One instrument being explained to us is what we might call an
all-seeing eye which is part of the radar equipment as we know it. This
'eye' can see for five thousand miles ahead and can detect any kind of
storm, any object, or any elemental condition that might be approaching
in space, including heavy fog which it can also penetrate.
There are four engines each of which resembles a machine gun more than
anything else. The jets which are the exhausts are large and these
also resemble the barrel of a gun. The pilot touched a button on the
instrument panel and started the motors. When these were in operation
we could scarcely hear them, they were that quiet. The chamber, which
resembles the chamber of a machine gun, is a large cylinder type, yet
very small in comparison to the rest of the ship. This cylinder, we
are told, contains pellets about half the size of a pea. Once getting
into the main chamber of the engine these pellets explode and propel
the ship. Each one of these cylinders carries enough fuel to propel the
ship for three rounds trips from Mars to the Moon and back. Yet the
weight of the fuel for all four engines, according to our weight, would
not be more than five hundred pounds.
We were curious to know if these weren't some sort of atomic power
pellets, telling them that on Earth we have just come into some
knowledge of atomic power.
They understood our questioning and indicated in the affirmative
endeavoring to give us a full explanation of the combustive action and
its resultant power, but we were unable to completely understand the
details. From what we could get, the action within this chamber is
similar to the cyclotron, very small but powerful.
Then Bob wanted to know if they used all four engines all the time
while travelling.
"Yes," answered the pilot.
Then he called our attention underneath the ship where there are what
we would call stabilizers, six of them in all, that permit the ship to
stand in space.
After thus looking over the ship, our friends asked if we would like to
take a little flight in this giant.
George eagerly accepted the invitation for all of us including our
Moonalite companions, for we have been wanting to do that very thing
ever since we first saw the ship land in this city on the Moon.
We are in the air now and the takeoff was so smooth that we didn't
realize we were leaving the ground. One outstanding fact we notice,
there isn't any vibration like most ships have. It is just like
gliding. There were some heavy clouds drifting over the airport and
the pilot pulled right into them. We felt no effect within the ship
whatever and we have come out of the clouds directly over the city.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account