Early the next morning Fuller moved his equipment over to the laboratory
and set up his table for work. There Arcot and Morey joined him, and the
designing of the new machine was started.
"First, let's get some idea of the most advisable shape," Fuller began
methodically. "We'll want it streamlined, of course; roughly speaking, a
cylinder modified to fit the special uses to which it will be put. But
you probably have a general plan in mind, Arcot. Suppose you sketch it
for us."
The big physicist frowned thoughtfully. "Well, we don't know much about
this yet, so we'll have to work it out. You'll have plenty of fun
figuring out strains in this machine, so let's be safe and use a factor
of safety of five. Let's see what we'll need.
"In the first place, our machine must be proof against the Pirate's gas,
for we won't be riding a beam with instruments to guide us safely, if we
pass out. I've thought that over, and I think that the best system is
just what we used in the sample bottles--a vacuum. His gas is stopped by
nothing, so to speak, but there is no substance that will stop it! It
will no doubt penetrate the outer shell, but on reaching the vacuum, it
will tend to stay there, between the inner and outer walls. Here it will
collect, since it will be fighting air pressure in going either in or
out. The pressure inside will force it back, and the pressure outside
will force it in. If we did not pump it out, it would soon build up
pressure enough to penetrate the interior wall. Now, since the stuff can
leak through any material, what kind of a pump shall we use? It won't be
pushed by a piston, for it will leak through either the cylinder walls
or the piston. A centrifugal pump would be equally ineffective. A
mercury vapor pump will take it out, of course, and keep a high vacuum,
but we'd never make any progress.
"Our new machine gives us the answer. With it we can just have a number
of openings in the wall of the outer shell, and set in them one of these
molecular motion directors, and direct the molecules into the outside
air. They can't come in through it, and they will go out!"
"But," Morey objected, "the vacuum that keeps out the gas will also keep
out heat, as well! Since our generator is to run on heat energy, it will
be rather chilly inside if we don't remedy that. Of course, our power
units could be placed outside, where the blast of air will warm them,
but we really won't have a very good streamline effect if we hang a big
electric generator outside."
"I've thought of that too," Arcot answered. "The solution is obvious--if
we can't bring the generator to the air, we must bring the air to it."
He began sketching rapidly on the pad before him, "We'll have all the
power equipment in this room here in the back, and the control room up
in front, here. The relays for controlling will be back here, so we can
control electrically the operation of the power equipment from our warm,
gas-tight room. If it gets too warm in there, we can cool it by using a
little of the heat to help accelerate the ship. If it is too cold, we
can turn on an electric heater run by the generator. The air for the
generator can come in through a small sort of scoop on top, and leave
through a small opening in the rear. The vacuum at the tail will assure
us a very rapid circulation, even if the centrifugal pump action of the
enclosed generator isn't enough."
His thoughts began moving more rapidly than his words. "We'll want the
generator greatly over power to run tests over a greater range. Won't
need more than one hundred kilowatts altogether, but should install
about a thousand--A.C., of course. Batteries in the keel for starting
the generator.... Self-supporting when it's rolling....
"But let's set down some actual figures on this."
For the rest of the day the three men were working on the general plan
of the new ship, calculating the strengths needed, supplementing
mathematics with actual experiments with the machines on hand. The
calculating machines were busy continuously, for there were few rules
that experience could give them. They were developing something entirely
new, and though they were a designing staff of three of the foremost
mathematicians in the world, it was a problem that tested their
ingenuity to the utmost.
By the evening of the first day, however, they had been able to give the
finished designs for the power units to the mechanics who were to make
them. The order for the storage battery and the standard electrical
equipment had been placed at once. By the time they had completed the
drawings for the mail casting, the materials were already being
assembled in a little private camp that Morey owned, up in the hills of
Vermont. The giant freight helicopters could land readily in the wide
field that had been cleared on the small plateau, in the center of which
nestled a little blue lake and a winding trout brook.
The mechanics and electrical engineers had been sent up there
already--officially on vacation. The entire program could be carried out
without attracting the least attention, for such orders from the great
Transcontinental lines were so frequent that no importance was attached
to them.
