Astounding Stories of Super-Science, March 1930
Page 1
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ASTOUNDING STORIES OF SUPER-SCIENCE
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VOL. I, No. 3 CONTENTS MARCH, 1930
COVER DESIGN H. W. WESSOLOWSKI _Painted in Water-colors from a Scene in "Brigands of the Moon."_
COLD LIGHT CAPTAIN S. P. MEEK 295 _How Could a Human Body Be Found Actually Splintered--Broken into Sharp Fragments Like a Shattered Glass! Once Again Dr. Bird Probes Deep into an Amazing Mystery._
BRIGANDS OF THE MOON RAY CUMMINGS 306 _Black Mutiny and Brigandage Stalk the Space-ship Planetara as She Speeds to the Moon to Pick Up a Fabulously Rich Cache of Radium-ore._
THE SOUL MASTER WILL SMITH AND R. J. ROBBINS 350 _Desperately O'Hara Plunged into Prof. Kell's Mysterious Mansion. For His Friend Skip Was the Victim of the Eccentric Scientist's De-astralizing Experiment, and Faced a Fate More Hideous than Death._
FROM THE OCEAN'S DEPTHS SEWELL PEASLEE WRIGHT 376 _Man Came from the Sea. Mercer, by His Thought-telegraph, Learns from the Weirdly Beautiful Ocean-maiden of a Branch that Returned There._
VANDALS OF THE STARS A. T. LOCKE 390 _A Livid Flame Flares Across Space--and Over Manhattan Hovers Teuxical, Vassal of Malfero, Lord of the Universe, Who Comes with Ten Thousand Warriors to Ravage and Subjugate One More Planet for His Master._
* * * * *
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* * * * *
Cold Light
_By Capt. S. P. Meek_
How could a human body be found actually splintered--broken into sharp fragments like a shattered glass! Once again Dr. Bird probes deep into an amazing mystery.
"_The bodies had broken into pieces, as though they hadbeen made of glass._"]
"Confound it, Carnes, I am on my vacation!"
"I know it, Doctor, and I hate to disturb you, but I felt that I simplyhad to. I have one of the weirdest cases on my hands that I have everbeen mixed up in and I think that you'll forgive me for calling you whenI tell you about it."
Dr. Bird groaned into the telephone transmitter.
"I took a vacation last summer, or tried to, and you hauled me away fromthe best fishing I have found in years to help you on a case. This yearI traveled all the way from Washington to San Francisco to get away fromyou and the very day that I get here you are after me. I won't haveanything to do with it. Where are you, anyway?"
"I am at Fallon, Nevada, Doctor. I'm sorry that you won't help me outbecause the case promises to be unusually interesting. Let me at leasttell you about it."
Dr. Bird groaned louder than ever into the telephone transmitter.
"All right, go ahead and tell me about it if it will relieve your mind,but I have given you my final answer. I am not a bit interested in it."
"That is quite all right, Doctor, I don't expect you to touch it. Ihope, however, that you will be able to give me an idea of where tostart. Did you ever see a man's body broken in pieces?"
"Do you mean badly smashed up?"
"No indeed, I mean just what I said, broken in pieces. Legs snapped offas though the entire flesh had become brittle."
"No, I didn't, and neither did anyone else."
"I have seen it, Doctor."
"Hooey! What had you been drinking?"
Operative Carnes of the United States Secret Service chuckled softly tohimself. The voice of the famous scientist of the Bureau of Standardsplainly showed an interest which was quite at variance with his words.
"I was quite sober, Doctor, and so was Hughes, and we both saw it."
"Who is Hughes?"
"He is an air mail pilot, one of the crack fliers of the TranscontinentalAirmail Corporation. Let me tell you the whole thing in order."
"All right. I have a few minutes to spare, but I'll warn you again thatI don't intend to touch the case."
