Air Wonder Stories, December 1929 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

: ee Deh TRV UN Seer FS 500 AIR WONDER STORIES turned .to-regard_the illuminated screen; my eyes fol- lowed his and T beheld, on the surface of the oblong device, hundreds of tiny-moving specks. -I leaned-for- ward to observe them closely; the specks were the locations of aircraft in flight! I was astonished, and regarded the screen with curiosity. I saw the familiar coast ines of the United States, Canada, at the north, loomed almost. solid, except. for the occasional hair-like lines that revealed her rivers; the Great Lakes fairly glistened, Gazing toward the east, I beheld the rugged coast line of Maine. Then an area which seemed fairly ‘lignid stood between the Atlantic seaboard ‘of the United States and the British Isles, to represent the Atlantic Ocean. Here and= there, over ‘the land and water shadings, were the tiny specks that revealed the exact locations: of every: aircraft in flight over the ter- Titory exposed-on-the uncanny screen. Jack Worthington regarded their movernents for an instant, and with a- finger he traced the forward mo- tion of a small speck. It-seemed-to:glow intermittently, as though signalling by flash. He grasped a—small disc-like object from a hook and placed it to his ear; with his free hand he pulled closer to him another small round object:that stood’on a low pedestal. I con- tinued to watch the flashing of the dot on the screen. “Los Angeles talking,” he said: into the instrument : “What's wrong, Eastern Star?” There. was a brief pause and I allowed my gaze to wander to: the features of -my friend, - “Forty-five minutes’ delay!’ Jack Worthington said: “How come?” Another patise: “Rocky-Mountain updraft, eh?” said Jack, frowning: “Well, you cat make up the lost time: from Los: Angeles west. Tell Captain Markson that the company won't tolerate too many delays: All ships coming west -will have to swing off the regular rotite east of Denver and come around: the up-draft. Your route is dangerous and the delays are:costly.” He swung -his swivel chair -around: and faced. me again. His features seemed sober. and serious. “That damned Rocky: Mountain up-draft causes us more trouble than all the air-pockets from here to Japan, Tom,” ‘he’ said, shaking his head: “Some days, the atthosphere over the Colorado peaks are as free from up or. down suctions as the air is over Los Angeles. On other occasions, aircraft are sucked into them and are drawn either upward or-downward,~ There’s no way of foretelling what sort of atmospheric movements are going on in that region.” “Why doesn’t. the company re-route the course, then?” asked abstractedly. “Beeause-our franchise- permits“us only ten miles leeway -on either side of our regulated-airlane,” he re- plied: “Every time we swung off that course, the Cemented people on one side of us and the-Trans- Continental company on the other make a kick-to the Federal Aviation Commission against-us for violating their franchises. It’s enough to: cause a man to go in- sane, trying to figure out just-how to-keep our pas- sengers and ships in safety when they reach: the treach- erous air-stream regions!” : “That’s qitite an-instrumert you have there, Jack,” I said; nodding at-the. screen. “International holds all patents to ‘that: position lo- cator,” he: said: “It issomewhat ‘of an invention, although: little has yet been said about it. On it we can locate every one of our:ships in the air, no matter where they are. If rival ships are equipped with low- wave detectors we can-also spot their positions. Each one ‘of our ships broadcasts continuously -on private wavelengths. by: noctotelevision, which gives us their location: over any part of the globe. We have ships in the air practically everywhere, you know, and with our own: detector we can get the location of every ship in half the world. at a time,” He faced the instrument again and twisted a small dial on-a panel underneath the screen. Its glow. died for.an- instant-and-then across it flashed a new map. “There,” -he said with finality, “you see the other side of the globe, from Los Angeles to Cairo. Here's the Hawaiian Islands; farther west is the Orient, Japan here and Chima there. Further on there is Man- churia; Siberia and- Russia over there. These white dots are International Airway: Express ships; while all others -belong to rival companies. See the immensity of the Pacific, Tom. Even looking at this makes you think of her beauty Do: you know that the old Pacific is very much like some of our modern types of women ?” “How’s that, Jack?” I asked with a grin: “I know very little about women.” “Beautiful but treacherous!” he answered with a laugh: “She’s the siren of all water bodies but, like woman, she is necessary to man. We can’t keep away from the Pacific, despite the fact that more ships have been lost on her than all the other oceans put together. Once lost in the Pacific, youare lost indeed. We know that tip-drafts-and down-drafts exist over the Rockies ; but we catr never tell -what’s going to pop up over the Pacific. Yet International has. been fortunate in-com- bating these unseen obstacles in later years. Tve often wondered what becomes of the aircraft lost over the Pacifie.” “Perhaps some day we'll find out, Jack,” I said-with a trace of alarm: ‘You don’t ‘suppose there’s any chance of the Eastern Star——”’ Jack "Worthington patted my. knee and laughed. “None in the world, Tom,” he replied.. “You needn’t have any fear: of a ship like the Eastern Star getting lost. -I- didn’t mean-to cause you any apprehension with my ponderings.- Forget it and enjoy your flight. There’s nothing to worry about. The Eastern Star has gone through the most exacting: tests.” The Captain Explains d ere WORTHINGTON was always the per- somification of kindness. Whether the fact that we had: been college chums made any difference, I do not know; but: he-arranged for-me to see everything. And, as. we waited: for the Eastern. Star to loom into view, each passing minute served to: increase my im- patience at the delay. I-wanted to be.off— I was as anxious to be away from the scenes of my brain-killing business asa youngster waiting for vacation ‘time. After half an hour of waiting, Iwas becoming ill- humored. I stared about the waiting room on_the ground level- just. under the anchoring-pylon and, for thetenth time, I noticed the two elevators which nestled in-a_corner, ready to take their loads of pas- sengers upward some six hundred feet. I glared with baleful eyes. ata small, pale man, the announcer, who sat at a switchboard-neat-an open exposure, fingering a row of push-buttons. Frequently he-gazed through the window. at the sky-exposed before him and I’could tell by the impatient look on his wizened features that the Eastern Star had_not yet put in her appearance. Somehow, I had a baseless feeling that he alone was to-blame for the delay of the air leviathan and added to the fact that I strangely disliked his looks. I felt oe Py eee Poy + oa et AGS ate ~comicbooks.com —