Three flying globes sighted by U. S. S. P’s 347, 1098 and 221. 347
destroyed by strange green ray from one of the globes. 1098 and 221
shelling them without apparent effect when their radios were silenced.
All combat planes in Zone 36 are ordered to report, fully manned, to
division headquarters, and stand by for orders.
General J. Q. Marshall.
“Oh, boy! There’ll be some scrap, now!” said Roger, “but I’m afraid our
planes won’t stand much chance against those green rays. I’d like to be
in on it, though.”
“I, too, sir,” said Bevans.
Roger rapidly whirled the dials of the radiovisiphone, presently
obtaining direct communication with President Whitmore, to whom he made
his report. He was ordered back to Chicago at once, a plane being
requisitioned from the flying field for the purpose.
As he and Bevans were about to take off they noticed six combat planes,
manned and waiting orders. These rose only a few seconds after they did.
The air was now much warmer, the snow having been replaced by a faint
drizzle of rain. This, too, subsided before they had flown half way to
their destination, but a heavy fog, following the swift melting of the
snow, made the visibility exceedingly low.
Despite this handicap, however, the skillful Bevans landed his plane
neatly on the roof of the Dustin Building, turning it over to another of
Ted’s pilots to be returned immediately to the flying field.
The cold weather had passed as quickly as it had come, and this fact
added to the evidence that it had been directly produced by the giant
green ray from the moon.
Back in his office, Roger quickly communicated with his wife by wrist
radiophone—then waded into the mass of work which had accumulated during
his absence. According to the shop reports the great interplanetary
vehicle would soon be ready for launching. But fully as important as
this, he found that ten thousand pistol degravitors and a thousand large
degravitors for use on combat planes were completed and ready to be
loaded with the special anode-cathode ray batteries in process in
another division. Turning to the report of the superintendent of the
battery division, he found that a hundred of the large and five hundred
of the small batteries were ready for use.
Going to the safe, he took out the directions for assembling and firing
which Ted had left, and after giving them a careful reading, ordered ten
of the large and a hundred of the small weapons and an equal number of
suitable anode-cathode batteries sent up to his office.
Morning came before he had completed his work of assembling them. Then,
carrying a large and a small degravitor to the roof, he tested them on
the remains of Ted’s metal hangar and found that they worked
satisfactorily.
Hurrying back to his office he set the safety catch on every weapon—then
ordered them packed and loaded into one of Ted’s freight-carrying
electroplanes. An hour later, with Bevans as pilot, he was on his way to
Washington.
As he neared the capital he used his binoculars on the surrounding
territory, and noticed the havoc wrought by the green rays. At points
where the effects of the rays had ended, rivers and creeks were blocked
by ice gorges, overflowing the surrounding territory. The vegetation was
wilted and lifeless, as if blighted by a heavy frost. In the villages
and towns, Red Cross workers were going from house to house, relieving
the sufferings of the survivors, followed by undertakers’ cars and large
trucks, loaded with the canvas-wrapped remains of those who would suffer
no more.
On his arrival at the Capitol he sought and gained an immediate
interview with the President.
The chief executive of the country looked up from the stack of papers on
his desk as Roger entered, and greeted him with:
“Now, what the devil are you doing here? I thought I ordered you back to
Chicago last night. Who is going to look after your plant and radio
station with both you and Dustin away?”
“Important business,” replied Roger. “I’ll be leaving for Chicago again
within the hour, but I’ve something to show you that, for the present, I
don’t dare make public over the air.”
“What about your code? Afraid someone will figure them out?”
“Not at all, but this is something you will have to be shown. I have
some new weapons invented by Mr. Dustin, a few of which have been
manufactured in his plant under my direction during his absence—weapons
with which I believe we can successfully combat the green rays of the
moon men.”
“Where are they?”
“In one of our freight carriers, now on the roof of the Lincoln Hotel
under guard.”
Without waiting to hear more, President Whitmore seized his hat and
said:
“We’ll have a look at them right now.”
On the way out he gave orders that Secretary of War Jamison and General
Marshall meet him on the roof of the Lincoln in fifteen minutes. Once
out of the Capitol, they were quickly transported to the hotel roof in
the President’s private helicopter limousine.
Roger brought out one of the pistol degravitors, unwrapped it, and
explained its use to the chief executive. Then he had an old propeller
blade suspended on a wire, and proceeded to demolish it before the eyes
of the astonished President.
