HE planet created by the Futuremen is the only one in

the System that contains a place where normal hu-

manoid beings are accustomed to walk upside down. The

Institute of Pure and Applied Gravitation, covering several

square miles of ground, has for years conducted experi-

ments on the effect of variable gravity on plant life, and

one of its Rare Plant Departments is maintained under re-

verse gravity.

Once inside, of course, a visitor soon becomes accus-

tomed to seeing top and bottom interchanged, and soon

loses any idea that he is walking on his head. But as seen

from the outside, the entire group of buildings and green-

houses presents a weird appearance.

Only the plant life bears its familiar aspect -- and this

is the one thing that is really abnormal. Grown under

natural gravity, it has been transplanted here in the usual

Earth fashion, and then subjected to reversed gravity.

Plants Grow Huge

The appearance of the plants is thus affected amazingly.

With gravity pulling them upwards, they grow to many

times their usual height. These experiments have already

led to valuable discoveries of hitherto unsuspect functions

of plant cells.

The Upside-Down Institute, as it is called, is but one of

the many wonders of Futurian life. The transportation

system is another.

Futuria is the one planet that maintains practically free

lateral and vertical transportation for all inhabitants. The

costs are paid by taxes on special magnetic clothing sold

only by the government. A man wearing this clothing need

only step into the proper lane, at certain designated station,

and be whisked away at a speed close to a hundred miles

an hour.

As seen from below, he has all the appearance of flying,

and the Futurian skies, full of soaring men, women, and

children, never fail to intrigue visitors.

Eases Land Shortage

The new planet has had a great effect on System

economic life. Five years after completion of its core, it

was ready to receive immigrants.

But even before that, the news of its creation had spread

panic among land speculators, and eased the land shortage.

The Interplanetary Government could complete its

landscaping at leisure, while the Futuremen went on to

other tasks.

Futuria's orbit is an ellipse, averaging about

160,000,000 miles from the sun. By treating the planet as a

huge space-vessel, and giving it the proper acceleration

from time to time, its motion can be easily controlled.

The use of gravity screens prevents it from disturbing

the stable orbits of Mars and Earth.

Futuria itself is smaller than Earth, but has much more

available living space. Its surface is mostly dry land. Only

two small artificial oceans have been created to serve as

planetary reservoirs, and from these, a network of canals

radiate over the entire surface.

However, the planet does not show all the regularities

of design some government officials hoped it would.

Planet Still Shrinks

The reason lies below the surface. Though previously

packed down under high pressure, the materials used in its

construction have undergone further shrinkage that is still

continuing. Great folds in the surface have formed the

beginnings of mountain ranges, wide-spread depressions

indicate the beds of new, natural oceans. Already the

Rising Hills promise to put the Himalayas of Earth in the

shade, and the Vanishing Lake has a water level a thousand

feet below that of the neighboring dry land ... when it has a

water level at all. It dries up during the summer, to

reappear during the fall.

In addition to the expected inhabitants, Futuria has had

a great many unwanted immigrants.

These have been smuggled in on unfumigated space

Despite a Few Unwelcome Immigrants, Such as Jovian

Fire-Men and Carnivorous Plants, the Futuremen's

Strange World Still Remains the Ideal Place to Live!

ships, in a gigantic System-wide racket that has only

recently been broken up by the Planet Patrol.

Serpent-Men Under Control

As a result, one large area is in the hands of Martian

Serpent Men, a semi-humanoid race whose fierce

murderous habits had set the other inhabitants of their

native planet against them. Of the thousand or so survivors

of this almost extinct species of Mars, almost half

succeeded in reaching Futuria.

Here conditions of life have proved so favorable for the

development of their eggs, that their numbers have

increased tenfold. But the planet government has now

limited their expansion, and they offer no threat to the

planet's future.

The Jovian fire-men, flame-breathers who had been

threatened with extinction by the gradual cooling of their

native planet, also emigrated without Government consent,

and settled near the giant volcano which had formed in

Futuria's southern hemisphere. They too gained a new

lease on life.

The shrinking of the new planet's surface had naturally

led to the evolution of considerable internal heat. This heat

was particularly evident in the volcanic region, and had the

double effect of making life tolerable for the Jovians, and

impossible for most other races.

Carnivorous Plants Appear

Along with the unexpected animal immigrants, Futuria

has also found itself supplied with unwanted plants. A

living forest, composed of carnivorous vegetative and

semi-vegetative forms undoubtedly owes its formation to

spores brought in on unfumigated ships. So too do the

Fungus Plains, a flat area some fifty miles in diameter, that

shines with a queer greenish light of its own, and at night

serves as a gigantic natural lighthouse for space ships

racing in from the outer planets.

