STORIES
Missing Page: Inside Front Cover
If you own this magazine, and would like to contribute, please email us the image (in JPEG format at 300 dpi) to:
info@pulpmags. org
Missing Page: Page 97
If you own this magazine, and would like to contribute, please email us the image (in JPEG format at 300 dpi) to:
info@pulpmags. org
V«l..~.n 1 TVT„ ■» Poblicatkm OBtt, 404 North Wetler VOIUme 1— iNO. 2 Editorial ud General Offices. %-98
..-•nue. Ml. Morris. Illinois Editoriil ud General Offices, 96-98 Park Place, New York City
H. GBRNSBACK, Piu.
PublUhrd by
STELLAR PUBLISHING CORPORATION
August, 1929
I. S. MANHEIMEB, Sec'y
S. GERNSBACK, Treat.
Table of Contents August
THE SILENT DESTROYER
By Henrik Dahl Jure
BEYOND GRAVITY
By* Ed Ear! Repp
J02
.114
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
(A Story in Four Parts) (Part 2)
By Victor MacClure , 132
THE PLANET'S AIR MASTER By Edward E. Chappelow 160
WHAT IS YOUR AVIATION KNOWLEDGE?
Aviation Questionnaire 182
AVIATION NEWS OF THE
MONTH 184
THE READER AIRS HIS VIEWS
Letters from Our Readers 188
On the Cover
this month is illustrated the story "THE SILENT DESTROYER," by Henrik Dahl Juvc. Here we see graphically what the atomic rays from the Occidenla destroyer do to the Orients flyer. The enemy ship is cut in twain from one end to the other as a knife cuts through butter. A passing sweep culs off the tailpiece and the enemy ship is hurled earthward to destruction. It demon- strates the tremendous power of atomic rays once they have been developed, as they surely will.
NEXT MONTH
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, by Victor MacClnre. We are now getting into the heart of this great mystery and we find that the interest and suspense in the story keeps on increasing to the inevitable climax. Yet, the author always keeps ahead of you and you are never per- mitted to guess the solution to the great problem. The next installment is particularly interesting and thought provoking.
THE YELLOW AIR PERIL, by Harl Vincent. This well-known author has a technique all his own and as an engineer of one of our great industrial institutions, he knows his science as few authors do. In the present story, he has shown us how the possession of some great scientific secret as applied to aviation may be used by unscrupulous powers.
FLIGHT IN 1959, by Bob Olsen. This versatile writer has produced one of the outstanding air stories of the year and it will be long before it is surpassed. It cer- tainly contains a terrific amount of most excellent glimpses of what the world of aviation will look like in 1959. This story is prophetic in many instances, and incidentally, Mr. Olsen has supplied a few inventions of his own, which we are certain will be realized in the very near future.
THE AIR TERROR by Lowell Howard Morrow. You remember "Islands In the Air" by this well-known author. Here he is back with a most exciting air story full of adventure, science, fight and daring. Incidentally, it contains excellent aviation-science that will hold you spellbound until you finish the story.
AND OTHERS.
AIR WONDER STORIES b oublished on UK 10th of the preceding month. 12 cumbers per year, subscription price is 92.50 a year in United States and its possessions. In Canada and foreign countries. 53.00 a rear. Single copies 25c. Address all contributions to Editor, AIR WONDER STORIES, 96-98 Park Place, New York. Publishers are not responsible for lost Mss. Contributions cannot be returned unless authors remit full postage.
AIR WONDER STORIES— Monthly— application for second class matter in the Posloffice at Ml. Morris. III., under the act of March 3. 1879, pending. Title registered U. S. Patent Office. Trademarks and copy- rights by permission of Gernsback Publications, Inc., 98 Park Place, New York City, Owner of all trademark rights. Copyright 1929, by G. P„. Inc. Text and illurtrationsof this magazine are copyright anil must not ritbout permission of the copyright owners.
United States and Canada. European agents: Brcntano's, London and Paris. Printed in U. S. A.
IF YOU WISH TO SUBSCRIBE to AIR WONDER STORIES, make out all remittances to the Stellar Publishing Corp., 96-98 Park Place, New York City. Be sure to mention the name of magazine you wish to sub- scribe for, as we are also agents for the following magazines: RADIO- CRAFT and SCIENCE WONDER STORIES, subscription price of which is tbc same as AIR WONDER STORIES. Subscriptions can be made in combination with the above publications, at a reduced club rate. Ask for information. Subscriptions start with current issue. WHEN YOUR SUBSCRIPTION EXPIRES, we enclose a renewal blank in the last t number. No subscriptions continued unless renewal remittance received.
Change of Address. Always give us old as well as new address and notify us as far in advance as possible.
be reproduced ...
AIR WONDER STORIES is for sale at principal newsstands m the
STELLAR PUBLISHING CORPORATION
Editorial, General Offices and Advertising Department, 96-98 Park Place, New York City
—
AIR WONDER STORIES
99
At the request of the United Stales Government, S. of E. Students Made the Acceptance Test of this Huge Electrical Generating Unit, consisting of 4,000 H.P. Nordberg Diesel Engine direct connected to 312S K. W., 2300 Volt Allis Chalmers Generator built for the Panama Canal.
Bif MUWIQkM
electrical cooeoru join
hands with the School of Engineering to meet tho iniooolou demand tor trained Bin.
WANTED FOR
Men of Actioi Commercial Electrical Engineering
*|*AKES you out of the class of the common laborer of which there is always an over-plentiful supply at cheap rates of pay. Makes you a Graduate Elec- trician, Junior Electrical En- gineer, or Commercial Electrical Engineer in 12 short months. Puts you in line for a job where big manufacturers are actually pleading for trained men and glad to pay Big Salaries ranging from $2,000 to $10,000 a year. Not a dream — A DEAD SURE FACT I For 25 years we have trained men for the electrical profession and Our Graduates Have Succeeded in All Parts of the World. Our 12 months intensive" training is the boiled down essence of what We Know fits men for big paying positions. It is work you'll love. No limit to advancement. Prac- tical engineers teach you. They
£CH GO L ■ f EMC IN EE RIN£
know What to teach and How to teach it, so you can earn money with it Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of actual com- mercial machinery to work on in this school.
Uncle Sam Asks S. of E. OK!
Think of the opportunity to test plants such as this. The Nordberg Manufacturing Company is only one of many large concerns that is co- operating with School of Engineering students. This type of practical work, while in school, insures your future when you graduate. That's why our men are always in demand and al- ways command big salaries. You can be one of these men if you ACT I
Earn While You Learn
By our special system you may earn part of your way while learning. Our Employment Department will help am- bitious men who can finance their tuition to secure a position to which they may devote a part of each day, spending the remainder at the school. Low tuition fee. Board and room reasonable. Daily broadcasting WISN (formerly WSOE). School Orchestra. Fraternities.
Write for FREE Catalog
Write today for our free, illustrated catalog. Read about this wonderful
institution and the great opportunities that lie before you. Find out about our specialized method of training and the details of our "Earn While You Learn" plan.
Radio and Electrical Refrigeration
Laim In three moolhi — lull SO dan and jou can ba am of Ux Raw groupl 0 f tralnedl mon wool will ,ii -I aod daTelopI tba DBwaatl a o d b a a l KfiS Hemic Induatrtaa. BaJlo aod
SStS .acfrtacralloo .m Irmmlw money laabara tor Ibe trained man oho act, Inu Ibo eima eirly. V.'.1"",.!™. ",^"d bl»- "iponalhle. wll-PUtw
Si- s&r F pUM mVi
M*al al Caalaaertai a( Mlrrukaa,
Dan «. w. 8..0H. MihrauW. wi..
■aSftS *HnUo» la an; war plaaaa nail ftoa Irtellr • lluat «* the ami), and NEW %SS ruardlu iba coocaa 1 ban narkod «llb in il
I Ifommerrlil Elac- Una. for nicb School Oraif.
t Irmrnrrelat Elea. F.ni.
Ulham 1 (a 1 nan t laK JUL, B.S. Da-
t ]Au7«Md™"nae. [ ttjm IMmUl In nor Ian WblU Too Uara
CUc Bafrliaratloa Hadlo
Aniinura Wlndlne LlrW Haal * Pone Practical HlKtrlrllr Home Lab. Sartloe
Natae
Addraai
Cllr
Idaritlin ....
100
AIR WONDER STORIES
Mechanics Dramatized!
Stories with a Scientific [Background
The Editorial Staff of the Magazine Hugo Gehnsback, Editor-in-Chief David Lassee, Literary Editor Frank R. Paul, Art Director ASSOCIATE SCIENCE EDITORS
100 pages, 4-color cover and many illustration by ar- tist F. R. PAUL
TABLE OF CONTENTS IN THE AUGUST ISSUE
THE ALIEN INTELLIGENCE By Jack Williamson (Part II)
THE MOON BEASTS
By William J. Locke
THE FEMININE METAMOR- PHOSIS
By David H. Keller, M.D.
THE RADIUM POOL
By Ed. Earl Repp (Part I)
PROBLEMS OF SPACE FLYING
By Capt. Hermann Noordung, AD.M.E. (Part II)
THE ETERNAL MAN
By D. D. Sharp
SCIENCE NEWS OF THE MONTH
"WHAT SCIENCE FICTION MEANS TO ME"
Prize Contest Letters "THE READER SPEAKS" Letters from Readers
WHAT IS YOUR SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE?
Science Questionnaire
ASTRONOMY
Professor Samuel G. Barton
Flower Observatory University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Clyde Usher, Ph.D., LL.D. Curator, The American Museum of Natural History
BOTANY
Professor Elmer C. Campbell
Transylvania College
Prof. Margvit Clay Ferguson, Pa.D. Wellesley College
Professor C. E. Ovens
Oregon Agricultural College
ELECTRICITY Professor F. E. A satin
Formerly of Dartmouth College
MEDICINE Dr. David H. Keller Western State Hospital
MATHEMATICS Professor C. Irwin Palmer
Dean of Students
Armour Institute of Technology Prof. James Byrne Shaw
University of Illinois Pro!. Waldo A. Tltmrth, S.M.
Alfred University
PHYSICS AND RADIO
Dr. Lee do Forest, Ph.D., L.Se.
PHYSICS
Professor A. L. Pitch University of Maine
ZOOLOGY
Dr. Joseph G. Voshloka
Illinois State Institute for Juvenile Research
REGULAR SUBSCRIPTION RATES $2.50 in U. S. $3.00 in Canada and Foreign
SPECIAL SUBSCRIPTION PRICE 8 ISSUES FOR $1.00
STELLAR PUBLISHING CORP.,
Dept. AW.8, 96-98 Park Place, NEW YORK, N. Y.
Enclosed find $1.00 for which enter my subscription for 8 (eight) months to your monthly maga- zine SCIENCE WONDER STORIES.
Name
Address
City and State
Missing Page: Page 101
If you own this magazine, and would like to contribute, please email us the image (in JPEG format at 300 dpi) to:
info@pulpmags. org
Addison watched in fascination, aa Evenrude's fingers played over the board. The image of the enemy ship danced and bobbed unsteadily, moving persistently across the screen.
102
THE SILENT DESTROYER
103
1 >'J'
CHAPTER I A Visitor From the Past
IAPTAIN BURKE GAUTHIER stared over the wilderness about him with unsee- ing eyes. Among the new crop of saplings a herd of deer grazed quietly, their shadows lengthened by the setting sun. Nearby, two cub bears rolled and tumbled about in a fierce sham battle ; while in the trees the birds twittered contentedly as they snuggled down for the night. High in the air huge cigar-shaped monsters flashed silently by with a momentary glistening of soft evening colors from their silvery envelopes. One separated itself from the orange glow of the sun, zipped by close overhead and vanished behind the hills to the west.
"I see that the New York-Shanghai Limited is on time," said a voice behind the brooding captain. It was a soft, cultured voice that fitted strangely into the atmosphere of quiet, purposeful activity in the sky.
The captain turned slowly to see his chief officer, Lieutenant Evenrude.
'Yes," he said in the same well modulated tones. "Evidently our forces are successful in holding the ground they have taken in eastern Orienta."
Lieutenant Evenrude regarded his quiet, thoughtful superior for a moment as though hesitating. "Any- thing new from G-2 staff meeting this afternoon?"
"Yes. We think that we know where the Orienta forces are making their anti-nullifiers. That is where Ghorski will be stationed. We have instructions to stand by at midnight for action orders — you know what danger that means when I explain that G-2 thinks that if we can capture Ghorski we may stop the war. They base their reasoning upon the assump- tion that the traitor has taken no one into his con- fidence, but is keeping the anti-nullifier a secret to elevate himself to power among the Orientals. It's strange that the Occidental Government should be so careless as to permit one such as he is to share their most carefully guarded secrets. But to capture Ghorski !"
"He was alright when his aura was photographed upon his admission to the service. He must have changed almost completely since then," suggested Evenrude. "There are rare cases where this has happened," he added.
"Yes, I know. They should check up on those in high confidence every few months as some psy- chologists have been ad- vocating. Perhaps all this trouble could have been avoided. But since it is done and the war is flam- ing, it is our duty to stamp it out as best we can."
This conversation was interrupted by a crack- ling in the underbrush and presently a man emerged from the wilder- ness. The captain stepped toward him and arrest- ed his progress.
"My friend, don't you know that you are on forbidden ground. Have you a pass?"
HEITlUr DAHL JOVE
"No!" said the man in a voice com- paratively harsh as compared to the soft tones of the two officers. "I just [ changed dimen- sional conscious- ness and happened to land in this woods. Where am
in
The two officers looked at the man's face and then stared more intently with a flicker of amaze- ment in their eyes.
"Haven't I seen you before — or per- haps your picture?" asked the captain. "Yes, I recall now — in our fifth grade history covering the twentieth century there is an account of Theodore A. Addison. You are the living image of him !"
"The same," the man answered with a wrinkle of amusement about his eyes. "I have been living in the fourth and fifth dimensions and during my experiments discovered a means of changing consciousness and clothing myself with three-dimensional matter. But where am I?"
'You are but a short distance west of New York City and happen to be on ground closed to all except those of a character trustworthy enough to be en- trusted with some of the most cherished secrets of the Military Department. On which side are you?" "Which side? What do you mean?" "Pardon me, I did not think about your having lived in other dimensions, but we are at war so you under- stand that my question is natural."
"I see. Of course I am an American and my sympathies are naturally with the United States."
"You are slightly behind the times, if you will excuse my way of putting it. You are trying to cramp your- self into terms of the twentieth century while this is the twenty-eighth century. And times have changed slightly. All of the white people have combined to form one nation called Occidenta and the colored nations have united form Orienta. But cannot accept your state- ments ; you shall have to go to the classifying lab- oratory for a pass. Lieu- tenant Evenrude will accompany you."
When the two were gone, Captain Gauthier walked to a huge boulder into which he disap- peared through a door in the side.
/N presenting this extraordinary story to our^% readers, we make a prediction and state, that it is without a shadow of a doubt scheduled to become a classic in aviation fiction. There is enough science contained in this single story to provide sufficient ammunition for a dozen others, which will give the reader an idea of the tremendous wealth of science contained in it. Five hundred years hence, the conditions and instrumentalities used by the author in this story will probably become part of our world. In any event, the story gives us as accurate a prelude to the future as it is possible for a trained scientist to give. And with the skill of a magician, he weaves the incidents so that the final climax of the story is so subtle, that it leaves one chuckling. Particularly is this story recommended to those of us who are used to, and must live among, irritating noises during their entire lives.
to we
A Visitor Enlightened
CAPTAIN Gauthier was sitting at his desk in the underground laboratories and hangars when Lieutenant Even- rude, accompanied by
104
AIR WONDER STORIES
Addison, reported an hour later. Silently the lieutenant handed to his superior the pass and classification papers made out to Addison and stood by while the captain examined them.
"You stand high in the confidence of the Occidental Government," he said as he gave the pass to Addison. "You are free to go anywhere you choose."
"This 'classification' routine interests me — this 'for- bidden ground' interests me — these two nations in- terest me — everything interests me. I should like to stay here until 1 get my bearings in this changed world if I may," quietly replied the man of the twen- tieth century. He had caught the carefully modulated speech of this day and was striving to soften the harsh, unpleasant tones that was peculiar to his own time. How do they classify one?"
"We are expecting orders to go out on a very dangerous mission, but while we are waiting we can become acquainted. During the centuries since you labored as an inventor, science has practically sup- planted superstition. Denominational religion, as you knew it, has disappeared and science has taken its place. Our mathematicians have extended their theorems into the seventh dimension which we believe to be the highest in the particular universe in which we exist. The control of people through fear of the unknown has given way to the power of knowledge and it is through knowledge that science is now striv- ing to control the behavior of people.
"Even during the middle ages, the Steel Age, as we call it, scientists discovered that the human body is surrounded by an aura and that the condition of this aura reflects the state of health enjoyed by the in- dividual. Through the use of better filters and highly developed photography we have gone farther and found that the color and other characteristics of the aura give us an index to the mental and moral development of the person. By studying the colored photograph of the aura we can determine with reasonable certainty the reaction the individual will exhibit to any ordinary stimulus. Before elections the aura photographs of the candidates are circulated and the people can then judge for themselves who are best fitted for office. It is our purpose to place only high-minded men in any position of trust whether public or private. Those with criminal tendencies are suppressed and kept where they cannot do any serious harm. We have succeeded in weeding unworthy men out of office, until now corruption among government and corporation officials is practically unknown.
"Now you will understand why we were careful in answering your questions until we had your classi- fication papers. You will notice that in the picture of your aura a clear blue predominates. That indicates a marvelous mental development. This fringe of bright gold indicates a fine moral and spiritual development. On the other hand, an aura that is roiiy, such as a brick red, dirty brown or gray, belongs to the type we suppress. In extreme cases it may be a smudge of black.
"You probably wonder at the color of the clothes which were issued to you upon your classification. You will observe that your clothes are of the same color as your aura, that all may see to what state of develop- ment you have attained. This is a great factor in stamping out deceit and crime, for it is now impossible for a 'wolf to stalk in sheep's clothing', as it were. Of course, when the system was first inaugurated a few tried to wear false colors but were apprehended
almost immediately and, needless to say, never repeated their duplicity."
"I understand." Addison nodded. "Now if I could bother you for information concerning the 'forbidden ground' ".
"Surely," said the captain. "I am an officer in the G-2 department of the Occidental army. In other words, I am attached to the secret service. Our ac- tivities include more than the ferreting of information from the enemy. This underground laboratory is unknown to all except those whose auras are very nearly perfect. It is through this scientific classification that we are able to maintain this secrecy. Here we experi- ment with and build anti-nullifiers for military use. Until the war broke out, it had been merely a pre- cautionary measure to be used in controlling the colored races, especially the black race on the African Con- tinent, until they had progressed to the stage when they grasp the idea of self-conquest and are self- regidating— "
Ready to Depart
ADDISON was about to interrupt with a question when the adjutant snapped off the lights and their attention was attracted to a lighted screen on one wall. A face appeared and words mentioning this identity sounded over the radio. The face disappeared and the screen was filled with the image of a sheet of blue paper covered with typewritten words. The adjutant touched a button and the image faded away. Almost instantly the lights were turned on and the adjutant handed to the captain a photographic film which he had taken from a compartment in the wall opposite the television screen. Addison, following the lieutenant's example, looked over the captain's shoulders while he read from an exact facsimile of the image that had appeared on the screen.
While Addison wondered at this total lack of military discipline, the captain finished reading and said quietly, "Action orders. To stations."
Addison hesitated, "May I go?" he asked uncer- tainly.
"Surely, although I warn you that our mission is very dangerous. You must assume all responsibility for your presence."
With a simple "Yes", Addison followed the two men through several large rooms where men were at work before machines. He marvelled at the lack of noise.
"I noticed that everything is so silent and swift and efficient," he said to the captain.
"Yes", the officer fell in step with Addison. "Even during the Steel Age the people were beginning to outlaw noise. We find it unnecessary, and abhor any noise or harsh voices."
Suddenly Addison stopped. He had been so in- terested in his questions that he had not noticed that, although they were underground and that it was night outside, the rooms were lighted as though by sunlight, and further that there were no shadows. In fact, the light seemed to come from all directions, but was so evenly distributed that it did not hurt his eyes.
"How do you illuminate the place?" he asked in surprised tones.
'T shall explain when we are aboard the ship," the captain smiled. We have orders to depart immediately so cannot stop now."
They left the factory rooms and after walking through a wide corridor emerged in a huge cavern
THE SILENT DESTROYER
105
where rested a row of torpedo-like ships, each some five hundred feet in length and fifty feet in diameter. Addison, with his characteristic eye for details, counted twenty of the metallic, sky-blue shapes. Here and there crews of men worked silently about the monsters that towered high above them. The captain touched a but- ton and there sounded in the silence of the vast cavern the faint musical tinkle of a bell. The sound was fol- lowed by two short rings and Addison was amazed and awed to see one of the huge monsters rise slightly and, like a sinister phantom, drift slowly and soundlessly through a great door into another room where it settled gently upon bunks built on the floor. His scalp tightened as he watched this graceful display of pon- derous and terrible forces. With the two officers, he followed the ship and the door closed silently behind them. They walked toward the center of the towering form where a door opened and a flight of steps slid to the ground.
"Watch the roof," said the captain.
The light grew dim and Addison was astonished and terrified to see the roof of the cavern settle down for perhaps a hundred feet and then split through the center, but the lights were extinguished and he could see no more until an opening appeared the length of the ceiling and the stars shone through. Silently, like the parting of drifting clouds, the roof opened until the entire ceiling was gone.