At this moment Secretary Jamison and General Marshall arrived, and
another old blade was disintegrated for their benefit.
Secretary Jamison, a newly appointed civilian, showed wonder and
amazement, but General Marshall seemed unconvinced.
“What is the effective range of this weapon?” he asked.
“The theoretical range of this one,” replied Roger, “as worked out by
Mr. Dustin, is one mile. In other words, it is supposed to completely
disintegrate any known matter of any possible hardness or tensile
strength, up to that distance. Beyond that distance, however, it would
be deadly to man or animals, even though it should not completely
destroy their bodies, up to a distance of perhaps two miles. I have with
me, also, weapons constructed on the same principle, but much larger,
with a theoretical range of twenty-five miles.”
“Have the weapons been tested at the ranges you name?”
“Not to my knowledge, but when Mr. Dustin figures something out it is
usually right.”
“I would respectfully suggest, Mr. President,” said the General,
stiffly, “that they be so tested.”
“And I was about to suggest the same thing,” rejoined Roger.
“We’ll make the tests at once,” decided the President. “While the
General is arranging for the aerial targets you may get out one of the
larger weapons, Mr. Sanders.”
Fifteen minutes later, Roger and the President were hovering on the
shore of Chesapeake Bay in the latter’s helicopter limousine. Several
hundred feet above the General and the Secretary of War hovered in a
government plane, while one of their men directed the four aerial
targets, miniature helicopter planes controlled by radio.
When one of them had flown a distance of a mile out over the bay the
General signaled Roger who promptly brought it down with his pistol
degravitor. A second, placed two miles away, presently crumpled and
fell, although it withstood about five minutes’ exposure to the rays of
the small weapon at that distance.
Then Roger mounted his large degravitor on a tripod, and with the
assistance of his powerful field glasses, brought down one of the
targets which meanwhile had been stationed at a distance of twenty-five
miles up the bay. The fourth target, placed thirty-five miles away,
which was as far as he could see it with his glasses, suffered a similar
fate after only a few seconds exposure to the rays.
“Marvellous!” commented the President, as they winged their way back to
the Capitol. “How many of these degravitors are ready for use?”
“I brought ten of the large and a hundred of the small ones with me,”
replied Roger. “Within the week I can send you ninety more of the large
and four hundred of the small.”
“And how fast can you turn them out after that?”
“We are equipped to turn out five hundred small and one hundred large a
week. If more are required we can enlarge our capacity at any time.”
“Let the order stand on the weekly basis you mention, then,” said the
President as they got out of the limousine, “unless I send you word to
increase it.”
They returned once more to the President’s office, where he was
immediately signaled by the radiovisiphone operator.
“World News Broadcasters on the air will announce important tidings from
China in one minute. Shall I tune them in, sir?”
“Yes,” replied the President, seating himself at his desk and watching
the disc.
A picture of the World News Announcer quickly flashed on the screen, and
he stood looking at them for a moment, holding his chronometer in one
hand and a sheet of paper in the other. Then he said:
“Our correspondent in Peiping announces that the three strange globes
from the moon, which destroyed three scout planes with their green rays
last night and then disappeared, arrived in Peiping this morning.
“A dozen of the queer, round-bodied men immediately went into conference
with the Chinese president and his cabinet. As soon, however, as the odd
visitors had been described to the Chinese people, and, of course, seen
by many of them, and it became generally known that the government
purposed submitting to the rule of the moon government and assisting the
lunar emperor to conquer the earth, a revolution was fomented and the
Capitol attacked.
“The Chinese president and the members of his cabinet were all slain in
the battle that followed, as were the twelve moon men closeted with
them. After laying waste the greater part of the city, and killing
hundreds of thousands with their green rays, the globes then departed,
flying eastward. They were last sighted flying high over southern Japan
with terrific speed, apparently bound for the United States.
“General Fu Yen, the revolutionary leader and new provisional president,
announces his intention to stand by the other nations of the world in
the war with the moon, and will shortly send official messages to the
other powers to that effect. It is believed that he is supported in this
decision by at least ninety percent of the Chinese people.
“One of his first official acts was to place Dr. Fang, the Manchu, under
arrest as an instigator of the plot to sell out the nation to the moon
monarch, Dr. Wu, his co-conspirator, having been slain with the former
president and cabinet members during the attack on the Capitol.”
