Skylark Three Page 3

  CHAPTER II

  Dunark Visits Earth

  Martin Crane reclined in a massive chair, the fingers of his right handlightly touching those of his left, listening attentively. RichardSeaton strode up and down the room before his friend, his unruly brownhair on end, speaking savagely between teeth clenched upon the stem ofhis reeking, battered briar, brandishing a sheaf of papers.

  "Mart, we're stuck--stopped dead. If my head wasn't made of solid bluemush I'd have had a way figured out of this thing before now, but Ican't. With that zone of force the Skylark would have everythingimaginable--without it, we're exactly where we were before. That zone isimmense, man--terrific--its possibilities are unthinkable--and I'm socussed dumb that I can't find out how to use it intelligently--can't useit at all, for that matter. By its very nature it is impenetrable to anyform of matter, however applied; and this calc here," slapping viciouslythe sheaf of papers containing his calculations, "shows that it mustalso be opaque to any wave whatever, propagated through air or throughether, clear down to cosmic rays. Behind it, we would be blind andhelpless, so we can't use it at all. It drives me frantic! Think of abarrier of pure force, impalpable, immaterial, and exerted along ageometrical surface of no thickness whatever--and yet actual enough tostop even a Millikan ray that travels a hundred thousand light-years andthen goes through twenty-seven feet of solid lead just like it was somuch vacuum! That's what we're up against! However, I'm going to try outthat model, Mart, right now. Come on, guy, snap into it! Let's getbusy!"

  "You are getting idiotic again, Dick," Crane rejoined calmly, withoutmoving. "You know, even better than I do, that you are playing with themost concentrated essence of energy that the world has ever seen. Thatzone of force probably can be generated----"

  "Probably, nothing!" barked Seaton. "It's just as evident a fact as thatstool," kicking the unoffending bit of furniture half-way across theroom as he spoke. "If you'd've let me, I'd've shown it to youyesterday!"

  "Undoubtedly, then. Grant that it is impenetrable to all matter and toall known waves. Suppose that it should prove impenetrable also togravitation and to magnetism? Those phenomena probably depend upon theether, but we know nothing fundamental of their nature, nor of that ofthe ether. Therefore your calculations, comprehensive though they are,cannot predict the effect upon them of your zone of force. Suppose thatthat zone actually does set up a barrier in the ether, so that itnullifies gravitation, magnetism, and all allied phenomena; so that thepower-bars, the attractors and repellers, cannot work through it? Thenwhat? As well as showing me the zone of force, you might well have shownme yourself flying off into space, unable to use your power and helplessif you released the zone. No, we must know more of the fundamentalsbefore you try even a small-scale experiment."

  "Oh, bugs! You're carrying caution to extremes, Mart. What can happen?Even if gravitation should be nullified, I would rise only slowly,heading south the angle of our latitude--that's thirty-ninedegrees--away from the perpendicular. I couldn't shoot off on a tangent,as some of these hot-heads have been claiming. Inertia would make mekeep pace, approximately, with the earth in its rotation. I would riseslowly--only as fast as the tangent departs from the curvature of theearth's surface. I haven't figured out how fast that is, but it must bepretty slow."

  "Pretty slow?" Crane smiled. "Figure it out."

  "All right--but I'll bet it's slower than the rise of a toy balloon."Seaton threw down the papers and picked up his slide-rule, a twenty-inchtrigonometrical duplex. "You'll concede that it is allowable to neglectthe radial component of the orbital velocity of the earth for a firstapproximation, won't you--or shall I figure that in too?"

  "You may ignore that factor."

  "All right--let's see. Radius of rotation here in Washington would becosine latitude times equatorial radius, approximately--call itthirty-two hundred miles. Angular velocity, fifteen degrees an hour. Iwant secant fifteen less one times thirty-two hundred. Right? Secantequals one over cosine--um-m-m-m--one point oh three five. Then point ohthree five times thirty-two hundred. Hundred and twelve miles firsthour. Velocity constant with respect to sun, accelerated respectingpoint of departure. Ouch! You win, Mart--I'd kinda step out! Well, howabout this, then? I'll put on a vacuum suit and carry rations. Harnessoutside, with the same equipment I used in the test flights before webuilt _Skylark I--plus_ the new stuff and a coil. Then throw on thezone, and see what happens. There can't be any jar in taking off, andwith that outfit I can get back O. K. if I go clear to Jupiter!"

