THE TERMINAL CITY
After rising into the air, Bob circled our field while Johnny called
the Earth. Contact has been made and Johnny is describing our trip to
the people on Earth, giving them a bird's-eye view of the Moon as we
fly over it.
"We are straightening out in the same direction we took on our first
flight from here. We have crossed the brush-forest and are heading up
the valley. The little fishing lake is like a large mirror reflecting
skyward. Our friends in the village waved in greeting to us as we flew
over their homes towards the mountain range lying a short distance
beyond. Extending from about half way up these mountains into the
snowclad peaks is a heavy growth of timber. It looks as if there could
be rather large trees growing here instead of the brush growth of the
forest in the warmer section."
"We have flown five hundred miles straight north from the light side
into the dark side, flying over the top of the Moon, as it were. The
mountains have grown constantly higher and more rugged the deeper we
penetrated into the dark area, until Bob had to rise to forty thousand
feet for safe flying."
"A deep valley lies below us, flanked on either side by ridges of
snowcapped mountains towering to an elevation of thirty-two thousand
feet. These peaks are bleak and uninviting, yet could easily be
a challenge to the adventurous mountain climber, much like the
Himalayan Mountains of Earth. We have been unable to sight villages
or settlements of any kind for a long time now and the valley below
gives us the feeling of unexplored territory, as though no man had yet
penetrated its vastness."
"Bob has turned slightly East now for in the distance he has noticed
something bright deep down below, as though a lake of water might be
hidden somewhere there in that heavy growth of timber and chaparral.
Through our glasses we make sure it is water but we will have to lower
a little into the valley to learn more about it. It is a wide, roaring
river flowing from the north and filled with many heavy rapids. It
seems to disappear right into the Moon earth for we saw no trace of it
farther down in the valley."
"A high mountain suddenly loomed up in front of us so we had to rise
sharply. As we rose, we noticed a large waterfall pouring over the side
of the mountain. These falls are really beautiful as the waters drop
over a deep crescent ledge into the river below, rising again a hundred
feet or more in a hazy mist. We are going to circle them once more to
get a better look at them. They are far greater than the Niagara Falls."
"On the top of the mountain and feeding the falls is another wide
and bubbling river racing over the rocks and boulders. This looks as
though it could be the beginning of the river we saw back there in the
valley."
"Wait awhile, there is something else ahead of us in the distance.
It looks like a big lake that might be the source of this river. The
closer we get to it, the bigger it gets. This might be an ocean for we
can't see across it. There is water as far as we can see. Bob has had
to change our course and turn to the north, flying above this ridge of
mountains for we surely don't want to cross any ocean, not knowing how
big it is, but we will stay right along the shore of the water."
"We have flown fifteen hundred miles and Bob is continuing to fly at
an altitude of forty thousand feet. Way off in the distance and to the
east is another high ridge of snowcapped mountains that seem to be
bordering this water line, so this is not an ocean but it is a vast,
vast lake we are flying around whose waters must come from the melting
of the snow on these high encircling mountains."
"Bob is keeping to his northerly direction and we are flying over
another high ridge of snowcapped mountains. Nestled on a plateau about
ten thousand feet above the floor of the valley, we see what looks like
a community or city. Bob is lowering into the valley to get a better
look. We are down to twenty-five thousand feet, now fifteen thousand,
now only a thousand feet above the town or village."
"There are no tall buildings here, nothing over one story. All have
peak roofs with chimneys from which smoke is coming, so they must use
something like coal for their heating. This is the first time we have
seen smoke since we have been on the Moon. The roadways between the
dwellings are wide, well worn and seem to be well cared for, but not
paved. A narrower road winds out of the village and down the mountain.
As we circle this village, people come out of their dwellings into the
roadways and look up at us. These people appear to be somewhat shorter
than other Moonalites we have met thus far, and very dark. I am afraid
we won't be able to land and meet these people for there doesn't seem
to be a level cleared spot anywhere in these mountains large enough for
us to land on."
"The chieftain says this must be the place from which a stranger
sometimes comes to his village, since we haven't seen any other
settlement on the way here."
"We have risen again to forty thousand feet and as we cross the ridge
of mountains beyond the valley in which we just found the village,
we see another tall peak ahead of us glistening brilliantly but it
doesn't seem to be snow. It may be ice, a glacier. Bob is heading
that way and he has to keep rising to get above it. We are flying at
fifty-two thousand feet altitude and are only three thousand feet
above that peak. It is a glacier! That ice certainly looks cold. Just
looking at it makes us cold here in the ship. The temperature graph
gives a reading of eighty-eight degrees below zero. This district must
correspond with our polar regions on Earth."
"Bob has swung slightly east but our compass indicates south by east
now instead of north as it has been, although we have not made such a
turn. We must have flown completely over the top of the Moon and are
going down the other side. We are two thousand miles from our starting
point and the graph has been showing gradually warming atmosphere as we
have got farther away from that glacier peak."