"A section of the woods is lowered, trees and all, and slid aside to let us out," the captain explained. "Come, we must get aboard."
They climbed up the stairs into a small, dimly-lighted room where the captain closed a switch and the stairs rose soundlessly, disappearing between the walls. The door closed behind them. But no sooner had the door shut, than the room burst into the usual daylight brilliance. Addison felt the sensation of rising in an elevator and turned to the captain with a question on his lips.
"Yes," said the officer, "this is an elevator. We are going to the third floor where the control room is located."
CHAPTER II A Silent Flight
THEY stepped from the elevator into a narrow corridor and then to a large, well-appointed room, where several officers sat at desks, one of them speaking slowly and distinctly into microphones strapped to his chest. Others were operating tele- vision sets and radio apparatus.
"To whom is that officer telephoning?", inquired Addison after carefully surveying the room.
"He isn't," Lieutenant Evenrude answered. "He is a stenographer. He speaks into the microphones and his voice operates a silent typewriter in the filing room in another part of the ship. As fast as the sheets of paper are typed the filing clerk binds them into books, constituting the ship's log. But we must change shoes — here is a pair of magnetic shoes for you. You have to wear them when the gravity is nullified or you won't be able to walk about. While we are in the air nothing in the ship has weight so you understand the necessity for magnetic shoes to hold you to the deck."
Addison felt awkward in the shoes that clung to the carpet-covered steel floor. The others, however, seemed to wear them with the ease of long association. Sud- denly a strange feeling came over him, his heart acted queerly and his blood rushed to his head, leaving him
faint and groggy. Then he felt pulled against the floor. It relieved his heart and drew some of the blood from his head, but it was disconcerting never- theless. The feeling that was being forced against the floor gradually lessened to be supplanted by a sensation of lightness that left him giddy. He felt as though he were some plant on an ocean floor and that his body were waving gently in the water.
With considerable difficulty Addison tottered across the room to a chair into which he attempted to drop. But attempt to sit down ended in his merely folding up. Grasping the arms of the chair, however, he drew himself into the easy depths of the thick cushions where he rested with a weightless feeling. He was able to remain so only by clinging lightly to the chair arms. There were straps attached to one side of the chair and after buckling himself in he felt more secure.
While Addison struggled to maneuver his unwield^ person about this strange place of no gravity, Captain Gauthier was busy at a desk where, Addison observed, he kept his fingers hovering over several banks of keys similar to the old-fashioned typewriter. Occasionally the captain pressed certain keys while he watched a row of small gauges along the wall, back of the desk. "Evidently the controls," thought Addison.
He felt a suddenl pressure against the chair as though an unseen hand had shoved against his chest, but this sensation gradually lessened and ceased alto- gether. At the same time, the lights were dimmed and soft glow flashed up on the four television screens before the control table. The captain glanced over the screens, relinquished the controls to Lieutenant Evenrude with some brief instructions and then came over to the distressed visitor.
"I suppose that the sensation of flying is rather unique for one who has not traveled in anything but the old gravity-defying type of ship," he smiled.
"Flying!" Addison gasped. "Are we under way now! I have been waiting for the motors and pro- pellers to start!"
The captain smiled. "We are now twenty miles above the earth's surface and have been traveling on our course at about a thousand miles an hour for several minutes. We nullified gravity and rose ver- tically. It was during this acceleration that you felt pushed against the floor, and as we reached our level of flight the negative acceleration gave you the feeling of lightness. While we were accelerating our forward speed you no doubt experienced a pressure against the back of your chair."
Addison turned this astonishing information over in his mind for a few moments and then asked, "But how do you drive this ship without motors and pro- pellers, and what makes the vehicle so steady in the air currents ?
"We have discovered a new force which we have harnessed for our needs. Immortal in our history is a Hindoo scientist of the Steel Age who conducted the first experiments which led to this development. It is the same force which bursts the seed pod and pushes the frail dandelion through the pavement, although, of course, we apply it on a much larger scale.
"We stabilize the ship with tiny, full-floating gyros- copes similar to those used in the gyroscopic compass and mounted in the bottom of the ship in a small gondola against which the gravity has not been nullified. When the ship changes its course slightly, or in other words, when the housing about the gyroscopic ap- paratus changes position slightly, the shafts on which
106
AIR WONDER STORIES
the gyroscopes rotate, close electrical contacts as they strive to retain their positions. These contacts close relays which direct the forces used in opposing the external forces striving to buffet the ship about. Using a gyroscopic control is more satisfactory than a large stabilizer, especially in a battleship, for by simply open- ing a multiple-pole switch we disconnect the stabilizer and take over full control of the ship during battle maneuvers. A large brute-force stabilizer would be a detriment under such conditions. All of these opera- tions are handled by remote control from the keyboard on the control table.
Addison Marvels
««T)UT you were asking about the lighting ap-
Jj paratus. I recall from history that at your time, (hiring the Steel Age you thought yourselves quite accomplished when you succeeded in heating a wire in vacuum or some inert gas, and thus securing a light having an efficiency of three or five per cent. We use cold light with an efficiency of ninety to ninety- five per cent. We are using but one lamp at present in this room and it consumes a little less than three watts yet it is as effective as ninety or a hundred watt lamp of the old style.
"There is nothing mysterious about it, however, much as it differs from the old method. We use a tiny short-wave radio transmitter sealed in a tube of fused quartz. Here," he opened a compartment in the wail and took out a spare tube. "You will notice that point inside the tube— it is tipped with a radio-active material which emits a stream of electrons. The grid and plate are connected electrostatically for the feed- back. The rate of oscillation is varied until it is of the frequency of white light and the movable adjust- ment is welded in place with a ray welder focussed through the quartz tube. We have other lamps on board that are adjusted to emit colored light ; and the searchlights we are using at the moment are infra-red. These rays are invisible but penetrate the mists well, and the reflected beams are picked up on the televi- sion plates around the shell of the vessel, being inter- preted as white light on the screens before the control table. We are thus able to see where we are going and to view the ground, while to anyone without apparatus we are invisible. We have an adjustable light in another room if you care to examine it"
With the help of the captain, Addison managed to navigate into another room where the officer touched a button on the door casing and the room was flooded with white light. With a dial on the switch plate, connected through the walls with the mounting of the lamp, the officer rotated the bulb, changing the light through the entire spectrum of colors as he varied the wave length. The colors were brilliant, not at all like the results from the old method of shining a white light through a prism, for there was something vital about the colors emitted. And Addison marveled.
"I have been wondering why you have the control room in the center of the ship instead of out where you could see through windows."
"We place the control room there for the greatest protection against the enemy. But you'll understand that better when I show you our fighting methods."
"You were going to tell me about the two nations and the reason for the war," said Addison when he had watched the light for a time.
"Yes," said the officer, starting for the control room where he assisted Addison to a chair and pulled him-
self into another.
"You recall that I told you of how science is now in control of all governmental and industrial activities," the captain continued when they had strapped them- selves into their chairs. "That is also true of educa- tion, of course. Through our educational system in the hands of scientists we are gradually bringing the people to a consciousness of world citizenship and have succeeded to the extent that all white nations have been consolidated into one indivisible and harmonious country. That is true also of the colored races. We were just getting to the place where we thought that we were civilized enough to enable us to unite the two nations and make a truly unified world with all military institutions delegated to the museum as relics of barbaric ages.
"But one man, in whom there has developed a collosal selfishness and a distorted ambition, has dis- rupted our cherished plans and thrown us into a frightful war. This man, Ghorski by name, was once a member of the experimental force working on the anti-nullifier which has been developed by the Occi- dental G-2 service and held as a secret. Ghorski, whose aura was good at the time of his admittance to the service, evidently changed, as may happen in rare instances. Taking advantage of the desire of the colored races for revenge after the suppressions and extortions by some of the white nations during the Steel Age, he has convinced them that, by their superior numbers, they can overrun the white race and sub- jugate them. He has a powerful personality and has succeeded in rousing the desire for world dominion among ambitious leaders despite the earnest opposition of the farseeing statesmen and writers of Orienta. It is very discouraging. Truly he is an evil genius such as one might expect to read about in ancient history.
"Our aim of education under the scientific regime is to direct the naturally aggressive tendency of the human being into channels of personal conquest. By this I mean that there are vast possibilities in the human mind which can be developed only through constant effort, and it is toward the unfolding of these latent powers and away from the false ambition for wealth and per- sonal power that our psychologists are arranging the curriculums. We realize that this is the only means by which we can hope to realize our ideal of world peace."
The Age of Man
i«T HAVE been wondering how it happens that I
X found a wilderness a short distance west of New York," Addison mused while he digested the informa- tion he had just received.
"That," said the officer, "is very simple. We make all of our food in laboratories and have little use for cultivation of large areas. We have allowed most of it to return to its natural state. We prohibit the killing of animals, having found that this law promotes our efforts toward peace. Our citizens live along the rivers and other scenic spots, leaving much of the unat- tractive land wild and elemental."
For some time they sat in silence. Addison glanced from time to time at a clock mounted above the control table and became interested. They had started on their dangerous mission at midnight and had traveled for an hour and a half, but the clock indicated the time as twelve :ten and now was stationary.
"1 see your clock has stopped," he smiled at the cap- tain. Surely he could find one little detail that did not
THE SILENT DESTROYER
107
function perfectly.
The officer laughed. "No, that clock never stops. It is a local time clock, indicating the local time at any spot on the surface of the earth over which we happen to be flying at the moment. Its speed is 'controlled by a compass and an earth speed indicator, all corrections being automatic. We are now traveling toward the west at about a thousand miles per hour, so we are, as it were, keeping up with local time. Hence the hands are stationary. Should we change our course the com- pass and speed indicator would keep the clock on the proper local time. For instance, if we were now flying due south or due north along a meridian where the local time is the same, the clock would run at normal speed. On the other hand, were we flying due east at the speed we are now traveling westward, the clock would run at double speed. Again, should we increase our present speed in the course we are now holding the clock would run backwards. This is a great factor in determining our exact position during inclement weather."
Addison grinned sheepishly and looked at the clock with new respect.
Again there was silence and the visitor yawned despite his efforts at suppression.
"Here," said the commander, handing him a small green tablet. "This i9 a counter-irritant and antitoxin against the effects of fatigue poison. Although we sleep, realizing that sleep has other purposes than the mere resting and elimination of fatigue, we resort to these tablets during emergencies such as the present one."
Addison swallowed the pill and gradually the feeling of sleepiness and fatigue gave place to a sensation ot freshness as though he had been asleep for several hours.
"Of course," the marveling visitor hesitated, "all of these wonders are commonplace to you, but you realize that they are intensely interesting to me, and I trust that you understand my position and sympathize with me while I ask numerous questions."
"Certainly," the captain laughed. "I have often thought that it might be curious to conduct a person of the Steel Age through our present civilization — and I find it interesting."
"By the way, you call the twentieth century the 'Steel Age.' What do you call this?"
"We terra this the 'Age of Man' because man, through his scientific knowledge and his change of purpose has taken practically full control of the earth."
CHAPTER in Addison Learns More
ADDISON rested back against the chair and turned his attention to the screens above the con- ■ trol table. They appeared similar to the one over which the captain had received his orders, but each was flooded with an even light. Suddenly he leaned forward with interest for he saw a shape nose into the field of light. Gradually it appeared— a flying craft similar to the one in which he rode, although he did not know that it was twice the size of the battle craft "What is that?" he indicated the image of the craft drawing away on the other edge of the screen.
"That is the Alaska-San Francisco Express crossing our course two miles below. That television screen is connected with a transmitter plate in the bottom of the ship. Our ship dispatcher routed with them twenty
minutes ago and they chose the lower level. I see they are three seconds behind schedule."
"You use television a great deal. How does it function?"
"It is similar to the ones used during the Steel Age although vastly improved. Come and I'll show you the apparatus."
In a small room on the other side of the wall, against which the control table stood, the officer opened a com- partment revealing the maze of connections and ap- paratus constituting the hidden part of the control mechanism. Much to Addison's amazement, the officer walked up the wall that he might better view the tele- vision apparatus which was too high for easy inspection from the floor. Although the sense of up and down was rather vague, it seemed to Addison that the floor was normally toward the earth's center of gravity, but when he stopped to think, he recalled that they were released from the dominance of gravity, and proceeded to follow the officer, a little apprehensively to be sure. With the idea of assisting himself up the wall with his hands after the manner of climbing a ladder, Addison ventured to follow the captain, and then straightened up perpendicular to the wall with an expression of utter amazement. Instead of a feeling that he was walking up the wall, it seemed to him that the entire room rotated ninety degrees, leaving the floor to form one wall of the room and the wall which he was climb- ing to take the place of the floor. He looked at the ceiling, now forming a wall, and wondered if— he tried it and surely, the room appeared to rotate until the ceiling was where the floor had been' and the floor above him, constituting the ceiling! Mulling this phe- nomenon in his mind, Addison stepped back onto the wall, but which instantly seemed to become the floor, and stopped beside the captain where he stood looking down into the compartment containing the television apparatus. The captain, who had watched the visitor's experiment, laughed.
'Where there is no gravity as in this case," he ex- plained, "we have no definite sense of up or down, but we, and our ancestors for centuries, have come to re- gard whatever we are standing upon as being below us or down, so we instinctively regard whatever our feet rest upon as being down, although now, during normal flight, the floor happens to be toward the earth. In fact, since the sensation of up and down is a matter of individual conception, this wall is actually down and the opposite wall is up while we are standing here. During battle maneuvers the ship often turns com- pletely over although we have no sensation of the move- ment— there is no movement except to one who might happen to watch us from some external point. We who are accustomed to riding in this type of ship can feel changes through the centrifugal force which appears when the vessel rotates."
"I have observed that the laws of inertia and centri- fugal force are still operative, despite the lack of gravity."
"Yes. These phenomena deal with mass rather than weight in motion or at rest And here we have a case of mass without weight."
"I understand, although it startled me at first. Now, about this television."
■ "Since the general principle of this machine is iden- tical with that of the old Steel Age apparatus for trans- mitting motion pictures, we might well review the old machine as a starting point. As you know, the light from the subject, for example a person's face, is dj-
108
AIR WONDER STORIES
vided mechanically into a series of horizontal lines or rays of varying intensity. These rays act upon a light sensitive 'valve' which passes more or less electrical current as the intensity of light from various parts of the face opens or closes this valve. This varying cur- rent is then used, after being 'amplified,' to distort the carrier wave of a regular broadcast transmitter as though it were the varying current from a microphone.
"This distorted carrier wave is then picked up on the receiving antenna and used to operate the valves in an ordinary receiving set. When the distortion is 'ampli- fied' sufficiently it is used, instead of operating a loud- speaker, to vary the intensity of the light from a special lamp. The varying light from this lamp is then cast in a thin line upon a screen and when the placing of these lines of light are exactly synchronized with the pick-up at the transmitter we have an image of the original.
"By way of analogy : If we should stretch pieces of thread tightly across a frame, so close together that the result appeared to be cloth, and then paint with dyes a picture on this cloth after which we should remove the threads and tie them end to end, we have accom- plished the purpose of the pick-up. If we then blow the assembled length of thread through a tube to some distant point we have done the work of the transmitter. If, at the receiving point, they cut the lengths of thread apart and assemble them in a frame exactly as they originally were they have acted as a receiver— they have the picture.
"Because in the first attempts they used a motor- driven disc through which was drilled a spiral of holes, for lining the image at the transmitter and also for laying it upon the screen at the receiver, the image, because of the slowness and other limitations of the disc, was necessarily very small and coarse. And syn- chronizing the receiving disc with that of the trans- mitter was a source of constant trouble."
A .Sumptuous Meal
««TN our present day apparatus," continued the officer, J. indicating a huge lens, "the image to be transmitted is brought to a flat field at the focal plane of this lens. This image, which is very bright, is divided or lined by these three tiny lenses— there is one for each primary color— and the threads of light focused upon these three special light-sensitive valves for transmission. These tiny lenses — pick-up lenses we call them — are connected by levers to highly responsive piezo crystals. These crystals, which, as you know, change shape in response to varying or alternating electrical currents, are agitated by crystal-controlled local oscillators, mov- ing the pick-up lenses on their vertical axes through an arc that just covers the twenty-inch wide image field. The lenses are moved on a horizontal axis to cover the twenty-inch height of the field, being moved up and then down to cover the field twenty times per second by a carefully governed motor. Thus, by im- pressing upon the piezo crystals an alternating current with a frequency of 40,000 cycles per second, we have 4,000 lines per picture for each color or 12,000 lines for the picture in colors — 600 lines per inch of screen. By a similar arrangement we lay the varying light on the screen at the receiving station. Since we have a large number of transmitters or 'plates' as we call them, set in various parts of the vessel's shell for viewing our surroundings, we use a large oscillator to control all of the piezo crystals for the televisions, lookouts and telescopes."
"Telescopes!"
"Yes. By using many of the tiny pick-up lenses at the transmitter and receiver making hundreds of lines to the inch and examining the receiving screen through a microscope we have a telescope."
Back in the control room the captain explained how the four screens above the control table could be switched over to any of the receiving plates about the hull, revealing the surroundings in the light of the infra-red searchlight.
"And here is a telescope," said the officer, indicating a screen set in a table over which was mounted an eye- piece in a swinging support. He closed one of several switches and a cone of light appeared on the screen.
"That is the glare of the infra-red searchlight di- rected toward the ocean."
Addison peered through the eye-piece and was startled to see how close the waves appeared.
They sat for a time in silence and then the com- mander picked up a 'phone and talked for a few moments. Presently a chef appeared bearing a tray of small cups which he served to all in1 the room. Addison looked into his cup of pills dubiously and turned his questioning eyes toward the captain.
"I told the chef what your colors are and he arranged a menu best suited to your needs. This is synthetic food from our laboratories," said the officer, swallow- ing one of the pellets.
Addison grinned several times during what the cap- tain called a leisurely meal. How different from the real feast of the Steel Age ! This struck him as being ludicrous and he chuckled inwardly as the dozen or so little pills slid down. "I wonder what these people would do if they were at an old-time table with its back nearly broken under the weight of food," he thought, struggling to hide his amusement from his gracious host.
They settled down for an "after dinner chat" as the captain put it, and Addison bubbled over with mirth. It was more of an "after pill chat."
"What is this mission we are on?" he asked finally.
"We are on our way to a spot in the Likiang moun- tains near the village of Likiang on the Yangtze river. One of our agents reports that there is unusual activity there and thinks that is the place where the Orientals are making their anti-nullifiers — machines that destroy the gravity nullifying power of any ship during the time they are directed at the ship. If that is true, and we are fairly certain that it is, you can imagine that the spot is protected by every means at their disposal and that we are going into the lions' den. But orders are orders." ' ~~ —
CHAPTER IV A Slight Annoyance
AGAIN the conversation lapsed and Addison watched the screens over the control table. Sev- "eral ships crossed their field of vision, but every move seemed to be so carefully directed that he ceased to worry about the possibility of a collision at this frightful speed. The ship was silent, ominously silent, Addison thought, although the crew seemed to be at ease. It did not seem possible that this was a battle craft on a dangerous mission — it was more like a pleasure trip. Gradually a slight hum pushed its way through the stillness. The captain listened a moment and a look of annoyance crossed his face. "Someone is careless," he said, pushing a button. A man appeared, evidently a mechanic.
THE SILENT DESTROYER 109
"What is that hum?" demanded the captain. "It is very annoying."
"The commutator on the lighting generator has a hard bar," the man explained. "I was going to turn it down this afternoon but the unexpected orders inter- rupted me."
"I see. Cut the load over on the other machine and take this one down to the machine shop for repairs. We'll take a chance on the one machine — it's better than enduring that annoying hum. And tell them to rush die job."
"Regardless of how carefully one trains a crew there are always evidences of negligence," the officer apolo- gized to Addison when the man was gone. "I give them repeated orders to keep things in repair but they forget."
Again they were interrupted, this time by a man who entered and laid two films on the captain's desk. Addison noticed that they were photographs of blue, typewritten pages.
"More orders from Headquarters," said the com- mander, "if you will pardon me "
"Another agent has confirmed the report of the first and they are now certain that our objective is the secret factory we are seeking," he informed Addison when he finished reading.
"How do you make photographs so quickly?" asked Addison, more interested in the process than the report "I was going to ask you about it when I saw the one made in your office back at the airdrome."
"I had forgotten that you used to immerse your plates in chemical baths and otherwise go to a great deal of trouble and then secure only a black and white result," the captain nodded.
"We have two kinds of films, the black and the white. In either case the emulsion is in the presence of a powerful catalytic agent which makes the film 'exposing out.' I mean that when the film is exposed in the camera the picture appears instantly and requires no development. We use a gas which is a negative catalytic force and permanently stops all action. We release this gas inside the camera automatically after the exposure, so we can take the completed picture out immediately.
"The black films have a black emulsion which turns lighter upon exposure to light, the more intense the light the lighter the result. They are responsive to colors and reproduce them perfectly. Since we start with a black film and high-lights appear light, we obtain a positive. We print these on black paper or film to obtain copies in positive.
"Tbs-whlfe films have a white emulsion that turns dark upon exposure to light, resulting in a negative. To obtain positive copies we print them on white paper or films."
"That is how we simplify our office and paper work," he added.
"By the way, where are we now?" asked Addison. "I should like to know how you calculate your position."
