Flash Gordon 3 - The Space Circus (15 page)

“What’s the matter with you, nitwit?” demanded Zarkov.

“I was clearing my throat,” said the voice box of the servomechanism.

Dr. Zarkov took a few steps toward the bar. “Why?”

“Preparatory to interrupting you.”

“And why were you going to do that?”

“To tell you there’s a phone call for you,” explained the voice of the robot bar. “Now before you fly off the handle, let ask me to explain that there’s something a wee bit wrong with the summoning and annunciation system at the moment and so the phone asked me if I’d be so good as to—”

“Okay, okay,” said Zarkov. He stalked to the phone and jabbed the answer button.

The lean blond young man who appeared on the phone screen said, “Good evening, Dr. Zarkov.”

“Flash is on vacation,” said Zarkov. “He’s not available for any more EII conferences.”

Agent Cox smiled. “I only wanted to tell you that EII has voted to send an expedition of six ships out to the planet Mesmo. If you could come in and give us the benefit of what you found out during your brief stay we’d—”

“It was brief,” said Zarkov, “but it gave me more than enough time to gather a good deal of data about the planet and its people. I can also give you, thanks to a discussion I had with a fellow named Jape, some hints on how to communicate with the Mesmen. Not only that but . . .”

While the doctor went on talking to the EII agent, the robot bar said, “Sir?” to Flash.

“Yes?”

“The door chimes are on the fritz tonight, too, and they wanted me to tell you that there’s someone ringing out on the front-porch area.”

Flash rose from the position he’d just taken beside Dale. “I’ll check on it.”

The porch scanner mounted above the door showed him a picture of a small silver-plated robot with a blue cap standing out there in the dusk.

“Spacegram for a Mr. Flash Gordon,” said the robot in a high-pitched voice.

Flash opened the door. “I’m Flash Gordon,” he told the robot messenger.

“Actually, Mr. Flash Gordon, I have two messages for you,” said the spacegram robot. “First, here’s one from a Mr. 606027—that’s a funny name, isn’t it? Well, I’ll read you the message. Hum. ‘Just a line to let you know I’m back home safely. All the others are, too. Maybe someday we’ll meet again. Your friend, Sixy.’ Would you like a printout on that, Mr. Flash Gordon?”

“Might as well have one.”

A ticking commenced inside the robot. Then a thin blue slip of paper slipped out of a slot in its chest. “You’ll have to tear it off. Tear hard because sometimes they stick if you don’t.”

“You said something about a second message.”

“You’ve got that first one out? Good. Here’s the second one. Comes from someplace called Mongo, from a Mr. Huk. He says, ‘Arrived home and found everything was well. I owe a good deal to you, Flash. I’m sure you’ll be returning to Mongo someday. Until then, all my best wishes to you. Huk.’ And I suppose you’ll want a copy of that, too?”

“Yes.”

When he had his two thin blue messages, Flash went back into the living room.

Zarkov was still on the phone with Agent Cox. “No, like this,” he was saying. “They talk through their ears. There seems to be a certain amount of extrasensory perception involved.” He squeezed his nose with one hand, clamped another over his mouth for a few seconds. “You try that for a while and you’ll find you can talk through your ears, too. Now the little gadget I can whip up for you will let you amplify what your ears are saying. The Mesmo language itself is merely a vulgarized version of—”

“Spacegrams?” asked Dale.

“From Sixy and Huk,” replied Flash. He went to the wide window and watched the darkness filling the sky. “Seems everyone got home.”

“Even Narla?”

“I imagine so.” He turned to look at her. “Let’s go for a drive. I’m anxious to try out that new landcar Zarkov bought this morning.”

Dale stood. “I don’t suppose there’s any danger of getting hauled off to Mesmo again,” she said.

“Very little.” He took her hand and they quietly left the living room.

“You’re not holding your nose the right way,” Zarkov was telling the EII agent. “Try it again and grab it like this. No, like this . . .”

The robot bar sighed.