"The territory on this side is very similar to that we flew over before
reaching the glacier, only we haven't seen any other villages clinging
to the sides of the mountains or lying on the floor of the valleys. We
have seen a couple of rivers dropping over the sides of mountains on
this side but they seem to have their source up in the snowcaps and
branch off in various directions. There have been no other beautiful
falls that we have seen on this side such as we found before reaching
the glacier."
"Now at twenty-five hundred miles from our home base, the Moon surface
beneath us has definitely changed. The mountains are much lower but
still rugged, with fertile, rolling valleys lying between the ranges.
The only snowcaps we can see are at a great distance behind us. The
atmosphere is much warmer, the graph indicating a temperature of sixty
degrees above zero and Bob has lowered so that we are flying at ten
thousand feet."
"We see water ahead of us, a lot of it like another lake or maybe this
might be an ocean. This body of water stretches out until it seems to
drop right over the horizon. As we cross the last ridge of mountains
before reaching the water, we see a wide sandy beach stretching along
the water's edge. Bob is turning and flying above the beach for we
don't want to start flying over this body of water either, at least
not until we find out what it is and how large."
"Not far ahead of us and right on the beach are two rows of buildings,
all in line and built in box-type design. This must be a resort or
playground of some kind for we see people playing in the sands and some
are swimming in the water. This is certainly a picturesque spot with
the vast body of water sparkling in the sunlight, the people enjoying
the relaxation of the beach and the swimming and in the background the
low ridge of mountains over which we last flew, that seem to slope
right down into the water."
"At George's suggestion, Bob has changed his course and we are again
crossing the low ridge of mountains a short distance from this big body
of water. We hope that somewhere in this area we will find more and
larger cities in which we may land and visit. We are about fifty miles
farther up the shore than where we first crossed the ridge."
"Our hopes were well founded for we find ourselves coming in directly
over a large city built in the valley. We have lowered until we are
now only one thousand feet above the city and circling it, looking
for a landing field. All the buildings here are white and seem to be
very tall. People are on the sidewalks and out in open spots looking
up at us. This place looks large enough to have a population of half a
million, or more. If we find an airport we are going to land, for this
city looks interesting. It is much larger than the one we visited where
the big telescope is and where we met the Martonians, so there should
be an airport somewhere if we can only find it."
"We have circled the city twice already and haven't yet located a
landing field. Wait awhile, George sees a large open area in the
distance where we might land safely. Bob is heading that way to take
a look. This must be their airport for we see five, six, twelve ships
standing on the ground. There is a tower in the center of the field
about a hundred and fifty feet high which is probably their signal
tower. We are circling the field, hoping for a signal but what kind,
we don't know just what to expect. Now a very brilliant light is being
flashed from the tower but we don't understand what it means. There
is no beam such as was given us at the other landing field and our
chieftain friend suggests maybe it is being flashed to let us know they
have seen us. Bob continues to circle in air until he gets something
more definite. Oh, Oh, there now! They threw out a beam of light, first
towards us then dropped it to the ground and centered it on one spot as
though that is where we are to land. This field, like the one in the
other city, has no landing strips but this entire area looks so smooth
and well cared for that an airship could land on any spot safely. The
light beam is being held steadily on the spot first indicated, so Bob
is straightening out and lowering so that we can land there."
"We are on the ground. Bob made a beautiful landing and we have stopped
right in the center of the light beam. The doors of our ship are opened
and we are about to get out."
"Here comes a group of men running towards our ship, white, pretty
much like our chieftain, all wearing gowns. They are jabbering
something but we don't understand what it is. It sounds pretty much
like we have heard before, though."
"The chieftain is getting out of the ship first and they are greeting
him with much enthusiasm. He is shaking hands and talking with them. It
seems their language is the same as his. He seems to be telling them
who we are and where we came from, for our ship is very different from
any on this field."
"We are going to break contact with the Earth for we are leaving the
ship now."
Our chieftain and the group of men he has been talking with have
finished their conversation and have turned to us. They grab our hands,
shaking them vigorously, so I guess he must have told them about us.
They are going to take us some place. We don't know where, but we are
on our way.
We see a man here in a uniform, two of them. They are going to one of
the ships here on the field.
We told the chieftain we would like to meet them and asked him if he
could arrange an introduction.
He spoke to the airport officials, and they are taking us all over to
this ship where the uniformed men are.
These ships don't look like the one we saw before, in the other city,
which was the Martonian ship. They are different looking, different
insignias. There are two types here. All of them measure around five
hundred feet in length. Oh! there is one we see out there that is about
a thousand feet long.
We have reached the ship for which we were headed and have been
introduced to the pilots. Our curiosity about that big ship is
consuming us so we are going to ask these men about it, if it is as
large as it looks to us.