  Crane sat in silence, his keen mind considering every aspect of themotions possible, of velocity, of acceleration, of inertia. He alreadyknew well Seaton's resourcefulness in crises and his physical and mentalstrength.

  "As far as I can see, that might be safe," he admitted finally, "and wereally should know something about it besides the theory."

  "Fine, Mart--let's get busy! I'll be ready in five minutes. Yell for thegirls, will you? They'd break us off at the ankles if we pull anythingnew without letting them in on it."

  A few minutes later the "girls" strolled out into Crane Field, armsaround each other--Dorothy Seaton, her gorgeous auburn hair framingviolet eyes and vivid coloring; black-haired, dark-eyed Margaret Crane.

  "Br-r-r, it's cold!" Dorothy shivered, wrapping her coat more closelyabout her. "This must be the coldest day Washington has seen for years!"

  "It is cold," Margaret agreed. "I wonder what they are going to do outhere, this kind of weather?"

  * * * * *

  As she spoke, the two men stepped out of the "testing shed"--the hugestructure that housed their Osnomian-built space-cruiser, "Skylark II."Seaton waddled clumsily, wearing as he did a Crane vacuum-suit which,built of fur, canvas, metal and transparent silica, braced by steelnetting and equipped with air-tanks and heaters, rendered its wearerindependent of outside conditions of temperature and pressure. Outsidethis suit he wore a heavy harness of leather, buckled about his body,shoulders, and legs, attached to which were numerous knobs, switches,dials, bakelite cases, and other pieces of apparatus. Carried by astrong aluminum framework in turn supported by the harness, theuniversal bearing of a small power-bar rose directly above hisgrotesque-looking helmet.

  "What do you think you're going to do in that thing, Dickie?" Dorothycalled. Then, knowing that he could not hear her voice, she turned toCrane. "What are you letting that precious husband of mine do now,Martin? He looks as though he were up to something."

  While she was speaking, Seaton had snapped the release of his faceplate.

  "Nothing much, Dottie. Just going to show you-all the zone of force.Mart wouldn't let me turn it on, unless I got all cocked and primed fora year's journey into space."

  "Dot, what is that zone of force, anyway?" asked Margaret.

  "Oh, it's something Dick got into his head during that awful fight theyhad on Osnome. He hasn't thought of anything else since we got back. Youknow how the attractors and repellers work? Well, he found out somethingfunny about the way everything acted while the Mardonalians werebombarding them with a certain kind of a wave-length. He finally figuredout the exact ray that did it, and found out that if it is made stronglyenough, it acts as if a repeller and attractor were workingtogether--only so much stronger that nothing can get through theboundary, either way--in fact, it's so strong that it cuts anything intwo that's in the way. And the funny thing is that there's nothing thereat all, really; but Dick says that the forces meeting there, orsomething, make it act as though something really important were there.See?"

  "Uh-huh," assented Margaret, doubtfully, just as Crane finished thefinal adjustments and moved toward them. A safe distance away fromSeaton, he turned and waved his hand.

  Instantly Seaton disappeared from view, and around the place where hehad stood there appeared a shimmering globe some twenty feet indiameter--a globe apparently a perfect spherical mirror, which dartedupward and toward the south. After a moment the globe disappeared andSeaton was again seen. He was now standing up
on a hemispherical mass ofearth. He darted back toward the group upon the ground, while the massof earth fell with a crash a quarter of a mile away. High above theirheads the mirror again encompassed Seaton, and again shot upward andsouthward. Five times this maneuver was repeated before Seaton camedown, landing easily in front of them and opening his helmet.

  "It's just what we thought it was, only worse," he reported tersely."Can't do a thing with it. Gravitation won't work through it--barswon't--nothing will. And dark? _Dark!_ Folks, you ain't never seen nodarkness, nor heard no silence. It scared me stiff!"

  "Poor little boy--afraid of the dark!" exclaimed Dorothy. "We sawabsolute blackness in space."

  "Not like this, you didn't. I just saw absolute darkness and heardabsolute silence for the first time in my life. I never imaginedanything like it--come on up with me and I'll show it to you."

