The Delta Courier (Cooper, Tex.), Vol. 54, No. 15, Ed. 1 Tuesday, April 9, 1935 Page: 7 of 8
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CHAPTER XI—Continued
—2(y-
"But on the course toward the
sun, Alpha destroyed the moon, as
we know, and this had an effect
upon both Alpha and Bronson Beta,
controlled by Alpha. And now
somethin*, even more profound Is
going to happen. Alpha will have
contact with the world. That will
destroy the earth and will send
Bronson Alpha off In another path.
One almost certain effect of the
catastrophe Is that It will break
Bronson Beta away from the done
lotting control of Bronson Alpha
leave Beta subject to the sun.
VKt will provide a much more sat-
isfactory orbit for us about our
■un.”
“Us?" echoed Tony.
“Us—If we get there," said Eve;
and she bent and kissed the chil-
dren.
At the end of an hour all the
lights In the passenger quarters
were turned out, and the earth was
again (lashed on the screen. Its
diminution In size was ulrendy
startling; and the remains of Eu-
rope, stranded In * new ocean,
looked like a child’s model flour-
and water map.
A point of light showed sudden-
ly very bright, and as a second
passed, It appeared to extend so
that It stood away from the earth
like a white-hot needle.
The upshooting light curved, be-
came horizontal and shot parallel
with the earth, moving apparently
with such speed that It seemed to
have traversed a measurable frac-
tion of the Alps while they
watched.
Abruptly, then, the trail zig-
zagged ; It curved back toward the
earth, and the doomed ship com-
menced to descend. Impelled by Its
motors. In another second
was a faint glow and then—
a luminous trail, which dis-
appeared rapidly, like the pathway
of fire left by a meteor.
Flashes rose and traveled on.
Indications were that the ships of
other nations had got safely away
from the ruins of the earth and
were following the American Space
Ships.
The Implications of these lights
transcended talk. Conversation soon
ceased. Exhaustion, spiritual and
physical, assailed the travelers.
Gravity diminished steadily, and
their habit of relying upon the at-
tractive force of the earth result-
ed In an Increased number of mis-
haps, some of them amusing and
so.ne of them painful. After what
seemed like eons of time some one
asked Tony for some food. Tony
himself could not remember wheth-
er he was going to serve the fifth
meal or the sixth, but he sprang
to his feet with earnest wilingness
—promptly shot clear to the cell-
ing, against which he bumped his
head. He fell back to the floor
with a Jar and rose laughing. The
ceiling was also padded, so that he
had not hurt himself.
Tfe sandwiches were wrapped
wax paper, and when some one
the edge of the crowd asked that
rR sandwich be tossed, Tony flipped
It toward him, only to see It pass
high over the man’s head and en-
tirely out of reach, and strike
agalflst the opposite wall. The
man himself stretched to catch the
wrapped sandwich, and sat down
again rubbing his arm. saying that
he had almost thrown his shoul-
der out of JoLnt.
People walked In an absurd man-
ner. stepping high Into the air
as If they were dancers. Gestures
were uncontrollable, and It was
unsafe to talk excitedly for fear
one would hit one’s self In the face.
Before this condition reached Its
crisis, however, Hendron himself
appeared In the passenger-cabin for
one of his frequent visits. He ar-
rived. not by way of the stulrease.
hut by way of the cable which was
strung tautly Inside the spiral, hnul-
Ing himself up hand over hand with
greater ease and rapidity than was
ever exhibited by any sailor. He
was greeted with pleasure—any
slight Incident had an exaggerated
effect upon the passengers; but his
demeanor was serious.
“1 want you all to he witnesses
of th*> reason for this Journey." he
•aid soberly.
He switched off the lights. The
~een glowed, and on It they saw
earth.
