Worlds of Wonder

by WE Johns

Genres: Alien Contact; Space Exploration

Synopsis

In the penultimate book of Captain W.E. Johns' space adventures, the crew of the Tavona travel yet further and see yet more unbelievable sights!

First up is the planet Krona, whose seemingly youthful inhabitants can live for centuries. What is in their food that sustains them? Is this something that could help revolutionise medicine as we know it? Of course, something so valuable will always have its hunters - and not all of them are as virtuous as the Professor.

Tiger and his team will need to protect the natives of Krona, and persuade them that Earth is no threat in order to win the day!

Release date: December 20, 2022

Publisher: Orion

Print pages: 320

Sample

“YOU may not realize it, Rex, but you’re a very lucky fellow.”

The speaker was Professor Lucius Brane, wealthy scientist-engineer and Space explorer, and the scene was the library of Glensalich Castle, his home in the remote Highlands of Scotland. Apart from Rex Clinton there were two others present, his father, Group-Captain “Tiger” Clinton (Retired) and Squadron-Leader “Toby” Paul, one time of the R.A.F. Medical Service.

“In what way do you mean I’m so lucky?” asked Rex.

“You’re living at the peak of civilization on Earth and will probably die before it collapses, in due course to disappear as other civilizations have done before it. There have been a lot of complaints about the behaviour of young people recently, but I am beginning to suspect that some of them can see more clearly than their parents what the future holds.”

“What does it hold?”

“Possibly nothing. Perhaps obliteration.”

“That’s a nice thought to go on with,” put in Tiger, cynically.

“It’s true, and unless you are one of these people who refuse to see what is staring them in the face, you must know it.”

“What is staring us in the face?”

“The end of civilization on Earth as we have known it.”

“And how do you arrive at that melancholy conclusion?” inquired Toby.

“It is quite obvious that the troubles that beset the world today, in Africa and elsewhere, are merely the rumblings of an explosion which, when it comes, will engulf the majority of people living on this planet. The next war, should one come—which heaven forbid—will be a war of races—white, black, brown, yellow. The seeds of hatred have been sown and they are now beginning to germinate. Which people will ultimately survive I wouldn’t care to say, but whoever they are they may end up living in caves like our distant ancestors, afraid to put their noses outside. The leaders of the white nations, instead of preparing to tear each other to pieces, would do better to get together in readiness for the storm that will break when the orient bursts its boundaries and Africa is again a black continent.”

“Can nothing prevent this frightful calamity?” questioned Rex anxiously.

“There are one or two things that might bring people to their senses.”

“Such as?”

The Professor looked over his glasses. “An overwhelming disaster, for instance; or the threat of one. In the face of dire catastrophe likely to affect everyone nations might realize that mutual assistance would serve them better than the present hostility.”

“What sort of disaster have you in mind? A plague? A pestilence?”

“That might do it. If an infectious disease such as the Black Death got out of hand, as it did in the fourteenth century, in the overcrowded conditions of our civilization the result would be too dreadful. It has been estimated that in England alone nearly half the population died. In the East something like 37,000,000 people perished. It is worth noting that the contagion was thought to have been brought on by unusual weather conditions. But I was thinking more of a physical upheaval of the world on which we live.”

“We have seen something in our travels of what can happen.” said Rex.

“Yes, and it would be wishful thinking to say that nothing of the sort could happen here. Of course it could. Earth is an ordinary planet and is just as liable to convulsions as any other. It must have happened more than once in the past and I see no reason why it shouldn’t happen again. The stories we read in the Old Testament of the Bible, of floods beyond imagination, of fire raining from the sky, and of long periods of utter darkness, are not fiction. These things happened. There is ample proof of ice ages, when the polar ice spread as far as Equatorial Africa. It would take very little to produce such conditions. Earth would only have to move a few degrees on its axis, perhaps as a result of a planetoid passing near. If, for the same reason, Earth was moved a little nearer to the Sun, it would become a cinder. Moved farther away it would become a ball of ice. In ancient times these horrors were thought to be the wrath of the gods. Today we know better.”

“What a terrifying thought.”

“It’s the truth, and nothing is to be gained by shutting our eyes to it. Try to imagine, if you can, a whole continent disappearing under water, as did lost Atlantis. Again, imagine, if you can, an earthquake that could thrust up out of the sea a range of mountains like the Andes. We know that happened because seashells are found on the peaks.” The Professor smiled bleakly. “But still, if the human race should destroy itself, it would only be in the nature of retribution for what it has done.”

Toby looked surprised. “How do you make that out?”

