^Astonishing Electrical Invention Protects lour Car from Thieves , . , Automatically! Thit unqutitmnihiy ti thr lurrrrit. moit incredible In- vention nn:( I he flrtt diicOvenei of radio! A magical, thouting. automatic araichman that actually 11 lar mote than human: Never slcrpi. rests or nth tired! Standi guard over your entire car from spare tire to headlights and itarring wheel! Endorsed by police! Approved by Motor Associations! Now offered an- gcnrroui 5-day lest butt! Tho coupon bring* full delaih. A Startling, Uncanny Money Maker For Agents (*117HAT makes it work?" "Where on earth did you ™ get it*" "Bet you five dollars he's goi some one hiding in there!" It simply can't be true." A running lire of comment like this breaks out whenever and wher- ever this new invention is exhibited. And why not? When no one ever heard or such a startling, uncanny device before ! In (act few people would even dare to dream there could be such i thing ! So this, men is something really NEW, something to grip the imagi- nation of everyone, something that sells to every autoist on sheer novelty alone. Dis- tributors, "star" salesmen, every man who wants to double and triple his present in- come should note carefully the folio* ing facts. Tho Secret ol ■ Tbttt-Froof Car Now in this amazing new way, every car can be protected from theft for 24 full hours a day. In the garage or parked on the Street, if any thief so much as pulls at your spare tire or touches his foot to your run- ning board — ZOWI E < A riot of noise Starts instantly! And your car never shuts up till the ihirf leaves. And listen to this. Even if the thief is wise to What's up, you alone place the secret control button anywhere you want it around the car. The thief can t possibly find it. If he wastes lime looking for it — Bingo' He's caught and on his way to jail' This astonishing invention guards your snare-tire, head-lights and spot-lights as well as the car itself. Iaatalledla ■• HaotM- Coat* NotMnstoOparate The inventor has asked the U. S. Government to pro- tect his patent rights in this revolutionary discovery. Because of its uncanny powers and to distinguish it from everything else on earth this queer discovery is nop called A Mere Handful "Devil Dog. -- Among its amazing features is the fact that it can be installed by anyone in 10 minutes or less. There is absolutely no cost for operation. It will last as long n the car. Fits any car from Ford to Rolls Royce without adjustment or fussing. For introductory purposes a special 6-day test offer is now being made. If you arc interested in learning about the most as- tonishing invention since the radio first came in. use the coupon at once. II your present income is less than $50 a week the profit possibilities as our agent may aston- ish you. The coupon brings details of all offers. Mail it now, NORTHWEST ELECTRIC CORP. Dept. L. 490 Fnkwana, So. Dakota I Northwest Electric Corp., 1 ■ Dept. L-490. I | Pukvano. So. Dakota. I I Ruth delaih o) your big 3-day test offer and big pfoflti i for apenti. 1 I Name | I Addrri. — ' LI" Town _ .. Stair □ Chech here il inlerrilrd only in one lor yiur and not In agents' money-making offer. I He wants to get married TY7HEN Smedley came East to take a big W job as Sales Manager, he wanted to get married. Like his father and his grandfather he believed in early marriage; said it settled a man, kept him out of mischief, helped to make him successful in business. Smedley was attracted to a Boston girl; grew food of her and was about to propose marriage when the girl suddenly made it plain that she was x laager interested in seeing him. It was a blow. He put her out of his mind* After that there were several in whom Smedley lot interested. Any one of them would have nude Smedley a good wife. But Smedley never had a chance. They usually law him once or twice and then made excuses (or not seeing him again. One by one they dropped out of his life. ■.- Yet, fundamentally, the man was attractive — pod husband material. His buoyancy, his vigor, ba charm, his success, were qualities not found " everyday men. ' But he had one fault they simply couldn't orafaok. He still has it. And he is still looking for a C"l who will marry him. There is no greater barrier to pleasant personal and business relations than halitosis (unpleasant breath). It is the unforgivable social fault. The insidious thing about it is that the victim never knows when he has it. And even a good friend won't tell him. Ttk matter is too delicate to discuss. The one way of putting your breath beyond suspicion, so that you know it doesn't offend others, is to use full- strength Listerine as a mouth wash and gargle. Every morning and every night. And between times before meeting others. Listerine ends halitosis because it is a germicide* which allays fermentation and checks infection, — each a cause of odors. It is also a rapid deodor- ant end counteracts odors as soon as they arise. Keep Listerine handy in hotne and office. And carry it with you when you travel. It is as much a part of the fastidious person's toilet as the tooth brush. Lambert Pharmacol Company, St. Louis, Missouri, U. S. A. 