by Sesh Heri
I brought our airship down toward the edge of the volcano—a sheer vertical wall of rock rising several thousand feet from the crater f loor. As I got us to the altitude of 5,000 feet, I looked out across the f loor of the caldera and saw that it stretched to the horizon; I could not see the oppo- site wall of the volcano. I stopped the ship and we f loated directly above that sheer wall of rock. Tesla pivoted the tracking machine downward. A moment passed and then— the bulb atop the tin box flashed—the electric bloodhound had found its scent! “There!” Tesla said. “The crystal is down there! Not more than two miles below!”
Tesla removed the tracking machine from its pedestal and slid the little tin box into a pocket on the leg of his pressure suit. “I’m going down into the Martian city,” Tesla said. “I’m going with you,” Ade said. “Are you sure you want to come with me?” Tesla asked.
“If the two of us go,” Ade said, “we’ll have twice the chance of all of us coming out of this alive.” “Some might argue with your statistics,” Tesla said, “but not I. Do you know how to handle a gun?” “I have a passing acquaintance with a Chicago Palm Protector,” Ade answered.
“Ah,” Tesla said, “the voice of experience. Try this.”
Tesla drew a strange looking gun from a holster attached to his pressure suit and held the weapon out to Ade who took it and held it in his hand. “Where do the bullets go?” Ade asked. “It doesn’t use bullets,” Tesla said. “It fires electric rays.” “Does it have a battery in it?” Ade asked.
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“No,” Tesla said, “its power is received wirelessly from the airship’s engine. You won’t be running out of bullets with this electric ray gun. You keep it. I’ll get another one.” “I’m going with you, too,” Lillie said, stepping forward. “Oh, no you’re not!” Ade snapped. “It’s not for you to say, George,” Lillie said. “Like hell,” Ade said. “George,” Lillie said, “you know I’m a crack shot.”
“Oh,” Ade said, “you’re a regular Annie Oakley—shooting at clay targets. The targets down there are going to be shooting back.” “Mr. Tesla!” Lillie protested.
“Miss West!” Tesla said. “I have only one question: Are you prepared to die?” “And to live,” Lillie replied.
Tesla smiled faintly.
“Then follow me,” Tesla said, “and I will introduce you to the operation of an anti-gravity pressure suit.” “What about me?” Houdini asked. “What about you, Erich?” Tesla asked. “I want to go, too,” Houdini said. Tesla shook his head, “No, Ehrich. You stay here.”
Houdini stepped up to Tesla and looked all the way up at him. “I’m going, Mr. Tesla,” Houdini said. “You need me. You need all of us. I ain’t a kid no more. I ain’t a kid, Mr. Tesla!” “And if you get killed,” Tesla asked, “what am I to tell your mother?” “That I died for my country,” Houdini said. “That’s what you’ll tell her. That I died for my country. She wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“I see,” Tesla said. “Very well. Very well, Erich. Come with me. All three of you, come with me to the lower deck.” Tesla and the others started out of the pilothouse. I said, “Now, Tesla, wait a minute.” Tesla turned about, stepped up to me, and said, “If we do not contact you by wireless telephone in two hours, head straight for Earth and report to Presi- dent Cleveland. Mr. Czito will give you the bearings.” “Damn it, Tesla!” I said. “You better be back in two hours!”
Tesla looked at me, then said quietly, “Take care, Mark,” and he extended his hand. I looked at Tesla’s hand, then back up at his face, and said, “I always mind my p’s and q’s,” and I shook Tesla’s hand.
Then Tesla, George Ade, Lillie West, and Houdini all turned and went down the pilothouse stairs. I looked over at Czito who looked back at me uneasily, and then he followed the others out.
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Down on the lower deck Tesla explained to Lillie and Houdini how to don the air pressure suits. Tesla said, “Step into the trousers and the attached boots, pull the suit up, slip your arms into the sleeves and then into the gloves attached to the sleeves, pull this little tab up in front, and then pull these two tabs together at the neck ring. This will close the suit up with an airtight seal.” Lillie went to the crew’s quarters to change into her pressure suit. Houdini removed his coat, vest, shoes, trousers, collar, tie, and shirt, and handed each of these in succession to Czito. At last the boy stood there with nothing on but a red flannel undershirt, a pair of red f lannel drawers, and black cotton socks. “Don’t wrinkle the fabric,” Houdini said.
