Thrilling Wonder Stories, August, 1936
CHAPTER I
light a match, he fumbled on the ground in the
The Giants
pitch darkness for a bulky bundle heavily
wrapped in oilskin which he unleashed from
the parachute straps. With it under one arm, he
INGING its way down from the
felt around his middle.
clouds, a snub-nosed Boske leveled
“Food
pellets—flashlight—
W at two thousand altitude. It was a ammunition— automatic—okay.”
hell-dark night, no moon or stars, and, below,
He was not far, apparently, from his
a few twinkling lights marked a habited spot
destination, for he could see a glow of hidden
in the general desolation of that region. The
lights beyond a rise of the ground. The
airplane, its motor purring almost noiselessly,
parachute would occasion suspicion when
crawled, along warily, it seemed.
found the next day. But Wistert expected to be
When it was almost directly over the
safely away before the night had passed. If
cluster of lights a figure dived from its rear
not—well, such was fate. Topping the rise, the
cockpit and disappeared, falling rapidly. The
spy saw, not a quartet of a mile away, a large
quiet little Boske went on steadily. A mile
brick building from whose windows lights
farther its purring deepened and the airplane
glowed. A lone building in a boulder-strewn,
rose, disappearing into the heavy cloud-bank.
uncultivated region in the heart of the Allied
James Wistert, secret operative S-23
States of Europe. What purpose did it serve?
United North America, extricated himself What mysterious connection did it have with from his parachute harness and stood erect to
the terrific war going on between Europe and
breathe deep of the air over enemy land.
America?
“Well,” he mused, “here I am. Hope
When the building loomed close,
the rest is as easy.”
Wistert stopped in the shadow of a large rock.
He knew it wouldn’t be. Not daring to
He undid his package, and draped about
Thrilling Wonder Stories
2
himself a hooded suit of a peculiar crinkly
the tar road, coming to a stop thirty feet away.
material. It seemed made of metallic fiber, and
Two figures stepped from the car and
a half-dozen insulated wires ran from various
approached.
parts of it to a heavy, flat, rubberized case
Wistart’s «yes grew big as the
which he strapped to his chest. The suit foremost figure was revealed in the light over covered him completely from head to foot. It
the door. Baron Laiglon, ordnance chief of the
had two small glass-shielded peepholes for his
North African sector! The mysterious building
eyes, and its hem dragged on the ground.
took on a new significance in the American’s
Snapping a small switch at the side of
mind.
the case on his chest, the spy felt a tingling
The guard now knocked on the door,
sensation. But that was all. Somehow, he had
and stood aside. It was opportunity knocking
expected more. They had assured him back at
for Wistert. He followed the two men in like
headquarters that, wearing the suit, he was
their shadows’ shadow; fate was still with
invisible to others except for a faint, indistinct him. Beyond the door he quickly edged to one
halo. Such a thing did not seem possible, but
wall of a corridor as the two officers strode
in these remarkable days of the late twentieth
ahead.
century anything could happen. This
Careful not to scrape his shoes on the
Invisibility Cloak was one of the enemy’s
hardwood floor, the spy followed down the
inventions. The one he was wearing was the
hallway, which seemed to stretch
only one his country ever confiscated. That
interminably. Finally the two officers paused
alone bespoke the importance of his present
before a great steel door.
mission.
The baron’s companion stood before a
Anxious to test the thing—but Ronaldson scanning disc and pressed the apprehensive at the same time—Wistert button below it. There was a click of relays, stepped from the rock’s shadow and strode
the interplay of photoelectric beams, and then
warily toward the large brick” building.
the steel portal rolled aside like a dinner plate.
Perhaps it was fortunate that the two officers
THE side he approached was unbroken by
were speaking as they stepped beyond the
even a single doorway. Rounding the corner,
threshold; else they might have heard the
the spy muffled a gasp as a uniformed man
hurried tread of their invisible follower as he
shouldering a rifle came toward him. squeezed through with them. The ponderous Instinctively his gauntleted hand dove for his
steel valve rolled back into place.
automatic; then he relaxed sheepishly. For the
The one man spoke a few low words to
soldier passed not ten feet away, staring the guard standing at attention—he who had straight at him. Yet not at him, but through
scanned the transmitted image and opened the
him!
seal upon seeing who it was—and then
His nerves somewhat shaken, Wistert
motioned for the baron to follow. Like a
followed the wall. Under the first doorway he
ghost, Wistert slipped along in their wake.
reached stood another guard. The spy paused.
