Air Wonder Stories, May 1930 — page 40: what you’re looking at

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

ey th At “s : § AIR WONDER STORIES as she has given her word guaranteeing their safety. They are given the freedom of the planet!" Nodding, Ware turned to The Mentor and waved an‘atm. Im- mediately one of his officers appeared and the order was given for the men to land. “We. are holding approximately three thousand women. cap- tive,” he advised the Queen's interpreter, “and I would prefer to keep them prisoners until we learn what terms we may-reach with the Matriarch. I trust she will be agreeable to that condi- tion?” The other nodded. “Her majesty is aware of the fact that you retain. her fellow-women until suitable terms can be made,” He answered without bothering to address the queen. Kiter Explains ‘OW, one by one, the spheres were being emptied of their crews, In each, a small detail of men were to be left to guard the women. The men quickly fell into formation and stood at attention awaiting the next command of their leader. Ware gave the order for them to relax, while he looked for in- structions from the queen's interpreter. “Arrangements have already been made for-the quartering of your men within the houses that face the square, which have been vacated for that purpose. There they will be looked after by the-women. However, it will be quite agreeable to her majesty if you prefer to leave a number of your met to guard your machines, althongh that precaution is entirely unnecessary. “As for yourself-and your party, the Matriarch Will be pleased to-have you accompany her to the palace where we can discuss the present situation in comfort,” Ware nodded and gave directions to his officers for the care of the men; then with Professor D'Arcy and San Tu Ackwa and Yoto Murca he followed the queen and her retinue to’ the white transparent palace. The doorway was a circular opening with a crystal of tremendous size suspended in lieu of a door. It was cut with exquisite care and ifs facets caught and reflected the half-lights-that filtered through the ever-present eloud banks, The building itself was a-great rectangle measuring fully a thousand by two thousand feet, and was three fevels high. Com- ing through the doorway they found themselves in a room of large proportions, with no furnishings other than an immense throne chair set‘on a dais at the opposite side of the room. It was of a deep emerald green color, and-appeared to have been cut from: a single stone. Through the walls of the room they could plainly see the square beyond, with the spheres and men now. maneuvering in answer to their officer’s commands, They did not pause in this chamber, but went directly through to a second room, Here at the doorways were stationed women who stood at attention\as the company came through, In the third room, which was furnished-simply with a dozen large chairs with the backs cut low to provide room for the wings to dangle to the: ground behind, the queen halted. All but one of her fol- lowers went on through the next doorway, and were seen to arrange themselves upon chairs in the adjoining room. Turning to her guests, Waltia motioned for them to be. seated. The Earthly ibterpreter took his position at-her chair. Later he gave hig name as Jack Kiter. He had been a metallurgist on'a holi- day at Miami at the conting of the Zoldan flyer to Earth, and liad had the misfortune to be captured by the winged women. Only he did‘not appear to consider it a misfortune, as the others were presently to: discover! MMEDIATELY after they had seated themselves comifort- I ably, a half dozen women iwho, unlike the others, wore no girdles, came in bearing small tables upon. each of which was set a single yellow bow! and beside it a long pencil-shaped: wand with prongs at-one end, A table was set before each man. Happening to glance behind him, Ware was surprised that he could see out irifo the square almost’as clearly as if three walls did not intervene, There he could see hundreds of flying women \ . ee rs eB ne a : Eee ="; Teak ae moving among his men, bearing trays of yellow bowls! The bowl set before him he found to contain a thick greenish Jiquid in which were floating a tiumber of bits of what looked like boiled flesh. The flesh was a vivid red. “The Zoldans,’ observed Kiter from tis post -beside the queen, “live entirely upon water-life—fish, squids, sea serpents and other forms of life which am -unable to name. Sea-weeds of different varieties are ground into-a sort of flour and baked, though one or two varieties are eaten in their raw state. You will find this dish tasty.” The Earthlings stared at the food a little questioningly, ‘but when they saw the queen spearing the flesh lumps with her strange fork they did likewise and were surprised that the food was tather good, although the fish flavor was strong, When the solid food was gone they looked up to see what their hostess would do next, and saw that she had already put the bowl to her lips to drink the liquid. It was stinging hot, but it had an aromatic flavor that was refreshing, With the food consumed the dishes and:tables were removed and the visitors waited for what was to come next. CHAPTER X A Strange Race HE queen had turned to Kiter and for. several moments ; her humming tones persisted, Then the interpreter began to speak to his fellow-men. “Queen Waltia wishes me to tell you something about her world, which is called by. her -people Zolda. It is a world composed mostly of water, and what land there is lies grouped loosely together in islands. There are still-a great many of these islands that have never been visited. To the Earthly eye it is a strange world with its ochre yellow seas, its orange sand, its purple, red and blue foliage. Much of the ocean bed is very shallow, although there are regions in which the bottom has never been reached, but on the whole it is no. more than from six to seven fathoms in depth, : “It is natural, therefore, that the Zoldans. should have had their beginnings in the water, Their scientists, like those of Earth, still seek for jhe tnissing links in their history in fossils found for the most part in the silt on the bottom of the oceans. At first the life of the Zoldans ‘was spent under the surface. But, in water so shallow, it isnot strange that they should have lifted themselves out of that element by their wings, which were de- veloped from finny appendages-atotig the ‘backbone, “In the beginning they merely skimmed the water for a dis- tance of eight to ten feet before they dropped. back into it, much as do the flying-fish of our own oceans. Then gradually the fins changed to wings that could lift them a little higher-and to a greater distance, At the same time they were developing their Jungs until they could, if they wished, live almost entirely out of the water in the heavy moist atmosphere of their world. You can see the small gill slits, that you perhaps have taken for ears, by which they. breath the oxygen in the water when they are swimming under the surface, Now they can no longer stay below the water more than half at hour to-an hour at a time, for, gradually through the ages, as theit\ lungs have developed at ‘the expense“of their gills, they have been losing their ability to Jive as amphibians, nee “Tt may astonish you also to learn that they have no organ of hearing; Instead, the voice sets up a scries of vibrations in the very sensitive nerves of the skin surface, and these register upon the brain, Loud noises are vastly disturbing to their delicate nervous system for this reason. We have discovered that music and singing are very pleasant to them, and they have looked forward to our perfection:of the radio, upon which a number of our people have been working. si OW, the Zoldans live entirely upon the sea coast and N rarely go inland except to mine the various metals with which they have learned to work,. It is from the water that alk aaa a comicbooks:com) Bey