The Welcome To Norlamin
:
Skylark Three
The Skylark was now days upon her way toward the sixth planet, Seaton
gave the visiplates and the instrument board his customary careful
scrutiny and rejoined the others.
"Still talking about the human fish, Dottie Dimple?" he asked, as he
stoked his villainous pipe. "Peculiar tribe of porpoises, but I'm strong
for 'em. They're the most like our own kind of folks, as far as ideas
go, of anybody we've seen
yet--in fact, they're more like us than a lot
of human beings we all know."
"I like them immensely----"
"You couldn't like 'em any other way, their size----"
"Terrible, Dick, terrible! Easy as I am, I can't stand for any such joke
as that was going to be. But really, I think they're just perfectly
fine, in spite of their being so funny-looking. Mrs. Carfon is just
simply sweet, even if she does look like a walrus, and that cute little
seal of a baby was just too perfectly cunning for words. That boy Seven
is keen as mustard, too."
"He should be," put in Crane, dryly. "He probably has as much
intelligence now as any one of us."
"Do you think so?" asked Margaret. "He acted like any other boy, but he
did seem to understand things remarkably well."
"He would--they're 'way ahead of us in most things." Seaton glanced at
the two women quizzically and turned to Crane. "And as for their being
bald, this was one time, Mart, when those two phenomenal heads of hair
our two little girl-friends are so proud of didn't make any kind of hit
at all. They probably regard that black thatch of Peg's and Dot's auburn
mop as relics of a barbarous and prehistoric age--about as we would
regard the hirsute hide of a Neanderthal man."
"That may be so, too," Dorothy replied, unconcernedly, "but we aren't
planning on living there, so why worry about it? I like them, anyway,
and I believe that they like us."
"They acted that way. But say, Mart, if that planet is so old that all
their land area has been eroded away, how come they've got so much water
left? And they've got quite an atmosphere, too."
"The air-pressure," said Crane, "while greater than that now obtaining
upon Earth, was probably of the order of magnitude of three meters of
mercury, originally. As to the erosion, they might have had more water
to begin with than our Earth had."
"Yeah, that'd account for it, all right," said Dorothy.
"There's one thing I want to ask you two scientists," Margaret said.
"Everywhere we've gone, except on that one world that Dick thinks is a
wandering planet, we've found the intelligent life quite remarkably like
human beings. How do you account for that?"
"There, Mart, is one for the massive old bean to concentrate on,"
challenged Seaton: then, as Crane considered the question in silence for
some time he went on: "I'll answer it myself, then, by asking another.
Why not? Why shouldn't they be? Remember, man is the highest form of
earthly life--at least, in our own opinion and as far as we know. In our
wanderings, we have picked out planets quite similar to our own in point
of atmosphere and temperature and, within narrow limits, of mass as
well. It stands to reason that under such similarity of conditions,
there would be a certain similarity of results. How about it, Mart?
Reasonable?"
"It seems plausible, in a way," conceded Crane, "but it probably is not
universally true."
"Sure not--couldn't be, hardly. No doubt we could find a lot of worlds
inhabited by all kinds of intelligent things--freaks that we can't even
begin to imagine now--but they probably would be occupying planets
entirely different from ours in some essential feature of atmosphere,
temperature, or mass."
"But the Fenachrone world is entirely different," Dorothy argued, "and
they're more or less human--they're bipeds, anyway, with recognizable
features. I've been studying that record with you, you know, and their
world has so much more mass than ours that their gravitation is simply
frightful!"
"That much difference is comparatively slight, not a real fundamental
difference. I meant a hundred or so times either way--greater or less.
And even their gravitation has modified their structure a lot--suppose
it had been fifty times as great as it is? What would they have been
like? Also, their atmosphere is very similar to ours in composition, and
their temperature is bearable. It is my opinion that atmosphere and
temperature have more to do with evolution than anything else, and that
the mass of the planet runs a poor third."
"You may be right," admitted Crane, "but it seems to me that you are
arguing from insufficient premises."
"Sure I am--almost no premises at all. I would be just about as well
justified in deducing the structure of a range of mountains from a
superficial study of three pebbles picked up in a creek near them.
However, we can get an idea some time, when we have a lot of time."
"How?"
"Remember that planet we struck on the first trip, that had an
atmosphere composed mostly of gaseous chlorin? In our ignorance we
assumed that life there was impossible, and didn't stop. Well, it may be
just as well that we didn't. If we go back there, protected as we are
with our rays and stuff, it wouldn't surprise me a bit to find life
there, and lots of it--and I've got a hunch that it'll be a form of life
that'd make your grandfather's whiskers curl right up into a ball!"
"You do get the weirdest ideas, Dick!" protested Dorothy. "I hope you
aren't planning on exploring it, just to prove your point?"