A staircase led below at the end of this
To enter this portal he must open the door and
new corridor. Wistert paused at the bottom to
shove past the guard.
see the two officers enter an elevator car,
Wistert thought of a dozen and one
which immediately descended. The spy stared
plans in the space of a minute. The dilemma
around, surprised. There were no less than ten
was still unsolved when he stiffened suddenly
elevator shafts opening upon the room. From
at the sound of a motor. The guard came to
the opposite side led half a dozen large
attention as a big black sedan whined down
corridors. What lay below this mysterious
The Hormone Menace
3
brick-building?
descended with reinforcements which came
The spy became aware of a steady
from the various hallways.
vibration in the floor, as of ponderous
The spy suddenly knew what made
machinery. Speculatively he eyed the sentinel
these workers so queer in appearance. It was
leaning against the wa
ll. Perhaps; if the guard
their facial expressions. Almost as though they
were out of the way, Wistert might get on an
were prototypes, their visages reflected an
elevator himself, for they were automatic.
extreme dreaminess. Wistert discounted drugs;
Prepared to take the risk involved, he
it was something deeper, more basic—
was about to step forward when one of the
something in their very natures. Their eyes
elevators came up. As its grillwork door was
held strange lights.
pulled aside, a dozen men stepped out. The
Then this shifting of men ended, and
spy gasped.
the elevators came up and went down with
Those men were giants! Each was another series of groups. These men, also eight feet tall and built proportionately. Their
normal in size, seemed extremely nervous.
faces were brutish in cast, thick-lipped. They
Their stride was jerky and the muscles of their
were, obviously witless creatures, mere faces twitched uncontrollably. Yet it was not mountains of strength. Dressed in baggy the type of nervousness associated with jumpers of denim, they trudged forward hysteria; it was more the sensitiveness of silently and awkwardly, followed by two energetic, high-strung personalities.
guards who had ready pistols and barked
What was the solution of this mystery?
sharply in tones of command. Like a herd of
Why this change of shift of workers who were
driven oxen, the giants turned into a corridor.
so alike in their own group, so greatly
Hardly had this group disappeared than
different in different groups? The key to this,
a similar group of giants came from one of the
Wistert realized, would be priceless
corridors and entered the elevator which had
information to American headquarters.
first disgorged its human load. Thereafter, Wistert’s one aim then was to go below eight more elevator loads came up and an
himself and see just what these pitifully
equivalent number went down.
slavelike creatures were made to do.
Wistert noticed that those who came
up were grimy and looked tired and hungry,
while the giant men who were taken below
CHAPTER II
were clean and fresh-looking. The spy could
The Invisible Cloak
come to only one conclusion—that it was
change of shift. Some great project was going
on below that sapped the strength of eight-foot
“MON DIEU!” exclaimed Baron Laiglon,
men so that they had to be replaced speaking French, the official language of the periodically with fresher forces.
Allied States of Europe. “What is the meaning
of all this?”
AT last the interchange of giant men was over.
He swept an arm around to include the
The first elevator came up again, but from it
immense workshop filled with industrious
this time stepped men who, though normal in
humans. Beyond pillared arches he could see
size, were distinctly odd in some way. They
other large chambers; and he understood that
too were silent and tired-looking, and obeyed
there were three more sub-levels of a similar
the guards’ orders mutely, turning into one of
nature. It was strange to find all this beneath a the corridors. One after the other the elevators
plain brick building in semi-desert land.
arose, emptied their loads of weary men, and
His companion, Director Bergmann,
Thrilling Wonder Stories
4
chuckled at his astonishment. “You are Bergmann, as long as I’m here on my first surprised, baron?” He spoke French with the
visit, tell me how you have made such
guttural accent of a German. “But where did
marvelous military and scientific strides in so
you think our great military inventions came
short a time. I have seen many men working
from?”
