Air Wonder Stories, May 1930 — page 29: what you’re looking at

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

we > [a rd fy —that they descend tothe garden below. tate them from level_to level, but the alated ascended -or de- scended upon their own power. One by one the ten stepped from the doorway and with outstretched wings lifted them- selves to the broad. roof, above. CHAPTER II Atop the City "PON the roof. were tables set umder wide awnings with large mechanical fans beating the air to keep it re- freshingly cool. A number of tables were already occu- pied by diners who rose from their seats at the approach of the ten terrestrial feaders and seated themselves again when the * official _party had: taken its places at the large table set for them. Under another awning half a dozen musicians were playing upon yarious musical instruments, filling the languid midday air of Havana with their sweet notes. Havana was scarcely: different from the city of the twentieth century except that it was now larger and: more beautiful, “From the parapet of the roof could be seen the lovely city below, like a jewel in the setting. that nature herself had created, the harbor scintillating and iridescent. under. the noon- day sun, the gleam of its facets flashing with-every underlying - movement of the water. Overhead was the certilean blue of the sky, forming an infinite domed: roof, And to the beauty of the city with its houses of many hues and its-palm-lined streets was added the flash of wings of every color of the rainbow as the flying people moved about on their matters of business, mostly keeping to the traffic lanes, but once and again taking a flight toward the sun forthe pure joy of living, HE Mentor’s party was served: by efficient servants with delicately prepared foods and a great variety of the fruits for which the tropics are noted, ‘For-an hour or’so: they- sat upon the roof listening to. the mittsic of the trained players, And all over the globe Earthlings. were ‘listening to the: same music, if such was their wish, through the radio’sets. Or. they could switch on their Viswal-screens-and see their leaders sit- ting:together. The world was aware that the ten. were gathered here together, and were anxiously -awaiting some portent of good news, Now in the sky there were hundreds of People who: sought to catch a glimpse of their leaders. The manner in which they satisfied their curiosity was not trying to the potentates, for the flying people did not ogle, but flew quietly by. Some dropped flowers on the roof’s tiled floor and the awnings as they passed, but these. attentions were paid: ina di t manner. ~* As the: sun climbed higher <and- higher, the fans were. not enough to prevent the air under the awnings: from ‘becoming warm; so after their meal was-over the Mentor suggested Descent was made down the shaft by which they had arrived.. During a rain a glass roof slid across the shaft top to~protect those moving from floor to floor, but at other times the shafts were open to the sky, for the winged:people more. often left their buildings by way of these shafts than. through the doorway on the ground floors, The full-length windows-of the chambers «were also used for exits-and entrances, In the private buildings and homes the same feattres existed; and the old Spanish type of building with its inner patio open to the sky was well suited te the flying people. Thus the party dropped the five floors and emerged into a cool garden shaded by a movable roof, There they. sat for several hours discussing questions that had come up in their various domains, At foar they left the governmental building for. the beautiful one-floored home of the Mentor. where: they took a siesta, There they met the beautiful mate of the Mentor, his three sons and one datighter. the planet ruler was Page, although in his official capacity he WOMEN WITH WINGS was known as “the Mentor.” “There were no other women in the home beside the-wife and daughter. -Nor were there any other servants than the mechani- cal robots that had been. perfected to such a high. degree of efficiency that the care of the house and the kitchen was left to them. . The housewife had: only. to set their dials for the prescribed task and knew it would be carried out-far better than any human servant-could do it. That evetting, after the dinner in the Mentor’s well appdinted home; they: listened: to a program of music, then watched. some dancing and a drama that was being-enacted at one of the great radio broadcasting stations of.the world. Needless to say, for . two centuries now a universal tongue had been adopted and was spoken all over. the world, The following morning the Mentor’s nine guests bade him _ farewell and withthe coming of the’sun were ready to return to-their own capitals. -This-was to be accomplished. by wing and one by one the, presidents, each accompanied by. his per= sonal-retinue, departed either- for the East, the West, the North “or the South. There were thousands of the winged people abroad at that early hour, for they were early risers, and with flowers and songs saw the departing administrators on their way into the heavens, The Space-Flyer N hour later the Mentor was again in his office, and before him was spread the report of the invention.of the Japanese scientists, Already the clerk who had been at fault in- not informing the Mentor. of -its arrival had. been demoted. After studying the plans. the Mentor gave an:order to have himself put in touch with the inventors of the interplanetary machine. Over a private radio hook-1ip, he spoke for an hour-or so to the two men whose brains had conceived the-stupendous work. Shortly. thereafter, the two: were in-the air on their way to Havana where they. were to confer with the Mentor upon the possible construction of the flyer. In the meantime the Mentor had brought together a half dozen: renowned engineers to study the diagrams. And: after matty hours spent ina study of the plans they admitted that such a. machine was theoretically feasible. Flying, as the Japanese did, at one hundred and fifty miles per hour; it would take them.a little over sixty hours to reach Havana, They carried food and drink with them but de- scended.at way stations to rest and refresh themselves. From childhood the winged people were taught endurance in flight, and a youth did not come to manhood until he had made a single sustained journey:-of-at least three thousand miles. The muscles of the back and wing-cases were carefully developed, so that their owners would not become knotty and muscle- bound nor give out moder the long strain of: enforced flights, In the, beginning the’ winged men might have perfected the fiying-machines along with their wings, but their leaders had been wise in realizing that the wings would deteriorate if the machines were to be depended upon, and history has proved time and time again that men who placed their dependence upon artificial mechanisms were apt'to_become physically decadent, The winged people of Earth could never be called that. N arriving in Havana, the two Japanese, San Tu Ackwa and Yoto Murca, went to one of the city’s beautiful hotels where they took a few hours of rest before presenting themselves to the Mentor. Unselfishly the two scientists. had given themselves for many, years-to the perfection of a machine designed to release their fellow-men from the -gravitational shackles of Earth and allow them to soar into the great void, to. extend their conquest of space still more, They had no. The-family name of ~ thought for monetary reward, for gold asa means of barter and wealth had gone out of existence, Instead, their nanies