* * * * *
"Suit yourself, Doctor. I have no authority to requisition yourservices. As you know, the T. A. C. has been handling a great deal ofthe transcontinental air mail with a pretty clean record on accidents.The day before yesterday, a special plane left Washington to carry twopackages from there to San Francisco. One of them was a shipment ofjewels valued at a quarter of a million, consigned to a San Franciscofirm and the other was a sealed packet from the War Department. No onewas supposed to know the contents of that packet except the Chief ofStaff who delivered it to the plane personally, but rumors got out, asusual, and it was popularly supposed to contain certain essentialfeatures of the Army's war plans. This much is certain: The planecarried not only the regular T. A. C. pilot and courier, but also anarmy courier, and it was guarded during the trip by an army plane armedwith small bombs and a machine-gun. I rode in it. My orders were simplyto guard the ship until it landed at Mills Field and then to guard thecourier from there to the Presidio of San Francisco until his packet wasdelivered personally into the hands of the Commanding General of theNinth Corps Area.
"The trip was quiet and monotonous until after we left Salt Lake City atdawn this morning. Nothing happened until we were about a hundred mileseast of Reno. We had taken elevation to cross the Stillwater Mountainsand were skimming low over them, my plane trailing the T. A. C. plane byabout half a mile. I was not paying any particular attention to theother ship when I suddenly felt our plane leap ahead. It was a fastDouglas and the pilot gave it the gun and made it move, I can tell you.I yelled into the speaking tube and asked what was the reason. My pilotyelled back that the plane ahead was in trouble.
"As soon as it was called to my attention I could see myself that itwasn't acting normally. It was losing elevation and was pursuing a veryerratic course. Before we could reach it it lost flying speed and fellinto a spinning nose dive and headed for the ground. I watched,expecting every minute to see the crew make parachute jumps, but theydidn't and the plane hit the ground with a terrific crash."
"It caught fire, of co
urse?"
* * * * *
"No, Doctor, that is one of the funny things about the accident. Itdidn't. It hit the ground in an open place free from brush and literallyburst into pieces, but it didn't flame up. We headed directly for thescene of the crash and we encountered another funny thing. We almostfroze to death."
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I say. Of course, it's pretty cold at that altitude allthe time, but this cold was like nothing I had ever encountered. Itseemed to freeze the blood in our veins and it congealed frost on thewindshields and made the motor miss for a moment. It was only momentaryand it only existed directly over the wrecked plane. We went past it andswung around in a circle and came back over the wreck, but we didn'tfeel the cold again.
"The next thing we tried to do was to find a landing place. That countryis pretty rugged and rough and there wasn't a flat place for miles thatwas large enough to land a ship on. Hughes and I talked it over andthere didn't seem to be much of anything that we could do except to goon until we found a landing place. I had had no experience in parachutejumping and I couldn't pilot the plane if Hughes jumped. We swooped downover the wreck as close as we dared and that was when we saw thecondition of the bodies. The whole plane was cracked up pretty badly,but the weird part of it was the fact that the bodies of the crew hadbroken into pieces, as though they had been made of glass. Arms and legswere detached from the torsos and lying at a distance. There was no signof blood on the ground. We saw all this with our naked eyes from closeat hand and verified it by observations through binoculars from agreater height.
"When we had made our observations and marked the location of the wreckas closely as we could, we headed east until we found a landing placenear Fallon. Hughes dropped me here and went on to Reno, or to SanFrancisco if necessary, to report the accident and get more planes toaid in the search. I was wholly at sea, but it seemed to be in your lineand as I knew that you were at the St. Francis, I called you up."
* * * * *
"What are your plans?"
"I made none until I talked with you. The country where the wreckoccurred is unbelievably wild and we can't get near it with anytransportation other than burros. The only thing that I can see to do isto gather together what transportation I can and head for the wreck onfoot to rescue the packets and to bring out the bodies. Can you suggestanything better?"
"When do you expect to start?"
"As soon as I can get my pack train together. Possibly in three or fourhours."
"Carnes, are you sure that those bodies were broken into bits? An arm ora leg might easily be torn off in a complete crash."
"They were smashed into bits as nearly as I could tell, Doctor. Hughesis an old flier and he has seen plenty of crashes but he never sawanything like this. It beats anything that I ever saw."
"If your observations were accurate, there could be only one cause andthat one is a patent impossibility. I haven't a bit of equipmenthere, but I expect that I can get most of the stuff I want from theUniversity of California across the bay at Berkeley. I can get aplane at Crissy Field. I'll tell you what to do, Carnes. Get your burrotrain together and start as soon as you can, but leave me half adozen burros and a guide at Fallon. I'll get up there as soon as I canand I'll try to overtake you before you get to the wreck. If I don't,don't disturb anything any more than you can help until my arrival. Doyou understand?"
