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Hyatt ycrrill, is a unique story of exceeding interest. Being an ethnologist and archeologist of high reputation, Mr. Verrill must necessarily be conversant with many other branches of science. He has proved his versatility a number of times, but he has out- done himself in working out this interplanetary In Our September Issue: The Red Peril By Capi. S. P. Meek, U.S.A Illustrated by Wesso The Young Old Man By Earl L. Bell Illustrated by Briggs Gold Dust and Star Dust By Cyril G. Wales Illustrated by Hynd 486 504 510 theme. THE SECRET KINGDOM, by Otis Adelbert Kline. (A Serial in three parts). Part I. Do van- quished races really become submerged by the victorious nations or otherwise disappear? It may be a comparatively simple matter keeping tabs on exiled royalty or leaders nowadays ; but what happened to the exiled rulers of the days before printing and wireless? Mr. Kline, who needs no introduction to our readers, gives some theories on the subject in convincing language and in a most plausible manner. The Triumph of the Machines {A Sonnet) By Stanton A. Cohlentc 521 The Coral Experiment By Alexander Snyder 522 Illustrated by Wallit The White Army By Dr. Daniel Dressier 528 Illustrated by McKay CHAMBER OF LIFE, by G. Peyton Wertenbaker. The author of “The Man From the Atom” comes back to us with an entirely new and original theme. It is a well-written story, picturing a per- fectly ordered world. The Dog’s Sixth Sense By IV. Ale.vander 540 Illustrated by Briggs What Do You Know? (Science Questionnaire) 543 THE STEAM GOD, by Walter Kateley. Geologic upheavals have created amazing changes and de- veloped strange conditions, much of which has been studied by geologists. But there are still miles and miles of unknown lands. What peoples might be living in uncharted ice-lands or inacces- sible valleys? Mr. Kateley has built up a story of logical sequence containing much of scientific value. Out of the Void (A Serial in 2 parts) Part II By Leslie I'. Stone 544 Illustrated by McKay Discussions 555 In the Realm of Books (Mostly Scientific Fiction) 566 THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY LIMITED, by Paul Slachta. This is a great deal more than a story of aviation. Crowded out of the August issue. And other stories. Our Cover this month depicts a scene from the story entitled “The Red Peril,” by Capt. S. P. Meek. U.S.A., in which is shown the futile attempts of the perfectly equipped American naval airships of the future to destroy the enemy craft, completely protected by a repellent element. AMAZINP. STORIES MONTHLY. Published at IM-lfl Jamaica Avenue. Jamaica. N. T. Entered as seeond-elase natter at Jamaica. N. Y.. under the act oC March 3, 1379. Title ReRistereii U. S. Patent Office. Copyright. 1929, by B. P. Inc.. N. Y. European Agents. S. J. Wise Et (’le. 40 Place Verte. Antwerp. Belgium. 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Author of "Murgatroyd Experiment," and "Futility" [HAT do you know about tularemia?” The Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (Mili- tary Intelligence) looked up at the Surgeon General with a puzzled frown. “Never heard of it,” he said. “Wait a minute, though, it seems to sound familiar. Wasn’t there a rabbit disease of that name prevalent in the west a few years ago?” “That’s it,” replied the Surgeon General. “It has ap- peared in the United States again and has also made its appearance in Europe and Asia.” “Rather hard on the bunnies,” laughed General Mun- roe, “but then, ‘men must hunt and bunnies must weep,’ you know. I didn’t know that you were a hunter.” “It is more serious than a matter of hunting,” said the Surgeon. “This is a new and more virulent form of the disease and so far we have found no way of combating it. Not content with cleaning out the rabbits, it has spread to guinea-pigs and already they are scarce all over the world. If a war were to break out now, we would be practically defenceless.” “That is serious,” replied General Munroe, a twinkle in his eye, “think of all our crack regiments of guinea-pigs lying dead and unable to interpose their brave bodies be- tween our homes and a foreign invader. However, Humboldt, cheer up ; all is not yet lost. I have it quite confidentially that the navy are ready to substitute squir- rels for guinea-pigs as engineers and use cats instead of rabbits as able seamen, so the ships can still function. I’ll have the Chief of the Air Corps in right away and tell him to make plans to use pigeons and canary birds as flyers, so we may be able to hold out for a few days even if war does come.” General Humboldt snorted in disgust. “That is about what is to be expected from a wooden- headed Artilleryman,” he remarked. “I suppose that you think your remarks are humorous. The humor may strike you as rather forced if you will think for a minute and realize that ninety-five per cent of the disease serums we manufacture are made from cultures of either guinea- pig or rabbit blood. As far as men and guns and ships and aircraft go, we are well prepared, but how could we combat a disease germ offense, if one were launched against us?” General Munroe sat back suddenly. “Nonsense, Humboldt,” he said sharply, “such a thing is unthinkable. No nation would dare to use disease germs in the face of International Law.” “International Law didn’t stop the use of poison gas in 1915. If the thought of a disease germ offensive is so impossible, why have we done so much research work on bombs for that purpose?” General Munroe drummed absently on his desk. “I beg your pardon, Humlx)ldt,” he said. “It didn’t 486 Peril ^ANNIHILATION by deadly germs, which Is the shape that future international warfare may take, is told of in this story. Captain Meek is an army man, closely allied with matters of war therefore and much inter* ested in its possibilities. Besides being an army man, however, he has a vivid imagination that builds con* structive pictures'>-even of entirely new methods of war- fare — and a knack for transmitting these pictures by way of the word. An engineer of high standing said of this story, “It is certainly logical and may well be conceived before the next war.” By Capt. S. P. Meek, [/. S. A. Author of "Murgatroyd Experiment,” and "Futility” [HAT do you know about tularemia?” The Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (Mili- tary Intelligence) looked up at the Surgeon General with a puzzled frown. “Never heard of it,” he said. “Wait a minute, though, it seems to sound familiar. Wasn’t there a rabbit disease of that name prevalent in the west a few years ago?” “That’s it,” replied the Surgeon General. “It has ap- peared in the United States again and has also made its appearance in Europe and Asia.” “Rather hard on the bunnies,” laughed General Mun- roe, “but then, ‘men must hunt and bunnies must weep,’ you know. I didn’t know that you were a hunter.” “It is more serious than a matter of hunting,” said the Surgeon. “This is a new and more virulent form of the disease and so far we have found no way of combating it. Not content with cleaning out the rabbits, it has spread to guinea-pigs and already they are scarce all over the world. If a war were to break out now, we would be practically defenceless.” “That is serious,” replied General Munroe, a twinkle in his eye, “think of all our crack regiments of guinea-pigs lying dead and unable to interpose their brave bodies be- tween our homes and a foreign invader. However, Humboldt, cheer up ; all is not yet lost. I have it quite confidentially that the navy are ready to substitute squir- rels for guinea-pigs as engineers and use cats instead of rabbits as able seamen, so the ships can still function. I’ll have the Chief of the Air Corps in right away and tell him to make plans to use pigeons and canary birds as flyers, so we may be able to hold out for a few days even if war does come.” General Humboldt snorted in disgust. “That is about what is to be expected from a wooden- headed Artilleryman,” he remarked. “I suppose that you think your remarks are humorous. The humor may strike you as rather forced if you will think for a minute and realize that ninety-five per cent of the disease serums we manufacture are made from cultures of either guinea- pig or rabbit blood. As far as men and guns and ships and aircraft go, we are well prepared, but how could we combat a disease germ offense, if one were launched against us?” General Munroe sat back suddenly. “Nonsense, Humboldt,” he said sharply, “such a thing is unthinkable. No nation would dare to use disease germs in the face of International Law.” “International Law didn’t stop the use of poison gas in 1915. If the thought of a disease germ offensive is so impossible, why have we done so much research work on bombs for that purpose?” General Munroe drummed absently on his desk. “I beg your pardon, Humlx)ldt,” he said. “It didn’t 486 ^ How important the scientist be- come in the field of military achievement^ Illustrated by WESSO ^ In a few moments, a picture of a wireless dispatch showed on a ground-glass screen over the desk. a year and perfected an antivirus that did the work. He started in Wisconsin and almost wiped the disease out in a year. It took about two more years to completely eliminate it, but it finally disappeared and there hasn’t been a case reported from 1934 until about three months ago. “The first case was reported near El Paso, Texas, and it was regarded as a mere freak and unimportant. Rabbits were treated with Stieffel’s virus and it was confidently expected that the disease would die out in a few weeks. Instead it spread with alarming rapidity. Within a month of the first case, others were reported almost simultaneously from such widely separated places as Bangor, Maine; Orlando, Florida; Tacoma, Washing- ton, and Tampico, Tamaulipas. It has been reported from every one of the ninety-one states except Ontario, Nicaragua, Yukon, Maryland and Mississippi. seem serious. That phase of it didn’t strike me at first.” “It wouldn’t,” retorted the Surgeon General. “Nothing less than an eighteen inch gun can make an impression on you. If you are sufficiently impressed with the real seriousness of the situation. I’ll tell you something about tularemia and also inform you of what information I need.” “I am at your service,” answered General Munroe. “Tularemia,” said the Surgeon General, “originally made its appearance in the United States in southern Nevada some thirty years ago ; in 1927 to be exact. At first it was confined to jackrabbits and did not spread. In 1929 it appeared in California and also east to Utah and began to attack all types of rabbits. It almost wrecked the rabbit industry of California and it threat- ened to spread all over the country. “Serum therapy was in its infancy at that time. About all the serums that we had were for smallpox, typhoid, paratyphoid, tetanus, rabies, diphtheria and spinal menin- gitis and some of them were not altogether certain in their action. As a result, the War Department was not especially interested, but the Department of the Interior was. The rabbit breeders and the sportsmen of the country united in demanding action and in 1931, after our veterinarians had confessed to failure, they imported Professor Stieffel from Belgium and paid him half a million to solve the problem. He worked at it for about “ AT first the disease followed the same course as the xV attack of 1927-1934, but now it has extended its range and is attacking practically every rodent in the country. Not only rabbits and guinea-pigs, but also rats, mice, gophers and squirrels have been reported among its victims. It is a different type and Stieffel’s virus has no effect on the affected animals and is even useless as an immunizer. However, there is one bright side. Tula- remia, as we formerly knew it, used to attack, with great virulence, people who handled the affected rodents. But this new form does not seem to affect humans.” “That’s a good thing,” interjected Munroe. “Very good, but from the standpoint of national de- fense, it might be better if it attacked people and left guinea-pigs alone. As you probably know, the Medical Department has prepared and has in storage about a bil- lion tubes of anti-disease serums of all kinds, enough to immunize less than one-fourth of the population of the United States against all diseases. The reason for this shortage is partly lack of money which has been spent on aircraft and big guns, instead of where it should have been used, and partly the fact that over thirty serums, notably those for cancer, pneumonia and leprosy, cannot be stored, but must be used almost as soon as manu- factured.” “All are already immunized against cancer, are they not?” 487 V* " How important a figure has the scientist be- come in the field of military achievement? Illustrated by WESSO In a few moments, a picture of a wireless dispatch showed on a ground-glass screen over the desk. a year and perfected an antivirus that did the work. He started in Wisconsin and almost wiped the disease out in a year. It took about two more years to completely eliminate it, but it finally disappeared and there hasn’t been a case reported from 1934 until about three months ago. “The first case was reported near El Paso, Texas, and it was regarded as a mere freak and unimportant. Rabbits were treated with Stieffel’s virus and it was confidently expected that the disease would die out in a few weeks. Instead it spread with alarming rapidity. Within a month of the first case, others were reported almost simultaneously from such widely separated places as Bangor, Maine ; Orlando, Florida ; Tacoma, Washing- ton, and Tampico, Tamaulipas. It has been reported from every one of the ninety-one states except Ontario, Nicaragua, Yukon, Maryland and Mississippi. seem serious. That phase of it didn’t strike me at first.’’ “It wouldn’t,” retorted the Surgeon General. “Nothing less than an eighteen inch gun can make an impression on you. If you are sufficiently impressed with the real seriousness of the situation. I’ll tell you something about tularemia and also inform you of what information I meed.” “I am at your service,” answered General Munroe. “Tularemia,” said the Surgeon General, “originally made its appearance in the United States in southern Nevada some thirty years ago ; in 1927 to be exact. At first it was confined to jackrabbits and did not spread. In 1929 it appeared in California and also east to Utah and began to attack all types of rabbits. It almost wrecked the rabbit industry of California and it threat- ened to spread all over the country. “Serum therapy was in its infancy at that time. About all the serums that we had were for smallpox, typhoid, paratyphoid, tetanus, rabies, diphtheria and spinal menin- gitis and some of them were not altogether certain in their action. As a result, the War Department was not especially interested, but the Department of the Interior was. The rabbit breeders and the sportsmen of the country united in demanding action and in 1931, after our veterinarians had confessed to failure, they imported Professor Stieffel from Belgium and paid him half a million to solve the problem. He worked at it for about “ AT first the disease followed the same course as the l \ attack of 1927-1934, but now it has extended its range and is attacking practically every rodent in the country. Not only rabbits and guinea-pigs, but also rats, mice, gophers and squirrels have been reported among its victims. It is a different type and Stieffel’s virus has no effect on the affected animals and is even useless as an immunizer. However, there is one bright side. Tula- remia, as we formerly knew it, used to attack, with great virulence, people who handled the affected rodents. But this new form does not seem to affect humans.” “That’s a good thing,” interjected Munroe. “Very good, but from the standpoint of national de- fense, it might be better if it attacked people and left guinea-pigs alone. As you probably know, the Medical Department has prepared and has in storage about a bil- lion tubes of anti-disease serums of all kinds, enough to immunize less than one-fourth of the population of the United States against all diseases. The reason for this shortage is partly lack of money which has been spent on aircraft and big guns, instead of where it should have been used, and partly the fact that over thirty serums, notably those for cancer, pneumonia and leprosy, cannot be stored, but must be used almost as soon as manu- factured.” “All are already immunized against cancer, are they not?” 487 488 AMAZING STORIES “Unfortunately not. While a great many states have made immunization for cancer and smallpox compulsory, some of them have not, and many have exempted those claiming a conscientious objection to the use of serums. From available statistics I estimate that we would re* quire, in the event of a declaration of war, fully five times our present reserve supply of serums to protect everyone. Normally such a supply could be produced in five months if all laboratories worked at capacity on it, but with our present shortage, of guinea-pigs it would take about two years. If the rodents diminish as rap- idly during the next three months as they have the last three, it would take eleven years, and in a year from now, unless we can check the tularemia, it will be impossible to protect the entire population in any length of time.” “The situation certainly looks serious,” admitted Gen- eral Munroe. “What can I do to help you?” “I want you to give me everything in the Military In- telligence file and get me everything in the State De- partment and the Interior Department files on the follow- ing subjects: Tularemia, shipments of guinea-pigs and other rodents, disease germ bearing bombs and projectiles and Balinsky.” “Balinsky ?” asked General Munroe as he paused from his task of writing down the subjects which the Surgeon General was rattling off. “Yes,” replied General Humboldt. “I have an idea that Balinsky may be at the bottom of it. From the nature of the outbreak, I feel certain that it is the first move of a hostile government bent on war. The only storm center that I can see is Russia and naturally my thoughts turn there first. Another reason is that Feodor Balinsky is probably the most profound serumologist and physiological chemist in the world. Until he left the United States and went to Russia on Gorodin’s in- vitation four years ago, he did more in the lines of im- proving serums and combating disease than any one else. He has dropped completely out of sight for two years, and he is the only man that I know of with the ability to produce such results, whose life is not an open book.” “Those files will be in your office this afternoon,” said Munroe as he placed a penciled memo which he had pre- pared, in a holder, focused a light on it and pressed a button. “That is an ingenious apparatus,” said General Hum- boldt admiringly as he glanced at the holder. “Quite good,” conceded Munroe. “Major Hamilton of the Signal Corps perfected it a few months ago. It is in effect, a direction-controlled, portable television appara- tus, but the ingenious part of it is that it can be neither tapped nor interfered with like an ordinary wireless tele- vision. This memo will be simultaneously repro- duced in the Adjutant General’s Office, the State De- partment and the Interior Department in St. Louis.” “Very ingenious,” replied the Surgeon General as he bowed himself out. When General Humboldt had left. General Munroe sat in silence for a few minutes drumming on his desk. Presently he pressed a button before him. “Wavelength, please?” said a feminine voice. “QXBR over 3,” he answered. “Thank you,” replied the voice and a buzzing sound filled the office. “General Diesen,” announced a crisp, voice. “This is Munroe, General,” he said, “are you busy ?” “Not too busy to talk for a minute.” “Good enough. I have something of enough impor- tance to warrant a personal conference. Will you have Butler up to your office in ten minutes and if the Secre- tary of State and Secretary Warren aren’t busy, I think that they would be interested.” “I’ll get them,” replied the voice. Ten minutes later. General Munroe knocked on the door of the private office of the Chief of Staff. In re- sponse to an invitation he entered, saluted General Diesen, shook hands with the Secretaries of State and War and nodded affably to General Butler, the Assis- tant Chief of Staff. G-5 (War Plans). “What’s on your mind, Munroe?” asked the chief of Staff. “It’s pretty important, I think,” he replied as he took a seat. “General Humboldt was in to see me and he tells me that the supply of guinea-pigs is running short.” The Secretary of State laughed agreeably, but a frown came on General Diesen’s face. “What is this, Munroe, a joke?” he said sharply. “That’s what I thought it was when Humboldt first sprang it on me,” replied Munroe, “but he showed me that it wasn’t. Let me tell you what he said.” In a few words he outlined the news which the Sur- geon General had given him a few minutes before. “Of course, it’s primarily an M.I.D.’^' matter,” he went on, “but you know how touchy old Humboldt is, so I ordered our files out for his inspection and I requested State and Interior to cooperate. Meanwhile I asked for this conference. “There may be something in what Humboldt says,” remarked the Chief of Staff thoughtfully. “Mister Sec- retary, is there any unusual evidence of tension in the direction of Russia?” “We have no diplomatic representatives in Russia,” re- plied the Secretary of State, “but of course we get every- thing they send out on the general broadcasts. Their tone has been unusually arrogant and truculent for the last two months but I have laid it to the fact that they have a new premier, Zaneff, and that he is trying to im- press the Commissars with his importance and energy.” “Have we no secret agents in Russia?” asked the Chief of Staff. “Yes, we have a number, but since Zaneff has got in power, there has been a new and more rigid censorship on the outgoing messages and we have received very few reports and at least one of them was obviously doctored in transmission. All that we could make out of it was something about a decrease in the supply of Afri ■ can pork, or some such gibberish.” General Munroe sprang to his feet. “Get that message. Mister Secretary,” he cried, “I think I see a light.” The Secretary of State stepped to General Diesen’s communicator and spoke a few words of direction and in a few moments a picture of a wireless dispatch showed on a ground glass screen over the desk. General Munroe studied it thoughtfully. “ ‘Steps are being taken to decrease the existing sup- ply of African pork. Advise conservation and over- production of tubing. H. J. Balinsky,’ ” he read. “Is your agent’s name Balinsky?” “His symbol is H.J.,” explained the Secretary. “Those initials are prefixed to any convenient name.” •Military Intelligence Division. THE RED PERIL 489 ! “The name, Balinsky, is in itself significant,” replied Munroe, “and taken with the rest of the message, it is highly illuminating. Humboldt was right.” “What do you make of it, Munroe?” cried General Diesen. “Pork, of course, comes from pigs and Guinea, is an old name for Africa. Serums are stored in hermetically sealed tubes. I would think that your agent was afraid that this message would be intercepted and decoded and so he disguised his wording, hoping that the very oddity would attract attention and that some one in the State Department would dig out his meaning. I would read the message this way : ‘Steps are being taken to decrease the world’s supply of guinea-pigs. It will probably suc- ceed, so I advise the hurried production and storage of a large supply of serums. Balinsky is at the bottom of it.’ ” “By God, I believe you’re right !” exclaimed the Secre- tary of War. “General Butler, get out the plans on Russia at once and bring them here. General Diesen, have all the Chiefs of Branch report here in five minutes. If this is what we think it is, minutes count.” L ieutenant eddy of the United states Air j Corps swung idly around o.n a fifty mile circle over New York City. The Lieutenant was doing a turn on patrol duty at the sixty thousand foot level and time was passing slowly for Jiim. ' “It’s a lovely war,” he mused as he glanced out through the rock crystal windows of his cabin, kept clear of frost by the exhaust of his atomic engine, “for three weeks the General Staff has been confabbing away in Washing- ton and they’ve kept the wartime patrols over every big city and there has been no declaration of war nor any signs of one and not a blamed thing has happened. Why can’t they leave us on the ground for a while?” He came to the limit of his patrol area and lazily swung his rudder and turned around to go back over his route. He glanced at his airspeed meter and at the tachometers attached to the huge propeller and the elevating fans which were driven by the tiny atomic engine concealed in the hull. Everything was functioning perfectly and he set his rudder for straight ahead and stepped to tlie high powered telescope that formed part of his equip- ment and swept the horizon carefully. Nothing was visible at his level except the connecting patrol some fifty miles away, but far below him the air liners and the freight transports were swinging along on orderly lines. On a still lower level, so far below him as to be out of sight except through the telescope, little pleasure flyers bustled to and fro over the huge city. The Lieu- tenant scanned the horizon again and yawned. At his normal cruising speed, and he was in no hurry, it would take him about five minutes to cover the fifty miles that intervened between his position at the turn and the limits of his post and he threw himself down on the cot that occupied one side of the cabin of the scouting aerostat. He gazed sleepily up into the cloudless sky above him, his mind a blank. Far above him a tiny speck attracted his attention and he watched it idly. Suddenly a thought struck him that brought him bolt upright. “What the dickens?” he ejaculated. “I am at sixty thousand unless my altimeter is a liar. What can that speck be? There isn’t a craft made that has a ceiling of over eighty thousand and that speck is a lot higher than that.” He turned his telescope upward and examined the suspicious object. The powerful instrument showed it to be a rectangular block of some dark substance and Lieutenant Eddy was sure that he could see the blur .of propellers at one end of it. He adjusted his sound lo- cater and the hum of powerful atomic engines filled his cabin. Hurriedly he swung his range finder on the strange craft. He shook his head in unbelief as he read the figures recorded. He rubbed his eyes and adjusted the range finder again. “Forty-five thousand!” he exclaimed. “I am sixty thousand up. Why, that craft must be twenty miles above ground! ImpossiWe!” Again he read the range and then read the angle subtended by the strange machine. “About three hundred feet long and ninety feet wide,” he said after a moment of calculation, “and it’s twenty miles up. I’d better report it.” He turned to his communicator and pressed his key, but only a snapping, spitting sound rewarded him. Pow- erful interference waves from the monster of the sky above him had rendered his communicator temporarily useless. As he glanced up again, he saw that the black craft was nearer and was coming toward him rapidly. Following it were three more machines of the same type. Thorolighly alarmed. Lieutenant Eddy shut off his elevation fans and his propeller and allowed his ship to drop like a plummet toward {he earth. Another glance aloft showed him that the strangers were overtaking him and he turned the telescope on them. They resembled a brick in shape and so far as he could see were of solid black material with no signs of windows. At one end were three large propellers capable of driving the unwieldy mass at a terrific speed. There were no signs of elevation fans or even erf the crude pl.anes used on the earlier types of aircraft. Puzzled as he was, he had time to note on one end, blazoned in sombre colors, the emblem of the Russian Union of Soviet Republics. The Russian ship was rapidly overtaking him and Lieutenant Eddy took a chance on a maneuver that was taught in the flying schools to be used only as a last resort. Throwing his horizontal rudder hard up, he turned the nose of his aerostat toward the ground and pulled the control lever of his propeller forward to the last notch. At over two thousand miles an hour the tiny scout rushed toward the ground. For ten seconds he kept on at this headlong pace and then leveled his ship and threw his elevating fans into gear. The whole ship groaned and rocked with the effort, but the down- ward speed was gradually checked and the ship came to a momentary rest and then started