Chapter V: An Airship of Olba

After they had eaten on the following morning, Vorn Vangal said:

"No doubt you are anxious to know something about this country, and the person you represent on Zarovia. The wild, mountainous kingdom of Uxpo, of which these forests are a part, is situated at the extreme southern limit of the empire of Reabon. Uxpo, together with seven other kingdoms, was originally conquered by the famous emperor, Margo, and its fierce, previously unbeaten mountaineer people reduced to slavery.

"Upon Margo's death, three years ago, the people of Uxpo entertained high hopes of freedom. They had learned that the emperor's daughter, Vernia, a mere slip of a girl, had succeeded to the throne, and felt that it was the logical moment to strike off the shackles that held them. Accordingly they revolted and, almost over-night, slew every soldier, officer and agent of the empire. Their old king had been executed at Margo at the time of the invasion, but his elder son, Lugi, was placed on the throne.

"Two days afterward a courier brought news that the princess Vernia was coming at the head of a hundred thousand soldiers. He assembled his pitifully inadequate little army of five thousand mountaineers and went forth to do battle for the honor and liberty of Uxpo. The army of Uxpo was annihilated, and Lugi was executed for treason. Once more the fierce Uxponians bowed their necks to the yoke of the conqueror.

"Lugi had a younger brother named Thaddor--your astral double. This youth was of a mild and gentle disposition, and it was for this reason, perhaps, that Vernia spared his life and allowed him the privilege of her court.

"Prince Thaddor, however, mistook the kindly motive of the princess and fell madly in love with her. He had always found women susceptible to him, and did not doubt that this slip of a girl would yield; so, when one evening he attempted to make love to her, he was little prepared for the storm of anger which followed.

"'Prince Thaddor,' she said, 'for such presumptuous conduct as this I should have you beheaded. You are the son of a king, and I have permitted you to live in idle luxury because you appeared gentle and courteous, and not because of any personal feeling I had for you. Had my father been living at the time of the revolt, there would have been but one alternative to instant death, namely: slavery in the marble quarries. A slave, I brought you from Uxpo, and a slave I return you thence, to labor in the quarries for life.'

"For some time I had been searching for a man dissatisfied with life on this planet, to accompany our Prince of Olba on the journey to your world. I heard of Prince Thaddor's predicament, and experienced little difficulty in persuading him to make the journey. Some weeks after I telepathed the news to Dr. Morgan, he advised me that he had found the prince's physical counterpart. When he reported that you were about to make the journey I immediately came hither in order to be of assistance to you. On learning of your escape, I trailed you to the tree in which you had been driven by the hahoes. The rest you know."

* * * * *

Vangal stayed with Grandon for a week, teaching him patoa and woodcraft, and the use of the tork, and scarbo. On the evening of the seventh day he stated that the time had arrived for him to return to his people.

"No doubt you are anxious to be back among your friends," remarked Grandon. "Is the journey a long one?"

"Olba is on the opposite side of the planet; roughly, about twelve thousand of your Earth miles from here."

"And you will go all that distance afoot?"

"Hardly. My airship is concealed in a ravine only a short distance from here. In one day's time I shall be home. By leaving here in the evening I shall arrive there in the morning, for it is morning in Olba when it is evening in Reabon."

"You must have speedy airships on this planet," said Grandon. "According to your statement, you will travel at the rate of five hundred miles an hour, or almost half as fast as the planet itself revolves on its axis."

"Exactly; yet my little one-man craft is not so swift when compared to some of the larger airships, many of which travel twice as fast."

"Marvelous!" exclaimed Grandon. "What motive power do you use?"

"Ah, my friend, I regret that I am not at liberty to divulge that, for Olba is the only country on the planet in which airships are made or used. The factories and the secrets of manufacture are the exclusive property of the government, and have been since the first airship was invented, nearly four centuries ago.

"My people are peace-loving and not given to conquest. In the airship they have a potent means of defense from their warlike neighbors. If the Reabonians, for example, knew the secret of airship manufacture, they would long ago have subjugated most of the other Zarovian nations, all of which, with the exception of Olba, are as warlike as themselves."

Together the men walked to the ravine where the airship was concealed. Grandon expected to see a craft equipped with wings or planes of some sort, and a propeller. To his surprise he beheld what looked like a small metal duck-boat with a curved glass dome over the tiny cockpit. The airship was about ten feet long and three wide, and without planes, wings, propeller, or rudder.

Vangal noted the look of surprise on the face of his companion.

"You seem puzzled by the appearance of my little craft," he said, smiling slightly. "It will do no harm for me to explain something of the general principles on which it operates, so long as I do not betray the actual secret of motive power, with which I am familiar as an officer of my government.

"Immediately in front of the glass dome you will notice a small, round bulge in the deck. Under that bulge is a delicate mechanism which it is impossible to remove or take apart without breaking a small vial of acid that will instantly destroy it. This mechanism is the motive power of the craft, so you can readily see that it would be quite impossible for an enemy to learn our secret by capturing one of our ships.

"You are, no doubt, familiar with that power of the subconscious mind which your Dr. Morgan calls telekinesis--the power with which your terrestrial mediums sometimes cause tables and other ponderable objects to rise and hang suspended, or move about in the air without physical aid. My people have been familiar with this wonderful power of the mind for many centuries, but never, until the invention of this mechanism, were they able to put it to any practical use. It responds to, and amplifies the power of telekinesis to a remarkable degree, so that by mind power I am able to cause the craft to rise and hang suspended at almost any attitude, or to move in any direction, backward, forward, or sidewise. For emergency use, in the event of the failure of the motive power, there are two parachutes, one under the small round lid at either end of the craft. By pressing a button I cause the lids to fly back and the parachutes to project from the holes and open almost instantly."

"A most astounding and wonderful invention," exclaimed Grandon.

"Perhaps some day you will visit Olba, and when you do, Vorn Vangal will see that you are provided with a suitable craft as long as you stay in the country--for none but a government official or employee may take one of these airships over the border. It is growing late, and I must begin my journey," Vangal continued, opening the door in the rear of the dome and stepping inside. "Farewell, my friend. I admonish you to hurry home at once, for night will fall in a few minutes, and those beasts of prey of which I warned you will be lurking in the shadows. I see you have not brought your tork or scarbo with you. That is unwise. From now on, never travel without them. On Zarovia you are in constant danger from attack by man or beast. Farewell, and may you soon be firmly seated on the throne of Uxpo."

Grandon warmly clasped the hand of his departing friend, and a feeling of indefinable sadness came over him as he watched the tiny craft rise noiselessly and smoothly to a height of perhaps a thousand feet, then dart away, to be lost to view in a few seconds.

As he stood looking in the direction Vangal had taken, he was startled by the sound of a stealthy footfall behind him. He wheeled, but his eyes could not penetrate the shadows, for night had come on with its characteristic suddenness. At the sound of a second footfall he turned and dashed off through the forest, only to find himself amid a group of warriors with leveled torks. The men, attracted by the sound of his farewell to Vangal, must have crept up and surrounded him.