Air Wonder Stories, May 1930 — page 66: what you’re looking at

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

up to 5000 feet and the projector practically “sucked” the beam back into the projection tube with results that-I brought the balloon down to earth: I can hardly believe it myself, it’s so marvelous. There was a terrific wind when I caught it; but it could not pull loose from the magnetic influence in_which the beam held it captive, The full-sized Magnetic Ray Pro- - jector is being built fo project a beam capable of attracting even the Sky Urchin to it.” “The Sky Urchin?” the. Professor regarded him quizzically. “You couldn’t touch the Sky Urchin with a magnetic ray, attraction, son!” as — “Yes, it is,” the young scientist conceded, “but=you seem to ta forget, sir, that only the: central section is placed tinder the Ay electromagnetic repulsion influence for stabilizing purposes. 3 That leaves both ends of the Sky Urchin open for attraction because-they are operated from the center section by insulating quartz-bands: My invisible magnetic beam...” “Pardon my interruption,: Jack!” said the scientist, his feat- ures stern and severe, “Have you taken this: matter up with the government?” = “T have, sir,” he answered. “The Secretary of War has appropriated’ $100,000. for the construction of this device, It has already been patented and my model is safe in the ar- _ chives of the- patent office, Considering your past experience in having lyour plans and ship stolen, I took ample steps to protect my invention before such a thing could happen to me!” *F congratulate you, son!” the Professor said, patting him on the back affectionately. His eyes assumed a strange light, one that “had existed in them when he told the Sky Ruler om that eventful day in emphatic terms that he would spend -the rest only the Sky Urchin held captive to the tip of an “invisible magnetic ray, he set to work. with a vigor that-his life had never before experienced. UT young Jack Reeves had been so thorough in his re- search that very few changes were required to. make the ray an effective weapon indeed. He and the scientist worked tirelessly side by side at the bench on the more intricate details pared the rest. During the five years he had: spent as Pro- fessor Marldeson’s understudy, Jack Reeves had become very proficient, He had been given many opportunities to work out ‘his own theories at the personal expense of the generous, kind-hearted scientist, And as for Markleson—when he got into the details of his ray. device, his heart sang with bound- less praise for this young man who, realizing the desperate straits in which the world had found itself since the Sky Urchin was stolen, had begun to apply his genius-to its ‘appre- hension, The scientist knew at once when he looked at the e plans that here indeed was an instrument as important to man oe as the Shy Urchin itself. Here was an invention that would be invaluable to any na- tion—one that could be utilized nation-wide in time of peace as S- well as-war. Sky bandits could be brought to earth under the Ps influence of this magnetic beam. Enemy aircraft could be mag- netized from it and attracted down, helpless in the firm grip of magnetic force! The days of the Sky Urchin and its cargo of daring crooks ~~ were numbered! <= The-ending of the Sky Ruler’s: tremendous power was. not oar far off pow! He had dared, alone, to make the entire world do Ins bidding! He-dared to think that he was invincible in control of such a great air crttiser as the Sky Urchin, but he < underestimated. science by-a long, Jong shot! Professor Marlkde- am son chuckled to himself as he worked, running those thoughts over and-over in his mind. Yes, the Sky. Ruler had built castles head in the air, but at the pull of a magnetic ray these castles were Se soon to topple to earth! AIR WONDER STORIES Jack! The. ship is insulated against magnetic or gravitational of his days hounding him until he was hanged! And seeing - of the Magnetic Ray Projector while-the senior students pre- CHAPTER VI / An Unbreakable Grip HERE came a day when the sky was queerly void of aircraft, Nowhere ‘in the heavens could there be seen a ship of any. type, But that was not a strange occur- rence now; it had ‘happened. several times during the past few months;-especially when the day had arrived for the Sky Urchin to appear in the upper air levels,-ready to rake the sky with © its all too accurate machine guns and deadly bombs. Once againtoll day for the United States had arrived and this time the government was-to choose between paying the Sky Ruler’s demands or having the continent plunged inta mourning, True, the government had plainly told the Sky Ruler to go to hell on his last visit and had gotten away with it. But now it was a case of either paying two months’ toll, or having New York, Washington, and other big cities laid in ruins, The Sky Ruler had demanded exactly ten million dollars in gold, under a-threat to drop a dozen high-explosive missiles right into the heart of Washington! But what the Sky Ruler expected was one thing, and what he actually received was another! He had plunged the Sky Urchin across the heavens like a comet from the westward, its driving exhausts causing a five-mile-long tail of purple flame ta sear the skies from its rear, Even at its great altitude the hiss of the craft’s open exhausts was audible to those who watched it tensely from_an isolated area on the outskirts of Washing- ton. Over the Capitol buildings, ten miles up, the Sky Urchin halted, hovering as easily in the rarefied air as an ocean vessel anchored jn the safety of its harbor, As Professor Markleson watched his stolen airship through powerful binoculars, tensed almost to the snapping point with excitement and undying hatred, he observed that the huge mon- ster of the skies lay aloft.with scarcely.a movement. He saw a tiny object detach itself from the “Gelly of the glistening hulk and plunge earthward. He watched its downward descent until it vanished behind a screen of trees, Expecting momen- tarily to hear the crashing roar of high explosives, he sat in tense suspense, scarcely breathing. But no such explosion echoed :to his ears. It was just another of the Sky Rulet’s sensational messages, though how it tead he could. not know, He manipulated the range gauge on the -binoculars. and brought the silvery hulk even closer, He thought hé saw a movement on the control deck through the transparent fore- ward band. But he was not certain, Then another missile dropped suddenly from the great craft, With an increasing whistle it approached the earth, straight down. Was if an- other message, or had “the Sky Ruler become enraged at the delay in sending up the blimp that was-to deliver to him ex- actly ten million in gold bullion? = Hardly had Professor Marklegon dropped a hand to signal to young Jack Reeves, who sat at the rheostat controls of the Magnetic Ray Projector, when the echo of a tetrific explosion rent his ears. The roar stunned him for an instant as his hand dropped. The-earth- seemed to tremble under the thunderous concussion and-he saw a mass of swirling debris and dust ris- ing ‘scarcely a mile away. ACK REEVES, sitting at the controlling instruments nestl- ing under the base of the projection tower on the car, bent over the apparatus instantly, His nimble fingers twisted a series of rheostat control dials, and the gyroscopic. drim on top of the tower began to move in a-Slow rotating motion. He touched the gyrostat dial, and the drum, like a huge, rownd- backed searchlight, began to rotate on its jointed axis with an ominous whirring, Back and forth, up and over it swung, until suddenly it stood rigid with-a jerk. What Marldeson saw through his binoculars caused him to let out an excited yell. At once he was surrounded by a group