Part 6

"Can you imagine," mused Alice, "how the people in former centuries must have been inconvenienced when they wished to enjoy a play? I was reading only the other day how they had to prepare themselves for the theater hours ahead of time. They had to get dressed especially for the occasion and even went so far as to have different clothes in which to attend theaters or operas. And then they had to ride or perhaps walk to the playhouse itself. Then the poor things, if they did not happen to like the production, had either to sit all through it or else go home. They probably would have rejoiced at the ease of our Tele-Theaters, where we can switch from one play to another in five seconds, until we find the one that suits us best.

"Nor could their sick people enjoy themselves seeing a play, as we can now. I know when I broke my ankle a year ago, I actually lived in the Tele-Theater. I cannot imagine how I could have dragged through those dreary six weeks in bed without a new play each night. Life must have been dreadful in those days!"

"Yes, you are right," Ralph said. "Neither could they have imagined in their wildest dreams the spectacle I witnessed a few days ago.

"I happened to be passing this room and I heard such uproarious laughter that I decided to see what caused it all. Entering unnoticed, I found my ten-year-old nephew 'entertaining' half-a-dozen of his friends. The little rascal had plugged into a matinee performance of 'Romeo and Juliet' playing at the 'Broadway'--in English of course. He then plugged in at the same time into _Der Spitzbub_, a farce playing that evening in Berlin, and to this, for good measure, he added _Rigoletto_ in Italian, playing at the 'Gala' in Milan.

"The effect was of course horrible. Most of the time, nothing but a Babel of voices and music could be heard; but once in a while a single voice broke through the din, followed immediately by another one in a different language. The funniest incident was when, at the 'Broadway,' Juliet called: _Romeo, Romeo, where art thou, Romeo?_, and a heavy comedian at the Berlin Theatre howled: _Mir ist's Wurst, schlagt ihn tot!_

"Of course, everything on the stage was blurred most of the time, but once in a while extremely ludicrous combinations resulted between some of the actors at the various theaters, which were greeted with an uproar by the youngsters."

As he concluded the anecdote the curtain rose once more, and the audience of three settled back to enjoy the second act of the opera.

Later, when it was all over, they went down to the street floor at Ralph's suggestion, where they put on their Tele-motor-coasters, preparatory to seeing more of New York--this time by night.

The party proceeded to roll down Broadway, the historic thoroughfare of New York. Despite the fact that it was 11 o'clock at night, the streets were almost as light as at noonday. They were illuminated brilliantly by the iridium spirals, hanging high above the crossings. These spirals gave forth a pure, dazzling-white light of the same quality as sunlight. This light moreover was absolutely cold, as all electrical energy was transformed into light, none being lost in heat. Not a street was dark--not even the smallest alley.

James 212B 422, as well as his daughter, lingered over the superb displays in the various stores and they entered several to make a few purchases. Alice was much impressed with the automatic-electric packing machines.

The clerk making the sale placed the purchased articles on a metal platform. He then pushed several buttons on a small switchboard, which operated the "size" apparatus to obtain the dimensions of the package. After the last button was pressed, the platform rose about two feet, till it disappeared into a large metal, box-like contrivance. In about ten to fifteen seconds it came down again bearing on its surface a neat white box with a handle at the top, _all in one piece_. The box was not fastened with any strings or tape, but was folded in an ingenious manner so that it could not open of its own accord. Moreover, it was made of _Alohydrolium_, which is the lightest of all metals, being one-eighth the weight of aluminum.

The automatic packing machine could pack anything from a small package a few inches square up to a box two feet high by three feet long. It made the box to suit the size of the final package, placed the articles together, packed them into the box which was not yet finished, folded the box after the handle had been stamped out, stenciled the firm's name on two sides and delivered it completely packed, all within ten to fifteen seconds.

The box could either be taken by the purchaser or the clerk would stencil the customer's name and address into the handle, place a triangular packet-post stamp on the box and drop it into a chute beside the counter. It was carried down into the _Packet-Post Conveyor_, which was from seventy-five to one hundred feet below the level of the street, where it landed on a belt-like arrangement moving at the rate of five miles an hour. The action was entirely automatic and the chute was arranged with an automatic shutter which would only open when there was no package immediately below on the moving belt. This precluded the possibility of packages tumbling on top of each other and in this way blocking the conveyor tube.

When the package had landed on the conveyor belt it traveled to the nearest _distributor office_, where the post office clerk would take it from the belt and see if it was franked correctly. The stamp was then machine cancelled and after the clerk had noted the address he routed it to the sub-station nearest to the addressee's home. Next he clamped onto the package an automatic metal "rider" which was of a certain height, irrespective of the size of the package.

