The Black Star Passes

Arcot, senior, and the two young men themselves, were there. They had consistently refused to tell what their trip had revealed, saying that pictures would speak for them. No

e three dimensional image of th

eless film, and confined the picture to esse

their intense surprise, it remained open for a few seconds, then closed. It

it shows much less than I had expected," said the senior Arcot. "

urned holes in them, so to save

nstant, described a strangely complicated set of curves; then, as it hung for an instant in mid-air, it became a great flare. In an instant this condensed to a point of intensely brilliant crimson fire. This described a complex series of curves and touched the top of the safe. I

e flame left the safe, again retracting itself in that uncanny manner, no force seeming either to supply it with fuel or

is next bit of film." Arcot moved a small switch and the machine blinked, giving

o-iridium glowed briefly; then, as suddenly as the extinguishing of a light, the safe was gone! It

f invisibility. No wonder the Air Guardsmen

n the first frame, showing the invisibil

but pay special attenti

afe had been, there was a shadowy, half visible safe, the metal glowing brightly. Beside it there was visible a shadowy man, holding the safe w

here. Probably it was the contact with the safe that c

f-hand how his invisibility is even theo

morrow night to demonstrate them. Let's adjour

lf who could not be there. He asked Morey, junior, to tell t

impatiently for Arcot to come. They heard some nois

t that gas the pirate was using? I remember Arc

nks that this may account in part for its ability to suspend animation. However, since it was impossible to determine the molecular weight, he could not say what the gas was, save that the empirical formula was C62TH H39O27N5

seeing nothing particularly unusual, glanced back rather puzzled. What they th

nd curious companions looked toward him, he stopped and called out, "Come on, Dick! We want to see you no

, if one's senses could be relied on. On Arcot's back there was strapped a large and rather hastily wired mechanism-one long wire extending from it out into the laboratory. He was carrying a second p

here is the thing that is more important to us. It's a bit heavy, so if you'll clear a space, I'll set it down. Look out for my power supply there-that wire is carrying

useless. They would not travel in usable paths, so they were never developed. Furthermore, existing apparatus could not be made to handle them. In the last war they tried to apply the idea for making airplanes invisible, but they could not get their tubes to handle the power needed, so they had to drop it. However, with the tube I recently got out on the market, it is possible to get down there. Our friend the pirate has developed this thing to a point were he cou

ign of weakness. He might even be some new type of kleptomaniac. He steals things, and he has already stolen far more than any man could ever have any need of, and he leaves in its place a 'st

tric motor, for the storage cells would weigh too much. Furthermore, if he were using any sort of prop, or a jet engine, the noise would give him away. If he used a glider, the noise of the big plane so near would be more than enough to kill the slight sounds. The glider could hang above the ship, then dive down upon it as it passed beneath. He has a very simple system of anchoring the thing, as I dis

ears a high altitude suit, and on his back he has a portable invisibility set and the fuel for his torch. Th

a cylinder of liquid air, and have a small air turbine to run a high voltage generator. He probably uses t

lories. Oxygen has not been prepared in any commercial quantity in the atomic state. From watching that man's torch, from the color of the flame and other indications, I gather that he uses a flame of atomic oxygen-atomi

a vibration on a piece of matter, it will then transmit light very freely. If we impress this vibration on the matter, say the body, electrically, we get the same effect and the body becomes perfectly transparent. Now, since it is the vibration of the molecules that makes the light pass through the material, it must be stopped if we wish to see the machine. Obviously it is much easier to detect me here among solid surroundings, than in the plane high in the sky. What chance has one

ible object into the field of the visible once more? It is; and this machine on the table is designed to do exactly that. It is practically a beam radio set, projecting a

kness when a lamp is extinguished. He was there one moment, then they were staring at the chair behind him, knowing that the man was standing between them and it and knowing that they were looking th

