Air Wonder Stories, May 1930 — page 32: what you’re looking at

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

= shield against the intense heat the sun.radiated upon it. Mer- cury without ‘this shield was an inferno upon its one surface always turned to the sun, while upon the opposite face that lay forever away from the great star the temperature dropped at times to absolute zero. Mars, on the other hand, was known to be inhabited, for the telescopic photographs marked a num- ber of great structures.and more than one queer craft had been seen moving through the dusty-atmosphere of that world, On _ the satellite moon of the Earth, on the shores of the long dead seas, the ruins of wondrous cities had been. discovered that bespoke a race of beings whose needs had been identical with that of the Earthlings. Why then should not ‘the beautiful planet Venus that lay upon the Earth horizon have life thereon? All day and night-the Mentor and his son had flown across sea and lowlands, plateaux and mountains, and near dawn-they came within sight of the towering dome of the observatory upon Mount Hamilton, Arriving on the broad roof just below the dome, they were met by a-group of astronomers who with- out-words led them: directly to the-telescope.. In a few minutes they were staring at the long bright ship that now, as it neared _ Earth, could be-recognized clearly as-of cylindrical shape. One strange_feature of the flyer lay in the fact that the sun’s rays, that should have struck it obliquely as it hurtled on its way, were not being reflected but: appeared instead to. pass directly through it, as though the machine were half transparent! Down to Earth! ~ « ITHOUT a doubt,” observed Professor D’Arcy, -gov- ernor of the observatory, “the Venusians are bent upon paying us-a call, but whether it is to be a friendly visit or one for-purposes of attack we have no way of telling. It is evi- dent, however, that they are far more advanced than we .of Earth, since they have succeeded in conquering the void. We have been trying to get in touch with them by means of the radio, but have so far failed.” “Ah, but you are wrong, Professor, in believing that Venus is superior to ws in intellect,” the Mentor remonstrated, “just because they have beaten us in the secret of interplanetary travel. True, they are the first to: Have-sent out their ships, but not many. months will elapse before an Earthly ship also will be launched into space!” “You mean it is, possible?” Quickly the Mentor-told of the invention of the Japanese and of the. certainty that it would succeed. “Heretofore, our scientists have failed because of their misconceptions of what constitutes a space-flying machine, but though I have not an- nownced the fact to the world, I am certain that the Japanese sphere will do all that its inventors claim. In fact, I have never been more certain of.an untried experiment as I am of this, I will not hesitate to go mp in it on the initial trip!” “The principles propotmded are sound, sir. Pray that it may be-all that you.expect, for not only -will it widen the horizon of the Earthling, but perhaps some day our people will journey on across the great Outer Void to other Universes and Gal- axies! And what’s more, our scientists will no longer need to depend upon faulty telescopes to examine the world that lies. beyond.” - For many hours the watchers never left the telescopes as they studied the progress of the Venusian vessel. After care- ful computation it was estimated. that the ship’s speed was approximately 200 miles per second, and as Venus was then traveling toward her inferior conjunction and was something like 26,000,000 miles: distant from Earth, it would take the space-flyer at least thirty-five hours to-reach Earth. Already for more than thirty hours the scientists. had watched her on her course, Another four hours and she would arrive! When or where the flyer would land upon Earth they had no way of knowing. AIR WONDER STORIES “ \HE next few hours were feverish ones for the astrono- mers, for other observers had seen the Venusian machine and were in communication with one another. Then the broad- casting stations were sending the news in relays around the world and efforts were made to photograph it in the Tele- Visual screens. The observatories had announced that the ship was. gradually slowing down. At ten o'clock, Pacific time, the ship was seen’ to enter the atmosphere, traveling at about three: hundred miles an hour, Slowly it encircled the globe, drop- ping lower and Jower until it could be seen by the naked eye. Twice more it swung around the globe before it dropped to an isolated spot along the Florida coast not- many miles south of the old resort city of Miami, Immediately the Mentor dis- patched an order that none should approach the stranger within a radius of two thousand feet, until it could be discovered whether the Venustans came as friends-or foes. With D’Arcy, his son and a number of the scientists, the Mentor left Lick and headed for the Eastern seaboard. They flew at top speed, for the Mentor was greatly worried about. this strange circumstance, In his heart he feared that the ‘arrival of the interplanetary machine boded no good for his world. And the Earthlings were unprepared: for an attack, since their development was along unwarlike lirtes, The Mentor did not speak of his fears to his companions as they winged their way across the 3000 miles to the Eastern coast. Flying at 150 to 175 miles per hour they could not hope to reach Florida in-less than nineteen or twenty hours, It was a long trip to take, flying so swiftly, and especially for the two members of the party who had already flown more than that distance not many ‘hours before. Moreover, they were encountering head winds, and time was always lost incrossing the mighty moum- tain ranges of the west, Disappeared! HEN the Venusian ship settled upon the sands, on an island that lay between the ocean and Biscayne Bay, there was a small group of flying men there to witness. it. They“swere six guards whose duty, it ‘was to keep the great beacon light on-the beach trimmed to guide night flyers out at sea, and also to patrol that part of the shores and sky in the event that a flyer who had oveitaxed himself could not come down without aid. They had been listening intently to the broadcast from the observatories, and had kept: a: lookout for the space-flyer. It ~was they who told the world of its descent. And no sooner had they stibmitted their report: than they deserted their posts, flying swiftly the mile and a half to where they had seen the stranger drop. They were greatly astounded by its size, for it was fully two thousand feet in length. It lay on the golden sands with- out a sign of movement, its black polished body a blot of shadow. In wonder they stared down upon it, not knowing what course to take. Had they waited longer at their station they would have: received the Mentor’s command not to draw near, but now, after a moment’s parley, they drew closer, alighting upon the sands. They stalked about the black cylinder at a safe distance and were surprised at not finding a visible entrance, for although its black exterior appeared to be of glass, it was so thick that the figures within could be seen only as through a haze: So engrossed was one fellow by this phenomenon, he approached the smooth wall and sought to see through. it by shading his eyes with ‘his hands, The others saw him suddenly tumm-and run, but he had not taken more than a dozen steps before he had thrown up his arms and dropped to the sands lifeless! Immediately the others took to wing, but not one escaped the invisible attack, for one by one they all dropped to the ground. The Venusians had spoken! It was War! In twenty minttes or so.a number of the winged people from Miami had arrived. They congratulated themselves that they were first upon the scene, for the sands strrounding the long black cylinder with its needle-sharp nose were empty of life. eon books: ia) —