But whatever it was, it was taking fearful toll on earth. Never had anything like it been witnessed before. Men dropped dead in the streets. Women, their babes at their breasts, died in their homes. The open air was no longer safe. Even the houses were penetrated regardless of what precautions were taken to stop up crevices in doors and windows.
Life on earth was unbearable!
Carl, disgusted with the miserable condition, determined, then, that he and his wife, Sana, would leave the now inhospitable earth and seek a haven of refuge on some other planet.
It was but a matter of hours to make arrangements. A generous supply of the artificial food was put into the machine. They did not have to worry about fuel, as the “Meteor” would generate its mysterious power as it traveled. Carl had explained this to Sana, confidentially. Fuel for the engines, if such the delicate apparatus might be called, was secured directly from the atmosphere. The higher the speed of the plane the more rarefied the atmosphere, the better the quality of fuel. Furthermore, Carl did not have to attend any steering devices. The plane traveled in an electric wave zone, driven forward by this new device, and once headed in any desired direction would continue in that direction indefinitely.
Helping Sana into the enclosed body of the “Meteor,” Carl bade farewell to the earth. Soon they were speeding heavenward at a tremendous pace, going in the direction of the earth’s rotation.
Looking out of the port-hole-like windows of the plane Carl and Sana saw that they had already passed through the dust cloud which enveloped the earth. As they watched, they saw the earth and moon whiz past them with the speed of falling comets.
From this time on their mentality was severed from that of the peoples of the earth. They were independent of the conception of time, which, really, exists only in the minds of the human race, according to Einstein’s theory.
An unusual sight now presented itself to the flying couple. The great comet that had caused so much consternation on earth was in plain view. Behind the tremendous sun-like head trailed a most imposing tail, millions of miles in length, and from all appearances composed of gases and without any sharp lines of demarkation. This tail had not been visible to the watchers on earth because of the great dust cloud. To Carl and Sana, however, it was quite distinct, looking much like a great inverted comma, imprinted on the endless depths of the sky.
It was necessary for Carl, after a while, to go to the pressure chambers to replenish the air supply of their cabin. This done, he idly fingered the tuning dials of the wireless apparatus with which the plane was equipped. To his surprise the cabin was filled with the sound of incoming messages. He endeavored to interpret them but they were in a language unknown to him. Somewhere out in the ether there existed people, he realized, of an intelligence far greater than that of the earth-men.
Tuning down the wireless, he returned to Sana, who was again peering through the windows of the plane at the myriads of stars that went flashing by.