  "No you won't!" his wife shrieked as she retreated toward Crane. "Someother time, perhaps."

  Seaton removed the harness and glanced at the spot from which he hadtaken off, where now appeared a hemispherical hole in the ground.

  "Let's see what kind of tracks I left, Mart," and the two men bent overthe depression. They saw with astonishment that the cut surface wasperfectly smooth, with not even the slightest roughness or irregularityvisible. Even the smallest loose grains of sand had been sheared in twoalong a mathematically exact hemispherical surface by the inconceivableforce of the disintegrating copper bar.

  "Well, that sure wins the----"

  An alarm bell sounded. Without a glance around, Seaton seized Dorothyand leaped into the testing shed. Dropping her unceremoniously to thefloor he stared through the telescope sight of an enormous ray-generatorwhich had automatically aligned itself upon the distant point ofliberation of intra-atomic energy which had caused the alarm to sound.One hand upon the switch, his face was hard and merciless as he waitedto make sure of the identity of the approaching space-ship, before hereleased the frightful power of his generator upon it.

  "I've been expecting DuQuesne to try it again," he gritted, striving tomake out the visitor, yet more than two hundred miles distant. "He's outto get you, Dot--and this time I'm not just going to warm him up andscare him away, as I did last time. This time that misguided mutt'sgoing to get frizzled right.... I can't locate him with this smalltelescope, Mart. Line him up in the big one and give me the word, willyou?"

  "I see him, Dick, but it is not DuQuesne's ship. It is built oftransparent arenak, like the 'Kondal.' Even though it seems impossible,I believe it is the 'Kondal'."

  "Maybe so, and again maybe DuQuesne built it--or stole it. On secondthought, though, I don't believe that DuQuesne would be fool enough totackle us again in the same way--but I'm taking no chances.... O. K., itis the 'Kondal,' I can see Dunark and Sitar myself, now."

  The transparent vessel soon neared the field and the four Terrestrialswalked out to greet their Osnomian friends. Through the arenak wallsthey recognized Dunark, Kofedix of Kondal, at the controls, and sawSitar, his beautiful young queen, lying in one of the seats near thewall. She attempted a friendly greeting, but her face was strained asthough she were laboring under a burden too great for her to bear.

  As they watched, Dunark slipped a helmet over his head and one overSitar's, pressed a button to open one of the doors, and supported hertoward the opening.

  "They mustn't come out, Dick!" exclaimed Dorothy in dismay. "They'llfreeze to death in five minutes without any clothes on!"

  "Yes, and Sitar can't stand up under our gravitation, either--I doubt ifDunark can, for long," and Seaton dashed toward the vessel, motioningthe visitor back.

  But misunderstanding the signal, Dunark came on. As he clambered heavilythrough the door he staggered as though under an enormous weight, andSitar collapsed upon the frozen ground. Trying to help her,half-kneeling over her, Dunark struggled, his green skin paling to ayellowish tinge at the touch of the bitter and unexpected cold. Seatonleaped forward and gathered Sitar up in his mighty arms as though shewere a child.

  _Trying to help her, half kneeling over her, Dunarkstruggled, his green skin paling to a yellowish tinge at the touch ofthe bitter and unexpected cold._]

  "Help Dunark back in, Mart," he directed crisply. "Hop in, girls--we'vegot to take these folks back up where they can live."

  Seaton shut the door, and as everyone lay flat in the seats Crane, whohad taken the controls, applied one notch of power and the huge vesselleaped upward. Miles of altitude were gained before Crane brought thecruiser to a stop and locked her in place with an anchoring attractor.

  "There," he remarked calmly, "gravitation here is approximately the sameas it is upon Osnome."

  "Yes," put in Seaton, standing up and shedding clothing in alldirections, "and I rise to remark that we'd better undress as far as thelaw allows--perhaps farther. I never did like Osnomian ideas ofcomfortable warmth, but we can endure it by peeling down tobedrock----"

  * * * * *

  Sitar jumped up happily, completely restored, and the three women threwtheir arms around each other.

  "What a horrible, terrible, frightful world!" exclaimed Sitar, her eyeswidening as she thought of her first experience with our earth. "Much asI love you, I shall never dare try to visit you again. I have never beenable to understand why you Terrestrials wear what you call 'clothes,'nor why you are so terribly, brutally strong. Now I really know--I willfeel the utterly cold and savage embrace of that awful earth of yours aslong as I live!"

