Исай Лукодьянов - The Black Pillar

The volunteers boarded the rig in protective suits and rigged up instruments equipped with automatic radio-transmitters. Now the triangular pens of the recorders in the radar cabin of the "Fukuoka Maru" traced quivering coloured lines on ruled tapes and computers processed this information. The scientists were in continuous conference.

The journalists were not admitted to the instrument cabin. They felt something of vast importance was taking place and that a sensation without parallel was imminent. A number had already tried to send descriptions of the storm to their papers, served up with their own conjectures; but the radio cabin accepted no communications without Stamm's endorsement, and the Austrian was inexorable. He mercilessly cut out everything in the way of scientific hypotheses, and only pitiful scraps remained, as a result, of these dispatches.

Tokunaga and Morozov had several radio conversations with the International Geophysical Centre. Lagrange, the lively correspondent of "Paris Soir", caught them once as they were returning from the radio cabin. He followed them stealthily down the passage with his portable tape-recorder switched on and managed to record part of their conversation.

There was no hope of communicating this priceless record to his paper: Stamm would simply confiscate the tape. Lagrange, not wishing to part with his exclusive sensation, restrained himself for a long time, but eventually gave up the struggle. He called all his fellow-journalists together in the press saloon, asked for silence, and switched on the tape-recorder.

There was the usual noises, followed by a muffled conversation in English:

"Its speed is accelerating."

"Yes, it's overtaking us and leaves us no time.

Did you hear the navigation officer's report? The magnetic compass has deviated from the meridian."

"A very complicated picture. As for your conjecture regarding the magnets…"

"I wish I were mistaken, believe me. But with this reconstruction of the structure… Excuse me, Masao-san. What do you want, sir?"

"Me?" Lagrange was heard to say in his rapid manner. "Oh, cher maitre, nothing at all, absolutely nothing. I simply…"

"Well, the rest is uninteresting," and to general laughter Lagrange switched off his recorder.

"Sell me that text, Lagrange," said a big American in a Hawaiian shirt.

"What do you want it for, Jacobs? Do you by any chance think that your charm will soften the heart of our Austrian Cerberus?"

"My paper won't grudge the expense."

"You're mistaken there, Jacobs!" cried Lag-range, slapping himself on the thigh. "Stamm is more incorruptible than Robespierre. I don't understand a thing about science, but I do about people, I assure you! You can cut this Stamm up with a blunt saw, and still…"

Somebody pulled him by the sleeve.

At the doors of the saloon stood Stamm, upright and impassive.

"I am highly flattered, gentlemen," he said in a quavering voice, "that you do not doubt my professional integrity."

Then he walked ceremoniously up to the table, put a folder down before him, and cast a severe glance at the journalists.

"Gentlemen," he said, waiting till there was complete silence and adjusting his spectacles, "I have been charged with the task of imparting an important communication to you. In view of the extraordinary circumstances it has been decided you should inform your offices immediately. You will be given the printed text of the communiquй of the Presidium of the IGY. We ask you to transmit it to your editorial offices without distortion or addition. Analogous texts have already been sent by radio to the United Nations and certain other international organizations."

"What's happened?" a chorus of voices exclaimed.

"Will you comment on the communiquй?"

"That is why I have come here," said Stamm. And he began a commentary, weighing every word.' "Radar measurements show that the speed of the black pillar is accelerating rapidly. Its summit is now over eighty kilometres above sea level and deviates to the west as a result of the rotation of the Earth. The air at the surface of the Earth, I dare say you are aware, conducts electricity scarcely at all, but at a height of eighty kilometres the conductivity of air increases enormously and equals that of sea water. That is why, having attained this height, the black pillar which apparently possesses a very high conductivity, close to superconductivity, has caused this extraordinary and unparalleled thunderstorm, that is to say, these powerful discharges of atmospheric electricity."

Stamm paused for breath after delivering this long sentence. The deafening rumble of the storm could be heard.

"Now I come to the most important point," he continued. "By evening the pillar will have' reached the ionized layer of the atmosphere. The ionosphere, as you should also know, is electrically charged: its potential in relation to the surface of the Earth is in the region of two hundred thousand volts. Observations have shown that currents of conductivity have appeared in the pillar, and its own field, a highly specific one, has already come into being around it. It will intensify sharply when the pillar enters the ionosphere and a peculiar form of interaction commences. The Earth will be short-circuited with its own ionosphere."

The journalists, who had been tensely expecting a sensation, sighed with disappointment and exchanged glances: more incomprehensible talk about fields.

"The Earth, however, will not lose its electric charge," continued Stamm, "for the continuous flow of high-energy particles from space will not cease, of course. The magnetic field of the Earth is a huge trap for these particles according to many scientists. But as a result of short circuiting, the properties of the magnetic trap will be considerably altered. We very much fear, gentlemen, that this whole complex of phenomena- and, above all, the still unexplained specific nature of the pillar's field-may cause fundamental changes in the structure of the magnetic field of the planet. There are signs that it may… We are afraid that it will cause the demagnetization of all permanent magnets."

Stamm fell silent.

"Why should they be demagnetized?" asked Jacobs in his tranquil voice.

"Magnets are demagnetized by heat or by a blow," exclaimed Olovyannikov. "But there's neither the one nor the other."

"Yes, gentlemen," said Stamm, who seemed rather agitated. "By a blow or heating above the Curie point. The alteration to the structure of the Earth's magnetic field will, according to certain indications, have the same effect on a magnet as a strong blow or intense heat. To be more precise, as what specifically from this complex of phenomena affects the magnetic conditions of a solid… I beg your pardon, I have wandered rather from the subject of my statement." Stamm coughed and adjusted his spectacles. "So, if our fears are justified, all magnets on the planet will be demagnetized. I hope you realize what that means, gentlemen: it means that there will be no electric current. Not a single generator will produce it."

There was dead silence for some time. Then cries of stupefaction broke out.

"How can we live without electricity?"

"When will you scientists stop your devilish experiments?"

"Can't you stop this damned pillar?"

Stamm waited patiently for the storm to pass. When they had calmed down a little, he said, "Gentlemen, the scientists of the whole world are trying to find a means of stopping the pillar, but it has overtaken us. This phenomenon has to be closely studied, and that is what we are doing. There is no doubt that science will find a way out of the situation. But how soon, we cannot say. A month, perhaps, or even longer, we shall have to live without electromagnetic technology. Naturally, wide use will have to be made of the steam engine. I repeat-temporarily. I assure you that the scientists will overcome the short circuit and restore the status quo. We ask you to keep calm and to appeal to your readers to do the same."