What they were to do when the last machine halted forever, when those
machines would no longer turn out their barest necessities, they were
not able to conceive. In fact, they gave no thought to the future at
all. These simple-minded offsprings of the mechanical geniuses of the
world existed, living on the fruits of the machines that produced
foods, and materials from the air, as well as the soil, and from
minerals dug from the Earth's core.
And now the Sun, from which much of the energy that drove these
machines was obtained, was dying. The Sun would be a Sun no longer. It
would become cool and perhaps foster new life in its tepid waters, life
that would after ages crawl out upon a new as yet unlighted land.
However, as always in man's history, time and time again, it was in
dire need that his supremacy eventually asserted itself. And such was
now the case. A few men of stronger will and greater intellect had
realized the state of affairs into which they were being plunged, and
under their inspiration for the past fifteen years, a new activity had
seized the Earthlings. Those who still possessed an understanding of
mechanics were called forth. Together they built new machines out of
the scraps of the old, and with these commenced digging night and day a
shaft in the Earth that was to be the salvation of Mankind.
Without a doubt the Earthlings could not abide any longer on the
surface of the Earth. Year after year great fields of ice had come
down from the North-lands gradually encompassing the land, driving its
peoples further and further into the South. They were increasing in
such numbers that their cold was taking hold on the Earth and the Sun's
weak rays could not stave them off. It would only be a question of time
before the narrow belt at the equator that was alone untouched would be
conquered by the Great Ice Flow.
There had been some talk of building machines that would carry them
away from Mother Earth to a new planet and a new sun. But the wisest
men knew the futility of such a course. True! History did tell of
several such attempts; some had been successful, some not. Yet that
had been in a day when men who understood such machines had lived, and
they had not been built in a moment or day. To build ships that could
bear them millions of miles through space was too difficult a feat for
people who had just awakened from a lethargy in which they had dreamed
and played for many centuries. For the present, only one course was
open. Then when Man was more fully awakened, he might make other plans.
Already Man had reached the depth of almost a thousand miles below
the surface. New machines were hollowing out great caves in the
Earth's bowels in which the present population hoped to survive. The
construction of the machines of the past now being studied from the
records that remained, new discoveries were made and it looked as
though Mankind were taking a new lease upon life.
After the first shaft had been driven, a second was started. It had
been found that at this depth the temperature was a little below
the normal heat required for the comfort of man, but until better
provision could be made it would be necessary to make that do. Heating
apparatus would be installed, lights, sewerage, everything to make the
underground caves livable, and then with the years to come men would
continue to dig deeper as the cold of the ice-coated Earth penetrated.
Giant caves were being hewn out of the living rock to house the five
hundred-thousand souls that now made up the populace of the world. As
each cave was dug it was lined with Ega, a glass-like substance that
was sprayed from the mouth of a machine and which hardened into a
hard, almost impregnable shell, and coated to a uniform thickness and
smoothness.
For the present the sole idea was to provide room enough for the
world's inhabitants to seek protection from the wretchedness and bitter
chill of the Earth's surface. Everything must be upon a communistic
basis; so many people allotted to each giant cave. Later small caves
were to be hewn out for individual comfort and privacy, but that would
take time.
Underground many obstacles barred their way. Subterranean rivers were
a source of trouble and sometimes disaster to the diggers, but with
their newly discovered ingenuity the workers learned to overcome and
divert them to their own purposes. Sink holes, crumbling rocks and
other calamities often retarded progress. But sometimes Mother Nature
presented them with a few of the gifts that were still left in her
cornucopia. There were natural caves, a deposit of precious metals, and
barriers that fell without man's efforts.
* * * * *