  "Oh, it's not so bad, Sitar." Seaton, who was shaking both of Dunark'shands vigorously, assured her over his shoulder. "All depends on whereyou were raised. We like it that way, and Osnome gives us the pip. Butyou poor fish," turning again to Dunark, "with all my brains inside yourskull, you should have known what you were letting yourself in for."

  "That's true, after a fashion," Dunark admitted, "but your brain told methat Washington was _hot_. If I'd have thought to recalculate youractual Fahrenheit degrees into our loro ... but that figures onlyforty-seven and, while very cold, we could have endured it--wait aminute, I'm getting it. You have what you call 'seasons.' This, then,must be your 'winter.' Right?"

  "Right the first time. That's the way your brain works behind my pan,too. I could figure anything out all right after it happened, but hardlyever beforehand--so I guess I can't blame you much, at that. But what Iwant to know is, how'd you get here? It would take more than mybrains--you can't see our sun from anywhere near Osnome, even if youknew exactly where to look for it."

  "Easy. Remember those wrecked instruments you threw out of _Skylark I_when we built _Skylark II_?" Having every minute detail of theconfiguration of Seaton's brain engraved upon his own, Dunark spokeEnglish in Seaton's own characteristic careless fashion. Only whenthinking deeply or discussing abstruse matter did Seaton employ thecarefully selected and precise phrasing, which he knew so well how touse. "Well, none of them was beyond repair and the juice was still onmost of them. One was an object-compass bearing on the Earth. We simplyfixed the bearings, put on some minor improvements, and here we are."

  "Let us all sit down and be comfortable," he continued, changing intothe Kondalian tongue without a break, "and I will explain why we havecome. We are in most desperate need of two things which you alone cansupply--salt, and that strange metal, 'X'. Salt I know you have in greatabundance, but I know that you have very little of the metal. You haveonly the one compass upon that planet?"

  "That's all--one is all we set on it. However, we've got close to half aton of the metal on hand--you can have all you want."

  "Even if I took it all, which I would not like to do, that would be lessthan half enough. We must have at least one of your tons, and two tonswould be better."

  "Two tons! Holy cat! Are you going to plate a fleet of battle cruisers?"

  "More than that. We must plate an area of copper of some ten thousandsquare miles--in fact, the very life of our entire race depends uponit."

  "It's this way," he continued
, as the four earth-beings stared at him inwonder. "Shortly after you left Osnome we were invaded by theinhabitants of the third planet of our fourteenth sun. Luckily for usthey landed upon Mardonale, and in less than two days there was not asingle Osnomian left alive upon that half of the planet. They wiped outour grand fleet in one brief engagement, and it was only the _Kondal_and a few more like her that enabled us to keep them from crossing theocean. Even with our full force of these vessels, we cannot defeat them.Our regular Kondalian weapons were useless. We shot explosive coppercharges against them of such size as to cause earthquakes all overOsnome, without seriously crippling their defenses. Their offensiveweapons are almost irresistible--they have generators that burn arenakas though it were so much paper, and a series of deadly frequenciesagainst which only a copper-driven ray screen is effective, and eventhat does not stand up long."

  "How come you lasted till now, then?" asked Seaton.

  "They have nothing like the _Skylark_, and no knowledge of intra-atomicenergy. Therefore their space-ships are of the rocket type, and for thatreason they can cross only at the exact time of conjunction, or whateveryou call it--no, not conjunction, exactly, either, since the two planetsdo not revolve around the same sun: but when they are closest together.Our solar system is so complex, you know, that unless the trips aretimed exactly, to the hour, the vessels will not be able to land uponOsnome, but will be drawn aside and be lost, if not actually drawn intothe vast central sun. Although it may not have occurred to you, a littlereflection will show that the inhabitants of all the central planets,such as Osnome, must perforce be absolutely ignorant of astronomy, andof all the wonders of outer space. Before your coming we knew nothingbeyond our own solar system, and very little of that. We knew of theexistence of only such of the closest planets as were brilliant enoughto be seen in our continuous sunlight, and they were few. Immediatelyafter your coming I gave your knowledge of astronomy to a group of ourforemost physicists and mathematicians, and they have been workingceaselessly from space-ships--close enough so that observations could berecalculated to Osnome, and yet far enough away to afford perfect'seeing,' as you call it."

