The Black Star Passes

J >> John W Campbell >> The Black Star Passes

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Morey shook his head. "No, but I have something that's just as good, if
not better, for our purpose. The other day several men came into Dad's
office, to charter a plane to San Francisco, and Dad naturally wondered
why they had been referred to the president of the company. It seems the
difficulty was that they wanted to hire the ship so they could be
robbed! A large group of medical men and cancer victims were going for
the 'treatment'. Each one of the twenty-five hundred going was to bring
along one hundred dollars. That meant a total of a quarter of a million
dollars, which is to be left on the table. They hoped the Pirate would
gas them and thus cure them! Dad couldn't officially do this, but told
them that if there were too many people for the San Francisco express,
two sections would be necessary. I believe they are going on that second
section. Only one hundred dollars! A low price for cancer cure!

"Another thing: Dad asked me to tell you that he'd appreciate your help
in stopping this ultra-modern pirate. If you go down to see him in the
morning, you'll doubtless be able to make the necessary arrangements."

"I'll do so gladly. I wonder, though, if you know more about this than I
do. Did they try that C-32L mask on an animal?"

"The Pirate was telling the truth. They tried it on a dog and he went to
sleep forever. But do you have any idea how that gas does all it does?"

Now Arcot shook his head. "I don't know what the gas is, but have a lead
on how it works. You may know that carbon monoxide will seep through a
solid plate of red-hot steel. That has been known for some three hundred
years now, and I have to hand it to this Pirate for making use of it.
Even in the war of 2075 they didn't find any practical application for
the principle. He has just found some gas that induces sleep in very low
concentrations, and at the same time is able to penetrate to an even
greater extent than carbon monoxide."

"I was wondering how he stores that stuff," Morey commented. "But I
suppose he makes it as fast as he uses it, by allowing two or more
constituents to react. It might well be simple enough to store them
separately, and the air-stream blowing past him would carry the gas
behind him, permitting him to lay a stream of it in front of the big
plane. Is that about it?"

"That was about what I had figured. One of the things I want to do when
I go with that Invalid Special tomorrow is to get some samples for
analysis."

"That's a pretty big order, isn't it, Dick? How are you going to handle
it, or even get it into your apparatus?"

"Easily enough as far as getting the sample goes. I have already had
some sample bottles made. I have one of them in the lab--excuse me a
moment." Arcot left the room, to return a few minutes later with a large
aluminum bottle, tightly closed. "This bottle has been pumped out to a
very good vacuum. I then swept it out with helium gas. Then it was
pumped out again. I hope to take this into some gas-filled region, where
the gas will be able to leak in, but the air won't. When it comes to
going out again, the gas will have to fight air pressure, and will
probably stay in."

"Hope it works. It would help if we knew what we were bucking."

* * * * *

The next morning Arcot had a long conference with President Morey. At
the end of it, he left the office, ascended to the roof, and climbed
into his small helicopter. He rose to the local traffic level, and
waiting his chance, broke into the stream of planes bound for the great
airfields over in the Jersey district. A few minutes later he landed on
the roof of the Transcontinental Airways shops, entered them, and went
to the office of the Designing Engineer, John Fuller, an old schoolmate.
They had been able to help each other before, for Fuller had not paid as
much attention to theoretical physics as he might have, and though he
was probably one of the outstanding aeronautical designers, he often
consulted Arcot on the few theoretical details that he needed. Probably
it was Arcot who derived the greatest benefit from this association, for
the ability of the designer had many times brought his theoretical
successes to practical commercial production. Now, however, he was
consulting Fuller, because the plane he was to take that afternoon for
San Francisco was to be slightly changed for him.

He stayed in Fuller's office for the better part of an hour, then
returned to the roof and thence to his own roof, where Morey junior was
waiting for him.

"Hello, Dick! I heard from Dad that you were going this afternoon, and
came over here. I got your note and I have the things fixed up here. The
plane leaves at one, and it's ten-thirty now. Let's eat lunch and then
start."

It was half-past eleven when they reached the flying field. They went
directly to the private office which had been assigned to them aboard
the huge plane. It was right next to the mail-room, and through the wall
between the two a small hole had been cut. Directly beneath this hole
was a table, on which the two men now set up a small moving picture
camera they had brought with them.

