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Show v r SOUTH CACHE COURIER 5a(y ooooooooooooo 5e ' Ing American has When Worlds Collide By EDWIN BALMER and PHILIP WYLIE Copyright by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie r WNU Service ooooooooooooo CHAPTER X Continued 18 The English? returned Duquesne. They will get away. What then, who knows? Can you muddle through space, Cole Endron? I ask It But the English are sound; they have a good ship. But as to them, I have made my answer. I am here. The Germans? demanded Hen-dro- PATRONIZE HOME INDUSTRY THIS WEEKS PRIZE STORY Spring Is Jast around the corner and with her coming all nature comes cut in fcnihant, new array and mankind gets the urge to clean up, stock up, and dress up for your Buy Intermoontain Made Goods spring campaign ard be assured you wili get the best products made, r MRS, MAURINE C. JENSEN, Ferron, Ut finest ol Watch repairing at prices Z 7 that are reasonable ' THE TIME SHOP ' Finest Equipped Watch Shep in Utah Sait Lake City West So. Tem. 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C13 - $3.00 The Frenchman gestured. Too advanced! They have tried to take every contingency into account too many contingency! They will make the most beautiful voyage of all or by far the worst As to all the other, again I observe, I have preferred to be here. Pierre Duquesne, Frances greatest physicist, vent off with Hendron to the control room, talking volubly. Tony superintended the closing of the lock. He went up the spiral staircase to the first passenger deck. Fifty people lay there on the padded surface with the broad belts already strapped around their legs and torsos. Most of them had not yet attached the straps Intended to hold their heads In place. Their eyes were directed toward the glass screen, where alternately views of the heavens overhead and of the radiant landscape outside the Space Ship were being shown. Tony looked at his number and found his place. Eve was near by him, with the two children beside her. She had sat up to welcome him. Ive been terribly nervous. Of course I knew youd come, but it has been hard waiting here." Were all set, Tony said, as he adjusted himself on the floor harness. Below, In the control-room- , the men took their posts. Hendron strapped himself under the glass screen. He fixed his eyes to an optical Instrument, across which were two hair lines. Very close to the point of intersection was a small star. The Instrument had been set so that when the star reached the center of the cross the discharge was to be started. About him was a battery of switches which were controlled by a master switch, and a lever that worked not unlike a rheostat over a series of resistances. His control-roocrew were fastened In their places with their arms free to manipulate various levers. CHAPTER XI Hendron turned to tho crossed hairs on the optical instrument and began to count Every man In the room stiffened to attention. His One, two, three, four, five hand went to the switch. The room was filled with a vibrating hum. The Six, seven, eight nine, ten sound of the hum rose now to a feline shriek. Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fifteen eady ! Sixteen, fourteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty " His hand moved to the instrument that was like a rheostat His other hand was clenched, on his straps. Twenty-one- , white-knuckle- d, twenty-two- , twenty-fiv- twenty-thre- e, e. twenty-fou- r, Simultaneously the crew shoved levers, and the rheostat moved up an Inch. As he counted, signals flashed to the other ship. They must leave at the same moment. A roar, redoubling that which had resounded below the ship on the night of the attack, deafened all other sound. Tony thought: Were leaving the earth! A quivering of the ship that jarred the soul. An upthrust on the feet Hendrons Ups moving in counting that could no longer be heard. The eyes of the men of the crew watching those lips so that when they reached fifty a second switch was touched, and the room was plunged Into darkness relieved only by the dim rays of tiny bulbs over the Instruments themselves. A slight change in the feeling of air pressure against the eardrums. Another forward motion of the steady hand on the rheostat An Increase of the thrust against the feet so that the whole body felt leaden. Augmentation of the hideous diu outside. Tony reached toward Eve, and felt her hand stretching to meet his. The fiery trail of the second Ark rising skyward on Its apex of scintillating vapor already was miles away. Below, on the earth, fires broke out a blaze that denoted a forest burning. In the place where the ship had been, the two gigantic blocks of concrete must have crumbled and collapsed. Far away to the south and west, the President of the United States, surrounded by his cabinet, looked up from the new toll engendered by the recommencing earthquakes, and saw, separated by an Immeasurable distance, two comets moving away from the earth. The President looked reverently at the phenomenon; then he said: My friends, the greatest Uv- - bnt sow left his homeland." In the passenger chamber the unendurable noise rose In a steady crescendo nntil all those who lay there were pressed with increasing force upon the deck. Nauseated, terrified, overwhelmed, their senses foundered, and many of them lapsed Into unconsciousness. Tony, who was still able to think, despite the awful acceleration of the ship, realized presently that the din was diminishing. From his rather scanty knowledge of physics, he tried to deduce what was happening. Either the Ark had reached air so thin that