The Golden Amazons of Venus Read online

arrived!

  Below them stretched the rippling waters of a vast and greenish sea. Itwas broken by scattered islands, bare bits of rock that were dotted witha blue moss and were utterly bare of life except for a few swoopingsea-birds. On a distant shore were lofty mountains whose peaks werecapped with snow. In one or two places a narrow shaft of sunlight struckdown through a brief gap in the canopy of eternal clouds, but otherwisethere was only that subdued and peculiarly golden light. Nothing movedbut those few oddly shaped birds.

  "Lord--but it's lonely!" Gerry muttered.

  There was no sign of human existence, no trace of the towers andbuildings of mankind. Not even any sign of life at all, except for thosesea-birds. It was like a scene from the long-ago youth of the world,when the only life was that of the teeming shallows or the muddy shoresof warm seas. The place was desolate, and forlorn, and inexpressiblylonely.

  They had opened some of the ports for a breath of fresh air after longweeks of the flat and second-hand product of the air filters, with itsfaint odor of oil and disinfectant. The breeze that came in the openports was warm and moist and faintly salty.

  "Rocket motors--minimum power!" Gerry commanded quietly. "There's no uselanding on one of those bare islets. We'll see what lies beyond themountains."

  The subdued blast of only two rocket tubes began to drive the _Viking_forward at a slow speed of about 300 M.P.H., while long fins were thrustout at the sides to carry the weight and free the helicopters. All handswere crowded at the windows and ports. After a moment Olga Stark turnedto Gerry.

  "Our magnetic compasses are working again, Captain," she said quietly."I suggest going across the mountains and then turning southwest."

  "Why there--rather than in any other direction?" Gerry asked quietly.The girl shrugged.

  "Just a hunch. Of course, it's all guesswork."

  The _Viking_ had to go up to a level of 18,000 feet above this lonelyVenusian sea before she was above the peaks of the mountains. Then Gerryturned her inland. Just before they left the shoreline they passed somesort of a flying _thing_ that swooped down to prey on the sea-birds. Ithad a reptilian body, and a spread of leathery wings about twelve feetacross.

  "Will you look at that!" Steve Brent muttered.

  "I'd hate to meet that on a dark night!" Gerry said grimly. Along theshoreline as they flashed inland he could see monstrous, crawling thingsthat moved sluggishly along the beaches or in the shallows. It began toseem that life on Venus was on a different level than that of the OuterPlanets.

  The _Viking_ drove steadily westward across the mountains. From thelower control room windows Gerry could see only drifted snow and nakedboulders, and the gauntly lonely peaks. The air was thin and cold. Thecanopy of yellow clouds was only a little way above them. Then, acrossthe mountains at last, they dropped down toward a broad table-landcovered with patches of forest and alternate stretches of opengrass-land.

  "Cut rockets!" Gerry snapped. "Prepare to land!"

  A few minutes later the _Viking_ settled gently down in a broadclearing, where the coarse grass was knee high. For the first time inover six weeks the sound and vibration of the motors ceased. Theexpedition had landed on Venus!

  * * * * *

  The landing party filed out a door that opened in the lower part of thehull. The moist air was a little warmer than that of Earth, and it hadan unfamiliar smell of growing things, but its density seemed about thesame. Since the size of Venus was similar to that of their own planets,neither Earth-man nor Martian had much trouble in walking as soon asthey became accustomed to a slightly lesser gravity. Gerry found hecould leap eight feet in the air without any trouble.

  Gerry split the landing party into four groups, sending them spreadingout like the spokes of a fan.

  "Don't go more than three miles from the ship without further orders.Study the countryside thoroughly, and then report back on board."

  All the landing party wore light armour of steel coated with duralite,and carried ray-tubes at their belts. Every third man had a heavierray-gun with its cylindrical magazine, not unlike the old-fashionedmachine gun. Their polished armor took on a golden tinge as they trampedaway across the grass-land, while behind them the _Viking_ laymotionless in the grass like a great torpedo of steel and blue.