“Interesting, and vastly relieving, if true,” commented the President,
“so far as the Chinese are concerned. But we still have those flying
globes to contend with. They are on their way over here now, and nobody
knows how fast they can travel. I think you brought out the new weapons
in the nick of time, Mr. Sanders. Would you care to direct a combat
squadron sent out to meet our belligerent visitors?”
“I’d be delighted with the honor,” replied Roger.
“Very well. Hurry over and get your weapons unlimbered. I’ll have ten
expert gunners over at the hotel roof in as many minutes, and while you
are explaining the weapons to them, five combat planes will be made
ready.”
Five minutes later, Roger, with the help of Bevans, was hastily
unloading the large degravitors from the freighter, when an air alarm
siren sounded below them, followed by another and another until the city
was in an uproar.
In a moment a fleet of combat planes left the ground and headed
westward. Using his glasses, Roger saw the reason. The three huge lunar
globes which had, only a few minutes before, been reported on the way to
the United States, were flying swiftly toward the Capitol, raking the
ground beneath them with their deadly green rays, more than a dozen of
which shone from each globe—and occasionally destroying aircraft that
approached them.
Standing on the hotel roof beside Ted’s aerial freighter was the
helicopter limousine of the President. Its chauffeur was idly leaning
against a wing, watching the fast disappearing squadron which had just
risen.
“Quick, Bevans!” said Roger. “It’s you and me for it! Grab those
controls and I’ll bring a degravitor!”
They rose, a moment later, with helicopters roaring, while the
President’s pilot, who had lost his prop and his balance, scrambled to
his feet and gaped after them. The plane was a swift one, and in a few
minutes Bevans had brought it close behind the aerial squadron.
“Straight up, now,” ordered Roger, “and make it snappy.”
As they began their ascent the battle started with the rattle of machine
guns and the boom of rapid fire turret guns. Then the globes, apparently
unharmed by the gunfire, began systematically wiping out the defense
squadron with their green rays. One by one, huge combat planes were
crumpling and crashing to the ground, when Roger brought his degravitor
to bear on the foremost globe. His invisible ray cut a round hole about
four feet in diameter clear through the center of the lunar vehicle,
with no apparent effect on its progress or lethal ray projectors. But he
had only to lower, then slightly elevate his weapon, and the globe was
divided as neatly as a knife divides an apple, both halves crashing
instantly to the ground.
Swinging his degravitor into line on another globe, Roger proceeded to
halve it as he had the first, but before he could turn it on the third
globe, the latter, its commander apparently fearing the fate of the
first two, elevated its forward disc and shot straight up into the air
with such appalling speed that it disappeared completely in a moment.
Roger clapped his binoculars to his eyes, but even they failed to reveal
the swiftly flying globe.
“No use to follow that bird, Bevans,” he said. “He’s well on his way to
the moon by this time. Let’s go and have a look at the ones we brought
down.”
They descended, but a half dozen of the government combat planes were
ahead of them, and the men were dragging the bodies of stunned and dead
Lunites from the wrecks when they arrived. Forty dazed prisoners, most
of whom had fractured limbs, were taken from the wrecks, and twenty-six
bodies.
Roger’s great fear was that he might find the body of Professor Ederson
in the wrecks, but there was no sign of it. Either he had been
completely destroyed by the degravitor rays, or was in the globe which
had escaped.
Only thirty of the squadron of fifty combat planes which had flown out
to meet the foe accompanied Roger back to the Capitol. The others,
together with their crews, had been utterly destroyed by the green rays.
Back in the President’s office, Roger received the commendation of the
chief executive with a deprecatory shrug.
“It was nothing,” he said. “Easier than breaking clay pigeons with a
trap gun.”
“I don’t believe the General will ask for any more demonstrations,”
smiled the President. “From now on, he’ll be crying night and day for
degravitors.”
At this moment the President’s radiovisiphone operator appeared in the
disc and said:
“Chicago is calling Mr. Sanders, sir.”
“Tune them in,” said the President.
There instantly appeared in the disc, the face of Ted’s day operator,
Miss Whitley.
“Mr. Stanley, in charge of the big radiovisiphone, thinks the moon
people are trying to get in touch with us,” she said.
“Tell him to hold them, if he can, until we can silence all broadcasting
stations,” replied Roger. “Then connect me with him.”