Air Wonder Stories, May 1930 — page 67: what you’re looking at

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

THE SKY RULER of army officers who concentrated their attention upon- the shining hulk far above. But Jack Reeves remained at -his post, up and made a dash for the car, Stooping low he literally hurled ‘himself under it, bumping his shoulder on the platform. bent over the controlling apparatus which to a layman would 7 With a numbed hand he grasped-a contact-wire that hung loose ~ hhaye seemed nothing more than an ordinary box-radio, with its dials exposed to him. ‘The Sky Urchin, floating lazily in the higher reaches, ap- peared to snap its glistening nose slightly earthward with a jerk as it-some visible hand had pulled it! Its tail-shot up at — a forty degree angle with a suddenness that astounded even Professor Markleson himself, The scientist, through his. glass, concentrated this gaze upon the foreward insulation band. Through it he could see indistinguishable figures darting about in’ bewilderment. As though held captive by an invisible leash Ses to a bull ring on the end of its pike-like snout, the Sky Urchin stood rigid with its nose on an angle, pointing di- rectly -at the drum atop the projection tower! Tnvisible-as—it was, Professor Markleson knew. that the magnetic. tay had drawn the Sky Urchin’s. nose within its in- fluence to be held in an. ubreakable grip to the end of the beam! But somehow they had overlooked the possibility of the grip, being broken‘by a sudden splurge of power from the ship’s proptilsion. rockets. From behind the Sky Urchin there came siddenly a- terrific roar. A score of long, yellow jets of flame shot from its ex- hausts. With a recoil ‘that threatened to rip it to ‘pieces, the craft lurched earthward with a terrific force. Then with a startling abruptness that must have hurled its: crew in all di- rections, its rapid descent was checked, while its tail began to swing around in-great circles.. Under the tremendous power that must-have emanated from the exhausts, the Sky Urchin spun around, with its nose held like a captive fish, desperately secking its freedom. Professor Markleson let go his binoculars. They. dangled at the end-of a loop:slung around his neck. He danced with glee and- yelled like a madman, Even the army officers—vyeterans —all seemed elated; their faces were wreathed with smiles. But then something happened that was unforeseen by the vic- forious group around Markleson. Caught Again! - HEN the flat car. bearing the Magnetic Ray Projector had left the American Institute Jaboratory, it had rolled over a hastily laid track in the center of which was-a high-tension ~third-rail to supply the apparatus with the necessary voltage, There came stddenly a blinding flash of high potential” elec- tricity from tnderneath the flat car.. Instantly the projection machine went ont of commission, Then under full force of -its driving exhausts the great Sky Urchiw ‘shot like a falling comet toward the earth, Stunned-and foolish, the scientist and the officers stood still, too much awed to move as the glisten- ing hulk bore down upon them. It roared through. the heavens Jike some tremendots- terrestrial monster, traveling on an angle that would: carry it scarcely more than a few thousand feet above: them. With a disheartened groan Professor Markleson threw him- self. flat on the ground, in an éffost to escape death: by cre- imation from the blazing wake of the oncoming menace, With ‘his face buried in his hands he lay there tense, as the hissing roar increased above him tntil he felt that the Sky Urchin could not be more than a mile away. He expected moment- arily to feel the flame from its exhausts scorching his flesh to ashes. He pictured the end—the stark ruination of the Magnetic Ray~ Projector! His mind whirled with scenes of death and destruction. Then he cursed himself for-a blithering idiot for not having: jumped at once underneath the flat car to learn the cause of the disaster. He shot a glance at the Sky Urchin. It had now flattened on even keel and was hurtling across the sky some 10,000 feet up, is exhausts driving it to full velocity as though the pilots were endeavoring to. escape with their lives. Instantly he leapt d away from its shoe. Careful lest he-touch bare.copper or steel, he plunged the wire onto the rail amid a shower of crackling green sparks, At once he discovered that the wire had jumped-from its socket-in the shoe: that traced the- rail. Wasting valuable seconds-he jammed the bare end of the. cable into’ the socket, gave it an extra shove and rolled away from it. He-sat- up on the ground well away from the car and rubbed his smarting eyes, If he had ever faced death- in all his life, he had certainly confronted it under. the car. But he had no time to realize the-fact.. It was-a humane act of Providence that he escaped without more than stinging eyes as the result of the high-tension flashes and spark showers! Young Jack Reeves, sitting at the controls of his invention, cast_a frightened glance at his benefactor, But he ‘refused to quit his post. Aware that the current-had once again thrown his-magnetic beam into the air, he concentrated immediately upon the rheostats. Above him swung the drum in rapid, spas- modic rotation, projecting. its-invisible magnetic beam into the ~ heavens, nervously searching like a searchlight for its’ objec- tive. He twisted the rheostats with tense, bloodless: fingers, in- creasing. the range of the beam to near capacity. The Sky Urchix had vanished into the distant skies, yet not so far but that the beam, with the speed of light, caught up with it. The young scientist: gave a yell when the projector stood suddenly rigid, facing the direction which the monster of the air had taken, He threw on full power at once and the apparatus hummed with a terrific. throb, E touched a button switch that threw into action the re- traction units, Glancing at the range dials he saw the indicator slowly pushing toward. zero, He grasped a dial eagerly and increased the retraction until the indicator swung over its orbital course more rapidly, The drum-like projector, shooting its invisible magnetic ray, faced the east, rigid and taut. With a joyous shout he leapt down off’ the car and dashed to Professor Markleson's side. The scientist. was- dusting his clothing. In his eagerness Jack grabbed him brtsquely and swung him around “We've got her!’ he yelled, pointing eastward. “We've got her where she can’t break loose!” * Professor Markleson lifted his binoculars eastward. Sure enough, the Sky Urchis-hung low in the distant heavens. like a huge fish hooked by the tail to an invisible line! Slowly, very slowly, she: was being drawn, tail first; back toward the pro- jection tower} He handed. the glasses to his understudy, Reeves.‘stared at the captive for-a long minute. and thenreturned them, his face drawn tight with excitement and anticipation, Held on the tip. of the powerful beam, the Sky Urchin was being-auto- matically returned | “Better take a look at the cable on the third-rail. shoe, son!” the scientist advised tensely. “I-don’t know how well I jammed it in! We-don't want it-to pull loose again, If it does, we're sunk |” “Pfl look at it, sir¥’ the young scientist replied. He crawled under the flat car at once, returned toa tool chest, picked out a hammer and again disappeared. There came the tythmic thuds of hammer blows. Professor. Markleson looked again at the captive ship. She wes mttch- nearer now and no longer did yellow flame.sear the sky. She seemed to have given up the fight, but the scientist felt that the-desperate crew was not yet ready to lay down itsarms and surrender, He smiled grimly as he watched Jack Reeves climb again to his post on the flat car, Brilliant-young man, that Jack Reeves!—he said to him- self. He turned to.the officers, “Tine your guns on the Sky Urchin, gentlemen,” he said. (Continued on page 1036) =<omicbo