ASTOUNDING, almost stupefying, as were the tidings conveyed by this
letter, which had dropped like a veritable bolt from the blue, the
challenge contained in the last sentence and the ominous name with
which it was signed were matters of infinitely greater and more instant
importance.
Alan Arnold was the responsible President of Aeria first and a father
afterwards. He lost not a moment in speculating upon the strange fate
of his son and first-born. The safety not only of Aeria, but of the
world, demanded his first attention, and he gave it.
Crushing the missive in his hand he took two swift strides to a
telephone in the wall of the room in which he had received the message
from the skies and delivered several rapid orders through it. If they
had been the words of a demi-god instead of those of a man their
effects could scarcely have been more instantaneous or marvellous.
On a hundred mountain-peaks all round the great valley of Aeria
enormous lights blazed out simultaneously, flinging long streams
of radiance, dazzling and intense, for miles into the sky towards
all points of the compass, and at the same moment fifty air-ships
soared up from their stations all round the mountains, flashing their
search-lights ahead and astern in all directions.
[Illustration: FLINGING LONG STREAMS OF RADIANCE FOR MILES INTO THE
SKY. _Page 83._]
It was a scene of unearthly wonder and magnificence, a scene such as
could only have been made possible by the triumphant genius of a race
of men, heirs of all the best that earth could give them, who had
turned the favour of circumstance to the utmost advantage.
Three minutes sufficed for the aerial cruisers to clear the mountains,
and as they did so the wide-sweeping rays of fifty search-lights,
assisted by the blazing orbs which crowned every mountain-peak,
illuminated the darkness for many miles outside the valley. In the
midst of the sea of light thus projected through the semi-darkness
of the starlit heavens the flying shape of an air-ship was detected
speeding away to the south-eastward.
Instantly the prows of the whole squadron were turned towards her,
and the first aerial race in the history of the world began. The
pursuing air-ships spread themselves out in a huge semicircle, at the
extremities of which were the two swiftest vessels in the fleet, almost
exact counterparts of the lost _Ithuriel_. One of these bore the same
name as the stolen flag-ship, and the other had been named the _Ariel_,
after the first vessel built by Richard Arnold, the conqueror of the
air, a hundred and thirty-two years before.
These two vessels carried ten guns each, and were capable of a maximum
speed of five hundred miles an hour, the highest velocity that it had
so far been found possible to attain. The others were somewhat smaller
craft, mounting eight guns each, and capable of a speed of about four
hundred miles an hour. The chase, either because she could not travel
faster or for some hidden reason, allowed the pursuing squadron to gain
upon her until she was only some five miles ahead of its two foremost
vessels, which were travelling at the highest speed attainable by the
whole flotilla.
She showed no lights, and so in order to keep her in view it was
necessary for her pursuers to keep their search-lights constantly
sweeping the skies ahead of them, lest they should lose sight of her in
the semi-darkness.
This placed the Aerian fleet at a serious disadvantage, which very
soon became apparent, for before the pursuit had lasted an hour the
chase opened fire with her stern guns and shell after shell charged
with some terrific explosive began bursting along the line of the
pursuing squadron, producing fearful concussions in the atmosphere, and
causing the pursuers to rock and toss in the shaken air like ships on a
stormy sea.
The _Ithuriel_ and the _Ariel_, at the two extremities of the
semicircle, replied with a rapid converging fire from their bow guns
in the hope of reaching the now invisible chase. All the projectiles
were, of course, time-shells, but the speed at which the vessels were
travelling not only made the aim hopeless, but caused such an in-rush
of air into the muzzles of the guns that the projectiles, checked in
their course through the barrels, flew wild and exploded at random,
often in dangerous proximity to the vessels themselves.
Hence, after about a dozen shots had been fired, the commanders of the
two vessels found themselves compelled to cease firing, and to trust to
speed alone to overtake the enemy. On the other hand, this disadvantage
to them was all in favour of the chase, which was able to work her
two stern guns without the slightest impediment. Before long she got
the range of her pursuers, and at last a shell burst fairly under
one of the smaller vessels. A brilliant flash of light, blue as the
lightning-bolt, illuminated her for an instant, and in that instant her
companions saw her stop and shiver like a stricken bird in mid-air, and
then plunge downwards like a stone to the earth.