One of the pilots tells us that it is twelve hundred feet long and is
capable of carrying seven hundred passengers besides the crew, with all
provisions for three months cruising. He said he would like to take us
into it to look it over, but it isn't his ship. The big ship belongs to
the Venetians, while these pilots are from planet Jupiter.
We asked if the Martonian ships ever stopped here.
They replied, "Yes, but there are none present."
Now they are turning towards their ship and inviting us to enter. It
is a lot smaller than any of the other ships on the field, with the
exception of ours.
Inside it has a lot of instruments, very much like the Martonian ship
which we have previously described. But in the cabin we see something
outstandingly different. Here is a picture of a person who resembles
male and female, very beautiful with a magnificent expression which
we have no words to describe. It is a portrait of only the head and
shoulders of a person around twenty-eight years of age. A crown of
jewels rests upon its head and a key made of pearl is upon its chest.
We asked who this was, as we thought it might be the ruler of Jupiter.
In surprise, we were asked, "Why, don't you know?"
We answered, "no. Isn't it the ruler of Jupiter?"
Thoughtfully and with much love and reverence, yet with a feeling of
inexpressible joy, they replied, "yes. But He is also the ruler of your
Earth, and of infinite space. He is what you call God on Earth, and the
Creator of all things, to us the Supreme All Intelligence."
And on their uniforms they had the same picture as an insignia, and on
their caps they had a cupid with wings supported by clouds.
They told us that every home, everybody, and every ship has this
insignia on Jupiter. There is not an act performed on Jupiter that the
presence in mind is not the presence of the All Supreme Ruler.
Then they changed the subject and told us that this ship of theirs
was capable of travelling from one million to two and a half million
miles per hour. In it they had space for provisions and all that was
necessary for the comfort of passengers for a twelve month cruise
through space, if that was desired. But they didn't mention how many
passengers they could thus accommodate.
In case of breakdown, they could repair their ships in space,
having mechanics with them for that purpose. They told us that all
ships of interstellar space travelling were built to hover in space
indefinitely, if they wanted to.
Here we asked if any of them ever crashed through mechanical breakdowns.
Their response was, that so far as they knew, all such ships were
foolproof. They continued that some sixty thousand years previously,
when interstellar space travelling was first undertaken, there had been
many crashes, but all that has long ago been overcome and now there is
never a crash.
These pilots from Jupiter are around five feet, six inches tall and
very alert.
We asked them if they were the general height of the people on Jupiter.
They replied that the majority of the people on their planet were
around five feet, eleven inches to six feet tall, but for ships they
had a uniform law of picking men of their height. Of course, all of
this was given to us by the white chieftain through signs, for he
could understand what these men from Jupiter were saying. He acted as
our interpreter, and we must say right here and now that one thing
we marvelled at, these native people, like the chieftain, were very
capable in transferring information through the sign language. And we
ourselves didn't do so bad at understanding it, either.
We are about to get a surprise, I see. All eyes are turned to four men
coming our way. They are very tall, we would say they are about six
feet, six inches.
These men have now reached our group and are shaking hands with the two
Jupiter pilots with whom we have been visiting. Our Jupiter friends
seem to be telling them about us.
These men also are wearing uniforms but their insignia is different
than all the others we have seen. It is of three wings in the center of
which is a body that looks like a large bird, yet represents a ship,
while the insignia on their caps is of our solar system with the sun
and all the planets with their satellites.
The new arrivals speak a different language than any we have
previously heard, yet the pilots from Jupiter understand it, as also
does our chieftain friend, who tells us that these men are Venetians,
pilots of the big ship.
Being thus introduced, the Venetians shake our hands warmly. They are
very friendly. In appearance they look more like men out of a dream
than humans like ourselves. Their body structure is like ours, yet the
texture of their skin is almost like that of a baby. Their hands are
long and slender, rather delicate in structure, more like a woman's
than a man's, yet their grasp is firm and strong. They are blondes
with a very, very rosy complexion. Their eyes are blue with a cast of
purple in them, very penetrating while at the same time expressing a
sparkle of joyous enthusiasm. Their forms as a whole are exquisite for
males. They really are more beautiful, if we may use this word, than
the average beautiful woman on Earth. This is an out of the ordinary
conception of a male. From what we can get of the conversation they are
carrying on with the Jupiter pilots, they seem to be very alert and
brilliant.
If all the men on Venus are like these, we find ourselves wondering
what their women folks are like. So we ask them if they have any
photographs of their women folks, for we would like to see what they
are like.
They said, "no. We have nothing like that. But if you would like, we
will take you to our ship and let you see what it looks like."
This was a rather surprising turnoff and we must admit to a certain
amount of disappointment, for we surely would have liked to have seen
what the women on Venus looked like, after meeting these men from
there. But anyway, they are going to show us this giant ship of theirs,
and that is something.