to climb when he was a bare five hundred feet from the ground. “That was a close shave !” he muttered as he adjusted his elevating fans to hold his elevation and throwing into action the powerful atomic searchlight that warned all ships that he was on government business and had the right of way, he headed at top speed toward his patrol hangars on Long Island. The Russian ships were no longer in sight to his naked eyes, but his telescope revealed them as high in the air and climbing rapidly. Ten minutes later he was describing his adventure to the Chief of Staff and the Chief Air Officer in Wash- ington. His story was almost beyond belief but all air- craft in the vicinity of New York were ordered to take the air and observe the strangers. The first ships up 490 > AMAZING reported the Russian craft as visible through their tele- scopes at unbelievable heights and still climbing. They were soon out of sight even tnrough the powerful tele- scopes with which the American scouts were equipped. The next day at noon the Russians attacked. The four mighty ships came into view above the city and swung majestically down until they were at an elevation of five thousand feet. It could be seen then they were shaped like rectangular blocks, about three hundred feet long by ninety feet wide and about fifteen feet high. The bottom of each ship consisted of a layer of some black substance, but the material of the other five sides was clear and crystalline, resembling glass or rock crystal, crisscrossed with wide ribbons of presumably the same black substance as composed the bottom. Inside could be seen powerful atomic engines which drove three huge propellers which projected through one of the glass ends of the machine. There was no sign of elevating fans. S O far the Russians had committed no overt act and although the American fleet hung close around them and the anti-aircraft batteries on the harbor were manned, not a gun was fired. Suddenly a rocket rose from one of the Russian craft and at the signal each of the four dropped, from keel batteries, a single bomb. The ships moved forward slowly, dropping a bomb each in response to the signals of their leader, at quarter-mile intervals. This was the hostile act for which the American craft had been waiting. From the aerostat which flew the pennon of the Harbor Defense Commander, three green lights flew into the air. Hardly had they been launched than from a thousand craft of all .sizes which had been maneuvering around, above and below the hostile fleet, a perfect torrent of gunfire was opened. The air shook with the crash of the guns and the Russians were hidden from sight by the curtain of smoke from the bursting high explosive .shells which surrounded them. The firing ceased for the American craft could not see the enemy and were afraid of hitting one another. As the smoke cleared away, the four massive ships were seen moving slowly and steadily forward, apparently none the worse for the bombardment to which they had been subjected. Not a single opposing shot came from the Russian fleet. The Harbor Defense Commander gave the signal to cease firing and with intrepid bravery ordered his ship forward to within three hundred yards of the invaders. The American craft was a huge hundred man cruising aerostat of the latest model and equipped with a six inch rifle carrying a shell with a bursting charge of forty- eight pounds of radite, the most powerful explosive known, for in addition to its demolition power, it had an atomic disintegrating effect that did a thousand times more damage than a similar weight of ordinary high explosive. This gun, enormous in power, the largest ever taken into the air, was trained on the invader at pointblank range and the Commander himself fired it. The Ameri- can ship rocked under the recoil and from the side of the Russian came a blinding flash and a cloud of smoke. "A direct hit 1” cried the Gunnery Officer. The smoke cleared away and the Russian ship moved forward, uninjured by the blow it bad received. "That stuff can’t be glass or rock crystal,” exclaimed the Gunnery Officer. “Why, man alive, thirty inches of the best steel would have given way before that much radite.” STORIES "It’s too much for me,” replied the Commander. “There is only one thing to do. Order all ships out of the danger zone and let the eighteen inch rifles o» Gov- ernor’s Island take a try at it.” The anti-aircraft batteries had no better luck. The gunners were well trained and the target was large and close and moving slowly and time after time direct hits were reported by the observers, but even three tons of steel and radite did not seem to affect the Russian fleet. In despair, the Commander ordered another general at- tack by his air fleet. Around, over and under the invaders, the Americans swooped and guns of every caliber from the tiny .256 machine guns carrying radite charged bullets to the six inch rifle of the Commander’s craft poured their fire unavailingly at the strangers. One daring flyer in a one-man scout drew off a few miles to get up velocity and, abandoning his ship for a parachute, set his controls to send his scout headlong into one of the Russian craft at a speed of over two thousand miles an hour. The Russian was not injured, but the critmpled remains of the American craft tumbled to the ground. Not a shot did the attackers fire. They merely main- tained their even pace over the city and back again, drop- ping their bombs with monotonous regularity. When they had covered the ground to their satisfaction, in re- sponse to a signal from their leader, they started to climb. The American fleet followed them to the upper limit to which an aerostat could reach (about seventy-five thou- sand feet) and chagrined, watched the strangers rise to a height of about twenty miles and take their way east at a pace of about a thousand miles an hour. The bombs which had fallen on New York had ap- parently done no damage. They were of the common fifty pound demolition type, but the bursting charge had been reduced to such a small amount that they did no damage when bursting on impact. They merely split open and threw their contents, which resembled fine dust, into the air where the wind caught it and whirled it around. The New Yorkers had taken to the lower stories and the basements at the start of the attack, but as bomb after bomb fell without doing damage, they came out into the streets in swarms and picked up frag- ments of the shells as souvenirs. Only a half dozen injuries were reported and they were all caused by the victims being struck by fragments of the shells which the American craft had fired at the invaders. The attack was on Tuesday and it was not until the following Saturday that any explanation came. The newspapers reported the bombing of London and Paris on Wednesday, of Rome and Constantinople on Thurs- day and of Calcutta and Pekin on Friday. In each case the raid was a duplicate of the attack on New York. The Russian ships did not fire a shot but moved slowly over the city, impervious and contemptuous of attacks made on them, dropping their bombs at regular inter- vals. In each case when the attack was completed, they rose to a height of about twenty miles and moved off in regular formation. Repeated messages to Leningrad and Moscow brought no reply. As far as the rest of the world was concerned, the Russian communication .stations had ceased to exist. The executive heads of the nations of the world hur- riedly assembled at Honolulu to discuss plans and the younger, hotter headed among them urged an immediate invasion of Russia by the aerial navies of the world and an extensive program of reprisals. The older men kep.t THE RED PERIL 491 their heads and pointed out that so far the Russians had done no damage, had taken no lives and had injured no property. “We have, however, learned that we are absolutely powerless against them,” said the aged Governor Martin of France. “So long as they content themselves with showering our cities with dust, let us not be thrown into panic. I was in Paris Wednesday when the attack came and I tell you that the urchins of the street might as well have tossed apples at them, for all the harm that our batteries and aircraft could do to them. They are supreme in the air and if we should attack them in their homes, they would come back and, instead of dust, they would drop radite, and how could we prevent them ? No, let us wait. Soon they will tell us their object, and it may be that we can treat with them. Meanwhile, let each of us set our greatest scientists to work in the hope that they will discover the secrets of these new machines and find some way of combating them.” T he conference adjourned after deciding that the words of the Governor of France were the best counsel that could be had in the emergency that all felt threatened them. On Saturday Russia spoke. “Workers of the World,” read a general broadcast- from Leningrad, “the time for the world revolution has arrived. For two generations your brethren in Russia have labored for you, working toward the glorious end to which we have attained. Your rulers who are grind- ing you into the dust have felt the power of the people and will not dare to oppose your will. Arise and throw down the false governments who enslave you and turn toward the glorious sun of freedom which shines alone in Russia. Our airfleet has passed over the great cities of the world and has shown its irresistible power. None could oppose it. No one was harmed for we did not wish to harm our brothers. But next time, we strike to kill. “One week is allowed before we strike. If, during that week, any nation completely overthrows its present government and agrees to receive Commissars from Rus- sia to exercise the supreme government until the work- ers learn from them the pure principles of freedom, that nation will be spared. Woe to the nation that clings to its chains and prefers the fleshpots of Egypt to the priceless boon of freedom which is offered, for that nation will perish from the face of the earth. Woe to the rulers who oppose the voice of the people, for their portion shall be death. Woe to the rich men who hold the lands and goods which belong of right to the people, for their portion shall be slavery. Woe to the preachers of false doctrines lor their portion shall be everlasting silence. Workers of the world, you have one week in which to gain your freedom with our aid. One week from today, we strike 1” Hurried conferences of the governments of the world were called. There was no doubt of the power of Russia to inflict untold damage and suffering if their terms were not accepted and .some of the weaker and more timid nations were inclined to accept the terms offered, point- ing out that once they had obtained the secrets of the machines, they would build their own and bid defiance to Leningrad. The stronger nations pointed out that the demands made by the Soviets would cripple any country accepting the terms for at least a generation. The con- ference broke up with no deci.sion reached. The Congress of the United States was hurriedly as- sembled by the President anS Ihe matter laid before them. The question was debated futilely for a day, and then Morgan of Kansas, one of the leaders of the Senate, rose. “Gentlemen,” he said, “we are not the ones to decide this question. We can only reach one decision, for our execution cn masse is demanded as one of the terms of surrender. Despite what any one may say, a vote here would result in an almost, if not quite, unanimous de- cision to fight. I move that the President be directed to disregard the constitution in this emergency and call for a nationwide ballot on Wednesday to decide the matter.” The motion was passed by acclamation and the Presi- dent’s call for a general ballot of the nation went out. The rest of the world held its breath and it was tacitly understood that the action of the richest and most pow- erful nation would be followed by the rest. The mili- tary heads of the nations worked night and day per- fecting defense plans for use in case resistance was decided on, while government heads kept their private aircraft in readiness for a hurried flight, should the bal- lot ask for submission. Wednesday broke bright and clear. The balloting was to start at 7 :(X) A. M. and at 6 :30, the Soviet craft ap- peared over New York, Chicago, Detroit and Phila- delphia. They made no hostile move but showered tons of reading matter down on the cities and then moved on to other population centers to repeat the performance. The polls closed at 4:00 o’clock and all through the night thousands of anxious tellers counted the ballots. Connecticut was the first state to report complete re- turns. Shortly after midnight the Governor radioed to the President, “Connecticut votes one hundred and seven thousand, nine hundred and three for defense, one thous- and, two hundred and four for yielding.” State after state reported similar results and at noon Thursday, the President was able to announce that ninety of the ninety-, one states had voted for defense and that the total vote was over eighty to one against acceptance of Russia’s terms. It was considered certain that Russia had secret agents in the United States, and that no censorship could pre- vent Leningrad from learning the results of the ballot, so no attempt was made toward secrecy and the results of the American ballot were broadcast on the general wavelength. A meeting of the military and naval heads of the United States, the British Empire, the South American Union, the Chino-Japanese Empire and the Confederate States of Europe was called at Honolulu and all of the smaller nations were invited to attend. The Chief of Staff of the United States presided. The first step was the formation of the High Com- mand. The South American Union insisted that the pre- siding officer be made supreme commander, but General Diesen refused the honor. He pointed out that strategical and not political factors .should govern and nominated Field Marshal Van Hornung of the State of Haolland for the office. His choice was passed by acclamation. Secre- tary of the Treasury Melville of the United States was given charge of the financial operations incident to the war. F ield marshal van hornung ordered every anti-aircraft gun of the allied nations to b« assembled near their population centers and served .with radite shells. The aircraft were ordered to be held in readiness for the