The Skylark of Space

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+----------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's note | | | | This etext was produced from Amazing Stories August, | | September and October 1928. Extensive research did not | | uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this | | publication was renewed. | | | | Other notes and a list of corrections made will be found | | at the end of the book. | +----------------------------------------------------------+

THE SKYLARK OF SPACE

by

EDWARD ELMER SMITH

In Collaboration with

LEE HAWKINS GARBY

[Illustration: Cover Page]

+--------------------------------------+ | | | _Perhaps it is a bit unethical and | | unusual for editors to voice their | | opinion of their own wares, but when | | such a story as "The Skylark of | | Space" comes along, we just feel as | | if we must shout from the housetops | | that this is the greatest | | interplanetarian and space flying | | story that has appeared this year. | | Indeed, it probably will rank as one | | of the great space flying stories | | for many years to come. The story is | | chock full, not only of excellent | | science, but woven through it there | | is also that very rare element, love | | and romance. This element in an | | interplanetarian story is often apt | | to be foolish, but it does not seem | | so in this particular story. | | | | We know so little about | | intra-atomic forces, that this | | story, improbable as it will appear | | in spots, will read commonplace | | years hence, when we have atomic | | engines, and when we have solved the | | riddle of the atom. | | | | You will follow the hair-raising | | explorations and strange ventures | | into far-away worlds with bated | | breath, and you will be fascinated, | | as we were, with the strangeness of | | it all._ | | | +--------------------------------------+

CHAPTER I

The Occurrence of the Impossible

Petrified with astonishment, Richard Seaton stared after the copper steam-bath upon which he had been electrolyzing his solution of "X," the unknown metal. For as soon as he had removed the beaker the heavy bath had jumped endwise from under his hand as though it were alive. It had flown with terrific speed over the table, smashing apparatus and bottles of chemicals on its way, and was even now disappearing through the open window. He seized his prism binoculars and focused them upon the flying vessel, a speck in the distance. Through the glass he saw that it did not fall to the ground, but continued on in a straight line, only its rapidly diminishing size showing the enormous velocity with which it was moving. It grew smaller and smaller, and in a few moments disappeared utterly.

The chemist turned as though in a trance. How was this? The copper bath he had used for months was gone--gone like a shot, with nothing to make it go. Nothing, that is, except an electric cell and a few drops of the unknown solution. He looked at the empty space where it had stood, at the broken glass covering his laboratory table, and again stared out of the window.