"How many of the gas sample bottles did you bring, Bob?" asked Arcot.

"Jackson had only four ready, so I brought those. I think that will be
enough. Have we got that camera properly placed?"

"Everything's O.K., I believe. Nothing to do now but wait."

Time passed--then they heard a faint whir; the ventilator machinery had
started. This drew air in from outside, and pumped it up to the
necessary pressure for breathing in the ship, no matter what the
external pressure might be. There was a larger pump attached similarly
to each of the engines to supply it with the necessary oxygen. Any loss
in power by pumping the air in was made up by the lower back pressure on
the exhaust. Now the engines were starting--they could feel the
momentary vibration--vibration that would cease as they got under way.
They could visualize the airtight door being closed; the portable
elevator backing off, returning to the field house.

Arcot glanced at his watch. "One o'clock. The starting signal is due."

Morey sank back into a comfortable chair. "Well, now we have a nice long
wait till we get to San Francisco and back, Dick, but you'll have
something to talk about then!"

"I hope so, Bob, and I hope we can return on the midnight plane from San
Francisco, which will get us in at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, New
York time. I wish you'd go right to your father's office and ask him
over to our place for supper, and see if Fuller can come too. I think
we'll be able to use that molecular controller on this job; it's almost
finished, and with it we'll need a good designing engineer. Then our
little movie show will no doubt be of interest!"

There was a low rumble that quickly mounted to a staccato roar as the
great propellers began whirling and the engines took up the load. The
ground began to flash behind them; then suddenly, as flying speed was
reached, there was a slight start, the roaring bark of the engine took
on a deeper tone, the rocking stopped and the ground dropped away. Like
some mighty wild bird, the plane was in the air, a graceful, sentient
thing, wheeling in a great circle as it headed for San Francisco. Now
the plane climbed steadily in a long bank; up, up, up she went, and
gradually the terrific roar of the engine died to a low throbbing hum as
the low pressure of the air silenced the noise.

Below them the giant city contracted as the great ship rode higher. The
tiny private helicops were darting about below them like streams of nigh
invisible individuals, creeping black lines among the buildings of the
city. The towering buildings shone in the noon sun in riotous hues as
the colored tile facing reflected the brilliant sunlight with glowing
warmth of color.

It was a city of indescribable beauty now. It was one of the things that
made this trip worthwhile.

Now the shining city dropped behind them, and only the soft green of the
Jersey hills, and the deep purple-black of the sky above were visible.
The sun blazed high in the nigh-black heavens, and in the rarefied air,
there was so little diffusion that the corona was readily visible with
the aid of a smoked glass. Around the sun, long banners in space, the
Zodiacal light gleamed dimly. Here and there some of the brighter stars
winked in the dark sky.

Below them the landscape swung slowly by. Even to these men who had made
the trip dozens of times, the sight was fascinating, inspiring. It was a
spectacle which had never been visible before the development of these
super-planes. Whole flying observatories had been made that had taken
photographs at heights of fifteen miles, where the air was so rarefied
that the plane had to travel close to eight hundred miles an hour to
remain aloft.

Already ahead of them Arcot and Morey could see the great splotch of
color that was Chicago, the mightiest city of Earth. Situated as it was
in the heart of the North American continent, with great water and
ground landing facilities and broad plains about it, it made a perfect
airport. The sea no longer meant much, for it was now only a source of
power, recreation and food. Ships were no longer needed. Planes were
faster and more economical; hence seacoast cities had declined in
importance. With its already great start toward ascendancy, Chicago had
rapidly forged ahead, as the air lines developed with the great
super-planes. The European planes docked here, and it was the starting
point of the South American lines. But now, as they swung high above it,
the glistening walls of soft-colored tiles made it a great mass of
changing, flashing color beneath them. Now they could see a great air
liner, twice the size of their plane, taking off for Japan, its six
giant propellers visible only as flashing blurs as it climbed up toward
them. Then it was out of sight.

It was over the green plains of Nebraska that the Pirate usually worked,
so there the men became more and more alert, waiting for the first sign
of abnormal drowsiness. They sat quietly, not talking, listening
intently for some new note, but knowing all the while that any sound the
Pirate might make would be concealed by the whirring roar of the air
sweeping past the giant airfoils of the plane.