Marshal’s orders at the airports and in addition to the radite shells and bullets with which 492 AMAZING STORIES they were normally supplied, he ordered that the bombers be laden with vacite and uranite bombs from the central storehouse at Berne. These powerful engines of destruction had never been used and had, by common consent of the nations, been placed in storage at Berne and guarded by an international police force. Both operated on the principle of the disintegration of the atom. The vacite bombs destroyed the air and would produce a complete vacuum for several hundreds of yards around their place of explosion or “point of burst,” and it was confidently expected that they would destroy any aircraft within the radius of their action. Uranite was a substance somewhat allied to the common radite, but immensely more powerful. Its action was to start a progressive atomic disintegration in anything other than air with which it came in contact. It operated only under the influence of light and so could be safely handled and stored in lightproof containers. By Friday night everything was in readiness. Early Saturday morning a Polish air-scout reported the Rus- sian squadron as crossing Warsaw at a height of ninety thousand feet and headed east at a speed of fifteen hun- dred miles an hour. The Russians ignored Europe and even the crowded purlieus of London and winged their way across the Atlantic, followed at forty thousand feet by thousands of European aircraft under the personal command of Van Hornung. When the Soviet fleet reached New York, they sailed around over the city at an altitude of one hundred thousand feet as if to show the allied air navies that they could accomplish their purpose without exposing themselves. Van Hornung ground his teeth and swore, and shaking his fist toward the sombre craft, he dared them to come within range of his guns. As though they heard the challenge and wished to show their contempt of the puny efforts of their assail- ants, slowly and majestically the four invaders dropped to the level of the other craft. Lower^and lower they came, firing not a shot to oppose the storm of radite shells that was being hurled at them. At the five thous- and foot level they took up their line formation. At a signal from the Field Marshal, the allied fleets ceased firing and four huge Muhlenberg bombers rose sluggishly into the air. Up they went until they gained an altitude well above the Russians, and then they moved forward and took up their stations, one over each of the invaders. The Soviet craft dropped no bombs and did not fire a shot to oppose them, but waited motionless in the air for the attack. A signal flew from the Field Marshal’s ship and from each of the bombers fell a two-thousand-pound vacite bomb. Quickly the bombs gained momentum and fell straight toward the Russian fleet. The aim of the bombers was true and each bomb exploded a few feet above the craft at which it was aimed. The allied fleet watched with bated- breath, but, instead of falling to de- struction as had been expected, the invaders were not even shaken. A terrific clap of thunder sounded as the air rushed in to fill the vacuum created by the bombs and several of the allied fleet narrowly escaped destruc- tion, but the Soviet fleet was no more affected than they bad been by the rain of radite shells. “Useless!” ga.sped Van Hornung. “Tell one of the bombers to drop a uranite bomb. It is our only chance !” In response to the signals, three of the Muhlenbergs drew off while the fourth rose a thousand feet and from the higher elevation dropped a uranite bomb. The aim was perfect again and the terrible engine of destruction hurtled down, rapidly increasing its velocity. Just above the Russian ship it exploded, scattering the flam- ing uranite in all directions. The Field Marshal watched with straining eyes and a prayer on his lips. The fabric of the doomed ship should have shivered and dissolved in a burst of flame, leaving no trace in a few moments of its existence, but no such thing happened. The flam- ing uranite dropped slowly toward the ground, dissipating its energy in whorls of light. One of the shooting specks struck a French aerostat, which had incautiously ven- tured too close, and in a few moments the luckless ship and its crew ceased to exist. The Russian ship remained stationary and unharmed. “God pity New York when that stuff lands,” mut- tered the Communications Ofificer of the allied flagship. “It will dissipate its energy in three thousand feet of fall in this sunlight,” replied Van Hornung. "Were it not for that fact, I should never have dared to use it.” The Russian ship remained motionless. “What are they waiting for?” exclaimed the Field Marshal. As if in answer to his question, the communicator disc of the flagship began to glow. The Communications Officer pressed a key and a voice spoke. ' “The Commander of the fleet of the Russian Union of Soviet Republics presents his compliments to the Com- mander of the Allied fleets and would like to know whether he has exhausted his resources.” “Don’t answer him,” cried Van Hornung. “If he has other attempts on us that he would like to make,” went on the voice, “we will remain motionless and allow him to make them before we start our bomb- ing. I wish to assure him that we will give him every chance, for we wish him and the whole world to know how helpless they are against us. Unless we are re- quested to remain in position for a new attack, we will commence bombing in five minutes.” “Ask them to stand by for a new attack,” snapped the Field Marshal. “Send a general call to the fleet for an officer in a one-man cabin aerostat to volunteer for ab- solutely certain death.” The call went out and a dozen answers came in. The Field Marshal selected a Japanese flyer and ordered him alongside for secret instructions. In a few minutes a one-man Takasi, an aerostat, came up and the beady-eyed pilot saluted and requested orders. F rom the flagship he proceeded to one of the Muhlen- bergs where a uranite bomb was loaded into his machine. With his deadly load on board, he rose and hovered over the nearest Russian ship. He decreased the speed of his elevating fans and gently as a feather he settled toward the Russian. Lower and lower he went until he was only a few feet from the top of it. Here his downward motion stopped as though he had struck solid ground. His elevation fans ceased to turn, but still he remained poised a few feet above the huge black monster. Then he performed a deed that ranked for- ever the name of Hamashuri Kuriki among the immor- tals. Deliberately he detonated the bomb which he car- ried. His ship disappeared in a flash of light and spirals of flaming uranite flew in every direction, but the Rus- sian was unharmed. The Field Marshal groaned. “There is nothing more that I can do,” he said in a heart-broken voice. “Send out the orders for a general retreat and order New York to keep under cover.” THE RED PERIL 493 maneuvered, dropping their bombs at regular intervals. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Hoboken and Newark were bombed in turn. When the entire area had been cov- ered, the fleet rose rapidly and the voice of the Russian Commander spoke again. “We have finished our task for today,” he said. “Forty- eight hours from now, you will understand this attack. One more week is allowed the world in which to come to terms. Unless submissions are received by that time, on next Saturday we will bomb London and Paris and go on at once with attacks on other large population centers.” “Let us descend and examine the bomb fragments,” said Van Hornung. The flagship dropped toward the ground, but before landed, the communicator spoke again. “This is General Diesen, Marshal,” said a voice. “The The enemy craft remained motionless in the air, waiting for the attack As the allied fleet slowly and sullenly drew off, the voice of the Russian Commander spoke again in Van Hornung’s cabin. “Thank you. Field Marshal,” it said ironically. “You will now be the witness to a modern first-class bombing of an undefended city. If you care to stand by to study the technique, I give you my word that you will not be harmed.” As the voice ceased, a signal flew from one of the Soviet craft and simultaneously four bombs fell toward the doomed city. The Field Marshal hid his face in his hands while tears rolled down his cheeks. The Com- munications Officer watched the bombs through a field glass. “They’re duds. Marshal !” he exclaimed suddenly. Van Hornung grasped the proffered field glasses and looked downward at the city. Each bomb had burst when it had fallen, but instead of the flaming horror of uranite, nothing resulted from the burst but a puff of fine dust. The bombs were dust loaded as were the ones which the Ru.ssians had launched on their first attack. Forward and back across the city the Russian fleet 494 AMAZING Surgeon General of the United States Army witnessed the bombing by television and he believes that a disease germ offensive has been launched. The President re- quests that you release the American flyers from your command in order that a rigid quarantine may be en- forced until the matter is settled.” The death and disease rate in New York were normal on Saturday and Sunday, but on Monday morning the communicators all over the world began to glow, and the authorities of the hapless city were begging for serums. An exceptionally severe form of lobar pneumonia had broken out all over the metropolitan area. At six A. M. two hundred thousand cases had been reported. By ten the number had grown to over a million, and by noon the task of trying to keep track of the number of the stricken was abandoned. Practically the whole popula- tion had contracted the disease and appeals flew far and wide for doctors and nurses, but above all for serums, the only thing that would save the city. The world’s supply was rushed to New York and the laboratories everywhere strove with their crippled supply of rodents to keep pace with the demand. The amount available was pitifully inadequate, for anti-pneumonia serum would not store, and in order to be of value must not be over forty-eight hours old. Every laboratory kept a stock on hand, making it fresh daily, but the whole supply that could be located was less than a half a mil- lion tubes. Had the normal supply of guinea pigs been on hand, there would have been hope, but it was soon evident that seventy-five percent of the population of the infected area was doomed. The leading surgeons of the world gathered at The Hague to discuss the problem, but nothing resulted, and at the end of the week it was evident that, were the Rus- sians to carry out their threat and bomb the other popu- lation centers, nothing could save them. A hurried ex- odus took place from London and Paris. The conference of surgeons adjourned with the words of Zitali of Flor- ence echoing in their ears. “Gentlemen,” the fiery savant had said, “there is only one hope. The tularemia, which is rapidly eliminating the rodents from the world, has not been checked. Even were we to check it to-morrow, it would take years of breeding to supply our needs. Devote your entire ener- gies to finding some animal which you can substitute for the tiny rodents we have been using. “There is but one man I know who could solve the problem, and that is Balinsky. Before he threw in his lot, heart and soul, with his country, he did even more wonderful things, and I know the man well enough to be sure that he has not turned the plagues of tularemia and pneumonia loose on the world without having a card up his sleeve which would solve the problem. Were he on our side, I would rest easy. If we only had Balinsky. “Do your best, gentlemen. There is a solution, if you can find it. If you can find an animal that will replace the rodents we do not have, we may yet successfully com- bat the contagion. If you do not ” His silence was eloquent. Among the physicians leaving the conference was a fiery-eyed young zealot from the smitten city of New York, named Boris Vestoff. As a child he had escaped with his parents from Russia and had taken refuge in New York, where his sister had been born and where his parents had died, as an aftermath of the starvation they had met with in Russia before they escaped. Boris STORIES Vestoff had followed his father's profession of surgery,, and young as he was, his reputation was good, and many an older man envied him his skill and his prominence. H e had escaped the contagion which held the city of his adoption in its grip and he had come to the con- ference to tell the world of the terrible things he had seen. He had seen his colleagues drop like flies and die almost unattended, for there were more sick than well, and those who were stricken were forced to do for them- selves or to die neglected. His heart had ached with the dolor of stricken humanity and then, when it seemed that he had no more heart-strings to rend, he had seen the nurse in whom his whole future was wrapped sicken and droop. She had been at death’s door when he had given her the small immunization dose which all unstricken surgeons were supposed to take daily. It had checked the progress of the disease, but it was too small to cure, and when he had steeled his heart and left her to attend the meeting at the call of duty, it was with every expec- tation that by leaving her, he had sealed her death war- rant. As he left the room his eyes burned like hot coals and he murmured to himself, “Balinsky — if we only had Balinsky.” He climbed into the speedy two-passenger Spadile flyer, which the government had placed at his service, and split the air at top speed back toward New York, muttering again and again to himself, “Balinsky — if we only had Balinsky.” A different sort of a conference was taking place meanwhile in Saint Louis. Field Marshal Van Hornung had summoned the military and naval chiefs of the world to meet with the leading scientists and electricians to attack the problem of preventing future raids. “Gentlemen,” he said when the conference had assem- bled and its purpose had been made clear, “this whole matter is beyond my experience. I was a young man when the last war was fought in 1914 to 1918 and I saw then the first crude aircraft that battled overhead. I early saw the future of the sky warrior and I have for four decades advised my country and later my state to concentrate on newer and more powerful types. I am called the