A Thousand Degrees Below Zero

by Murray Leinster

  CHAPTER II.

  New York was frightened, and the newspapers as they appeared did notallay that fear. The conservative _Tribunal_ ran a scare head: HASTHE GLACIAL AGE COME AGAIN? and printed underneath a r?sum? of thephenomena up to the time of going to press--which did not include theappearance of the black flyer--with an interview from a prominentscientist. An enterprising reporter had routed the worthy gentleman outof bed and rushed him to the scene of the expanding ice cake in a fastmotor boat, taking down in shorthand his comments on the matter. Thescientist had been much puzzled, but spoke at length nevertheless. Hesaid in part:

  Has the glacial age come again? I do not know. I can only say that we have no certain knowledge of the original cause of the glacial period and we cannot say definitely that it did not begin in precisely this fashion. We have volcanos which radiate incredible quantities of heat to the country surrounding them. No phenomenon like this has occurred before, but it may be that some unknown cause may bring to the surface a condition the antithesis of a volcano, which, instead of radiating heat, will bring on local glacierlike conditions. One might go farther and suggest that the earth may alternate between periods of volcanic activity, during which it is warm and conditions are favorable for habitation and growth, and periods of this new antivolcanic activity during which frigidity is normal, and mankind may be forced to take refuge in the tropic zones. Still, I cannot say definitely.

  The eminent scientist went on for two full columns, during which herefused to say anything definite, but suggested so many alarmingpossibilities that every one who read the _Tribunal_ was thrown intoa state of mind not far from panic. He offered no explanation of theplume of steam.

  When the appearance of the black flyer became known in the newspaperoffices, city editors threw up their hands. The less conservativeprinted the wildest explanations. They put forth a virulent-organismtheory, which, it must be admitted, was no farther from the truththan most of the others. The story began with an interview with theboatswain in charge of the boat crew from the destroyer:

  We were ordered to take the men off the ice and to take especial care not to be nipped ourselves. We rowed carefully toward the edge of the ice cake, with the light of the searchlights to guide us. We would see where the floe began, when the waves dropped back from it. I've been in Northern seas, but I never saw anything like that. The edge of the ice wasn't smooth and worn away by the waves. It was rough with frost crystals that reached out like fingers grabbing at the things near by. When we came close to the edge some of the men in my boat were scared, and I don't blame them. I'd dipped my hand overboard and the water was warm--and twenty feet away there was that mass of ice! We backed up to the ice cake and took off the men. I was looking over the side of the life boat, and saw those long crystals forming and growing while I watched. They were huge, from two feet long for the largest to three or four inches for the smallest. They reached out and reached out terribly. The stern of the boat was touching the ice, and I saw them reaching for the hull like the tentacles of an octopus. They fastened on and began to grow thicker. We took oars and smashed them, feeling frightened as one is frightened in a nightmare. As fast as we broke them they formed again, and the men on the ice seemed to be rotten slow getting into the boat, though I don't doubt but they were hurrying all they knew how. When they were all aboard we had to work like mad to get clear.

  The paper went on to expound its own idea of what had happened:

  The sinister growth of the ice crystals is significant There has always been notice of and comment upon the striking similarity between the growth of crystals and the growth of plants. Until now all scientific text-books have said that crystals could only grow in a supersaturate solution of their own substance, and claimed that they were not organic growths--in the sense of growths caused by an intelligence within the crystal. Is it not possible that the scientists have been wrong? Is it not possible that crystals are growths in the same way that plants are growths? Granting that, what is to keep a scientist from isolating and cultivating the crystal embryo? We have done that with germs, and with the life germs in eggs and plants. We can even use a process of parthenogenesis and create monsters from the unfertilized eggs of frogs and sea urchins. Why could not this scientist experiment until the life germ of the ice crystal could be developed and enlarged? Why could not this development continue until the germ could not only create its crystals under the most favorable conditions of temperature, but _at the normal temperature of water_? At the Harvard laboratories water has been, kept liquid far below its normal freezing-point, and under tremendous pressure has been found to remain ice at a temperature of one hundred degrees Fahrenheit! Can we doubt that this appearance of ice at this extraordinary season is due to the malicious activities of a foreign government, envious of our magnificent merchant marine and commerce?

  The explanation was ingenious, but though the scientific facts quotedwere quite correct the inference was hardly justifiable. Water canand does reach a temperature several degrees below 32? Fahrenheitwithout solidifying--as may be proved by putting a glass of water ina cold room in winter--but the slightest jar causes the instantaneousformation of ice crystals, and in a little while the whole mass issolid. The fact of "hot" ice must also be admitted, but it requiresa pressure of rather more than fifty tons to the square inch, and israrely attempted.

  This paper also was forced to admit as inexplicable the plume of steamwhich rose from a thousand to fifteen hundred feet into the air. Inany event, the claim that a certain unfriendly foreign governmentwas trying to ruin the commerce of the United States was effectivelysquashed by cablegrams from Gibraltar, Folkestone, and Yokohama. Threegreat icebergs had formed in the Straits of Gibraltar and extendeduntil they joined, when a solid mass of ice made a bridge that oncemore rejoined the continents of Africa and Europe, from Ceuta to theRock. The plumes of steam were visible here, too. Three mighty columnsof white mist rose at equal distances across the gap.

