Maza of the Moon (2 page)

The craft steadied a bit for an instant, and Ted succeeded in seizing Roger's ankle. Dragging the limp form of his companion toward him, he passed his arm beneath the slender body and held it as best he could, meanwhile keeping a tight grip on the doorknob. Though the storm continued outside, Bevans seemed to be getting the plane under control once more, for it rocked less and less as time went on.

Presently, too, the lightning flashes appeared farther apart, and the intervening darkness grew steadily lighter.

As soon as he was able to release his grip on the doorknob, Ted gently lowered his assistant to the floor of the disordered cabin. Switching on the light, he made a hasty examination of the gash in the pale forehead and found, to his relief, that there was no skull fracture. After carefully dressing it from the contents of the emergency kit, he placed a pillow beneath the head of the still unconscious Roger, and made his way to the rear window. At a glance, he saw that they had risen above the electrical storm, but were still beneath a dense cloud stratum that shut off the sunlight like a blanket. He shouted up to the pilot:

"All right, Bevans?"

"Sound as a dollar, sir."

"Good. Keep those helicopters going and see if we can get up into the sunlight."

"Yes, sir."

Roger moaned feebly, then opened his eyes as Ted bent over him.

"Wh-what happened?" he asked.

"You were knocked out. Nothing dangerous. Be all right soon. Want anything?"

"Cigarette."

"Sure thing. Here."

Ted placed it between the ashen lips and fired it with his atomic lighter.

"Lie still for a while," he counseled. "I'm going to try to make some observations if we can ever get above these confounded clouds."

It was some time before the welcome flash of sunlight appeared. After making his observations, Ted calculated that they had been driven more than three hundred miles southwest of their course by the storm. When the plane was once more headed toward the point where they hoped to find the Hawaii, he descended the stairway to see what he could do for Roger. He found him in one of the cabin chairs, curiously examining a film of dust that had formed on the map-table.

"Where do you suppose that came from?" he asked, poking it with his finger.

"Volcanic ash," replied Dustin. "Sometimes travels clear around the world, so we needn't be surprised to find it here after that huge upheaval. How's the head feeling now, old man?"

"Better, thanks."

"Good. We'll just have time for a cold snack before we board the Hawaii."

As soon as they had eaten, Ted took food up to the pilot and steered the ship while he ate.

"Nearly there, aren't we, sir?" asked Bevans, after he had swallowed the last morsel.

"Almost. I'll give you the signal to descend, from the cabin. We're going to need our searchlight, I'm afraid."

Once more in the cabin, Ted consulted his instruments. Presently he gave the order to descend. In a moment they were plunged into deep gloom which the mighty searchlights failed to penetrate for more than fifty feet in any direction.

"We'll never find them this way," said Ted. "Try the radio, Roger, will you?"

Sanders sat down in front of the powerful instrument and turned the dials.

"She's dead," he announced. "That electrical storm must have burned out something."

"Here. You keep watch while I see what's wrong," replied Ted.

It only took the inventor a moment to find the trouble.

"Burned out every tube," he said, "and I forgot to bring a spare set. We'll just have to keep cruising around, I guess, and hope for luck. A nice mess we've gotten into."

"For my part I'm thankful to be alive, radio or no radio," said Roger.

"Righto, but I'll certainly be disappointed if I can't be aboard the Hawaii with those official observers when the projectile strikes the moon. We may be able to see it with our binoculars, but I doubt it."

As they cruised about in ever widening circles, the time slipped away, but there was no sign of the Hawaii. Presently, when the chronometer showed 6:20 Ted gave up the search and ordered Bevans to hurry back to the designated observation point. They barely reached it at 6:50, and another minute was consumed in rising above the highest cloud stratum.

The sun had set and the half-illumined orb of the moon was just above the western horizon. Both men trained their binoculars on it simultaneously. Came 6:53 and they waited tensely for the thirteenth second, at which instant the projectile was calculated to strike.

The thirteenth second came and went without incident. The fourteenth--and then--directly in the center of the celestial target things happened. Both men simultaneously saw a tiny light flash for an instant across the dark side of the moon's sunrise line, while a small black spot slowly grew in size on the sunlit side of the line.