greatest authority in the world on aerial war- fare, yet I confess myself to be helpless. A ship that has no apparent ceiling, that cannot he harmed by gun- fire and that is impervious to vacite and even to uranite, is beyond my comprehension. I have seen and yet I can- not believe. To you gentlemen I turn for wisdom. How is it done?” Professor Olsen of the University of Stockholm rose. “Your Excellency,” he said, “that it is a conquest of the forces of nature beyond the experiences of all pres- ent goes without saying. Which force it is they have mastered, I am not sure, but I believe it to be mag- netism.” “Isn’t it more likely to be gravity?” asked an Admiral of France. Professor Olsen smiled. “Gravity or magnetism, call it which you will,” he replied. “As long ago as 1929, Einstein proved that magnetism and gravity obey the same laws. A few years later, LaRue proved experimentally the identity of the two forces and showed that gravity was merely an ex- tension and generalization of the force of which mag- netism is one localized effect. It is my opinion that the Russians have learned some method of either screening THE RED PERIL 495 or neutralizing the gravity or magnetism of the earth, or of producing a magnetic field of their own of opposite polarity to the earth force of enormous local power. That is the only explanation that I can give.” “But what is gravity?” persisted the Admiral. Professor Olsen shrugged his shoulders. “You ask a question that no one can answer,” he re- plied. “We know the effects and manifestations of grav- ity and the laws which it obeys, but as to what it is, no one can tell you.” “I can !” broke out a voice from the rear of the hall. All heads turned toward the interrupter. A young man in the uniform of an aide to the Chief of Staff of the United States Army was on his feet. “I can tell you what gravity is !” cried the Aide. “Silence!” “Order!” “Put him out!” an excited chorus rose in the hall. General Diesen struggled to his feet. “May I beg to be heard?” he cried. Field Marshal Van Hornung rapped smartly on the table. When order had been restored, he turned to Gen- eral Diesen. “What is it. General ?” he asked. “I would like to beg that my aide be given a hearing. Major Hamilton is a young man and, since all of his ex- perimental work has been done in the army, he is not well known, but when I tell you that we consider him as our leading authority on wave motions and that he de- veloped the portable television projector, which we are now using, you will realize that his talents demand a hearing.” “The conference will listen to Major Hamilton,” ruled the Field Marshal. “Major, can you tell us what grav- ity is?” “I think that I can, sir,” replied the Aide, “but I must request your close attention and a minimum of interrup- tion until I finish. Then I will be willing to answer questions. I believe that gravity is a wave motion.” “Bosh!” cried a voice. Field Marshal Van Hornung was on his feet in an instant. “If there is another interruption of that sort, the in- terrupter will be dealt with under military discipline,” he thundered. “When Major Hamilton has finished, you will be allowed to express your approval or your disap- proval. Until then we will have silence.” The drop of a pin would have been clearly audible in the hall. Major Hamilton resumed. “ ANY motion, for example the passage of a body on a ./X horizontal plane before an observer, will produce disturbances. These disturbances, so far as present sci- ence knows, are two in number : first, the disturbance of air particles in the immediate vicinity of the motion, and, second, a disturbance in the ether, that imponderable fluid which is assumed to fill all space and to permeate all substance. “Provided that the disturbances are periodic, that is, that they come at regularly repeated intervals, both of these disturbances will be simple harmonic wave motions and subject to the well-known laws governing such mo- tions. In each case the wave will have, besides an ampli- tude, a frequency and a length, the product of which will be a constant. This constant for the disturbances of air is approximately 1,140 foot-seconds, the velocity of sound in air. The product in ether di.sturbances is approximately 186,000 mile-seconds, the velocity of light. “If, for the sake of illustration, we assume that we have a machine gun set up, firing bullets across a line directly in front of our eyes, and assume further that these bullets will always be equidistant ^om one another, no matter what the velocity of them may be, it is easily seen that the frequency of the disturbances will be pro- portional to the velocity at which the bullets are travel- ing, and the wave length inversely proportional to that velocity. “We will start our gun firing with a velocity of four feet per second and assume that the bullets are one foot apart, a distance which is to be rigidly maintained, re- gardless of the subsequent velocity which we may assume them to be traveling at. Is my meaning clear? This is an important point.” “As I understand it,” said the Admiral, “the bullets are to be always one foot apart, so that if you say the velocity has been increased to one hundred feet per sec- ond, we are to assume that the gun is then firing one hundred shots per second and so on.” “Precisely,” said Major Hamilton. “We are starting with a velocity of four feet per second, so that as the bullets are one foot apart, there will be four disturbances per second. As the velocity is such that the eye can readily retain the impression, a stream of bullets will be plainly seen passing in front of the eye. No sound will be heard because the period of frequency of the sound wave generated is below the perception of the auditory nerves. No light will be seen because tbe frequency of the etheric disturbances is below the perceptive faculty of the optic nerve. A glass plate placed in the path of the bullets will be shattered, the cracks radiating from the point of strike in all directions. “Suppose now that we increase the velocity so that two hundred and fifty-six per second pass a given point. As the Admiral pointed out, the gun will then te firing two hundred and fifty-six times per second and the bullets will still be one foot apart. The velocity of these bullets has now risen so high that the eye can no longer perceive them by direct vision and the frequency of the etheric disturbances is not yet high enough to affect the eye. As far as sight is concerned, these bullets are now non- existent. However, there will be perceptible to the ear a sound note, continuous and sustained, in pitch, middle ‘C,’ as the air particles vibrate two hundred and fifty- six times per second. A plate of glass placed in the path of the bullets will, in all probability, have a small hole in it with cracks radiating from the hole in all directions, but the plate will not be shattered. “Let us now gradually increase the velocity until twenty thousand bullets per second pass a given point. The sound note heard by the ear is gradually increased in pitch until it is a shrill scream, barely audible ; in fact, some ears could not hear it. A sheet of glass placed in the path of these bullets would have a perfectly clean, round hole drilled in it, as if it had been filed, and sparks would be seen to fly from the point of impact. “Suppose that we double the velocity so that forty thousand bullets per second pass before the eye? The sound note has now risen to such a shrill pitch that the ear cannot detect it, while the frequency of the etheric vibrations has not yet risen to a sufficiently high figure to be discerned. To both the eye and the ear, these bullets are non-existent, although the glass plate placed in front of them would show the same phenomena as before. “Since the air vibrations have risen to such a pitch that 496 AMAZING STORIES they cannot be detected, the air no longer serves its pur- pose as a medium for perception. Therefore, in order to eliminate the enormous friction which would exist be- tween the air and a body traveling at such a velocity, let us consider the air to be exhausted and the bullets to be passing through a perfect vacuum. By perfect vacuum I mean a vacuum containing ether and nothing else. “Again increase the velocity until one hundred and fifty thousand bullets per second are passing before the eye. No evidence can be found by either the eye or the ear that these bullets are in existence. However, the etheric disturbances have now risen to such a pitch that if a radio receiver be tuned in, it will register a wave with a wave length of about two thousand meters. If a glass plate were now placed in the path of these bullets, a very clean hole would be drilled in it, and on examining the hole you would find that the portion of the glass con- tiguous to it had been fused by the enormous friction of the bullets rubbing against it. “Let us now enormously increase the velocity until millions of bullets per second are passing. The wave length has now grown so short that the radio receiver will no longer register a note, but if a lens be placed in such a manner as to concentrate any emanation from the bullets’ path and at the focal point of the lens, a thermo- couple attached to a pyrometer or to a galvanometer be placed, the instrument will register. This shows that the etheric vibrations have risen to a high enough fre- quency to produce an infra-red ray. The infra-red rays are heat rays of a length just below the visible spectrum. “ T NCREASE the velocity again, and a dull red glow in A the path of the bullets will be seen by the naked eye, as the frequency of the etheric vibrations rises to a point where they will affect the optic nerve. If a glass plate be now placed in the path of the bullets, the glass will simply disapi)ear, the material being made liquid by the enor- mous heat generated and flowing over the surface of each bullet in turn and adhering to it. “Once more increase the velocity, and the dull red beam of light will change in succession to orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, through the visible spec- trum. After the violet fades out, the eye can no longer perceive these bullets, and they are forevermore non- existent so far as the eye and the ear can determine. “Let us, however, fix a camera with a rock crystal lens focused on the path of the bullets and it will be found that the rays given off are ultra-violet and will affect a photographic plate. “If the velocity be still further increased, there will come a time when the plate will be affected even through a sheet of black paper, as the frequency has risen so high that the waves have changed from ultra-violet to X-rays. A gla,ss plate placed in the path of the bullets will still show the phenomena of simple disappearance and fusion around the point of strike. “Again enormously increase the velocity and we will find that the bullets give off the cosmic rays which we can detect and measure. Beyond this stage, no matter how much we increase the velocity, neither the eye nor the ear, the radio receiver, the pyrometer nor the photo- graphic plate can detect their passage. As far as we appeal to any experimental evidence which we can de- tect, these bullets no longer exist. “Now for a final step let us increase the velocity of these bullets until their velocity is infinite, that is, until it is greater than any finite value that can be assigned to it. An infinite number per second will now^be passing before the eye and the frequency will be infinite. As a result, the wave length of the resulting etheric disturb- ance will be zero. There is no known method of deter- mining the existence of these bullets, and a glass plate placed in their path will show nothing. The molecules of the plate will merely open in front of the bullet and close in behind them. Each bullet from a mass has dis- integrated into molecules, then into atoms, then into protons and electrons and then in turn into pure motion, which cannot be detected with any instrument which we have been able to devise. “As to what the nature of this beam of energy would be, I leave it to your judgment. If my argument has been logical and coherent, you know already. However, I will remind you that it is well known that there is one enormous force existent in the universe who.se nature is still more or less a matter of conjecture. That force is ” “Gravity 1” cried Professor Olsen, who had followed the argument with rapt interest. “Precisely,” replied Major Hamilton, “and therefore! by the process of elimination, I have arrived at the con- clusion that gravity is nothing more nor less than pure motion or force unassociated with matter; in other words, a wave motion with a wave length of zero.” A burst of applause greeted him as he paused. “Of course, if you are right and gravity is a wave motion, a screen could be made which it could not pene- trate,” said Professor Olsen. “Your theory, then, is that the black bottom of the Russian shi])s is composed of some substance that intercepts gravity.” “No,” replied the Major, “it is not. Consider for a moment the density of a screen that a wave motion of zero wave length could not penetrate. It would have to have a density of infinity.” “Certainly,” replied the Professor, “but a density of infinity seems no more fantastic to me than a wave length of zero.” “Pardon me, gentlemen,” broke in the Field Marshal, “I am not a profound scientist like you gentlemen, and it is not at once clear to me why the density of such a screen would have to be infinity. Will you kindly ex- plain?” Major Hamilton turned to Professor Olsen. “Will you explain, sir ?” he asked. “I am about talked out.” “Gladly,” replied the Professor. “I will try to put it in non-technical language. Of course, the shorter the wave length, the closer together must be the ))articles of the screen which can interrupt it. To borrow from Major Hamilton’s excellent word picture; if we disre- gard, as he did, all media of transmission other than air and ether, a wave motion in the sound range could be stopped by tissue paper. If you can conceive of such a thing, conceive two concentric spheres of tissue paper separated by a vacuum with yourself inside the inner sphere. The tissue paper would stop the sound wave. When we get to the shorter waves, denser media are re- quired. Thus aluminum will stop light waves, but it will not stop X-rays. Lead, which is much denser than aluminum, will stop X-rays, but is permeable to the