diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-21 23:35:24 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-01-21 23:35:24 -0800 |
| commit | e94fb7b5a6baa2e124b26b2064516d6d84c521ee (patch) | |
| tree | 9f51443782ff08355c5c528db27c795027c99318 | |
| parent | 508012244c764564249db1704da25e077555b20c (diff) | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67923-0.txt | 1681 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67923-0.zip | bin | 28600 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67923-h.zip | bin | 405856 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67923-h/67923-h.htm | 1876 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67923-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 172177 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67923-h/images/illus1.jpg | bin | 87847 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67923-h/images/illus2.jpg | bin | 67090 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67923-h/images/illus3.jpg | bin | 50121 -> 0 bytes |
11 files changed, 17 insertions, 3557 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b63b78 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #67923 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67923) diff --git a/old/67923-0.txt b/old/67923-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8d1a814..0000000 --- a/old/67923-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1681 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lost Art, by George O. Smith - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Lost Art - -Author: George O. Smith - -Release Date: April 25, 2022 [eBook #67923] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOST ART *** - - - - - - Lost Art - - By George O. Smith - - Illustrated by Orban - - [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from - Astounding Science-Fiction, December 1943. - Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that - the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] - - -Sargon of Akkad was holding court in all of his splendor in the -Mesopotamia area, which he thought to be the center of the Universe. -The stars to him were but holes in a black bowl which he called the -sky. They were beautiful then, as they are now, but he thought that -they were put there for his edification only; for was he not the ruler -of Akkadia? - -After Sargon of Akkad, there would come sixty centuries of climbing -before men reached the stars and found not only that there had been men -upon them, but that a civilization on Mars had reached its peak four -thousand years before Christ and was now but a memory and a wealth of -pictographs that adorned the semipreserved Temples of Canalopsis. - -And sixty centuries after, the men of Terra wondered about the -ideographs and solved them sufficiently to piece together the wonders -of the long-dead Martian Civilization. - -Sargon of Akkad did not know that the stars that he beheld carried on -them wonders his mind would not, could not, accept. - -Altas, the Martian, smiled tolerantly at his son. The young man boasted -on until Altas said: "So you have memorized the contents of my manual? -Good, Than, for I am growing old and I would be pleased to have my -son fill my shoes. Come into the workshop that I may pass upon your -proficiency." - -Altas led Than to the laboratory that stood at the foot of the great -tower of steel; Altas removed from a cabinet a replacement element from -the great beam above their heads, and said: "Than, show me how to hook -this up!" - -Than's eyes glowed. From other cabinets he took small auxiliary parts. -From hooks upon the wall, Than took lengths of wire. Working with a -brilliant deftness that was his heritage as a Martian, Than spent an -hour attaching the complicated circuits. After he was finished, Than -stepped back and said: "There--and believe it or not, this is the first -time you have permitted me to work with one of the beam elements." - -"You have done well," said Altas with that same cryptic smile. "But now -we shall see. The main question is: Does it work?" - -"Naturally," said Than in youthful pride. "Is it not hooked up exactly -as your manual says? It will work." - -"We shall see," repeated Altas. "We shall see." - - * * * * * - -Barney Carroll and James Baler cut through the thin air of Mars in a -driver-wing flier at a terrific rate of speed. It was the only kind -of flier that would work on Mars with any degree of safety since it -depended upon the support of its drivers rather than the wing surface. -They were hitting it up at almost a thousand miles per hour on their -way from Canalopsis to Lincoln Head; their trip would take an hour and -a half. - -As they passed over the red sand of Mars, endlessly it seemed, a glint -of metal caught Barney's eye, and he shouted. - -"What's the matter, Barney?" asked Jim. - -"Roll her over and run back a mile or so," said Barney. "I saw -something down there that didn't belong in this desert." - -Jim snapped the plane around in a sharp loop that nearly took their -heads off, and they ran back along their course. - -"Yop," called Barney, "there she is!" - -"What?" - -"See that glint of shiny metal? That doesn't belong in this mess of -erosion. Might be a crash." - -"Hold tight," laughed Jim. "We're going down." - -They did. Jim's piloting had all of the aspects of a daredevil racing -pilot's, and Barney was used to it. Jim snapped the nose of the little -flier down and they power-dived to within a few yards of the sand -before he set the plane on its tail and skidded flatwise to kill speed. -He leveled off, and the flier came screaming in for a perfect landing -not many feet from the glinting object. - -"This is no crash," said Baler. "This looks like the remains of an -air-lane beacon of some sort." - -"Does it? Not like any I've ever seen. It reminds me more of some of -the gadgets they find here and there--the remnants of the Ancients. -They used to build junk like this." - -"Hook up the sand-blower," suggested Jim Baler. "We'll clear some of -this rubble away and see what she really looks like. Can't see much -more than what looks like a high-powered searchlight." - -Barney hauled equipment out of the flier and hitched it to a small -motor in the plane. The blower created a small storm for an hour or so, -its blast directed by suit-clad Barney Carroll. Working with experience -gained in uncovering the remains of a dozen dead and buried cities, -Barney cleared the shifting sand from the remains of the tower. - -The head was there, preserved by the dry sand. Thirty feet below the -platform, the slender tower was broken off. No delving could find the -lower portion. - -"This is quite a find," said Jim. "Looks like some of the carvings -on the Temple of Science at Canalopsis--that little house on the top -of the spire with the three-foot runway around it; then this dingbat -perched on top of the roof. Never did figure out what it was for." - -"We don't know whether the Martians' eyes responded as ours do," -suggested Barney. "This might be a searchlight that puts out with -Martian visible spectrum. If they saw with infrared, they wouldn't -be using Terran fluorescent lighting. If they saw with long heat -frequencies, they wouldn't waste power with even a tungsten filament -light, but would have invented something that cooked its most energy -in the visible spectrum, just as we have in the last couple of hundred -years." - -"That's just a guess, of course." - -"Naturally," said Barney. "Here, I've got the door cracked. Let's be -the first people in this place for six thousand years Terran. Take it -easy, this floor is at an angle of thirty degrees." - -"I won't slide. G'wan in. I'm your shadow." - - * * * * * - -They entered the thirty-foot circular room and snapped on their -torches. There was a bench that ran almost around the entire room. It -was empty save for a few scraps of metal and a Martian book of several -hundred metal pages. - -"Nuts," said Barney, "we would have to find a thing like this but -empty. That's our luck. What's the book, Jim?" - -"Some sort of text, I'd say. Full of diagrams and what seems to be -mathematics. Hard to tell, of course, but we've established the fact -that mathematics is universal, though the characters can not possibly -be." - -"Any chance of deciphering it?" asked Barney. - -"Let's get back in the flier and try. I'm in no particular hurry." - -"Nor am I. I don't care whether we get to Lincoln Head tonight or the -middle of next week." - -"Now let's see that volume of diagrams," he said as soon as they were -established in the flier. - -Jim passed the book over, and Barney opened the book to the first page. -"If we never find anything else," he said, "this will make us famous. -I am now holding the first complete volume of Martian literature that -anyone has ever seen. The darned thing is absolutely complete, from -cover to cover!" - -"That's a find," agreed Jim. "Now go ahead and transliterate it--you're -the expert on Martian pictographs." - -For an hour, Barney scanned the pages of the volume. He made copious -notes on sheets of paper which he inserted between the metal leaves -of the book. At the end of that time, during which Jim Baler had been -inspecting the searchlight-thing on the top of the little house, he -called to his friend, and Jim entered the flier lugging the thing on -his shoulders. - -"What'cha got?" he grinned. "I brought this along. Nothing else in that -shack, so we're complete except for the remnants of some very badly -corroded cable that ran from this thing to a flapping end down where -the tower was broken." - -Barney smiled and blinked. It was strange to see this big man working -studiously over a book; Barney Carroll should have been leading a horde -of Venusian engineers through the Palanortis country instead of delving -into the artifacts of a dead civilization. - -"I think that this thing is a sort of engineer's handbook," he said. -"In the front there is a section devoted to mathematical tables. You -know, a table of logs to the base twelve which is because the Martians -had six fingers on each hand. There is what seems to be a table of -definite integrals--at least if I were writing a handbook I'd place the -table of integrals at the last part of the math section. The geometry -and trig is absolutely recognizable because of the designs. So is the -solid geom and the analyt for the same reason. The next section seems -to be devoted to chemistry; the Martians used a hexagonal figure for -a benzene ring, too, and so that's established. From that we find the -key to the Periodic Chart of the Atoms which is run vertically instead -of horizontally, but still unique. These guys were sharp, though; they -seem to have hit upon the fact that isotopes are separate elements -though so close in grouping to one another that they exhibit the same -properties. Finding this will uncover a lot of mystery." - -"Yeah," agreed Baler, "from a book of this kind we can decipher most -anything. The keying on a volume of physical constants is perfect and -almost infinite in number. What do they use for Pi?" - -"Circle with a double dot inside." - -"And Planck's Constant?" - -"Haven't hit that one yet. But we will. But to get back to the meat of -this thing, the third section deals with something strange. It seems to -have a bearing on this gadget from the top of the tower. I'd say that -the volume was a technical volume on the construction, maintenance, and -repair of the tower and its functions--whatever they are." - -Barney spread the volume out for Jim to see. "That dingbat is some sort -of electronic device. Or, perhaps subelectronic. Peel away that rusted -side and we'll look inside." - -Jim peeled a six-inch section from the side of the big metal tube, and -they inspected the insides. Barney looked thoughtful for a minute and -then flipped the pages of the book until he came to a diagram. - -"Sure," he said exultantly, "this is she. Look, Jim, they draw a -cathode like this, and the grids are made with a series of fine -parallel lines. Different, but more like the real grid than our symbol -of a zig-zag line. The plate is a round circle instead of a square, but -that's so clearly defined that it comes out automatically. Here's your -annular electrodes, and the ... call 'em deflection plates. I think we -can hook this do-boodle up as soon as we get to our place in Lincoln -Head." - -"Let's go then. Not only would I like to see this thing work, but I'd -give anything to know what it's for!" - -"You run the crate," said Barney, "and I'll try to decipher this mess -into voltages for the electrode-supply and so on. Then we'll be in -shape to go ahead and hook her up." - - * * * * * - -The trip to Lincoln Head took almost an hour. Barney and Jim landed in -their landing yards and took the book and the searchlight-thing inside. -They went to their laboratory, and called for sandwiches and tea. Jim's -sister brought in the food a little later and found them tinkering with -the big beam tube. - -"What have you got this time?" she groaned. - -"Name it and it's yours," laughed Barney. - -"A sort of gadget that we found on the Red Desert." - -"What does it do?" asked Christine Baler. - -"Well," said Jim, "it's a sort of a kind of a dingbat that does things." - -"Uh-huh," said Christine. "A dololly that plings the inghams." - -"Right!" - -"You're well met, you two. Have your fun. But for Pete's sake don't -forget to eat. Not that you will, I know you, but a girl has got -to make some sort of attempt at admonishment. I'm going to the -moom-picher. I'll see you when I return." - -"I'd say stick around," said Barney. "But I don't think we'll have -anything to show you for hours and hours. We'll have something by the -time you return." - -Christine left, and the men applied themselves to their problem. Barney -had done wonders in unraveling the unknown. Inductances, he found, -were spirals; resistance were dotted lines; capacitances were parallel -squares. - -"What kind of stuff do we use for voltages?" asked Jim. - -"That's a long, hard trail," laughed Barney. "Basing my calculations -on the fact that their standard voltage cell was the same as ours, we -apply the voltages as listed on my schematic here." - -"Can you assume that their standard is the same as ours?" - -"Better," said Barney. "The Terran Standard Cell--the well-known Weston -Cell--dishes out what we call 1.0183 volts at twenty degrees C. Since -the Martian description of their Standard Cell is essentially the same -as the Terran, they are using the same thing. Only they use sense and -say that a volt is the unit of a standard cell, period. Calculating -their figures on the numerical base of twelve is tricky, but I've done -it." - -"You're doing fine. How do you assume their standard is the same?" - -"Simple," said Barney in a cheerful