Spawn of the Comet by Harold Thompson Rich

Author:Harold Thompson Rich [Rich, Harold Thompson]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-03-07T17:37:41.046000+00:00

BUT where was it? That was what he wanted to know.

“A natural question, but not one easy to answer,” was Professor Wentworth’s reply. “I shall tell you what I have done; then you may judge for yourself.”

The cannon-like device which had accompanied the seeming miracle was an adaptation of the cathode tube, whose rays are identical with the beta rays of the atom and consist of a stream of negatively charged particles moving at the velocity of light—186,000 miles a second. These rays, in theory, have the power to combine with the positively charged alpha rays of the atom and drag them from their electrons, causing them to discharge their full quanta of energy at once, in the form of complete disintegration—and it was this theory the professor had acted on.

“But, good Lord—that’s splitting the atom!” exclaimed Jim. “You don’t mean to say you’ve done that?”

“I apparently have,” was the grave admission. “But do not let it seem such a miracle. Bear in mind, as I have pointed out before, that nature has accomplished this alchemy many times. All radio-active elements are evidences of it. The feat consists merely in altering the valence of the atom, changing its electric charge, in other words. What I have done in the present instance is merely to speed up a process nature already had under way, inasmuch as we are dealing with a radio-active substance.”

“But what has happened to the by-product of the reaction?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. I have not had time to study that phase of it. Heat, mainly, was produced. Possibly a few atoms of helium. But the substance is gone. That is our chief concern just now.”

It was only after abandoning chemical means and turning to physics that he had met with success, he said. Cathode rays had finally proved the key to the riddle.

“But do you think this thing will work on a big scale?” asked Jim regarding that fragile tube doubtfully.

Professor Wentworth hesitated before replying.

“I do not know,” he admitted, “but I intend to find out—to-night.”

JIM looked at him in amazement. “To-night?”

“Yes. Or rather, the experiment will be at dawn. If successful, this continent at least will be rid of the menace.”

Jim’s amazement turned to incredulity and a sudden fear gripped him. Had the strain of the past few weeks unbalanced the professor’s mind?

“But surely you can’t hope to wipe them out with one tube. Why, it would take hundreds.”

“No, only one. You see, I am going to place the tube in the center of the circle and direct its rays outward toward the circumference in a swinging radius.”

Whereupon, for a moment, Jim’s fear seemed confirmed.

“But, good God!” he exclaimed. “It couldn’t possibly be that powerful, could it?”

“I think it can be made to be,” was Professor Wentworth’s grave assurance. “The greatest power we know in the universe is radiant energy, which reaches us from the sun and the stars, traveling at the speed of light.”

“Like light rays, these heat rays can be focused, directed;

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