The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-11-27
"Gas "A Story of the Next War

masked batteries. Everything seemed
quiet at the ocean side.
And then something happened.
One airplane suddenly caught fire
like racket and began to sink leav-
ing behind tail of flame. Then
another and another. Within three
minutes fourteen airplanes fell down
thru the dark air giving the impress
sion of falling stars on late sum-
mer night. Three of the fourteen
were commanders airplanes in
charge of the squadron. They could
be recognized by the greenish tint
of their light. Only five command
ers' machines had remained in the
air. They gave the signal: "Ex-
tinguish lights~ Darkness ensued.
Nothing could be seen in the photo
apparatus. A voice became audible
thru the receiver:
There is unusual noise in the air.
but 1t is impossible to discover it's
source"
The general waved his right hand
in gesture of detection and pres
sed his thin lips more tightly.
Nothing could be done with the aid
of machines. Unknown powers were
reigning over the city. The only
thing that could be done was to
warn the population.
The central telephone station re-
ceived from military headquarters
one single word:
Gas"
Soon thousands of wires carried
from house to house the alarm warn
ing:
Gas"
In every street, in every block,
thru every floor, crept the awe in
spring word:
Gas"
HALE PAST TWELVE large dark
- object stopped above the city
1t remained suspended at the height
of ten thousand feet and was en-
tirely motionless. Had it been dis
covered by the searchlights it would
have appeared like a round frag-
ment of cloud. This time, however,
the air was free of the long white
arrows. The air was dark. The city
looked from above like field under
cover of night gloom. The soldier
who kept guard on the Stock Ex-
change Square noticed at his feet
on the asphalt of the pavement a
patch of light about two meters in
diameter. The soldier lifted his
head to see where the light came
from. He saw nothing outside the
smoke that hung in thick layers
above the city. The soldier, an edu-
Gated man, asked himself how such
a strange phenomenon could be. The
patch of light was very bright and
seemed to make the asphalt trans
parent. The soldier put his right
foot on the patch and suddenly saw
the skeleton of his foot. He stretched
his right hand over the patch of
light and the hand disappeared leav-
ing only the outline of bones. "Such
thing l have only seen in X-ray
pictures" he said to himself. In the
meantime the patch moved away to
the middle of the square. The SOL
der made an attempt to follow, but
sank to the ground. He felt no pain
but something had happened. In the
rays of his pocket searchlight which
he took out with his left hand (the
right being unable to move) he saw
that his right foot up to the knee
and his right hand were missing.
The spots where they fell off showed
charred surfaces. Before he. man
aged to give a signal he fell un-
conscious.
WAY UP, at the height of ten
P" thousand feet, in a large motion
less machine, man sat in cradle
of metal attached to the lower sur
face of the machine. With his right
hand he moved a wheel while his
right eye looked into a large tense
protruding from the wall. He gave
orders thru a telephone tube at
tached to his chest: ITO the right
four kilometers northwest - seven
kilometers south--a little ahead -
Observation-Disclosures" and the
pilot in another section of the ma
chine steered according to command.
Corresponding to the motion of the
machine a patch of light down in
the city jerkily moved over the
square, jumped into a side street,
leaped into another to stop near the
statue considered the center of the
city. There being no light in the air
between the machine and the ground,
and the streets being almost de-
serted, nobody noticed the maneuvers
of the patch of light.
Then the man in the cradle of
metal said: Ready" and pressed a
lever. Immediately large cigar
shaped object slipped from its place
near the cradle and began to move
downward. The object was four
meters long and one meter in dia-
meter. 1t fell slowly, for small
propellers were attached to it's blunt
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