Four days after the final plans had been completed the last of the
supplies were being assembled in the portable metal shed that was to
house the completed machine. The shining tungsto-steel alloy frame
members were rapidly being welded in place by cathode ray welding
torches in the hands of skilled artisans.
Already at the other end of the shop the generator had been arranged for
use with the molecular motion power units. The many power units to drive
and support the ship were finished and awaiting installation as the crew
quit work on the fourth evening. They would be installed on the frame in
the morning, and the generator would be hoisted into place with the
small portable crane. The storage batteries were connected, and in place
in the hull. The great fused quartz windows rested in their cases along
one wall, awaiting the complete application of the steel alloy plates.
They were to be over an inch thick, an unnecessary thickness, perhaps,
but they had no need to economize weight, as witnessed by their choice
of steel instead of light metal alloys throughout the construction.
The three men had arrived late that afternoon in a small helicopter, and
had gone directly to the shops to see what progress had been made. They
had been forced to remain in New York to superintend the shipment of the
necessary supplies to the camp site, and since no trouble was
anticipated in the making of the steel framework, they had not felt it
necessary to come. But now they would be needed to superintend the more
delicate work.
"She's shaping up nicely, isn't she?" Arcot gazed at the rapidly
rounding frame with a critical eye. Unhindered as they were by the
traditional shapes, by wings or other protuberances, they had been able
to design a machine of striking beauty. The ship was to retain its
natural metallic sheen, the only protection being a coat of "passivity
paint"--a liquid chemical that could be brushed or sprayed on iron,
chromium, nickel or cobalt alloys, rendering them passive to practically
all chemical agents. The new "paint" left the iron or steel as
brilliantly glossy as ever, but overcast with a beautiful iridescence,
and immune to the most powerful reagents.
The three men walked around the rapidly growing hull, and looked with
excited interest at the heavy welded joints and the great beams. The
ship seemed capable of withstanding a fall of several hundred feet with
little damage. The location of the power units was plainly visible and
easily recognized, for at each point there came together four or five
great beams, welded into one great mass of tough metal, and in it there
were set heavy tungsten bolts that would hold the units in place.
They inspected each joint minutely for signs of flaws, using a small
portable X-ray fluoroscope to see the interior of the metal. Each joint
seemed perfect. They retired, satisfied that everything was ready for
the work of the next day.
The morning began early with a long swim in the lake, and a hearty
breakfast of country cured ham and eggs. Then the work on the great
framework was continued, and that day saw the power units bolted in
place, removable if change was thought advisable. Each power unit was
equipped with long streamlined copper fins lying close to the rounded
hull, that they might absorb heat more rapidly.
Day by day the structure drew nearer completion, and, with the large
crew of highly skilled workers, the craft was practically complete
within a week. Only the instruments remained to be installed. Then at
last even these had been put in place, and with the aid of Fuller, Morey
junior, and his own father, Arcot had connected their many complicated
circuits.
"Son," remarked Arcot senior, looking critically at the great
switchboard, with its maze of connections, its many rheostats and
controls, and its heavy bus bar connectors behind it, "no one man can
keep an eye on all those instruments. I certainly hope you have a
good-sized crew to operate your controls! We've spent two days getting
all those circuits together, and I'll admit that some of them still have
me beat. I don't see how you intend to watch all those instruments, and
at the same time have any idea what's going on outside."
"Oh," laughed Arcot junior, "these aren't intended for constant
watching. They're merely helps in a lot of tests I want to make. I want
to use this as a flying laboratory so I can determine the necessary
powers and the lowest factor of safety to use in building other
machines. The machine is very nearly completed now. All we need is the
seats--they are to be special air-inflated gyroscopically controlled
seats, to make it impossible for a sudden twist of the ship to put the
strain in the wrong direction. Of course the main gyroscopes will
balance the ship laterally, horizontally, and vertically, but each chair
will have a separate gyroscopic mounting for safety."
"When do you expect to start after the Pirate?" Fuller asked.
