The Black Star Passes | Page 9

the doctor here tells me it has
gone somewhere else. It wasn't found in our room when we woke up. I
think the Pirate found it and confiscated it. All our luggage, including
the gas sample bottles, is gone."
"That's all right. I arranged for that. The ship was brought down by an
emergency pilot and he had instructions from father. He took care of
the luggage so that no member of the pirate's gang could steal it. There
might have been some of them in the ground crew. They'll be turned
over to us as soon as we see the emergency man. I don't have to lie here
any longer, do I, doctor?"
"No, Dr. Arcot, you're all right now. I would suggest that for the next
hour or so you take it easy to let your heart get used to beating again. It
stopped for some two hours, you know. You'll be all right, however."

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

dimensional image of the mail-room aboard the air liner.
Arcot commented: "I have cut out a lot of useless film, and confined
the picture to essentials. We will now watch the pirate at work."
Even as he spoke they saw the door of the mail-room open a bit, and
then, to their intense surprise, it remained open for a few seconds, then
closed. It went through all the motions of opening to admit someone,
yet no one entered!
"Your demonstration doesn't seem to show much yet, son. In fact, it
shows much less than I had expected," said the senior Arcot. "But that
door seemed to open easily. I thought they locked them!"
"They did, but the pirate just burned holes in them, so to save property
they leave 'em unlocked."
Now the scene seemed to swing a bit as the plane hit an unusually bad
air bump, and through the window they caught a glimpse of one of the
circling Air Guardsmen. Then suddenly there appeared in the air within
the room a point of flame. It hung in the air above the safe for an
instant, described a strangely complicated set of curves; then, as it hung
for an instant in mid-air, it became a great flare. In an instant this
condensed to a point of intensely brilliant crimson fire. This described a
complex series of curves and touched the top of the safe. In an
inconceivably short time, the eight-inch thickness of tungsto-iridium
alloy flared incandescently and began to flow sluggishly. A large circle
of the red flame sprang out to surround the point of brilliance, and this
blew the molten metal to one side, in a cascade of sparks.
In moments, the torch had cut a large disc of metal nearly free;
seemingly on the verge of dropping into the safe. Now the flame left
the safe, again retracting itself in that uncanny manner, no force
seeming either to supply it with fuel or to support it thus, though it
burned steadily, and worked rapidly and efficiently. Now, in mid-air, it
hung for a second.
"I'm going to work the projector for a few moments by hand so that you

may see this next bit of film." Arcot moved a small switch and the
machine blinked, giving a strange appearance to the seemingly solid
images that were thrown on the screen.
The pictures seemed to show the flame slowly descending till it again
touched the metal. The tungsto-iridium glowed briefly; then, as
suddenly as the extinguishing of a light, the safe was gone! It had
disappeared into thin air! Only the incandescence of the metal and the
flame itself were visible.
"It seems the pirate has solved the secret of invisibility. No wonder the
Air Guardsmen couldn't find him!" exclaimed Arcot, senior.
The projector had been stopped exactly on the first frame, showing the
invisibility of the safe. Then Arcot backed it up.
"True, Dad," he said, "but pay special attention to this next frame."
Again there appeared a picture of the room, the window beyond, the
mail clerk asleep at his desk, everything as before, except that where
the safe had been, there was a shadowy, half visible safe, the metal
glowing brightly. Beside it there was visible a shadowy