  "But I don't know any more about astronomy than a pig does aboutSunday," protested Seaton.

  "Your knowledge of details is, of course, incomplete," conceded Dunark,"but the detailed knowledge of the best of your Earthly astronomerswould not help us a great deal, since we are so far removed from you inspace. You, however, have a very clear and solid knowledge of thefundamentals of the science, and that is what we need, above allthings."

  "Well, maybe you're right, at that. I do know the general theory of themotions, and I studied some Celestial Mechanics. I'm awfully weak onadvanced theory, though, as you'll find out when you get that far."

  "Perhaps--but since our enemies have no knowledge of astronomy whatever,it is not surprising that their rocket-ships can be launched only at oneparticularly favorable time; for there are many planets and satellites,of which they can know nothing, to throw their vessels off the course.

  "Some material essential to the operation of their war machineryapparently must come from their own planet, for they have ceasedattacking, have dug in, and are simply holding their ground. It may bethat they had not anticipated as much resistance as we could offer withspace-ships and intra-atomic energy. At any rate, they have apparentlysaved enough of that material to enable them to hold out until the nextconjunction--I cannot think of a better word for it--shall occur. Ourforces are attacking constantly, with all the armament at our command,but it is certain that if the next conjunction is allowed to occur, itmeans the end of the entire Kondalian nation."'

  "What d'you mean 'if the next conjunction is _allowed_ to occur?'"interjected Seaton. "Nobody can stop it."

  "I am stopping it," Dunark stated quietly, grim purpose in everylineament. "That conjunction shall never occur. That is why I must havethe vast quantities of salt and 'X'. We are building abutments of arenakupon the first satellite of our seventh planet, and upon our sixthplanet itself. We shall cover them with plated active copper, andinstall chronometers to throw the switches at precisely the rightmoment. We have calculated the exact times, places, and magnitudes ofthe forces to be used. We shall throw the sixth planet some distance outof its orbit, and force the first satellite of the seventh planet clearout of that planet's influence. The two bodies whose motions we havethus changed will collide in such a way that the resultant body willmeet the planet of our enemies in head-on collision, long before thenext conjunction. The two bodies will be of almost equal masses, andwill have opposite and approximately equal velocities; hence theresultant fused or gaseous mass will be practically without velocity andwill fall directly into the fourteenth sun."

  "Wouldn't it be easier to destroy it with an explosive copper bomb?"

  "Easier, yes, but much more dangerous to the rest of our solar system.We cannot calculate exactly the effect of the collisions we areplanning--but it is almost certain that an explosion of sufficientviolence to destroy all life upon the planet would disturb its motionsufficiently to endanger the entire system. The way we have in mind willsimply allow the planet and one satellite to drop out quietly--the otherplanets of the same sun will soon adjust themselves to the newconditions, and the system at large will be practically unaffected--atleast, so we believe."

  Seaton's eyes narrowed as his thoughts turned to the quantities ofcopper and "X" required and to the engineering features of the project;Crane's first thought was of the mathematics involved in a computationof that magnitude and character; Dorothy's quick reaction was one ofpure horror.

  "He can't, Dick! He mustn't! It would be too ghastly! It'soutrageous--it's unthinkable--it's--it's--it's simply too horrible!" Herviolet eyes flamed, and Margaret joined in:

  "That would be awful, Martin. Think of the destruction of a wholeplanet--of an entire world--with all its inhabitants! It makes meshudder, even to think of it."

  * * * * *

  Dunark leaped to his feet, ablaze. But before he could say a word,Seaton silenced him.

