Flash Gordon 4 - The Time Trap of Ming XIII (11 page)

“Forest-kingdom rabble,” the blue man growled. “Rabble.”

Zarkov had his blaster pistol loose now. He aimed it at his assailant’s stomach. But suddenly, he found himself flat on his back in the needles looking up into the man’s slightly tilted yellow eyes.

Zarkov’s blaster pistol was gone, kicked away by the blue man’s booted foot.

The blue man was dressed in a stretchsuit beneath the crimson cloak. The stretchsuit was made of an iridescent type of plyoweave, which caught dots of sunlight, making the surface dance. It was a garment much like an old-fashioned leotard and was colored in an ink-blot design of orange on yellow. Inside the crimson cloak, the effect was one of some kind of exotic grasshopper. The man wore a skullcap of red to cover an obviously bald blue head.

“Cease!” he commanded, his voice deep and firm, but tinged with a very heavy Mingolite accent. From his plyoweave stretchsuit he drew a curved dagger of duroplast and placed the sharp edge of his boot on Zarkov’s throat. “One move, and I’ll separate your gizzard from your backbone!”

Zarkov shrugged.

“Captain Slan,” said the other blue man, who was dressed in an identical costume. “I have the forest youth secured. And his ancient weapon is inoperative.”

Captain Slan smiled faintly. He stared at Zarkov. “And I have the old man in hand.”

“Old man!” Zarkov boomed. “Listen, you yellow-livered poachers, you’d better have a good explanation for this indecency.”

Slan laughed loudly. “Lieutenant Brod, let’s teach these two a lesson, shall we?”

Brod was already securing Sar’s hands behind his back as Slan prodded Zarkov to his feet and twisted a pliable metallic cord around Zarkov’s wrists.

Zarkov looked at Sar and gave him a reassuring wink. Sar’s eyes mirrored his fright. He looked at Zarkov with concern.

Lieutenant Brod pushed Sar against the enormous bulk of a tree trunk and shoved him hard into the bark with a blow to the chest. Sar cried out in pain. Brod’s blue face looked startled. His little yellow eyes glittered.

He reached out and as Zarkov watched in horror he tore the cap from Sar’s head and dashed it and the yellow feather to the ground. Sar’s hair was long and brown and soft.

Quickly Brod reached out and ripped the tunic apart. Underneath the tunic Sar wore a thin body stocking of plyoweave.

Brod grinned and uttered a leering chuckle.

Under the loose tunic, Sar was utterly feminine in shape.

“A girl!” Zarkov cried in surprise.

Captain Slan’s eyes gleamed as he surveyed the face and body.

“A beautiful catch for the emperor’s harem,” he gurgled in delight. “Perhaps the emperor will excuse us if she arrives in a slightly used condition.”

Lieutenant Brod roared his approval.

Captain Slan shoved Zarkov against the tree trunk and moved over to Sar. He reached out and ripped the tunic from her shoulders.

Then he grabbed the thin sheath of plyoweave at the throat.

U
nderneath the protection of a giant maidenhair fern, Kial and Lari faced each other. Kial was angry, Lari frightened.

“What are we going to do?” Lari asked in a trembling voice.

“How do I know what we’re going to do?” asked Kial. “You bungled the whole thing!”

“Bungled?” Lari yelped, very hurt. “That second Flash Gordon came out of nowhere.”

“You had the drop on him,” Kial said accusingly. “You could have zapped him.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You didn’t zap him. You let him get to us and disarm us.”

“I didn’t let him disarm us. I was trying to hit him, then he had me. You had the blaster pistol. Why didn’t you use it?”

“Because, dummy, you were in the way. I couldn’t kill him without killing you.” Kial stroked his chin thoughtfully. “Come to think of it, I suppose that would have been the best thing to do.”

Lari pouted. “Come on, Kial. Think of something. We can’t report back to Ming XIII and tell him what happened.”

Kial shook. “Absolutely not! Let’s think hard, Lari, Let’s put our minds to it and—”

“I’ve got it!” exclaimed Lari. “Let’s give Flash and Dale the time belts and send them five centuries back in time.”

“Dummy, they’d be as mobile as we are now. And we’d be stuck here.”

“I’d rather be stuck here than go back to the future and Ming XIII.”

Kial nodded. “Of course, there’s that point.”