Captain Gauthier read the local time-clock and a chronometer and fed the data, together with the exact direction of their course into a computing machine from which lie took the answer written on a little slip of paper similar to that used in an adding machine.
"40" <W 52" N— 161° 13' 59.6" WL," he read. "We are well over the Pacific Ocean and not very far from our objective."
For a time Addison sat watching the screens above the control table. He marveled at the number of ships
that appeared out of the night to be swallowed again in the gulf of darkness. He became restless and asked if be might explore the ship.
"Certainly," said the captain, arising and assisting Addison to his precarious balance. "I believe that it would be easier if I carried you, since you are not accustomed to walking in this space of no gravity. No, it will not appear ludicrous to the crew for they all know about you and can appreciate your difficulties. In fact, they are wondering why I have not carried you before. If you will take off your magnetic shoes "
Addison unbuckled his shoes a little dubiously and drew his foot from one of them.
"Be careful," the captain warned. "Hang onto me when you take your other foot out. If you should exert force against the floor you would overcome the inertia of your body's mass and continue upward until you bumped your head against the ceiling and continue bouncing between the floor and ceiling until the tissue and air friction stopped you or until somebody with shoes caught you."
Transmutation 1
ADDISON clung to his host and gingerly removed his other foot, leaving the shoes fast to the floor. A feeling of utter helplessness came over him. He attempted to walk but could gain absolutely no traction for there was no force to set up friction between his feet and the floor. It occurred to him that he was like a wisp of smoke to be wafted hither and yon as suited the fancy of any air current that might stir.
"Hang onto my arm to steady yourself and we'll go," directed the officer.
The visitor grasped the captain's arm and held him- self with some degree of success in an upright posi- tion, although there was no load on the commander's arm. When they started, however, Addison felt a slight pull until he was under way. Then the inertia was overcome and he floated along with no hindrance to his host. They were now in the narrow corridor which ran the length of the ship and Addison tried an experiment. Twisting on the supporting arm slightly, he maneuvered his body until it was at right angles to that of his new found friend and again experienced the phenomenon of the corridor revolving to accom- modate his position. It seemed to him that the captain was now walking up the side of a tall shaft in which Addison hung from a precarious position. Two hun- dred fifty feet below was the bottom and the same distance above was the top ! He gasped with dizziness and then laughed when the thought of the absence of gravity came to his rescue.
As they progressed on their tour of inspection, Addi- son was astonished at the great amount of machinery, some of great mass, and the number of the crew busy over the ship. He shuddered to think of the great splash should the gravity-nullifying equipment fail!
The visitor's curiosity was aroused when he noticed a continued duplication of small twin apparatus all about the shell of the craft. These were faced invari- ably by a lens of some five inches in diameter for one part of the equipment; while the companion machine extended what appeared to be a flat tube about eight inches wide and half an inch thick through the wall of the vessel. The tube passed through a ball which was set in a socket in the outer wall of the craft, permitting the tube to be moved about and still keep an air-tight joint.
"What are these?" he asked his guide.
110
AIR WONDER STORIES
"That machine upon which the lens in the shell is focused is an anti-nullifier. While rays from it are directed upon an enemy ship it paralyzes the nullifying forces of the vessel permitting gravity to crash it to the earth. This smaller machine is a molecule dis- rupter. It stops the activity of atoms and destroys their power of attracting one another and maintaining space between themselves. During a battle we cut huge slices out of the enemy craft until a vital spot is injured. Sometimes, if we catch an enemy ship unaware, we cut it completely in two before they can maneuver out of the danger. Come down to the repair shop and I'll show how it operates."
The captain "carried" Addison to the elevator in which they descended to the large, well-equipped ma- chine shop.
"This," said the officer, indicating a box some three feet square and one foot deep, "is the insulator. You will notice that it is thinner than paper, yet it weighs, when on the surface of the earth, many tons. It is made of atoms which are not in motion and hence impervious to the action of the disrupter rays, and protects the floor, and whatever happens to be under the floor, from destruction."
Captain Gauthier went to a clamp on the wall from which he unfastened a small machine appearing to be an old-time electric drill of the small portable type. He plugged the cord in a receptacle protruding from the floor near the insulating box and then went to a scrap box from which he selected a piece of steel about a foot long and three inches square. While he was gone Addison, clinging to the box to keep from floating away, examined the contrivance. It was a hand tool with a flat tube similar to the one shown him just before but smaller. Addison noticed that the opening was about the thickness of paper and four inches wide.
"This ray," said the captain, laying the bar in the box, "is used for many purposes. It is of greatest value for cutting any kind of material and for making elements of which we are short. When the force arrests the atomic activity the cessation of atomic mo- tion liberates a great quantity of heat, but when the ray is turned off the molecules build up again and use the heat. Since it is impossible to prevent some of the heat from escaping, the mass cools down until it has absorbed enough heat from its surroundings to furnish energy for the complete crystallization; whereupon the mass gradually warms up to room temperature."
The captain pointed the ray machine tube at the bar and pressed the trigger in the handle, sweeping the rays broadside the length of the bar with one quick motion and at once releasing the trigger. A blinding glare and intolerable heat emanated from the box. He dropped a tiny object into the terrible furnace and closed the lid.
"You see, the bar is no more," he continued to the awe-inspired visitor. "When the molecular structure is disrupted, the matter loses its identity and builds back up into most anything. To control this rebuilding, we drop some substance among the lifeless atoms around which they build, the formation identical with that of the 'seed' as we call it. In this case I dropped a chip of diamond into the presence of the dead matter so the atoms, as they absorb 'latent energy of molecular structure' will arrange themselves to form a diamond. Should I leave the lid open, vast quantities of air would result. In fact, all the air that we are breathing, now that we are so high that artificial air is necessary, is.
made in this way. In short it is our method of transmutation."
Over the Enemy
T)RESEN1LY the officer opened the lid and Addison JL was astonished to see that the once fiery mass was covered with frost. The officer lit a powerful torch and directed the intense flame into the box. The frost persisted for some time despite the applied heat but gradually melted, at which juncture he turned off the torch and picked up the resultant substance. Addison was astonished to see that it was a diamond crystal of more or less regular shape but with a flat bottom.
"Some of the atoms combirted to form air, so the mass of this crystal is not so great as that of the steel bar," the captain explained. We use this method in the laboratory for making quantities of otherwise rare . elements, and for many fields of research. The lifeless atoms lie on the bottom of the box in the form of a fine, almost imperceptible dust, but as they become active they gather about the seed element and slowly, as they crystallize, push the seed upward and build beneath it. We create any element or compound, whether amorphous or crystalline, in this way. We have found a method whereby we render the atoms permanently dead and yet hold them together in any form we wish. It is of these lifeless atoms that this box is built. Another instance of the ray's use: the underground laboratory and hangar was excavated with this disrupter and the atoms of the rock and earth gradually turned into air and water.
"But we are nearing our objective and I must return to the control room."
Back in the control room Addison again donned his shoes and struggled over to the control table. He looked over the dials and was surprised to find that they were now sixty miles high and had changed their course and increased their speed. The local time-clock, however, was stationary.
"We started out on the wrong course to deceive any spies who might happen to see us," the captain ex- plained. "We have increased our altitude to better conceal our movements and have swung toward our true objective, which is 99° 50* 15#" E. Long, and 27° 25' 23" N. Lat., a point about five hundred miles north of Mandalay. We have maintained a speed such as to arrive there at midnight. Should we sight an enemy ship, the entire crew will be warned by the ringing of a small bell, in which case strap yourself into a chair or hang onto something for support."
Addison was still thinking of the demonstration in y the machine shop and shuddered when he fried— to imagine what a terrible battle might ;nsue should they meet the enemy. To think of slicing one of these huge monsters into shavings ! Now that he was close to the control table and could see the screens better he no- ticed that each was divided into two-inch squares by fine lines.
"Why the divisions ?" he asked Lieutenant Evenrude, who still handled the keyboard.
"Firing cross-hairs," he ansered. "When an enemy ship is imaged on any of the crosses he is covered by one of the atomic disrupters. The firing board is there," he indicated another table which Addison had thought was a duplicate control for the ship.
The captain was feeding some data into the calcu- lating machine. After glancing at the answer he touched a button in response to which a man appeared and strapped himself into the chair before the firing
THE SILENT DESTROYER
111
table. Addison watched this preparation apprehensively but those on the ship continued their routine duties as though nothing had happened. The captain sat at his desk constantly punching 6gures on the calculating ma- chine and comparing the answers with positions on maps spread out before him. Addison grew nervous. They were evidently in enemy territory and all was in readiness for combat. He wondered how it would seem to find himself plunging toward the earth in half of this ship of steel.
"We are over the territory of the enemy now," said Evenrude without taking his eyes from the dials and screens. "If you will strap yourself into the chair between this and the firing table you can see what is going on."
The visitor strapped himself into the chair indicated and found it, like everything else in the craft, securely fastened. From this point of vantage he watched the two tables with their alert operators. He noticed a slightly different color on the screens and asked the cause.
"We have changed from infra-red to ultra-violet searchlights, or in fact, a band even shorter than ultra- violet," Evenrude said without turning his head. "We hope that the enemy is not equipped with this latest invention. If our supposition is correct, our lights will not show up on their screens and thus give us the advantage."
CHAPTER V Battle!
AT first he saw nothing to indicate a ship, but presently he noticed a spot on the second screen • that was slightly different in color than the rest. "Number two, section twelve," Evenrude spoke to the gunner, and then to Addison, "That is the light of their infra-red searchlights. Probably a scout guard- ing the factory. I'll maneuver to get the craft in the screen and on the cross-hairs."
As he watched, Addison saw the light become brighter and more concentrated and felt a slight pres- sure this way and that as the ship was being maneu- vered. Presently the enemy ship, appearing only half an inch long, entered the screen from the edge. It looked like a tiny fish with many searchlights reaching out and groping in the darkness. As Evenrude brought the ship closer, the image grew to an inch in length.
"Intersection twelve-two," Evenrude said quietly to the gunner. "Ready."
Addison watched in fascination. Evidently Even- rude had cut out the gyroscopic control for his fingers now danced over the keyboard as though he were type- writing a letter in haste. The image of the enemy danced and bobbed unsteadily in the little square but pcrsistantly edged toward the intersection. Suddenly there was a blinding glare of white light where the ship had been. Addison blinked away the glaring after-image and looked again. The enemy now ap- peared nearer the center of the screen, while at the bottom of the picture he saw an object for an instant just as it left the field of vision. He looked closer at the ship and gasped. The nose of the monster had been cut completely off!
"Intersection eleven-eight," said Evenrude as though nothing had happened. "We have them on the de- fensive."
The stricken ship was now twisting and turning to throw off the aim of its pursuer and Evenrude found it difficult to get it into the intersection. For an instant,
Addison saw it approach the intersection and the screen was enveloped in another flash of confusing light. When he could again see the enemy appeared un- touched, but it suddenly changed course and a huge shaving from the top left the vessel and continued on the original course for a moment and then tipped downward and dropped faster and faster out of the field of view. Addison gasped. They had cut off a slice as though the monster were a carrot !
"Finish him on nine-thirteen intersection," said Evenrude in matter-of-fact tones.
Again the struggle to get the enemy into range began, a blinding flare that covered the entire screen made Addison's eyes swim, and all was over. When he again could see, he was astonished to behold two objects tumbling end over end toward the earth. The ship had been divided through the center from prow to stern!
Addison sat for a moment spellbound. A five hundred foot ship had been cut into pieces and hurled to earth with its crew of two hundred men, yet the routine in the control room of the victor had scarcely been disturbed. He looked about again and saw the captain calmly working over his maps and the stenographer voicing the happenings for the record in the ship's log-
A man entered, laid several sheets of red paper on the commander's desk and departed. The officer read one of the pages and then gave one to the stenographer, one to the television operator and one to each of the men at the control and gunner's tables.
"That was good work," he commented and praised his men. "We destroyed the enemy without much damage to ourselves."
Addison thought for a moment and then the signi- ficance of the officer's last remark dawned.
'"Without much damage to ourselves'. You don't mean that we were damaged?" he asked incredulously.
The captain smiled grimly. "We caught the enemy unaware but after the first attack they were active. They cut a slice from the bottom of our ship near the stern. We lost about two hundred tons of our mass, sixteen of the crew are gone and seven wounded. They cut off most of the machine shop and all of the crew's quarters. The head surgeon in the hospital says that all of the wounded will recover but it will require much care in two of the cases."
Addison was aghast ! To think that sixteen of their own men had plunged to the ground in a shaving cut from the steel monster beneath his very feet, and yet he had known nothing of it until now ! He recovered from the horror and shock of this news and was thoughtful for several minutes.
"Why don't you insulate your ships with the material used in the construction of the box in the machine shop — that 'lifeless atomic insulation' — to guard against the atomic disrupting apparatus of the enemy?" he asked the captain.
"It is only recently that we have discovered the means of holding the dead atoms together, but our new ships, which are now under construction, are so in- sulated. But there were none yet in commission when we left"
The captain returned to his desk while Evenrude put the ship on her course again.
"We are almost over the valley we are seeking," said the lieutenant. "I imagine that they know of our coming and we may see some real action soon. They may send a fleet of ships after us or they may use
112
AIR WONDER STORIES
anti-nullifiers from the ground. In either case we expect a difficult time."
"What will you do to protect this ship?" Addison asked. It seemed hopeless to continue on the mission now that he had seen the frightful effect of the weapons, and they were now reasonably sure that the enemy expected them.
"We'll turn on all of our disrupting guns and then spin on our longitudinal axis. That will cut deep gashes in the ground for miles around and possibly destroy their defensive equipment. Of course, it is a desperate chance that we are taking, but the world is in a desperate condition at present so we feel that we are justified."
Desperate Moments
ADDISON turned this idea over in his mind but was interrupted by a flash of red light from the instrument board on the wall. Lieutenant Evenrude cut out the gyroscopic control.
The captain came over and stood beside Addison's chair to watch the instruments and give orders.
"Close the master switch," he said calmly to the gunner. "We are directly over the objective," and to Evenrude, "Spin I"
Addison clung to the chair in desperation, forget- ting that he was strapped in. He felt his body thrown this way and that until his senses reeled. By an effort of his will he controlled himself and looked at the calm officers at the keys and then up at the screens. First one and then another, in rapid rotation, flashed into brilliant light 1
He noticed the red light. Sometimes it was gleam- ing brightly and again it went dark, only to flash up again, each change being accompanied by a jar of the ship.
"What is the red light?" he gasped.
"Anti-nullifier indicator," said the captain. "In other words, when the red light is on our milliners are paralyzed and we are falling."
"Change the course to three points east of north," said the commander. "We've gone beyond our objec- tive."
Addison watched the dials on the wall and was horrified to see the altimeter sink rapidly while the red light was on but mount when it was extinguished. But they were losing altitude continually; nearer to the earth with each flash of red !
"I had no idea that they were so well protected," said the captain with a frown. "If we don't destroy their antinullifiers soon we're lost."
As they drew nearer to the earth the blinding glare that flashed successively over the screens became so bright that Addison was forced to turn his swimming eyes away. He watched the instruments, and the wild spinning of inclinometers, levels, compasses, and others he knew nothing of, gave him an idea of the wild contortions the ship was going through. But he could feel it, too, as his body was thrown this way and that. One of the advantages of eating pills of synthetic food rather than the old time bulky meals, occurred to him now.
They were only two miles above the earth's surface and Addison had tensed himself for the frightful shock he felt must surely come, when the red flashes from the instrument board became more intermittent and finally ceased altogether. The commander gave an order and the flashes on the screens ceased, the instru- ments steadied and all came to rest.
"Put her in neutral and we'll hold this position until morning," said the Captain. "Apparently we have destroyed their anti-nullifiers since they have gradually ceased to function."
Addison leaned back to gather together his senses. As time passed and he listened to the silence he dozed, nor did he realize that he had slept until the captain spoke to him.
"Do you wish to go outside?"
Addison started and looked questioningly up at the grim smile on the commander's face.
"Do you wish to go outside?" he repeated.
"Oh, yes, by all means."
The sun was just peering up over the mountains to the east when Allison stepped from the ladder to view the landscape. And what a landscape!
As though some giant had gone over the mountains and valleys with a huge plow, cutting bottomless fur- rows promiscuously in every direction as far as the eye could reach, the territory was a riot of frightful destruction I
Addison gasped in horror. He stared at the captain with blank amazement.
"This treatment is meant to be a trifle disconcerting to the enemy," the officer smiled. "It is only the second time in history that any battle-ship has torn up the ground in this fashion. In fact, we are not per- mitted to do it except under exceptional circumstances. But go over and look into one of the furrows."
Although the captain knew what to expect, the other members of the crew had never seen such havoc and crowded along the crevice into which Addison was staring. They could not see the bottom of the cut, but were intensely interested in the sides. When the atoms had taken up energy to again form molecules, they had crystallized into fantastic shapes of metal and quartz that glistened and sparkled in the sunlight as though striving to atone for the frightful wounds. They explored farther down the canyon, jumping over the two foot gashes. They found the bodies of several unfortunate Orientals who had been caught in the flaming destruction, and around a turn, two fighting vessels similar to their own. Addison traced the fur- rows down the mountain side, through the ships and up the other side of the canyon — nothing escaped. The ships had been cut this way and that into many sec- tions, the edges of the incisions, as always, fringed with glittering crystals.
An Old-Fashioned Weapon
SUDDENLY the captain stopped. Beyond the ships, the canyon floor widened to about a thousand feet and here, as though the fateful plow had struck a huge flat rock and slid harmlessly over. The ground was untouched.
"All hands aboard the ship," he ordered quietly. "Battle stations."
Addison was about to inquire as to the cause of this sudden order when another quiet voice broke the grim stillness.
"All hands in the air."
The hands of the Occidental crew instantly reached upward and the visitor turned to see who had taken charge of the situation. He turned cold and froze in his tracks ! With some twenty-five men at his back, each armed as was he, stood a man with a small molecule disrupter leveled at the exploring party!
"Search them," ordered the stranger.
While the leader kept the first group covered with
THE SILENT DESTROYER
113
the deadly disrupter the prisoners filed, one at a time, between guards who quickly searched them and passed them to a new and growing group. It reminded Addison of the fateful trickle of sand through the neck of an hourglass. Several of the officers had carried small pocket disrupters and were quickly dis- armed by the silent guards. Addison underwent the search with apprehension. The guards took from his pocket a heavy black object and examined it curiously but returned it to him — he carried no disrupter. He edged over to Captain Gauthier and bent close to him.
"Be ready when I make a move," he breathed.
The captives had all been searched and the leader of the enemy walked up to Captain Gauthier.
"We expected a move of this kind, so insulated our shops and hangars. You certainly changed the map, but we captured you and your ship. Thanks for the ship," he said with a quiet smile. "We figured that if we turned off our anti-nullifiers one at a time you would think that you had destroyed them — and the trap worked."
"You win for the time being, Ghorski," the captain said slowly. "What are you going to do with us?"
"We'll question your men and then make all of you immortal. We haven't decided what to transmute you into but have been thinking of a huge gold nugget for the museum at Singapore."
Addison, who had looked upon Ghorski as a rather pleasant person, shuddered, and any hesitancy he had felt gave way to desperation. Quickly he drew the heavy black object that the searchers had scorned and pointed it at the traitor's right shoulder. There was a flash of fire and a report that blasted the stillness to
atoms. Mountain peaks barked savagely at one an- other, while the two groups of quiet-loving men stood rooted to the ground in horror that their sensitive ears should be thus tortured. A queer look of mingled pain and astonishment spread over Ghorski's face and he clutched at his shoulder. His right hand hung limp and the disrupter slid from his numb fingers. Captain Gauthier, startled as he was, recovered himself and seized the disrupter from the traitor's stiffened hand. It was a tense moment and Gauthier was equal to it.
Addison turned his head away, and well that he did. A blinding flash that left the sunlight pale and sickly by comparison lit the canyon for an instant. A wave of frightful heat like the breath of an angry furnace rushed by, scorching his clothes and singeing his hair. Slowly and apprehensively he turned and there, not twenty-six men but fifty-two pieces of men lay in grotesque huddles on the ground, frozen solid.
"Alright," said the captain quietly, feeling his numb, outraged ears, "well go down and destroy their laboratory and hangars. I am sure that the Orientals will be ready to listen to reason now. But how did you make that frightful racket?"
"I shot with a Colt 45 automatic," said Allison simply, handing the heavy weapon to the captain who examined it curiously.
"Seems to me that I saw one of these in the Museum of Antiquity at Chicago but I didn't pay much atten- tion to it. How did you happen to bring such an old fashioned contrivance along?"
"I had no idea of what conditions I might encounter on this plane so brought it along as a precautionary measure," Addison smiled, sliding the gun back into his pocket.
The End
B
NEXT MONTH
EGINNING with our September issue, we are inaugurating a new department in this maga- zine entitled:
"AVIATION FORUM"
In this department, we shall endeavor to answer any and all questions, not only of technical, but general aviation interest. Ask us any questions about aeronautics or aviation that comes to your mind. Those of interest to our readers will be published in the "Aviation Forum" depart- ment every month.
Our staff of aviation experts will give authoritative answers to your questions. There is no charge for this service.
Address all questions to "Aviation Forum," c/o Air Wonder Stories, 96-98 Park Place, New York.