Olga Romanoff, standing on the deck of what had once been the
_Ithuriel_, flag-ship of the Aerian fleet, and now renamed the
_Revenge_, saw this catastrophe, as the others had done, through her
night-glasses. She lowered them from her eyes, and said to a dark-eyed,
black-haired young fellow, who was commanding the gun that had done the
execution--
“Bravo, Boris Lossenski! Did you sight that gun?”
Boris drew himself up and saluted, saying--
“Yes, Majesty, I did.”
“Then for that you shall be a Prince henceforth, and if you can bring
another down you shall command an air-ship of your own when this fight
is over.”
Boris saluted again, and ordered the gun to be reloaded. Before
it could be discharged a shell from the port gun, which had been
fired as Olga spoke, struck another of the Aerian vessels square on
the fore-quarter. The flash of the exploding projectile was almost
instantaneously followed by the outburst of a vast dazzling mass of
flame which illumined for the instant the whole scene of the aerial
battle.
The air-ship with all its cargo of explosives blew up like one huge
shell, and the frightful concussion of the atmosphere induced by the
explosion hurled the two vessels that were close on either side of her
like feathers into space, turning them completely over and flinging
them to the earth six thousand feet below. A few moments later they
struck the ground simultaneously, two great spouts of flame shot up
from the spots where they struck, and when the darkness closed over
them again four of the pursuing squadron had been annihilated.
“Better still, Levin Ostroff!” cried Olga, as she saw the awful effects
of this last shot. “For that you too shall be a Prince of the Empire
and command an air-ship on our next expedition. Now, Boris, let us see
if you can beat that!”
“Yes, Majesty,” said Boris again, knitting his brows and clenching
his teeth in anger at his rival’s superior success. He glanced along
the line of the pursuers and saw four of the Aerian squadron flying
close together. He brought the gun to bear upon the two inner ones,
took careful aim, and despatched the projectile on its errand of
destruction. The moment he had released it he said to the two men who
were working under him--
“Load again, quickly!”
The command was instantly obeyed, and scarcely had the explosion of
the first blazed out than a second shell was sent after it. The very
firmament seemed split in twain by the frightful results of the two
well-aimed shots, each of which had found its mark on the two inner
vessels with fatal accuracy.
Great sheets of flame leapt out in all directions from the focus of the
explosion, and in the midst of their dazzling radiance those on board
the _Revenge_ saw the two outside air-ships of the four roll over and
dive head foremost into the dark abyss below them. They struck the
earth as the others had done, and vanished into annihilation in the
midst of the momentary mist of fire.
This last catastrophe made it plain to the commanders of the _Ithuriel_
and the _Ariel_ that to continue the chase under such conditions meant
the destruction in detail of all the smaller ships of the squadron.
Those on board the _Revenge_ saw signals rapidly flash from one end of
the line, and instantaneously answered from the other end.
“Ah!” said Olga. “My Lords of the Air seem to have had enough of it for
the present. Look, the small fry are falling to the rear; our reception
has been a little too hot for them. I wonder what they are going to do
now. Cease firing, and let us watch them. You two gunners have done
gloriously and earned quite enough laurels for your first battle.”
It soon became evident that the Aerians had decided to send their
smaller craft back. From the speed of the _Revenge_, and the terrible
accuracy and destructiveness of her guns, the commanders of the
squadron were now convinced that she was either the lost _Ithuriel_, or
some vessel even superior to her, built upon the same plan.
This being so, to have continued the pursuit under such conditions with
the smaller craft would simply have been to court destruction for them
in detail. It was impossible for them to use their guns effectively at
the speed at which they were travelling, while, as had been so terribly
proved, the chase could use hers with perfect ease.
The flying fight could thus only result under present conditions in the
ignominious defeat of the squadron by the single vessel as long as she
was able to keep ahead. The only hope of success lay, therefore, in a
trial of speed and manœuvring skill between her and the _Ithuriel_ and
_Ariel_, so orders were flashed to the smaller vessels to return to
Aeria with the mournful tidings of the destruction of eight of their
number.
As they vanished into the darkness behind, Olga divined instantly the
tactics that were to be adopted. She saw the converging search-lights
of the two remaining air-ships begin to glow brighter and brighter in
the rear of the _Revenge_, proving that they had increased their speed.
“So, it is going to be a race, is it!” she said, half to herself.
“Well, we will see if we can lead them into the trap. How fast are we
going, Boris?”
