that man had ever devised was able topenetrate the cold, far-reaches of space. Only among the family of ourown sun could he navigate his ships. And now, like the earth, everymember of that once glorious family was dead or dying. For millions ofyears, Mars, his ruddy glow gone forever, had rolled through space, thetomb of a mighty civilization. The ashes of Venus were growing cold.Life on Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn already was in the throes ofdissolution, and the cold, barren wastes of Uranus and Neptune alwayshad forbidden man.
So it seemed that the name, Omega, had been fittingly bestowed. Morethan ever the stark truth made him shudder with apprehension, and hefelt that only the coming of Alpha would give him strength to carry on.
"Now we must make ready for Alpha," said Omega, even while thoughts ofthe sea-monster chilled his heart. "We will make our servants preparethe way. Here in this valley must be born a new race of men. Life mustcome from death. Come, Thalma."
* * * * *
She smiled back at him, reassured by his confident manner, and togetherthey entered a lower compartment of the ship. This compartment containedthe servants of which Omega had spoken--divers machinery and othermarvels of man's construction. Omega touched several buttons and asection of the ship's hull rolled aside. He pressed other buttons andwhirled wheels. Then great sections of mirror slid out into the air andwithout apparent direction or control they ranged themselves far up on asteep hillside. Yet all were under perfect control. With invisible,atomic rays Omega made all do his bidding. For countless centuries manhad mastered the atom, divided it, harnessed its electrons. Followingthe discoveries of the great French scientist, Becquerel, man hadlearned that the potential energy of all atoms--especially that ofradium--is almost limitless. And as the disintegration of the atomcarries an electrical discharge, man had learned to control this energy.Omega's machines, utilizing atoms from everywhere, even the ether, splitthem by radio-activity through electromagnetic waves, and utilized theenergy of their electrons which always move in fixed orbits. There beingforty radio-active substances, Omega took advantage of them all, andequalizing the atomic weight of the atoms--whether those around ahydrogen nucleus or a helium nucleus--he broke the atoms down anddirected the charges of their electrons. Then his motors amplified thedischarges and, through the medium of an electric current, projectedthem in the form of invisible atomic rays which he could control anddirect against any object and sustain and move at will by means ofoscillating currents.
Soon upon the hillside, perfectly arranged and adjusted, appeared agiant, parabolic, refracting mirror with which he could obtain a view ofany portion of the earth's surface by sending vibrating currents aroundthe world and reproducing impressions already recorded on the ether, onthe surface of the mirror. And beneath its center was a receiver,through which he might have heard the minutest sound around the world,had there been any to hear.
The small, atomic motors--which drew their energy both from hydrogennuclei, the ether of space and the radio-active substances of allmetals--now were placed on the hillside near the great mirror. Theremotors were capable of creating and focusing light, without bulb orother container, whenever and wherever needed. All were operated withscarcely any effort by Omega.
In a measure it seemed strange that the Greek alphabet and all theclassics of the ancients had survived antiquity. But the latestinventions of man explained it all. For man with his machines hadreached far back into the shadowy past and proved the immortality of allthought and action. All the records of history, all the triumphs anddefeats, the joys and sorrows and aspirations of humanity, came out ofthe past and marched across the screen of his historical recorder. Asnothing is ever lost, all sounds and impressions occurring on earthsince the dawn of its creation, being already impressed on the sensitiveplastic and all-pervading ether, the same as a photograph is recorded onits film or plate, man had developed a machine for drawing on theseimpressions until at will the history of the world was before him. Eventhe varied life of the ancients came out of the past. Saints andsinners, slaves and masters mingled. Confucius sat before him inhumility; Guatama counseled his followers to be humble; Christ died uponthe cross. Warriors and statesmen shouted their triumphs and bewailedtheir defeats. Philosophers expounded their wisdom and Socrates drankthe hemlock. Hannibal and Caesar and Alexander fought their battles,and Napoleon marched gory and unafraid from Austerlitz to Waterloo. Allcame back at the call of Omega's science.
