The Ruler of the Ocean of the Air/Chapter II

Chapter II: The Ruler of the Air
These last words sounded like thunder, but in the same instant the mysterious man disappeared again into the interior of the cabin, and they heard a sound, as if a trapdoor had fallen shut.

Immediately afterwards the giant airship changed its direction again and at the same time the two men covered their ears, appalled at the terrible sound which they heard.

This sound came from the vicinity of the iron ram, this had to be one of the so-called sirens, one of those giant fog horns with which ships signaled each other in fog. But this sound was completely different, it was so terrible, so penetrating, that the two men thought their eardrums would burst.

This sounded like a mysterious warning, as if the sinister masked man wanted to say, "Beware! Don't come too close to me, me, the owner of this strange aerial craft!"

For a second, a third time this awful sound resounded, then the two men reached for the valve lines with shaking hands.

They wanted to go downward, quickly downward, just away from this terrible proximity. The hissing gas escaped from the valves and the proud balloon, which until moments before had sailed along majestically, descended quickly through the mass of the clouds.

But the mysterious airship remained up there by itself way up above the clouds. For a moment it remained motionless, then the engines began to roar again, with fabulous rapidity the propellers started to spin, and then the remarkable craft shot away like an arrow.

It was headed northwest, as if it were gong straight to Paris. To the capital, in which bold, brilliant men were the first to construct aircraft.

But the balloon sank with great speed through the clouds and after just a short while it landed in the French countryside.

The people there were more than just a little amazed to see this giant balloon, for it was one of those designed for long journeys, one of those which are meant to cover immense distances. No one had an explanation for this premature landing, since the weather was so favorable.

People asked, if some disaster had struck, if the balloon had been damaged, but the two aeronauts were unwilling to give a straight answer.

They had only one thought, they wanted to return to Paris as quickly as possible and report their strange observation. They wanted to report exactly what it was that they had seen up there in the clouds.

The two men barely took the time to arrange for the recovery of the balloon. After they had given orders for the balloon to be packed and shipped back to Paris they made their way as quickly as possible to the nearest railway station. Soon they reached Paris, where their sudden appearance created the greatest surprise.

This surprise was mingled with anger, for many had placed bets on this balloon, many had been convinced that this mighty aircraft with its sail would defeat all the other competitors.

People reproached the aeronauts, they wanted to know why the balloon had broken off its trip. But their curiosity was not to be satisfied. Instead the two men rushed to the balloon depot which also contained military balloons and a few of the so-called steerable airships.

Here also the appearance of the two men created the greatest surprise and much shaking of heads. But this surprise was only increased when the two men reported their strange adventure to the committee, on which there were also a few military officers.

Silently their story was listened to. Then people started to exchange knowing glances and a look of incredulity could be seen on everyone's face.

"Gentlemen!" This was spoken by an old officer with silver hair. His military bearing could be seen at a hundred yards distance, and his button hole was decorated with the colored ribbons of many different orders. "Gentlemen, you have just told us a fairy tale, probably in order to explain the completely inexcusable interruption of your journey. But I really think you should have been able to come up with a better excuse. Both of you are experienced aeronauts. Don't take this personally, but I consider your story to be nothing but a fairy tale."

The young officer was about to make a heated reply, but he was held back by the older man.

"I have been an aeronaut for over fifteen years," he said not without some pride. "I have lost count of my flights, and no one has ever, in my entire life, accused me of being a liar. Even less am I, a serious scientist, capable of inventing fairy tales. I knew from the start that our report would be doubted. Still, it is the truth. I have made many dangerous trips in my time, but never in my life have I experienced such horror as I did this morning when we met the mysterious ship. I can't help it if you still consider out report a fairy tale. We have neither dreamed nor imagined it—we really met this mysterious craft, we have seen the masked man with our own eyes. People may call us liars now, but the future will show that we are telling the truth."

He hastily bowed toward the silent committee and then dragged the hot-blooded young officer with him. The latter only followed his friend reluctantly.

But the members of the committee remained behind, and there instantly ensued a heated discussion. Opinion was divided.

Some of the members took the part of the two aeronauts and claimed that these two serious men who lived only for their inventions and adventures were completely incapable of telling a falsehood.

But the other members shrugged their shoulders; there was a lively commotion until the Colonel, the head of the committee, demanded silence.

"Gentlemen," he said with this stentorian voice. "I have to admit that I may have been hasty with my reply when I first heard this story. Yes, I believe I may have even insulted these two esteemed members or our committee. Please forgive an old soldier, who was already fighting many a battle in 1870. I am a little rough around the edges, but I did not mean to offend anyone. I think it would be best if we observe silence regarding this affair. There is a strange affliction which is known as altitude sickness, and I believe that our two friends, for as such I consider them, saw things up there with their impaired senses which did not really exist. Hallucinations such as even the bravest heroes fall prey to sometimes. This is what I believe. But should I be wrong, should there really be a craft which surpasses everything which the human mind has dared imagine, then we will surely hear more about it. So for now I ask you gentlemen to remain silent on this subject, indeed, I order you to be silent. You know how quickly the superficial masses rush to judgment, and I do not want to expose our two friends to ridicule."

