ns of
years, Mars, his ruddy glow gone forever, had rolled through space, the
tomb of a mighty civilization. The ashes of Venus were growing cold.
Life on Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn already was in the throes of
dissolution, and the cold, barren wastes of Uranus and Neptune always
had forbidden man.

So it seemed that the name, Omega, had been fittingly bestowed. More
than ever the stark truth made him shudder with apprehension, and he
felt that only the coming of Alpha would give him strength to carry on.

"Now we must make ready for Alpha," said Omega, even while thoughts of
the sea-monster chilled his heart. "We will make our servants prepare
the way. Here in this valley must be born a new race of men. Life must
come from death. Come, Thalma."

* * * * *

She smiled back at him, reassured by his confident manner, and together
they entered a lower compartment of the ship. This compartment contained
the servants of which Omega had spoken--divers machinery and other
marvels of man's construction. Omega touched several buttons and a
section of the ship's hull rolled aside. He pressed other buttons and
whirled wheels. Then great sections of mirror slid out into the air and
without apparent direction or control they ranged themselves far up on a
steep hillside. Yet all were under perfect control. With invisible,
atomic rays Omega made all do his bidding. For countless centuries man
had mastered the atom, divided it, harnessed its electrons. Following
the discoveries of the great French scientist, Becquerel, man had
learned that the potential energy of all atoms--especially that of
radium--is almost limitless. And as the disintegration of the atom
carries an electrical discharge, man had learned to control this energy.
Omega's machines, utilizing atoms from everywhere, even the ether, split
them by radio-activity through electromagnetic waves, and utilized the
energy of their electrons which always move in fixed orbits. There being
forty radio-active substances, Omega took advantage of them all, and
equalizing the atomic weight of the atoms--whether those around a
hydrogen nucleus or a helium nucleus--he broke the atoms down and
directed the charges of their electrons. Then his motors amplified the
discharges and, through the medium of an electric current, projected
them in the form of invisible atomic rays which he could control and
direct against any object and sustain and move at will b