"I thought that you were on your vacation, Doctor."
"Oh shut up! Like most of my vacations, this one will have to bepostponed. I'll move as swiftly as I can and I ought to be at Fallonto-night if I'm lucky and don't run into any obstacles. Burros arefairly slow, but I'll make the best time possible."
"I rather expected you would, Doctor. I can't get my pack train togetheruntil evening, so I'll wait for you right here. I'm mighty glad that youare going to get in on it."
* * * * *
Silently Carnes and Dr. Bird surveyed the wreck of the T. A. C. plane.The observations of the secret service operative had been correct. Thebodies of the unfortunate crew had been broken into fragments. Theirlimbs had not been twisted off as a freak of the fall but had beencleanly broken off, as though the bodies had suddenly become brittle andhad shattered on their impact with the ground. Not only the bodies, butthe ship itself had been broken up. Even the clothing of the men was inpieces or had long splits in the fabric whose edges were as clean asthough they had been cut with a knife.
Dr. Bird picked up an arm which had belonged to the pilot and examinedit. The brittleness, if it had ever existed, was gone and the arm waslimp.
"No _rigor mortis_," commented the Doctor. "How long ago was thewreck?"
"About seventy-two hours ago."
"Hm-m! What about those packets that were on the plane?"
Carnes stepped forward and gingerly inspected first the body of the armycourier and then that of the courier of the T. A. C.
"Both gone, Doctor," he reported, straightening up.
Dr. Bird's face fell into grim lines.
"There is more to this case than appears on the surface, Carnes," hesaid. "This was no ordinary wreck. Bring up that third burro; I want toexamine these fragments a little. Bill," he went on to one of the twoguides who had accompanied them from Fallon, "you and Walter scoutaround the ground and see what you can find out. I especially wish toknow whether anyone has visited the scene of the wreck."
* * * * *
The guides consulted a moment and started out. Carnes drove up the burrothe Doctor had indicated and Dr. Bird unpacked it. He opened a mahogonycase and took from it a high powered microscope. Setting the instrumentup on a convenient rock, he subjected portions of the wreck, includingseveral fragments of flesh, to a careful scrutiny. When he had completedhis observations he fell into a brown study, from which he was arousedby Carnes.
"What did you find out about the cause of the wreck, Doctor?"
"I don't know what to think. The immediate cause was that everything wasfrozen. The plane ran into a belt of cold which froze up the motor andwhich probably killed the crew instantly. It was undoubtedly theaftermath of that cold which you felt when you swooped down over thewreck."
"It seems impossible that it could have suddenly got cold enough tofreeze everything up like that."
"It does, and yet I am confident that that is what happened. It was noordinary cold, Carnes; it was cold of the type that infests interstellarspace; cold beyond any conception you have of cold, cold near the rangeof the absolute zero of temperature, nearly four hundred and fiftydegrees below zero on the Fahrenheit scale. At such temperatures, thingswhich are ordinarily quite flexible and elastic, such as rubber, orflesh, become as brittle as glass and would break in the manner whichthese bodies have broken. An examination of the tissues of the fleshshows that it has been submitted to some temperature that is very low inthe scale, probably below that of liquid air. Such a temperature wouldproduce instant death and the other phenomena which we can observe."
"What could cause such a low temperature, Doctor?"
"I don't know yet, although I hope to find out before we are finished.Cold is a funny thing, Carnes. Ordinarily it is considered as simply theabsence of heat; and yet I have always held it to be a definite negativequantity. All through nature we observe that every force has itsopposite or negative force to oppose it. We have positive and negativeelectrical charges, positive and negative, or north and south, magneticpoles. We have gravity and its opposite apergy, and I believe cold isreally negative heat."
"I never heard of anything like that, Doctor. I always thought thatthings were cold because heat was taken from them--not because cold wasadded. It sounds preposterous."
* * * * *
"Such is the common idea, and yet I cannot accept it, for it does notexplain all the recorded phenomena. You are familiar with a searchlight,are you not?"
"In a
general way, yes."
