THE DEVOLUTIONIST

And THE EMANCIPATRIX

By Homer Eon Flint

I

OUT OF THEIR MINDS

"Remember, now; don't make a sound, no matter what you see!"

Mrs. Kinney eyed her caller anxiously as they came to a pause infront of the door. His glance widened at her caution, but he noddedbriefly. She turned the key in the lock. 

Next second the two stepped softly into the room. Mrs. Kinneycarefully closed and locked the door behind them; and meanwhile theman, peering closely into the shadows of the place, made out a sceneof such strangeness that he nearly forgot the woman's injunction. 

The room was the private study of Dr. William Kinney. In itself, itwas not at all out of the ordinary. Shelves of books, cases ofsurgical and psychological instruments, star charts, maps andastronomical apparatus--these told at once both the man's vocationand avocation. With these contents and rather severe furnishings theroom was merely interesting, not remarkable. 

But its four chairs certainly were. Each of them was occupied by ahuman being; and as Mrs. Kinney and her caller entered, neither ofthe four so much as stirred. They were all asleep. 

In the nearest chair was the doctor himself, half sitting and halfreclining; in fact, all four of the sleepers were in attitudes ofcomplete relaxation. The doctor's gray head was resting on oneshoulder wearily. 

On his left was a man of medium height and commonplace countenance. "Mr. Smith, " whispered Mrs. Kinney, placing her mouth close to thecaller's ear, so that he might hear the better. 

Opposite these two sat a man and a woman, their chairs placed closetogether. The one was a slender, well-dressed, boyishly good lookingyoung woman of perhaps thirty; the other a large, aggressivelyhandsome fellow possibly five years older. "Mr. And Mrs. Van Emmon, "explained Mrs. Kinney, still in a whisper. 

The four sat absolutely motionless; the caller, looking veryclosely, could hardly make out the rising and falling of theirchests as they breathed. Also, he saw that they were all connected, the one with the other by means of insulated wires which ran tobrass bracelets around their wrists. At one point in this curiouscircuit, a wire ran to a small group of electrical appliances placedon a pedestal at the doctor's side; while the caller was stillfurther puzzled to note that each of the sleepers was resting his orher feet on a stool, the legs of which, like the legs of each chair, were tipped with glass. 

After a minute of this the caller turned upon Mrs. Kinney in suchcomplete bewilderment that she instantly unlocked the door, andagain cautioning perfect silence, led the way into the corridor. Here she again locked the door. Upon leaving the spot, a quiet youngman with keen gray eyes stepped from a room opposite, and at a nodfrom Mrs. Kinney proceeded to do sentry duty outside the study. 

Once down-stairs and safely within the living-room--

"This is rather mean of you Mrs. Kinney!" protested the man. "Tellme all about it, quick!"

The lady complacently took a chair. "Well, " she remarked innocently, "I knew you'd want to see him. "

"Yes, but--"

"It serves you right, " she went on blithely, "for staying away solong. Let's see--you left a year ago June, didn't you, Mr. Hill?"

He swallowed something and managed to reply, "Great guns, yes! I'vebeen in the wilds of New Guinea for a year--without news of anykind! I saw my first newspaper on board the dirigible this morning!"

"Ah, well, " commented Mrs. Kinney provokingly, "you'll have to behumored, I suppose. " She cogitated unnecessarily long, then left theroom to get a folio of newspapers and magazines. One of these sheselected with great deliberation, and opened it at the leadingarticle. Even then she would not hand it over right away. "Youremember that sky-car idea of the doctor's, don't you?"

"His machine to explore space? He couldn't talk of anything elsewhen I--you don't mean to say"--incredulously--"that he made asuccess of that!"

"He certainly did. Took a three weeks' tour of the planets, monthbefore last!"

Hill stared in amazement, then leaned forward suddenly and whiskedthe magazine out of Mrs. Kinney's fingers. He held the paper withhands that trembled in excitement; and this is what he read, in thematter-of-fact black-and-white of The Scientific New Zealander:

 STAR EXPLORERS RETURN

 Dr. Kinney and Party Visit Venus and Mercury

Bringing proofs which will satisfy the most skeptical, Dr. WilliamG. Kinney, G. Van Emmon, E. Williams Jackson, and John W. Smith, wholeft the earth on December 9 in a powerful sky-car of the doctor'sdesign, returned on the 23rd, after having explored the two planetswhich lie between the earth and the sun. 

They found Mercury to be a dead world, like the moon, except that itonce supported a civilization nearly as advanced as our own. Theytell of a giant human, a veritable colossus, who was the planet'slast survivor. 

But on Venus they discovered people still living! They aremarvelously developed people, infinitely more advanced than thepeople of the earth, and enjoying a civilization that is well-nighincredible. Among other things, they have learned how to visit otherworlds without themselves leaving their planet. They do it by a kindof telepathy; they know all about us here on the earth; and theyhave accumulated data regarding the peoples of hundreds of thousandsof other planets! The four explorers are able to prove theirstatements beyond the shadow of doubt. They possess photographswhich speak for themselves; they have brought back relics fromMercury and materials from Venus, such as never existed on theearth. They submit a vast library of extraordinarily advancedscientific literature, which was given to them by the Venusians. 

The article went on to detail, to the extent of some eight or tenpages, the main features of the exploration. Hill, however, did notstop to read it all just then. He looked up, his thoughts flying tothe strange scene in the room up-stairs. "What are theydoing--recuperating?"

"Not exactly. " Mrs. Kinney was a little disappointed. "Here--let mepoint out the paragraph. " And she ran a finger down the column untilit indicated this line:

Among other things they have learned how to visit other worldswithout themselves leaving their planet. They do this by a kind oftelepathy. 

"That's the explanation, " Mrs. Kinney said quietly. Hill fairlyblinked when he read the paragraph. "They are trying out one of theVenusian experiments?"

"Of course; you know the doctor. He couldn't resist the temptation. And I must say the others are just as bad. 

"Mr. Smith is quite as much interested as Mr. Van Emmon. Mr. Smithis an electrical engineer; the other man is a geologist, and a veryadventurous spirit. As for Mrs. Van Emmon--"

"But this account mentions"--Hill referred to the magazine--"'E. Williams Jackson. ' Who was he?"

"She--not he. Mrs. Van Emmon now; she used to be an architect. Shehad the other three fooled for ten days; she passed herself off as aman!"

But Hill was too absorbed in the general strangeness of the affairto note this amazing item. He again glanced at the article, openedhis mouth once or twice as though to ask a question, thought betterof it each time, and finally got to his feet. 

"Let me have this?" referring to the magazine. 

Mrs. Kinney handed over the rest of the collection. 

"I am sure the doctor would want you to read them. I remember hesaid, just before they started away, that he wished you could havegone with him. "

"Did he?" much pleased. Hill made some affectionate remark, underhis breath about "the star-gazing old fraud"; then, evidently in ahurry to get off by himself and read, he made his excuses and leftthe house. 

Mrs. Kinney returned to the book she had been reading, glanced atthe clock, and noted that it was almost at the hour, previouslyagreed upon, that she should arouse the four up-stairs. She put thebook down and started toward the stairs. 

At that instant a large gong sounded in the hall. In the studyup-stairs, the doctor's hand moved away from a pushbutton. Hestirred in his chair; and as he did so, the other three awakened. First Van Emmon, then "Billie, " his wife, and lastly the engineer. 

Next second all four were sitting bolt upright, and looking at eachother eagerly. 

II

BACK ON EARTH

"Talk about results!" Billie was first to speak. "Why--where do yousuppose I found myself? Out in mid-ocean, in a small boat, with thespray flying into my--that is, into the face of--" She broke off, confused. 

"Your agent?" the doctor put in. All Billie could do was to nod; VanEmmon was bursting to talk. 

"My agent was a Parisian apache, or I'm a bum guesser! I didn'tcatch all that was going on, but it certainly sounded like the plansand specifications of a garroting!"

"No such excitement here, " said Smith. But his eyes were sparkling. "I was going the rounds with a mail-carrier. How do you explainthat, doc? I've never given mail-carrying a second thought. "

"That would have nothing to do with it. As for myself, I was lookingthrough the eyes of some member of the House of Representatives, inWashington. I recognized the building. They were calling the roll atthe time. "

He paused while he made a note of the incident, for the sake ofchecking up the hour with the newspaper accounts later on. Then herubbed the knuckles of one hand in the palm of the other--a habitwhich indicated that a diagnosis was going on in his mind. Theothers waited expectantly. 

"There's a big difference, " commented he, thoughtfully, "betweenthese experiences and our last experiments. Then, each of us knewexactly what to expect. Each had a definite image of a certainparticular person in mind when he went into the teleconscious state. That made it comparatively easy for us to communicate the way wedid, even when you"--indicating the bride and groom--"were still inJapan. 

"But to-day neither of us had the slightest idea what was coming. That is, if we followed the rule. Did you"--addressing Smith--"takecare to concentrate strictly upon the one idea of view-point?"

"Nothing else. I kept my attention fixed upon eyes and ears, only, just as the instructions read. "

"Same here, " answered Billie, for herself and the geologist. 

"Then we know this much: So long as the four of us are connected upin this fashion"--holding up his braceleted wrists--"we combine ourforces to such an extent that we do not need a definite object. It'ssimply the power of harmony. "

Billie was anxious to get it down pat. "In other words, there'snothing to prevent me from locating some one, although unknown tome, so long as we four agree upon the same locality?"

"That's it exactly. If we agree to concentrate upon Greenland, even, we shall find four people there whose view-points resemble our own. The main thing is to find similar view-points. "

There was some discussion along this line, in which the doctor madeit clear that view-point was simply another name for perspective, and that it had nothing whatever to do with actual mentalaccomplishments. The view-point was really the soul. 

"As yet, " he went on, "we should make no attempt to 'put ourselvesin the other fellow's place. ' Such efforts require a violentexertion of the imagination, and we need practice before tacklingthe more advanced problems. 

"Time enough, after a while, to get in touch with the Venusians. There's none of them that has a view-point like ours. And once we'vedone that--"

"What?" from Billie, breathlessly. 

"Anything! The whole universe will be open to us! Why, I understandfrom reading these books"--indicating the Venusian manuscripts--"thatthere is such a thing as an intelligent creature, so utterly unlikeourselves that--" He stopped short. 

"For the time being, " said Smith quickly, "we'd better be contentwith something familiar. Is there some other planet in our solarsystem that would do, doc?"

"No. According to the Venusians, the only others that are habitablebesides Venus and the earth, are Mars and Jupiter. And it seems thatthe people on these two are so totally different--"

"We couldn't get an answer?"

"Very unlikely. Besides, I am having the cube refitted for atwo-months' cruise. Rather thought I'd like to visit Mars andJupiter in person. 

"But when it comes to leaving the solar system entirely thetelepathic method is the only one that will work; even the nearestof the fixed stars is out of the question. "

"How far is that?" Smith inquired. 

"The nearest? About four and a half light-years. "

"Yes, but what's a light-year?"

"It amounts to sixty-three thousand times the distance from here tothe sun!"

Smith whistled. "Nothing doing in the cube, that's sure. Besides, could we expect to find any people like us in the neighborhood ofthat star?"

"Not Alpha Centauri. " The doctor reached for one of the Venusianbooks, and pointed out certain pages. "It seems that the Class IIastars--that is, suns--are the only ones which have planets in theright condition for the development of humans. The astronomersalready suspected as much, by the way. But the Venusians havedefinitely named a few systems whose evolution has reached pointsalmost identical with that of the earth. 

"Now, until we have acquired a certain amount of ability"--examining the books more closely--"our best chance will lie in theneighborhood of a giant star known to us as Capella. "

"Capella. " Billie had drawn a star-chart to her side. "Where is thatlocated?"

"In Auriga, about half-way from Orion to the Pole Star. She's a bigyellow sun. 

"At any rate, the Venusians say that this particular planet ofCapella's has people almost exactly the same as those of the earth, except"--speaking very clearly--"except that they have had about onecentury more civilization!"

Billie exclaimed with delight. "Say--this is going to be the bestyet! To think of seeing what the earth is going to be like, ahundred years from now!"

Instantly Van Emmon's interest became acute. "By George! Is thatright, doc? Are we likely to learn what the next hundred years willdo for us?"

"Don't know exactly. " The doctor spoke cautiously. "That's merelywhat I infer from these books. "

"If we do, " ran on the geologist excitedly, "we'll see how a lot ofour present day theories will be worked out! I'm curious to see whatcomes of them. Personally, I think most of them are plain nonsense!"

"That remains to be seen. " The doctor glanced around. "Remember:what we want is the view-point only; and the place is Capella'splanetary system. Ready?"

For answer the others leaned back in their chairs. The doctortouched the button at his side, as a signal to his wife; he settledhimself in his chair; and in a minute his head was dropping overagainst his shoulder. In another second the minds of the fourexperimenters were out of their bodies; out, and in the twinkling ofan eye, traversing space at absolute speed. 

For thought, like gravitation, is instantaneous. 

III

SMITH'S MIND WANDERS

Secretly Smith hoped he might find an agent who also was anengineer. He had this in mind all the while he was repeating theVenusian formula, the sequence of thought-images which wasnecessary to bring on the required state of mind. The formula hadthe effect of closing his mind to all save telepathic energy, andopening wide the channels through which it controlled the brain. 

No sooner had he repeated the words, meanwhile concentrating withall the force of his newly trained will upon the single idea ofseeing and hearing what was happening on the unknown, yet quiteknowable planet--no sooner had his head sunk on his chest than hebecame aware of a strange sound. 

On all sides unseen apparatus gave forth a medley of subdued jarsand clankings. A variety of hissing sounds also were distinguishable. And meanwhile Smith was staring hard, with the eyes he had borrowedalong with the ears, at a pair of human hands. 

These hands were manipulating a group of highly polished levers andhand-wheels. So long as his borrowed sight was fixed upon that groupSmith was entirely ignorant of the surroundings. All he couldsurmise was that his agents operated some sort of machinery. 

Then the agent glanced up; and Smith got his first shock. For he nowsaw a cluster of indicating dials, such as one may see on theinstrument board of any automobile; but the trained engineer foundhimself absolutely unable to interpret one of them. They were markedwith unknown figures!

Nevertheless, the engineer received an unmistakable impression, quite as vivid as though something had been said aloud. "Progress;all safe, " was the thought-image that came to him. 

He listened closely in hope of hearing a spoken word. Also, he triedhis best to make his agent look around the place. Other people mightbe within sight. However, for a couple of minutes the oddly familiarhands kept manipulating the unfamiliar instruments. 

Then, somewhere quite close at hand, a deep-toned gong sounded asingle stroke. Instantly the agent looked up; and Smith saw that hewas inspecting the interior of a large engine-room. He had time tonote the huge bulk of a horizontal cylinder, perhaps fifty feet indiameter, in the immediate background; also a variety of othermechanisms, more like immensely enlarged editions of laboratoryapparatus than ordinary engines. Smith looked in vain for thecompact form of a dynamo or motor, and listened in vain for thesound of either. Then, in swift succession, came two strokes on theunseen gong, followed by a shrill whistle. 

Smith's borrowed eyes became fixed upon that group of dials again. Their indicators began to shift, some rapidly, some slowly. Once theagent gave a swift glance through a round window--the place seemedto be lighted by ordinary daylight--and Smith saw somethingunrecognizable flit by. 

A little further progress, and then came three strokes on the gong, followed by a low thrumming. In response to these, the agentdeliberately picked out two levers, and pulled them down. When hisglance returned to the dials, one of them showed immenseacceleration. 

By and by came another triple clanging, another pair of levers waspulled down, and instantly the jarring and clanking gave way to adecided rumble, low and distinct, but so powerful that it shook theair. At the same time the agent quit his post and went over to thegiant horizontal cylinder. 

Now Smith could see that this vast structure was merely part of anengine whose dimensions were quite beyond any former experience. Itwas a simple affair, being merely a reciprocal machine like the mostelementary form of steam engine. But, instead of being operated bysteam, it was a chemical machine; Smith's trained eyes told him thatthe cylinder was really an enormous retort. And he noted withfurther perplexity that the prodigious piston-rod not only movedwith terrific speed, but in a strictly back-and-forth motion; itsfar end did not revolve. 

The agent seemed satisfied with it all. He turned about andwalked--so far as Smith could sense in the usual manner of earth'shumans--back to the dials again. Just then a door opened a shortdistance away and another man entered. 

Smith would have mistaken him for the employee of some garage. Hewas dressed in a suit of greasy blue overalls; and as he advancedtoward the eyes Smith was using, he looked about the room withpracticed glance. He merely nodded to Smith's man, who returned thenod just as silently; and such was the extreme brevity of it all, Smith was afterward unable to describe the man. 

His agent, thus relieved of his duty temporarily, strolled outanother door, which took him through a narrow corridor and anotherdoor, opening on to some sort of a balcony, or deck. Smith fullyexpected to look upon an ocean. 

Instead, he found himself gazing into a sea of clouds. He was insome sort of aircraft!

Next moment, quite as though it had all been prearranged, a largesky-cruiser hove into sight perhaps a quarter of a mile away. Itseemed to materialize out of the clouds, and rapidly bore down uponthe craft in which the agent stood. 

But the practical man of the earth was eying the air-ship inincreasing amazement. For it was truly a ship; a huge vesselwonderfully like one of the old-fashioned freighters which used tosail the seas of the earth. What was more, it had four tall, slopingmasts, each spread with something remarkably like canvas; and thatwhole incredible hulk was actually swinging in mid air!

Looking closer, Smith saw that the masts were exceedingly tall; theyheld enough canvas to propel ten ships. And each stick sloped backat so sharp an angle--much sharper than forty-five degrees--that thewind not only blew the craft along in its course, but actuallysupported it as well. 

It meant a wind which would make a hurricane seem tame. Either that, or air with greater density than any Smith knew about. 

Suddenly the cruiser came about into the wind, and at the sameinstant it began to take in sail, all the sheets furling in unison. Simultaneously great finlike wings shot out of slits in the sides ofthe hull; and immediately they began to beat the air, back andforth, back and forth, with the speed and motion of swallows. 

So this was the meaning of the giant reciprocal engine! Instead ofthe screw propeller which characterized earth's aircraft, thesevessels employed the true bird principle, combining it with thesimple methods of primitive sailing craft. 

As soon as the ship stopped its wind-driven rush and began to employits wings, the speed straightway slackened; and the ships began todescend. About the same time the figures of several people appearedon what might be called the bridge; and assuming that these peoplewere as large as the man whom Smith had seen enter the engine-room--achap of average height--then that ship, in proportion, was all of amile long!

But Smith's awe was not shared by his agent, who turnedindifferently away and looked about the sky as though in search ofother sights. In doing so, he leaned over the deck's railing; andSmith saw the sheer sides of the giant ship, extending fore and aftalmost indefinitely; while far overhead billowed vast clouds ofwhite cloth. The vessel was now under sail. 

About a mile higher up, and almost that distance to one side, theagent's eyes made out two tiny specks. He watched them closely for amoment as they pitched and tossed queerly about; then darted intothe engine-room, secured a pair of binoculars of an old, squatpattern, and swiftly focused upon the nearer of the two. 

Smith instantly sensed a disaster. The object was a small air-craft, of a sort entirely strange to the engineer; yet he knew that it wasdisabled. One of its queer wings was broken and fluttering, as thelittle machine dropped, tumbling and twisting erratically, in aninexplicably slow fashion toward the unseen ground. Smith glimpsed asingle figure, presumably strapped in the seat. 

Then the focus changed to cover the other machine. It was of thesame type; and Smith saw that it was swooping in a steep spiral, itsdriver leaning over in his seat, looking down. 

Next moment the two were in focus together. Every second theydropped closer and closer to Smith's borrowed eyes. And in less timethan it takes to tell it, they had come so close that when theoccupant of the disabled craft lurched heavily to one side, Smithcould plainly make out the long, flying hair of a woman. 

She was unconscious, and strapped in!

Her craft capsized. At the same time the other driver--aman--maneuvered so as to spiral exactly around the wreck as it fell. When it came right side up again--now only a half a mile away--hedrove down so close that his machine nearly grazed the woman's head. As he did so, he leaned over and tried to unfasten her. But theunsteadiness of her craft prevented this. 

He made a second try. This time his own machine narrowly escapedinjury; he steered it hastily away from that damaged wing. And thenhe made a supreme effort. 

Bringing his machine directly across the top of the other as it oncemore righted itself, he touched one of his controls, so that his ownflier's spiral increased in steepness. Straightening up, he poisedhimself while he coolly measured the distance; and then he calmlyleaped a matter of ten or twelve feet, over and down to the top ofthe other craft. 

The shock of his landing steadied it. Clinging fast with one hand, the man bent and unbuckled the woman's strap. Next instant he hadlifted her, a dead weight, into his arms and then over hisshoulders. 

His own machine was still scooting downward, its speed even greaterthan that of the broken flier. When the man saw it swinging past andbelow him, he instantly clambered, burden and all, to the edge ofthe cockpit. For a second he stood, balancing precariously; andthen, half jumping, half diving, he plunged once more. 

Man and woman landed in a heap in the sound machine. In a flash therescuer snatched his controls, and tried with all his might to"straighten out. " But it began to skid; and Smith saw, despite theshakiness with which his excited agent held the binoculars, that thecraft was hopelessly out of control. Next instant the man caughtsight of the ship, not a hundred yards away; and steered straightfor her. 

Smith's agent rushed back to the engine-room, where he immediatelylocated a new group of instruments. Smith recognized a telephone andsome wireless apparatus; then found himself staring into some sortof a compound mirror system. Probably it was an illuminated tunnelaffair, opening into a long white cabin. Seemingly the place was anemergency-ward. 

A moment later the unconscious forms of the two aviators werebrought within perhaps twenty feet. Smith could hear nothing; theapparatus seemed made for looking only. But he saw the doctors hurryin, saw restoratives administered, and saw both people revive. 

The man was first to become conscious. He looked around, seemed totake in the situation at a glance, and swiftly got to his feet. Thedoctors laid restraining hands upon him, but he shook them off witha laugh. 

He was a powerfully built man, considerably taller than normal andvery deep in the chest. He was decidedly blond, and good looking ina cheerful, reckless sort of way. 

His concern was for the woman. She regained her senses in half aminute, and shortly was sitting up and looking around. And Smith, ordinarily unobservant of the other sex, found himself staring withall his eyes. 

She was young; for that matter, the man was under thirty, also. Andthe white bandage on her forehead only emphasized the dark eyes andvivid coloring of her face. Smith was half angry that he could notsee her more distinctly. He decided that every feature wasexquisitely modeled, that he had never seen such delicate lines, noreyes as large, as appealing and as soft. 

Then he was watching the man again. He approached the woman and tookher outstretched hand. He was laughing easily; she, smilingtremulously and gratefully. They looked into one another's eyesquite as though there were no one else in the cabin to be looked at. Next second one of the doctors stepped up bruskly, and Smith saw aswift blush come to the girl's cheeks. The man reddened, too, andturned away laughing to hide his confusion. 

Smith's connection with his agent ended right there. When hereported to the other three, later on, he had to admit that, so faras he knew, the man and the girl were still holding hands. 

IV

NEW HEARTS FOR OLD

Billie's experience was totally different. She found herselftransformed into a mental humming-bird. 

Her mind seemed to be darting with infinite rapidity, here and therethroughout the universe. She got only the most lightninglike glimpseof any one spot; flash after flash of unfamiliar, indescribablesituations succeeded each other like the speeded-up scenes of aphotoplay farce. For an unguessable length of time thishelter-skelter process occupied her mind. 

Then there came a scene which stayed. It was dim at first; she wasmore thoroughly aware of the sound of voices than anything else. Then she saw clearly. 

She--that is, her agent--was in some sort of a room, givinginstructions to a group of white-clad figures. Before Billie couldconcentrate upon what was being said the talk ceased; and nextmoment, amid perfect silence, the agent bent over something whichlay on a high table. 

Whereupon Billie got a severe jolt. For, unless she was mostwoefully mistaken, the thing she was now looking at was theunconscious form of a patient; the place was the operating-room of ahospital; and the eyes she was using belonged to a surgeon. 

She watched breathlessly. The surgeon's nimble fingers proceededwith the utmost unconcern to open wide the patient's torso. Otherpairs of hands, belonging to nurses, aided in this; and Billie foundthe intricate process decidedly interesting rather than otherwise. Of course she was spared the odor of blood. 

As soon as the ribs were entirely displaced, the lungs werecarefully laid aside. Extraordinary delicacy seemed called for here. Billie shortly began to wonder if it were not high time to quit whenher agent, assisted as before, calmly exposed the patient's heart tofull view. 

Billie could see it throbbing; more, she could hear it. She watchedin wonder for the next step. 

They consisted in forcibly untangling the mass of tubes and arteriesall about the organ. Presently everything was clear; and then, without delay, the nurses brought forward a strange-looking device. 

It was of silver, shaped like a flattened egg, and a trifle smallerthan that laboring, human blood-pump; To it was attached a pair oflong, flexible, silver pipes, which led to Billie knew not where. And near one extremity the egg was provided with eight curiousnozzles. 

At times the flying hands partly interfered with Billie's vision;yet she saw nearly all that amazing process, from beginning to end. To put it briefly, the eight nozzles were boldly introduced, almostat a single operation, into tiny incisions in the eightcorresponding tubes of the heart. In they were forced, until theyfilled the arteries and veins; and once inserted, silver clamps wereinstantly tightened on the outsides of the tubes. All this was donein two or three seconds; and when all was complete, the heart itselfhad been entirely isolated and its place absolutely taken by thatlittle silver egg. 

The patient gave no sign that anything out of the ordinary hadoccurred. Not a drop of blood had been spilled except in the processof getting at the organ; but now, with a few deft motions of certaininstruments, the heart was sliced away from the surrounding tissues, the tubes were severed, and the whole powerful pump, still beatingfaintly, was removed from the body altogether. 

Next, the surgeon proceeded to stanch the bleeding of the tubes;that is, of the stubs projecting below those tight silver nozzles. This done, the nimble fingers calmly replaced the lungs and otheritems, quite as though they were reassembling a piece of machinery. Lastly, the opening was sewed up in a manner which would havedelighted any seamstress. 

The two long silver pipes were left protruding. Now, for the firsttime, Billie saw where they led to. 

On a stand alongisde the operating-table stood an extremely small, flat box, with its lid open. The pipes ended there. And as thesurgeon inspected the outfit Billie saw that it comprised, ineffect, a pair of diminutive air-pumps. There were two tiny dials, aregulating device, some sort of an automatic electric switch, andwhat looked like a steel storage tank; all on a watchlike scale. 

Looking more closely, Billie made out two pairs of electric wiresrunning from this case to another of the same size. The surgeonlifted its lid, disclosing two electric storage batteries, each withits own circuit. 

In short, the arrangement provided duplicate sources, in vest-pocketsize, of power for operating a mechanical heart. The electricityworked the air-pumps, which in turn supplied the little silveregg--implanted in the patient--with both pressure and vacuum, whiledoubtless the artificial organ itself housed a valve system whichdid the rest. The regulating device kept the blood circulating atthe proper rate. 

The surgeon seemed satisfied with it all, and, after anothercritical examination of the patient, glanced about the room, straightened up, took a deep breath, and spoke:

"Quick work. Thanks very much, everybody. "

And Billie did not know which to be the more astonished at: the factthat the voice was unmistakably a woman's, or that she, Billie, wasable to understand all that was said. She did not fully appreciateuntil afterward that it was her own brain which did the translating;the surgeon's subconscious mind had merely furnished a thought-imagewhich would have been exactly the same, regardless of language. 

"Any special instructions, Surgeon Aldor?" inquired one of thewhite-clad, face-swathed figures. 

"No. The usual handling. Simply keep the batteries charged inrotation. "

The surgeon took off a mouth mask and a blood-soaked apron, and thenswiftly washed her hands. Next she stepped briskly from the room;and the architect who was using her eyes rejoiced to see thedoor-knobs of the standard height of thirty-five inches, indicatingthat this agent of hers was of about her own height. From the soundof her footsteps, however, Billie concluded that she was somewhatheavier than herself. 

Reaching another room, the surgeon proceeded to don hat and coat. Next, she stepped in front of a long mirror; but the action was soquick, and it took Billie so completely by surprise, she was notable to inspect the image closely. To be frank, she looked first atthe woman's clothes, finding that her suit was a very trim affair ofblue leather, cut in a semi-military fashion. Slashes of dark-redmaterial across the sleeves were repeated about the collar, whilethe cap, a jaunty affair with a bell crown, matched the suit. Thelower ends of the breeches, much like ordinary riding trousers, weretucked into high lace-up boots of red leather. 

Before Billie could see any more other than that the surgeon wassmall-featured in striking contrast to the robustness of her body, she stepped from the room. A moment later an automatic elevator tookher to a lower floor, where she was greeted by a person whom Billieassumed to be a head nurse. 

"Anything out of the ordinary, surgeon?"

"No, " with a bruskness which was startling by comparison with hercheeriness upstairs. "I understand that Dr. Norbith wishes to gohome as soon as possible?"

"Yes. "

"He may go as soon as the cast is hard. Make sure his machine is asmooth one. "

The nurse simply nodded as the surgeon stepped on, through a veryordinary pair of sliding doors, and so on out into an anteroom andthence to a porch, where she stood looking into the street for amoment. 

It was exceedingly broad, and lined on both sides with imposingstructures whose architecture was entirely strange to Billie. Shewould liked to have examined them all in detail; but she had nocontrol over her agent, who straightway walked down a short flightof steps and thence to a sidewalk. 

Here Billie became perfectly willing to neglect the architecture. People were coming and going; people apparently quite as human asherself. Except for a certain gorgeous voluminousness of dress, theyseemed for the most part simply men and women of affairs. 

For it was comparatively easy to distinguish the sexes. The women'sgarments, while not making any display of the strictly femininelines, nevertheless did not attempt to disguise them. Billie sawthat loose breeches had completely displaced the skirt with thesewomen; while the men invariably wore either knickerbockers or someother form of short trousers; so that the general effect was veryyouthful. She saw no men with beards, although several wore theirhair long, down to their shoulders, as though to compensate forthose women who chose to wear theirs short. 

The surgeon seemed to have more leisure than most doctors. She stoodfor some minutes, greeting perhaps a score of passers-by, all ofwhom seemed to be proud of the acquaintance. Presently, however, thesidewalk became temporarily clear of pedestrians; and then Billieheard the surgeon mutter something to herself, such as was past allunderstanding at the time:

"The fools! The poor, ignorant cattle!"

And she turned and stepped to the middle of the street, where Billiehad already marked a large number of flying-machines. In fact, thespace from curb to curb was practically filled with them, all neatlyparked. 

Without exception they were ornithopters; that is, machines built onthe bird-wing principle, sustaining themselves by a flapping motionrather than by air-pressure due to a propeller. Their size variedfrom one-seater affairs of very small size to craft large enough tohold a score. Most were gaudily painted. 

The surgeon's own machine was a two-seater, small but powerful indesign. She stepped up a short ladder into a comfortable cockpit, provided with a folding top, which at that time was laid back out ofthe way. She proceeded to adjust various levers and hand-wheels, glanced at certain dials, touched a button, and immediately thecraft took flight, its wings beating the air with a dull leatheryrhythm which drowned out the faint clanking of the machinery. 

A moment later the flier was high above the street. To Billie'sdisappointment, the surgeon did not glance down enough to tell thearchitect whether the street belonged to a city of any size. Instead, her agent drove carefully through the traffic, which Billiewould have called dangerously dense. She remembered that she hadseen nothing but aircraft in that street; no automobiles at all. 

And then the flier was rushing through the air at a lively rate. Billie caught quick glimpses of innumerable machines, few of whichwere moving in the same direction as the surgeon's. 

A few minutes more elapsed, and then Billie was experiencing a muchhigher level, with the machine flying at what must have been atremendous velocity. Shortly it was all but alone in the sky. 

After a while the surgeon's eyes made out something far below, whichpuzzled Billie exceedingly. It seemed to be a ship under full sail;only, so far as she could see the craft was resting upon clouds, notair. It was still a long way ahead. 

And then Billie was given a glance aloft, where she saw anothercraft, a small flapping affair like the surgeon's. It was justrising on a long slant so as to cross above her course. And at thatvery instant there came a sharp crack, followed by a splinteringcrash. The surgeon's flier lurched heavily to one side. 

Next second the woman was staring at her left wing. It was brokenabout the middle and thrashing wildly. Another instant, and a partof the thing came loose, flew off, and struck the surgeon on the topof her head. A muffled cry, and then blackness came. 

And the next thing Billie saw was the emergency ward of Smith'sgreat skycruiser, with the surgeon, blinking as she recovered, looking up into the smiling face of her big blond rescuer. 

V

CAPELLA'S DAUGHTER

The first thing that met the doctor's gaze, when his mind enteredthat of his distant agent, was a clock. It was a very ordinary sortof an instrument, such as one sees in schools and offices; it hadtwo hands, and a pendulum of the usual size and length. 

However, this pendulum was swinging at a very rapid rate; nearlytwice as fast, judged the doctor, as that of his own chronometer. And its dial was divided into twenty-five equal parts, instead oftwelve, each of these parts being further divided into five equalportions. At the moment, these two hands indicated what would havebeen called, on the earth, about half past three. 

Before the doctor could speculate on this, his unknown agent shiftedhis gaze to a newspaper on a desk before him. Apparently he wasthinking of something entirely different; for he absently turned thepages, one by one, his subconscious mind taking it all in. 

And the doctor saw that the paper was called simply The HourlyJournal; that it was of very nearly the size of most sheets; andthat it consisted of about ten pages. The front and back pages, only, contained news items; the remainder were packed solid withadvertisements. Not one of these were striking enough for the doctorto remember; he said they were exactly like large-size professional"cards, " except that they applied to every business, from candy tobridges. As for the news items, each was short, unsensational, withthe simplest kind of head-lines. More the doctor had no chance toobserve. 

Abruptly the agent stowed the paper away, and looked up. Presumablyhe was seated in some sort of a theater. Directly ahead was thefamiliar white rectangle of a photoplay-house screen. And all abouthim were heads and shoulders, seemingly belonging to young folks, ofabout high-school age. Even to "low necks" for the girls and whitecollars for the boys, they were identically like people of theearth. 

In fact, if it had not been for that clock the doctor would haveconcluded that there was some mistake, and have ended theexperiment. For some time he learned little; the place was filledwith a confused murmur. His agent, however, took no part in theconversation that produced this effect; once or twice he yawned. 

Suddenly the buzz came to a stop; and next moment a tall figurestepped upon the platform in front of the screen. 

"Class, " began this person immediately, "to-day we will summarizewhat we have learned during the past week about the solar system ofwhich our planet is one element. "

And as he spoke the doctor saw that there had been no mistake. For, although the agent's subconscious mind had served to translate whatwas said into language understandable by the doctor, yet his eyesplainly told him that the professor's lips were saying somethingelse. 

There was no doubt about it. For all that the doctor could tell bywatching the speaker's mouth, he might have been talking in Eskimo. But his meaning was quite as clear as though he had said it inEnglish. 

"We will begin with a picture of the sun herself. " As the words werespoken, a motion-picture film was projected on the screen. Thedoctor instantly noted the natural colors, stereoscopic effect, andmarvelous clearness, such as branded this exhibition as not of theearth. But the professor was saying:

"The sun controls, besides this world, no less than thirtyothers"--and the doctor knew, as well as other people know their A BC's, that the earth's planetary family consists of only eight--"noless than thirty others, of which eight are now without life. " Thespeaker turned toward a student on the far left. "Tell us how manyof the thirty are still too hot to support life, Miss Ballens. "

The girl did not get to her feet. "Ten, " was her answer. 

"Which leaves, of course, twelve besides our own planet which nowpossess life in one form or another. Mr. Ernol, can you give us someidea of conditions on any one of these?"

To the doctor's immense satisfaction, the brain whose loan he wasenjoying responded to the question. "On Saloni, the vertebrates havenot yet appeared. None but the lowest forms of life have beenfound. "

"Is this planet larger or smaller than ours, Mr. Ernol?"

"Larger. It will be a matter of millions of centuries before suchbeings as humans are evolved there. "

"How do we know these facts?"

As though it were a signal, the entire class, with one accord, uttered a single word: "Runled!"

And the doctor found his agent's eyes turned, together with those ofevery other student in the room, toward the portrait of a highlyintellectual-looking man; it hung in the most conspicuous spot onthe wall. 

"We must never forget, " continued the man on the platform, "that, but for the explorations of this man and his space-boat, some eightyyears ago, we should know very little. Can any one tell me why hisexplorations have never been repeated?"

Two hands went up. The professor nodded to a girl seated next to theyoung fellow whom the doctor now knew as "Ernol. " This girl spokevery clearly: "Because the expedition was extremely costly, and thecommission has never been willing to appropriate enough to duplicatethe work. "

"The commission's judgment is, of course, sound, " commented theprofessor calmly. Then he signaled for a change in the picture, which had been showing, in rapid succession, glimpses of world afterworld. The new picture was more leisurely. 

"The planet Alma. Can any one explain why it is of special interestto us?"

For a moment there was no comment, and the doctor found himselfstudying a "panorama" of some exceedingly striking people. There wasquite a crowd; and the doctor was amazed to note how much like theVenusians they were. Without exception they were delicately built, with thin, shriveled legs; all were seated, none standing, incigar-shaped aircraft of a type entirely new to the doctor. 

"The people of Alma, " spoke up a boy out of sight of Ernol, "areespecially interesting to us because they are, so far as is known, the most highly developed beings in existence. "

"In what way are they like us?"

"They are vertebrates, mammals, primates, just as we are. "

"And how do they differ from us?"

"They are 'cooperative democrats'; that is, they do not compete witheach other for a living, but work together in all things, incomplete equality. In this way they have become so wonderfullyadvanced that--"

The professor interrupted. "We will not go into that. " The sceneshifted from people to things: a large, complicated-looking columnof some sort was being shown. "What does this tell us?"

"It tells us, " spoke up some one, "that Alma is entirely surroundedand covered by a great roof, which stands several miles above thesurface. " [Footnote: Compare with Venus. It would seem that, whenever a planet reached a certain age, its people will always takesteps to preserve its atmosphere; that is, provided theircivilization is high enough. ]

"What is the purpose of this roof?"

"To keep in the air and moisture, which all other planets aresteadily losing. Alma is a much older planet than ours, which is whyher people are so far advanced. "

Next came "close-ups" of some inhabitants. At once the doctor sawthat these were not Venusians; they had facial expressions as sourand cynical as the typical Venusian's had been pleasant and wise. 

"You will note, " commented the professor very quietly, "that thesepeople are far from happy. "

The class seemed to take it for granted; but the doctor's trainedears instantly caught a false note in the speaker's voice. Was theman sure of his statement?

At the same time the doctor became aware of a certain dullness inthe vision he was borrowing. Also, the speaking became much lessdistinct. It occurred to him that the boy might be drowsy; and anunmistakable nodding shortly made this certain. 

"As we see from these photographs, " droned the voice on theplatform, "happiness does not exist on Alma. And if not there, whereelse can we expect to find it? Certainly not among the lessdeveloped planets. 

"So we must conclude that ours is the only world where the peopleare truly happy. We must thank the commission for the peculiardistinction which we enjoy. Ours is the only civilization whichguarantees happiness to all; these pictures prove it for us. "

At that instant young Ernol lifted his head with a jerk. "How do weknow, " he demanded, "that these photographs were not very cunninglyselected to give us a wrong idea? Perhaps they lie, professor!"

Instantly consternation reigned. The professor fairly froze in histracks, while every eye in the room was turned in amazement upon thelad. 

"What!" exclaimed the speaker sternly. "Where did you get such anextraordinary notion, Mr. Ernol?"

The boy had sat up straight, looking about uncertainly. He gotunsteadily to his feet. "Why--" he stammered helplessly. "Why, Ihaven't any idea--What have I been saying, sir?"

The professor checked a hasty answer. He said quietly: "Do you meanto say you are unaware that you spoke just now?"

"Yes, sir. I mean--" The boy was badly puzzled. "To be frank, sir, Iwas almost asleep. I studied about Alma years ago. I know I saidsomething, but as to what it was--"

"That will do. " The professor made a sign, and Ernol sat down, tremendously embarrassed. "The class will understand that people, when talking in their sleep, usually say things which are the exactopposite of what they know to be true. "

The man wet his lips, as though with satisfaction at the neatness ofhis wording. He added in a generous tone: "I will not reprimand Mr. Ernol, because his previous work indicates, as he says, that Alma isan old topic to him. I only wish that he stood as well in certainother studies!"

A ripple of laughter ran over the class, and again the puzzled youthwas the target for the combined stares of the students. He slippeddown deep into his seat. 

"That will do for to-day, " said the teacher, glancing at the clock. "Tomorrow we will begin the study of the other suns of theuniverse--what we commonly call stars. 

"However, before you go"--his voice took on a certainominousness--"let me remind you that it is the custom not toquestion the sources of our information. We take them for granted. In fact, it is more than a custom; the regulations require that anystudent who is not satisfied with the sincerity of our public schoolsystem shall be suspended for the first objection, and for thesecond shall forfeit all educational rights whatever. 

"You will readily see for yourselves, then, that it will not be wisefor any of you to repeat what Mr. Ernol unconsciously let slip. Andof course none of you will be so unkind as to remind him of what hesaid. "

The students rose thoughtfully to their feet, and Ernol passed outwith the rest. He had no idea what it was all about, nor theslightest suspicion that his eyes and ears had been used. 

But the doctor had learned something of enormous value. He hadlearned that, when his agent was in a semiconscious state, his--thedoctor's--conscious mind could influence the agent. 

It was not Ernol, but the doctor, who had made the slip!

VI

THE WORLD'S BOSSES

Van Emmon was afterward unable to recall any experience between hisentering the sublimial state and becoming tele-conscious. That is, his only recollection was of a definite scene, experienced throughthe eyes and ears of his agent. 

The place was a large high-ceilinged room, its architecturesuggesting some public building. In the center, and directly infront of Van Emmon's agent, stood a large, rectangular table, aboutwhich sat a number of men. Van Emmon counted nine of them. 

The whole atmosphere was solemn and important. Van Emmon wasreminded of old photographs of cabinet meetings in Washington, ofstrategy boards during the great war. He listened intently forsomething to be said. 

Near the foot of the table--Van Emmon's agent sat at the head--atall man with an imposing, square-cut beard rose to his feet. Hegazed at each of the other eight in turn, significantly; and when hespoke the geologist was so impressed with the deadly seriousness ofthe scene that he forgot to be amazed at his ability to understandwhat was said, forgot to marvel that these men were, undeniably, human beings of exceptional character. 

"Gentlemen, " said the man who had risen, "I do not need to remindyou of the seriousness of this occasion. I only wish to congratulateyou, and myself, on the fact that we now have a chairman to whom wecan look with confidence. I say this without meaning any reflectionupon his predecessor. "

He sat down, and immediately a white-haired man with a wide, complacent type of face arose and declared: "No reflection is felt, sir. On the contrary, I am exceedingly glad that Mr. Powart is totake my place. I only wish that the commission felt free to discardits rule of choosing by lots; I should like to present Mr. Powartwith the chair for as long a period as he would care to fill it. "

He took his seat amid a general murmur of approval, while nine pairof eyes were turned in unison upon the pair Van Emmon was sharing. His agent, then, was chairman of some sort of a council, known as"the commission. "

Powart got to his feet. Even in this simple act his motions wereswift and sure; they harmonized perfectly with the way he talked. 

"Thanks, both you. To be frank, I am glad, for the sake of theassociation, that the youngest commissioner has come to its head atthis time. If there were a younger than myself, I would say thesame. "

He paused and glanced at some memoranda in his hand. Van Emmon wasstruck, first, by the smooth skin and perfect formation of the handand wrist; and, second, by the peculiar writing on the papers. Hehad no idea what it meant, although his agent certainly did. (Afterward the four concluded that, in the case of words written incode or otherwise requiring an effort of the agent's conscious mind, the people on the earth, being in touch only with the subconscious, were never informed. But they never had any trouble in understandinganything that was said aloud. )

"If there are any special matters which should be handled in generalsession, now is the time to bring them up, " said Powart, andremained standing. 

