Mattoon High School - Riddle Yearbook (Mattoon, IL)

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30 THE RIDDLE aluminum run through a chemical process in- vented by our great chemist, Eloise Herron. This changed it into a substance which was very light, but hard. The propellers being light .made it possible for the engines to turn them over at a very high speed, thus making it pos- sible to attain a speed of 800 to 1200 miles per hour. The rest of the space of the airplane was taken up by the stores, oxygen tanks, cooking apartments, rest room, dining room, the sleep- ing quarters and the recreation parlor. On the top of the plane was a passage between the two side engines, and on the bottom was a passage from one end of the ship to the other. After we had all been taken on board and the engines warmed up, the captain, Lawrence Guthrie, gave the order for the gas to be turned into the gas compartments. Slowly the ship began to riseg then as the engines were turned on, it began to move forward and upward. After reaching a very high altitude, all the doors were closed making the inside air-tight. This was done to see if the oxygen would furnish air in which to breath when we got to the very light atmosphere which was supposed to be about fifty miles above the earth's sur- face. So successful was the experiment that it was decided to go up very high to try the ship to its greatest endurance. Accordingly the nose was pointed upward at a sharp angle, and all the power turned on. Upward we went at 965 miles an hour. In no time we were at the altitude at which there was sup- posed to be no air, but we could feel no dis- comfort whatever. Our success was very great indeed, just to think we had shattered all other records and in such a short time! As we could feel no discomfort at such a high altitude, we thought we might as well go farther, so the nose of the ship was again pointed upward and the ship put to its full speed. We flew this way for a while until we knew we were so far above the earth that if what we believed about the atmos- phere were true we could not exist. The man at the atmospheric gauge noticed that the pressure which had been changing all along had stopped. Then after flying this way for quite a while the gauge read a slight raise, and we knew that we were leaving space and entering the region of atmosphere again. This gave us hopes to go on, so after flying a short time the gauge showed a still greater rais-eg and the speed of the plane was getting faster and faster. After flying a while longer, the speed of the plane became so terrific that the captain de- cided to shut down the engines a little, but the speed kept increasing just the same. Some- thing must have gone wrongg for when the engines were completely stopped, the airplane kept going faster and faster. The captain be- gan to get excited, and the steel walls to get warm from such speed. He ordered the nose to be pointed down to a level angleg and at once the speed decreased somewhat, although the plane still went at a tremendous rate. The man at the observation window perceived through his powerful glasses an object which they were approaching very fast. After wait- ing several minutes, he could make out moun- tains, then a wide expanse of water. As the plane was coming to the land very rapidly, something had to be done to check the speed at which it was going, and the captain ordered more gas to be put into the gas compartments. This helped a great deal, but still the ship went at a speed of 100 miles per hour, so the captain next ordered the main engine to be started and the ncse pointed downward. Running the en- gine half open he found the ship came to a stop, and very slowly he allowed it to approach the land. The captain next ordered the doors of the ship to be opened and the oxygen turned off. But as soon as the doors were opened, the plane began to rise from the earth, the engine was then turned off, but still the plane rose. The gas was let out of the compartments until the ship began to fall once more to the earth. It was early evening when we landed, and we could not tell by looking around where we were. We were not even sure that we were on the earthg in fact, we doubted that very much, for we had never heard of a part of our world which had the description of such a place as this. There was semi-tropical vege- tation with beautiful flowers and trees of which we had never before heard. The sun, which was sinking in what we supposed was the west, gave a beautiful color to all the surroundings. It was time for supper, but no one wanted to eat. Everyone was full of adventure and anxious to go beyond the clear level place

