il, watching the moonlit waters, stood Phillip Parkinson, owner of the yacht. A bacteriologist of international fame was Parkinson, on an early vacation to recuperate from th

m, a meteor, a great disc of blue-white incandescence. It seemed to be rushing straig

the ocean, as far as eye could see, became as light as day. Bathed in that baleful, white

t, Parkinson saw a gigantic column of steam and boiling water leap up from the sea. Then thick, impe

r's passage through the atmosphere; an ear-splitting roar, as of the simultaneous release of the thunder-drums of ages; a howling demon of wind; a solid wall of raging,

arkinson felt himself hurtling through the roaring air. For a moment he heard the infern

that of the night-and Pa

yet penetrating throbbing coming from beneath the surface on which he lay. Vaguely he w

aware of a dull aching throughout his entire body. In his chest it

g swell swept in and dashed themselves against the rocks a few feet away. Rocks? For a moment Parkinson stared at t

, there were no islands in that part of the Atlantic; yet his very position belied the truth. He could not have drifted to the mainland;

of the sun beating down upon it were thrown back with an uncomfortable intensity; the substance of the island was a lustrous, copperlike metal. No soil softe

n suddenly he realized the truth. This was the meteor! Obviously, this wa

but how long would he remain alive without food or water, and without hope of securing either? Unless he would be picked up by a passing steamer, he would di

rs, he was certain, for the sun had been at its zenith when he had awakened. No less than fifteen hours had gone by since water-other than

y circled the island. As he had expected, it was utterly barren. With shoulders drooping in

throbbing, that strange pulsing beneath the surface of the meteor. But now it was far more

ght that at the very shortest, an hour passed by while he remained on that spot. And during

lurch, to tilt at a sharp angle. His leap carried him to firm footing again. And then, his thirst and hop

While he watched, it began turning slowly, ponderously, and started sinking into the meteor. As it sank

re him in the very place where, not more than ten minutes

. What would happen next, he had not the least idea, bu

high-pitched whir coming from the heart of the meteor. As it grew louder, it assumed a higher and still higher

el, like a bronze cincture, around its middle. It was the whirling of this great wheel that had caused the high-pitched whirring. The entire, stran

nding a few feet away from Parkinson. Hastily he drew back from the greenly phosphorescent th

the green radiance vanished. At the same moment, three heavy metal supports sprang from equi-distant po

posite side of the car. Quickly, Parkinso

s of space, any being in its interior, unnatural as that seemed, would have assumed a form quite different from the human. Of cour

cate, transparent white. They looked rather ghostly in their tight-fitting white suits. It was not this that made them seem queer, howeve

of Parkinson, if anything, was greater than the start their appearance had given him. He, at lea

cold-blue eyes. Then Parkinson extended his h

Welcome

taring at him. Their attitude at first was quizzical, specul

and conversed in low tones in some unintelligible tongue. For almost a

istinctly menacing in their attitudes. The men from the meteor were tall, but they were thin; Parkinson, too, was large, and his six-foot length

he only blow that Parkinson struck; in a moment he found himself lying prone upon his back, utterly helpless, his body completely paralyzed. What they had done to him, h

threw him over his shoulder. The other assisted his groaning fellow. When the latter had

ate machinery of any sort in the square room; probably what machinery there was lay between the interior and exterior

e floor. The man who had carried him stepped over to the controls. Like those of a skilled

erived from a similar ride in an elevator. They sank very slowly for some

e, and in the awkward position in which he was carried, with his head close to the floor, he could see little of the room through which they passed, in spite of the light. Later, however, he learned that it was cir

r he had been strapped fast, one of the men placed his hands at the base of the bacteriolo

that seemed lost in a tangled maze of machinery. Each meteor-man grasped one of the instruments resembli

, like a swarm of angry bees-felt a peculiar, so

device on his head was removed and put away; and then, to Parkinson's

etely in our power. Any effort to escape will be futile, for there is only one way to reach the outside; the opening through the top; and only one means o

give you some measure of freedom. We'll do this because you can

by rejecting their offer. "Of course I'll promise. But-b

our head created a duplicate of your knowledge in our minds. We kn

stion came to his mind as the men released him. He

ll our entire story so that you'll have n

been overcrowded. A short time ago, the conditions became so acute that something had to be d

with which you are totally unfamiliar, and constructed several missiles which they hurled at Earth. These missiles, spherical masses closely resembling meteors, were set to expl

mposed of our greatest heat-resister, a metal we call thoque; I see no corresponding word in y

ed here. With our thoque disintegrator, we bored a passageway to the surface of this gre

suffice! Ask no questions; we do not wish to be dis

inced Parkinson that for the moment, at least, he had bette

e know that you have not had food or water for a rather lengthy period

able in one of the rooms, drinking water from

ce became a ceaseless round of toil. The Venerian had said that he would be given some measure of freed

the vehicle at the base of the shaft, one by one; to rise to the surface with them, accompanied by t

ue eyes. Only one thing kept hope alive: by watching the Venerians operate the car, he was slowly gaining a knowledge of t

pe for deliverance. They had just brought another slab to the surface, when a steamer ap

ndle at one end, and pointed it at the vessel. For a moment he held it thus, moving it slowly backward and forward: then he returned it to its place of co

rians filled him with a dread so great that he refused to admit it to himself. That that had not bee

very tall lighthouse. This resemblance held true only until its top was reached; there it ended. From the tower's top extended four long, hollow arms, so constructed that they whirled about the towe

s, Parkinson could not guess: later, he l

y watched by one of his captors. They let him eat all the food he desired, and let him lie around as much as he wish

eling labors, the leader of the Venerians approached him from behind, and be

f Venus on Earth," he said in his expressionless voice. And so