Steel Liberates Energy Unexpectedly

: 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 ff 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 border-line condition and focus it upon the earth, and we can use

that repulsive property to ward off any meteorites which may come too

close to us."



"That's right. I never thought of using those points for anything. I

found them out incidentally, and merely mentioned them as interesting

facts. I have a model of the main bar built, though, that will lift me

into the air and pull me all around. Want to see it work?"



"I certainly do."



As they were going out to the landing field Shiro called to them and

they turned back to the house, learning that Dorothy and her father had

just arrived.



"Hello, boys!" Dorothy said, bestowing her radiant smile upon them both

as Seaton seized her hand. "Dad and I came out to see that you were

taking care of yourselves, and to see what you are doing. Are visitors

allowed?"



"No," replied Seaton promptly. "All visitors are barred. Members of the

firm and members of the family, however, are not classed as visitors."



"You came at the right time," said Crane, smiling. "Dick has just

finished a model, and was about to demonstrate it to me when you

arrived. Come with us and watch the...."



"I object," interrupted Seaton. "It is a highly undignified performance

as yet, and...."



"Objection overruled," interposed the lawyer, decisively. "You are too

young and impetuous to have any dignity; therefore, any performance not

undignified would be impossible, a priori. The demonstration will

proceed."



* * * * *



Laughing merrily, the four made their way to the testing shed, in front

of which Seaton donned a heavy leather harness, buckled about his

shoulders, body and legs; to which were attached numerous handles,

switches, boxes and other pieces of apparatus. He snapped the switch

which started the Tesla coil in the shed and pressed a button on an

instrument in his hand, attached to his harness by a small steel cable.

Instantly there was a creak of straining leather and he shot vertically

into the air for perhaps a hundred feet, where he stopped and remained

motionless for a few moments. Then the watchers saw him point his arm

and dart in the direction in which he pointed. By merely pointing,

apparently, he changed his direction at will; going up and down, forward

and backward, describing circles and loops and figures of eight. After a

few minutes of this display he descended, slowing up abruptly as he

neared the ground and making an easy landing.



"There, oh beauteous lady and esteemed sirs," he began, with a low bow

and a sweeping flourish--when there was a snap, and he was jerked

sidewise off his feet. In bowing, his cumbersome harness had pressed the

controlling switch and the instrument he held in his hand, which

contained the power-plant, or bar, had torn itself loose from its

buckle. Instead of being within easy reach of his hand it was over six

feet away, and was dragging him helplessly after it, straight toward the

high stone wall! But only momentarily was he helpless, his keen mind

discovering a way out of the predicament even as he managed to scramble

to his feet in spite of the rapid pace. Throwing his body sidewise and

reaching out his long arm as far as possible toward the bar, he

succeeded in swinging it around so that he was running back toward the

party and the spacious landing field. Dorothy and her father were

standing motionless, staring at Seaton; the former with terror in her

eyes, the latter in blank amazement. Crane had darted to the switch

controlling the coil, and was reaching for it when Seaton passed them.



"Don't touch that switch!" he yelled. "I'll catch that thing yet!"



At this evidence that Seaton still thought himself master of the

situation, Crane began to laugh, though he still kept his hand near the

controlling switch. Dorothy, relieved of her fear for her lover's

safety, could not help but join him, so ludicrous were Seaton's antics.

The bar was straight out in front of him, about five feet above the

ground, going somewhat faster than a man could run. It turned now to the

right, now to the left, as his weight was thrown to one side or the

other. Seaton, dragged along like a small boy trying to hold a runaway

calf by the tail, was covering the ground in prodigious leaps and

bounds; at the same time pulling himself up, hand over hand, to the bar

in front of him. He soon reached it, seized it in both hands, again

darted into the air, and descended lightly near the others, who were

rocking with laughter.



"I said it would be undignified," chuckled Seaton, rather short of

breath, "but I didn't know just how much so it was going to be."



Dorothy tucked her fingers into his hand.



"Are you hurt anywhere, Dick?"



"Not a bit. He led me a great chase, though."



"I was scared to death until you told Martin to let the switch alone.

