Aeronautics -- Fiction; Inventors -- United States -- Fiction; Science fiction
And that would create a far stronger basis for tomorrow's world
government. As civilization stood, it needed a world government
desperately. Either that, or atomic energy would destroy it. Either
world government or war.
_So there it is!_ Morrow concluded.
He had a mechanism for controlling the pull of gravity.
Either that mechanism was destroyed and forgotten, or the world's
present balance of power would be destroyed and humanity plunged into
atomic war.
But if the mechanism was destroyed, humanity wouldn't have it for the
future development of world government and civilization. And they
needed it. The present automobiles, trains, and aircraft were all very
streamlined and marvelous when compared to the horse and buggy, but
they were still too limited, too cumbersome and too costly. There had
to be something for the average man, earning the average salary, that
would haul him--and extend his interests--to the far corners of the
world.
The mechanism would do that.
Mankind would need it to develop a sound, productive future.
But if it wasn't destroyed, there would be atomic war. There wouldn't
be any future!
* * * * *
It was after midnight when he rose from his chair, pulled on a pair
of slacks and a sweater, and left the house. He locked the front door
and walked around to the garage. Swinging the door back, he felt his
way into the darkness, touched the familiar surfaces of his little
motor-bike, and rolled it out to the drive-way. Mounting, he kicked the
starter, and the little one-cylinder, 15 horsepower engine exploded
into a throaty chatter.
He rode down the dark, tree-lined streets, the cool air whipping over
his body. Swinging into Railroad Avenue, he pulled over to the curb and
stopped before the lighted windows of the telegraph office. He strode
in, scribbled off a telegram, and paid for it.
The office girl, counting the words, stopped and frowned. She shoved
it back across the counter to him. "Does that make sense?" she asked
dubiously.
Morrow glanced over it again and smiled. It read:
WESTERTON, NEW JERSEY
August 6, 1960
D. P. SMITH
ACME CROP DUSTERS INC.
DENVER, COLORADO
SCRAMBLE WESTERTON. WIRE E-T-A. MAY DAY.
BILL MORROW
He shoved it back to her. "It makes sense, all right. And I'm expecting
a quick reply, so I'll be waiting across the street in Switzer's Cafe."
"It may take some time--"
"That reply will come as quickly as you people can handle it," Morrow
retorted. "A crop-dusting pilot is accustomed to getting telegrams in
the middle of the night--and answering them, before some other outfit
can grab the job being offered!"
The girl shrugged her thin shoulders. "All right, then. You'll be over
at Switzer's--"
"Right."
She scribbled a note on a memo pad. Morrow turned and strode out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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