Forgotten Fiction

by Lloyd Eshbach

  “About the only thing for us to do, is to continue with our plans as though the menace of the Russian didn’t exist, except that we strive to defend ourselves in every way w.e possibly can. I propose that you have ten or twelve of the world’s greatest scientists present at the time when the Union Pact is signed, so that we may do all that we can to combat his power. He is attempting to control us through the use of science; science, alone, will be able to fight against him.

  “And in the meantime, I suggest that you have the country scoured for any information that may be secured about the actions of Demetriovich during the past year.”

  The President nodded thoughtfully. “It shall be done,” he said.

  For some time, now, the car had been parked before the building that held the bachelor apartments in which we lived; we stepped out, then, and, after a final word to Harwood, entered the house. The machine moved rapidly up the street.

  CHAPTER III

  The Russian’s Power

  THE 24th of May, 1968, was the date set for the union of the nations. It was exactly one year after they decided to unite.

  Vachell and I sat near the front of the small conference room on that memorable day, with the group of eleven world-famous scientists. Before us, on the wide platform sat the Presidents of the United States, England, France and Germany, the world’s greatest executives. Behind us, occupying several rows of seats, were the representatives of all nations. The room, only a small chamber off the main auditorium, was nearly filled.

  Because of the threat of Demetriovich, that roomful of men were the only beings on the island. It had been decided that, to prevent any possible interference of the Russian, they would be the only ones allowed to land. After the signing of the Declaration of World Union, they intended permitting the landing of the great host of planes of all descriptions that had gathered around the island.

  Every precaution had been taken to insure the meeting against interruption. A fleet of armored vessels surrounded the great Union Star, and airplanes, like a swarm of bees, circled through the air above the island.

  Still, the little gathering in the Union Hall was rather uneasy. We somehow felt that our efforts were so futile, so puny. We feared that they would prove ineffectual against the power of the Russian.

  And so it was. We had hardly taken our places when an interruption came. The great, thundering voice that we had learned to know—and dread—roared its message. From outside the building, and seemingly high in the air, it came, stern, commanding, not to be disobeyed.

  “Fools that you are, you’ve done it; you’ll have to bear the penalty I Leave that room immediately, and come outside, every last one of you!”

  Vachell leaped to his feet and faced the gathering, immediately taking charge.

  “Well, gentlemen,” he exclaimed grimly, “what shall we do? Shall we stay in here, powerless, while Demetriovich does as he pleases with us, or shall we go outside as he has directed? I think the latter course would be the most sensible to follow, inasmuch as we may be able to do something there. We’re completely in his power anyway, it seems.”

  It required but a moment for us to decide to leave the room; in a few seconds we stood outside.

  With one accord we turned our eyes skyward—and saw the source of the voice! High above us, hovering motionless in mid-air, sunlight glinting from its smooth, unbroken sides, was a great, metal cone. Poised high above the center of the Union Building, and consequently above the exact center of the island, it pointed its base directly toward the earth. And from that base streamed a pulsing, flickering pillar of blue radiance! Upon this, the cone seemed to be resting.

  A MOMENT after we had emerged from the building, the voice had spoken again.

  “I warned you that, if my commands went unheeded, you’d regret it! You’ve deliberately ignored everything I’ve said, so you’ll have to take the consequences! I—” A shot rang out from one of the armed vessels, and the shell leaped toward its mark. And exploded about fifty feet from the cone! It seemed to have struck a wall of some invisible force.

  At that moment, two airplanes left the main group of ships, and swooped down toward the cone in an evident attempt to wreck it, though they sacrificed their lives in the attempt. Like the shell, they crashed into that invisible barrier, seemed to rebound, and fell into the sea, twin masses of flame.

  The voice laughed sardonically.

  “So you’d try to injure me with your feeble weapons! How droll!”

  The cone tiled at a sharp angle, and a beam of dazzling, white radiance replaced the pillar of blue. It darted toward the ship from which the shot had come, and bathed it in its brilliant light. The vessel seemed to start under the impact; then, slowly, gradually, it grew transparent, wraithlike, and—vanished.

  “Perhaps you will realize now, how utterly helpless you are! But enough of this nonsense! You must reap the reward of your folly!”

  The cone, again in an upright position, began whirling rapidly. A circular flood of white light, similar in appearance to that which had destroyed the ship, leaped from the base of the cone, and, like an inverted funnel, spread over the island.

  A pleasant tingling pervaded my being at my first contact with the rays. But as those rays increased in intensity, the tingling lost its pleasantness, and became a nerve-racking, muscle-twisting torture. Finally, when I thought I had reached the limit of human endurance, there was a sudden—snap—as though my spirit-had broken the cords that had bound it to its earthly shell, the white ray vanished, and I was myself again.

  Demetriovich Again!

  I GLANCED at Vachell. His face, turned toward the ocean, had an incredulous expression upon it. I followed his gaze—and gasped in amazement. The ships, yachts and seaplanes that had dotted the harbors were gone—vanished. Then too I noticed that the airplanes that had been circling above us, had likewise disappeared.

  We were alone on the open sea!