Bob, turn he

aterialize out of thin air. First he was a mere shadowy outline that was never fully above the level of conscious vision. Then slowly the outlines of the objects behind became dimmer and dimmer, as the body of the man

enius who can design and construct this apparatus all in one day. I will explain the miracle. I have been working on short wave phenomena for some time. In fact, I had actually made an invisibility machine, as Morey will testify, but I realized that it had n

adjourn after tonight's meeting for another twenty-four hours till I can finish the apparatus I am working on. It is very important that yo

ry effort to be here, Ar

ot smiled. "If the thing works, as I expect it to, you'll have a job t

glider ten miles up? They've done some high-altitude gliding already. The distance record took someone across the Atlantic in 2009, d

through the lower traffic lanes, then, being invisible, mount high and wait for the air liner. He can't use a very large engine, for it would drag him down, but one of the new hundred horsepower jobs would weigh only about fifty pounds. I think

n his father had no knowledge of what it was. The two men worked in separate laboratories, except when either had a particularly difficult problem that might be sol

over, and Arcot was

that could be placed in the wings of a plane to generate power from the light fall

g trouble with all solar engines, eliminating the obvious restriction that they decidedly aren't dependable for night work, is the difficulty of getting an area to absorb the energy

developed a very efficient solar engine. The engine itself requires no absorbing area, as I want to use it; it takes advantage of the fact

was set up a complicated apparatus of many tubes and heavy bus bar connectors. From the final tube two thin

ther powerful; I know this doesn't look like a solar engine, and nine o'clock at night seems a pec

immed a bit, but immediately brightened again, and from the other end of

get a terrific amount of power out of it." Dr. Arcot was smiling amusedly at his son. "I can't very w

e thing into shape really. Look at the conductors that l

was absolutely no doubt as to the result. There was a roar like a fifty-foot wind tunnel, and a mighty blast of cold air swept out of that coil like a six-inch model of a Kansas cyclone. Every loose piece of paper in the laboratory came suddenly alive and whirled madly before the blast of air that had s

ent in silence, while each of the other men watched him. Finally he

other method ever invented! If the principle of this machine is what I think it is, yo

y to make money, but I don't see how that explains that working model of an Arctic tornado. Burr-it's still too cold in here. I thin

derable difficulty with the application. I thi

It's the biggest thing since the electric dynamo! It puts airplanes in the junk heap! It means a new era in power generation.

airplanes, prop or jet. It's a direct utilization of the energy that the sun is kindly supplying. For a good many years now men hav

nd of time, and out of that comes two and a half decillion ergs of energy. With a total of two and a half million billion billion billions of ergs to draw on, man will have nothing to worry about for a

ice, for dice, as you know, are the classical example of probability when they aren't loaded. Once they are lo

cules, each dashing along at several miles a second, and an equal number dashing in the opposite direction at an equal speed. They are so thickly packed in there, that none of them can go very far before it runs into another molecule a

ritish Museum. The chance of their doing so is decidedly more favorable than the chance th

hance is the thing that is makin

r force influences the happening. If the dice have bits of iridium stuck under the six spots, they will throw aces. Chance makes it impossible to have al

l try to start off, but will be forced to drag the car with it, and so will not be able to have its molecules moving at the same rate. They will be slowed down in starting the mass of the car. But slowly moving molecules have a definite physical significance. Molecules move because of temperature, and lack of motion means lack of heat. These molecules that have been slowed down are then cold; they will absorb heat from the air ab

speeds. We'll need no wings, of course, for with a small unit pointed vertically, we'll be able to support the car in the air. It will make possible a machine that will be able to fly in reverse and so come to

a tremendously powerful engine-a

that breeze we had there? It would ma

enough of the economics of the thing, if not its science, to know that the apparatus before us is absolutely invaluable. I cou

n the new airliners. Hang the cost. It'll run into billions-but there will be no more fuel bills, no oil bills, and the cost of op

ries for me, and your son helped me work it out. But if Fuller can move over here tomorrow, it will help things a l

e," Morey