The Avengers Battle the Earth-Wrecker Page 5

  “Aha!” spoke up Hawkeye. “You ran into a world tougher than yours, with a war fleet you couldn’t lick, eh?”

  “Jawohl,” spat out Karzz, his face darkening.

  “This other world had a technology superior to my own. They had superscience weapons that decimated my fleet, crushed my power, and smashed my hard-won empire.”

  “That world,” whispered Cap, suddenly drawing in his breath…“was it called—earth?”

  The others started, in blinding insight.

  chapter 7

  Four Earth Dooms

  “Da,” said Karzz, like a Russian, in an intense voice. “It was your own earth of the seventieth century, five thousand years from now, that did—or will—smash my drive for galactic domination.” He glared at them with infinite hatred. “You are the ancestors of the future earthians who are destined to be my stumbling block. It is the human race alone that could stand in my way.”

  “So you have come back in time merely for revenge against us?” said Cap, shaking his head. “Because our far-future descendants licked you, you’ve come to give us a bad time.”

  “Nein,” Karzz came back sharply. “I would hardly be that trivial in my aims. Don’t you understand? If I destroy earth of the twentieth century, it will never exist in the seventieth century. Its powerful war fleet and titanic superweapons won’t be there to oppose me. So, when I return to the future, my conquest of the galaxy will succeed, where it failed before.”

  The Avengers stood stunned at the enormity of the concept.

  “But that’s changing history,” protested Cap. “How can you tamper with inexorable fate that way? If earth did exist in the future and did defeat you, how can that event be wiped out? Once a thing has happened, it can’t…well, it can’t unhappen.”

  Karzz sneered, as though he were talking to children. “Of course your primitive minds know nothing of science to come, and future discoveries about branching time. Let me try to explain as I would to bambinos.”

  He drew a breath and went on. “At any crossroads in history, such as the outcome of a war, two different acts of destiny can occur, naturally. If the war is won by one side, their “real’ world goes on. The other outcome, where the war is lost, is merely a branch of destiny that never really occurs. Nicht wahr?”

  “An ‘if’ world,” nodded Cap, “or a ‘parallel’ world.”

  “But if you travel back in time,” pursued Karzz, “and alter the outcome of that war, the so-called real world becomes the if world, while the if world then becomes the real one.”

  “That’s double-talk, you time creep,” piped up Hawkeye. “You’re just juggling paradoxes around and coming up zero. How can something that is already real suddenly change and become unreal?”

  “By the great chrono-conversion equation,” returned Karzz imperturbably, “which will be formulated—let’s see —in your earth year of 1975. It is similar to Einstein’s famous equation of converting matter into energy, and vice versa. And just as matter and energy are interchangeable, so are the ‘real’ and the ‘parallel’ worlds.”

  Cap digested that staggering thought. “You mean that if you succeeded in destroying earth and wiping out the human race, here in the twentieth century, all the future events in which they took part will simply disappear out of history, as you knew it in the seventieth century?”

  “Why not?” said Karzz blandly. “The parallel universe, in which earth is destroyed before its prime, then becomes the real universe.”

  Shrugging, he went on impatiently, “But tempus fugit. Whether you understand or care to believe is no concern of mine. The truth is that by wiping out earth today I will insure myself becoming the emperor of the Milky Way galaxy in the seventieth century.”

  “Easier said than done, though,” retorted Cap. “A giant comet smashing into earth might wreck most of civilization and annihilate many millions of the human race, but there will be survivors to carry on—and to become strong again in the seventieth century.”

  “The giant comet,” Karzz informed them in ominous tones, “is only the first of four world-doom catastrophes which I shall cause on earth. All four super disasters combined will make sure that not one human being remains alive on your world. Verstehen?”

  “Four dooms!” gasped the Wasp. “You heartless beast! Willing to kill—to murder—three billion people! I should sting you until you cry for mercy!”

  Karzz winced and stepped back a pace, but Cap said, “Forget it, Wasp. That wouldn’t stop him. The question is”—he turned to Karzz—“what are the other three dooms you plan?”