'While safe to uu full etvanSth In soy body cavity. S«rmldde which kills even the Listerias U to active _ resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (pus) and BadllL IVphosueotr/phold) genus In counts reusing to 3SS, SM.SM In IS sr recorded by — " Please mention Newsstand Gboup — Men's List, nheir answering advertisements 5 seconds. (F etr answenn Sale the First Thursday of Each Month HARRY BATES, Editor DR. DOUGLAS If. DOLD, i 'the Clayton Standard on a Magazine Guarantees ■ *rm iIbib, Lauretta*, vivid, Wr U— mllwi of tkw mmy •■dlUoM approved by I he An Lb* 9V Laagu of Awrini rial aah — ■ ■daalin and asvrn* La laaurwd ■ fair p*wfit« Tkm mm ■■lalW—l cm*or>hlp |«inb thai*- adwiUkaf ■ Titf •liar Cfc»yf*» ar»f ACB-HICH MAGAZINE, RANCH ROMANCES. COT BO T STORIES, CLUBS, FIVB-HOT1L9 MONTHLY, ALL STAB DETECTIVE STORIES, BANCELAJfDt LOVE STORT MAGAZINE, mm* WESTERN ADVENTURES. More thorn Turn Million Capias Required to Supply the Monthly Demand for Clayton Megurimn. VOL. Ill, No. 2 CONTENTS AUGUST, 19N COVER DESIGN H. W. WESSOLOWSFJ Painted in Water-colors from a Spue in "Tka Plant of Dread." THE PLANET OF DREAD R. F. STARZL 147 A Stupid Blunder — and Mark Forepaugh Faces a Lifetime of Castaway Loneliness in the Savage Wetter of the Planet Inra's Monster-ridden Jungles. THE LORD OF SPACE VICTOR ROUSSEAU 158 A Black Caesar Had Arisen on Eros — and All Earth Trembled at His Distant Menace. THE SECOND. SATELLITE EDMOND HAMILTON 175 Earth-mem War on Frog-vampires for the Emancipation of the Human Cows of Earth's Second Satellite. (A Novelet.) SILVER DOME HARL VINCENT 192 /• Her Deep-buried Kingdom of Theros, Phaestra Reveals the A mowing Secret of the Silver Dome. EARTH, THE MARAUDER ARTHUR J. BURKS 21t Deep in the Gnome-infested Tunnels nf the Moon, Sarka and Jaska Are Brought to Loot, the Radiant Goddess Against Whose Minions the Marauding Earth Had Struck in Vain. (Part Two of a Three -Part Novel.) * MURDER MADNESS MURRAY LEINSTER 237 Bell Has Fought through Tremendous' Obstacles to Find and Kill The Master, Whose Diabolical Poison Makes Murder-mad Snakes of the Hands; and, as He Faces the 'Monster at Last — His Own Hands Start to Writhe! (Conclusion.) THE FLYING CITY * H. THOMPSON RICH 2M From Space Came Car's Disc-city of Vada—lts Mighty, Age-old Engines Weakening— Its Horde of Dwarfs Hungry for the Earth! THE READERS' CORNER ALL OF US Z7» A Meeting Place for Readers of Astounding Stories. SinfU Copies, 20 Cento (In Canada, 25 Cento) Yearly Subscription^ $2.00 laraed monthly by Pubtt&hen' Fiscal Corporative, SO Lafayette St_ Nrw York. N. Y. W. If. Clayton. Pra* dent; /Nathan Goldmana, Secretary. Enteral mm KCoad-ei&aa matter December 7. 1929. at the Peat Onto at New York. M. Y.. under Act or March Ms. " 1879. Title registered at a Trade Hark In the U. S, Patent Onto. Member Newatfand Group — Men's UmL For mdvertklaa' rat** addreai E. R. Crowe a Co.. Inc. A Vanderbttl Ave.. Mew York: or 226 North Michhran Ave.. Chicago. v This time Forepamgh was ready for it. The Planet of Dread By R. F. Starzl THERE was no use hiding from the truth. Somebody had blun- dered — a fatal blunder — and they were going to pay for it I Mark Forepaugh kicked the pile of hydrogen cylinders. Only a moment ago he had broken the seals — the men- dacious seals that certified to the world that the flasks were fully charged. And the flasks were emp- ty 1 The supply of this precious power gas.^which in an emergency should have been sufficient for six years, simply did not exist. " He walked over to the integrating machine, which as early as the year 2031 had Begun to replace the older atomic processes, due to the shortage A itupid blunder — and Mark Forepaugh face* a lifetime of castaway loneliness in the oarage welter of the planet Inra's monitor-ridden jungle*. 147 of the radium series metals. It was bulky and heavy compared* to the atomic disintegrators, but it was much more economical and very dependable. Dependable — provided some thick- headed stock clerk at a terrestial sup- ply Btation did not check in empty hydrogen cylin- ders instead of full ones. Fore- paugh's Unwont- ed curses brought a smile to the stupid, good - na- tured face of his servant; Gunga — he who had been banished fv life from his native Mars for his impiety Jn 'clos- ing his single round eye during the sacred Ceremony of the Wells. The Earth, man was at this steaming hot, unhealthful trading station under 148 ASTOUNDING STORIES the very shadow of the South Pole of the minor planet Inra for an entirely different reason. One of the most popular of his set on the Earth, an athletic hero, he