Here the pilots from Jupiter shake our hands again and leave, while the
Venetians take us to their ship. It is really a marvel. It seems to
have three skins, or bodies, a body upon a body, with a space of four
inches between them, from what we would judge. All around the ship,
they have what looks to us like little ventilators. We asked, what was
the purpose of the three bodies and the ventilators?
One of the pilots tells us that these little ventilators can be opened
or closed, as desired, according to the conditions encountered in
travel. He said, that flying from the Moon to Venus, about half way on
the journey they encounter very light air. Going through this light air
at a speed better than three million miles per hour, they are able to
draw in air through these ventilators and convert it into conditioning
of the ship for proper breathing purposes. No matter how light the air
is found to be, the movement of the ship and air being drawn through
these ventilators, the ship is so equipped that they can adjust the
air condition within the ship to any pressure suitable for breathing
purposes. They carry no oxygen or anything of any kind with them for
the purpose of breathing. The ship takes care of this through the
ventilators.
We asked them if monoxide gas or something equivalent to it would enter
more than the oxygen they required.
The reply was that the ship was so equipped that it took care of that,
for it had what we would call a filter system in it.
The purpose of the three walls, casing over casing, as we would say,
making the body of the ship, also enabled it to withstand heavier
pressures, if they should encounter them, which might otherwise be
dangerous to the ship, besides withstanding any intense heat, as well
as intense cold.
Here another of the four pilots spoke up, telling us there are stratas
they go through which are terrifically cold, yet don't affect the
interior of the ship, and other stratas which are hot, terrifically
hot, that don't affect the interior of the ship.
Now they are taking us inside the ship. We are really confronted with a
myth. We have never seen so many instruments. We wonder how one man can
ever handle all these instruments while piloting this big ship.
So we ask.
We are told that it takes four pilots to operate this ship. Each man
has a set of instruments that he constantly watches. All four of these
units, which takes four pilots, are so synchronized that in reality
only one pilot operates the ship. Now one of the pilots is starting a
motor in the tail end of the ship. All he did was press a button and
the motor went into action.
Here in the front of the ship is a screen, something like a moving
picture screen, twenty-four inches square. The pilot who started the
motor tells us that the screen is focused to Venus and he is now
smiling, as he tells the chieftain to tell us that since we asked about
the ladies, he is going to show some of them to us now.
They picked this scene at random, and here on the screen we see a very
beautiful city. The city fades out and just one little section is
brought to the front on the screen. We see several children, some men
and quite a few ladies in this group, and are they beauties! They are
almost angelic in type, from what the screen shows. We are lost for
words to describe them, for one couldn't even dream of such a beauty,
let alone to see it, as we are now. We believe that there is no artist
on Earth, no matter how great, that could paint these Venetian ladies
as exquisite as they are. They really are breathtaking. We have seen
pictures of an artist's conception of angels which are beautiful, but
these women, and the folks in general, are far greater in beauty and
expression than any artist has ever been able to paint. And what little
we saw of the city before it was caused to disappear, it was something
like dream castles in the sky.
Seeing these things really makes us want to travel and travel. Seeing
these magnificent planets and the wondrous creations of the Creator,
we are beginning to feel that we would like to stay up here and visit
these places and never return to Earth, where we came from. Life is so
different, so beautiful, harmonious, and joyous, and the individuals
so kind, the word refinement doesn't do them justice. It makes us feel
that we haven't yet begun to live. And if there is any heaven, it makes
us feel this is it. We begin to question ourselves, "why haven't we
been born here instead of where we were?"
We are now taken through the ship. This ship carries a crew of thirty,
passenger load of seven hundred and a freight load of fifty tons. Our
pilot guide tells us this ship is obsolete, that on the next trip he is
coming in in a brand new ship of great improvements.
By the way, all the ships we have seen here on the Moon so far, are
freighters, and this one is mostly a freighter. Yet outside and in the
interior, they are built so fine that they excel any luxury ship that
man has ever built on Earth. We wonder what their really passenger
ships look like, since these are so beautiful and have so much comfort
in them.
This ship is so equipped that seven hundred passengers and the entire
crew can actually sleep in it as comfortably as if they were in a
luxurious hotel.
There is a very beautiful diner here in which one hundred people, maybe
more, can be seated at the same time. That is what we judge. Adjoining
the diner is a kitchen fully equipped for handling all the needs of
passengers and crew on any length trip they take.
Within this ship is everything that might be thought of by man in the
way of safety, communication system and comfort, as well as certain
types of recreation. It could easily be called a flying village.
The pilots are now calling the crew. They are using screens over the
ship in calling them, and here comes the crew. The pilots are talking
with them. Now they are all going into the ship and seem to be taking
their positions. One of the pilots tells the chieftain they are going
to take us all up for a short trip through space to show us how their
ship operates, if we would like to go.
