Air Wonder Stories, May 1930 — page 33: what you’re looking at

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

: ee fe closer than the two thousand feet, the dozen or 80. men flew about trying to discover what they could of the intrader. Still, for all its: quietness, there was a feeling among the pinged people that they were being stared at, and a malevolent “spirit seemed to pervade the very air about-the ship, More and more people were arriving on the scene and officials ap- peared, bringing men to police the circle, so that none would approach the Venusian: ship at close hand. Occasionally a fel- low or two would fly too near and be severely reprimanded bythe government. officials among them. Had they known of the “shooting” and subsequent disappearance of the Beacon guards ‘there might have been demonstrations of violence from the crowds, but>there was no sign of the six bodies. The crowds could only stare and gape at the dark shape with im- patience. Why did it show no life? Why did not the travelers show themselves? What did they fear? Many opinions were passed as to what should be done. Some believed that-a-party . should descend to the sands and signal to the Venusians. Others thought that attempts should be made to break into it, Some- thing should be donet': But they knew they were waiting for the planet ruler to arrive. Still why did: not the Venusians themselves act? Did they really fear violence from the milling crowd? Word was next received-that President Trent of North America was on his way with a party’of officials from Wash- ington, and shortly after that report came a corps of radiomen from the broadcasting systems to set up apparatus to inform the world of what happened. The crowds in the sley were continually increasing as the flying people came from miles. around. The difficulty of the officials to keep them in place grew. The sand dunes of_the cay were becoming literally covered by the people, who alighted for a few minutes before taking to the air again. The excite- ment that prevailed grew until the air was loud with the sound of the thousands of voices and the whirr of the powerful wings. Then, as the tadio-corps. had. their apparatus ready, they com- menced broadcasting, estimating that over fifteen thousand were gathered routd about, The Tele-Visual shortly thereafter took / the scene and the world saw the long cylinder crouching on the sands like a -half-sleeping monster. Half the world had aroused itself from. sleep to see that strange picture, and listened avidly to the words of the announcer as he conjectured about the people who were in the ship, who had crossed 26,000,000 miles of space, and yet seemed fearfil of facing-the crowds of their sister planet. Earth, Then, with a suddenness that was inexplicable, the voice ceased spealcing and the scene was blotted simultaneously from the Visual screens all over the world. The broadcasting sta- tions were besieged with queries demanding to know what was wrong, Station NN2 in Miami, which had been receiving the reports from the beach, frantically attempted to discover the cause for the cessation of the program, and announced that the trouble came not from them but from ‘the apparatus on the cay. Flyers were being dispatched immediately from: Miami to discover what had occurred. CHAPTER V Shadows in the Night LMOST an hour passed before the world received news A again, It came from a reporter at Miami who had been the first toyreach the interplanetary ship and return. He averred that although he had found the space-flyer in its place, exactly as it had been seen through the Visual screens, not a single soul of the-fifteen thousand spectators who had gathered there could be found! It was as though they had disappeared completely from the face-of the Earth! An examination of the radio-lay-otit ‘proved that it was completely dead, and the power-machines of the beacon station as well! WOMEN WITH WINGS NHAF ING at the command of the Mentor not to approach a Consternation reigned upon the globe! crept into many hearts, The Mentor and his party flew faster and President Trent and his retinue also rushed to the scene. Several thousand other men: hurried: there-too, but dared not approach within-a tile of the now evidently sinister cylinder, but soared high above. From Jacksonville a contingent of men put out from the old arsenal with bundles of electro-thunderbolts, the ancient fire-arm that had not been used. since the Third War, but which had been preserved merely as relics, These weapons were small cylindrical tubes about six inches in length and each contained six electric charges that sent a powerful charge of electricity a thousand feet, It: was these thunderbolts that the Mentorites had ‘used in 1945 to defeat the combined armies of the world. Tt was to be doubted that these simple little weapons could be of any use against the science of the Venusians, The question was now: What had happened to those fifteen thousands? Had the Venusians murdered them and: carried them thence into-their ship? Or had-they merely used a weapon that completely. disintegrated flesh andjbone? If the latter-was the case, why: should the Venusians seek to murder so wantonly? Surely they did not believe that. in that way they could hope to conquer the globe? Facts pointed rather to their having used either a gas or an invisible ray that paralyzed the. muscles, after which it had been a simple matter for them to catry their captives into their ship, That the motors of the radio and beacon station had been’ paralyzed also pointed to such-a pos- sibility.. And fifteen thousand men could easily have been stored away in-that great hulk. But why? What was the | motive behind the act? N hour: before sundown the American President and his — -patty arrived on the scene, but he did not approach the space-machine,- He ordered the electro-thunderbolts distributed among all those gathered, with directions to shoot. down any of the invaders who might make any signs of violence, But he also realized the ineffectualness of those ancient arms against the black bulk of the cylinder. Then from Tampa arrived a dozen flyers carrying a number of heavy explosive bombs that they had pilfered from the museum in their city, They thought to drop the explosives npon the Venusian ship, ‘but the officials-forbade it, They were not sure that. their brethren were not imprisoned in-the ship; and to demolish it would mean the murdering of thousands of their own people. It was agreed that a decision was a matter for the Mentor, and they must await his arrival. Night was descending, and with its coming bonfires were lighted upon the dimes, as the Earthlings continued their watch of the stranger in their midst. Experiment proved that the power station of the Beacon was again in working order, and the great beam was turned upon the huge, black, silent mass on the sands, Some of the watchers decided to return to their homes, but a thousand or so stayed to guard the ship during the night, although they were not certain as to what their watchfulness amounted to. All went i well untila little after midnight, when suddenly without warning the beacon light snapped off! Nor did a’ soul moye upon the dunes. One or two men who had been in the air dropped to the ground and lay. where they had fallen, not far from the black hulk. All were as quiet as the grave! Tt was then that a curious sight could have been seen, From the Venusian ship dark shadows crept forth. There were per- haps a himdred of these shadows, and it was towafd the water that they. moved. One of their number leaned forward and lifted a bit of the salty brine to its lips, then gathered with its fellows in conference. Others tasted the water, then in one concerted rush they took to the air, arose with a little difficulty a hundred yards, ‘hovered a'minute or so, and then made a plunge into the darkened waters. What a pity the moon was Cries were coming in from all sides. that an attack-be made upon the visitor. Fear.