BEYOND GRAVITY
115
CHAPTER I The Leviathan
was an exceptionally quiet afternoon ia Denver, the sky was devoid of the usual swarms of private aircraft. Ordinarily these should be many afolt, transporting their owners, with bird-like grace and leisure, along their varied pleasure and business pur- suits. But the absence of these swarms on this day was perplexing, at least to one who had been accustomed to watching the various types of craft darting hither and yon along the ordinary airlanes above Denver, the hub' city of western aero travel.
On an ordinary day one would have seen a constant stream of trim-looking, graceful and swift craft of various types and proportions, forming a perfect cross as they sped along the governmental lanes to and from Los Angeles, Chicago and New York; or El Paso, Vancouver and Alaska.
Intently I scanned the air. I was standing at the time at my huge, specially built-in exposure on the eastern side of my hotel-apartment on the hundred and ninetieth floor of the new Orville Wright Aero Hotel and Terminal Building which had recently been erected in the memory of the early pioneer of aviation. It was my favorite spot, and I leaned lazily against the massive frame of the big window, while studying the oddly vacant sky in front of me. For miles and miles I could see over the rolling western plains. Far to the south I could see the white streak of the Great American Desert looming oddly against a background of solid green. Occasionally I could catch a glimpse of the Colorado, a silver thread, winding its way snake- like through a maze of mountains ; and when the atmos- phere was just right it was possible for me to see even the great inland sea formed by the reconstructed Boulder Dam.
Here and there were speeding craft which, by look- ing at my radio-controlled chronometer timepiece, I accepted as being the usual hourly planes bringing in the mail from outlying points off die lanes of ordinary travel. Needless for me to say, as early as 1950, the government had laid oat a system of airways trans- versing the entire United States with direct lanes for air travel. This afforded the necessary protection to the countless planes that ordinarily should be soaring over Denver, and allowed . them to avoid the treach- erous atmospheres that made air travel over cer- tain portions of the Rocky Mountains indeed dangerous. Only govern- ment planes were allowed to stray off the estab- lished lanes — the pri- vate craft being forced to observe the law rig- idly. Moreover, privately owned planes were for- bidden to rise above the
EARL REPP
25,000 foot level, thus keeping them well below the upper levels of com- mercial travel. Planes violating the legislation, put into effect in 1975, were immediately
HCHP take great pleasure in introducing to rV our readers, Mr. Ed Earl Repp, our new author, whom we consider one o/ the most promising science-aviation fiction writers of the day.
In his initial story, the author introduces so many new instrumentalities of science as applied to aviation, that it fairly takes your breath away. Slopes of aviation of the future are always intensely interesting, because they bring to our vision in the most thrilling way, pictures of strange ways of conquering distance. And if the story is as good as the present one, it makes not only interesting reading but gives one a prophetic insight as well.
While some of the things mentioned in this story may sound improbable to-day, there is no denying that they may become commonplace long before the period mentioned in this story will have been reached.
brought to earth, their screws made dead and cylinders locked by a power- ful system of radio- active forces broad- casted by the gov- ernment observa- tion and policing stations. The cul- prit piloting the of- fending craft was dealt with immedi- ately and severely in accordance with the statutory pro- visions for such of- fenders. There was no place in the air for those who for sheer love of adventure endangered the serene souls traveling in the majestic air-liners in the higher levels.
Presently ray eyes roved to the east Through the pale haze, that hangs like a ghosdy curtain from the sky, over the country some miles east of Denver, I caught sight of a tiny speck that grew gradually in size until it loomed majestically and awesomely in the air like some terrestrial spectre. I was surprised to see that it was a gigantic air-cruiser and traveling at a terrific speed in a lane high above the usual level for ordinary commercial flight.
I watched the advancing leviathan of the air with growing interest as it sped like an arrow straight to- ward the hotel. Even at its distance of more than a score of miles I could see that its geometrically shaped nose was colored with the traditional insignia of the United States Ah- Forces. The craft was the first of its kind to have ever cruised in the direction of Denver and suddenly I remembered having seen it under con- struction through the screen of my super-sensitive 42 power television receiver. I was awed at the tremen- dous speed of the leviathan and intently watched its advance toward the great landing atop the Wright Aero Hotel. In a few seconds it shot to within three miles of my building and allowed me a chance to take in the graceful stream lines, rear aileron laterals and a rigid stabilizing fin rising from the rounded top surface of the crafts long, narrow cylindrical body. Unlike other mod- ern craft, the leviathan displayed not a single screw! She seemed to- tally absent of propellers and I studied her under- surface for a glimpse of her propulsion principles.
As the craft came closer, I noticed a dozen or more streaks of pale blue fire trailing. With a hissing sound that grew to a roar as the ship neared the landing, the streaks of fire slowly dis- appeared in a wraith of pale vapor. Suddenly the nose of the craft dipped downward, and just as
116
AIR WONDER STORIES
suddenly, the blue streaks vomiting from underneath her rear aileron laterals and elevating aerofoils, van- ished. From out of horizontal chambers constructed along the sides of the craft's body just below a long line of cabin windows, there appeared gradually, two wide stabilizing aerofoils, spreading like the wings of an eagle, tint floated the ship to a graceful landing. I expected to feel a tremendous quake surge through the building as the craft landed, but there was not toe slightest quiver.
A Pleasant Meeting
INTERESTED in this new type of ship, I dashed out of my apartment and in a minute I was stand- ing on the landing beside it. Over the nose of the ship I noticed for the first time the controlling com- partment enclosed entirely behind thick, transparently rigid asbestos gelatin, the new form of glass that I had read could withstand the terrific heat caused by the great friction through the atmosphere. This great craft I thought certainly needed that protection! Hadn't it come into view and landed from a distance of probably more than twenty-five miles in the space of a minute? I doubted, as I scanned the ship admir- ingly, that twenty-five miles per minute was all this great air-cruiser was capable of doing I
As I strode along the ship toward the narrowing tail, my nostrils dilated under a force of some strange gaseous substance. A thin wisp of vapor seemed to be issuing from a spot underneath the aileron laterals. Fourteen tubes in all protruded from under the
laterals in a diamond shape formation. They were
thick and powerful-looking and glowed with a peculiar blue luminosity that, even at the distance where I stood, seemed to burn my skin sharply. Truly, there were the vents from which issued the propulsion explosions ! Internal combustion engines with outlet manifolds ex- tending to the tubes under the laterals, with the centri- fugal force of a rocket, gave this great ship its astounding soeed.
True, the combustion of gaseous substances to cause the "rocket" propulsion force was not entirely new. It had been evolved in 1927 by a German, and utilized for the first time to propel an old time racing car. I remembered seeing the historic machine in the Inter- national Museum for Mechanical and Scientific Expan- sion over in New York. But what I saw now was truly a great piece of work, the result, no doubt of years and years of steady research and experi- mentation. What really awed me was the absolute secrecy that the government used in preparing this leviathan of the air for service. Now, it was doubt- lessly upon its maiden voyage or trial cruise out of the big station at Kitty Hawk. Now the world was going to really learn something about modern aviation ! In comparison with this tremendous craft, our com- mercial ships seemed like mere pigmies in both longitu- dinal surface and velocity. This craft, I speculated, would be capable of outdistancing with little effort, even the fastest of our tiny sport model racing planes of the humming bird principle.
I was studying intently the under-carriage of the great ship, lost in absorbing the construction of the unusual claw-like grips, which, tightly clamped, ap- parently by suction, to the floor of the landing, held the ship firmly. Suddenly I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I jumped nervously.
'"Come on, Mr. Holdon and I'll show you something worth looking at!" I heard a laughing voice. I was
surprised at the mention of my name for I had kept close to my apartment and my amusing television since I had left New York for a summer vacation in Denver. I turned and found myself staring into the bright young face of Lieutenant Bob Allison, son of my life- long friend and benefactor, Senator Allison.
"Bob!" I cried happily, for I was very glad to see the smiling features before me. "What— —how on earth — what are you doing here? Your dad talked with me only this morning and he told me that you were stationed at Kitty Hawk. Of course he must have been mistaken for you couldn't be two places at once. Tell me about yourself, Bob. What do you think of this contraption of the United States Air Forces? Quite a ship, eh?"
"You bet, Mr. Holdon !" he replied eagerly. "She's a real boat Dad was right too, for I am stationed at Kitty Hawk. I left there just exactly an hour and twenty minutes ago and here I am at Denver."
"You— y-o-u what?" I stared at him incredulously.
"Why sure, Mr. Holdon, I left Kitty Hawk at 2:20
this afternoon in this ship, the U. S. A. F.
Annihilator, and it is just 3 :4S now. Surprised, aren't you ? You ought to be, riding around in old tubs that can't do better than 550 miles per hour. Why, Mr. Holdon, this craft here can do sixteen hundred miles per hour without effort. Imagine Colonel Lindbergh doing the Atlantic in 36 hours in 1926 ! I don't envy him that flight after a cruise in the Annihilatorl"
I laughed softly at his references to dear old Lindy who had performed such a wonderful feat in the old days. But of a certainty, our heroes of to-day were gaining new glories almost daily. Take Lieutenant- Colonel Brockenridge, for instance. He succeeded several years ago in an attempt to fly around the entire globe without a single stop and when he reached the starting point his plane was functioning with such per- fectness that he continued around a second time. That was a wonderful feat for the advancement of aviation but of course it did not hold the dangers that con- fronted Lindbergh, considering the development of air- craft since his historical flight in "The Spirit of St. Louis."
"My lord, Bob, you young bloods will get yourselves killed yet!" I groaned, holding his steady hand in my nervous grip. "Why all the secrecy about this wonder- ful AnnihUaforf It will revolutionize all aviation I"
"Well, you see, Mr. Holdon, the government docs not want to be caught again unprepared as it was fifty years ago when the Eastern Powers swooped down on us. With this ship and five thousand others like it we have the supremacy of the air at last. By that supremacy we can force the entire world to maintain perfect harmony in peace and no more will they attempt to add rich old Uncle Samuel to their long lists of conquests. To gain superiority over anything absolute secrecy must be practiced. Of course, the government gave the public an insight into the construction of the craft, but so far as mechanical principles are concerned, only a few have been thus far permitted to know them. I don't think it will revolutionize the aviation industry to any great extent, in view of the fact that the govern- ment will not permit ships of this type to be con- structed for public use. At least not for the present."
Something About Joan
«« A ND you came here in the AnnikUator, Bob? I'll A bet your father will have a fit at you taking such chances." I said.
BEYOND GRAVITY
117
"No, Mr. Holdon, he won't" the young man smiled. "Confidentially, he is responsible for me being one of its commanding pilots. He saw to it that I received a commission on board the Annikilalor. But, believe me, I bad to work for it!"
"Certainly you did, Bob ! I know you well. You are like your father in many ways. He wouldn't accept anything unless he was absolutely certain that he had earned it. Robert, your father is one of the finest men in this country and you should be proud of him!"
"Thank you, Mr. Holdon. I'm sure that the feeling is mutual all around. Naturally I'm proud of dad. He's the best fellow, and the finest friend I've ever had. But speaking of friends, Mr. Holdon, where's Joan?"
"Joan? Oh, you mean that death-defying young sprout of miner Well, Robert, my boy, that girl is going to mean the end of me yet ! I can't keep her out of the air. She left this morning for Los Angeles, to go bathing. Said she'd be back about mid-afternoon. I'll have to tame that young lady, Bob!"
Young Allison laughed delightedly, his even white teeth bleaming softly. His trim, slightly upcurled mustache that was the fad among the smarter young officers of the day, did not add much to his handsome face. Bob Allison would have been handsome even under a six months' growth of whiskers.
"Tame her, Mr. Holdon? Do you think you could do it after all these years? She always was as wild as any of the youngsters in our set. You know I haven't seen Joan in ten years? She was at school in Warsaw when I entered the Government Academy of Aviation at New Orleans. Does she still have that funny little nose that the youngsters used to kid her about?"
"That's right. Bob, it must be ten years since you saw her, at that! Joan was an odd youngster and that upturned nose was the main source of her worry. I'll bet she licked all the kids in Washington over it, but wait until you see Joan as she is now. Why Bob she's as ugly as a greasy accelerator !"
I squinted at the Lieutenant to see how he accepted my teasing word-picture of my untameablc daughter. I expected to see his face cloud but he continued smiling pleasantly.
"Joan couldn't be as ugly as all that, Mr. Holdon. I might say frankly that I believe you're having some fun at my expense. Go right ahead and have it be- cause it does not alter my brain-picture of Joan. I've always admired her in spite of the fact that she used to think that I was put on this earth for the sole purpose of making fun of her nose."
I whistled softly.
"Don't tell me you're in love with a girl you haven't seen in ten years, Bob!"
His face colored under the taunt. He stared down at his neat-fitting boots.
"Wel-1-1, Mr. Holdon, I don't just know whether I am or not I've always admired Joan. I thought her little nose was cute"
"No, my boy, Joan no longer has that nose. Nature took its course and developed a nose that would cause the Statue of Liberty to hang her head in shame. Joan is as good to look at as she is wild and fearless, Bob.
It'll take a good man a damn good man to tame
that youngster! If you can do it, you have my blessing !"
Bob's face brightened perceptibly and his steel blue eyes snapped eagerly. He gave my hand an apprecia-
tive squeeze and grinned bashfully. I scanned the western skies searching for a glimpse of Joan's trim little areospeedster with its brilliant red and orchid color-scheme. The air was queerly vacant except for commercial planes.
"Darn funny. Bob," I remarked uneasily, "that on a day like this there are so few planes in the air! What do you think is keeping the swarms in their hangars ?"
"Why, Mr. Holdon, didn't you get the government bulletin over the television requesting pleasure ships to remain out of the air to-day?"
"No, I didn't!" I said, surprised.
"Well that's the reason why the sky seems so de- serted. The government broadcast a bulletin this morning requesting that all air travel with the excep- tion of necessary flight, be suspended for twelve hours. That was a protective measure to give the AnnihUator right of way from Kitty Hawk to points west."
"So that's it, eh? And that Joan had to take-off in the face of a government order prohibiting it ! I must have fell asleep after she left this morning. Bob, and failed to hear the gong on my television receiver. If I had known, you bet Joan would not have bopped off."
Joan Arrives
"/~\H well, you needn't be alarmed over that. She's \J in no danger of crossing our combustion ex- hausts because we are not going farther west than Denver. When we take to the air this evening we cut a straight line across the Divide for New York to map a new route for official aircraft."
"I'm a little bit worried about Joan — in fact, Bob, I'm always worried about the little rapscallion! Here it is four o'clock ! She should have been back by now."
"Leave her alone and she'll come home, dragging her little plane behind her!" laughed Bob. "I'd like to see her before we take off, though. We hop off at seven."
"I suppose Joan would like to have a look at the AnnihUator, Bob," I teased him. "I'm not so sure about its officers. She might not care to see any of them, especially one who used to tease her about her nose."
"You don't think then that she'd be glad to see me, Mr. Holdon? Then you and I will look over the AnnihUator."
"Oh come on, my boy, don't take it so hard," I said, "She'll be tickled to death to see you ! Well wait for her. I know she'll enjoy it. Don't worry about me. IH trail along with my eyes closed. Let's go down to ray apartment, perhaps I can find out where Joan is at this time. She has a small aero-television system on her plane. By the way, what brought the Anniliitator to Denver when it could have flow ' El Paso or some other city?" _ Lieutenant Bob Allison blushed profusely and turned his head skyward.
"Well now, Mr. Holdon, I really don't like to say. I'm not the ship's commander you know. I'm just a pilot. But if you really want to know, I'm not too bashful to tell you confidentially. Dad thought it would be a good idea if I came out here to Denver to renew old acquaintances. Denver was as good as any other destination to the War Department. Dad ar- ranged that too. And I wanted to see Joan. There you have it all in a grease-cup. The Anniliilator cruised out here for my personal benefit, but nobody knows it."
118
AIR WONDER STORIES
"Well I'll be damned!" I expostulated, "You young bloods seem to have control of everything. Why in my day "
Suddenly a blood-curdling shriek sounded overhead like the wail of a tropical tornado. I looked up, won- dering what sort of a craft was demanding the right of way to land on top of the Wright Aero Hotel. Swooping in graceful circles at a terrific speed, Joan's trim little aerospeedster, with its tiny, transparent aerofoils, whined above with muffled twin-screws in preparation for a drop landing. The tiny ship, glistened under the glare of the sun, zoomed upward in three daring half-cockle turns to slow its speed.
We watched it breathlessly.
"That's Joan, my boy!" I said proudly, nudging Bob. "She's certainly in a hair-raising mood today."
"She can handle that mosquito alright, Mr. Holdon," Bob Allison said, admiringly. "She's got plenty of landing space. She must be getting a bird's-eye view of the Annihilator. Here she comes !"
Instantly Joan's tiny plane stopped dead above the landing, the twin-screws on each of its two small, gyroscopic motors, rigid and still. Over the enclosed cockpit rose a series of small, whirling blades that held the aerospeedster in the air with the ease of a humming bird. Gradually the whirling heliocoptic screw slowed down as the speedster settled toward the landing. It came to a gentle standstill between the leviathan Annihilator and a huge trans-continental air- liner with a few scant inches to spare on either side of her tiny ship. She looked like a tick nestling under the belly of a wolf-hound. Immediately she stepped out of the cockpit, a vari-hued dressing robe around her slender form and a tight-fitting helmet covering her head, and there arose a great applause from the crowds of officers and civilians grouped around the Annihilator.
True to the traditions of eternal femininity, Joan accepted the plaudits joyously as though she expected men to slap their hands together in appreciation of her flying ability if not the exciting warmth of her beauty. As she walked blithely toward the elevators which would carry us down to our apartment floor, she waved at an occasional acquaintance or spoke to a casual friend. She seemed to show little interest in the huge leviathan of the air although I could see, as she neared us, that she was bubbling over with excitement.
"Joan!" I called, with my usual severity that ex- pressed more of a habit than actual wrath. "What do you mean by stunting like that over the airdrome? Don't you know that I have to pay your fines every- time you get caught performing like an idiot? Where on earth did you get that crazy siren? Come here, dear !"
"Come along, daddy, be a good sport. Gosh! The siren? You mean my new Right-of-Way whistle! I bought it over in Los Angeles at the Sky-Hi. They have the nicest things there, daddy! I just had to stop off for a few minutes and I couldn't look without buying a new whistle."
Bob Allison stood aside as I remonstrated with Joan. He was smiling happily. I wondered if Joan would recognize him after a lapse of ten years. She grasped the lapel of my jacket and shook it playfully.
"Father," she whispered, "who is that handsome young Lieutenant standing over there? His face seems familiar. Why the idea! He's even flirting with me! How brazen!"
She stamped a daintily-clad foot, still encased in her
narrow, orange and red Bathing slippers.
"Why Joan, dear!" I said, feigning an expression of astonishment. "Don't you know that young man? I'm ashamed of you, Joan. Think hard, and see if you can't remember the young man you used to think was put into this world for the sole purpose of teasing you."
CHAPTER II Making Plans
1 WINKED at Bob, who maintained his distance, taking pleasant amusement out of the situation. He smiled broadly behind a gloved hand that hid most of his face.
"You don't mean to tell me that he is that little shrimp of a Robert Allison, do you, daddy?" she asked, excitedly. "Why the very idea! He still laughs at me, too I I hate him 1"
"It's Bob Allison and no other, darling," I said, patting her gently. "He piloted the Annihilator here from Kitty Hawk just to see you, Joan. He's going to be our guest until the ship departs at seven. Come here, Bob!"
In several swift strides Bob reached us, hat in hand, his dark brown hair ruffled by a slight breeze blowing in from the west.
"Joan," I said, turning her head around after she had deliberately swung her upturned face toward the Annihilator. "This is Robert Allison, son of my very dear friend, Senator Allison. You remember Bob from your childhood days back in Washington, don't you? He thinks your nose is very pretty now, don't you Bob, my boy?"
"I- think it is adorable, Mr. Holdon," he replied, enthusiastically. "In fact I think it is the prettiest nose I ever saw ! Honest, Joan ! If you'll give me a chance to appraise it I'll "
"You'll laugh at it, Bob Allison," she interrupted impudently. "I'll never forgive you for teasing me about my funny little nose!"
"Ah, Joan," said Bob, appealingly. "That was only kid play. How could you hold any bad-feelings toward me for something I did when I wasn't responsible? You seem. to forget that you always called me 'that little shrimp of a Bob Allison', don't you?"
The sides of Joan's pretty, clearly-arched lips twitched in an effort to suppress a laugh that was struggling to find an outlet. I noticed it but Bob could hardly have seen the slight movements, for he con- tinued, ill at ease over her impudent attitude toward him. I felt that Joan was enjoying the situation at his expense. She is a chip off the old block when it comes to teasing people who appealed to her.
"Just think, Joan," he said, softly. "It's been ten years since I laughed at your nose. I've never for- gotten and I am here really to ah-a-ah er-er apologize for making fun of it. Honest, Joan!"
"Well do you expect me to stand out here freezing to death while you stumble all over yourself trying to apologize?" she said. "I never accept apologies in public anyhow, Mr. Allison. You may accompany us to the apartment."
I shot a wink at the young man as we entered the radio-controlled elevator. His discomfiture under the stinging lash of Joan's ready words was amusing indeed, and I understood perfectly that Joan was merely playing with him. It was her way of enjoying the companionship of her most cherished friends, and of course Bob could not know this. She was not
BEYOND GRAVITY
119
unlike any other woman — she made a man feel as miserable as she possibly could ; then would bring him back to normalcy with soft words and sympathy.
