The Skylark of Space

DuQuesne was in his laboratory, poring over an abstruse article in a foreign journal of science, when Scott came breezily in with a newspaper in his hand, across the front page of which stretched great headlines. "Hello, Blackie!" he called. "Come down to earth and listen to this tale of mystery from that world-renowned fount of exactitude and authority, the _Washington Clarion_. Some miscreant has piled up and touched off a few thousand tons of T.N.T. and picric acid up in the hills. Read about it, it's good." DuQuesne read: MYSTERIOUS EXPLOSION! MOUNTAIN VILLAGE WIPED OUT OF EXISTENCE! TWO HUNDRED DEAD, NONE INJURED! FORCE FELT ALL OVER WORLD. CAUSE UNKNOWN. SCIENTISTS BAFFLED. HARPER'S FERRY. March 26.--At 10: 23 A.M. today, the village of Bankerville, about thirty miles north of this place, was totally destroyed by an explosion of such terrific violence that seismographs all over the world recorded the shock, and that windows were shattered even in this city. A thick pall of dust and smoke was observed in the sky and parties set out immediately. They found, instead of the little mountain village, nothing except an immense, crater-like hole in the ground, some two miles in diameter and variously estimated at from two to three thousand feet deep. No survivors have been found, no bodies have been recovered. The entire village, with its two hundred inhabitants, has been wiped out of existence. Not so much as a splinter of wood or a fragment of brick from any of the houses can be found. Scientists are unable to account for the terrific force of the explosion, which far exceeded that of the most violent explosive known. "Hm ... m. That sounds reasonable, doesn't it?" asked DuQuesne, sarcastically, as he finished reading. "It sure does," replied Scott, grinning. "What'd'you suppose it was? Think the reporter heard a tire blow out on Pennsylvania Avenue?" "Perhaps. Nothing to it, anyway," as he turned back to his work. As soon as the visitor had gone a sneering smile spread over DuQuesne's face and he picked up his telephone. "The fool did it. That will cure him of sucking eggs!" he muttered. "Operator? DuQuesne speaking. I am expecting a call this afternoon. Please ask him to call me at my house.... Thank you." "Fred," he called to his helper, "if anyone wants me, tell them that I have gone home." He left the building and stepped into his car. In less than half an hour he arrived at his house on Park Road, overlooking beautiful Rock Creek Park. Here he lived alone save for an old colored couple who were his servants. In the busiest part of the afternoon Chambers rushed unannounced into Brookings' private office. His face was white as chalk. "Read that, Mr. Brookings!" he gasped, thrusting the _Clarion_ extra into his hand. Brookings read the news of the explosion, then looked at his chief chemist, his face turning gray. "Yes, sir, that was our laboratory," said Chambers, dully. "The fool! Didn't you tell him to work with small quantities?" "I did. He said not to worry, that he was taking no chances, that he would never have more than a gram of copper on hand at once in the whole laboratory." "Well ... I'll ... be ... damned!" Slowly turning to the telephone, Brookings called a number and asked for Doctor DuQuesne, then called another. "Brookings speaking. I would like to see you this afternoon. Will you be at home?... I'll be there in about an hour. Good bye." * * * * * When Brookings arrived he was shown into DuQuesne's study. The two men shook hands perfunctorily and sat down, the scientist waiting for the other to speak. "Well, DuQuesne, you were right. Our man couldn't handle it. But of course you didn't mean the terms you mentioned before?" DuQuesne's lips smiled; a hard, cold smile. "You know what I said, Brookings. Those terms are now doubled, twenty thousand and ten million. Nothing else goes." "I expected it, since you never back down. The Corporation expects to pay for its mistakes. We accept your terms and I have contracts here for your services as research director, at a salary of two hundred and forty thousand dollars per annum, with the bonus and royalties you demand." DuQuesne glanced over the documents and thrust them into his pocket. "I'll go over these with my attorney to-night, and mail one back to you if he approves the contract. In the meantime, we may as well get down to business." "What would you suggest?" asked Brookings. "You people stole the solution, I see...." "Don't use such harsh language, Doctor, it's...." "Why not? I'm for direct action, first, last and all the time. This thing is too important to permit of mincing words or actions, it's a waste of time. Have you the solution here?" "Yes, here it is," drawing the bottle from his pocket. "Where's the rest of it?" asked DuQuesne as he noted the size of the bottle. "All that we found is here, except about a teaspoonful which the expert had to work on," replied Brookings. "We didn't get it all, only half of it. The rest of it was diluted with water, so that it wouldn't be missed. After we get started, if you find it works out satisfactorily, we can procure the rest of it. That will certainly cause a disturbance, but it may be necessary...." "Half of it!" interrupted DuQuesne. "You haven't one-twentieth of it here. When I saw it in the Bureau, Seaton had about five hundred milliliters--over a pint--of it. I wonder if you're double-crossing me again?" "No, you're not," he continued, paying no attention to the other's protestations of innocence. "You're paying me too much to want to block me now. The crook you sent out to