Mycologists estimate that more than ten thousand

varieties of molds and other fungi grow here in great

profusion. Unfortunately, the predominant kinds seem to

be relatives of the exceedingly virulent Saturnian varieties,

and most animals live no more than a few moments after

setting foot within its borders.

Inhabitants Like Futuria

Of course, not all of Futuria's immigrants are unwanted.

Great numbers of people from all hitherto existing planets

have taken up their abodes not far from the Equatorial

Canal, where the climate is most pleasant. They have come

in bewildering variety, and form the most cosmopolitan

population yet seen within the System.

They have built up, with Government help, three main

cities -- Lunar City, named for the Futuremen's home,

Cometstown, for the teardrop-shaped vessel, and what may

come as a surprise -- Gragville, named, it need not be said,

for the great robot himself.

The choice of a name for Gragville came only after an

excited and somewhat amusing controversy that lasted for

more than a month.

The mayor of what had at first been known as

Settlement Number Three wrote to Newton asking that

either he or Simon accept the honor of having the city

named after himself, and be present at the dedicatory

exercises. Simon, who had long since passed the stage of

seeking such honors, refused at once.

Curt Newton, who had other matters to interest him at

the moment, and could not spare the time needed to visit

the city, declined politely, stating that the planet's name

was honor enough, and suggested instead that the new

metropolis be named after either Grag or Otho. And as he

temporarily needed the services of neither the android nor

the robot, he shipped them both off to Futuria, and the

delighted but worried mayor of Settlement Three now

found himself facing a real problem.

Synthetic Men Seek Honor

Should the city be named for Otho or for Grag? The

two synthetic creatures were both anxious for the honor,

and all the quarrelsomeness in their natures came to the

fore.

The mayor, too discreet to show his preference either

way, proclaimed a special election to settle this great

question, and for several weeks both Grag and Otho threw

themselves into electioneering with all the vigor and skill

of veteran politicians.

It was a bewildering and not uncommon experience for

a voter to find himself approached by the two rivals at

once, each securing a firm grasp on some part of his

clothes, and extolling his own virtues.

It is doubtful whether either Grag or Otho won many

voters in this fashion, for their usual victim was too

paralyzed with fright to understand what either of them

said. The real decision was apparently the result of a

whispering campaign -- or rather, of two whispering

campaigns, one of which failed to achieve its effect.

Voters Become Divided

Otho's tactics were to split Grag's supporters into two

rival groups -- one in favor of Gragville, the other in favor

of Robotstown. In this way he hoped that even if he didn't

obtain a majority of the votes, at least he would be able to

win.

However, Grag's supporters saw through this maneuver,

and made it clear that they were heartily opposed to

Robotstown. The name didn't necessarily apply to Grag,

and then too it might have been misleading.

At the same time, following Grag's directions, they

repeated to any listeners they found that Otho had been

made a fool of by one Bror Ingmann, Terror of Space -- as

narrated in "Days of Creation." This lie had already been

exposed, but it still found ignorant believers, and Gragville

squeaked through to a narrow victory.

Grag magnanimously permitted a suburb of his city to

be called Otho Heights -- to be greatly chagrined some

time later when he learned that the suburb had outgrown

the town proper and was considered far superior as a

residence.

Mystery Shrouds Mountain

No description of Futuria would be complete without

some reference to the Haunted Peak, an unexpected

evidence of superstition to find on a planet which had been

constructed synthetically and should have been entirely

without mystery. But even before the planet was officially

opened to immigration, strange reports were circulated

about mysterious noises and events occurring in the

neighborhood of a peak not far from the South Polar

Ocean.

There was no evidence that any familiar life-forms had

made the peak their home, and an official investigating

committee denied absolutely that this part of Futuria was

inhabited.

Popular opinion still insists, however, that the peak had

become the home of invisible men from outer space.

Astonishingly enough, this belief is shared by none others

than Curt Newton and the Brain.

"Some day, Simon," observed Captain Future, "we'll

have to investigate that place. There should be at least as

much to learn as from a study of past civilizations."

"Some day, lad," agreed the Brain. "Meanwhile, we

have our studies on magnetogravitational waves to occupy

us."

Curt Newton nodded. And yet, he had a feeling that the

Haunted Peak might be even more important than the

investigations that now occupied the attention of the

Futuremen. Some day, as he had observed ...

Reluctantly, he relegated the idea to the back of his

mind. It was a mystery that for the time being must remain

unsolved.