He went to the engine-room, and returned saying--
“Four hundred miles an hour, Majesty.”
“Make it five,” replied Olga.
He saluted, and transmitted the order to the engineer. The lights of
the pursuers immediately began to recede again, then they seemed to
stop.
“That will do!” said Olga. “They have reached the limit of their speed.
Keep to the southward, and see that they come no nearer.”
The three air-ships were, in fact, now travelling at their utmost
speed. If anything, the advantage was slightly in favour of the
_Revenge_, thanks to the high efficiency of the motive-power which had
been applied to her in accordance with the directions left by Olga’s
father, and transmitted in the will of Paul Romanoff.
So all the rest of the night and on into the next day pursuers and
pursued sped on with fearful velocity through the air. They passed over
Africa and out above the ocean, and still on and on they swept until
the Southern Sea was crossed and the mighty ice-barrier that fences in
the South Pole gleamed out white upon the horizon.
This was passed, and still they rushed on over the dreary wastes of
Antarctica. The pole was crossed along the 40th meridian, and then they
swept northward until the smoke-cloud that crowned the crest of Mount
Erebus rose above the snow-clouds that hid the earth. The _Revenge_
headed straight towards this and swept over it, followed at a distance
of about ten miles by her pursuers.
Then with a mighty upward sweep she leapt two thousand feet higher
still, came to equilibrium, and discharged a shell downwards on to
the ice. The explosion was answered by the rising of a flotilla of
air-ships, which seemed to have sprung out of the bowels of the earth.
Thirty vessels as large as herself rose simultaneously through the
clouds and spread themselves out in a wide circle round the two Aerian
vessels, which thus found themselves surrounded by an overwhelming
force and dominated by the _Revenge_ floating far above them with her
ten guns pointed down upon them.
To an observer so placed as to be able to command a view of the
situation it would have seemed that nothing short of the surrender or
annihilation of the _Ithuriel_ and the _Ariel_ could have been the
outcome of it.
So evidently thought Olga and those in command of the Russian aerial
fleet, for, although for one brief instant the two Aerian vessels lay
at their mercy, they failed to take advantage of it, and in losing
this one precious moment they reckoned without the superior skill and
perfect control of their air-ships possessed by those of whom they
thought to make an easy prey.
What really happened took place with such stupefying suddenness that
they were taken completely off their guard. The _Ithuriel_ and the
_Ariel_ lay end on to each other in the midst of the circle of their
enemies. Each mounted ten guns, and of these every one was available.
The crews of both vessels, trained by constant practice to the highest
point of efficiency, knew exactly what to do without so much as an
order being given.
Automatically the twenty guns were trained in the twinkling of an eye,
each on a Russian vessel, and discharged simultaneously. A moment later
the two vessels sank like stones through the thick clouds below them;
and while the heavens above were shaken with the combined explosions
of the twenty projectiles, each of which had found its mark with
unerring accuracy, they had regained their equilibrium a thousand feet
from the surface of the ice, and darted away full speed northward.
To such a fearful pitch of efficiency had their guns and projectiles
been brought that, while the aim was unerring if once a fair sight was
obtained, nothing shaped by human hands could withstand the impact of
their shells without destruction. Twenty out of the thirty vessels of
the Russian fleet collapsed, and, as it were, shrivelled up under the
frightful energy of the Aerian projectiles. Twenty masses of flame
blazed out over the grey surface of the cloud-sea, and in another
moment the fragments of the vessels it had taken so many months of
labour and such wondrous skill to construct were lying scattered far
and wide over the snow and ice of the Antarctic desert.
The awful suddenness with which this destruction had been accomplished
deprived Olga and her subordinates of all power of thought for the
moment. They heard the roar of the explosions, and saw a mist of flame
burst out round them as though all the fires of Mount Erebus had broken
loose at once, and then came the silence of speechless horror and
stupefaction. It was more like the work of omnipotent fiends than of
men. The bolts of heaven themselves could have done nothing like it.
Then the moment of the shock passed, and those who survived remembered
what they ought never to have forgotten--that, armed as they were
with weapons which under favourable circumstances were absolutely
irresistible, the first shot meant victory for those who fired it, and
destruction for their enemies. Odds of mere numbers went for nothing,
for each air-ship was equal to ten others provided she could send her
ten projectiles home first, and this is just what had happened.