Following its usual sudden drop, the elevator's auto- matic doors swung open and we found ourselves in the broad, spacious hall of our apartment floor. A few seconds walk carried us to my apartment. During the rapid drop in the elevator Joan maintained a stoic attitude toward Bob. He seemed very uneasy because apparently Joan still resented the taunts that he had playfully heaped upon her during their younger days together. I was enjoying it hugely, although I felt that poor Bob should not be made to suffer just to satisfy Joan's coquettishness.
"You've a nice comfy apartment here, Mr. Holdon," Bob volunteered as he seated himself in the spacious divan in the living room.
Without a word Joan made haste toward her own chamber. I did not doubt but that she was chilled coming into the open air out of the warm control cabin of her little plane.
"Yes, Bob," I said, handing him my humidor of favorite cigars. "Joan and I like it here. I'm content to remain here for the rest of my days if I can keep that female upstart out of mischief."
"I don't seem a very welcome guest to her, Mr. Holdon," he said disconsolately.
I could not suppress a laugh.
"Don't pay any attention to her attitude, my boy! She is just trying to tease you — trying to have some fun in her own way."
"Oh! So that's it?" Bob said, brightening, "She's still the same old Joan."
"That's right, Bob!" I said, grinning. "She was laughing at you up on the landing!"
He chuckled softly and his face lightened as he settled himself into a more comfortable position.
"I'm a dud with women, Mr. Holdon," he said smiling. "But I— I "
"But you're one of the best pilots in the United States Air Forces, is that it?" I interrupted.
"Nothing like that," he smiled modestly. "There's a lot of pilot-navigators better than I, and I don't hold any medals. I meant to say that I have not had much experience with the fair sex. I've been too busy trying to get ahead. Yet I always cherished a secret feeling for Joan that killed any desire to mingle with others."
"That's heroic, my boy," I said with admiration. "I've watched you all these years, through my own and your father's eyes. I'm convinced that there's not a cleaner or more upstanding young man in this country than you, Bob."
"It's nice of you to say that. I appreciate it sin- cerely," he smiled.
"Oh I have reason enough for saying that," I said, seriously. "I've always figured that someday you and
Joan would "
"What's that you say, daddy?"
A Warning
AT the sound of Joan's musical voice I turned. Bob arose politely, delight written plainly on his tanned features. Joan had silently entered the living room and was smiling radiantly.
"Wh-y-y Joan," Bob stammered, his eyes sparkling happily.
"Don't stammer like that, Mr. Allison," she said. "Haven't you ever seen a woman before?" "Listen, little girl," I said, seriously, "Let Bob alone!
He's leaving with the Annihilator at seven and we just have time for a quiet dinner and an inspection tour of the ship before he departs."
"I'm sorry, Robert," she said, apologetically. "You don't know how glad I am to have you with us. Let's forget all that childhood silliness. How do you like this evening frock? Isn't it pretty?"
"It is pretty, Joan, but it doesn't make you any more beautiful than you really are," complimented Bob, meaningly. "You are beautiful, Joan !"
"Do you think so, Robert? Father sometimes says I'm a little hellcat with horns on. But I guess I am a little wild at times," she laughed.
"Your father don't seem to realize that youth must have an outlet for its bubbling vitality, Joan." Then he turned to me as I sat regarding them through half closed lids. "You've got to expect youth to be wild at times, Mr. Holdon. I'm sure Joan knows what she's doing."
"Humph!" I grunted. "You might be right but I'm not going to admit it ! I had a young colt once out in California that was as wild as Joan ami "
"Oh daddy dear, I've heard about that colt for fifteen years," Joan laughed, dashing over to my side and placing a sweet-scented hand over my lips. "Haven't you ever thought of burying it?"
"Alright, youngsters, have your fun while I order dinner sent up. Just make yourselves happy and for- get about everything but bubbling and silly youth. I'll call you when dinner is ready."
"Filet mignon et table d'hote for Bob and daddy," Joan called after me as I walked toward the Automa- ton Service Control hidden behind a beautifully-carved closet door in the dining salon. The Automaton service had become a boon to hotel and apartment dwellers in 1941, lowering the cost of living considerably and do- ing away with whatever maid and valet relief that was required in the earlier days by fashion and leisure.
I glanced over the menu board, controlled auto- matically from far below in the chefs' kitchens, pressed a series of buttons on the panel and a few minutes later a low buzzing sound issuing from an announcing cowl, told me that our dinners had arrived. I busied myself setting the table. Usually Joan's nimble hands decorated the dining table, but on this occasion I under- took to perform those details myself, allowing Joan and Bob to enjoy a few quiet moments in the living room before his departure in the Annihilator.
Frequently, as I busied myself in the dining salon, I could hear their laughter. I conjectured that they were discussing their younger days together and I listened intently, for it is the gay spirit of vigorous youth that makes life worth living for the elder generation.
"Don't be silly, Robert," Joan was laughing, "Ralph Jordan never did mean anything to me."
"Well, all the kids in our set considered him your beau," Bob said, seriously.
"Ralph was a nice boy, and he was the only one who did not take great delight in teasing me. But Ralph isn't the kind of a man that appeals to me. He simply cannot keep up my pace. He's too old- fashioned and still clings to a slow old plane that has been in his family for years." Joan said, meaningly.
"That's comforting, Joan," Bob whispered, "Maybe I'm not too late."
"I never dreamed you felt that way toward me, Robert," Joan replied.
"No?"
120
AIR WONDER STORIES
"You always seemed too interested in aero-dynamics and physics to pay any attention to me after we out- grew our childhood bitternesses."
"But I always had an indelible picture of you stamped in my mind, Joan. I always hoped that per- haps someday well, that we might meet again in a
more pleasant manner."
"Why, Robert "
"Oh, I've always loved you, Joan !"
Joan was searching his eyes intently. I had a guilty feeling as I watched, unobserved. Bob's face was flushed but his eyes were on Joan, glowing with ad- miration. Dinner was ready and waiting on the table yet I hesitated to interrupt them. A feeling of content surged through me. What could be better than a match between the son of my dearest friend and my own wild, impulsive Joan? I turned away and sat down in front of my television for the news of the day, leaving the two in the living room to their own thoughts and aspirations, although I wanted Bob to explain to me the principles of the great Annihilator.
At the touch of my fingers on the tiny button switch, the television screen glowed before me. I moved the single dial control gently and as has been my habit, I tuned in on the government weather bureau in Wash- ington. Softly the features of the official announcer appeared on the screen. He began his usual droning report. I throttled down the volume of his voice.
"All aircraft flying lanes over the Divide are advised to shift 43 kilometers to the south of the Denver summits to avoid a terrific up-draft of air sweeping upward from latitude 17 today," the announcer was saying. "This upward pressure, P/Po density of o-37S velocity, is lifting from SO feet, to an elevation beyond the surface of the earth's atmosphere. All craft are warned against the up-draft, for its upward suction is reported by the Rocky Mountain weather observer to be more rapid and pronounced than it has been for many years. A powerful electrical storm is reported raging in that vicinity at an elevation of 80,000 feet, o.90 to 1.4 kilograms per centimeter of width. Stay clear! All craft pulled into the draft will be drawn up into the outer atmospheres with no hope of return- ing to earth. D.M. announcing. Please stand by for further storm warnings!"
Allison Boasts , «T ORD," I whistled, "I'd hate to get caught in
J_/that up-draft! It's a wonder that science has not found some way of breaking the force of it. That pressure forming a down-draft on one side of the Divide over the ridge and an up-suction on the other with a wide ratio, causes more serious accidents than all the air-pockets over the Pacific between San Francisco and Hawaii. Oh, "wel], that warning will keep planes away from the draft. They'd be fools to fly into it!"
"What's the matter, daddy, your face is the color of chalk?"
Joan was Standing beside the set dining table with a hand looped through Bob's arm. They were smiling happily.
"The Washington bureau just announced that a high-velocity up-draft is sweeping upward over the Divide. I was thinking what a terrible thing it would be to be drawn up into the outer reaches of the earth's atmosphere with no hope of getting back to earth. That means any ship caught in it would be shot out of the earth's orbit where the absence of gravity would pull the craft into the infinite, probably to spin around
the globe eternally like a new satellite."
"Oh, daddy 1 Your imagination is running away from you I Nothing like that could happen,'' Joan said, with a shudder. "Have you got dinner ready? We've just time to eat and inspect the Annihilator."
"Nevertheless, my dear," I said, "you are not going into the air tonight! No telling just what direction that up-draft will shift I'm not taking any chances of you attempting to explore the outer atmosphere of the earth I"
"That's right, Mr. Holdon," Bob said, holding a chair for Joan at the table. "Such explorations should be confined to the Annihilator."
"You don't mean, Bob," I inquired, "that the Annihilator could navigate that powerful Divide pressure?"
"The Annihilator can conquer anything but inter- planetary travel, Mr. Holdon," he answered, proudly. "She's not quite strong enough for that."
"But you wouldn't attempt to fly through the pres- sure of a high-velocity up-draft, would you, Robert?" Joan asked, rubbling daintily at a wafer, plainly alarmed.
"I wouldn't, of course, Joan," Bob said, smiling affably, "but if our orders were to fly a straight course from Denver to New York we could hardly escape the draft. I'm sure the Annihilator can pass through it under the force of her powerful driving exhausts."
"You have a lot of faith in that ship. Bob," I said. "Aircraft have been destroyed in Divide drafts for years."
"That's true too. But no craft as powerful as the Annihilator has ever been drawn into them," he smiled, enthusiastically.
"Just the same I am, proverbially, a Missourian. I've still got to be shown," I said with an uneasy laugh.
Following the very pleasant dinner, we donned our jackets and helmets and were lifted up to the port of landing on top of the towering Wright obelisk. The sky to the east was murky with a heavy mist. Black clouds hovered high overhead and the ominous roar of distant thunder could be heard frequently. The sun had set in a horizon of blood-colored clouds and the very atmosphere seemed foreboding. Yet in spite of a pending storm, commercial craft dotted the sky hurrying to reach their destinations and discharge their cargoes and passengers. From the murk high over- head came the periodical hooting of some huge craft's right-of-way horn. Ordinarily, the usual storms and uncertainty of the elements would not prevent craft from keeping aloft, for air vessels were constructed to withstand them. But the ominous warning from the Washington Weather Bureau had obtained results in so far as pleasure flight was concerned.
Presently, Lieutenant Allison obtained the necessary passports permitting Joan and me to enter the Annihilator. He ushered us into a receiving elevator that had been dropped from the interior of the craft to the floor of the landing and we were lifted into a spacious and luxurious reception room. Joan paused to greet an acquaintance while Bob handed our passes to the Officer of the Day sitting at a little desk near a rigid, metallic door that opened into the central chambers of the ship.
"Pardon me, Joan." Bob smiled, taking her by the arm. "We've got to hurry. The ship leaves on schedule."
I trailed along behind them as they entered the ship's huge interior.
BEYOND GRAVITY
121
Considering the arrangements of the cabins in the big craft, it was not so terribly different from the usual palatial airliners in hourly service between New York and Paris or Los Angeles and Shanghai across well-established airlane routes. It contained a great, luxuriously decorated dining hall for commanding officers and guests, well up forward. Officers' cabins, spacious and neat, with double white metal bedsteads, lined a network of wide hall-like companionways.
Occasionally it was necessary for us to drop down small flights of rigid stairs and cross over metal web- bings to get to other sections of the main deck. I inquired why this was necessary and I was astonished to learn from Bob that all decks were suspended on a gyroscopic principle, like the old-time floating com- passes of the early mariners. By this principle, he explained for my benefit, the decks would remain on an even, flat surface, regardless to whatever angle the body of the craft might be tilted.
"You see, Mr. Holdon," Bob explained, hardly re- moving his eyes from Joan's enticing features, "this ship is constructed on a sort of a fourth dimensional principle. There are many new features that have heretofore been untried. The gratings which we just crossed over are more or less heat radiators. It gets mighty cold above the 50,000 foot elevation and we must have warmth. The Annihilator departs abruptly from the old type of airship and is of rigid construc- tion throughout its exterior.
Something New In Aeronautics "'TpHE Annihilator is constructed entirely of cobalt- X steel with the interior structure of four-electron Beryllium, the strongest and lightest metal known. The cobalt-steel structure is highly magnetic and to a great extent conquers gravity through magnetic repulsion. This is the first vitally important step of science to- ward the expansion of phenomena of electromagnetism. To be perfectly frank, this ship can actually fly with- out the use of the exhaust drive or any other mediums of propulsion. Magnetized cobalt-steel, with its power to repulse the gravitational pull, can carry this craft through the air at an astounding velocity. But by adding the exhaust driving system, much has been added to the speed of this type of aircraft. The velocity is increased some six hundred miles per hour.
"You are probably aware, Mr. Holdon, that these equations of gravitational repulsion are not entirely new. The famous Einstein theories of the old days on relativity have just been developed. American scientists, working secretly in the Washington Labora- tories of the government, have at last succeeded in insulating against gravity, proving the Einstein theory that electromagnetism and gravitation are actually the same thing. According to the theories of Dr. Bryce B. Sheldon, head of the Department of Physics at the Kitty Hawk Laboratories, we need not be surprised if interplanetary travel will shortly become a reality through the medium of electromagnetism."
"Now, daddy, you understand everything about the construction and gravitational repulsion of the Annihilator," said Joan with an excited laugh. "Lets see if you can remember it all. Robert, you certainly understand your physics and aero-dynamics, dont you?"
"And blamed little about women!" I put in. Bob's skin colored under a flush. "I don't know about that, father," said Joan in his defense. "He isn't so shy as one would think." "All the same he's not a ladies' man, Joan," I said,
"else he would have had a fine time trying to explain the development of electromagnetism, cobalt-steel and Einstein theories. By the way, Bob, what are the collapsible aerofoils along the side of the ship used for when it can rise and land by gravitational ac- ceptance and repulsion?"
"Oh, you mean the safety aerofoils? We were test- ing them out on landing. They are used for a gliding landing if anything goes wrong with the electro- magnetism generating system. It does take a lot of work to absorb all that stuff, Mr. Holdon, but now that I'm beginning to learn something about eternal femininism, I think I shall ask for a transfer to the San Diego station so I can fly over here in an hour or so.
"I see! I hadn't thought of the aerofoils as safety units," I said. "It would be nice to have you near here. We could see you often. What do you think about it, Joan?"
"I wouldn't mind it at all, daddy," she replied, look- ing at Bob squarely. "But didn't I hear you say yesterday that you intended to visit Kitty Hawk for a month or so?"
"Really, Mr. Holdon?" Bob asked, eagerly. "Of course you both will be my guests when you come. I'll be waiting for you."
"I'm not certain yet, Bob. I'll think it over tonight and let you know in the morning," I returned. Bob looked at the chronometer strapped to his left wrist.
"I'm afraid we'll have to take a hurried glimpse at the under-decks, control cabin and mechanical com- partments, Mr. Holdon," he said, excitedly. "It's almost time for us to take off and I want you both to see them."
"Perhaps we'd better just look at the controlling system, Robert," Joan put in. "You can explain the mechanical units as we go along."
"Well, to tell the truth, there really isn't much to see in the mechanical compartment," he said, smiling. "In fact there's nothing in the way of open apparatus- it's all rigid and stationery and operated along the air- current principle. Everything is encased in Beryllium housings and various gases are forced from supply tanks into the explosive chambers and vented through the driving exhausts. There are several generating dynamos operated from special air-pressure tanks, that furnishes the electro-magnetic power for the repulsion of gravity. Of course you understand that the ship is not capable of nullifying gravity in its entirety. But to a large extent, the insulation against it makes it possible for us to rise straight up to a certain eleva- tion where a diminished gravitational pull exists. We will eventually insulate against that too."
We walked along a wide, central promenade toward the sharply pointed nose of the Annihilator. Joan watched Bob's face intently as he explained some of the more important principles in the construction of the great ship. Frequently he gave her arm a gentle squeeze and they both smiled. As fine a couple and as healthy and vigorous a pair as I have ever seen, I said to myself, admiring Joan's shapely figure, and Bob's squared military shoulders.
CHAPTER III The Take-off
WE had no more than entered tne control cabin and concentrated on the maze of instruments it contained, when a loud gong sounded some- where within the ship. I was disappointed when Bob explained that it was the signal for all members of
122 AIR WONDER STORIES
the crew and officers' staff to report at once for the take-off. I glanced around the control cabin trying to appraise the many and varied instruments that it con- tained but Bob's voice called my attention from them and we returned to the craft's discharging elevators.
Night had fallen when we found ourselves deposited on the landing. In spite of the glaring flood-lights that bathed the entire airdrome and its brood of aircraft in white, I could see occasional flashes of lightning flaring jaggedly from behind banks of ominous black clouds toward the east. For miles and miles the Divide ap- peared to be blanketed with a cloak of milling, twist- ing doudbanks, outlined clearly by the jagged streaks of electricity. Few planes were in the air and they were marked with their own brilliant aileron and aero- foil lights, typical of restless commercial craft. They scudded through the air swiftly, like scattered night- birds.
"I'm sorry, folks," Bob said with a resigned gesture as we stood for the last few minutes with him before the scheduled departure of the Annihilator, "I'm sorry you didn't have a chance to see the controlling system of the Annihilator. Really it's worth seeing."
"That's perfectly alright, Robert," said Joan, placing a hand on his sleeve, "that will be an incentive for you to come again— to show father the controls."
"Don't listen to her, my boy," I said, "It will be an incentive for us to visit you at Kitty Hawk! I've got to see through that ship and I'm sure Joan would like to go through it again with you."
"That's great, Mr. Holdon! I'll tell dad that you are coming and he'll be down from Washington to see you." Bob said, pleased. "I've got to get aboard now. I don't want to be left as much as I'd like to re- main here. I'll be expecting to see you both in Kitty Hawk sometime tomorrow." He turned to Joan. "Good-bye, Joan," he said. "You'll come, won't you?"
"We will, Robert," she replied, earnestly. "We'll leave in the morning and be in Kitty Hawk in time for afternoon tea. My speedster can do it in three hours!"
"Will you go to the Officers' Club dance with me tomorrow night?" he asked, eagerly.
"If you want me to," she whispered, softly.
"Thank you, Joan I Good-bye, Mr. Holdon. See you tomorrow. By the way, we'll broadcast our voyage to New York. You can pick us up with your television, if you wish, but we will not be able to talk. With your 42 power receiver you ought to be able to follow the ship through. We broadcast at 24,500 Kilocycles on the 14 channel band."
"Good-bye, my boy," I said, as he took Joan's small hand affectionately. "I'll watch you all the way to New York. My regards to your father."
With that, Lieutenant Allison entered the open shuttles of the receiving lifts and was wafted up into the control room of the Annihilator. Presently we saw his face at a control cabin window. Joan waved a hand. I smiled up at him pleasantly and nodded.
Suddenly a hissing sound surged through the Amihilator and I hustled Joan away. Spectators had already taken to a safe distance. The body of the ship seemed to glow for an instant as the magnetic energy passed into its cobalt-steel casing. Insulation, repelling gravity, had been contacted and the ship rose into the air gracefully and swiftly, her driving exhaust tubes silent and dead. With an eagle-like swoop she turned her nose upward in a hall loop and headed eastward into the thick, murky haze. Long streamers
of brilliant light shot ahead of the ship and from the cabin windows along her trim stream-lines, there came the constant glow of her internal lights.
We watched the Annihilator as she passed out of vision into the eastern blackness. She raced more than five miles eastward before she suddenly opened her exhaust tubes. Where we stood we could hear the steady roar of her propulsion explosions. The roar gradually died away as the great craft gained momen- tum. Occasionally we caught a glimpse of the streaks of fire trailing along in her wake. Gradually they too disappeared into the blackened eastern heavens. Quickly, Joan and I walked into an open elevator and soon found ourselves in the apartment, glad to feel the warmth of the automatic heaters, for it had grown chilly on the landing.
Presently I found myself studying Joan's radiant features. Her dark brown hair hung in thin, curling whisps around her temples. She had donned a com- fortable dressing grown and was seated on the divan, scanning over the pages of the Aero-Chronicle. Oddly she seemed a very different girl from her usual con- fident, impulsive self. Ordinarily at this time she would have been scudding across the sky to visit some friend miles away or transporting her chums to a party in her snappy little aerospeedster. , Now she remained at home for a quiet evening for the first time since we had taken up our abode in Denver.
"What's the matter, Joan dear?" I asked.
"Nothing, father," she replied without lifting her face. "I just feel like staying home this evening. Why do you ask?"
"No reason at all, dear. I thought it rather odd that you would elect to remain home with me so sud- denly. It's going to be a bad night, isn't it?" I said, walking over to my eastern exposure to scan the sky.
What the Television Showed
THROUGH an almost constant display of lightning I could see the black clouds in the east, tumbling violently under an upward pressure. The heavens over the Divide were in an uproar. Thunderous claps reached my ears and lightning flashed in long, jagged streaks that seemed alive with fire. A terrible, fright- ful night over the Rocky Mountain summits! But aircraft would avoid the upheaval of the elements at merely the cost of a slight delay.