"A searchlight is merely a source of light, and of course, of heat,which is placed at the focus of a parabolic reflector so that all of therays emanating from the source travel in parallel lines. A searchlight,of course, gives off heat. If we place a lens of the same size as thesearchlight aperture in the path of the beam and concentrate all thelight, and heat, at one spot, the focal point of the lens, thetemperature at that point is the same as the temperature of the sourceof the light, less what has been lost by radiation. You understand that,do you not?"
"Certainly."
"Suppose that we place at the center of the aperture of the searchlighta small opaque disc which is permeable neither to heat nor light, insuch a manner as to interrupt the central portion of the beam. As aresult, the beam will go out in the form of a hollow rod, or pipe, ofheat and light with a dark, cold core. This core will have thetemperature of the surrounding air plus the small amount which hasradiated into it from the surrounding pipe. If we now pass this beam oflight through a lens in order to concentrate the beam, both the pipe ofheat and the cold core will focus. If we place a temperature measuringdevice near the focus of the dark core, we will find that thetemperature is lower than the surrounding air. This means that we havefocused or concentrated cold."
"That sounds impossible. But I can offer no other criticism."
* * * * *
"Nevertheless, it is experimentally true. It is one of the facts whichlead me to consider cold as negative heat. However, this is true ofcold, as it is of the other negative forces; they exist and manifestthemselves only in the presence of the positive forces. No one has yetconcentrated cold except in the presence of heat, as I have outlined.How this cold belt which the T. A. C. plane encountered came to be thereis another question. The thing which we have to determine is whether itwas caused by natural or artificial forces."
"Both of the packets which the plane carried are gone, Doctor," observedCarnes.
"Yes, and that seems to add weight to the possibility that the cause wasartificial, but it is far from conclusive. The packets might not havebeen on the men when the plane fell, or someone may have passed laterand taken them for safekeeping."
The doctor's remarks were interrupted by the guides.
"Someone has been here since the wreck, Doctor," said Bill. "Walter andI found tracks where two men came up here and prowled around for sometime and then left by the way they came. They went off toward thenorthwest, and we followed their trail for about forty rods and thenlost it. We weren't able to pick it up again."
"Thanks, Bill," replied the doctor. "Well, Carnes, that seems to addmore weight to the theory that the spot of cold was made and didn't justhappen. If a prospecting party had just happened along they would eitherhave left the wreck alone or would have made some attempt to inter thebodies. That cold belt must have been produced artificially by men whoplanned to rob this plane after bringing it down and who were near athand to get their plunder. Is there any chance of following thattrail?"
"I doubt it, Doc. Walter and I scouted around quite a little, but wecouldn't pick it up again."
"Is there any power line passing within twenty miles of here?"
"None that Walter and I know of, Doc."
"Funny! Such a device as must have been used would need power and lotsof it for operation. Well, I'll try my luck. Carnes, help me unpack andset up the rest of my apparatus."
* * * * *
With the aid of the operative, Dr. Bird unpacked two of the burros andextracted from cases where they were carefully packed and padded someelaborate electrical and optical apparatus. The first was a shorttelescope of large diameter which he mounted on a base in such a mannerthat it could be elevated or depressed and rotated in any direction. Atthe focal point of the telescope was fastened a small knot of wire fromwhich one lead ran to the main piece of apparatus, which he sat on aflat rock. The other lead from the wire knot ran into a sealed containersurrounded by a water bath under which a spirit lamp burned. From thecontainer another lead led to the main apparatus. This main piececonsisted of a series of wire coils mounted on a frame and attached tothe two leads. The doctor took from a padded case a tiny magnetsuspended on a piece of wire of exceedingly small diameter which hefastened in place inside the coils. Cemented to the magnet was a tinymirror.
"What is that apparatus?" asked Carnes as the doctor finished his set-upand surveyed it with satisfaction.
"Merely a thermocouple attached to a D'Arsonval galvanometer," repliedthe doctor. "This large, squat telescope catches and concentrates on thethermocouple and the galvanometer registers the temperature."
"You're out of my depth. What is a thermocouple?"
"A juncture of two wires made of dissimilar metals, in this case ofplatinum and of platinum-iridium alloy. There is another similarjunction in this case, which is kept at a constant temperature by thewater bath. When the temperatures of the two junctions are the same, thesystem is in equilibrium. When they are at different temperatures, anelectrical potential is set up, which causes a current to flow from oneto the other through the galvanometer. The galvanometer consists of amagnet set up inside coils through which the current I spoke of flows.This current causes the magnet to rotate and by watching the mirror, therotation can be detected and measured.
