_Stratosphere Currents_
Now the partner-scientists concentrated on the tremendous task of
climbing higher than man had ever flown before. Nobody knew how high
Kress had gone, for the only information which had come back had been
the corpse of the sky pioneer. Jeter and Eyer hoped to land, too, but to
be able to tell others, when they did, what had happened to them.
Somehow, away up here, the affairs of the Earth seemed trivial, unreal.
What was the raising of an entire skyscraper--in reality so small that
from this height it was difficult to pick out the biggest one through
the telescope? What mattered a bridge across the Hudson that was really
less than the footprint of an ant at this height?
Still, looking at each other, they were able to attain the old
perspectives. Down there people like Jeter and Eyer were dying because
of something that struck at them from somewhere up here in the blue
darkness.
Their faces set grimly. The plane kept up its constant spiraling. Jeter
and Eyer flew the ship in relays. Occasionally they secured the controls
and allowed the plane to fly on, untended.
"But maybe we'd better not do too much of that," said Jeter dubiously.
"I'm sure we are being observed, every foot of altitude we make. I don't
care to run into something up here that will wreck us. Right now, Eyer,
if we happened to be outside this sealed cabin instead of inside it,
we'd die in less time than it takes to tell about it."
All known records for altitude--the only unknown one being Kress'--had
now been broken by Jeter and Eyer. They informed Hadley of this fact.
"A week ago you'd have had headlines," came back Hadley. "To-day nobody
cares, except that the world looks to you for information about this
horror. The enemy is systematically destroying every building in
Manhattan which dates back over eight years. Fortunately, save for the
occasional die-hard who never believes anything, there are few deaths at
the moment. But we're all waiting, holding our breaths, wondering what
the next five minutes will bring forth. Is there any news there?"
How strange it seemed--as the altimeter said sixty-one thousand feet--to
hear that voice out of the void. For under the plane there was no world
at all, save through the telescope. Perhaps when morning came they would
be able to see a little. Picard had reported the world to look flat from
a little over fifty thousand-feet.
"No news, Hadley," said Jeter. "Except, that our plane behaves perfectly
and we are at sixty-one thousand feet. Were it not for our turn and bank
indicators, our altimeter and air speed instruments, and our
navigational instruments, it would be impossible to tell--by looking at
least, though we could tell by our shifting weight--whether we were
upside down or right side up, on one wing or on an even keel. It's eery.
We wouldn't be able to tell whether we were moving were it not for our
air speed indicator. There are no clouds. The motor hum seems to be the
only thing here--except ourselves of course--to remind us that we really
belong down there with you."
* * * * *
The connection was broken again as Jeter ceased speaking. Things seemed
to be marking time on the ground, save for the strange demolitions of
the unseen and apparently unknowable enemy. Would they ever really
encounter him, or it?
When the sun came out of the east they leveled off at ninety thousand
feet. By their reckoning they had scarcely moved in any direction from
the spot where they had taken off. Jeter was satisfied that they were
almost directly above Mineola. But the world had vanished. The plane
rode easily on. Now and again it dipped one wing or the other--and even
the veteran aviators felt a thrill of uneasiness. From somewhere up here
in this immensity, Franz Kress had dropped to his death. Of course, if
it had happened at this height he hadn't lived to suffer.
Or had he? What had been done to him by the--the denizens of the
stratosphere?
Jeter sat down beside Eyer. It seemed strange to eat breakfast here, but
the sandwiches and hot coffee in a thermos bottle were extremely
welcome. They ate in silence, their thoughts busy. When they had made an
end, Jeter squared his shoulders. Eyer grinned.
"Well, Lucian," he said, "are we in enemy territory by your
calculations? And if so how do you arrive at your conclusions?"
"I'm still guessing, Tema," said Jeter, "but I've a feeling I'm not
guessing badly, and.... Yes, we're somewhere within striking distance of
the enemy, whatever the enemy is."
"What's the next move?
"We'll systematically cover the sky over an area which blankets New
York, Long Island, Jersey City and surrounding territory for a distance
of twenty miles. If we're above the enemy, perhaps we can look down upon
him. We know he can't be seen from below, perhaps not even from above.
If we are below him we'll try to fly into that column of his. What
they'll do to us I.... You're not afraid to find out, are you?"
Eyer grinned. Jeter grinned back at him.
"What they'll do to us if we fly into them I'm sure I don't know. I
don't think they'll kill our motor. If whoever or whatever controls the
light column decides to us prisoners.... Well, we'll hope to have better
luck combating them than Kress had."
* * * * *
And so begin that hours-long vigil of quartering the stratosphere over
the unmarked area which Jeter had set as a limit. Now and again Hadley
spoke to Jeter. Yes, the demolitions were still continuing in Manhattan.
Could all telescopes on the ground pick out their space ship? Yes, said
Hadley, and a young scientist in New Jersey was constantly watching
them. Were they, since sunrise, ever out of his sight? Only when clouds
at comparatively low altitudes intervened. However, the sky was
unusually clear and it was hoped to keep their plane in sight during the
entire day.
"Hadley," Jeter almost whispered, "I'm satisfied we're above the area of
force, else we'd have flown into the anti-gravitation field. Get in
touch with that Jersey chap by direct personal wire or radiophone if he
is equipped with it. See that his watch is set with yours, which is
synchronised with ours. Got that?"
"Yes."
"When you've done that give him these instructions: He is never to take
his eyes of us for more than a split second at a time--unless someone
else takes his place. I doubt if, at this distance, this will work, but
it may help us a little. If we become invisible for even the briefest of
moments, he is to look at his watch and observe the exact time, even to
split seconds. We shall try to follow a certain plan hereafter in
quartering the stratosphere, and I shall mark our location on the
navigational charts every minute until we hear from this chap, or until
we decide nothing is to be accomplished by this trick. Understand?"
"You're hoping that the enemy, while invisible to all eyes, yet has
substance...."
"Shut up!" snapped Jeter, but he was glad that Hadley had grasped the
idea. It was a slim chance, but such as it was it was worth trying. If
the plane were invisible for a time, then it would be proof of some
opaque obstruction between the plane and the eye of the beholder on the
surface of the Earth. Refraction had to be figured, perhaps. Oh, there
were many arguments against it.
The fliers followed the very outer edge of the area above the world they
had mapped out as their limit of exploration. This circuit completed,
they banked inward, shortening their circuit by about a mile of space. A
mile, seen at a distance of ninety thousand feet, would be little
indeed.
It was almost midday when they had their first stroke of luck.
The buzzer sounded at the very moment Eyer uttered an ejaculation.
"The Jersey fellow says there is nothing between his lens and your plane
to obstruct the view."
"O.K.," retorted Jeter. "At the moment your buzzer sounded our plane
suddenly jumped upward. That means an upcurrent of air indicating an
obstruction under us. It must however, be invisible."
He severed the connection. His brow was furrowed thoughtfully. He was
remembering Sitsumi and his rumored discovery.
They circled back warily. The eyes of both were fixed downward, staring
into space. Their jaws were firmly set. Their eyes were narrowed.
And then....
There was that uprush of air again! It appeared to rise from an angle of
about sixty degrees. They got the wind against their nose and started a
humming dive, feeling in the alien updraft for the obstruction which
caused it.