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Jim Carpenter #2
The Attack From Space
The exciting Sequel to Heaviside Layer, Jim Cartpenter was captured by Giant Beetles!
"No one knows what unrevealed horrors space holds and the world will never rest entirely easy until the slow process of time again heals the protective layer."—From "Beyond the Heaviside Layer."
OVER a year has passed since I wrote those lines. When they were written the hole which Jim Carpenter had burned with his battery of infra-red lamps through the heaviside layer, that hollow sphere of invisible semi-plastic organic matter which encloses the world as a nutshell does a kernel, was gradually filling in as he had predicted it everyone thought that in another ten years the world would be safely enclosed again in its protective layer as it had been since the dawn of time. There were some adventurous spirits who deplored this fact, as it would effectually bar interplanetary travel, for Hadley had proved with his life that no space flyer could force its way through the fifty miles of almost solid material which barred the road to space, but they were in the minority. Most of humanity felt that it would rather be protected against the denizens of space than to have a road open for them to travel to the moon if they felt inclined.
To be sure, during the five years that the hole had been open, nothing more dangerous to the peace and well-being of the world had appeared from space than a few hundreds of the purple amoeba which we had found so numerous on the outer side of the layer, when we had traveled in a Hadley space ship up through the hole into the outer realms of space, and one lone specimen of the green dragons which we had also encountered. The amoeba had been readily destroyed by the disintegrating rays of the guarding space-ships which were stationed inside the layer at the edge of the hole and the lone dragon had fallen, a ready victim to the machine-gun bullets which had been poured into it. At first the press had damned Jim Carpenter for opening the road for these horrors, but once their harmlessness had been clearly established, the row had died down and the appearance of an amoeba did not merit over a squib on the inside pages of the daily papers.
"No one knows what unrevealed horrors space holds and the world will never rest entirely easy until the slow process of time again heals the protective layer."—From "Beyond the Heaviside Layer."
OVER a year has passed since I wrote those lines. When they were written the hole which Jim Carpenter had burned with his battery of infra-red lamps through the heaviside layer, that hollow sphere of invisible semi-plastic organic matter which encloses the world as a nutshell does a kernel, was gradually filling in as he had predicted it everyone thought that in another ten years the world would be safely enclosed again in its protective layer as it had been since the dawn of time. There were some adventurous spirits who deplored this fact, as it would effectually bar interplanetary travel, for Hadley had proved with his life that no space flyer could force its way through the fifty miles of almost solid material which barred the road to space, but they were in the minority. Most of humanity felt that it would rather be protected against the denizens of space than to have a road open for them to travel to the moon if they felt inclined.
To be sure, during the five years that the hole had been open, nothing more dangerous to the peace and well-being of the world had appeared from space than a few hundreds of the purple amoeba which we had found so numerous on the outer side of the layer, when we had traveled in a Hadley space ship up through the hole into the outer realms of space, and one lone specimen of the green dragons which we had also encountered. The amoeba had been readily destroyed by the disintegrating rays of the guarding space-ships which were stationed inside the layer at the edge of the hole and the lone dragon had fallen, a ready victim to the machine-gun bullets which had been poured into it. At first the press had damned Jim Carpenter for opening the road for these horrors, but once their harmlessness had been clearly established, the row had died down and the appearance of an amoeba did not merit over a squib on the inside pages of the daily papers.
38 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 1930
1 person is currently reading
4 people want to read
About the author
S.P. Meek
99 books10 followersSterner St. Paul Meek was a US military chemist, early science fiction author, and children's author. He published much of his work first as Capt. S.P. Meek, then, briefly, as Major S.P. Meek and, after 1933, as Col. S.P. Meek. He also published one story as Sterner St. Paul.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 3, 2020
An unusual alien invasion story from the late Radium-Age of science fiction, but also a bit formulaic for modern readers. It sets the premise for many works in the subgenre that we know today.
Years earlier in France, a novel was published called "The Blue Peril" about invisible extraterrestrials abducting humans (see my separate review on this awesome story). It is doubtful that this had any influence on our current tale, but even if it did, "The Attack From Space" certainly cemented the invisible alien factor into American fantasy. Further adventures featuring adversaries cloaked in invisibility such as "The White Invaders" (which I've also reviewed) started appearing in the pulps shortly thereafter. By the boom of independent scifi monster flicks in the 1950s, we had movies like "Phantom From Space" (1953) and "Invisible Invaders" (1959). The aliens featured in this outing, once revealed, are not little green men, but are silent insectoids much like our favorite xenomorph from the "Alien" franchise. And of course, alien abductions have been in the American consciousness for decades now. In addition, it could be argued that the conceit of classic video games like "Space Invaders" owes a great deal of debt to this story, and you will see why if you read it.
It's a very short read, so it's worth your time if you are at all interested in early scifi and especially the pulps. Be warned that this is a sequel to another short story called "Beyond the Heavyside Layer," which is referenced heavily in the beginning of "Attack From Space." Though it seems otherwise at first, you don't really need to have read the earlier story to understand this one. All you need to know is that Earth is surrounded by a protective atmospheric layer similar to the ozone layer we know today, though THIS layer actually prevents harmful things coming in and even prevents humans rocketing out into space (thus, in this fictional universe, humans are not able to achieve space travel.) A hole got punched in it that has allowed critters from the cosmos outside to infiltrate Earth. That's it.
