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.



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