it did not carry sound waves, or else It was traveling so fast that its sound could not catch up with it The speed of that diminution seemed to increase. The chamber became quieter and quieter. Tony reflected, In spite of the fearful torment he was undergoing, that eventually the only sound which would afflict It would come from the breeches of the tubes In the control rooms, and the rooms themselves would Insulate that Presently he realized that the ringing In his ears was louder than the noise made by the passage of the ship. Eve had relaxed the grip on his hand, but at that moment he felt a pressure. It was Impossible to turn his head. He said, in an ordinary Hello, voice, and found he had been so deafened that it was inaudible. He tried to lift his hand, but the acceleration of the ship was so great that it required more effort than he was able jet to exert. Then he heard Eves voice and realized that she was talkAre you all right, ing very loudly: Tony? Speak to me. He shouted back: I'm all right. How are the children? He could see them lying stupefied, with ejes wide open. Its horrible, Isnt It? Eve cried. Yes, but the worst is over. Well be accelerating for some time, though. Energy returned to him. He struggled with the bonds that held his head, and presently spoke again to Eve. She was deathly pale. He looked at the other passengers. Many of them were still unconscious, most of them only partly aware of what was happening. He tried to lift his head from the floor, but the upward pressure still overpowered him. Then the lights In the cabin went out and the screen was Illuminated. Across one side was a glimpse of the trail which they were leaving, a bright hurtling yellow stream, but It was not that which held his attention. In the center of the screen was part of a curved disk. Tony realized that he was staring up at half of the northern hemi- sphere of the earth. Tony thought he could make out the outline of Alaska on the west coast of the United States, and hd saw pinpoints of lights which Identified with the renewal of volcanic activity. The screen flashed. Another view appeared. Constellations of stars, such stars as he had never seen, blazing furiously In the velvet blackness of the outer sky. He realized that he was looking at the view to be had from the side of the ship. The light went out again, and a third of the four periscopes recorded its field. Again stars, but In their center and hanging away from them, as If In miraculous suspension, was a small round bright-re- d body which Tony recognized as Mars. Once again Eve pressed his hand, and Tony returned thfe pressure. In the control room, Hendron still sat In the sling with his hand on the rheostat His eyes traveled to a meter which showed their distance from the earth. Then they moved on to a chronometer. He had already determined the time necessary for acceleration one hundred and twelve minutes and he could not shorten It Tony felt that he had been lying on the floor for an eternity. His strength had come back, but they had been instructed to remain on the floor until the speed of their ascent was stabilized. Minutes dragged. It was becoming possible to converse In the chamber, but few people cared to say anything. Many of them were still violently 111 Hendron operated the switch controlling the choice of periscopes. In the midst of the glass screen, the earth now appeared as a round globe, Its diameter In both directions clearly apparent. More than half of It lay In shadow, but the Illuminated half was like a great relief map. The whole of the United States, part of Europe and the north polar regions, were revealed to their gaze. In wonder they regarded the world that had been their home. They could see clearly the colossal changes which had been wrought upon It. The great Inland sea that occupied the Mississippi valley sparkled in the morning sun. The myriad volcanoes which had sprung into being along the western cordillera were for the most part hidden under a pall of smoke and cloud3. Hendron signaled a command to his crew, who had been standing unbuckled from their slings, at attention. They now seated themselves. When Hendron reached the first deck of passengers quarters, he found them standing together comparing notes on the sensations of space-flyinMany of them were rubbing stiff arms and legs. Two or three, Including Eliot James, were still lying on the padded deck In obvious discomfort They had turned on the lights, apparently more Interested In their own condition than In the astounding vista of the Earth below. Tony had Just opened the doors of the larder and was on the Doint of distributing the sandwiches. I assure you, Hendron told Tony and Eve, and their fellow passengers, "that except for Its monotony, the trip will offer you no further great g. discomfort nntil we reach Bronson Beta, when we shall be under the necessity of repeating approximately the same maneuver. In something less than an hour we are going to turn the periscope on France In an effort to observe the departure of the French equivalent of our ships. We are at the moment trying to locate our second Ark, which took Its course at a distance from us to avoid any chance of collision, and being between us and the sun, Is now temporarily lost In the glare of the sun. Hendron disappeared through the opening in the celling which contained the spiral staircase. Tony saw to the distribution of food and water. The ship rushed through the void so steadily that cups of milk, which Eve held to the lips of the children, scarcely spilled over. The passengers found that they could move from floor to floor without great