But it was funny then! I hadn't noticed your resemblance to a

jumping-jack before. Won't you do it again sometime and let us take a

movie of it?"



"That was as good as any show in town, Dick," said the lawyer, wiping

his eyes, "but you must be more careful. Next time, it might not be

funny at all."



"There will be no next time for this rig," replied Seaton. "This is

merely to show us that our ideas are all right. The next trip will be in

a full-scale, completely-equipped boat."



"It was perfectly wonderful," declared Dorothy. "I know this first

flight of yours will be a turning-point or something in history. I don't

pretend to understand how you did it--the sight of you standing still up

there in the air made me wonder if I really were awake, even though I

knew what to expect--but we wouldn't have missed it for worlds, would

we, Dad?"



"No. I am very glad that we saw the first demonstration. The world has

never before seen anything like it, and you two men will rank as two of

the greatest discoverers."



"Seaton will, you mean," replied Crane, uncomfortably. "You know I

didn't have anything to do with it."



"It's nearly all yours," denied Seaton. "Without your ideas I would have

lost myself in space in my first attempt."



"You are both wrong," said Vaneman. "You, Martin, haven't enough

imagination; and you, Dick, have altogether too much, for either of you

to have done this alone. The honor will be divided equally between you."



* * * * *



He turned to Crane as Dorothy and Seaton set out toward the house.



"What are you going to do with it, commercially? Dick, of course, hasn't

thought of anything except this space-car--equally of course, you have?"



"Yes. Knowing the general nature of the power and confident that Dick

would control it, I have already drawn up sketches for a power-plant

installation of five hundred thousand electrical horsepower, which will

enable us to sell power for less than one-tenth of a cent per

kilowatt-hour and still return twenty percent annual dividends. However,

the power-plant comes after the flyer."



"Why? Why not build the power-plant first, and take the pleasure trip

afterward?"



"There are several reasons. The principal one is that Dick and I would

rather be off exploring new worlds, while the other members of the

Seaton-Crane Company, Engineers, build the power-plant."



During the talk the men had reached the house, into which the others had

disappeared some time before. Upon Crane's invitation, Vaneman and his

daughter stayed to dinner, and Dorothy played for awhile upon Crane's

wonderful violin. The rest of the evening was spent in animated

discussion of the realization of Seaton's dreams of flying without wings

and beyond the supporting atmosphere. Seaton and Crane did their best to

explain to the non-technical visitors how such flight was possible.



"Well, I am beginning to understand it a little," said Dorothy finally.

"In plain language, it is like a big magnet or something, but different.

Is that it?"



"That's it exactly," Seaton assured her.



"What are you going to call it? It isn't like anything else that ever

was. Already this evening you have called it a bus, a boat, a kite, a

star-hound, a wagon, an aerial flivver, a sky-chariot, a space-eating

wampus, and I don't know what else. Even Martin has called it a vehicle,

a ship, a bird, and a shell. What is its real name?"



"I don't know. It hasn't got any that I know of. What would you suggest,

Dottie?"



"I don't know what general name should be applied to them, but for this

one there is only one possible name, 'The Skylark.'"



"Exactly right, Dorothy," said Crane.



"Fine!" cried Seaton. "And you shall christen it, Dottie, with a big

Florence flask full of absolute vacuum. 'I christen you "The Skylark."

BANG!'"



As the guests were leaving, at a late hour, Vaneman said:



"Oh, yes. I bought an extra Clarion as we came out. It tells a wild

tale of an explosion so violent that science cannot explain it. I don't

suppose it is true, but it may make interesting reading for you two

scientific sharps. Good night."



Seaton accompanied Dorothy to the car, bidding her a more intimate

farewell on the way. When he returned, Crane, with an unusual expression

of concern on his face, handed him the paper without a word.



* * * * *



"What's up, old man? Something in it?" he asked, as he took the paper.

He fell silent as he read the first words, and after he had read the

entire article he said slowly:



"True, beyond a doubt. Even a Clarion reporter couldn't imagine that.

It's all intra-atomic energy, all right--some poor devil trying our

stunt without my horseshoe in his pocket."