tone. "Thank God for their habit of -drawing pictures. Here we have the well-known H tube. The electrodes -are signified by the symbols for the elements used. The Periodic Chart -in the first section came in handy here. But look, master mind, this -dinky should be evacuated, don't you think?" - -"If it's electronic or subelectronic, it should be. We can solder up -this breach here and apply the hyvac pump. Rig us up a power supply -whilst I repair the blowout." - -"Where's the BFO?" - -"What do you want with that?" asked Jim. - -"The second anode takes about two hundred volts worth of eighty-four -cycles," explained Barney. "Has a sign that seems to signify 'In -Phase,' but I'll be darned if I know with what. Y'know, Jim, this -dingbat looks an awful lot like one of the drivers we use in our -spaceships and driver-wing fliers." - -"Yeah," drawled Jim. "About the same recognition as the difference -between Edison's first electric light and a twelve-element, electron -multiplier, power output tube. Similarity: They both have cathodes." - -"Edison didn't have a cathode--" - -"Sure he did. Just because he didn't hang a plate inside of the bottle -doesn't stop the filament from being a cathode." - -Barney snorted. "A monode, hey?" - -"Precisely. After which come diodes, triodes, tetrodes, pentodes, -hexodes, heptodes--" - -"--and the men in the white coats. How's your patching job?" - -"Fine. How's your power-supply job?" - -"Good enough," said Barney. "This eighty-four cycles is not going to be -a sine wave at two hundred volts; the power stage of the BFO overloads -just enough to bring in a bit of second harmonic." - -"A beat-frequency-oscillator was never made to run at that level," -complained Jim Baler. "At least, not this one. She'll tick on a bit of -second, I think." - -"Are we ready for the great experiment?" - -"Yup, and I still wish I knew what the thing was for. Go ahead, Barney. -Crack the big switch!" - - * * * * * - -Altas held up a restraining hand as Than grasped the main power switch. -"Wait," he said. "Does one stand in his sky flier and leave the ground -at full velocity? Or does one start an internal combustion engine at -full speed?" - -"No," said the youngster. "We usually take it slowly." - -"And like the others, we must tune our tube. And that we cannot do -under full power. Advance your power lever one-tenth step and we'll -adjust the deflection anodes." - -"I'll get the equipment," said Than. "I forgot that part." - -"Never mind the equipment," smiled Altas. "Observe." - -Altas picked up a long screw-driverlike tool and inserted it into the -maze of wiring that surrounded the tube. Squinting in one end of the -big tube, he turned the tool until the cathode surface brightened -slightly. He adjusted the instrument until the cathode was at its -brightest, and then withdrew the tool. - -"That will do for your experimental set-up," smiled Altas. "The -operation in service is far more critical and requires equipment. As -an experiment, conducted singly, the accumulative effect cannot be -dangerous, though if the deflection plates are not properly served with -their supply voltages, the experiment is a failure. The operation of -the tube depends upon the perfection of the deflection-plate voltages." - -"No equipment is required, then?" - -"It should have been employed," said Altas modestly. "But in my years -as a beam-tower attendant, I have learned the art of aligning the -plates by eye. Now, son, we may proceed from there." - - * * * * * - -Barney Carroll took a deep breath and let the power switch fall home. -Current meters swung across their scales for an instant, and then the -lights went out in the house! - -"Fuse blew," said Barney shortly. He gumbled his way through the dark -house and replaced the fuse. He returned smiling. "Fixed that one," he -told Jim. "Put a washer behind it." - -"O.K. Hit the switch again." - -Barney cranked the power over, and once more the meters climbed up -across the scales. There was a groaning sound from the tube, and the -smell of burning insulation filled the room. One meter blew with an -audible sound as the needle hit the end stop, and immediately afterward -the lights in the entire block went out. - -"Fix that one by hanging a penny behind it," said Jim with a grin. - -"That's a job for Martian Electric to do," laughed Barney. - -Several blocks from there, an attendant in the substation found the -open circuit-breaker and shoved it in with a grim smile. He looked up -at the power-demand meter and grunted. High for this district, but not -dangerous. Duration, approximately fifteen seconds. Intensity, higher -than usual but not high enough to diagnose any failure of the wiring in -the district. "Ah, well," he thought, "we can crank up the blow-point -on this breaker if it happens again." - -He turned to leave and the crashing of the breaker scared him out of -a week's growth. He snarled and said a few choice words not fit for -publication. He closed the breaker and screwed the blow-point control -up by two-to-one. "That'll hold 'em," he thought, and then the ringing -of the telephone called him to his office, and he knew that he was in -for an explanatory session with some people who wanted to know why -their lights were going on and off. He composed a plausible tale on his -way to the phone. Meanwhile, he wondered about the unreasonable demand -and concluded that one of the folks had just purchased a new power saw -or something for their home workshop. - -"Crack the juice about a half," suggested Barney. "That'll keep us on -the air until we find out what kind of stuff this thing takes. The book -claims about one tenth of the current-drain for this unit. Something -we've missed, no doubt." - -"Let's see that circuit," said Jim. After a minute, he said: "Look, -guy, what are these screws for?" - -"They change the side plate voltages from about three hundred to about -three hundred and fifty. I've got 'em set in the middle of the range." - -"Turn us on half voltage and diddle one of 'em." - -"That much of a change shouldn't make the difference," objected Barney. - -"Brother, we don't know what this thing is even for," reminded Jim. -"Much less do we know the effect of anything on it. Diddle, I say." - -"O.K., we diddle." Barney turned on half power and reached into the -maze of wiring and began to tinker with one of the screws. "Hm-m-m," -he said after a minute. "Does things, all right. She goes through -some kind of resonance point or something. There is a spot of minimum -current here. There! I've hit it. Now for the other one." - -For an hour, Barney tinkered with first one screw and then the other -one. He found a point where the minimum current was really low; the two -screws were interdependent and only by adjusting them alternately was -he able to reach the proper point on each. Then he smiled and thrust -the power on full. The current remained at a sane value. - -"Now what?" asked Barney. - -"I don't know. Anything coming out of the business end?" - -"Heat." - -"Yeah, and it's about as lethal as a sun lamp. D'ye suppose the -Martians used to artificially assist their crops by synthetic sunshine?" - -Barney applied his eye to a spectroscope. It was one of the newer -designs that encompassed everything from short ultraviolet to long -infrared by means of fluorescent screens at the invisible wave lengths. -He turned the instrument across the spectrum and shook his head. "Might -be good for a chest cold," he said, "but you wouldn't get a sunburn -off of it. It's all in the infra. Drops off like a cliff just below -the deep red. Nothing at all in the visible or above. Gee," he said -with a queer smile, "you don't suppose that they died off because of a -pernicious epidemic of colds and they tried chest-cooking _en masse_?" - -"I'd believe anything if this darned gadget were found in a populated -district," said Jim. "But we know that the desert was here when the -Martians were here, and that it was just as arid as it is now. They -wouldn't try farming in a place where iron oxide abounds." - -"Spinach?" - -"You don't know a lot about farming, do you?" asked Jim. - -"I saw a cow once." - -"That does not qualify you as an expert on farming." - -"I know one about the farmer's daughter, and--" - -"Not even an expert on dirt farming," continued Jim. "Nope, Barney, we -aren't even close." - -Barney checked the book once more and scratched his nose. - -"How about that eighty-four cycle supply," asked Jim. - -"It's eighty-four, all right. From the Martian habit of using twelve as -a base, I've calculated the number to be eighty-four." - -"Diddle that, too," suggested Jim. - -"O.K.," said Barney. "It doesn't take a lot to crank that one around -from zero to about fifteen thousand c.p.s. Here she goes!" - - * * * * * - -Barney took the main dial of the beat-frequency oscillator and began -to crank it around the scale. He went up from eighty-four to the top -of the dial and then returned. No effect. Then he passed through -eighty-four and started down toward zero. - -He hit sixty cycles and the jackpot at the same time! - -At exactly sixty cycles, a light near the wall dimmed visibly. The -wallpaper scorched and burst into a smoldering flame on a wall opposite -the dimmed light. - -Barney removed the BFO from the vicinity of sixty cycles and Jim -extinguished the burning wallpaper. - -"Now we're getting somewhere," said Barney. - -"This is definitely some sort of weapon," said Jim. "She's not very -efficient right now, but we can find out why and then we'll have -something hot." - -"What for?" asked Barney. "Nobody hates anybody any more." - -"Unless the birds who made this thing necessary return," said Jim -soberly. His voice was ominous. "We know that only one race of Martians -existed, and they were all amicable. I suspect an inimical race from -outer space--" - -"Could be. Some of the boys are talking about an expedition to Centauri -right now. We could have had a visitor from somewhere during the past." - -"If you define eternity as the time required for everything to happen -once, I agree. In the past or in the future, we have or will be visited -by a super race. It may have happened six thousand years ago." - -"Did you notice that the electric light is not quite in line with the -axis of the tube?" asked Barney. - -"Don't turn it any closer," said Jim. "In fact, I'd turn it away before -we hook it up again." - -"There she is. Completely out of line with the light. Now shall we try -it again?" - -"Go ahead." - -Barney turned the BFO gingerly, and at sixty cycles the thing seemed -quite sane. Nothing happened. "Shall I swing it around?" - -"I don't care for fires as a general rule," said Jim. "Especially in my -own home. Turn it gently, and take care that you don't focus the tube -full on that electric light." - -Barney moved the tube slightly, and then with a cessation of noise, -the clock on the wall stopped abruptly. The accustomed ticking had not -been noticed by either man, but the unaccustomed lack-of-ticking became -evident at once. Barney shut off the BFO immediately and the two men -sat down to a head-scratching session. - -"She's good for burning wallpaper, dimming electric lights, and -stopping clocks," said Barney. "Any of which you could do without a -warehouse full of cockeyed electrical equipment. Wonder if she'd stop -anything more powerful than a clock." - -"I've got a quarter-horse motor here. Let's wind that up and try it." - -The motor was installed on a bench nearby, and the experiment was tried -again. At sixty cycles the motor groaned to a stop, and the windings -began to smolder. But at the same time the big tube began to exhibit -the signs of strain. Meters raced up their scales once more, reached -the stops and bent. Barney shut off the motor, but the strains did not -stop in the tube. The apparent overload increased linearly and finally -the lights went out all over the neighborhood once more. - -"Wonderful," said Barney through the darkness. "As a weapon, this thing -is surpassed by everything above a fly swatter." - -"We might be able to cook a steak with it--if it would take the -terrific overload," said Jim. "Or we could use it as an insect -exterminator." - -"We'd do better by putting the insect on an anvil and hitting it -firmly with a five-pound hammer," said Barney. "Then we'd only have -the anvil and hammer to haul around. This thing is like hauling a -fifty-thousand-watt radio transmitter around. Power supplies, BFO, -tube, meters, tools, and a huge truck full of spare fuses for the times -when we miss the insect. Might be good for a central heating system." - -"Except that a standard electric unit is more reliable and considerably -less complicated. You'd have to hire a corps of engineers to run the -thing." - -The lights went on again, and the attendant in the substation screwed -the blow-point control tighter. He didn't know it, but his level was -now above the rating for his station. But had he known it he might not -have cared. At least, his station was once more in operation. - -"Well," said Barney, getting up from the table, "what have we missed?" - - * * * * * - -Altas said: "Now your unit is operating at its correct level. But, son, -you've missed one thing. It is far from efficient. Those two leads -must be isolated from one another. Coupling from one to the other will -lead to losses." - -"Gosh," said Than, "I didn't know that." - -"No, for some reason the books assume that the tower engineer has had -considerable experience in the art. Take it from me, son, there are a -lot of things that are not in the books. Now isolate those leads from -one another and we'll go on." - - * * * * * - -"While you're thinking," said Jim, "I'm going to lockstitch these -cables together. It'll make this thing less messy." Jim got a roll of -twelve-cord from the cabinet and began to bind the many supply leads -into a neat cable. - -Barney watched until the job was finished, and then said: "Look, chum, -let's try that electric-light trick again." - -They swung the tube around until it was in the original position, and -turned the juice on. Nothing happened. - -Barney looked at Jim, and then reached out and pointed the big tube -right at the electric light. - -Nothing happened. - -"Check your anode voltages again." - -"All O.K." - -"How about that aligning job?" - -Barney fiddled with the alignment screws for minutes, but his original -setting seemed to be valid. - -"Back to normal," said Barney. "Rip out your cabling." - -"Huh?" - -"Sure. You did something. I don't know what. But rip it out and fan out -the leads. There is something screwy in the supply lines. I've been -tied up on that one before; this thing looks like electronics, as we -agree, and I've had occasion to remember coupling troubles." - -"All right," said Jim, and he reluctantly ripped out his -lock-stitching. He fanned the leads and they