trouble. Fans distributed the air Inside the Outside, there was vacuum against which the airlocks were sealed. The air of the ship, breathed and rewas not actually fresh, alstored, though chemically it was perfectly breathable. The soft roar of the rocket propulsion tubes fuddled the senses. The sun glared In a black sky studded with brilliant stars. To the right of the sun, the great glowing crescents of Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta loomed larger and larger. Eve sat with Tony as a periscope turned on them and displayed them on the screen. They could plainly see that Bronson Alpha was below and approaching the earth; Bronson Beta, slowly turning, was higher and much nearer the ship. "Do you see their relation? she ship. asked. "Between the Bronson Bodies? said Arent they nearer together Tony. than they have ever been before? Much nearer; and as Father and Professor Bronson calculated. Bronson Beta, being much the smaller and lighter, was revolving about Bronson Alpha. The orbit was not a circle; It was a very long ellipse. Sometimes, therefore, this brought Bronson Beta much closer to Alpha than at other times. When they went around the sun, the enormous force of the suns attraction further distorted the orbit, and Bronson Brta probably Is nearer Alpha now than It ever was before. Also, notice it is at the point In Its orbit which is more favoiable for us. You mean for our landing on It? asked Tony. For that ; and especially Is It favorable to us, after we land If we do, amended Eve; and she gathered the children to her. She sat between them, an arm about each, gazing at the screen. You see, the sun had not surely captured Bronson Beta and Bronson Alpha. They had arrived from some incalculable distance and they have rounded the sun, but, without further Interference than the suns attraction, they would retreat again and perhaps never reappear. But on the course toward the sun, Alpha destroyed the moon, as we know, and this had an effect upon both Alpha and Bronson Beta, controlled by Alpha. And now something even more protound Is going to happen. Alpha will have contact with the world. That will destroy the earth and will send Bronson Alpha off In another path. One almost certain effect of the catastrophe is that It will break Bronson Beta away from the dominating control of Bronson Alpha and leave Beta subject to the sun. That will provide a much more satisfactory orbit for us about our sun. Us? echoed Tony. "Us If we get there, said Eve; and she bent and kissed the children. At the end of an hour all the lights In the passenger quarters were turned out, and the earth was again flashed on the screen. Its diminution In size was already startling ; and the remains of Europe, stranded In a new ocean, looked like a childs model map. A point of light showed suddenly, very bright, and as a second passed, it appeared to extend so that It stood away from the earth like a white-ho- t needle. The upshooting light curved, became horizontal and shot parallel with earth, moving apparently witn such speed that It seemed to have traversed a measurable fraction of the Alps while they watched. Abruptly, then, the trail zigzagged; it curved back toward the earth, and the doomed ship commenced to descend, Impelled by its own motors. In another second there was a faint glow and then only a luminous trail, which disappeared rapidly, like the pathway of fire left by a meteor. Flashes rose and traveled on. Indications were that ships of other nations had got safely away from the ruins of the earth and were following the American Space Ships. The Implications of these sights transcended talk. Conversation soon ceased. Exhaustion, spiritual and physical, assailed the travelers. Gravity diminished steadily, and their habit of relying upon the attractive force of the earth resulted In an increasing number of mishaps, some of them amusing and some of them painful. After what seemed like eons of time some one asked Tony for more food. Tony himself could not remember whether he was going to serve the fifth meal or the sixth, but he sprang to his feet with earnest willingness promptly shot clear to the ceiling, against which he bumped his head.' He fell back to the floor with a Jar and rose laughing. The celling was also padded, so that he had not hurt himself. The sandwiches were wrapped In wax paper, and when some one on the edge of the crowd asked that his sandwich be tossed, Tony flipped It toward him, only to sea It pass high over the mans head and entirely out of reach, and strike against the opThe man himself walk posite stretched to catch the wrapped sandwich, and sat down again rubbing his arm, saying that he had almost thrown his shoulder out of joint People walked in an absurd manner, stepping high Into the air as If they were dancers. Gestures were uncontrollable, and It was unsafe to talk excitedly for fear one would hit ones self In the face. For an hour the Space Ships pa sengers watched silently as Bronson Alpha swept upon the scene, a gigantic body, weird, luminous and many times larger than the earth. It moved toward the earth with the relentless perceptibility of the hands of a large clock, and those who looked upon Its approach held their breaths. Inch by inch, as it seemed, the two bodies came closer together. Down there on the little earth were millions of scattered, demoralized human beings. They were watching this awful phenomenon In the skies. Around them the ground was rocking, the tides were rising, lava was bursting forth, winds were blowing, oceans were boiling, fires were catching, and human courage was facing complete