The band, I saw, was a simple affair, slightly oval in shape, and just large enough to fit snuggly around the average waist. About four inches high it was, and about half that in thickness. It reminded me of a great, glass wedding ring, with its surface smooth and unbroken save for a knob on one side. When this knob was turned, the band began its work, surrounding its wearer with a protective aura.
A few minutes after the bands had been distributed, we presented a strange appearance. Each of us was standing in the heart of a wraithlike, transparent cloud that extended about six inches from all sides of our bodies. We seemed to be radiant, glowing.
One of the executives raised the question as to what was to be done next. In a moment, the members of the group were busily discussing what would be the best plan to follow. Some suggested that we wait for the Russian to make the initial move; others were in favor of sending out a plea for help over the radio transmitter that was on the island.
We had debated this question for some minutes without result, when a sudden exclamation from one of the scientists caused us to look around. We followed his pointing finger with our eyes.
High in the eastern sky, we saw a tiny, black speck, rapidly growing larger. As we watched, it resolved itself into a small, one-man helicopter. It was over us; was going past—then it seemed to hesitate, and in a long, slanting drop, flashed down toward the island.
It landed on the opposite side of the Union Hall. With one accord we raced around the huge structure. We turned a corner, and came face to face with—Kieth! Allen Kieth, the astronomer who had been the fourth member of our party in the Alleghenies.
HE greeted us with an expansive smile and an outstretched hand. Such relief I had never seen written in a man’s countenance.
“Gad, but I’m glad to see you!” he exclaimed. “You can’t realize how much the nations have missed you. The Russian told the world that you had all been annihilated, utterly wiped out. And we did see you disappear—but you’re here again! But—but—you look strange—as though—” his voice trailed off into silence, and he stepped back and stared at us wonderingly.
“It’s a long story, Kieth,” Vachell told him, “too long, in fact, to relate in detail now. We did disappear, and so far as this world is concerned, we were annihilated, blotted put. I’ll tell you in a general way what occurred, without trying to explain its causes. You’ll have to accept my story.
“By the way, you needn’t stare at us like that; we’re not ghosts. This aura that surrounds us is there for a purpose!”
Briefly, then, he recounted for a second time our experiences during bur absence. When he had concluded, and had answered a few of Kieth’s questions, Harwood came forward with a suggestion.
“Say, Vachell, I think Kieth’s arrival settles the question as to how we shall notify the world of our return. He can make a trip back to the States in his plane.”
“That’s a fine idea,” the scientist replied; then he frowned in thought. “I wonder—by Jove! It would work! What do you think of this? Kieth will return to North America where the Russian has his headquarters, and spread the report that we’re back. He’ll make sure that the news reaches Demetriovich’s ears. When he hears it, he’ll naturally rush here to verify the report; and that will be our opportunity to use our weapons, and rid the world of its menace.”
“And at the same time, Kieth,” Harwood added, “you can have some of the officials at Washington send a number of transoceanic planes to take us from the island. If things turn out the way we expect them to, we’ll be in a position to sign the World Union Pact in a short time; but our immediate concern after getting rid of Demetriovich will be to undo whatever damage he has done.”
Kieth nodded. “I’ll do the best I can about that,” he said, “but I’ll meet with quite a bit of difficulty. Demetriovich has placed every nation under the direct control of his Russian followers. He quells any disturbances that arise with that accursed cone of his; and right now, he is completing three other cones for the use of his lieutenants. Commerce and industry are at a standstill as a result of the Russian’s radical methods. People are starving! And all this damage caused by one man! It’s awful to contemplate!” He was silent for a moment, then exclaimed:
“Well, the sooner I get back and start things moving, that much quicker will order be restored.”
A New Attack
TURNING, he moved toward his plane. We followed, and as he soared into the air some moments later, watched his eastern flight until he disappeared in the distance.
The rest of that day and all of the following night passed all too slowly and—the night—sleeplessly for most of us on the island. We feared a night attack by the Russian, and kept great beacon lights from the landing field trained upon the sky. The rising sun-received a hearty welcome in the morning.
That morning seemed endless, with nothing occurring to break the monotony of waiting. Noon came—and suddenly a cry arose from one of the men appointed as a lookout.
“He’s coming!”
In a moment we had gathered in a scattered group on the lawn before the Union Hall. While we waited, we looked to our glass ray-filter bands and our rods, to be certain that all was in readiness for Demetriovich’s destruction.
A minute of anxious waiting—then the cone was above us. We expected to hear the thunderous voice, but no voice came. Instead, a blinding, white ray flashed down upon us. The island seemed to tremble under our feet.
At the same time that he released the ray upon us, a veritable shower of thin, intensely powerful beams darted up toward the cone from the balls on the tips of our metal rods. Had it not been for our lack of experience in operating our strange weapons, and our consequent erratic aim, Demetriovich and his cone would have been blasted into a cinder. As it was, only a few of the rays hit their mark; but so effectual was the work of those few, that the white ray was snuffed out, and the cone staggered!
