Seas, must be in the Sahara. Here’s hoping Captain America can settle that inhuman monster’s hash there.”
“Let’s get back to Avenger headquarters fast,” said the Wasp, “and rejoin Iron Man and Hawkeye there. They must be on the way back. Then we can all go to Cap’s aid in the Sahara. It looks as if the big showdown will be there.”
chapter 12
Desert Danger
For many wasted hours, Captain America had been searching the vast Sahara desert.
“Three and a half million square miles,” rode the nagging thought with him; “or almost as big as the United States. It’s like searching from the East Coast to the West Coast, and from Minnesota down to Texas, for the Storm Satellite Launcher of Karzz.”
First he had made wide sweeps over the great desert in the rocketplane, peering down. But when fuel ran dangerously low, he had landed at a central spot, and then broke out the emergency jeep inside the plane. Its six-wheeled drive easily negotiating even loose sand, he had made overland forays in all directions, until even the jeep’s nuclear power unit—another Anthony Stark invention—ran low.
Finally, he had unpacked the radar gear stowed in the rocketplane to slowly scan outward in a radius of 500 miles-again by virtue of a Stark invention using radar waves that “bent” around the earth’s curvature.
Cap heard a clicking from the parked jeep. His two-way world-wide radio phone was ringing. Cap picked it up and heard Henry Pym’s voice from a transoceanic liner. “Wasp and I are heading back for Avenger headquarters.” He gave a quick résumé of their skirmish against Karzz and the Vulcan Machine.
“Hmm. So it was another android double of Karzz in the South Seas, as well as in Antarctica.”
“Right, Cap. That means you’ll run into the genuine Karzz. After we reach headquarters and rejoin Iron Man and Hawkeye, we’ll all four of us rush to the Sahara.”
“Okay,” responded Cap. “But meanwhile, I’ll be searching for him myself. Over and out.”
Cap’s thoughts were not pleasant as he returned to his radar scan of the Sahara. Three incredible future machines had triggered off three ghastly earth dooms. Even if Cap did succeed in halting doom number four, earth was hardly saved. Warning the authorities was hopeless. Who could stop the giant comet plunging through space toward earth? Or the mile-deep heat device that would melt the colossal Antarctic ice cap and flood the world? Or the world-wide fusillade of volcanoes that would erupt, started off by the Vulcan Machine?
“But I still want to get my hands on that world-wrecker,” Cap grated through his teeth. “He won’t escape to the future and finish his conquest of space. He’ll stay here to share the end of the world with us…so help me!”
With that vow burning through his veins, the star-spangled champion turned back to his radar screen, which now showed the outlines of an old abandoned fort, completely deserted, within a straggling oasis of drooping palms. Even the well had dried up, and the place was shunned by desert travelers. All this Cap knew from the comprehensive Sahara guidebook he had foresightedly taken along.
But where were Karzz and his rocket? Out in the hot open desert itself, where the sun’s blazing glare made radar images faint and undeterminable?
Suddenly, remembering an odd thing, Cap swung the screen back to old Fort Shahib. How could that one slender tower he had seen shine like bright metal? All the rest of the fort was stone grey with age.
Peering closely and tuning the image sharper, Cap sucked in his breath. That was no tower; it was the huge nose of a rocket sticking up within the high outer wall of the fort.
He tossed away the dehydrated K-rations he had been eating, which had been reduced to compact lozenge size by Anthony Stark’s science magic. Slinging his survival kit over one shoulder, his shield over the other, he jumped in the jeep and spun off across the wasteland.
With smooth
“Let’s get back to Avenger headquarters fast,” said the Wasp, “and rejoin Iron Man and Hawkeye there. They must be on the way back. Then we can all go to Cap’s aid in the Sahara. It looks as if the big showdown will be there.”
chapter 12
Desert Danger
For many wasted hours, Captain America had been searching the vast Sahara desert.
“Three and a half million square miles,” rode the nagging thought with him; “or almost as big as the United States. It’s like searching from the East Coast to the West Coast, and from Minnesota down to Texas, for the Storm Satellite Launcher of Karzz.”
First he had made wide sweeps over the great desert in the rocketplane, peering down. But when fuel ran dangerously low, he had landed at a central spot, and then broke out the emergency jeep inside the plane. Its six-wheeled drive easily negotiating even loose sand, he had made overland forays in all directions, until even the jeep’s nuclear power unit—another Anthony Stark invention—ran low.
Finally, he had unpacked the radar gear stowed in the rocketplane to slowly scan outward in a radius of 500 miles-again by virtue of a Stark invention using radar waves that “bent” around the earth’s curvature.
Cap heard a clicking from the parked jeep. His two-way world-wide radio phone was ringing. Cap picked it up and heard Henry Pym’s voice from a transoceanic liner. “Wasp and I are heading back for Avenger headquarters.” He gave a quick résumé of their skirmish against Karzz and the Vulcan Machine.
“Hmm. So it was another android double of Karzz in the South Seas, as well as in Antarctica.”
“Right, Cap. That means you’ll run into the genuine Karzz. After we reach headquarters and rejoin Iron Man and Hawkeye, we’ll all four of us rush to the Sahara.”
“Okay,” responded Cap. “But meanwhile, I’ll be searching for him myself. Over and out.”
Cap’s thoughts were not pleasant as he returned to his radar scan of the Sahara. Three incredible future machines had triggered off three ghastly earth dooms. Even if Cap did succeed in halting doom number four, earth was hardly saved. Warning the authorities was hopeless. Who could stop the giant comet plunging through space toward earth? Or the mile-deep heat device that would melt the colossal Antarctic ice cap and flood the world? Or the world-wide fusillade of volcanoes that would erupt, started off by the Vulcan Machine?
“But I still want to get my hands on that world-wrecker,” Cap grated through his teeth. “He won’t escape to the future and finish his conquest of space. He’ll stay here to share the end of the world with us…so help me!”
With that vow burning through his veins, the star-spangled champion turned back to his radar screen, which now showed the outlines of an old abandoned fort, completely deserted, within a straggling oasis of drooping palms. Even the well had dried up, and the place was shunned by desert travelers. All this Cap knew from the comprehensive Sahara guidebook he had foresightedly taken along.
But where were Karzz and his rocket? Out in the hot open desert itself, where the sun’s blazing glare made radar images faint and undeterminable?
Suddenly, remembering an odd thing, Cap swung the screen back to old Fort Shahib. How could that one slender tower he had seen shine like bright metal? All the rest of the fort was stone grey with age.
Peering closely and tuning the image sharper, Cap sucked in his breath. That was no tower; it was the huge nose of a rocket sticking up within the high outer wall of the fort.
He tossed away the dehydrated K-rations he had been eating, which had been reduced to compact lozenge size by Anthony Stark’s science magic. Slinging his survival kit over one shoulder, his shield over the other, he jumped in the jeep and spun off across the wasteland.
With smooth
Similar Books