An undersized man with a remarkably large head of hair spoke up fromthe righthand side of the table: "I want to suggest that it is hightime we sent another expedition to Alma. "

"I agree, " from the man who had been Powart's predecessor. Apparently these ten men had nearly dispensed with parlimentaryrules. "What are the prospects, Powart?"

"First rate. Runled's old space-boat has been renovated recently, and I understand that enough of the required materials have beenmined to insure one round trip. "

"It is very fortunate that we shall be able to visit Alma again, even though we use up our entire supply in the attempt. It seemsthat we shall soon need, and need badly, certain chemical secretswhich they alone possess. "

"When can the boat start?"

"Within a week. I shall keep in touch with the crew by wireless, andadvise you of their progress from time to time. Alma is a sort of ahobby with me; I wouldn't mind taking the trip myself. "

There was a long pause. Powart waited, as though in expectation offurther remarks, then gave another glance at his memoranda andbegan:

"Of course, we are mainly concerned with the demonstration inCalastia. As to its cause, I may mention that Eklan Norbith was in ahospital at the time, having a substitution. Had he been on thespot, the uprising would have been checked before any one heard ofit. 

"But it now seems that Calastia, during the last few hours, hasbecome a seething hotbed of rebellion. Of course, we have isolatedthe district, and a search for arms is now in progress. 

"The head of the recalcitrants is a man named Ernol. He takes hisconfinement as a matter of course, and no amount of pressure willinduce him to talk. Neither can we get anything from his companions, nor from his son. 

"It is up to us to decide what measures to adopt. "

A large, pugnacious-looking man on the left put in the firstcomment. "Would it not be a saving of time to provoke violence, inone way or another, and thus form a pretext for disposing of theentire lot?"

"I admire your bluntness, " remarked the former chairman across thetable, "although I can't say as much for your philosophy. It is ourduty to keep everybody contented; we cannot do any publicweeding-out until the others are satisfied that the malcontents arereally weeds. "

"That is clear enough, " spoke the shock-headed man. "What are theconditions, Powart?"

"Nearly normal. The percentage of overhead is only slightly higherthan average. Until Ernol moved into the locality every one seemedcontented with the regular arrangements. "

"What is his contention?"

"The usual democratic nonsense. He claims that the commission isautocratic, down to its last deputy. Denies that we have the rightto apportion one-half the earnings to the workers and the other halfto the owners. States that our system is wasteful, unjust, anddemoralizing. "

"And what does he propose?"

"Democratic control of industry. You know--that old line of talk. "

"Does he deny that the commission has abolished poverty and war?"

"No; but he points out that our present standard of living has notchanged for generations, and argues that degeneration must result. Of course, he is right in his fact but wrong in his conclusion. "

"Doesn't he admit the necessity of some sort of an internationalgoverning body?"

"Yes; but he claims that the commission should be elected by directvote of the people!"

A general smile of derision greeted this. The only face thatremained serious was that of the shock-headed man. He said:

"There must be a slip somewhere, Powart. Isn't there a heavy fineand imprisonment for teaching such stuff? How did Ernol ever gethold of the notion?"

"Probably through tradition. We can't keep people from talking totheir own children; perhaps Ernol's great-grandparents told him ofthe days when every one was allowed to vote. "

The shock-headed man got another idea. "What has the man to sayagainst our system of voting in proportion to property interests?"

"Says it's all right in principle; but he claims that the earthbelongs to one and all, equally, and therefore each should have anequal voice in its disposition and government. "

This time there was no smiling. The pugnacious-looking man spoke forthe rest when he said:

"We cannot allow such ideas to gain headway, Powart! Have you aplan?"

"We must keep a close watch upon Calastia, and allow no one to leaveits borders. As for Ernol, I have concluded that the best thing willbe--turn him loose!"

They looked at him in consternation. He explained:

"I have been reading up the experience of the past few centuries insuch cases; and if there is one thing that stands out clearer thanany other it is this: the surest way to make the public sympathizewith a radical is to persecute him. But disregard him and ridiculehim, and his philosophy doesn't last long. 

"Instead of trying to make an example of this chap, by severelypunishing him, we shall let him go. It may be that he will object tothis; he may have discovered the same truths I have been reading, and would like nothing better than to become a 'martyr. ' But weshall force him out, if need be. "

"But suppose he continues his talking?"

"In that case we must simply watch our chance, and take himsecretly; if need be, arrest a thousand others at the same time. Themain thing is secrecy; so that the people cannot know, no matterwhat they may suspect, what has become of him. His final dispostionwill be a question of mere exediency. "

The former chairman approved heartily. "You've got the right idea, Powart. Is there anything further on tap?"

Powart put his notes away. "Every national report is the same asusual; all quiet, and people apparently well satisfied. 

"If there is no further business, we may consider ourselvesadjourned. "

The men got to their feet with the usual accompanying noises. Thetall man with the square-cut beard immediately came and offeredPowart his hand. Van Emmon noticed that they shook hands almostexactly as Americans would. 

"Things seem to be coming your way, my boy, " said the bearded man, his keen eyes softening slightly. "I saw the paper this morning. Congratulations! She is one girl in millions. Has she fixed thedate?"

"No. Mona was rather taken by surprise--to be frank with you, uncle. "

As Powart spoke, he was eyeing the door and nodding permission foran attendant to enter. The man stepped obsequiously forward andpresented a message, for all the world like any ordinary aerogram. Powart opened it while his uncle signed. 

The chairman gave a low whistle of surprise. "Mona had an accidentwith her flier, a little while ago, and was rescued by "--he lookedcloser at the aerogram--"a chap named Fort. She is now recuperatingon board the Cobulus. "

The tall man took the message and read it himself, while Powartglanced about the room. Van Emmon caught a glimpse of a clock, andhe noted the pendulum especially. But before he could learn anythingfurther, Dr. Kinney's hand jerked as before, and the gong rang. Thefour awakened. 

They had been "visiting" over an hour. 

VII

A WORLD BECALMED

"I think we have learned enough to form some general conclusions, "said the doctor, after the four had told what each had heard andseen. "Van Emmon's friend, Powart, seems to be anything but ademocrat. He probably represents the most aristocratic element onthe planet; while this man Fort, who rescued the girl, is alsoprobably a member of the leisure class. 

"On the other hand, we have Smith's agent, whose name we do notknow; he seems to be one of the working class, which Powartdespises. The two are at opposite ends of the social scale. YoungErnol, whose father is in trouble, appears to be a rising youngrevolutionist. 

"But Mona--to use the name Powart gave his fiancee--Billie'ssurgeon--the girl whose life Fort saved--she is not so easy toclassify. On the earth we would call her occupation a middle-classone; but that remark she made about people being cattle gives me theimpression that she is an aristocrat at heart. I call her a mystery, for the time being. 

"As for the planet itself--of course, the people simply refer to itas the earth, or some term which translates that way to us. We needa name for it. What shall we call her--this daughter of Capella's?"

"Capellette, " from Billie promptly. 

"Fine!" The other two looked their approval. "Now, we are ready toanalyze things. What shall we say of her people in general?"

"Speaking for my surgeon, " observed Billie, "doesn't she argue arather high degree of development?"

The others were plainly willing for the doctor to take the lead. Herubbed his knuckles harder than ever as he considered Billie'ssuggestion. 

"A higher degree of development? H-m! Not easy to say. Safer toassume that the development is higher in spots, not in general. Perhaps we'll do well to consider other things first. 

"Take those two clocks, for instance. The one that I saw had apendulum of ordinary length, which vibrated twice as fast asthat"--indicating an astronomical clock at his side. "What about thetime-piece you saw, Van?"

"Twenty-five-hour dial, and a pendulum of the usual length, same asyours. But--it vibrated no faster than any I ever saw before. "

"You're sure?" At the emphatic nod the doctor frowned. "We areforced to conclude that Capellette is not as round as our earth. Noother way to account for such a difference in gravitation as the twoclocks indicate. Roughly, I should say that the planet's diameter, at the place where I saw the clock, is fifty per cent greater thanat the point where Van's agent is located; maybe ten thousand milesin its greatest diameter, Capellette. 

"Having greater gravitation would explain why that disabled aircraftwhich Smith saw fell so very slowly; the planet has much more airthan the earth, which means far greater density near the surface. Italso explains those big sailing cruisers; nothing else can. 

"At any rate, we can guess why we have seen no surface travel. Thepeople of Capellette never tried to work out such a thing as anautomobile; why should they, with the birds to imitate, and extradense air all about them?

"I think we have found the key. " The doctor cogitated for a secondor two. 

"However, let's consider that schoolroom a bit. It was in no waydifferent from what you will find on the earth right now. Why?"

Smith had a notion. "There is such a thing as perfection. Like someelectrical apparatus; you simply can't improve them. "

"Sounds reasonable, " from Van Emmon. 

"Yes. And that is undoubtedly how the Capellettes look at thematter. 

"Why haven't they got talking-pictures? Because they've perfectedthe silent variety, of course. Why don't they reform their ways ofliving, instead of replacing a worn-out heart with a new one?They've perfected surgery, that's why! And why haven't they triedthe screw-propeller? They've perfected the bird-wing principle!"

"But that doesn't explain, " objected Billie, "why they've beencontent with an autocratic system of government. "

Van Emmon considered this a dig at Powart. "Why, of course theirgovernment is autocratic, dear! How else can it be protective?"

"You seem to have a lot of admiration for your Mr. Powart, " layingher hand on his. 

"I have. He and the others seem to be highly capable fellows, whohave undertaken to maintain happiness, and have made good. "

"But without the direct consent of the people. "

"What of that?" warmly. "Most folks don't care to burden their headswith law-making, anyhow. They'd rather leave it up to specialists. "

"Who are only too willing, my dear, to handle the matter--at theirown price!"

The doctor put in hastily: "From what you tell me, Van, thiscommission determines the living conditions for the majority, although it has no popular authority whatever. Moreover, conditionsare no better than they were a hundred years ago. There's been noprogress. Powart admits that. 

"Now, placing that fact alongside the rest, I reach this conclusion:that the people of Capallette, no matter what may have been theirexperience in the past, do not now care for revolutionary ideas. They want standardization, not change. 

"It all roots back in that extra dense air of theirs. See why?"

Apparently the three did not. The doctor explained: "Life is mucheasier for them than for us. It is no great struggle to gain alivelihood where transportation is so easy and simple. Inconsequence of this their advancement was much more rapid than ourshere on the earth, up to a certain point; and they've reached thatpoint already. 

"Coming back to that commission again: instead of trying out ademocratic form of government, in which every citizen would beequally responsible regardless of property--they've standardized theprotective, paternalistic principle. "

"Which is precisely the correct method!" insisted the geologist. "Radical changes of any kind are always dangerous. The only safemethod is to improve what we already have. "

"Suppose, " remarked Billie--"suppose government becomes sothoroughly standardized that it can't be improved further?"

"Then it becomes permanent. "

"If it isn't overthrown. "

The doctor smilingly interposed. "Let me finish and get this out ofmy system. By their own confession, the commission's chief functionis to keep the majority in ignorance, which is said to be the samething as bliss. This man Ernol and his pitiful rebellion only serveto prove the rule. 

"In a word, the Capellans have carried the principle of improvement, as opposed to reform, to its logical conclusion. They can go nofurther. "

"And why not?" challenged Van Emmon. "Because the fittest havesurvived, on Capellette as elsewhere. These commissioners are thefittest. "

The doctor nodded gravely. "True enough, Van. But the point I wantto make is, the commissioners have put an end to the processes ofevolution. They won't allow progress. They stopped all that acentury ago. 

"Friend, Capellette is a world that has given up. It has quit!"

VIII

THE UPPER CRUST

The next time Billie went into the tele-conscious state, forty-eighthours later, she found that she had "arrived" in the midst of aconversation. It told her worlds. 

"I answered the telephone, " some one was saying, "and Mr. Powartclearly said that he would be here within the hour. " [Footnote: Theword hour is used advisedly. Of course, the Capellan hour may havean entirely different length from ours. ]

"I suppose it is just as well, " answered the surgeon whom Billie nowknew as Mona. "Yes, I dare say it is quite as well. "

"Is there any reason why he shouldn't, dear?" inquired the otherparty, a middle-aged woman, magnificently dressed, of decidedlydistinguished appearance. 

"No, mother, " replied the girl; "not so far as he is concerned. But--Mr. Fort also is coming to-day. "

The older woman saw nothing alarming about this. "I am glad to hearit. He impressed me as being a very nice boy, although ratherimpulsive. "

"You don't understand. It's going to be very embarrassing for me. Mr. Fort warned me last night--laughingly, of course, but I think hemeant it--that he intended to propose to-day. "

Swift anxiety came to the mother's face. For a while she keptsilence. And while Mona's conscious mind was occupied with thoughtswhich Billie could not fathom, her subconscious mind was faithfullytaking in all that her roving eyes beheld. 

The two Capellans were seated upon the terrace of a large, handsomehouse, whose architecture Billie tentatively classified assemi-Moorish. Mona next glanced into the grounds, telling Billiethat the house was set upon a knoll, high up on the ridge of atremendous range of mountains. Similar houses dotted what landscapewas visible through a mass of foliage. It was just the sort ofresidence colony that Billie herself would have chosen. 

Then the eyes came back to the mother, who was saying: "Perhaps, mydear, you would rather that I told Mr. Fort of your engagement. " Shewatched the daughter as though expecting her to refuse the offer. 

Which is just what the heart-specialist did, with a proud toss ofthe head. "Thank you; but I cannot have him think that I lack thenerve to tell him myself. "

She excused herself and went into the house, passing through roomsso rapidly that Billie learned little, save that the place fairlyswarmed with men in livery. Once in Mona's room, however, Billiediscovered that metallic furniture was the rule; that the windowswere without screens, [Footnote: The Capellans seem to have utterlystamped out all forms of insect life except those directlybeneficial to man. ] and that the bed was set down very close to thefloor. Otherwise, the room was much like any on the earth. 

Mona's clothes interested Billie immensely. Without exception thegarments were skirtless, and a large proportion of the suits were inone piece. Headgear was limited to caps, of which Mona owned animmense variety; while she wore nothing but high lace-up boots orpumps. Billie was sure that these were all of leather. 

With the aid of no less than four maids, all of whom were verypretty girls, Mona changed to a garment of some lustrous brownmaterial, like silk velvet but with a much longer nap, together withstockings of the golf pattern, and black pumps. Next she proceededto inspect herself carefully in a mirror. 

Billie saw that Smith's estimate of "not over thirty" was accurateenough. The girl was still young as to face, although her body wasremarkably robust. And Billie found that her delicacy of feature didnot suffer from the close-up. 

Instead, her refinement was made only the more striking. Probably itwas the high arching of her eyebrows that had made her facepatrician; that, together with the sensitiveness of her nostrils. For there was nothing at all cold about her eyes; they were a verydark brown, large and full. And her lips were anything but haughty;they were a deep red and piquantly upturned at the corners. Thewhole carriage of her head, however, marked her as an aristocrat, but a lovable one. 

As she turned from the glass the sound of a laugh came from thefront of the house. Billie instantly recognized Fort's voice. Monagave her hair a final touch and went straight to the terrace. 

"How do you do?" said the surgeon coolly, as she took Fort's eagerlyoutstretched hand. And again Billie was more interested in the man'sgray-leather flying suit, so well becoming his fine musculardevelopment, than in the conventional reply he made. Next momentMona's mother was saying:

"I have been trying to thank Mr. Fort for what he did yesterday. Itwas a remarkably brave thing!"

"Indeed it was, " declared Mona, with feeling. "And yet, try as Imight last night, I was unable to make him see that it was anythingout of the ordinary, mother. "

"Why, of course, " protested the athlete carelessly. "There wasnothing brave about it. One is not brave unless one is afraid; and Iwasn't afraid. I can take no credit for the thing. "

"Do you mean, " questioned Mona, "that you are never afraid?"

"Not when I am in the air. "

There was silence for a minute, and again Billie used Mona's eyes togood advantage. Fort was certainly a good-looking chap, althoughslightly untidy in small items of his costume. He was the kind whichlooks best when somewhat disheveled, anyhow. As to face--a large, handsomely curved mouth, a slightly Roman nose, eyes as big asMona's and as blue as hers were brown. Decidedly, the man was worthlooking at, again and again. Most daredevils are sharp-featured;Fort was kindly. There was something positively reassuring about hiskind of audacity. 

Presently the mother mentioned Ernol, the radical; seemingly thesepeople had been privately informed of what Powart was keeping fromthe workers. Fort commented:

"I was really frightened when I heard of it. Why, if that fellow'sphilosophy is listened to, we all may have to work for a living!"His laughter rang above the rest; then he thought of Mona. "Oh, Isay, I quite forgot, I assure you. "

"Don't mention it, " returned the surgeon humorously. "I don't mindtelling you that this service of mine is largely camouflage. Ibelong to the Delusion Brigade. "

Fort was greatly surprised. "You, a volunteer?"

"Quite so. There must always be some one of our class to whom peoplecan look, whenever they suspect that we are not democratic. Besides, I have always fancied surgery. " She told briefly of her work. 

"Why, you are a famous person!" declared the athlete. 

"You make me ashamed; I do nothing at all but amuse myself. "

"Which is quite as well, Mr. Fort, " the mother assured him. "I triedmy best to keep Mona out of this; a social conquest is what I hadplanned for her. But she had set her mind on surgery; so--" And sheleft the rest to Fort's imagination. 

A moment later Billie heard a flying-machine approaching. Shortly itcame near enough for her to see that it was greatly like a yacht, painted white all over, and possessing exceptionally tall masts. Thecanvas was already unfurled and the vessel descending under thecontrol of some unusually powerful wings. 

"Mr. Powart's official boat, " Mona explained to Fort. 

The craft landed softly on the edge of the lawn, some distance away. The three on the terrace did not stir from their places as Powart, accompanied by eight men in uniform, stepped swiftly down a shortladder and strode rapidly to the house. The eight guards, each ofwhom carried a brown leather box, like a motion-picture camera, tookup unobtrusive positions near at hand. These cases, however, werenot used for taking photographs; Billie thought them more like somekind of condensed rapid-fire guns. 

Before Powart got within ear-shot, Mona leaned toward Fort. "This ismy fiance, " she said with an evident effort; and when shestraightened up her hands were trembling. 

Fort took it astonishingly well. He concealed any hint of hisfeelings as the chairman was introduced. Powart gave him a singlepenetrating glance, then advanced in his sure, self-confident way, and took both the girl's hands in his own. She remained in her seat. 

"I am very glad to see you looking so well. Do you feel fullyrecovered, Mona?"

"Yes, thank you, " coolly. "Or perhaps I should say, thanks to Mr. Fort, here. "

Powart turned his keen gray eyes upon the athlete. "If there is anyway I can show you how much I appreciate this--"

Fort waved his hand jauntily. "Wait till I do something that costsme a real effort!"

Something in his voice caught the chairman's ear. He scrutinized theathlete more closely; and Billie found herself comparing the two. They were both big fellows; otherwise there was no resemblance. Theone was as dark as the other was blond; moreover, he was somewhatheavier than Fort, and of the sort which must be dressedimmaculately at all times. His good looks were due to the clean-cutlines of his face; for his eyes were stern and his mouth verystrong. 

If the one was impulsive, the other was sure. Fort loved to take achance; the other, would not act until he was absolutely certain. Billie decided that he was the steadier, the more reliable of thetwo; also, the least likable, for that very reason. Infallibility isa fearsome thing. 

The mother arose with some remark about going into the gardens, andFort offered his arm. Powart took their going purely as a matter ofcourse, and continued to stand--he seldom sat down--directly infront of Mona. 

"I hope, " said he in his direct fashion, "that you can see your wayclear to consider wearing this, " and he produced a small, bluevelvet case from an inner pocket. And next moment Billie was peekingover Mona's shoulder, so to speak, to see a ring made of somemilk-white metal, set with a single oval stone of a blood-red hue. The surgeon gave a tiny gasp at the sight of it. 

"Bribery and corruption!" she cried, and started to slip the ring onto the middle finger of her left hand. Before it was done, however, she paused. 

"I almost forgot. " She gave Powart a sidelong glance. "Last night Ithought it over, and--Well, you know how women are about changingtheir minds. "

"Surely you haven't completely altered your opinion of me?"incredulously, rather than anxiously. 

"No; I just want more time to think it over, that's all. It is notthat I think less of you than before, but somehow, since having sucha close call--I haven't quite as much confidence in my ability tomeet your expectations. " This as though she had worded itbeforehand. 

Powart showed little concern. "Of course I am sorry; but perhaps itis just as well. Beyond a doubt you will soon come to see it asclearly as you did the other day. " He paused as the girl slowlyextended the ring to him. "Why not wear it anyhow, Mona?"

"I'd rather not--not until I am sure. It's a dreadful temptation, though!"

And Powart had no choice other than to reflect her smile with one ofhis own, while he quietly slipped the little case back into hispocket. 

Almost with the same motion he took out a watch. "You must excuseme. Business of state, as usual. "

"Certainly, " as she rose. She gave a quick glance around, then shookher head playfully as Powart took a single eager step toward her. "Next time, " she said; and he bit his lip, gripped her hand tightly, and strode away. In a minute he and his guards were back in theyacht, and in three minutes out of sight. 

By that time Fort and Mona's mother had returned. There was a quickexchange of glances between the two women, and then the motherexcused herself and went in the house. Fort suddenly becameawkwardly self-conscious. 

"Well, I must be going. " He paused; a gleam of mischief flashed intohis eyes--a kind of final come-back. "Next time I rescue you, younglady, I shall let you get hurt ever so much worse, so that I canhave an excuse to call more than I have so far!"

His face sobered swiftly. "I nearly forgot. May I congratulate youupon your--engagement? Mr. Powart is a very fine man. "

"Thank you; so he is. Really, I have lately come to wonder if I amgood enough for him. " Then, significantly: "The date has beenpostponed indefinitely. It is not impossible that I may give himup. "

Fort stared incredulously for a second, then saw that she meant it. The blood rushed to his face, leaving him white and shaky withexcitement. He made a sudden move toward the girl, checking himselfjust as suddenly. 

