nts of almost
supernatural power not only reached back into the past but also
penetrated the future. There was a great atomic-electric motor used in
creating and controlling climate as long as there was any to control.
Sending forth electromagnetic waves it massed and directed the
atmospheric pressure, sending heat waves here, cold ones there, thus
causing droughts and rainfall at will. But now, as with the case of most
of the other machines, Omega needed it no longer. He kept it because it
linked him with the joy of the past. Besides, there was the mind-control
appliance by whose aid man's mind might visit other worlds. This was
done through the development of the subconscious and the discipline of
the will. But Omega was weary of these pilgrimages, because his body
could not perform those far-off flights. As time went on he realized
that the earth was his natural home. Even the earth's neighbors, dead
and dying, offered him no haven.

Yes, Omega and Thalma had garnered the gist of the world's treasures
before commencing this last trek. Gold and precious stones were common
objects to them, because for countless ages man had made them at will,
but around those they had brought clustered sacred memories of loved
ones gone before. The biological machine in the chemical laboratory of
the ship--the machine that brought forth life from nature's bountiful
storehouse--was of little use now that both atmosphere and moisture were
nearly gone. Yet Omega cherished this machine, and aside from its
associations with the past, it held for him a fascination that he could
not understand.

Having set the Mirror and other mechanical servants in position, Omega
and Thalma returned to the ship, and slept throughout the day, for with
the descending sun they must again go forth to hunt that scaly demon
which had taken possession of the earth's last water.

The night was moonless, but the bright starlight brought all objects
into plain relief against the dark rocks. Taking position on the slope
several rods above the beach, Omega and Thalma watched the lake eagerly,
but nothing disturbed its mirror-like surface. As on the preceding
night the awful silence appalled them--even though they were accustomed
to the vast solitude. It was so calm and still, so full of death and
mystery, that it seemed they must cry out in the agony of their
emotions. As the very silence was crushing their spirits so the
knowledge that only one form of life on eart