being much interested in sports, she desired to know presently how the modern new yorker kept himself in condition and for his answer ralph stopped at a corner and they entered a tall, flat-roofed building. they took off their coasters, stepped into the electromagnetic elevator and ascended the fifty odd stories in a few seconds. at the top, they found a large expanse on which were stationed dozens of flyers of all sizes. there was a continuous bustle of departing and arriving aerial flyers and of people alighting and departing.
as soon as ralph and alice appeared a dozen voices began to call: "aerocab, sir, aerocab, this way please!" ralph, ignoring them, walked over to a two-seated flyer and assisted his companion to the seat; he then seated himself and said briefly to the "driver," "national playgrounds." the machine, which was very light and operated entirely by electricity, was built of metal throughout; it shot up into the air with terrific speed and then took a northeasterly direction at a rate of ten miles per minute, or 600 miles per hour.
from the great height at which they were flying it was not hard to point out the most interesting structures, towers, bridges, and wonders of construction deemed impossible several centuries ago.
[pg 80]
in less than ten minutes they had arrived at the national playgrounds. they alighted on an immense platform and ralph, leading alice to the edge, where they could see the entire playgrounds, said:
"these national playgrounds were built by the city in 2490, at the extreme eastern end of what used to be long island, a few miles from montauk.[3] an immense area had been fitted up for all kinds of sports, terrestrial and aquatic as well as aerial. these municipal playgrounds are the finest in the world and represent one of new york's greatest achievements. the city government supplied all the various sport paraphernalia and every citizen has the right to use it, by applying to the lieutenants in charge of the various sections.
"there are playgrounds for the young as well as for the old, grounds for men, grounds for the women, grounds for babies to romp about in. there are hundreds of baseball fields, thousands of tennis courts, and uncounted football fields and golf links. it never rains, it is never too hot, it is never too cold. the grounds are open every day in the year, from seven in the morning till eleven at night. after sunset, the grounds and fields are lighted by thousands of iridium wire spirals, for those who have to work in the daytime.
"as a matter of fact all the great baseball, tennis, and football contests are held after sundown. the reason is apparent. during the daytime, with the sun shining, there is always one team which has an advantage over the other, on account of the light being in their eyes. in the evening, however, with the powerful, stationary light[pg 81] overhead, each team has the same conditions and the game can be played more fairly and more accurately."[4]
ralph and his companion strolled about the immense grounds watching the players and it was not long before he discovered that she, like himself, was enthusiastic about tennis. he asked her if she would care to play a game with him and she acquiesced eagerly.
they walked over to the dressing building where ralph kept his own sport clothes. since the girl had no tennis shoes, he secured a pair for her in the arcade, and they sauntered over to one of the courts.
in the game that followed, ralph, an expert at tennis, was too engrossed in the girl to watch his game. consequently, he was beaten from start to finish. he did not see the ball, and scarcely noticed the net. his eyes were constantly on alice, who, indeed, made a remarkably pretty picture. she flung herself enthusiastically into her game, as she did with everything else that interested her. she was the true sport-lover, caring little whether she won or not, loving the game for the game itself.
her lovely face was flushed with the exercise, and her hair curled into damp little rings, lying against her neck and cheeks in soft clusters. her eyes, always bright, shone like stars. now and again they met ralph's in gay triumph as she encountered a difficult ball.
he had never imagined that anyone could be so graceful. her lithe and flexible figure was seen to its best advantage in this game requiring great agility.
ralph, under this bombardment of charms, was spellbound. he played mechanically, and, it must be admitted,[pg 82] wretchedly. and he was so thoroughly and abjectly in love that he did not care. to him, but one thing mattered. he knew that unless he could have alice life itself would not matter to him.
he felt that he would gladly have lost a hundred games when she at last flung down her racket, crying happily: "oh, i won, i won, didn't i?"
"you certainly did," he cried. "you were wonderful!"
"i'm a little bit afraid you let me win," she pouted. "it really wasn't fair of you."
"you were fine," he declared. "i was hopelessly outclassed from the beginning. you have no idea how beautiful you were," he went on, impulsively. "more beautiful than i ever dreamed anyone could be."
before his ardent eyes she drew back a little, half pleased, half frightened, and not a little confused.
sensing her embarrassment he instantly became matter-of-fact.