The package with its rider was placed on an express conveyor belt traveling at the rate of 25 miles an hour. This express belt, bearing the package, moved at an even speed, and never stopping, passed numerous sub-stations on the way. At the correct sub-station the rider came against a contact device stretching across the belt at right angles, at a certain height. This contact arrangement closed the circuit of a powerful electromagnet placed in the same line with the contact, a few feet away from the express belt. The electromagnet acted immediately on the metal package (Alohydrolium is a magnetic metal), drawing it in a flash into the sub-station from the belt. If there was another package right behind the one so drawn out, it was handled in the same manner.

After the package had arrived at the sub-station it was despatched to its final destination. Another rider was attached to it and the package placed on a local conveyor belt passing by the house to which it was addressed. On arriving at the correct address its rider would strike the contact overhead, which operated the electromagnet, pulling the package into the basement of the house, where it fell on the platform of an electric dumb-waiter. The dumb-waiter started upward automatically and the package was delivered at once.

By this method a package could be delivered in the average space of forty minutes from the time of purchase. Some packages could be delivered in a much shorter time and others which had to travel to the city limits took much longer.

"How wonderful!" Alice exclaimed after Ralph had explained the system. "It must have taken decades to build such a stupendous system."

"No, not quite," was the reply. "It was built gradually by an enormous number of workers. The tubes are even now extended almost daily to keep pace with the growth of the city."

From the stores Ralph took his guests to the roof of an aerocab stand and they boarded a fast flyer.

"Take us about 10,000 feet up," Ralph instructed the driver.

"You haven't much time," the man answered, "at 12 o'clock all cabs must be out of the air."

"Why?"

"Today is the 15th of September, the night of the aerial carnival, and it's against the law to go up over New York until it's all over. You have twenty-five minutes left, however, if you wish to go up."

"I forgot all about this aerial carnival," said Ralph, "but twenty-five minutes will be time enough for us if you speed up your machine."

The aerial flyer rose quickly and silently. The objects below seemed to shrink in size and within three minutes the light became fainter.

In ten minutes an altitude of twelve thousand feet had been reached, and as it became too cold, Ralph motioned to the driver not to rise further.

The spectacle below them was indescribably beautiful. As far as the eye could see was a broad expanse studded with lights, like a carpet embroidered with diamonds. Thousands of aerial craft, their powerful searchlights sweeping the skies, moved silently through the night, and once in a while an immense transatlantic aerial liner would swish by at a tremendous speed.

Most beautiful of all, as well as wonderful, were the _Signalizers_. Ralph pointed them out to his guests, saying:

"In the first period of aerial navigation large electric lamps forming figures and letters were placed on housetops, and in open fields that the aerial craft above might better find their destinations. To the traffic flying 5,000 feet or higher such signals were wholly inadequate, as they could not be correctly read at such a distance. Hence the signalizers. These are powerful searchlights of the most advanced type, mounted on special buildings. They are trained skyward and shoot a powerful shaft of light directly upward. No aerial craft is allowed to cross these light shafts. Each shaft gives a different signal; thus the signalizer in Herald Square is first white; in ten seconds it changes to red and in another ten seconds it becomes yellow. Even an aerial liner at sea can recognize the signal and steer directly into the Herald Square pier, without being obliged to hover over the city in search of it. Some signalizers have only one color, flashing from time to time. Others more important use two searchlights at one time, like the one at Sandy Hook. This signalizer has two light shafts, one green and one red; these do not change colors, nor do they light periodically."

From on high Ralph's guests marveled at these signalizers, which pierced the darkness all around them. It was a wonderful sight and the weird beauty of the colored shafts thrilled Alice immeasurably.

"Oh, it is like a Fairyland," she exclaimed. "I could watch it forever."

But presently the aerocab was descending rapidly and in a few minutes the strong light from below had obliterated the light shafts. As the craft drew closer the streets could be seen extending for miles like white ribbons and the brilliantly lighted squares stood out prominently. They landed, at the stroke of twelve, and Ralph found three unoccupied chairs on the top of one of the public buildings and only then did they notice that hundreds of people were seated, watching the sky expectantly.

At the last stroke of twelve, all the lights below went out and simultaneously the light shafts of all the searchlights. Everything was plunged in an utter darkness.

Suddenly overhead at a great height the flag of the United States in immense proportions was seen. It was composed of 6,000 flyers, all together in the same horizontal plane. Each flyer was equipped with very powerful lights on the bottom, some white, some red, others blue. Thus an immense flag in its natural colors was formed and so precisely did the flyers co-operate that, although they all were at least 50 feet from each other, the appearance to those below was that of an unbroken silk flag, illuminated by a searchlight. The immense flag began to move. It passed slowly overhead, describing a large circle, so that the entire population below obtained a perfect view.