For an hour the Space Ship's pas-
sengers watched silently as Bron-
son’s Alpha swept upon the scene,
a gigantic body, weird, luminous
and unguessnble. many times larger
than the earth. It moved toward the
Once again Hendron spoke. “What
will lake place now cannot he defi-
nitely ascertained. In view of the
retardation of Bronson Alpha's
speed caused by its collision with
the moon, I have reason to believe
that Its course will be completely
disrupted."
Inch by Inch, as tt seemed, the
two bodies came closer together.
Down there on the little earth were
millions of scattered, demoralized
human beings. They were watch-
ing this awful phenorcenou In the
skies. Around them the ground
was rocking, the tides were rising,
lava was bursting forth, winds were
blowing, oceans were boiling, fires
were catching and human courage
was facing complete frustration.
Above them the sky was filled with
this awful onrushlng mass.
They would, perhaps. Id the last
staggering seconds, feel themselves
withdrawn from the feeble gravity
of their own enrth, to fall headlong
toward Bronson Alpha.
Tony shuddered as he watched.
Enrth and Bronson Alpha were but
a few moments apart. It seemed
as If the continents below them
were swimming across the seas, as
If the seas were hurling themselves
upon the land; and presently they
saw great cracks. In the abysses of
which were fire, spread along the
remote dry land. Into the air were
lifted mighty whirls of steam. The
nebulous atmosphere of Bronson
Alpha touched the air of the earth,
and then the very earth bulged. Its
sliHpe altered before their eyes. It
became plastic. It was drawn out
egg-shaped. The cracks girdled the
globe. A great section of the enrth
Itself lifted up and peeled away,
leaping toward Bronson Alpha with
an Inconceivable force.
The two planets struck.
Deellllons of tons of mass collid-
ing In cosmic catastrophe.
"It’s not direct." Duquesne shout-
ed. "Oh. (5—d ! Perhaps—’’
Steam, fire, smoke. Tongues of
flame from the center of the earth.
The planets ground together and
then moved across each other. It
was like watching an eclipse. The
magnitude of the disaster was
veiled by hot gases and stupendous
flames, and was diminished In aw-
fulness by the Intervening distances
and by the seeming slowness with
which It took place.
Bronson Alpha rode between them
and the earth. Then—on Its opposite
side—fragments of the shattered
world reappeared. Distance showed
between them—widening, scattering
distance. Bronson Alpha moved
away on Its terrible course, fiery,
spread enormously in ghastly light
The views on the vlsagraph
changed quick' r. The sun showed
Its furious ..maes. The telescopic
periscopes concentrated on the frag-
ment of the earth.
"They’re calculating," Hendron
said.
During a lull of humble voices
Kyto could be heard praying to
strange gods In Japanese. Eliot
James drummed on the padded floor
with monotonous finger tips. Tony
clenched Eve’s hand. Time passed—
It seemed hours. A man hurried
down the spiral staircase. He went
directly to Hendron.
Hendron’s voice was tense. “Tell
us."
“They have seen the first result,"
Von Beltz replied. "The earth Is
shattered. Unquestionably much of
Its matter merged with Bronson
Alpha; but most Is scattered In
fragments of various masses which
will assume orbits of their own
about the sun."
“And Bronson Alpha?"
“It seems to have been deflected
so that It will follow a hyperbola
Into space.”
“Hyperbola, eh? That means,"
Hendron explained loudly, "we will
have seen the last of Bronson
Alpha. It will not return to the sum
It will leave our solar system for-
ever. And Bronson Beta?" Hendron
turned to the German.
"As we have hoped, the Influence
of Bronson Alpha over BronsoD
Beta Is ended. The collision oc-
curred at a moment which found
Bronson Beta at a favorable point
In Its orbit. Favorable. I mean, for
us. Bronson Beta will not follow
Alpha Into space. Its orbit becomes
Independent; Bronson Beta, almost
surely, will circle the sun.”
Some of the women burst out cry-
ing In a hysteria of relief. The
world was gone; they had seen It
shattered; but another would take
its place. For the first time they
succeeded in feeling this.
