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Show 1 WHEN WORLDS! COS I IJMff By EDWfN BALMER j WlLrSL& and PHILIP WyLIE ' 2 Copyright by Edwin Balmer ft Fhilip Wyli j J - WNU Service - S SYNOPSIS' Duvid Rarmdell, commissionpd at Capetown to deliver a consignment of photographic plates to Dr. Cole HnnUron. reaches New York. Tony Drake calls at the Hendrons' apartment. apart-ment. Eve Hendron, with whom Tony is in love, introduces Tony to Ransdell. A statement by Hendron Hen-dron says that Professor Bronson has discovered two planets approaching1 ap-proaching1 the earth, and the in -Bvitable collision must be the end of this world. The approaching bodies are referred to as Bronson , Alpha and Bronson 'Beta. Hendron has In contemplation a "rocket" in which to transfer a party of hutian beings, lower animals, and other Porros of life, to Bronson Beta, but-he but-he has not been able to find a metal which will withstand the? heat arid pressure of atomic energy to be used in propelling the Spn.ce Ship. Tides and quakes chanere the entire surface of the earth. Kansdell a nd Kliot James, an Kngflsh poet, make $.n , aerial recpnnoissan.ee. They . report re-port F-linost universal destruction. Ranfadell. Teter Vanderbllt and lames leave for a flight over the devastated country. They are attacked, at-tacked, and each member of the party wounded, but they return alive, and Ransdell has found the metal Hendron need's for the Space Ship. The settlement Is attacked by 1 & hanger-crezed horde; Hendron calls the survivors of his party into the ship and sends it aloft. The attackers at-tackers are wiped out by the searing sear-ing blast emitted by the ship. Another genernl mooting was held in the dining hall. Hendron again1 took charge. "The matter which I have to discuss dis-cuss with you," he began, "is one which will come, I am sure, as a distinct surprise. It is the result of my earnest thought and of careful calculations. From the standpoint of realism and I have learned that all of you are courageous enough to lace truths 1 am forced to add that my decision has heen made possible by the diminution of our numbers. 'All of you know that I founded this village of ours for the purpose of transferring to the planet that will take the place of the earth a company of about ono hundred people, peo-ple, with the hope that they might perpetuate our doomed race. It seemed to me that a ship large enough to accommodate such n numher might be fabricated and launched by the one thousand persons per-sons who were originally assembled assem-bled here. It Is obvious, of course, that the more Intelligent and healthy the units of humanity we are able to transfer , to the planet, the better the chances for founding found-ing a new race will be.',' He paused and his eyes roved over the throng. Not a breath was drawn, and not a word was spoken. "My friends, we are five hundred in number. On the night -of the attack, at-tack, we all of us and some yho lifted. As if they had seen the Gorgon's Head, the audience was turned to stone. The sentence Imposed Im-posed by the death lottery had been lifted. Every man and woman who sat there was free. Every one of them had a chance to live, to fight and to make a new career elsewhere else-where in the starlit firmament. Although In Eliot James' diaries the days appeared to be crammed with events, to the dwellers in Hen-dron's Hen-dron's colony the weeks passed Id what seemed like a steady routine, and James had been so bnsy that he was unable to write voluminously volumin-ously : "Dec. 4: Today what we call the keeL of the second Space Ship was laid. The first has been popularly named 'Noah's Ark,' and we have offered a prize of- five thousand dollars in absolutely worthless bank notes for anybody who will contrive a name for the second. "Dec. 7;, Kyt the. J.apan.ese servant serv-ant whom Tony Drake had had for some years in New Tork, and of wliom be was inordinately fond, walked peacefully into camp.. The Inscrutable little Jap walked up to Tony, whose back was turned. Kyto's face, was like a, smiling Buddha's ; and fully appreciating the drama of the situation, he said In his odd voice : 'With exceeding humbleness request possibilities of return to former employment.' When Tony spun around I thought he was going to faint. Immediately afterward after-ward he began thumping Kyto's back so hard that I personally feared for the Jap's life. But he seems to be wiry; in fact, he roust have the constitution of a steel spring, for he has traveled overland more than eight hundred miles in the past two months.