by Earl
He saluted. “The mail, sir,” he said proudly.
Then he collapsed.
But he was out of the hospital in a week, cured by the wonder healing arts of 2261. In his report to the Postal Department, he wrote: “Routine route all the way, except for atom cloud in Sector 44-Z-7. Advise future Atomic Mail to avoid same.”
Dik, the boy with the stamp collection, stared at the stamp in his hand showing the Atomic Express Mail. He bent closer. “Gee!” he murmured. “This stamp looks a little bit scorched! I wonder why?”
WANDERING WORLD
Jon Jarl didn’t believe his eyes at first. He was cruising toward Pluto, outermost planet of the solar system, on a routine mission for the Space Patrol. Beyond Pluto there was nothing, just empty space and remote stars.
But Jon Jarl had just seen another world out there!
And a quick computation showed it was moving into the solar system at great speed. A wandering world from space! Where had it come from? What strange mystery was this?
Radioing the sensational discovery to headquarters, Lieutenant Jarl was told to land on the new world immediately and investigate. As he thrummed near, he saw that it was a planet about half the size of Earth. Its surface seemed completely frozen over from its long journey through frigid outer space, unwarmed by any sun, Jon landed on a smooth sheet of iciness and stepped out in his spacesuit.
But the “ice” was not frozen water. It was frozen air—oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. And as the planet hurtled inward toward the sun, steamy vapors began to arise and liquid air rapidly began evaporating, forming an atmosphere. The change was almost magically fast, for only at extreme low temperatures of minus 200 degrees can air remain frozen.
By the time Jon had climbed a low hill to look around, the atmosphere had become dense enough for him to open his helmet visor and breathe it in, cold but satisfying. Compressed spacesuit air was always musty and flat.
At the top of the hill, Jon swung his eyes around. Had this world ever been inhabited? It seemed wild and barren in all directions. But Jon suddenly shaded his eyes and then broke into a run.
On the horizon he had seen—a city.
When Jon arrived, the last traces of frozen air were vanishing in the city streets Jon was amazed by two things. One was that the city was remarkably similar to Earth cities. Second was that it was perfectly preserved and unharmed. Like extinct animals preserved in ice, the city had been preserved in a coating of frozen air, probably for ages.
But what about the people? There was not a sign of a body around. And then Jon saw a huge arrow which pointed down, with enigmatic writing on it. Jon guessed that the unknown message said to follow the arrow. Excited now, Jon went down winding stone stairs, down and down. Deep underground, beneath the city, he came to a massive metal door with a huge handle. Again an arrow pointed to this. Jon had to use all his strength, but he finally tugged the heavy door open. Inside, he gasped.
It was a gigantic stone vault, built to last for ages, and within lay row upon row of bodies. The people of the city! Were they dead or in suspended animation? Jon saw the answer as the warmer outside air filtered into the cold vault. One of the bodies stirred, moaned, and sat up. And soon, all the people woke from their strange sleep.
Jon switched on his telepathy translator, built into his helmet, and spoke to a tall man who stumbled forward with eager gratitude. The telepathy translator instantly sent his thought-words to the man in his own language. “Where did your world come from?” Jon asked. “And why did it drift through empty space?”
The man’s answer was a strange story. “Ages ago—how long we’ll never know—our world had its own sun and our civilization flourished. But a terrible catastrophe visited us. Another sun struck ours, and both of them hurtled off into space—leaving our world without a sun! We had a few months warning and were able to build these vaults under all our cities. I will send men to open the other vaults.”
“Then as the cold of space hit you,” Jon reasoned, “you all went into suspended animation.”
“Yes,” the revived man said with a nod. “It was our only hope. We knew that our sunless world would freeze utterly and drift through space for untold eons of time. But we hoped that someday—somehow—our world would again drift close to another sun. And so it has happened—thank the stars!”
Jon was puzzled as they went to the city above. For now the wandering world was passing Pluto already. “You aren’t just drifting—you’re moving at terrific speed into our solar system. But then, our solar system has a speed of 20 miles a second toward the star Vega. I think instead of your drifting toward us, we caught up with you! But it amounts to the same thing.”
