Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930

Kendrick ceased, moved toward a rheostat. As he made ready to touch it, a breathless tension settled upon the assemblage. Upon the outcome of what was now to happen rested the fate of America--and the world. Calmly, though every fiber of his being was at breaking stress, the young scientist opened the rheostat. For an instant, the ray seared down--then, as it boomeranged back, the disc burst into flame, dissolved, disintegrated. A thin dust, like carbon, slowly settled to the laboratory floor. Cutting off the current from the radio towers, Kendrick faced them, a light of triumph in his tired eyes. "You see--it works," he said. They saw. Beyond a doubt, it worked! And what Kendrick saw, as his eyes met Marjorie's, made him forget his fatigue. The rest was a mad scramble of preparation. Only a few brief hours remained, and much was to be done. The application of the principle that had just been demonstrated involved a hook-up from the Consolidated Electric laboratory with every broadcasting station in the metropolitan area, power being supplied by commandeering every generating plant within a radius of fifty miles. The city, moreover, had to be evacuated of all but the few brave hundreds who volunteered to stand by their posts at radio stations and generating plants. As for Kendrick, it was the busiest, most hectic morning he had ever experienced. Only the realization of a girl's love and a nation's trust enabled him to overcome the exhaustion of two sleepless nights. At length, a little before eleven, all was in readiness. Just two questions troubled the young scientist's mind. Had the people of the disc learned of their preparations to counter the attack? And would the improvised broadcasting apparatus of the area stand the stupendous strain that would be placed upon it if the ray came down?