tried it again. - -Obediently the light dimmed and the wallpaper burned. - -"Here we go again," said Jim, killing the circuits and reaching for a -small rug to smother the fire. "No wonder the Martians had this thing -out in the middle of the desert. D'ye suppose that they were trying to -find out how it works, too?" - -"Take it easier this time and we'll fan the various leads," said -Barney. "There's something tricky about the lead placement." - -"Half power," announced Barney. "Now, let's get that sixty cycles." - -The light dimmed slightly and a sheet of metal placed in front of the -tube became slightly warm to the touch. The plate stopped the output of -the tube, for the wallpaper did not scorch. Jim began to take supply -line after supply line from the bundle of wiring. About halfway through -the mess he hit the critical lead, and immediately the light went out -completely, and the plate grew quite hot. - -"Stop her!" yelled Barney. - -"Why?" - -"How do we know what we're overloading this time?" - -"Do we care?" - -"Sure. Let's point this thing away from that light. Then we can hop it -up again and try it at full power." - -"What do you want to try?" - -"This energy-absorption thing." - -"Wanna burn out my motor?" - -"Not completely. This dingbat will stop a completely mechanical gadget -like a clock. It seems to draw power from electric lights. It stops -electromechanical power. I wonder just how far it will go toward -absorbing power. And also I want to know where the power goes." - -The tube was made to stop the clock again. The motor groaned under the -load put upon it by the tube. Apparently the action of the tube was -similar to a heavy load being placed on whatever its end happened to -point to. Barney picked up a small metal block and dropped it over the -table. - -"Want to see if it absorbs the energy of a falling object--Look at -that!" - -The block fell until it came inside of the influence of the tube. Then -it slowed in its fall and approached the table slowly. It did not hit -the table, it touched and came to rest. - -"What happens if we wind up a spring and tie it?" asked Jim. - -They tried it. Nothing happened. - -"Works on kinetic energy, not potential energy," said Barney. - -He picked up a heavy hammer and tried to hit the table. "Like swinging -a club through a tub of water," he said. - -"Be a useful gadget for saving the lives of people who are falling," -said Jim thoughtfully. - -"Oh, sure. Put it on a truck and rush it out to the scene of the -suicide." - -"No. How about people jumping out of windows on account of fires? How -about having one of the things around during a flier-training course? -Think of letting a safe down on one of these beams, or taking a piano -from the fifth floor of an apartment building." - -"The whole apartment full of furniture could be pitched out of a -window," said Barney. - -"Mine looks that way now," said Jim, "and we've only moved a couple of -times. No, Barney, don't give 'em any ideas." - - * * * * * - -Jim picked up the hammer and tried to hit the table. Then, idly, he -swung the hammer in the direction of the tube's end. - -Barney gasped. In this direction there was no resistance. Jim's swing -continued, and the look on Jim's face indicated that he was trying to -brake the swing in time to keep from hitting the end of the tube. But -it seemed as though he were trying to stop an avalanche. The swing -continued on and on and finally ended when the hammer head contacted -the end of the tube. - -There was a burst of fire. Jim swung right on through, whirling around -off balance and coming to a stop only when he fell to the floor. -He landed in darkness again. The burst of fire emanated from the -insulation as it flamed under the heat of extreme overload. - -This time the lights were out all over Lincoln Head. The whole city was -in complete blackout! - -Candles were found, and they inspected the tube anxiously. It seemed -whole. But the hammer head was missing. The handle was cut cleanly, on -an optically perfect surface. - -Where the hammer head went, they couldn't say. But on the opposite wall -there was a fracture in the plaster that Jim swore hadn't been there -before. It extended over quite an area, and after some thought, Barney -calculated that if the force of Jim's hammer blow had been evenly -distributed over that area on the wall, the fracturing would have been -just about that bad. - -"A weapon, all right," said Barney. - -"Sure. All you have to do is to shoot your gun right in this end and -the force is dissipated over quite an area out of that end. In the -meantime you blow out all of the powerhouses on the planet. If a hammer -blow can raise such merry hell, what do you think the output of a -sixteen-inch rifle would do? Probably stop the planet in its tracks. -D'ye know what I think?" - -"No, do you?" - -"Barney, I think that we aren't even close as to the operation and use -of this device." - -"For that decision, Jim, you should be awarded the Interplanetary Award -for Discovery and Invention--posthumously!" - -"So what do we do now?" - -"Dunno. How soon does this lighting situation get itself fixed?" - -"You ask me.... I don't know either." - -"Well, let's see what we've found so far." - -"That's easy," said Jim. "It might be a weapon, but it don't weap. We -might use it for letting elevators down easy, except that it would be a -shame to tie up a room full of equipment when the three-phase electric -motor is so simple. We could toast a bit of bread, but the electric -toaster has been refined to a beautiful piece of breakfast furniture -that doesn't spray off and scorch the wallpaper. We could use it to -transmit hammer blows, or to turn out electric lights, but both of -those things have been done very simply; one by means of sending the -hammerer to the spot, and the other by means of turning the switch. And -then in the last couple of cases, there is little sense in turning out -a light by short circuiting the socket and blowing all the fuses." - -"That is the hard way," smiled Barney. "Like hitting a telephone pole -to stop the car, or cutting the wings off a plane to return it to the -ground." - -"So we have a fairly lucid book that describes the entire hook-up of -the thing except what it's for. It gives not only the use of this -device, but also variations and replacements. Could we figure it out -by sheer deduction?" - -"I don't see how. The tower is in the midst of the Red Desert. There -is nothing but sand that assays high in iron oxide between Canalopsis, -at the junction of the Grand Canal and Lincoln Head. Might be hid, -of course, just as this one was, and we'll send out a crew of expert -sub-sand explorers with under-surface detectors to cover the ground -for a few hundred miles in any direction from the place where we found -this. Somehow, I doubt that we'll find much." - -"And how do you ... ah, there's the lights again ... deduce that?" -asked Jim. - -"This gadget is or was of importance to the Martians. Yet in the Temple -of Science and Industry at Canalopsis, there is scant mention of the -towers." - -"Not very much, hey?" - -"Very little, in fact. Of course the pictographs on the Temple at -Canalopsis shows one tower between what appear two cities. Wavy lines -run from one city to the tower and to the other city. Say! I'll bet a -cooky that this is some sort of signaling device!" - -"A beam transmitter?" asked Jim skeptically. "Seems like a lot of junk -for just signaling. Especially when such a swell job can be done with -standard radio equipment. A good civilization--such as the Martians -must have had--wouldn't piddle around with relay stations between -two cities less than a couple of thousand miles apart. With all the -juice this thing can suck, they'd be more than able to hang a straight -broadcast station and cover halfway around the planet as ground-wave -area. What price relay station?" - -"Nevertheless, I'm going to tinker up another one of these and see if -it is some sort of signaling equipment." - - * * * * * - -The door opened and Christine Baler entered. She waved a newspaper -before her brother's eyes and said: "Boy, have you been missing it!" - -"What?" asked Barney. - -"Pixies or gremlins loose in Lincoln Head." - -"Huh-huh. Read it," said Jim. - -"Just a bunch of flash headlines. Fire on Manley Avenue. Three planes -had to make dead-tube landings in the center of the city; power went -dead for no good reason for about ten minutes. Façade of the City Hall -caved in. Power plants running wild all over the place. Ten thousand -dollars' worth of electrical equipment blown out. Automobiles stalled -in rows for blocks." - -Jim looked at Barney. "Got a bear by the tail," he said. - -"Could be," admitted Barney. - -"Are you two blithering geniuses going to work all night?" asked -Christine. - -"Nope. We're about out of ideas. Except the one that Barney had about -the gadget being some sort of signaling system." - -"Why don't you fellows call Don Channing? He's the signaling wizard of -the Solar System." - -"Sure, call Channing. Every time someone gets an idea, everyone says, -'Call Channing!' He gets called for everything from Boy Scout wigwag -ideas to super-cyclotronic-electron-stream beams to contact the outer -planets. Based upon the supposition that people will eventually get -there, of course." - -"Well?" - -"Well, I ... we, I mean ... found this thing and we're jolly well going -to tinker it out. In spite of the fact that it seems to bollix up -everything from electric lights to moving gears. I think we're guilty -of sabotage. Façade of the City Hall, et cetera. Barney, how long do -you think it will take to tinker up another one of these?" - -"Few hours. They're doggoned simple things in spite of the fact that we -can't understand them. In fact, I'm of the opinion that the real idea -would be to make two; one with only the front end for reception, one -for the rear end for transmission, and the one we found for relaying. -That's the natural bent, I believe." - -"Could be. Where are you going to cut them?" - -"The transmitter will start just before the cathode and the receiver -will end just after the ... uh, cathode." - -"Huh?" - -"Obviously the cathode is the baby that makes with the end product. She -seems to be a total intake from the intake end and a complete output -from the opposite end. Right?" - -"Right, but it certainly sounds like heresy." - -"I know," said Barney thoughtfully, "but the thing is obviously -different from anything that we know today. Who knows how she works?" - -"I give up." - -Christine, who had been listening in an interested manner, said: "You -fellers are the guys responsible for the ruckus that's been going on -all over Lincoln Head?" - -"I'm afraid so." - -"Well, brother warlocks, unless you keep your activities under cover -until they're worth mentioning, you'll both be due for burning at the -stake." - -"O.K., Chris," said Jim. "We'll not let it out." - -"But how are you going to tinker up that transmitter-relay-receiver -system?" - -"We'll take it from here to Barney's place across the avenue and into -his garage. That should do it." - -"O.K., but now I'm going to bed." - -"Shall we knock off, too?" asked Jim. - -"Yup. Maybe we'll dream a good thought." - -"So long then. We'll leave the mess as it is. No use cleaning up now, -we'll only have to mess it up again tomorrow with the same junk." - -"And I'll have that--or those--other systems tinkered together by -tomorrow noon. That's a promise," said Barney. "And you," he said to -Christine, "will operate the relay station." - - * * * * * - -Altas said to Than: "Now that your system is balanced properly, and -we have proved the worth of this tube as a replacement, we shall take -it to the roof and install it. The present tube is about due for -retirement." - -"I've done well, then?" asked Than. - -"Considering all, you've done admirably. But balancing the device in -the tower, and hooked into the circuit as an integral part is another -thing. Come, Than. We shall close the line for an hour whilst replacing -the tube." - -"Is that permissible?" - -"At this time of the night the requirements are small. No damage will -be done; they can get along without us for an hour. In fact, at this -time of night, only the people who are running the city will know that -we are out of service. And it is necessary that the tube be maintained -at full capability. We can not chance a weakened tube; it might fail -when it is needed the most." - -Than carried the tube to the top of the tower, and Altas remained to -contact the necessary parties concerning the shut-off for replacement -purposes. He followed Than to the top after a time and said: "Now -disconnect the old tube and put it on the floor. We shall replace the -tube immediately, but it will be an hour before it is properly balanced -again." - -It was not long before Than had the tube connected properly. "Now," -said Altas, "turn it on one-tenth power and we shall align it." - -"Shall I use the meters?" - -"I think it best. This requires perfect alignment now. We've much power -and considerable distance, and any losses will create great amounts of -heat." - -"All right," said Than. He left the tower top to get the meters. - - * * * * * - -Barney Carroll spoke into a conveniently placed microphone. "Are you -ready?" he asked. - -"Go ahead," said Christine. - -"We're waiting," said Jim. - -"You're the bird on the transmitter," said Barney to Jim. "_You_ make -with the juice." - -Power rheostats were turned up gingerly, until Jim shouted to stop. His -shout was blotted out by cries from the other two. They met in Barney's -place to confer. - -"What's cooking?" asked Jim. - -"The meters are all going crazy in my end," said Barney. "I seem to be -sucking power out of everything in line with my tube." - -"The so-called relay station is firing away at full power and doing -nothing but draining plenty of power from the line," complained -Christine. - -"And on my end, I was beginning to scorch the wallpaper again. I don't -understand it. With no receiver-end, how can I scorch wallpaper?" - -"Ask the Martians. They know." - -"You ask 'em. What shall we do, invent a time machine and go back -sixty centuries?" - -"Wish we could," said Barney. "I'd like to ask the bird that left this -textbook why they didn't clarify it more." - -"Speaking of Don Channing again," said Jim, "I'll bet a hat that -one of his tube-replacement manuals for the big transmitters out on -Venus Equilateral do not even mention that the transmitter requires -a receiver before it is any good. We think we're modern. We are, and -we never think that some day some poor bird will try to decipher our -technical works. Why, if Volta himself came back and saw the most -perfect machine ever invented--the transformer--he'd shudder. No -connection between input and output, several kinds