* * * * *
As has been stated it was a giant craft on which Omega and Thalma hadcome to this last retreat of man. Within its interior were all thelatest marvels of man's ingenuity and skill. These instruments of almostsupernatural power not only reached back into the past but alsopenetrated the future. There was a great atomic-electric motor used increating and controlling climate as long as there was any to control.Sending forth electromagnetic waves it massed and directed theatmospheric pressure, sending heat waves here, cold ones there, thuscausing droughts and rainfall at will. But now, as with the case of mostof the other machines, Omega needed it no longer. He kept it because itlinked him with the joy of the past. Besides, there was the mind-controlappliance by whose aid man's mind might visit other worlds. This wasdone through the development of the subconscious and the discipline ofthe will. But Omega was weary of these pilgrimages, because his bodycould not perform those far-off flights. As time went on he realizedthat the earth was his natural home. Even the earth's neighbors, deadand dying, offered him no haven.
Yes, Omega and Thalma had garnered the gist of the world's treasuresbefore commencing this last trek. Gold and precious stones were commonobjects to them, because for countless ages man had made them at will,but around those they had brought clustered sacred memories of lovedones gone before. The biological machine in the chemical laboratory ofthe ship--the machine that brought forth life from nature's bountifulstorehouse--was of little use now that both atmosphere and moisture werenearly gone. Yet Omega cherished this machine, and aside from itsassociations with the past, it held for him a fascination that he couldnot understand.
Having set the Mirror and other mechanical servants in position, Omegaand Thalma returned to the ship, and slept throughout the day, for withthe descending sun they must again go forth to hunt that scaly demonwhich had taken possession of the earth's last water.
The night was moonless, but the bright starlight brought all objectsinto plain relief against the dark rocks. Taking position on the slopeseveral rods above the beach, Omega and Thalma watched the lake eagerly,but nothing disturbed its mirror-like surface. As on the precedingnight the awful silence appalled them--even though they were accustomedto the vast solitude. It was so calm and still, so full of death andmystery, that it seemed they must cry out in the agony of theiremotions. As the very silence was crushing their spirits so theknowledge that only one form of life on earth stood between them and thewater to which their last hope clung, was maddening. How they longed tobattle the hideous monster! But the hours dragged on with nothing todisturb the dead, heart-breaking silence. At last the Great Dipper hadswung so far around that dawn appeared. Yet there had been not a rippleon the lake. Omega concluded that his guess was wrong--the beast did notleave the water at night to search for food. Perhaps it had learned thefutility of such a search in a dead, dust-covered world.
* * * * *
Wearied by their long and fruitless vigil they must have dozed, forsuddenly Omega, who sat but a yard or two from Thalma, was aroused by apadded footfall and the exhalations of a noisome breath. Looking up hewas horrified to see the monster towering above him, its head swayinggently to and fro, as its great, awkward feet sent it lunging forwardand backward for many feet, its spotted, scale-covered body trailed overthe rocks. By suddenly rounding the shoulder of the rock, shelteringOmega and Thalma, its head held high, it seemed not to have seen the twohumans, for its terrible unblinking eyes were fixed ahead on the water.However, Omega, paralyzed with fear and astonishment,
and being directlyin the beast's path, believed that his hour had come. This was to be theend of all his plans--to be crushed by the enormous weight of themonster which challenged his right to live. But in that tense momentwhen he thought that it was all over, the lithe form of Thalma reachedhis side and in a frenzy of terror pulled him away. But even then thesloping belly of the onrushing beast tore him from her frail hands anddashed him against the rock.
While he lay there stunned and unable to move, Thalma discharged herweapon at the monster. Three times she fired in quick succession but theshots went wild, and in another moment the great brute struck the waterwith a resounding splash and disappeared from view. For a few minutes atrail of surface bubbles marked its rapid course toward the lake'scenter, then all was motionless and still as before.
"Are you hurt, Omega?" Thalma cried anxiously, kneeling by his side.
"Just shaken