"I plan to practice the manipulation of the machine for at least four
days," Arcot replied, "before I try to chase the Pirate. I'd ordinarily
recommend the greatest haste, but the man has stolen close to ten
million already, and he's still at it. That would not be done by anyone
in his right mind. I suppose you've heard, the War Department considers
his new gas so important that they've obtained a pardon for him on
condition they be permitted to have the secret of it. They demand the
return of the money, and I have no doubt he has it. I am firmly
convinced that he is a kleptomaniac. I doubt greatly if he will stop
taking money before he is caught. Therefore it will be safe to wait
until we can be sure of our ability to operate the machine smoothly. Any
other course would be suicidal. Also, I am having some of those
tool-makers make up a special type of molecular motion machine for use
as a machine gun. The bullets are steel, about three inches long, and as
thick as my thumb. They will be perfectly streamlined, except for a
little stabilizer at the tail, to guide 'em. They won't spin as a rifle
bullet does, and so there will be no gyroscopic effect to hold them nose
on, but the streamlining and the stabilizer will keep them on their
course. I expect them to be able to zip right through many inches of
armour plate, since they will have a velocity of over four miles a
second.
"They'll be fed in at the rate of about two hundred a minute--faster if
I wish, and started by a small spring. They will instantly come into the
field of a powerful molecular motion director, and will be shot out
with terrific speed. It will be the first rifle ever made that could
shoot bullets absolutely parallel to the ground.
"But that is all we can do today. The guns will be mounted outside, and
controlled electrically, and the charts will be installed tomorrow. By
the day after tomorrow at eight A.M. I plan to take off!"
The work the next day was rushed to completion far earlier than Arcot
had dared to hope. All the men had been kept isolated at the farm, lest
they accidentally spread the news of the new machine. It was with
excited interest that they helped the machine to completion. The guns
had not been mounted as yet, but that could wait. Mid-afternoon found
the machine resting in the great construction shed, completely equipped
and ready to fly!
"Dick," said Morey as he strode up to him after testing the last of the
gyroscopic seats, "she's ready! I certainly want to get her going--it's
only three-thirty, and we can go around to the sunlight part of the
world when it gets dark at the speeds we can travel. Let's test her
now!"
"I'm just as anxious to start as you are, Bob. I've sent for a U.S. Air
Inspector. As soon as he comes we can start. I'll have to put an 'X'
license indication on her now. He'll go with us to test it--I hope.
There will be room for three other people aboard, and I think you and
Dad and I will be the logical passengers."
He pointed excitedly. "Look, there's a government helicopter coming.
Tell the men to get the blocks from under her and tow her out. Two power
trucks should do it. Get her at least ten feet beyond the end of the
hangar. We'll start straight up, and climb to at least a five mile
height, where we can make mistakes safely. While you're tending to that,
I'll see if I can induce the Air Inspector to take a trip with us."
Half an hour later the machine had been rolled entirely out of the shed,
on the new concrete runway.
The great craft was a thing of beauty shimmering in the bright sunlight
The four men who were to ride in it on its maiden voyage stood off to
one side gazing at the great gleaming metal hull. The long sweeping
lines of the sides told a story of perfect streamlining, and implied
high speed, even at rest. The bright, slightly iridescent steel hull
shone in silvery contrast to the gleaming copper of the power units'
heat-absorption fins. The great clear windows in the nose and the low,
streamlined air intake for the generator seemed only to accentuate the
graceful lines of the machine.
"Lord, she's a beauty, isn't she, Dick!" exclaimed Morey, a broad smile
of pleasure on his face.
"Well, she did shape up nicely on paper, too, didn't she. Oh, Fuller,
congratulations on your masterpiece. It's even better looking than we
thought, now the copper has added color to it. Doesn't she look fast? I
wish we didn't need physicists so badly on this trip, so you could go on
the first ride with us."
"Oh, that's all right, Dick, I know the number of instruments in there,
and I realize they will mean a lot of work this trip. I wish you all
luck. The honor of having designed the first ship like that, the first
heavier-than-air ship that ever flew without wings, jets, or props--that
is something to remember. And I think it's one of the most beautiful
that ever flew, too."
"Well, Dick," said his father quietly, "let's get under way. It should
fly--but we don't really know that it will!"
The four men entered the ship and strapped themselves in the gyroscopic
seats. One by one they reported ready.
