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The Moon Destroyers
By MONROE K. RUCH
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Wonder StoriesQuarterly Winter 1932. Extensive research did not uncover any evidencethat the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
The tremendous speed of the dive brought them so closethat they could see the skeletons of wrecked ships piled up at the baseof the precipice.]
* * * * *
MONROE K. RUCH
The moon is not only the most prominent object in our heavens, but also an integral part of the earth. We are, so to speak, an astronomical unit, and we affect each other for better or for worse.
We know that the gravitational attraction of the moon causes our tides, and tends to slow up the earth in her daily rotation. It has also been deemed responsible for earthquakes, causing untold suffering among earth's people.
But so far the effect of the moon has been rather an inhuman affair. No man has gone to the moon to see just what conditions are there, and to observe accurately the influence that the moon and earth exercise over each other. But when interplanetary travel does come, when commerce between moon and earth may possibly assume importance in our lives, the influence of the moon upon us may be more accurately determined. And when it is, the amazing series of incidents, pictured in this story, may yet come true.
* * * * *
Professor Erickson, head of the International Seismographical Institute,sat with bowed head and pale face, watching the stylus of the instrumentbefore him trace its path on the slowly revolving drum. The laboratory,situated high in the Himalayas, trembled slightly as mid-winter stormsroared and whistled around it, but something quite different, andinfinitely more sinister, was causing the needle to wander from itsordinarily straight path.
Suddenly, with horrible certainty, it jumped, wavered back and forth,and then moved rapidly to the right, until its black ink no longertraced a line on the white paper.
"Holden," shouted Erickson to his assistant, "what does the directionand distance finder tell us? The stylus has run clear off the graph."
Young Jack Holden was working feverishly over the dials and levers ofthe panel before him. Slender yet strong, he looked like a long-bow ofstout old yew as he bent to the task. His steel gray eyes focusedintently on the verniers, taking the readings. The muscles in his tannedcheeks were tight as he turned toward his superior. For a moment thevery storm seemed to hush, awaiting the words. Then he spoke.
"It's the Laurentian fault!"
For a moment both men stared at each other, stunned and helpless.
"That means," Holden managed to say, "that New York is a mass of ruins."
Pictures were forming in his mind; he saw the huge steel and glasstowers of the city, tossed and torn by the convulsive writhings of theearth beneath. Great engineers had said that the city was safe, that notremors would ever disturb it, but they knew nothing of the terrificforce of such a shock as this. Those massive buildings, thousands offeet high, would now be mere heaps of twisted junk. Holden closed hiseyes to shut out the picture, but to no avail. His sister! God! She wasprobably one of the millions who now lay, crushed, bleeding and helplessbeneath the wreckage of the too-proud metropolis.
"My boy," the professor was speaking, "we must stay with our work, nomatter what happens." His voice was low; his entire family had beenwiped out, without doubt, but Science must be served.
For hours the two sat before their instruments, as shock after shock wasrecorded. Jones came down from the television room above, and his reportconfirmed their observations in horrible detail.
"All communications from the city itself are cut off, but an airlinerfrom England, which was about to dock, has broadcast the scene. Aid isbeing rushed from all over the world, but at a conservative estimate tenmillion are already dead, and millions more will probably die, buriedand hidden as they are beneath the wreckage."
At last, nearly five hours after the first shock, the Professor stoodup.
"I think that is all. My prophecies have come true, and at last mytheories will be needed. But the cost of it all, the horrible cost!"
* * * * *
Two weeks later a group of men were seated around the conference tablein the spacious offices of the Department of Public Safety of the WorldUnion. All faces were turned toward the stooped figure of ProfessorErickson, who was speaking from the head of the table.
"Gentlemen, I have outlined to you, only too briefly, the damage causedby the quake a few days ago. I now state that a repetition of such adisaster is imminent. Great faults have formed in the basic granitesthroughout the entire globe. Observations recorded during five centuriessince the first conception of the idea by Dr. Maxwell Allen in 1931,show conclusively that Earth-tides, set up by the attraction of themoon, cause a sweeping series of stresses and strains. These, coming toa fault, produce earthquakes. Now that there are huge faults in thebasic rock, these quakes will be of a tremendous force and range whichthe most modern structures will be unable to resist."
"Professor," spoke John Dorman, Secretary of Public Safety, "if all thisis true, and we are assured that it is, what on earth can be done aboutit?"
"Gentlemen, during nearly seventy years I have studied that problem,and I have come to only one conclusion. Nothing on earth can be doneabout it, if you permit the remark, but men from earth can do something._Destroy the moon!_"
A gasp went up from the great men assembled there. Erickson's colleaguesnodded in helpless agreement.
"But how?" The question came from all sides. Famous engineers looked ateach other questioningly.
"Gentlemen." This was a new voice, young and full of energy.
"Mr. Holden," responded the chairman.
"Professor Erickson was so kind as to confide in me several years ago,and since then I have been at work on this problem. I have solved it."
Eager interest shone on all faces. Jack Holden was known and liked bymany of these men, despite his youth. His discovery of _hexoxen_, thechemical which turned solid matter into almost intangible vapor, hadcreated quite a stir in scientific circles.
He now continued his address.
"If all the resources of Earth are made use of, it would be possible toproduce hundreds of tons of _hexoxen_ and sufficient amounts of theelement Europium to act as a catalyst. That would be plenty to reducethe moon to a gaseous state. The clouds of gas could then be penetratedby anti-gravitational screens, which would cause the smaller pieces todrift off into space, where they will do no harm whatsoever."
Several distinguished engineers nodded their heads. One of them spoke.
"Mr. Secretary, the plan is entirely feasible. I move that Mr. Holden begiven permission to make use of all the necessary resources to carry outhis plan, and that he be placed in sole charge, assisted by an advisoryboard of which Professor Erickson shall be chairman."
The motion was carried, the papers drawn up, and the meeting adjourned.
Holden grasped Professor Erickson firmly by the arm and hurried him tothe elevator.
"We've got just five minutes to get to the port. We're catching thefirst airliner for San Francisco. There are three of the latest modelMars-Earth freighters there, which we will use for our expedition. Wewill also be near the best source of Europium. Hurry."
As the elevator shot downward, the old professor endeavored tocongratulate Holden on his appointment.
"Forget it. This was your idea, and they
should have named you leader ofthe expedition, but that really doesn't make much difference. Anythingyou say goes, see?"
A crowd was milling around the entrance to the Western Hemispheretunnel. An official tried to stop Holden and his companion as theypushed their way through the crowd.
"The liner is leaving. You can't go in there."
"Oh, we can't, huh? Here."
A single glance at the paper shoved under his nose, and the gatekeepercame to life.
"Right this way, you're just in time."
The three ran out on top of the building, where the beautiful silvershape of the liner floated at the top of a short tower. An officer wasjust giving the command to cast loose, but as Holden shouted to him, hecountermanded it, for special orders from the Union had to be obeyed,even if schedules were spoiled.
* * * * *
Nodding their thanks to the now obsequious