Suddenly Arcot realized he was unbearably sleepy. He glanced drowsily
toward Morey who was already lying down. He found it a tremendous effort
of the will to make himself reach up and close the switch that started
the little camera whirring almost noiselessly. It seemed he never pulled
his arm back--he just--lay there--and--

A white uniformed man was bending over him as he opened his eyes. To one
side of him he saw Morey smiling down at him.

"You're a fine guard, Arcot. I thought you were going to stay awake and
watch them!"

"Oh, no, I left a much more efficient watchman! _It_ didn't go to
sleep--I'm willing to bet!"

"No, it may not have gone to sleep, but the doctor here tells me it has
gone somewhere else. It wasn't found in our room when we woke up. I
think the Pirate found it and confiscated it. All our luggage, including
the gas sample bottles, is gone."

"That's all right. I arranged for that. The ship was brought down by an
emergency pilot and he had instructions from father. He took care of the
luggage so that no member of the pirate's gang could steal it. There
might have been some of them in the ground crew. They'll be turned over
to us as soon as we see the emergency man. I don't have to lie here any
longer, do I, doctor?"

"No, Dr. Arcot, you're all right now. I would suggest that for the next
hour or so you take it easy to let your heart get used to beating again.
It stopped for some two hours, you know. You'll be all right, however."

II

Five men were seated about the Morey library, discussing the results of
the last raid, in particular as related to Arcot and Morey. Fuller, and
President Morey, as well as Dr. Arcot, senior, and the two young men
themselves, were there. They had consistently refused to tell what their
trip had revealed, saying that pictures would speak for them. Now they
turned their attention to a motion picture projector and screen that
Arcot junior had just set up. At his direction the room was darkened;
and he started the projector. At once they were looking at the three
dimensional image of the mail-room aboard the air liner.

Arcot commented: "I have cut out a lot of useless film, and confined the
picture to essentials. We will now watch the pirate at work."

Even as he spoke they saw the door of the mail-room open a bit, and
then, to their intense surprise, it remained open for a few seconds,
then closed. It went through all the motions of opening to admit
someone, yet no one entered!

"Your demonstration doesn't seem to show much yet, son. In fact, it
shows much less than I had expected," said the senior Arcot. "But that
door seemed to open easily. I thought they locked them!"

"They did, but the pirate just burned holes in them, so to save property
they leave 'em unlocked."

Now the scene seemed to swing a bit as the plane hit an unusually bad
air bump, and through the window they caught a glimpse of one of the
circling Air Guardsmen. Then suddenly there appeared in the air within
the room a point of flame. It hung in the air above the safe for an
instant, described a strangely complicated set of curves; then, as it
hung for an instant in mid-air, it became a great flare. In an instant
this condensed to a point of intensely brilliant crimson fire. This
described a complex series of curves and touched the top of the safe. In
an inconceivably short time, the eight-inch thickness of tungsto-iridium
alloy flared incandescently and began to flow sluggishly. A large circle
of the red flame sprang out to surround the point of brilliance, and
this blew the molten metal to one side, in a cascade of sparks.

In moments, the torch had cut a large disc of metal nearly free;
seemingly on the verge of dropping into the safe. Now the flame left the
safe, again retracting itself in that uncanny manner, no force seeming
either to supply it with fuel or to support it thus, though it burned
steadily, and worked rapidly and efficiently. Now, in mid-air, it hung
for a second.

"I'm going to work the projector for a few moments by hand so that you
may see this next bit of film." Arcot moved a small switch and the
machine blinked, giving a strange appearance to the seemingly solid
images that were thrown on the screen.

The pictures seemed to show the flame slowly descending till it again
touched the metal. The tungsto-iridium glowed briefly; then, as suddenly
as the extinguishing of a light, the safe was gone! It had disappeared
into thin air! Only the incandescence of the metal and the flame itself
were visible.

"It seems the pirate has solved the secret of invisibility. No wonder
the Air Guardsmen couldn't find him!" exclaimed Arcot, senior.

The projector had been stopped exactly on the first frame, showing the
invisibility of the safe. Then Arcot backed it up.

"True, Dad," he said, "but pay special attention to this next frame."