“Don’t wrinkle the—” Czito said indignantly. “There isn’t an inch on this suit without a wrinkle on it!” “Those ain’t wrinkles,” Houdini said, “they’re contours. That suit is just broke in good.”
Czito shook his head and took Houdini’s clothes away. Houdini held out his air pressure suit and stepped into its legs. “This thing is too big for me,” Houdini said.
“It will have to do,” Tesla said, “and it will fill out a bit when it is pressur- ized. Mr. Czito, help Erich with his air tank and gravity generator.” “It’s Houdini now, Mr. Tesla. My name is Houdini.”
“All right,” Tesla said, “Houdini. Mr. Czito, help Houdini with the machin- ery in his knapsack.” Czito came forward with a knapsack containing an air tank and a gravity generator, and strapped it on to Houdini’s back. Lillie came out of the crew’s quarters dressed in her air pressure suit. “Very good,” Tesla said. “Turn around.”
Lillie turned around and Tesla buckled a knapsack containing an air tank and a gravity generator on to her shoulders. “Tighten the belt in front,” Tesla said to Lillie.
Ade said to Houdini, “You put the helmet on this way,” and Ade slipped his glass helmet over his head and twisted its base into the metal neck ring attached to his air pressure suit. There was an audible “click” as the helmet’s edge slipped into a spring-loaded slot that provided a hermetic seal to the whole suit. Houdini slipped his own helmet over his head, twisted it into the neck ring on his suit, and “clicked” it into a locked hermetic seal. “Now you,” Tesla said to Lillie, and he raised her helmet in both his hands, brought it down over her head, and twisted and locked it into the neck ring of her suit. “Now me,” Tesla said, and he put on his own helmet, and then turned on the valve that let the air f low out from the compression tanks in his knapsack and into the interior of his suit. He went over to Lillie and turned on her air
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valve, and then did the same for Ade’s and Houdini’s. He then turned on another switch on the control panel attached to his belt.
“You should all be able to hear me,” Tesla said, and Lillie, Ade, and Houdini heard Tesla’s voice inside their helmets; it was a clear aural transmission just as if it had come over a telephone. “Hey!” Houdini said, “How are you doing that? Where are the wires?” “There are no wires,” Tesla said. “You are hearing a wireless transmission of my voice through the ether as an electric wave. And I can hear each of you. This switch on your belt controls your wireless telephone. Mr. Czito can hear my voice outside the suit through a speaker at the base of my helmet. This switch opens a channel to the wireless telephone up in the pilothouse. And this switch,” Tesla f lipped a switch on his belt and he rose up off the f loor of the deck and floated in the air, “this switch controls your anti-gravity unit. Turn it on now to the second position.”
Lillie, Ade, and Houdini all f lipped the anti-gravity switch on their belts, and they all simultaneously rose up an inch or two from the f loor of the deck. “Now,” Tesla said, “turn the switch to the lowest position.” They all did so, and they all descended back down to the deck.
Tesla said, “Now your anti-gravity units are still functioning, but not enough to give you any lift. Keep them turned on like this at all times when you are not flying. The anti-gravity unit provides a field of force around your body which will act as a shield which will tend to def lect any rapidly moving incoming projectiles. Such projectiles create an etheric bow-shock as they approach th
e artificial gravity field, and it is this bow-shock which becomes a field of force.” “Will this force def lect bullets?” Ade asked.
“It should,” Tesla said. “But I must admit that I have never tested the system for shielding against bullets. It should also shield against electric rays up to five hundred thousand volts in power.” “And above that power?” Ade asked.
“Above that power,” Tesla said, “a ray will break through the field, and, depending on its magnitude, it could do anything from giving you a mild shock, to burning out the coils in your anti-gravity unit—to killing you. Do not assume your force field will protect you under any circumstances. If you are fired upon, take cover wherever you can. Is that understood?” Lillie, Ade, and Houdini nodded their heads.
