Page:Life in a thousand worlds.djvu/248

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A SINGULAR PLANET.
243

forbids the destruction of homes in times of war.

Wars are of short duration. Usually the decisive conflict is fought in the air, and is the most terrible of them all. Imagine two of these Flying Devils approaching one another far above the surface of Zik. Each vessel is set in action long before it is in range of the other in the hope of firing the first effective shot. Each party of the conflict knows that the air vessel first struck will be at an end forever, for it will be blown to pieces and every life on board will be shattered into shapeless masses, while the wreckage falls amidst the burning of the combustibles. What a horrible ending of a short battle!

The wisest of the Zikites have proposed many plans to settle international differences but, like us, they have failed to suggest any plan that has proved to be practicable.

The largest nation of Zik has advanced far ahead of us on the labor question, but this was not reached until the contest between capital and labor had left its bloodmarks through many centuries.