Air Wonder Stories, May 1930 — page 58: what you’re looking at

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

three well-known elements iron, nickle and: cobalt, the new AIR WONDER STORIES lew old time principles, made a few changes and. amalgamated em together with an idea-or two of my own, The: result was. that I discovered an alloy of metals comprising, besides the metal hydroleum, which, when subjected to certain treatments _ applied by electrical energy, becomes highly magnetized. Per-\ sonally I had not given: much credence to Einstein’s theories of " relativity, so you can imagine the shock I received when I found that this alloy, under the influence of magnetism, when placed in the air over my work bench, remained suspended! This proved beyond a doubt that gravity and magnetism, when successfully ‘applied, are precisely the same thing as expounded by Einstein.” “T have heard much talk about relating the two,” Jorgstedt said, smilingly, “Just what do you mean in your case? Have - _ you discovered: perpetual motion?” “T can-tinderstand your doubts,” Markleson: nodded. “Z have not discovered perpetial motion, What 1 have discovered is that it is possible to put into my metal electrical energy that will give it the power to oppose or nullify the force of gravitation: ay That simply means that instead of carrying great quantities of __ explosive energy as rockets do in order to get-away from the earth, I fill my metal with electro-magnetic energy which in- creases the weight of the plates but little,” “T understand,” Jorgstedt nodded. “Please go on.” “T set to work immediately,” Markleson continued, “to build & a model airship with a hull composed_-of the alloyed metals. To this I attached a thousand feet of wire. I then electro-mag- netized the miniature ship and it rose at a tremendous speed to the full length of the-line, which snapped, releasing the model from the leash! It-vanished at once into space, tike a stone falling off a cliff. But I discovered that, in rising, the model wabbled, gyrated and corkscrewed tpward like a drunken thing. Then I constructed another ‘tnodef, in: which T allowed only the central section to accept the magnetic influence by insulating the nose and the tail against it; This one went up on even keel without-a single gyration, I found that by using an added cur- rent control, I could raise it and bring it-down at will. “Needless for me to say work was begun at once on the con- struction of a full-sized airship. During the first stages of the work I arrived at the conclusion that the present day -air-screw would not be powerful enough to propel such a hulk through the air at the rate of speed I desired it to attain, From then on-T grasped at Professor Goddard’s rocket drive scheme and developed it quite to-my liking by making several radical changes in fuel-and the driving exhaust systems; “As a result, I have created a ship whose capabilities and possibilities are far beyond the conception of ordinary man—one whose speed is unlimited.and whose power to rise to the higher altitudes will be tmchecked even by the tremendous attraction of the earth’s gravitational forces! Even now the craft is ready for her maiden flight into realms of speed-and space never be- fore attained by man-made machitiery!” ROFESSOR MARKLESON -abstractedly pulled a pipe fram his pockets and proceeded to fill it. Dr. Jorgstedt sat like an image in stone, and‘continued to stare at-him until the aromatic fragrance of the other's curling smoke caused him-to light a pleasant cigar. For a few silent -mintites, he seemed to resign his thoughts to. the satisfying odors-that emanated from it. He puffed upon it rapidly at first, then settled down osten- sibly fora peaceful smoke, although his mind was far from it, 4s Professor Markleson- could easily see. Then Jorgstedt turned-again to the physicist. “My friend,” he said, regarding him speculatively, “if your discoveries are what you say they are, then I bow my. head to you—the master of the universe!” - Professor Markleson’s rather heavily built-frame shook with almost silent: laughter that was. mixed ‘not only with the satis- faction of having his friend compliment ‘him, but with perfect confidence in what he had achieved. It was a peculiar char- acteristic of him to laugh thus when he had solyed some tre-. mendous problem, as Dr, Jorgstedt had long since learned to know. “A thousand thanks for the title, doctor!” said- Markleson, his eyes twinkling. “But I think you had better save it until I have actually conquered the tmiverse. That’s a lot of territory for one man to be master over !” The astronomer nodded and grinned behind the pale blue haze. wats CHAPTER II The Sky Urchin OR nearly two:years the Sky Urchin had been under con- struction under the: watchful! eyes of Professor Markleson, and during all that time he had kept it a perfect secret from the world. With the exception of a score of under-scien- tists from the American Institute of Physics whose hands had built it, Dr. Jorgstedt, and two high government officials, not a soul had been given an inkling as to. what was taking place behind the walls of a hangar on the scientist’s residential grounds. “ Now- the moment -had-arrived for the: greatest airship in the world to take off on its maiden flight with a: passenger list: made up of a few privileged scientists, government. authorities-and a number of the world’s foremost newspaper editors, -Throngs of reporters circulated around: it on the ground, snapping pictures right and left, but none were permitted to-enter. Armed guards furnished-by the government stood ready to halt-any person who could not display a pass signed personally by Professor Markle- son. Even government officials were no exception to the rule established’ by the scientist as a precautionary meastire when he issued the invitations for the maiden flight. He was_taking no chances on having some over-eager.reporter or photographer snap a flash-gun-with in the Sky Urchin’s huge, cigar-shaped hulk, probably wrecking it as a-result, The fuel for the exhaust drive systems was highly explosive, though stored in such a way that it was safe from ordinary exposure. Yet one-never could tell just what an ambitious newspaperman might do to obtain an interesting picture, : The Sky Urchin: stretched across the private landing like a great silver cigar, with two transparent bands, one on each end midway from the center; These insulated the craft so that its magnetic influence would concentrate in the center between them, thus establishing perfect stabilization. Looking through the-bands one-could see-the interior of the craft’s control-room, bridge and: foreward observation decks. At the rear end, under the band, was-a comfortable lounging cabin of three transparent decks, lavishly appointed with large, easy chairs, A row of round, porthole-like windows lined either side of the huge polished metal hill. At her tail, giant stabilizing fins arose like the blades of some tremendous windmill, Two sets of laterals and ailerons of shining metal protruded from the ship’s rear, giving one the impression of looking’ at some great stream-lined creature of the ocean depths with double -tail-fins. It was a thing of flashing beauty, although, without the cus- tomary gondolas and gas bags so common in ordinary airships, it seemed bound: éternally to earth. But had-the observer stopped to consider the intricate lifting apparatus enclosed within it, he would have conceded:at once-that the Sky Urchin was indeed a craft to be marveled at. And had the comparatively small driving exhausts located between-every two of the rolling sta- bilizers been studied by one \skilled-in rocket propulsion, the huge ship’s powers of speed would have immediately become comprehensible, ROFESSOR MARKLESON’S craft marked the greatest Pres yet attained by physical aviation science. It surpassed --