“Now,” Tesla said, “as to f light control: it is very simple. This single switch here on your belt controls your vertical lift. It is the only switch for anti- gravity control. It has six settings: low, at which you are now set; nodal fixation, that is to say, f lotation at whatever altitude you happen to be posi- tioned; slow vertical lift, at a rate of about two feet per second; slow vertical descent also at about two feet a second; fast vertical lift at about twenty miles per hour; and rapid acceleration.”
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“What is the limit of acceleration?” Ade asked.
“There is no limit,” Tesla said. “I would advise you to be careful with the rapid acceleration mode. We will be passing through lava tubes and caverns. If you are not careful, you could dash yourself against a wall of rock. At extremely high speeds your force field will protect you, bouncing you away from whatever obstacle you might hit, but at somewhat lower speeds you would be crushed.” “How do we move forward or side to side?” Houdini asked.
“Very simply,” Tesla said. “You lean your head and shoulders in the direc- tion you wish to move. This will tilt the anti-gravity field, and you will then be pushed in the direction in which you are leaning. This technique of control is so simple and efficient that you will instantly and intuitively feel your way with it as soon as you make your first level f light. While in f light, keep your left hand on your control switch at all times. And in your right hand—” Tesla went to a cabinet in the bulkhead, opened it, and took out another electric ray gun.
“In your right hand,” Tesla said, “will be your ray gun.”
Tesla handed the ray gun to Lillie, brought out another ray gun and gave it to Houdini, and then took a third gun from the cabinet and slipped it into the holster attached to the right leg of his air pressure suit. “Holster your guns for now,” Tesla said. “And keep them holstered until you are ready to shoot. And when you shoot, shoot to kill. That means you will aim for the chest. Now: Are there any questions?” Lillie, Ade, and Houdini stood looking at Tesla saying nothing.
“Very well,” Tesla said. “We will each in succession exit the ship through the air lock. I will go first. Mr. Czito!” Czito opened the door of the air lock and Tesla stepped through it. Czito closed the door. The others could still see Tesla’s helmeted head through the door’s porthole. Tesla said, “I will be waiting for all of you outside. Remember, whatever you do, do not turn off your anti-gravity unit. I do not think any of you should be troubled by fear of heights. The feel of your anti-gravity field will dispel all vertigo. Remember! You all know how to f ly! You have done it countless times before—in your dreams!”
Tesla nodded, and Czito closed a red-handled switch. There was a sound of rushing air inside the chamber where Tesla stood, followed by silence. Then Tesla moved away from the porthole and could no longer be seen. A moment later the bulkhead of the ship vibrated with a single metallic “clang!” Czito closed another switch. There was a sound of air rushing back into the air lock chamber. Czito waited a moment, and then opened the chamber’s door. He turned about, holding the door, and Lillie stepped forward and into the chamber. “Good luck, Miss West,” Czito said, and he closed the chamber’s door. Again, Czito closed the red-handled switch and the air rushed out of the chamber.
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“Push the door handle all the way down,” everyone heard Tesla say in their helmets. Lillie pushed the door handle down, and then was able to push the outside door of the airship open, revealing a vista of red desert, streaks of white clouds in a pale blue sky, and Nikola Tesla floating mid-air in his helmeted anti- gravity pressure suit. “Do you have your anti-gravity switch turned on to the second position?” Tesla asked over his wireless telephone. “Yes,” Lillie gasped, “I do.”
“Then lean forward, Miss West,” Tesla said, “lean forward and you will be pushed out of the airship by your anti-gravity field.” Lillie bowed her head and curled her shoulders forward. She suddenly felt herself falling, not downward, but sideways out of the airship! She went through the open door. As she passed the door, it swung shut behind her on an auto- matic spring and closed with a faint, dull snap. Inside the ship, this snap rever- berated as a loud “clang!” “That’s it,” Tesla said. “Fall toward me here.” Lillie moved toward Tesla.
“Now straighten up,” Tesla said. “Straight up.”