of shorted loops of -wire; and instead of making a nice simple electromagnet, we short the -lines of force and on top of that we use a lot of laminations piled on -top of one another instead of a nice, soft iron core. We completely -short the input, et cetera, but how do we make with a gadget like that?" - -"I know. We go on expecting to advance. We forget the simple past. -Remember the lines of that story: 'How does one chip the flint to make -the best arrowhead?' I don't know who wrote it any more than I know how -to skin a boar, but we do get on without making arrowheads or skinning -boars or trimming birch-bark canoes." - -"All right, but there's still this problem." - -"Remember how we managed to align this thing? I wonder if it might not -take another alignment to make it work as a relay." - -"Could be," said Jim. "I'll try it. Christine, you work these screws at -the same time we do, and make the current come out as low as we can." - -They returned to their stations and began to work on the alignment -screws. Jim came out first on the receiver. Christine was second on the -transmitter, while Barney fumbled for a long time with the relay tube. - -Then Christine called: "Fellows, my meter readings are climbing up -again. Shall I diddle?" - -"Wait a minute," said Barney. "That means I'm probably taking power out -of that gadget you have in there. Leave 'em alone." - -He fiddled a bit more, and then Jim called: "Whoa, Nellie. Someone just -lost me a millimeter. She wound up on the far end." - -"Hm-m-m," said Barney, "so we're relaying." - -"Go ahead," said Jim. "I've got a ten-ampere meter on here now." - -Barney adjusted his screws some more. - -"Wait a minute," said Jim. "I'm going to shunt this meter up to a -hundred amps." - -"What?" yelled Barney. - -"Must you yell?" asked Christine ruefully. "These phones are plenty -uncomfortable without some loudmouthed bird screaming." - -"Sorry, but a hundred amps... _whoosh_! What have we got here, anyway?" - -"Yeah," said Christine. "I was about to say that my input meter is -running wild again." - -"Gone?" - -"Completely. You shouldn't have hidden it behind that big box. I didn't -notice it until just now, but she's completely gone." - -"I'll be over. I think we've got something here." - - * * * * * - -An hour passed, during which nothing of any great importance happened. -By keying the transmitter tube, meters in the receiver tube were made -to read in accordance. Then they had another conclave. - -"Nothing brilliant," said Jim. "We could use super-output voice -amplifiers and yell halfway across the planet if we didn't have radio. -We can radio far better than this cockeyed system of signaling." - -"We might cut the power." - -"Or spread out quite a bit. I still say, however, that this is no -signaling system." - -"It works like one." - -"So can a clothesline be made to serve as a transmitter of -intelligence. But its prime function is completely different." - -"S'pose we have a super-clothesline here?" asked Christine. - -"The way that hammer felt last night, I'm not too sure that this might -not be some sort of tractor beam," said Jim. - -"Tractor beams are mathematically impossible." - -"Yeah, and they proved conclusively that a bird cannot fly," said Jim. -"That was before they found the right kind of math. Up until Clerk -Maxwell's time, radio was mathematically impossible. Then he discovered -the electromagnetic equations, and we're squirting signals across the -Inner System every day. And when math and fact do not agree, which -changes?" - -"The math. Galileo proved that. Aristotle said that a heavy stone will -fall faster. Then Galileo changed the math of that by heaving a couple -of boulders off the Leaning Tower. But what have we here?" - -"Has anyone toyed with the transmission of power?" - -"Sure. A lot of science-fiction writers have their imaginary planets -crisscrossed with transmitted power. Some broadcast it, some have -it beamed to the consumer. When they use planes, they have the beam -coupled to an object-finder so as to control the direction of the beam. -I prefer the broadcasting, myself. It uncomplicates the structure of -the tale." - -"I mean actually?" - -"Oh, yes. But the losses are terrific. Useful power transmission is -a minute percentage of the total output of the gadget. Absolutely -impractical, especially when copper and silver are so plentiful to -string along the scenery on steel towers. No good." - -"But look at this cockeyed thing. Christine puts in a couple of hundred -amps; I take them off my end. Believe it or not, the output meter at my -end was getting a lot more soup than I was pouring in." - -"And my gadget was not taking anything to speak of," said Barney. - -"Supposing it was a means of transmitting power. How on Mars did they -use a single tower there in the middle of the Red Desert? We know there -was a Martian city at Canalopsis, and another one not many miles from -Lincoln Head. Scribbled on the outer cover of this book is the legend: -'Tower Station, Red Desert,' and though the Martians didn't call this -the 'Red Desert, the terminology will suffice for nomenclature." - -"Well?" asked Jim. - -"You notice they did not say: 'Station No. 1,' or '3' or '7.' That -means to me that there was but one." - -"Holy Smoke! Fifteen hundred miles with only one station? On Mars the -curvature of ground would put such a station below the electrical -horizon--" Jim thought that one over for a minute and then said: "Don't -tell me they bent the beam?" - -"Either they did that or they heated up the sand between," said Barney -cryptically. "It doesn't mind going through nonconducting walls, but -a nice, fat ground ... blooey, or I miss my guess. That'd be like -grounding a high line." - -"You're saying that they did bend--_Whoosh_, again!" - -"What was that alignment problem? Didn't we align the deflecting anodes -somehow?" - -"Yeah, but you can't bend the output of a cathode-ray tube externally -of the deflection plates." - -"But this is not electron-beam stuff," objected Barney. "This is as far -ahead of cathode-ray tubes as they are ahead of the Indian signal drum -or the guy who used to run for twenty-four miles from Ghent to Aix." - -"That one was from Athens to Sparta," explained Christine, "the Ghent -to Aix journey was a-horseback, and some thousand-odd years after." - -"Simile's still good," said Barney. "There's still a lot about this I -do not understand." - -"A masterpiece of understatement, if I ever heard one," laughed Jim. -"Well, let's work on it from that angle. Come on, gang, to horse!" - - * * * * * - -"Now," said Altas, "you will find that the best possible efficiency -is obtained when the currents in these two resistances are equal and -opposite in direction. That floats the whole tube on the system, and -makes it possible to run the tube without any external power source. -It requires a starter-source for aligning and for standby service, and -for the initial surge: then it is self-sustaining. Also the in-phase -voltage can not better be obtained than by exciting the phasing anode -with some of the main-line power. That must always be correctly phased. -We now need the frequency generator no longer, and by increasing the -power rheostat to full, the tube will take up the load. Watch the -meters, and when they read full power, you may throw the cut-over -switch and make the tube self-sustaining. Our tower will then be in -perfect service, and you and I may return to our home below." - -Than performed the operations, and then they left, taking the old tube -with them. - -And on Terra, Sargon of Akkad watched ten thousand slaves carry stone -for one of his public buildings. He did not know that on one of the -stars placed in the black bowl of the evening sky for his personal -benefit, men were flinging more power through the air than the total -output of all of his slaves combined. Had he been told, he would have -had the teller beheaded for lying because Sargon of Akkad couldn't -possibly have understood it-- - - * * * * * - -"You know, we're missing a bet," said Jim. "This in-phase business -here. Why shouldn't we hang a bit of the old wall-socket juice in here?" - -"That might be the trick," said Barney. - -Jim made the connections, and they watched the meters read up and up -and up--and from the street below them a rumbling was heard. Smoke -issued from a crevasse in the pavement, and then with a roar, the -street erupted and a furrow three feet wide and all the way across the -street from Jim Baler's residence to Barney Carroll's garage lifted out -of the ground. It blew straight up and fell back, and from the bottom -of the furrow the smoldering of burned and tortured wiring cast a foul -smell. - -"_Wham!_" said Barney, looking at the smoking trench. "What was that?" - -"I think we'll find that it was the closest connection between our -places made by the Electric Co.," said Jim. - -"But what have we done?" - -"I enumerate," said Christine, counting off on her fingers. "We've -blasted in the façade of the City Hall. We've caused a couple of -emergency flier-landings within the city limits. We've blown fuses -and circuit breakers all the way from here to the main powerhouse -downtown. We've stalled a few dozen automobiles. We've torn or burned -or cut the end off of one hammer and have fractured the wall with -it ... where did that go, anyway, the hammerhead? We've burned -wallpaper. We've run our electric bill up to about three hundred -dollars, I'll bet. We've bunged up a dozen meters. And now we've ripped -up a trench in the middle of the street." - -"Somewhere in this set-up, there is a return circuit," said Jim -thoughtfully. "We've been taking power out of the line, and I've been -oblivious of the fact that a couple of hundred amperes is too high -to get out of our power line without trouble. What we've been doing -is taking enough soup out of the public utility lines to supply the -losses only. The power we've been seeing on our meters is the build-up, -recirculated!" - -"Huh?" - -"Sure. Say we bring an amp in from the outside and shoot it across the -street. It goes to the wires and comes back because of some electrical -urge in our gadgets here, and then goes across the street in-phase with -the original. That makes two amps total crossing our beam. The two come -back and we have two plus two. Four come back, and we double again and -again until the capability of our device is at saturation. All we have -to do is to find the ground-return and hang a load in there. We find -the transmitter-load input, and supply that with a generator. Brother, -we can beam power all the way from here to Canalopsis on one relay -tower!" - -Barney looked at his friend. "Could be." - -"Darned right. What other item can you think of that fits this tower -any better? We've run down a dozen ideas, but this works. We may be -arrested for wrecking Lincoln Head, but we'll get out as soon as this -dingbat hits the market. Brother, what a find!" - -"Fellows, I think you can make your announcement now," smiled -Christine. "They won't burn you at the stake if you can bring electric -power on a beam of pure nothing. This time you've hit the jackpot!" - - * * * * * - -It is six thousand Terran Years since Sargon of Akkad held court that -was lighted by torch. It is six thousand years, Terran, since Than -and Altas replaced the link in a power system that tied their cities -together. - -It is six thousand years since the beam tower fell into the Red Desert -and the mighty system of beamed power became lost as an art. But once -again the towers dot the plains, not only of Mars, but of Venus and -Terra, too. - -And though they are of a language understood by the peoples of three -worlds, the manuals of instruction would be as cryptic to Than as his -manual was to Barney Carroll and Jim Baler. - -People will never learn. - - -THE END. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOST ART *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where - you are located before using this eBook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that: - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/67923-0.zip b/old/67923-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f195271..0000000 --- a/old/67923-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67923-h.zip b/old/67923-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4e6cd0f..0000000 --- a/old/67923-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67923-h/67923-h.htm b/old/67923-h/67923-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 0257f02..0000000 --- a/old/67923-h/67923-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1876 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lost Art, by George O. Smith. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.right {text-align: right;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; -} - -div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0em; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; -} - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lost Art, by George O. Smith</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Lost Art</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: George O. Smith</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: April 25, 2022 [eBook #67923]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOST ART ***</div> - -<div class="titlepage"> - -<h1>Lost Art</h1> - -<h2>By George O. Smith</h2> - -<p>Illustrated by Orban</p> - -<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br /> -Astounding Science-Fiction, December 1943.<br /> -Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br /> -the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p>Sargon of Akkad was holding court in all of his splendor in the -Mesopotamia area, which he thought to be the center of the Universe. -The stars to him were but holes in a black bowl which he called the -sky. They were beautiful then, as they are now, but he thought that -they were put there for his edification only; for was he not the ruler -of Akkadia?</p> - -<p>After Sargon of Akkad, there would come sixty centuries of climbing -before men reached the stars and found not only that there had been men -upon them, but that a civilization on Mars had reached its peak four -thousand years before Christ and was now but a memory and a wealth of -pictographs that adorned the semipreserved Temples of Canalopsis.</p> - -<p>And sixty centuries after, the men of Terra wondered about the -ideographs and solved them sufficiently to piece together the wonders -of the long-dead Martian Civilization.</p> - -<p>Sargon of Akkad did not know that the stars that he beheld carried on -them wonders his mind would not, could not, accept.