Air Wonder Stories, August 1929 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

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 @ detriment under such conditions. All-of these opera- tions are handled by remote control from the keyboard on the control table. Addison Marvels 6SFUT you were asking about the lighting ap- paratus. I recall from history that at your time, during 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 tadio transmitter sealed in a tube of fused quartz. Here,” he opened a compartment in the wall 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 tight; 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. “T_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- ee ee ee a ; A NP eee SEN ad RSE lh aE A self into another. “You recall that I told you of. how scienceis now in contro! 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 asa 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 stib- 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 «sy HAVE. been wondering how it happens that I 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 titne 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. “T see your clock has-stopped,” he smiled at the cap- tain, Surely he could find one little detail that did not WT eae eet fps Lae ead eee Boe be — oarei> § “eat hal A » Comicbooks:com) rr