Amazing Stories, Vol. 3, No. 2 — page 57: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

~ 152 mission took place through the medium of electricity, it was necessary that the flexible metallic cord hanging from our metallic-like caps should touch some conduc- tor, preferably the ground. As we could easily guess that this was necessary in order to provide a return circuit for the currents, we soon learned how to keep in contact with a conductor, when we wanted to trans- fer our thoughts from one to the other. “As our host had to go to the other end of the room just then, Flitternix and I tried thought transmission at once. We surprised ourselves by our success. Not only could we ‘tall’ in pictures after a while, but almost at once we were able to enunciate whole sentences. Of course, the unusual strain gave us a headache long be- fore our host returned ; but that was to be expected; we had never been used to such hard mental work, and we understood quickly that we would have to learn the art gradually by constant slow practise and by frequently resting the brain. “As if our august host had divined the strain on our minds during the past hour.and a half, he immediately began to divert us, and he did this admirably by letting us see for ourselves with our eyes, instead of with our minds. “However, we quickly began to understand and ap- preciate his wisdom in first giving us his historic lecture, because if he had not done this most of the things we saw during the next hour would have been meaningless to us. Thus you will understand that what I am going to tell you now, including the explanations, did not originate entirely in my own mind. Most of my ex- planations are, naturally, based upon that important lecture. % “We followed our host outdoors, where we boarded his private flyer. This machine was, of course, an anti- gravitational flyer, propelled by atomic engines. It be- haved much like our own ‘/nterstellar, that is, it had no wings, nor planes, because it was not dependent upon the air. The gravitational attraction of Mars is neu- tralized by the atomic engine to a certain degree. The more the gravity is neutralized the higher the machine rises. Now, in order to steer the flyer, an Emanation Ray is used. This ray is the joint product of several elements not known on Earth; the nearest, although a poor analogy, is found in your radium emanation, but the latter is several million times weaket than the Mar- tian Emanation Ray, This ray is projected into space by means of electricity and another source of energy, which I shall term JON, as yet unknown on Earth, and to be described by me later. The Emanation Ray can be stored just as electricity is stored in a storage bat- tery. When it strikes an immovable object it acts exactly as an oar does when it is used in ‘pushing off’ from the dock, i.e., the boat will move away from land. So the Emanation Ray is used in controlling the hori- zontal motion of the gravity-neutralized flyer, and by its means, the latter can be guided in any desired di- Tection. “Our flyer was round in shape, resembling a disc, and measured about 25 feet in diameter. It was al- most 6 feet thick, and like most other things we had seen on Mars, it was transparent. In the center was a dome that looked like the conning tower of a submarine, AMAZING STORIES and a slender metallic pole extended from it almost 25 feet into the air. It branched out at the top into three short brackets, at the end of each was a transparent ball about 10 inches in diameter. Between these balls the Emanation Ray played, and the latter could be thrown at will into any direction desired. “Our flyer was an open one and not covered on top, and there were two ‘drivers’-—which you probably would call chauffeurs—one forward and one aft. There were no steering wheels and no brakes, nor was there a horn. The two drivers sat in transparent chairs, not unlike our own, and in front of them was a little round table with small key levers like ‘listening in’ keys on an American telephone switchboard. That was all. “As soon as we were seated, our host sitting between us, our ‘drivers’ pressed a lever or two, and we shot upward with amazing speed. In a few seconds the Emanation Ray went into action, and we began to fly or rather float in an easterly direction. -From the . position of the sun, I concluded that it was almost ‘noon,’ as the stn was about overhead; this must have been in Flitternix’s mind too, for presently he set his chronometer to noon, which, of course, was a ridiculous thing to do, for we did not know if the Martians divided their day into 24 hours or into 100 hours. “We were now floating some 1,500 feet up over what we afterwards learned was the Martian National Capi- tal, the ‘city’ of the Ruler. It is located in the elliptical spot which terrestrial astronomers have marked as ‘Solis Lacus’ on their Martian maps.* “As if our host had divined our innermost wishes, we soon passed over the capital and approached the waterway which you will find in your Martian map under the name of ‘Nectar,’ “The Martian Canals! At last we beheld one of them at a distance of less than 2,000 feet! The riddle of terrestrial astronomers for over a century! The cause of one of the most heated controversies on Earth! And now we saw them close by with our own eyes! “The ‘Canal’ proper, which is termed ‘Nectar’ by astronomers on Earth, is about 6 miles wide. It runs in a perfectly straight line for over 500 miles and is about 20 feet deep. Like all other Martian waterways, it is lined with the Universal Martian material termed TOS, which looks like glass, yet is not glass. The tos in this instance is waterproof, is an electrical conductor on one side and an insulator on the other. Yet it is a solid body and much harder and tougher than steel. The conducting side is turned toward the water, and when a certain current of ion is sent through the tos, the water near it loses all weight because the gravita- tional attraction of Mars is neutralized thereby. It is now an easy matter to move the tremendous masses of water, a problem which yous earthly scientists could never solve, ; “At each bank of the vast waterway, we saw im- mense towers about 2,000 feet high. These towers are_ spaced about 5 miles apart and alae the entire course of every canal. Their purpose is as follows: “At the top of each tower is an immense ‘pyramid,’ Solis Lacus is located at Nectar runs from the See page 155, “comicbookscom * See accompanying map of Mars. about 30° latitude and 90° longitude. eastern (left) edge of Solia Lacus, due east.