Amazing Stories — page 52: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

oe -_ 50 AMAZING. STORIES Iowa, I was witness to the passing of one of the great kingdoms of earth—the vegetable, and I can not find words to express the grief that overwhelms me as I write of its demise, for I loved all growing things. Many of us realized that Earth was no longer beautiful; but if beauty meant death; better life in the sterility of the metropolis. The viciousness of the thwarted insects was a menace that we had foreseen and yet failed to take into adequate account. On the city-state borderland, life is constantly imperiled by the attacks of well organized bodies of our dreaded foe. (Note: The organization that now exists among the ants, bees and other insects, testifies to the pos- sibility of the development of military tactics among them in the centuries to come. ) Robbed of their source of food, they have become emboldened to such an extent that they will take any risks to carry human beings away for food, and after one of their well organized raids, the toll of human life is appalling. But the great chemical laboratories where our syn- thetic food is made, and our oxygen plants, we thought were impregnable to their attacks. In that we were mistaken. Let me say briefly that since the destruction of all vegetation which furnished a part of the oxygen essential to human life, it became necessary to manu- facture this gas artificially for general diffusion through the atmosphere. I was flying to my work, which is in Oxygen Plant No. 21, when I noticed a peculiar thing on the upper speedway near’ Food Plant No. 3,439. Although it was night, the various. levels of the state-city were illuminated as brightly as by day. A pleasure vehicle was going with prodigious speed westward. I looked after it in amazement. It was unquestionably the car of Eric, my co-worker at Oxygen Plant No. 21. I recognized the gay color of its body, but to verify my suspicions beyond the question of a doubt, I turned my volplane in pursuit and made out the fa- miliar license number. What was Eric doing away from the plant before I had arrived to relieve him from duty ? In hot pursuit, I sped above the car to the very border of the state-city, wondering what unheard of errand took him to the land of the enemy, for the car came to a sudden stop at the edge of what had once been an agricultural area. Miles ahead of me stretched an enormous expanse of black sterility ; at my back was the teeming metropolis, five levels high —if one counted the hangar-level, which did not cover the residence sections. I had not long to wait, for almost immediately my friend appeared. What a sight he presented to my incredulous gaze! He was literally covered from head to foot with the two-inch ants, that next to the beetles, had proved the greatest menace in their at- tacks upon humanity. With wild incoherent cries he fled over the rock and stubble-burned earth. As soon as my stunned senses permitted, I swooped down toward him to effect a rescue, but even as my plane touched the barren earth, I saw, that T was too late, for he fell, borne down by the vicious attacks of his myriad foes, I knew it was useless for me to set foot upon the ground, for my fate would be that of Eric. I rose ten feet and seiz- NROM the borders of the great state-city of _ ing my poison-gas weapon, let its contents out upon the tiny black evil things that swarmed below. I did not bother with my mask, for I planned to rise im- mediately, and it was not a moment too soon. From across the waste-land, a dark cloud eclipsed the stars and [ saw coming toward me a horde of flying ants interspersed with larger flying insects, all bent upon my annihilation. [ now took my mask and prepared to turn more gas upon my pursuers, but alas, [ had used every atom of it in my attack upon the non- flying ants! I had no recourse but flight, and to this I immediately resorted, knowing that I could outdis- tance my pursuers. When I could no longer see them, I removed my gas mask. A suffocating sensation seized me. I could not breathe! How high had I flown in my endeavor to escape the flying ants? I leaned over the side of my plane, expecting to see the city far, far below me. What was my utter amazement when I discovered that I was scarcely a thousand feet high! Tt was not altitude that was depriving me of the life- giving oxygen. A drop of three hundred feet showed me inert specks of humanity lying about the streets. Then I knew; the oxygen plant was not in operation! In another minute I had on my oxygen mask, which was attached to a small portable tank for emergency use, and I rushed for the vicinity of the plant. There I witnessed the first signs of life. Men equipped with oxygen masks, were trying to force entrance into the locked building. Being an employee, I possessed knowledge of the combination of the great lock, and T opened the door, only to be greeted by a swarm of ants that commenced a concerted attack upon us. The floor seemed to be covered with a moving black rug, the corner nearest the door appearing to unravel as we entered, and it was but a few seconds before we were covered with the clinging, biting creatures, who fought with a supernatural energy born of despair. Two very active ants succeeded in getting under my helmet. The bite of their sharp mandibles and the effect of their poisonous formic acid became intolerable. Did I dare remove my mask while the air about me was foul with the gas discharged from the weapons of my allies? While I felt the attacks elsewhere upon my body gradually diminishing as the insects suc- cumbed to the deadly fumes, the two upon my face waxed more vicious under the protection of my mask. One at each eye, they were trying to blind me. The pain was unbearable. Better the suffo- cating death-gas than the torture of lacerated eyes! Frantically I removed the head-gear and tore at the shiny black fiends, Strange to tell, I discovered that I could breathe near the vicinity of the great oxygen tanks, where enough oxygen lingered to support life at least temporarily. The two vicious insects, no longer protected by my gas-mask, scur- ried from me like rats from a sinking ship and dis- appeared behind the oxygen tanks. This attack of our enemies, though unsuccessful on their part, was dire in its significance, for it had shown more cunning and ingenuity than anything that had ever preceded it. Heretofore, their on- slaughts had been confined to direct attacks upon us personally or upon the synthetic-food laborato- ries, but in this last raid they had shown an amazing cleverness that portended future disaster, unless they were checked at once. It was obvious they had in- geniously planned to Sie omilcbooks..co 5 ”