Air Wonder Stories, May 1930 — page 70: what you’re looking at

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

with the liquid. air, Automatic pressure escapes had been pro- vided as well. The projectile was a graceful, streamlined craft some three hundred feet in length. Cigar-shaped, it had'a maximum beam and depth of thirty feet, The. magnesium alloy of which it was constructed was the strongest yet lightest metal developed for aircraft building, The craft had a series of rocket tubes for propulsion These were arranged in various sizes near the stern, They were operated in sets, the small ones for a cruising speed that could be regulated: for a minimum of a few miles an hour, and the larger ones firing with great rapidity to provide the maximum of eleven hundred miles a minute.* And now. the long-awaited day had come. Tonight the two friends were to set out in an effort to reach Mars. Naturally, the annotmcement of their plans had caused a stir. throughout the world. Scientists were not in agreement as to the outcome of the venture, Some believed Dr. Fry could take his craft through space on an interplanetary voyage and return to the Earth, Others doubted the possibilities of the-projectile on such a stupendous undertaking. They: sought to dissuade Dr. Fry, whom they: regarded as the foremost scientist living and there- fore a man too valuable to civilization to justify the taking of such. chances. But Fry was obdurate, and so was Randolph, They were determined to start on the great adventure of which they had dreamed for years, Entering into the plans of the two men had been a computa- ‘tion in higher mathematics suchas was practiced by the as- _tronomers of the day, The projectile, moving at terrific speed, had first to be aimed with the greatest precision. Success de- pended on angular reckoning. Dr. Fry, as astronomer, physicist and mathematician, was second in this to no man alive, Re- -peatedly he had gone over his figures, and always his findings had been the same. Both Fry and Randolph believed the chance for success was worth the risk and the effort. The projectile had been tried and tested. Its speed was definitely known, Fry knew. it would es- cape the atmosphere of the Earth and overcome gravitational pull, And then, carefully aimed and. headed straight -for. Mars, at maximum speed and under gyroscopic control, he believed it would continue without deviation from-its course; The hour for the departure had come. Streaks of flame illumined the night sky, They were off! The winking lights of St. Louis dimmed rapidly as. the projectile rose swiftly to the upper air level, its rocket tubes emitting blasts that roared mo- mentarily and then became hushed to a low- drone. With the delicate instruments he had perfected, Dr, Fry: aimed the shell with the greatest precision at a definite point in the heavens, He knew that when he got to that place Mars would have moved thereto meet them. CHAPTER II Rushing Through Space S the projectile rushed through space, the two men moved leisurely about; for there was nothing- for them to do. "In addition, the projectile was provided with other-sets of tubes vertically placed beneath the craft to give it the buoyancy desired, No lifting gas waa-required, And there were other s¢ts of tubes through which ‘atomje° energy ‘Could be. released, but these were for the “-projectile'a protection ngainst. possible foes, This power was absolutely. blasting in its. destructive force, a disintegrating weapon more annihilating than any the world had ever -seen.. The projectile was-provided with ‘ailerons, -but these were for steer- ing only in:the atmosphere, Gyrosoopie control had been provided to keep the shell on its course in empty space. In addition, since the craft’s interior was to be occupied, a third inner shell had been uscd as.a lining, Powerful pumps maintained & vacuum between. it and’ the shell that-enclosed ‘the liquid air: Thus insulation was provided to protect*the cooling element against interior heating for warmth, AIR WONDER STORIES -But- what matter? It was the great adventure! The great shell of tough metal found no resistance here. It had cleared the atmosphere of the Earth with sufficient velocity to overcome gravitational pull, and they were speeding along now with the globe rapidly diminishing in size. Absolute zero did not affect them: Dr: Fry called Randolph's attention to the thermometer. It stood'at 72 degrees Fahrenheit inside the great shell. Outside, the scientist knew, it was abso- lute zero, a cold which is not exceeded in all the cosmic scheme, Randolph looked up to find the eyes of his friend upon him, — Neither showed the slightest concern, Unlike as two men - could be, they yet had in common the dauntless spirit of adyen- ture. ‘They ‘had realized, of course, that. they dared oblivion. Times had changed with the advancement of ‘science, and they had risen equal to the occasion, They were men to dare oblivion, eager for the chance, “Satisfied, Leonard?” asked Randolph, his, tone indicating that he knew what the answer would be. “Perfectly.” “And-so am I.” Dr. Leonard Fry was aman a little above medium height and of compact;-athletic build. Randolph, who knew him well, believed he had no nerves, no fear of anything in existence, The scientist's gray eyes were clear and steady as he looked into the void-through which they were-rushing, His high, wide forehead, from which his dark hair swept back, showed no lines of worry. His sensitive mouth reflected a smile of confidence, and his color was heightened by the thrill of the adventure he had dared, He reclined in an easy chair, apparently as comfortable’as if he had sat in his apartment discussing plans with his friend. Here, thought Randolph, was concentrated the ultimate of human force in this one man, who at thirty-five easily led the scientific world, Everything about him suggested power, mental resource, courage, daring, will; His confidence in himself, as Randolph knew, was so limitless that he might have been con- — sidered the foremost egotist alive, but his friend had long ago found: denial of this in the fact that Leonard Fry had. always succeeded. There lay the proof that he knew, and. knew that he knew, "You have no regrets, Randolph, old fellow?” Fry was turn- ing the pages of a book. Randolph noted that his friend’s grace- ful but powerful hands were as steady as a man’s could be. There was no netvousness here, “None,” answered Randolph, “Andif I had—” he merely waved his hand toward the projectife’s stern to indicate his complete dismissal of what they had left behind them, ANDOLPH was the yotinger by two years and a man of great size, Six feet four inches in height and weighing nearly two hundred and fifty pounds, he yet appeared slender, so symmetrical were his proportions and so graceful his car- tiage. He was a flaxen-haired, square-jawed, big-boned, elemen- tal man, descendant-of explorers, adventurers. and -pioneers through many generations, Behind him had been’ conquests of such importance that, long before Dr, Fry: had discovered the sectet of atomic power, he was regarded throughout America asa dominating force in business. Henry Randolph was every inch a commander,a natural, born master of men and situations. In business. he-had occupied a place equal-to that won by hisvfriend in the scientific world, He ~was a practical~and hard-headed- man, but withal he was a dreamer and an adventurer too, a man in whom the extremes of fact and’ fancy met and were bound together. Long. since thesé two men had discovered and appreciated the strength of the appeal each made to the-other. Their na- tures were, so to speak; synchronized, attined with such a close approach to perfection that: what one lacked:the other ‘supplied. They were not alike, Indeed they were strong in contrast in all except the quality of determination, each possessed in about icomicbooks:con