had fallen in love, and the devoutly wished-for marriage was only prevented by lack of funds. The opportunity to take~ charge of this richly paid, though dangerous, outpost of civilization had been no sooner of- fered than taken. In another week or two the relief ship (was due to take him and his valuable collection of ex- otic Inranian orchids back to the Earth, back to a fat Sonus, Constance, and an assured future. It was a different young man who how stood tragically before the useless power plant. His slim body was bowed, and his clean features were drawn. Grimly he raked the cooling dust that had been forced in the inte- grating chamber by the electronic re- arrangement of the original hydrogen atoms — finely powdered iron and sili- con — the "ashes" of the last tank of, hydrogen GUNGA chuckled. "What's the matter?" Forepaugh barked. "Going crjzy already?" "Me, haw I Me, haw I Me thinkin'," Gunga rumbled. "Haw I We got, bawl plenty hydr'gen." He pointed to the low metal roof of the trading sta- tion. Though it was well insulated against sound, the place continually vibrated to the low murmur of the Inranian rains that fell interminably through the perpetual polar day. It was a rain such as is never seen on Earth, even in the tropics. It came in drops as large as a man's fist. It came in streams. It came in large, shattering masses that broke before they fell and filled the air with spray. There^was little wind, but the steady green down- pour of water and the brilliant continu- ous flashing of lightning shamed the dull soggy twilight produced by the large, hot, but hidden sun. "Your idea of a joke I" Forepaugh growled in disgust. He understood what Gunga's grim pleasantry referred to. There was-indeed an incalculable quantity of hydrogen at hand. If some means could be found to separate tjie hydrogen atoms from the oxygen in the world of water around them they would not lack for fuel. He thought of electrolysis, and relaxed with a sigh. There was no power. The gen- erators were dead, the air drier and cooler had ceased its rhythmic pulsing nearly an hour ago. Their lights were gone, and the automatic radio utterly Useless. "This is what comes of putting all youT eggs in one basket," he thought, and let his mind dwell vindictively on the engineers who had designed the equipment on which his life depended. An exclamation from Gunga startled him. The Martian was pointing to the ventilator opening, the only part of this strange building that was not hermetically sealed against the hostile life of Inra. A dark rim had appeared at its margin, a loathsome, black-green rim that was moving, spreading out It crept over the metal walls like the low-lying smoke of a fire, yet it was a solid. From it emanated a strong, miasmatic odor. "The giant mold I" Forepaugh cried. He rushed to his desk and took out his flash pistol, quickly set the localizer so as to cover a large area. When he turned he saw, to his horror, Gunga about to smash into the mold with his ax. He sent the man spinning with a blow to the ear. "Want to scatter it and start it grow- ing in a half-dozen places?" he snapped. "Here I" HE pulled the trigger. There waf a light, spiteful "ping" and for an instant a cone of white light stood out in the dim room like a solid thing. Then it was gone, and with it was gone the black mold, leaving a circular area of blistered paint on the wall and an acrid odor in the air. Forepaugh leaped to the ventilating louver and closed it tightly. THE PLANET OF DREAD 149 "It's going to be like this from now on," he remarked to the shaken Gunga. "All these things wouldn't bother us as long as the machinery kept the building dry and cool. They couldn't live in here. But it's getting damp and hot. Look at the moisture condensing on the ceiling I" Gunga gave a guttural cry of despair. "It knows, Boss; look I" Through one of the round, heavily framed ports it could- be seen, the lower part of its large, shapeless body half- floating in the lashing water that cov- ered their rocky shelf to a depth of several feet, the upper part spectral and gray. It was a giant amoeba, fully six feet in diameter in its present spheroid form, but capable of assuming any shape that" would be useful. It had an envelope of tough, transparent matter, and wae filled with a fluid that was now cloudy and then clear. Near the center there was a mass of darker matter, and this was undoubtedly the seat of its intelligence. The Earth man recoiled in horror 1 A single cell with a brain I It was un- thinkable. It was a biological night- mare. Never before had he seen one — had, in fact, dismissed the stories of the Inranian natives as a bit of primi- tive superstition, had laughed at these gentle, stupid amphibians with whom he traded when the£, in theU imperfect language, tried to tell, him of it. They had called it the Ul-lul. Well, let it be so. It was