Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930

"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.