The MOON MAKER ARTHUR TRAIN and ROBERT W. WOOD Illustrated by Frank D. McSherry, Jr. 1958 KRUEGER HAMBURG, NEW YORK THE MOON MAKER Copyright 1958 by Kenneth J. Krueger. All Rights Reserved. [Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] Edition Limited to 500 Copies. A DAWN PRESS BOOK Contents PART I: THE WANDERING ASTEROID PART II: THE FLYING RING PART III: THE FLIGHT OF THE RING PART IV: ON THE MOON PART V: THE ATTACK ON THE ASTEROID THE MOON MAKER When the world-war was at its height, wireless messages signed with the name "Pax" had been received at the Naval Observatory at Washington, in which the sender declared himself capable of controlling the forces of nature. These mysterious messages were followed by the occurrence of extraordinary natural phenomena such as violent seismic shocks and an unprecedented display of the aurora borealis. Coincidently, there appeared in the heavens a terrible air-craft, the Flying Ring, which, by means of a powerful lavender ray, disrupted the mountains in northern Africa and flooded the Desert of Sahara. The warring nations were informed that if they did not conclude a permanent peace, Pax would shift the axis of the earth and compel the termination of hostilities by turning central Europe into an arctic waste. The nations, convinced at last that, unless they acceded to his demands, human life upon the globe would come to an end, entered into negotiations for peace. At about the same time, Professor Benjamin Hooker, attached to the Department of Applied Physics at Harvard University, determined, by independent research, that the mysterious force had its origin in the wilds of Labrador, and resolved to go there himself to see what he could find out about Pax and his schemes. After much hardship, he discovered the location of the Ring, arriving there at the moment when Pax was about to carry out his threat to deflect the axis of the globe; but, owing to an accident to the machinery generating the lavender ray, an explosion occurred in which Pax and his associates were destroyed. The Flying Ring, however, remained intact, and Hooker, with his friend, the famous aviator Burke, succeeded in mastering its mechanism and starting in it for the United States. PART I THE WANDERING ASTEROID I