"Never thought of it before. Can't do it now, anyway--got our hands full
already. However, after we get this Fenachrone mess cleaned up we'll
have to do just that little thing, won't we, Mart? As that intellectual
guy said while he was insisting upon dematerializing us, 'Science
demands it.'"
"By all means. We should be in a position to make contributions to
science in fields as yet untouched. Most assuredly we shall investigate
those points."
"Then they'll go alone, won't they, Peggy?"
"Absolutely! We've seen some pretty middling horrible things already,
and if these two men of ours call the frightful things we have seen
normal, and are planning on deliberately hunting up things that even
they will consider monstrous, you and I most certainly shall stay at
home!"
"Yeah? You say it easy. Bounce back, Peg, you've struck a rubber fence!
Rufus, you red-headed little fraud, you know you wouldn't let me go to
the corner store after a can of tobacco without insisting on tagging
along!"
"You're a...." began Dorothy hotly, but broke off in amazement and
gasped, "For Heaven's sake, what was that?"
"What was what? It missed me."
"It went right through you! It was a kind of funny little cloud, like
smoke or something. It came right through the ceiling like a
flash--went right through you and on down through the floor. There it
comes back again!"
* * * * *
Before their staring eyes a vague, nebulous something moved rapidly
upward through the floor and passed upward through the ceiling. Dorothy
leaped to Seaton's side and he put his arm around her reassuringly.
"'Sall right folks--I know what that thing is."
"Well, shoot it, quick!" Dorothy implored.
"It's one of those projections from where we're heading for, trying to
get our range; and it's the most welcome sight these weary old eyes have
rested upon for full many a long and dreary moon. They've probably
located us from our power-plant rays. We're an awful long ways off yet,
though, and going like a streak of greased lightning, so they're having
trouble in holding us. They're friendly, we already know that--they
probably want to talk to us. It'd make it easier for them if we'd shut
off our power and drift at constant velocity, but we'd use up valuable
time and throw our calculations all out of whack. We'll let them try to
match our acceleration If they can do that, they're good."
The apparition reappeared, oscillating back and forth
irregularly--passing through the arenak walls, through the furniture and
the instrument boards, and even through the mighty power-plant itself,
as though nothing was there. Eventually, however, it remained stationary
a foot or so above the floor of the control-room. Then it began to
increase in density until apparently a man stood before them. His skin,
like that of all the inhabitants of the planets of the green suns, was
green. He was tall and well-proportioned when judged by Earthly
standards, except for his head, which was overly large, and which was
particularly massive above the eyes and backward from the ears. He was
evidently of great age, for what little of his face was visible was
seamed and wrinkled, and his long, thick mane of hair and his
square-cut, yard-long beard were a dazzling white, only faintly tinged
with green.
While not in any sense transparent, nor even translucent, it was evident
that the apparition before them was not composed of flesh and blood. He
looked at each of the four Earth-beings intensely for a moment, then
pointed toward the table upon which stood the mechanical educator, and
Seaton placed it in front of the peculiar visitor. As Seaton donned a
headset and handed one to the stranger, the latter stared at him,
impressing upon his consciousness that he was to be given a knowledge of
English. Seaton pressed the lever, receiving as he did so a sensation of
an unbroken calm, a serenity profound and untroubled, and the projection
spoke.
"Dr. Seaton, Mr. Crane, and ladies--welcome to Norlamin, the planet
toward which you are now flying. We have been awaiting you for more than
five thousand years of your time. It has been a mathematical
certainty--it has been graven upon the very Sphere itself--that in time
someone would come to us from without this system, bringing a portion,
however small, of Rovolon--of the metal of power, of which there is not
even the most minute trace in our entire solar system. For more than
five thousand years our instruments have been set to detect the
vibrations which would herald the advent of the user of that metal. Now
you have come, and I perceive that you have vast stores of it. Being
yourselves seekers after truth, you will share it with us gladly as we
will instruct you in many things you wish to know. Allow me to operate
the educator--I would gaze into your minds and reveal my own to your
sight. But first I must tell you that your machine is too rudimentary to
work at all well, and with your permission I shall make certain minor
alterations."
Seaton nodded permission, and from the eyes and from the hands of the
figure there leaped visible streams of force, which seized the
transformers, coils and tubes, and reformed and reconnected them, under
Seaton's bulging eyes, into an entirely different mechanism.
"Oh, I see!" he gasped. "Say, what are you anyway?"
"Pardon me; in my eagerness I became forgetful. I am Orlon, the First of
Astronomy of Norlamin, in my observatory upon the surface of the planet.
This that you see is simply my projection, composed of forces for which
you have no name in your language. You can cut it off, if you wish, with
your ray-screens, which even I can see are of a surprisingly high order
of efficiency. There, this educator will now work very well. Please put
on the remodeled headsets, all four of you."