cos- mic ray. I will not enter into the complex mathematics involved, but suffice it to say that it is readily demon- strable through an extension of the permeability curves THE RED PERIL 497 which connect density, wave length and depth of pene- tration, that it would require a screen of infinite density to stop a wave of zero wave length.” “But why should it be impossible to make a screen of infinite density?” persisted the Field Marshal. “Is it not possible that these ships are thus equipped?” “It is not possible, and I can prove to you by experi- mental evidence which you have seen that they are not so equipped,” replied Major Hamilton. “In the first place, if a gravity screen were perfected, it would shut off all gravity above it to an infinite distance. In such a case, any aircraft which ascended above the screen would shoot off into space. No such phenomenon was observed. In the second place, no matter how small it was, such a screen would rapidly exhaust all atmosphere from the earth. The air above it would fly off into space and the surrounding air would rush in to fill the vacuum thus formed and would in turn be projected off. The mere fact that we can still breathe is a positive proof against the existence of a gravity screen.” “Then what is your explanation?” asked Professor Olsen. “Simply this,” said the Major. “The Russians have found a method of developing an artificial field of gravi- tational force of immense but purely local effect. With this they neutralize the gravity of the earth, not by shut- ting it off, but by opposing it with a greater and opposite force. Such a field of force would also account for the fact that we are unable to lodge uranite or any other sub- stance on them. This field of force is sufficiently power- ful to repel matter of all sorts.” “Your whole argument holds together well,” admitted Professor Olsen. “The only thing left for you to do is to tell us how you propose to neutralize this field of force to such an extent that we can reach them with explo- sives.” “My proposed solution is this. In order to generate a force of zero wave lengths and consequently infinite frequency, a generator would have to be employed which revolves at an infinite rate. Such a thing I cannot con- ceive. However, we all know that it is a very simple matter to step a frequency of, say, sixty cycles up to two hundred thousand cycles. It is my belief that a primary power is generated by generators turned by atomic en- gines and is generated at a high but perfectly finite fre- quency. and is then stepped up by some apparatus which we do not understand to a frequency of infinity. “Matter, as we have found, cannot pass through their field. However, it is well known that wave motions not only will pass through other wave motions but will also superimpose on one another. This superimposition, in the case of equal wave lengths, produces alternate bands of double intensity and absolute rest. If the interfering waves are light waves, the result is a series of alternate bauds of light and dark which you have all seen in the interferometer. Again, if we can produce a wave of exactly the same frequency and place it in space half a wave distant, the result is complete rest, a phenomenon which you have all seen in physics laboratories where one sound is killed by another. “If my theories are correct, the way to combat these machines is to build a generator which will produce a wave motion of very great frequency. This frequency must be capable of being varied within wide limits. If we mount this generator on an aerostat and approach one of these monsters, we may be able to tune the generator to the same wave length as their primary source of power. If we do, we can neutralize it by interference and stop their motive power.” “And the result would be?” “That their field of antigravitational force would be neutralized and they would crash to the ground, or if we wished, they could be destroyed in the air by gun fire or uranite bombs.” “Major Hamilton, can you build such a generator?” asked the Field Marshal. “I believe that I can, if I am given a free rein with both materials and assistants.” “And, by thunder, young fellow,” exclaimed Professor Olsen, “I’ll go along and help you if you’ll let me.” AS Major Hamilton and Professor Olsen left the X\. conference with full powers to take over the plant of the General Electric Company at Schenectady and use its facilities to develop the generator which the for- mer had proposed, a two-passenger cabin Spadile aero- stat rose from New York. In the driver’s seat sat Boris Vestoff and beside him sat his sister, a strikingly handsome woman in the late twenties. The aircraft rose without lights and cautiously moved over the city at a low altitude. Quietly as the atomic engine ran, there was no way of stilling the etheric disturbance which it made and before the Spadile had reached the limits of the city, an aerial patrol swooped down from a higher altitude, its searchlight blazing. “Down, Boris,” said the girl softly. Vestoff stopped his propeller and slowed his elevating fans. Obediently the little craft sank toward the earth, but the quarantine patrol was not thus to be dodged. The radiolite indicators of the instrument panel sud- denly began to glow and Vestoff knew that his craft was in the beam of tbe powerful ultraviolet searchlight with which the scout was equipped. Simultaneously the disc of his communicator began to glow. Vestoff cursed softly and depressed his key. “Wait a minute,” said a sharp voice. “Who are you and where are you going?” “I am Boris Vestoff, QSR-664-L-22,” he replied. “I am on my way to Washington to report to the President of the United States on the conference of surgeons held at The Hague. Didn’t you get the word to clear the ways for me?” “I beg your pardon. Doctor,” replied the voice. “I received no such orders. I did have orders passed on to me, that you were to have right of way this morning when you were returning from the conference, but I received no other word. I presume that you haye a clearance slip from the general in command?” “Certainly,” replied the doctor sharply. “Do you want to see it?” “If you don’t mind. Doctor.” “Certainly I don’t mind, but I will have to ask you to indorse the time and your name and identification on it, in order that you may answer for stopping a craft with a governmental clearance, when it is answering an urgent call.” “Your right-of-way light isn’t going. Doctor,” said the voice reproachfully. “Of course not. Since when have private craft been equipped with right-of-way lamps? Hurry up and come alongside if you wish to see my credentials and please turn that confounded ultrasearchlight off. I don’t want to be blistered to-morrow.” 498 AMAZING STORIES "I beg your pardon, Doctor, I didn’t mean to burn you. I’ll be alongside in a moment.” The headphones of the sound-locater were clamped to Ilga’s ears. As the voice of the patrol commander died out, the instruments ceased to glow as the ultrasearch of the scout was snapped off. “They’re dropping,” said the girl. “Now their pro- peller is off. Now, Boris !” Vestoff threw the clutch of his propeller in gear and shoved his indicator to maximum speed forward. The propellers of his little craft churned the air for a moment and then the Spadile shot forward like a bullet. “Hold tight, Ilga,” he cried and thrust fhe lever con- trolling his elevating fans forward to maximum. The ship split the air at a speed in excess of two thousand miles an hour while it climbed at the rate of a mile in twenty seconds. Vestoff kept his eyes on the instru- ment board. “They are climbing as fast as we are, Boris,” said the girl, “and they are heading almost directly toward us.” Suddenly the instruments of the Spadile began to glow and Vestoff stopped his engines and let the little craft fall like a rock toward the distant sea. In a moment they were out of the beam from the ultra- searchlight. Again he turned on both elevating fans and propeller and turned the craft at a right angle to their former line of flight. He maintained the new course for eighty seconds and then swung left into his old course. “We gained a_ good deal that time,” said the girl. Again the instrument board began to glow, albeit faintly. Vestoff did not touch his engines but pulled a horizontal rudder and the craft shot upward. He changed course instantly to the left and shot down like a bullet. Ten thousand feet below his previous level he straightened out into his old course and tore out across the Atlantic. “They are a.lmost out of hearing,” said the girl. "We are out of searchlight range,” replied her broth- er. “We are safe now unless they can get hold of one of the Atlantic Patrol and have us headed off.” “We’ll have to take that chance,” she answered. “It’s not such a big chance at that,” he said. “The heavy seagoing cruisers can’t hold up to the speed of a Spadile and unless they were almost directly in front of us, we could avoid them. Keep the locator trained ahead and listen for elevating fans.” Ilga swung the locator around as her brother directed and the tiny craft tore on through the night. Northeast it bore for an hour and then Vestoff turned cast. Despite the heating of the cabin, both he and his sister felt the cold as their craft swung around on a great circle north of Iceland and the White Sea. Vestoff watched the map unrolling on his instrument board before him, a tiny spot of white light marking the location of the ship. When the map indicated that they were due north of the Kola Peninsula, he swung the ship’s head to the south and bore down toward Lenin- grad, at the same time reducing his speed to five hundred miles an hour. A n hour of steady going brought him within two . hundred miles of the Russian capital and he de- creased his speed to a hundred miles an hour and waited for a challenge from an outlying patrol. Presently the radiolite dials on his instrument board began to glow and Vestoff stopped his propeller and allowed his ship to drift. The button of his indicator glowed and he pressed his key and waited for the challenge. “Who are you and what is your mission?” asked a gruff voice in Russian. “I am Sergius Karnoff of New York, United States,” he replied, “and my companion is my sister. We have fled from the tyranny of the rulers and seek refuge in the sun of liberty.” “By what authority have you come?” demanded the voice. "Under the general invitation of the Commissar for Foreign Affairs.” “That invitation was rescinded two years ago.” “True, but we fled in the darkness from our op- pressors and we seek relief and shelter at your hands.” “Is your aerostat armed?” “No.” “Then remain where you are, while I ask for instruc- tions.” In a few moments the voice spoke again. “You are to be brought before the Officer of the Guard for examination,” it said. “Have you an ultra- searchlight ?” “No, this is a pleasure craft and not a war machine.” “Then remain where you are until I get within sight. Turn on your lights.” Vestoff snapped a switch and a beam of light stabbed the darkness before him. In a few moments the shape of a ten-man patrol ship swam into view. “Follow me closely and land beside me,” said the voice. “What is your best speed?” “This is a Spadile racer.” “Oh ! Then I’ll take you along at a good clip. Don’t run past me.” In twenty minutes the Spadile landed beside the patrol ship and the officer in command came over with a detail of men. “Follow me, comrades,” he said. Vestoff and his sister stepped out of their ship, which was immediately taken in charge by two of the Russians, and followed the officer. He led the way to a dimly lighted building and knocked at the door. “Remain here until I return,” he said. In a few moments he returned and with a curt, “Fol- low me,” he led the way inside. Ilga and her brother found themselves face to face with a dark heavy-set man in a colonel’s uniform. Vestoff brought his heels together and saluted. The colonel smiled approvingly. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” he asked. Vestoff briefly repeated the story that he had already told the scout officer while the colonel listened closely. “You are welcome,” he said when Vestoff had fin- ished. “Of course, you will have to appear before the Commissar of Secret Police and satisfy him, but that may not be difficult, especially as I can readily smooth the way for you. You are a doctor?” “I was a research fellow in serumology in Bellevue Hospital.” “Good, we can find use for you. Has the girl any special knowledge?” “None.” “All the better. She is better looking than the avers^e and she pleases me. I will take her for my wife. As my brother-in-law, the Commissar of Police will not THE RED PERIL so readily suspect you. You may go now and the orderly will find you a place to sleep. The girl will remain here.” Ilga drew herself up haughtily. “So your royal highness plans to do me the extreme honor to takte me for his wife, does he?” she said with a scornful laugh. “I have heard that in free Russia women were allowed to choose their own mates.” “They are,” exclaimed the colonel in surprise. “Sure- ly you do not fancy that you can do better than take me, a Colonel of the Petrograd Guard? You do not understand the honor that I am conferring on you.” “I understand that I have chosen a man already, a man whose shoes you would call yourself fortunate to be allowed to shine.” The red mounted on the colonel’s cheekbones. “Hold your tongue, hussy, or I will take you for my woman without the formality of a registration with the Commissar of Marriages,” he said sharply. “I pre- sume that you have chosen Zaneff himself for your mate.” “I want none of that crippled fool,” said Ilga proudly. The colonel leaped to his feet. “Silence, girl,” he roared. “Another word like that and I will have you thrown into the guard-room to be shared by the moujiks of the guard.” “Shall I tell my chosen your words?” she asked lightly at the threat. “Your chosen! And who may he be?” “Balinsky 1” H ad Ilga suddenly changed into a canary bird before his eyes, the Colonel could have registered no greater surprise. “Balinsky?” he gasped as though he could not believe her words. “Are you serious ?” “Not only that but Balinsky is awaiting my arrival.” “Ilga!” exclaimed her brother warningly. “Balinsky is head of the Council of Seven, who are above even the Premier,” gasped the Colonel. “Do you mean to tell me that he expects you?” Her brother answered for her. “May I speak to you for a moment in private?” he said with a meaning glance at the two guards who stood Irefore tha door. The Colonel dismissed the guards with a word and turned to Vestoff. “Speak,” he said sharply, “and tell me what this means.” “I was one of the agents that Balinsky used in spread- ing tularemia in the United States,” said Vestoff in an undertone. “I did not identify myself before, as we al- ways work under cover. We are not known by face even to the Conunissar of Secret Police. My sister is one of Balinsky’s women and she accompanied me. We were caught in the quarantine and could not escape sooner to make our report. Lead us at once to him, for I know that he awaits us.” Suspicion clouded the Colonel’s face. “If you are one of his trusted men, how is it that you do not know that he is away with the fleet?” “I have had no direct communication with him for two weeks. We were expected long before this, and indeed we tried to escape last night, but a patrol intercepted us and we were forced to put back. My orders were to re- port at once upon arrival. Can the fleet be reached by communicators ?” 