  Karzz grinned maliciously, cunningly. “I would indeed be an idiot to tip my hand. And besides, it will be more agonizing for you Avengers to face unknown holocausts. However, I’ll tell you this much. The other three worldwrecking forces I’ve planned will involve fire, water, and air. Guess the rest if you can. Now I will leave Mount Everest and waft myself elsewhere on earth, to launch doom number two. Adios, amigos.”

  He pressed a stud on his belt and a plastic bubble materialized out of thin air and surrounded him. Lightly as a soap bubble, it then rose in the air and gathered speed.

  “Follow him, Wasp,” whispered Cap. “Let us know where he goes next and what deviltry he cooks up.”

  “Right, Cap,” piped Wasp, buzzing away after the receding plastic vehicle and the leering alien.

  “Well, we’ve got our work cut out for us, Avengers,” said Cap, looking at his three male companions grimly.

  “We save worlds every morning before breakfast,” said Hawkeye flippantly, to hide the gnawing horror within him.

  “But this is even greater,” added Goliath thoughtfully. “Not only saving the world today but also saving the whole galaxy and twenty thousand other worlds in the future.”

  They stared solemnly at each other, and even Hawkeye couldn’t think of a wisecrack for that.

  Following the plastic bubble, the Wasp expected a long journey ahead but, surprisingly, Karzz turned downward and landed in a valley. Stepping out, he unhooked a small microphone from his belt and spoke into it.

  “Calling the future,” he said casually, as if putting through a phone call. But the Wasp, overhearing, realized he was not merely calling someone thousands of miles away but thousands of years away.

  “Attention, my faithful aides,” continued Karzz. “You sent me the ultramagnet, which did its work nobly. Now I want you to send the three other machines to the twentieth century, launching three more earth dooms simultaneously.”

  He paused to unroll a map that had been folded in his belt, then resumed. “Send the Infrared Beamer to the Antarctic, on your map of ancient earth, at the spot marked X. Have the Vulcan Machine materialize on that marked island in the South Pacific.”

  Wasp wondered, suddenly, why an alien should be using an earthly language instead of his own native tongue. But then she realized, listening carefully, that there was no voice at all. He was in reality beaming telepathic waves into his future-phone. Thought-words, of course, were universal, understood by any intelligent mind. That was why the Wasp could eavesdrop on the alien.

  “Last,” Karzz was saying, “transport the Storm Satellite Launcher to the Sahara Desert location marked on your map.”

  Grim curiosity tantalized the listening insect-girl.

  Infrared Beamer…Vulcan Machine…Storm Satellite!

  How would those three superscience devices from the future create havoc on earth? Would it be something even more devastating than the ultramagnet pulling down a giant comet to strike earth?

  Sitting inside a buttercup flower near Karzz, the Wasp waited to hear more. “As you know,” came from the alien, “the Infrared Beamer will be used to—’

  But his words were drowned out by a large buzz and a huge bumblebee came soaring straight toward the flower, evidently seeking its sweet nectar. The Wasp didn’t want to tangle with an insect much bigger than she was, and she flew away to light on the next flower. But the angry bumblebee zoomed af
ter her, obviously considering this patch of blossoms his private territory, from which to drive out all other poaching creatures.

  As the buzzing bully put on speed in chasing her, the Wasp realized she couldn’t escape his enormous stinger, which would sooner or later jab her through and through like a spear.

  “I’ll fix you,” she thought, willing herself to grow. Seconds later, back to normal size, she swung the fiat of her hand and knocked the surprised bumblebee back into some prickly weeds. “That for you, bumble-bug,” she thought triumphantly.

  She had been intent on this insect-world skirmish, but suddenly she noticed two frosty blue eyes turning her way, startled at this abrupt appearance of a full-grown woman out of thin air. She was now exposed to Karzz!

  “The Wasp girl of the Avengers,” he hissed. “How much have you heard? Well, you won’t hear any more….” He was already pressing his belt-stud to release a killing ray.

  Desperately the Wasp threw herself full length among tall weeds. Karzz raked the green patch with his ray, converting it into blackened ashes. But no human body was there, only a tiny insect that had flitted away unnoticed.

  “Whew,” thought the Wasp, “I shrank down again just in time. I’d better not hang around here any more. Karzz will be on the watch for any insect coming near him. I’ll make a bee line back to Avenger headquarters and report what I did hear.”

