



                     The Voice from the Inner World


        Second Honorable Mention in the $500 Prize Cover Contest
              Awarded to A. Hyatt Verrill, New York City,
                  for “A Voice from the Inner World.”

[Illustration: ... And it was evident that the others were equally
afraid of me ... they stood regarding me with an odd mixture of wonder
and terror on their huge faces.] The Voice from the Inner World

                          by A. Hyatt Verrill

Author of “The Plague of the Living Dead,” “Through the Crater’s Rim,” etc. The author of this story, well known to our readers, in
    submitting his prize story, adopts a treatment entirely
    different from that of practically all the rest of the
    winners. He has submitted a tale so characteristic and so
    original that it holds your interest by sheer strength. That
    there should be a cannibalistic race of females somewhere in
    our world is, after all, not impossible nor improbable. There are still cannibals at large, at the present writing,
    and probably will be for many generations to come. While the
    story has its gruesome moments, it also contains good
    science and Mr. Verrill certainly knows how to treat his
    subject and get the most from it. As a “different” sort of
    story, we highly recommend it to your attention. On the eighteenth of October, the New York papers reported the
appearance of a remarkable meteor which had been seen in mid-Pacific,
and the far more startling announcement that it was feared that the
amazing celestial visitor had struck and destroyed a steamship. “At eleven-fifteen last evening,” read the account in the _Herald_, “the
Panama-Hawaiian Line steamship _Chiriqui_ reported by radio the
appearance of an immense meteor which suddenly appeared above the
horizon to the southeast, and which increased rapidly in size and
brilliance. Within ten minutes from the time the phenomenon was first
sighted, it appeared as a huge greenish sphere of dazzling brilliance
high in the sky, and heading, apparently, directly for the _Chiriqui_. Almost at the same time as reported by the _Chiriqui_, several other
ships, among them the Miners and Merchants Line _Vulcan_, and the
Japanese liner _Fujiama Maru_ also reported the meteorite, although they
were more than one thousand miles apart and equidistant from the
position of the _Chiriqui_. “In the midst of a sentence describing the appearance of the rapidly
approaching meteor, the _Chiriqui’s_ wireless message came to an abrupt
end, and all attempts to get into further communication with her
operator failed. The other vessels reported that a scintillating flash,
like an explosion, was followed by the meteor’s disappearance, and it is
feared that the immense aerolite may have struck the _Chiriqui_, and
utterly destroyed her with all on board. As no S O S has been received,
and as the ship’s radio broke off with the words: ‘It is very close and
the sea is as bright as day. Below the immense mass of green fire are
two smaller spheres of intense red. It is so near we can hear it roaring
like a terrific wind. It is headed--’ It is probable that the vessel, if
struck, was instantly destroyed. It has been suggested, however, that it
is possible that the meteor or meteors were accompanied by electrical
phenomena which may have put the _Chiriqui’s_ wireless apparatus out of
commission and that the ship may be safe.”

Later editions of the press announced that no word had been received
from the _Chiriqui_, that other ships had reported the meteor, and that
two of these had radioed that the aerolite, instead of exploding, had
been seen to continue on its way and gradually disappear beyond the
horizon. These reports somewhat allayed the fears that the _Chiriqui_
had been struck by the meteor, and prominent scientists expressed the
opinion that the supposed explosion had been merely an optical illusion
caused by its passage through some dense or cloudy layer of air. They
also quoted numerous cases of immense meteors having been seen by
observers over immense distances, and declared their belief that the
aerolite had not reached the earth, but had merely passed through the
outer atmosphere. When asked regarding the possibility of the meteor
having affected the ship’s wireless apparatus, experts stated that such
might have been the case, although, hitherto, severe electrical
disturbances had never been associated with the passage of meteors. Moreover, they declared that even if the wireless had been injured, it
could have been repaired in a few hours, and that they could not explain
the continued silence of the _Chiriqui_. Word also came from Panama that
the naval commandant at Balboa had despatched a destroyer to search for
the _Chiriqui_, or any survivors of the catastrophe if the ship had been
destroyed. A few hours later, despatches were received from various points in
Central and South America, reporting the meteor of the previous night. All of these agreed that the fiery mass had swept across the heavens in
a wide arc and had vanished in the east beyond the summits of the Andes. It was, therefore, fairly certain that the _Chiriqui_ had not been
struck by the meteor, and in a few days the incident was completely
forgotten by the public at large. But when, ten days later, the warship reported that no sign of the
missing ship could be found, and the officials of the Panama-Hawaiian
Line admitted that the _Chiriqui_ was four days overdue, interest was
again aroused. Then came the startling news, featured in screaming
headlines, that the meteor or its twin had been again reported by
various ships in the Pacific, and that the U. S. S. _McCracken_, which
had been scouring the seas for traces of the missing _Chiriqui_, had
sent in a detailed report of the meteor’s appearance, and that her
wireless had gone “dead,” exactly as had that of the _Chiriqui_. And when, after every effort, no communication could be established with
the war vessel, and when two weeks had elapsed without word from her, it
was generally conceded that both ships had been destroyed by the amazing
celestial visitor. For a time the double catastrophe filled the papers
to the exclusion of nearly everything else, and such everyday features
as scandals and murder trials were crowded to the back pages of the
dailies to make room for long articles on meteors and missing ships and
interviews with scientists. But as no more meteors appeared, and as no
more ships vanished, the subject gradually lost interest and was no
longer news. About three months after the first report of the green meteor appeared
(on January fifteenth, to be exact) I was in Peru, visiting my daughter,
when I received a communication of such an utterly amazing character
that it appeared incredible, and yet was so borne out by facts and
details that it had all the earmarks of truth.