Art by Frank R. Paul for L. Taylor Hansen’s “What the Sodium Lines Revealed” in “Amazing Stories Quarterly,” Vol. 2, No. 1 (Winter, 1929).
Answer: The sodium lines revealed a morse code from Jupiter telling this strange story.
“In the center of one of these groups on a great crystal chair, reclined a creature of about eight feet in height, whose shining silver scales reflected the mingled light with a dull gleaming radiance. . . Assured by a nod from Moa, I knew it was the Magu, and I looked at it curiously.” [Accompanying description]
The setting is an underground city on the third moon of Jupiter (referred to in the story as "Five-Three," the third moon of the fifth planet). The young man is Davie. He ended up unexpectedly with his dad on a journey aboard dad’s secretly-built spaceship to Mars, which got diverted to Jupiter’s moon instead. His dad did not survive the rough landing on the moon.
The young lady, Moa, is a resident of the underground city on Jupiter’s moon and can converse with Davie in Greek. Her ancestors were from “Atlanta-Mu” (Atlantis) and were taken captive by men of Mars millennia ago. According to Moa, “the men of Four (Mars) came down in seven great metal ships and landed in the Palace Gardens in Atlanta-Mu just after its defeat by the Greeks. . . The men of Atlanta-Mu were superstitious and thought these strange things were fiends of some kind, because they thought that their Gods looked like us, you see, and so they fought the men of Four (Mars). . . In that battle many people were captured and all kinds of things . . . were crowded into the metal ships and carried to the white cities of Four.”
“But, Moa, tell me then why you are here and not on Four?”
“Because these men [the Beetle-men seen in the background] of Five-Three breathe the air about the density that we are used to. . . Four is a very old world, Davie, and I suppose that they look upon our little span of history as a day and upon us as children. . . The men of Five-Three are kind and allow us a great deal of liberty in their city.”
“And who is this Magu?”
“A scientist from Four who lives in the observatory and consults with the inner circle of learned men from Five-Three on their problems.”
“A sort of commander-in-chief from Mars?”
“Not a commander – just adviser. He does not stay here long. Another relieves him and he goes back to Four to recover. It is the atmospheric pressure – you see, it is as if we were to go down to the sea floor. We can stay for a while, but not very long.” [Excerpts from a conversation between Moa and Davie]
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"Lucile Taylor Hansen (1897 – 1976) was an American writer of science fiction and popular science articles and books who used a male writing persona for the early part of her career. She is the author of eight short stories, nearly sixty nonfiction articles popularizing anthropology and geology, and three nonfiction books." -- Wikipedia
Art by Frank R. Paul for L. Taylor Hansen’s “What the Sodium Lines Revealed” in “Amazing Stories Quarterly,” Vol. 2, No. 1 (Winter, 1929).
Answer: The sodium lines revealed a morse code from Jupiter telling this strange story.
“In the center of one of these groups on a great crystal chair, reclined a creature of about eight feet in height, whose shining silver scales reflected the mingled light with a dull gleaming radiance. . . Assured by a nod from Moa, I knew it was the Magu, and I looked at it curiously.” [Accompanying description]
The setting is an underground city on the third moon of Jupiter (referred to in the story as "Five-Three," the third moon of the fifth planet). The young man is Davie. He ended up unexpectedly with his dad on a journey aboard dad’s secretly-built spaceship to Mars, which got diverted to Jupiter’s moon instead. His dad did not survive the rough landing on the moon.
The young lady, Moa, is a resident of the underground city on Jupiter’s moon and can converse with Davie in Greek. Her ancestors were from “Atlanta-Mu” (Atlantis) and were taken captive by men of Mars millennia ago. According to Moa, “the men of Four (Mars) came down in seven great metal ships and landed in the Palace Gardens in Atlanta-Mu just after its defeat by the Greeks. . . The men of Atlanta-Mu were superstitious and thought these strange things were fiends of some kind, because they thought that their Gods looked like us, you see, and so they fought the men of Four (Mars). . . In that battle many people were captured and all kinds of things . . . were crowded into the metal ships and carried to the white cities of Four.”
“But, Moa, tell me then why you are here and not on Four?”
“Because these men [the Beetle-men seen in the background] of Five-Three breathe the air about the density that we are used to. . . Four is a very old world, Davie, and I suppose that they look upon our little span of history as a day and upon us as children. . . The men of Five-Three are kind and allow us a great deal of liberty in their city.”
“And who is this Magu?”
“A scientist from Four who lives in the observatory and consults with the inner circle of learned men from Five-Three on their problems.”
“A sort of commander-in-chief from Mars?”
“Not a commander – just adviser. He does not stay here long. Another relieves him and he goes back to Four to recover. It is the atmospheric pressure – you see, it is as if we were to go down to the sea floor. We can stay for a while, but not very long.” [Excerpts from a conversation between Moa and Davie]
-------------------------------------------------------
"Lucile Taylor Hansen (1897 – 1976) was an American writer of science fiction and popular science articles and books who used a male writing persona for the early part of her career. She is the author of eight short stories, nearly sixty nonfiction articles popularizing anthropology and geology, and three nonfiction books." -- Wikipedia