frustration. Above them the sky was filled with this awful onrushing mass. Tony shuddered as he watched. Earth and Bronson Alpha were but a few moments apart It seemed as If the continents below them were swimming across the seas, as If the seas were hurling themselves upon the land; and presently they saw great cracks, In the abysses of which were hre, spread along the remote dry land. Into the air were lifted mighty whirls of steam. The nebulous atmosphere of Bronson Alpha touched the air of earth, and then the very earth bulged. Its shape altered before their eyes. It became plastic. It w as drawn out The cracks girdled the globe. A great section of the earth itself lifted up and peeled away, leaping toward Bronson Alpha with an Inconceivable force. The two planets struck. Decilllons of tons of mass colliding in cosmic catastrophe. Steam, fire, smoke. Tongues of flame from the center of the earth. The planets ground together and then moved across each other. It was like watching an eclipse. The magnitude of the disaster was veiled by hot gases and stupendous flames, and was diminished in awfulness by the intervening distances and by the seeming slowness with which It took place. Bronson Alpha rode between them and the earth. Then on its opposite side fragments of the shattered world reappeared. Distance showed between them widening, scattering distance. Bronson Alpha moved away on Its terrible course, fiery, spread enormously in ghastly light During a lull of humble voices Kyto could be heard praying to strange gods In Japanese. Eliot James drummed on the padded floor with monotonous finger tips. Tony clenched Eves hand. Time passed it seemed hours. A man hurried down the spiral staircase. He went directly to Hendron. Hendrons voice was tense: Tell IDEAL FROCK FOR AFTERNOON WEAR PATTERN 206 awe-inspiri- Something different In the way of smartness is this youthful afternoon dress. Its yoke, round in front and buttoning Into a chic triangle at tha back, points the way to shoulder . width, which every woman knows is most important this season. The smart bodice is tucked! at the yoke-lin- e for flattering fullness. Then, too, the skirt coming to a nice point above the waistline, back and front boasfs a slimming back seam and kickpleat for extra This design would back interest. be particularly lovely in metal flecked Short crepe, either silk or wool. sleeves are included with the pattern. Pattern 9200 may be ordered only in sizes 12, 14, 10, IS and 20. Size 10 requires 3 yards 39 inch fabric. SEND FIFTEEN CENTS In coins or stamps (coins preferred) for this pattern. Be sure to write plainly jour NAME, ADDBESS, STYLE NUMBER and SIZE. Complete, diagiarumed Sew Chart included. Send your order to Sewing Circle Pattern Department, 232 West Eighteenth Street, New York. style-conscio- us. They have seen the first result, The earth Is shattered. Unquestionably much of its material merged with Bronson Alpha ; but most is scattered In fragments of various masses which will assume orbits of their own about the sun. And Bronson Alpha? It seems to have been deflected so that It will follow a hyperbola Into space. Hyperbola, eh? That means, Hendron explained loudly, we will have seen the last of Bronson Alpha. It will not return to the sun. It will leave our solar system forever. And Bronson Beta? Hendron turned to the German. As we have hoped, the Influence of Bronson Alpha over Bronson Beta Is ended. The collision occurred at a moment which found Bronson Beta at a favorable point In its orbit about Bronson Alpha. Favorable, I mean, for us. Bronson Beta will not follow Alpha Into space. Its orbit becomes independent ; Bronson Beta, almost surely, will circle the sun." Some of the women burst out crying in a hysteria of relief. The world was gone; they had seen it shattered; but another would take Its place. For the first time they succeeded In feeling this. Tonys heart raced. It was difficult to breathe; he felt himself growing faint, dizzy and nauseated. His brain roared. The air was becoming filled with people. The slightest motion was sufficient to cause one to depart from whatever anchorage one had. Tony saw Hendron going hand over hand on the cable through the stair, ascending head foremost, his feet trailing out behind him. That was all he remembered. He fell into coma. When his senses returned he was lying on something hard and cold. He explored it with his fingers, nnd realized dully that It was the glass screen which projected the periscope views. It was the ceiling, then, on which the passengers were lying In a tangled heap, and not the deck. Their positions had been reversed. He thought that he was stone deaf, and then perceived that the noise of the motors had stopped entirely. They were falling toward Bronson Beta, using gravity and their own Inertia to sustain that downward flight. He understood why he had seen Hendron pulling himself along the staircase. Hendron had been transferring to the control room at the opposite end of the ship. Von Beitz replied. TO BS OJWTINUfcD, PROFESSIONAL "Play poker with a dentist? No, sir. Why not? Hes too blamed expert at drawing and filling. Philadelphia Bulletin. Meaning? I am sorrj madam, said the butcher firmly, but I cant give yon further credit. Your bill Is bigger than than It should be. Yes, I know that, said the lady,, If you will make It out for coldly. what it should be, Ill pay It A Saving Idea Robert, eight, had prayed long and ardently for a baby sister but without results. One night he added: If you have a baby almost finished dont wait to put In the tonsils and adenoids, cause theyll cut em out anyway." WNU W 1538 |