THE planet created by the Futuremen is the only one in
the System that contains a place where normal hu-
manoid beings are accustomed to walk upside down. The
Institute of Pure and Applied Gravitation, covering several
square miles of ground, has for years conducted experi-
ments on the effect of variable gravity on plant life, and
one of its Rare Plant Departments is maintained under re-
verse gravity.
T
Once inside, of course, a visitor soon becomes accus-
tomed to seeing top and bottom interchanged, and soon
loses any idea that he is walking on his head. But as seen
from the outside, the entire group of buildings and green-
houses presents a weird appearance.
Only the plant life bears its familiar aspect -- and this
is the one thing that is really abnormal. Grown under
natural gravity, it has been transplanted here in the usual
Earth fashion, and then subjected to reversed gravity.
Plants Grow Huge
The appearance of the plants is thus affected amazingly.
With gravity pulling them upwards, they grow to many
times their usual height. These experiments have already
led to valuable discoveries of hitherto unsuspect functions
of plant cells.
The Upside-Down Institute, as it is called, is but one of
the many wonders of Futurian life. The transportation
system is another.
Futuria is the one planet that maintains practically free
lateral and vertical transportation for all inhabitants. The
costs are paid by taxes on special magnetic clothing sold
only by the government. A man wearing this clothing need
only step into the proper lane, at certain designated station,
and be whisked away at a speed close to a hundred miles
an hour.
As seen from below, he has all the appearance of flying,
and the Futurian skies, full of soaring men, women, and
children, never fail to intrigue visitors.
Eases Land Shortage
The new planet has had a great effect on System
economic life. Five years after completion of its core, it
was ready to receive immigrants.
But even before that, the news of its creation had spread
panic among land speculators, and eased the land shortage.
The Interplanetary Government could complete its
landscaping at leisure, while the Futuremen went on to
other tasks.
Futuria's orbit is an ellipse, averaging about
160,000,000 miles from the sun. By treating the planet as a
huge space-vessel, and giving it the proper acceleration
from time to time, its motion can be easily controlled.
The use of gravity screens prevents it from disturbing
the stable orbits of Mars and Earth.
Futuria itself is smaller than Earth, but has much more
available living space. Its surface is mostly dry land. Only
two small artificial oceans have been created to serve as
planetary reservoirs, and from these, a network of canals
radiate over the entire surface.
However, the planet does not show all the regularities
of design some government officials hoped it would.
Planet Still Shrinks
The reason lies below the surface. Though previously
packed down under high pressure, the materials used in its
construction have undergone further shrinkage that is still
continuing. Great folds in the surface have formed the
beginnings of mountain ranges, wide-spread depressions
indicate the beds of new, natural oceans. Already the
Rising Hills promise to put the Himalayas of Earth in the
shade, and the Vanishing Lake has a water level a thousand
feet below that of the neighboring dry land ... when it has a
water level at all. It dries up during the summer, to
reappear during the fall.
In addition to the expected inhabitants, Futuria has had
a great many unwanted immigrants.
These have been smuggled in on unfumigated space
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Despite a Few Unwelcome Immigrants, Such as Jovian
Fire-Men and Carnivorous Plants, the Futuremen's
Strange World Still Remains the Ideal Place to Live!
ships, in a gigantic System-wide racket that has only
recently been broken up by the Planet Patrol.
Serpent-Men Under Control
As a result, one large area is in the hands of Martian
Serpent Men, a semi-humanoid race whose fierce
murderous habits had set the other inhabitants of their
native planet against them. Of the thousand or so survivors
of this almost extinct species of Mars, almost half
succeeded in reaching Futuria.
Here conditions of life have proved so favorable for the
development of their eggs, that their numbers have
increased tenfold. But the planet government has now
limited their expansion, and they offer no threat to the
planet's future.
The Jovian fire-men, flame-breathers who had been
threatened with extinction by the gradual cooling of their
native planet, also emigrated without Government consent,
and settled near the giant volcano which had formed in
Futuria's southern hemisphere. They too gained a new
lease on life.
The shrinking of the new planet's surface had naturally
led to the evolution of considerable internal heat. This heat
was particularly evident in the volcanic region, and had the
double effect of making life tolerable for the Jovians, and
impossible for most other races.
Carnivorous Plants Appear
Along with the unexpected animal immigrants, Futuria
has also found itself supplied with unwanted plants. A
living forest, composed of carnivorous vegetative and
semi-vegetative forms undoubtedly owes its formation to
spores brought in on unfumigated ships. So too do the
Fungus Plains, a flat area some fifty miles in diameter, that
shines with a queer greenish light of its own, and at night
serves as a gigantic natural lighthouse for space ships
racing in from the outer planets.
