INVADERS OF THE FORBIDDEN MOON
By RAYMOND Z. GALLUN
Annihilation was the lot of those who ventured
too close to the Forbidden Moon. Harwich knew
the suicidal odds when he blasted from Jupiter to
solve the mighty riddle of that cosmic death-trap.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Summer 1941.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
"Calling the pilot of space ship X911!" Evan Harwich shouted into theradio transmitter of his little Interplanetary Patrol Boat. "Good God!Turn your crate back, you crazy fool! Don't you know you're headedright into the danger zone of Jupiter's Forbidden Moon? You'll getyourself burned to a crisp in another few seconds if you don't turnback...."
Evan Harwich's growling voice was almost shrill at the end. His policeduties patrolling the vicinity of Io, innermost of Jupiter's largersatellites, rarely developed moments as tense as this. Most otherpilots had brains enough to give the Forbidden Moon a wide berth. Andfor excellent if mysterious reasons!
Yet the craft ahead, a sleek new job with the identification numberX911 painted on its conning tower, kept steadily on. Its slim hull,which betrayed an experimental look, was pointed straight at thethreatening greyish disc of Io, the one world in the solar system whichno exploring ship of the void had ever reached—intact!
Almost everybody among the inhabited spheres knew about the dangers ofthe desolate Forbidden Moon. Ever since the colonial empire of Earthhad been extended to the region of Jupiter and his numerous satellites,Io had been a grim menace; sure destruction to any rocket thatapproached within five thousand miles of its dreary, almost airlesssurface.
Nobody seemed to know just why this was true; but some scientistsclaimed that somehow there was an invisible layer or shell all aroundIo; an immense blanket of strange energy or force that fused andblasted the metal hulls of all ether craft that ran into its insidiousweb.
Tensely and helplessly Evan Harwich watched, as the ship aheadcontinued on its way toward what seemed sure catastrophe. No danger infront of the recklessly piloted craft could be seen, of course. Fivethousand miles of clear, cold vacuum was all that was visible betweenit and Io. But since this region held concealed in it all the potentialviolence of a hair-triggered trap, ready to unleash a flaming deaththat involved unknown physical laws and principles, maybe it wasn'tjust plain vacuum after all!
With dogged persistence Harwich kept yelling futile warnings into hisradio. His shouts and curses were unheeded, and no answer was given. Heknew what was going to happen in another second. There would be a burstof dazzling white fire all around the rocket of this foolhardy pilothe had tried to save from suicide. Metal would drip and sparkle in theabsolute zero of space. In just another instant....
Harwich swung his patrol boat aside, not caring to end his own life.But he kept watching the X911 from the side-ports of his cabin.
And now, something quite different from what he had expected was takingplace. Suddenly the apparently doomed ship was enveloped in a bluishhalo which seemed to emanate from a great helix or spiral of metal thatwrapped its hull!
Immediately afterward, as the X911 entered definitely into the zone ofdestruction around Io, great white sparks lanced dazzlingly throughthe blue halo. It was as though the latter was fighting back thosegigantic, u