Hardly more than ten minutes had elapsed following the departure of the Annihilator until I donned my smoking jacket and sat down at the television receiver. Slowly I adjusted the controls and gradually the long shape of the air-leviathan loomed on the screen, glisten- ing under a coat of ice, which was very unusual for this season. She seemed to be in the very center of a terrific storm and while the atmosphere seemed void of snow, the ship was actually encrusted by ice! She was traveling at an amazing velocity and I tuned in the powerful radio reception units of the television. Suddenly the hissing roar of her driving exhausts came in through the super-dynamic reproductive coils. The suddeness of its roar and volume caused Joan to jump, nervously, stifling a little cry. I throttled the instru- ments until the roar was barely audible. Claps of thunder frequently caused the coils to sputter, and flashes of high-tension lightning created an occasional glow along the reducing units.
Joan walked to my side and sat down. I turned on the double-wave screen in front of her and tuned it on the 14 channel band. The Annihilator, pitching peril-
BEYOND GRAVITY
123
ously and fighting to retain even keel, glowed on the screen. The great craft was at last above the Divide, enveloped by upward tumbling clouds thil whirled toward the infinite like the spinning cone of a tornado. The roar of a terrific suction-pressure and the low steady moan of the ship's driving exhausts, sounded ominously in the reproduction units. Yet in spite of the maddened elements, the Annihiiator seemed to be holding her own and I patted Joan's tensed hands assuringly. She stared at the glowing screen, a worried look on her ordinarily joyously alive features.
"They'll make it, Joan!" I said, although I was keenly afraid that the terrific up-draft would win over such a huge craft as the Annihiiator. Despite her super-powers to combat the elements, I felt that she was meeting her match in the whirling, upward pressure I
"But, daddy," Joan said suddenly, "she doesn't seem to be moving ahead at all!"
I stared fixedly at the screen. The Annihiiator was pitching and rolling dangerously, her nose leaping in quick jerks toward the upper levels! Her pilots were fighting madly to keep her nose pointing to earth but with each terrific upward jerk, she was lifted skyward at an increasing angle. The Annihiiator had en- countered an up-draft, more terrible in its form than it had been for nearly a century !
"My God, Joan!" I gasped, "They're in it I Tune your screen in on 24,500 Kilocycles slightly under the 14th channel band and pick up the ship's control cabin I"
Instantly Joan's quick fingers manipulated the dials and the surface picture of the Annihiiator, rolling and tumbling madly, disappeared from the screen. She switched on the reserve reproduction coils, auto- matically breaking the circuit in the coils at my hand, and, simultaneously with the sound of shouting voices, her screen glowed with a clear picture of the cabin's interior! Together we watched the perilous motion of the craft and the excited pilots controlling the ship from her cabin. Alternating my gaze between the two glowing screens, I immediately saw that Lieutenant Bob Allison was sitting at the wheel controlling the stabilizing aerofoils at her tail, his face grim, deter- mined and pale. His hands clung to the jerking wheel with a grip of steel He manipulated the control for- ward occasionally and just as often the tremendous force of the up-draft shot it back. He groaned once when the controlling wheel shot back, pinning him between it and the rigid accommodation in which he sat. He worked the wheel forward slowly. Each move- ment of the controlling system was clearly defined on the screen in front of me, for each time Bob shoved it forward, the Annihiiator smoothed out, her nose pointed slightly to earth.
Joan watched Bob Allison intently as he strove to prevent the ship from shooting into the upper atmos- pheric reaches. I glanced at her face. It was white. Her lips quivered slightly as though stifling a sob. I said nothing, and concentrated on the scenes before us.
That Bob was weakening at the stabilizing control was easy to be seen. I groaned and Joan placed a shaking hand on mine. Suddenly his voice, weak and shaking, calling for assistance, came to us through the coils. Again the wheel shot back and struck him across the chest with such force that it caused his face to color with a bluish tint. I noticed a thin trickle of blood oozing from the corner of his mouth. Joan screamed and hid her eyes. Bob slumped in his seat,
his hands frozen tightly on the wheel. There was a scurry of activity in the cabin as other pilots dashed for the snapping control. I tore my eyes from the cabin scene and glanced at the ship entangled in the whirling elements.
Scarcely had my eyes settled on the tumbling craft than her nose shot upward with a terrific jerk! Instantly the Annihiiator rolled over, on end, and plunged like a comet toward the upper reaches. I cast a rapid glance at the other screen. The cabin was in an uproar and men were milling frantically back and forth across the even surface of the gyroscopic floor. Bob still sat in the pilot accommodation while two relief pilots clung rigidly to the wheel, snapping them back and forth like whip-lashes, Bob was senseless from the steady pound of the whipping control against his breast. I stifled a groan. There was the son of my dearest friend, in mortal agony and perilous danger, before my very eyes, and I was powerless to aid him I Joan stared at the scene through wide eyes that were moist and red. I felt a lump rise in my throat. Here
was the end of the Annihiiator, I thought, and the
abrupt passing of Robert Allison who seemed as much of a son of my own as he was of my friend, Senator Allison. I wondered if the Senator was aware of the catastrophe. He probably was, I decided, and like our- selves, was watching through his television screens, each sickening plunge of the huge craft.
Beyond Gravity
SUDDENLY a bright flash crossed our screens, and from the coils at Joan's side came a quick, sharp voice. I listened intently. Joan bent over slightly, dabbing her eyes with a tiny square of silk. Crisp and curt came the words through the coils.
"Official government orders," the voice said authori- tatively, "All radios and television receivers and broad- casters are ordered off the air at once! Annihiiator lost in terrific Rocky Mountain up-draft 1 Government demands all broadcast and reception right-of-ways at once for communication with the ship without inter- ference! Anyone disregarding this official command will be dealt with accordingly. Off the air until further notice !"
With a muffled oath I switched off the receivers and turned toward Joan. She had gotten up and had gone over to sit upon the divan. Her face was buried in her arms and her form was convulsing with sobs. I sat down beside her.
"Joan, darling," I said, struggling to swallow the lump that had risen in my throat, "he'll come out all right. Don't cry, Joan!"
"Oh, I'm so afraid, daddy," she sobbed, nestling her head on my shoulder, "that Bob will never return to me. Think of the sadness in the loss of all those brave men in the Annihiiator."
"I know, dear," I said, forlornly, "but we've got to
expect such things we've got to accept them like
genuine men and women. Aviation must progress and develop. Life does not count 1"
"Life counts with me, father," she sobbed, sternly and seriously. "I never was more happy in all my life than I was this evening with Robert I"
"Do you care for Bob, Joan?" I asked, tilting her tear-dampened features up to me.
"I've always cared for Robert, daddy!" she said without hesitation and with feeling. "You know that I've talked about him always."
"Bob Allison is a man, Joan dear," I said, feeling the
124
AIR WONDER STORIES
lump in my throat more than ever. I had denied Joan nothing in all her life but here was one time when I could not help her obtain her heart's desire. I could not bring Robert Allison back to her. I would have gladly done so were I capable!
"He's like his father ! Both are good men and true ! I'm glad, Joan darling, that you feel that way for Bob."
Suddenly the Automaton Service System in the dining salon buzzed. I patted Joan on the shoulder and walked over to the pane! and pressed a button over the mail receiving tubes. Instantly the latest edition of the Aero-Chronicle shot out into its recep- tion chamber. I tore it open and read the headlines nervously.
"U.S^4 F. Annihilator Lost in Terrestrial Storm. Government Reports Ship Located Out of Globe's Orbit. Racing at High Velocity Opposite to Earth's Motion. Hold Little Hope For Its Return To Field of Gravity."
Stunned, I sat down again beside Joan and handed her the paper. I turned my head away to hide hot, stinging tears that had welled up suddenly in my eyes. The reaction left me in a daze and it was with an effort that I rid myself of it.
For long, torturous minutes that seemed like eternal ages, we sat there, Joan reading aloud the Aero- Chronicle's account of the disaster. The lines, as she read them, were punctuated with deep, long-drawn sobs.
Presently she grasped my arm and shook it. "Look, daddy!" she sobbed. "Read this about Robert!"
I winced as I accepted the paper and read a short paragraph in black agate type. Slowly I read the paragraph again to escape nothing.
"'Lieutenant Robert Allison, chief pilot of the craft, and son of Senator Allison, was seriously in- jured when the stabilizing control wheel snapped back and crushed several of his ribs, according to radio- telepix reports received from the Annihilator by the Government station at Washington. Lieutenant Alli- son's condition is considered serious by attending physicians on board the ship as the result of slight lung puncture caused by a fragment of bone. He is reported to be resting easily, however, in the Annihilator's hospital and arrangements have been made for an operation. Physicians are prepared to operate at any moment, the report stated!"
I cast the paper aside and stood erect. Joan sat, staring straight ahead through wet, unseeing eyes. I began a ceaseless march back and forth across the living floor. It was impossible for me to sit still in the face of such a sudden and unexpected tragedy.
Unable to withstand the torture of inactivity, I walked swiftly over to the television receivers and sat down. What was patriotism anyhow when the son of
my dearest friend our own Bob, lay hovering
between life and death beyond hope of ever being seen on this earth again? The government would not know if I switched on the current of the receivers for a glimpse at the Annihilator and her difficulties ! What if it did I I could afford to pay the heavy fines exacted for ignoring government commands of this order, and surely I would not interfere with official communica- tion.
Decisively I lifted a hand to the circuit switch anti.
pressed it up. Instantly the screens glowed, showing
two contacts the government station at Washington
and the Annihilator! Nervously 1 watched the huge ship, now on even keel and racing at terrific velocity across the heavens at an elevation high above the range of ordinary aircraft. In an instant the ship passed out of the screen only the Washington station re- mained fixed. I turned the dial gradually to the left and slowly the ship's rear aileron laterals crept onto the screen. I continued to move the dials to maintain the ship's presence on the screen. From the reproduc- ing coils came the droning voices and I listened intently.
"Hello, Washington," an understandable voice was saying. "Are you still with us?"
"Yes, Annihilator, we are with you I" came another voice, louder and more distinct, in answer. I knew it was the Washington operator speaking. I looked around for Joan. She had disappeared. The Wash- ington man continued.
"Senator Allison inquires about his son, Lieutenant Allison. How is he getting along?"
There was a brief pause then
"Hello, Washington!" the Annihilator operator called. "Dr. Banksley reports that Lieutenant Allison is doing nicely after a fourth dimensional operation. Atomic Argomte has been injected into his blood and he's coming along fine. But what good "
"That's fine, Annihilator! Report to Commander Rankin that we are doing all we can to bring you down. What? Your oxygen generators are out of commission? Talk louder, Annihilator!" the Wash- ington voice cut in.
A Ray of Hope
MY sudden joy at hearing of Bob's improving condition was short lived. I hesitated to call Joan to tell her what I had heard. I continued to listen. The voice of the Annihilator's operator was be- coming weak.
"Oxygen generators are out of commission due to some atmospheric pressure," he said, weakly. "Com- mander Rankin reports that the electromagnetising units are working perfectly and they arc trying to obtain enough gravitational force for a drop through the narrow pocket over San Diego, California, latitude 30, longitude 9dc. We exhausted our reserve driving explosives bucking the up-draft head on. He says if you can get to us about a pound of concentrated nitro- radium we might be able to force the ship through the atmospheric stream into the pocket and bring it down. He believes we can do it with nitro-radium in the exhaust system. But for the love of God, hurry ! We'll be over San Diego at five o'clock sharp in the morning! Rankin says if you get it to us through the pocket we'll pick it up in the nets as we pass over it and drop down to earth, if we can, on the next revolu- tion ! If you fail it's good-bye!"
There was a buzz of conversation in the Washington station as the Annihilator shut off her radio-telepix system. I thought I heard Senator Allison's voice and was half tempted to make contact with that station but thought better of it. I felt overjoyed at the un- expected developments, although I had a guilty feeling for having deliberately disregarded the stern orders from the government to keep all radio and television currents shut off. But no matter, if my offense had been detected, my rising hope would be more than worth the cost. I switched off the receivers and looked
BEYOND GRAVITY
125
for Joan.
Scarcely had I rose from my chair in front of die television, than the Automaton Service buzzed again. I fairly ran to it to receive the latest edition of the Aerc-Chronide containing up-to-the-minute develop- ments and official governmental bulletins.
Quickly I glanced over the single page of type. The headlines glared with encouraging hope. Statements by many prominent scientists hailed the possibilities of future craft along similar principles of the Annihilator. Government officials openly complimented the ship's officers and men for their heroic bravery in the face of certain destruction. My mounting joy stopped * suddenly however, when my eyes read swiftly over
a notice that the ship had not yet been saved and that scientists and government officials ought to be working out ways and means of bringing it to earth instead of raving about heroism and infinitesimal pos- sibilities with many valuable lives hanging in the , balance. But nevertheless, hope was plainly written all over the sheet and I called Joan.
She came into the living room from the door of her chamber, her eyes dry but strangely blank. She smiled weakly and I placed an arm around her shoulders. We sat down on the divan and I explained to her in detail just what I had heard of the official communications between the Washington station and the AnnihUalor. Her face brightened perceptibly as I held the latest issue of the paper before her eyes. A short story in the center of the page told her that Lieutenant Allison was improving steadily after the operation and radium injections. She gave a happy little cry. >
"Oh, I'm so glad, daddy dear!" she said. "I had given up all hope for him!"
"There's always a silver lining behind all the black clouds, Joan." I said, remembering the old saying of earlier days. I glanced at my wrist-chronometer. Joan straightened abruptly.
"What time is it, father?" she asked, impulsively.
"Why, darling, it's well past two o'clock, I replied.
"Then we've time to get to San Diego!" she ex- claimed. We can get there before five to watch the rescue work I"
I stared at her, gaping.
"Why Joan, you are not thinking of flying to San
Diego tonight in this terrible weather, are you?"
I asked, incredulously, but knowing that if she had *V ' decided to do that very thing, it would be beyond my ability to prevent her.
"1 am, father," she said, rising from the divan, "and you're going with me! Run along now and put on your flying togs I"
"But, Joan ", I protested.
As usual I became the victim again to Joan's im- pulsive determination.
The flight from Denver to San Diego was nothing short of a nightmare for me. Joan's little stream- lined aerospeedster sped through the sky like an arrow, its twin-screws with reversal motion, spinning at a terrific revolution. Rain and sleet beat down upon the tiny, transparent aerofoils of the plane with such force that I could not understand how such a frail-looking craft could bear up under it But Joan paid"no atten- tion to the storm whirling around us. She kept her eyes glued to the instrument board, looking by turns at the glowing compass, the altimeter and the barograph.
I watched the barograph for a moment. The mag- nesium-tugsten-alumino propellers of the plane were
revolving faster than ever before and were registering 16,542 revolutions per minute. The altimeter gave our height at approximately 21,000 feet. I drew Joan's attention to the Velocity-Indicator. She smiled and gradually increased the acceleration. The tiny ship shot ahead with a jerk and the Velocity-Indicator needle stopped at 750 miles per hour!
"Joan r I said, heatedly. "You'll rip the plane to pieces with that speed! Hadn't you better slow it down? We've plenty of time to get to San Diego!"
"Don't fear, daddy," she answered. 'This little speedster is capable of doing even better than that I want to be in San Diego with time to spare. Isn't the moon pretty straight ahead?"
Far to the west the moon appeared through a bank of gray, seething clouds. Stars surrounded it and I felt relieved at knowing that better weather lay ahead of us.
CHAPTER IV A Mad Flight
GRADUALLY, as Joan's aerospeedster skudded westward, the heavens brightened. The plane shot like a comet through banks of murky clouds and finally I scanned the earth through the trans- parent plates set in the floor. We were over the long, white stretch of the Mojave Desert. A sand-storm was racing to the north over the desert but we were high above it, the little ship bathed in the phosphores- cent glow of the moon. Behind us a wall of black, tumbling clouds illuminated with frequent flashes of lightning, hung down from the higher reaches.
Joan deliberately disregarded all established airlanes and drove the plane in a straight line toward San Diego, the whine of the twin-screws muffled to escape detection by any Aero-Traffic Police who might be hovering in the air within the borders of California. Far ahead I could see, through the clear moonlit skies, a faint glow that guided aircraft to the landing on top of the towering, obelisk-like Lindbergh Aero Hotel, in San Diego. It glowed incandescent hovering on the edge of the far-off horizon. I could see the glow despite the fact that we were yet an hour from it I glanced at the chronometer on the instrument board. We had been in the air slightly less than an hour. By computing the velocity of the plane I concluded that we would arrive in San Diego a good half hour before the time the AnnihUalor would pass over the perpetual air-pocket high above San Diego.
I scanned the space below us. We were passing over the central level of airlanes. Dozens of craft of all kinds were skimming along the usual routes; and to me, at our great elevation, they appeared like long lines of eagles and gulls, passing each other in inde- pendent flight. I heard the roar of powerful screws overhead. I looked up in time to see a huge airliner pass over us.
Presently I found myself silently speculating on the seeming impossibility of rescuing the AnnihUalor. My mind likened the disaster with the historical catastrophe of the submarine S41 lying at the bottom of the Atlantic beyond the aid of man. Then I began wonder- ing how the San Diego rescuers would be able to compute the exact moment required in their attempts to deliver the driving-exhaust fuel to the AnnihUalor as she shot over the pocket, just outside the earth's atmosphere. It seemed an utter impossibility — as im- possible as it was for deep-sea divers to go beyond their depth to attach oxygen-tubes to the S41, and to
126
AIR WONDER STORIES
raise it to the surface before life had fled from its human cargo!
With those dire thoughts in my mind, I dozed. Joan was too intent upon controlling the plane to engage in conversation with me, and as the aero- speedster sped toward its destination I slept, exhausted by worry and grief.
After what seemed an exceptionally brief period, I was awakened by a sudden shriek from the plane's right-of-way siren. I sat bolt upright, bewildered. Joan was smiling at me and motioned for me to look down through the floor squares. It was daylight and San Diego lay directly below us, its tall flat-topped buildings rising like monumental obelisks. Hundreds of aircraft skudded through the air at various eleva- tions. Another day of activity had begun over the Southwest's aero-metropolis! The bay was dotted thickly with amphibian craft and the government aero- drome, with its swarms of fighting planes, stood out in bas-relief against the green of the area surround- ing it.
Suddenly Joan tilted the aerofoil controls and the plane plunged headlong toward the earth. At a terrific speed it shot, plummet-like, toward the landing atop the Lindbergh Aero-Hotel. The building seemed to shoot up to meet us like some gigantic rocket. Wind whistled and whined along the narrow aerofoils of the speedster as it sped in a perpendicular nose-dive, toward earth. I sat in my chair rigid, struggling for breath. I cast a frightened glance at Joan. A deter- mined smile played around her lips and her eyes sparkled with the joy of the thrilling drop.
"For God's sake, Joan!" I managed to say between choking gulps. "Remember that I'm an old man!"
"This will make you young again, daddy," she smiled. "But I promise not to do it any more with you in the plane. You're old-fashioned — like Ralph Jordan!"
"I'd rather be an old-fashioned fogey than an up- to-date corpse, Joan!" I said, as she twisted the speedster out of its nose-dive and pointed its whining airscrews toward the government aerodrome across San Diego Bay.
"We'll go direct to the government field, daddy," she said.
"But you can't make a landing there, Joan. You know they don't allow private craft to land on the reservation," I said.
"Just the same we land, father!" she replied, de- terminedly. "I'm going to be on the inside of the barricades when they begin to rescue the Annihilator. It will be up to you to get us out of any difficulties."
"I haven't any friends there, Joan." I complained. "I don't believe you ought to "
"1 don't care, daddy!" she said. "We are going to drop there! Tell them you are former Congressman Holdon and everything will be alright, I'm sure."
"Well, alright, Joan. Go right ahead!" I said with resignation.
Begin Firing
JOAN shot the tiny plane toward the government aerodrome, shut off the twin-screws and elevated the heliocopter blades. The plane hovered over the field for an instant and then dropped slowly to the ground without so much as a warning from its siren to tell of its arrival. It settled between two gigantic combat ships, their big guns casting long shadows that almost completely hid the streamlined speedster from
the rising sun. But the plane had been observed on landing, and before we could get out of the cabin, armed guards had come up. I stepped out first, Joan hopped down beside me.
"I'm sorry, sir," said a debonair young naval officer as I dropped down to the ground. "I have an order for your arrest, sir."
"What are the charges, son?" I asked.
The young guard smiled,
"Landing on a government reservation, sir," he said.
I turned to Joan, grimacing.
"See what you've done, young lady?" I said, severely. "You've led us before a firing squad — it will serve you right if they shoot you at sundown!"
"It's not that serious an offense, sir," the guard said with a grin. "We don't shoot beautiful young ladies at sundown or any other time, sir. Though you will have to explain yourselves to the Officer of the Day."
"Oh, never mind the O.D., son," I said. "Take us direct to the Officer in command. I am Congressman Holdon and this is my daughter, Joan. We'll explain to the commander."
The officer gulped and his face reddened beneath his tan.
"Very well, sir. Follow me," he said, nodding to the other guards to disband. He turned on his heel and walked swiftly toward the administration build- ings nearby. We followed.
"This is indeed an honor, Mr. Holdon," Commander Wilkins said after I introduced Joan and myself and explained our visit. "But I am very sorry that such an urgent cause brought you here. I have very grave hopes for our men recovering the Annihilator. You and Miss Holdon are welcome to remain to watch the work."
"Thank you. Commander," Joan said, pleasantly, glancing at her wrist chronometer. "Isn't it time the work began?"
"We begin firing at 4:50, Miss Holdon," Com- mander Wilkins replied. "And will continue at brief intervals until shortly after five. The Annihilator is expected to pass over here at exactly 4:59."
"Begin firing?" I asked, awed. "Do you intend to create a downward vacuum in the outer atmospheres with high explosives?"