We are delighted.
Here we go! The run we made in starting up was more than four thousand
feet. Remember, the ship is twelve hundred feet long. Now we are in the
air! This ship has no wings. It is a bullet type and makes no noise of
any kind. We are travelling through space like a streak of light. The
ventilators have been opened and one of the pilots is manipulating an
instrument board. We are beginning to feel a difference in the air.
They are heading for upper stratosphere and here on the screen is shown
a fine line ahead of the ship, just like a highway. One of the pilots
tells us this is like the light they follow to Venus or to any other
planet. The ship is actually operating by the energy of light, which is
the only fuel it uses for propulsion.
We looked forward and saw no light ahead anywhere.
Quickly we were told, "naturally your physical eyes could not see this
fine invisible light, but it is there, and only this screen shows it.
This is the beam by which we are travelling. Since we are not heading
for our homeland, this light beam is just one of the suns in space,
so-called stars. Just now we are headed for nowhere. If we were going
home, the screen would show the reflected light of our planet, by which
we would travel. Now we are going to show you something."
And they did. They set the controls on the ship and left their pilot
seats, then we all went back to the dining room where we were given a
drink of a liquid that tasted like mulberry juice only it was white,
and not intoxicating. All the time we were in the diner, the ship was
speeding at one and a half million miles per hour through space, yet we
were just as comfortable in it as if we were right at home. We were
told that they could continue travelling just this way, forever. The
only time they would stop would be when they reached the destination
from which the light was focused, or reflecting, which would be the end
of the light beam.
We asked them if they used any other fuel.
"Never. This is the only energy we use," was the answer.
Then we commented that they surely must be constructed slightly
different in body build than we are from the Earth, since our pressures
differ so much, our atmospheric conditions. How is it, that in this
ship we are made so comfortable, as if we were on Earth, and yet they
too are equally comfortable.
The reply was, "we have learned to adapt ourselves to atmospheric
pressures ranging from six pounds per square inch to twenty pounds per
square inch. Therefore, when the ventilators were adjusted to your
comfort, we, too, are comfortable."
Ever since we first saw this highway of light on the screen and were
told it was the light coming from a distant star, and the drawing power
by which this ship is travelling through space at such a terrific
speed, we have wondered what would happen when we had to turn around
to go back to the Moon. Now we are about to find out. Remember, the
ship is travelling forward at a speed of one and half million miles
per hour. The pilots are about to turn it around, which means they
will break the light beam which is straight ahead of us, that has been
furnishing the energy for propelling the ship forward. We have made the
turn now with the ship retaining its terrific speed, yet we felt no
break in the movement of the ship, except that it seemed to lower just
a little bit.
We watched the screen while the turn is being made and the fine line
of light which was shown in it before, has vanished. We have made a
complete turn now, and are heading back to the Moon. Now the light
appears on the screen again, but this time we are being pulled by the
Moon light, towards the Moon, instead of the star light we were riding
on before.
We asked, "what made the ship operate during the turn? Was it the speed
that made it continue on without being pulled by the light beam, or
what was it?"
The explanation given us was, that light energy was still being used
to propel the ship. During flight on a beam of light, excess energy is
stored up within the ship by means of mechanical devices. This is an
emergency supply and is sufficient to propel the ship for fifty million
miles without coming onto any beam anywhere, if such a condition should
ever arise. It is from this supply of light energy that their ships are
able to be turned around in space, as well as take off into the air
from a landing field, before they hook onto the light lane.
Now we have landed back on the Moon. This has really been a marvelous
experience, one that we can never forget any more than any of the
others.
Oh, Oh! We see a ship coming in, a monster, a lot bigger than the one
we were in just now. She is circling for landing. They are giving her
the signal light from the tower. Oh, we cannot mistake this one. We
know what it is without asking for it has the picture of its planet
right on it as an insignia. Yes, bet you have guessed by this time. It
is Saturn. Man! she takes up plenty of room, nearly the whole field.
At least it appears that way. Her design is quite different than any
we have seen before. She has a chisel type nose and a fan shape tail.
She has fins on her, something like fish, very close to the body. She
has landed very gracefully, and she also makes no noise. She is almost
alongside the Venetian ship and from what we can judge, is about five
hundred feet longer.
There! The doors open and here come out the pilots. There are about
forty men coming out of it, seems to be the whole crew. On their caps
is the same insignia of their planet as is on their ship, while on
their uniforms they have a sort of balances with wings, or what to us
represented a scale in balance.
They are looking us over. Our ship is not very far from here. They are
looking that way, too. Our ship looks like a baby in comparison to
these others and looks like an antique. We are almost becoming ashamed
of it.
These men are seven feet tall, or better. MMhmm, there is one who looks
like a nine footer. If we are to judge them from the weight on Earth,
they would weigh about two hundred fifty pounds each.