  "Shut up, Dunark! Pipe down! Don't say anything you'll be sorry for--let_me_ tell 'em! Close your mouth, I tell you!" as Dunark still tried toget a word in, "I tell you I'll tell 'em, and when I tell 'em they staytold! Now listen, you two girls--you're going off half-cocked and you'reboth full of little red ants. What do you think Dunark is up against?Sherman chirped it when he described war--and this is a real he-war; abrand totally unknown on our Earth. It isn't a question of whether ornot to destroy a population--the only question is which population is tobe destroyed. One of them's got to go. Remember those folks go into awar thoroughly, and there isn't a thought, even remotely resembling ourconception of mercy in any of their minds on either side. If Dunark'splans go through the enemy nation will be wiped out. That is horrible,of course. But on the other hand, if we block him off from salt and 'X,'the entire Kondalian nation will be destroyed just as thoroughly andefficiently, and even more horribly--not one man, woman, or child wouldbe spared. Which nation do you want saved? Play that over a couple oftimes on your adding machine, Dot, and let me know what you get."

  Dorothy, taken aback, opened and closed her mouth twice before she foundher voice.

  "But, Dick, they couldn't possibly. Would they kill them all, Dick?Surely they wouldn't--they _couldn't_."

  "Surely they would--and could. They do--it's good technique in thoseparts of the Galaxy. Dunark has just told us of how they killed everymember of the entire race of Mardonalians, in forty hours. Kondal wouldgo the same way. Don't kid yourself, Dimples--don't be a child. War upthere is _no_ species of pink tea, believe me--half of my brain has beenthrough thirty years of Osnomian warfare, and I know precisely what I'mtalking about. Let's take a vote. Personally, I'm in favor of Osnome.Mart?"

  "Osnome."

  "Dottie? Peggy?" Both remained silent for some time, then Dorothy turnedto Margaret.

  "You tell him, Peggy--we both feel the same way."

&nbs
p; "Dick, you know that we wouldn't want the Kondalians destroyed--but theother is so--such a--well, such an utter _shrecklichkeit_--isn't theresome other way out?"

  "I'm afraid not--but if there is any other possible way out, I'll do myda--to help find it," he promised. "The ayes have it. Dunark, we'll skipover to that 'X' planet and load you up."

  Dunark grasped Seaton's hand. "Thanks, Dick," he said, simply. "Butbefore you help me farther, and lest I might be in some degree sailingunder false colors, I must tell you that, wearer of the seven disksthough you are, Overlord of Osnome though you are, my brain brotherthough you are; had you decided against me, nothing but my death couldhave kept me away from that salt and your 'X' compass."

  "Why sure," assented Seaton, in surprise. "Why not? Fair enough! Anybodywould do the same--don't let that bother you."

  "How is your supply of platinum?" asked Dunark.

  "Mighty low. We had about decided to hop over there after some. I wantsome of your textbooks on electricity and so on, too. I see you broughta load of platinum with you."

  "Yes, a few hundred tons. We also brought along an assortment of books Iknew you would be interested in, a box of radium, a few small bags ofgems of various kinds, and some of our fabrics, Sitar thought yourKarfediro would like to have. While we are here, I would like to getsome books on chemistry and some other things."

  "We'll get you the Congressional Library, if you want it, and anythingelse you think you'd like. Well, gang, let's go places and do things!What to do, Mart?"

  "We had better drop back to Earth, have the laborers unload theplatinum, and load on the salt, books, and other things. Then both shipswill go to the 'X' planet, as we will each want compasses on it, forfuture use. While we are loading, I should like to begin remodeling ourinstruments; to make them something like these; with Dunark'spermission. These instruments are wonders, Dick--vastly ahead ofanything I have ever seen. Come and look at them, if you want to seesomething really beautiful."

  "Coming up. But say, Mart, while I think of it, we mustn't forget toinstall a zone-of-force apparatus on this boat, too. Even though wecan't use it intelligently, it certainly would be a winner as a defense.We couldn't hurt anybody through it, of course, but if we should happento be getting licked anywhere, all we'd have to do would be to wrapourselves up in it. They couldn't touch us. Nothing in the etherspectrum is corkscrewy enough to get through it."

  "That's the second idea you've had since I've known you, Dicky," Dorothysmiled at Crane. "Do you think he should be allowed to run at large,Martin?"

  "That is a real idea. We may need it--you never can tell. Even if wenever find any other use for the zone of force, that one is amplysufficient to justify its installation."

  "Yes, it would be, for you--and I'm getting to be a regular Safety-FirstSimon myself, since they opened up on us. What about those instruments?"