They did so, and the rays of force moved levers, switches, and dials as
positively as human hands could have moved them, and with infinitely
greater speed and precision. As the dials moved, each brain received
clearly and plainly a knowledge of the customs, language, and manners of
the inhabitants of Norlamin. Each mind became suffused with a vast,
immeasurable peace, calm power, and a depth and breadth of mental vision
theretofore undreamed of. Looking deep into his mind they sensed a
quiet, placid certainty, beheld power and knowledge to them illimitable,
perceived depths of wisdom to them unfathomable.
Then from his mind into theirs there flowed smoothly a mighty stream of
comprehension of cosmic phenomena. They hazily saw infinitely small
units grouped into planetary formations to form practically
dimensionless particles. These particles in turn grouped to form
slightly larger ones, and after a long succession of such grouping they
knew that the comparatively gigantic aggregates which then held their
attention were in reality electrons and protons, the smallest units
recognized by Earthly science. They clearly understood the combination
of these electrons and protons into atoms. They perceived plainly the
way in which atoms build up molecules, and comprehended the molecular
structure of matter. In mathematical thoughts, only dimly grasped even
by Seaton and Crane, were laid before them the fundamental laws of
physics, of electricity, of gravitation, and of chemistry. They saw
globular aggregations of matter, the suns and their planets, comprising
solar systems; saw solar systems, in accordance with those immutable
laws, grouped into galaxies, galaxies in turn--here the flow was
suddenly shut off as though a valve had been closed, and the astronomer
spoke.
"Pardon me. Your brains should be stored only with the material you
desire most and can use to the best advantage, for your mental capacity
is even more limited than my own. Please understand that I speak in no
derogatory sense; it is only that your race has many thousands of
generations to go before your minds should be stored with knowledge
indiscriminately. We ourselves have not yet reached that stage, and we
are perhaps millions of years older than you. And yet," he continued
musingly, "I envy you. Knowledge is, of course, relative, and I can
know so little! Time and space have yielded not an iota of their
mystery to our most penetrant minds. And whether we delve baffled into
the unknown smallness of the small, or whether we peer, blind and
helpless, into the unknown largeness of the large, it is the
same--infinity is comprehensible only to the Infinite One: the
all-shaping Force directing and controlling the Universe and the
unknowable Sphere. The more we know, the vaster the virgin fields of
investigation open to us, and the more infinitesimal becomes our
knowledge. But I am perhaps keeping you from more important activities.
As you approach Norlamin more nearly, I shall guide you to my
observatory. I am glad indeed that it is in my lifetime that you have
come to us, and I await anxiously the opportunity of greeting you in the
flesh. The years remaining to me of this cycle of existence are few, and
I had almost ceased hoping to witness your coming."
* * * * *
The projection vanished instantaneously, and the four stared at each
other in an incredulous daze of astonishment. Seaton finally broke the
stunned silence. "Well, I'll be kicked to death by little red spiders!"
he ejaculated. "Mart, did you see what I saw, or did I get tight on
something without knowing it? That sure burned me up--it breaks me right
off at the ankles, just to think of it!"
Crane walked to the educator in silence. He examined it, felt the
changed coils and transformers, and gently shook the new insulating base
of the great power-tube. Still in silence he turned his back, walked
around the instrument board, read the meters, then went back and again
inspected the educator.
"It was real, and not a higher development of hypnotism, as at first I
thought it must be," he reported seriously. "Hypnotism, if sufficiently
advanced, might have affected us in that fashion, even to teaching us
all a strange language, but by no possibility could it have had such an
effect upon copper, steel, bakelite, and glass. It was certainly real,
and while I cannot begin to understand it, I will say that your
imagination has certainly vindicated itself. A race of beings, who can
do such things as that, can do almost anything--you have been right,
from the start."
"Then you can beat those horrible Fenachrone, after all!" cried Dorothy,
and threw herself into her husband's arms.
"Do you remember, Dick, that I hailed you once as Columbus at San
Salvador?" asked Margaret unsteadily from Crane's encircling arm. "What
could a man be called who from the sheer depths of his imagination
called forth the means of saving from destruction all the civilization
of millions of entire worlds?"
"Don't talk that way, please, folks," Seaton was plainly very
uncomfortable. He blushed intensely, the burning red tide rising in
waves up to his hair as he wriggled in embarrassment, like any
schoolboy. "Mart's done most of it, anyway, you know; and even at that,
we ain't out of the woods yet, by forty-seven rows of apple trees."
"You will admit, will you not, that we can see our way out of the woods,
at least, and that you yourself feel rather relieved?" asked Crane.