"Not at all, Mr. Holdon," the commander smiled. "Our largest anti-aircraft guns in battery formation, are loaded with gravity nullifying cobalt-steel pro- jectiles. Each one contains ten pounds of concen- trated nitro-radium. These projectiles, insulated against gravity as they are, will be given greater impetus from the earth by the added force of high-explosives in the guns. As the Annihilator races along the other air- stream, magnetized steel nets will be hanging from her belly to pick up any of the missiles that might be in her path. Therefore our guns will hurl shells into the air through the pocket over which she will pass, five feet apart and at intervals of 30 seconds."
"Lord!" I exclaimed with apprehension and alarm. "Suppose she fails to pick up any of the projectiles? Then what?"
"Oh, father!" Joan cried. "They must not fail!"
Commander Wilkins hung his head and stared down at the toe of a restless, booted foot. I turned at the sound of a voice in back of me.
"Pardon me, sir," said a white-coated orderly. "Radiogram for Commander Wilkins from the Annihilator. I beg to report, sir, that the batteries are ready to begin firing."
BEYOND GRAVITY
Commander Wilkins dismissed the orderly and tore open the envelope containing the radiogram from the Annihilator. After a second he handed it to me and I read it aloud to Joan.
"Annihilator Will Pass Over San Diego Pocket, Longitude 9dc, Latitude 30° at Exactly 4:59, World Time. Everything Is Ready to Accept Your Deliveries of Nitro-Radium. Eight Members of the Crew and Staff Are Dead From Lack of Oxygen. If We Fail to Pick Up Your Deliveries We Cannot Hope To Last More Than Six Hours Or One More Revolution Around the Globe. Please Stand By For Results. We Are Coming I"
Joan stifled a cry of alarm. I handed the radiogram back to Commander Wilkins. Without a word he strode swiftly past us. We followed him to the anti- aircraft batteries. Like a long line of towering steel shafts the guns pointed to the heavens in a fan shape, in readiness to hurl barrages of projectiles into the path of the oncoming Annihilator.
Commander Wilkins mounted a steel platform and looked out over the towering batteries. I glanced at my chronometer and looked overhead. The sky above the airdrome was entirely void of any aircraft. High up, in the higher levels, a great white cloud floated lazily across the sky. Over the city of San Diego itself, their heliocopters maintaining perfect balance, rested thousands of aircraft, their occupants intent upon watching developments in the rescue work of the great Annihilator. Joan clung to my arm, tightly, as we stood some distance away from the batteries.
SUDDENLY the batteries roared as one with such terrific explosion that the earth rocked and trembled. The concussion lifted us from the ground and set me down with a thump, Joan sprawled across my legs. I shot a rapid glance skyward. The heavens were depthless. But a gradually vanishing series of whining notes told me that the first discharge of fuel for the Annihilator was on its way. I pulled Joan down as she attempted to rise, and clapped my hands over my ears. Again and again the batteries roared at intervals of seconds. Joan hid her face against my breast, sobbing. I looked over toward the platform. Commander Wilkins was standing close to a waist- high railing, clutching it tightly. Other men sat on the floor of the platform. He alone was standing.
Hope Gone!
EVENTUALLY the firing ceased and I helped Joan to her feet. Commander Wilkins, followed by a knot of gesturing officers and civilians, was walking toward us. His face was grave as he came up and saluted politely.
"I should have warned you and your daughter, Mr. Holdon," he said, "that the concussion would knock you down. I am happy to see that you were not injured."
"That's all right, Commander," I said. "I couldn't have kept Joan away."
"Do you think you will have any success, Com- mander?" Joan asked, apprehensively.
"I can only hope for the best, Miss Holdon," he said.
Joan smiled with rising spirits. "We are going to watch the Annihilator on the television screen, would you like to join us?" Com-
mander Wilkins continued. Joan nodded. He turned to the knot of waiting men standing a short distance away. "Gentlemen," he said, "This is Miss Holdon and her father, former Congressman Holdon. They will watch the Annihilator with us."
With that informal introduction we accompanied the group to the Radio-Television Headquarters. As we strode toward the building I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I turned my head and observed the serious, set features of Professor Stilsen, Director of Astro- nomical Research of the Washington University.
"Why Professor Stilsen," I greeted him, "I didn't recognize you in the group! What are you doing here?"
"Have been vacationing up at La Jolla, Mr. Holdon," he said. "The government radioed me early this morn- ing to come down here and help out as much as I could in gravitational and atmospheric details. I'm glad to see you, Mr. Holdon 1"
"Thank you, Professor," I said. "It was nice of you to help out. Of course you know that Senator Allison's son is on board the Annihilator. He is a very close friend of the family. We flew over from Denver this morning to watch the rescue work. What do you think about it?"
''Well, to tell the truth, I'm a little doubtful," he replied, shaking his head seriously. "It is and has been my opinion that when the projectiles reach the same atmospheric stream that holds the Annihilator, they will either continue on through it or be swept along the same course as the ship. There is a slight chance that the Annihilator will pick up one of the shells, providing it passes over the pocket at precisely the same second the projectile reached the air-stream. On the other hand, the projectiles might strike the ship and damage it."
Hardly three minutes had passed after the firing of the last salvo from the batteries, before we arrived at the Radio-Television Headquarters. Commander Wilkins ushered us into the rather large room con- taining the powerful radio-telepix apparatus. The room beyond the reception and broadcast panels was some- thing like" a small theatre with a fairly large screen on the wall in front of several rows of chairs. We sat down, Joan on one sidcQf me and Professor Stilsen on the other. Around us sat the remainder of the group, silent and tense. Commander Wiu!ins remained near the panels and its operators.
During the few seconds that followed, the silence in the room was oppressive. I watched Joan. She sat in stony immobility, her eyes boring into the blank, dead screen. Professor Stilsen likewise stared at the screen, his lips twitching nervously and beads of per- spiration standing out on his brow.
Presently the reproductive coils somewhere near the panels in back of us sputtered. A dim outline ap- peared on the screen before us. Joan grasped my arm tensely. Gradually the glistening body of the Annihilator loomed and quickly passed out of sight. The operators twisted the television dial-controls and slowly the leviathan moved back into the oblong square in front of us. Professor Stilsen let loose a groan and pointed with shaking hand along the tail of the huge ship. The aileron laterals and elevating aero- foils had been torn from their sockets and were trail- ing along behind the craft at a distance that, on the screen, appeared to be several feet!
"My God I" the Professor shouted almost in a frenzy. "They're done! The controlling aileron and
128
AIR WONDER STORIES
aerofoils have been shot away! One of our projectiles must have gone through the tail of the ship I"
Joan screamed and suddenly went limp. An officer sitting at her side got up and returned with a glass of water. I chafed her hands automatically, unable to tear my eyes from the screen. The Annihilator was racing across the sky like a comet, a mass of wreckage that had been her aileron laterals, following her! Around her, traveling at precisely the same velocity, were several tiny shapes that glistened under the glare of the sun. Some of the projectiles hurled into the air a few moments before had been wafted into the atmos- pheric stream circling the earth ! There they remained near the Annihilator and yet too far away to be of any help to the distressed leviathan!
I felt Joan's hands quiver. I glanced at her quickly. She was reviving. I looked again at the screen. In the instant the scene had changed and in place of the Annihilator1 s surface, the craft's control cabin con- fronted us. God, what a sight ! Men and officers alike, naked except for their trousers, sprawled on the gyroscopic floor! They tore at their throats with frenzied hands. Several still, immobile forms lay at one side of the deck, hands across their rigid breasts, embraced by death!
The reproductive coils howled suddenly and the operators throttled down the volume. From behind us came words that were punctuated with deep groans and wheezing coughs. We sat tense in our chairs. Joan's face was hidden behind my back to shut from her eyes the terrible sufferings of the dying men in the Annihilator.
"H-h-ello, San Diego," came the rasping words from the Annihilator's choking operator.
"We've got you, Annihilator!" came Commander Wilkins' voice from behind in answer. "What's wrong, Annihilator?"
"We're done finished!" the ship's operator said
in a dry, weakening voice that was filled with soul- searing sadness but void of fear. "One of your shells tore away the aileron laterals and elevating aerofoils. We have no control over the Annihilator! We picked up two of your projectiles but we cannot make use of them because your shell also destroyed the exhausts of the driving system ! There's a gaping hole under the tail stream lines and what oxygen we had in the compartments is escaping. We can't last for another six hours, San Diego! Thanks for the nitro-radium. You did your level best. I guess its good-bye to every "
"Wait a minute, Annihilator! Commander Wilkins' sharp, crisp voice shot through the speaking tubes be- hind us. "Don't give up like that! Where's Com- mander Rankin? This is Commander Wilkins speaking. I want to talk with him !"
"Don't give up?" the Annihilator's operator said scornfully. Then his voice came to us in shrill, hysterical laughter. Presently he seemed to get con- trol of his reasoning. "Rankin, sir? I am sorry to report, Sir, that Commander Rankin has been uncon- scious for an hour. I'll send for Lieutenant David — "
Before the Annihilator operator could finish, our reproductive coils sputtered and went dead ! The screen before us became suddenly blank.
"Hello, Annihilator!" Commander Wilkins called frantically into the speaking tubes. "What's wrong, Annihilator f We've lost you !"
The screen glowed for an instant and went blank again. I sat stunned at a few broken words that had
come in through our reproductive coils, during the instant flash. The Annihilator's radio-television units had suddenly ceased to function her electrical cur- rent exhausted! The operator had yelled at the top of his weakened lungs his final good-bye to the earth he had loved so dearly. _ Commander Wilkins cursed softly. Joan's form convulsed in spasmodic jerks.
"That's the end!" I said aloud, dropping my chin on my chest forlornly. Professor Stilsen's hand found mine and gave it an abrupt squeeze. I nodded, unable to lift my head.
CHAPTER V A Mad Plan
FOR what seemed ages we sat there. The room was silent except for the sound of Joan's con- vulsive sobs and the heavy breathing of the others. I looked sideways at Professor Stilsen. His features were working oddly and his eyes glittered. Suddenly he arose, the scraping of his chair against the floor broke the stillness.
"By God !" he said, pounding his hands together in quick, steady claps. "That's not the end! We are going to save those men !" Commander Wilkins eyed him with growing interest. "Do it. Professor Stilsen," he said, tensely, "and you will have the eternal gratitude of mankind !"
"To hell with gratitude, Commander!" he shouted, almost running toward the officer. "If the govern- ment would listen a little more attentively to science this disaster would not have occurred I"
"What is your plan, Professor?" several officers asked simultaneously and eagerly.
"You wouldn't understand!" he shouted hotly. "I told you in the first place that there was danger of destroying the AnnihUator with your projectiles. You wouldn't listen to me. But here's my plan."
Eagerly and intently the entire room gave its atten- tion to Professor Stilsen. I placed an arm around Joan as I watched his perspiring features. He continued.
"That operator said they couldn't last longer than six more hours! Evidently they have enough oxygen for some of them to survive that long. In six hours the Annihilator will pass over this aerodrome again! I know that for certain ! With the earth rotating at a velocity of 25,000 miles every twenty-four hours and the outer atmospheric stream racing in reverse of the earth's motion at twice the velocity of the earth, only six hours are required for the Annihilator to make the complete revolution ! The very fact that it passes directly overhead is a phenomenon exactly in our favor. We've got to make use of it now, for at the next rotation of the earth the outer atmospheric stream will shift its course and the Annihilator will be gone forever !
"Listen to me ! Laugh later if you want to but listen to me now ! Commander Wilkins, you will order your ground shops to begin work immediately on con- structing twenty-four huge cobalt-steel, kettle-shaped drums. I will give you exact specifications. Your mechanics will fit onto the open end of each of these drums, a six-inch thick, circular plate of steel ! Socket- clamps will be attached to the rounded bottoms of the cobalt-steel drums to accommodate stationary cables and high-tension electrical lines! Get twenty-four large Pinkerton winches each complete with cable enough to reach a distance of 85,000 feet. Weld cables to- gether if necessary. By my plans and figures the
BEYOND GRAVITY
129
cables need not be more than an inch thick.
"We will attach these cables to the socket-clamps. By electro-magnetizing the cobalt-steel drums you will insulate against gravitational force and they will voluntarily rise into the air, held captive to the anchored winches. The electrical energy will pass through the steel plate and produce a high degree of magnetism, forming a powerful electro-magnet. All twenty-four of the magnetic drums will be sent up to an elevation slightly below the atmospheric stream in which the Annihilator is held captive. I have figured that the magnetism in the twenty-four drums will exceed whatever gravity insulation that might exist in the ship. Consequently it will be attracted to the electro-magnets and be drawn down through the pocket into the earth's heavier atmospheres. By slowly re- ducing the electro-magnetism from the drums, leaving the current flowing through the steel plates, they can be lowered with the Annihilator resting on them under the influence of magnetic attraction. We will anchor out the ground winches at fifty feet apart, and permit the drums to rise directly in the path of the ship ! I feel certain that this method will bring successful re- sults by drawing it back into the earth's orbit!
"That is my plan, gentlemen, and if you agree with me let us get started at oncel We have but five hours to finish all ground work and thirty minutes to raise the magnetic drums 1"
Immediately the Radio - Television Headquarters quaked with resounding applause. I glanced at Joan. Her face was brightening. I felt somewhat relieved. Surely this plan, formulated in the active brain of Professor Stilsen while he watched the terrible scenes on the television screen, would result in the rescue of
the Annihilator and its men if any still lived
when it reached again the pocket over the airdrome. Professor Stilsen held up his hand impatiently to stave the continued plaudits of those in the room.
"Gentlemen! Gentlemen I" he shouted. "I am not entitled to your plaudits or praise! Save it for those brave men in the Annihilator and let us begin work at once. We need every single second !"
Commander Wilkins held out his hand. Professor Stilsen grasped it in a firm grip.
"Professor Stilsen," he said with exhilaration, "We will do exactly as you bid! Everything under my command is at your service. We have the men and the facilities necessary to carry out your plans, I con- gratulate you for the most feasible plan offered. My command is yours!"
"I couldn't do anything without your help, Com- mander," the Professor said, modestly. "Let us pro- ceed with the work before us!"
Immediately Commander Wilkins spun on his heel and issued crisp orders to his subordinates in the room and then excused himself to the civilians. Professor Stilsen followed him out of the room. The others, representing various papers, remained in discussion while Joan and I made a hasty retreat. With five hours hanging on our heads, we had no desire to loaf around the airdrome in the agony of dragging minutes.
The airdrome had suddenly become a scene of ceas- less activity as we walked from the Radio-Television Headquarters toward our plane nestling under the shadows of the big guns mounted on the huge, combat cruisers. Men and officers were hurrying hither and thither, clearing the field or executing the crisp orders of Commander Wilkins. Great ships were being taxied off the field and as we arrived at Joan's little speedster
and entered its comfortable cabin, the triple screws of the big combat cruisers beside us roared. They raced across the landing toward their hangers.
Joan shot her aerospeedster into the air vertically and headed its screws across the bay. Within a minute we dropped down on the landing on top of the Lind- bergh Aero-Hotel, registered and went to the seclusion of our suite.
The Last Effort
NEEDLESS for me to tell what transpired be- tween us at the Aero-Hotel. The minutes dragged slowly and we were at the point of nervous exhaustion when finally the hands on my chronometer indicated that the time had arrived for the rising of the magnetic drums over the airdrome. Quickly we donned our helmets and jackets and were soon up on the landing. Joan's plane had been hauled into a hangar and she stamped a foot impatiently as it was being brought out for flight.
Joan had long since recovered control of herself although her face bore an expression of pallid rigidity. She had offered silent prayers for the man she loved since childhood, hovering between life and death in the Annihilator. That he would still be living if the leviathan was actually brought to earth, was im- probable. From her expression I presumed that she had resigned him to whatever fate held in store for him. With the choking words of the Annihilator's operator ringing in my ears, I could not see how Bob Allison, injured as he was, could survive without suf- ficient oxygen to maintain life in his already weakened lungs. And six hours is a very long time to live under those. circumstances, I thought.
Presently Joan reversed the screws of her speedster and it halted over the airdrome with heliocopter blades whirling for a gradual descent. The little plane settled on the vacant field and we stepped out. A figure came running toward us with a warning to move the plane from the landing. Joan entered it again and taxied it into position near massed government ships at the end of the field. I was walking across the landing under the guidance of the guard when Joan came up to us, panting. She had ran across the field and the effort had returned some of the color to her cheeks.
As we neared a row of low, white buildings at the side of the landing I noted that they were strangely silent. The shriek and groan of machinery that was creating an uproar when we had departed for the hotel, had died down. The very atmosphere seemed tense. Eventually we entered the buildings and the guard led us at once to Commander Wilkins. He was holding a conference with Professor Stilsen and nodded as we came up to him. Professor Stilsen's face was grimy with perspiration and dust. The professor ex- cused himself and walked away swiftly. Commander Wilkins turned nervously. Joan grasped his coat sleeve.
"How are you progressing, Commander?" she asked, tensely. He smiled assuringly.
"Excellent, Miss Holdon," he said, his voice filled with excitement. "We had a little delay with the cables but everything is shipshape now. In a moment we will be ready to elevate the magnetic drums. The winches are anchored on the other side of the landing so as to pull the Annihilator down against the air- currents, and the drums are being welded to the cables.
130
AIR WONDER STORIES
We've worked ceaslessly with this job, Miss Holdon, and I feel confident that Professor Stilsen's plan for the rescue of the AnnihUator will work out satis- factorily."
"That's great, Commander !" I said, enthusiastically. "The whole world will appreciate your efforts and I'm certain that the government will, too!"
"As long as we succeed, and Professor Stilsen gets his due rewards, I will be content, Mr. Holdon," he replied. "That Professor Stilsen is a veritable moun- tain of energy and knowledge! It is a shame that men like him are not in command of the government's powers instead of us who know practically nothing but militarism!"
There came suddenly from the outside, a shrill siren blast. Joan jumped nervously. I looked questioningly at Commander Wilkins.
"It is time! he said. "Will you join me on the observation platform?"
Before we reached the observation platform, Professor Stilsen had mounted it and was standing by the rail. A long table-like bench had been built on one side of the platform for newspaper representa- tives. They sat in a line, radiophones on their ears, talking steadily into individual speaking tubes that carried their words direct to the offices of their re- spective sheets, and automatically set the type from the vibration of their voices. The drone of their voices mingled together in a jumbled, unintelligable cacaphony of unamalgamated sounds.
I helped Joan up the platform steps. Commander Wilkins followed close behind. Suddenly there came a distant hissing sound. Professor Stilsen had signaled for the high-tension electrical current to be turned into the magnetic drums. I hurried Joan to the top of the platform. On the far side of the landing stood a row of huge winches, their cables taut and rising skyward rigidly. I looked up. High over- head at an equal elevation floated a row of odd look- ing objects held captive by the taut cables. Even under the brilliance of the sun, they gave off a distinctly discernible glow. The magnetic-drums were in the air at last 1
I glanced at Professor Stilsen. His grimy features were set. He held up an arm for an instant and then brought it down rapidly. Instantly there came a high- pitched shriek from the spinning winches, and the gravity nullifying magnetic drums were on their way skyward ! I held Joan close to me as we watched the rising drums. They gradually disappeared into the fathomless skies and we could see them no more. We turned to Professor Stilsen. He stood tensely at the rail, staring into a small glowing screen in front of him that told clearly the upward progress of the drums. Commander Wilkins was at his side. Presently he gave another signal and the shrieking of the winches died down to a low moan and finally became quiet and still, their cables taut and rigidly motionless. The voices at the speaking tubes on the table-like bench droned excitedly.
Suddenly there came a loud snapping roar from the line of winches. Professor Stilsen groaned. One of the cables had parted several feet from the spindle and its frayed end, in contact with the high-tension wiring was shooting vivid, blue sparks into the ground. The winch glowed for an instant and crumpled under the force of the short circuited current. Joan covered her eyes as several limp forms were carried away from the spot.
"I've prepared against that," Professor Stilsen volunteered. "Our doctors will probably bring them to shortly."
CHAPTER VI Fulled Toward Earth
COMMANDER Wilkins patted him gently on the shoulder. I glanced at my chronometer nervously, and toyed with a wisp of curling brown hair that hung from underneath Joan's helmet. She clung to me pathetically, her eyes on Professor Stilsen's broad back as though watching for some move that would indicate the presence overhead of the AnnihUator. I too, found myself watching the tense form of the professor. Suddenly he stiffened and bent over sharply to stare into the screen in front of him.
"There she comes!" he shouted exultantly. "Her nose is dipped and she's standing still above the line of drums ! The magnets are fighting the atmospheric stream and the AnnihUator is being attracted down to them P'
With a shout of joy he broke away from the rail and danced wildly on the platform. Commander Wilkins continued to watch the screen as a cheer arose from the men stationed at the winches. Joan threw her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. I felt a feeling of exhilaration surge through me and I offered a silent prayer that fate had not been too severe on the brave men inside the AnnihUator.
I looked again at Professor Stilsen. He was stand- ing at the screen once more, his hands gripped firmly on the rail.
"She's resting horizontally on the drums!" he cried. "One more second for the magnetic attraction to circulate through the ship and we will haul her down !"
He raised a hand over his head in preparation for the signal that would start the uniformly controlled winches rewinding the cables.
"We'll retract the electric-magnetism from the cobalt-steel of the drums," he said as if to himself, slowly lowering his hand. "They will fall gradually of their own volition, the attraction in the plating will captivate the magnetic body of the AnnihUator and we will wind in the cables."
