Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net TARRANO THE CONQUEROR BY RAY CUMMINGS COPYRIGHT, 1930, BY A. C. McCLURG & CO. CHICAGO IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND THE PAN AMERICAN UNION. Printed in the United States of America To Hugo Gernsback, scientist, author and publisher, whose constant efforts in behalf of scientific fiction have contributed so largely to its present popularity, this tale is gratefully dedicated. FOREWORD _In "Tarrano the Conqueror" is presented a tale of the year 2430 A.D.--a time somewhat farther beyond our present-day era than we are beyond Columbus' discovery of America. My desire has been to create for you the impression that you have suddenly been plunged forward into that time--to give you the feeling Columbus might have had could he have read a novel of our present-day life. To this end I have conceived myself a writer of that future time, addressing his contemporary public. You are to imagine yourself reading a present day translation of my original text--a translation so free that a thousand little colloquialisms will have crept into it that could not possibly have their counterparts in the year 2430. Apart from the text, you will occasionally find brief explanatory footnotes. Conceive them as having been put there by the translator. If you find parts of this tale unusual or bizarre, please remember that we are living now in a comparatively ignorant day. The tale is not intended to be fantastic or full of new and strange ideas. I have used nothing but those developments of our present-day civilization to which we are all looking forward as logical probabilities--woven them into a picture of what life in America very probably will be five hundred years from now. To that extent, the tale itself is intended to be only a love story of adventure and romance--written, not for you, but for that future audience._ RAY CUMMINGS. CONTENTS I. The New Murders II. Warning III. Spy in the House IV. To the North Pole V. Outlawed Flight VI. Man of Destiny VII. Prisoners VIII. Unknown Friend IX. Paralyzed! X. Georg Escapes XI. Recaptured XII. Tara XIII. Love--and Hate XIV. Defying Worlds XV. Escape XVI. Playground of Venus XVII. Violet Beam of Death XVIII. Passing of a Friend XIX. Waters of Eternal Peace XX. Unseen Menace XXI. Love, Music--and a Warning XXII. Revolution! XXIII. First Retreat XXIV. Attack on the Palace XXV. Immortal Terror XXVI. Black Cloud of Death XXVII. Tarrano The Man XXVIII. Thing in the Forest XXIX. A Woman's Scream XXX. The Monster XXXI. Industriana XXXII. Departure XXXIII. First Assault