"now," he said, "i am going to show you the source of new york's light and power."
a few minutes later, after both had changed their shoes, they were again seated in an aerocab and a twenty minute journey brought them well into the center of what was formerly new york state.
they alighted on an immense plain on which twelve monstrous meteoro-towers, each 1,500 feet high, were stationed. these towers formed a hexagon inside of which were the immense helio-dynamophores, or sun-power-generators.
the entire expanse, twenty kilometers square, was covered with glass. underneath the heavy plate glass squares were the photo-electric elements which transformed the[pg 83] solar heat direct into electric energy.
the photo-electric elements, of which there were 400 to each square meter, were placed in large movable metal cases, each case containing 1,600 photo-electric units.
each metal case in turn was movable, and mounted on a kind of large tripod in such a manner that each case from sunrise to sunset presented its glass plate directly to the sun. the rays of the sun, consequently, struck the photo-electric elements always vertically, never obliquely. a small electric motor inside of the tripod moved the metal case so as to keep the plates always facing the sun.
in order that one case might not take away the light from the one directly behind it, all cases were arranged in long rows, each sufficiently far away from the one preceding it. thus shadows from one row could not fall on the row behind it.
at sunrise, all cases would be almost vertical, but at this time very little current was generated. one hour after sunrise, the plant was working to its full capacity; by noon all cases would be in a horizontal position, and by sunset, they again would be in an almost vertical position, in the opposite direction, however, from that of the morning. the plant would work at its full capacity until one hour before sunset.
each case generated about one hundred and twenty kilowatts almost as long as the sun was shining, and it is easily understood what an enormous power the entire plant could generate. in fact, this plant supplied all the power, light, and heat for entire new york. one-half of the plant was for day use, while the other half during daytime charged the chemical gas-accumulators for night use.
[pg 84]
in 1909 cove of massachusetts invented a thermo-electric sun-power-generator which could deliver ten volts and six amperes, or one-sixtieth kilowatt in a space of twelve square feet. since that time inventors by the score had busied themselves to perfect solar generators, but it was not until the year 2469 that the italian 63a 1243 invented the photo-electric cell, which revolutionized the entire electrical industry. this italian discovered that by derivatives of the radium-m class, in conjunction with tellurium and arcturium, a photo-electric element could be produced which was strongly affected by the sun's ultra-violet rays and in this condition was able to transform heat direct into electrical energy, without losses of any kind.
after watching the enormous power plant for a time alice remarked:
"we, of course, have similar plants across the water but i have never seen anything of such magnitude. it is really colossal. but what gives the sky above such a peculiar black tint?"
"in order not to suffer too great losses from atmospheric disturbances," ralph explained, "the twelve giant meteoro-towers which you notice are working with full power as long as the plant is in operation. thus a partial vacuum is produced above the plant and the air consequently is very thin. as air ordinarily absorbs an immense amount of heat, it goes without saying that the helio-dynamophore plant obtains an immensely greater amount of heat when the air above is very clear and thin. in the morning the towers direct their energy toward the east in order to clear the atmosphere to a certain extent, and in the afternoon their energy is directed toward the west[pg 85] for the same purpose. for this reason, this plant furnishes fully thirty per cent more energy than others working in ordinary atmosphere."
as it was growing late they returned to the city, traversing the distance to ralph's home in less than ten minutes.
alice's father arrived a few minutes later, and she told him of the delightful time she had had in the company of their distinguished host.
shortly after they had dined that evening ralph took his guests down to his tele-theater. this large room had a shallow stage at one end, with proscenium arch and curtain, such as had been in use during the whole history of the drama. at the rear of the room were scattered a number of big upholstered chairs.
when they had seated themselves, ralph gave alice a directory of the plays and operas that were being presented that night.
"oh, i see they are playing the french comic opera, la normande, at the national opera tonight," she exclaimed. "i have heard and read much of it. i should like to hear it so much."