It had evidently escaped serious injury, for a second after our rays struck—indeed, before we could adjust our aim, the cone leaped high into the air. Our rays followed, and evidently took some effect in spite of the cone’s increased altitude, for, a moment later, like a frightened hare, it darted away in the direction from whence it had come.
Some of the men began shouting triumphantly. Vachell raised his hand for silence.
“There’s nothing to shout about,” he frowned. “I feel anything but elated. Although we did escape unscathed from the Russian’s rays, our victory was empty. Demetriovich escaped. And now he knows that we are able to resist his rays, and that we have weapons with which to fight against him. Who can tell what he’ll do next!
“And remember this—although we are unaffected by his rays, the same is not true of the island. If he returns and floods us with the rays that bring about the travel through the vibratory scale, the island will vanish from beneath our feet, and we’ll all be drowned!”
“The only way out that I can see,” Vachell said after a pause, “is to send a radio message for help, and leave the island as soon as possible.”
In a moment the entire group had started toward the tower that held the radio transmitter. But when we arrived there, our only hope was destroyed; the radio was useless. The Russian’s rays, although they hadn’t injured us, had left the transmitter burned out, blackened, wrecked beyond all repair.
We returned to the Union Building in dejection. Shortly before we reached it, Harwood addressed Vachell.
“Leo,” he said, “our position isn’t so hopeless, after all. If Demetriovich does return with his cone, before he learns that we alone can resist his rays, and that the island, itself, is unprotected, we will have destroyed him. Our aim won’t be as inaccurate the _ second time as it was the first.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Vachell replied. “At any rate, it seems that all we can do now is wait. If only we hadn’t left our plane in that other world, we could carry the conflict to the Russian. But—we left it!”
The balance of the
day dragged by on leaden feet. As night approached, we became restless, apprehensive. Nor were our spirits buoyed up by the discovery that the searchlights that we had used the night before were burned out. We would have to spend the night in darkness. If the cone returned, we would be unable to detect its approach.
Darkness found us waiting. We were all close to exhaustion, yet we dared not sleep. There was little or no conversation; for some reason we had no desire to talk.
Hour after hour passed by. One o’clock came—then two, and without warning four wide beams of violet radiance split the blackness. They came from the different points of the compass, and converged on one central point.
Four cones—could we overcome them?
WE centered our efforts on one of them, aiming at the source of the violet beam. Suddenly the ray from that cone was snuffed out, and a moment later, a loud crash some distance away told us that one of our combatants was out of the fight.
The destruction of the first cone had taken but a moment; quickly we turned our attention to a second. A beam of red descended from this cone now, a beam that set nearby shrubberry afire, but that had no effect upon us. We showered our slender rays upon it to such good effect, that it, too, was snuffed out!
Only two cones remained, and we had not been harmed!
As we turned toward the third, both cones darted high into the air. Then, twin streams of white leaped from them; the island shuddered under the impact. It was the ray that caused the passage into other vibratory worlds! Frantically we sent our rays flashing upward.
A fleeting picture passed through my mind, a picture of all of us falling into a bottomless pit—of mighty walls of water rushing in upon us—of motionless, floating bodies . . .
Fortune was with us! Our rays again found their mark, and the third cone fell to the island like a plummet!
One more cone to destroy! But was there time? The island was almost gone! Our footing was becoming insecure. The island, wavering on the borderline between the worlds! The cone was darting here and there erratically, now; we could not follow with our rays. A moment more, and it would be ended! A moment more—
A sudden, sharp explosion—an ear-splitting crash that shook the earth—and the white beam was gone; the island was solid under our feet!
We stared at each other in wonder by the fitful light of the burning shrubbery. On the brink of destruction, and a bolt from above had saved us. What had been the cause of that explosion? Something amiss in the cone, perhaps, effected by our rays?
And then we saw the helicopter. Swaying drunkenly from side to side, its motors dead, supported only by its buoyancy tanks, it settled slowly to the earth. It landed a short distance away.
Quickly we rushed over to the plane. Its entire front was smashed in. And amid the wreckage, the lower half of his body crushed to a bloody pulp, we found Kieth. He was still conscious. His face, smiling wanly, seen by the flickering light, looked ghastly.
Clasping Vachell’s hand weakly, he whispered:
“Well, Leo, I guess it’s almost over. But I’m satisfied. Ever since Demetriovich began his insane actions, I’ve felt guilty. In a measure I was responsible, for I was the one who goaded him on back there in the Alleghenies. I—I wanted to make amends.”
His voice grew weaker—was barely audible.
“When his cones left the—the mainland several hours ago, I followed close behind in—in my plane. I had three nitro-bombs with me; two of them missed their target, but the third one scored a hit. I was too close to the cone when it exploded, and I—I think part of the—cone—struck my—my—plane.”
His voice trailed off into silence. He stiffened convulsively; shuddered; and suddenly grew limp. He was dead. He had died for a cause—a martyr.
Almost over night the world was restored to normalcy. With the menace of the Russian removed, commerce and industry resumed activity.
