I
The lights of great Transcontinental Airport were blazing in cheeringsplendor. Out there in the center of the broad field a dozen men weresilhouetted in the white brilliance, looking up at the sky, where thestars winked cold and clear on the jet background of the frosty night. Aslim crescent of moon gleamed in the west, a sickle of light that in noway dimmed the cold flame of the brilliant stars.
One point of light now moved across the motionless field of far-offsuns, flashing toward the airport in a long, swift curve. The men on thefield murmured and pointed up at it as it swept low over the blazinglights of New York. Lower it swooped, the towering city behind it. Halfa mile into the air the buildings rose in shining glory of colored tilethat shone brightly in the sweeping play of floodlights.
One of them picked out the descending machine, and it suddenly leapedout of the darkness as a shining, streamlined cylinder, a cylinder witha great halo of blue fire, as the beam of the searchlight set it offfrom the jet black night.
In moments the ship was vast before the eyes of the waiting men; it hadlanded gently on the field, was floating smoothly, gracefully towardthem.
Twenty-four men climbed from the great ship, shivering in the icy blastthat swept across the field, spoke a moment with the group awaitingtheir arrival, then climbed quickly into the grateful warmth of a fieldcar. In a moment they were speeding toward the lights of the fieldhouse, half a mile off.
Behind them the huge ship leaped into the sky, then suddenly pointed itsnose up at an angle of thirty degrees and shot high into the air at anunbelievable speed. In an instant it was gone.
At the field house the party broke up almost immediately.
"We want to thank you, Mr. Morey, for your demonstration of the new shiptonight, and you, Dr. Arcot, for answering our many questions about it.I am sure we all appreciate the kindness you have shown the press." Thereporters filed out quickly, anxious to get the news into the morningeditions, for it was after one o'clock now. Each received a small slipof paper from the attendant standing at the exit, the official statementof the company. At last all had left but the six men who wereresponsible for the new machine.
This night had witnessed the official demonstration of the first of theArcot-Morey molecular motion ships. Small as she was, compared to thosethat were to come, yet she could carry over three thousand passengers,as many as could any existing winged plane, and her speed was immenselygreater. The trip from the west coast to the eastern had been made inless than one hour. At a speed close to one mile a second the great shiphad shot through the thin air, twenty-five miles above the Earth.
In this vessel a huge bar of metal could be affected by anultra-high-frequency generator. When so affected, its molecules allmoved forward, taking the ship with them. Thus, a molecular motion drivevessel could, theoretically, approach the velocity of light as a limit.
"Arcot," said Morey, Senior, after the pressmen had left the room, "aspresident of this company I certainly want to thank you for thetremendous thing you have given us to use. You have 'sold' us thismachine--but how can we repay you? Before this, time and time again,you have sold us your inventions, the ideas that have made it possiblefor Transcontinental to attain its present high position in worldtransportation. All you have ever accepted is the laboratory you use,its upkeep, and a small annual income. What can we do to show ourappreciation this time?"
"Why," answered Arcot smiling, "you haven't stated the terms correctly.Actually, I have a fully equipped lab to putter around in, all the timeI want for my own amusement, and all the money I want. What more could Iask?"
"I suppose that's all true--but you draw only about six thousand a yearfor personal expenses--a good clerk could get that--and you, admittedlythe most brilliant physicist of the Earth, are satisfied! I don't feelwe're paying you properly!"
Arcot's expression became suddenly serious. "You can repay me thistime," he said, "for this latest discovery has made a new thingpossible. I've always wanted to be able to visit other planets--as hasmany a scientist for the last three centuries. This machine has made itpossible. If you are willing--we could start by the spring of 2117. I'mquite serious about this. With your permission, I want to start work onthe first interplanetary ship. I'll need Fuller's help, of course. Theproposition will be expensive, and that's where I must ask you to helpme. I think, however, that it may be a paying proposition, at that, forthere will certainly be something of commercial value on the otherplanets."