Everyone agreed with these words and as the gentlemen left they promised each other not to speak about what had happened.

But the very next day there was news which amazed them even more. Another one of the balloons entered in the competition had been forced to land near the French border because of faulty valves. The crew of this balloon returned to Paris the next day, and they, too, had stories about a strange occurrence.

They reported that at first light they had seen a long, gray object which was speeding along at great altitude and seemed to be moving directly into the wind.

The men had only had a fleeting glimpse of this strange object and since it moved very fast they assumed that it had to be a meteor which was passing through the earth's atmosphere.

Of course this explanation was not very plausible, for such an object would have had to glow. But then one of the men thought he had seen a bright glow, which disappeared again after a few moments.

"It was not glowing red," he reported, " but it glowed white, it almost looked like the beam of a searchlight, but it only lasted for a brief moment, then it was gone again."

The gentlemen of the committee exchanged puzzled looks, for now this matter was getting more and more mysterious. They no longer believed that they were dealing with a hallucination or a fairy tale. They were taken aback at the thought that there might be such a giant airship in existence.

But to which nation could it belong? Who had built this ship?

It could not come from Germany, or the papers would surely have carried stories about it. Nor from England, because even with all possible secrecy such an important invention could not have been kept hidden.

Other countries did not possess steerable airships, only America, the United States, was a possibility. Could it be possible that such a strange vehicle had been constructed there in all secrecy?--

But why was the man in the blue captain's uniform wearing a mask? Why did he call himself by the horrible name of Captain Mors? This name of death, why had he shouted the mysterious warning to the aeronauts? These were riddles upon riddles.

A few hours later secret inquiries were passed through diplomatic channels, mainly to the United States, transmissions were sent back and forth, but the answers did not solve the mystery. In the United States nothing was known about a steerable airship, and what experiments had been made there were still in their infancy.

So now people had to wait and see if the other balloonists would have anything to report.

They had to be patient, since the winds were favorable and the balloons would be carried over Germany to the cities of Russia.

A few landed in Hungary, but their crewmembers had seen nothing unusual. So now people had to wait for the return of the remaining balloonists. But due to the poor transportation in Russia they could not be expected to return for at least another week.

The committee was waiting for them with feverish excitement, and so were the two aeronauts who had had the mysterious encounter.

The latter had been mollified and had been convinced to keep their strange encounter a secret.

This was not hard to do. They were afraid of the ridicule and contempt to which they would expose themselves. They knew that their story would never be believed, that it would be considered a fairy tale, that they would be considered mad.

At last the hoped for news arrived, transmissions came in which the endurance balloonists reported their adventures.

Most of them had landed deep within Russia, and one of them barely missed landing in the Black Sea. Only one of them was still missing. This one appeared to have traveled the farthest.

The next day the telegraph machines were active. A transmission came from the most distant Russia, from the Ural Mountains, close to Asia's borders.

It was from the missing travelers, and when informed of this the committee made all haste to the telegraph office.

The wire seemed to be defective. The transmission continued for a long time, but with several interruptions of half an hour's duration.

First the aeronauts triumphantly proclaimed that they had certainly broken the world record. They said that they had started on their journey home.

The committee had already concluded that the transmission had ended, when the machine started ticking again.

"Well, I don't understand this at all," said the clerk in the telegraph office as he looked at the characters which the machine was printing on the paper ribbon. "This is meaningless nonsense, the wire in Russia must not be working right. Either that, or the telegraph operator is drunk."

"No, no," said the old man as he rushed to examine the message, "this is the cipher of our society. Let me have it, this is a special message."

The apparatus kept on ticking, the apparently meaningless words continued. Finally there was the signal which indicated the end of the transmission. Shaking his head, the clerk handed the strip of paper to the old man.

The old men left the telegraph office with obvious haste, followed by the other gentleman who crowded around him in the hallway.

"What does it mean?" several impatient voices demanded. "You have read the cipher? What is in the secret last part of the message?"

The old man had a serious expression.

"Gentlemen," he said softly. "We have wronged our two members who reported their strange adventure. This is the third confirmation that there really is such a strange craft. One moment, I will read it to you."

And with voice barely audible with excitement the old man read the significant words:

"Six hours before we landed we saw a strange aircraft which looked like it was speeding along at a great height. It was flying southeast, it was headed for he southern steppes of Russian, apparently in order to reach the Caucasus.

This craft was very strange, its appearance mystifying; we will give you further details in our oral report."

The old man folded the message.

"Here we are dealing with a profound secret," he said. "Here is a man in possession of a vehicle such as even the boldest flights of fancy would not have dreamed of. Gentlemen, let us hope that this mysterious masked man does not use his ingenious invention for evil purposes. If he did, it would be absolutely horrifying, I do not even want to think of the consequences. Let's be honest, gentlemen, the possession of such a craft makes its owner the master of half the world. There is no doubt, this mysterious masked man who calls himself Captain Mors is the ruler of the air!"