Jon suddenly shot out his hand, smiling “Welcome to the solar system! We have nine planets already, but there’s always room for more!”
When he reported to headquarters by radio, Jon was told to stay on the new world as Earth’s representative, to give them any aid or information they needed. In the following days, Jon witnessed the unforgettable drama of a world resuming life after countless centuries of frozen sleep. The cities once again hummed with activity. Machines began working. People resumed their jobs and lives where they had been interrupted. It was like a world of Rip Van Winkles!
But a worried frown grew in Jon’s face. The planet now passed the orbit of Neptune and still kept going at unabated speed. Jon spent long hours in astronautical calculations and when he came to the end, he groaned. “How can I tell them?” he muttered. “How can I blast all their hopes?”
But it had to be and Jon gave them the staggering news. “Your world is going too fast through our solar system. You are still too far away from the sun for its gravitation to hold you. And that means—”
Jon couldn’t go on.
His friend’s face had turned pale. “It means,” he whispered in a hollow dead tone, “that we will simply plunge on through your solar system into outer space again! For a few brief day or weeks, we will live and breathe and enjoy the warmth of a sun. And then—another eternity of the dark night of space.”
Jon felt infinite pity. He went over his calculations again, but discovered no error. Like a high-speed bullet or bomb of world size, the wandering planet would go flashing through the solar system without pause.
“If only it would pass closer to the sun,” Jon murmured. “Then the sun’s gravity would grab it and hold it. But they’ll miss the sun by too wide a margin, at their great speed, to be captured. And the only other body they will pass near is Jupiter . . .”
Jon sat up. “Wait! Jupiter, the largest planet, has a terrific gravitational pull. It might capture this small world as a moon!” He checked quickly, then kicked the wall. “No! It’s going to miss Jupiter’s pull, too. The irony of it is that just a million miles closer and Jupiter would grab it. If there were only some way of turning this planet . . . just a fraction of a degree . . .”
A mad light came into Jon’s eyes. “I’m going to do it!”
Was Lieutenant Jon Jarl setting himself an impossible task—to move a world?
But it was all there on paper. The wandering world was still 500 million miles from Jupiter. If it moved just a fraction of a degree off its present course, that tiny “error” would multiply into a million miles by the time it neared Jupiter. A million miles closer to the giant planet, and within range of its mighty pull!
It was 24 hours later that Jon Jarl came pushing the giant meteor with his rocketship. In 24 hours, straining his motor to the limit, Jon had succeeded in building up the velocity of the meteor toward the new world. All else was ready. Jon had warned the people of the world-shaking thud to come, which might create damage in their cities. But it was the lesser of evils.
Jon gave one last push and then spun his ship away. The meteor kept going, straight to the uninhabited spot Jon had picked. It flamed down through the atmosphere and struck with an impact greater than that with which any meteor had ever struck Earth. And it was known that giant meteors had affe
cted Earth’s orbital motion to the slight but measurable degree of making eclipses of the moon a few thousandths of a second off.
The planet hurtled on, seemingly unaffected by the tiny jolt. But actually, it had veered slightly. And days later, it was a million miles closer to great Jupiter. Then, as though yanked short by an invisible rope, the wandering world spun into an ellipse, caught fast by Jupiter’s enormous gravitation.
Far off in his ship, observing, Jon Jarl relaxed. Before he fell back in a dead sleep, he grinned and muttered, “Jupiter has 12 other moons. So what does one more or less matter?”
WORLD WITHIN
Out in space, Lieutenant Jon Jarl of the Space Patrol was on the most dangerous mission of his adventurous career. Alone, he was piloting a ship whose sealed-off cargo room was loaded with deadly radioactive objects. These were items which had been used in atomic laboratories on Earth till they had become too overloaded with rays. Now they had to be dumped off somewhere and buried.
