Lord of Atlantis. John Russell Fearn

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СКАЧАТЬ itself, followed by the vast tidal waves that crashed in on the shores of the United States and Britain, was sufficient to cause inquiry in all directions. To the Golden Amazon it became a matter of paramount importance to discover what had happened. Though central London had survived the full fury of the tidal wave which had come up the Thames, a great deal of it was under water, and the new building projects had been destroyed to the accompaniment of a heavy death toll.

      It was an hour after the initial earthquake that the tidal wave arrived, and for another two hours after that, well into the afternoon, the Amazon was busy at her communications desk, asking for details of the disaster. In the office with her there still remained Chris Wilson, his wife, and Ethel. The Kerrigans had departed to their own executive offices.

      “As far as I can make out,” the Amazon said finally, “there is something abnormal out in the Atlantic—some kind of land-rise about which the facts are not clear. That, of course, would create a tremendous water displacement that would account for the tidal waves. I suppose I ought to go and look, but with things in their present state I don’t see how I can spare the time.”

      “I can,” Ethel offered. “There’s a New York air liner leaving in an hour. I could go and see what’s taken place, then radio the information back to you. Save a lot of secondhand reports. I could fly my own plane of course, but there are so many climatic upheavals at present I’d prefer the safety of a liner.”

      “Good enough,” the Amazon agreed promptly. “You do that.”

      Ethel nodded and hurried from the office, and the Amazon said: “A landrise in the Atlantic, coming on top of the report of that globular spacecraft seems remarkably coincidental. If, as I have suspected, it is Abna who has returned, the first thing he would perhaps do would be to try to resurrect the land where his ancestors were born—the continent of Mu, the mountains of which are believed to be the present Azores.”

      “But Vi, what on earth are you getting at?” Beatrice Wilson demanded blankly. “You don’t mean to say that this man, Abna, has deliberately created all this havoc? He wouldn’t! He’s not that kind.”

      The Amazon smiled. “It still takes you a long time to realise the lengths to which some men will go to achieve an object, Bee, doesn’t it? Believe me, if Abna was resolved on restoring Mu, and perhaps the lost city of Atlantis itself, he’d not for a moment consider the upheaval caused thereby. Anyway,” she added, shrugging, “it’s all assumption until we have definite information. Certainly I don’t propose to go rushing about to investigate until I get the facts.”

      Then the automatic speaker in the ceiling made an announcement. “Pilot Carson and Navigator Baxley to see you, Miss Brant. Most urgent communication.”

      She pressed a button on her desk and the two young men came in. “You have an urgent communication?” the Amazon asked briefly. “Please state it concisely.”

      “We’re just back from New York, Miss Brant,” Pilot Carson explained. “Considerable damage has been caused there, and all along the east coast of the Americas, by a tidal wave—damage similar to that caused here.”

      “Yes, yes, I know that.” The Amazon sounded and looked impatient. “I heard of it over the communications system. Have you nothing more important to report?”

      “There is dry land, about twenty miles in width, now linking America with Britain, which has resulted in partial submergence of other continents by the displacement of water. There is also a city.”

      “A city?” The girl’s violet eyes sharpened. “Where?”

      “Approximately near the middle of this newly created plateau, Miss Brant.” Carson gave the details and then added: “We saw the whole thing happen, from the moment this buried land and mountain range rose out of the depths. The mountain peaks used to be called the Azores. I have a filmed record of everything.”

      “Come into the laboratory where we have better facilities.”

      The Amazon led the way into a huge adjoining room filled with complicated instruments that she had devised.

      In silence the Amazon, Chris, and his wife—the two pilots in the background—stood watching the extraordinary scenes the cameras had recorded.

      “Seems to me that Ethel is going to have a trip in vain,” Chris said. “She can’t usefully add any more to this recording.”

      The Amazon said: “Let her go, Chris. Something more may have developed by the time she flies over this newly risen continent. Obviously, it is the resurrected Mu, just as I guessed—and that city under the giant dome is lost Atlantis, evidently perfectly preserved from its long immersion in the depths by the dome which has covered it. The spherical shape of the dome would lessen the deep-water pressure. All of which brings me back to one inevitable answer. Abna!”

      “Seems like it,” Chris admitted. “I can’t think of anybody else who could conceivably have any interest in lost Atlantis. Which in turn ties up with the mystery of that spacecraft.”

      The Amazon turned to the enormous radar telescope in the laboratory. It ‘found’ its objectives in broad daylight by the radar beam recoiling from a chosen spot in the heavens, the displays showing the size and position of the object. Seating herself at the control board, the Amazon went to work on the keys, her fingers playing up and down them until the beam struck the object for which she was seeking. She studied the readings and calculated swiftly. “That must be it,” she said finally. “It is 20,000 miles from Earth and moving in a slow orbit around Earth. Nothing else in that space location, so it isn’t a meteorite. We’ll have a look at it.”

      She switched on the motors controlling the telescope and set the guider that would direct it exactly at the object the radar beam had located. There was an interval as the masterpiece of engineering directed itself, then the viewing screen came to life, mirroring an image of the weird craft.

      It shone golden, while around its ‘equator’ there was ringed the curious-looking mirrors, or lenses. There were also signs of exterior catwalks on the object and the dull gleam of domes that could have been glass conning towers or outlook ports.

      For half an hour the Amazon studied it, then with grim face she switched off.

      “Seems to be of phenomenal size,” she said. “As big as a town and probably equipped with every known scientific device. Abna may be controlling it or he may not. Whoever it is, I’m perfectly sure that the person is responsible for the chaos on Earth here and the resurrection of Atlantis. And it may mean something much more menacing. Why resurrect Atlantis unless it is intended to use it? It doubtless contains many highly scientific engines of destruction, which, turned loose against us, might prove too much even for my science. The original Atlanteans were wizards of science against which my own knowledge might prove puny. I’ll fly out to this craft in the Ultra and see what I can learn. If it is Abna, maybe I can reason with him. If I can’t do that, then I can perhaps destroy him. Whichever course opens, he must be stopped!”

      “In other words,” Chris said, with a dry smile, “any chance is better than none to have a look at Abna again?”

      The Amazon flashed him a stony glance. “Don’t underrate the situation, Chris! There’s danger there; deadly danger, unless it is crushed at the start. You seem to have forgotten that Abna and I parted as enemies, so we’ll remain so. His science or mine. There isn’t room in the universe for both of us, and if he dares to invade my territory, I’ll wipe him out because I’ll have no alternative. Certainly I’ll never submit to his dictates.” СКАЧАТЬ