Astounding Stories of Super-Science February 1930Various
Science
Astounding Stories of Super-Science February 1930
Various
Science fiction -- Periodicals; Science fiction, American -- Periodicals
"When the Professor stored his patient away, Dale," he said quietly, "he
stored it in room 4170, at the great warehouse. If you are acquainted
with the place, you will know that room 4170 is directly across the
corridor from 4167."
* * * * *
Creatures of the Light
_By Sophie Wenzel Ellis_
He had striven to perfect the faultless man of the future, and
had succeeded--too well. For in the pitilessly cold eyes of
Adam, his super-human creation, Dr. Mundson saw only
contempt--and annihilation--for the human race.
[Illustration]
In a night club of many lights and much high-pitched laughter, where he
had come for an hour of forgetfulness and an execrable dinner, John
Northwood was suddenly conscious that Fate had begun shuffling the cards
of his destiny for a dramatic game.
First, he was aware that the singularly ugly and deformed man at the
next table was gazing at him with an intense, almost excited scrutiny.
But, more disturbing than this, was the scowl of hate on the face of
another man, as handsome as this other was hideous, who sat in a far
corner hidden behind a broad column, with rude elbows on the table,
gawking first at Northwood and then at the deformed, almost hideous
man.
[Illustration: _The projector, belching forth its stinking breath of
corruption, swung in a mad arc over the ceiling, over the walls._]
Northwood's blood chilled over the expression on the handsome,
fair-haired stranger's perfectly carved face. If a figure in marble
could display a fierce, unnatural passion, it would seem no more
eldritch than the hate in the icy blue eyes.
It was not a new experience for Northwood to be stared at: he was not
merely a good-looking young fellow of twenty-five, he was scenery,
magnificent and compelling. Furthermore, he had been in the public eye
for years, first as a precocious child and, later, as a brilliant young
scientist. Yet, for all his experience with hero worshippers to put an
adamantine crust on his sensibilities, he grew warm-eared under the gaze
of these two strangers--this hunchback with a face like a grotesque mask
in a Greek play, this other who, even handsomer than himself, chilled
the blood queerly with the cold perfection of his godlike masculine
beauty.
* * * * *
Northwood sensed something familiar about the hunchback. Somewhere he
had seen that huge, round, intelligent face splattered with startling
features. The very breadth of the man's massive brow was not altogether
unknown to him, nor could Northwood look into the mournful, near-sighted
black eyes without trying to recall when and where he had last seen
them.
But this other of the marble-perfect nose and jaw, the blond,
thick-waved hair, was totally a stranger, whom Northwood fervently hoped
he would never know too well.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account