"with the greatest of pleasure," ralph replied. "in fact, i have not heard it myself. my laboratory has kept me so busy, that i have missed the opera several times already. there are only two performances a week now."
he walked over to a large switchboard from which hung numerous cords and plugs. he inserted one of the plugs into a hole labeled "national opera." he then manipulated several levers and switches and seated himself again with his guests.
in a moment, a gong sounded, and the lights were[pg 86] gradually dimmed. immediately afterward, the orchestra began the overture.
a great number of loud-speaking telephones were arranged near the stage, and the acoustics were so good that it was hard to realize that the music originated four miles away at the national opera house.
when the overture was over, the curtain rose on the first act. directly behind it several hundred especially constructed telephots were arranged in such a manner as to fill out the entire space of the shallow stage. these telephots were connected in series and were all joined together so cleverly that no break or joint was visible in the rear part of the stage. the result was that all objects on the distant stage of the national opera were projected full size on the composite telephot plates on the tele-theater stage. the illusion was so perfect in all respects that it was extremely hard to imagine that the actors on the telephot stage were not real flesh and blood. each voice could be heard clearly and distinctly, because the transmitters were close to the actors at all times and it was not necessary to strain the ear to catch any passages.
between the acts ralph explained that each new york playhouse now had over 200,000 subscribers and it was as easy for the berlin and paris subscribers to hear and see the play as for the new york subscriber. on the other hand, he admitted that the paris and berlin as well as the london playhouses had a large number of subscribers, local as well as long distance, but new york's subscription list was by far the largest.
"can you imagine," mused alice, "how the people in former centuries must have been inconvenienced when they wished to enjoy a play? i was reading only the other[pg 87] day how they had to prepare themselves for the theater hours ahead of time. they had to get dressed especially for the occasion and even went so far as to have different clothes in which to attend theaters or operas. and then they had to ride or perhaps walk to the playhouse itself. then the poor things, if they did not happen to like the production, had either to sit all through it or else go home. they probably would have rejoiced at the ease of our tele-theaters, where we can switch from one play to another in five seconds, until we find the one that suits us best.
"nor could their sick people enjoy themselves seeing a play, as we can now. i know when i broke my ankle a year ago, i actually lived in the tele-theater. i cannot imagine how i could have dragged through those dreary six weeks in bed without a new play each night. life must have been dreadful in those days!"
"yes, you are right," ralph said. "neither could they have imagined in their wildest dreams the spectacle i witnessed a few days ago.
"i happened to be passing this room and i heard such uproarious laughter that i decided to see what caused it all. entering unnoticed, i found my ten-year-old nephew 'entertaining' half-a-dozen of his friends. the little rascal had plugged into a matinee performance of 'romeo and juliet' playing at the 'broadway'—in english of course. he then plugged in at the same time into der spitzbub, a farce playing that evening in berlin, and to this, for good measure, he added rigoletto in italian, playing at the 'gala' in milan.
"the effect was of course horrible. most of the time, nothing but a babel of voices and music could be heard;[pg 88] but once in a while a single voice broke through the din, followed immediately by another one in a different language. the funniest incident was when, at the 'broadway,' juliet called: romeo, romeo, where art thou, romeo?, and a heavy comedian at the berlin theatre howled: mir ist's wurst, schlagt ihn tot!
"of course, everything on the stage was blurred most of the time, but once in a while extremely ludicrous combinations resulted between some of the actors at the various theaters, which were greeted with an uproar by the youngsters."
as he concluded the anecdote the curtain rose once more, and the audience of three settled back to enjoy the second act of the opera.
later, when it was all over, they went down to the street floor at ralph's suggestion, where they put on their tele-motor-coasters, preparatory to seeing more of new york—this time by night.
the party proceeded to roll down broadway, the historic thoroughfare of new york. despite the fact that it was 11 o'clock at night, the streets were almost as light as at noonday. they were illuminated brilliantly by the iridium spirals, hanging high above the crossings. these spirals gave forth a pure, dazzling-white light of the same quality as sunlight. this light moreover was absolutely cold, as all electrical energy was transformed into light, none being lost in heat. not a street was dark—not even the smallest alley.
james 212b 422, as well as his daughter, lingered over the superb displays in the various stores and they entered several to make a few purchases. alice was much impressed with the automatic-electric packing machines.
[pg 89]
the clerk making the sale placed the purchased articles on a metal platform. he then pushed several buttons on a small switchboard, which operated the "size" apparatus to obtain the dimensions of the package. after the last button was pressed, the platform rose about two feet, till it disappeared into a large metal, box-like contrivance. in about ten to fifteen seconds it came down again bearing on its surface a neat white box with a handle at the top, all in one piece. the box was not fastened with any strings or tape, but was folded in an ingenious manner so that it could not open of its own accord. moreover, it was made of alohydrolium, which is the lightest of all metals, being one-eighth the weight of aluminum.
the automatic packing machine could pack anything from a small package a few inches square up to a box two feet high by three feet long. it made the box to suit the size of the final package, placed the articles together, packed them into the box which was not yet finished, folded the box after the handle had been stamped out, stenciled the firm's name on two sides and delivered it completely packed, all within ten to fifteen seconds.