</p> - -<p>Altas, the Martian, smiled tolerantly at his son. The young man boasted -on until Altas said: "So you have memorized the contents of my manual? - -<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> - - -<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> - - -Good, Than, for I am growing old and I would be pleased to have my -son fill my shoes. Come into the workshop that I may pass upon your -proficiency."</p> - -<p>Altas led Than to the laboratory that stood at the foot of the great -tower of steel; Altas removed from a cabinet a replacement element from -the great beam above their heads, and said: "Than, show me how to hook -this up!"</p> - -<p>Than's eyes glowed. From other cabinets he took small auxiliary parts. -From hooks upon the wall, Than took lengths of wire. Working with a -brilliant deftness that was his heritage as a Martian, Than spent an -hour attaching the complicated circuits. After he was finished, Than -stepped back and said: "There—and believe it or not, this is the first -time you have permitted me to work with one of the beam elements."</p> - -<p>"You have done well," said Altas with that same cryptic smile. "But now -we shall see. The main question is: Does it work?"</p> - -<p>"Naturally," said Than in youthful pride. "Is it not hooked up exactly -as your manual says? It will work."</p> - -<p>"We shall see," repeated Altas. "We shall see."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Barney Carroll and James Baler cut through the thin air of Mars in a -driver-wing flier at a terrific rate of speed. It was the only kind -of flier that would work on Mars with any degree of safety since it -depended upon the support of its drivers rather than the wing surface. -They were hitting it up at almost a thousand miles per hour on their -way from Canalopsis to Lincoln Head; their trip would take an hour and -a half.</p> - -<p>As they passed over the red sand of Mars, endlessly it seemed, a glint -of metal caught Barney's eye, and he shouted.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter, Barney?" asked Jim.</p> - -<p>"Roll her over and run back a mile or so," said Barney. "I saw -something down there that didn't belong in this desert."</p> - -<p>Jim snapped the plane around in a sharp loop that nearly took their -heads off, and they ran back along their course.</p> - -<p>"Yop," called Barney, "there she is!"</p> - -<p>"What?"</p> - -<p>"See that glint of shiny metal? That doesn't belong in this mess of -erosion. Might be a crash."</p> - -<p>"Hold tight," laughed Jim. "We're going down."</p> - -<p>They did. Jim's piloting had all of the aspects of a daredevil racing -pilot's, and Barney was used to it. Jim snapped the nose of the little -flier down and they power-dived to within a few yards of the sand -before he set the plane on its tail and skidded flatwise to kill speed. -He leveled off, and the flier came screaming in for a perfect landing -not many feet from the glinting object.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus2.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<p>"This is no crash," said Baler. "This looks like the remains of an -air-lane beacon of some sort."</p> - -<p>"Does it? Not like any I've ever seen. It reminds me more of some of -the gadgets they find here and there—the remnants of the Ancients. -They used to build junk like this."</p> - -<p>"Hook up the sand-blower," suggested Jim Baler. "We'll clear some of -this rubble away and see what she really looks like. Can't see much -more than what looks like a high-powered searchlight."</p> - -<p>Barney hauled equipment out of the flier and hitched it to a small -motor in the plane. The blower created a small storm for an hour or so, -its blast directed by suit-clad Barney Carroll. Working with experience -gained in uncovering the remains of a dozen dead and buried cities, -Barney cleared the shifting sand from the remains of the tower.</p> - -<p>The head was there, preserved by the dry sand. Thirty feet below the -platform, the slender tower was broken off. No delving could find the -lower portion.</p> - -<p>"This is quite a find," said Jim. "Looks like some of the carvings -on the Temple of Science at Canalopsis—that little house on the top -of the spire with the three-foot runway around it; then this dingbat -perched on top of the roof. Never did figure out what it was for."</p> - -<p>"We don't know whether the Martians' eyes responded as ours do," -suggested Barney. "This might be a searchlight that puts out with -Martian visible spectrum. If they saw with infrared, they wouldn't -be using Terran fluorescent lighting. If they saw with long heat -frequencies, they wouldn't waste power with even a tungsten filament -light, but would have invented something that cooked its most energy -in the visible spectrum, just as we have in the last couple of hundred -years."</p> - -<p>"That's just a guess, of course."</p> - -<p>"Naturally," said Barney. "Here, I've got the door cracked. Let's be -the first people in this place for six thousand years Terran. Take it -easy, this floor is at an angle of thirty degrees."</p> - -<p>"I won't slide. G'wan in. I'm your shadow."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They entered the thirty-foot circular room and snapped on their -torches. There was a bench that ran almost around the entire room. It -was empty save for a few scraps of metal and a Martian book of several -hundred metal pages.</p> - -<p>"Nuts," said Barney, "we would have to find a thing like this but -empty. That's our luck. What's the book, Jim?"</p> - -<p>"Some sort of text, I'd say. Full of diagrams and what seems to be -mathematics. Hard to tell, of course, but we've established the fact -that mathematics is universal, though the characters can not possibly -be."</p> - -<p>"Any chance of deciphering it?" asked Barney.</p> - -<p>"Let's get back in the flier and try. I'm in no particular hurry."</p> - -<p>"Nor am I. I don't care whether we get to Lincoln Head tonight or the -middle of next week."</p> - -<p>"Now let's see that volume of diagrams," he said as soon as they were -established in the flier.</p> - -<p>Jim passed the book over, and Barney opened the book to the first page. -"If we never find anything else," he said, "this will make us famous. -I am now holding the first complete volume of Martian literature that -anyone has ever seen. The darned thing is absolutely complete, from -cover to cover!"</p> - -<p>"That's a find," agreed Jim. "Now go ahead and transliterate it—you're -the expert on Martian pictographs."</p> - -<p>For an hour, Barney scanned the pages of the volume. He made copious -notes on sheets of paper which he inserted between the metal leaves -of the book. At the end of that time, during which Jim Baler had been -inspecting the searchlight-thing on the top of the little house, he -called to his friend, and Jim entered the flier lugging the thing on -his shoulders.</p> - -<p>"What'cha got?" he grinned. "I brought this along. Nothing else in that -shack, so we're complete except for the remnants of some very badly -corroded cable that ran from this thing to a flapping end down where -the tower was broken."</p> - -<p>Barney smiled and blinked. It was strange to see this big man working -studiously over a book; Barney Carroll should have been leading a horde -of Venusian engineers through the Palanortis country instead of delving -into the artifacts of a dead civilization.</p> - -<p>"I think that this thing is a sort of engineer's handbook," he said. -"In the front there is a section devoted to mathematical tables. You -know, a table of logs to the base twelve which is because the Martians -had six fingers on each hand. There is what seems to be a table of -definite integrals—at least if I were writing a handbook I'd place the -table of integrals at the last part of the math section. The geometry -and trig is absolutely recognizable because of the designs. So is the -solid geom and the analyt for the same reason. The next section seems -to be devoted to chemistry; the Martians used a hexagonal figure for -a benzene ring, too, and so that's established. From that we find the -key to the Periodic Chart of the Atoms which is run vertically instead -of horizontally, but still unique. These guys were sharp, though; they -seem to have hit upon the fact that isotopes are separate elements -though so close in grouping to one another that they exhibit the same -properties. Finding this will uncover a lot of mystery."</p> - -<p>"Yeah," agreed Baler, "from a book of this kind we can decipher most -anything. The keying on a volume of physical constants is perfect and -almost infinite in number. What do they use for Pi?"</p> - -<p>"Circle with a double dot inside."</p> - -<p>"And Planck's Constant?"</p> - -<p>"Haven't hit that one yet. But we will. But to get back to the meat of -this thing, the third section deals with something strange. It seems to -have a bearing on this gadget from the top of the tower. I'd say that -the volume was a technical volume on the construction, maintenance, and -repair of the tower and its functions—whatever they are."</p> - -<p>Barney spread the volume out for Jim to see. "That dingbat is some sort -of electronic device. Or, perhaps subelectronic. Peel away that rusted -side and we'll look inside."</p> - -<p>Jim peeled a six-inch section from the side of the big metal tube, and -they inspected the insides. Barney looked thoughtful for a minute and -then flipped the pages of the book until he came to a diagram.</p> - -<p>"Sure," he said exultantly, "this is she. Look, Jim, they draw a -cathode like this, and the grids are made with a series of fine -parallel lines. Different, but more like the real grid than our symbol -of a zig-zag line. The plate is a round circle instead of a square, but -that's so clearly defined that it comes out automatically. Here's your -annular electrodes, and the ... call 'em deflection plates. I think we -can hook this do-boodle up as soon as we get to our place in Lincoln -Head."</p> - -<p>"Let's go then. Not only would I like to see this thing work, but I'd -give anything to know what it's for!"</p> - -<p>"You run the crate," said Barney, "and I'll try to decipher this mess -into voltages for the electrode-supply and so on. Then we'll be in -shape to go ahead and hook her up."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The trip to Lincoln Head took almost an hour. Barney and Jim landed in -their landing yards and took the book and the searchlight-thing inside. -They went to their laboratory, and called for sandwiches and tea. Jim's -sister brought in the food a little later and found them tinkering with -the big beam tube.</p> - -<p>"What have you got this time?" she groaned.</p> - -<p>"Name it and it's yours," laughed Barney.</p> - -<p>"A sort of gadget that we found on the Red Desert."</p> - -<p>"What does it do?" asked Christine Baler.</p> - -<p>"Well," said Jim, "it's a sort of a kind of a dingbat that does things."</p> - -<p>"Uh-huh," said Christine. "A dololly that plings the inghams."</p> - -<p>"Right!"</p> - -<p>"You're well met, you two. Have your fun. But for Pete's sake don't -forget to eat. Not that you will, I know you, but a girl has got -to make some sort of attempt at admonishment. I'm going to the -moom-picher. I'll see you when I return."</p> - -<p>"I'd say stick around," said Barney. "But I don't think we'll have -anything to show you for hours and hours. We'll have something by the -time you return."</p> - -<p>Christine left, and the men applied themselves to their problem. Barney -had done wonders in unraveling the unknown. Inductances, he found, -were spirals; resistance were dotted lines; capacitances were parallel -squares.</p> - -<p>"What kind of stuff do we use for voltages?" asked Jim.</p> - -<p>"That's a long, hard trail," laughed Barney. "Basing my calculations -on the fact that their standard voltage cell was the same as ours, we -apply the voltages as listed on my schematic here."</p> - -<p>"Can you assume that their standard is the same as ours?"</p> - -<p>"Better," said Barney. "The Terran Standard Cell—the well-known Weston -Cell—dishes out what we call 1.0183 volts at twenty degrees C. Since -the Martian description of their Standard Cell is essentially the same -as the Terran, they are using the same thing. Only they use sense and -say that a volt is the unit of a standard cell, period. Calculating -their figures on the numerical base of twelve is tricky, but I've done -it."</p> - -<p>"You're doing fine. How do you assume their standard is the same?"</p> - -<p>"Simple," said Barney in a cheerful tone. "Thank God for their habit of -drawing pictures. Here we have the well-known H tube. The electrodes -are signified by the symbols for the elements used. The Periodic Chart -in the first section came in handy here. But look, master mind, this -dinky should be evacuated, don't you think?"</p> - -<p>"If it's electronic or subelectronic, it should be. We can solder up -this breach here and apply the hyvac pump. Rig us up a power supply -whilst I repair the blowout."</p> - -<p>"Where's the BFO?"</p> - -<p>"What do you want with that?" asked Jim.</p> - -<p>"The second anode takes about two hundred volts worth of eighty-four -cycles," explained Barney. "Has a sign that seems to signify 'In -Phase,' but I'll be darned if I know with what. Y'know, Jim, this -dingbat looks an awful lot like one of the drivers we use in our -spaceships and driver-wing fliers."</p> - -<p>"Yeah," drawled Jim. "About the same recognition as the difference -between Edison's first electric light and a twelve-element, electron -multiplier, power output tube. Similarity: They both have cathodes."</p> - -<p>"Edison didn't have a cathode—"</p> - -<p>"Sure he did. Just because he didn't hang a plate inside of the bottle -doesn't stop the filament from being a cathode."</p> - -<p>Barney snorted. "A monode, hey?"</p> - -<p>"Precisely. After which come diodes, triodes, tetrodes, pentodes, -hexodes, heptodes—"</p> - -<p>"—and the men in the white coats. How's your patching job?"</p> - -<p>"Fine. How's your power-supply job?"</p> - -<p>"Good enough," said Barney. "This eighty-four cycles is not going to be -a sine wave at two hundred volts; the power stage of the BFO overloads -just enough to bring in a bit of second harmonic."</p> - -<p>"A beat-frequency-oscillator was never made to run at that level," -complained Jim Baler. "At least, not this one. She'll tick on a bit of -second, I think."</p> - -<p>"Are we ready for the great experiment?"</p> - -<p>"Yup, and I still wish I knew what the thing was for. Go ahead, Barney. -Crack the big switch!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Altas held up a restraining hand as Than grasped the main power switch. -"Wait," he said. "Does one stand in his sky flier and leave the ground -at full velocity? Or does one start an internal combustion engine at -full speed?"</p> - -<p>"No," said the youngster. "We usually take it slowly."