"I think we'll be able to pull their corks now, all right, after we get
some dope. It's a cinch they've either got the stuff we need or know how
to get it--and if that zone is impenetrable, I'll bet they'll be able to
dope out something just as good. Relieved? That doesn't half tell it,
guy--I feel as if I had just pitched off the Old Man of the Sea who's
been sitting on my neck! What say you girls get your fiddle and guitar
and we'll sing us a little song? I feel kind of relieved--they had me
worried some--it's the first time I've felt like singing since we cut
that warship up."
Dorothy brought out her "fiddle"--the magnificent Stradivarius, formerly
Crane's, which he had given her--Margaret her guitar, and they sang one
rollicking number after another. Though by no means a Metropolitan Opera
quartette, their voices were all better than mediocre, and they had sung
together so much that they harmonized readily.
"Why don't you play us some real music, Dottie?" asked Margaret, after a
time. "You haven't practiced for ages."
"I haven't felt like playing lately, but I do now," and Dorothy stood up
and swept the bow over the strings. Doctor of Music in violin, an
accomplished musician, playing upon one of the finest instruments the
world has ever known, she was lifted out of herself by relief from the
dread of the Fenachrone invasion and that splendid violin expressed
every subtle nuance of her thought.
She played rhapsodies and paeans, and solos by the great masters. She
played vivacious dances, then "Traumerei" and "Liebestraum." At last she
swept into the immortal "Meditation," and as the last note died away
Seaton held out his arms.
"You're a blinding flash and a deafening report, Dottie Dimple, and I
love you," he declared--and his eyes and his arms spoke volumes that his
light utterance had left unsaid.
* * * * *
Norlamin close enough so that its image almost filled number six
visiplate, the four wanderers studied it with interest. Partially
obscured by clouds and with its polar regions two glaring caps of
snow--they would be green in a few months, when the planet would swing
inside the orbit of its sun around the vast central luminary of that
complex solar system--it made a magnificent picture. They saw sparkling
blue oceans and huge green continents of unfamiliar outlines. So
terrific was the velocity of the space-cruiser, that the image grew
larger as they watched it, and soon the field of vision could not
contain the image of the whole disk.
"Well, I expect Orlon'll be showing up pretty quick now," remarked
Seaton; and it was not long until the projection appeared in the air of
the control room.
"Hail, Terrestrials!" he greeted them. "With your permission, I shall
direct your flight."
Permission granted, the figure floated across the room to the board and
the rays of force centered the visiplate, changed the direction of the
bar a trifle, decreased slightly their negative acceleration, and
directed a stream of force upon the steering mechanism.
"We shall alight upon the grounds of my observatory upon Norlamin in
seven thousand four hundred twenty-eight seconds," he announced
presently. "The observatory will be upon the dark side of Norlamin when
we arrive, but I have a force operating upon the steering mechanism
which will guide the vessel along the required curved path. I shall
remain with you until we land, and we may converse upon any topic of
most interest to you."
"We've got a topic of interest, all right. That's what we came out here
for. But it would take too long to tell you about it--I'll show you!"
He brought out the magnetic brain record, threaded it into the machine
and handed the astronomer a head-set. Orlon put it on, touched the
lever, and for an hour there was unbroken silence as the monstrous brain
of the menace was studied by the equally capable intellect of the
Norlaminian scientist. There was no pause in the motion of the magnetic
tape, no repetition--Orlon's brain absorbed the information as fast as
it could be sent, and understood that frightful mind in every
particular.
As the end of the tape was reached and the awful record ended, a shadow
passed over Orlon's face.
"Truly a depraved evolution--it is sad to contemplate such a perversion
of a really excellent brain. They have power, even as you have, and they
have the will to destroy, which is a thing that I cannot understand.
However, if it is graven upon the Sphere that we are to pass, it means
only that upon the next plane we shall continue our searches--let us
hope with better tools and with greater understanding than we now
possess."
"'Smatter?" snapped Seaton gravely. "Going to take it lying down,
without putting up any fight at all?"
"What can we do? Violence is contrary to our very natures. No man of
Norlamin could offer any but passive resistance."
"You can do a lot if you will. Put on that headset again and get my
plan, offering any suggestions your far abler brain may suggest."
As the human scientist poured his plan of battle into the brain of the
astronomer, Orlon's face cleared.
"It is graven upon the Sphere that the Fenachrone shall pass," he said
finally. "What you ask of us we can do. I have only a general knowledge
of rays, as they are not in the province of the Orlon family; but the
student Rovol, of the family Rovol of Rays, has all present knowledge of
such phenomena. Tomorrow I will bring you together, and I have little
doubt that he will be able, with the help of your metal of power, to
solve your problem."
"I don't quite understand what you said about a whole family studying
one subject, and yet having only one student in it," said Dorothy, in
perplexity.