  But it was a long way back to America for a pseudoinsect that could only fly at forty miles an hour, top speed. The Wasp darted high in the air and looked in all directions.

  “Ah, an airport to the south, probably in northern India. I’ll hitch a ride there.”

  And so it was that an Air India jetliner carried a tiny stowaway to Paris. From there, the Wasp transferred to an overseas plane bound for New York.

  “Being an insect has its advantages,” she said to herself. “No fare to pay, and all kinds of seats—on the ceiling.”

  At Avenger headquarters, to which the men had meanwhile returned via their rocketplane, they were waiting impatiently.

  “If she doesn’t come back…” groaned Goliath for the tenth time, but they all forgave him. Suddenly, all of them turned in unison, as an insect buzzed through a window purposely left open, and began enlarging in mid-air, to land on her feet as a full-sized girl.

  “Nice two-point landing, eh?” she said with a smile.

  “Skip the p-l-a-n-e talk,” said Hawkeye, “and give us p-l-a-i-n talk. Did you overhear any plans of Karzz the Conqueror?”

  “Yes, some,” the Wasp answered, and she recited her story. When she was through, Captain America banged his fist against the wall, cracking off plaster.

  “Easy, Winghead,” admonished Iron Man. “Our good friend Anthony Stark donated this hangout to the Avengers, and it costs him for repairs. Go punch Hawkeye if you have to let off steam.”

  “Oh, thanks,” grunted Hawkeye. “That won’t cost Stark anything—it’ll probably just cost me a handful of loose teeth.” He glowered at Iron Man, then at Cap. “What’s eating you?”

  “It’s just not knowing Karzz’s full plot,” explained Cap. “All we know is that earth disasters involving water, fire, and air will occur. But how will those three machines he’s…uh…importing from the future do it?”

  “Worse yet,” spoke up Goliath, “we only know vaguely where each machine will operate—in the Antarctic, in the South Seas, and in the Sahara. All of those are big places if you don’t know the exact spot.”

  “And for that reason,” said Cap, “we can’t turn this job over to the authorities or the military. You can’t send cops or soldiers halfway across the world to an indefinite place. This calls for specialized skills and training. Therefore, it’s a job for the Avengers only.”

  “You’re not just beating your gums, Leader Man,” agreed Hawkeye. “But which of the three earth menaces do we tackle first?”

  “That brings up the most significant thing,” said Iron Man thoughtfully: “that Karzz, according to the Wasp, will launch his other three earth-wreckers simultaneously.”

  “Right,” nodded Cap. “And that means we have to split up and try to stop all three at the same time, as soon as possible. Let’s see, we’ll pair off like this: Iron Man and Hawkeye to the Antarctic, Goliath and Wasp to the South Seas, and….”

  “And you alone for the Sahara?” put in Hawkeye. “Come off it, Dad. Are you trying to pretend you’re as good as any two of us?”

  “No, I’m also pairing off,” Cap said with a grin, “with Steve Rogers.”

  “Hoo Boy,” groaned Hawkeye. “Alter-ego jokes yet.”

  “Well, somebody has to go it solo,” Cap reminded him.

  “But look, if any of you others finish your job soon enough, you can rush and give me a hand. Okay?”

  They all nodded agreement.

  “Since time is of the essence,” Cap went on, “I’ll deliver you all by rocketplane first, then I’ll head for the Sahara.” His face went grim. “But we’d better be in top condition for the most important mission in Avenger history. Take-off will be in six hours. That gives us all time for some sleep, a shower, a hot meal, and checkout of individual equipment. We’ll all take survival kits along, of course. We may be on the job for long hours, if not for days.”

  He paused, his eyes going bleak.

  “The giant comet that was pulled toward earth will arrive in ten days, Karzz revealed. His other three earth dooms must be timed to occur, or reach their peak, at that same date. In short, if we fail, the end of the world will come before this month is over.”

  They all winced.

  “The deadline of doom,” murmured Iron Man, “is what we Avengers are racing against this time.”

  “And not only doom for twentieth-century earth,” Goliath reminded them, “but for all the thousands of galactic worlds in the future.”