"Well!" His usually easy speech nearly failed him. But he laughed asboldly as ever. "I am convinced that you are far from being a wellwoman, Miss Mona! I shall have to call--often!"

And with a short but exceedingly intense gaze of infinite meaning, he wheeled, clapped his cap to his head, dashed to his machine andwas gone. 

IX

THE STAGNANT WORLD

Smith entered the mind of his Capellan agent at a moment when he wasclearly off duty. In fact, the engineer of the Cobulus was at thetime enjoying an uncommonly good photoplay. 

Smith had arrived too late to see the beginning of the picture; buthe found it to be a more or less conventional society drama. And fora while he was mainly interested in the remarkably clearphotography, the natural coloring and stereoscopic effect that thedoctor had already noted through young Ernol. Smith nearlyoverlooked the really fine music, all coming from a talking machineof some kind. 

And then the picture came to an end, and a farce-comedy began. Itwas an extraordinarily ingenious thing, with little or no plot;afterward Smith could not describe it with any accuracy. However, Mrs. Kinney, down-stairs, plainly heard him laughing as though hissides would give way. 

The picture over, Smith's man got up and left the place; and onceoutside he glanced at his watch and took up a position on the curb, much as Smith had often done when a younger man. The Capellan seemedto know a good many of the people who came out of the playhouse; andmeanwhile Smith took note of something of extreme importance. 

The playhouse did not have any advertising whatever in sight, exceptfor a single bulletin-board, like the bill of fare of a cafeteria. Moreover--and this is the significant thing--there was nobox-office, neither was any one at the door to take tickets. 

The place was wide open to the world. It was located on a very busystreet in what appeared to be a good-sized city; but, to allappearances, any one might enter who chose to. 

"Free amusements, " thought Smith, "to keep the boobs happy. "

Shortly his agent stepped down the street, which seemed to begreatly like one in any city on the earth, except that there wasremarkably little noise. Perhaps it was due to the total lack ofstreet-cars and surface machinery in general. Certainly the spacebetween the sidewalks was used for little else than the parking offlying-machines. The buildings housed a variety of stores, all builton a large scale. There were no small shops at all. 

Smith's agent quickly reached his own flier, a small two-seaterornithopter finished in dull gray--Smith's favorite color, incidentally--and in a minute or two he was well under way. Smithhad a chance to watch, at close range, the distorted S-motion of themachine's wings. But the flight lasted only a few minutes, andpresently the craft was again at rest. 

This time it was parked under a tremendously long shed, which Smithafterward saw was really a balcony, one of a tier of ten. Oppositethe spot was a large building, like a depot; and over its roof Smithsaw the huge bulk of an airship. 

It was, of course, the Cobulus; and it was when Smith's agent passedthrough a checking-in room that his name was heard for the firsttime. "All right, Reblong, " was the way it came, from the officialwho punched his time-card. And Reblong, with Smith making eager useof his eyes, went directly through a hatch in the side of the greatship, and thence down a corridor to his engine-room. 

Smith got little opportunity to study the machinery. Reblong gavethe place a single sweeping glance, then strode to a short, black-bearded chap who stood near the instrument board. 

"Everything as usual, my friend?" He had a pleasant voice, as Smithlearned for the first time. 

"Yes--as usual!" The man's voice was bitter. "That's just what'swrong! There's never any improvement; it's always--as usual! Say, Reblong; no offense, but I think we are fools to put up with what weare given!"

Smith's man complacently seated himself in front of the instruments. "Personally, I think we are mighty lucky, instead of foolish. "

"Lucky!" The other man snorted. "I wish Ernol could hear you saythat! He'd have a fit!"

Reblong was not at all disturbed. "By the way, what's become of thechap? I haven't seen him around for weeks?"

"Don't know, exactly, " with some uneasiness. "He went back toCalastia, and that's the last I heard of him. "

"Calastia? I saw an item in the paper last night, to the effect thatCalastia was under quarantine. All news cut off. "

The man instantly smelled a mouse. "Quarantine! Why should thatcause the news to be cut off? There's something more than quarantinethe matter, Reblong!" He began to pace the room excitedly. "I say itagain, we're fools to believe everything the commission tells us. Ithink they've been hoodwinking us about long enough!"

Reblong suppressed a yawn. "I don't care if they do, old man. I'mwilling to leave it up to them to run the government. "

"And that's exactly what's the matter!" cried the other. "You andevery other chap except those Ernol has taught, thinks that thecommission is God-given and can do no wrong!"

"Yes?" politely. "Maybe so; only, you can't blame us for thinkingpretty highly of a government that has done this. " Reblong checkedthe items off on his fingers, meanwhile eying his companionsteadily: "It has done away with the liquor traffic; it has fullyprotected women in industry; it has put an end to child labor; ithas abolished poverty; it has abolished war; and"--with considerableemphasis for so quiet a man--"it has provided you and me andeverybody else with a mighty fine education, free of charge!"

Reblong's manner, by its very emphasis, had the effect of making theother man suddenly quite cool. "Correct; I admit them all. And atthe same time I want to show you that the commission hasaccomplished all this, not primarily for our benefit, but in theinterests of the owners. 

"They gave us prohibition because drinking was bad for business; noother reason, Reblong! And that's why the women are protected, too;a protected, contented woman brings in better dividends to theowners than one who is worked to death. 

"Neither did it pay to allow child labor; it resulted in misery andreduced production, in the long run, and that meant reduceddividends. Poverty didn't pay, either; poor people do not makeefficient workmen. War was abolished, Reblong, not for anyhumanitarian motives, but because peace brought in fatter profitsand less waste. 

"And as for our compulsory education"--he snapped his fingerscontemptuously--"just what does it amount to? Simply this: it didn'tpay the owners to allow illiteracy! An educated workman is a betterdividend-producer than an ignorant one. That's all there is to it, Reblong! Don't fool yourself into thinking that the commission hasdone all this for your benefit! Not much!"

"Maybe you're right, " conceded Reblong. "As for myself, I don't carea rap what the commission's reasons were. I'm satisfied!"

The other man looked disgusted. "Satisfied! Just because you'reguaranteed your dollar an hour, and your pension at sixty!Satisfied, when half the company's profits go to the owners, not oneof whom ever did a bit of work in his life! A bunch of people who donothing but blow in the money we earn, and spend more in a day thanwe do in a month!"

"They're welcome, " commented Reblong with much indifference. "If Igot all that you have told me is coming to me, I'd probably ruinmyself with high living anyhow. "

"You don't mean to say that you've swallowed that old piffle!" saidthe black-bearded chap incredulously. 

"I don't see any piffle about it. As I look at the matter, theowners are doing us a genuine favor. Not only do they take theburden of our surplus earnings off our shoulders, but they run ourgovernment for us without charge. "

"Well, I'll be utterly damned!" The other fellow looked as thoughthe words were not half strong enough. "I never thought a full-grownman could continue to believe the stuff we were taught when we werekids! Don't you ever think for yourself, Reblong? Why, look here!"

He came closer and spoke with painstaking clearness, as though hewere addressing a child. 

"The commission, instead of assuring us that increased wages wouldbe our ruin, could just as well be educating us to spend wisely!Just as well, Reblong! And as for child labor--man, children oughtto be kept out of industry until they're twenty, instead of sixteen!Every last one of us ought to be given a college education, insteadof merely the children of the rich! And all this could be done, too. There's no earthly reason why we should permit that bunch ofparasites in Hafen to graft off us any longer! Put 'em to work, likeyou and me, and make life easier for us all!"

"But, " objected Reblong, a little upset, "there's only a few of theowners. They couldn't help much. "

"But their servants could. Do you know that there's ten servants, onan average, to every family of the rich? Servants who do nothing butmake life still easier for people who already hog it all!"

"Well, suppose they did all go to work; who would run our governmentfor us, my friend?"

"Who! Why--if we can do the work, I guess we can certainly do thegoverning, Reblong. "

Reblong turned away, plainly bewildered. "It doesn't look right tome, old man. I'd rather let things stand as they are, so far as I'mconcerned. "

Somewhere a warning instrument was thrumming loudly. The man withthe democratic ideas automatically turned to his locker, andproceeded to change his outer clothing. Reblong meanwhile took offhis suit and slipped into some full-length overalls. As he buttonedthem up around the neck he stepped in front of a glass. 

Smith was nearly floored. The man was almost his exact double; anordinary, everyday sort of a chap, with a very commonplace face. Perhaps, like Smith's, his face concealed a remarkable technicalknowledge; but nobody would have given him a second glance. Was he, thought Smith, a typical Capellan workman?

The other man was ready to go. He hesitated, studying the floor;then said, regretfully:

"The worst part of it is, Reblong, everybody I talk to is as bad asyou are. They all admit that things are not what they should be--butnobody cares!"

He went to the door, and Reblong heard him say, under his breath, ashe turned the knob:

"Great Heavens! What's come over the world anyhow? Has it gonestagnant?"

X

A RIPPLE IN THE POOL

It seemed as though he were right. The whole great pool of humanitywhich comprised Capellette was still, quiescent, stagnant. Was therenothing to arouse it, no ripple in the pool?

The doctor had this question uppermost in his mind when he locatedyoung Ernol. He found him getting ready to accompany his father, whoseemed about to take advantage of the freedom Powart hadconditionally given him. There was no doubt about it; the radicalwas going straight back to his revolutionary teaching. 

He was saying, "Of course, my boy, I can't compel you to stay athome. " The doctor delighted in the vigorous, frank manner andpowerful voice of the man; they belonged perfectly with his blackhair and bristling beard, his flashing eyes and aggressive nose. "I'd rather you stayed out of this; at the same time, I'd be a proudman if you didn't!"

The student calmly finished his dressing. "What time did you tellthe men to come?" was all he said; and the father chuckled, thensighed. 

The two took flight in a small two-seater. It was night, and thedoctor took note of the planet's system of signal lights. Withinfive minutes, however, the flight ended with a landing in some sortof a deep depression; the doctor called it a ravine. 

Climbing from the machine, the two apostles stepped a few paces intotal darkness; then the elder man produced a small electric torch, which he wig-wagged above his head. There was a series of answeringflashes at a distance; and next moment a door, let into the side ofthe ravine, opened right in front of the pair. 

They stepped in and closed the door after them, then turned theirlight down a long corridor. Reaching the end of this the doctornoted a loophole in the wall, from which projected somethingsuspiciously, like the muzzle of a machine gun. He had no difficultyin imagining the consequences should some one open that hidden doorwithout first giving the signal. 

Much as one might enter a lodge-room, the two radicals showed theirfaces at a port-hole in a door, after which they passed guards withmasklike helmets. In a few seconds they found themselves in abrilliantly lighted hall, very large and commodious except for theheavy pillars which supported its low ceiling. It was half filledwith men. 

The elder Ernol had no use for formality. After brief greetings tosome kind of a committee, he took his place on a platform; while hisson unconsciously gratified the doctor by looking over the crowd. Presumably they were all workers; and in one way they were allalike; the habitual contentment in their faces had been momentarilyreplaced by excitement. However, they were quiet and well behavedenough. 

"Comrades, " began the radical without delay, "I appreciate yourcoming here at all, under the circumstances. The commission plainlywarned me that any further teaching would be disastrous. I am notsure, but I imagine they would arrest both myself and those foundwith me. If there is any one who feels that he would rather not takethe risk, now is the time for him to go. "

There was a moment's pause; then, in the back of the hall, two menwho had been sitting together got up and hurriedly went out. Ernolwaited, but there was no further exodus. 

"I will lose no time then, but proceed to give you the proofsregarding the commission. " He produced a small parcel ofphotographs. "These pictures are the most dangerous things I haveever carried on my person. I took them in the dead of night, byflashlight, in the library of the University of Calastia. 

"They are"--he paused portentously--"reproductions of pages from thesecret census!"

To most of the men this meant something highly significant. Theycranned their necks in their excitement. 

"I am going to pass them around, negatives and all. You see where Ihave checked off the most important items. They prove to any onewith reason that the commission has been lying to us; that theworkers are being taxed more heavily than the owners; that theowners are being favored in every way. I don't care whether youagree with my ideas or not; these photographs"--his voice shook thehall--"prove that the commission is not even giving you what youthought you were getting!"

He took a single step down from the platform, his hand outstretched, about to pass the parcel to the man in the nearest seat. At thatinstant all the lights were extinguished. 

There was a moment's stunned silence; then the place broke into anuproar. Yells of fright and anger, the crashing of chairs, screamsof pain; all these young Ernol heard without himself giving voice. He was sprinting down one side of the hall. 

Suddenly there came a flash of light straight ahead. Ernol hadreached the outer corridor. And the doctor heard a great commotiongoing on outside the door in the ravine; a smashing and thudding, which filled the corridor with noise. Next second the door gave way, and simultaneously young Ernol leaped into the niche behind thething which the doctor thought a machine gun. Another second, and hehad the device in operation. 

From its muzzle shot a thin stream of fire, which extended the wholelength of the corridor. It lighted up everything with a bluish-whiteglare, revealing a mob of men at the door. They fell back, yellingwith pain, some of them dropping in their tracks. And all the whilethe apparatus was dealing, not a shower of bullets, but a streak ofliquid fire, which hissed and screamed like the blast from an oxygenblow-pipe. 

But it was all over in a second or two. A noise from behind, andyoung Ernol started up suddenly, only to find himself in the grip ofa veritable giant of a man. His struggles were simply useless. In amoment he was being carried bodily back into the hall, which thedoctor saw was now lighted as before. 

On one side, lined up amid a mass of wrecked chairs, stood most ofthe workers at bay. On the other were four men with small boxlikedevices, such as Billie had already seen in the hands of Powart'sguards, and which were kept trained threateningly upon the crowd. Onthe platform stood Ernol, now quite helpless in the grasp of twostalwart fellows. 

The mob from the door poured in. Immediately they made captors ofall the workers, who had precious little to say. Apparently they hadbeen warned. The doctor also concluded that the capture was a pieceof treachery, in which bribery had been employed. 

Two minutes later young Ernol was placed in a large passenger flier, which the doctor labeled "Black Maria. " Presumably the elder radicalwas taken in another; at any rate after another flight in thedarkness, father and son shortly found themselves together again. 

They were now in the drawing-room of some private residence, concluded the doctor. This puzzled him somewhat until, after a briefwait under the eyes of a half-dozen guards, the two radicals weretaken into another room. 

Here, lying on a couch, was a man whom the doctor soon identified. He was none other than Mona's patient, Eklan Norbith, thecommission's deputy in Calastia. He was a burly, dark-featuredfellow; and even though rigid in his plaster cast, he lookedcompetent and formidable. 

"Ernol, " said he in a heavy, domineering voice, "there is no need tostate the case to a man of your intelligence. You gave your word tostop your teachings; you have been caught in the act. Frankly, Irather thought you would do it; that is why I am here to-night. Iwant--to deal with you personally. "

He paused for breath, and then went on, still ignoring the student, "Ernol, you know what I want. I want those photographs; and what ismore, I am going to have them. You must have passed them to some onewho escaped in the confusion; they have not been located on any onewho has been captured, nor were they hid in the hall. Now I willgive you exactly ten seconds [Footnote: For the sake of clearness, the Capellan second, whose actual length is of course unknown, isused here as though it were uniform with earth standards. ] to tellme what you did with them. "

He eyed a clock on the wall. 

The radical, whose hands were tied behind him, nevertheless managedto strike a defiant pose. "I don't intend to tell you, Norbith. Itis true that I handed them to one of my comrades; but I shall nottell you which one. "

"Your time is up, " said the man with the silver heart evenly. "Willyou tell?"

Ernol contented himself with a contemptuous shake of the head. Theman of the couch, for the first time conceding young Ernol'spresence, now ordered him brought forward. 

"I know, " he told the father, "that it would be useless to work withYOU. You are just fool enough to imagine that suffering meansmartyrdom. 

"But I told you that I must have those photographs. I meant it. Ishall have that information if I have to torture you until I getit!"

"Go right ahead!" taunted the revolutionist; but his face was white. 

Norbith turned to the boy's guards. "Strap him into this chair!"

It was done in half a minute. The doctor had no way of seeing howthe boy took it, except that he studiously avoided his father'seyes, and that he made no sound. 

"Now move him under that clock!"

One of the guards gave a low exclamation, instantly checked at acold stare from Norbith. And meanwhile the boy was being placed justbelow, and a little to one side of the big clock. 

"Remove the lower half of the clock-case!"

It was done in a few seconds. The instrument's pendulum now vibratedfreely in the air, its weight swinging almost to the boy's headwhere he sat. 

"Move him until I drop my hand, " said Norbith. 

A slight push, and instantly the doctor became aware that the heavypendulum of the clock, on reaching the outward extremity of itsswing, was now gently tapping at the boy's left temple. TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP it went, with the peculiar quickness due to theplanet's powerful gravity. 

"Keep him there until I tell you to move him. "

The tapping continued. To the doctor, of course, the thing wasentirely devoid of pain. It made much the same noise the dentistmakes with his mallet, only it went on and on, until perhaps twominutes had passed. 

"Stop!"

Instantly the boy was moved away. The student said nothing; neitherdid the father. Yet the doctor noticed something which meant volumesto his trained senses. 

The boy's gaze was no longer clear. Instead, dancing lights appearedwherever he looked; tiny flashes of violet and orange, whichshimmered before his pupils even though he closed his lids. 

"Will you ask your father to tell?" inquired Norbith. 

"No--damn you!"

It was the first thing the boy had said. And it came through setteeth, in a voice which the doctor scarcely knew. 

"Move him back; a little further this time. "

The tapping began again. This time the boy's head got more of theforce of the swing; the tapping was more like a blow. THUD-THUD-THUDcame the sound now; and in a few seconds the boy could see nothingfor the shivering flames. He gave a faint groan. 

"Ready to talk now?"

"Damn you--no!" in a voice that shook with pain. 

"Move him closer!"

The thud became a pound. The doctor looked for the skull to give wayat any moment; he tried his best to control the subconscious, butthe boy's agony was too great. The dancing lights had become acontinuous flare; the lad moaned steadily. 

And then quite without warning, the boy broke down and gave out aterrible shriek. Norbith ordered the guards to move him away fromthe clock. 

"Ready now?" he inquired calmly. 

The boy's answer was a snarl. "No!"

"Once more!"

The thud-thudding began again, and now it had a sharp sound whichthe doctor instantly recognized. In a moment the boy was shaking theair with cries of such awful agony that the doctor--

"Stop!" cried the father convulsively, his face streaming withtears. "God--the boy doesn't--know! Don't torture him--like that!"

The man with the metal heart said:

"Will you tell now?"

"Don't do it father!" the boy whispered through palsied lips. But noCapellan heard him. 

The father was saying to Norbith, "I gave the whole outfit to--"

And then that crashing and smashing came to an end. The boy hadfainted. 

XI

THE DOUBLE WORLD

The four felt that they understood the situation quite well, indeed. It was really simple, this far-off world with its standardized life, this petrified civilization in which everything was guaranteedexcept the one real essential--progress. 

But what was Fort going to do about it? Billie was not the only onewho was interested; Van Emmon was equally curious, and Smithprivately believed that the geologist was slightly jealous of thedistant athlete. Certainly he was as eager as any one to continuethe investigation, and stoutly defended Powart against anycriticism. 

"He's the right man in the right place!" he insisted. "Lord, I wishI was in his boots!"

"Well, I'm rather thankful you're not, dear, " commented Billie witha look which quickly brought an answering light to his eyes. Yet, behind her remark there was a certain wistfulness which the doctordid not overlook. 

Yes, the four felt that they were very well acquainted withCapellette. 

But the most amazing part of the whole proposition was yet to bediscovered. It was not until after nearly two weeks of dailyinvestigation, in fact, that the whole astonishing truth of thematter was uncovered. 

It came through Billie. Fort was now calling regularly at Mona'shouse, evidently trying his best to understand the girl and makehimself understood; for he said not a word about his suit. And oneday he suggested that they make a much longer flight than any theyhad so far taken together. 

"I haven't been down into the contact for a long while. Have you?"

And the two set out, Billie wondering mightily what "the contact"might be. They flew for several hours in a direction which wouldhave been called "westerly" on the earth; and during the time theywere above land, Billie saw no sign of factories, farms, or otherforms of industry. In fact, hill and valley alike were laid out withhandsome residences, beautifully kept grounds, vast parks andextensive greens, suggesting golf. That was all. 

Then she noticed something that made her marvel. The sun, which hadstood directly overhead when they left the house, within less thanthree hours began to descend with increasing rapidity; so that inhalf the length of an ordinary afternoon it had approached to withinan hour of setting. Its motion was so rapid that it could almost beseen. 

Soon Billie concluded that the two fliers were bound for the bottomof some unusually wide and exceptionally deep canon. She tried toremember what she had read of the earth's greatest chasms; was itpossible for the sun to disappear in mid-afternoon in such? And yetthe flight went on and on, until Billie began to wonder if a chasmcould be a hundred miles deep. 

Soon she could dimly discern the dark mass of the opposite side. Thefliers were steadily approaching this, and all the time going deeperand deeper. Once Mona turned her eyes searching to the right andleft; whereupon Billie was still further mystified to see that, although the cleft was fifty or sixty miles in length, yet itsextreme ends seemed entirely open to the world. Nothing but a deep"V" of blue sky was to be seen in either direction. 

The sun disappeared altogether. Always the two walls grew closer andcloser together, until at last Billie could see, despite thesemidarkness, a heavy growth of vegetation on the opposite wall. Beneath her, as well, the surface was densely wooded. 

Still they descended! It was unbelievable; surely the chasm did notextend right into the heart of the globe. They had been flying forhours!

At last came a time when the far wall of the cleft was so near thatBillie could have shot a deer upon it. She estimated the distance attwo hundred yards; and then, and not until then, did she realizethat Mona, in order to inspect this bank, was now LOOKING up. Thewall which had seemed right ahead, all along, was now actuallyoverhead!

Were they entering some sort of a cave? If so, it had dimensionsthat staggered the imagination. What was more, if it were a cave, how could the mind of man account for vegetation on its roof?

Within a few minutes Fort called from his machine; whereupon Monalocated a landing-place, a small clearing dimly visible in thedistance. The opposite wall of the chasm--or the roof of the cave, whichever it was--now approached to within five yards of the tops ofthe two machines. Mona and the athlete stepped out, and lookedaround. 