"A little explanation is perhaps necessary," replied Orlon. "First, you
must know that every man of Norlamin is a student, and most of us are
students of science. With us, 'labor' means mental effort, that is,
study. We perform no physical or manual labor save for exercise, as all
our mechanical work is done by forces. This state of things having
endured for many thousands of years, it long ago became evident that
specialization was necessary in order to avoid duplication of effort and
to insure complete coverage of the field. Soon afterward, it was
discovered that very little progress was being made in any branch,
because so much was known that it took practically a lifetime to review
that which had already been accomplished, even in a narrow and highly
specialized field. Many points were studied for years before it was
discovered that the identical work had been done before, and either
forgotten or overlooked. To remedy this condition the mechanical
educator had to be developed. Once it was perfected a new system was
begun. One man was assigned to each small subdivision of scientific
endeavor, to study it intensively. When he became old, each man chose a
successor--usually a son--and transferred his own knowledge to the
younger student. He also made a complete record of his own brain, in
much the same way as you have recorded the brain of the Fenachrone upon
your metallic tape. These records are all stored in a great central
library, as permanent references.
"All these things being true, now a young person may need only finish an
elementary education--just enough to learn to think, which takes only
about twenty-five or thirty years--and then he is ready to begin actual
work. When that time comes, he receives in one day all the knowledge of
his specialty which has been accumulated by his predecessors during many
thousands of years of intensive study."
"Whew!" Seaton whistled, "no wonder you folks know something! With that
start, I believe I might know something myself! As an astronomer, you
may be interested in this star-chart and stuff--or do you know all about
that already?"
"No, the Fenachrone are far ahead of us in that subject, because of
their observatories out in open space and because of their gigantic
reflectors, which cannot be used through any atmosphere. We are further
hampered in having darkness for only a few hours at a time and only in
the winter, when our planet is outside the orbit of our sun around the
great central sun of our entire system. However, with the Rovolon you
have brought us, we shall have real observatories far out in space; and
for that I personally will be indebted to you more than I can ever
express. As for the chart, I hope to have the pleasure of examining it
while you are conferring with Rovol of Rays."
"How many families are working on rays--just one?"
"One upon each kind of ray. That is, each of the ray families knows a
great deal about all kinds of vibrations of the ether, but is
specializing upon one narrow field. Take, for instance, the rays you are
most interested in; those able to penetrate a zone of force. From my own
very slight and general knowledge I know that it would of necessity be a
ray of the fifth order. These rays are very new--they have been under
investigation only a few hundred years--and the Rovol is the only
student who would be at all well informed upon them. Shall I explain the
orders of rays more fully than I did by means of the educator?"
"Please. You assumed that we knew more than we do, so a little
explanation would help."
"All ordinary vibrations--that is, all molecular and material ones, such
as light, heat, electricity, radio, and the like--were arbitrarily
called waves of the first order; in order to distinguish them from waves
of the second order, which are given off by particles of the second
order, which you know as protons and electrons, in their combination to
form atoms. Your scientist Millikan discovered these rays for you, and
in your language they are known as Millikan, or Cosmic, rays.
* * * * *
"Some time later, when sub-electrons were identified the rays given off
by their combination into electrons, or by the disruption of electrons,
were called rays of the third order. These rays are most interesting and
most useful; in fact, they do all our mechanical work. They as a class
are called protelectricity, and bear the same relation to ordinary
electricity that electricity does to torque--both are pure energy, and
they are inter-convertible. Unlike electricity, however, it may be
converted into many different forms by fields of force, in a way
comparable to that in which white light is resolved into colors by a
prism--or rather, more like the way alternating current is changed to
direct current by a motor-generator set, with attendant changes in
properties. There is a complete spectrum of more than five hundred
factors, each as different from the others as red is different from
green.
"Continuing farther, particles of the fourth order give rays of the
fourth order; those of the fifth, rays of the fifth order. Fourth-order
rays have been investigated quite thoroughly, but only mathematically
and theoretically, as they are of excessively short wave-length and are
capable of being generated only by the breaking down of matter itself
into the corresponding particles. However, it has been shown that they
are quite similar to protelectricity in their general behavior. Thus,
the power that propels your space-vessel, your attractors, your
repellers, your object-compass, your zone of force--all these things are
simply a few of the many hundreds of wave-bands of the fourth order, all
of which you doubtless would have worked out for yourselves in time.
Very little is known, even in theory, of the rays of the fifth order,
although they have been shown to exist."
"For a man having no knowledge, you seem to know a lot about rays. How
about the fifth order--is that as far as they go?"
"My knowledge is slight and very general; only such as I must have in
order to understand my own subject. The fifth order certainly is not the
end--it is probably scarcely a beginning. We think now that the orders
extend to infinite smallness, just as the galaxies are grouped into
larger aggregations, which are probably in their turn only tiny units in
a scheme infinitely large.