"Captain Mason," Arcot explained to the Air Inspector, "these seats may
seem to be a bit more active than one generally expects a seat to be,
but in this experimental machine, I have provided all the safety devices
I could think of. The ship itself won't fall, of that I am sure, but the
power is so great it might well prove fatal to us if we are not in a
position to resist the forces. You know all too well the effect of sharp
turns at high speed and the results of the centrifugal force. This
machine can develop such tremendous power that I have to make provision
for it.
"You notice that my controls and the instruments are mounted on the arm
of the chair really; that permits me to maintain complete control of the
ship at all times, and still permits my chair to remain perpendicular to
the forces. The gyroscopes in the base here cause the entire chair to
remain stable if the ship rolls, but the chair can continue to revolve
about this bearing here so that we will not be forced out of our seats.
I'm confident that you'll find the machine safe enough for a license.
Shall we start?"
"All right, Dr. Arcot," replied the Air Inspector. "If you and your
father are willing to try it, I am."
"Ready, Engineer?" asked Arcot.
"Ready, Pilot!" replied Morey.
"All right--just keep your eye on the meters, Dad, as I turn on the
system. If the instruments back there don't take care of everything, and
you see one flash over the red mark--yank open the main circuit. I'll
call out what to watch as I turn them on."
"Ready son."
"Main gyroscopes!" There was a low snap, a clicking of relays in the
rear compartment, and then a low hum that quickly ran up the scale.
"Main generators!" Again the clicking switch, and the relays thudding
into action, again the rising hum. "Seat-gyroscopes." The low click was
succeeded by a quick shrilling sound that rose in moments above the
range of hearing as the separate seat-gyroscopes took up their work.
"Main power tube bank!" The low hum of the generator changed to a
momentary roar as the relays threw on full load. In a moment the
automatic controls had brought it up to speed.
"Everything is working perfectly so far. Are we ready to start now,
son?"
"Main vertical power units!" The great ship trembled throughout its
length as the lift of the power units started. A special instrument had
been set up on the floor beside Arcot, that he might be able to judge
the lift of his power units; it registered the apparent weight of the
ship. It had read two hundred tons. Now all eyes were fixed on it, as
the pointer dropped quickly to 150-100-75-50-40-20-10--there was a
click and the instrument flopped back to 300--it was registering in
pounds now! Then the needle moved to zero, and the mighty structure
floated into the air, slowly moving down the field as a breeze carried
it along the ground.
The men outside saw it rise swiftly into the sky, straight toward the
blue vault of heaven. In two or three minutes it was disappearing. The
glistening ship shrank to a tiny point of light; then it was gone! It
must have been rising at fully three hundred miles an hour!
To the men in the car there had been a tremendous increase in weight
that had forced them into the air cushions like leaden masses. Then the
ground fell away with a speed that made them look in amazement. The
house, the construction shed, the lake, all seemed contracting beneath
them. So quickly were they rising that they had not time to adjust their
mental attitude. To them all the world seemed shrinking about them.
Now they were at a tremendous height; over twenty miles they had risen
into the atmosphere; the air about them was so thin that the sky seemed
black, the stars blazed out in cold, unwinking glory, while the great
fires of the sun seemed reaching out into space like mighty arms seeking
to draw back to the parent body the masses of the wheeling planets.
About it, in far flung streamers of cold fire shone the mighty zodiacal
light, an Aurora on a titanic scale. For a moment they hung there, while
they made readings of the meters.
Arcot was the first to speak and there was awe in his voice. "I never
began to let out the power of this thing! What a ship! When these are
made commercially, we'll have to use about one horsepower generators in
them, or people will kill themselves trying to see how fast they can
go."
Methodically the machine was tried out at this height, testing various
settings of the instruments. It was definitely proven that the values
that Arcot and Morey had assigned from purely theoretical calculations
were correct to within one-tenth of one percent. The power absorbed by
the machine they knew and had calculated, but the terrific power of the
driving units was far beyond their expectations.
"Well, now we're off for some horizontal maneuvers," Arcot announced.
"I'm sure we agree the machine can climb and can hold itself in the air.
The air pressure controls seem to be working perfectly. Now we'll test
her speed."
