Published By
STELLAR PUBLISHING CORPORATION
96-98 PARK PLACE
NEW YORK
_© 1929 By Gernsback Publications, Inc.
Printed in U. S. A._
The dying Earth lay wrapped in its dismal coat of what was soon to be
the complete darkness of a sunless world. Just as she no longer had
the Moon, her Lamp of Ages, to light the night skies as she whirled on
her course through the limitless ocean of Space, so now she was about
to lose the Sun which, after billions of years, was at last burning
out. Cold somber darkness of everlasting night was to engulf the eight
planets to which old Sol had once given heat and light.
History tells of the Sun in all its glory, of a bright, warm Earth,
of joy on the globe. It tells, too, of the moon, a shell set aglow by
the sun's rays and reflecting on Earth the beauty of silvery light.
But with the light from the sun growing more and more feeble through
the preceding thousands of years, the Night's fixture had faded too
until now it was no more than a dark body flitting past by day. Only
at times during the night did a stray gleam of the sun illuminate, for
a fleeting moment, the dead face, as a shadow passing across the white
icecapes. Now there were only the stars, distant and aloof, smiling
disdainfully upon the senile planet Earth, to light her night and her
day too.
In Central City most of the few hundred thousands of people who now
comprised the entire world's population had already gathered. The rest
were hastening to join the multitude, so that together they might
watch the sun in the throes of death. Then would they make their
descent to the bowels of the Earth wherein the once proud Earthlings
planned to make their last stand against their arch-enemy, Nature.
Kuila Rei was one of the tardy ones. As his name denoted, he was of
the race of astronomers. He was the last to leave Mount 83 upon whose
summit he and his fellow scientists had for many years kept the Sun
under surveillance, publishing their minute calculations as to the
hourly condition of the waning star.
Kuila, like many, objected strenuously to his removal to thousands of
feet below the Earth's crust. He knew that several centuries before the
Earth had been warned of the critical state of the Sun. Then had been
the time for action. However, for the last million of years the Earth's
people had been retrograding, and now except for a few hundred men and
women of Kuila's ilk were mental and physical weaklings. They had been
content to live on what their mighty ancestors had provided for them,
using only what knowledge had come to them through the ages, and making
no attempt to improve their condition.
Now through their lack of energy and foresight what machines they
possessed were gradually wearing away. One by one those gigantic
monsters, that had for thousands of years been producing all of man's
needs, were breaking down because of the failure of their parts. From
time to time men with some mechanical genius had repaired here and
there. But, as the years went on, the knowledge of these men was lost
until now the world was faced at last with the fact that they had
practically no hope of succor from their present condition.
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