The Devolutionist and The Emancipatrix | Page 5

background; also a variety of other mechanisms, more
like immensely enlarged editions of laboratory apparatus than ordinary engines. Smith
looked in vain for the compact form of a dynamo or motor, and listened in vain for the
sound of either. Then, in swift succession, came two strokes on the unseen gong,
followed by a shrill whistle.
Smith's borrowed eyes became fixed upon that group of dials again. Their indicators
began to shift, some rapidly, some slowly. Once the agent gave a swift glance through a
round window--the place seemed to be lighted by ordinary daylight--and Smith saw
something unrecognizable flit by.
A little further progress, and then came three strokes on the gong, followed by a low
thrumming. In response to these, the agent deliberately picked out two levers, and pulled
them down. When his glance returned to the dials, one of them showed immense
acceleration.
By and by came another triple clanging, another pair of levers was pulled down, and
instantly the jarring and clanking gave way to a decided rumble, low and distinct, but so
powerful that it shook the air. At the same time the agent quit his post and went over to
the giant horizontal cylinder.
Now Smith could see that this vast structure was merely part of an engine whose
dimensions were quite beyond any former experience. It was a simple affair, being
merely a reciprocal machine like the most elementary form of steam engine. But, instead
of being operated by steam, it was a chemical machine; Smith's trained eyes told him that
the cylinder was really an enormous retort. And he noted with further perplexity that the
prodigious piston-rod not only moved with terrific speed, but in a strictly back-and-forth
motion; its far end did not revolve.
The agent seemed satisfied with it all. He turned about and walked--so far as Smith could
sense in the usual manner of earth's humans--back to the dials again. Just then a door

opened a short distance away and another man entered.
Smith would have mistaken him for the employee of some garage. He was dressed in a
suit of greasy blue overalls; and as he advanced toward the eyes Smith was using, he
looked about the room with practiced glance. He merely nodded to Smith's man, who
returned the nod just as silently; and such was the extreme brevity of it all, Smith was
afterward unable to describe the man.
His agent, thus relieved of his duty temporarily, strolled out another door, which took
him through a narrow corridor and another door, opening on to some sort of a balcony, or
deck. Smith fully expected to look upon an ocean.
Instead, he found himself gazing into a sea of clouds. He was in some sort of aircraft!
Next moment, quite as though it had all been prearranged, a large sky-cruiser hove into
sight perhaps a quarter of a mile away. It seemed to materialize out of the clouds, and
rapidly bore down upon the craft in which the agent stood.
But the practical man of the earth was eying the air-ship in increasing amazement. For it
was truly a ship; a huge vessel wonderfully like one of the old-fashioned freighters which
used to sail the seas of the earth. What was more, it had four tall, sloping masts, each
spread with something remarkably like canvas; and that whole incredible hulk was
actually swinging in mid air!
Looking closer, Smith saw that the masts were exceedingly tall; they held enough canvas
to propel ten ships. And each stick sloped back at so sharp an angle--much sharper than
forty-five degrees--that the wind not only blew the craft along in its course, but actually
supported it as well.
It meant a wind which would make a hurricane seem tame. Either that, or air with greater
density than any Smith knew about.
Suddenly the cruiser came about into the wind, and at the same instant it began to take in
sail, all the sheets furling in unison. Simultaneously great finlike wings shot out of slits in
the sides of the hull; and immediately they began to beat the air, back and forth, back and
forth, with the speed and motion of swallows.
So this was the meaning of the giant reciprocal engine! Instead of the screw propeller
which characterized earth's aircraft, these vessels employed the true bird principle,
combining it with the simple methods of primitive sailing craft.
As soon as the ship stopped its wind-driven rush and began to employ its wings, the
speed straightway slackened; and the ships began to descend. About the same time the
figures of several people appeared on what might be called the bridge; and assuming that
these people were as large as the man whom Smith had seen enter the engine-room--a
chap of average height--then