A short time later, a man arose
bring the women water; he re-
"We have come," announced Tony
loudly, "very close to the point be-
tween Bronson Beta and Bronson
Alpha, where the gravity of one
neutralizes the gravity of the other.
Bronson Alpha and the fragments
of our world, pulling one way, strike
an equilibrium here with the pull of
Bronson Beta, which we are ap-
proaching."
Tony’s heart raced. It was diffi-
cult to breathe; he felt himself
faint, dizzy and nausealed.
His brain roared.
The air was becoming filled with
people. The slightest motion was
sufficient to cause one to depart
from whatever anchorage one had.
Tony saw Hendron going hand over
hand on the cable through the stair,
ascending head foremost, his feet
trailing out behind him.
Thai was all be remembered. lie
fell Into coma.
When Ills senses returned tie was
lying on something hard and cold.
He explored It with his fingers, and
realized dully that It was the glass
screen which projected the peri-
scope views. It was the celling,
then, on which the passengers were
lying In a tangled heap, and not the
deck. Their positions had been re-
versed. He thought that he was
stone deaf, and then perceived that
ttie noise of the motors Imd slopped
entirely. They were falling toward
Bronson Bela, using gravity and
their own Inertia to sustain that
downward flight. He understood
why he had seen Hendron pulling
himself along the staircase. Hen-
dron had been transferring to the
control room at the opposite end
of the ship.
The passengers were breathing,
gasping, hiccoughing; their hearts
were pounding; their faces were
stark white; but they seemed to be
alive. Tony knew they would be all
right as soon as the gravity from
Bronson Beta became stronger. He
knew that the voyage was more
than half finished. He fell Into a
state between sleep and coma.
Some one woke him. “We’re eat-
ing. How about a sandwich?” He
sat up. The gravity was still very
slight, but an hour later conditions
were Improved for moving about
the chamber, by the starting of the
motors which were to decelerate the
ship. The floor was firm again. On
the screen at their feet they could
see Bronson Beta. It was white like
an immense moon, but veiled In
clouds. Here and there bits of Its
superficial geography were visible.
In four hours the deceleration had
been greatly Increased. In six,
Bronson Beta was visibly spreading
on the screen. Deceleration held
them tightly on the floor, hut they
could crawl across each other la-
boriously, and In turn stare at the
floating, cloudy sphere upon which
they expected to arrive.
The hours dragged more, even,
than they had on the outward Jour-
ney. A word of warning went
through the ship. The passengers
took another drink of water, ate
another mouthful of food, and once
again strapped themselves to the
floor. Hendron turned on more
power.
A half hour passed, and he did
not budge. His face was taut.
The dangers of space had been met.
Now came the last great teBt. At
his side again was Duquesne. So
great was the pressure of retarda-
tion that It was almost Impossible
for him to move, and yet It was
necessary to do so with great deli-
cacy. A fractional miscalculation
would mean that all his work had
gone for nothing.
In the optical Instrument to which
he screwed his eyes, he stared at
a bright foaming mass of what
looked like clouds. A vast abyss
separated him from those clouds,
and yet Its distance shortened rap-
idly. He looked at the gauge that
measured their altitude from the
surface of the planet, and at the
gauge which reckoned their speed.
Suddenly the clouds seemed to
rush up toward him.
Hendron pressed a stud. The re-
tardation was perceptibly In-
creased. Sound began to pour In
awful volumes to their ears.
Suddenly Heudron’s lips Jerked
spasmodically, and a quiver ran
through the hand on the rheostat
He pointed toward the screen with
his free hand, and they hud their
first view of the new world.
