Manly Wade Wellman - Chapbook 02 by Devil's Planet (v1.1) Read Free Book Online Page B

drowned by a chorus of cries. Everyone had heard of
Malbrook. Then silence again.
                 “—but
the murderer escaped,” Congreve was informing whatever worlds might hear.
“Every officer is searching for him, and a reward of twenty thousand
value-units is being offered by Mr. Gillan Fielding, partner of the murdered
man, for any information leading to the capture of—”
                 “Twenty thou!” ejaculated a man near Stover. “I’d like to
pick that up. I’d open a dive like this myself.”
                 “Not
me,” chimed in someone else. “I’d try to buy into the water monopoly run by the
Malbrook-Fielding combine. That’s where the dough is on Mars. Every year the
rates get higher and the demand bigger. Twenty thousand units, invested now—”
                 “Listen
to the description,” growled a man tersely.
                 “—twenty-three
years old, very large and strong,” Congreve was saying. “Six-feet-three,
Earth measurement. Terrestrial weight, about two
hundred pounds. Martian weight, about eighty. Smooth-shaven, blond hair, strong features. Well educated, a scientist,
pleasing personality. Escaped in clothes stolen from police.”
                 “He
sounds like a television hero,” breathed a girl in the crowd.
                 “To
supplement this description, I will exhibit a late photograph of Dillon Stover,
accused of the murder of Mace Malbrook.”
                 Congreve’s
hand rose into view, with a rectangular piece of board. The vision-screen
concentrated upon it, making it larger and clearer until it filled the entire
screen, showing a vivid color-photo, taken three days before. Stover showed
erect, tall, smiling and carefree. He was wearing his golden costume, which
seemed doubly bright on the screen. The girl who had spoken before now gave
vent to a whistle as of admiration.
                 “What
a prince!” she cried.
                 Congreve’s
face returned. “I thank you,” he said. The screen darkened, and the music
resumed.

           CHAPTER VI The Girl in the Game-Dive
     
     
                AT
ONCE a hubbub of chatter broke out. People of the middle- class section of
Pulambar were far noisier and more easily entertained than the bored
sophisticates of the High-tower Set. Stover steadied his hands, completing the
deal.
                 “Play
cards,” he said.
                 The
man beside him looked at him sharply. “You know, stranger, to judge from that
description, you might be the guy they’re after.”
                 “I
was thinking the same thing,” nodded Stover. “I’m about that size and age, and
blond. Maybe I ought to turn myself in for the reward. Who wants cards on
second deal?”
                 “But
the picture killed it,” went on the man beside him. “That bird in gold wasn't
anything like you.”
                “Personally, I thought he looked
like a sissy,” grunted Stover.
                He lost the next hand, cashed in and
casually left the table. The brief interlude of play had helped to calm and
encourage him. He was free and lost from pursuit, with a plan of campaign
beginning to form. He went toward the door.
                 “Wait,
big man,” said a clear voice behind him. It was the girl who had admired his
photograph on the vision screen. She was compact but comely, with red-dyed hair
and a flashing smile. “Where are you going?” “Your way,” replied Stover
promptly, feeling that a girl on his arm would be additional disguise.
                 They
went out together, approaching a series of doors that were marked ELEVATORS,
but she drew him away.
                 “Come
along,” she said. “I know an express that will drop us straight to the canal
level.”
                 “Just
what I