Lillie raised her chin and pushed her shoulders back. Her motion was arrested and she stopped three feet in front of Tesla, floating in place. “We’re standing upon something,” Lillie said. “It feels exactly like we’re standing upon a f loor!” “And we are,” Tesla said, “we are standing upon a gravitational node. Even under ordinary conditions on the surface of a planet, one always stands upon a gravitational node. Only now in our atomically energized state, we can stand upon a much higher, denser node than usual.” Lillie glanced downward. She could see the distant sands of a desert below, as if she stood upon a mountain top thousands of feet high, but now there was nothing below her feet. Out to the west, she could see the blackish-gray plain of the volcano’s f loor stretching away to the horizon. To the north, she could glimpse a vertical wall of rock reaching from the rough, sandy highlands to the black floor of the volcano thousands of feet below. The door of the airship opened again. Houdini stood inside the airlock chamber looking out at Lillie and Tesla. “Do you have your anti-gravity switch in the second position?” Tesla asked Houdini.
“Yes,” Houdini said, breathing heavily, “second position.” “Then bend forward,” Tesla said, “bend forward and come out.”
Houdini bent forward and shot out of the airship like a bullet, the door slamming shut behind him. “Hey!” Houdini shouted as he shot by Lillie and Tesla, and kept going.
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“He’s going into a tumble!” Tesla said, and he f lew off after Houdini, grabbed him by the arm, and the two of them spun around in space. “Get your orientation!” Tesla said. “Head up! Head up!” Houdini bent upwards and came to a stop. “That’s it,” Tesla said. “Head up. Your head and your shoulders are your rudders. Now, carefully and slowly move over toward Miss West.”
Houdini twisted his shoulders and felt a falling sensation as he moved toward Lillie. As he approached her, he raised his chin, and he came to a stop. “Hey!” Houdini said, “This is easy!”
“Yes,” Tesla said, “in a few moments you will be able to feel your way. Just keep your switch on position two for the moment.” Now George Ade emerged from the airship. He came all the way out and the door of the airlock sprang shut behind him. Tesla removed the tin box from the pocket of his air pressure suit, drew out its steel rod, and f lipped the switch on the front of the box. He pointed the steel rod downward and the light bulb on top of the box f lashed. Two seconds passed and the light f lashed again. “We have a signal,” Tesla said. “We will descend to the wall of the caldera below. Follow me. And be prepared for anything. Carefully turn your anti- gravity switches to the fifth position—slow descent.” Tesla f lipped his switch and began to slowly drop away from the other three f loating aeronauts. Lillie followed Tesla downward, then Houdini, and then George Ade came along following the others.
Czito came up through the hatch to the upper deck and ascended the stairs of the pilothouse. “T
hey’re on their way,” he said.
We went over to the windows and looked down. A hundred or so feet below us we could see the four of them descending toward the edge of the crater wall, four little white figures, flying away like four white birds. “Miss West has a lot of pluck,” Czito asked, “hasn’t she?” “Why,” I replied, “I’d say she’s all pluck.”
Lillie, Houdini, and Ade followed Tesla in his descent toward the volcano’s wall. As they came within a few hundred feet of the top edge of the crater, a pathway half-buried in sand came into their view. Tesla descended toward it and waved for the others to follow him on down. As they continued in their descent, it became apparent that the pathway below them was a broad avenue some one hundred-fifty or two hundred feet wide. Most of it had been completely buried in sand and rock, but, at intervals, enough of it was exposed to give an impression of what it had once been: a
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road leading to the edge of the crater coming from who knew where way out there on the surface of the planet.
They were within a hundred feet of the roadbed now, and could see that it was made of individual paving stones, each stone measuring about twenty-five feet across and cut at odd angles so that all the stones interlocked each other like pieces of a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. The road went to the edge of the crater. They flew toward the crater’s edge and then passed over it and out over the sheer vertical drop of the caldera’s wall going down thousands of feet to the floor of the volcano. A flight of stone steps cut into the wall of rock led down from the crater’s edge to a platform built into the rock two thousand feet below. They followed the stone steps down to the platform, f lying down beside the wall of rock as stone landing upon stone landing of the massive staircase whizzed by them. They reached the platform and found that it was a balcony of stone and in front of it was a single door also made of stone and set into the volcanic wall of the crater.