An amoeba, and it was watching him. It floated in the downpour and watched him. With what? It had no eyes. No matter, it was watching him. And then it sud- denly flowed outward until it became a disc rocking on the waves. Again its fluid form changed, and by a series of elongations and contractions it flowed through the water at an incredible speed. It came straight for the win- dow, struck the thick, unbreakable glass with a shock that could be felt by the men inside. It flowed over the glass and over the building. It was trying td eat them, building and all! The part of its body over the port be- came so thin that it was almost in- visible. At last, its absolute limit reached, it dropped away, baffled, van- ishing amid the glare of the lightning and the frothing waters like the shadows of a nightmare. THE heat was intolerable and the air was bad. "Haw, we have to open vent'lator, Boss I" gasped the Martian. Forepaugh nodded grimly. It wouldn't do to smother either. Though to open the ventilator would be to in- vite another invasion by the black mold, not to mention the amoebae and other fabulous monsters that had up to now been kept at a safe distance by the repeller zone, a simple adaptation of a very old discovery. A zone of me- chanical vibrations, of a frequency of 500,000 cycles per second, was created by a large quartz crystal in the water, which was electrically operated. With- out power, the protective zone had vanished. "We watch f" asked Gunga. "You bet we watch. Every minute of the 'day' and "night."' He examined the two chronometers, assuring himself that they were well wound, and congratulated himself that they were not dependent on the de- funct power plant for energy. They were his only means of measuring the passage of time. The sun, which theo- retically would seem to travel round and round the horizon, rarely suc- ceeded in making its exact location known, but appeared to shift strangely from side to side at the whim of the fog and water. "Th' fellas," Gfnga remarked, com- ing out of a study. "Why ijot come?" He referred to the Inranians. "Probably know something's wrong. They can tell the quartz oscillator is stopped. Afraid of the Ul-lul, I sup- pose." " 'Squeer," demurred the Martian. "Ul-lul not bother fellas." "You mean it doesn't follow them ISO ASTOUNDING STORIES into the underbrush. But it would find tough going there. Not enough water; trees there, four hundred feet high with thorny roots and rough bark — they wouldn't like that. Oh no, these natives ought to be pretty snug in their dens. Why, they're as hard to catch as a/muskratl Don't know what a musk- rat is, huh? W^ell, it's the same as the Inranians, only different, and not so ugly." FOR the next six days they existed in their straitened quarters, one guarding while the other slept, but such alarms as they experienced were of a minor nature, easily disposed of by their flash pistol. It had not been intended for continuous service, and under the frequent drains it showed an alarming loss of power. Forepaugh re- peatedly warned Gunga to be more sparing in its use, but that worthy per- sisted in his practice of using it against every trifling invasion of the poisonous Inranian cave moss that threatened them, or the warm, soggy water-spiders that hopefully explored the ventilator shaft in search of living food. "Bash 'em with a broom, or some- thing! Never mind if it isn't nice. Save our flash gun for something big- ger" f Gunga only .looked distressed. On the seventh day their position be- came untenable. Some kind of sea creature, hidden under the ever-re- plenished storm waters, had found the concrete emplacements of their trad- ing post to its liking. Just how it was done was never learned. It is doubtful that the creatures could gnaw away the solid stone — more likely the process was chemical, but none the less it was effective. The foundations crumbled; the metal shell subsided, rolled half over so that silty water leaked in through the straining seams, and threatened at any moment to be buf- feted and urged away on the surface of the flood toward that distant vast sea which covers nine-tenths of the area of Inn. "Time to mush for the mountains," Forepaugh decided. Gunga grinned. The Mountains of Perdition were, to his point of view, the only part of Inra even remotely in- habitable. They were sometimes fairly cool, and though perpetually pelted with rain, blazing with lightning and reverberating with thunder, they had caves that were fairly dry and too cool foe the black mold. Sometimes, under favorable circumstances on .their rug- ged pea ks , on sscould get thV fulk bene- fit of the enormous hot sun for whose actinic rays the Martian's starved sys- tem yearned. "Better pack a few cans of the food tablets," the white man ordered- "Take a "couple of waterproof sleeping bags for us, and a few hundred fire pellets. You can