"Hurray! She hit dead center!" shouted Roger.

Ted watched the black spot in silence for a moment.

"Seems to have landed plumb in the middle of the crater, Hipparchus," replied Ted. "Thought I had miscalculated the time, for an instant, but I see the reason now. We saw the flash just 1.25 seconds after it took place because it takes light that long to travel from the moon to the earth."

The black spot faded perceptibly. In a minute more it had disappeared completely.

"There goes our evidence," said Ted. "I hope they saw it while it lasted."

He called up through the speaking tube:

"Back to Chicago, Bevans."

WHEN DUSTIN reached his office in Chicago, he found a terse radiogram from the commander of the U.S. Aerial Battleship, Alaska, awaiting him.

Just found the Hawaii, wrecked on surface of Pacific with radio out of commission. Official observers unable to see moon on account of clouds. Am towing the Hawaii to San Francisco. J. C. Farrell, Commander, U.S.A.B. Alaska.

He read it in silence, then handed it to Sanders.

"Does this mean that we lose, Ted?" he asked.

"It means," replied Ted gamely trying to disguise the quiver of disappointment in his voice, "that Theodore Dustin, Inc., will be sold for the benefit of creditors--lock, stock and barrel, within the next thirty days."

During the days that followed, Ted and Roger were kept busy putting the affairs of the company in order, preparatory to turning it over to its creditors. At the final moment their attorney bad secured them an extra thirty day extension, but this, after all, was only a prolonging of the agony.

A Russian manufacturer had made the highest bid for the plant and patents, and sorrow prevailed in the entire organization when it was announced that the creditors would, in all probability, accept the bid.

The indignant official observers had, as Ted had predicted, unanimously declared against even a probability that his projectile had struck the moon. True, an unofficial observer in Guatemala had reported seeing a flash and a dark cloud near the crater Herschel at the appointed time, but this statement was unsupported from other quarters and, therefore, of no value to Ted's claims.

The eruption and storm had made it impossible for the South American observatories to view the moon at all at that time, while all other observatories so situated as to have even slight opportunity for a glimpse at the proper moment, reported exceptionally cloudy weather.

On the morning of May 5th, Dustin sat moodily in his private office, surrounded by a thick cloud of blue smoke from his black briar, when Sanders burst into the room waving a newspaper which he thrust beneath the eyes of his employer.

"Can you beat this, Ted?" he asked. "They say your projectile came back to the earth and nearly destroyed London!" Ted read the screaming headline, and gasped.

TERRIFIC EXPLOSION NEAR LONDON! MAY BE DUSTIN PROJECTILE RETURNED TO EARTH At four thirty this morning a huge missile fell into the Thames River near Gravesend. It exploded with terrible force, killing more than fourteen hundred people, and injuring thousands. The shock of the explosion was felt all over the British Isles as well as on continental Europe, and was registered by seismographs all over the world.

Scientists have calculated that the projectile fired by the inventor, Theodore Dustin, would return to the earth in thirty days, but they now believe it must have traveled in a larger orbit than they estimated, and that this is the missile of Dustin returning later than predicted.

Ted pushed the paper aside wearily.

"The 'I told you so' boys are at it again, Roger," he said. "They make me sick. In order to prove a pet theory, they're trying to make a wholesale murderer of me in the eyes of the world. I'm weary of it all."

Then a voice suddenly issued from the radiovisiphone. It was the operator.

"Mr. Dustin." "Yes."

"Station WNB-437 announces that it is about to broadcast important international news. Shall I tune it in for you?"

"Please."

A picture instantly flashed on the disc of the radiovisiphone--the announcer for the World News Broadcasters, standing in the station at Washington, D.C. He held a paper in one hand, and a watch in the other, evidently waiting for the exact second to begin his announcement. Presently he cleared his throat and looked up.