"Over six thousand years ago the last third order rays were worked out;
and certain peculiarities in their behavior led the then Rovol to
suspect the existence of the fourth order. Successive generations of the
Rovol proved their existence, determined the conditions of their
liberation, and found that this metal of power was the only catalyst
able to decompose matter and thus liberate the rays. This metal, which
was called Rovolon after the Rovol, was first described upon theoretical
grounds and later was found, by spectroscopy, in certain stars, notably
in one star only eight light-years away, but not even the most
infinitesimal trace of it exists in our entire solar system. Since these
discoveries, the many Rovol have been perfecting the theory of the
fourth order, beginning that of the fifth, and waiting for your coming.
The present Rovol, like myself and many others whose work is almost at a
standstill, is waiting with all-consuming interest to greet you, as soon
as the Skylark can be landed upon our planet."
"Neither your rocket-ships nor your projections could get you any
Rovolon?"
"No. Every hundred years or so someone develops a new type of rocket
that he thinks may stand a slight chance of making the journey, but not
one of these venturesome youths has as yet returned. Either that sun has
no planets or else the rocket-ships have failed. Our projections are
useless, as they can be driven only a very short distance upon our
present carrier wave. With a carrier of the fifth order we could drive a
projection to any point in the galaxy, since its velocity would be
millions of times that of light and the power necessary reduced
accordingly--but as I have said before, such waves cannot be generated
without metal Rovolon."
"I hate to break this up--I'd like to listen to you talk for a week--but
we're going to land pretty quick, and it looks as though we were going
to land pretty hard."
"We will land soon, but not hard," replied Orlon confidently, and the
landing was as he had foretold. The Skylark was falling with an
ever-decreasing velocity, but so fast was the descent that it seemed to
the watchers as though they must crash through the roof of the huge
brilliantly lighted building upon which they were dropping and bury
themselves many feet in the ground beneath it. But they did not strike
the observatory. So incredibly accurate were the calculations of the
Norlaminian astronomer and so inhumanly precise were the controls he had
set upon their bar, that, as they touched the ground after barely
clearing the domed roof and he shut off their power, the passengers felt
only a sudden decrease in acceleration, like that following the coming
to rest of a rapidly moving elevator, after it has completed a downward
journey.
"I shall join you in person very shortly," Orlon said, and the
projection vanished.
"Well, we're here, folks, on another new world. Not quite as thrilling
as the first one was, is it?" and Seaton stepped toward the door.
"How about the air composition, density, gravity, temperature, and so
on?" asked Crane. "Perhaps we should make a few tests."
"Didn't you get that on the educator? Thought you did. Gravity a little
less than seven-tenths. Air composition, same as Osnome and Dasor.
Pressure, half-way between Earth and Osnome. Temperature, like Osnome
most of the time, but fairly comfortable in the winter. Snow now at the
poles, but this observatory is only ten degrees from the equator. They
don't wear clothes enough to flag a hand-car with here, either, except
when they have to. Let's go!"
He opened the door and the four travelers stepped out upon a
close-cropped lawn--a turf whose blue-green softness would shame an
Oriental rug. The landscape was illuminated by a soft and mellow, yet
intense green light which emanated from no visible source. As they
paused and glanced about them, they saw that the Skylark had alighted
in the exact center of a circular enclosure a hundred yards in diameter,
walled by row upon row of shrubbery, statuary, and fountains, all bathed
in ever-changing billows of light. At only one point was the circle
broken. There the walls did not come together, but continued on to
border a lane leading up to the massive structure of cream-and-green
marble, topped by its enormous, glassy dome--the observatory of Orlon.
"Welcome to Norlamin, Terrestrials," the deep, calm voice of the
astronomer greeted them, and Orlon in the flesh shook hands cordially in
the American fashion with each of them in turn, and placed around each
neck a crystal chain from which depended a small Norlaminian
chronometer-radiophone. Behind him there stood four other old men.
"These men are already acquainted with each of you, but you do not as
yet know them. I present Fodan, Chief of the Five of Norlamin. Rovol,
about whom you know. Astron, the First of Energy. Satrazon, the First of
Chemistry."
Orlon fell in beside Seaton and the party turned toward the observatory.
As they walked along the Earth-people stared, held by the unearthly
beauty of the grounds. The hedge of shrubbery, from ten to twenty feet
high, and which shut out all sight of everything outside it, was one
mass of vivid green and flaring crimson leaves; each leaf and twig
groomed meticulously into its precise place in a fantastic geometrical
scheme. Just inside this boundary there stood a ring of statues of
heroic size. Some of them were single figures of men and women; some
were busts; some were groups in natural or allegorical poses--all were
done with consummate skill and feeling. Between the statues there were
fountains, magnificent bronze and glass groups of the strange aquatic
denizens of this strange planet, bathed in geometrically shaped sprays,
screens, and columns of water. Winding around between the statues and
the fountains there was a moving, scintillating wall, and upon the
waters and upon the wall there played torrents of color, cataracts of
harmoniously blended light. Reds, blues, yellows, greens--every color of
their peculiar green spectrum and every conceivable combination of those
colors writhed and flamed in ineffable splendor upon those deep and
living screens of falling water and upon that shimmering wall.