have the Bash pistol; it may have a few more charges in it." FOREPA iXCH broke the glass case marked "Emergency Only" and removed two more flash; pistols. Well ^tfe knew that he would need them after /passing beyond the trading area — per- ipaps sooner. His eyes fell on his per- sonal chest, and he opened it for a brief examination. .None of the contents seemed of any value, and he was about to pass when he dragged out a long, heavy, .45 caliber six-shooter in a hol- ster, and a cartridge belt filled with shells. The Martian stared. "Know what it is?" his master asked, handing him the weapon. "Gunga not know." He took it and examined it curiously. It was a fine museum piece in an excellent state of preservation, the metal overlaid with the patina of age, but free from rust and corrosion. "It's a weapon of the Ancients," Forepaugh explained. "It was a sort of family heirloom and is over 300 years old. One of my grandfathers used it in .the famous Northwest Mounted Po- lice. Wonder if it'll still shoot." He leveled the weapon at a fat, sight- less wriggler that came squirming through a seam, squinting unaccus- THE PLANET OF DREAD tomed eyes along the barrel. There was a violent explosion, and the wrig- gler disappeared in a am ear of dirty green. Cunga nearly fell over back- ward in fright, and even Forepaugh was shaken. He was surprised that the ancient cartridge had exploded at all, though he knew powder making had reached a high level of perfection be- fore explosive chemical weapons had<^ yielded to the newer, lighter, and in- finitely more powerful ray weapons. The gun would impede their progress. It would be of very liftle use against the giant Carnivora of Inra. Yet some- thing — perhaps a sentimental attach- ment, perhaps what his ancestors would have called a "hunch"— compelled him to strap it around his waist. He care- fully packed a few essentials in his knapsack, together with one chronom- eter and a tiny gyroscopic compass. So equipped, they could travel with a fair degree of precision toward the moun- tain^ some hundred miles on the other side of a steaming forest, a-crawl with feral life, and hot with blood-lust. MAN and master descended into the warm waters and, without a backward glance, left v the trading post to its fate. There was not even any use in leaving a note. Their, relief ship, soon due, would never find the station without radio direction. The current was strong, but the wa- ter gradually became shallower as they ascended the sloping rock. After half an hour they saw ahead of them the loom of the forest, and with some trepidation they entered the gloom cast by the towering, fernlike trees, whose tops disappeared in murky fog. Tangled vines impeded their progress. Quagmires lay in wait for them, and tough weeds tripped them, sometimes throwing one or another into the mud among squirming small reptiles that lashed at them with spiked, poisonous feet and then fell to pieces, each piece to lie in the .bubbling ooze until it grew again into a whole animal. Several times they almost walked un- der the bodies of great, spheroidal creatures with massive short legs, whose tremendously long, sinuous necks disappeared in the leafy murk above, swaying gently like long-stalked lilies in a terrestial pond. These were Bzornacks, mild-tempered vegetarians whose only defense lay in their thick, blubbery hides. Filled with parasites, stinking and rancid, their decaying covering of fat effectively concealed the tender flesh underneath, protecting them from fangs and rending daws. Deeper in the forest of the battering of the rain was mitigated. Giant neo- palm leaves formed a roof that shut out not only most of the weak daylight, but also the fury of the downpour. The water collected ip cataracts, ran down the boles of the trees, and roared through the semi-circular canals of the snake trees, so named by early ex- plorers for their waving, rubbery ten- tacles, multiplied a millionfold. that performed the duties of leaves. Water gurgled and chuckled everywhere, spread in vast dim ponds and lakei writhing with tormented roots, up- heaved by unseen, uncatalogued levia- thans, rippledSby translucent discs of loathsome, luminescent jelly that quiv- ■ ered from place to place in pursuit, of microscopic prey. Yet the impression was one of calm and quiet, and the waifs from other worlds felt a surcease of nervous ten- sion. Unconsciously they relaxed. Taking their bearings, they changed their course slightly for the nesting place of the nearest tribe of Inranians where they hoped to get food and at least partial shelter; for their food tablets had mysteriously turned to an unpleasant viscous liquid, and their Bleeping bags were alive with giant bacteria easily visible to the eye. THEY were doomed to disappoint- ment. After nearly twelve hours of desperate struggling through the morass, through gloomy aisles, an