Part 1

The Space Visitors

By Edmond Hamilton

[Illustration: EDMOND HAMILTON]

_Illustration by Paul_

_Just as we look upon fish as inhabitants of the ocean, so some beings from outer space may look upon us as being inhabitants at the bottom of an atmospheric ocean._

_Such beings, possibly gigantic in size and power, coming in the vicinity of our earth, may, for purposes of curiosity or exploration, decide to discover what we queer beings are, and what this little planet is that we inhabit._

_That such beings may have actually come near the earth, is asserted forcibly by Charles Fort in his amazing book, "The Book of the Damned," in which he brings forward evidence to show that over a period of the past 150 years there has been evidence of strange extra-terrestrial activity, presumably from sentient beings._

_As Mr. Hamilton so truthfully points out, we beings of the earth are not at all isolated. Any day we may have plunged upon us an enemy from space that would have no more regard for our civilization than we have for those of the ants and other insects._

_How we may combat such enemies, Mr. Hamilton shows in quite a remarkable story._

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Air Wonder Stories March 1930. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

Because Dr. Howard has asked me to prepare a concise account of the coming of the space-visitors, I, Stanley Ransome, have tried to write a simple record of my own contacts with them. Such a record will necessarily have errors enough; but it seems to me that the facts can be most clearly presented in such a fashion.

It was late in June that I first learned of the affair, through Dr. Howard himself. Dr. Jason Howard was holder of the chair of Aeronautical Science in Gotham University, and his contributions to the progress of aerial navigation had made him renowned in both scientific and commercial circles. For two years I had been an instructor and assistant in his department of the university.

Toward the end of that particular June afternoon he came into the laboratory where I was testing the tensile strength of a new alloy, and handed me a folded newspaper.

"You haven't seen this, Ransome?" he questioned. "They're shouting them all over the city."

"I hope you haven't ruined a completely good test to call my attention to the latest murder," I jested, as I unfolded the paper. But when my eyes took in the import of its black headlines my smile vanished. They shrieked their message in the tallest available type:

HUNDREDS SLAIN IN IOWA VILLAGE BY CATACLYSM! MANNLERTOWN SCENE OF MYSTERIOUS HORROR!

The story below the headlines described what was then known of the catastrophe which had occurred just before dawn on that day. Mannlertown, an agricultural center of considerable size in eastern Iowa, had been awakened a short hour before daylight by a colossal grinding and roaring sound coming from the east.

Before the startled, half-awakened people had been able to leap from their beds, however, the thing was upon them. It was horror, earthquake, annihilation, all in one, driving across the town with immense speed. A terrific crashing of shattered buildings spread through the community, and for an instant the gigantic grinding roar seemed receding westward. Then it had stopped completely.

It was several minutes before anyone in the stunned city ventured out into the streets, half-curious and half-terrified. But those who finally did so were paralyzed by astonishment and terror. For a colossal path of destruction had been cut straight across the city's northern section.

It was like a gigantic trench or canal gouged out by a superhuman instrument, being over a quarter of a mile in width and almost as great in depth. It began in an open field three miles east of Mannlertown and ended in a thinly-settled suburban section a mile westward.

Houses, people, trees, fences, roads--everything that had lain in the track of the unknown destroyer had vanished as though it had been whirled into space, and there lay open to the sun nothing but this vast wound in the earth's surface! Hundreds of people, it was estimated, had gone to death in the moment of the unparalleled cataclysm.

Doubt

It is not surprising that panic sent the people of Mannlertown fleeing in all directions before the coming of the day. The newspaper stated that federal and state authorities had taken every precaution to calm them, and already many who had fled were returning to the stricken town, it being apparent that no further disturbance was taking place.

But what had caused this one? Was it an earthquake or a volcanic action of some unheard-of nature? No answer could be definitely made, but the geologists and other scientists consulted regarding the thing were in general agreement. It could only have been caused, they stated, by some giant meteor that had grazed the earth's surface and gouged this great scar across it in passing. More could be learned from examination of the cut but it was certain that a meteor was the cause.

When I had finished reading I looked up at Dr. Howard, sobered by the horror of what I had just read.

"A terrible thing, surely," I said, and he nodded somberly.

"Just how terrible, is not yet realized," he commented.

"Why, you don't doubt that it was a meteor's work, do you?" I asked. "That great gouge--"

He shook his head. "Who can say? But if a meteor of giant size did it, where is the meteor? They do not as a rule, graze earth and then vanish, Ransome."

"Maybe not," I said doubtfully, "but in this case the scientists all seem pretty sure. And after all, what other explanation for the thing is there?"

To that he did not answer, though I could see that he was unconvinced. So I was not surprised when Dr. Howard left for Mannlertown that night by a fast Chicago rocket express. To me, as to others, he said only that he wished to make a brief examination of the scene of the disaster with certain ideas of his own in mind. I knew without his telling, though, that his doubts persisted.

The world at large did not share those doubts. There was wide-spread horror over the Mannlertown catastrophe, but it was the rather abstract horror aroused by some unprecedented accident of which the very strangeness somehow dulls the edge of reality. And none seemed to doubt the dictum of the scientists concerning the gigantic missile from space that had shot into the earth's atmosphere grazing its surface and then shooting out again. I know that, despite Dr. Howard's attitude, I myself did not doubt it.

Dr. Howard returned from Mannlertown two days later. The only information that he imparted was that his investigations had proved satisfactory. He said nothing more and, assuming that his inspection had disproved his doubts, I forbore mentioning the thing to him. It was not until the second cataclysm, a day later, that I learned along with the rest of the world, what his thoughts on the matter were.

This second cataclysm took place on the afternoon of July first, but, because of the remoteness of its scene, word of it did not reach most of the world until the next day. For the scene of the second event was those bleak Finnish plains that lie east of the Baltic, and particularly one barren valley far from the nearest telegraph.

News concerning what had happened was scanty enough. The central fact was that upon one of that valley's slopes, something had gouged from the grassy earth a tremendous trench like the one that had been cut through Mannlertown. It was of the same general size--several miles in length and a quarter-mile in depth and width; but in that remote place it had done almost no damage to life or property.

The only damage to property, in fact, had been the destruction of a herder's hut that had been in the path of the thing. The seven herders who had occupied it, luckily for them, had been tending their flocks on the slope of a neighboring valley. All had heard a gigantic roaring and grinding sound, and had run up to the dividing ridge as the sound ceased, to be confronted by the great gouge below. One of them, however, had been on the ridge at the time and told an excited and almost incomprehensible tale regarding it.

He said he had been gazing down over the slope in question when the disaster had happened. First came a great flash of light in the air above, the flash of some colossal glittering body swooping from above to earth's surface. He could not describe what he claimed to have seen of it in that lightning-like glimpse, and could describe it only as of something huge and glittering, and roughly scoop-like in shape.

In the very second that he saw it, it had struck the slope, and then with great speed had rushed forward, along it, half-burying itself in the earth, emitting a loud, grinding roar. In an instant it had streaked like light along the slope for several miles and then with an upward flash was gone, the noise gradually ceasing.

This tale, even doubted by the man's companions, certainly received small credit from the outside world. The paper that I read mentioned the story only as an illusion, born of excitement, and went on to point out that while the Mannlertown cataclysm had been repeated the explanation accepted for it had not been disproved. It simply meant that another giant meteor had grazed our globe, and it might well be that the earth was passing through a swarm of them.

I will own, however, that to me the meteor explanation seemed rather weakened by this so exact repetition of the first catastrophe, and I could not see how this recurring catastrophe could be explained so simply.

Howard's Theory

At the first news of the thing, I had sought Dr. Howard to learn his own views of it, but he was not to be found at the university. And by the time I had met him the next day I, along with most of the world, had read the late editions of the newspaper in which he first startled the nations with his astounding explanation of the two cataclysms.

He stated that he had studied closely the scene of the first cataclysm, and had derived therefrom a theory as to its cause which he believed was substantiated by the second occurrence.

"No one who has considered carefully the Mannlertown catastrophe," he stated, "can credit for a moment the idea that it was caused by a meteor. Had a great meteor actually grazed the earth that night, the sky for a thousand miles would have flamed with its passing, even had it been able to pass out of earth's grip after entering it, which is an incredible hypothesis.

"The cataclysm at Mannlertown was not caused by a meteor, but by some vast scoop-like object that was drawn across several miles of the earth's surface with immense speed and in that way gouged out the great trench in the earth. This second cataclysm in Finland was obviously caused in the same way, there being no appearance of a meteor in the sky. The huge scoop of which I speak was actually seen in the second case by the Finnish herder whose story has been little credited. But the very wildness of which is almost a guarantee of its truth, especially coming from such an unimaginative person.

"We must accept, then, the theory that on two different occasions within the last few days a giant scoop of some sort has been lowered from outer space, dragged across the earth's surface for several miles with incredible speed, and then jerked upward again, taking with it the matter it has cut from the earth! Just as we men sail over the surface of our waters and let down trawls to drag along their beds far below, so someone, something or things, exist on the surface of the atmospheric ocean at the bottom of which we live, and is letting down trawls to drag its bottom, the surface of the earth.

"This idea may seem fantastic to many. We human beings do not think of ourselves as living at the bottom of an ocean; but a little reflection will show that to be the case. The atmosphere is an ocean, fifty to sixty miles in depth, covering all the earth. Our knowledge of it indicates that, becoming more and more rarefied, it has a fairly definite surface or limit a few score miles above us, beyond which lies empty space.

"So there is a great air-ocean, and at its bottom we live. The pressure at its bottom is tremendous, even as the ocean's pressure is tremendous near its bottom. But like the creatures that live far down in the sea's depths, we are so habituated to that pressure, and our bodies braced internally against it, that we do not feel it. If we were to be taken into empty space our bodies would explode as would fish taken from the sea's depths. And in the same way, were creatures accustomed to empty space to enter our atmospheric ocean they would undoubtedly be crushed to death by its pressure.

"It is that which in my opinion, accounts for this trawling from above. It may be that for centuries, while we have pondered on the planets and stars, ships from those planets and stars have been coming and going far above us, filled with creatures who have evolved in space as we have evolved in air and fish have evolved in water. We would know no more, dream no more, of the existence of those space-ships than the creatures at the seas' bottoms know of the great liners going and coming far above them.

"But suppose some of these beings, possessing space-ships, become curious as to what lies at the bottom of this air-ocean of ours. They could not venture down into it. What would they do? Would they not let their ships cruise to and fro on the surface of the air-ocean, and let down great trawls to drag the bottom far below, just as we men trawl an ocean into whose depths we dare not descend.

"I believe that is what is now going on. Far above us, at the surface of our atmospheric ocean, there are cruising ships or a ship, which we cannot see, holding beings from some great planet of whose nature we dare not guess. They cannot descend into our atmosphere but they are letting down their great trawl from above to drag the bottom, which is earth's surface, to see what lies upon it!

"And make no mistake! These beings, who may be infinitely beyond us in intelligence and science, and who are undoubtedly completely different from us in every respect, care naught for the wreck and ruin they may be causing with their trawls. Any terror they might loose upon us would mean nothing to them. For to them, high above, we at the air-ocean's bottom are no more than the blind, strange creatures that we fish from our own watery seas' depths are to us."

It seems unnecessary to describe the turmoil that was aroused by this startling statement of Dr. Howard's. It is hard to expose the wilful blindness of a world that now looks back upon that blindness with something like terror.

Dr. Howard's theory became the target of every form and degree of criticism during the ensuing days. His idea was susceptible to ridicule, and the scientists whose meteor-theory he had questioned seized the opportunity. _Did_ we live at the bottom of an ocean, an atmospheric sea? _Were_ we merely crawling things upon earth's surface, to be fished for and examined curiously by unimaginable beings and vessels far above? The idea was too humorous. The public's indignation dissolved into laughter.

The Third

A very conceivable fact was brought forward to demolish the "ridiculous" theory. If space-ships were passing to and fro constantly outside our atmosphere, why had they never been glimpsed by astronomers? Dr. Howard replied promptly to this by giving a list of unknown objects sighted by astronomers in space in the last decades, by Sporer and Wartman and Grek and Ferguson and Loomis, and scores upon scores of others, objects seen against the sun or moon or planets, and which had never been identified.

There was no more criticism on that score, but a side-issue was raised. Dr. Howard had stated that the atmospheric sea of earth had in all probability a surface as definite as that of an ocean. Many attacked this minor point, but were met by Dr. Howard with the cold data of many tests, showing that while for a certain distance the air becomes rarer with increased altitude, it seems thereafter to remain constant, indicating that from that point up to its definite end or surface its density is the same. There was no valid reason why an ocean of air should not have as definite a surface as an ocean of water.

Each new critical attack brought forward in those few days met with much the same treatment and the criticism on the part of Dr. Howard's enemies began to change into bad temper and abuse.

I mentioned this to him on the night of July 5th, showing him an account of the latest attack. From my first reading of his hypothesis, it had seemed to me crystal-clear in truth, but conventional scientists had found its startling presumptions upsetting.