499 “You should know that the communicators are silent when the fleet is out,” replied the Colonel. “This is Fri- day night.” “Of course, and London is to be bombed to-morrow. I had forgotten the date. You may take us to his palace and Krelovitch will care for us. If you are still uncer- tain, Jook over these papers.” He handed the Colonel papers inscribed in Russian. The Colonel glanced at them and compared them with a ^eet of names and numbers that he took from a safe. As he did so, his face cleared. “I beg your pardon, comrade,” he said resiiectfully, “but one cannot be too careful in my position, you know. I am sorry to tell you that Krelovitch is with the fleet as well. I will send you to the palace at once and you can await the arrival of Comrade Balinsky. He should be back on Wednesday. “The raid must be more extensive than was first planned.” “It is. The fleet will bomb London, Liverpool, Edin- burgh and Paris to-morrow ; Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria and Cairo on Sunday ; Calcutta, Delhi, Pekin and Hongkong on Monday, and Tokio, Manila, Sydney and Brisbane on Tuesday. On Wednesday they will take San Francisco, Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia, and return that night.” “That should bring the bourgeoisie to their senses.” “If it doesn’t, Zaneff plans a systematic extermination of the people of the United States, as an example. For these raids, Balinsky is using the same bombs that he used on New York, because pneumonia can be readily checked in any country which capitulates. If he has to comb the United States, he plans on using a form of tularemia somewhat like the kind he used on the rodents, and which cannot be checked.” “Good! That is the way to handle them. Will you take us to the palace now ? We are tired and would like to rest.” “Gladly,” said the Colonel. “Do you know Techni- koff?” “No, who is he?” “He is Balinsky’s new major-domo. I cannot leave my post, but I will send him a note by an officer telling him who you are.” “Thank you. I will mention your name to Balinsky,” Colonel Dourgieff’s note was enough to reduce Technikoff to humble submission, and when Vestoff de- manded a suite of two connecting rooms, it was quickly supplied. Ilga threw herself upon the bed and looked up at her brother. “So far, so good,” she said in an undertone in English. “It was fortunate that those papers you got from Karonoff fitted you so well. We would have been in a hole else.” “I was almost afraid to use them. Karonoff didn’t tell me enough before he died to make me feel any too easy. He was delirious while he was talking to me and I couldn’t be sure of the accuracy of what infor- mation I had. Then, too, I was afraid that the colonel would examine them too clo.sely. I had to make quite a blur, when I changed them the little I did. but luckily he only gave them a casual examination and smearing them with oil did the trick.” “Are you going to try to do anything before Balin- sky returns?” “If opportunity offers, but I am not going to force 500 AMAZING STORIES matters. Things are going entirely too well. The only thing that I want to find is that sound-proof room that he has and find out how to enter it.” “I may be able to help there.” “All right, but be careful not to rouse suspicion.” “I’ll be careful, Boris. Good-night.” T he air battle of a week before was repeated over London on Saturday. The Soviet ships stood the ineffective fire of the Allied fleets with no attempt at reprisals and then systematically bombed the city and moved on to Liverpool. The Allied fleets did not fol- low. There was no use ; the Russians were impregnable. The balance of the program which Colonel Dourgieff had outlined was carried out. On Monday the British Isles were calling frantically to the world for aid in combating the pneumonia which had broken out, but their cries were unheeded, for every nation was soon faced with the same problem. The spirit of the world was broken and nation after nation sent hurried calls to Leningrad, announcing their willingness to surrender on any terms that the Soviets demanded. Only the United States, the British Empire and the Chino- Japanese Empire held out, the two former through an inborn inability to surrender, and the latter through a fatalistic disregard for human life. In Schenectady the greatest technicians of the world toiled night and day on Hamilton’s generator, but as the manifold difficulties of the task became apparent, they despaired of accomplishing the feat in time and despair settled over the country. Even the veteran Field Mar- shal Van Hornung, who had never surrendered, gave up hope. “Even if we destroy them, of what avail will it be?” he cried in anguish. “Countless millions of lives will be lost and the plague is spreading more and more rapidly. Were we to annihilate the monsters, they would still in death defeat us. It may be better to yield and ask them to help check the plague.” “Not while there is a man left in the United States,” replied the President. “They may wipe us out, but they’ll never lick us.” On Wednesday night the victorious Russian fleet re- turned to Petrograd, their mission accomplished. The city gave itself up to wild rejoicing (by order of Zaneff), and when the enormous ships landed, a milling crowd strove to hoist the crews on their shoulders and carry them to the city. Zaneff, surrounded by his guards, pushed his way through the throng and greeted Balinsky. “Submissions are coming in from all sides. Comrade,” he cried. “The world revolution is at hand when we shall set our feet on the faces of these dogs of bour- geoisie who have starved us for generations and grind them into the dirt !” “SaVe that for publication,” replied Balinsky crisply. “Is there any outbreak of pneumonia in Leningrad?” “No more than the usual amount.” “Good. I was afraid that it might spread from some of the infected areas, although I kept well away from the boundaries. Have you received any ambassadors yet ?” “I waited until your return. Sergius Karonoff has returned.” “Good. I want to hear his report. Did anyone come with him?” “His sister.” “I didn’t know that he had one.” “Why, she claims to be one of your women!” “Is she good looking?” “Very.” “Then she may be, even if she wasn’t. It’s probably some girl whom Karonoff picked up in America, whom he thought I might like and he told that story to protect her from you.” Zaneff smiled feebly. “I would have left her for you,” he said. “Yes, if you thought that I wanted her,” replied Balinsky. “Well, I’ll go home and look her over. Notify the Council of Seven that there will be a meeting at the palace at nine to-morrow morning, or rather this morning, for it’s after midnight. You had better wait in the anteroom when we meet. We may want to ques- tion you.” At the palace, Balinsky narrowly questioned Tech- nikoff. “His papers were in order. Excellency,” said the major-domo. “I have never seen him before, but he knows what you have been- doing and his sister is well acquainted with the palace.” “Oh, it’s Karonoff all right,” said Balinsky with a chuckle. “He has a good eye for feminine beauty, and he knows enough to keep the best for me. Where are they ?” “The girl is in the library. Karonoff went out to see you arrive.” “Good. I am going to the library and must not be disturbed on any pretext for the rest of the night. Tell Karonoff when he comes in to report to me at eight.” Balinsky entered the library and looked appraisingly at Ilga who returned his gaze unflinchingly. “Who are you?” he asked. “Ilga Vestoff of New York,” she replied with a smile. “How did you come here?” “I helped Sergius to elude the quarantine patrol and as a reward he brought me here with him. I have passed as his sister and one of your women for protection.” “Didn’t you know that it is dangerous to lie in Rus- sia ?” “T DIDN’T think that I was lying much. I have X heard that Feodor Balinsky appreciates feminine beauty and as my sole object in coming here was to offer myself to him, I did not think that he would re- fuse. In spirit, I was already one of your women.” Balinsky threw himself down on a settee. “Such candor is refreshing,” he said. “What is your object ?” “I desire power. How better can I obtain it than by ruling the man who rules the world? Besides, I know something that will bind you to me forever.” “What is that?” “Do you wish to continue to live?” The color faded momentarily from Balinsky’s cheeks. “What do you mean ?” he asked sharply. “Exactly what I say. Do you wish to continue to live?” “Certainly. Why do you ask ?” “If you do, you must obey me. I know a secret that will save your life. If I do not speak to save you, you die.” Balinsky leaped to his feet. “Speak !” he cried hoarsely. “Speak or I will call Technikoff and have the words tortured out of you!” THE RED PERIL 501 “As I have a glass capsule of cyanide under my tongue at this moment which I have only to crush with my teeth to cease to live, torture would not avail you.” “You would not use it.” “Do you see this body ?” Ilga rose and stretched herself languorously. The soft curves of her body, accentuated by the clinging garb she had chosen, brought the blood to Balinsky’s face. He murmured a hoarse assent to her question. “Do you think that I would care to live with it maimed and robbed of its beauty?” she asked scornfully. “When I have told you my secret, it will be my only hold on you and on the power I crave. If you want my secret, you will beg me for it.” Balinsky hesitated. Ilga ran forward suddenly and threw her arms around him and pressed her lips to his. “I was merely teasing, Feodor,” she said caressingly. “Of course I will tell you. I will tell you anything that you ask.” “Then speak !” he cried, his voice thick with passion. “Not here,” she said, drawing back. “Why not?” “Even the walls have ears. Here in the palace, unless report lies, you have a sound-proof room where none may know what goes on within its walls. There and there only will I speak.” “Then come !” he cried. He led the way to a bookcase and twisted a knob. A section of the wall swung back and he motioned her to precede him through the opening. She started to enter and then drew back as though frightened. “Go first, Feodor,” she said in a coaxing tone. He glanced sharply at her, shrugged his shoulders and stepped through the doorway. Ilga gave a swift glance around and slowly followed him. The room into which she stepped was severe in its plainness, the only furni- ture being a heavy desk in the center of the room on which showed a communicator button, and two straight chairs. Ilga passed him swiftly and leaned against the desk, facing the doorway through which they had en- tered. “Are you sure that no one can hear wlmt goes on in here?” she asked. “I am positive. Unless the communicator is opened, a pistol shot in here would not be heard beyond this room when the door is closed.” “Close it.” she directed. “Turn that knob on the desk to the right.” Ilga did so and the door clanged shut. “Now speak!” cried Balinsky. “You say that my life is in danger?” “It is in grave danger. You can save it only by the most implicit obedience to my orders.” “From whom is it in danger?” “You have not seen Karonoff since his return?” “No.” “T^ ARONOFF did not return. He was in New York iV when the fleet bombed it and he was stricken with pneumonia. Before he died he became delirious and told who he was and what was his mission. He was over- heard by a man who speaks Russian like a native. This man took his papers and altered the description and came here, passing himself ofif as Karonoff. It is from him that your life is in danger.” Balinsky stared at her. “Why did you not expose him sooner ?” he demanded. “Because I wished to save your life. By exact obe- dience to my orders you can save it.” Balinsky snarled and started toward her. Iris face distorted with rage. “Where is this false Karonoff?” he cried. “Look behind you !” replied Ilga. Balinsky whirled as though shot and looked into the muzzle of a heavy revolver in the hands of Boris Vestoff. Ilga’s laugh rang out in the stillness. “Trapped!” she cried. “Feodor Balinsky, master of the world, arbiter of life and death for millions, trapped in a sound-proof room and at the mercy of Tiberius !” Balinsky grew pale as he looked into the threatening muzzle. “What do you want?” he demanded in a voice which quavered slightly, despite his heroic attempt at self- control. “Tliat will appear later,” replied Vestoff quietly. “Sit down in that chair. Tie him, Ilga.” He tossed her a coil of rope which he held in his left hand and Ilga bound Balinsky firmly in the chair. “Shall I gag him, Boris?” she asked. “No, let the rat squeal. Now, Feodor Balinsky, you are face to face with your maker. On the promptness and completeness with which you answer my questions depends your chance for life. The first question is this: We know that you have prepared an anti-virus for pneumonia which will store and which you now have ready for use. Where is it kept ?” A stubborn expression came over Balinsky’s face. “What do you want of it?” he asked. “Don’t ask questions; answer them.” “I won’t tell you.” “I will give you thirty seconds in which to answer me. If you do not, your blood is on your own head.” “If you kill me, you will never learn,” exclaimed Balinsky. “What can I offer you to obtain my release? Power? You shall be one of the Council of Seven. Wealth? The world shall pay you tribute. Women? You shall have as many as you wish with all of the world from which to choose. Name your price.” “Ilga,” said Vestoff in a cold voice as he handed her a knife, “remove his shoes and socks and slit his trous- ers up to the knees.” “What are you going to do ?” cried Balinsky, the sweat standing in beads on his forehead. “I am a skilled surgeon, Balinsky. As you are a sui^ geon, you will, no doubt, appreciate my motives. I have always wished to dissect the body of a living man without anesthesia in order to study the muscular re- actions. This is my first opportunity. Since your life has become forfeit, it is well that observations of value to mankind result from your death. You should watch me with scientific interest, Balinsky. I am called a skillful operator.” Fascinated in spite of himself, Balinsky watched Ves- toff take from his pocket a small operating kit and spread the gleaming instruments out on the desk. “It is no part of my plan that you die of blood loss,” he remarked as he adjusted a tourniquet to Balinsky’s leg. “However, since you are to eventually die, I will not bother overmuch with asepsis. My first operation will be to remove the skin from your foot and ankle. I will then amputate your toes, one at a time and finally remove your foot at the metatarsal joint. Then I will start on the other foot. Observe the skill of my move- ments.” 