As they entered the lane, Seaton saw with amazement that what he had
supposed a wall, now close at hand, was not a wall at all. It was
composed of myriads of individual sparkling jewels, of every known
color, for the most part self-luminous; and each gem, apparently
entirely unsupported, was dashing in and out and along among its
fellows, weaving and darting here and there, flying at headlong speed
along an extremely tortuous, but evidently carefully calculated course.
"What can that be, anyway, Dick?" whispered Dorothy, and Seaton turned
to his guide.
"Pardon my curiosity, Orlon, but would you mind explaining the why of
that moving wall? We don't get it."
"Not at all. This garden has been the private retreat of the family of
Orlon for many thousands of years, and women of our house have been
beautifying it since its inception. You may have observed that the
statuary is very old. No such work has been done for ages. Modern art
has developed along the lines of color and motion, hence the lighting
effects and the tapestry wall. Each gem is held upon the end of a minute
pencil of force, and all the pencils are controlled by a machine which
has a key for every jewel in the wall."
Crane, the methodical, stared at the innumerable flashing jewels and
asked, "It must have taken a prodigious amount of time to complete such
an undertaking?"
"It is far from complete; in fact, it is scarcely begun. It was started
only about four hundred years ago."
"Four hundred years!" exclaimed Dorothy. "Do you live that long? How
long will it take to finish it, and what will it be like when it is
done?"
"No, none of us live longer than about one hundred and sixty years--at
about that age most of us decide to pass. When this tapestry wall is
finished, it will not be simply form and color, as it is now. It will be
a portrayal of the history of Norlamin from the first cooling of the
planet. It will, in all probability, require thousands of years for its
completion. You see, time is of little importance to us, and workmanship
is everything. My companion will continue working upon it until we
decide to pass; my son's companion may continue it. In any event, many
generations of the women of the Orlon will work upon it until it is
complete. When it is done, it will be a thing of beauty as long as
Norlamin shall endure."
"But suppose that your son's wife isn't that kind of an artist? Suppose
she should want to do music or painting or something else?" asked
Dorothy, curiously.
"That is quite possible; for, fortunately, our art is not yet entirely
intellectual, as is our music. There are many unfinished artistic
projects in the house of Orlon, and if the companion of my son should
not find one to her liking, she will be at liberty to continue anything
else she may have begun, or to start an entirely new project of her
own."
"You have a family, then?" asked Margaret, "I'm afraid I didn't
understand things very well when you gave them to us over the educator."
"I sent things too fast for you, not knowing that your educator was new
to you; a thing with which you were not thoroughly familiar. I will
therefore explain some things in language, since you are not familiar
with the mechanism of thought transference. The Five, a
self-perpetuating body, do what governing is necessary for the entire
planet. Their decrees are founded upon self-evident truth, and are
therefore the law. Population is regulated according to the needs of the
planet, and since much work is now in progress, an increase in
population was recommended by the Five. My companion and I therefore had
three children, instead of the customary two. By lot it fell to us to
have two boys and one girl. One of the boys will assume my duties when I
pass; the other will take over a part of some branch of science that has
grown too complex for one man to handle as a specialist should. In fact,
he has already chosen his specialty and been accepted for it--he is to
be the nine hundred and sixty-seventh of Chemistry, the student of the
asymmetric carbon atom, which will thus be his specialty from this time
henceforth.
"It was learned long ago that the most perfect children were born of
parents in the full prime of mental life, that is, at one hundred years
of age. Therefore, with us each generation covers one hundred years. The
first twenty-five years of a child's life are spent at home with his
parents, during which time he acquires his elementary education in the
common schools. Then boys and girls alike move to the Country of Youth,
where they spend another twenty-five years. There they develop their
brains and initiative by conducting any researches they choose. Most of
us, at that age, solve all the riddles of the Universe, only to discover
later that our solutions have been fallacious. However, much really
excellent work is done in the Country of Youth, primarily because of the
new and unprejudiced viewpoints of the virgin minds there at work. In
that country also each finds his life's companion, the one necessary to
round out mere existence into a perfection of living that no person, man
or woman, can ever know alone. I need not speak to you of the wonders of
love or of the completion and fullness of life that it brings, for all
four of you, children though you are, know love in full measure.
