Air Wonder Stories, May 1930 — page 30: what you’re looking at

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

py py BS would go down in history, as. benefactors of the race—men who had given the world_a boon that was invaluable, With them they had brought the model of thei invention and~set about to demonstrate it to the Mentor and the engi- neers'he had gathered about him. The model was a perfect sphere made of the light and durable dialwnim, Set as a girdle around it was a series of round mirrors, concave and convex. In the bottom of: the sphere was the manhole for entrance, and from its top ran a vertical strip of quartz crystal that would -serve as windows for the interplanctary travelers. By unscrewing bolts San Tu-Ackwa exposed the inside of the globe. Here -was a large wheel that almost entirely filled the sphere, but did not touch the sides of the globe. The wheel was suspended-upon a hollow shaft that ran-across between the -two supporting walls of the sphere, and-around its hub was a series of crystal openings. San ‘frst“explained the motive power of the flyer. He pointed out that within the hub of the strange wheel-lay the motor mechanisms, For centuries now the Earthlings had been using the solar power machine in place of the old electric, fuel and water driven machines of the ancients. AH power, as one knows, is derived from the solar rays that come across the ninety-three mmillion-miles of space between Earth and the sun. The ancients had had to depend upon wood, coal, oil and-elec- ~ tricity to gather this force, but it had remained for the 30th century man to take that power directly from the sun itself. This was done by the heliogenerators, great mirrors that con- centrated the heat-rays. Formerlyman had to-resort to’ steam engines, to utilize the heat to derive their power. But with the discovery of- great deposits of radio-active ores-in various parts of the world, the sun’s energy was taken up and concen- trated on the radium without the need of engines and by the release of energy a powerful rocket effect was obtained. A Demonstration T was by this method that the Japanese had planned to propel their flyer. The girdle of mirrors would receive the sun's rays, and send it to the rotor housing within the sphere where the radium was located. The convex mirrors were~pro- vided to reverse this power, so that it would act as a brake for the machine, tossing off the heat generated by the concave mir- rors, and by this intricate method of “cooling” bring the sphere to a_halt* Now by setting the-sphere in the sunlight that poured through the. window, San Tu Ackwa, after switching on the rotor motors within, allowed them to generate power. A cable fastened to-a small box with a keyboard on its surface showed how much power the motors. were generating, When. the dial showed a sufficient amount he touched one of the keys and controlled the movements of the sphere. It rose and moved about the room, circled-their heads, went out the wiridow to the Jength of its. cord, then returned to the table top and alighted without -a jar. With that demonstration completed the inventor. now pro- ceded to point out the-features of the wheel that were puzzling the Mentor and his engineers. Opening one section of the tim he showed the living quarters for the crew and interplanetary passengers, Series of spiral stairways joined the rim of the wheel to the hub with its machineries and engines. The spokes of the wheel that held the rim in place were hollow shafts whereby. the passengers could fly to the hub. These shafts were also to carry the ventilation pipes as well as the water to * To batter understand the amount of “heat” radiated by the sun-it-must first ‘be known “that the rate at which radiant energy of all wavelengths io received by the Earth from the Sun at the outer surface of our atniosphere when the-sun is at its mean distance, ig, in terms of mechanical work, 1,51 horse power per square yard. From this it can be-seen that with a Jarge number of great mirrors an immense. concentration of snerey- could he obtained. AIR WONDER STORIES Aer. the living quarters, In fact nothing seemed to have-been for- gotten for the comfort of the passengers, the heating and the refrigerating, the lighting, the sanitation measures, the radio and Visual-apparatus. And every living-room, bed-room, dining- room -and’ bathroom, as well as several kitchens, was as well equipped in miniature as it would be in life-size, HE feature that was strangely striking, however; was that the living quarters were upon the rim of the wheel, the ceilings bemg toward the hub of the machine. Yoto Murca here took up the explanation. He demonstrated that inasmuch as in space there is no gravity, and gravity can be replaced only by some other force, they proposed to utilize centrifugal force for this purpose. To understand centrifugal force better it must be understood that whereas gravity operates toward the center of mass centrifugal force operates away from tHe center. Therefore, in the quarters set inthe rim of the wheel which was to produce centrifugal force by rotating arotmd the hub, that which is “up” means toward the axis, while “down” is outward from the center, the axis of rotation. It was calcu- lated that if the wheel made one revolution in about 8 seconds with its diameter of 100 feet, a man would be pressed to the floor with the sarhe force as he would be pressed normally to the surface of the Earth. OR hours-the Mentor and the scientists discussed the ma- chine, A few minor adjustments were suggested here and there, but onthe whole it was agredd that the space-flyer was practical, and the Mentor gave the inventors the assurance that a trial ship would be constructed under their supervision at the far-end of the island of Cuba, where the great experi- mental laboratories were located in which all the newest -inven- tions were built and given trial; The following day the two Japanese left with a letter to. the governor of the laboratories instructing him*to place men and materials at their- disposal. It would take many months to build the:space-flyer, since casts would have-to he built for its many intricate parts: And it would take even longer to completely fit it out as the Mentor directed. But his eyes were shining brightly as he bid San Tu Ackwa and Yoto Murca good day. He was happy in the realization that the Earthlings» were to master another great field of science. However, no announcement would be given to the world until the space-flyer had proved itself. CHAPTER III The Mentor’s Decision N his chambers now sat the Mentor alone. He was weary. I For the days that had passed since the conference he had been working, accepting and rejecting new plans for the welfare of his people, and only now did he find himself with a few hours of- leisure, But there was no rest for him. He was too much troubled with the momentous question at hand to be able to seek recreation, What was the world to do about its women? True, there were something like forty millions of young immature females in the world, thousands of whom were daily reaching the age where they, would take upon them- selves the duties of wifehood, only to succumb as their. mothers had in that terrible hour, With each generation the problem grew, for nothing seemed possible to’save the women. And what was the world to. do'when man should at last find him- self without a single-woman in ‘his midst? True, the life span of the individual had been greatly lengthened by science. The seventy years of the ancients had been prolonged to two hun- dred, but in that alone was no solution. The Mentor slowly turned to President Chang's suggestion concerning a raid tspon another world for women. Astronomers knew that at least two of the planets sustained life, namely, Venus and Mars, and a number of the satellites of both Jupiter Fee Comicbooks=com