"This device is one of the most sensitive ever made, and is used tomeasure the radiation from distant stars. Currents as small as.000000000000000000000000001 ampere have been detected and measured.This particular instrument is not that sensitive to begin with, and hasits sensitivity further reduced by having a high resistance in one ofthe leads."
"What are you going to use it for?"
"I am going to try to locate somewhere in these hills a patch of localcold. It may not work, but I have hopes. If you will manipulate thetelescope so as to search the hills around here, I will watch thegalvanometer."
* * * * *
For several minutes Carnes swung the telescope around. Twice Dr. Birdstopped him and decreased the sensitiveness of his instrument byintroducing more resistance in the lines in order to keep the magnetfrom twisting clear around, due to the fluctuations in the heatsreceived on account of the varying conditions of reflection. As Carnesswung the telescope again the magnet swung around sharply, nearly to aright angle to its former position.
"Stop!" cried the doctor. "Read your azimuth."
Carnes read the compass bearing on the protractor attached to the framewhich supported the telescope. Dr. Bird took a pair of binoculars andlooked long and earnestly in the indicated direction. With a sigh helaid down the glasses.
"I can't see a thing, Carnesy," he said. "We'll have to move over to thenext crest and make a new set-up. Plant a rod on the hill so that we canget an azimuth bearing and get the airline distance with a rangefinder."
On the hilltop which Dr. Bird had pointed out the apparatus was againset up. For several minutes Carnes swept the hills before an exclamationfrom the doctor told him to pause. He read the new azimuth, and thedoctor laid off the two readings on a sheet of paper with a protractorand made a few calculations.
"I don't know," he said reflectively when he had finished hiscomputations. "This darned instrument is still so sensitive that you mayhave merely focused on a deep shadow or a cold spring or something ofthat sort, but the magnet kicked clear around and it may mean that wehave located what we are looking for. It should be about two miles awayand almost due west of here."
"There is no spring that I know of, Doc, and I think I know of everywater hole in this country," remarked Bill.
"There could hardly be a spring at this elevation, anyway," replied thedoctor. "Maybe it is what we are seeking. We'll start out in thatdirection, anyway. Bill, you had better take the lead, for you know thecountry. Spread out a little so that we won't be too bunched if anythinghappens."
* * * * *
For three-quarters of an hour the
little group of men made their waythrough the wilderness in the direction indicated by the doctor.Presently Bill, who was in the lead, held up his hand with a warninggesture. The other three closed up as rapidly as cautious progress wouldallow.
"What is it, Bill?" asked the doctor in an undertone.
"Slip up ahead and look over that crest."
The doctor obeyed instructions. As he glanced over he gave vent to a lowwhistle of surprise and motioned for Carnes to join him. The operativecrawled up and glanced over the crest. In a hollow before them was acrude one-storied house, and erected on an open space before it was amassive piece of apparatus. It consisted of a number of huge metalliccylinders, from which lines ran to a silvery concave mirror mounted onan elaborate frame which would allow it to be rotated so as to point inany direction.
"What is it?" whispered Carnes.
"Some kind of a projector," muttered the doctor. "I never saw one quitelike it, but it is meant to project something. I can't make out thecurve of that mirror. It isn't a parabola and it isn't an ellipse. Itmust be a high degree subcatenary or else built on a transcendentalfunction."
He raised himself to get a clearer view, and as he did so a puff ofsmoke came from the house, to be followed in a moment by a sharp crackas a bullet flattened itself a few inches from his head. The doctortumbled back over the crest out of sight of the house. Bill and Walterhurried forward, their rifles held ready for action.
"Get out on the flanks, men," directed the doctor. "The man we want isin a house in that hollow. He's armed, and he means business."
* * * * *
Bill and Walter crawled under the shelter of the rocks to a shortdistance away and then, rifles ready, advanced to the attack. A reportcame from the hollow and a bullet whined over Bill's head. Almostinstantly a crack came from Walter's rifle and splinters flew from thebuilding in the hollow a few inches from a loophole, through whichprojected the barrel of a rifle.