industriously—queer men, deformed
“Oh, I knew, of course, M. Bergmann,
physically—or mentally, perhaps?”
that this place existed. That it had been
“Ah, a shrewd guess, baron,” said the
established ten years in advance—in director. “Yes, these men are all deformed—
anticipation of the great European-American
except, of course, my own personnel, who are
struggle for world supremacy. But because of
ordinary menials and soldiers. But they are
the utter secrecy with which it was done, none
deformed, baron, to a purpose! Perhaps you
but the highest officials knew just where it
know little of the science of biology. It has
was, and what it was expected to accomplish.”
been my life work. I shall explain what I have
“Naturally,” said the director, “secrecy
accomplished; you shall then judge whether it
was paramount, lest the American espionage
is the work of genius or not.”
get wind of it.”
“Of course,” agreed the baron. He THE director rubbed his hands as he began: “I laughed. “M. Bergmann, if America but was early in life fascinated by the study of the suspected that this place existed! They would
mysteries of human nature—especially in its
undoubtedly withdraw half their aerial forces
attributes of intelligence. What essentially was
from the very Nile sector to attack and bomb
intelligence—or intellect? I was very soon
this cozy nest of yours.”
brought face to face with the gland question.
The director cooed gleefully. “No Each human is controlled and governed to a doubt, baron, not a tiny doubt! For from this
great extent by ten glands of internal
place are turned out in quantity the Invisibility secretion. These small organs manufacture
Cloak, the Radio-Wave Absorption Screen,
certain powerful chemicals, called hormones,
and the Super-Sonic Gun—to mention only
which react in the blood-stream and make the
three of the inventions which have beaten individual what he is—mentally and back powerful America.”
physically!
“Beaten her back!” said the baron
“You have heard of diabetes and its
scornfully. “These inventions have turned the
cure by insulin. Insulin is the hormone
tide of the war! Yes, it is so. Beginning within
produced by the pancreatic gland, situated
a month, Europe will take the offensive, near the stomach. Perhaps you have heard of whereas for three years we have been on the
cretinism, and its eradication by the feeding of
defensive. Our first drive—” He clipped his
thyroxin, which is the hormone product of the
words and peered uneasily around.
thyroid gland in the neck. Diabetics, cretins—
The director smiled. “What do you as well as abnormally tall people, intellectual fear—spies? Not here!”
people, sensitive people—are the result of
“I had the uncomfortable feeling for a
over-active, or under-active; glands.
moment that we were being watched,”
“It came to me that miraculous things
admitted the ba
ron.
might be done through these glands. I made
“Ach, no spies here!” said the director.
endless experiments with animals. But
“Nevertheless—” The baron did not
animals could not satisfy me; I wanted human
take up the topic he had dropped, still uneasy.
animals as my control subjects!”
Instead, he waved his hand again to include
The baron involuntarily shuddered and
the bee-hive industry surrounding them. “M.
turned his eyes away from the beady, fanatic
The Hormone Menace
5
ones of the director.
keeping with their great stature, they were fed
“My chance came ten years ago,” went
also adrenal-cortex hormone. They are the
on the scientist. “Military officials were simplest of my transmutations.
pleading for advanced armament with which
“Think now of the men in the second
to wage war against powerful America, who
chamber who do the mechanical work: fitting
was slowly but surely gaining dominance in
gears, running machines, and such. They have
Africa and Asia, having it already in South
been overfed on the hormone of the
America. I laid down my plans—promised
adrenal-cortex to give them strength and
great inventions. And all I would ask for were
determination, and on adrenal-medulla to give
condemned criminals from the jails, the them a great capacity for work. They work flotsam of life. That, and a free license to use
sixteen hours of every day without tiring; each
them as laboratory subjects!
is worth three ordinary men for his work.
“My petition was granted, in the
desperate hope, no doubt, that I might know
“THOSE men who work at the super-sonic
what I was saying. They are not sorry—the
testing apparatus—they are infinitely sensitive
members of the Governing Council-that they