Billie's senses swam. This clearing, as has been said, was only afew yards away from the tops of the bushes on the roof. Moreover, all this vegetation, instead of growing at right angles from thesurface in the usual way, was all lying flat against the soil, andall pointing in one direction--back, the way they had come!

The sky was not overhead any longer; it was a mere strip of verydark blue, lying far off on the horizon. That is, to the right; onthe left, the cavelike cleft extended still further, its limitsshrouded in darkness. 

"Queer, isn't it?" laughed Fort. "Shall we walk around?"

Whereupon the two young people set out on a narrow, but much worntrail. Keeping the sky always at their right, they passed throughthe thicket, Mona's eyes telling Billie that the queer horizontalvegetation grew always toward the light. 

It was much like the growth at the bottom of any gulch; only the twowere walking in the normal way, upright, at right angles to thesurface, quite as though it were level ground!

Overhead the thicket grew in the same fashion; Billie thought thefoliage much like ferns. Here and there, however, was a smallflowering shrub; and it was to one of these that a tiny, orange-colored bird came flying. 

And Billie wondered why Mona did not gasp in astonishment. For thebird, when it alighted upon the shrub, was not over eight feet aboveMona's eyes; and unless there was something decidedly wrong with thegirl's vision, the bird had alighted upside down!

There it clung, chirping flatly, moving its head from side to sideand watching the two with bright, unfrightened eyes. But Mona wasnot much interested; she and Fort moved on. And shortly Billie wasgazing at a fresh wonder. 

Directly opposite them, on what Billie was now calling the roof, instead of the wall, there appeared a deep furrow in the ferns. Shesaw that it was a path, much like the one Mona was treading; itmeandered in and out of sight from time to time. What was themeaning of it? Billie began to wonder if "the contact" was the nameof some mechanical illusion, like a distorted mirror. 

The two had been walking for nearly an hour when, right ahead ofthem, the thicket opened up, and another clearing presented itself. That is, Billie called it another clearing, until she looked moreclosely and made out two flying-machines in it. They were the onesthe pair had come in!

Now Billie was positive that they had not turned around in theirwalk; they had kept the sky on their right all the while. In fact, the sky was still on that side. They were approaching the clearingfrom the side opposite the one they had gone out from!

Yet, neither the athlete nor the surgeon seemed to see anythingpeculiar in the fact. Instead, they looked at one another as much asto say, "Well, time to go, isn't it?"

Then Fort stared up at the mysterious roof. There was anotherclearing there, a little to one side; which accounted for Billie'soverlooking it at first. Fort led the way over opposite. 

"Shall we try it?" he dared Mona. 

"You first, " she replied, indifferently. 

Whereupon the athlete, without another word, pulled his cap downtight, made sure his pockets were buttoned, cleared the shrubberyaway from his feet and--leaped! Leaped straight into the air, and ashe went up, he flipped his body as only an acrobat can, so that heturned a mid air somersault. 

But he did not come back to where he jumped from. Instead, his jumptook him five yards, which separated the ground from the roof; andwhen he landed HIS FEET WERE RESTING ON THE ROOF, AND HIS HEAD WASPOINTING DOWNWARD, TOWARD MONA. 

"It's easy, " he remarked, craning his neck so that he could look atthe girl. "Come on; I'll catch you!"

And then Billie's senses whirled as the surgeon duplicated the feat. Next second Mona was standing beside Fort, five yards above the spotshe had just left; and in that second everything had becomeprecisely reversed; the two were now looking up! Looking up, tobehold their machines, apparently upside down, just over theirheads!

As though this were not enough, Mona picked a leaf from a shrub andthrew it some seven or eight feet up. It remained motionless in midair!

It was too much for Billie. She felt that she could not contemplatethe thing any longer with safety to her sanity. She exerted herwill, and broke the connection with Mona; so that a few minuteslater her three friends on the earth were listening to her account. 

The doctor waited until she was all through; then, "While you werehaving that experience I was in touch with young Ernol again. Theboy has recovered and is still in jail, but they let him have hisbooks now. And I've been helping him study geography. "

"Well?" eagerly. 

"Very simple. Capellete is a double world!"

"Double!"

"Yes! There are two globes, instead of one. They're twins, andSiamese twins at that!" He drew a figure on his knee, thus:

[Illustration: two circles touching each other]

"Just imagine the earth and Venus of the same size, and so near toone another that their combined gravity has brought them together!That's Capellette! And the contact is the place where they touch!"

They considered this in wondering silence for a while. Then thedoctor continued:

"It's just as we had deduced; each of the planets is larger than theearth. I saw the figures in that geography. 

"But astronomically they are one. They revolve around Capellatogether; the rotate about a common center daily, just as the earthrotates on its axis. This common center is, of course, in thecontact. "

"Are both globes inhabited?" Billie was greatly interested. 

"Yes. All parts of both planets are developed to the same extent, and evenly settled. They are just one great nation, with a commonlanguage. This, of course, is traceable to the great density of theair, enabling the people to fly wherever they wanted to go. Therenever has been such a thing as an 'Old World' and a 'New World' withthem. 

"The really remarkable fact, however, Billie has already hinted at. The country near Mona's home shows no sign of industry; there'snothing but parks and magnificent estates. And the geographyexplains it all. One of the planets is devoted entirely to industryand the homes of those who are engaged therein; the workers inhabitthat globe exclusively. There are about ten billion of them. 

"The other globe is exclusively a residence tract, set aside for thehomes of the rich; what they call the owners. There is no industryof any kind. No workers live there, excepting the army of servantsand park attendants which the owners need for their own comfort. Thepopulation is about a hundred million, of which only one in ten is acapitalist. The rest are serving people. "

Van Emmon seemed to feel that it was his place to comment. "In otherwords, Newport on a grand scale!"

"Is that the way Powart seems to regard it?" from Billie. 

"Apparently. There were a lot of things in his talk which I couldn'tunderstand until now; but it's clear enough--the doctor's right. "

"Then, " pursed the girl deliberately, "the Capellans have dividedthe world between them, so that the working classes inhabitone-half, and the capitalists the other?"

The doctor explained that the dividing was all done by the owners. "Every bit of the land on the residence planet is privately owned, with the exception of certain small amusement tracts. Theoretically, the planet is open to one and all; practically no worker is welcomethere for more than a few hours, and then only in one of thoseparks. There is no hotel. "

Van Emmon was straining his memory. "Let's see--I heard Powart namethe place. He called it--called it--Hafen!"

"Yes. And the other--the world which is the home of the workingpeople, but which they do not own; the world whose factories andfarms provide a standard living for the workers and lives of luxuryfor the owners--this world is known as Holl. But if I read youngErnol's mind aright, these words mean nothing more or lessthan--Heaven and hell!"

XII

CAUSE AND EFFECT

From that time on the four did not hold any more formal discussionsof what they learned. This was due to a most extraordinarydiscovery. 

They found that they could keep in touch with each other while theywere "visiting"! It was a tremendous help; it enabled them tocommunicate and compare notes as they went along. The doctordeclared that the Venusians themselves had not been able to do more. 

Thus, when Powart called on Mona a few days after she had declinedhis ring, Billie was able to tell the other three all that tookplace, as fast as it happened. As usual, Powart's stay was a briefone. 

"I hope you have recovered your former self-confidence, " said he, consciously repressing the masterful note in his voice. "Not that Iam unwilling to wait, Mona. "

"You are very patient, " she assured him. "I am glad to say that I amno longer troubled with any doubts of myself. Something else worriesme now. "

He frowned at the implication. "What is it?" coldly. 

"Frankly, it is your record. " She knew she was jarring him terribly, but she went on with evident relish, "You are the most important manin the world. Odd, isn't it, that I should find fault with that? Butit is a serious objection. You are still a very young man; you havebecome one of the commission; for a year, you are its head. Thepoint is, what's before you?" She paused to let this take effect. "You've already accomplished all that any man can possibleaccomplish in the political field. You haven't any future!"

Powart grasped the thought with his usual instant decision. "Iunderstand. You are right, too. I had not thought of it before. " Aslight pause. "You fear that you may come to tire of me; is thatit?"

She nodded emphatically. "If you had asked me a few years ago, before you had reached the top--it would have been different. "

He remained standing, frowning hard. Presently he glanced at hiswatch, and said he would have to be going. 

"I will see what can be done about it, " he stated. "I have a planwhich should get results. "

"Are you going to take up a hobby?" eagerly. 

"Not a new one; but a hobby I have always had. " And with thisenigmatic reply he was off. 

Van Emmon kept track of his further movements, and reportedeverything to the other three. Powart had not been in flight longbefore he sent off a wireless despatch, to which he received a mostextraordinary reply. It was from the expedition which he had sent toAlma a week before:

People of Alma give us warm welcome. Invite us to stay. We proposeto do so. The planet infinitely preferable to either Hafen or Holl. Accept our resignations or not, as you please, and be damned to you!

Powart made no comment upon this, which he read in privacy aftercarefully decoding it. Van Emmon had no idea what he was thinking, of course, but wondered mightily how the chairman was going to dealwith the situation. He could scarcely read that aerogram to thecommission. For some time he paced the cabin of his yacht, and atthe end he behaved like a man whose mind had been pretty stronglymade up. 

The commission met, it seems, in a central part of Hafen. Powartreached the place some hours after leaving Mona. He arrived to findthe other nine members waiting for him; and without the least delayhe took his place at the head of the table. 

"We will postpone the usual routine until the next session if youlike, " said he. There was no objection; whereupon Powart produced amessage from his pocket. 

"You will recall the expedition to Alma. I have just received theirfirst report since reaching the planet. " And then, to the vastamazement of the people on the earth, he read--not what Van Emmonhad seen him receive, but this, in his strong, matter-of-fact voice:

"People of Alma facing starvation, due to overpopulation andland-exhaustion. Have disabled our boat and will not permit us toreturn, although allowing us to use wireless, which they do notunderstand. 

"They are constructing a fleet of huge space-boats, all heavilyarmed, intending to cross over to Hafen and Holl, and conquer theCapellans. "

Powart glanced keenly around the table. "This is all that has beenreceived. Evidently our men were prevented from sending any more. Iexpect nothing further. It remains for us to decide, at once, whatwe should do. "

The silence of the next few minutes was largely due toconsternation. To most of the commissioners the problem wasstaggering. They looked up in eager relief as the shock-headed manbroke the silence. 

"It seems to me that war is not inevitable. Apparently the thingthat Alma needs is food. We still have a good deal of underdevelopedland on Holl; why not make a bargain with them?"

"You mean present them with enough land to raise the food theyneed?" from the former chairman. 

"Yes, in exchange for whatever manufactured goods they can supply, and which we need. I see no reason for an invasion. "

Powart coughed slightly. "I do. We must not think that Alma is thesame sort of a world as ours. It is a much older planet, andsomewhat smaller. Yet it is more than eight times as denselypopulated as Holl. What land we could spare would be only a fractionof what they need. They intend not merely to invade and conquer us, but to destroy us just as we destroyed the Ammians!" [Footnote:Doubtless referring to some aboriginal tribe or race, such as theIndians of America. ]

The nine sat for an instant in stunned silence at this amazingfabrication. Then the big man with the aggressive face leaped to hisfeet, brought his fist down upon the table with a thump, andshouted:

"Well, then, if it's war, it's war!"

"Aye!" cried Powart's uncle; and in a flash the whole council was onits feet. "War be it!" they shouted. 

In another moment the excitement had abated as suddenly as it hadarisen. They got back into their seats, looking slightly abashed. Powart still remained standing. 

"Then the only question is, shall we make preparations at once, orwait until we have thought the matter over further?" His tone wasone of scientific indifference; and the discussion of the next fewminutes was all in favor of his scheme. It ended in a motion toresolve the commission into a ways and means committee for thepurpose of common defense. 

"Second the motion!" cried the aggressive man; and the response wasunanimous. Powart directed that a memorandum be made of the vote;then pressed one of a row of pushbuttons at his hand. An attendantimmediately entered. 

"Bring File 6, Folio 1, 164, Sheet 10, " ordered Powart with his usualdecisive exactness. The attendant disappeared, and in less than aminute returned with a large sheet of parchment. Powart immediatelylocated the passage he desired. 

"The action you have just taken, " he stated, "amounts to adeclaration that a state of war exists. Under such circumstances, the law explicitly states the function of the chair. Read!" and hehanded the parchment to the nearest commissioner. Within ten minutesthe law had been read by every man present. Powart instantlycontinued with his statement:

"This commission is hereby automatically converted into a generalstaff, with myself, the chairman, as supreme commander. Yourfunctions, while this state of war endures, will consist partly inproposing what steps I shall take, partly, in advising me regardingmy decisions, and partly in carrying out whatever orders I maygive. "

He pressed another button, and when the attendant responded, Powartmade a signal with his hand. The attendant turned on his heel, saluting, faced the door he had left open behind him, and ordered:

"In single file--march!"

A company of guards trooped straight into the hall, and formed ahollow square about the table. The nine men stared at Powart inastonishment and perplexity. He did not keep them waiting. 

"Pursuant to the authority vested in me by these acts, I herebydeclare that a state of war exists between us and the people ofAlma. I also declare the International Commission dissolved as such;the same is now my general staff, and will remain where it nowis--indefinitely!"

The nine looked at each other blankly. Were they under arrest?

"And further, I hereby declare that martial law now existsthroughout all the domain formerly under the rule of the commission!Until peace is declared, my word"--he paused ominously--"is the soleand only lawl"

XIII

THE REBEL

Meanwhile Billie was still "haunting" Mona, and shortly was able totell the other three that Fort had called, taking the surgeon out ina machine large enough to hold them both. They proceeded to anear-by park, where a game of aerial punt-ball was already inprogress. [Footnote: The game is described more or less completelyin various sporting publications. ]

Billie took great interest in the darting play of the little flylikemachines, the action of the mechanical catapults, and the ease withwhich the twelve-inch ball was usually caught in the baskets on themachines' prows. She reported the score from time to time in amanner which would have made a telegrapher jealous. 

Returning from the game, Mona and Fort became pretty confidential, the natural result of a common enthusiasm; for their side won. ButFort was content for a while to merely watch Mona, who was driving. 

Finally the conversation made an opening for him to say, "I askedyour mother, Mona, what she thought of me as a prospectiveson-in-law. "

The girl was in no way rattled. "I suppose she told you that itwouldn't make any difference what she might say; I'd do as I pleasedanyhow. Didn't she?"

Fort nodded, slightly taken back. Then his boldness returned. "Well, I had to bring up the subject somehow. And now that I've done it--doyou love me well enough to marry me, Mona?"

She pretended to be very busy with the driving; so that Billie neverknew whether Fort looked anxious or not. Presently Mona said:

"I think--I rather think I like you too well to marry you. What Imean is, I'm afraid it would spoil you, my dear boy. You're too wellsatisfied with yourself. I don't want to marry a man who is contentto fly around half the time and admire me the other half; although, "she added, "I like to be admired as well as any one. "

Fort looked as though he would, with an ounce more provocation, takeher in his arms and say something to get quick results. But hedidn't. "I see, " pretty soberly, for him. "You want me to get in anddo something important. Like Powart?" suddenly. 

But Mona would not answer him directly. "It's only fair to say thatI've given him an ultimatum, too. " She hinted at what she had toldthe chairman. "I said nothing about--you. "

Fort took a deep breath. Mona gave him a glance or two, and Billiecould see a startling change come over him. It was amazing; Fort, for the first time in his life had made a serious resolve!

"This makes everything very different!" he declared; and even hisvoice was altered. There was a determined, purposeful ring about itwhich was altogether unlike his usual reckless tones. 

"Thanks for not telling Mr. Powart, " Fort went on in the same quietway. "Clearly, I should tell him myself. And I shall. After that itis up to me!"

Next instant he had thrown off his seriousness, and for theremainder of the flight was his former jovial self. He seemed atrifle ashamed, however, of his old lightheartedness; so much sothat Mona warned him not to tamper too much with his disposition. "Ilike it too well, boy. "

He went straight home after a hurried leave-taking, and Mona did notsee him again until after the declaration of war. The next the fourheard of him was through Van Emmon; Fort called upon the self-madecommander-in-chief as quickly as he could. 

"I have the honor to inform you, " said Fort, coming straight to thepoint, "that Miss Mona has seen fit to encourage my suit. In short, sir, " with the strange new note of resolution in his voice, "I amyour rival for her hand! I thought it only right that you shouldknow. "

Powart took this as he took everything, standing. And Van Emmoncould see no sign that the announcement had disturbed his poise. 

"You are considerate, " he stated with the faintest trace of sarcasm. "Let me call your attention to the fact that, because of theposition which recent events have forced upon me, it is quite withinmy power to dispose of your opposition"--significantly. 

"Quite so! I shall appreciate your consideration also. " Then theathlete permitted himself a slight smile. "On second thoughts, however, you can't afford to be other than considerate. If anythinghappens to me now, Miss Mona will naturally think of you; for sheknows I have come here!"

A single exclamation escaped Powart, and from the light in Fort'seyes, Van Emmon knew that the chief was sorely provoked. However, hespoke with his usual coolness and certainty. 

"Under the circumstances, you will be exempt, Mr. Fort, from theconscription which is now under way. I shall do nothing that mighthinder your activities in any way? I take it"--evenly--"that youhope to accomplish something--big?"

Fort bowed. "It is my intention to set a mark even further than yourown, sir!"

For the first time Powart laughed. It was a really hearty laugh, asthough Fort's preposterous boast was so utterly ridiculous thatsarcasm was out of place. 

"Mr. Fort"--when his mirth had subsided--"I only wish your judgmentwas as sound as your optimism! Tell me--do you intend to makeyourself ruler of a bigger world than this?"

Fort dropped his seriousness for an instant. "To tell the truth, Powart, I haven't any plan at all--yet. Thanks for the exemption. Inreturn, I assure you that whatever I do will be as truly in theinterests of the people as what you have done. "

Powart eyed him keenly. For a moment Van Emmon thought he would tryto learn if Fort had any suspicions. But he said nothing furtherthan a curt, "The audience is ended. "

A few minutes later Billie, through Mona, knew that Fort wasreporting progress. He did it by telephone. 

"Thought you'd like to know, " he finished. "Hope I didn't rouse youout of bed. "

It was night in Mona's part of the world, and Billie had come uponthe girl just as she was preparing for bed. 

"Thank you, " she said, through a tremendous yawn. "I was just aboutto retire. Good luck"--another yawn--"and good--"

Her voice changed. "Mr. Fort!" sharply. "Powart's declaration of waron Alma is a frame-up! Never mind how I happen to know; it is true;they are not planning to invade us at all! He trumped up this affairin order to make himself dictator!"

"What!" The athlete was astounded. "Are you sure of this, Mona?"

The girl's manner had changed again. "I beg your pardon?" sheinquired, vastly confused. "Did I say something that--why, I am notaware, Mr. Fort, that I had said anything more than 'good night'!"

"You AREN'T!" His voice was strained and excited. "Mona--you just nowsaid something of the most extraordinary--surely--incredulously--yourecall saying something, don't you?"

She was still bewildered. "I do not!" Then gathering her poiseagain, "What did I say?"

"You said--" He stopped and waited a long while before going on. Then he stated with a soberness that was almost stern:

"Mona, you told me something which could have come only through asupernatural agency. I am sure of it, from your manner. You weretemporarily possessed. " He paused again. 

She sensed his earnestness, and spoke just as seriously. "It is notimpossible. I have heard of such things before. I was sleepy, and--the point is, what did I say?" she demanded. 

"I do not intend to tell--you. What I learned gives me a greatadvantage over Powart; that's all I can say. More would bedishonorable. Will you take my word for that, Mona?"

"Certainly, " with swift decision, and a grace that Billie envied. Whereupon she went to bed, but not to sleep until after many an hourof wide-eyed wondering. 

Fort next showed himself to Smith, through Reblong. He had secured apass to the engine-room of the Cobulus; and shortly his breezymanner completely broke down the engineer's usual reserve. 

"Always glad to show the machinery, " said Reblong, denying that thevisitor was making any trouble. Fort's technical knowledge haddelighted him. "Come again any time you like. "

Which Fort did, the very next day. And this time he brought apackage of sweetmeats, during the eating of which the two men becamepretty friendly. 

"You're different from most of the folks of your--station, " Reblongfinally made bold to remark. "Any harm in my saying so?"

"On the contrary, " laughed the athlete. "I rather pride myself on mydemocracy. 

"The fact is, I want you to tell me a few things about yourfellow-workers. I understand you're one of the officers of yourguild?"

"Secretary, " replied Reblong, a little dubiously. Was Fort a secretinvestigator?

"Then you can tell me. Is there any dissatisfaction? Are the menentirely content with their treatment?"

Reblong hesitated about replying, and Fort assured him, "This is apurely personal matter with me, old man. I am really anxious to knowwhether the working world is as well satisfied, as happy as I am. "

And thus Fort discovered, just as another man had alreadydiscovered, that the average Capellan workman was entirely satisfiedwith what he knew to be unjust treatment. Even when Fort toldReblong what he had learned about Powart's trickery--leaving out alldetails about Mona, of course--the engineer would not listen to anyhint of revolution. 

"I don't like to question your word, Mr. Fort"--Reblong was veryuncomfortable--"but I have such confidence in the commissionthat--well, you understand. "

And Fort said, just as the other fellow had said after talking withReblong--Reblong, the representative Capellan workman; Reblong, whovoiced the opinions of his billions of fellow-workmen when herefused to consider a rebellion--Fort said:

"Well, I'll be utterly damned!"

XIV

UNDER MARTIAL LAW

Van Emmon was pretty cross because Billie, through Mona, had toldFort about Powart's game. More than once he protested hotly, "Youshouldn't have done that! It's all their affair, not ours!"

And Billie usually returned, just as warmly, "I don't care! I thinkPowart is a scoundrel!" And it was in the midst of one of thesetiffs that the doctor interrupted, exactly as though the telepathywas telephony:

"Quiet, you two. Fort has called at the prison, and is beingintroduced to young Ernol. He--"

"I've been talking with your father, " Fort was saying to the son. The guard had left them alone in the cell. "But he isn't interestedin my ideas. He seems to think he's done all that needs to be donein getting himself imprisoned. "

The boy nodded. "He considers himself a martyr, Mr. Fort; and Iguess he's satisfied like everybody else. " He spoke bitterly. 