The rifle barrel swung rapidly in a circle and barked in Walter'sdirection; but as it did so, Bill's gun spoke and again splinters flewfrom the building.
"Good work!" ejaculated Dr. Bird as he watched the slow advance of thetwo guides. "If we just had rifles we could join in the party, but it'sa little far for effective pistol work. Let's go ahead, and we may getclose enough to do a little shooting."
Pistols in hand, Carnes and the doctor crawled over the crest and joinedthe advance. Again and again the rifle spoke from the hollow and wasanswered by the vicious barks of the rifles in the hands of the guides,Carnes and the doctor resting their pistols on rocks and sending anoccasional bullet toward the loophole. The conditions of light and themoving target were not conducive to good marksmanship on the part of thebesieged man, and none of the attackers were hit. Presently Waltersucceeded in sending a bullet through the loophole. The rifle barrelsuddenly disappeared. With a shout the four men rose from their coverand advanced toward the building at a run.
As they did so an ominous whirring sound came from the apparatus infront of the house and a sudden chill filled the air.
"Back!" shouted Dr. Bird. "Back below the hill if you value yourlives!"
He turned and raced at full speed toward the sheltering crest of thehill, the others following him closely. The whirring sound continued,and the concave reflector turned with a grating sound on its gears. Asthe path of its rays struck the ground the rocks became white with frostand one rock split with a sharp report, one fragment rolling down theslope, carrying others in its trail.
* * * * *
With panic-stricken faces the four men raced toward the shelteringcrest, but remorselessly the reflector swung around in their direction.The intense cold numbed the racing men, cutting off their breath andimpeding their efforts for speed.
"Stop!" cried the doctor suddenly. "Fire at that reflector! It's ouronly chance!"
He set the example by turning and emptying his pistol futilely at theturning mirror. Bill, Walter and Carnes followed his example. Nearerand nearer to them came the deadly ray. Bill was the nearest to itspath, and he suddenly stiffened and fell forward, his useless gun stillgrasped in his hands. As his body struck the ground it rolled down hillfor a few feet, the deadly ray following it. His head struck a rock, andCarnes gave a cry of horror as it broke into fragments.
Walter threw his rifle to his shoulder and fired again and again at therotating disc. The cold had became intense and he could not control theactions of his muscles and his rifle wavered about. He threw himselfflat on the ground, and, with an almost superhuman effort, steadiedhimself for a moment and fired. His aim was true, and with a terrificcrash the reflector split into a thousand fragments. Dr. Bird staggeredto his feet.
"It's out of order for a moment!" he cried. "To the house while wecan!"
As swiftly as his numbed feet would allow him, he stumbled toward thehouse. The muzzle of the rifle again projected from the loophole andwith its crack the doctor staggered for a moment and then fell. Walter'srifle spoke again and the rifle disappeared through the loophole with aspasmodic jerk. Carnes stumbled over the doctor.
"Are you hit badly?" he gasped through chattering teeth.
"I'm not hit at all," muttered the doctor. "I stumbled and fell just ashe fired. Look out! He's going to shoot again!"
The rifle barrel came slowly into view through the loophole. Walterfired, but his bullet went wild. Carnes threw himself behind a rock forprotection.
* * * * *
The rifle swung in Walter's direction and paused. As it did so, from thehouse came a strangled cry and a sound as of a blow. The rifle barreldisappeared, and the sounds of a struggle came from the building.
"Come on!" cried Carnes as he rose to his feet, and made his stumblingway forward, the others following at the best speed which their numbedlimbs would allow.
As they reached the door they were aware of a struggle which was goingon inside. With an oath the doctor threw his massive frame against thedoor. It creaked, but the solid oak of which it was composed was proofagainst the attack, and he drew back for another onslaught. From thehouse came a pistol shot, followed by a despairing cry and a gutturalshout. Reinforced by Carnes, the doctor threw his weight against thedoor again. With a rending crash it gave, and they fell sprawling intothe cabin. The doctor was the first one on his feet.
"Who are you?" asked a voice from one corner. The doctor whirled like aflash and covered the speaker with his pistol.
"Put them up!" he said tersely.
"I am unarmed," the voice replied. "Who are you?"
"We're from the United States Secret Service," replied Carnes who hadgained his feet. "The game is up for you, and you'd better realize it."