"At fifty years of age the man, now mentally mature, is recalled to his
family home, as his father's brain is now losing some of its vigor and
keenness. The father then turns over his work to the son by means of the
educator--and when the weight of the accumulated knowledge of a hundred
thousand generations of research is impressed upon the son's brain, his
play is over."
"What does the father do then?"
"Having made his brain record, about which I have told you, he and his
companion--for she has in similar fashion turned over her work to her
successor--retire to the Country of Age, where they rest and relax after
their century of effort. They do whatever they care to do, for as long
as they please to do it. Finally, after assuring themselves that all is
well with the children, they decide that they are ready for the Change.
Then, side by side as they have labored, they pass."
Now at the door of the observatory, Dorothy paused and shrank back
against Seaton, her eyes widening as she stared at Orlon.
"No, daughter, why should we fear the Change?" he answered her unspoken
question, calm serenity in every inflection of his quiet voice. "The
life-principle is unknowable to the finite mind, as is the
All-Controlling Force. But even though we know nothing of the sublime
goal toward which it is tending, any person ripe for the Change can, and
of course does, liberate the life-principle so that its progress may be
unimpeded."
* * * * *
In a spacious room of the observatory, in which the Terrestrials and
their Norlaminian hosts had been long engaged in study and discussion,
Seaton finally rose and extended a hand toward his wife.
"Well, that's that, then, Orlon, I guess. We've been thirty hours
without sleep, and for us that's a long time. I'm getting so dopey I
can't think a lick. We'd better go back to the Skylark and turn in,
and after we've slept nine hours or so I'll go over to Rovol's
laboratory and Crane'll come back here to you."
"You need not return to your vessel," said Orlon. "I know that its
somewhat cramped quarters have become irksome. Apartments have been
prepared here for you. We shall have a meal here together, and then we
shall retire, to meet again tomorrow."
As he spoke, a tray laden with appetizing dishes appeared in the air in
front of each person. As Seaton resumed his seat the tray followed him,
remaining always in the most convenient position.
Crane glanced at Seaton questioningly, and Satrazon, the First of
Chemistry, answered his thought before he could voice it.
"The food before you, unlike that which is before us of Norlamin, is
wholesome for you. It contains no copper, no arsenic, no heavy
metals--in short, nothing in the least harmful to your chemistry. It is
balanced as to carbohydrates, proteins, fats and sugars, and contains
the due proportion of each of the various accessory nutritional factors.
You will also find the flavors are agreeable to each of you."
"Synthetic, eh? You've got us analyzed," Seaton stated, rather than
asked, as with knife and fork he attacked the thick, rare, and
beautifully broiled steak which, with its mushrooms and other delicate
trimmings, lay upon his rigid although unsupported tray--noticing as he
did so that the Norlaminians ate with tools entirely different from
those they had supplied to their Earthly guests.
"Entirely synthetic," Satrazon made answer, "except for the sodium
chloride necessary. As you already know, sodium and chlorin are very
rare throughout our system, therefore the force upon the food-supply
took from your vessel the amount of salt required for the formula. We
have been unable to synthesize atoms, for the same reason that the
labors of so many others have been hindered--because of the lack of
Rovolon. Now, however, my science shall progress as it should; and for
that I join with my fellow scientists in giving you thanks for the
service you have rendered us."
"We thank you instead," replied Seaton, "for the service we have been
able to do you is slight indeed compared to what you are giving us in
return. But it seems that you speak quite impersonally of the force upon
the food supply. Did you yourself direct the preparation of these meats
and vegetables?"
"Oh, no. I merely analyzed your tissues, surveyed the food-supplies you
carried, discovered your individual preferences, and set up the
necessary integrals in the mechanism. The forces did the rest, and will
continue to do so as long as you remain upon this planet."
"Fruit salad always my favorite dish," Dorothy said, after a couple of
bites, "and this one is just too perfectly divine! It doesn't taste like
any other fruit I ever ate, either--I think it must be the same ambrosia
that the old pagan gods used to eat."
"If all you did was to set up the integrals, how do you know what you
are going to have for the next meal?" asked Crane.
"We have no idea what the form, flavor, or consistency of any dish will
be," was the surprising answer. "We know only that the flavor will be
agreeable and that it will agree with the form and consistency of the
substance, and that the composition will be well-balanced chemically.
You see, all the details of flavor, form, texture, and so on are
controlled by a device something like one of your kaleidoscopes. The
integrals render impossible any unwholesome, unpleasant, or unbalanced
combination of any nature, and everything else is left to the mechanism,
which operates upon pure chance."
"Some system, I'd rise to remark," and Seaton, with the others, resumed
his vigorous attack upon the long-delayed supper.
The meal over, the Earthly visitors were shown to their rooms, and fell
into a deep, dreamless sleep.