All Fort's own youthful enthusiasm returned with a rush. "You'rejust the chap I'm looking for! If you're genuinely ambitious to dothe people a great service, now's your chance!"

And he went on to tell the boy about Powart's frame-up. He gaveevery detail of Mona's strange disclosure, and the boy believed himabsolutely. 

"I might have known there was some trick about it!" cried the lad. "Alma isn't that kind of a planet! By Heaven, Powart deserves to beassassinated!"

"Nothing doing, " replied the athlete promptly, his eyes sparklingwith the old light. "The first thing is to get you out of here; you, and the other hundred and fifty who were put in at the same time. "

Whereupon he proceeded to outline a scheme such as would lookutterly incredible in the mere planning. Perhaps it is best torelate the thing as it happened, instead. 

Two nights after Fort's call on Ernol, Fort again presented himselfto Reblong. This time it was at the engineer's apartments. 

"I was hoping to find you about to go on duty. I've been wonderinghow your engines control the steering. " He was eying Reblongsteadily. "Some time when it is convenient I wish you would show meall over the ship, and explain everything. " He turned as though toleave. 

"Oh, that's all right, Mr. Fort, " Reblong hurried to assure him. "I'd just as soon accommodate you right now as at any time. The shipis always open to me. "

Reblong had said exactly what Fort had hoped and planned that hewould say. Fifteen minutes later the two men were inside the bigair-cruiser, alone except for a few cleaners, who were finishing theusual work of preparing the ship for its next cruise. But Reblongcould not know that Fort had carefully made sure of this factbeforehand. 

The engineer took the athlete from one end of the cruiser to theother, showing him how the pilot was able to control its motionswith the utmost delicacy, thanks to automatic mechanism in theengine-room, electrically connected with the bridge. 

"Suppose I was the pilot now, " commented Fort, standing on thebridge and looking up at the stars. "All I need to do is to setthese dials"--indicating the pilot's instruments--"to 'ascend, ' andthe engine-room would do the rest automatically. Is that it?"

Reblong said this was practically true, and led the way back to theengine-room. The place was full of a gurgling sound, now, due to thefuel being run into the tanks. Reblong glanced at the indicatingtube. "We've already got enough, " he estimated, "to take the ship athousand miles. "

And next instant Fort had leaped upon him. Reblong staggered back inhis surprise, stumbled against a chair, and sat down heavily, helpless as a child in the athlete's iron grip. 

"Sorry, old man, " remarked Fort, meanwhile pushing him, chair andall, toward the instrument-table. "But it's simply got to be done. "Like a flash he let go the engineer and snatched a strap from thetable--where he had of course previously placed it--and again threwhimself upon his man before Reblong recovered from his surprise. Ina second he was strapped tight in his chair; and not until then didhe think to use his feet. Another strap put an end to his kicking. 

"Surprised you, didn't I?" The athlete was enjoying himself hugely. "Now--I must remind you that I'm taking a big chance in doing this. If you make a noise, I shall treat you as any desperate man wouldtreat you!" There was a look in his eyes which clinched the matter. 

Immediately he disappeared in the direction of the nearest cleaners. Reblong heard sounds of struggling from time to time; and evidentlyhe implicitly believed that Fort would take vengeance upon him if hecalled for help; for he kept perfectly quiet. After perhaps twentyminutes the athlete returned, breathing heavily, but happy. 

"The last one almost spilled my beans, " said he--to use theexpression Smith employed. "He happened to see me shutting anotherone into a closet, and jumped me from behind. I had to lay him out. "Reblong must have looked alarmed. "Oh, no harm done. They'll alllive to tell about it for the next twenty years. "

Next he made certain adjustments in the engine-room mechanism. Thenhe went to the telephone, and located the man in charge of thedepot. "Hello--Mr. Fort speaking; Reblong isn't able to come to thephone. " He winked at the man in the chair. "There's something wrongwith the fuel indicator. Shut off the supply for a while, will you?"

The gurgling soon stopped. Reblong watched in continued silence asFort disappeared again, this time taking the elevator to the bridge. He was back again in a couple of minutes. 

"Now, old man, " addressing the engineer, "you can guess what I'm upto. I'm going to navigate this cruiser alone!"

"I've set everything for the ascent. You see what I've done; if I'vemade any mistakes, it means good-by for the Cobulus, for me, and--for you!

"I leave it to your good sense to tell me if there's anything I'veoverlooked. " And he laid his hands on the starting-levers. 

Reblong said nothing so far, such was his chagrin and wonder. Butnow he evidently considered seriously what Fort had said. 

"I see you mean it, Mr. Fort. And--you ought to know that onceyou've cleared the landing-dock, you'll have a hard time to keep herlevel unless you're up on the bridge. That is, while you're shiftingthe wing-angle. But you ought to be down here to do that; and, meanwhile, she might nose down and slam into something, and--"Reblong shuddered. 

"I see. " The athlete pondered for a moment. Then he lifted theengineer bodily, chair and all, and moved him over nearer theinstrument. Next he loosened one of Reblong's hands, just enough topermit him to reach certain of the levers. He also did some moretying of knots and shifting of buckles, roped the chair to astanchion, and made sure that Reblong could not undo himself. 

"It's up to you, " said Fort with the new light in his eyes. "You runthis thing as it ought to be run, and you're safe. Trick me in anyway, and I'll get you!"

Reblong took a single look at those eyes. "I understand, " said he, in a low voice; and without further ado the athlete went to theelevator. 

In less than a minute the order came to "cast off. " The engineer didnot hesitate, but threw the levers and turned the wheels which Forthad expected to operate himself. Another second and the great craftwas rising from its seat. 

Shouts, muffled and faint because of the ship's double windows, sounded from outside. Reblong saw the sheds sinking rapidly belowhim. In thirty seconds the vessel was free of the dock. 

"First gear ahead, " came the signal; and again Reblong obeyed. Practically he had no choice. Another man, of nobler training, mighthave preferred to be loyal at all costs. But Reblong, therepresentative Capellan workman, saw the lights of the sheds shiftslowly to the rear, then go out of sight as the speed increased. Hesaw one or two fliers preparing to pursue, but he knew that thecruiser would easily outstrip the best of them. 

The Cobulus had got clear away!

It was an hour later that the four, this time through the doctor andyoung Ernol, learned the sequel to Fort's daring feat. The boy wasalone in his cell, awake in the darkness, when one of the guardsmarched up to his door and unlocked it. 

"Come out, " he ordered; and Ernol preceded him down the corridor, upa flight of stairs, through another corridor and thence into theexercise grounds. On the other side of this was a small building, with no opening save one door, now bright with light. Inside, Ernolfound the other men who had been arrested with him, closely watchedby a dozen of the prison guards. His father was not there;apparently they were waiting for him to be brought. 

"It worked all right, " whispered the man at Ernol's right, as theboy was lined up. Ernol only nodded slightly, keeping his eyes fixedupon the door. A moment later, the elder Ernol arrived, accompaniedby a man whom the doctor instantly recognized. 

It was Eklan Norbith, the man whose infernally ingenious use of theclock's pendulum had wrung the truth about the secret photographsfrom the boy's father. He looked even more cruel and repellant now, than he had that night on the couch. Apparently quite recovered, hemade a truly forbidding figure. 

He had evidently been sent for by the warden; for, with a slow, malignant stare at the row of prisoners, he stated the case in hisheavy, ominous tones:

"You are all supposed to know the rules. One of you has beensmuggling drugs into the prison; we have found specimens in eachcell. It only remains to learn which of you is the guilty party; andthat, I propose to uncover within one minute!"

He paused, and glared around again. The stillness was unbroken for amoment; then one prisoner coughed nervously. This started half therest to doing the same; and under cover of the noise, Ernolwhispered to the man on his right:

"No sight of him yet! I'm afraid you showed the drug too soon. "

"I waited until I heard the clock strike, " protested the other; andthen both stood on their guard as the commission's deputy went onwith his arraignment:

"It is my duty to inform you, although you probably already know it, that this building is made of iron. Floor, walls, and ceiling arethe same. " The doctor saw that the prisoners' feet were all bare. "And the whole place is heavily wired with high-power electricity!

"The guards and I will now leave you to yourselves. " His teethshowed in an evil smile. "We will give you a few kilowatts as astarter, and shut it off after ten seconds. If you are not ready bythat time to tell me which of you is guilty, I will then let youhave the current twice as strong!"

The prisoners looked at each other anxiously. Ernol threw back hishead defiantly. 

"Don't weaken!" he exclaimed. "The juice can't hurt you!"

Immediately the guards backed out, keeping their weapons trained onthe crowd. Norbith was the last to go. He left the door open; andfrom where the boy stood he could plainly watch the man as he workedthe switches, just outside. 

Instantly the place was in an uproar. Of course, the doctor feltnothing of the prickling, nerve-shaking pain that gripped every oneof those barefoot men. They leaped and darted here and there, bluishsparks flashing wherever they touched the iron; or they fell after astep or two and writhed on the floor, shrieking and cursing with theexquisite torture of that awful current. Ernol alone kept fromshouting; he stood and took it, trembling like a leaf. 

But it lasted only a moment or two. The uproar ceased. Norbithstepped back into the room. 

"Well?" The slow smile again. "Want to tell now?"

For answer the boy clapped his hand to his mouth and blew a shrillwhistle. Norbith stared in astonishment. Then, all of a sudden, atremendous thing happened. 

A veritable hurricane swooped down upon the place. There was a vastrush of wind, accompanied by a thunderous noise, like breakers. Thentwo huge masses of metal clanged against the sides of the building;there was a grinding crash, and the whole structure rocked andswayed as though in the grasp of some supernatural monster. Nextsecond the lights went out; the wires had snapped. 

"All aboard; look out, below!" sang out a voice. It was Fort, calling from far overhead. 

And then, slowly at first but with quickening speed, the ironbuilding rose into the air; arose, and floated away like a toyballoon. It was fast in the grip of the Cobulus's grappling-irons!

Norbith was the only officer left in the room. He regained hissenses with lightning speed. Out came his electric torch; he trainedit on the prisoners. 

"By God!" he cursed. "You'll not get away, you--" And he fumbledwith the weapon in his belt. 

It was one of the boxlike machine guns. Young Ernol hesitated onlyan instant. Then he dashed forward. 

The box spat fire. The boy threw his weight against the deputy, sothat the man lost his balance and toppled out the door into the armsof the guards below. 

And the doctor brought his own mind back to his body not one secondbefore the lad, burnt through and through by the flame of the man'sweapon, fell back into the room--dead. 

XV

POWART STRIKES

From then on until the end the doctor was out of it. Try as hemight, he could find no other mind with which to connect, no otherview-point like his own. He had to content himself with what theothers learned. 

Their knowledge of the rescue stopped short soon after the Cobulus, with its living freight, quitted the prison grounds. Reblong, asSmith watched, continued to operate the engines during about twohundred miles of flight; then Fort, having shown one of his newcomrades how to steer, came down to the instruments, leading theforce of cleaners whom he had kidnaped. 

"Thanks very much, " to Reblong, in the voice of a man who was havingthe time of his life. "I dare say you feel a little sour about this;but later on you can have the satisfaction of having helped, eventhough against your will. "

"What are you going to do now?" Reblong wanted to know as theathlete released him from his chair. The other Capellans werecontent to stare and listen. 

The strange glint came back into Fort's eyes. "It's up to you, folks!" And he explained the situation, making it clear that they, the cruiser's workmen, would not dare return and tell the truth, forfear of punishment for disloyalty. In the end the Cobulus washalted, and Reblong and the rest were set down in an unsettledmountain country, with enough supplies to last a year. 

Thus the engineer became a fugitive. Smith learned nothing furtherfrom him. For all practical purposes, the investigation was narroweddown to what Billie, through Mona, and her husband, through Powart, were able to uncover. But it was enough; enough to strain theirimaginations to the snapping point, and make all four doubt theirnew-found senses. 

Van Emmon declared that he intended to warn Powart that his plan wassuspected. "It's only fair, " stoutly, "after what you told Fort, through Mona. " And Billie had no answer to that. 

So the geologist watched the chief closely, finding it decidedlyhard to catch him in the required state of semiconsciousness. Apparently Powart was always alert, even up to the exact moment ofgoing to sleep; after which he invariably slept like a log, butawakening with a start, bolt upright in bed. But Van Emmon continuedto watch his chance. 

Meanwhile another message had been received from the Almaexpedition. It ran as follows, after decoding:

People here are planning to construct a great fleet to visit Hafenand Holl about the middle of next year. To carry a regular army ofmissionaries, to preach the gospel of social democracy. 

Better make the most of your reign while it lasts, Mr. Powart. Married yet?

The chairman was glad to get this, rather than otherwise. Somehowthe thing strengthened his whole plan. From his standpoint theproposed invasion of missionaries "to preach the gospel of socialdemocracy, " was far more to be feared than a military invasion. 

So, although he made certain changes in the message, he did not haveto counterfeit his earnestness when he presented the matter to hisstaff, the former commission. Perhaps the expedition's last remark, "Married yet?" had something to do with the vigor of his tones. 

"They are planning, " he told the nine, "to undo all that ourcivilization has accomplished. Unless we can circumvent them, Hafenand Holl will be turned into bedlam. "

He lost no time about what he had next to say. "Knowing what we doabout Alma's designs upon us, I believe that it would be folly towait until we are attacked. They doubtless possess inventionsagainst which we would be powerless; they are such highly advancedpeople in such matters. So what I propose is to prevent them fromattacking us at all!"

He paused portentously, finding in each face before him an anxiousexcitement which was exactly what he wanted. They were hangingbreathlessly upon his words. 

"Let me remind you that Alma is not only our nearest neighbor in thesolar system, but that, at present, only a few million milesseparate us. She is within a few weeks of the nearest point. Furthermore"--speaking with care--"we must remember that Alma is notonly nearer the sun than we are, but it is a much older planet. Wereit not for the glass with which she is completely roofed in, thepeople would suffer from lack of air. In short, this roof of theirsis vitality itself to them. Now, my campaign--subject to yoursuggestions and advices--shall be to puncture that roof!"

The sensation was tremendous. None of the nine had ever heard thelike before. And yet, such was the dominating energy of theircommander, it bridged the gap for them all; instantly they saw thathis idea was the best possible. 

"The only question, of course--sir--is the matter of means. " Theshock-headed man spoke with immense respect. The others looked asthough they envied him his nerve. 

Powart was ready with his reply. "I have already considered this. Briefly we shall construct a piece of artillery of such dimensionsthat we can bombard the planet directly!"

He explained that it meant operations on a scale never beforeattempted. It meant a cannon as much beyond what had ever been madebefore, as that roof had exceeded anything of the kind. "And so faras I have figured the matter, the total resources of Holl will haveto be pressed into service for the purpose. There will be noopportunity for insurrection while this work is in progress. "

And he went on to elaborate. The nine made some suggestions, a fewof which were adopted. The thing was worked out, then and there, with such completeness that the plan was publicly announced the verynext day. 

Powart himself carried a copy of the manifesto to Mona. He found hersuperintending the work of her gardeners. She did suggest going intothe house, but offered him a seat on the grass beside her. He stoodinstead. 

"It seems to be the only thing to do, " commented the surgeon, afterreading the document in silence. She had not the remotest idea, ofcourse, that the whole thing was based upon pure fraud. "Are yousure that this bombardment will not cost a good many lives?"

"I doubt if there will be any loss at all, " he replied. "It is myintention to communicate with Alma just before the first shot isfired, and warn them what to expect; so that they can keep away fromthe spot we shall aim at, and get supplies ready for repairing thebreak. "

"I see. Your plan is to keep them so busy mending breaks that theywill lose all interest in their proposed invasion. " She laughed alittle. "Really, it is a rather comical sort of warfare. But youcertainly deserve a great deal of credit for finding such a humaneway out of the difficulty. You will go down in history as theworld's greatest man!"

Powart drew a deep breath. But he said quietly enough, "Don't youthink that I have done enough to--dispose of that objection ofyours?"

She was momentarily at a loss for words. "Really--the thing is soimmense--I can hardly believe that you did all this entirely on myaccount. Did you?"

He was taken off his guard. "Yes--I mean, no. Your objection waswhat set me to thinking; but the opportunity of doing our people aservice--that, Mona, is what--" He hesitated; it was not easy, withthe girl staring innocently at him, declare that he had notdeliberately formed his opportunity out of thin air. 

But she had no suspicions. Billie had not been able to reach heragain. 

The four on the earth knew little of Fort. He called up Powart twodays after the Cobulus's sensational flight, reporting that he hadbeen kidnapped "by some masked men" along with Reblong and theothers, but that he alone had escaped. The ship, was found, abandoned, in an undeveloped part of Holl; and all signs indicatedthat the former prisoners had separated at this point. Prolongedsearch failed to locate them, or the missing employees. 

Fort continued to go and come quite as before. He called frequentlyupon Mona, with whom he was exceedingly careful to avoid allreference to Powart, for fear he might blurt out the truth. The girltold him that he still had a lot of time to make good; she would notmarry, she said, until after all danger from Alma was past. He wassatisfied. 

"I have a little scheme up my sleeve, " casually, "such as may amountto something, and may not. I need just about that much time tofinish it, anyhow. "

"Is it anything you can talk about now?"

"Not yet. "

And the subject was dropped. 

Thus matters stood when half the industrial army of Holl, taken fromtheir regular tasks, were set to the making of the giant gun and itsequally giant projectiles. Monstrous though they were to be, however, they were no less prodigious than Powart. Could Fort, wondered Mona, possibly equal him?

And so the weeks passed into months, and finally the great day came. 

XVI

THE BLAST

"I am glad to see so many moving-picture men, " said Monathoughtfully. "If it were not for photographs, I doubt if cominggenerations would believe this. "

And she turned her glasses again upon the scene. From the cockpit ofFort's newest ornithopter, about three hundred yards from the groundand less than that distance from the spot, she could watchoperations with exceptional ease. Fort agreed with her comment. 

"Yes; to merely state that the mouth of that cannon is a hundredfeet in diameter, and that it is set a mile and a half into theground, at an angle of thirty degrees--it's too much of a strain onthe imagination. However, I understand they've taken flash-lightpictures from the interior, such as will make it easier to believe. "

A huge compound crane was slowly swinging the first projectile intoplace over the muzzle of that colossal gun. Mona eyed the immenseshell with curiosity. 

"As I understand it, " she said, "the projectile is really a numberof shells, telescoping, one within another. I've forgotten how manythere are. "

"Fifty. The idea, of course, is that the original charge of powderwithin the cannon will send the projectile at something like twomiles a second. Upon reaching a certain point in space anothercharge will be automatically fired in the base of the outermostshell. Thus it will act as another cannon, from which the remainingshells will be shot. And so on, until the forty-ninth shell has beenblown to the rear. The remaining one will, by that time, havetraveled far enough to get out of our gravitation into Alma's. "

"What is the size of the fiftieth shell?"

"Only two feet in diameter; [Footnote: All dimensions arenecessarily a matter of judgment; but they represent the opinion ofan architect, whose sense of proportion is presumably better thanaverage. ] but of such length that it will hold five tons ofexplosive. It is expected to demolish a square mile of their roof. "

The great projectile was carefully lowered until its tip was flushwith the volcano-like mouth of the cannon. The proceeding took along time; and it was well toward the end of the work that Powart'shandsome yacht swept into the space provided for it in the circle ofspectators. By prearrangement this space was next to that occupiedby Mona and Fort. 

As soon as the yacht had come to a stop its thrumming wings keepingit as steadily suspended in mid air as any of the lighter craftroundabout, Powart himself stepped out upon the tiny bridge. It wasthe signal for a great outburst of applause, in which Fort joined asheartily as any one. 

"You don't seem at all envious of Mr. Powart, " commented Mona, watching the athlete curiously. 

He looked around as though surprised, and protested:

"On the contrary, I am really proud of his success. You see, it'sthis way, Mona: If he fails, then I fail too!"

And before she could ask what he meant he raised his voice enoughfor the dictator to hear:

"Congratulations, Powart! Everything coming along all right?"

Powart gave Fort one of his piercing looks, but showed no sign ofirritation as he replied: "All reports satisfactory. We shall haveour little fireworks promptly on the second. " Then to Mona: "Sorry Icannot invite you aboard my ship; but I shall be so occupied withthe ceremonial end of this, you know, that--"

"Of course, " instantly. "I would really be in the way; and Ishouldn't care to be that, to-day of all days. "

And Van Emmon, through Powart's eyes, judged that the dictator stoodmountain-high in her respect at that instant. 

Fort listened with the utmost indifference, seeming to take a boy'srapt interest in the spectacle below him rather than in the affairat his elbow. He glanced at his watch and remarked: "Less than halfan hour now. I can hardly wait!"

Mona eyed him speculatively. "What did you mean, just now, aboutyour success depending upon Mr. Powart's?"

"Just that, " he returned lightly. "Why, if he fails, my littlescheme is a miserable fiasco! I shan't be able to marry you at all;that is, unless you grant an extension!"

Mona did not respond to his levity. 

"I wish you'd be serious!" she rebuked him. "Just think what thisaffair means!"

He pretended to be thoughtful. "Oh, to Alma, you mean! Yes, indeed;the folks will be badly upset, I imagine, if the projectile actuallyreaches their roof. "

"Why, do you think it may not?" surprised. 

"It's barely possible. The whole thing has been very scientificallycalculated, of course; but the slightest flaw in the mathematicscould cause a miss. Yes, the projectile may never reach its mark;it's something to be considered. "

"In which case, " returned Mona, evidently convinced that he wasteasing, "in which case, your own scheme falls through!"

"Oh, no, " with the utmost calm. "My scheme depends upon the cannon, not upon the projectile. "

Mona nearly lost her temper. "I wish you wouldn't talk in riddles!"But Fort was plainly unwilling to say anything further just then; hechanged the subject, directing Mona's glasses toward a point far tothe rear, where the blue wall of the contact loomed, some twentymiles away. The spot had been chosen, of course, because there werefewer inhabitants in that locality than any other; the discharge ofthe gun would mean an immense volume of smoke and gas, likely toprove disagreeable for days. Nobody cared to live near the contact, because of its queer, sunless conditions. 

