The Project Gutenberg EBook of Slaves of Mercury, by Nat Schachner

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Slaves of Mercury

Author: Nat Schachner

Release Date: September 12, 2009 [EBook #29966]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SLAVES OF MERCURY ***

Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from Astounding Stories September 1932.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.

[Illustration: _A blinding beam sheared through Peabody's
middle_.]

Slaves of Mercury

_A Complete Novelette_

By Nat Schachner

* * * * *

CHAPTER I

_The Space Wanderer Returns_

[Sidenote: Hilary returns to find alien diskoids in Earth's
stratosphere, and out-world lords patrolling her cities.]

Hilary Grendon piloted his battered, time-worn space flier, the
_Vagabond_, to the smiling Earth that rose rapidly to greet it. Only
the instinctive ease of long practise prevented a smash-up, his hands
trembled so at the controls.

Home again--the old familiar Earth! He could scarcely believe it!
Perhaps it was only a dream, and he'd wake up among the unhuman
glittering cylinders of Saturn, shuddering and crawling with the
iciness of their fixed regard.

Hilary's eyes blurred with unaccustomed mistiness as he drank in the
warm sunlight, the soft green of the grass and the gracious lines of
the slender birches as they fluttered their leaves daintily in the
unhurrying breeze. How different it all was from the harsh red
angularities of Mars!

He was outside, breathing deeply, inhaling the perfumed air with
delight. This was the only heaven; beyond--that far-flung immensity of
planetary orbs--was hell! He, Hilary Grendon, the carefree, smiling
skeptic of old, was a Fundamentalist now.

How long was it since they had started out on the first flight that
man had taken int