Everyone applauded the demonstration. Then as suddenly as it had appeared the flag vanished and all was once more in darkness. Ralph explained to his guests that the lights of each one of the aerial flyers had been shut off simultaneously in preparation for the next spectacle.

All at once there was seen an enormous colored circle which revolved with great rapidity, becoming smaller and smaller, as though it were shrinking. Finally it became a colored disc, whirling rapidly on its axis. In a few seconds, the edge opened and a straight line shot out, the disc unrolling like a tape measure. After a few minutes more, there remained nothing of the disc. It had resolved itself into a perfectly straight many-hued line, miles long. Then the lights went out again. The next spectacle was a demonstration of the solar system. In the center a large sun was seen standing still. Next to the "sun" a small red round globe spun rapidly about it, representing the planet Mercury. Around both the sun and the "planet" Mercury revolved another globe, blue in color; this was Venus. Then followed a white orb, the "Earth" with the moon turning about it. Next came the red planet Mars with its two small moons, then green Jupiter and its moons, and Saturn in yellow. Uranus was orange and lastly came Neptune in pink, all globes and their moons traveling in their proper orbits around the "sun."[5] While the spectacle was in progress a white "comet" with a long tail traveled across the paths of the planets, turned a sharp corner around the "sun," its tail always pointing away from that body, recrossed the orbits of the "planets" again on the other side and lost itself in the darkness.

Several other spectacles were presented, each more superb than the one preceding it. The carnival closed with a light-picture of the Planet Governor. This was exhibited for fully five minutes during which time the applause was continuous.

"We have never seen such a marvelous spectacle," James 212B 422 declared. "You Americans still lead the world. Upon my word, the old saying that 'Nothing is impossible in America,' still holds good."

It was after one when they reached the house, and Ralph suggested a light lunch before they retired for what remained of the night. The others assented and Ralph led the way to the _Bacillatorium_.

The Bacillatorium, invented in 2509 by the Swede 1A 299, was a small room, the walls and bottom of which were composed of lead. On each of the four sides were large vacuum bulbs on pedestals. These tubes, a foot in height and about six inches thick and two feet in diameter, were each equipped with a large concave Radio-arcturium cathode. The glass of the tube in front of the cathode had a double wall, the space between being filled with helium gas.

The rays emanating from the cathode, when the tube was energized with high oscillatory currents, were called _Arcturium Rays_ and would instantly destroy any bacilli exposed to them for a few seconds. Arcturium Rays, like X-rays, pass through solid objects, and when used alone burned the tissue of the human body. It was found, however, that by filtering arcturium rays through helium no burns would result, but any germ or bacillus in or on the body would be killed at once.

The Bacillatorium was prescribed by law and each citizen ordered to use it at least every other day, thus making it impossible for the human body to develop contagious diseases. As late as the 20th century more than half the mortality was directly attributable to diseases communicated by germs or bacilli.

The Bacillatorium eradicated such diseases. The arcturium rays, moreover, had a highly beneficial effect on animal tissue and the enforced use of the Bacillatorium extended the span of human life to between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and forty years, where in former centuries three score and ten was the average.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 3: Since this was written a national playground has actually been created at Montauk, L.I. A rather strange coincidence.]

[Footnote 4: At the time this was written, no illuminated, night time sports fields existed.]

[Footnote 5: In 1911 the outer planet Pluto had as yet not been discovered.]

6

"GIVE US FOOD"

The following day was set aside for a visit to the Accelerated Plant Growing Farms. It had been known for hundreds of years that certain plants, such as mushrooms, could be fully developed in a few days. Plant or vegetables grown under glass and the temperature within kept at a high point, would grow at great speed and be ready for the market long before those grown in the open.

But only recently, as Ralph explained to Alice, had it been possible to do this on a large scale. To be sure, certain vegetables, like asparagus, lettuce, peas, etc., had been produced in hothouses for hundreds of years, but these, after all, were rather luxuries, and could not be classed as essentials.

When, about the year 2600, the population of the planet had increased tremendously and famines due to lack of such essentials as bread and potatoes had broken out in many parts of the world, it was found vitally necessary to produce such necessities on a larger scale and with unfailing regularity. These farms became known under the term of Accelerated Plant Growing Farms and were located in every part of the world. The first (and now obsolete) European and African farms were built along the lines of the old-fashioned hothouses. The European farms were simply horizontal steel-latticed roofs, with ordinary glass panes, permitting the sunlight to penetrate to the soil beneath. While covering huge acreages, they were not heated artificially, using only the sun's rays to accelerate plant growth. As compared with Nature's single crop of wheat or corn, two could be made to grow in the same season by means of these super hothouses.