“Well, man hasn’t hesitated to destroy anything that stood in his way, in however small a degree. He seems to take the view that everything on Earth was created for his particular benefit. He is not prepared to share with anything, and the punishment for interference is death. Even the harmless rabbit, because it ate grass, of which one would think there was plenty, must be exterminated. Man knows no mercy. The tree that stands in his path must be cut down. To all things he is the great enemy. Everything is afraid of him. Animals run and birds fly at his approach. Anything that attempts to defend itself becomes a brute to be destroyed. I am not talking about the big predators, the carnivores, against which man has every right to defend himself. I am referring to the creatures, and things, that can’t defend themselves. Wherefore I say that if in the end man is himself destroyed it would be no more than justice.”

“So you really think nothing can save men from their folly?” said Tiger.

The Professor thought for a moment. “There is perhaps one other thing that might give them reason to pause. If the people of Earth were made suddenly to realize that there were other worlds around them with civilizations far in advance of their own, the shock might bring them to their senses, particularly if they were made aware that some of these worlds could blot them out of existence at any moment. That would give the newspapers something to write about.”

“If you feel like that why don’t you tell them?” said Tiger.

“I’ve answered that question before. No one would believe me.”

“You could produce proof.”

“Not proof positive.”

“You have photographs.”

“They would be called fakes. The modern camera is capable of strange tricks. I recall a realistic whale in a film called Moby Dick. I learned it was made of what I believe is called foam rubber. I have thought about writing a paper about our experiences, but I still shrink from the scorn and ridicule that would follow publication. I doubt if any editor would publish such a paper, but if he did people would say: ‘How do you know?’ ”

“You could answer, ‘Because I have been there.’ ”

The Professor smiled sadly. “Think of the questions that would raise. How did you get there? In what did you travel? If I answered truthfully I would lay myself open to a charge of being a first class liar.”

Rex stepped in again. “I would say: I have been to the Moon. I have walked on the Moon, I have picked flowers on the Moon, I …”

“Back would come the demand, prove it. How would you prove it? Think it over, my boy. Imagine yourself sitting in front of a television camera before a panel of experts, so-called, who would come convinced you were a liar and determined to prove it. Forget the other planets we have visited; how could you prove beyond all doubt or question that you had landed on the Moon?”

Rex thought for a moment. “We could produce a real live Martian. Vargo, for instance.”

“How would you prove he was a man from another planet? In European clothes he would look like any other European.”

“I’d produce him in his usual costume.”

“That would prove nothing. It would be said he was an ordinary man who had been dressed up for the occasion.”

“He could demonstrate his ability to read other men’s minds.”

“A trick, people would sneer. There are plenty of excellent trick thought readers on Earth. You may see them on the stage or the television screen. No, Rex, that wouldn’t do. I’m not going to make a laughing stock of myself by trying to convince a lot of sceptics of something they don’t want to believe. If you think about it you will see that to prove what we have done, where we have been and what we know, would be practically impossible. Photographs are useless. They could be fakes, taken on Earth by making use of models.”

“We could produce something that doesn’t occur on Earth.”

“Such as?”

“A piece of that red metal, oricholcum, which we found on Mars.”

“That would create some interest, no doubt, and people would wonder where we had found it. You must remember that it does occur on Earth; or it did, because it was known to the ancients. It was used on the lost continent of Atlantis, now under the Atlantic Ocean, although that has been questioned. All we could prove was that the metal did exist.”

There was a short silence. Then the Professor went on: “Another risk of overwhelming catastrophe is one to which I have often referred, and it is one that cannot be ignored. I mean the possibility of some over-enthusiastic nuclear research worker, by going too far, doing fearful mischief by starting a chain explosion or drenching the world with strontium or radioactivity—and we saw on the pathetic planet Selinda what that can do.* That may never happen, but it could, make no mistake about it. But there, perhaps after all it won’t be necessary for us to try to prove anything. Someone else will do it for us. At the rate space exploration is advancing it cannot be long before an official expedition succeeds in placing a man on the Moon. It could happen any day now. Whether he will succeed in getting back to Earth is another matter.”

“We could offer to fetch him should he get stuck there,” suggested Tiger.

“No one would take that seriously.”

“They’d have to if we produced him.”

The Professor chuckled. “Let us wait until the occasion arises. If it does I will consider it. Which reminds me. It is Vargo’s night for coming over. Rex, you might switch on the landing lights. Vargo will be looking for them and we might as well have a chat with him if he’s in the vicinity.”

Rex walked over to the wall, threw a switch and made an adjustment to a small instrument, rather like an old-fashioned portable radio, that stood on a table under it. “Are you thinking of doing another trip with him, should he look in?” he asked, when he returned to his chair.

“I have an open mind about it,” answered the Professor thoughtfully. “My decision will probably depend on any news he may bring. I must remember, should he make a signal, to have a large pot of tea brought in. It is strange, or perhaps it isn’t, how the liking for it has spread to the planets we have visited. Vargo seems to think our simple popular beverage is the greatest contribution Earth has made to other civilizations.”

“I’m glad we’ve. . .