The Black Star Passes

rolling mists-mists that brushed the car with tiny clicks, which, with the

ouds!" More

es deep. Look, already they're changing-snow now-in a moment it

eye. Then gradually the clouds thinned; there appeared brief clear spots, spots into which they coul

broad plain. It seemed to stretch for endless miles across the globe, to be lost in the far distance to

and radio back home! Man-look at that stretch of plain!" He jumped to his feet and started across the control ro

arth is on the other side of Venus-it's on the night side, remember-and we're on the day side. In about twelve hour

the power room where the chemical laboratory had been set up. Wade

e you tested for so

he right amount of oxygen. The CO2 is about one-tenth of one per cent. The atmosphere is O.K. for terrestrial life apparently; that mous

he unusual atmosphere, finally dec

extracting it from the air-but wherever there is life, it finds a way to do the impossible. T

de, 68 per cent argon, 6 per cent nitrogen, 2 per cent helium, 5 per cent neon, .05 per cent hydrogen, and the rest krypton and xenon apparen

reported back to

issippi has its mouth further from the center of the Earth than its source; it flows up hill! The answer is, of course, that the centrifugal force of the Earth's spin impels it to flow that way.

ked over to the power control switch. An instant later a low hum came from the loudspeaker. There was a light breeze blowing. In th

n on his face. "Swing the ship around so we can see

axis. Without a doubt, something off in the direc

you said might be here-I don't care to get near them!" Fuller's narrowed eyes

lls grew, the blue mistiness disappearing, and the jagged mounds revealing themselves as bleak harsh rock. As they

Wade began, but

telescope-see those dots wheeling about there above the flashing lights? The only animal that can make that racket is man! T

tch set in one side of the instrument panel-then, befo

nk about two steps ahead of me-you're qu

two men exch

I see what put me off so badly on my estimate of the intelligence of life found here! The sun gives it a double dose of heat-but also a double dose of other radiations-some of which evidently spe

de are we to aid-and what are the sides? We haven't eve

ng to join either s

nimous!" said W

as a machine such as no man had ever before seen! It was a titanic airplane-monstrous, gargantuan, and every other word that denoted immensity. Fully three-quarters of a mile the huge metal wings stretched out in the dull

. They appeared to be attacking the giant as vainly as gnats might attack an eagle, for they could not damag

it it they made no impression, though they blasted tremendous craters in the soil below. From it poured a steady stream of bombs that b

it was from the city that the vainly courageous little ships poured out. But ce

this moved toward the beautiful buildings. Suddenly the battleship turned toward the city and made a short dash inward on its circling path. As though awaiting this maneuver, a battery of hissing, flamin

ay the city. No one should de

was raised, so Arcot se

?" Fuller's voice came eerily out of the emptiness.

propellers. There were fifty of these strung along each great wing. If enough of them could be destroyed, the plane must crash. There came a terrif

e was a full mile between them when he released the sustaining force of the Solarite and let it drop, straight toward the source of the battle-falling freely, ever mo

re was a tremendous jerk, and each man felt himself pressed to the floor beneath a terrific weight that

streaming from them in a furious blast of incandescent gas, the atomic hydrogen shot out in a mighty column of gas at 3500 degrees centigrade. Where the gas touched it, the great plane flared to incandescence; and in an immeasurable interval the fall of the S

l below, it was brought into level flight, and despite many dead engines, it circled and fled toward the south. The horde of small planes followed, dropping a rain of bombs into the glowing pits in the ship, releasing their fury in its interior. In moments the beings manning the marauder had to a large extent

denly, out of nothing, the Solarite appeared. In an instant a dozen of the tiny two-man planes darted toward it. Just that they might recognize it, Arcot shot it

oon found out. It was not a minute before they had formed a long line that circled the Solarite at minimum speed, then started off in the direc

gleaming in rainbow hues, giving the entire city the aspect of a gigantic jewel-a single architectural unit. Here was symmetry and order, wit

r. Then came the apartment houses and the small stores; these rose in gentle slopes, higher and higher, merging at last with the mighty central pinnacle of beauty. The city was