry smile.

“Of course not.” Viona hesitated for a moment, and Mexone’s powerful arm tightened about her waist. “It’s just that— Well, we’ve seen so many worlds, and corrected so many badly-organized peoples, that it’s hard to think of any more needing it.”

Abna’s smiling face became serious. “As long as there are living beings, Viona, there will always be difficulties and dissensions.”

For some reason Viona did not appear to be listening. She was staring straight through the window into the star-draped canopy of space. Her eyes were bewildered, startled.

“Anything the matter?” the Amazon asked in surprise, catching her expression.

“I—I don’t quite know.” Viona did not take her gaze from space. Instead she moved lithely forward and pressed her face close to the heavily-insulated glass. After a moment or two she turned her head quickly.

“I wasn’t mistaken!” she exclaimed. “There’s something queer out there! A sort of—of leap-frogging star, or planet!”

“A what?” Abna looked at her in amazement.

By this time Viona was being crowded by her father, mother, and Mexone. She indicated the star in question, separated from its nearest neighbors, and glowing with a faint ruby light.

“I may be wrong,” Mexone said, “but I don’t think it’s a star at all. I believe I can just detect the outline of a disc, and if so, it is a planet.”

“Star or planet, it jumped!” Viona declared flatly, and at that Abna turned aside.

“Soon find out what it is, anyhow,” he said, and he crossed to the astronomical panel. In a matter of moments he had trained the telescopic equipment on the distant mystery, and the object loomed in view on the giant reflective screen.

A switch snapped under Mexone’s fingers and darkness dropped. Now the unknown loomed clear and bright—beyond question a planet of vaguely Martian redness, a cloud or two floating in its clear atmosphere. The landscape itself was partly empty desert, but here and there were patchwork delineations that could have passed for cities.

Abna turned to the controls again and that which had been vague became clear. Definitely there were cities, apparently made up of curious, cone-like edifices, yet with roads which could have caused no surprise had they been on Earth.

“Planet, all right,” the Amazon commented, pondering. “But the leap-frog business has me bothered. Just a moment while I check on its constitution.”

The lights came up again, and for some minutes the Amazon was busy with the automatic analyzer. By its mathematical sifting of light-mass and other details, the instrument was able to determine every detail of the world in question without there being any need to actually visit it.

“Better have a close look at it,” the Amazon decided, switching off the instruments. “Apparently there is no life that needs our assistance, but the mystery of the leap-frog technique more than intrigues me.”

With that she went over to the main panel and started the Ultra forward from its drifting position. Within a matter of minutes the colossal machine was building speed upon speed, streaking over the two million miles of intervening space.

With scarcely a jar the Ultra came to a halt. The soft hum of the giant engines ceased. Abna led the way to the window and surveyed the exterior. In the immediate foreground was the reddish plain, which appeared to be natural rock—and about two miles away there lay the outskirts of the city. Seen here from ground level, the cone-like buildings looked surprisingly like an assembly of loom bobbins. Thus everything lay, in the torrid blue-white glare of the cloudless sun.

“I wonder,” Abna said, with his teasing smile, “what would happen to us if this world suddenly decided to leap-frog now we are upon it?”

“All right, laugh!” Viona challenged crossly. “I tell you it did, and I also—”

“Look!” Mexone interrupted, pointing. “Life!”

It was not exactly that, but it was certainly something moving. It could have been a guided missile, or it could equally have had a guiding hand inside it. Whatever the answer, there now streaked across the sky in the far distance an object only classifiable as a space machine. It had none of the refinements or the enormous size of the Ultra, but at least it had maneuverability. It darted once across the city, clearly visible by the sun reflecting from its polished metalwork—then in a swiftly designed power dive it made a ‘Z’ in the sky and finally vanished from view somewhere to the rear of the city itself.

“Do you think we were seen?” Mexone asked, and after thinking about it for a moment or two, Abna shook his head.

“I hardly think so—that is, if there was anybody inside that machine. It could have been remote-controlled.”

“Talking of remote control,” the Amazon said, “we could see if they have radio....”

She switched on the apparatus, tuned it, and then stood listening in astonishment to the noises that came from the loudspeaker. Abna, Viona, and Mexone glanced at one another, wincing at the appalling cacophony bawling forth. It sounded exactly like an army of bad instrumentalists trying to play harps.

“What sort of a language is that?” Mexone demanded blankly, as the Amazon turned down the volume to bearable sound.

“No language at all,” Viona decided. “Just plain, horrible noise!”

The Amazon switched off, and in the comforting silence the four looked at each other.

“Up to you, Viona,” the Amazon said finally. “This is your particular pigeon. Do you think we should explore, or are the wastes of space more appealing? Remember, there may be danger here—danger of a type we can’t envisage as yet.”

“Nothing new about that, far as we’re concerned,” Viona responded, feeling that her courage was being challenged. “Yes, I think we ought to look around. How about you, Mex?”

“Whatever the Crusaders do, I do,” he replied simply—and so it was decided.