“The moon is only sixty-six thousand miles away.” Illustration by Frank R. Paul for “The Moon of Doom” by Earl L. Bell.
Published in “Amazing Stories Quarterly,” Vol. 1, No. 1 (Winter 1928)
“The next day Professor Sherard broadcast his last words to the world. It was the message of the last hope, a call for migration to the moon. . . The moon offers the only refuge if any of earth’s inhabitants are to survive. . . Within a normal week it will be not less than fifty-thousand, despite its retarded progress. Then its tides will leap higher than our loftiest peaks, many of which will be destroyed by earthquakes or undermined by the flood. . .
“When the moon has attained a proximity of about twenty-five thousand miles (and its approach stops and reverses), another glacial age will have truly come upon the earth. Though our globe may become a ball of ice like the distant planets Neptune and Uranus, it is possible that the fury of the tides will prevent the waters congealing as a whole. However, there will be icebergs rivaling Mount Everest in size. Moreover, the sorely perplexed planet will be all but split asunder by centrifugal force which is already manifesting itself in cataclysmic earthquakes. But the world will survive because of its density. . .” [Quoting the story]
[Note: In a recent movie directed by Roland Emmerich, "Moonfall" (2022), the moon is knocked out of its orbit and sent on a collision course with earth, Needless to say, the catastrophe that follows is on full display. Though fun to watch, the other stuff about a Dyson Sphere, white dwarf and rogue AI is nutty as a fruitcake.]
“The moon is only sixty-six thousand miles away.” Illustration by Frank R. Paul for “The Moon of Doom” by Earl L. Bell.
Published in “Amazing Stories Quarterly,” Vol. 1, No. 1 (Winter 1928)
“The next day Professor Sherard broadcast his last words to the world. It was the message of the last hope, a call for migration to the moon. . . The moon offers the only refuge if any of earth’s inhabitants are to survive. . . Within a normal week it will be not less than fifty-thousand, despite its retarded progress. Then its tides will leap higher than our loftiest peaks, many of which will be destroyed by earthquakes or undermined by the flood. . .
“When the moon has attained a proximity of about twenty-five thousand miles (and its approach stops and reverses), another glacial age will have truly come upon the earth. Though our globe may become a ball of ice like the distant planets Neptune and Uranus, it is possible that the fury of the tides will prevent the waters congealing as a whole. However, there will be icebergs rivaling Mount Everest in size. Moreover, the sorely perplexed planet will be all but split asunder by centrifugal force which is already manifesting itself in cataclysmic earthquakes. But the world will survive because of its density. . .” [Quoting the story]
[Note: In a recent movie directed by Roland Emmerich, "Moonfall" (2022), the moon is knocked out of its orbit and sent on a collision course with earth, Needless to say, the catastrophe that follows is on full display. Though fun to watch, the other stuff about a Dyson Sphere, white dwarf and rogue AI is nutty as a fruitcake.]