The Miniature Menace
A THRILLING NOVELET
By Frank Belknap Long
Condemned without trial for his refusalto open fire on an alien space-craft, RalphLangford had to be free to investigate thestrange menace from beyond the stars! Forif the alien were an enemy, then it would bethe most terrible enemy men had ever encountered.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Future combined with Science Fiction Stories May-June 1950.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
The sky was harsh with the flare of rocket jets when Captain RalphLangford emerged from his deep space cruiser on the Mars City landingfield. There was a girl standing alone at the far end of the field,and for a moment Langford thought it might be Joan, irrational as thethought was. Of course, Joan couldn't be here; he was to see her at thehospital. He started across the field, blinking in the glare, his eyesshining with a warm gratefulness to be home again; as he approachedthe solitary figure, he could see it was not Joan, though there wasa resemblance. He was so engrossed that he didn't notice the tall,eagle-eyed young Patrol officer who came striding toward him, until heheard the man's voice.
"You're under arrest, sir!" the youth said, his hand whipping to hisvisor. "Commander Gurney's orders."
Langford looked up suddenly, then stiffened in belligerent protest."Hold on, Lieutenant! You can't arrest me and march me off to jail likea common criminal. Commission regulations! How long have you worn thosestripes, youngster?"
The youth's eyes were respectful, sympathetic; he did not appear tobe offended. "I'm sorry, sir," he said firmly. "Commander Gurney wentbefore the Commission and had you certified as irresponsible."
Langford flushed angrily. "So that's it," he grunted.
The Patrol officer hesitated. He had prepared what he intended to say,but the fame of the big man facing him had reached sunward to Mercury,and outward to Pluto's frozen tundras.
Langford's fist lashed out suddenly, catching the youth flush on thejaw, and crumpling him to his knees. The girl, who had been a silentwitness up to now, gasped, then turned and ran like a frightenedrabbit. Langford did not stop to apologize. Rumor had it that deepspace officers bore charmed lives, but Langford knew as he broke intoa run that his life hung by a thread that might at any moment turncrimson.
Langford's fist lashed out suddenly, catching the youngster flush on the jaw....
No part of the field was unguarded. If the guards had orders towithhold their fire he saw a desperate chance of outwitting them;but if they had orders to blast, his fate was already sealed. As heran he had a vision of himself sinking down in a welter of blood andblackness, his ears deafened by the hollow chant of concussion weapons.He saw himself lying spread out on the landing field, the taste ofdeath in his mouth, the air above him filled with a harsh, eeriecrackling.
He ran faster, ran like a man bemazed, his eyes filled with dancingmotes that kept cascading down both sides of his oxygen mask. He wasa hundred feet from