The Airlords of Han

by Philip Francis Nowlan

  CHAPTER V

  American Ultronic Science

  Our own engineers, working in shielded laboratories far underground, hadestablished such control over the "de-atomized" electrons as to dissectthem in their turn into _sub-electrons_. Moreover, they had carriedthrough the study of this "order" to the point where they finally"dissected" the _sub-electron_ into its component _ultrons_, for thefundamental laws underlying these successive orders are not radicallydissimilar. And as they progressed, they developed constructive as wellas destructive practice. Hence the great triumphs of ultron andinertron, our two wonderful synthetic elements, built up fromsuper-balanced and sub-balanced ultronic whorls, through the_sub-electronic_ order into the _atomic_ and _molecular_.

  Hence also, come our relatively simple and beautifully efficientultrophones and ultroscopes, which in their phonic and visual operationpenetrate obstacles of material, electronic and sub-electronic naturewithout let or hindrance, and with the consumption of but infinitesimalpower.

  Static disturbance, I should explain, is negligible in thesub-electronic order, and non-existent in the ultronic.

  The pioneer expeditions of our engineers into the ultronic order, I amtold, necessitated the use of most elaborate, complicated and delicateapparatus, as well as the expenditure of most costly power, but onceestablished there, all necessary power is developed very simply fromtiny batteries composed of thin plates of _metultron_ and _katultron_.These two substances, developed synthetically in much the same manner asordinary ultron, exhibit dual phenomena which for sake of illustration Imay compare with certain of the phenomena of radioactivity. As radium isconstantly giving off electronic emanations and changing its atomicstructure thereby, so _katultron_ is constantly giving off _ultronic_emanations, and so changing its _sub-electronic_ form, while_metultron_, its complement, is constantly attracting and absorbing_ultronic_ values, and so changing its sub-electronic nature in theopposite direction. Thin plates of these two substances, when placedproperly in juxtaposition, with insulating plates of inertron between,constitute a battery which generates an ultronic current.

  * * * * *

  And it is a curious parallel that just as there were many mysteriesconnected with the nature of electricity in the Twentieth Century(mysteries which, I might mention, never _have_ been solved,notwithstanding our penetration into the "sub-" orders) so there arecertain mysteries about the ultronic current. It will flow, forinstance, through an ultron wire, from the _katultron_ to the_metultron_ plate, as electricity will flow through a copper wire. Itwill short circuit between the two plates if the inertron insulation isimperfect. When the insulation is perfect, however, and no ultronmetallic circuit is complete, the "current" (apparently the same thatwould flow through the metallic circuit) is projected into space in anabsolutely straight line from the _katultron_ plate, and received fromspace by the _metultron_ plate on the same line. This line is thetheoretical straight line passing through the mass-center of each plate.The shapes and angles of the plates have nothing to do with it, exceptthat the perpendicular distance of the plate edges from the mass-centerline determines thickness of the beam of parallel current-rays.

  Thus a simple battery may be used either as a sender or receiver ofcurrent. Two batteries adjusted to the same center line become connectedin series just as if they were connected by ultron wires.

  In actual practice, however, two types of batteries are used; both the_foco_ batteries and _broadcast_ batteries.

  _Foco_ batteries are twin batteries, arranged to shoot a positive and anegative beam in the same direction. When these beams are madeintermittent at light frequencies (though they are not light waves, norof the same order as light waves) and are brought together, or focussed,at a given spot, the space in which they cross radiates alternatingultronic current in every direction. This radiated _ultralight_ actslike true light so long as the crossing beams vibrate at lightfrequencies, except in three respects: first, it is not visible to theeye; second, its "color" is exclusively dependent on the frequency ofthe _foco_ beams, which determine the frequency of the alternatingradiation. Material surfaces, it would appear, reflect them all in equalvalue, and the color of the resultant picture depends on the color ofthe _foco_ frequencies. By altering these, a reddish, yellowish orbluish picture may be seen. In actual practice an orthochromatic mixtureof frequencies is used to give a black, gray and white picture. Thethird difference is this: rays pulsating in line toward any ultronobject connected with the rear plates of the twin batteries throughrectifiers cannot be reflected by material objects, for it appears theyare subject to a kind of "pull" which draws them straight throughmaterial objects, which in a sense are "magnetized" and while in thisstate offer no resistance.

  Ultron, when so connected with battery terminals, glows with true lightunder the impact of _ultralight_, and if in the form of a lens or set oflenses, may be made to deliver a picture in any telescopic degreedesired.

  * * * * *

  The essential parts of an ultroscope, then, are twin batteries withfocal control and frequency control; an ultron shield, battery connectedand adjustable, to intercept the direct rays from the "_glow-spot_,"with an ordinary light-shield between it and the lens; and the lensitself, battery connected and with more or less telescopic elaboration.

  To look through a substance at an object, one has only to focus the_glow-spot_ beyond the substance but on the near side of the object andslightly above it.

  A complete apparatus may be "set" for "penetrative," "distance" and"normal vision."

  In the first, which one would use to look through the forest screen fromthe air, or in examining the interior of a Han ship or any opaquestructure, the _glow-spot_ is brought low, at only a tiny angle abovethe vision line, and the shield, of course, must be very carefullyadjusted.

  "Distance" setting would be used, for instance, in surveying a valleybeyond a hill or mountain; the _glow-spot_ is thrown high to illuminatethe entire scene.

  In the "normal" setting the _foco_ rays are brought together closeoverhead, and illuminate the scene just as a lamp of super brilliancywould in the same position.

  For phonic communication a spherical sending battery is a ball ofmetultron, surrounded by an insulating shell of inertron, and this inturn by a spherical shell of katultron, from which the current radiatesin every direction, tuning being accomplished by frequency ofintermissions, with audio-frequency modulation. The receiving batteryhas a core pole of katultron and an outer shell of metultron. Thereceiving battery, of course, picks up all frequencies, the undesiredones being tuned out in detection.

  Tuning, however, is only a convenience for privacy and elimination ofinterference in ultrophonic communication. It is not involved as anecessity, for untuned currents may be broadcast at voice-controlledfrequencies, directly and without any carrier wave.

  To use plate batteries or single center-line batteries for phoniccommunication would require absolutely accurate directional aligning ofsender and receiver, a very great practical difficulty, except whensender and receiver are relatively close and mutually visible.

  * * * * *

  This, however, is the regular system used in the Inter-Gang network forofficial communication. The senders and receivers used in this systemare set only with the greatest difficulty, and by the aid of the finestlaboratory apparatus, but once set, they are permanently locked inposition at the stations, and barring earthquakes or insecurefoundations, need no subsequent adjustment. Accuracy of alignmentpermits beam paths no thicker than the old lead pencils I used to use inthe Twentieth Century.

  The non-interference of such communication lines, and the difficulty ofcutting in on them from any point except immediately adjacent to thesender or receiver, is strikingly apparent when it is realized thatevery square inch of an imaginary plane bisecting the unlocated beamwould have to be explored with a receiving battery in order to locatethe beam itself.

  A pract
ical compromise between the spherical or universal broadcastsenders and receivers on the one hand, and the single line batteries onthe other, is the _multi-facet battery_. Another, and more practicaldevice particularly for distance work, is the _window-spherical_. It ismerely an ordinary spherical battery with a shielding shell with anopening of any desired size, from which a directionally controlled beammay be emitted in different forms, usually that simply of an expandingcone, with an angle of expansion sufficient to cover the desiredterritory at the desired point of reception.