It was the first time a Flesso had met an
Earthman face to face. And the Flesso appeared
puzzled as to why the Earthman showed no fear!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
June 1958
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Marten wasn't prepared for it when the alien tractor-beam grabbed hislittle ship. He had been in the Fourth Quadrant of Fless territory,threading an uneasy course through the extraterrestrials' home grounds,but he hadn't expected to be caught so suddenly or so hard.
The ship stopped in mid-flight abruptly—so abruptly that Marten's headwas slammed back against the rear of the seat, and for a moment he wasparalyzed by the shock of what had happened.
But only for a moment. His toe reached out, snapped the pedal on thesubspace radio, and an instant later the voice of Earth Central'soperator said, "What is it, Marten?"
"Tell them I've been caught," Marten said crisply. "Tell 'em theFlesso patrols got me. And—"
The radio went dead as the Flesso dampers got to it. Marten pulledhimself forward and ran his eyes over the instrument panel. Against thedark velvet of space, a dull-gray Flesso warship was swelling in theviewplate, preparing to scoop up its prey. Marten had been caught likea fly in molasses.
The odds had been against his stunt anyway. Theoretically, such asmall ship as the little scout he was piloting should have been ableto get through the Flesso patrols easily—but in practice, the networkof spybeams stretching through the entire Quadrant were efficient andnear-infallible defenses, as Marten was discovering now.
But I had lousy luck too, he thought. I wandered right up to thebiggest warship in the whole damned fleet. Must have come within alight week or less.
There wasn't much point in trying to break away, now. Marten wastrapped—thoroughly and unarguably. The little scout ship didn't carrya tenth the power he would need to break from the grasp of the bigbattle cruiser. And as for the scout ship's armament, it wasn't enougheven to tickle the screens of a battleship like this one. Scout shipsdepended on speed and indetectability, and neither attribute was ofmuch value now.
Within minutes, the heavy tractor beams pulled the smaller ship intothe yawning airlock of the huge Flesso cruiser.
Okay, Marten thought. He folded his arms, leaned back in his chair,and waited. There was nothing else he could do—until a Fless tried toenter the ship.
Time passed. The little scout ship was drawn further and further intothe monster Flesso ship. It was now entirely enclosed by darkness,imprisoned within the metal hull of the huge battleship of space.
Sitting inside, Marten waited patiently. The Flesso had been wanting tocapture an Earthman for a long time. Well, now they'd succeeded. They'dcaptured their first Earth ship.
Suddenly, Marten's damped communicator screen came back to life. Ascaly, toad-like face appeared, and Marten stared blandly at the threered-rimmed, fiery eyes that confronted him.
"I see you are still alive, Earthman!"
"No thanks to you, ugly-face!" Marten returned. "I'm hungry, though. AmI going to stay for dinner, or can I leave now?"
Earth and Fless had long been in communication with each other; thewar had lasted for nearly five years, ever since the first treacherousFlesso sneak attack on a Terran outpost. The beings from the planetFless were the coldest, most dangerous aliens Earth had yet encounteredin its expansion to the stars.
Durin