  * * * * *

  The three men gathered around the instrument-board and Dunark explainedthe changes he had made--and to such men as Seaton and Crane it was soonevident that they were examining an installation embodying sheerperfection of instrumental control--a system which only those wonderinstrument-makers, the Osnomians, could have devised. The newobject-compasses were housed in arenak cases after setting, and thehousings were then exhausted to the highest attainable vacuum.Oscillation was set up by means of one carefully standardized electricalimpulse, instead of by the clumsy finger-touch Seaton had used. Thebearings, built of arenak and Osnomian jewels, were as strong as theaxles of a truck and yet were almost perfectly frictionless.

  "I like them myself," admitted Dunark. "Without a load the needles willrotate freely more than a thousand hours on the primary impulse, asagainst a few minutes in the old type; and under load they are manythousands of times as sensitive."

  "You're a blinding flash and a deafening report, ace!" declared Seaton,enthusiastically. "That compass is as far ahead of my model as the_Skylark_ is ahead of Wright's first glider."

  The other instruments were no less noteworthy. Dunark had adopted thePerkins telephone system, but had improved it until it was scarcelyrecognized and had made it capable of almost unlimited range. Even theguns--heavy rapid-firers, mounted in spherical bearings in thewalls--were aimed and fired by remote control, from the board. He haddevised full automatic steering controls; and meters and recorders foracceleration, velocity, distance, and flight-angle. He had perfected asystem of periscopic vision, which enabled the pilot to see the entireoutside surfaces of the shell, and to look toward any point of theheavens without interference.

  "This kind of takes my eye, too, prince," Seaton said, as he seatedhimself, swung a large, concave disk in front of him, and experimentedwith levers and dials. "You certainly can't call this thing aperiscope--it's no more a periscope than I am a polyp. When you lookthrough this plate, it's better than looking out of a window--itsubtends more than the angle of vision, so that you can't see anythingbut out-of-doors--I thought for a second I was going to fall out. Whatdo you call 'em, Dunark?"

  "Kraloto. That would be in English ... Seeing-plate? Or rather, call it'visiplate'."

  "That's a good word. Mart, take a look if you want to see a set ofperfect lenses and prisms."

  Crane looked into the visiplate and gasped. The vessel haddisappeared--he was looking directly down upon the Earth below him!

  "No trace of chromatic, spherical, or astigmatic aberration," hereported in surprise. "The refracting system is invisible--it seems asthough nothing intervenes between the eye and the object. You perfectedall these things since we left Osnome, Dunark? You are in a class byyourself. I could not even copy them in less than a month, and I nevercould have invented them."

  "I did not do it alone, by any means. The Society of Instrument-Makers,of which I am only one member, installed and tested more than a hundredsystems. This one represents the best features of all the systems tried.It will not be necessary for you to copy them. I brought along twocomplete duplicate sets for the _Skylark_, as well as a dozen or so ofthe compasses. I thought that perhaps these particular improvementsmight not have occurred to you, since you Terrestrials are not asfamiliar as we are with complex instrumental work."

  Crane and Seaton spoke together.

  "That was thoughtful of you, Dunark, and we appreciated it fully."

  "That puts four more palms on your _Croix de Guerre_, ace. Thanks alot."

  "Say, Dick," called Dorothy, from her seat near the wall. "If we'regoing down to the ground, how about Sitar?"

  "By lying down and not doing anything, and by staying in the vessel,where it is warm, she will be all right for the short time we must stayhere," Dunark answered for his wife. "I will help all I can, but I donot know how much that will be."

  "It isn't so bad lying down." Sitar agreed. "I don't like your Earth abit, but I can stand it a little while. Anyway, I _must_ stand it, sowhy worry about it?"

  "'At-a-girl!" cheered Seaton. "And as for you, Dunark, you'll pass thetime just like Sitar does--lying down. If you do much chasing arounddown there where we live, you're apt to get your lights and livertwisted all out of shape--so you'll stay put, horizontal. We've got menenough around the shop to eat this cargo in three hours, let aloneunload it. While they unload and load you up, we'll install the zoneapparatus, put a compass on you, put one of yours on us, and then youcan hop back up here where you're comfortable. Then as soon as we canget the 'Lark' ready for the trip, we'll jump up here and be on our way.Everything clear? Cut the rope, Mart--let the old bucket drop!"