  A sharp exclamation from Vachell caused me to glance upward. The cone was descending! It came to rest about five feet above us, and a little to the left, still supported by that blue pillar. Then a section of the seemingly solid wall of the cone slid aside, and the figure of Demetriovich appeared at the opening. He stood there for a moment, looking down at us, then he stepped off into the air. Twin pillars of blue radiance streamed from the soles of his shoes, and he floated gently to the ground.

  As Demetriovich noted the expressions of amazement that must have been on our faces, he chuckled drily.

  “You’ve seen some things that are rather surprising, haven’t you?” he asked. “Yet what you’ve seen is only a small fraction of what I am capable of doing.” He spoke in a casual, conversational tone that was decidedly annoying.

  Up to this time we had been silent and motionless. But now Vachell stepped forward.

  “Well, Alex,” he said boldly, “you seem to have become something of a dictator recently. And your liking for the melodramatic has been developed to a surprising degree. These childish tricks you’ve been performing are unworthy of a scientist. Really, I’m surprised at you!”

  A wave of red passed over the Russian’s face, and he attempted to speak; but Vachell gave him no opportunity.

  “All your sensationalism is of no avail, now. There’s nothing to prevent our making you a prisoner; and all your threats and promises will have been in vain. In fact—”

  “Nothing to prevent you from capturing me!” Demetriovich roared in anger. “Nothing—except this!” He thrust his hand into a belt that encircled his waist, and drew therefrom, a small, metal, shining cone. He pointed the base at us, and pressed a button; and in a moment we were firmly rooted to the ground. We were as helpless as we had been in the Capitol at Washington.

  “I think that’s enough to interfere with your capturing me!” the Russian exclaimed. And, so far as my ‘childish tricks’ are concerned, I can soon convince you that what I’ve done is quite a bit more than that. There’s no reason why I should tell you this, but a
t the same time, it can do no harm, for you’re powerless to interfere with my plans. Besides, it may serve to convince you that what I’m doing is for the benefit of mankind and the world.

  “VIBRATION is the secret of it all. You may not realize it, but vibration is everything. Life, matter, energy—all are the result of vibration. Some of you have heard of the wave theory of matter, that theory which advances the thought that nothing actually has tangible substance, that all matter is caused by wave impulses, and that the electrons and protons that make up everything, are merely electrical discharges. That theory is correct in some respects, but it is inadequate, too conservative. Vibration is the secret of the Universe, of life itself.

  “My presence in the meetings of the World Conference was simply the result of a new form of vibratory effect. The force that paralyzed you in the second meeting, and that is gripping you now, is another. The protective field of force around my cone is a third; the destruction of the ship was a fourth; and the apparent disappearance of all the ships and planes, a fifth. And those are but a few of the many.

  “In all probability, you, Vachell, and your fellow scientists are familiar with the known facts about the table of vibration; but since I’ve explored the uncharted portions of the vibratory scale, things have been changed considerably.

  “As you know, vibrations of the first octave, from 2 to 8 per Second, make no impression upon our senses. As for the rest, the qualities of the known octaves are as follows. The fourth to the fifteenth octave, 16 to 32,768 vibrations per second, give us sound. From the twenty-fifth to the thirty-fifth, 33,554,432, to 34,359,738,368 per second, we have electricity.

  The forty-sixth to the forty-eighth is heat. Light is the result of the forty-ninth. The fiftieth, vibrating at the enormous speed of 1,125,899,906,842,624 vibrations per second, is chemical rays. The rays known as X-rays cover the scale from the fifty-eighth to the sixty-first octave. Beyond that, modern science knows nothing. You have merely scratched the surface.

  “I’ve confined my efforts to those vibrations that have been labeled ‘unknown.’ From the fifteenth to the twenty-fourth; from the thirty-sixth to the forty-fifth; from the fifty-first to the fifty-seventh; and from the sixty-second on up the scale—that has been my field of labor. I’ve accomplished things so astounding and revolutionary, that it would be a waste of breath to try to explain to you who know so little.

  “Gravity loses its power before my rays; I can either increase or nullify its force. I’ve mastered light—I can vanish at will. That thunderous voice in the Capitol, and above the island a short time ago—merely the result of my control over vibration. I could enumerate one thing after another that I can accomplish with vibration, but I could gain nothing by so doing.

  “In a short time, I’m going back and take charge of things, and with the help of vibrations, make a new and better world.” The Russian paused a moment, his forehead creased by a thoughtful frown. Then he spoke again.

  “I suppose you’re wondering what I meant when I said I was going back. I’ll tell you.

  Lost!

  “WHAT I’m going to say, by the way, involves a different phase of vibration from that of which I’ve spoken. To begin—you know that all elements can exist in three forms: solid, liquid, and gaseous. For example—ice, water and steam. Or, consider metals. Normally, they are solid—heat them, and they melt and become liquid—increase the heat, and they go off in a vapor or gas, like steam.

  “What is the cause of this? Heat, of course. And heat is—vibration! The heat starts the electrons in the metal whirling at such a furious pace, that they become separated to such an extent that they form a liquid at a higher rate of vibration, the electrons separate still farther, and the liquid becomes a gas.