- "Jon. IS: A flight was made to the 'mines' from which Ransdell's metals have been taken, and in the course of it the plane passed over St. Paul and Minneapolis. Apparently Appar-ently the mobs in those two cities have for the most part either perished per-ished or migrated. However, we have not drawn in the outposts stationed sta-tioned around the cantonment after the last attack, and if we should be again attacked in force, we shall not temporize but use the final weapon at once. "Jan. 20: There was dancing In the hall of the women's dormitory and Kansdell so far overcame his almost animal shyness that he danced once with Eve. The rivalry between Ransdell and Tony is the most popular subject of discussion among the girls and women, but such a bond has grown between ttoe two men that I know whoever is defeated in the contest, if there is victory or defeat, will take his medicine med-icine honorably and generously. am wondering, however, about that business of victory or defeat. The women here slightly outnumber the men. It will be necessary for them to bear children on the new planet, Variation of our new race will be desirable. Perhaps we will resort in the main to, polyandry, and abolish, abol-ish, because of biological necessity, all marriage. There are a good many very real love affairs existent already. al-ready. "Feb. 17 : In a little more than a month it will be time for our departure. As . that solemn hour approaches all of us tend to think back into our lives, rather than forward toward our- new lives. Hendron has not hesitated to make it clear that our relatively short jump through space will be dangerous danger-ous indeed. The ships may not have been contrived properly to witb stand what are at best merely theoretical theo-retical conditions. The cold of outer out-er space may overwhelm us. The rays which travel through the empty reaches when we thrust ourselves our-selves among them clad in the thin cylinders of our Ark may assert a different potency from that experienced expe-rienced under the layer of earth's atmosphere. Kither or both of our projectiles may collide with a wandering wan-dering astrnld, In which case the consequences will he similar to those anticipated from the collision of earth with Jtronson's Alpha. (TO BR CONTINUED.) . CHAPTER IX Continued 28 Hendron and Tony looked at this mnu in. whose hands the destiny of colossal American industries had once been so firmly held; and they knew that he was. mad. They sent Borgan away with his pilot and his plane full of money; and the last words of the financier were pronounced In a voice Intended Intend-ed to be threatening as he leaned out of the, cabin door: "I'll get an Injunction against you from the President himself. I'll have the Supreme rfourt behind me within Lweoty-four hours." Nearly three weeks after the attack at-tack a census was retaken. There were two hundred and nine uninjured unin-jured women, one hundred and eighty-two uninjured men. There were about eighty men and women who were expected wholly to recover. re-cover. There were more than a hundred who. would suffer some disability. dis-ability. . Four hundred and ninety-three ninety-three people had been killed or had died after the conflict. ' Work of course was redistributed. More than five months lay ahead of them. The Space Ship could be completed, even with this reduced group, in three weeks. On one of the unseasonably warm afternoons in December Tony received re-ceived what he considered afterward after-ward the greatest compliment ever paid to him in his Hfe. He was making one of his regular tours of the stockyards when Ransdell overtook over-took him. In all their recent encounters en-counters Ransdell had not spoken a hundred words to Tony; but now he said almost gruffly. "I'd like to $peak to you." . Tony turned and smile'd. The South African hesitated, and almost al-most blushed. "I'm not talkative," ho said bluntly, "but I've been trying try-ing to find you alone for weeks." Again he hesitated. "Yes?" "That fight you put up " Rans-del Rans-del took a huge pocket knife from his flannel shirt and commenced to open and shut Its blade nervously. "That was a d-t-n fine piece of work, fellow." "What was yours?" Tony replied, heartily. Ransdell held out his hand. They, gripped, and In that grip the hands of lesser men would have been broken. From that ti-me on those rivals In love were as blood brothers. t "He Must Have the Constitution of a Steel Spring, for He Has Traveled Trav-eled Overland More Than Eight Hundred Miles in the Past Two Months. . . . His Story Is One of Fabulous Adventure." since have died crammed into the Space Ship. We all realize that no such crowding will be possible on the voyage through space; we all realize that much cargo, other than humanityt must be stowed on the ship if there is to be any point and purpose in our safe landing upon another planet. . One hundred persons per-sons remains my estimate of the probable crew and passenger list of the ship that saved us all on that night. "Rut I have come to the conclusion conclu-sion that by dint of tremendous effort ef-fort and co-operation, and largely because of the success of the experiments ex-periments which we have made with Ransdell's metal, It will be possible within the remaining months of time to construct a second sec-ond and larger vessel which will be capable of removing the entire residual personnel of this camp." Hendron sat down. No cheer was |
