A Classic Reprint from AMAZING STORIES, January, 1933
OMEGA, the MAN
By LOWELL HOWARD MORROW
The silver airship cut swiftlythrough the hot thin air. Thenoonday sun blazed down upon itand the desert world below. Allabout was the solemn silence ofdeath. No living thing appearedeither in the air or on the drab,gray earth. Only the aircraft itselfdisplayed any signs of life.The sky, blue as indigo, held notthe shadow of a cloud, and on thehorizon the mountains notchedinto it like the teeth of a giantsaw.
The airship finally came to ahovering stop, then dropped rapidlytoward the salt-encrustedplain. It came to rest at last onthe bottom of a great, bowl-shapedhollow situated at the endof a chasm whose gray, rock-strewnsides rose in rugged terracesfor miles back into the sky.In a few moments a panel in thevessel's side rolled noiselesslyupward, disclosing a brilliantlight, and from the interior ofthe airship soon appeared twofigures who paused at the apertureand gazed out over theparched earth. Then without fearor visible effort—although theywere seventy-five feet above theground—they emerged from theship and floated down to earth.
These two humans—the solesurvivors of all earth's children—wereman and wife—Omegaand Thalma. They were burned adeep cherry by the fierce rays ofthe sun. In stature they wereabove the average man now onearth. Their legs were slenderand almost fleshless, because formany centuries man had ceasedto walk. Their feet were meretoeless protuberances attached tothe ankle bone. Their arms werelong and as spare as their legs,but their hands, although small,were well-proportioned and powerful.Their abdominal regionswere very small, but above themwere enormous chests shelteringlungs of tremendous power, forthus nature had armored managainst the rarefaction of theearth's atmosphere. But the mostremarkable parts about thistruly remarkable couple werethere massive heads set uponshort, slim necks. The cranial developmentwas extraordinary,their bulging foreheads denotinggreat brain power. Their eyes—setwide apart—were large andround, dark and luminous withintelligence and their ears wereremarkably large, being attunedto all the music and voices oflife. While their nostrils werelarge and dilated, their mouthswere very small, though sensuousand full-lipped. They wereentirely hairless—for even theeyebrows and the eyelashes ofman had entirely disappearedages before. And when theysmiled they betrayed no gleam ofteeth, for nature had long discardedteeth in man's evolution.
The great, silver ship of thesky now rested in a deep pocketon the floor of an ancient sea.Millions of years, under thesucking energy of the sun andthe whip of many winds, hadsapped its waters, until only ashallow, brackish lake remained.Along the shores of this lake,which covered scarcely morethan a hundred acres, a rim ofyellowish, green grass followedthe water's edge and struggledagainst the inevitable, and hereand there among the grassesflowers of faded colors and attenuatedfoliage reared theirheads bravely in the burningsunshine. And this lone lake,nestled in the lowest spot amongthe mountains and valleys whichonce floored the Pacific, now heldthe last of earth's waters. Barrenand lifeless the rest of theworld baked under a mercilesssun.
Now clasping hands, like childrenat play