“How about this? We move the neutraiizer ray ahead of the two of them, on the road to Arboria, and zap them as they pass.”

There was a pause. “No,” replied Kial, after deep thought.

“Why not?”

“Because they’d see us from Arboria. Flash and Dale are just about to Arboria right now. Probably in sight of it on the superway.”

“So?”

“They’ve got guards on the city walls. They’d see us and that would ruin everything. Then the palace would be alerted to trouble and Prince Barin would go underground.”

“What’s Prince Barin got to do with it?”

Kial snapped his fingers. “Wake up, dummy. That’s the mission Orto and Lanl are assigned to.”

“What mission?”

“The assassination of Prince Barin.”

“I didn’t know that,” replied Lari, wide-eyed.

“You just don’t listen, dummy.”

“If only we could move the city, we could ambush them and not be seen from the city.”

Kial blinked. “What did you say?”

“I said, if only we could move the city . . .”

“How could we move the city?” Kial stared, “Wait a minute! If we can go back into time far enough, before the city was built, we could change the plans and move the city’s location. That’s what you mean, isn’t it?”

“It is?” Lari asked blankly.

Kial’s eyes narrowed. “No good. That’s too tough. Look. It’s the roadway—that’s the key. If we go back in time and move the roadway, make it wind around instead of going straight to Arboria, then we’ve gained a couple miles of walking space. We sit in the woods, we kill Flash and Dale while they’re walking toward Arboria, nobody sees us, and we’re home-free.”

“That’s right,” said Lari

“You’re smarter than I thought you were, Lari,” said Kial sarcastically.

“Yeah. What was that with the stakes, Kial?”

“Shut up, dummy! Let’s get moving. The computer readout on that superway showed it was built twenty years before Flash and Dale used it. We set our time belts to that date, to minus three two one wye, and we move the stakes.”

“What year, Kial?”

“Three oh one and twenty is three twenty-one. Three two one. Just follow orders, dummy. You’ll make out with me running things.”

“Yeah.”

They were off by seven months and four days, but by moving back and forth in time they finally found the correct day and stood on the projected roadway from the spaceport to Arboria. A line of surveyor’s stakes enclosed the borders of the wide superway.

“Flash and Dale are just about there,” said Kial, pointing. “So we simply break the road off here, move it around In a big sweeping circle, and change the stakes so it’ll be built in a wide arc instead of straight. Got it?”

“Sure, Kial,” replied Lari blankly.

“Then come on, let’s get at it!”

They pulled up the stakes and carried them through the woods. It was a hard job. They extended the road at least an extra two miles. By moving the stakes and by cutting and stripping fifty more from the woods, they managed to extend the roadway so Arboria could not be seen from the far arc of the wide curve.

It was hard, exhausting work.

“They’ll be in Arboria by now,” wailed Lari.

“Dummy, we’re in the past now! We can go back to the exact instant they both saw Arboria. What’s the matter with you? We’re working back twenty years before.”

“I guess I don’t understand,” said lari despondently.

“Just shut up and pound.”

Finally, after four hours, Kial and Lari stood by the side of the projected roadway and Kial gazed in satisfaction at their work.

“Good. We’ll travel forward in time now and be ready for them.”

“Yeah,” said Lari.

“Set your time belt,” Kial commanded. He fiddled with the digital readout on his own.

Instantly they stood beside the superway, already built, curving around a carefully cambered bend in the dense forest out of sight of Arboria.

Kial looked gleeful. “We did it! We did it!”

Lari looked around. “Where’s the antimatter neutralizer?”

“Yeah,” said Kial. “I’ve got to go look for it. You stay here, dummy. I’ve got to get a fix on the location of the gun.”

Lari sat down.

Kial looked into the forest and started down the superway. “I think it’s over there somewhere.”

He found it without a great deal of trouble, returned, and brought Lari back with him to lug the parts to the side of the superway where they would wait.

Finally, when they had the neutralizer gun set up, Kial turned the laser rod barrel in the direction of the superway.

Lari peered through the magniscope sights. “That should hit them when they come in sight, Kial,” he said. “You’re a genius.”

“I know,” said Kial. He grinned. “Now we just sit here and we wait. It shouldn’t be long.”

“Right,” said Lari.

They sat down under the shade of a giant horsetail plant. It was an evergreen rushlike herb with yellow-jointed stems and without leaves or flowers.