They are all going to this tower for some sort of a report, I believe.
The Venetian pilots are telling us that this is a cargo ship. It has
brought in the cargo they have been waiting for. They are going to load
their ship with it and take it to Venus. They also said they would
introduce us to the pilots from Saturn as soon as they completed their
reports.
So here come the Saturn men out of the tower and heading straight for
our group. Our Venetian friends are greeting them, and now they are
introducing us. The Saturn men give us a hearty laugh, saying that they
knew who we were long before they landed. And they said it was about
time for the Earth people to explore their solar system.
We immediately answered that they didn't do any too well either, since
they haven't visited the Earth themselves.
They said right away, "we knew you were going to give us that reply.
That is why we said what we did, so that we could give you a reason why
we haven't. There is really nothing to learn by going to the Earth.
We surely do not want to learn how to fight one another or to become
greedy, as the Earth people are, and that is about all you have to
offer. Do not forget, we know what is going on on your Earth planet all
of the time, for we have so developed our Creator's given talents that
we cannot be parted from any distance or any place. We can and do know
what is going on in any part of the vastness of the Creator's system.
We had an expedition at one time that wanted to come to Earth, but all
the people of Saturn forbade them on these grounds, that they might
accumulate some of the Earthly habits and then cause trouble among our
people after they returned."
They told us that we are considered among our neighbors as savage
people. We live off the miseries of each other. And it was a lot better
for us to venture out and learn something than it was for them to come
to Earth. Until the Earth's people could learn to live for each other,
instead of off of one another, by having pure faith in their Creator,
that no one of the other planets would care to come to visit them.
They said, "right now the Earth man is so insane that he is no longer
the man the Creator meant him to be. He hasn't room enough to fight
his own world, thereby destroying it bit by bit, along with the labors
of its people, but he is even now trying to get high enough above the
Earth to destroy it faster. In this he is not going to succeed, not at
least to the degree he expects."
"And you ask us to visit such insane people! We ourselves would have
to be insane to do that. We love our brothers wherever they may be
and whoever they may be, but we cannot support criminals against the
Creator, even though they have forgotten that they are all the children
of one Creator."
Here we interrupted, saying, "we do realize we are children of a
Creator. We know there is one God and we on the Earth are all born
because of Him."
The answer came immediately, and sharp, "you may acknowledge it in
words, but not in deeds. By your deeds you deny it, for you destroy
your brothers. Whatever a man takes up against his fellow beings, he
takes against his Creator, for the life that flows through any form is
not the life of the form, but the life of the Creator Himself. So the
present civilization of the Earth is hypocritical and blasphemers, for
by words they glorify Him but by their deeds they deny Him."
With this they turned and left us. They did not even invite us to look
through their ship as others have done.
One of the crew-men remained by the ship, and we asked him, "why did
they leave us?"
He answered that they would not show us any of their ship because they
knew the minds of Earthly men. That this ship could travel anywhere in
space with great ease, and if Earthly men got any ideas from the ship's
construction, he would use them for destruction, and might be even
Satan turned loose through space. That all the people on planet Saturn
knew this well, and they were guarding their secrets from such men as
Earth men. But once the Earth men have righted themselves and become as
their neighbors, they would be glad to reveal everything that might be
to the advancement of civilization.
And with this the crew man left us.
Now we were stunned. For the first time on this Moon plane, rebuked,
and we could not blame them when we realized what was what.
The Venetian pilots looked with sort of a smile upon us and said, "the
Saturn people are very just. They do know the mind of total universe
and do have the greatest advancement in such things as ships and
utilities in our whole solar system. We on Venus are of a very artistic
nature, while they are very mechanical, yet they use mechanics only for
the purpose of good for all inhabitants. And they are great worshippers
of Deity. While we are too, but we are from the art side. Everything
with us, and with them, must comply with the Creator's purpose, and
not against it. We here in this system have not one slightest thought
of evil, as you Earth men have, towards anything nor anyone, nor have
we any slightest thought towards anything or anyone of great good,
but rather, we live in the mind of eternal nature where every day
serves everyone, governed by the great Creator of all space. In Earthly
expression, we live in the absolute state of confidence called faith,
that we all will be taken care of at all time by Him who put us here,
and that He, and He alone is the only judge, if there be a judge,
that ever was or ever will be. Living this way, with that knowledge,
we know nothing of any crime of any nature except what we see through
the universal eyes upon Earth, which is criminal in all of its acts,
because it usurps the Creator's powers by pretension that it knows
better than the Creator, capable of judging when the Creator judges
not; finding fault with creation, which is finding fault with the
Creator who created that creation."
"There have been many great souls sent to Earth to teach the way of
life we live here, but each one of these has been destroyed by the
criminals which they came to save. You called them messiahs, masters,
and all sorts of names, but they have come from higher planes of life
to start the people of Earth on the right path of life. But they were
slain."