</p> - -<p>"And like the others, we must tune our tube. And that we cannot do -under full power. Advance your power lever one-tenth step and we'll -adjust the deflection anodes."</p> - -<p>"I'll get the equipment," said Than. "I forgot that part."</p> - -<p>"Never mind the equipment," smiled Altas. "Observe."</p> - -<p>Altas picked up a long screw-driverlike tool and inserted it into the -maze of wiring that surrounded the tube. Squinting in one end of the -big tube, he turned the tool until the cathode surface brightened -slightly. He adjusted the instrument until the cathode was at its -brightest, and then withdrew the tool.</p> - -<p>"That will do for your experimental set-up," smiled Altas. "The -operation in service is far more critical and requires equipment. As -an experiment, conducted singly, the accumulative effect cannot be -dangerous, though if the deflection plates are not properly served with -their supply voltages, the experiment is a failure. The operation of -the tube depends upon the perfection of the deflection-plate voltages."</p> - -<p>"No equipment is required, then?"</p> - -<p>"It should have been employed," said Altas modestly. "But in my years -as a beam-tower attendant, I have learned the art of aligning the -plates by eye. Now, son, we may proceed from there."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Barney Carroll took a deep breath and let the power switch fall home. -Current meters swung across their scales for an instant, and then the -lights went out in the house!</p> - -<p>"Fuse blew," said Barney shortly. He gumbled his way through the dark -house and replaced the fuse. He returned smiling. "Fixed that one," he -told Jim. "Put a washer behind it."</p> - -<p>"O.K. Hit the switch again."</p> - -<p>Barney cranked the power over, and once more the meters climbed up -across the scales. There was a groaning sound from the tube, and the -smell of burning insulation filled the room. One meter blew with an -audible sound as the needle hit the end stop, and immediately afterward -the lights in the entire block went out.</p> - -<p>"Fix that one by hanging a penny behind it," said Jim with a grin.</p> - -<p>"That's a job for Martian Electric to do," laughed Barney.</p> - -<p>Several blocks from there, an attendant in the substation found the -open circuit-breaker and shoved it in with a grim smile. He looked up -at the power-demand meter and grunted. High for this district, but not -dangerous. Duration, approximately fifteen seconds. Intensity, higher -than usual but not high enough to diagnose any failure of the wiring in -the district. "Ah, well," he thought, "we can crank up the blow-point -on this breaker if it happens again."</p> - -<p>He turned to leave and the crashing of the breaker scared him out of -a week's growth. He snarled and said a few choice words not fit for -publication. He closed the breaker and screwed the blow-point control -up by two-to-one. "That'll hold 'em," he thought, and then the ringing -of the telephone called him to his office, and he knew that he was in -for an explanatory session with some people who wanted to know why -their lights were going on and off. He composed a plausible tale on his -way to the phone. Meanwhile, he wondered about the unreasonable demand -and concluded that one of the folks had just purchased a new power saw -or something for their home workshop.</p> - -<p>"Crack the juice about a half," suggested Barney. "That'll keep us on -the air until we find out what kind of stuff this thing takes. The book -claims about one tenth of the current-drain for this unit. Something -we've missed, no doubt."</p> - -<p>"Let's see that circuit," said Jim. After a minute, he said: "Look, -guy, what are these screws for?"</p> - -<p>"They change the side plate voltages from about three hundred to about -three hundred and fifty. I've got 'em set in the middle of the range."</p> - -<p>"Turn us on half voltage and diddle one of 'em."</p> - -<p>"That much of a change shouldn't make the difference," objected Barney.</p> - -<p>"Brother, we don't know what this thing is even for," reminded Jim. -"Much less do we know the effect of anything on it. Diddle, I say."</p> - -<p>"O.K., we diddle." Barney turned on half power and reached into the -maze of wiring and began to tinker with one of the screws. "Hm-m-m," -he said after a minute. "Does things, all right. She goes through -some kind of resonance point or something. There is a spot of minimum -current here. There! I've hit it. Now for the other one."</p> - -<p>For an hour, Barney tinkered with first one screw and then the other -one. He found a point where the minimum current was really low; the two -screws were interdependent and only by adjusting them alternately was -he able to reach the proper point on each. Then he smiled and thrust -the power on full. The current remained at a sane value.</p> - -<p>"Now what?" asked Barney.</p> - -<p>"I don't know. Anything coming out of the business end?"</p> - -<p>"Heat."</p> - -<p>"Yeah, and it's about as lethal as a sun lamp. D'ye suppose the -Martians used to artificially assist their crops by synthetic sunshine?"</p> - -<p>Barney applied his eye to a spectroscope. It was one of the newer -designs that encompassed everything from short ultraviolet to long -infrared by means of fluorescent screens at the invisible wave lengths. -He turned the instrument across the spectrum and shook his head. "Might -be good for a chest cold," he said, "but you wouldn't get a sunburn -off of it. It's all in the infra. Drops off like a cliff just below -the deep red. Nothing at all in the visible or above. Gee," he said -with a queer smile, "you don't suppose that they died off because of a -pernicious epidemic of colds and they tried chest-cooking <i>en masse</i>?"</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus1.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<p>"I'd believe anything if this darned gadget were found in a populated -district," said Jim. "But we know that the desert was here when the -Martians were here, and that it was just as arid as it is now. They -wouldn't try farming in a place where iron oxide abounds."</p> - -<p>"Spinach?"</p> - -<p>"You don't know a lot about farming, do you?" asked Jim.</p> - -<p>"I saw a cow once."</p> - -<p>"That does not qualify you as an expert on farming."</p> - -<p>"I know one about the farmer's daughter, and—"</p> - -<p>"Not even an expert on dirt farming," continued Jim. "Nope, Barney, we -aren't even close."</p> - -<p>Barney checked the book once more and scratched his nose.</p> - -<p>"How about that eighty-four cycle supply," asked Jim.</p> - -<p>"It's eighty-four, all right. From the Martian habit of using twelve as -a base, I've calculated the number to be eighty-four."</p> - -<p>"Diddle that, too," suggested Jim.</p> - -<p>"O.K.," said Barney. "It doesn't take a lot to crank that one around -from zero to about fifteen thousand c.p.s. Here she goes!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Barney took the main dial of the beat-frequency oscillator and began -to crank it around the scale. He went up from eighty-four to the top -of the dial and then returned. No effect. Then he passed through -eighty-four and started down toward zero.</p> - -<p>He hit sixty cycles and the jackpot at the same time!</p> - -<p>At exactly sixty cycles, a light near the wall dimmed visibly. The -wallpaper scorched and burst into a smoldering flame on a wall opposite -the dimmed light.</p> - -<p>Barney removed the BFO from the vicinity of sixty cycles and Jim -extinguished the burning wallpaper.</p> - -<p>"Now we're getting somewhere," said Barney.</p> - -<p>"This is definitely some sort of weapon," said Jim. "She's not very -efficient right now, but we can find out why and then we'll have -something hot."</p> - -<p>"What for?" asked Barney. "Nobody hates anybody any more."</p> - -<p>"Unless the birds who made this thing necessary return," said Jim -soberly. His voice was ominous. "We know that only one race of Martians -existed, and they were all amicable. I suspect an inimical race from -outer space—"</p> - -<p>"Could be. Some of the boys are talking about an expedition to Centauri -right now. We could have had a visitor from somewhere during the past."</p> - -<p>"If you define eternity as the time required for everything to happen -once, I agree. In the past or in the future, we have or will be visited -by a super race. It may have happened six thousand years ago."</p> - -<p>"Did you notice that the electric light is not quite in line with the -axis of the tube?" asked Barney.</p> - -<p>"Don't turn it any closer," said Jim. "In fact, I'd turn it away before -we hook it up again."</p> - -<p>"There she is. Completely out of line with the light. Now shall we try -it again?"</p> - -<p>"Go ahead."</p> - -<p>Barney turned the BFO gingerly, and at sixty cycles the thing seemed -quite sane. Nothing happened. "Shall I swing it around?"</p> - -<p>"I don't care for fires as a general rule," said Jim. "Especially in my -own home. Turn it gently, and take care that you don't focus the tube -full on that electric light."</p> - -<p>Barney moved the tube slightly, and then with a cessation of noise, -the clock on the wall stopped abruptly. The accustomed ticking had not -been noticed by either man, but the unaccustomed lack-of-ticking became -evident at once. Barney shut off the BFO immediately and the two men -sat down to a head-scratching session.</p> - -<p>"She's good for burning wallpaper, dimming electric lights, and -stopping clocks," said Barney. "Any of which you could do without a -warehouse full of cockeyed electrical equipment. Wonder if she'd stop -anything more powerful than a clock."</p> - -<p>"I've got a quarter-horse motor here. Let's wind that up and try it."</p> - -<p>The motor was installed on a bench nearby, and the experiment was tried -again. At sixty cycles the motor groaned to a stop, and the windings -began to smolder. But at the same time the big tube began to exhibit -the signs of strain. Meters raced up their scales once more, reached -the stops and bent. Barney shut off the motor, but the strains did not -stop in the tube. The apparent overload increased linearly and finally -the lights went out all over the neighborhood once more.</p> - -<p>"Wonderful," said Barney through the darkness. "As a weapon, this thing -is surpassed by everything above a fly swatter."</p> - -<p>"We might be able to cook a steak with it—if it would take the -terrific overload," said Jim. "Or we could use it as an insect -exterminator."</p> - -<p>"We'd do better by putting the insect on an anvil and hitting it -firmly with a five-pound hammer," said Barney. "Then we'd only have -the anvil and hammer to haul around. This thing is like hauling a -fifty-thousand-watt radio transmitter around. Power supplies, BFO, -tube, meters, tools, and a huge truck full of spare fuses for the times -when we miss the insect. Might be good for a central heating system."</p> - -<p>"Except that a standard electric unit is more reliable and considerably -less complicated. You'd have to hire a corps of engineers to run the -thing."</p> - -<p>The lights went on again, and the attendant in the substation screwed -the blow-point control tighter. He didn't know it, but his level was -now above the rating for his station. But had he known it he might not -have cared. At least, his station was once more in operation.</p> - -<p>"Well," said Barney, getting up from the table, "what have we missed?"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Altas said: "Now your unit is operating at its correct level. But, son, -you've missed one thing. It is far from efficient. Those two leads -must be isolated from one another. Coupling from one to the other will -lead to losses."</p> - -<p>"Gosh," said Than, "I didn't know that."</p> - -<p>"No, for some reason the books assume that the tower engineer has had -considerable experience in the art. Take it from me, son, there are a -lot of things that are not in the books. Now isolate those leads from -one another and we'll go on."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"While you're thinking," said Jim, "I'm going to lockstitch these -cables together. It'll make this thing less messy." Jim got a roll of -twelve-cord from the cabinet and began to bind the many supply leads -into a neat cable.</p> - -<p>Barney watched until the job was finished, and then said: "Look, chum, -let's try that electric-light trick again."</p> - -<p>They swung the tube around until it was in the original position, and -turned the juice on. Nothing happened.</p> - -<p>Barney looked at Jim, and then reached out and pointed the big tube -right at the electric light.</p> - -<p>Nothing happened.</p> - -<p>"Check your anode voltages again."</p> - -<p>"All O.K."</p> - -<p>"How about that aligning job?"</p> - -<p>Barney fiddled with the alignment screws for minutes, but his original -setting seemed to be valid.</p> - -<p>"Back to normal," said Barney. "Rip out your cabling."</p> - -<p>"Huh?"</p> - -<p>"Sure. You did something. I don't know what. But rip it out and fan out -the leads. There is something screwy in the supply lines. I've been -tied up on that one before; this thing looks like electronics, as we -agree, and I've had occasion to remember coupling troubles."</p> - -<p>"All right," said Jim, and he reluctantly ripped out his -lock-stitching. He fanned the leads and they tried it again.</p> - -<p>Obediently the light dimmed and the wallpaper burned.</p> - -<p>"Here we go again," said Jim, killing the circuits and reaching for a -small rug to smother the fire. "No wonder the Martians had this thing -out in the middle of the desert. D'ye suppose that they were trying to -find out how it works, too?"</p> - -<p>"Take it easier this time and we'll fan the various leads," said -Barney. "There's something tricky about the lead placement."</p> - -<p>"Half power," announced Barney. "Now, let's get that sixty cycles."</p> - -<p>The light dimmed slightly and a sheet of metal placed in front of the -tube became slightly warm to the touch. The plate stopped the output of -the tube, for the wallpaper did not scorch. Jim began to take supply -line after supply line from the bundle of wiring. About halfway through -the mess he hit the critical lead, and immediately the light went out -completely, and the plate grew quite hot.</p> - -<p>"Stop her!" yelled Barney.</p> - -<p>"Why?"</p> - -<p>"How do we know what we're overloading this time?"</p> - -<p>"Do we care?"</p> - -<p>"Sure. Let's point this thing away from that light. Then we can hop it -up again and try it at full power."</p> - -<p>"What do you want to try?"</p> - -<p>"This energy-absorption thing."</p> - -<p>"Wanna burn out my motor?"