After the affairs of the earth had been righted, the world executives gathered in the Union Hall, and without pomp or ceremony, signed the pledge that united all nations under one International Government. And under its sane and intelligent ruling, the world, today, is enjoying a prosperity unparalleled in history.
The remains of Demetriovich’s cones are in the International Museum, along with the ray-repellent bands, and the metal rods. They are things that are out of place in our present peaceful world. In the museum they lie, mute evidence of the truth of the well-nigh incredible history of the forming of the World Union.
And finally, today a great monument is standing on the Union Island, looking out over the sea. It is the statue of a slender, intelligent-faced man who seems to be looking thoughtfully ahead, a man who, indirectly, helped to bring chaos upon the world, and who gave his life to restore order. A statue of Allen Kieth, martyr.
THE END.
THE GRAY PLAGUE
Maimed and captive, in the depths of an interplanetary meteor-craft, lay the only possible savior of plague-ridden Earth.
CHAPTER I
FIVE months before the beginning of that period of madness, that time of chaos and death that became known as the Gray Plague, the first of the strange meteors fell to Earth. It landed a few miles west of El Paso, Texas, on the morning of March 11th.
In a few hours a great throng of people gathered around the dully smoldering mass of fire-pitted rock, the upper half of which protruded from the Earth where it had buried itself, like a huge, roughly outlined hemisphere. And then, when the crowd had assumed its greatest proportions, the meteor, with a mighty, Earth-shaking roar, exploded.
A vast flood of radiance, more brilliant than the light of the sun, lit up the sky for miles around. One moment, a throng of curious people, a number of scientists, newspaper men—a crashing explosion—and then a great, yawning pit sending forth a blinding radiance! Destruction and death where life had been.
The brilliant light streamed from the pit for about ten minutes; then like a snuffed-out candle flame, it vanished.
The second of the strange meteors landed on the evening of March 13th, in the city of Peking, China. It demolished several buildings, and buried itself beneath the ruins. The Chinese, unaware of the tragedy at El Paso, gathered in the vicinity, and when the meteor exploded at about ten o’clock that night, were instantly destroyed. As in Texas, the great pit emitted a cloud of dazzling light for about ten minutes, throwing a brilliant glow over the city and its surroundings; then was extinguished.
The people of the world awoke to the fact that events worthy of more than passing interest were occurring. The press of every nation begin giving the strange meteors more and more publicity. Statements of different pseudo-scientists were published in explanation of the meteor’s origin, statements that aroused world wide conjecture.
APPROXIMATELY twenty-four hours after the falling of the second missile, the third one fell, landing near Madrid, Spain. The Spaniards, having received news of the El Paso and Peking tragedies, avoided the ugly mass of rock as though it were a dreaded pestilence. In every way its action was similar to that of its two predecessors.
The interest of the world was doubled now. The unusual similarity of the action of the meteors, and the regularity of their landings, seemed indicative of a definite, hostile purpose behind it all. A menace from the unknown—a peril from the skies!
Scientists began giving serious consideration to the unusual phenomenon, pottering around in the pits, wearing airs of puzzlement. But their investigations were of no avail, for nothing of any great significance came to light through their efforts.
At about that time, an announcement was made that created a furor. Astronomers in different parts of the United States reported that they had observed a bright flare of light leaping up from the darkened portion of the planet Venus. The astronomers had no definite idea of anything of importance in back of what they had seen; but not so the masses. The flare, they said, was caused by the release of another meteor!
From Venus! Missiles, hurled by Venerians, menacing the Ear
th! The silver planet became the subject of universal discussion; innumerable fantastic articles about it appeared in magazine sections of Sunday newspapers. And the astronomers of Earth turned their telescopes toward Venus with an interest they had never felt before.
FOUR days of expectant waiting passed by after the third meteor had fallen, while interest continued mounting at an accelerating pace. And then, at about two o’clock in the morning of the 18th, three great observatories, two in North America and one in England, recorded the falling of an extraordinarily large and unusually brilliant meteor that glowed with an intense, bluish-white light as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere. And, unlike most meteors, this one was not consumed by its intense heat, but continued gleaming brilliantly until it vanished below the horizon. Simultaneous with the falling of the meteor, the Earth was rocked by one of the worst quakes in history.
Seismographs in all parts of the world recorded the tremors of the Earth, each indicating that the disturbance had occurred somewhere beneath the Atlantic ocean. Evidently the fourth meteor had fallen into the ocean, for the shaking of the Earth was obviously the result of the collision. That quakes had not followed the landing of the first three was due to the fact that they had been far smaller than the fourth.
And then, a short time after the earthquake, the worst storm in two hundred years broke over the Atlantic. Waves, mountain high, piled themselves upon each other in a wild frenzy; a shrieking wind lashed the waters into a liquid chaos. Great ocean-liners were tossed about like tiny chips; an appalling number of smaller ships were lost in that insane storm.
Nor was the destruction confined to the sea, for all along the Atlantic coast of North America and Europe, mighty walls of water rushed in, and wrecked entire towns and cities.
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