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THE RIDDLE 29 trial, nor when he first received anything defi- nite, for that was the very next evening, and came unexpectedly to the inventor. He was in his laboratory tuning it up and going over it. He had tuned it all on and was trying to get the noises of the previous evening. He slid the indicator along, and caught a noise. He hur- riedly pushed the slide back until he again heard the noise and then listened. This is what he heard: -coming from the planet Utopia, and we are trying to establish communication with the earth. We have tried for 37 days and will continue to try to until we have heard from you in some way. If you have heard us, try to connect up at your end. We will broadcast again to-morrow, between the hours of 5 and 10 P. M. Class of '25 M. H. S.-Good-night. Mr. Clark was so surprised and happy that he coulld not wait until morning to tell the scientists. He called them all, told them his good luck and asked them to come the next evening at five o'clock so that they could talk with the others, if his apparatus would allow them, or at least hear from them at that time. They were very glad to come and were there early the next afternoon to hear for them- selves if possible. Before 5, they had the instruments ready, anxious to begin receiving. Promptly at 5, a noise was heard, the lights changed to a pale green, and the same voice was heard again. It said, This report comes from the planet Utopia, and we are trying to establish communication with the earth. We have tried for 38 days and will continue to try until we have heard from you in some way. If you have heard us, try to connect up at your end. We broadcast every evening from 5 until 10 P. M. If any one has heard us, we will now remain quiet for 30 minutes to give you a chance to talk to us. The group was astound- ed, but foremost in the minds of each one was to talk back to those on the other planet. Mr. Clark set about changing his switches and pre- paring his other instruments for use. When they were ready, he turned on the current and spoke into the oddly shaped box which re- sembled a telephone in some respects. This is station ABC broadcasting from New York City, U. S. A., Earth. We are attempting to communicate with persons living on the planet Utopia. We have heard your message, and want to talk to you. If you have heard us, answer back. When they found that they could talk to each other, the conversation grew very interesting, for the class had many ex- traordinary adventures to tell about. It was planned that a series of talks would be given which would be relayed from station ABC to the minor stations all over the -earth, so that every one could learn what had become of the Class of '25 from M. H. S. The first of these talks was to be given the next evening and would tell about the machine and the flight to the planet. After a personal conversation, the the talk was discontinued so that station ABC might broadcast it's success and inform the people to be ready for the message the follow- ing evening. The news was broadcasted, and. in all the morning papers there was an account of the connections. Everyone was curious and anx- ious to hear about the most extraordinary flight since the invention of the aeroplane. At five o'clock all those who could possibly get to a radio were there, ready to listen in, and the message came in on time and as clear as if it were being broadcasted from a local station. This is the planet Utopia broadcasting to the Earth. To-night our message will be a history of our trip to the planet Utopia. First I will give you a short description of our aircraft and how it operates. As you all know, Mr. Lawrence Guthrie and Mr. Joe Sawyer worked on this machine in secret for some time. The greatest difference between this craft and any other is that it did not have wings with which to keep itself in the air while in motion, but contained several gas compart- ments which held it in the air while the propel- lers were used to make it go forward. The ship was shaped like a cigar to reduce the head resistance, and in this manner it could be made to travel at a tremendous speed. This aircraft contained, as I have said, three gas compartments with which to raise it. These were located, one in front, one in the center and one in the rear. Th-ere were five engines with which to run the propellers, two on either side and one at the front. The one at the front was the main one, being about twice the size of each of the others. This engine produced 750 horse power at 5000 revolutions per minute. The propellers were of the best

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THE RIDDLE 31 where we had landed, but we realized that dark would soon be upon us and that we should make preparations for the night. We had to protect ourselves against any marauding tribes that might live around here and become too curious. Everyone was glad to feel the earth and anxious to sleep on firm ground again, but our captain, Lawrence Guthrie thought it would be best to sleep inside the machine for that one night. We retired earlyg but before doing so, we look- ed out in the heavens at the stars and saw them in many new posftions and wondered which one was our Earth. Early next morning we arose, rested with sleep and eager to explore, but our curi- osity was changed to fear when we saw inhabit- ants of the planet coming towards us. They were the tallest men of any we had ever seen, most of them being from seven and one-half to eight feet tall, and we felt as if we were pygrnies against giants. But they seemed friendly so we advanced to talk to them and to find from their expressions that they had been as afraid of us, whizzing down upon them in our giant machine, as we were of them. We could not understand their talk, but we understood their smiles and knew that they meant to be friendly. By gestures they asked us where we had come from, and we replied by pointing to the heavens. They showed amazement and then subjection, as if they thought we might be some kind of gods descended upon th-em. They took us to their town not far offg and from it's appearance we guessed that they were people of mighty stature, but few brains. They fed us on strange food, sheltered us in queer houses, and even protected us from others who were over- curious. They taught us their language which was strange and difficult, and it was two years be- fore we could really converse with them. But we had not been idle in those two yearsg we had selected a site for a city, had made plans for its government and industries, and had all the problems of establishing a new community worked out before we had really begun work on itg so that when we could understand the natives, we asked their permission to build ourselves a city. The natives had been very kind and generous and had appeared to stand in awe of us, but they disliked the idea of giving up their land entirely. They did promise, however, that we might build a city on the condition that we establish as perfect a com- monwealth as possible. We promised, although there was a little doubt in our minds Whether or not we could do this, now that it is all com- pleted, we know of no detail that could make a city more perfect than ours. After this radio message had been trans- mitted to the world, Mr. Clark talked privately to his friends on the planet. He started asking about this and that one and what part they had to do on the planet when Wm. Grant, at the other end of the communication, stopped him and suggested that Harry come to the planet and see everything for himself, also to remain there with them. He was greatly pleased and set about mak- ing plans for the trip. His radio was accepted and taken charge of by the government, which paid him a large price for his wonderful inven- tion. He was now a world-famous man belong- ing to a world-famous class An immense crowd was gathered to see the plane return, and for the three days it was on Earth, it was on exhibition to all who came from far and near to see it. And then it flew away again, this time taking from the earth all the members of the Class of '25. As the plane began to settle down to Utopia, Harry looked out of the windows and saw what looked like a great white wheel. They came closer, and Harry could see that this was their city laid out in that shape. He was anxious, having asked questions all the way upg but those who had came after him would not tell him much about the cityg they wanted him to see it all first. The plane lowered, and many beautiful buildings came into sight. Harry had not expected such a large city, for its streets stretched out in all directions. They landed in a large field at the edge of the city and were met by a party of four, formally introduced as the Governor and his assistants, but better known to Harry as Donald Weston, Fayma Bence, Ruth Peterson and Bertram Hamby. After a brief welcome, they left the large ship there to be put into its im- mence hanger, and transferred to a smaller aeroplane. Mr. Weston explained that there were twelve of these planes which had been built up there. They were used for trans- portation purposes instead of roadway vehicles , J