Why would strangers abduct an insane girl from a psychiatric ward? Jim Lawrence found out that to answer this question he had to face a—

Menace From Vega

By Robert Randall

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy June 1958 Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

The tall, darkly handsome man was grinning at Dr. James Lawrence from the wrong side of a gun.

"Don't do anything foolish," the stranger said.

The psychiatrist swallowed and looked at the muzzle of the weapon. The gun didn't look like any he had ever seen before, but he had no doubt that it was deadly.

"What do you want?" he asked. He had never faced a gun before, but he found, oddly enough, that he wasn't at all frightened. There was simply a tense expectancy, a feeling of what's-coming-next? and no more.

"You have a patient at this hospital named Bette Bauer?" It was half a question, half a statement.

Jim Lawrence looked at the intruder without answering. He knew Bette Bauer—a tall, beautiful brunette with deep grey-green eyes. There was nothing behind those eyes. She had been in St. Paul's Neuropsychiatric Hospital for three years—a schizophrenic catatonic, completely out of touch with the real world.

"You're behaving childishly," said the man with the odd-looking gun, softly. "All I have to do is look through your files. Where is she?"

Lawrence shrugged. "Ward 3, Room 41. Why do you want to know?" He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was nearly midnight.

"It doesn't matter," the stranger said. "Come along. Lead us to where she is confined."

Outside the office, there were four men. They held their hands in their pockets as though there were guns there. Lawrence glanced from one to another. They all looked somewhat alike, all with that same dark slimness and hardness of feature.

"What do you want?" Lawrence demanded.

"Just take us to Bette Bauer," the leader said. "If you do not, you will be shot." He smiled.

It was the sight of that smile that made Jim 

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