First Earthman on Mars

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NEXT ISSUE OF PLANET COMICS (No. 32. 5CPT. > ON SALE AT TOUR NEWSSTAND JULT 10H

"JOCTOR Sven Jorgennson sent
*-* the message to the world in
June, 1943. He spread ihe rocket
fuel over a great area of reddish
■and. spreading it thinly, for he
Could nnl have had much left
after his flight through the track*
less void, and then set il aflame
by using a long fuse.
I He set it just as he had prom*
lied he would on thai dreary
morning in March of Nineteen
J I u mired and Forty-three. He
flood near the escarpment, dwarf-
ed by the sleek cylinder at his
back, and it in turn made small
and insignificant by the moun-
tain. He had made no speech* for
only three men were before him,
three men who perhaps held the
destiny of the Solar S>slem in
their hands* He stood* and waved
his gloved hand, then slipped in-
lo the round port at his back.
The block of super steel and
insulation swung silently to on
hidden hinge*, thudded gently
into place. Thru the roofed ship
Has just an inanimate length of
glistening metal, and the three
wen were all alone on the rocky
plateau.

They ran from the ship, sprang

into the entrance of the cave
which had been their secret home
for more than two years. Safe*
they turned and stared with the
awed gaze of men who are see*
ing a miracle coming to com-
pletion.

There were no windows in the
ship; and the vision slits were
but tiny black scars near the
bow. Others were in the metal
skin, but closed now because uf
the flaming energy which soon
would ?ear the man-made r*hip
of destiny. There was no sound*
other than the eerie call of a
prowling wolf far awaj t and thr
cool wind bit &«p. into sweety
A ins.

Thev could sec the ship limned
in the moonlight* could see the
tiny planes of wings that would
help gurJe its flight in the air
of Earth, and they marvelled
again at the direct situ; .idly
of ih** streamlining thai made
lb*' side rorkcl tube- anil tin*
rear lube-* lit ->u perfectly with*

out visible joints.
Redness came t«» the rrar of

the ship, came and splashed
against the base of the mountain
in a fountain of flame. Doctor

Jorgennson was wsrnrint
tubes.

And almost before the min-
ute was past, hell hoi led from
the lapered stern of the rocket
>hip. It roared in a hell of dead-
ly energy and the echoes boomed
and raced through craggv moun-
tains* The watchers cringed from
the raving torrent of power, cov-
ering their e)vs against the blind*
ing light*

And when the> looked again,
the ship was gone.

Il was gone from the slanting
nadir that had been its bed for
many months. It had fled on that
roar of light and Masting flam*-,
and now it rode the heavens high
above* It was but a tiny streaky
of fire, darling: through the air.—
going higher than man had everO
j T onc, drilling its way toward llv*~
star*50ed Armament above. It*
v. a- gone, as it had planned to^
go, and only the thiee who had;J
been iis creators werr left u* j~
carry their *tory to the wuthl^

It Was completely gone. evcns{
ti* trail sucked out of sight inj-
the blackness of the night* amli.
behind it the men began their^f
weary journey back to the carcs^

PLANET COMICS

of a war-lorn world, lo people
whose thoughts were with them-
selves and not with the pioneer
who was the first to fly from
Earth in a rocket ship.

Doctor Sven Jorgennson was
gone, fleeing ever faster from
the whirling blue planet that had
given him birth. He wa* riding
the fulfillment of a dream born
Ion** before in his imagination.

We du not know what actually
happened out in space or on
Mars, the bloody planet* But we
du know what was expected, and
We can perhaps paint a word pic-
ture of what took place.
• • #

Doctor Jorgrnnsnn enmr to,
peered Wearily about the steel
cabin that was to be his home
for weeks. He was sick with an
illness such as he had never fell
before, and the fume* of th*
drug he had taken still swam
through his brain,

He l<iv on thr pneumatic
(u-liion of his bunk, and slt.wlv
Unfastened the strap* which hud
held htm tightly during the take-
off. By rendering himself un-
conscious and placing himself in
a spring-supported mattress of

air. he had mitigated the pain
and shock that would neces*arilv
come from the rocking blast of
Dttrt9ng jeven mile* per second
to escape the gravity of Earth.
He sat and swung hi? feet over
the *dgc of the bunk, and gasped
in dismay. He had forgotten that
gravity no longer gave a floor
and ceiling to his ship— he was
floating grot«quel\ through the
air.

Then he laughed, and caught
at one of the hand lines be had
Strung in all directions hour*
before. He drew himself erect.
and found that he was upside
down in relation to the instru-
ment panel. Pulling with hi*
hands, he turned himself about
in mid. air, until lh** control hoard
was right side up in relation to
hit body.

Pulling himwlf to the floor,

he examined the instruments,
nodded gleefully when h* - ^aw
thai all were working an hi* had
expected, Turning* he pullrd him-
•ell to the vision slit, udju*ted
the retractable U'h^cope so that
he could perr backward at Earth,
And as he looked, awe came
to him. He was the first of all

men to travel in space. Behind
him, 5wimming in the blnckne**,
of the cold void, was blue Earth,
the continents still distinct.

He was ill then, cramped with
vertigo brought on by hi* weight-
lesenett. Minutes later, he pulled
himself from his bunk, feeling
belter.

He checked his instruments,
making certain that thr hum of
driving rockets would continue, |
then made a brief circuit of the
ship, making certain that the
initial velocity had injured noth*
ing. Satisfied, he came back to
the main cabin, look food from
the locker.

Lifting a can of water, he.
punctured thr lid, then tried to
pour a glassful. Nothing hap*
pened. Frowning, he shook the-
can. gaped, as a splash of watrS
came out. forming instantly inlQ
a ball of crystal clearness thiW
flnaicd unsuspeiided in the ai5
I le smiled, watching it flnap
then reached out and touched i^J
Surface tension broke, and
water literally flowed over hi
hand and up his wrist.

