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289
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930
·
Various
40
It
was
evident
that
Axelson,
though
he
had
wiped
out
the
Moon
convicts
and
the
Moon
people
in
the
crater,
had
reserved
a
number
of
the
latter
for
personal
use.
The
black
ship
was
dropping
into
its
position
at
the
second
landing-stage,
connected
with
the
first
by
a
short
bridge.
The
starboard
hold
swung
open,
and
a
file
of
shrouded
and
hooded
forms
appeared,
masked
men,
breathing
in
condensed
air
from
receptacles
upon
their
chests,
and
staring
with
goggle
eyes
at
their
captives.
Each
one
held
in
his
hand
a
lethal
tube
containing
the
ray,
and,
as
if
by
command,
they
took
up
their
stations
about
their
prisoners.
Then,
at
a
signal
from
their
leader,
they
suddenly
doffed
their
masks.
Nat
looked
at
them
in
astonishment.
He
had
not
known
whether
these
would
be
Earth
denizens
or
inhabitants
of
some
other
planet.
But
they
were
Earth
men.
And
they
were
old.
Men
of
sixty
or
seventy,
years,
with
long,
gray
beards
and
wrinkled
faces,
and
eyes
that
stared
out
from
beneath
penthouses
of
shaggy
eyebrows.
Faces
on
which
were
imprinted
despair
and
hopelessness.
Then
the
first
man
took
off
his
mask
and
Nat
saw
a
man
of
different
character.
A
man
in
the
prime
of
life,
with
a
mass
of
jet
black
hair
and
a
black
beard
that
swept
to
his
waist,
a
nose
like
a
hawk's,
and
a
pair
of
dark
blue
eyes
that
fixed
themselves
on
Nat's
with
a
look
of
Luciferian
pride.
"Welcome,
Nathaniel
Lee,"
said
the
man,
in
deep
tones
that
had
a
curious
accent
which
Nat
could
not
place.
"I
ought
to
know
your
name,
since
your
teleradios
on
Earth
have
been
shouting
it
for
three
days
past
as
that
of
the
man
who
is
to
save
Earth
from
the
threat
of
destruction.
And
you
know
me!"
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