Astounding Stories of Super-Science, March 1930

daries of accepted facts. Yet his mind, as he drove for hours through the orange-scented hills of California, reverted time and again to one

e huge gun, shot up and up and still up until it vanished in a jet-black sky. Its altitude when it passed from sight he could not even guess, but the sense of ever-increasing speed, of

less of the thin air and the lessened buoyancy in an ocean of atmosphere that held man-made machines so close to Ea

raight for a hundred feet, and he looked out over

of myself. Perhaps I am. I wonder. It's a long time since I fell for a

r commonplace lives, tiny houses squared off in blocks a mile below. There was smoke here and there from factories; it s

rable; there were no men or beings of any sort that could travel through space. Blake was right: he was on a foo

p blue beyond. And within the man some driving, insistent, mental force etched strongly before his eyes that picture and its problem unanswered. There was

ch power was beyond his imagining-but suddenl

spread below. "Ants! Mites! That's what we are-swarming across the surface of the globe.

nd his kind at least dare to look out into space

urve ahead, eased noiselessly into s

ces, laboratories: it was a place of busy men. And Professor Sykes, he found, was busy. But he spared a few

for you?" asked

gure of the scientist. Clear eyes glanced sharply from under shaggy brows; t

tions," said Lieutenant McGuir

he told the young officer; "you can't think of any

-it was the newspaper account he had re

e you about t

hard line. "Nothing for publication," he said curtly. "As usual they enlarge

did see t

area formed on the terminator-yes! W

ering what

ege-and mine," said

persisted, "that it might hav

glanced at the card in his hand-"-Lieutenant McGuire-all that I know. We dea

expected from this man-what corroboration of his wild surmises-but he was getting n

id, and his tone carried a hint of the nervous strai

?" the oth

flash have b

that I know. And now," he added, and rose from his

fool's errand! Blake was right. But the inner urge for some definite knowledge drove him on. His eye

flash of a-a rocket? Like the proposed experiments in Germany. Could it have meant

ilderment and a longing for knowledge. His fists were placed firmly on the hips of his stocky figure as he stood looking at the persistent questioner, and his eyes

ed to his lips as he spoke-"sit down. I'm not as busy as I preten

this is not for publication. But I have not been instructe

f the previous night's events. Of the r

entist. "You saw the stars very cl

was the pilot of that plane." And the scientis

own heavily upon the matter of acceleration in the thin upp

id, "but we can form our own theorie

he night here. Perhaps you would like to have a look at our equipment-see Venus for yourse

nded with enthusiasm. "

orizon when the two men again ca

round," suggested Professor S

d him to the dark interior. They climbed a stairway and came out into a room that held a skelet

graphic plates. The slotted ceiling opened as McGuire watched, and the whole structure swung slowly around. It was still, and the to

admitted; "but wher

ork of steel. "Right there," he said. "Like ever

ght years away. He pointed out where the big mirror was placed-the one hundred-inch reflector-and he traced for the wonde

ill leave them to their work," he said; "they will be gathering light that has been traveli

f only a few seconds and some cryptic instructions from Sykes

es when the professor motioned him to see for him

roaching; the sun's light strikes it from the side." But McGuire hardly heard. He wa

. Then to the professor: "It's a

know that of all the planets this is most like the earth; most probably is an inhabited world. Its size, its density, your weigh

d going through their daily routine under that cloud-filled sky where the sun was never seen. The margin of light that made the clear shape of a half-moon marked t

still filled with those beings of his imagination. "There i

e as Professor Sykes applied a more

e is working on the reflector. Tell him to get a photograph of Venus at once; the cloud envel

"If it would only hold!... The

he had marked was a crude sketch of what might ha

kes and looked up for a momen

McGuire eagerly. "Glimpse

"we are not ready to make a geography of Venus quite yet. But we shall know th

ion, perhaps, this we have seen-an ignition of gasses in the upper air-who knows? But don't connect this with your mysterious ship. If the ship is a menace, if it means war, th

for the field; get there by daylight, if I

"And in spite of what you say, Professor, I believe that we

was thinking, and he stopped to look overhead in the quick-gathering dark at that laboratory of the heavens, where Sykes and his kind delved and probed, measured and weighed, and

and began the long drive down the tortuous grade. He would have liked to talk more with Syke

oked out over the level ground below, a vast glowing expanse of electric lights now, that stretched to the ocean beyond. He was suddenly unthrilled by this

s to see more clearly a dim-lit outline. There were no lights: it was a black shape, lost in the blackness of the mountain sky, that was blocking out the stars. But it was a shape, a

t to head once more at desperate speed toward the mountain top. And it was less than an hour since he had left when he was r

ere-the ship! It's here! Where's your phone?-I must call the field! I

kes had pointed. "Long distance!" he shouted. He gave a num