Again there appeared a picture of the room, the window beyond, the mail
clerk asleep at his desk, everything as before, except that where the
safe had been, _there was a shadowy, half visible safe_, the metal
glowing brightly. Beside it there was visible a shadowy man, holding
the safe with a shadowy bar of some sort. And through both of them the
frame of the window was perfectly visible, and, ironically, an Air
Guardsman plane.

"It seems that for an instant his invisibility failed here. Probably it
was the contact with the safe that caused it. What do you think, Dad?"
asked Arcot, junior.

"It does seem reasonable. I can't see off-hand how his invisibility is
even theoretically possible. Have you any ideas?"

"Well, Dad, I have, but I want to wait till tomorrow night to
demonstrate them. Let's adjourn this meeting, if you can all come
tomorrow."

* * * * *

The next evening, however, it seemed that it was Arcot himself who could
not be there. He asked Morey, junior, to tell them he would be there
later, when he had finished in the lab.

Dinner was over now, and the men were waiting rather impatiently for
Arcot to come. They heard some noise in the corridor, and looked up, but
no one entered.

"Morey," asked Fuller, "what did you learn about that gas the pirate was
using? I remember Arcot said he would have some samples to analyze."

"As to the gas, Dick found out but little more than we had already
known. It is a typical organic compound, one of the metal radical type,
and contains one atom of thorium. This is a bit radioactive, as you
know, and Dick thinks that this may account in part for its ability to
suspend animation. However, since it was impossible to determine the
molecular weight, he could not say what the gas was, save that the
empirical formula was C_{62}TH H_{39}O_{27}N_{5}. It broke down at a
temperature of only 89 deg. centigrade. The gases left consisted largely of
methane, nitrogen, and methyl ether. Dick is still in the dark as to
what the gas is." He paused, then exclaimed: "Look over there!"

The men turned with one accord toward the opposite end of the room,
looked, and seeing nothing particularly unusual, glanced back rather
puzzled. What they then saw, or better, failed to see, puzzled them
still more. Morey had disappeared!

"Why--why where--ohhh! Quick work, Dick!" The senior Arcot began
laughing heartily, and as his astonished and curious companions looked
toward him, he stopped and called out, "Come on, Dick! We want to see
you now. And tell us how it's done! I rather think Mr. Morey here--I
mean the visible one--is still a bit puzzled."

There was a short laugh from the air--certainly there could be nothing
else there--then a low but distinct click, and both Morey and Arcot were
miraculously present, coming instantaneously from nowhere, if one's
senses could be relied on. On Arcot's back there was strapped a large
and rather hastily wired mechanism--one long wire extending from it out
into the laboratory. He was carrying a second piece of apparatus,
similarly wired. Morey was touching a short metal bar that Arcot held
extended in his hand, using a table knife as a connector, lest they get
radio frequency burns on making contact.

"I've been busy getting the last connection of this portable apparatus
rigged up. I have the thing in working order, as you see--or rather,
didn't see. This other outfit here is the thing that is more important
to us. It's a bit heavy, so if you'll clear a space, I'll set it down.
Look out for my power supply there--that wire is carrying a rather
dangerously high E.M.F. I had to connect with the lab power supply to do
this, and I had no time to rig up a little mechanism like the one the
pirate must have.

"I have duplicated his experiment. He has simply made use of a principle
known for some time, but as there was no need for it, it hasn't been
used. It was found back in the early days of radio, as early as the
first quarter of the twentieth century, that very short wavelengths
effected peculiar changes in metals. It was shown that the plates of
tubes working on very short waves became nearly transparent. The waves
were so short, however, that they were economically useless. They would
not travel in usable paths, so they were never developed. Furthermore,
existing apparatus could not be made to handle them. In the last war
they tried to apply the idea for making airplanes invisible, but they
could not get their tubes to handle the power needed, so they had to
drop it. However, with the tube I recently got out on the market, it is
possible to get down there. Our friend the pirate has developed this
thing to a point were he could use it. You can see that invisibility,
while interesting, and a good thing for a stage and television
entertainment, is not very much of a commercial need. No one wants to be
invisible in any honest occupation. Invisibility is a tremendous weapon
in war, so the pirate just started a little private war, the only way he
could make any money on his invention. His gas, too, made the thing
attractive. The two together made a perfect combination for criminal
operations.