They had walked out to the shed where Arcot's private molecular motioncar stood, the first machine ever built that used the heat of the sun todrive it. Thoughtfully the president of the great Transcontinental Lineslooked at it. It was small compared with the great machine that had justbrought them east, but of the same swift type. It was a thing ofgraceful beauty even on the ground, its long curving streamlines givingit wonderful symmetry. They stood in thoughtful silence for aminute--the young men eager to hear the verdict of their prospectivebacker. Morey, always rather slow of speech, took an unusually longtime to answer.
"If it were only money you asked for, Arcot, I'd gladly give you doublethe sum, but that isn't the case. I know perfectly well that if you dogo, my son will go with you, and Fuller and Wade will naturally go too."He looked at each in turn. "Each of you has come to mean a lot to me.You and Fuller have known Bob since college days. I've known Wade onlythree months, but every day I grow to like him more. There's no denyingthe fact that any such trip is a terrifically dangerous proposition. Butif you were lost, there would be more than my personal loss. We wouldlose some of the most brilliant men on Earth. You, for instance, areconceded as being the world's most brilliant physicist; Fuller is one ofthe greatest designing engineers; Wade is rapidly rising into prominenceas a chemist and as a physicist; and my son is certainly a goodmathematician."
He paused, frowning, weighing the situation. "But you men should knowhow to get out of scrapes just that much better. Certainly there are fewmen on Earth who would not be willing to back such a group of men--orany one of you, for that matter! I'll back your trip!" His words becamemore facetious. "I know that Arcot and you, Bob, can handle a gun fairlywell, I don't know so much about Wade and Fuller. What experience haveyou two had?"
Fuller shook his head. "I think I'll fit best in the galley on the trip,Mr. Morey. I've done the cooking on a number of camping trips, and foodis an important factor in the success of any expedition. I can shoot abit, too."
Wade spoke rather hesitantly. "I come from the west, and have had a goodbit of fun with a gun in the Rockies; there are still some mountainlions and some deer there, you know. I also have a sneaking acquaintancewith the new gun, which Arcot developed in connection with his molecularmotion. But there is so little you know about me--and most of it bad--Idon't see how I really get in on this opportunity--but," he addedhastily, "I certainly don't intend to keep the old boy knocking--I'mwith you, since I'm invited!"
Arcot smiled. "Then you'll definitely support us?"
"Yes, I will," replied Morey, Senior, seriously, "for I think it's worthdoing."
The four young men climbed into the ship, to start for their apartment.Arcot was piloting, and under his sure touch the ship sped out into thecold night air, then up through the atmosphere, till they hung poised ata height of fifty miles on the upper edge of the airy blanket. Theylooked out in silent thought at the magnificent blazing stars of space.Here, where the dust-laden air could no longer mask their true colors,the stars shone unwinkingly, steadily, and in a glory that earth-boundmen had never seen before. They shone in a wonderous riot of color, asvaried and as beautiful as the display of colored floodlights in somegreat city. They were tiny pinpoints of radiance, red, green, orange,and yellow, shining with intense brilliance.
Slowly Arcot let the machine settle to the blazing city miles below.
"I love to come out here and look at those cold, pinpoint lights; theyseem to draw me--the lure of other worlds. I've always had a sense ofunfulfilled longing--the desire to go out t
here--and it's always been sohopeless. Now--I'll be out there by next spring!" Arcot paused andlooked up at the mighty field of stars that arched over his head to belost on either horizon. A wonderful night!
"Where shall we go first, Dick?" asked Wade softly as he gazed out atthe far-off suns of space, his voice unconsciously hushed by thegrandeur of the spectacle.
"I've thought of that for the last four months, and now that we aredefinitely going to go, we'll have to make a decision. Actually, itwon't be too hard to decide. Of course we can't leave the solar system.And the outer planets are so far away that I think we had better waittill later trips. That leaves the choice really between Mars, Venus, andMercury. Mercury isn't practical since it's so close to the sun. We knowa fair bit about Mars from telescopic observation, while Venus, wrappedin perpetual cloud, is a mystery. What do you vote?"
"Well," said Morey, "it seems to me it's more fun to explore acompletely unknown planet than one that can be observed telescopically.I vote Venus." Each of the others agreed with Morey that Venus was thelogical choice.
By this time the machine had sunk to the roof of their apartment, andthe men disembarked and entered. The next day they were to start theactual work of designing the space ship.