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289
Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930
·
Various
57
"Try
the
doors,
Nathaniel
Lee.
Try
each
door
in
turn,
and
then
go
back.
And
know
that
in
an
instant
I
can
blast
you
to
nothingness
where
you
stand!"
And
suddenly
there
came
Madge's
voice,
"He
can't!
He
can't,
Nat.
He's
dying,
and
he
knows
it.
I
won't
let
him,
and
he
hasn't
got
the
strength
to
move."
"Which
door?"
cried
Nat
in
desperation.
"None
of
the
doors.
They're
a
trick,"
came
Madge's
voice.
"Go
forward
and
press
the
grooved
panel
upon
the
wall
in
front
of
you."
Nat
stepped
forward,
found
the
panel,
and
pressed
it.
The
wall
swung
open,
like
two
folded
doors,
revealing
another
room
within,
perfectly
circular.
It
contained
a
quantity
of
pieces
of
apparatus,
some
glowing
with
light,
some
dark,
and
a
radio
transmitting
set;
it
was
evidently
the
secret
lair
of
the
Black
Caesar.
And
there
he
was,
trapped
at
last
by
the
mortal
illness
that
had
overtaken
him!
He
was
lying
upon
the
couch,
his
great
form
stretched
out,
his
features
hideously
swollen
by
the
same
disease
that
had
attacked
the
guards.
Nat
raised
his
ray-rod,
but
Axelson
feebly
put
up
his
hand,
and
Nat
lowered
the
weapon.
And,
as
the
five
gathered
about
the
dying
man,
again
Nat
felt
that
strange
sense
of
pathos
and
pity
for
him.
He
had
never
known
Earth
life,
and
he
was
not
to
be
measured
by
the
common
standards
applicable
on
Earth.
"Don't
fire,
Nat,"
said
Madge
in
a
shaky
voice.
She
was
seated
beside
Axelson,
and--the
wonder
of
it--she
was
sponging
the
foam
from
his
lips
and
moistening
his
forehead.
She
raised
a
crystal
that
contained
some
fluid
to
his
lips,
and
he
drained
it
greedily.
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