AN AIRSHIP OF OLBA.
After they had eaten on the following morning, Vorn Vangal said:
"No doubt you are anxious to know something about this country, and
the person you represent on Zarovia. The wild, mountainous kingdom of
Uxpo, of which these forests are a part, is situated at the extreme
southern limit of the empire of Reabon. Uxpo, together with seven other
kingdoms, was originally conquered by the famous emperor, Margo, and
its fierce, previously unbeaten mountaineer people reduced to slavery.
"Upon Margo's death, three years ago, the people of Uxpo entertained
high hopes of freedom. They had learned that the emperor's daughter,
Vernia, a mere slip of a girl, had succeeded to the throne, and felt
that it was the logical moment to strike off the shackles that held
them. Accordingly they revolted and, almost over-night, slew every
soldier, officer and agent of the empire. Their old king had been
executed at Margo at the time of the invasion, but his elder son, Lugi,
was placed on the throne.
"Two days afterward a courier brought news that the princess Vernia
was coming at the head of a hundred thousand soldiers. He assembled
his pitifully inadequate little army of five thousand mountaineers and
went forth to do battle for the honor and liberty of Uxpo. The army of
Uxpo was annihilated, and Lugi was executed for treason. Once more the
fierce Uxponians bowed their necks to the yoke of the conqueror.
"Lugi had a younger brother named Thaddor--your astral double. This
youth was of a mild and gentle disposition, and it was for this reason,
perhaps, that Vernia spared his life and allowed him the privilege of
her court.
"Prince Thaddor, however, mistook the kindly motive of the princess and
fell madly in love with her. He had always found women susceptible to
him, and did not doubt that this slip of a girl would yield; so, when
one evening he attempted to make love to her, he was little prepared
for the storm of anger which followed.
"'Prince Thaddor,' she said, 'for such presumptuous conduct as this
I should have you beheaded. You are the son of a king, and I have
permitted you to live in idle luxury because you appeared gentle and
courteous, and not because of any personal feeling I had for you. Had
my father been living at the time of the revolt, there would have been
but one alternative to instant death, namely: slavery in the marble
quarries. A slave, I brought you from Uxpo, and a slave I return you
thence, to labor in the quarries for life.'
"For some time I had been searching for a man dissatisfied with life
on this planet, to accompany our Prince of Olba on the journey to your
world. I heard of Prince Thaddor's predicament, and experienced little
difficulty in persuading him to make the journey. Some weeks after I
telepathed the news to Dr. Morgan, he advised me that he had found the
prince's physical counterpart. When he reported that you were about to
make the journey I immediately came hither in order to be of assistance
to you. On learning of your escape, I trailed you to the tree in which
you had been driven by the hahoes. The rest you know."
* * * * *
Vangal stayed with Grandon for a week, teaching him patoa and
woodcraft, and the use of the tork, and scarbo. On the evening of the
seventh day he stated that the time had arrived for him to return to
his people.
"No doubt you are anxious to be back among your friends," remarked
Grandon. "Is the journey a long one?"
"Olba is on the opposite side of the planet; roughly, about twelve
thousand of your Earth miles from here."
"And you will go all that distance afoot?"
"Hardly. My airship is concealed in a ravine only a short distance from
here. In one day's time I shall be home. By leaving here in the evening
I shall arrive there in the morning, for it is morning in Olba when it
is evening in Reabon."
"You must have speedy airships on this planet," said Grandon.
"According to your statement, you will travel at the rate of five
hundred miles an hour, or almost half as fast as the planet itself
revolves on its axis."
"Exactly; yet my little one-man craft is not so swift when compared to
some of the larger airships, many of which travel twice as fast."
"Marvelous!" exclaimed Grandon. "What motive power do you use?"
"Ah, my friend, I regret that I am not at liberty to divulge that, for
Olba is the only country on the planet in which airships are made or
used. The factories and the secrets of manufacture are the exclusive
property of the government, and have been since the first airship was
invented, nearly four centuries ago.
"My people are peace-loving and not given to conquest. In the airship
they have a potent means of defense from their warlike neighbors. If
the Reabonians, for example, knew the secret of airship manufacture,
they would long ago have subjugated most of the other Zarovian nations,
all of which, with the exception of Olba, are as warlike as themselves."
Together the men walked to the ravine where the airship was concealed.
Grandon expected to see a craft equipped with wings or planes of some
sort, and a propeller. To his surprise he beheld what looked like a
small metal duck-boat with a curved glass dome over the tiny cockpit.
The airship was about ten feet long and three wide, and without planes,
wings, propeller, or rudder.
Vangal noted the look of surprise on the face of his companion.
"You seem puzzled by the appearance of my little craft," he said,
smiling slightly. "It will do no harm for me to explain something of
the general principles on which it operates, so long as I do not betray
the actual secret of motive power, with which I am familiar as an
officer of my government.
"Immediately in front of the glass dome you will notice a small, round
bulge in the deck. Under that bulge is a delicate mechanism which it
is impossible to remove or take apart without breaking a small vial of
acid that will instantly destroy it. This mechanism is the motive power
of the craft, so you can readily see that it would be quite impossible
for an enemy to learn our secret by capturing one of our ships.
"You are, no doubt, familiar with that power of the subconscious mind
which your Dr. Morgan calls telekinesis--the power with which your
terrestrial mediums sometimes cause tables and other ponderable objects
to rise and hang suspended, or move about in the air without physical
aid. My people have been familiar with this wonderful power of the mind
for many centuries, but never, until the invention of this mechanism,
were they able to put it to any practical use. It responds to, and
amplifies the power of telekinesis to a remarkable degree, so that by
mind power I am able to cause the craft to rise and hang suspended at
almost any attitude, or to move in any direction, backward, forward,
or sidewise. For emergency use, in the event of the failure of the
motive power, there are two parachutes, one under the small round lid
at either end of the craft. By pressing a button I cause the lids to
fly back and the parachutes to project from the holes and open almost
instantly."
"A most astounding and wonderful invention," exclaimed Grandon.
"Perhaps some day you will visit Olba, and when you do, Vorn Vangal
will see that you are provided with a suitable craft as long as you
stay in the country--for none but a government official or employee may
take one of these airships over the border. It is growing late, and I
must begin my journey," Vangal continued, opening the door in the rear
of the dome and stepping inside. "Farewell, my friend. I admonish you
to hurry home at once, for night will fall in a few minutes, and those
beasts of prey of which I warned you will be lurking in the shadows. I
see you have not brought your tork or scarbo with you. That is unwise.
From now on, never travel without them. On Zarovia you are in constant
danger from attack by man or beast. Farewell, and may you soon be
firmly seated on the throne of Uxpo."
Grandon warmly clasped the hand of his departing friend, and a feeling
of indefinable sadness came over him as he watched the tiny craft rise
noiselessly and smoothly to a height of perhaps a thousand feet, then
dart away, to be lost to view in a few seconds.
As he stood looking in the direction Vangal had taken, he was startled
by the sound of a stealthy footfall behind him. He wheeled, but his
eyes could not penetrate the shadows, for night had come on with its
characteristic suddenness. At the sound of a second footfall he turned
and dashed off through the forest, only to find himself amid a group
of warriors with leveled torks. The men, attracted by the sound of his
farewell to Vangal, must have crept up and surrounded him.