CHAPTER XII
earth with the relentless peroep- mained suspended In the air 1
tt bill ty of the hands of a large ! Tony reached up and turned on
clock, and those who looked upon j the light*. The man who floated waa
Its awe-lnsplring approach held ! alnalng alowly toward the floor, hla
their breath*. J fact blank with amazement
npHR first view of the new world
1 flashed through the remnants
of cloud to all the passengers. Be-
low them was a turbulent rolling
ocean. Where the force of their
blasts struck It. It flung back ter-
rific clouds of steam. They de-
scended to within a mile of Its sur-
face. and then Hendron. operating
another lever. Bent out horizontal
Jets, so that the ship began to move
rapidly over the surface of this un-
known sea.
To every one who looked, this
desolate expanse of ocean was like
a beneficent blessing from God
himself. Here was something fa
miliar, something Interesting, some-
thing terrestrial. Here was no
longer the Incomprehensible mujes
ty of the void.
The Space Ship had reached the
surface of Bronson Beta and wns
traveling now at a slow, lateral ve-
locity above one of the oceans,
Hendron worked frantically with
the delicate controls to keep the
ship poised and In regular motion;
yet It rose and fell like an airplane
hounding In rough winds, and It
swayed on Its horizontal axis so
that Its pilot ceaselessly played hla
fingertips on the releasee of the
quick blasts which maintained equi-
librium.
The sullen, sunless ocean seemed
endless. Was thpre no land? Had
the cities, had the mountains and
plains, been mere optlcul Illusions?
Still the views obtaluuhle from the
side periscope flushed upon the
screen and showed nothing but
empty sea and lowering cloud.
Then, on the far horizon, land
appeared dimly.
A cry, a shot that drowned the
tumult of the motors, broke from
trembling lips. Speedily they ap-
proached the lund. It spread out
under them. It towered Into hills.
Its extent was lost In the mists.
They reached Its coast, a bleak In-
hospitable stretch of brown enrth
uml rock, of sandy beach and cliff
upon which nothing grew or moved
or was. Inland the country rose
precipitously; and Hendron, as If
he shared the Impatience of his
passengers and could bear uo more,
turned the ship bnck toward a
plateau that rose high above the
level of the sea.
Along the plateau he skimmed at
a speed that might have been thir-
ty miles un hour. The Ark drew
down toward the new Earth until
It was but a few feet above the
ground. The speed diminished, the
motors were turned off and on
again quickly. There was a very
short, very rapid drop; bodies
were thrown violently against the
padded floor; the springs beneath
them recoiled—and there was si
lence. The ship settled at a slight
angle In the earth and rock be-
neath 1L
The Ark was filled with a new
sound—the sound of human voice*
raised In hysterical bedlam.
"Hendron!" rose the shout; and
men and women, almost equally
hysterical, rushed to him. They
had to clap hands on him, touch
him, cry out to him.
Tony discovered Eve at hla aide,
struggling toward her father, and
weeping. Some one recognized her
and thrust her through the throng.
Men and women were throwing
their arms about each other, kiss-
ing, and screaming In each other’s
faces. At lost some one opened the
larder and brought out food. Peo-
ple who hud eaten practically noth-
ing for the four days began to de-
vour everything they could get
their hands upon.
Tony, meanwhile, had somewhat
recovered himself. He made a
quick census and shouted: “We all
are here. Every one who started
on this ship survived 1“
It set off pandemonium again, but
also It reminded them of doubt of
the safety of the second ship.
Where Is It? ban It be sighted?
. . How about the Germans? . . .
The English? . . The Japanese?"
Their own shouts quieted them,
so that Hendron at last could speak.
We have had. for three days, no
sight of our friends or of any of
the other parties from Earth.” he
announced. "That does not mean
that they all have failed; our path
through space was not the only one.
Some may have been ahead of us
and arrived when the other aide of
this world was turned; others may
still arrive; hut you all under-
stand that we can count upon no
one but ourselves.
We have arrived; that we
know. And none of you will ques-
tion my sincerity when I repeat
to you that It Is my conviction
that fate—Destiny—far more than
our own efforts has brought na
through.
