Air Wonder Stories, August 1929 — page 29: what you’re looking at

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

i : ate a 2 > ——, 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 tht 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 Annihilator 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 Annihilator, spite her super-powers to combat the elements, I felt that she was meeting her match in the whirling, upward pressure! “But, daddy,” Joan said suddenly, “she doesn’t seem to be moving ahead at all!” I stared fixedly at the screen. The Annihilator 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 Awnihilator 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! Tune your screen in on 24,500 Kilocycles slightly under the - 14th channel band and pick up the ship’s control cabin!” Instantly Joatts quick fingers manipulated the dials and the surface picture of the Annilulator, 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 Annihilator 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 Annihilator 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 fromthe 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! 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 Annililator, 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 Sipe earns 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 oncet Annihilator lost-in terrific: Rocky Mountain up-draft! 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 = 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 Annihilator.” “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!” “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!” “Do you cate for Bob, Joan?” I asked, tilting her tear-dampened. feattres tip to me. “T’ve always cared for Robert, daddy!” she said without hesitation and with feeling. “You know that T’ve talked about him always,” “Bob Allison is a man, Joan dear,” I said, feeling the = comiebooks: uo) aay Ee ee Se WP ek BE ERS Sea he PY is Dee eee