"Many centuries ago, after the last of our messengers, whom you call
Jesus, was crucified, we established this trade center here on your
Moon, and as you see, planes from many planets in our solar system
travel to and from here regularly. This was done with the hope that
some day men on Earth would so develop that they could see these ships
coming in and out from their own Moon and come here to investigate,
out of curiosity. Your race of people have developed machines through
which they have seen our ships flying, but they do not understand and
for the most part do not even believe what they are seeing. Knowing all
this, we can see no good that could be accomplished by one of our ships
going there."
"You can understand, too," they told us, "why the Saturn pilots would
not allow you to inspect their ship."
Before they left us, we asked, "how is it that you do not care to look
our ship over?" for we have noticed that the Martonians did not inspect
our ship either.
This is the answer we got.
"There is nothing of value or of great development about your ship that
would be of any enlightenment to people of other planets besides, none
of us care to enter the ship, since it has weapons of destruction in
it."
This was true. We did have weapons in our ship, but we asked why that
would make any difference for the weapons would not hurt them.
Their reply was that weapons of any kind belonged to a satanic power,
and that satan might overpower their intelligence. They would rather
stay away from him.
After telling us all this, they shook our hands in a very friendly
manner and left us.
We are now being taken for a tour of the city. There are many buildings
made of lava rock. The people here are of several races, but we cannot
tell the difference between them as far as behaviorism is concerned,
for there is no distinction. They are rather easygoing in all their
ways and seem to have great respect for one another, also for us. There
are towers in the city similar to our radar towers, yet they are not
radar. We are told they are an interstellar communication system, when
such communication is required.
Our reception here has been rather cool, we might say, in comparison
with other places we have visited. It must be because of the ships
of all of the planets meeting at this place. Or maybe it is our
imagination, because of the rebuke we have so recently received from
the Saturn pilots. Life here is different than in the city where
we met the Martonian ship, for this city is the hub, or center, of
interplanetary cargo exchange on the Moon.
But really we feel kind of let down and very small after the talks we
have gotten from these different ones. So we have decided to return to
our ship and start for our airfield where we first landed. This we did.
After we were in the air, the white chieftain said to us, "yes. All
that those fellows gave was strange, wasn't it?"
We replied, "yes and no."
We didn't have much to say, but he seemed to read our minds. We decided
on returning over a different route than we had come in on, more to
the south. All of a sudden we remembered that on coming into the city
we had wondered whether the big body of water on the other side of the
mountain ridge was a large lake or an ocean. We were going to inquire
about this while in the city, but due to our various experiences at
the airfield we had forgotten all about it. So now the only thing left
for us to do is to fly over it for a distance to get as good a view as
possible and thus find out for ourselves.
This must be an ocean. It seems to take in a vast area of the Moon,
extending beyond our vision and there are ships floating on the waters,
different than any ocean vessels on Earth but they are ships and very
large at that.
We decided not to try to cross it but to turn and fly along the shore
for a ways, about five hundred miles farther before starting back.
During this stretch we have seen quite a few settlements along the
shoreline. In the distance, with the aid of glasses, we can see what
appears to be another fair sized community. Bob has climbed to fifty
thousand feet that we might get a good perspective of the Moon. From
this altitude we can see quite a number of settlements. Some of them
appear to be about the same size of those we have already visited.
Everywhere on the dark side of the Moon there is plenty of water and
fertile land. There are many large settlements in the temperate zone
where the light side and the dark side meet, but few deep into the dark
side.
Now we return to our course flying at an altitude of between
thirty-five thousand and forty thousand feet. It is quite remarkable
the number of beautiful settlements in this section that we are flying
over, quite modernistic. In fact, in comparison, our modernism is
behind times.
We have flown one thousand miles since leaving the city we last
visited, but because of the circuitous route we have taken in
sight-seeing, we are only two hundred miles south of it when George
sights a very beautiful city. It looks more beautiful than any we have
seen so far. So Bob has lowered to get a better view of it.
It is built in a very large valley with mountains all around it,
snow covered mountains on one side and rocky jagged peaks on the other.
Here, for the first time, we are feeling a suction force pulling
the ship down towards the ground after we had lowered to fifteen
hundred feet above the city. We notice there isn't any place in this
entire valley that indicates a possible landing field for airships
and immediately realize the reason might be that this suction makes
aircraft landing dangerous. Bob has had to give our ship all she had to
pull out of this force and avoid crashing. We knew then that we could
not visit that city.
Reaching an altitude of forty thousand feet we continue on our way,
still flying in a southernly direction. After another three hundred
miles we find ourselves over the light side of the Moon. Continuing on
into this area for about three hundred miles we see a few cliff dweller
villages scattered here and there along the sides of the mountains, but
the rest of it is very barren and desolate. Our temperature graph shows
a heat of one hundred twenty degrees but George and Bob decided to
venture still farther south hoping to find some of the larger craters
seen from the Earth.
