Page:Wonder Stories Quarterly Volume 2 Number 2 (Winter 1931).djvu/119

 HE inventor admitted frankly that his ship was a great blunder, for he had never been able to taxi it across the trial grounds with enough velocity to lift even the huge weight from the earth. But that did not worry Dick at all, for he would have no need of the ship, unless our terrestrial gravity was so disturbed that not only the ship but much more stable structures would go hurtling up toward the strange star.

The man sold it very cheap, for he was hard pressed for money and disgusted with his scheme. Before buying Dick made known his plans, telling the inventor of the impending danger and offering free passage in the ship. The man raised his eyebrows, shrugged his shoulders. But he made the bill of sale with no reservations for any contingency such as Dick mentioned.

For several weeks Dick was busy overhauling the ship and hiring a crew. The tinned stuff was in good shape, the oxygen tanks full, and the machinery well oiled and new. The more he inspected it the more fortunate he felt.

The day after his purchase the city got the news of the impending calamity in a convincing way. The dark star itself could be seen by low powered telescopes close down against the horizon an hour behind the morning sun. Each morning the streets were full of men and women as Dick left for the ship yard. The crowds moved along with a stolid air or resignation, incredulity, or indifference, but here and there small, silent groups stared gloomily at the visitor.

One day a short way up the Avenue he met Kris Dillinger, a local banker.

"Headed this way." Dick warned, "Looks bad!"

"Bosh," Kris ejaculated, and walked away.

Dick hurried on to his ship.

No one knew the name of the strange star. Some one called it Nera and the name stuck. Newspapers belittled the danger. There was a statement broadcasted, which was signed by Professor Miller, in which the noted scientist stated that in all probability the dark star or planet as it might be, was travelling in an orbit which had brought it close to the earth in ages past and would bring it back in the ages to come. There was nothing to indicate that the last trip had affected the earth materially, unless indeed the story of the flood might be connected up with it in some way.

Calm natured folk went about their usual duties, the excitable ones displayed some panic, and some of the less serious played with the growing influence of the star's gravity. As the star came closer and closer, a good many very active young men vied each other for high leaps, and eventually some could jump as high as the second story of the National building. Traffic congested the streets, for tires had poor grip on the pavement and speed was dangerous. The weather became unusually clear, no haze, no film of cloud obscured the oncoming stranger as it swelled larger and larger in the heavens. And then one day Nera cut the outer disc of the sun. Dick took this as a signal to get Virginia aboard the ship. The crew had been living there for two days now. He called her by phone, but something in the close proximity of the cosmic visitor caused such a buzzing and pounding in the phone as to make conversation impossible so he hung up and started for her house.

Nera hung low toward the west, for the sun was almost down, and Dick found he could make unbelievable speed. He sensed the gravitational pull of the passing star and sometimes his leaps carried him sixty feet at a jump. He vaulted along, passing large crowds of frightened men and women, who stood dumbly staring helplessly at the ominous shadow in the heavens.

As the sphere drew nearer a band of bluish light spread above the earth, a kind of corona which grew in brightness and sharpness until it became that vivid electrical green which is sometimes seen when high-voltage wires are shorted. The more Dick watched it and the more dazzling it became, the less he was able to account for it. Though he did have an idea that it might be caused by strange electrical phenomena set up by the two bodies. After a few minutes the great band widened and narrowed with pulsing regularity and once a long twisting bolt of fire slipped free and streaked outward to burst far out in the cosmos sprinkling that sector of the heavens with tiny blue and yellow stars.

Then another band of light gathered from nowhere, to spread fanwise closer above the earth. Flames of red and bluish green played about its edge, while zigzag bolts of lightning flashed between the band and the earth. Crashing thunder followed crash with incessant rolls. Terrified mobs milled about like frightened cattle as the earth trembled under their feet.

ESPAIRING at the puny strength he could pit against such forces, Dick hurried ahead. He reached Grand Avenue in a daze at the sight of these cosmic storms. Every detonation was more thunderous than the last, every flash more brilliant and terrible.

He passed through the stone gates of Virginia's home and ran up the walk just in time to see the towering whiteness of the National Building split by a dazzling bolt of fire. The gigantic structure writhed drunkenly. Granite and debris poured downward into roil of smoke and dust, baring twisted ribs of structural steel.

He took the steps at a leap and flung open the front door. Inside he stood a moment calling loudly, his voice all but drowned by the roar outside. Blinded by the electrical flares, the house seemed very dark. He opened the library door and peered about the room. The tall windows glared blues and greens. Walls and floors quivered. Pictures swung violently. Books tumbled from their shelves. No one was in the room.

He turned back to the hall, and shouted mightily, but the mad whine of sirens, the frightened screams of men and women, the moaning whistle of a new born gale and the incessant peal of thunder howled him down.

In the hall he met Kris. The banker's long mane of yellow hair was disheveled, his bulging