"Secret Service! Thank God!" cried the voice. "Get Koskoff--he has theplans. He has gone out through the tunnel!"
"Where is it?" demanded Carnes.
"The entrance is that iron plate on the floor."
Carnes and the doctor jumped at the plate and tried to lift it, withoutresult. There was no handle or projection on which they could takehold.
"Not that way," cried the voice. "That cover is fastened on the inside.Go outside the building; he'll come out about two hundred yards north.Shoot him as he appears or he'll get away."
The three men nearly tumbled over each other to get through the doorwayinto the bitter cold outside. As they emerged from the cabin the gaze ofthe guide swept the surrounding hills.
"There he goes!" he cried.
"Get him!" said Carnes sharply.
Walter ran forward a few feet and dropped prone on the ground, cuddlingthe stock of his rifle to his cheek. Two hundred yards ahead a figurewas scurrying over the rocks away from the cabin. Walter drew in hisbreath and his hand suddenly grew steady as his keen gray eyes peeredthrough the sights. Carnes and the doctor held their breath insympathy.
* * * * *
Suddenly the rifle spoke, and the fleeing man threw
up his arms and fellforward on his face.
"Got him," said Walter laconically.
"Go bring the body in, Carnes," exclaimed the doctor. "I'll take care ofthe chap inside."
"Did you get him?" asked the voice eagerly, as the doctor steppedinside.
"He's dead all right," replied the doctor grimly. "Who the devil areyou, and what are you doing here?"
"There is a light switch on the left of the door as you come in," wasthe reply.
Dr. Bird found the switch and snapped on a light. He turned toward thecorner from whence the voice had come and recoiled in horror. Propped inthe corner was the body of a middle-aged man, daubed and splashed withblood which ran from a wound in the side of his head.
"Good Lord!" he ejaculated. "Let me help you."
"There's not much use," replied the man rather faintly. "I am about donein. This face wound doesn't amount to much, but I am shot through thebody and am bleeding internally. If you try to move me, it may easilykill me. Leave me alone until your partners come."
The doctor drew a flask of brandy from his pocket and advanced towardthe corner.
"Take a few drops of this," he advised.
With an effort the man lifted the flask to his lips and gulped down alittle of the fiery spirit. A sound of tramping feet came from theoutside and then a thud as though a body had been dropped. Carnes andWalter entered the cabin.
"He's dead as a mackerel," said Carnes in answer to the doctor's look."Walter got him through the neck and broke his spinal cord. He neverknew what hit him."
"The plans?" came in a gasping voice from the man in the corner.
"We got them, too," replied Carnes. "He had both packets inside hiscoat. They have been opened, but I guess they are all here. Who thedevil are you?"
"Since Koskoff is dead, and I am dying, there is no reason why Ishouldn't tell you," was the answer. "Leave that brandy handy to keep upmy strength. I have only a short time and I can't repeat.
* * * * *
"As to who I am or what I was, it doesn't really matter. Koskoff knew meas John Smith, and it will pass as well as any other name. Let my paststay buried. I am, or was, a scientist of some ability; but fortunefrowned on me, and I was driven out of the world. Money wouldrehabilitate me--money will do anything nowadays--so I set out to getit. In the course of my experimental work, I had discovered that coldwas negative heat and reacted to the laws which governed heat."
"I knew that," cried Dr. Bird; "but I never could prove it."
"Who are you?" demanded John Smith.
"Dr. Bird, of the Bureau of Standards."
"Oh, Bird. I've heard of you. You can understand me when I say that asheat, positive heat is a concomitant of ordinary light. I have foundthat cold, negative heat, is a concomitant of cold light. Is myapparatus in good shape outside?"
"The reflector is smashed."
"I'm sorry. You would have enjoyed studying it. I presume that you sawthat it was a catenary curve?"
"I rather thought so."
"It was, and it was also adjustable. I could vary the focal point from afew feet to several miles. With that apparatus I could throw a beam ofnegative heat with a focal point which I could adjust at will. Close tothe apparatus, I could obtain a temperature almost down to absolutezero, but at the longer ranges it wasn't so cold, due to leakage intothe atmosphere. Even at two miles I could produce a local temperature ofthree hundred degrees below zero."
"What was the source of your cold?"