Jon had picked out a stray asteroid where he would dump the radioactive junk. Then he could breathe freely again. If his ship exploded now, before he got there, Jon’s life would be forfeit.
Jon sat up, turning white. What was that hissing sound back of him, growing louder, like a swarm of angry hornets? Jon turned and gasped. The solid leaden wall of the cargo room behind him was heating up! The radioactive cargo was going to let loose!
As the hiss grew to a powerful atomic roar, Jon tried to escape. He grabbed his spacesuit and frantically tried to get into it so he could jump into open space. But there was no time. There was a terrific flash of light, and sizzling rays swept all over him, burning off the spacesuit like paper. With one agonizing cry, Jon managed only to press the button releasing a signal flare. Then he blacked out.
The doctor of the rescue ship stared at the squirming form on the hospital bed, it was Jon Jarl—but unrecognizable. All his skin had been burned off. Also all of his hair.
“First degree burns,” muttered the doctor. “Also complications of burned-out lungs, as he breathed in fiery flames. Several kinds of radioactive poison are also working through his bloodstream. And his heart can’t hold out more than another hour under these conditions.”
Dimly, Jon heard those fateful words. In other words, he had no chance. It was hopeless.
“Doctor!” croaked Jon. “I’m going to die!”
Meanwhile, down on Earth, a classroom was in session. The teacher pointed to a globe of the Earth and asked, “Now what is the shortest distance between New York City and Sydney, Australia, Tommy?”
Tommy arose, staring at the globe. Those two cities were halfway around the world from each other, a distance of about 12,000 miles.
“Eight thousand miles!” Tommy answered, strangely.
And stranger yet, the teacher smiled and said. “Correct! Of course, in the old days, when ships and planes had to go around the surface of the Earth, it would have been 12,000 miles. But today, by means of tunnels boring straight through the Earth, the distance is only 8,000 miles, or the diameter of the Earth itself! When was the center of the Earth discovered, Joan?”
Joan recited, “In 2188, a mechanical boring ship went straight down, cutting its way through solid rock by means of atomic flame, and reached the center of the Earth, 4,000 miles below. It was found to be hollow—about 100 miles wide!”
The teacher nodded. “And what is this hollow used for today. Dick?”
“As a huge sanitarium.” Dick replied. “At the center of the Earth, the force of gravity cancels out to zero. The gravity pull is equal and opposite in all directions, so at the center there is no gravity at all. You float. Therefore, it is the ideal place for sick people to recuperate, because there is no strain on their heart or muscles.”
“That is right,” agreed the teacher. “There are thousands of invalids down in the center of the Earth right now, slowly but surely recovering. And most of those people would otherwise die!”
“I’m going to die!” Jon said again.
But the doctor was laughing now, heartily. “Die?” he said with a chuckle. “Who said anything about dying? I’m sending you down to the Earth Center Sanitarium by rocket ambulance. They’ll fix you up good as new down there!” The doctor was still laughing. “All his skin burned off—radioactive poison—burned lungs—overloaded heart—and he thought he was going to die! Why, the only people we can’t cure these days are those who get blown to bits. That is, if we can’t find all the bits!”
Jon remembered the trip only vaguely. He was transferred to a Rocket Ambulance which then roared straight to Earth. A giant hinged gate opened up, revealing a wide tunnel going straight down into the heart of the Earth. It was a tunnel 8,000 miles long! Its sirens screaming, the Rocket Ambulance was given the right of way, and all other ships moved aside. In short minutes, it had reached the center of the Earth, 4,000 miles below.
As Jon was carefully lifted from the ship, he was amazed at the feeling of weightlessness. No gravity! He felt like a feather, lying on clouds. And the attendants down there all moved around by means of mechanical wings, like angels. It was the only way to move through the air, as you floated.
They wafted Jon through the gigantic central hollow toward a great globular hospital building. This, too, floated in midair. And when Jon was brought to his room, there was no bed. They simply tethered him to the wall by means of a thin cord so he wouldn’t float out of the window. And floating there in mid-air, as if on a mountain of soft feathers, Jon knew that this was the most wonderful place for a sick person to recover. Already he could feel his laboring heart easing up, for it didn’t have to fight against gravity, pushing blood through his veins and arteries!