"We have just received a communication from Paris, France," he announced. "A projectile similar to that which fell in the Thames near Gravesend has fallen into the heart of Paris. The city is in ruins and there has been a terrific loss of life, unestimated at this time. This shock, like the one which came a few hours ago, has been recorded by seismographs all over the world. Scientists who hold that the previous explosion was caused by the Dustin projectile have issued no statements regarding this one. No one we have consulted can offer any explanation of this singular and terrible occurrence."

The announcer paused, then turned to receive a new sheet of paper from a messenger.

"The situation with regard to these projectiles is becoming more serious every minute," he said. "I have here a radio message from New York City. A third missile has just fallen into New York Harbor, sinking or destroying all shipping in the vicinity, killing and maiming thousands of people, and shattering glass in the windows for miles around. Two Broadway skyscrapers are reported to have toppled to the street, adding to the shambles as panic-stricken people scurrying for shelter were crushed in the ruins."

Again the announcer paused to receive a new sheet of paper.

"A message from Professor Fowler of the Yerkes Observatory states that he was looking at the moon this morning between the hours of one and four o'clock, and that during that period he saw five distinct and quite brilliant flashes of light in the region of the crater, Ptolemy. He has just learned of the explosions at London, Paris and New York, and thinks that they may have some connection with what he saw on the moon early this morning. It is his theory that the moon is suffering from a bombardment similar to that which the earth is undergoing."

The picture of the announcer suddenly disappeared from the disc and that of Dustin's operator appeared.

"I had to tune out WNB-437, sir," she apologized. "The President of the United States is calling."

"Tune him in," replied Dustin.

Instantly there flashed on the disc the familiar countenance of President Whitmore. He looked worried, and his voice trembled slightly as he asked:

"Mr. Dustin, have you any explanation of the calamities that have overtaken the world in the last few hours?"

"I have no facts for you at present, Mr. President," replied Dustin, "but I have a theory."

"And what is that?"

"It is my belief that the moon is bombarding the earth. She reached an advantageous firing position last night, and Professor Fowler saw five flashes between one and four o'clock this morning. According to my theory she left five huge interplanetary mines in the path of the earth and we have already run afoul of three of them. Moreover, they were aimed and timed with such accuracy that one of our chief cities has been destroyed and two more came near to meeting the same fate."

"You have stated that your projectile struck the moon. Do you believe that our satellite is inhabited, and that the explosions we have experienced were mines or missiles, fired in reprisal by the lunar inhabitants?"

"That is my belief, Mr. President."

"Then, Mr. Dustin, you are jointly responsible with the Associated Governments of the Earth for this horrible and unexpected catastrophe, and we shall look to you to see that the bombardment is stopped."

"I'm sorry, Mr. President, but I am without funds, and my company is to be taken from me by my creditors in a few days."

"This, Mr. Dustin," replied the President, "is an international emergency, and must be met with every ounce of power at our command. We need you--the world needs you and your organization. Draw on the government for such funds as you require at once, and I will issue an order on the treasury for sufficient funds to satisfy every one of your creditors.

"At present I can only promise you the cooperation of our own government, but I am calling a meeting of the Associated Governments today, and I feel sure they will be with us. Do all you can, as quickly as you can, and spare no expense to carry the thing through as swiftly as possible."

"I'll do my best, Mr. President," replied Ted.

The picture of the President faded from the disc, and Roger rose from his seat, his face aglow with enthusiasm for this new undertaking.

"Atta boy, Ted!" he said. "When do we start? And how?"

ON THE following day the factory of Theodore Dustin, Inc., hummed with an activity it had not known for weeks.

The fact that Ted's prediction regarding the other two missiles from the moon had come true shortly after he had uttered them, solidified public confidence in him to a degree even greater than that he had enjoyed before the firing of his own projectile and his subsequent condemnation by the official observers.

The last two missiles to strike the earth had apparently not been aimed so accurately as the others, but the intent of those who fired them had been just as evident, for one had plumped into the middle of Lake Michigan, not far from Chicago, and the other had alighted in the Tyrrhenian Sea near Rome, both causing tidal waves and some damage to shipping, but without the large number of fatalities which attended the falls of the others.