Beyond the Heaviside Layer

Jim Carpenter #1

by S.P. Meek

Jim Carpenter had never agreed to the opinion almost unanimously held by the scientists as to the true nature of the magnetic heaviside layer. He was going to try and punch a hole through it


McQUARRIE, the City Editor, looked up as I entered his office.
"Bond," he asked, "do you know Jim Carpenter?"
"I know him slightly," I replied cautiously. "I have met him several times and I interviewed him some years ago when he improved the Hadley rocket motor. I can't claim a very extensive acquaintance with him."
"I thought you knew him well. It is a surprise to me to find that there is any prominent man who is not an especial friend of yours. At any rate you know him as well as anyone of the staff, so I'll give you the assignment."
"What's he up to now?" I asked.
"He's going to try to punch a hole in the heaviside layer."
"But that's impossible," I cried. "How can anyone...."
My voice died away in silence. True enough, the idea of trying to make a permanent hole in a field of magnetic force was absurd, but even as I spoke I remembered that Jim Carpenter had never agreed to the opinion almost unanimously held by our scientists as to the true nature of the heaviside layer.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction

ebook

First published July 30, 2010

About the author

Sterner 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.

Reviews

[Susan Molloy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beyond the Heavyside Layer was published in Astounding Stories of Super-Science July 1930, and the sequel is The Attack From Space, published in Astounding Stories of Super-Science: September 1930.

In this story, Bond relats 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? Try and punch a hole through it!

So, Bond goes on the space adventure with Carpenter at the helm of a mighty spaceship to see if they can punch a hole and go Beyond the Heavyside Layer.

While narrating this story, Bond (a.k.a. “First Mortgage”), tells us about the ship’s speed that “dropped to one hundred and ten miles an hour and was steadily falling off. Carpenter pulled the control lever and reduced . . .He promptly reapplied the power, and by careful adjustment brought us again to a dead stop.”

Yet, what breaking through the Heaviside layer has a detrimental effect upon Earth. In fact, “no one knows what unrevealed horrors space holds” because of this tampering with the Universe.

The dénouement was nothing much to writing home about, really, but it does flesh out more in the sequel, .The Attack From Space.

I enjoyed this short fiction story because it had the fun space adventure with a plausible 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.


🟢 The e-book version can be found at Project Gutenberg , within the Astounding Stories of Super-Science, July 1930.
🟣Kindle version.

[Forked Radish · Rating 3 out of 5]

The heaviside layer is alive and well today. It’s just now called the ionosphere. But I call it the unicorn sphere because of all the relativity defying unicorns.