"Almost time we were getting out of here, " said Fort, after anotherlook at his watch. As he spoke a warning whistle on Powart's yachtsounded shrilly; and with one accord the surrounding horde ofsightseers--all belonging to the leisure class, of course--began toback away from the spot. The workmen, down below, were alreadytaking flight. A moment later Powart, speaking for the benefit of arecording phonograph, began as follows:

"Precisely at the hour, minute and second determined by thecommission's mathematicians the projectile will be slid into thecannon. The concussion will explode the powder in the breech. Thisfinal act is to take place"--he glanced at his watch--"within twominutes. 

"By so doing, the people of Hafen and Holl, through me, theircommander-in-chief, do hereby deliberately take the offensiveagainst Alma. " He hesitated, then went on with fresh determination:"Rather than permit them to prepare for the threatened invasion, then, we thus proceed to bombard their roof, in order to so harassthem that they shall be made helpless against us. "

Mona turned her gaze from the dictator, and took up her glasses. Thegreat cannon was nearly a mile away from them now; not a singleaircraft was closer than Fort's and Powart's, which were stillbacking away. The blast was not a thing to be sneered at. Mona'shands shook with excitement. 

Powart's eyes were on his watch. "The thing is beyond all humanpower to prevent now. The projectile will be released by clockwork. In fact"--his voice rose, his excitement finally getting the betterof him--"it is even now sliding! It is only a matter of seconds; theprojectile is lubricated so as to slide easily. "

A breathless pause; another look at the watch, then:

"By this time, my friends, the projectile has reached--"

And even as the words quit his mouth, the cannon belched forth. 

XVII

THE DEVOLUTION

Mona removed from her ears two tiny devices like collar-buttons. Shenoted Fort and the others doing the same. Without this protectiontheir eardrums would have been burst. And while the girl was doingthis she heard the athlete hailing the dictator:

"Good for you, Powart! It's a fine job, and I'm ever so much obligedto you. "

The dictator stared in amazement. Mona looked from the one to theother, perplexed. Fort was laughing shakily. 

"You may as well make your apologies now, Powart; you're out of it!I've won, and you've lost! I've done a bigger thing than you have!"

Mona gave an exclamation of impatience. "What do you mean?" shecried shrilly. "Are you out of your head?"

"Not a bit of it! I mean just what I say! Powart hasn't succeeded;he's failed. And because he has failed, I've outdone him. "

He was gazing impudently at the dictator as he said this; Powart wasleaning over the railing of the bridge, a short distance away, tooindignant to speak. Next instant, however, Fort glanced at hiswatch. 

"Have to be leaving you now, " he called. He turned his machinearound. "You'll learn soon enough, Powart, exactly what I mean. Andyou'll know that I'm right. Good-by!"

Within a minute he and Mona were two miles away. Fort kept silentall the while. He seemed to be intent upon getting the most out ofhis machine, and kept looking anxiously at his watch. Finally Monacould hold in no longer. 

"Boy, I've simply got to know what your game is. You've kept mewaiting long enough. "

He immediately began to explain. First, he told her frankly andfully, just what she had said to him over the telephone, when shewas under Billie's "influence. " "I was so sure it was genuine I wentright ahead on that lead, Mona. "

"You are positive you heard me say that?" from the girlthoughtfully. 

"Absolutely. And somehow I knew it was the truth. "

"Powart had tricked us; not merely the workers, whom he has beenhoodwinking all along, but you and me and all the rest! So I lookedinto the matter and discovered that the poor devils on Holl havebeen treated all wrong. All wrong, Mona! I never realized it before, until I investigated; but they've been enduring rank injustice forgenerations, and we've encouraged them to be satisfied with it. "

"I know it, " she interrupted softly. "I've known it for years, boy. What could we do to help them?"

"Exactly!" cried Fort, looking ahead and down, toward the chasm ofthe contact, then at his watch once more. "Exactly what I found out, Mona! There was no use telling them the truth; they wouldn't believeit! They were too well satisfied. 

"And so, when I heard of Powart's scheme to bombard Alma, I saw away to free the poor idiots on Holl! A way to release them fromtheir bondage--OUR bonds, Mona--and defeat Powart's trickery, andwin you--all at one move!"

The girl was plainly thrilled. Yet she kept her voice comparativelycool as she asked:

"So far, so good. But I don't see that you've done anything at allexcept to kidnap me. "

He made an impatient gesture. "Look at the ground!" he orderedcurtly; and Mona wonderingly obeyed. 

They were nearly to the contact. This time, however, they were notflying down into the cleft, but over it. The curious, canonlikechasm where the two worlds touched was perhaps ten miles below them. 

"Look closely!" shouted Fort excitedly. He was glancing at his watchagain, and changing the angle of his wings. "By heavens, we are justin time!" The craft dove perilously; he straightened its course. "Look closely, I tell you! It's something you've never seen before, and will never see again!"

And Mona, staring down at the point where Hafen and Holl cametogether--the curious region of balanced gravitations, like nothingelse anywhere in the universe--saw, as she passed over, somethingthat made her senses whirl. 

Hafen and Holl were no longer one!

The two globes were now a quarter of a mile apart, and the distancewas steadily growing. Even as Mona watched the gap increased untilalmost a mile separated the two great worlds. 

"Do you see?" cried Fort, fairly squirming in his seat. "Do you seewhat I've done, Mona?"

"I've taken Ernol and his friends--the bunch I rescued from theprison--and put them to work. Put them to work digging a tunnel!We've been flying above that tunnel just now. It runs--from thecontact to the cannon--the bottom of the cannon, Mona!

"When Powart's shot was fired, the recoil--the kick--broke thecontact! Understand? Do you see it?"

Mona stared in dull wonder. When she found voice it was strangelyflat and commonplace. 

"Yes, but--I don't see how the recoil could separate two worlds aslarge as Hafen and Holl!"

Fort chuckled breathlessly. "Your forget something. You're thinkingonly of the gravitation; you're forgetting the centrifugal force. "

Hafen and Holl, by their daily rotation--around the contact as acenter--were always tending to separate. That recoil was just enoughto turn the balance; they'll never touch again. 

"And what's more, " he rushed on, "Powart's shot is sure to miss! Therecoil threw the cannon out of line. Hafen had already mooved beforethe projectile left the gun. Powart--has failed!"

Suddenly the surgeon wheeled upon the athlete. "Boy, we're headed inthe wrong way! We'll land in Holl, not in Hafen!"

"Who wants to live in Hafen now?" he shouted, clinging desperatelyto his controls. The craft was tossing in the newly createdair-currents. "Don't you see?

"I've cut Hafen from Holl forever! The workers aren't to be slavesany longer; they're to have their world to themselves, to useentirely for their own benefit; not for the owners!

"And the owners--back there--they're going to have their own world, too, just as they've always insisted! But from now on it's to betheir farm, too, and their factory; they've got to get along withoutHoll from now on. 

"Mona--the commission wouldn't allow evolution, and the workerswouldn't listen to revolution! So I've given them--devolution!"

"What?" she cried. 

"I've given them devolution. I've given the race of man--a freshstart. "

But Mona was scarcely listening. 

"Turn back!" she screamed. "I want to go back to my home! I don'twant to live in Holl. Turn back, I tell you!"

Fort's face went white. He looked up at her appealingly. "You don'tmean that, Mona! Say you don't!"

"I do! I want to go back!" She glanced down at the ever-wideninggap. "Hurry! Turn back, or I'll do it myself!"

Fort gazed straight into her eyes for an instant; then, his facewhiter than ever, he brought the craft to an abrupt halt in mid air. He looked at his watch for the last time, and said, in a strangelyhollow voice:

"Just as you wish, Mona. There's plenty of time to get back beforethe air gets too thin in the gap. 

"The point is, though, that if you go, you go alone!" They looked atone another unwaveringly. "So far as I'm concerned, I shall spendthe rest of my life on Holl! No Hafen for mine! From now on I livewith the workers. Come--what do you say, Mona?"

She answered instantly and stubbornly: "I go back. What about you?"

He took a parachute from a locker. "Holl is below. " He buckled thething across his chest and stepped up on the edge of the cockpit. 

"Do you mean it, dear?" said he softly. 

She stared at him stonily. He turned away, his mouth shakingslightly, then held out his hand. 

"Good-by, then, for the last time!"

Mona suddenly grasped his hand. For an instant hope flared in Fort'seyes, then faded, leaving his face gray and drawn. He poised hiself, letting go her hand reluctantly. Then he turned resolutely. 

"It's the only thing for a man to do, Mona! As for you--turn aboutand go as fast as you canl You've got just time enough. Good-by!"

And with Mona unable to utter a single word, able only to watch andto feel, the athlete leaned to one side so as to clear the wing, pulled his cap down tightly, and jumped into space. 

XVIII

THE SILVER HEART

Mona leaped to the controls. She turned the craft aboutautomatically and started toward Hafen. Then she glanced over theside. What she saw brought her heart to her throat. 

About a mile below, and under Fort as he sank through the air, wasanother flying machine which neither had noticed before. In it wasthe figure of a man standing; he was maneuvering his craft so as tointercept the falling aviator. And the clear air of the highaltitudes carried the sound of his voice faintly but surely toMona's ears. 

"Thought you'd get away, did you, Fort?" in heavy, insolent tones. "Well, you get--left, my boy!"

"Eklan Norbith!" cried Fort at the same instant. Next second he hadlanded on the deputy's machine. 

"Norbith!" thought Mona, immediately recalling her patient at thehospital. She hesitated only an instant, then dove in a steep spiraldown toward the two. 

Fort had fouled his parachute on a stanchion, in landing. Breathless, he lay in a tangle heap, looking up at the towering bulkof the deputy. 

"You're not going to get clear this time, Fort, like you did thatnight with the Cobulus and Ernol's gang!" Norbith was sayingsavagely, gloating over the man at his feet. "Thought the lad killedme, I suppose. I was barely stunned. And I've been on yourtail--ever since. "

His eyes glowed with anger. Mona watched him in silence as shecircled nearer. Norbith! The commission's deputy in Calastia; herepresented all that was evil and cruel in the government. It was hewho did the nasty work, the things which Powart himself was too muchof a gentleman to do. Norbith--the strong, cruel right arm on anunjust law!

"Well"--Fort had regained his breath somewhat--"now that you've gotme, Norbith, what do you intend to do about it?"

"Do!" The man's voice fairly boomed. "I'm going to tear thatparachute off your back and pitch you overboard, you infernaloutlaw! And I'm going to claim that you resisted arrest!"

At that instant he noted Mona for the first time. He started as herecognized her. "The surgeon!"

Then his rage came on him again. "You hold your tongue, young woman, or I shall have it--pulled out! Do you understand?" he demanded, thrusting his face up toward hers. 

And then Fort was upon him. All he cared for now was to get hisfingers in Norbith's throat. And next moment Mona was desperatelysteering his machine clear of the other as it swayed and thrashedabout under the struggling of the two men. 

The advantage was with the deputy. Powerful man that he was, he wasmore than a match for even Fort's great strength, while theathlete's agility did him no good in the restricted space of thecockpit. The parachute hindered him, too. Down on the ground, on aclear spot, it would have been different. As it was, Fort wasquickly thrust to his knees, and, despite all that he could do, hecould not fight off the deputy's grip. In a moment it had shifted tothe athlete's throat. 

"You would, would you!" roared the deputy. "By--you'll be dead evenbefore you reach the ground!"

Fort struggled wildly. In a moment he was strangling; Mona could seehis protruding eyes and lolling tongue. She could not help. She wasnot athlete enough to leap to his aid. But all of a sudden, just asFort had once come to her own rescue, her tongue came to his. 

"Boy! Boy! Tear open his shirt! Tear open his shirt!"

Fort heard. For a second he hesitated, dull wonder in his startingeyes; then he reached up, and with a spasmodic jerk of his hands, ripped Norbith's shirt wide open. The man's bare chest was exposed. 

"Don't you see?" shrieked Mona hysterically. "Look, boy! Look!"

And Fort saw. Saw the two silver tubes leading from the brown scarin the breast of this man--the man whose heart had been replaced bya silver instrument. Saw the tubes, leading to a belt around theman's middle, where the pumping mechanism was concealed. And as Fortsaw, he understood. 

With a final burst of strength he raised his quivering fingers andclutched one of the little pipes. A jerk, an exclamation fromNorbith; and then, even as Fort's head fell back insensate, his handsnapped the little tube in two. 

"Good God!" swore the deputy. "You--you've--" He gasped andspluttered; he let go of Fort. The athlete dropped like a log intothe bottom of the craft. 

But Eklan Norbith stood upright, his hands thrashing wildly, hismouth twitching horribly. One end of the broken tube hissed withescaping air; the other end spouted blood. The deputy swayed; hishead dropped to his shoulders. 

And then the air rushed into his lungs for the last time; he gave asingle piercing shriek, tottered, and fell backward out of themachine. 

Fort opened his eyes to see Mona bending over him, bathing his head. He looked around dully, blinked once or twice, frowned as thoughtrying to remember, and then said:

"How--did I get here?"

"I waited until Norbith's machine steadied, " said she in awonderfully soft voice, "and then flew down close enough to pick youup. "

He remembered. Suddenly he grasped at her arm and tried to get up. "Hurry!" he cried. "You've only got time enough to make it! Thegap--don't take any chances!"

But the girl was paying no attention to where the machine was going. She was looking at the man and seeming to be perfectly satisfied. 

"I don't care, " she declared a little shakily. "Holl looks goodenough to me, dear--if you're going to be living on it!"

The craft rocked perilously. 

Back on the earth, three of the four stirred in their chairs. Thedoctor was the first to arouse. He sounded the gong to warn hiswife, and the action helped to awaken the others; Billie first, thenSmith. But Van Emmon did not rouse. Still connected with thedictator, Billie's husband was twisting and turning in his chair, moaning slightly under his breath. In his subconscious mind someterrible scene was being enacted. Suddenly his mouth flew open, andthe words fairly tumbled forth:

"Ernol--at the contact--he's telephoned! Everybody knows now!" Next:"Billie: Why didn't you tell me? I could have warned Powart!" Andthen, in a voice of agony:

"God, what a mob! They'll kill him!"

But he was still unconscious. The doctor exclaimed in fear. 

"Quick!" he ordered. "Into the connection again!" And he threwhimself back into his chair. 

In a minute the three were still. Except for two great tears fromBillie's eyes, there were no signs of life. Two minutes passed, thenthree. Finally all four roused together. 

"Well!" Van Emmon was the first to speak. His voice was harsh andstrained. "By George, that was a narrow squeak! I thought sure I wasa goner! They threw Powart--out of his yacht!"

Billie caught his hand and patted it. Her lips were trembling; shecould not trust herself to speak. Her husband stared at her witheyes that were still bewildered and tried hard to understand. 

Smith could say nothing. The doctor, however, got to his feet andstretched. 

"Phew!" taking off the brass bracelets and reaching for a handful ofthe Venusian books. "That was--going some!"

He located a passage in one of the books. "I guess we've had enoughof people like ourselves. What do you say, " eagerly, "to visiting aplace where they're not even the same sort of animals as we are?"

He looked around enthusiastically. Smith made a brief sound ofagreement, and remained in his chair. Both he and the doctor lookedto Billie and Van Emmon for comment. 

But the man and the woman were content to look at one another. Theirminds had room for only one problem; their eyes saw nothing, caredto see nothing, save that which love seeks and, having found, issatisfied with. 

Did it make any difference to Billie that her husband hadsympathized with Capellette's greatest despot and worst failure? Didit make any difference to Van that Billie approved when the womanshe was allied with discarded the despot for the devolutionist?

Or was Billie still his chief reason for existing, and was Van hers?

That was the real question! Small matters like life in otherworlds--they could wait!

THE EMANCIPATRIX

I

THE MENTAL EXPEDITION

The doctor closed the door behind him, crossed to the table, silently offered the geologist a cigar, and waited until smoke wasissuing from it. Then he said:

"Well, " bluntly, "what's come between you and your wife, Van?"

The geologist showed no surprise. Instead, he frowned severely atthe end of his cigar, and carefully seated himself on the corner ofthe table. When he spoke there was a certain rigor in his voice, which told the doctor that his friend was holding himself tightly inrein. 

"It really began when the four of us got together to investigateCapellette, two months ago. " Van Emmon was a thorough man inimportant matters. "Maybe I ought to say that both Billie and I wereas much interested as either you or Smith; she often says that eventhe tour of Mercury and Venus was less wonderful. 

"What is more, we are both just as eager to continue theinvestigations. We still have all kinds of faith in the Venusianformula; we want to 'visit' as many more worlds as the science oftelepathy will permit. It isn't that either of us has lostinterest. "

The doctor rather liked the geologist's scientific way of statingthe case, even though it meant hearing things he already knew. Kinney watched and waited and listened intently. 

"You remember, of course, what sort of a man I got in touch with. Powart was easily the greatest Capellan of them all; a magnificentintellect, which I still think was intended to have ruled the rest. I haven't backed down from my original position. "

"Van! You still believe, " incredulously, "in a government of thesort he contemplated?"

Van Emmon nodded aggressively. "All that we learned merelystrenthens my conviction. Remember what sort of people the workingclasses of Capellette were? Smith's 'agent' was typical--a helplessnincompoop, not fit to govern himself!" The geologist strove to keephis patience. 

"However, " remarked Kinney, "the chap whose mind I used was nofool. "

"Nor was Billie's agent, the woman surgeon, " agreed Van Emmon, "evenif she did prefer 'the Devolutionist' to Powart. But you'll have toadmit, doc, that the vast majority of the Capellans wereincompetents; the rest were exceptions. "

The doctor spoke after a brief pause. "And--that's what is wrong, Van?"

"Yes, " grimly. "Billie can't help but rejoice that things turned outthe way they did. She is sure that the workers, now that they'vebeen separated from the ruling class, will proceed to make a perfectparadise out of their land. " He could not repress a certain amountof sarcasm. "As well expect a bunch of monkeys to build a steamengine!

"Well, " after a little hesitation, "as I said before, doc, I've noreason to change my mind. You may talk all you like about it--Ican't agree to such ideas. The only way to get results on thatplanet is for the upper classes to continue to govern. "

"And this is what you two have--quarreled about?"

Van Emmon nodded sorrowfully. He lit another cigar absent-mindedlyand cleared his throat twice before going on:

"My fault, I guess. I've been so darned positive about everythingI've said, I've probably caused Billie to sympathize with herfriends more solidly than she would otherwise. "

"But just because you've championed the autocrats so heartily--"

"I'm afraid so!" The geologist was plainly relieved to have statedthe case in full. He leaned forward in his eagerness to beunderstood. He told the doctor things that were altogether toopersonal to be included in this account. 

Meanwhile, out in the doctor's study, Smith had made no movewhatever to interrogate the geologist's young wife. Instead, theengineer simply remained standing after Billie had sat down, andgave her only an occasional hurried glance. Shortly the silence goton her nerves; and--such was her nature, as contrasted with VanEmmon's--whereas he had stated causes first, she went straight toeffects. 

"Well, " explosively, "Van and I have split!"

Smith was seldom surprised at anything. This time was no exception. He merely murmured "Sorry" under his breath; and Billie rushed on, her pent-up feelings eager to escape. 

"We haven't mentioned Capellette for weeks, Smith! We don't dare! Ifwe did, there'd be such a rumpus that we--we'd separate!" Somethingcame up into her throat which had to be choked back before she couldgo on. Then--

"I don't know why it is, but every time the subject is brought upVan makes me so WILD!" She controlled herself with a tremendouseffort. "He blames me, of course, because of what I did to help theDevolutionist. But I can't be blamed for sympathizing with the underdog, can I? I've always preferred justice to policy, any time. Justice first, I say! And I think we've seen--there on Capellette--howutterly impossible it is for any such system as theirs to lastindefinitely. "

But before she could follow up her point the door opened and thedoctor returned with her husband. Kinney did not allow any tensionto develop; instead, he said briskly:

"There's only a couple of hours remaining between now and dinnertime; I move we get busy. " He glanced about the room, to see if allwas in place. The four chairs, each with its legs tipped with glass;the four footstools, similarly insulated from the floor; theelectrical circuit running from the odd group of machinery in thecorner, and connecting four pair of brass bracelets--all were readyfor use. He motioned the others to the chairs in which they hadalready accomplished marvels in the way of mental traveling. 

"Now, " he remarked, as he began to fit the bracelets to his wrists, an example which the rest straightway followed; "now, we want tomake sure that we all have the same purpose in mind. Last time, wewere simply looking for four people, such as had view-points similarto our own. To-day, our object is to locate, somewhere among theplanets attached to one of the innumerable sun-stars of theuniverse, one on which the conditions are decidedly different fromanything we have known before. "

Billie and Van Emmon, their affair temporarily forgotten, listenedeagerly. 

"As I recall it, " Smith calmly observed, "we agreed that thisattempt would be to locate a new kind of--well, near-human. Isn'tthat right?"

The doctor nodded. "Nothing more or less"--speaking verydistinctly--"than a creature as superior as we are, but NOT IN HUMANFORM. "

Smith tried hard not to share the thrill. He had been readingbiology the previous week. "I may as well protest, first as last, that I don't see how human intelligence can ever be developedoutside the human form. Not--possibly!"

Van Emmon also was skeptical, but his wife declared the idea merelyunusual, not impossible. "Is there any particular reason againstit?" she demanded of the doctor. 

"I will say this much, " cautiously. "Given certain conditions, andinevitably the human form will most certainly become the supremecreature, superior to all the others. 

"However, suppose the planetary conditions are entirely different. Iconceive it entirely possible for one of the other animals to forgeahead of the man-ape; quite possible, Smith, " as the engineerstarted to object, "if only the conditions are different ENOUGH. 

"At any rate, we shall soon find out. I have been reading further inthe library the Venusians gave us, and I assure you that I've foundsome astonishing things. " He fingered one of the diminutive volumes. "There is one planet in particular, whose name I have forgotten, where all animal life has disappeared entirely. There are none butvegetable forms on the land, and all of them are the rankest sort ofweeds. They have literally choked off everything else!