502 AMAZING STORIES H e took a scalpel and slit the skin on the top of the foot. Starting at the slit he began to remove the skin and expose the muscles and nerves. His movements were skillful and careful, but very slow. Balinsky writhed futilely at his bonds and his screams of pain filled the sound-proof room. Vestofi went methodically along with his work, but Ilga stopped her ears with her fingers. “I will now take off the large toe,” announced Vestoff casually. “I trust that you are enjoying the exhibition.” “Stop!” screamed Balinsky, “I will tell you.” Vestoff straightened up. “Really?” he said with a tone of mild interest. “I hate to interrupt my experiments. However, I sup- pose that I must keep my word. Where is it?” “In the safe in my private laboratory.” “And the combination of that safe?” Balinsky maintained a stubborn silence and Vestoff picked up the scalpel. As it touched his raw flesh, Balinsky spoke. “Right to eighty-four, left three times to twenty-six, right twice to eleven, left to forty-four and right to open.” “And which serum is it?” “The bottle marked ‘3-X’.” “Very well. Ilga, you will go to the safe and bring the serum here together with a syringe and a needle. Balinsky, if you make a sound while that door is open, I will remove your right eye next.” Ilga returned in a few minutes with the bottle of serum and a hypodermic syringe. “Will this serum immunize as well as cure?” asked Vestoff. “Yes. Give three minims as an intravenous injec- tion.” “Since I fear that the exposure to which you have been subjected may cause you to contract pneumonia, I will first immunize you, Balinsky,” remarked Vestoff as he filled the syringe. As he approached the bound man needle in hand, Balinsky shrank back in horror. “No, not that,” he moaned. Vestoff paused. “Ah,” he exclaimed with a smile, “I expected as much. I really am not stupid, Balinsky. Which is this, cancer or leprosy?” “Bubonic plague,” muttered the prisoner. “Now perhaps you will tell us which is the anti- pneumonia serum,” he said. Balinsky shut his lips stubbornly and shook his head. “Then I will inoculate you with this Itefore proceed- ing with my operations,” said Vestoff. As the needle of death touched him, Balinsky shrank back as far as he could. Vestoff pressed the needle slowly forward with a grim smile. Just before his skin gave, Balinsky cried out. “I will tell,” he exclaimed. “Very well,” replied Vestoff withdrawing the needle. “Which is it?” Balinsky hesitated and Vestoff touched him again with the needle. “It is in the locked compartment of my safe,” moaned the tortured man. “The keys are in my pocket. It is in tubes and is the only serum in that compartment.” “Get it, Ilga,” directed her brother. When she returned with the serum, Balinsky sub- mitted to an injection without protest. “That is satisfactory,” said Vestoff. “However, there are several things left for you to explain. There are only about three hundred tubes of serum here. Either you have a larger supply some place or there is some method of rapidly reproducing it. Which is it?” “I won’t tell. You have enough for yourself. Do with it as you please. I will say no more.” “I am glad that you are stubborn, Balinsky, remarked Vestoff as he picked up the scalpel. “You force me to remove one of your eyes and that is an operation that I have often wished to perform.” He seized the upper lid of Balinsky’s right eye with a pair of forceps and with his scalpel started to remove it. “I will tell !” screamed Balinsky. Vestoff dropped the scalpel with an exclamation of annoyance. “Really, Balinsky,” he said, “you force me to forego all pleasure. Speak.” “Inject the contents of each of those tubes into the shoulder of a horse. In six hours you may draw his blood, coagulate it and wash the serum with a saturated solution of dimethyloxamide in ether and it is ready for use. The dose for a person is two minims for immun- ization and five for cure. The dose for a horse is sixty minims.” “Can the serum thus prepared be used on another horse to increase the amount?” “Yes, but each time that it is used, you must double the time of waiting or double the dose, as it progres- sively weakens.” “Balinsky, I am really sorry that you would not let me pursue my experiments on unanesthetized operations. However, the world is waiting anxiously for this prepa- ration, so we must leave you. One more question be- fore we go; wbat is the secret of your new airfleet?” “I don’t know,” said Balinsky earnestly. “Each of the Council of Seven has his specialty and does not pry into the work of the others. Nashky can tell you, but I cannot.” Vestoff picked up the scalpel again with a smile. “No, before God, I do not know. You may inoculate me with buljonic plague, but I cannot tell you.” The scalpel cut the eyelid slightly. “I cannot tell; I do not know. For the love of the Virgin, have mercy!” “I think that he speaks the truth, Boris,” said Ilga. Vestoff laid down the scalpel. “So do I,” he said. “There is only one thing left. I will move you to the desk and there you will write out a pass that will allow us to leave Russia unhindered in our own machine.” “You will not leave me here bound to starve?” cried the prisoner. “No, I will not. Wlien we leave, we will partially cut your bonds so that you can free yourself in an hour or two of liard effort. If it takes you longer, you may lose your right foot from gangrene, due to the tourniquet, but I believe that you will be able to free yourself. If you do not, I will send a call to Zaneff from New York and tell him your position, so your eventual release will be assured.” With the pass securely buttoned in his tunic, Vestoff spoke again. “Use your communicator,” he said, “and order my Spadile to be brought to the palace roof fully charged and ready for flight. Try no tricks when your key is open, for I can both inoculate you with plague and THE RED PERIL 503 blind you before assistance could reach you. Order my ship equipped with a right-of-way light and an ultra- violet searchlight.” An hour later, the button of Balinsky’s communicator began to glow and the Spadile was announced as being in readiness. Vestoflf cut partially through the ropes that bound the prisoner and, followed by Ilga, left the .sound-proof room with the precious bundle of serum under his arm. Ilga maintained her composure while the pass was be- ing examined and until the Spadile had reached the fifty thousand foot level. As Vestoff pushed the indicator of his propeller to maximum speed forward, she screamed once and then burst into hysterical laughter. Vestoff switched on his right-of-way light, locked his rudder and turned to her. ‘‘Buck up, Ilga!” he cried as he grasped her firmly and pressed firmly and steadily on the nerve centers be- hind her ears. ‘‘You have done splendidly so far but we aren’t out of the woods yet.” ‘‘I can’t help it, Boris,” she gasped between shrieks of wild laughter, ‘‘His screams ” ‘‘Isn’t that a ship after us?” cried Vestoff sharply. The thought of danger drove Ilga’s hysterics momen- tarily from her mind and she seized the earphones of the sound locator and pressed them to her ears. ‘‘I don’t hear anything,” she said. ‘‘I thought that I did,” replied Vestoff with a silent smile. ‘‘Listen carefully while I press her to the limit.” F or an hour the tiny Spadile tore on through the night. Once clear of Iceland, Vestoff turned his craft southwest and headed on a compass bearing for New York City. Hardly had he set his course than Ilga spoke. “I hear motors behind us,” she said. ‘‘What type and how many?” ‘‘Heavy concentrators. About four. I can hear no elevating fans, but propellers are turning at high speed and there is some sound that I don’t know. Unless I am mistaken, it is the Russian fleet that did the bomb- ing.” “No doubt. They would trust no ordinary craft out- side their boundaries,” said Vestoff as he crowded his indicator forward, striving to coax a little more speed out of the Spadile. Louder and louder came the hum of the motors of the pursuing craft. “There is no question as to what ships they are,” he said grimly. “I must have cut too nearly through Balin- sky’s bonds. I had better call for help.” He left his ship to take care of itself and pressed his communicator key. “This is Doctor Vestoff of New York,” he said. “I have just escaped from Russia with serums that will cure every ca.se of pneumonia in the infected areas. I am hotly pursued by the Russian fleet. Put me through to the President of the United States.” “The President cannot be disturbed,” came the answer in a few minutes. “Damn you and your officiousness !” raged Vestoff. “This is a vital matter. Give me anyone in authority.” In a few moments a sleepy voice spoke. “This is General Diesen,” it said. Hurriedly Vestoff told his story. “Have three hundred horses and as many surgeons ready against my arrival,” he finished, “and ask Field Marshal Van Hornung to send every available craft aloft. They can’t harm these monsters, but they may delay them and confuse them enough to let me land.” “Everything shall be done, doctor,” said General Die- sen, the sleep gone from his voice. “What is your course and location?” “Drop on a long slant to twenty thousand,” he said when Vestoff had given him the information, “the Al- lied fleets will meet you and pass over you at about forty thousand as soon as they can get under way. As soon as the fleets have passed, drop again to five thous- and. I think we’ll stop them all right I” Vestoff dropped on a long slant toward New York, his ultrasearchlight blazing beside his right-of-way light. The hum of the Russian motors came clearer and louder and his instruments began to glow faintly. “Where are the Allied ships?” he fumed. “There they come 1” cried Ilga. Far above them ship after ship flashed by, visible for an instant in his upturned searchlight. The Spadile was traveling faster than sound, but from far behind them, Vestoff and Ilga could see the flash of radite shells as the Allied fleet met the Russians and poured a rain of fire into them. Two hundred miles ahead the ultra-violet aircraft beacons of New York blinked a wel- come and Vestoff reduced his speed and slanted down toward them. Far behind him. Field Marshal Van Hornung looked through his fluoroscope detector and watched the battle in the air. The criss-cross gleams of the ultra-search- lights lighted up the sky, and the four Soviet craft could be seen forging relentlessly ahead, unheeding the rain of shells that were poured on them, “Where is that ship of Hamilton’s?” he asked anx- iously. “It’s coming. Marshal,” replied the Communications Officer. “With the weight it is carrying, it is slower than the main fleet. Here it comes.” I NTO the beam of the flagship’s searchlight sailed a huge transport aerostat. In place of the usual cabin, it carried on its upper deck two huge generators and pointing ominously forward was a long tube at the rear end of which the Marshal knew was a parabolic reflector and a wave projector. Forward the transport moved until it was almost under the first of the Russian craft. The tube swung upward and the roar of generators could be heard. The tone of the generators changed and ran up and down the scale as Hamilton changed the frequency of the wave motion he was generating. The Marshal focused his sound locator on the Russian ship and listened in an agony of doubt. Suddenly the Rus- sian motors missed a beat, and as they did so the ship dropped like a plummet. It recovered almost instantly and resumed its even hum, but the Marshal’s face lighted up with exultation. “He’s done it!” he cried. “What’s he up to now?” The transport aerostat drew out of the fight for a moment and started to climb. Once above the Russian ship, the long tube swung downward. Almost at once the hum of the Russian’s generators ceased and like a lump of lead the ship plunged toward the ocean. Down and down it went. Van Hornung grasped the trans- mitter of his communicator from the hands of the officer who held it. “Fire on that failing ship!” he shouted. Heavy radite shells were on their way before his voice ceased. They crashed (Continued on page 521) \buNG Old M an By Earl L. Bell Author of "The Moon of Doom" ffOiat science did for a young man in a moment of sad desire W HEN we examine the amount of scientific progress that was made in the medieval ages, it is astonishing how little was accomplished. It is plausible to consider, as a very important reason, the rampant superstitions of those days and the readiness with which people who dared utter a word that was not generally accepted as gospel truth, were burned at the stake or otherwise executed as witches or aides of the devil. It might prove of inestimable value if we could transcribe the hieroglyphics that compose the Roger Bacon Formulas which were lately supposed to have been discovered, for Bacon, the writer and Franciscan Monk, was also a scientist of no mean ability. Mr. Bell, who is known to our readers as the author of *‘The Moon of Doom,'' has easily exceeded himself in this story on this theme of age