"Liquid helium. Those cylinders contain, or rather did contain, for Iexpect that Koskoff has emptied them, helium in a liquid state."
"Where is your compressor?"
* * * * *
"I didn't have to use one. I developed a cold light under whose rayshelium would liquefy and remain in a state of equilibrium until exposedto light rays. Those cylinders had merely enough pressure to force theliquid out to where the sun could hit it, and then it turned to a gas,dropping the temperature at the first focal point of the reflector toabsolute zero. When I had this much done, Koskoff and I packed the wholeapparatus here and were ready for work.
"We were on the path of the transcontinental air mail, and I bided mytime until an especially valuable shipment was to be made. My plans,which worked perfectly, were to freeze the plane in midair and then robthe wreck. I heard of the jewel shipment the T. A. C. was to carry and Iplanned to get it. When the plane came over, Koskoff and I brought itdown. The unsuspected presence of another plane upset us a little, and Istarted to bring it down. But we had been all over this country and knewthere was no place that a plane could land. I let it go on in safety."
"Thank you," replied Carnes with a grimace.
"We robbed the wreck and we found two packets, one the jewels I wasafter, and the other a sealed packet, which proved to contain certainWar Department plans. That was when I learned who Koskoff was. I hadhired him in San Francisco as a good mechanic who had no principles. Hewas to get one-fourth of the loot. When we found these plans, he told mewho he was. He was really a Russian secret agent and he wanted todeliver the plans to Russia. I may be a thief and a murderer, but I amnot yet ready to betray my country, and I told him so. He offered mealmost any price for the plans; but I wouldn't listen. We had a seriousquarrel, and he overpowered me and bound me.
* * * * *
"We had a radio set here and he called San Francisco and sent some codemessage. I think he was waiting here for someone to come. Had wefollowed our original plans, we would have been miles from here beforeyou arrived.
"He had me bound and helpless, as he thought, but I worked my bonds alittle loose. I didn't let him know it, for I knew that the plane I hadlet get away would guide a party here and I thought I might be able tohelp out. When you came and attacked the house, I worked at my bondsuntil they were loose enough to throw off. I saw Koskoff start my coldapparatus to working and then he quit, because he ran out of helium.When he started shooting again, I worked out of my bonds and tackledhim.
"He was a better man than I gave him credit for, or else he suspectedme, for about the time I grabbed him he whirled and struck me over thehead with his gun barrel and tore my face open. The blow stunned me, andwhen I came to, I was thrown into this corner. I meant to have anothertry at it, but I guess you rushed him too fast. He turned and ran forthe tunnel, but as he did so, he shot me through the body. I guess Ididn't look dead enough to suit him. You gentlemen broke open the doorand came in. That's all."
"Not by a long shot, it isn't," exclaimed Dr. Bird. "Where is that coldlight apparatus of yours?"
"In the tunnel."
"How do you get into it?"
"If you will open that cupboard on the wall, you'll find an open knifeswitch on the wall. Close it."
* * * * *
Dr. Bird found the switch and closed it. As he did so the cabin rockedon its foundations and both Carnes and Walter were thrown to the ground.The thud of a detonation deep in the earth came to their ears.
"What was that?" cried the doctor.
"That," replied Smith with a wan smile, "was the detonation of twohundred pounds of T.N.T. When you dig down into the underground cavewhere we used the cold light apparatus, you will find it in fragments.It was my only child, and I'll take it with me."
As he finished his head slumped forward on his chest. With anexclamation of dismay Dr. Bird sprang forward and tried to lift theprostrate form.
In an agony of desire the Doctor tightened his grip on the dying man'sshoulder. But Smith collapsed into a heap. Dr. Bird bent forward andtore open his shirt and listened at his chest. Presently he straightenedup.
"He is gone," he said sadly, "and I guess the results of his genius havedied with him. He doesn't strike me as a man who left overmuch tochance. Carnes, is your case completed?"
"Very satisfactorily, Doctor. I have both of the lost packets."
"All right, then, come back to
the wreck and help me pack my burros. Ican make my way back to Fallon without a guide."
"Where are you going, Doctor?"
"That, Carnes, old dear, is none of your blankety blanked business.Permit me to remind you that I am on my vacation. I haven't decided yetjust where I am going, but I can tell you one thing. It's going to besome place where you can't call me on the telephone."