"They wouldn't believe it, some of them, if they themselves were picked up by a trawl from above and whirled around the earth," I said.

He shook his head thoughtfully. "I think that they will believe it soon, Ransome," he said. "If these visitations from above continue--"

"You think they will continue?" I asked. "After all, why should they? If beings out of space actually are trawling, they must have learned enough from their two attempts to satisfy them about earth's surface."

"I don't think so. For all we know, Ransome, they may be searching for minerals or ores or materials unknown to us, hoping to drag them up from the bottom of this air-ocean. Or they may want living things, for purposes of their own. Or it may be mere scientific curiosity. God knows what motives sway them, but let us hope for one thing."

"And that--?"

"That they do not find whatever they are searching for. For if they do; if they come to look on earth as a source of needed materials, it means the end of our civilization. Imagine those gigantic trawls descending in great numbers out of the skies day and night to gouge earth's surface--imagine perhaps great air-submarines or hermetically closed ships of some kind venturing down here to the surface--or submarine mines, caissons of some strange sort here at the bottom of the atmospheric ocean--creatures of dread--"

I shook myself clear of the horrors his words suggested. "After all," I reminded him, "this is a rather baseless fear. There haven't been any more cataclysms and it may well be that--"

Abruptly I halted. Through the open windows of the apartment came the growing clamor of shouting voices. We ran to the window and at the sight of the excited newsboys along the street I think that the same foreboding gripped us both. Three minutes later we were looking together at one of the newspaper extras, reading it in a horror-dazed silence.

Only a few hours before, the terror from above had struck earth for the third time, and this time with the most terrible results thus far. For the victim had been Chicago! The colossal scoop which the excited Finn had attempted to describe had descended lightning-like out of the skies at dusk, and with incredible swiftness had cut a vast lane of destruction through the city.

[Illustration: The colossal scoop had descended lightning-like out of the skies at dusk, and with incredible swiftness had cut a vast lane of destruction through the city. It glittered strangely as though composed of an unknown metal.]

The giant thing had been seen more or less clearly by many thousands, despite the swiftness of its action. It was colossal in size, much like a steam-shovel's scoop in shape, glittering strangely, as though composed of an unknown metal. Its top disappeared far above into the night.

The thing had struck the city's southern acres and in a moment, with a roar as of worlds splitting apart, had cut northward across the city and for a mile or more out into the lake, then flashing up into the dusk as swiftly as it had descended. Chicago was in uncontrollable panic, Chaos of unnameable fear, and troops were on their way to quell the lawless rioting and looting that had already begun.

When we read that, both Dr. Howard and I were silent for some time, listening to the disturbed hum and roar of excitement that penetrated the room from outside. And before either of us could speak, we were sharply aroused by the coming of a telegram. Dr. Howard read the brief message twice, then handed it to me, without comment.

An hour later saw us in a great army plane flying southward through the night toward Washington.

A Conference

It was still night when our plane slanted out of the darkness into the blazing landing-field lights. A powerful car awaited us, and as it sped with reckless speed across the city which was as aroused, excited, and horror-stricken as New York, we could distinguish now and then the great dome of the Capitol, gleaming white in the light of dawn.

In a short time we were inside the Capitol, and were ushered into a small panelled room where a dozen or more men seated around a table awaited us.

I recognized at once the strong face of President Rogers, at the table's end, and perceived, also, the well-known features of the Secretaries of War and of the Navy. Beside them were the ambassadors of Great Britain, Germany, France, and a half-dozen other great powers, while secretaries and aides hovered in the background. It was the group, representative of the world's governments, that the President had gathered together at once after the Chicago cataclysm, and he had summoned Dr. Howard to meet with it.

He greeted my superior and myself courteously; but the strain that he was under showed as clearly in his face, as it did in the others about the table. At once he plunged toward the point.

"Dr. Howard, some days ago you gave to the press a suggested explanation of the Mannlertown and Finland cataclysms which was, despite your scientific eminence, too startling to be accepted by the world or by your fellow-scientists. That explanation has now been shown by this catastrophe that has riven Chicago to have been irrefutably true. We must accept, unprecedented as the situation is, the fact that vessels of some sort from outer space are actually trawling the earth's surface from above its atmosphere, that trawl having been seen at Chicago by thousands, as it was seen in Finland. You alone among scientists have comprehended the nature of this menace. We have called you here to suggest some method of meeting it."

Dr. Howard was silent and thoughtful for a moment, gazing from one to another of the anxious faces at the table, then the President spoke again.