The MOON MAKER
ARTHUR TRAIN
and
ROBERT W. WOOD
Illustrated by Frank D. McSherry, Jr.
1958
KRUEGER
HAMBURG, NEW YORK
THE MOON MAKER
Copyright 1958 by Kenneth J. Krueger.
All Rights Reserved.
[Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any
evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Edition Limited to 500 Copies.
A DAWN PRESS BOOK
Contents
| PART I | THE WANDERING ASTEROID |
| PART II | THE FLYING RING |
| PART III | THE FLIGHT OF THE RING |
| PART IV | ON THE MOON |
| PART V | THE ATTACK ON THE ASTEROID |
THE MOON MAKER
When the world-war was at its height, wireless messages signedwith the name "Pax" had been received at the Naval Observatory atWashington, in which the sender declared himself capable of controllingthe forces of nature. These mysterious messages were followed bythe occurrence of extraordinary natural phenomena such as violentseismic shocks and an unprecedented display of the aurora borealis.Coincidently, there appeared in the heavens a terrible air-craft, theFlying Ring, which, by means of a powerful lavender ray, disruptedthe mountains in northern Africa and flooded the Desert of Sahara.The warring nations were informed that if they did not conclude apermanent peace, Pax would shift the axis of the earth and compel thetermination of hostilities by turning central Europe into an arcticwaste. The nations, convinced at last that, unless they acceded to hisdemands, human life upon the globe would come to an end, entered intonegotiations for peace. At about the same time, Professor BenjaminHooker, attached to the Department of Applied Physics at HarvardUniversity, determined, by independent research, that the mysteriousforce had its origin in the wilds of Labrador, and resolved to go therehimself to see what he could find out about Pax and his schemes. Aftermuch hardship, he discovered the location of the Ring, arriving thereat the moment when Pax was about to carry out his threat to deflectthe axis of the globe; but, owing to an accident to the machinerygenerating the lavender ray, an explosion occurred in which Pax and hisassociates were destroyed. The Flying Ring, however, remained intact,and Hooker, with his friend, the famous aviator Burke, succeeded inmastering its mechanism and starting in it for the United States.
PART I
THE WANDERING ASTEROID
I
"Now," said Bentham T. Tassifer, with an air of defiance, "we'll see!"He was a bandy-legged little man, whose abdominal structure suggested aconcealed melon.
Red-faced and perspiring, he arose from where he had been teeing uphis ball for the fifth hole, flourished his driver aggressively,and, adjusting his knobby calves at a carefully calculated angle,went through a variety of extraordinary contortions with his wristsand forearms. Outwardly, he was the personification of pugnaciousassurance. He had every appearance of being absolutely certain of hisability to swat that small white sphere to a distance of not less thanthree hundred yards and plumb onto the next green. Inw