The doctor came in and examined him.
“I’m in pretty bad shape, eh?” Jon croaked.
The doctor snorted. “Bah, simple. We can graft you a whole new skin easily. As for radioactive poison, we give you radioactive antidote. And your lungs and heart, with no gravity to fight, will recuperate by themselves. You should see the bad cases here—like the man who fell five miles from a rocketship and broke every bone in his body, literally. He’s mending fine!”
Time slipped by. Day by day, Jon grew stronger. In a week, he was able to move without pain. In another week, he was given a pair of mechanical wings and flew around. The following week, he joined other convalescents in flying jaunts through the central hollow. He was almost ready to be discharged.
Jon sighed at the thought. “I almost hate to leave,” he admitted to himself. “It’s so peaceful and quiet and wonderful here.”
He broke off as the peace and quiet was shattered by gunfire! What was going on? Jon used his wings and flew toward a spot where one tunnel from above opened into the hollow. Here, a black rocketship had emerged, shooting back. And Jon recognized the ship as that of Black Blaster, infamous criminal!
Within the ship, Black Blaster grinned crookedly. “Block the mouth of that tunnel! When that police ship comes out, blow ’em to atoms! This is perfect! We pulled that big robbery up in the city. Then, instead of flying up into the air where police ships would get us, we went down into the tunnel. Only one cop ship at a time can come out here. We can shoot ’em down like clay ducks! Then we can fly up another tunnel to the surface and get away scot free!”
It was a daring and ingenious plan, Jon saw the set-up, as he flew close. The grim crime-ship waiting at the tunnel—waiting for the police ship to arrive. Brave men would die unless . . .
Jon flew to the criminal ship. Unnoticed, he worked open the hatchway door and slipped in. Black Blaster and his men were at their ray cannon, ready to fire. Six men, with six ray guns at their hips—and Jon with none!
Jon grinned and yelled. They all turned and began firing. But with his wings, Jon was able to dart here and there, so that only a few rays clipped him, burning his skin. Not used to the zero gravity, the criminals were clumsy as Jon waded into them with flying fists. Able to zoom around with his wings, Jon soon laid them al
l low. All, that is, except Black Blaster himself.
Snarling, the criminal leader aimed his ray gun and blasted away, again and again. Jon was unable to avoid all the shots and the rays seared and scorched his wings and finally Jon fell helpless.
“Now you get it straight through the heart!” gloated the criminal, aiming carefully.
But uniformed men now swarmed in and it was over.
“That’s all I wanted to do,” grinned Jon. “Just distract their attention long enough for your police ship to slip out of the tunnel.”
The police captain stared in horror at the ray burns all over Jon. “Man, your skin is all burned off!” he gasped. Then he gasped again. “And you’re grinning!”
Later, the doctor said, “You again. Lieutenant Jon Jarl? We’ll have to patch you up all over again. It’ll take another month!”
“Who’s complaining, doctor?” Jon said with a grin. “I like it here!”
ASTEROID ADVENTURE
The rocketship of Lieutenant Jon Jarl of the Space Patrol cruised through the asteroids to which he had been assigned. He was part of a dragnet searching for the notorious space pirate, Meteor Monk. Jon sighed as tiny world after tiny world spun by monotonously. It was something like a policeman’s beat on endless city streets, with nothing much happening. And all the little planetoids looked alike, like peas in pod.
The asteroids, spinning between Mars and Jupiter, were very numerous. Before space travel, Earth astronomers with their telescopes had seen and recorded only 2,000. But when spaceships had been able to explore the area, another 40,000 asteroids had been discovered. They ranged in size from 500 miles in diameter down to mere big rocks floating in space. Some of the larger ones had names, like Juno and Ceres, but the rest only had numbers on the spacenautic charts.