Suddenly the seats swung beneath them; then as the ship shot forward
with ever greater speed, ever greater acceleration, it seemed that it
turned and headed upward, although they knew that the main stabilizing
gyroscopes were holding it level. In a moment the ship was headed out
over the Atlantic at a speed no rifle bullet had ever known. The radio
speedometer needle pushed farther and farther over as the speed
increased to unheard of values. Before they left the North American
shoreline they were traveling faster than a mile a second. They were in
the middle of the Atlantic before Arcot gradually shut off the
acceleration, letting the seats drop back into position.
A hubbub of excited comments rose from the four men. Momentarily, with
the full realization of the historical importance of this flight, no one
paid any attention to anyone else. Finally a question of the Air
Inspector reached Arcot's ears.
"What speed did we attain, Dr. Arcot? Look--there's the coast of Europe!
How fast are we going now?"
"We were traveling at the rate of three miles a second at the peak."
Arcot answered. "Now it has fallen to two and a half."
Again Arcot turned his attention to his controls. "I'm going to try to
see what the ultimate ceiling of this machine is. It must have a
ceiling, since it depends on the operation of the generator to operate
the power-units. This, in turn, depends on the heat of the air, helped
somewhat by the sun's rays. Up we go!"
The ship was put into a vertical climb, and steadily the great machine
rose. Soon, however, the generator began to slow down. The readings of
the instruments were dropping rapidly. The temperature of the
exceedingly tenuous air outside was so close to absolute zero that it
provided very little energy.
"Get up some forward speed," Morey suggested, "so that you'll have the
aid of the air scoop to force the air in faster."
"Right, Morey." Arcot slowly applied the power to the forward propulsion
units. As they took hold, the ship began to move forward. The increase
in power was apparent at once. The machine started rising again. But at
last, at a height of fifty-one miles, her ceiling had been reached.
The cold of the cabin became unbearable, for every kilowatt of power
that the generator could get from the air outside was needed to run the
power units. The air, too, became foul and heavy, for the pumps could
not replace it with a fresh supply from the near-vacuum outside. Oxygen
tanks had not been carried on this trip. As the power of the generator
was being used to warm the cabin once more, they began to fall. Though
the machine was held stable by the gyroscopes, she was dropping freely;
but they had fifty miles to fall, and as the resistance of the denser
air mounted, they could begin to feel the sense of weight return.
"You've passed, but for the maneuvers, Dr. Arcot!" The Air Inspector was
decidedly impressed. "The required altitude was passed so long ago--why
we are still some miles above it, I guess! How fast are we falling?"
"I can't tell unless I point the nose of the ship down, for the
apparatus works only in the direction in which the ship is pointed. Hold
on, everyone, I am going to start using some power to stop us."
It was night when they returned to the little field in Vermont. They had
established a new record in every form of aeronautical achievement
except endurance! The altitude record, the speed record, the speed of
climb, the acceleration record--all that Arcot could think of had been
passed. Now the ship was coming to dock for the night. In the morning it
would be out again. But now Arcot was sufficiently expert with the
controls to maneuver the ship safely on the ground. They finally solved
the wind difficulty by decreasing the weight of the ship to about fifty
pounds, thus enabling the three men to carry it into the hanger!
* * * * *
The next two days were devoted to careful tests of the power factors of
the machine, the best operating frequency, the most efficient altitude
of operation, and as many other tests as they had time for. Each of the
three younger men took turns operating, but so great were the strains of
the sudden acceleration, that Arcot senior decided it would be wisest
for him to stay on the ground and watch.
In the meantime reports of the Pirate became fewer and fewer as less and
less money was shipped by air.
Arcot spent four days practicing the manipulation of the machine, for
though it handled far more readily than any other craft he had ever
controlled, there was always the danger of turning on too much power
under the stress of sudden excitement.
The night before, Arcot had sailed the ship down and alighted on the
roof of Morey senior's apartment, leaving enough power on to reduce the
weight to but ten tons, lest it fall through the roof, while he went
down to see the President of the Lines about some "bait" for the Pirate.
"Send some cash along," said Arcot, when he saw Morey senior, "say a
quarter of a million. Make it more or less public knowledge, and talk it
up so that the Pirate may think there's a real haul on board. I am going
to accompany the plane at a height of about a quarter of a mile above. I
will try to locate him from there by means of radar, and if I have my
apparatus on, I naturally can't locate him. I hope he won't be scared
away--but I rather believe he won't. At any rate, you won't lose on the
try!"