Page:Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 02.djvu/44

Rh attempt to explain the process by which the electrical impressions are generated, amplified, translated again into light, and finally projected to the screen below.It is far too intricate, and would require hours to explain satisfactorily. Due to the lack of time, neither shall I relate the circumstances of the discovery of this element further than to tell you that I was curious as to the cause of a bright violet line, which occasionally flashed into the spectrum of a rare ore that I was analyzing."

HEN drawing his watch from his pocket, he continued impressively: "In twenty-five minutes, the planet Mars will have reached its closest possible approach to the Earth. Then we shall learn her secret. If you will pardon me a moment, I will return the lucium to its proper place."

He was soon back, and even as he returned, the sound of distant thunder became plainly audible in the clear mountain air.

"One of the summer thunder storms common among these mountains is coming up," he explained simply. "I will adjust the reflector now, lest it give us trouble when it arrives."

"But, Monsieur, it will spoil the observation! Even when it recedes, zee air currents will be atrocious!" cried Flambeau in the first words he had spoken that night.

Faxworthy made no verbal reply, but motioned them out upon a small balcony on the east wall of the structure. He pointed his finger to the moon, which was being slowly obscured. Following his motion, the others gazed in the same direction. What they saw was a ghostly cylinder of faint luminescence issuing from the small tower on the roof, and reaching outward into space as far as the eye could see!

"The dispelling ray," briefly explained their guide. "The ether waves of the fortieth octave which have the property of expelling all matter from their path. The range of this ray in the atmosphere is about six hundred miles, and as long as the telescope aligns in its path, it effectually eliminates all interference from atmospheric or meteorologic conditions."

The wondering silence that followed was broken only by a stifled "Mon Dieu!" from Flambeau. That one man could have produced so many wonders seemed almost incredible to the group of distinguished scientists.

The silence was not broken, even as their guide led them back to the control room. Swiftly he brought the colossal telescope to the zenith, where the great red star still steadily gleamed. Synchronically the unearthly band of light on the dome swung upward until it came to rest in the same direction.

Again the first two vacuum tubes flashed into light; again that strange beam of luminescence shot down from the ceiling, and there came into being upon the screen the image of a great red star, magnified to the diameter of a baseball. Two more of the tubes, and the image doubled in size. Now a complicated network of delicate lines could be discerned upon its dull crimson surface.

Two at a time, the vacuum tubes were switched into the circuit, and ever the image increased in size and detail. Soon it covered the entire screen. Now only sections of the surface were visible, and slowly the sections grew less in extent, as they grew plainer and plainer in detail. Now the view was from the apparent distance of a million miles, now a thousand, now five hundred.

And slowly the delicate lines had grown in breadth, until only two of them, now broad ochre bands two feet wide, intersected in the middle of the screen, in the form of a large circular spot. The center of this spot was thickly strewn with small black dots, which glistened sharply as they reflected the sun's rays.

HEN without warning, Faxworthy snapped on all but two of the remaining tubes in the bank. Instantly the image on the screen faded into obscurity, and in its place appeared a wondrous scene. There, as though from a ten thousand foot bird's-eye view, stretched a great city.

They were looking down upon great buildings a thousand feet in height, above which swarms of enormous airships darted gracefully through the air. And the decks were covered with tiny figures!

The last two bulbs flashed into life, and the view came to the apparent distance of fifty feet. The tiny figures were men. Perfect men of wonderful physique, with finely chiseled faces. They were clad in a raiment resembling that in which Caesar's legion were dressed centuries ago. There were women also, all of glorious form and feature, robed in exquisitely colored gowns, which gleamed in the sunlight with a myriad opalescent tints.

The last two tubes again faded into darkness, and the view receded to the original ten-thousand foot scene.

With an almost imperceptible movement of his hand upon a lever, he brought the landscape flashings across the screen in a glorious panorama.

And while they viewed the surface of the dying planet from pole to pole, the storm that had been rising came up and settled over the top of the mountain. Lightnings flashed, and thunder shook the observatory, but so engrossed were they in the wondrous scene before them, and so protected from interruption by the silent, ghastly ray without, that they were completely oblivious to the disturbance.

Now a vast, red, sandy desert was sweeping across the screen, now a waterway, now another city (always situated at the intersection of two canals), and so from the distance of thirty-three millions of miles, they viewed the surface of the planet from ice clad north to ice clad south. Suddenly the lofty summit of a great mountain capped with an enormous black blotch swept across their vision.

With skillful hand, Faxworthy brought the image back to the center of the screen. The black blotch was a huge building completely covering the top of the mountain, and towering five hundred feet into the air—an almost exact replica of the building in which they stood. And from its top an enormous ray of unearthly luminescence shot sharply out into space! Again the last two bulbs flashed into light, and they looked down into the polished bowl of an enormous concave mirror two hundred feet in diameter.

"You see," said the scientists significantly, "unseen eyes are ever watching us from space, and they have been doing so for countless ages."