This and the earlier story feature a wacky professor, Jim Carpenter, and his young reporter sidekick, who remind me a bit of Rick and Morty. It is evident that the author, Captain Meek, thought these two characters might be popular protagonists for even more stories, and "Attack" does set itself up for more sequels, but alas this was not to be.
Years earlier in France, a novel was published called "The Blue Peril" about invisible extraterrestrials abducting humans (see my separate review on this awesome story). It is doubtful that this had any influence on our current tale, but even if it did, "The Attack From Space" certainly cemented the invisible alien factor into American fantasy. Further adventures featuring adversaries cloaked in invisibility such as "The White Invaders" (which I've also reviewed) started appearing in the pulps shortly thereafter. By the boom of independent scifi monster flicks in the 1950s, we had movies like "Phantom From Space" (1953) and "Invisible Invaders" (1959). The aliens featured in this outing, once revealed, are not little green men, but are silent insectoids much like our favorite xenomorph from the "Alien" franchise. And of course, alien abductions have been in the American consciousness for decades now. In addition, it could be argued that the conceit of classic video games like "Space Invaders" owes a great deal of debt to this story, and you will see why if you read it.
It's a very short read, so it's worth your time if you are at all interested in early scifi and especially the pulps. Be warned that this is a sequel to another short story called "Beyond the Heavyside Layer," which is referenced heavily in the beginning of "Attack From Space." Though it seems otherwise at first, you don't really need to have read the earlier story to understand this one. All you need to know is that Earth is surrounded by a protective atmospheric layer similar to the ozone layer we know today, though THIS layer actually prevents harmful things coming in and even prevents humans rocketing out into space (thus, in this fictional universe, humans are not able to achieve space travel.) A hole got punched in it that has allowed critters from the cosmos outside to infiltrate Earth. That's it.
This and the earlier story feature a wacky professor, Jim Carpenter, and his young reporter sidekick, who remind me a bit of Rick and Morty. It is evident that the author, Captain Meek, thought these two characters might be popular protagonists for even more stories, and "Attack" does set itself up for more sequels, but alas this was not to be.
May 30, 2022
The Attack From Space was published in Astounding Stories of Super-Science: September 1930. It is the sequel to Beyond the Heavyside Layer, first published in Astounding Stories of Super-Science July 1930.
To recap from Beyond the Heavyside Layer, Bond (nicknamed “First Mortgage”), tells the incredible story of the eccentric Jim Carpenter, who really had his own thoughts about the otherwise widely held opinion that was almost unanimously believed by the scientists as to the true nature of the magnetic Heaviside layer around Earth. So what was Carpenter going to do? Punch a hole through it!
By now, six years has passed. This has the men involved concerned. Something or someone might attack Earth, but from where? Venus? Mars? The Moon? They studied their screens, looking into space with ultra lights. They communicated using their radio telephones. They flew their spaceships over Pasadena. They used searchlights. Then—
"Am I crazy, Jim," I asked, "or do you see these things too?" . . . He turned to the nearest beetle and slowly and clearly spoke a few words. . . .
Sweet Mother of Pearl! Raid! This story has giant beetles! But from where? And why, why, why are they on Earth?
What more could they have in store for everyone?
I enjoyed this short fiction story because it has the fun space adventure with a fantastic plot I enjoy. My goal is to find and read all that S.P. Meek (Sterner St. Paul Meek) wrote in the science fiction/fantasy genre as I am able to find.
🟣Kindle version.
🟤 Read via Gutenberg Project.
To recap from Beyond the Heavyside Layer, Bond (nicknamed “First Mortgage”), tells the incredible story of the eccentric Jim Carpenter, who really had his own thoughts about the otherwise widely held opinion that was almost unanimously believed by the scientists as to the true nature of the magnetic Heaviside layer around Earth. So what was Carpenter going to do? Punch a hole through it!
By now, six years has passed. This has the men involved concerned. Something or someone might attack Earth, but from where? Venus? Mars? The Moon? They studied their screens, looking into space with ultra lights. They communicated using their radio telephones. They flew their spaceships over Pasadena. They used searchlights. Then—
"Am I crazy, Jim," I asked, "or do you see these things too?" . . . He turned to the nearest beetle and slowly and clearly spoke a few words. . . .
Sweet Mother of Pearl! Raid! This story has giant beetles! But from where? And why, why, why are they on Earth?
What more could they have in store for everyone?
I enjoyed this short fiction story because it has the fun space adventure with a fantastic plot I enjoy. My goal is to find and read all that S.P. Meek (Sterner St. Paul Meek) wrote in the science fiction/fantasy genre as I am able to find.
🟣Kindle version.
🟤 Read via Gutenberg Project.
January 28, 2019
Perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if I had read the first book in this series. It was an imaginative story, and certainly experimental given the era (although I have noticed giant bugs frequently featuring in classic sci fi) but the writing and the plot were sub par.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews