The Skylark of Space

  CHAPTER IV

  Steel Liberates Energy--Unexpectedly

  DuQuesne was in his laboratory, poring over an abstruse article in aforeign journal of science, when Scott came breezily in with a newspaperin his hand, across the front page of which stretched great headlines.

  "Hello, Blackie!" he called. "Come down to earth and listen to this taleof mystery from that world-renowned fount of exactitude and authority,the _Washington Clarion_. Some miscreant has piled up and touched off afew thousand tons of T.N.T. and picric acid up in the hills. Read aboutit, it's good."

  DuQuesne read:

  MYSTERIOUS EXPLOSION!

  MOUNTAIN VILLAGE WIPED OUT OF EXISTENCE! TWO HUNDRED DEAD, NONE INJURED!

  FORCE FELT ALL OVER WORLD. CAUSE UNKNOWN. SCIENTISTS BAFFLED.

  HARPER'S FERRY. March 26.--At 10: 23 A.M. today, the village of Bankerville, about thirty miles north of this place, was totally destroyed by an explosion of such terrific violence that seismographs all over the world recorded the shock, and that windows were shattered even in this city. A thick pall of dust and smoke was observed in the sky and parties set out immediately. They found, instead of the little mountain village, nothing except an immense, crater-like hole in the ground, some two miles in diameter and variously estimated at from two to three thousand feet deep. No survivors have been found, no bodies have been recovered. The entire village, with its two hundred inhabitants, has been wiped out of existence. Not so much as a splinter of wood or a fragment of brick from any of the houses can be found. Scientists are unable to account for the terrific force of the explosion, which far exceeded that of the most violent explosive known.

  "Hm ... m. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it?" asked DuQuesne,sarcastically, as he finished reading.

  "It sure does," replied Scott, grinning. "What'd'you suppose it was?Think the reporter heard a tire blow out on Pennsylvania Avenue?"

  "Perhaps. Nothing to it, anyway," as he turned back to his work.

  As soon as the visitor had gone a sneering smile spread over DuQuesne'sface and he picked up his telephone.

  "The fool did it. That will cure him of sucking eggs!" he muttered."Operator? DuQuesne speaking. I am expecting a call this afternoon.Please ask him to call me at my house.... Thank you."

  "Fred," he called to his helper, "if anyone wants me, tell them that Ihave gone home."

  He left the building and stepped into his car. In less than half an hourhe arrived at his house on Park Road, overlooking beautiful Rock CreekPark. Here he lived alone save for an old colored couple who were hisservants.

  In the busiest part of the afternoon Chambers rushed unannounced intoBrookings' private office. His face was white as chalk.

  "Read that, Mr. Brookings!" he gasped, thrusting the _Clarion_ extrainto his hand.

  Brookings read the news of the explosion, then looked at his chiefchemist, his face turning gray.

  "Yes, sir, that was our laboratory," said Chambers, dully.

  "The fool! Didn't you tell him to work with small quantities?"

  "I did. He said not to worry, that he was taking no chances, that hewould never have more than a gram of copper on hand at once in the wholelaboratory."

  "Well ... I'll ... be ... damned!" Slowly turning to the telephone,Brookings called a number and asked for Doctor DuQuesne, then calledanother.

  "Brookings speaking. I would like to see you this afternoon. Will you beat home?... I'll be there in about an hour. Good bye."

  * * * * *

  When Brookings arrived he was shown into DuQuesne's study. The two menshook hands perfunctorily and sat down, the scientist waiting for theother to speak.

  "Well, DuQuesne, you were right. Our man couldn't handle it. But ofcourse you didn't mean the terms you mentioned before?"

  DuQuesne's lips smiled; a hard, cold smile.

  "You know what I said, Brookings. Those terms are now doubled, twentythousand and ten million. Nothing else goes."

  "I expected it, since you never back down. The Corporation expects topay for its mistakes. We accept your terms and I have contracts here foryour services as research director, at a salary of two hundred and fortythousand dollars per annum, with the bonus and royalties you demand."

  DuQuesne glanced over the documents and thrust them into his pocket.

  "I'll go over these with my attorney to-night, and mail one back to youif he approves the contract. In the meantime, we may as well get down tobusiness."

  "What would you suggest?" asked Brookings.

  "You people stole the solution, I see...."

  "Don't use such harsh language, Doctor, it's...."

  "Why not? I'm for direct action, first, last and all the time. Thisthing is too important to permit of mincing words or actions, it's awaste of time. Have you the solution here?"

  "Yes, here it is," drawing the bottle from his pocket.

  "Where's the rest of it?" asked DuQuesne as he noted the size of thebottle.

  "All that we found is here, except about a teaspoonful which the experthad to work on," replied Brookings. "We didn't get it all, only half ofit. The rest of it was diluted with water, so that it wouldn't bemissed. After we get started, if you find it works out satisfactorily,we can procure the rest of it. That will certainly cause a disturbance,but it may be necessary...."

  "Half of it!" interrupted DuQuesne. "You haven't one-twentieth of ithere. When I saw it in the Bureau, Seaton had about five hundredmilliliters--over a pint--of it. I wonder if you're double-crossing meagain?"

  "No, you're not," he continued, paying no attention to the other'sprotestations of innocence. "You're paying me too much to want to blockme now. The crook you sent out to get the stuff turned in only thismuch. Do you suppose he is holding out on us?"

  "No. You know Perkins and his methods."

  "He missed the main bottle, then. That's where your methods make metired. When I want anything done, I believe in doing it myself, then Iknow it's done right. As to what I suggest, that's easy. I will takethree or four of Perkins' gunmen tonight. We'll go out there and raidthe place. We'll shoot Seaton and anybody else who gets in the way.We'll dynamite the safe and take their solution, plans, notes, money,and anything else we want."

  "No, no, Doctor, that's too crude altogether. If we have to do that, letit be only as a last resort."

  "I say do it first, then we know we will get results. I tell you I'mafraid of pussyfooting and gumshoeing around Seaton and Crane. I used tothink that Seaton was easy, but he seems to have developed greatly inthe last few weeks, and Crane never was anybody's fool. Together theymake a combination hard to beat. Brute force, applied without warning,is our best bet, and there's no danger, you know that. We've got awayclean with lots worse stuff."

  "It's always dangerous, and we could wink at such tactics only aftereverything else has failed. Why not work it out from this solution wehave, and then quietly get the rest of it? After we have it worked out,Seaton might get into an accident on his motorcycle, and we could proveby the state of development of our plans that we discovered it longago."

  "Because developing the stuff is highly dangerous, as you have foundout. Even Seaton wouldn't have been alive now if he hadn't had a lot ofluck at the start. Then, too, it would take too much time. Seaton hasalready developed it--you see, I haven't been asleep and I know what hehas done, just as well as you do--and why should we go through all thatslow and dangerous experimental work when we can get their notes andplans as well as not? There is bound to be trouble anyway when we stealall their solution, even though they haven't missed this little bit ofit yet, and it might as well come now as any other time. The Corporationis amply protected, and I am still a Government chemist. Nobody evensuspects that I am in on this deal. I will never see you except afterhours and in private, and will never come near your offices. We will beso cautious that, even if anyone should get suspicious, they can'tpossibly link us together
, and until they do link us together, we areall safe. No, Brookings, a raid in force is the only sure and safe way.What is more natural than a burglary of a rich man's house? It will be asimple affair. The police will stir around for a few days, then it willall be forgotten and we can go ahead. Nobody will suspect anythingexcept Crane, if he is alive, and he won't be able to do anything."

  So the argument raged. Brookings was convinced that DuQuesne was rightin wanting to get possession of all the solution, and also of theworking notes and plans, but would not agree to the means suggested,holding out for quieter and more devious, but less actionable methods.Finally he ended the argument with a flat refusal to countenance theraid, and the scientist was forced to yield, although he declared thatthey would have to use his methods in the end, and that it would savetime, money, and perhaps lives, if they were used first. Brookings thentook from his pocket his wireless and called Perkins. He told him of thelarger bottle of solution, instructing him to secure it and to bringback all plans, notes, and other material he could find which in any waypertained to the matter in hand. Then, after promising DuQuesne to keephim informed of developments, and giving him an instrument similar tothe one he himself carried, Brookings took his leave.

  * * * * *

  Seaton had worked from early morning until late at night, but hadrigorously kept his promise to Dorothy. He had slept seven or eighthours every night and had called upon her regularly, returning from thevisits with ever-keener zest for his work.

  Late in the afternoon, upon the day of the explosion, Seaton steppedinto Crane's shop with a mass of notes in his hand.

  "Well, Mart, I've got it--some of it, at least. The power is just whatwe figured it, so immensely large as to be beyond belief. I have found:

  "First: That it is a practically irresistible _pull_ along the axis ofthe treated wire or bar. It is apparently focused at infinity, asnear-by objects are not affected.

  "Second: I have studied two of the border-line regions of current wediscussed. I have found that in one the power is liberated as a similarattractive force but is focused upon the first object in line with theaxis of the bar. As long as the current is applied it remains focusedupon that object, no matter what comes between. In the secondborder-line condition the power is liberated as a terrific repulsion.

  "Third: That the copper is completely transformed into available energy,there being no heat whatever liberated.

  "Fourth: Most important of all, that the X acts only as a catalyst forthe copper and is not itself consumed, so that an infinitesimally thincoating is all that is required."

  "You certainly have found out a great deal about it," replied Crane, whohad been listening with the closest attention, a look of admiration uponhis face. "You have all the essential facts right there. Now we can goahead and put in the details which will finish up the plans completely.Also, one of those points solves my hardest problem, that of gettingback to the earth after we lose sight of it. We can make a small bar inthat border-line condition and focus it upon the earth, and we can usethat repulsive property to ward off any meteorites which may come tooclose to us."

  "That's right. I never thought of using those points for anything. Ifound them out incidentally, and merely mentioned them as interestingfacts. I have a model of the main bar built, though, that will lift meinto the air and pull me all around. Want to see it work?"

  "I certainly do."

  As they were going out to the landing field Shiro called to them andthey turned back to the house, learning that Dorothy and her father hadjust arrived.

  "Hello, boys!" Dorothy said, bestowing her radiant smile upon them bothas Seaton seized her hand. "Dad and I came out to see that you weretaking care of yourselves, and to see what you are doing. Are visitorsallowed?"

  "No," replied Seaton promptly. "All visitors are barred. Members of thefirm and members of the family, however, are not classed as visitors."

  "You came at the right time," said Crane, smiling. "Dick has justfinished a model, and was about to demonstrate it to me when youarrived. Come with us and watch the...."

  "I object," interrupted Seaton. "It is a highly undignified performanceas yet, and...."

  "Objection overruled," interposed the lawyer, decisively. "You are tooyoung and impetuous to have any dignity; therefore, any performance notundignified would be impossible, _a priori_. The demonstration willproceed."

  * * * * *

  Laughing merrily, the four made their way to the testing shed, in frontof which Seaton donned a heavy leather harness, buckled about hisshoulders, body and legs; to which were attached numerous handles,switches, boxes and other pieces of apparatus. He snapped the switchwhich started the Tesla coil in the shed and pressed a button on aninstrument in his hand, attached to his harness by a small steel cable.Instantly there was a creak of straining leather and he shot verticallyinto the air for perhaps a hundred feet, where he stopped and remainedmotionless for a few moments. Then the watchers saw him point his armand dart in the direction in which he pointed. By merely pointing,apparently, he changed his direction at will; going up and down, forwardand backward, describing circles and loops and figures of eight. After afew minutes of this display he descended, slowing up abruptly as heneared the ground and making an easy landing.

  "There, oh beauteous lady and esteemed sirs," he began, with a low bowand a sweeping flourish--when there was a snap, and he was jerkedsidewise off his feet. In bowing, his cumbersome harness had pressed thecontrolling switch and the instrument he held in his hand, whichcontained the power-plant, or bar, had torn itself loose from itsbuckle. Instead of being within easy reach of his hand it was over sixfeet away, and was dragging him helplessly after it, straight toward thehigh stone wall! But only momentarily was he helpless, his keen minddiscovering a way out of the predicament even as he managed to scrambleto his feet in spite of the rapid pace. Throwing his body sidewise andreaching out his long arm as far as possible toward the bar, hesucceeded in swinging it around so that he was running back toward theparty and the spacious landing field. Dorothy and her father werestanding motionless, staring at Seaton; the former with terror in hereyes, the latter in blank amazement. Crane had darted to the switchcontrolling the coil, and was reaching for it when Seaton passed them.

  "Don't touch that switch!" he yelled. "I'll catch that thing yet!"

  At this evidence that Seaton still thought himself master of thesituation, Crane began to laugh, though he still kept his hand near thecontrolling switch. Dorothy, relieved of her fear for her lover'ssafety, could not help but join him, so ludicrous were Seaton's antics.The bar was straight out in front of him, about five feet above theground, going somewhat faster than a man could run. It turned now to theright, now to the left, as his weight was thrown to one side or theother. Seaton, dragged along like a small boy trying to hold a runawaycalf by the tail, was covering the ground in prodigious leaps andbounds; at the same time pulling himself up, hand over hand, to the barin front of him. He soon reached it, seized it in both hands, againdarted into the air, and descended lightly near the others, who wererocking with laughter.

  "I said it would be undignified," chuckled Seaton, rather short ofbreath, "but I didn't know just how much so it was going to be."

  Dorothy tucked her fingers into his hand.

  "Are you hurt anywhere, Dick?"

  "Not a bit. He led me a great chase, though."

  "I was scared to death until you told Martin to let the switch alone.But it was funny then! I hadn't noticed your resemblance to ajumping-jack before. Won't you do it again sometime and let us take amovie of it?"

  "That was as good as any show in town, Dick," said the lawyer, wipinghis eyes, "but you must be more careful. Next time, it might not befunny at all."

  "There will be no next time for this rig," replied Seaton. "This ismerely to show us that our ideas are all right. The next trip will be ina full-scale, completely-equipped boat."

  "It was perfectly wonde
rful," declared Dorothy. "I know this firstflight of yours will be a turning-point or something in history. I don'tpretend to understand how you did it--the sight of you standing still upthere in the air made me wonder if I really were awake, even though Iknew what to expect--but we wouldn't have missed it for worlds, wouldwe, Dad?"

  "No. I am very glad that we saw the first demonstration. The world hasnever before seen anything like it, and you two men will rank as two ofthe greatest discoverers."

  "Seaton will, you mean," replied Crane, uncomfortably. "You know Ididn't have anything to do with it."

  "It's nearly all yours," denied Seaton. "Without your ideas I would havelost myself in space in my first attempt."

  "You are both wrong," said Vaneman. "You, Martin, haven't enoughimagination; and you, Dick, have altogether too much, for either of youto have done this alone. The honor will be divided equally between you."

  * * * * *

  He turned to Crane as Dorothy and Seaton set out toward the house.

  "What are you going to do with it, commercially? Dick, of course, hasn'tthought of anything except this space-car--equally of course, you have?"

  "Yes. Knowing the general nature of the power and confident that Dickwould control it, I have already drawn up sketches for a power-plantinstallation of five hundred thousand electrical horsepower, which willenable us to sell power for less than one-tenth of a cent perkilowatt-hour and still return twenty percent annual dividends. However,the power-plant comes after the flyer."

  "Why? Why not build the power-plant first, and take the pleasure tripafterward?"

  "There are several reasons. The principal one is that Dick and I wouldrather be off exploring new worlds, while the other members of theSeaton-Crane Company, Engineers, build the power-plant."

  During the talk the men had reached the house, into which the others haddisappeared some time before. Upon Crane's invitation, Vaneman and hisdaughter stayed to dinner, and Dorothy played for awhile upon Crane'swonderful violin. The rest of the evening was spent in animateddiscussion of the realization of Seaton's dreams of flying without wingsand beyond the supporting atmosphere. Seaton and Crane did their best toexplain to the non-technical visitors how such flight was possible.

  "Well, I am beginning to understand it a little," said Dorothy finally."In plain language, it is like a big magnet or something, but different.Is that it?"

  "That's it exactly," Seaton assured her.

  "What are you going to call it? It isn't like anything else that everwas. Already this evening you have called it a bus, a boat, a kite, astar-hound, a wagon, an aerial flivver, a sky-chariot, a space-eatingwampus, and I don't know what else. Even Martin has called it a vehicle,a ship, a bird, and a shell. What is its real name?"

  "I don't know. It hasn't got any that I know of. What would you suggest,Dottie?"

  "I don't know what general name should be applied to them, but for thisone there is only one possible name, 'The Skylark.'"

  "Exactly right, Dorothy," said Crane.

  "Fine!" cried Seaton. "And you shall christen it, Dottie, with a bigFlorence flask full of absolute vacuum. 'I christen you "The Skylark."BANG!'"

  As the guests were leaving, at a late hour, Vaneman said:

  "Oh, yes. I bought an extra _Clarion_ as we came out. It tells a wildtale of an explosion so violent that science cannot explain it. I don'tsuppose it is true, but it may make interesting reading for you twoscientific sharps. Good night."

  Seaton accompanied Dorothy to the car, bidding her a more intimatefarewell on the way. When he returned, Crane, with an unusual expressionof concern on his face, handed him the paper without a word.

  * * * * *

  "What's up, old man? Something in it?" he asked, as he took the paper.He fell silent as he read the first words, and after he had read theentire article he said slowly:

  "True, beyond a doubt. Even a _Clarion_ reporter couldn't imagine that.It's all intra-atomic energy, all right--some poor devil trying ourstunt without my horseshoe in his pocket."

  "Think, Dick! Something is wrong somewhere. You know that two people didnot discover X at the same time. The answer is that somebody stole youridea, but the idea is worthless without the X. You say that the stuff isextremely rare--where did they get it?"

  "That's right, Mart. I never thought of that. The stuff _is_ extremelyrare. I am supposed to know something about rare metals, and I neverheard of it before--there isn't even a gap in the Periodic System inwhich it belongs. I would bet a hat that we have every milligram knownto the world at present."

  "Well, then," said the practical Crane. "We had better see whether ornot we have all we started with."

  Asking Shiro to bring the large bottle from the vault, he opened theliving-room safe and brought forth the small vial. The large bottle wasstill nearly full, the seal upon it unbroken. The vial was apparentlyexactly as Seaton had left it after he had made his bars.

  "Our stuff seems to be all there," said Crane. "It looks as thoughsomeone else has discovered it also."

  "I don't believe it," said Seaton, their positions now reversed. "It'saltogether too rare."

  He scanned both bottles narrowly.

  "I can tell by taking the densities," he added, and ran up to thelaboratory, returning with a Westphal balance in his hand. After testingboth solutions he said slowly:

  "Well, the mystery is solved. The large bottle has a specific gravity of1.80, as it had when I prepared it; that in the vial reads only 1.41.Somebody has burglarized this safe and taken almost half of thesolution, filling the vial up with colored water. The stuff is so strongthat I probably never would have noticed the difference."

  "But who could it have been?"

  "Search me! But it's nothing to worry about now, anyway, because whoeverit was is gone where he'll never do it again. He's taken the solutionwith him, too, so that nobody else can get it."

  "I wish I were sure of that, Dick. The man who tried to do the researchwork is undoubtedly gone--but who is back of him?"

  "Nobody, probably. Who would want to be?"

  "To borrow your own phrase, Dick, Scott 'chirped it' when he called you'Nobody Holme.' For a man with your brains you have the least sense ofanybody I know. You know that this thing is worth, as a power projectalone, thousands of millions of dollars, and that there are dozens ofbig concerns who would cheerfully put us both out of the way for athousandth of that amount. The question is not to find one concern whomight be backing a thing like that, but to pick out the one who isbacking it."

  * * * * *

  After thinking deeply for a few moments he went on:

  "The idea was taken from your demonstration in the Bureau, either by aneye-witness or by someone who heard about it afterward, probably theformer. Even though it failed, one man saw the possibilities. Who wasthat man? Who was there?"

  "Oh, a lot of the fellows were there. Scott, Smith, Penfield, DuQuesne,Roberts--quite a bunch of them. Let's see--Scott hasn't brains enough todo anything. Smith doesn't know anything about anything except amines.Penfield is a pure scientist, who wouldn't even quote an authoritywithout asking permission. DuQuesne is ... hm-m ... DuQuesne ... he ...I...."

  "Yes. DuQuesne. I have heard of him. He's the big black fellow, aboutyour own size? He has the brains, the ability, and the inclination, hashe not?"

  "Well, I wouldn't want to say that. I don't know him very well, andpersonal dislike is no ground at all for suspicion, you know."

  "Enough to warrant investigation. Is there anyone else who might havereasoned it out as you did, and as DuQuesne possibly could?"

  "Not that I remember. But we can count DuQuesne out, anyway, because hecalled me up this afternoon about some notes on gallium; so he is stillin the Bureau. Besides, he wouldn't let anybody else investigate it ifhe got it. He would do it himself, and I don't think he would have blownhimself up. I never did like him very well personally--he's such a cold,inhuman son of
a fish--but you've got to hand it to him for ability.He's probably the best man in the world today on that kind of thing."

  "No, I do not think that we will count him out yet. He may have hadnothing to do with it, but we will have him investigated nevertheless,and will guard against future visitors here."

  Turning to the telephone, he called the private number of a well-knowndetective.

  "Prescott? Crane speaking. Sorry to get you out of bed, but I shouldlike to have a complete report upon Dr. Marc C. DuQuesne, of the RareMetals Laboratory, as soon as possible. Every detail for the last twoweeks, every move and every thought if possible. Please keep a good manon him until further notice.... I wish you would send two or threeguards out here right away, to-night; men you can trust and who willstay awake.... Thanks. Good night."