Air Wonder Stories, December 1929 — page 67: what you’re looking at

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

a Yaee AN ae * ; ~ YEO Pe an OL ee | eS PS an Ge were eet - CITIES-IN THE AIR 545 before me. The great batteries of-all our other: cities were controlled: in- the: same way: by their own oper- ators, and were subject like New. York to the com- mands of the First Air Chief beside me, who could maneuver our whole great armada of tremendous cities at will through the-air.- Inthe city of San Francisco, too, we knew, was the Second Air-Chief, placed there- to take command in case New York were destroyed or the First Air Chief disabled. Thus, on the morrow were. grouped we three, who were to sway such colossal forces:in a battle as no-men had-seen before. Now, Yarnall was pointing to the table-map’s surface, where the red -massed-circles of the European and Asiatic Federation armadas were in- dicated but a few hundred ‘miles-on. either: side-of our own great mass of cities. Watching them there, we:sat in silence, save for the clicking- of occasional switches by the engineers about us. From far away, far across New York and all the other air-cities gathered around it, there was coming the dull, dim throbbing of the life of millions that swarmed through those cities. And now Yarnall reached forward and touched the control of the great electrical periscopes whose screens boxed us in. Instantly those dull glass screens were alive with light, and it’'was as though we were gazing forth from the very tip of the-power-tower out over our gathered mass of cities. North and: east and south and west, from-all the-screens about us the views were alike, of a tremendous mass of clustered metal towers that en- circled New York, Below us was the screen, above which our metal seats were suspended on-supports, It seemed a trap-door through which we were gazing down toward the green plains far beneath; though in- reality all the city’s massive base lay -betweén-us and that view. So intensely realistic was the scene that lay about us that we all but forgot the preat circular room in which we really were, and seemed suspended high in air above the great mass of our gathered air-cities. “The enemy armadas,” said Yarnall, his voice low, . ‘will be in sight within fifteen minutes.” For upon the map the-two masses of red-circles were rushing on from east and-west, and seemed now almost upon the mass of circles that: was our own ‘great fleet of cities. Looking out over those cities, through the periscopic screens about us, we could see. the forts raising their great guns to firing range. I realized, as T saw it, that the battle now ready to start would mean annihilation to half the world. This was indeed Arma- geddon, when on earth itself was left no human béing at peace; when every nation was rushing through the air toward this last conflict! Now, however, Yarnall-touched another. control, and from the electro-static tower's tip, high-above us flashed great signals of brilliant lights that were taken up and repeated from all the power-towers of all the hundred cities that ringed us round. And, as. those signals flashed, the-great crowds that filled the streets of the air-cities were suddenly. flowing out of those streets into the cities’ towers ; until within a few. moments none were visible in all the streets and plazas; save those black-tniformed men who- stood ready at the great heat-gyns of our batteries. And those crowds went quietly, despite their tense excitement, because they knew that they were being ordered inside for their greater protection. There was no refuge upon the earth’s surface far beneath, for them; when the destruc- Bre powers of all tlie world were battling above it in e air, - Then the First Air Chief spoke a brief-order-and, as Connell beside him repeated it swiftly into the dis- tance-phone (as he did with Yarnall’s:orders in all the combat that followed) the great fleet. of cruisers hanig- ing above us and visible in-our top screen divided into two masses, of a-thousand-or more ships each, which swept swiftly to east and west. Beyond the great ring of -air-cities they leaped, until they were far out; and each division then. formed into:.a great curving line screening our ring of cities to east and west, facing the fleets rushing toward them from those: directions. Then - we -were gazing again-at the table-map: before us, a deathly silence seeming to grip all the world. Upon that map- we cotild see-the European and Asiatic: armadas were now within hardly niore than a hundred miles of our own; and-tensely we watched the east and western screens now, gazing out: beyond our cities. “They'll use their-cruiser-fleets for their first attack,” Yarnall was saying as we gazed-tensely forth. “They'll try to wipe out: our cruisers before they bring their cities on to.attack ours.” I nodded. “It would give them a big advantage when the cities come to blows. But our cruisers beat them back once with-the odds two to one, and now—” I broke off sharply, and at the same moment heard a low breath from Yarnall and Connell simultaneously, felt seemingly a-low tremor that seemed to run in- stantaneously across all our massed air-cities. For there, far to the westward, black against the sky, there had appeared a line of far-flung. black dots that were growing very quickly in size, and that were massed to- gether ina crescent. formation whose horns were toward us. It was the advancing cruiser-fleet-of the Asiatic Federation forces. Tensely we watched it as it came on; then we looked to the east:to see a similar crescent of advancing dots,.the European cruiser fleet. On: they came, smoothly rushing toward our own lines of cruisers, hanging to the east and west.of our cities; and then for the moment we forgot them-as we made out, to east and west, behind them, advancing toward us, great- black masses that even-at that distance seemed to fill the air. They were the two massed mighty atmadas of the European and Asiatic Federation's air- cities, rushing to battle with our own! CHAPTER X The First Clash OR one’moment we gazed toward them and toward Fite advancing cruisers that rushed before them, as though held by the grandeur of the spectacle. The tremendous mass of our air-cities hanging there, high above the earth the gleaming ranks of our own two thousand—cruisers that poised to east and west, the advancing cruiser-fleets of twice their strength behind which there tushed gigantically on: the great massed air-cities of our enemies—it. was a spectacle breath- taking enough! But, then, the two enemy cruiser fleets had come. within a short distance of our own waiting cruisers; and, as they did so, both their fleets shot suddenly upward, as though in answer to a common oe to drive above our own cruisers and our air- cities Instantly Yarnall had: uttered a swift order; and as Connell’s quick voice sent that order flying out to our cruiser-masses, they too whirled upward and forward to meet the onrushing enemy. fleets.. Then, far out in mid-air: to east and west of us the great cruiser. fleets had met, had.smashed into each other with blind fury.