  “If we fail,” added the Wasp with a tremor in her voice, “we lose the world and Karzz wins the universe.”

  “It’ll serve him right,” drawled Hawkeye. “If all the people on those twenty thousand other worlds are ornery jackasses like humans on earth, then poor Karzz will have some mess to rule over. I’d let him get away with it except for one thing….”

  He paused to strike a pose. “I don’t want history to be robbed of my lifelong exploits and fabulous feats of archery. But how can I perform them in the years ahead if earth ends this month? So, between Karzz and me, Karzz has to go. I have spoken.”

  “Good boy,” commended Cap. “Your banter lightened the moment, Hawkeye.”

  “Banter?” The astonished bowman glared at him. “I was never more serious in my life.”

  “You know,” muttered Goliath to Cap, “sometimes I don’t know if that guy is ribbing us, or not.”

  chapter 8

  Ice Menace

  It was night when a sleek winged bullet rocketed southward, reeling off thousands of miles and continuing past the southern tip of South America over the vast watery wastes at the bottom of the world. Only one hour later, night gave way to day as they passed into the months-long polar daytime.

  Ramparts of glistening ice rose on the horizon, spreading to the right and left as far as the eye could see. The White Continent…Icebox of the World…Frozen Hell…it had been called many things in the past by hard-bitten explorers.

  An enormous ice cap covered a land one and a half times the size of the United States. Uninhabited for countless ages, Antarctica had only within the past decade acquired a population of a few hundred permanent residents in scientific outposts.

  “Belgium has a population density of 758 people per square mile,” commented Goliath, “while Antarctica has 1200 square miles per person. How are we ever going to find one small being, Karzz, in that immensity?”

  At the controls, Cap angled the rocketplane down and flipped the toggle switch for the retractable skids to start lowering.

  “A good question,” he admitted. “However, Iron Man has flying locomotion and can quickly search in all di
rections from any single point, so I’ll let him and Hawkeye down at the center of the continent.” “That’s about the coldest spot, too,” said Hawkeye with a shiver, and he drew his parka’s furred hood over his head. “Iron Pants is lucky, wearing a heated tin suit. For me, it’s just Shiverville.”

  “Keep talking and you won’t freeze,” said the Wasp soothingly. “I estimate the hot air you produce in one hour could heat a city.”

  “Don’t bug me, Bug Girl,” retorted Hawkeye.

  With a roar of the braking rockets at the nose, the rocketship slid smoothly to a stop in a snowfield. With compact survival packs on their backs, Iron Man and the fur-suited Hawkeye stepped out into the icy blast. “Good luck!” came from the rocketplane as it soared away again, rising steeply and vanishing in the blue sky.

  Iron Man looked at his built-in wrist thermometer.

  “Hmm…only forty-seven degrees below zero,” he informed Hawkeye. “A comparatively balmy day for the Antarctic.”

  “Anybody who calls that balmy is balmy,” said the archer. “Let’s not just stand here and freeze by inches. Get going, and take me along.”

  As agreed on before, Iron Man hooked a short length of chain from his belt to Hawkeye’s parka belt, then took off. The jet-thrusts from his boots formed frozen-vapor plumes behind them.

  “Keep your eyes peeled in all directions,” said the Golden Avenger. “If the Infrared Beamer, whatever it is, is anywhere near the size his ultramagnet was on Mount Everest, we ought to spot it miles away.”

  But they saw nothing, though Iron Man swung in ever-widening circles that gradually covered large areas in the interior of the ice-locked continent.

  “As bare as Mother Hubbard’s cupboard,” Hawkeye grunted between cold blue lips.

  Iron Man suddenly swung on a straightaway. “I have a hunch that Karzz may be operating along the coast instead of in the interior” he said. Upon reaching the shoreline of sheer icy cliff towering a mile high in places, Iron Man and his passenger swung to follow the edge bordering the cold seas. They passed high over several scientific outposts, immediately recognizable by their quonset huts or low wooden barracks. After skirting Antarctica’s rim for hundreds of miles, Iron Man turned sympathetically toward Hawkeye, whose skin was frosted, while tiny icicles hung from his hood over his eyes.