  Gerry took personal command of the southernmost exploring party, leadingthem into a broad belt of forest. It was very still beneath the gianttrees, where strange yellow flowers hung from the branches and theirpath wound between clusters of ten-foot ferns. Huge toad-stools ofpurple and green rose higher than their heads, and once they saw a giantant some three feet long who scuttled off through the underbrush withthe speed of a galloping horse.

  Gradually Gerry became separated from the rest of his party, bearingmore to the southward as he caught a glimpse of more open countrythrough the trees. Then, on the edge of a small clearing, he abruptlyhalted as half a dozen men appeared on the far side.

  That is, Gerry thought of them as men for lack of a better term. Theywere like nothing he had ever seen on either Earth or Mars or any of theplanetoids between. Lean bodies were covered with glistening grayscales. Though the hands seemed human, the feet were clawed and webbed.Short, flat tails hung behind them. The faces were scaleless, low-browedand green-eyed, with a jutting mouth and nose that came together in asort of snout. They had pointed ears that stood sharply erect. Theirgeneral appearance was a little more on the animal side than the human,but they had swords slung at their belts and carried short-barreledrifles.

  In the center of the group was a woman. She was naked except for ascarlet loin-cloth and golden breast-plates. This was no semi-reptiliancreature, but a woman straight and clean-limbed and beautiful, with longblonde hair that hung nearly to her waist. She had blue eyes, and herskin was about as white as Gerry's own, though it had a faintly tawnytinge so that she appeared all golden. At the moment her hands weretightly tied behind her back and a cloth gag distended her lips, whileone of the Scaly Men led her along by a rope about her neck.

  Gerry stepped out into the clearing with his ray-tubes swinging free inhis hand. His wide shoulders were thrown slightly forward, his wholemuscular body was tensed and ready beneath his armor. As always when hewent into a fight, his lean, and normally somber face was smiling.

  * * * * *

  The captive girl saw him first, and her eyes widened in utter surprise.Then the half dozen reptilian men caught sight of the lone Earth-manstanding there in his gleaming armor, and their snout-like mouths saggedopen. Gerry walked quietly forward.

  He was half across the clearing before the Venusians recovered fromtheir surprise. Then one of the patrol flung his short rifle to hisshoulder. There was a hiss of escaping gas, and a split-second later anexplosive bullet struck him in the chest with a flash and a loud report.It would have instantly killed an unprotected man, but it did no morethan slightly dent Gerry's armor.

  The Earth-man half crouched, his eyes narrowing and his jaw juttingsuddenly forward. He had meant to try and parley, but diplomacy had noplace with creatures who shot first and challenged afterward. Hisray-tube swung up to the level. There was a sharp crackling sound, andfor a second a murky red light played around the open end. The nearestVenusian crumpled and went down. He twitched for a second, and then laystill. The gray scales had turned dead black in the area where thedeath-ray had struck him.

  At least the Scaly Men had courage! The remaining five came forward witha shrill and almost canine yelping, advancing at a bent-legged run.Their rifles hissed as the compressed gases were released, the explosivebullets crackled all around Gerry. Twice more his ray-tube let go itsdeadly blast--and then his weapon was empty. He cursed himself throughclenched teeth for having strayed away from the patrol while armed onlywith a light tube with simply three charges. Two more of the reptile menlay twitching in the tall grass, but the other three were almost up tohim. After that one volley they had drawn their swords, which probablymeant that their compressed-
gas rifles were cumbersome things to reload.

  And then Gerry Norton suddenly remembered the greater strength of hisEarthly muscles. As the foremost Venusian lunged for him with long bladeswinging, Gerry bounded high into the air. He went clean over the headof his antagonist, coming down squarely on top of the next behind. Theyboth went sprawling, but Gerry recovered first. Gripping the fallenVenusian by the ankles, the Earth-man swung him around his head like aflail and hurled him squarely at the other two. The three of them wentdown in a tangled heap.

  By the time the reptile men again scrambled to their feet, Gerry hadsnatched up the sword of one of the men he had killed with the ray-tube.Now he had something to fight with! The long sword whistled as he jerkedit free from its scabbard. For an instant he tested the blade in bothhands. It was forged of some bluish metal that seemed as strong andflexible as well-tempered steel. Then, still smiling his thin-lippedsmile though his