"Think, Dick! Something is wrong somewhere. You know that two people did

not discover X at the same time. The answer is that somebody stole your

idea, but the idea is worthless without the X. You say that the stuff is

extremely rare--where did they get it?"



"That's right, Mart. I never thought of that. The stuff is extremely

rare. I am supposed to know something about rare metals, and I never

heard of it before--there isn't even a gap in the Periodic System in

which it belongs. I would bet a hat that we have every milligram known

to the world at present."



"Well, then," said the practical Crane. "We had better see whether or

not we have all we started with."



Asking Shiro to bring the large bottle from the vault, he opened the

living-room safe and brought forth the small vial. The large bottle was

still nearly full, the seal upon it unbroken. The vial was apparently

exactly as Seaton had left it after he had made his bars.



"Our stuff seems to be all there," said Crane. "It looks as though

someone else has discovered it also."



"I don't believe it," said Seaton, their positions now reversed. "It's

altogether too rare."



He scanned both bottles narrowly.



"I can tell by taking the densities," he added, and ran up to the

laboratory, returning with a Westphal balance in his hand. After testing

both solutions he said slowly:



"Well, the mystery is solved. The large bottle has a specific gravity of

1.80, as it had when I prepared it; that in the vial reads only 1.41.

Somebody has burglarized this safe and taken almost half of the

solution, filling the vial up with colored water. The stuff is so strong

that I probably never would have noticed the difference."



"But who could it have been?"



"Search me! But it's nothing to worry about now, anyway, because whoever

it was is gone where he'll never do it again. He's taken the solution

with him, too, so that nobody else can get it."



"I wish I were sure of that, Dick. The man who tried to do the research

work is undoubtedly gone--but who is back of him?"



"Nobody, probably. Who would want to be?"



"To borrow your own phrase, Dick, Scott 'chirped it' when he called you

'Nobody Holme.' For a man with your brains you have the least sense of

anybody I know. You know that this thing is worth, as a power project

alone, thousands of millions of dollars, and that there are dozens of

big concerns who would cheerfully put us both out of the way for a

thousandth of that amount. The question is not to find one concern who

might be backing a thing like that, but to pick out the one who is

backing it."



* * * * *



After thinking deeply for a few moments he went on:



"The idea was taken from your demonstration in the Bureau, either by an

eye-witness or by someone who heard about it afterward, probably the

former. Even though it failed, one man saw the possibilities. Who was

that man? Who was there?"



"Oh, a lot of the fellows were there. Scott, Smith, Penfield, DuQuesne,

Roberts--quite a bunch of them. Let's see--Scott hasn't brains enough to

do anything. Smith doesn't know anything about anything except amines.

Penfield is a pure scientist, who wouldn't even quote an authority

without asking permission. DuQuesne is ... hm-m ... DuQuesne ... he ...

I...."



"Yes. DuQuesne. I have heard of him. He's the big black fellow, about

your own size? He has the brains, the ability, and the inclination, has

he not?"



"Well, I wouldn't want to say that. I don't know him very well, and

personal dislike is no ground at all for suspicion, you know."



"Enough to warrant investigation. Is there anyone else who might have

reasoned it out as you did, and as DuQuesne possibly could?"



"Not that I remember. But we can count DuQuesne out, anyway, because he

called me up this afternoon about some notes on gallium; so he is still

in the Bureau. Besides, he wouldn't let anybody else investigate it if

he got it. He would do it himself, and I don't think he would have blown

himself up. I never did like him very well personally--he's such a cold,

inhuman son of a fish--but you've got to hand it to him for ability.

He's probably the best man in the world today on that kind of thing."



"No, I do not think that we will count him out yet. He may have had

nothing to do with it, but we will have him investigated nevertheless,

and will guard against future visitors here."



Turning to the telephone, he called the private number of a well-known

detective.



"Prescott? Crane speaking. Sorry to get you out of bed, but I should

like to have a complete report upon Dr. Marc C. DuQuesne, of the Rare

Metals Laboratory, as soon as possible. Every detail for the last two

weeks, every move and every thought if possible. Please keep a good man

on him until further notice.... I wish you would send two or three

guards out here right away, to-night; men you can trust and who will

stay awake.... Thanks. Good night."