He wiped the water awa^
then drank by sucking liqui

^d

ibroush one of the holes in the
can. He ale then, amusing him-
aelf by leaving the food lying
in the air until he was ready
for it. Later, hr was ill, his body
still unused lo the lack of gravity.

And so the da\s passed* in-
■terminably, hi* only duties the
'watching of the instruments, and
the recording of his journal. The
rocket* drummed steadily, com*
fortingly, and his thoughts were
his only rnmpanions.

The dead nmnn of Earth was
far behind, uhrn he shed the
outer shell of the rocket ship.
Built in layers nf metal and in-
sulation, with the precious rock-
rt fuel in between, each outer
shell was discarded as its inner
coating of fuel was exhausted.

He blew the outer shell apart
along its invisible seams with a
timed burst of specially*plac?d
jnckel bombs, then watched the

Eicce* whirl about the sh'p for
ours, draun to it by certain
gravitic stress. Later, the quarter
shells gradually fled back behind,
and the rocket ship flashed on
lo its meeting with the red plan-
et.

The days were monotonous
and he kept count of them only
W his journal Outside was only
the eternal night of uller space,
relieved by the unflickering white
dots of stars billions of lieht
rars away. Inside, except when
e slept, the lights glared end-
lesaly.

He wrote many things in those
passing days, thoughts and hopes
and actual conditions. His jour-
nal would be a living monument
to the others who would come
later.

His ship shed another shell,
and another, and then he was
soasting on impetus alone, his
rorkrtw silent for the first time
in days. He alnm>i went insane
then, for he had only his
thoughts, and the droning roar
ot the rockets had ceased their
friend!) throbbing. Hut he wa*
h Heel-like o» his thip f and he
forced hirnscll to do calisthenics
And games and puzzles to oc-
cupy his time and mind.

He had a radio, but it did not
work. There wa* only static, cre-
ated by solar rays. After a lime.

i

PLANET COMICS

he gave it no more heed.

He saw the red planet growing
larger and larger in his telescopr,
and excitement began to race his
blood agairt, for he was seeing
details more closely than had
any human. He made counties*
pictures and drawings, marvel-
ing over each new phase shown
him, his heart beginning (o ache
with his longing to feel rich
earth beneath his shoes again.

And then he was almost at
the last stage of his journey. He
reversed his rocket end for end
with judicious use of the side
rockets, placing it so that the
stern rockets could be used to
brake his fall.

He could sense the pull ot
gravitation for the first time in
days, and the effect made him
as ill as the first weightlessness
had. And so the hours and days
drifted by endlessly, and he came
full into the gravitation of Mars.

The ship plunged like a meteor
at the red planet, and he fixed
salvoes of rocket blasts lo halt
the free fall In speed, the ship
came to a comparative stand-
Mill, then drifted into the at-
mosphere of Mars.

He could feel the friction of
the air on the hull of the ship,
and his hands were gentle and
they caressed the firing studs on
the panel before hmi. He held his
eyes to the telescopic sights, fired
the rockets in a continual blast,
panic building in his mind as
the ship hurtled tuward the
ground below.

One last flare of rockets that
stalled the ship a hundred feet
over the sandy ground, and then
it cra*hrd, never lo flv again.

Yes. thai was the plan. Il was
lo he a one way trip for Doctor
Jorgennson. Conditions made it
impossible for (he ship ever lo
return under its own power.

And so the ship crashed, and
Jorgennson was bounced about
like a bug in a cup. He was Un-
injured, though, unci he made
hU tests of the air ouuidf,

The air hnuld maintain lite,
and au he slfpprd outride, ear*
rjing weapon* now, jusl in the

event that he met hostile beasts,

But he met no beast*. He stood
on the gritty red sand of a great

plain, and a few hundred yards
away was the edge of rich green
vegetation. He stared at the sky.
and he gave his thanks, then
turned and stared at the crea*
lures which came running over
the sands.

They were manlike in build,
but they weren't men. To Jor-
gennson they weren't even hu*
man. For a moment, he lifted
his g *n. Then he lowered it, and
Mood u.ul in j.

"Hello!" he called.

And at the sound nf his voire,
the creatures went prostrate be-
fore him. He had come from
the sky, had come from the black-
ness of apace in a great glitter-
ing egg. He was a Cod, and was
to be worshiped.

And so Doctor Sven Jnrgenn-
son had finished his flight. He
was on Mars, and the world was
his lo explore. He had found
intelligent beings, and they would
make il possible for him to live.
He had done *hat no other map
had ever done — he had soanned
space between two worlds,

Thuc it HU that a few Haj s
later. Doctor Jorgennson had the
Martians take the last of the
rocket fuel and scatter it over the
greatest area possible. Thus it
was (hat astmnnmers here on
Earth saw the liquid flare of
flame on the red planet and re-
ported it as a phenomenon. So
it is that three men know the
true story of how the glistering
space ship ua« built and a smil-
ing blond Swedish scientist trav-
eled to Mars.

Some day that story will be
given lo the world in every
detail. Some day wfaen Democ-
racy has wiped nut the intnlrj-
ance and hale of this wotld. 'hen^
other worlds will he explored 2
And when that day conies, whenQ
that pioneer rocket ship span^UJ
the star trails lo Mars, ma) 1^5
you ran be the first to step from 73
the ahip and greet the while man J
who rushes to greet you '*'■'•' !D
yuu can be another Stanley i ^
another Livingston. Ma) be you
rjin *ay: g

4 *l)ortor Jfirgeni

IMHL

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Maybe,

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Tho Crowdl-Colliff Publishing C*.
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