  Folkestone harbor was a mass of ice. A great transatlantic linerhad been caught in the expanding berg, and the huge hull had beencrushed like so much cardboard. The passengers and crew had escapedacross the ice. The great steam plume made a wonderful sight for milesaround. Yokohama was similarly visited. Three battleships of theJapanese fleet were frozen in and their hulls cracked and broken. Theplume of steam--nearly two thousand feet high--had aroused the latentsuperstition of the Japanese and was being exorcised in every Shintotemple in the kingdom.

  The panic which was engendered by the mysteries of the icebergs andthe unknown motives of the men so obviously responsible for theirappearance grew in intensity. New York was in a blue funk. The policefelt the tremor that means that at any moment the crowds thronging thestreets might break and from sheer panic become uncontrollable. Everypatrolman wore a worried frown and worked like mad to keep the crowdsmoving, moving always. The strain was becoming greater, however, andtroops were being hastily moved into the city when an announcement wasmade by the British foreign office:

  It has been decided to make public a communication received at the foreign office bearing on the blocking of Folkestone harbor, the Straits of Gibraltar, Yokohama, and New York. The communication is dated from "The Dictatorial Residence," and reads as follows:

  "TO THE PREMIER OF GREAT BRITAIN: You are informed that the blocking of Folkestone harbor, as well as that of the Straits of Gibraltar, New York, and Yokohama, is evidence of my intention and power to assume control of the governments of the world as dictator. Present administrations and systems of government will continue in power under my direction and subject to my commands. The machinery of the League of Nations is to be used to enforce my decrees. You will readily understand that the same means I used to block the harbors and straits now frozen over can be extended indefinitely.
Rivers can be made to cease to flow, lakes to irrigate, and all commerce and agriculture forced to suspend its activity. This will be done, if it is made necessary by the refusal of the governments of the world to accede to my demands. Given under my hand at the dictatorial residence,

  "(Signed) WLADISLAW VARRHUS."

  The foreign office offers this communication to allay the fears of the public that a new glacial period may be imminent, but at the same time it wishes to assure the British people that the demands of the writer are not taken seriously. It is evident that the maker of such absurd demands is insane, and though he may be able to cause perhaps serious inconvenience to commerce, a means of nullifying his invention will be forthcoming in a short while. British scientists are studying the Folkestone phenomena and are confident of a prompt solution of the problem.

  Though it might have been expected that such an announcement as thatof the intention of an unknown and probably insane man to make himselfruler of the world would have caused even greater panic, the reversewas actually the case. The motive behind the creation of the icebergswas made so clear that the world settled back with a sort of sportinginterest to see what would happen. It had not long to wait.

  A hint came by some underground channel that Professor Hawkinshad offered a suggestion to the American government that had beenaccepted as a basis for experiment. A reporter went post-haste to theprofessor's home. He was admitted, but the professor would not see himat the moment. The reporter sat down patiently to wait. A motor cardrove up to the house and a man in soldier's uniform stepped out. Thereporter gave a whistle. A second car discharged a quietly dressed manin civilian clothes attended by two other army officers. The reporterstared. He recognized the men. Most people on two continents wouldhave recognized them. They passed through the house to the professor'slaboratory at the rear. A long time passed. The reporter fidgetednervously. Some conference of colossal importance was taking placeback there in the laboratory.

  It was an hour later that the visitors left. With them went a young manthe reporter had not seen before. The professor came slowly into theroom and smiled apologetically.

  "I am very sorry to have kept you waiting, but it was necessary. Ithink that in about two hours I will have some news for you. In themeantime there is nothing more to say."

  "Can you tell me what really happened? How did this Varrhus make theberg?"

  "It's the simplest thing in the world," said the professor with asmile. "I've managed to duplicate it on a small scale back in mylaboratory. Suppose you come back there and I'll show you."

  A girl appeared in the doorway with a worried frown on her face.

  "Father, has Teddy gone?"

  "Yes. We'll hear in about two hours." The professor turned to thereporter with instinctive courtesy. "This is my daughter, Evelyn."

  The girl shook hands.

  "You want to know about the iceberg, too? Teddy has gone to break it upnow."

  "To try to break it up," corrected the professor with a smile. "'Teddy'is my assistant."

  "But how?" insisted the reporter. "You seem to be so confident, andevery one else does nothing but guess."

  "I'll show you quite clearly," the professor said gently, "if you'llcome back to the laboratory."

  They moved toward the rear of the house. A hullabaloo of whistles brokeout in the harbor. The girl turned toward the professor.

  "Teddy already?"

  The professor frowned.

  "He hasn't had time." He went to a window and looked out, inspectingthe sky keenly. A slender black splinter hung suspended in the air.The professor flung open the window, and a musical humming filled theroom. As they watched a smoking object detached itself from the blackflyer and fell downward.

  "That must be Varrhus," said the professor.

  A winged flyer with the insignia of the American aviation corps paintedon the under surface of its wings darted into their field of vision.Black smoke trailed behind it as it shot toward the sinister blackcraft. There was an instant's pause, and then little puffs of whitemist appeared before the propeller of the a?roplane.

  "He's firing his machine gun!" said the reporter excitedly.

  As he spoke the black flyer dropped like a stone, and the Americanplane shot above it. Almost instantly the black flyer checked inmid-air and rose vertically with amazing speed. The American planedrove on for a second, and then wavered. It began to climb, stalled,and dropped toward the earth in a series of side slips and maple-leafturns. It came down erratically, crazily.

  "Killed!" said the professor with compressed lips.

  His daughter uttered a cry:

  "And Varrhus is getting away!"

  The black flyer had become but the merest speck. It had attained analmost unbelievable height. Now it deliberately swung around and headedoff toward the northeast with its same incredible speed.