the box could either be taken by the purchaser or the clerk would stencil the customer's name and address into the handle, place a triangular packet-post stamp on the box and drop it into a chute beside the counter. it was carried down into the packet-post conveyor, which was from seventy-five to one hundred feet below the level of the street, where it landed on a belt-like arrangement moving at the rate of five miles an hour. the action was entirely automatic and the chute was arranged with an automatic shutter which would only open when there was no package immediately below on the moving belt. this[pg 90] precluded the possibility of packages tumbling on top of each other and in this way blocking the conveyor tube.
when the package had landed on the conveyor belt it traveled to the nearest distributor office, where the post office clerk would take it from the belt and see if it was franked correctly. the stamp was then machine cancelled and after the clerk had noted the address he routed it to the sub-station nearest to the addressee's home. next he clamped onto the package an automatic metal "rider" which was of a certain height, irrespective of the size of the package.
the package with its rider was placed on an express conveyor belt traveling at the rate of 25 miles an hour. this express belt, bearing the package, moved at an even speed, and never stopping, passed numerous sub-stations on the way. at the correct sub-station the rider came against a contact device stretching across the belt at right angles, at a certain height. this contact arrangement closed the circuit of a powerful electromagnet placed in the same line with the contact, a few feet away from the express belt. the electromagnet acted immediately on the metal package (alohydrolium is a magnetic metal), drawing it in a flash into the sub-station from the belt. if there was another package right behind the one so drawn out, it was handled in the same manner.
after the package had arrived at the sub-station it was despatched to its final destination. another rider was attached to it and the package placed on a local conveyor belt passing by the house to which it was addressed. on arriving at the correct address its rider would strike the contact overhead, which operated the electromagnet, pulling the package into the basement of the house,[pg 91] where it fell on the platform of an electric dumb-waiter. the dumb-waiter started upward automatically and the package was delivered at once.
by this method a package could be delivered in the average space of forty minutes from the time of purchase. some packages could be delivered in a much shorter time and others which had to travel to the city limits took much longer.
"how wonderful!" alice exclaimed after ralph had explained the system. "it must have taken decades to build such a stupendous system."
"no, not quite," was the reply. "it was built gradually by an enormous number of workers. the tubes are even now extended almost daily to keep pace with the growth of the city."
from the stores ralph took his guests to the roof of an aerocab stand and they boarded a fast flyer.
"take us about 10,000 feet up," ralph instructed the driver.
"you haven't much time," the man answered, "at 12 o'clock all cabs must be out of the air."
"why?"
"today is the 15th of september, the night of the aerial carnival, and it's against the law to go up over new york until it's all over. you have twenty-five minutes left, however, if you wish to go up."
"i forgot all about this aerial carnival," said ralph, "but twenty-five minutes will be time enough for us if you speed up your machine."
the aerial flyer rose quickly and silently. the objects below seemed to shrink in size and within three minutes the light became fainter.
[pg 92]
in ten minutes an altitude of twelve thousand feet had been reached, and as it became too cold, ralph motioned to the driver not to rise further.
the spectacle below them was indescribably beautiful. as far as the eye could see was a broad expanse studded with lights, like a carpet embroidered with diamonds. thousands of aerial craft, their powerful searchlights sweeping the skies, moved silently through the night, and once in a while an immense transatlantic aerial liner would swish by at a tremendous speed.
most beautiful of all, as well as wonderful, were the signalizers. ralph pointed them out to his guests, saying:
"in the first period of aerial navigation large electric lamps forming figures and letters were placed on housetops, and in open fields that the aerial craft above might better find their destinations. to the traffic flying 5,000 feet or higher such signals were wholly inadequate, as they could not be correctly read at such a distance. hence the signalizers. these are powerful searchlights of the most advanced type, mounted on special buildings. they are trained skyward and shoot a powerful shaft of light directly upward. no aerial craft is allowed to cross these light shafts. each shaft gives a different signal; thus the signalizer in herald square is first white; in ten seconds it changes to red and in another ten seconds it becomes yellow. even an aerial liner at sea can recognize the signal and steer directly into the herald square pier, without being obliged to hover over the city in search of it. some signalizers have only one color, flashing from time to time. others more important use two searchlights at one time, like the one at sandy hook. this signalizer has two light shafts, one green and one red; these do not[pg 93] change colors, nor do they light periodically."
from on high ralph's guests marveled at these signalizers, which pierced the darkness all around them. it was a wonderful sight and the weird beauty of the colored shafts thrilled alice immeasurably.