All this had passed in a twentieth of the time that it has taken to
describe it, and by the time Olga and her subordinates grasped the
extent of the calamity that had overtaken them the two Aerian vessels,
darting through the air at five hundred miles an hour, had swept
far out of range of their guns, and were moreover so hidden by the
cloud-sea, that they had no idea which course they had taken.
Olga stamped her foot upon the deck, and, in a paroxysm of unrestrained
passion, literally screamed with rage as she ordered the _Revenge_ to
sink below the clouds. Less than two minutes sufficed for the remains
of the fleet, that had been thirty-one strong five minutes before and
now only numbered eleven vessels, to sink through the clouds.
A rapid glance round showed them the _Ithuriel_ and the _Ariel_, tiny
specks far out over the waste of snow and ice, speeding away to the
northward. To give chase was out of the question, for scarcely had they
sighted them than they vanished as completely as though they had melted
into the atmosphere; and so Olga signalled for her remaining vessels
to proceed to their secret haven in the snowy solitudes of the South,
while the _Ithuriel_ and her consort sped onward on their homeward
voyage, to carry the news of the terrible vengeance that they had taken
for the destruction of the eight air-ships which had been annihilated
by the guns of the _Revenge_.
Twenty hours sufficed for the two Aerian vessels to pass over a quarter
of the earth’s circumference, and carry their tidings of vengeance
and victory to Aeria, and shortly after noon on the day but one after
Olga had dropped her challenge from the skies, a meeting of the Ruling
Council was held at the President’s house in order to consider the
startling and pregnant events which had taken place, and to determine
the plan of the war which, after a hundred and thirty years of
unquestioned supremacy, they were now called upon to wage not only for
the mastery of the world, but for the very lives and liberties of the
citizens of Aeria.
It had of course been impossible to conceal from the inhabitants of the
valley the gravity of the startling events which had taken place in
such rapid succession, nor did the President and Council consider any
such concealment desirable. There were no demagogues and no politics
in Aeria, and therefore there was no need for any State secrets save
those which contained the essentials of aerial navigation.
There was also no fear of panic in a community which contained no
ignorant or criminal classes, and so, while the Council was sitting,
the strange tidings were promulgated throughout the length and breadth
of the valley. Marvellous and disquieting as they were they yet gave
rise to very few external signs of excitement. They were gravely,
earnestly, and even anxiously discussed, for they brought with them a
prophecy of calamities to come, the probability of whose realisation
was too plain to be ignored.
But ever since the days of the Terror each generation of Aerians had
been carefully trained to recognise the fact that the progress of
science and the restlessness of human invention in the world outside
their borders must, sooner or later, produce some challenge to their
supremacy and some attempt to dispute with them the Empire of the Air.
Now, after four generations--in spite of all the elaborate precautions
that had been taken, the stringent laws that had been enacted and more
than once mercilessly enforced--the crisis had come.
It was now impossible to doubt that by some means, which so far seemed
almost superhuman, the flag-ship of their fleet had been stolen, and
the son of the President kidnapped with his greatest friend. More than
this, the news brought back by the _Ithuriel_ and the _Ariel_ proved
beyond all doubt that means had been found to build a large fleet of
aerial warships without even arousing the suspicions of the Council.
And, worst and most sinister sign of all, there was also the fact,
proved by Olga’s letter to the President, that the moving spirit in
this defiant revolt against the supremacy of Aeria was one who bore the
ill-omened and still hated name of Romanoff.
As has been said, there was no panic that night in Aeria, but still
many a man and woman anxiously asked, either aloud or in his or her
own soul, whether in the mysterious revolution of human affairs it
might not be about to come to pass that she who had wrought this
apparent miracle might not yet be able to avenge the terrible fate
of her ancestor, the Last of the Tsars. Then, with this thought
came a universal revulsion of horror at the prospect of such a crime
against humanity and a deep resolve to exact the penalty for it to the
uttermost.
If war was to be brought once more upon the earth, those who brought
it would find Aeria worthy of its splendid traditions and ready, if
necessary, to reconquer the earth as the founders of its empire had
done in the Armageddon of 1904. Fierce as that mighty struggle had
been, its horrors would pale before those of a conflict in which
conquest would mean extermination, for if Aeria was forced once more
to draw the sword it would not be sheathed until there was peace again
on earth, even if that peace were to be but the silence of universal
desolation.