"The whole thing looks to me to be the work of a slightly unbalanced
mind. He is not violently insane; probably just has this one particular
obsession. His scientific bump certainly shows no sign of weakness. He
might even be some new type of kleptomaniac. He steals things, and he
has already stolen far more than any man could ever have any need of,
and he leaves in its place a 'stock' certificate in his own company. He
is not violent, for hasn't he carefully warned the men not to use the
C-32L mask? You'll remember his careful instructions as to how to revive
the people!

"He has developed this machine for invisibility, and naturally he can
fly in and out of the air guard, without their knowing he's there,
provided their microphonic detectors don't locate him. I believe he uses
some form of glider. He can't use an internal combustion engine, for the
explosions in the cylinders would be as visible as though the cylinders
were made of clear quartz. He cannot have an electric motor, for the
storage cells would weigh too much. Furthermore, if he were using any
sort of prop, or a jet engine, the noise would give him away. If he used
a glider, the noise of the big plane so near would be more than enough
to kill the slight sounds. The glider could hang above the ship, then
dive down upon it as it passed beneath. He has a very simple system of
anchoring the thing, as I discovered to my sorrow. It's a powerful
electro-magnet which he turns on when he lands. The landing deck of the
big plane was right above our office aboard, and I found my watch was
doing all sorts of antics today. It lost an hour this morning, and this
afternoon it gained two. I found it was very highly magnetized--I could
pick up needles with the balance wheel. I demagnetized it; now it runs
all right.

"But to get back, he anchors his ship, then, leaving it invisible, he
goes to the air lock, and enters. He wears a high altitude suit, and on
his back he has a portable invisibility set and the fuel for his torch.
The gas has already put everyone to sleep, so he goes into the ship,
still invisible, and melts open the safe.

"His power supply for the invisibility machine seems to be somewhat of a
problem, but I think I would use a cylinder of liquid air, and have a
small air turbine to run a high voltage generator. He probably uses the
same system on a larger scale to run his big machine on the ship. He
can't use an engine for that either.

"That torch of his is interesting, too. We have had atomic hydrogen
welding for some time, and atomic hydrogen releases some 100,000
calories per mole of molecular hydrogen; two grains of gas give one
hundred thousand calories. Oxygen has not been prepared in any
commercial quantity in the atomic state. From watching that man's torch,
from the color of the flame and other indications, I gather that he uses
a flame of atomic oxygen-atomic hydrogen for melting, and surrounds it
with a preheating jacket of atomic hydrogen. The center flame probably
develops a temperature of some 4000 deg. centigrade, and will naturally make
that tungsten alloy run like water.

"As to the machine here--it is, as I said, a machine which impresses
very high frequencies on the body it is connected with. This puts the
molecules in vibration at a frequency approaching that of light, and
when the light impinges upon it, it can pass through readily. You know
that metals transmit light for short distances, but in order that the
light pass, the molecules of metal must be set in harmonic vibration at
a rate approaching the frequency of light. If we can impress such a
vibration on a piece of matter, it will then transmit light very freely.
If we impress this vibration on the matter, say the body, electrically,
we get the same effect and the body becomes perfectly transparent. Now,
since it is the vibration of the molecules that makes the light pass
through the material, it must be stopped if we wish to see the machine.
Obviously it is much easier to detect me here among solid surroundings,
than in the plane high in the sky. What chance has one to detect a
machine that is perfectly transparent when there is nothing but
perfectly transparent air around it? It is a curious property of this
vibrational system of invisibility that the index of refraction is made
very low. It is not the same as that of air, but the difference is so
slight that it is practically within the limits of observation error; so
small is the difference that there is no 'rainbow' effect. The
difference of temperature of the air would give equal effect.

"Now, since this vibration is induced by radio impulse, is it not
possible to impress another, opposing radio impulse, that will overcome
this tendency and bring the invisible object into the field of the
visible once more? It is; and this machine on the table is designed to
do exactly that. It is practically a beam radio set, projecting a beam
of a wavelength that alone would tend to produce invisibility. But in
this case it will make me visible. I'm going to stand right here, and
Bob can operate that set."

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