"oh, it is like a fairyland," she exclaimed. "i could watch it forever."
but presently the aerocab was descending rapidly and in a few minutes the strong light from below had obliterated the light shafts. as the craft drew closer the streets could be seen extending for miles like white ribbons and the brilliantly lighted squares stood out prominently. they landed, at the stroke of twelve, and ralph found three unoccupied chairs on the top of one of the public buildings and only then did they notice that hundreds of people were seated, watching the sky expectantly.
at the last stroke of twelve, all the lights below went out and simultaneously the light shafts of all the searchlights. everything was plunged in an utter darkness.
suddenly overhead at a great height the flag of the united states in immense proportions was seen. it was composed of 6,000 flyers, all together in the same horizontal plane. each flyer was equipped with very powerful lights on the bottom, some white, some red, others blue. thus an immense flag in its natural colors was formed and so precisely did the flyers co-operate that, although they all were at least 50 feet from each other, the appearance to those below was that of an unbroken silk flag, illuminated by a searchlight. the immense flag began to move. it passed slowly overhead, describing a large circle, so that the entire population below obtained a perfect view.
[pg 94]
everyone applauded the demonstration. then as suddenly as it had appeared the flag vanished and all was once more in darkness. ralph explained to his guests that the lights of each one of the aerial flyers had been shut off simultaneously in preparation for the next spectacle.
all at once there was seen an enormous colored circle which revolved with great rapidity, becoming smaller and smaller, as though it were shrinking. finally it became a colored disc, whirling rapidly on its axis. in a few seconds, the edge opened and a straight line shot out, the disc unrolling like a tape measure. after a few minutes more, there remained nothing of the disc. it had resolved itself into a perfectly straight many-hued line, miles long. then the lights went out again. the next spectacle was a demonstration of the solar system. in the center a large sun was seen standing still. next to the "sun" a small red round globe spun rapidly about it, representing the planet mercury. around both the sun and the "planet" mercury revolved another globe, blue in color; this was venus. then followed a white orb, the "earth" with the moon turning about it. next came the red planet mars with its two small moons, then green jupiter and its moons, and saturn in yellow. uranus was orange and lastly came neptune in pink, all globes and their moons traveling in their proper orbits around the "sun."[5] while the spectacle was in progress a white "comet" with a long tail traveled across the paths of the planets, turned a sharp corner around the "sun," its tail always pointing away from that body, recrossed the orbits of the "planets" again on the other side and lost itself in the darkness.
several other spectacles were presented, each more su[pg 95]perb than the one preceding it. the carnival closed with a light-picture of the planet governor. this was exhibited for fully five minutes during which time the applause was continuous.
"we have never seen such a marvelous spectacle," james 212b 422 declared. "you americans still lead the world. upon my word, the old saying that 'nothing is impossible in america,' still holds good."
it was after one when they reached the house, and ralph suggested a light lunch before they retired for what remained of the night. the others assented and ralph led the way to the bacillatorium.
the bacillatorium, invented in 2509 by the swede 1a 299, was a small room, the walls and bottom of which were composed of lead. on each of the four sides were large vacuum bulbs on pedestals. these tubes, a foot in height and about six inches thick and two feet in diameter, were each equipped with a large concave radio-arcturium cathode. the glass of the tube in front of the cathode had a double wall, the space between being filled with helium gas.
the rays emanating from the cathode, when the tube was energized with high oscillatory currents, were called arcturium rays and would instantly destroy any bacilli exposed to them for a few seconds. arcturium rays, like x-rays, pass through solid objects, and when used alone burned the tissue of the human body. it was found, however, that by filtering arcturium rays through helium no burns would result, but any germ or bacillus in or on the body would be killed at once.
the bacillatorium was prescribed by law and each citizen ordered to use it at least every other day, thus mak[pg 96]ing it impossible for the human body to develop contagious diseases. as late as the 20th century more than half the mortality was directly attributable to diseases communicated by germs or bacilli.
the bacillatorium eradicated such diseases. the arcturium rays, moreover, had a highly beneficial effect on animal tissue and the enforced use of the bacillatorium extended the span of human life to between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and forty years, where in former centuries three score and ten was the average.