“I repeat here. Id my first words
upon this strange, new. marvelous
world what I said upon that planet
which now flies In shattered frag-
ments about our sun; we have ar-
rived. not as triumphant Individ-
uals spared for ourselves, but as
humble representative* of the re-
sult of a billion year* of evolution
transported to a sphere where we
may reproduce and recreate the
life given us. . . ,
“I will pass at once to practical
considerations.
“At this spot, It Is now late In
the afternoon of Bronson Beta's
new day, which lasts thirty hour*
instead of the twenty-four to which
we are accustomed. For the present,
we must all remain upon the ship.
The ground lmmedlatfcly under Is
still baked hot by the beat of our
blast at landing. Moreover we mnst
teat the atmosphere carefully be-
fore we breathe It.
“Of court*, If tt la utterly un-
breathable. we will all perish soon;
but If It prove* merely to contain
some unfavorable element against
which we must be masked at first
until we develop Immunity to It, we
must discover what It la.
“While waiting, we will discharge
one of the forward rocket tubes at
half-hour Intervals In the hope that
our sister ship will see this signal
and reply. We will also Immediate-
ly put into operation an Internal
radio system and listen for her. I
wish to thank thoee of you who
acted as my crew during this flight,
and who In spite of shuddering
senses and stricken bodies stuck
steadfast to your posts. But there
to no praise adequate In human
language for the Innumerable feat*
of courage, of Ingenuity and perse-
verance which have been performed
by every one of yon. I trust that
by the morning we shail be able t«
make a survey of our world on
foot, and I presume that by then
we shall have heard from our sla-
ter ahlp."
(TO BB CONTINUBD.)
Erroneous Belief That
Bees Know Their Owners
"Bees never come to know their
owner,'* says Janies I. llambleton.
agriculturist In the bureau of ento-
mology, dispelling the belief that
beekeepers d<> not get stung, because
their bees know them. "Every per-
son who works with bees will be
stung occasional/. The layman who
Is stung moot often Is probably nerv-
ous and afraid of bees. Apiarists
are well aware that their bees never
get to know them. One who under-
stands bees can work as safely In
another apiary ns In his own.”
Bee specialists also point out that
the worker bees, which do the sting
Ing, do so only In defense of their
hive, and even then only a few as-
sume the responsibility of guards,
leaving the others free to go about
their work. If all bees rushed at
once to the defense of the hive, and
were successful In slinging their vic-
tim, there would la* no workers left,
because In stinging, a bee not only
loses Its sting but also loses Its life
Away from the hive, bees are Intent
upon their work and cun scarcely be
Induced to sting, unless they are
eanglit and crushed.—Boston Tran-
script.
HU, but How?
Composer—My tunes are the dill
dren of my brain.
Pianist—Yes, by adoption.—rear-
son’s Weekly,
GYPSIES "GO MODERN"
Michael Kwlrk, the king of the
gypsies of Poland, has organized
a gypsy cabinet of seven “minis-
ters." lie nod lfi.000 of his pMfb
dn-lure they Hre tired of a wan-
dering life and are asking the Brit-
ish government for a reservation la
Africa In which to settle.
How Does He Keep
His Car So Beautiful!
That’s just exactly what your friends are
bound to say when you Simoniz your car. The <c-r,/
finish v.-dl sparkle like new e^ain, and it will ..—'*vl
stay that way. So always insist on Simoniz
and Simoniz Kleener for your car.
... Never Fails On Baking Days
£1A B B E R
Girl
BAKING POWDER
Buy A Can From Your Grocer Today
warms up
f’*
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ALL MY MONEY
THROWIN*
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COME OVER TO
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AND I'LL SHOW
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fc-J-1u
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z
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Join Dizzy Dean Winners-carry Dizzy’s Lucky Piece
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The Delta Courier (Cooper, Tex.), Vol. 54, No. 15, Ed. 1 Tuesday, April 9, 1935, newspaper, April 9, 1935; Cooper, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth983185/m1/7/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Delta County Public Library.