Tough Guy Trask

Origin
Tough Guy Trask murdered an officer of Space Patrol, causing him to serve a life-sentence in a labor camp on one of the moons orbiting Jupiter. He has a discussion with a Martian named Gror. Gror tells Rocky of his plans to escape on the next spaceship to arrive and shows Tough Guy Trask his "Martian gas gun".

Trask is working on a bridge, and intentionally bumps Gror off the bridge over a valley onto a ledge below. Rocky rushes to Gror's lifeless body and retrieves the gun.

When the spaceship lands to drop off prisoners, Tough Guy Trask uses the gas gun to silently bump off the Mercurian guards and escape into the spaceship. Rocky tries to figure out the controls, but the rockets fire and the spaceship takes off.

Before Rocky can reach the controls, the Prison Warden's face appears on a "telion screen". The warden informs Tough Guy Trask the spaceship runs automatically. Since the craft was supposed to be empty after the prisoners were dropped off, the "oxygenators" were turned off. The Warden tells Rocky that he'll never see Mars. Tough Guy Trask will suffocate. True to the Warden's word, Rocky Trask suffocates and dies on the journey.

Public Domain Appearances

 * Weird Tales of the Future #2