Kial drew out a packet of bananacco and started to roll a smoke. As he lit the highstik with a heat cube, he handed Lari the sack and watched him roll his own.

Soon they were both puffing and watching the superway.

“There they are,” Lari said in a shaky voice.

Kial nodded, stubbed out his highstik and moved quickly to the sights of the neutralizer gun. He crouched behind it and flicked the magniscope into operation. He could see the two Earthlings clearly.

“I’ve got them zeroed in,” he told Lari.

“Then zap them and let’s get back home.”

Kial shook his head. “I can’t say I trust this equipment all that much. You know how our scientists are. Remember we missed that location when we set our flying belts for the site by the Tempendulum? I don’t want to miss again. I’ll let them get a little closer.”

Lari shrugged. He puffed on his highstik and watched the little clouds of smoke roll toward the seventh sun of Mongo.

Finally Kial said, “I’m ready, Lari. You want to double-check me?”

Lari came to the ray gun and peered through the magsiscopic sights. “You’re on target,” he said, puffing away.

Kial got behind the sights and reached out for the laser button.

“Good-bye, Flash! Good-bye, Dale!” he said, and laughed as he pushed in the activator.

T
he superway wound through a thick stand of giant conifers. Ahead Flash and Dale saw only more roadway. There was no sign of any jetcars along the pavement, nor was there any sign of Arboria in the distance.

“It’s dark here,” said Dale. “I never knew the forest was so thick.”

Flash nodded. “This is one of the most primitive sections of it, Dale. These trees are over ten thousand years old.”

“It’s creepy,” Dale said, shuddering.

“You’re still imagining things.” Flash smiled.

“I didn’t imagine seeing Arboria. You saw it, too.”

“That’s right At least, I thought I saw it.” He looked at Dale. “Just the way you thought you saw a second me back there when those two ruffians tried to kill us.”

“I didn’t imagine that; I saw you.” Dale held her chin up stubbornly.

“Well, maybe it’s mass hypnosis. I mean, the second Flash Gordon. And the glimpse of Arboria before it vanished.”

“And the roadway changing like that,” Dale added.

Flash rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I haven’t figured that one out yet.”

“I know. But you’re sure there’s a logical explanation for it,” Dale said sarcastically.

“Right.”

Dale shook her head. “You’re impossible.”

They trudged on in silence. Silver monkeys played in the trees, then disappeared. They could be heard chattering in the foliage.

“Flash, I think—” Dale halted beside him in the road.

Flash turned. “What, Dale?”

Dale stared into the darkened woods ahead. “I think I see something in there.”

“Monkeys?” Flash laughed.

“No, I think it’s a man.”

“In the trees?” Flash asked, frowning and looking into the dense foliage. “I don’t see anything.”

Dale stamped her foot. “Oh, you think I’m going crazy, but I’m not!”

Flash smiled. “I don’t think you’re going crazy. Some very strange things have been happening to us today.”

“Do you think—?” Dale began. “I mean, those two men. Could they be there ahead of us—waiting?”

“They could be,” Flash said quietly. “Anyone who can disappear the way those two did could be anywhere.”

“Let’s turn back,” Dale suggested abruptly.

“We can’t,” said Flash gently. “We’ve got to get on to Arboria. Zarkov and Prince Barin will wonder what’s happened to us.”

Dale sighed. “Oh, all right. It’s so far. Really, I never thought I’d be so tired.”

They walked a few more steps in silence.

“It does seem a long way to the city,” said Flash. “Wait a minute, up ahead—see? It’s a road marker. We can verify how far we’ve got to go to the city.”

“Good,” said Dale. “My feet are tired.”

They walked over to the side of the superway, where the large stone had been set up beside the pavement.

“It says four Earth miles,” Flash observed with some concern. He looked at Dale.

“But we just passed a marker that said two Earth miles, just before we saw the city the first time!” Dale cried.

“I know,” agreed Flash softly. “Something very strange is happening.” He had walked around the marker and was staring down at the other side. “Dale!”

She joined him. “What is it?”

He pointed. “Would you look at that?”

On the far side of the stone someone had scrawled in pencil:

FLASH AND DALE—THE ANSWER IS THIS WAY.

After the words, as arrow had been drawn, pointing into the woods at their deepest part.

Flash gazed into the dense foliage where the conifers were so tightly spaced that there was barely room to pass.