Despite the tremendous weight of the cables, the drums and the huge leviathan of the air resting on them, the winches rewound the lines without apparent effort. They hummed softly as the incoming cables wound around the huge spindles. High in the air hung a speck so infinitesimally small that my eyes could scarcely observe it. There came the roar of a million voices from across the bay and suddenly the atmosphere was torn with the shrieking of sirens and the shrill blasts of whistles. The AnnUiUator had
been seen she was being hauled to earth I The
voices of the news reporters continued their ceas- less droning as they acquainted the world with the facts as they stood. Professor Stilsen sat down on a stool in front of the screen, mopping his brow with trembling hand.
Gradually the AnnihUator was drawn earthward. It loomed in the heavens like a great bird suddenly stricken in flight. Hundreds of aircraft hovered over it like swarms of locusts attacking an eagle. They followed it at a distance as it came slowly down.
Without warning and with a suddenness that caused my breath to cease, the AnnihUator literally tore itself free from the magnetic-drums and leaped back into
BEYOND GRAVITY
131
the sky I It shot heavenward, ploughing through a swarm of aircraft like an unleashed demon. The magnetic drums hung in position, deserted. I stood stricken, unable to tear my eyes from the terrible scene. Joan screamed, and at the sound of her voice I withdrew my eyes from the rapidly rising AtinihUator and tumbling wreckage. I expected to see Professor Stilsen sitting on the stool, with his head buried in his hands. Instead he was once again at the rail, waving a hand frantically at the men lined along the winches. Instantly there came a rapidly mounting shriek as the cables spun from the spindles.
Professor Stilsen grasped a sparking tube that was lying beside the screen and yelled into it. I looked overhead. Rising rapidly and gradually decreasing the distance between them and the Annihilator, the magnetic-drums were shooting into the higher reaches at a terrific velocity. They glowed like green balls of fire under an increase of electrical current. Professor Stilsen yelled again into the speaking tubes and the drums vomited green sparks under additional current that was meant to hold the Annihilator at all costs should they make the magnetic contact again.
Slowly, very slowly the Annihilator checked its up- ward rise and rapidly the drums shot up under it. The huge leviathan finally floated motionless and then began a downward descent to meet the attraction of the magnetic drums. There came another thundering roar of voices from across the bay, and this time the Annihilator was alone no swarms of aircraft fol- lowed her as she was being drawn slowly but surely earthward.
I turned to Commander Wilkins who was standing beside Joan, watching intently the downward course of the huge ship. .
"They are either dead or unconscious from lack of oxygen, Miss Holdon," the Commander was saying "Otherwise she would not have torn herself loose from the drums."
"What has that to do with it?" Joan said, drying her tears.
"Well you see," he answered, "the ship's electric- magnetizing units must have been working perfectly, sending constant current through the cobalt-steel hull, creating an insulation against gravity. They could not have known they were over the pocket or did not care for that matter, otherwise they would have shut off the units in consideration of the possibility of un- expectedly dropping through it into the earth's heavier atmosphere. Had the units been shut off the Annihilator would not have shot upward. It would have crashed to earth."
"I understand, Commander," Joan said. "If the electro-magnetizing units had not been functioning, the ship would not have broken loose. The magnetic drums would have held it."
'That's rigjit, Miss Holdon," he replied, looking up.
"Do you really believe they are dead, Commander?" she asked, her eyes filling again with tears.
"That is hard to tell," Commander Wilkins an- swered. "They may be unconscious or very near so. Probably those who are alive do not know that they are inside the earth's orbit again. They may have all the compartments closed to keep what oxygen they had in them."
Gradually the Annihilator dropped earthward, her huge body casting a long shadow over the airdrome. The winches groaned as they rewound the cables. Pro- fessor Stilsen sat like a marble image, watching. . . .
As a precaution against further disaster, he grabbed up the speaking tubes suddenly and yelled into them.
"Don't break the current in the magnetic plates until I order you!" he said, holding a tube to his lips and apparently speaking to the operators handling the electrical control systems of the magnetic drums. "Release the gravity insulation slowly from the drums and stand by your posts for further orders 1"
Hopes and Fears
PRESENTLY the Annihilator touched the earth and rolled over gently, the magnetic drums still attached tightly to her glistening body. Immediately she be- came surrounded by milling workmen and there came to us where we stood on the observation platform the resounding beat of compressed air hammers and cutters as they strove to make an opening in the huge, cobalt- steel hull. There seemed to be nothing to indicate that any life existed within the Annihilator, and I hung my head. Joan clung to my arm, her body sagging.
Commander Wilkins nodded to me and I half carried her down the platform steps to the ground. With faltering steps she walked with us toward the Annihilator. Apparently from nowhere had come auto- motive ambulances and hospital planes. White-coated and trousered figures scurried past us carrying stretchers. I hustled Joan along to keep up with the rapid steps of Commander Wilkins and finally we arrived at the side of the ill-fated leviathan.
There came an exultant shout from a gaping hole in the side of the ship as the first limp form was handed through it into eager, waiting hands. I noticed a peculiar sound of whirring machinery issuing from the ship as we came up to it. Suddenly it ceased. The electro-magnetizing units had been shut down, but the magnetic drums still remained in position.
In a constant stream, limp human forms were handed through the gaping hole made in the side of the Annihilator. Joan tore her eyes away in time to forego the sight of one man, screaming wildly and hysterically, being brought from the bowels of the ship. As terrible as it was, it caused my hopes to rise sud- denly, for if one man lived, there was an odd chance that life existed in others. Joan kept her face hidden behind my back. I continued to watch and presently my eyes beheld the familiar features of Lieutenant Allison. His face was pale as though in the embrace of death and I held Joan tightly as his inert form was given to waiting arms.
I had not wanted her to see that face but I could not withstand the agonized torture of standing there without learning of his fate. I decided that if Bob was dead we should know of it, and I hustled Joan from the milling crowd to follow the two men carrying his inert, death-like form across the field.
Slowly we followed and as we walked along in the direction of a long, white building over which rustled a Red Cross flag, I explained to Joan what I had seen. She gave a little cry and fairly flew toward the hospital. I struggled to keep up with her. The two men were just entering a door with Bob's limp form as we came up. We followed immediately into a long room filled with rows of white-sheeted cots, some with pale, agonized faces showing from the coverings, others covered entirely.
Joan dashed forward as Bob's form was being laid upon a cot, but two white-capped nurses halted her. "I'm sorry, Miss," one of them said. "You will (Continued on page 183)
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT 133 The Story Thus Far
New York is startled by m mysterious and daring robbery. Early one morning, everyone in the financial district is put to sleep for two hours by some it range gas let loose, and some unknown and unseen robbers help themselves to millions of dollars of gold and millions in negotiable securities from three banks. The next day, the securities ore found in Ike Post Office addressed to several hospitals, and boxes containing millions in radium also consigned to hospitals. James Boon, son of the president of the National Metallurgical, one of the invaded bonks, decides to investigate the robberies. He finds that the gas has stopped all autos in the invaded district and also hod tarnished gold (* feat seemingly impossible). He also finds near the banks a little powdered gloss, which seemed to be the remains of the containers of the- gas. He finds men who noticed a, have in the streets before falling asleep. He takes the matter up with Dan Lament, a scientist friend, who is trying to dis* cover what gas has been used, and how. Several days later comer the news of the robbery of a gasoline station in Newark of considerable aviation gas, and^ also the invasion of a provisions store with a great amount of provisions taken; but in this ease money is left to pay for them. From what Boon and Lament can figure out and from the evi~
deuce of a half-drunken employee atop the Metallurgical Building, who claimed to have seen an airship the day of the bank robbery, they believe the bandits came via the air with a new principle' airship. Boon it by profession on inventor of airplane devices and has constructed a new revolutionary plane, the MERLIN, capable of making 550 kilometers an hour. At the request of his father, he goes out over the Atlantic, accom- panied by his mechanic, Mtlliken, ana Lament, to pick up from the PARNASSIC, steaming toward New York, Lord Almeric Pfuscarden, deputy governor of the Bank of England. They arrive over the ship to find the deck covered with apparently dead men and the ship rolling as though it had no control. They discover, after making a landing on it, that the some bandits hod made a raid on the ship, by putting every- body to sleep, and stolen from the safe $2,500,000 m gold. Boon picks up Lord Alsneric and his pretty secretory and niece, Kirstetn Torrance, and starts back to the States. On the way back they get a radio message
SI oh oil steamer, stating that ell aboard had been put to sleep for two r* {as in alt the other case) and the steamer rifted of 3,000 litres of aviation gasoline.
CHAPTER VI Searching the Clouds
WE had left the Parnassic at about six o'clock, New York time, with a flight of nearly twelve hundred kilometres before us. Keeping the Merlin at a steady four-sixty per hour, we expected to make the Battery soon after half-past eight.
From the bearing which the radio indicator had given us of the Wcstbury's position, Dan and I plotted out her relation to the Parnassic at the time of the raid, and found that she had been just over sixty kilometres from the liner. She was probably one of the freighters we had sighted in approaching the Parnassic.
Now, the hour given by the Wcstbury's skipper as the time when she was brought to — eight bells in the middle watch, or four o'clock in the morning— revealed the astonishing fact that the raid on the Parnassic had been pulled off, sixty kilometres covered, and the oil- tanker stopped, all within an hour. Even at record airship speed, the flight between the two vessels would occupy nearly twenty-five minutes, which left thirty- five in which to board the liner, break open the strong- room and specie boxes, and remove three thousand kilos of gold before casting off. It seemed incredible that one group of pirates could have effected the two operations.
We tried to work out the raids with every conceivable type of craft, taking into consideration the time factors and the six thousand kilos weight of gold and oil that had been carried away. We even tried Dick Schuyler's idea of a motor-ship, giv-
ing her the highest known speed for sea- borne craft, but wc found the thing impos- sible, despite the fact that we provided her with hydroplane type of power-boats as auxili- aries. We were inevit- ably brought back to our airship.
When we came to con- sider what kind of ma- chine would have made possible the whole series of operations — from the gasoline station at New- ark, Wall Street, the Parnassic, to the descent on the Weslbury — the weight of the evidence was strongly in favor of
/N the present installment, this classic of sctentific-aviation stories takes on greater and greater interest and the reader follows breath- lessly the wonders of this latter day aviation. The author has a marvelous knack of remaining ahead of you at all times and he is continuously outguessing your own efforts to decide what is going to happen.
None of the scientific instrumentalities which the author brings into this story are either im- possible or improbable. Quite the contrary, the latest scientific researches show that the scientific content of Mr. MacClure's story will probably seem quite tame twenty-five years hence.
This Summer we are to witness a great many exhibitions of various monster airships of the lighter-than-air variety and while these airships may not be as perfect as the ones described by the author, we may rest assured that not many years will pass before they have seen such perfection.
a dirigible of the very latest type; and the abstraction of the gasoline from the Newark station and from the Westbury was an additional sup- port to the idea, since an airship carrying out these operations would certainly need to replenish her fuel.
We imagined the pirates operating from a base within a day's flight of New York and, judging from the raid on the Parnassic, probably situated over the Canadian border. The weakness of the raider's posi- tion in using a dirigible or dirigibles for their operations lay in the conspicuousness of their craft, and of the sheds necessary for docking them. We did not lose sight of the possibility that the pirates might be mas- querading as a corporation engagedin civilian transport. A few such companies were in existence, despite the popular prejudice against the so-called "lighter-than- air" machines on account of the structural weaknesses which in the latter seemed to be past curing. But every dirigible that took the air,
VICTOR MflcCIURE
whether experimental or otherwise, could only do so under permit or li- cense from the govern- ment. It would present no great difficulty there- fore for the police to run to earth any unregistered airship on American ter- ritory.
With the help of Lord Almeric and Miss Tor- rance, and an occasional word from Milliken, Dan and I decided on a pres- ent plan of action. If the raiders had used an airship, they would now be making for their base and could not be far away from us in the air. To escape detection they
AIR WONDER STORIES
would probably get to as high an altitude as possible. We determined that, while keeping our course for New York, we would go up in search.
First, we got in touch by radio with Dick Schuyler's headquarters, but while we were asking for him, he himself broke in from another direction.
"I'm just taking a flip out to meet you, Jimmy," he explained cheerfully. "Look out for me soon."
"Have you heard from the Parnassicf" I asked him.
"Just got the radio from her captain. The airship notion seems to be all right. Anyhow, we cops are acting on the idea, and are going through our particular sphere with a fine comb. It's a silly question, Jimmy — but you haven't seen any signs of a dirigible, have your"
"No, I'd have told you "
"Help us in this. Climb as high as you can with- out discomfort to your passengers, and keep a sharp lookout. If you see anything, tip me the direction, and we'll be after the jokers like a knife. For the nonce, so-long, Jimmy 1 Cheerio, Dan !"
Dick's request came on the heels of our own de- cision. We had already turned on extra heaters and the compressed air, and were climbing good and high. We kept up a bright lookout, but until Dick and his scouts hove in sight below us to the west, the upper air was clean of aircraft.
As we dropped to meet him, Dick began an- other discussion. He agreed that the likeliest di- rection in which to look for the raiders was to the northward, and on his order his five scouts made a sweeping movement under our bows to starboard which was pretty to watch. He himself came near enough to us to let us see his cheery grin and to give us a wave of his hand, before turning to follow his scouts. Presently all six were the merest dots on our starboard quarter.
It was worth while carrying a passenger like Miss Torrance. She was keenly alive to everything that was happening, and, like her uncle, took a use- ful part in the lookout. In fact, she had her eyes so steadily fixed on the upper air that we were in good sight of New York before she realized the landfall.
I will say that her first view of the city was al- most worthy of her. I have never seen the old hive look quite so splendid. It was one of those cool bright sunny mornings we sometimes get in March that make everything look so clean.
The pale golden light picked out all the towers and pinnacles of the city in wonderful definition, until they became mere points of light against the smeary blue of the distance. This blue distance rose up and up till it lost itself in the tawny base of the sky, and from that, cloud was piled on cloud in an arch that curved towards us in gold and pale tan and grey, to end in dazzling white against the deep blue right over our heads. The waters of the bay looked in the sun like a filmy grey-green gauze carrying countless spangles, except where the tall buildings threw their long shadows, which were deep indigo with lighter patches of pure cobalt. I think even Lord Almeric was stirred out of his habitual quiet by the sight.
"My dear," he said to his niece, "you are to be envied. New York has summoned all her charm to greet you. In all the years I have known her, she has never seemed so winning."
"Lovely, lovely ! See all the buildings like golden
cliffs," the girl cried. "So tiny! It makes one think of man as only a very industrious insect- like the weeny things that build the coral islands."
"Then you have to thank Mr. Boon for giving you a god's-eye view of your kind, Kirsteen, ' said Lord Almeric with a smile.
She turned to me, and looked up, with those serene blue eyes of hers very grave.
"Do you ever develop a godlike indifference to the invisible little active creatures below you, Mr. Boon?"
"No," said I. "I'm afraid I'm always too con- scious that I'm just one of them myself, and that my particular activity is only a part of the human scheme. Miss Torrance."
She turned to Milliken with a smile, and his wide grin about split his old face.
"What about you, Mr. Milliken? Do you ever feel superior?"
"Bless you, miss," said Milliken. "I know the old earth's pulling at me all the time, and that some- time I'll have to give in and get down. You can't be a god if your job has a string to it."
"The philosophy of flying in a nutshell, Kir- steen," Lord Almeric laughed.
"I see I must not become imaginative," said Miss Torrance. "Mr. Milliken is braver-minded than you are, Mr. Boon. I'm sure there are moments when he isn't earthbound."
When Milliken goes red, he gets black — if the Irishism can be excused. I have never seen hint quite so dusky as he was when he pushed the Merlin into the long drive that would bring us into our hover to the landing-stage at the Battery. It was a marvel to me how quickly he and Misa Torrance had understood each other, and I was not a little envious of my mechanic. I'd have given a good deal to have said something that pleased her.
Well, anyhow, the god's-eye view soon became the ordinary human view, and we floated gently up to the seaplane jetty just after the quarter to nine. My father had already arrived. In fact, I had seen the Seven pass far below us as we came down over Long Island. He was waiting for us on the landing- stage, and he and Lord Almeric shook hands like old friends. There was a trifle of formality to go through with the customs, but that was soon over.
Lord Almeric and Miss Torrance poured thanks on Milliken, who was to take the Merlin back to Gardiner Bay, until he was almost ebony colour with embarrassment. Then Dan and I joined the party to go uptown for breakfast.
A Faux Pas
WHILE we waited for Lord Almeric and Miss Torrance to discard their wraps and make themselves comfortable after the flight, Dan and I gave my father a full account of the morning's doings. He already had heard the bare particulars, as supplied to the press by the captain of the Parnassic, for the papers were selling in the streets with the news. The full force of the air police, both the sea and land divisions, had been mustered at once to sweep the air in wide radius round New York. The navy and the river police were active among the shipping at sea and in dock. Through the night, the territorial police had been scouring town and country, examining garages and all places
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
135
where the thieves might be concealed, and all known criminals in New York of the safe-breaking persuasion had been rounded up and their haunts thoroughly examined. But no clue to the where- abouts of the stolen gold was discovered.
"The chances are that it is in the air at the present moment, dad," I said to him. "We must have passed somewhere near the airship — if airship it was— on the way out. We must have sighted the Westbury less than half an hour after the pirates left her. If the airship is making for the American continent at all, it can hardly escape being seen, at least, with all those police machines out."
"Do you think they'll be able to send her down?"
"It depends greatly in what circumstances they come on her. She may be too high to be got at in an open plane, and the police machines are no- toriously unsuited for high altitudes. But the fellow that sees her may be able to broadcast her position to all aerodromes, and so get properly equipped planes to help. I won't consider she's escaped until dark has come on."
"Let's hope you prove right," said the old man. "Things are too uneasy to be comfortable, and a solution of the mystery would stave off a lot of trouble for the business world."
Miss Torrance and Lord Almeric joined us then, and we went in to breakfast. The talk, perhaps naturally, was still of the robberies, until the two bankers fell to discussing some obscure financial situation. Lord Almeric, asking his niece for con- firmation of some figures, effectually isolated Dan and myself, and it was with something of awe that we heard Miss Torrance talk familiarly of millions, using such phrases as "ranking pari passu," "funded loan," "par of exchange." In spite of her obvious efficiency, the talk fell strangely from the lips of such a pretty girl. I think even my father was surprised.
"You have a wonderful grasp of figures, Miss Torrance," he smiled.
"Wonderful because of my sex, Mr. Boon?"
"Not at all," said my father; "wonderful in any case."
"My niece," Lord Almeric explained, "comes of a stock famous in mathematics. Robert Torrance, the mathematician, was her uncle."
"Then, Miss Torrance," Dan Lamont butted in, "you must be related to — I beg your pardon!"
He broke off in confusion and flushed red. Miss Torrance regarded him with kindness.
"If you intended saying that I must be related to David Torrance, the physicist, who disappeared just over twenty-two years ago," she said, "I am proud to say that he was my father, Mr. Lamont."
"I'm sorry," Dan stammered. "I did not mean to cause you pain."
"You do not hurt me by recalling the fact ol my father's disappearance. I never saw him — and he never saw me. I was born after he was lost. Uncle Almeric is the only father I have known — indeed the only parent — and his kindness has softened any regrets I may have for my real father. He was a ;;reat physicist, I believe, and I treasure any in- formation about him, any praise that is given to his work."
"David Torrance was a great man," Dan said quietly, with recovered equanimity. "Every scientist owes him a debt of gratitude, and must regret that
he was not permitted to work longer. The best men of our time," he finished warmly, "are plodders and half-blind crawlers compared with David Torrance !"
"Thank you, Mr. Lamont," the girl murmured, and her eyes were misty.
"Well spoken, Dan !" said my father, and turned to Lord Almeric and his niece. "Dan Lamont," he explained, "has one of the greatest reputations among physicists in this country — so his opinion on such a subject is of some value."
Red-faced as usual at any reference to his eminence, Dan rose in some confusion.
"If you'll excuse me, Miss Torrance — Lord Al- meric," he said hurriedly, "I — I must be going. Some important work — I — good-bye, Miss Torrance —sorry I was clumsy. Good-bye, Lord Almeric "
"Wait a moment, Dan," said I. "I'll come with you."
I, too, made my adieus, and we both went off.
There was nothing new to hear in Dan's labor- atory except a lot that was speculation and clean over my head at that, so I left my friend to take off his jacket and plunge into work. I could see no useful purpose to be served by stopping in New York, and I went down to the Battery where Didcot was still standing by with the Seven.
We moored at the workshop jetty within half an hour.
Vanished
THEN began a fortnight of close application to work. The flights we had made on the Merlin had given me ideas for slight variations in the de- sign, and I wanted my shops to be set as soon as possible on the task of making a Merlin II, which would incorporate those ideas.
My hurry was actuated by the certainty that I had of the raids being carried out with a new type of dirigible. I had that inexplicable feeling, general- ly termed a hunch, that we had not seen the last of the raiders, and that before we were done with them there would be a few Merlins in the air.
I was puzzled by the radium, which the back of my mind refused to let me dissociate from the pirates. If, indeed, those priceless boxes had come from the mysterious organization that had carried out the amazing series of raid in two days, they were no ordinary crooks that we were opposing. The sale of the radium, Dan assured me, would have brought in nearly as much money as the robbers had stolen.