We have flown five hundred miles south of the temperate zone over the
light side of the Moon and here we have come upon the big crater, the
largest on the Moon. Here our graph registers a temperature of one
hundred forty degrees. Dr. Johnston wants to get a good closeup view
of this big crater, so Bob is lowering into it. A strange incident is
taking place. While we are over the big crater and circling it, our
instruments quit working. Bob has gained altitude and is crossing the
ridge of the crater to see what has happened. Now the instruments are
all working again. We tried this several times, each time with the
same results. We also noticed a strange vibration which must have been
caused by some sort of a radiation. It wasn't radioactivity for we have
instruments for that purpose, but whatever it was, it was strong enough
for us to distinctly feel. From our low elevation we can clearly see
the mountains within the crater as well as the sides of the crater and
they are purely volcanic, not meteoric. There is a lot of lava rock
lying all around. Then too, if a meteor had hit here the bottom of the
crater would be flat, at least partially flat. There wouldn't be any
mountains standing up within it. This same condition exists in all the
other craters we have seen.
According to the legends of the Moon which we have been told by the
natives, it seems that this side of the Moon had violent volcanic
eruptions in the long ago past, yet they weren't solely of lava either,
for the formations in some of these craters show a resemblance to
ground conditions in Yellowstone Park, which could have been hot water
craters at one time.
Now we are approaching another crater among the mountains pretty well
ahead. I don't believe it can be seen from the Earth with any telescope
for there are too many high mountains around it. This one has vapor,
like steam coming out of its center, yet we can see no water in it.
Here the graph registers a temperature of one hundred sixty degrees and
there is an indication of moisture in the atmosphere while up till now
the air has been entirely dry. In spite of the intense heat we would
land now, if we could, just to investigate this crater. There is a
large plateau which looks as though it might be sand but it is dotted
with jagged rocks six to ten feet high. Neither George nor Bob believe
that we could successfully land. So we will have to let this one go by.
The chieftain tells us that water is there, very hot water, and that
which we see is steam coming out of the crater. According to their
history, there was water in all these craters at one time that was hot.
This bore out what we thought it was.
He says there still are occasional heavy eruptions upon this side of
the Moon. That is why nobody ever settles here.
The only time it is possible to explore this side is during the night;
in other words, when the sun is not shining here as it is right now.
Making their trips afoot, Moonalite explorers have succeeded in
exploring nearly this whole territory. This is the section where many
beautiful gems have been found. An exploring party after travelling
during a fairly cool night, knowing a hot day is breaking, dig
themselves caves within which they stay during the heat of the day.
Then they can continue on their way when night approaches again. In
that way they have explored most of the desert sections, as they call
this side of the Moon.
We have finally landed on our original field and are going to rest for
awhile.
Before taking our rest, though, Jimmy contacted the Earth again and is
telling them in a very few words of our experiences on this last trip
including the sort of rebuke we were given by the men from Saturn. He
also tells them that while we haven't fully made up our minds about
returning, we have at least thought of doing so for it seems as though
we have come to an end of a trail.
Of course we must check over our ship and our fuel supply as well,
before deciding definitely whether it be a trip back to the Earth or
some other place. After a thorough check, we decided it wouldn't be
wise to make many more trips if we were to return safely to Earth. We
didn't want to figure too close on our fuel. Instead, we felt that we
should have some extra in case we needed it on our way home.
The white chieftain remained with us all the while we were inspecting
our ship. Afterward a group of his members arrived and we all visited
for awhile. During the course of this visiting we told them that we
might be going home soon.
They didn't seem surprised and neither were they glad to have us leave.
They accepted the fact and started bidding us farewell. But while these
farewells were being said, the black chieftain with a group of his
people came up. They joined the white ones in telling us how glad they
all are that we have been with them as we have and they hope we will
soon be returning for a longer stay. Then they all departed for their
homes.
Each one of us felt the sincerity of their words and it made us feel
good. These Moonalites have proved themselves to be real people and we
like them.
After our friends had left and we were all alone, we went out to gather
some formations, like rocks, as well as soil from both the light side
and the dark side. We also returned to the brush-forest on the dark
side to get some of that brush from which fiber is taken for making
cloth, for we wanted to bring souvenirs from the Moon back to the Earth
with us.
Upon returning to the ship Johnny radared to the Earth that we would be
starting home the following day.
They radared back, saying, the sooner, the better since they were
worried about us and wondering whether we will be able to make the
trip back safely, reminding us that the major success of this trip was
the returning back. They also told us that the whole world was eagerly
awaiting our arrival home.
After breaking contact with the Earth and getting everything in
readiness for our return trip early the next morning, we were preparing
to take our delayed rest when our radio and radar sets went into
operation automatically.