Similar farms were used in America until Ralph undertook their study and approached the subject from a scientific angle. One of his first efforts was to obtain greater heat for these huge hothouses. One of these hothouses is about three miles long and the same width. Ralph took the existing hothouses, which were simply oblong steel and glass boxes, and built a second hothouse box covering each of them, thus creating a double-walled, air-locked hothouse. The second glass-paneled wall was about two feet inside the outer one. This left dead air locked between the walls, and as air is a poor heat conductor, the heat in the hothouse was retained longer, particularly during a cold night.

Ralph and Alice left early in the morning, winging their way in an aeroflyer toward northern New York, where there were many Accelerated Plant Growing Farms. When the farms came into view, the entire country below, so far as the eye could see, appeared to be dotted with the glass-covered roofs of the plants, reflecting the sunlight and affording an unusual sight. Alice marveled at their number, for while she had seen some of these farms in Europe, she had never seen so many grouped together of such immensity.

Within a few minutes, they landed near one of the giant hothouses. The manager led them inside of the farm labeled No. D1569.

D1569 was exclusively a wheat growing farm. Where Mother Nature used to grow one crop of wheat a year, Ralph's latest Accelerator made it possible to grow four, and sometimes five crops a year. In the old-fashioned European farms such as Alice knew, only two crops could be grown.

"How is it possible," she asked, "that you can obtain three more crops a year than we do in Europe?"

"In the first place," said Ralph, "it may be taken as an axiom that the more heat you supply to plant growth, the quicker it will grow. Cold and chilly winds retard plant growth. Electricity and certain chemicals increase the ratio of growth, a fact that has been known for many centuries. It is, however, the scientific application of this knowledge that makes it possible to raise five crops a year. The European farms use only the heat of the sun to stimulate plant growth, but during the night, when the temperature drops, growth is practically nil.

"Notice that the top and sides of our hothouses have two walls. In other words, one hothouse is built within another. The air locked between the two hothouses is an excellent heat insulator and even though the sun is low at 4 o'clock, the temperature is practically unchanged in the hothouse, at 8 or 9 o'clock in the evening. Even in the winter, when the sun sets about 4 o'clock and it is cold, we are able to store up enough heat during the day to keep a high temperature as late as 7 and 8 o'clock. If we did nothing between the hours of 8 in the evening and 8 in the morning, the temperature would continue to fall to a point where no plant growth would be possible.

"Here in America we had to have a greater production to supply our huge population. It was a pure case of necessity. So we had to employ artificial heating during the night.

"If we start sinking a shaft into the earth, the heat increases rapidly as we go down--more quickly in some parts of the world than others. On an average, the temperature rises about one degree Fahrenheit each 100 feet of depth. We found it economic, therefore, to use the earth's own heat to heat our farms.

"By means of high speed drills, we can cut a three-foot shaft 3,000 feet deep in the earth in less than a month. We go down until we strike a temperature around 100 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Then we lower steel tanks into the cavity and run pipes up to the surface. The tanks are filled with water and two larger pipes run from each tank into the circulating system of pipes, around the lower walls throughout the length and breadth of the farms. The shafts are then closed at the top and we have a circulating system that is both cheap and efficient. The hot water continually rises into the pipes and circulates. As it cools, it flows down again into the tanks, where it is reheated and rises again. Thus the temperature of our farms is uniform all the year around and plant growth is as rapid during the night as during the day.

"Heat alone, however, is not sufficient. We should still get only a normal growth. We wanted five crops a year. I put my research forces to work studying fertilizers. While the old nitrogen fertilizers were excellent, they were not suitable for high pressure, high speed growing methods. We evolved chemicals which were both cheap and easy to apply. We found that small quantities of _Termidon_, when mixed with water and sprayed over the field by overhead sprayers, which you will see running along the ceiling, would accelerate the growth of the crops enormously.

"This liquid Termidon is sprayed over the entire length and breadth of the field before planting time, so that the soil becomes well soaked. The Termidon immediately turns the soil into a rich, dark strata, the best soil for potatoes, wheat, or corn. No other fertilizer need be used, the Termidon, applied after every growth, giving the soil all the vitality necessary."

They were now in the field, when suddenly Alice asked:

"What is the peculiar tingling in the soles of my feet, I feel as we walk along? You are using some electrical vibrations, I suppose."