CITADEL OF THE STAR LORDS
By Edmond Hamilton
Out of the dark vastness of the void came a
conquering horde, incredible and invincible,
with Earth's only weapon—a man from the past!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
October 1956
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
As he gunned his plane northward through the night, Price thought ofthe roller-coaster when he'd been a kid, of how you went faster andfaster until you hit the big plunge.
Well, he was on the big plunge now. And what would end thisroller-coaster ride—prison, or escape, or a crash? It had to be oneof those.
He was to remember that, later. He was to think later that it was wellhe didn't dream the fantastic fate he was really racing toward....
He looked down, and there was only blackness. The deserts of Californiaand Nevada are dark and wide, and he was keeping well away from theairways beacons and the main highways.
He kept the Beechcraft as high as he could. He was flying withoutlights, but with what they already had against him, that minorinfraction wasn't important. He kept looking back, expecting everyminute to see the red-and-green winglights of Border Patrol planescoming up on his tail.
If he was lucky, if he slipped them long enough, if he crossed northwithout being sighted by the passenger planes that shuttled between LasVegas and Los Angeles, he might just make it to Bill Willerman's andget the Beechcraft under cover. If—if—if—
There was another if, Price thought bitterly. If he'd had any brains,he wouldn't be in this spot at all.
He turned on the radio. He flipped the dial around, getting loud musicfrom a Vegas hotel, then a political speech, then more music—and thena news broadcast. As he'd expected, he was at the top of the news.
"—so that even while Arnolfo Ruiz, firebrand revolutionary exile,is under arrest by Mexican police, United States authorities areconducting an intensive air-dragnet search for the American pilot whosmuggled Ruiz across the border. That unknown pilot is known to havereturned across the border an hour ago, and police of three states havebeen alerted.
"The AEC announces that its next test will be that of an experimentalsmall new H-bomb whose effects will be studied for—"
Price savagely cut the radio. He damned the announcer, and Ruiz, andhimself. Most of all, himself.
He'd acted like a halfwit. Because a smooth talker had given hima phony story about a secret business trip, he had smuggled themost dangerous trouble-maker in the hemisphere down into a friendlyrepublic. Who would believe he hadn't known? He had done it, andpressure from Washington would make sure that he got full pay for hisfolly.
He might as well look the truth in the face. If it hadn't been this,it would have been something else. He'd been playing the fool foryears, ever since Korea. Other fliers had come home from there andtaken up their jobs again, but a job had been too dull for him; he'ddrifted along with the fast-buck fly-boys out for fun and excitement,hauling hunting and fishing parties, spending the profits in bordertownbars, going broke and starting over again—and now finally this. Hisroller-coaster ride was about over.
It would be over for good if he didn't reach Willerman's ranch beforedaylight. Bill would hide the plane for him. He'd saved Bill's neck acouple of times in the old days, and