</p> - -<p>"Not completely. This dingbat will stop a completely mechanical gadget -like a clock. It seems to draw power from electric lights. It stops -electromechanical power. I wonder just how far it will go toward -absorbing power. And also I want to know where the power goes."</p> - -<p>The tube was made to stop the clock again. The motor groaned under the -load put upon it by the tube. Apparently the action of the tube was -similar to a heavy load being placed on whatever its end happened to -point to. Barney picked up a small metal block and dropped it over the -table.</p> - -<p>"Want to see if it absorbs the energy of a falling object—Look at -that!"</p> - -<p>The block fell until it came inside of the influence of the tube. Then -it slowed in its fall and approached the table slowly. It did not hit -the table, it touched and came to rest.</p> - -<p>"What happens if we wind up a spring and tie it?" asked Jim.</p> - -<p>They tried it. Nothing happened.</p> - -<p>"Works on kinetic energy, not potential energy," said Barney.</p> - -<p>He picked up a heavy hammer and tried to hit the table. "Like swinging -a club through a tub of water," he said.</p> - -<p>"Be a useful gadget for saving the lives of people who are falling," -said Jim thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>"Oh, sure. Put it on a truck and rush it out to the scene of the -suicide."</p> - -<p>"No. How about people jumping out of windows on account of fires? How -about having one of the things around during a flier-training course? -Think of letting a safe down on one of these beams, or taking a piano -from the fifth floor of an apartment building."</p> - -<p>"The whole apartment full of furniture could be pitched out of a -window," said Barney.</p> - -<p>"Mine looks that way now," said Jim, "and we've only moved a couple of -times. No, Barney, don't give 'em any ideas."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Jim picked up the hammer and tried to hit the table. Then, idly, he -swung the hammer in the direction of the tube's end.</p> - -<p>Barney gasped. In this direction there was no resistance. Jim's swing -continued, and the look on Jim's face indicated that he was trying to -brake the swing in time to keep from hitting the end of the tube. But -it seemed as though he were trying to stop an avalanche. The swing -continued on and on and finally ended when the hammer head contacted -the end of the tube.</p> - -<p>There was a burst of fire. Jim swung right on through, whirling around -off balance and coming to a stop only when he fell to the floor. -He landed in darkness again. The burst of fire emanated from the -insulation as it flamed under the heat of extreme overload.</p> - -<p>This time the lights were out all over Lincoln Head. The whole city was -in complete blackout!</p> - -<p>Candles were found, and they inspected the tube anxiously. It seemed -whole. But the hammer head was missing. The handle was cut cleanly, on -an optically perfect surface.</p> - -<p>Where the hammer head went, they couldn't say. But on the opposite wall -there was a fracture in the plaster that Jim swore hadn't been there -before. It extended over quite an area, and after some thought, Barney -calculated that if the force of Jim's hammer blow had been evenly -distributed over that area on the wall, the fracturing would have been -just about that bad.</p> - -<p>"A weapon, all right," said Barney.</p> - -<p>"Sure. All you have to do is to shoot your gun right in this end and -the force is dissipated over quite an area out of that end. In the -meantime you blow out all of the powerhouses on the planet. If a hammer -blow can raise such merry hell, what do you think the output of a -sixteen-inch rifle would do? Probably stop the planet in its tracks. -D'ye know what I think?"</p> - -<p>"No, do you?"</p> - -<p>"Barney, I think that we aren't even close as to the operation and use -of this device."</p> - -<p>"For that decision, Jim, you should be awarded the Interplanetary Award -for Discovery and Invention—posthumously!"</p> - -<p>"So what do we do now?"</p> - -<p>"Dunno. How soon does this lighting situation get itself fixed?"</p> - -<p>"You ask me.... I don't know either."</p> - -<p>"Well, let's see what we've found so far."</p> - -<p>"That's easy," said Jim. "It might be a weapon, but it don't weap. We -might use it for letting elevators down easy, except that it would be a -shame to tie up a room full of equipment when the three-phase electric -motor is so simple. We could toast a bit of bread, but the electric -toaster has been refined to a beautiful piece of breakfast furniture -that doesn't spray off and scorch the wallpaper. We could use it to -transmit hammer blows, or to turn out electric lights, but both of -those things have been done very simply; one by means of sending the -hammerer to the spot, and the other by means of turning the switch. And -then in the last couple of cases, there is little sense in turning out -a light by short circuiting the socket and blowing all the fuses."</p> - -<p>"That is the hard way," smiled Barney. "Like hitting a telephone pole -to stop the car, or cutting the wings off a plane to return it to the -ground."</p> - -<p>"So we have a fairly lucid book that describes the entire hook-up of -the thing except what it's for. It gives not only the use of this -device, but also variations and replacements. Could we figure it out -by sheer deduction?"</p> - -<p>"I don't see how. The tower is in the midst of the Red Desert. There -is nothing but sand that assays high in iron oxide between Canalopsis, -at the junction of the Grand Canal and Lincoln Head. Might be hid, -of course, just as this one was, and we'll send out a crew of expert -sub-sand explorers with under-surface detectors to cover the ground -for a few hundred miles in any direction from the place where we found -this. Somehow, I doubt that we'll find much."</p> - -<p>"And how do you ... ah, there's the lights again ... deduce that?" -asked Jim.</p> - -<p>"This gadget is or was of importance to the Martians. Yet in the Temple -of Science and Industry at Canalopsis, there is scant mention of the -towers."</p> - -<p>"Not very much, hey?"</p> - -<p>"Very little, in fact. Of course the pictographs on the Temple at -Canalopsis shows one tower between what appear two cities. Wavy lines -run from one city to the tower and to the other city. Say! I'll bet a -cooky that this is some sort of signaling device!"</p> - -<p>"A beam transmitter?" asked Jim skeptically. "Seems like a lot of junk -for just signaling. Especially when such a swell job can be done with -standard radio equipment. A good civilization—such as the Martians -must have had—wouldn't piddle around with relay stations between -two cities less than a couple of thousand miles apart. With all the -juice this thing can suck, they'd be more than able to hang a straight -broadcast station and cover halfway around the planet as ground-wave -area. What price relay station?"</p> - -<p>"Nevertheless, I'm going to tinker up another one of these and see if -it is some sort of signaling equipment."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The door opened and Christine Baler entered. She waved a newspaper -before her brother's eyes and said: "Boy, have you been missing it!"</p> - -<p>"What?" asked Barney.</p> - -<p>"Pixies or gremlins loose in Lincoln Head."</p> - -<p>"Huh-huh. Read it," said Jim.</p> - -<p>"Just a bunch of flash headlines. Fire on Manley Avenue. Three planes -had to make dead-tube landings in the center of the city; power went -dead for no good reason for about ten minutes. Façade of the City Hall -caved in. Power plants running wild all over the place. Ten thousand -dollars' worth of electrical equipment blown out. Automobiles stalled -in rows for blocks."</p> - -<p>Jim looked at Barney. "Got a bear by the tail," he said.</p> - -<p>"Could be," admitted Barney.</p> - -<p>"Are you two blithering geniuses going to work all night?" asked -Christine.</p> - -<p>"Nope. We're about out of ideas. Except the one that Barney had about -the gadget being some sort of signaling system."</p> - -<p>"Why don't you fellows call Don Channing? He's the signaling wizard of -the Solar System."</p> - -<p>"Sure, call Channing. Every time someone gets an idea, everyone says, -'Call Channing!' He gets called for everything from Boy Scout wigwag -ideas to super-cyclotronic-electron-stream beams to contact the outer -planets. Based upon the supposition that people will eventually get -there, of course."</p> - -<p>"Well?"</p> - -<p>"Well, I ... we, I mean ... found this thing and we're jolly well going -to tinker it out. In spite of the fact that it seems to bollix up -everything from electric lights to moving gears. I think we're guilty -of sabotage. Façade of the City Hall, et cetera. Barney, how long do -you think it will take to tinker up another one of these?"</p> - -<p>"Few hours. They're doggoned simple things in spite of the fact that we -can't understand them. In fact, I'm of the opinion that the real idea -would be to make two; one with only the front end for reception, one -for the rear end for transmission, and the one we found for relaying. -That's the natural bent, I believe."</p> - -<p>"Could be. Where are you going to cut them?"</p> - -<p>"The transmitter will start just before the cathode and the receiver -will end just after the ... uh, cathode."</p> - -<p>"Huh?"</p> - -<p>"Obviously the cathode is the baby that makes with the end product. She -seems to be a total intake from the intake end and a complete output -from the opposite end. Right?"</p> - -<p>"Right, but it certainly sounds like heresy."</p> - -<p>"I know," said Barney thoughtfully, "but the thing is obviously -different from anything that we know today. Who knows how she works?"</p> - -<p>"I give up."</p> - -<p>Christine, who had been listening in an interested manner, said: "You -fellers are the guys responsible for the ruckus that's been going on -all over Lincoln Head?"</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid so."</p> - -<p>"Well, brother warlocks, unless you keep your activities under cover -until they're worth mentioning, you'll both be due for burning at the -stake."</p> - -<p>"O.K., Chris," said Jim. "We'll not let it out."</p> - -<p>"But how are you going to tinker up that transmitter-relay-receiver -system?"</p> - -<p>"We'll take it from here to Barney's place across the avenue and into -his garage. That should do it."</p> - -<p>"O.K., but now I'm going to bed."</p> - -<p>"Shall we knock off, too?" asked Jim.</p> - -<p>"Yup. Maybe we'll dream a good thought."</p> - -<p>"So long then. We'll leave the mess as it is. No use cleaning up now, -we'll only have to mess it up again tomorrow with the same junk."</p> - -<p>"And I'll have that—or those—other systems tinkered together by -tomorrow noon. That's a promise," said Barney. "And you," he said to -Christine, "will operate the relay station."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Altas said to Than: "Now that your system is balanced properly, and -we have proved the worth of this tube as a replacement, we shall take -it to the roof and install it. The present tube is about due for -retirement."</p> - -<p>"I've done well, then?" asked Than.</p> - -<p>"Considering all, you've done admirably. But balancing the device in -the tower, and hooked into the circuit as an integral part is another -thing. Come, Than. We shall close the line for an hour whilst replacing -the tube."</p> - -<p>"Is that permissible?"</p> - -<p>"At this time of the night the requirements are small. No damage will -be done; they can get along without us for an hour. In fact, at this -time of night, only the people who are running the city will know that -we are out of service. And it is necessary that the tube be maintained -at full capability. We can not chance a weakened tube; it might fail -when it is needed the most."</p> - -<p>Than carried the tube to the top of the tower, and Altas remained to -contact the necessary parties concerning the shut-off for replacement -purposes. He followed Than to the top after a time and said: "Now -disconnect the old tube and put it on the floor. We shall replace the -tube immediately, but it will be an hour before it is properly balanced -again."</p> - -<p>It was not long before Than had the tube connected properly. "Now," -said Altas, "turn it on one-tenth power and we shall align it."</p> - -<p>"Shall I use the meters?"</p> - -<p>"I think it best. This requires perfect alignment now. We've much power -and considerable distance, and any losses will create great amounts of -heat."</p> - -<p>"All right," said Than. He left the tower top to get the meters.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Barney Carroll spoke into a conveniently placed microphone. "Are you -ready?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"Go ahead," said Christine.</p> - -<p>"We're waiting," said Jim.</p> - -<p>"You're the bird on the transmitter," said Barney to Jim. "<i>You</i> make -with the juice."</p> - -<p>Power rheostats were turned up gingerly, until Jim shouted to stop. His -shout was blotted out by cries from the other two. They met in Barney's -place to confer.</p> - -<p>"What's cooking?" asked Jim.</p> - -<p>"The meters are all going crazy in my end," said Barney. "I seem to be -sucking power out of everything in line with my tube."</p> - -<p>"The so-called relay station is firing away at full power and doing -nothing but draining plenty of power from the line," complained -Christine.</p> - -<p>"And on my end, I was beginning to scorch the wallpaper again. I don't -understand it. With no receiver-end, how can I scorch wallpaper?"</p> - -<p>"Ask the Martians. They know."</p> - -<p>"You ask 'em. What shall we do, invent a time machine and go back -sixty centuries?"</p> - -<p>"Wish we could," said Barney. "I'd like to ask the bird that left this -textbook why they didn't clarify it more."</p> - -<p>"Speaking of Don Channing again," said Jim, "I'll bet a hat that -one of his tube-replacement manuals for the big transmitters out on -Venus Equilateral do not even mention that the transmitter requires -a receiver before it is any good. We think we're modern. We are, and -we never think that some day some poor bird will try to decipher our -technical works. Why, if Volta himself came back and saw the most -perfect machine ever invented—the transformer—he'd shudder. No -connection between input and output, several kinds of shorted loops of -wire; and instead of making a nice simple electromagnet, we short the -lines of force and on top of that we use a lot of laminations piled on -top of one another instead of a nice, soft iron core. We completely -short the input, et cetera, but how do we make with a gadget like that?"</p> - -<p>"I know. We go on expecting to advance. We forget the simple past. -Remember the lines of that story: 'How does one chip the flint to make -the best arrowhead?' I don't know who wrote it any more than I know how -to skin a boar, but we do get on without making arrowheads or skinning -boars or trimming birch-bark canoes."