  “Now consider the whirling of an airplane propeller. Its blades turn so rapidly that they make no impression on the retina of the eye. Visually, at least, they aren’t there. Of course, any attempt to place anything in the space the blades occupy, would be a failure. But suppose that, like the action of heat on metal, something would cause the electrons of the propeller to vibrate at increased speed while it was spinning, without changing its form. Wouldn’t it, to all intents and purposes, become nonexistent? Yet it would still be there.

  “Under the latter condition, wouldn’t it be possible to place something in the path of the propeller, perhaps even walk through it, unscathed?

  “At any rate, this is what I’m trying to impress upon you: it is possible by accelerated vibration to throw something into an entirely new dimension. Therefore another world exists simultaneously with ours.

  “Countless worlds in fact are occupying the same space as countless other worlds. Each world, vibrating in an octave peculiar to itself, exists in space in which there are other Worlds of other vibratory periods, and of entirely different natures.

  “Not only did I learn that this was a fact, but, with the aid of that cone, which I built during the last five years, I’ve traveled from one vibratory world to another.

  “When I say I’m going back, I mean I’m returning to the world with which you are familiar. At the time when my rays covered the island, and you thought the ships and planes had vanished, it was the island itself that actually disappeared, carried into the world of another vibration. And here you will remain while I remake the world of our plane.

  “It may interest you to know that this world is barren, and utterly devoid of life. Because of that, I hope you have enough food to last a long, long time, for it may be years before I permit your return, if I ever do.

  “But I’ve wasted enough time; I don’t see why I went to the trouble of explaining, anyway. I suppose it was my pride in what I had accomplished.

  “And now I am going; it will be a long time before you see me again. I shall be very busy.”

  Still keeping that paralyzing little cone trained upon us, Demetriovich in some way started the action of the blue force-rays, and rose into the air. Before entering the cone, he released us; then the door slid into place behind him.

  A faint, almost inaudible hum made itself heard. It was a soft, soothing hum that grew louder with the passing moments. Slowly the cone lost its sharpness of outline, grew less distinct. A great, mocking laugh came from the disappearing cone; it hovered there a moment—then was gone!

  If what the Russian had said was true, we were marooned in a barren, alien world, with practically no chance to escape. And our own world was left without rulers, at the mercy of Demetriovich and his vibrations.

  CHAPTER IV

  At the Russian’s Mercy!

  DEMETRIOVICH’S explanation of his means of accomplishing what he had, and the realization of the import of our present position, momentarily dazed us. His revelations were so stupendous, so incredible, that they stunned the reason.

  Vachell was the first to recover. Facing the group of scientists and world executives, a thoughtful, serious expression on his face, he said solemnly:

  “Gentlemen, our world is face to face with a crisis that may mean the destruction of civilization. I know Demetriovich better, probably, than any other living individual; and I believe that all he said is true! He is not given to vain boasting; and, besides, the things that have just taken place are such overwhelming proofs that there is no room for doubt.

  “This problem, the greatest in the history of the world, involving, as it does, every man, woman and child on the globe, can only be solved by clear, cold reasoning. Indeed, we may never be able to solve it, and so, may never get back.

  “If we fail, gentlemen, may God have pity on mankind!” And with head bent in thought, Vachell led the way into the Union Hall.

  When we had resumed the positions we had had in the Conference Room before the Russian’s interruption, except that the place of the four Presidents was now occupied by Vachell, the latter continued his remarks.

  “Do you realize what our disappearance must mean to the world? Briefly, it means this: The nations have lost their rulers, and the gre
atest scientists of earth, the only ones at all capable of fighting against Demetriovich. Gentlemen, the world is at the mercy of the Russian!

  “There is, however, a remote possibility that we are still back where we belong, that the ships and planes were in some way destroyed, and that our position isn’t as hopeless as it seems. Understand, the possibility is very remote, but it is worth considering. So, I suggest that we first of all learn whether or not we’re still where we should be.”

  President Harwood arose. “That’s an excellent suggestion,” he smiled, “but I can’t see how it can be followed out. It seems to me that we’re very thoroughly imprisoned on this island.”

  “We have the means of escape at our disposal,” Vachell returned. “If it was Demetriovich’s intention to keep us here, he has slipped up, for there’s a three-passenger plane in one of the hangars. I happen to know it’s there, because Taylor and I visited the island with it two days ago, and left it here, returning to the United States on one of the transoceanic liners.

  “I propose that you, Harwood, and Taylor and I take the plane and fly to the North American continent. Even though we are in a different vibratory world, the general geographical conditions will be the same. If, as Demetriovich said, he has taken us to a lifeless world, we had better find out at once, and if we’re still on our own plane, we had better get help immediately. In any case, the first thing to do is to learn the exact condition of things.”

  AFTER a rather lengthy discussion, the officials and scientists agreed to Vachell’s plan, and we proceeded toward the airplane hangars. I was included as one of the three, because I was an expert pilot, having served three years in the International Air Patrol.

  The plane, a small, Wenger-helicopter type, a very late model with four motors, we filled with gas, and loaded with provisions and water. After seeing that everything was in perfect condition, we rolled it out of the hangar.