Air Wonder Stories, May 1930 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

AIR WONDER STORIES ° flying-machines with their smell of burning oils and their clat- tering tioise and awkwardness of maneuver as well as the hazards of their construction, One after another America had conquered her fellow-nations with her hordes of winged men, with her electro-thunderbolts»and. aero-electrovoid ma- ~ the Earth, ‘Wisely, however, she refrained from enforcing stich ' sovereignty, contenting herself with enabling her fellow-beings to grow wings. And over them all she established her pro- tectorate, claiming only the right to interfere in their controt when it meant a disrupting of the world’s peace. But men with wings area peaceable people, little given to wars -or rebellion. When Man is enabled to fly like.a bird into the sky, he is little troubled with the narrow, selfish outlook of a the grubbing worm. Some of the great wonder and peace of ans the Universe, the beauty of the horizon, is instilled in his -soul -B < _—_-__ and he knows-that progress and: brotherhood are so interwoven Ro) as to. become one! aa a HE peace and contentment that now belonged to the ay Earthlings was evident in the faces of the ten gathered for conference, Color was of no consequence to these broad- visioned men who, as representatives of the various races of Earth, bespoke the new understanding of this great truth, The Mentor (the Planet Ruler assumed this title and name on taking office) was a man of some fifty years, as fine a figure of a man as cotld be found upon the planet. His-hair was as crisp . as a youth’s and his eyes were dark wells of understanding. His face was the face of a leader; but his leadership. was tem- pered with a compassion for those he ruled. He stood a few inches over six feet and the great wings that rose from between his shoulder-blades had a span, when open, of twenty feet; for with the centuries the wings of the -alated had grown in size, Those of the Mentor were covered with golden-brown feathers. that were soft and silky to the touch. His clothing was close-fitting, the garments affording a minimum of re- sistance to the wind, and to lessen“that resistance still more they were made of a sleck silky material. In‘color they were tinted a delicate shade of yellow that blended well with the golden-brown ‘of the wings, The other men at his table differed but little from the Mentor. Their wings, it is.true, were ofa variety of colors—some solidly hued, some variegated—and their clothing usually was pig, mented to: correspond to the wing- <coloring, for the winged =F people liked harmony of color, learned, as it-were, from Nature’s carefully manipulated brush. The only radical difference to be noted in the group was their racial colorings, and each one : was the finest’ specimen of his own race. Their faces were oN usually very regular in contour, for with the knowledge that 2: it is possible to grow new parts upon their bodies had come the knowledge of perfecting their physical features, until, except = in color, they were almost ‘cotinterparts of one another, | Gone = was the racial flatness of the Chinese face and its bland: in- =o scrutable eyes, while the Negro had as regular, clear-cut features 7 as the Englishman who sat beside him, They Must Be Saved! OW. the Patriarch was speaking again. “Something must be done ‘immediately about our women, my friends,-else-we shall find ourselves a doomed race. Tt means race suicide to continue as we are.” “There has been talk, Mentor, of sending out-an expedition to. other planets in search of more women!” President Chang of the Chinese. Empire said, slowly. The Mentor looked: up sharply. sir are we marauders?” “This is not a time for ethics, Mentor. “Even were that possible, The first of the Skee yS Machines that created a vacuum in the air, into which enemy craft were drawn by suction, chines,* until the time came when she could have possessed. ‘encotiragement, dlated did not balk at stealing women so that they could con- tinue to propagate the race!” “That is true enough, but still we cannot tolerate such a procedure. And after all, that is but half a solution. Our women—our sisters, our mothers, our wives—are dying! It is our individual women as well as our race that we must save!” “Have you a solution, sir, that you summoned us to hear?” Slowly and sorrowfully the Mentor shook his head, “The only solution that I can see is one that should not be considered except in the most extreme circumstances. ‘Yet, it may be that-the time has come when we must admit that course, I called you here today with the hope that some one of you may have a plan, or else that you will signify your willingness for us to go on with the program I am forced to lay before you. - It is nothing less than removal of the wings from the backs of your peoples! For I am convinced that the disease. that attacks our women came with the winging of the race. In this way we may hope to save these millions.of women who will go inevitably to their deaths. For although a mother may escape with one child, statistics prove ‘that either the second, third, fourth-or fifth child invariably brings her to her death! We have tried every other means we know, but every experiment proves a failure!” “T am:-certain that the answer lies rather in our seeking women from one of the known inhabited planets, Mentor,” insisted the Chinese president. Again the Mentor shook his head. “You may. be correct, President Chang, but even if you ‘were right, where is the means of our crossing space to another planet? True, attempts have been made, but each invention has proven impractical !” HANG smiled. “In Japan there is.a group of men who tell us that they have perfected such a machine, sir!” The Mentor jerked to alertness, “What.do you mean? Why : have I not been. informed of this?” His eyes blazed, for although the protectorate was not “severe with the nations, the _ planet ruler must. needs know aff the events worthy of note without fail. For only in that manner was it possible to keep the-svorld balanced, and to administer to one nation as to an- other, so that jealousies and antipathies might not be given “The reports have been duly submitted at Havana, Mentor. Even now they probably repose in your files. We have been surprised that no word was received from you concerning this great discovery, for we only await your permission to: begin work on the-astralnautic flyer: That you were not informed points to negligence on the part of your secretaries,” “Tt shall be looked into. immediately, President Chang, and the person whose duty if was to acquaint me with this mo- mentous matter shall suffer for his carelessness.” “*A slovenly clerk is a menace to a well-ordered office,’” quoted the Chinese. The Mentor nodded and wrote: some words upon the auto- graphic pad at his side that would conveyhis message instan- taneously to the proper office, “And now, géntlemen, have you any suggestions to make concerning our great problem? For us to set about de-winging our future generations is a drastic step, and I realize that none of you wish to place your sanction on it if there is hope that-our dilemma: may be sofved in some other manner, Have you any stiggestions ?” When there was no reply the conference turned to other affairs. Then an attendent-appeared at the door to announce that it was the hour of the mid-day meal, The Mentor led the way from the conference room to one-of the open. shafts that were set at intervals throughout the Governmental Build- ing. These shafts were fully fifty feet square and reached from the ground level to:the open sky above. Doorways pierced the shafts upon alfsides opening off every floor of the building. Before the advent of wings, men had used mechanical lifts to