Lords of the Stratosphere Read online

  CHAPTER V

  _Into the Void_

  Their watches and the clock in the plane were synchronized with Hadley'stime, which was Eastern Standard, and as soon as the plane had reachedeight thousand feet altitude, Jeter spoke into the radiophone andarranged for a connection with the office of Hadley.

  Hadley himself soon spoke into Jeter's ear.

  "Yes, Jeter?"

  "See that someone is always at your radiophone to listen to us. I'llkeep you informed of developments as long as possible. Everything isrunning like clockwork so far. How is it with you?"

  "Two additional buildings, older buildings of the city, have been liftedsome hundreds of feet above ground level, then dropped back upon theirown foundations, to be broken apart. Many lives lost despite the factthat the city will be deserted within a matter of hours. It seems thatthe--shall we say enemy?--is concentrating only on old buildings."

  "Perhaps they wish to preserve the new ones," said Jeter quietly.

  "What? Why?"

  "For their own use, perhaps; who knows? Keep me informed of everyeventuality. If the center of force which seems to be causing all thishavoc shifts in any direction, advise us at once."

  "All right, Jeter."

  Jeter broke the connection temporarily. Hadley could get him at anymoment. A buzzer would sound inside the almost noiseless cabin whenanyone wished to contact him over the radiophone.

  Eyer was concentrating on the controls. The plane was climbing in greatsweeping spirals. Its speed was a hundred and fifty miles an hour. Theirair speed indicator was capable of registering eight hundred miles anhour. They hoped to attain that speed and more, flying on an even keelabove ninety thousand feet.

  Both Eyer and Jeter were perfect navigators. If, as they hoped, theycould reach ninety thousand or more, they could cross the whole UnitedStates in four hours or less. They could quarter the country, wingedbloodhounds of space, seeking their quarry.

  Jeter studied the sky above them through their special telescopes,seeking some hint of the location of the point of departure of thatdevastating column of light. He could think of no ray that would nullifygravitation--yet that column of light had been the visual manifestationthat the thing had somehow been brought about.

  If this were true, was the enemy vulnerable? Was his base of attackcapable of being destroyed or crippled if anything happened to thecolumn of light? There was no way of knowing--yet. A search of the skyabove Manhattan failed to disclose any visible substance from which thelight beam might emanate. That seemed to indicate some unbelievableheight. Yet, Kress must have reached that base. Else why had he beendestroyed and sent back to Jeter and Eyer as a challenge?

  * * * * *

  Jeter's mind went back to Kress. Frozen solid ... but that could havebeen caused by his downward plunge through space. And what had happenedto Kress' plane? No word had been received concerning it up to the timeof the Jeter-Eyer departure. Had the "enemy" taken possession of it?

  The whole thing seemed absurd. Nobody knew better than Jeter that he wasworking literally and figuratively in the dark. He was doing littlebetter than guessing. He felt sure of but one thing, that the agencywhich was wreaking the havoc was a human one, and he was perfectlywilling to match his wits and Eyer's against any human intelligence.

  Jeter slipped into the cushioned seat beside Eyer.

  The altimeter registered fifteen thousand feet. New York was just a bluragainst the abysmal darkness under their careening wings.

  "You've never ventured an opinion, Tema," said Jeter softly, "even tome."

  Eyer grinned.

  "Who knows?" he said. "It may all be just the very latest thing inaerial attack. If so, what country or coalition of countries harbordesigns against our good Uncle Sam? Japan? China?"

  "How do you explain the Vandercook incident? The bridge thing? The riseand fall of the other skyscrapers?"

  "Some substance or ray capable of being controlled and directed. Itcreates a field, of any size desired, in which gravitation is--well,shall we say erased? Then any solid which is thus made weightless couldbe lifted by the two good hands of a strong man, or even of a weak one.How does that check with your guessing?"

  Jeter shook his head ruefully.

  "I've arrived at the same conclusions as yourself, Tema," he said. "Iknow we're all guessing. I know we're probably climbing off the Earth ona wild-goose chase from which we haven't a chance of returning alive. Iknow we're a pair of fools to think of matching a few drums of gas and abunch of popguns against the equipment of an enemy capable of movingmountains--but what else is there to do?"

  "Nothing," said Eyer cheerfully, "and I've got a feeling that you and Iwill manage to acquit ourselves with credit."

  The radiophone buzzer sounded.

  Hadley was speaking.

  "One of the very latest types of battle-wagons," he said, "was steamingthis way from the open sea outside the Narrows, ordered here to stand byin case of need, by the Navy Department. She was armed to the minutewith the very latest ordnance. She carried a full crew...."

  * * * * *

  Hadley paused. Jeter could hear him take a deep breath, like a diverpreparing to plunge into icy water. Jeter's spine tingled. He felt heguessed in advance what was to come.

  Hadley went on.

  The world seemed to spin dizzily as Jeter listened. Out of all themadness only one thing loomed which served for the moment to keep Jetersane. That was the altimeter, which registered twenty-five thousandfeet.

  "The battle-wagon--the _U.S.S. Hueber_--was yanked bodily out of thewater. It was taken aloft so quickly that it was just a blur. At leastthis was the way the skipper of a Norwegian steamer, a mile away fromthe _Hueber_, described it. The warship simply vanished into the nightsky. The exact time was given by the Norwegian. Five minutes beforemidnight. At that moment nothing was happening in New York City--nothingnew, that is."

  Hadley paused again.

  "Go on, man!" said Jeter hoarsely.

  "Twenty minutes later the _Hueber_ was lowered back into the water,practically unharmed. It had all happened so swiftly that the sailorsaboard scarcely realized anything had happened. The skipper of thewarship radios that the sensation was like a sudden attack of dizziness.One man died of heart failure. He was the only casualty."

  Jeter's eyes began to blaze with excitement, as he spoke.

  "Now you can tell the world that the thing which causes the havocManhattan is experiencing is not supernatural. It is human--and ourpeople have no fear of human enemies."

  "But why was not the warship dropped somewhere, as the buildings havebeen?" asked Hadley.

  "Did you ever," replied Jeter, "hear what is described in the bestfiction as a burst of ironic laughter? Well, that what the _Hueber_, asit now stands, or floats, is! But the enemy made a foolish move andwill live to regret it bitterly."

  "I wish I could share your sudden confidence," said Hadley. "Conditionshere, where public morale is concerned, have become more frightfulminute by minute since you left."

  Jeter severed the connection.

  * * * * *

  The altimeter said thirty-five thousand feet. They were still spiralingupward. Again Jeter surveyed the sky aloft.

  The earth below was a blur, save through the telescopes. The two hadreached a height less than a third of what they hoped to attain.

  Still they could see nothing up above them. They were almost over the"shaft" of atmosphere through which the _Hueber_ must have been liftedand lowered. Suppose, Jeter thought, they had accidentally flown intothat shaft at exactly the wrong moment? It brought a shudder. Still,Jeter's mind went on, if that had happened they would now, in alllikelihood, have been right among the enemy--for gravity in that shaftwould not have existed for them, either.

  But would they have been lowered back to safety as the _Hueber_ and hercrew had been?

  Believing as he did that the enemy knew everything that trans
piredwithin its sphere of influence, Jeter doubted that Eyer and himselfwould have been so humanely treated.

  He had but to remember Kress to feel sure of this.

  The altimeter said fifty thousand feet.