Mycologists estimate that more than ten thousand
varieties of molds and other fungi grow here in great
profusion. Unfortunately, the predominant kinds seem to
be relatives of the exceedingly virulent Saturnian varieties,
and most animals live no more than a few moments after
setting foot within its borders.
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Inhabitants Like Futuria
Of course, not all of Futuria's immigrants are unwanted.
Great numbers of people from all hitherto existing planets
have taken up their abodes not far from the Equatorial
Canal, where the climate is most pleasant. They have come
in bewildering variety, and form the most cosmopolitan
population yet seen within the System.
They have built up, with Government help, three main
cities -- Lunar City, named for the Futuremen's home,
Cometstown, for the teardrop-shaped vessel, and what may
come as a surprise -- Gragville, named, it need not be said,
for the great robot himself.
The choice of a name for Gragville came only after an
excited and somewhat amusing controversy that lasted for
more than a month.
The mayor of what had at first been known as
Settlement Number Three wrote to Newton asking that
either he or Simon accept the honor of having the city
named after himself, and be present at the dedicatory
exercises. Simon, who had long since passed the stage of
seeking such honors, refused at once.
Curt Newton, who had other matters to interest him at
the moment, and could not spare the time needed to visit
the city, declined politely, stating that the planet's name
was honor enough, and suggested instead that the new
metropolis be named after either Grag or Otho. And as he
temporarily needed the services of neither the android nor
the robot, he shipped them both off to Futuria, and the
delighted but worried mayor of Settlement Three now
found himself facing a real problem.
Synthetic Men Seek Honor
Should the city be named for Otho or for Grag? The
two synthetic creatures were both anxious for the honor,
and all the quarrelsomeness in their natures came to the
fore.
The mayor, too discreet to show his preference either
way, proclaimed a special election to settle this great
question, and for several weeks both Grag and Otho threw
themselves into electioneering with all the vigor and skill
of veteran politicians.
It was a bewildering and not uncommon experience for
a voter to find himself approached by the two rivals at
once, each securing a firm grasp on some part of his
clothes, and extolling his own virtues.
It is doubtful whether either Grag or Otho won many
voters in this fashion, for their usual victim was too
paralyzed with fright to understand what either of them
said. The real decision was apparently the result of a
whispering campaign -- or rather, of two whispering
campaigns, one of which failed to achieve its effect.
Voters Become Divided
Otho's tactics were to split Grag's supporters into two
rival groups -- one in favor of Gragville, the other in favor
of Robotstown. In this way he hoped that even if he didn't
obtain a majority of the votes, at least he would be able to
win.
However, Grag's supporters saw through this maneuver,
and made it clear that they were heartily opposed to
Robotstown. The name didn't necessarily apply to Grag,
and then too it might have been misleading.
At the same time, following Grag's directions, they
repeated to any listeners they found that Otho had been
made a fool of by one Bror Ingmann, Terror of Space -- as
narrated in "Days of Creation." This lie had already been
exposed, but it still found ignorant believers, and Gragville
squeaked through to a narrow victory.
Grag magnanimously permitted a suburb of his city to
be called Otho Heights -- to be greatly chagrined some
time later when he learned that the suburb had outgrown
the town proper and was considered far superior as a
residence.
Mystery Shrouds Mountain
No description of Futuria would be complete without
some reference to the Haunted Peak, an unexpected
evidence of superstition to find on a planet which had been
constructed synthetically and should have been entirely
without mystery. But even before the planet was officially
opened to immigration, strange reports were circulated
about mysterious noises and events occurring in the
neighborhood of a peak not far from the South Polar
Ocean.
There was no evidence that any familiar life-forms had
made the peak their home, and an official investigating
committee denied absolutely that this part of Futuria was
inhabited.
Popular opinion still insists, however, that the peak had
become the home of invisible men from outer space.
Astonishingly enough, this belief is shared by none others
than Curt Newton and the Brain.
"Some day, Simon," observed Captain Future, "we'll
have to investigate that place. There should be at least as
much to learn as from a study of past civilizations."
"Some day, lad," agreed the Brain. "Meanwhile, we
have our studies on magnetogravitational waves to occupy
us."
Curt Newton nodded. And yet, he had a feeling that the
Haunted Peak might be even more important than the
investigations that now occupied the attention of the
Futuremen. Some day, as he had observed ...
Reluctantly, he relegated the idea to the back of his
mind. It was a mystery that for the time being must remain
unsolved.
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