get the stuff turned in only this much. Do you suppose he is holding out on us?" "No. You know Perkins and his methods." "He missed the main bottle, then. That's where your methods make me tired. When I want anything done, I believe in doing it myself, then I know it's done right. As to what I suggest, that's easy. I will take three or four of Perkins' gunmen tonight. We'll go out there and raid the place. We'll shoot Seaton and anybody else who gets in the way. We'll dynamite the safe and take their solution, plans, notes, money, and anything else we want." "No, no, Doctor, that's too crude altogether. If we have to do that, let it be only as a last resort." "I say do it first, then we know we will get results. I tell you I'm afraid of pussyfooting and gumshoeing around Seaton and Crane. I used to think that Seaton was easy, but he seems to have developed greatly in the last few weeks, and Crane never was anybody's fool. Together they make a combination hard to beat. Brute force, applied without warning, is our best bet, and there's no danger, you know that. We've got away clean with lots worse stuff." "It's always dangerous, and we could wink at such tactics only after everything else has failed. Why not work it out from this solution we have, and then quietly get the rest of it? After we have it worked out, Seaton might get into an accident on his motorcycle, and we could prove by the state of development of our plans that we discovered it long ago." "Because developing the stuff is highly dangerous, as you have found out. Even Seaton wouldn't have been alive now if he hadn't had a lot of luck at the start. Then, too, it would take too much time. Seaton has already developed it--you see, I haven't been asleep and I know what he has done, just as well as you do--and why should we go through all that slow and dangerous experimental work when we can get their notes and plans as well as not? There is bound to be trouble anyway when we steal all their solution, even though they haven't missed this little bit of it yet, and it might as well come now as any other time. The Corporation is amply protected, and I am still a Government chemist. Nobody even suspects that I am in on this deal. I will never see you except after hours and in private, and will never come near your offices. We will be so cautious that, even if anyone should get suspicious, they can't possibly link us together, and until they do link us together, we are all safe. No, Brookings, a raid in force is the only sure and safe way. What is more natural than a burglary of a rich man's house? It will be a simple affair. The police will stir around for a few days, then it will all be forgotten and we can go ahead. Nobody will suspect anything except Crane, if he is alive, and he won't be able to do anything." So the argument raged. Brookings was convinced that DuQuesne was right in wanting to get possession of all the solution, and also of the working notes and plans, but would not agree to the means suggested, holding out for quieter and more devious, but less actionable methods. Finally he ended the argument with a flat refusal to countenance the raid, and the scientist was forced to yield, although he declared that they would have to use his methods in the end, and that it would save time, money, and perhaps lives, if they were used first. Brookings then took from his pocket his wireless and called Perkins. He told him of the larger bottle of solution, instructing him to secure it and to bring back all plans, notes, and other material he could find which in any way pertained to the matter in hand. Then, after promising DuQuesne to keep him informed of developments, and giving him an instrument similar to the one he himself carried, Brookings took his leave. * * * * * Seaton had worked from early morning until late at night, but had rigorously kept his promise to Dorothy. He had slept seven or eight hours every night and had called upon her regularly, returning from the visits with ever-keener zest for his work. Late in the afternoon, upon the day of the explosion, Seaton stepped into Crane's shop with a mass of notes in his hand. "Well, Mart, I've got it--some of it, at least. The power is just what we figured it, so immensely large as to be beyond belief. I have found: "First: That it is a practically irresistible _pull_ along the axis of the treated wire or bar. It is apparently focused at infinity, as near-by objects are not affected. "Second: I have studied two of the border-line regions of current we discussed. I have found that in one the power is liberated as a similar attractive force but is focused upon the first object in line with the axis of the bar. As long as the current is applied it remains focused upon that object, no matter what comes between. In the second border-line condition the power is liberated as a terrific repulsion. "Third: That the copper is completely transformed into available energy, there being no heat whatever liberated. "Fourth: Most important of all, that the X acts only as a catalyst for the copper and is not itself consumed, so that an infinitesimally thin coating is all that is required." "You certainly have found out a great deal about it," replied Crane, who had been listening with the closest attention, a look of admiration upon his face. "You have all the essential facts right there. Now we can go ahead and put in the details which will finish up the plans completely. Also, one of those points solves my hardest problem, that of getting back to the earth after we lose sight of it. We can make a small bar in that