The Fire People Page 2

  CHAPTER II.

  THE UNKNOWN ENEMY.

  When, in February, 1941, Professor James Newland issued this remarkablestatement, my paper sent me at once to interview him. He was at this timeat the head of the Harvard observatory staff. He lived with his son anddaughter in Cambridge. His wife was dead. I had been acquainted with theprofessor and his family for some time. I first met his son, Alan, duringour university days at Harvard. We liked each other at once, and becamefirm friends--possibly because we were such opposite physical types, assometimes happens.

  Alan was tall, lean and muscular--an inch or so over six feet--with theperfect build of an athlete. I am dark; Alan was blond, with short, curlyhair, and blue eyes. His features were strong and regular. He was, infact, one of the handsomest men I have ever seen. And yet he acted asthough he didn't know it--or if he did, as though he considered it ahandicap. I think what saved him was his ingenious, ready smile, and hisretiring, unassuming--almost diffident--manner.

  At the time of the events I am describing Alan was twenty-two--about twoyears younger than I. It was his first year out of college. He had taken ascientific course and intended to join his father's staff.

  Beth and Alan were twins. I was tremendously interested in Beth even then.She seemed one of the most worth-while girls I had ever met. She was alittle wisp of femininity, slender and delicate, hardly more than fivefeet one or two. She had beautiful golden hair and an animated, prettyface, with a pert little snub nose. She was a graduate of Vassar, andplanned to take up chemistry as a profession, for she had the samescientific bent as her father and brother.

  I called upon Professor Newland the evening of the day his statement waspublished, and found all three discussing it.

  "You want me to talk for publication, don't you, Bob Trevor?" theprofessor asked suddenly, after we had exchanged a few pleasantries.

  He was a wiry little man, about sixty, smooth-shaven, with sparse grayhair, a rugged face of strong character, and a restless air of energyabout him. He was an indefatigable worker; indeed, I am confident that,for any single continuous period of work without sleep, he could have runAlan and me into the ground and still have been comparatively fresh.

  "You want an exclusive follow-up story from me to-night, don't you?" herepeated.

  I admitted that I did.

  "What you'll get won't be just what you expect. Look at this."

  He pulled one of the evening papers toward him vigorously. "They think itis humorous. There--read that."

  The item to which he pointed was a sprightly account of the weird beingsthat might shortly arrive from Mercury.

  "They think it's a joke--some of them. There's another--read that."

  The attitude of the press was distinctly an inclination to treat theaffair from the humorous side. I had seen indications of that during theday at the office.

  "Look here, Bob"--the professor swept all the papers aside with his hand."You put it to them this way. Make them see this is not a prediction ofthe end of the world. We've had those before--nobody pays any attention tothem, and rightly so. But this Mercutian Light is more than a theory--it'sa fact. We fought it last November, and we'll have to fight it again nextmonth. That's what I want to make them realize."

  "They'll think it is worth being serious about," Alan put in, "if one ofthose lights drop into Boston or New York--especially if it happens toplay in a horizontal direction instead of vertical."

  We went into the whole subject thoroughly, and the professor gave me asecond signed statement in which he called upon the nations of the worldto prepare for the coming peril.

  The actual characteristics of the Mercutian Light we had discussed beforeseveral times. A good deal had been printed about it during the previousDecember--without, as I have said, attracting much public attention. Thetwo meteors had been examined. They were found to be of a mineral thatcould have originated on Mercury. They were burned and pitted like othermeteorites by their passage through the earth's atmosphere.

  Of the light itself Professor Newland had already given his opinion. Itwas, he said, some unknown form of etheric vibration. It radiated heatvery slightly, but it had the peculiarity of generating intense heat inanything it touched directly.

  "You'd better explain that, father," said Beth, when we reached this pointin our summary that evening.

  "Heat is the vibration of molecules of matter," the professor began.

  I nodded.

  "Make it clear when you write it up, Bob," Alan put in. "It's like this.All molecules are in motion--the faster the motion, the hotter thesubstance, and vice versa."

  "And this Mercutian Light," Beth added, "has the power of enormouslyincreasing the molecular vibration of anything it comes in contact with--"

  "But it doesn't radiate much heat itself," Alan finished.

  Professor Newland smiled. "The old man doesn't have much of a show, doeshe?"

  Alan sat down somewhat abashed, but Beth remained standing beside herfather, listening intently to everything he said.

  "This light I conceive to be the chief weapon of warfare of theMercutians," the professor went on. "There has been some talk of those twometeors being signals. That's all nonsense. They were not signals--theywere missiles. It was an act of aggression."

  I tried to get him to give some idea of what the inhabitants of Mercurymight be like, for that was what my editor chiefly desired.

  At first he would say nothing along those lines.

  "That is pure speculation," he explained. "And very easy speculation, too.Any one can allow his imagination to run wild and picture strange beingsof another world. I don't predict they will actually land on theearth--and I have no idea what they will look like if they do land. As amatter of fact, they will probably look very much like ourselves. I see noreason to doubt it."

  "Like us?" I ejaculated.

  "Why not?" said Alan. "Conditions on Mercury are not fundamentallydifferent from here. We don't have to conceive any very extraordinary sortof being to fill them."

  "Here's what you can tell your paper," said the professor abruptly. "Takeit down."

  I took out my notebook, and he dictated briskly.

  "Regarding the possible characteristics of inhabitants of Mercury, it ismy conception that intelligent life--let us say, human life--wherever itexists in our universe does not greatly differ in character from that ofour own planet. Mars, Venus, Mercury, even Neptune, are relatively close.I believe the Creator has constructed all human life on the same generalplan.

  "I believe that, being neighbors--if I may be permitted the expression--itis intended that intercourse between the planets should take place. Thatwe have been isolated up to the present time is only because of ourignorance--our inability to bridge the gap. I believe that migration,friendship, commerce, even war, between the inhabitants of differentplanets of our solar system was intended by Almighty God--and, in goodtime, will come to pass.

  "This is not science; and yet science does not contradict it, in myopinion. Human life on Mercury, Venus or Mars may need bodies taller,shorter, heavier, lighter, more fragile or more solid than ours. Theorgans will differ from ours, perhaps, but not materially so. The senseswill be the same.

  "In a word, I believe that nearly all the range of diversity of human lifeexisting on any of the planets exists now on this earth, or has existed inthe past, or will exist in the future through our own development, or atmost the differences would not be greater than a descent into our animalkingdom would give us.

  "Mercutians may have the sense of smell developed to the point of a dog;the instinct of direction of the homing pigeon; the eyes of a cat in thedark, or an owl in the light; but I cannot conceive of them being sodifferent that similar illustrations would not apply.

  "I believe the Creator intends intercourse of some kind, friendly orunfriendly, to take place between the worlds. As China was for centuries,so for eons we of this earth have been isolated. That time is past. Thefirst act was one of aggression. Let us wait for the next
calmly butsoberly, with full realization of the danger. For we may be--indeed, Ithink we are--approaching the time of greatest peril that human life onthis earth has ever had to face!"