</p> - -<p>"All right, but there's still this problem."</p> - -<p>"Remember how we managed to align this thing? I wonder if it might not -take another alignment to make it work as a relay."</p> - -<p>"Could be," said Jim. "I'll try it. Christine, you work these screws at -the same time we do, and make the current come out as low as we can."</p> - -<p>They returned to their stations and began to work on the alignment -screws. Jim came out first on the receiver. Christine was second on the -transmitter, while Barney fumbled for a long time with the relay tube.</p> - -<p>Then Christine called: "Fellows, my meter readings are climbing up -again. Shall I diddle?"</p> - -<p>"Wait a minute," said Barney. "That means I'm probably taking power out -of that gadget you have in there. Leave 'em alone."</p> - -<p>He fiddled a bit more, and then Jim called: "Whoa, Nellie. Someone just -lost me a millimeter. She wound up on the far end."</p> - -<p>"Hm-m-m," said Barney, "so we're relaying."</p> - -<p>"Go ahead," said Jim. "I've got a ten-ampere meter on here now."</p> - -<p>Barney adjusted his screws some more.</p> - -<p>"Wait a minute," said Jim. "I'm going to shunt this meter up to a -hundred amps."</p> - -<p>"What?" yelled Barney.</p> - -<p>"Must you yell?" asked Christine ruefully. "These phones are plenty -uncomfortable without some loudmouthed bird screaming."</p> - -<p>"Sorry, but a hundred amps... <i>whoosh</i>! What have we got here, anyway?"</p> - -<p>"Yeah," said Christine. "I was about to say that my input meter is -running wild again."</p> - -<p>"Gone?"</p> - -<p>"Completely. You shouldn't have hidden it behind that big box. I didn't -notice it until just now, but she's completely gone."</p> - -<p>"I'll be over. I think we've got something here."</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>An hour passed, during which nothing of any great importance happened. -By keying the transmitter tube, meters in the receiver tube were made -to read in accordance. Then they had another conclave.</p> - -<p>"Nothing brilliant," said Jim. "We could use super-output voice -amplifiers and yell halfway across the planet if we didn't have radio. -We can radio far better than this cockeyed system of signaling."</p> - -<p>"We might cut the power."</p> - -<p>"Or spread out quite a bit. I still say, however, that this is no -signaling system."</p> - -<p>"It works like one."</p> - -<p>"So can a clothesline be made to serve as a transmitter of -intelligence. But its prime function is completely different."</p> - -<p>"S'pose we have a super-clothesline here?" asked Christine.</p> - -<p>"The way that hammer felt last night, I'm not too sure that this might -not be some sort of tractor beam," said Jim.</p> - -<p>"Tractor beams are mathematically impossible."</p> - -<p>"Yeah, and they proved conclusively that a bird cannot fly," said Jim. -"That was before they found the right kind of math. Up until Clerk -Maxwell's time, radio was mathematically impossible. Then he discovered -the electromagnetic equations, and we're squirting signals across the -Inner System every day. And when math and fact do not agree, which -changes?"</p> - -<p>"The math. Galileo proved that. Aristotle said that a heavy stone will -fall faster. Then Galileo changed the math of that by heaving a couple -of boulders off the Leaning Tower. But what have we here?"</p> - -<p>"Has anyone toyed with the transmission of power?"</p> - -<p>"Sure. A lot of science-fiction writers have their imaginary planets -crisscrossed with transmitted power. Some broadcast it, some have -it beamed to the consumer. When they use planes, they have the beam -coupled to an object-finder so as to control the direction of the beam. -I prefer the broadcasting, myself. It uncomplicates the structure of -the tale."</p> - -<p>"I mean actually?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, yes. But the losses are terrific. Useful power transmission is -a minute percentage of the total output of the gadget. Absolutely -impractical, especially when copper and silver are so plentiful to -string along the scenery on steel towers. No good."</p> - -<p>"But look at this cockeyed thing. Christine puts in a couple of hundred -amps; I take them off my end. Believe it or not, the output meter at my -end was getting a lot more soup than I was pouring in."</p> - -<p>"And my gadget was not taking anything to speak of," said Barney.</p> - -<p>"Supposing it was a means of transmitting power. How on Mars did they -use a single tower there in the middle of the Red Desert? We know there -was a Martian city at Canalopsis, and another one not many miles from -Lincoln Head. Scribbled on the outer cover of this book is the legend: -'Tower Station, Red Desert,' and though the Martians didn't call this -the 'Red Desert, the terminology will suffice for nomenclature."</p> - -<p>"Well?" asked Jim.</p> - -<p>"You notice they did not say: 'Station No. 1,' or '3' or '7.' That -means to me that there was but one."</p> - -<p>"Holy Smoke! Fifteen hundred miles with only one station? On Mars the -curvature of ground would put such a station below the electrical -horizon—" Jim thought that one over for a minute and then said: "Don't -tell me they bent the beam?"</p> - -<p>"Either they did that or they heated up the sand between," said Barney -cryptically. "It doesn't mind going through nonconducting walls, but -a nice, fat ground ... blooey, or I miss my guess. That'd be like -grounding a high line."</p> - -<p>"You're saying that they did bend—<i>Whoosh</i>, again!"</p> - -<p>"What was that alignment problem? Didn't we align the deflecting anodes -somehow?"</p> - -<p>"Yeah, but you can't bend the output of a cathode-ray tube externally -of the deflection plates."</p> - -<p>"But this is not electron-beam stuff," objected Barney. "This is as far -ahead of cathode-ray tubes as they are ahead of the Indian signal drum -or the guy who used to run for twenty-four miles from Ghent to Aix."</p> - -<p>"That one was from Athens to Sparta," explained Christine, "the Ghent -to Aix journey was a-horseback, and some thousand-odd years after."</p> - -<p>"Simile's still good," said Barney. "There's still a lot about this I -do not understand."</p> - -<p>"A masterpiece of understatement, if I ever heard one," laughed Jim. -"Well, let's work on it from that angle. Come on, gang, to horse!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"Now," said Altas, "you will find that the best possible efficiency -is obtained when the currents in these two resistances are equal and -opposite in direction. That floats the whole tube on the system, and -makes it possible to run the tube without any external power source. -It requires a starter-source for aligning and for standby service, and -for the initial surge: then it is self-sustaining. Also the in-phase -voltage can not better be obtained than by exciting the phasing anode -with some of the main-line power. That must always be correctly phased. -We now need the frequency generator no longer, and by increasing the -power rheostat to full, the tube will take up the load. Watch the -meters, and when they read full power, you may throw the cut-over -switch and make the tube self-sustaining. Our tower will then be in -perfect service, and you and I may return to our home below."</p> - -<p>Than performed the operations, and then they left, taking the old tube -with them.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/illus3.jpg" alt=""/> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<p>And on Terra, Sargon of Akkad watched ten thousand slaves carry stone -for one of his public buildings. He did not know that on one of the -stars placed in the black bowl of the evening sky for his personal -benefit, men were flinging more power through the air than the total -output of all of his slaves combined. Had he been told, he would have -had the teller beheaded for lying because Sargon of Akkad couldn't -possibly have understood it—</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>"You know, we're missing a bet," said Jim. "This in-phase business -here. Why shouldn't we hang a bit of the old wall-socket juice in here?"</p> - -<p>"That might be the trick," said Barney.</p> - -<p>Jim made the connections, and they watched the meters read up and up -and up—and from the street below them a rumbling was heard. Smoke -issued from a crevasse in the pavement, and then with a roar, the -street erupted and a furrow three feet wide and all the way across the -street from Jim Baler's residence to Barney Carroll's garage lifted out -of the ground. It blew straight up and fell back, and from the bottom -of the furrow the smoldering of burned and tortured wiring cast a foul -smell.</p> - -<p>"<i>Wham!</i>" said Barney, looking at the smoking trench. "What was that?"</p> - -<p>"I think we'll find that it was the closest connection between our -places made by the Electric Co.," said Jim.</p> - -<p>"But what have we done?"</p> - -<p>"I enumerate," said Christine, counting off on her fingers. "We've -blasted in the façade of the City Hall. We've caused a couple of -emergency flier-landings within the city limits. We've blown fuses -and circuit breakers all the way from here to the main powerhouse -downtown. We've stalled a few dozen automobiles. We've torn or burned -or cut the end off of one hammer and have fractured the wall with -it ... where did that go, anyway, the hammerhead? We've burned -wallpaper. We've run our electric bill up to about three hundred -dollars, I'll bet. We've bunged up a dozen meters. And now we've ripped -up a trench in the middle of the street."</p> - -<p>"Somewhere in this set-up, there is a return circuit," said Jim -thoughtfully. "We've been taking power out of the line, and I've been -oblivious of the fact that a couple of hundred amperes is too high -to get out of our power line without trouble. What we've been doing -is taking enough soup out of the public utility lines to supply the -losses only. The power we've been seeing on our meters is the build-up, -recirculated!"</p> - -<p>"Huh?"</p> - -<p>"Sure. Say we bring an amp in from the outside and shoot it across the -street. It goes to the wires and comes back because of some electrical -urge in our gadgets here, and then goes across the street in-phase with -the original. That makes two amps total crossing our beam. The two come -back and we have two plus two. Four come back, and we double again and -again until the capability of our device is at saturation. All we have -to do is to find the ground-return and hang a load in there. We find -the transmitter-load input, and supply that with a generator. Brother, -we can beam power all the way from here to Canalopsis on one relay -tower!"</p> - -<p>Barney looked at his friend. "Could be."</p> - -<p>"Darned right. What other item can you think of that fits this tower -any better? We've run down a dozen ideas, but this works. We may be -arrested for wrecking Lincoln Head, but we'll get out as soon as this -dingbat hits the market. Brother, what a find!"</p> - -<p>"Fellows, I think you can make your announcement now," smiled -Christine. "They won't burn you at the stake if you can bring electric -power on a beam of pure nothing. This time you've hit the jackpot!"</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It is six thousand Terran Years since Sargon of Akkad held court that -was lighted by torch. It is six thousand years, Terran, since Than -and Altas replaced the link in a power system that tied their cities -together.</p> - -<p>It is six thousand years since the beam tower fell into the Red Desert -and the mighty system of beamed power became lost as an art. But once -again the towers dot the plains, not only of Mars, but of Venus and -Terra, too.</p> - -<p>And though they are of a language understood by the peoples of three -worlds, the manuals of instruction would be as cryptic to Than as his -manual was to Barney Carroll and Jim Baler.</p> - -<p>People will never learn.</p> - - -<p>THE END.</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOST ART ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. -</div> - -<div style='margin-top:1em; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE</div> -<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE</div> -<div style='text-align:center;font-size:0.9em'>PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person -or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the -Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when -you share it without charge with others. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work -on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the -phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: -</div> - -<blockquote> - <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most - other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions - whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms - of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online - at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you - are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws - of the country where you are located before using this eBook. - </div> -</blockquote> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg™ License. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format -other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain -Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -provided that: -</div> - -<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation.” - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ - works. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. - </div> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right -of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread -public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state -visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. -</div> - -</div> -</body> -</html> diff --git a/old/67923-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/67923-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d0a8170..0000000 --- a/old/67923-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67923-h/images/illus1.jpg b/old/67923-h/images/illus1.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index e2d4812..0000000 --- a/old/67923-h/images/illus1.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67923-h/images/illus2.jpg b/old/67923-h/images/illus2.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d40514b..0000000 --- a/old/67923-h/images/illus2.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67923-h/images/illus3.jpg b/old/67923-h/images/illus3.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 50f3369..0000000 --- a/old/67923-h/images/illus3.jpg +++ /dev/null |