"And the highest form of life there is a weed; a hideousmonstrosity, shaped something like an octopus, and capable of themost horrible--" He stopped abruptly, remembering that one of hishearers was a woman. "Never mind about that now. "

He indicated another of the little books. "I think we will do wellto investigate a planet which the Venusians call 'Sanus. ' It belongsto the tremendous planetary family of the giant star Arcturus. Ihaven't read any details at all; I didn't want to know more thanyou. We can proceed with our discoveries on an equal footing. "

"But, " objected Smith, recalling the previous methods, "how are weto put our minds in touch with any of theirs, unless we know enoughabout them to imagine their viewpoints?"

"Our knowledge of their planet's name and location, " replied thedoctor, "makes it easier for us. All we have to do is to go into thetelepathic state, via the Venusian formula; then, at the same time, each must concentrate upon some definite mental quality, someparticular characteristic of his own mind, which he or she wishes tofind on Sanus. It makes no difference what it may be; all you haveto do is, exert your imaginations a little. "

There was a pause, broken by Smith: "We ought to tell each otherwhat we have in mind, so that we don't conflict. "

"Yes. For my part, " said the doctor, "I'd like to get in touch witha being who is mildly rebellious; not a violent radical, but aphilosophical revolutionist. I don't care what sort of a creaturehe, she, or it may be, so long as the mind is in revolt againstwhatever injustice may exist. "

"Then I, " stated Smith, "will stick to the idea of service. " Nobodywas surprised that the engineer should make such a choice; he was, first, last, and all the time, essentially a useful man. 

Van Emmon was not ready with his choice. Instead: "You say, doc, that you know nothing further about Sanus than what you've alreadytold us?"

"I was about to mention that. The Venusians say that conditions arereversed from what we found on Capellette. Instead of Sanus beingruled by a small body of autocrats, it is--ruled by the workingclass!"

"Under the circumstances, " said Van, "I'll take something differentfrom what I got last time. No imperiousness this trip. " He smiledgrimly. "There was a time when I used to take orders. Suppose youcall my choice 'subordinacy. '"

"How very noble of you!" gibed Billie. "My idea is supremacy, andplenty of it! I want to get in touch with the man higher up--theworker who is boss of the whole works!" She flashed a single glanceat her husband, then threw herself back in her chair. "Go ahead!"

And before two minutes were up, the power of concerted thought, aided by a common objective and the special electrical circuit whichjoined them, had projected the minds of the four across the infinitedepths of space. The vast distance which separated their bodies fromSanus was annihilated, literally as quick as thought. 

Neither of the four stirred. To all appearances they were fastasleep. The room was quite still; only the clock ticked dully on thewall. Down-stairs, the doctor's wife kept watch over the house. 

The greatest marvel in creation, the human mind, was exploring theunknown. 

II

ALMOST HUMAN

Of course, the four still had the ability to communicate with eachother while in the trance state; they had developed this power to afair degree while investigating Capellette. However, each was sodeeply interested in what he or she was seeing during the first hourof their Sanusian experiences that neither thought to discuss thematter until afterward. 

When the doctor first made connection with the eyes of his agent, heinstinctively concluded that he, at least, had got in touch with abeing more or less like himself. The whole thing was so natural; hewas surveying a sunny, brush-covered landscape from eyes whoseheight from the ground, and other details, were decidedly those of ahuman. 

For a moment there was comparative silence. Then his unknown agentswiftly raised something--a hand, presumably--to a mouth, and gaveout a piercing cry. Whereupon the doctor learned something thatjarred him a trifle. His agent was--a woman!

He had time to congratulate himself upon the fact that he was (1) adoctor, (2) a married man, (3) the father of a daughter or two, before his agent repeated her cry. Almost immediately it wasanswered by another exactly like it, from an unseen point not faraway. The Sanusian plainly chuckled to herself with satisfaction. 

A moment later there came, rather faintly, two more calls, each froma different direction in the dun-colored brush. Still without movingfrom the spot, the doctor's agent replied two or three times, meanwhile watching her surroundings very closely. Within half aminute the first of her friends came in sight. 

It was a young woman. At a distance of about twenty yards sheappeared to be about five feet tall and sturdily built. She wasdressed in a single garment, made of the skin of some yellow, short-haired animal. It may have been a lion cub. Around her waistwas a strip of hide, which served as a belt, and held a small, stone-headed tomahawk. One shoulder and both legs were left quitebare, revealing a complexion so deeply tanned that the doctorinstantly thought: "Spanish!"

In a way, the girl's face gave the same impression. Large, dark-brown eyes, full lips and a healthy glow beneath her tan, allmade it possible for her to pass as a Spaniard. However, there wasnothing in the least coquettish about her; she had a remarkablyindependent manner, and a gaze as frank and direct as it was pureand untroubled. 

In one hand she carried a branch from some large-leafed shrub. Theeyes which Kinney was using became fixed upon this branch; and evenas the newcomer cried out in joyous response to the other'sgreeting, her expression changed and she turned and fled, laughing, as the doctor's agent darted toward her. She did not get away, andimmediately the two were struggling over the possession of thebranch. 

In the midst of the tussle another figure made its appearance. 

"Look out! Here comes Dulnop!" [Footnote: It made no differencewhatever as to what language was used. The telepathic processemployed enabled the investigators to know all that their agents'subconscious minds took in. The brains of the four automaticallytranslated these thought-images into their own language. However, this method did not enable them to learn what their agents werethinking, but only what they said, heard, and saw. ] cried Kinney'sagent; at the same time she made a special effort, and succeeded inbreaking off a good half of the branch. 

Instantly she darted to one side, where she calmly began to plucksome small, hard-shelled nuts from the branch, and proceeded tocrack them, with entire ease, using a set of teeth which must havebeen absolutely perfect. 

She gave the latest comer only a glance or two. He--for it certainlywas a man--was nearly a half a foot taller than the girl alreadydescribed; but he was plainly not much older or younger, and inbuild and color much the same. He was clothed neither more nor lessthan she, the only difference being that some leopardlike animal hadcontributed the material. In his belt was tucked a primitive stonehammer, also a stone knife. His face was longer than hers, his eyesdarker; but he was manifestly still very boyish. Dulnop, they hadcalled him. 

"Hail, Cunora!" he called to the girl who had brought the nuts;then, to her who was watching: "Rolla! Where got ye the nuts?"

Rolla didn't answer; she couldn't use her mouth just then; it wastoo full of nuts. She merely nodded in the direction of Cunora. 

"Give me some, Cunora!"

The younger girl gave no reply, but backed away from him as heapproached; her eyes sparkled mischievously and, the doctor thought, somewhat affectionately. Dulnop made a sudden darting move towardher branch, and she as swiftly whirled in her tracks, so that hemissed. However, he instantly changed his mind and grasped the girlinstead. Like a flash he drew her to him and kissed her noisily. 

Next second he was staggering backward under the weight of her hardbrown fist. "Do that again, and I'll have the hair out of thy head!"the girl screamed, her face flaming. Yet Kinney saw that the man waslaughing joyously even as he rubbed the spot where her blow hadlanded, while the expression of her eyes quite belied what she hadsaid. 

Not until then did the doctor's agent say anything. When she spokeit was in a deep, contralto voice which gave the impression of riperyears than either of the other two. Afterward Kinney learned thatRolla was nearly ten years their senior, a somewhat more lithespecimen of the same type, clad in the skin of what was once amagnificent goat. She carried only a single small knife in her belt. As seen reflected in pools of water, her complexion was slightlypaler and her whole expression a little less self-assertive anddistinctively philosophical. To those who admire serious, thoughtfulwomen of regular feature and different manner, Rolla would haveseemed downright beautiful. 

"Dulnop, " said she, with a laugh in her voice, "ye will do well toseek the nut tree, first as last. " She nonchalantly crushed anothershell in her mouth. "Neither Cunora nor I can spare good food to akiss-hungry lout like thee!"

He only laughed again and made as though to come toward her. Shestood ready to dodge, chuckling excitedly, and he evidently gave itup as a bad job. "Tell me whence cameth the nuts, Cunora!" hebegged; but the girl pretended to be cross, and shut her mouth asfirmly as its contents would allow. 

Next moment there was a shout from the thicket, together with acrashing sound; and shortly the fourth Sanusian appeared. He was byfar the larger; but his size was a matter of width rather than ofheight. An artist would have picked him as a model for Ajax himself. His muscles fairly strained the huge lion's skin in which he wasclad, and he had twice the weight of Dulnop within the same height. Also, to the doctor's eye, he was nearer Rolla's age. 

His face was strong and handsome in a somewhat fierce, relentlessway; his complexion darker than the rest. He carried a huge club, such as must have weighed all of forty pounds, while his belt wasjammed full of stone weapons. The doctor classed him and the youngergirl together because of their vigor and independence, while Dulnopand Rolla seemed to have dispositions very similar in theircomparative gentleness and restraint. 

"Hail, all of ye!" shouted this latest arrival in a boomingbaritone. He strode forward with scarcely a glance at the twoyounger people; his gaze was fixed upon Rolla, his expressionunmistakable. The woman quietly turned upon Dulnop and Cunora. 

"Look!" she exclaimed, pointing to a spot back of them. "See thecurious bird!" They wheeled instantly, with the unquestioning faithof two children; and before they had brought their gazes back again, the big man had seized Rolla, crushed her to his breast and kissedher passionately. She responded just as warmly, pushing him awayonly in order to avoid being seen by the others. They showed only aninnocent disappointment at having missed seeing the "curious bird. "

"A simple-minded people, basically good-humored, " was the way thedoctor summed the matter up when reporting what he had seen. However, it was not so easy to analyze certain things that were saidduring the time the four Sanusians spent in each other's company. For one thing--

"Did They give thee permission to go?" Rolla was asked by the bigman. His name, it seemed, was Corrus. 

"Yes, Corrus. They seemed to think it a good idea for us to take alittle recreation to-day. I suppose ye left thy herd with thybrother?"

He nodded; and the doctor was left to wonder whom "They" might be. Were They a small group of humans, whose function was tosuperintend? Or were They, as the books from Venus seemed toindicate, another type of creature, entirely different from thehumans, and yet, because of the peculiar Sanusian conditions, superior to the humans?

"They have decided to move their city a little farther away from theforest, " Rolla overheard Dulnop telling Cunora; which was the firstindication that the planet boasted such a thing as a city. Otherwise, things appeared to be in a primitive, rather than acivilized condition. 

These four skin-clad savages seemed to be enjoying an aboriginalpicnic. For lunch, they munched on various fruits and nuts picked upen route, together with handfuls of some wheatlike cereal which thebig man had brought in a goatskin. From time to time they scared outvarious animals from the brush, chasing the creatures after thefashion of dogs and children. Whenever they came to a stream, invariably all four splashed through it, shouting and laughing withdelight. 

However, there were but two of these streams, and both of them quitesmall. Their banks indicated that either the season was very faradvanced, or else that the streams were at one time vastly larger. 

"A rather significant fact, " the doctor afterward commented. 

Nevertheless, the most impressive thing about all that the doctorlearned that day was the strange mariner in which the excursion cameto an end. The quartet was at that moment climbing a small hill, apparently on the edge of an extensive range of mountains. Anoccasional tree, something like an oak, broke the monotony of thebrush at this point, and yet it was not until Rolla was quite at thetop of the knoll that Kinney could see surrounding country with anydegree of clearness. Even then he learned little. 

The hill was placed on one edge of a valley about forty miles inwidth. A good part of it was covered with dusty vegetation, presumably wild; but the rest was plainly under cultivation. Therewere large green areas, such as argued grain fields; elsewhere werewhat looked like orchards and vineyards, some of which were in fullbloom--refuting the notion that the season was a late one. Nowherewas there a spot of land which might be called barren. 

Rolla and her three friends stood taking this in, keeping a rathercurious silence meanwhile. At length Cunora gave a deep sigh, whichwas almost instantly reproduced by all the rest. Corrus followed hisown sigh with a frank curse. 

"By the great god Mownoth!" he swore fiercely. "It be a shame thatwe cannot come hence a great deal oftener! Me-thinks They couldallow it!"

"They care not for our longings, " spoke Cunora, her eyes flashing asangrily as his. "They give us enough freedom to make us work thebetter--no more! All They care for is thy herd and my crops!"

"And for the labor, " reminded the big man, "of such brains asRolla's and Dulnop's. It be not right that They should drive us so!"

"Aye, " agreed the younger man, with much less enthusiasm. "However, what can ye do about it, Corrus?"

The big man's face flushed, and he all but snarled. "I tell ye whatI can do I, and ye as well, if ye but will! I can--"

He stopped, one hand upraised in mighty emphasis, and a sudden andstartling change came over him. Downright fear drove the anger fromhis face; his massive body suddenly relaxed, and all his power andvigor seemed to crumble and wilt. His hands shook; his mouthtrembled. At the same time the two women shrank from him, eachgiving an inarticulate cry of alarm and distress. Dulnop gave nosound, but the anger which had left the herdsman seemed to have cometo him; the youngster's eyes flared and his breast heaved. His gazewas fixed upon Corrus's neck, where the sweat of fear alreadyglistened. 

Suddenly the big man dropped his head, as though in surrender. Hegasped and found voice; this time a voice as shaky and docile as ithad been strong and dominant a moment before. 

"Very well, " he spoke abjectly. "Very well. I--shall do as youwish. " He seemed to be talking to thin air. "We--will go home atonce. "

And instantly all four turned about, and in perfect silence took theback trail. 

III

WORLD OF MAMMOTHS

Immediately upon going into tele-consciousness Smith became aware ofa decided change in his surroundings. The interior of the study hadbeen darkened with drawn shades; now he was using eyes that wereexposed to the most intense sunlight. The first sight that he got, in fact, was directed toward the sky; and he noted with anengineer's keen interest that the color of the sky was blue, slightly tinged with orange. This, he knew, meant that theatmosphere of Sanus contained at least one chemical element which islacking on the earth. 

For a minute or two the sky remained entirely clear. There were noclouds whatever; neither did any form of winged life make itsappearance. So Smith took note of sounds. 

Presumably his agent--whoever or whatever it might be--was locatedin some sort of aircraft; for an extremely loud and steady buzzing, suggesting a powerful engine, filled the engineer's borrowed ears. Try as he might, however, he could not identify the sound exactly. It was more like an engine than anything else, except that theseparate sounds which comprised the buzz occurred infinitely closetogether. Smith concluded that the machine was some highly developedrotary affair, working at perhaps six or eight thousand revolutionsa minute--three or four times as fast as an ordinary engine. 

Meanwhile his agent continued to stare into the sky. Shortlysomething arrived in the field of vision; a blurred speck, far toone side. It approached leisurely, with the unknown agent watchingsteadfastly. It still remained blurred, however; for a long time theengineer knew as little about its actual form as he knew about hismysterious agent. 

Then, like a flash, the vision cleared. All the blurring disappearedinstantly, and the form of a buzzard was disclosed. It was almostdirectly overhead, about a quarter of a mile distant, and soaring ina wide spiral. No sound whatever came from it. Smith's agent made nomove of any kind, but continued to watch. 

Shortly the buzzard "banked" for a sharper turn; and the engineersaw, by the perspective of its apparent speed, that the aircraftwhose use he was enjoying was likewise on the move. Apparently itwas flying in a straight line, keeping the sun--an object vastly toobrilliant to examine--on the right. 

The buzzard went out of sight. Once more the clear sky was all thatcould be seen; that, and the continual roar of the engine, were allthat Smith actually knew. He became impatient for his agent to lookelsewhere; it might be that the craft contained other specimens ofthe unknown creatures. But there was no change in the vigilant watchwhich was being kept upon the sky. 

Suddenly the engineer became exceedingly alert. He had noticedsomething new--something so highly different from anything he hadexpected to learn that it was some minutes before he could believeit true. 

His borrowed eyes had no eyelids! At least, if they did, they werenever used. Not once did they flicker in the slightest; not once didthey blink or wink, much less close themselves for a momentary restfrom the sun's glare. They remained as stonily staring as the eyesof a marble statue. 

Then something startling happened. With the most sickeningsuddenness the aircraft came to an abrupt halt. Smith's senses swamwith the jolt of it. All about him was a confused jumble of blurredfigures and forms; it was infinitely worse than his first ride in ahoist. In a moment, however, he was able to examine things fairlywell. 

The aircraft had come to a stop in the middle of what looked like acane brake. On all sides rose yellowish-green shafts, bearing leavescharacteristic of the maize family. Smith knew little about cane, yet felt sure that these specimens were a trifle large. "Possiblydue to difference in gravitation, " he thought. 

However, he could not tell much about the spot on which the machinehad landed. For a moment it was motionless; the engine had beenstopped, and all was silent except for the gentle rustling of thecane in the field. The unknown operator did not change his positionin the slightest. 

Then the craft began to move over the surface, in a jerky, lurchingfashion which indicated a very rough piece of ground. At the sametime a queer, leathery squeaking came to the engineer's borrowedears; he concluded that the machine was being sorely strained by themotion. At the time he was puzzled to account for the motion itself. Either there was another occupant of the craft, who had climbed outand was now pushing the thing along the ground, or else some form ofsilent mechanism was operating the wheels upon which, presumably, the craft was mounted. Shortly the motion stopped altogether. 

It was then that Smith noticed something he had so far ignoredbecause he knew his own dinner hour was approaching. His agent washungry, like himself. He noticed it because, just then, he receiveda very definite impression of the opposite feeling; the agent waseating lunch of some sort, and enjoying it. There was no doubt aboutthis. All that Smith could do was to wish, for the hundredth time, that he could look around a little and see what was being eaten, andhow. 

The meal occupied several minutes. Not once did the strange occupantof that machine relax his stony stare at the sky, and Smith tried toforget how hungry he was by estimating the extent of his vision. Hedecided that the angle subtended about a hundred and sixty degrees, or almost half a circle; and he further concluded that if his agentpossessed a nose, it was a pretty trifling affair, too small to benoticed. It was obvious, too, that the fellow's mouth was locatedmuch lower in the face than normal. He ate without showing a singleparticle of food, and did it very quietly. 

At length hunger was satisfied. There was complete stillness andsilence for a moment, then another short lurching journey throughthe cane; and next, with an abruptness that made the engineer'ssenses swim again, the fellow once more took to the air. The speedwith which he "got away" was enough to make a motorcyclist, doinghis best, seem to stand still. 

It took time for Smith to regain his balance. When he did, the sameunbroken expanse of sky once more met his gaze; but it was not longuntil, out of the corners of those unblinking eyes, he could makeout bleary forms which shortly resolved themselves into mountaintops. It was odd, the way things suddenly flashed into full view. One second they would be blurred and unrecognizable; the next, sharply outlined and distinct as anything the engineer had everseen. Yet, there seemed to be no change in the focus of those eyes. It wasn't as though they were telescopic, either. Not until longafterward did Smith understand the meaning of this. 

The mountains grew higher and nearer. Before long it seemed asthough the aircraft was entering some sort of a canon. Its sideswere only sparsely covered with vegetation, and all of it was quitebrown, as though the season were autumn. For the most part thesurface was of broken rock and boulders. 

Within a space of three or four minutes the engineer counted notless than ten buzzards. The unknown operator of the machine, however, paid no attention to them, but continued his extraordinarywatch of the heavens. Smith began to wonder if the chap were notseated in an air-tight, sound-proof chamber, deep in the hull ofsome great aerial cruiser, with his eyes glued fast to a periscope. "Maybe a sky patrol, " thought the man of the earth; "a cop on thelookout for aerial smugglers, like as not. "

And then came another of those terrifying stops. This time, as soonas he could collect his senses, the engineer saw that the machinehad landed approximately in the middle of the canon, and presumablyamong the boulders in its bottom. For all about it were the tops ofgigantic rocks, most of them worn smooth from water action. And, assoon as the engine stopped, Smith plainly heard the roar of waterright at hand. He could not see it, however. Why in the name ofwonder didn't the fellow look down, for a change?

The craft began to move. This time its motion was smoother arguingan even surface. However, it had not gone far before, to theengineer's astonishment, it began to move straight down a slope sosteep that no mechanism with which Smith was familiar could possiblyhave clung to it. As this happened, his adopted eyes told him thatthe craft was located upon one of those enormous boulders, in thecenter of a stream of such absolute immensity that he fairly gasped. The thing was--colossal!

And yet it was true. The unseen machine deliberately moved alonguntil it was actually clinging, not to the top, but to the side ofthe rock. The water appeared to be about five yards beneath, to theright. To the left was the sky, while the center of that strangevision was now upon a similar boulder seemingly a quarter of a miledistant, farther out in the stream. But the fellow at the periscopedidn't change position one whit!

It was so unreal. Smith deliberately ignored everything else andwatched again for indications of eyelids. He saw not one flicker, but noticed a certain tiny come-and-go, the merest sort ofvibration, which indicated the agent's heart-action. Apparently itbeat more than twice as fast as Smith's. 

But it relieved him to know that his agent was at least a genuineliving being. For a moment he had fancied something utterlyrepellent to him. Suppose this Sanusian were not any form of naturalcreature at all, but some sort of supermachine, capable offunctioning like an organism? The thought made the engineer shudderas no morgue could. 

Presently the queer craft approached the water closely enough, andat such an angle, that Smith looked eagerly for a reflection. However, the water was exceedingly rough, and only a confusedbrownish blur could be made out. Once he caught a queer sound abovethe noise of the water; a shrill hiss, with a harsh whine at theend. "Just like some kind of suction apparatus, " as he laterdescribed it. 

And then, with that peculiar sound fresh in his ears, came thecrowning shock of the whole experience. Floating toward the boulder, but some distance away, was what looked like a black seed. Nextmoment the vision flashed clear, as usual, and the engineer saw thatthe object was really a beetle; and in a second it was so near thatSmith's own body, back on the earth, involuntarily shrank back intothe recesses of his chair. 

For that beetle was an enormity in the most unlimited sense of theword. It was infinitely larger than any beetle the engineer had everseen--infinitely! It was as large as a good-sized horse!

But before Smith could get over his amazement there was a rush and aswirl in the water behind the insect. Spray was dashed over therock, a huge form showed itself indistinctly beneath the waves, andnext instant the borrowed eyes were showing the engineer, so clearlyas to be undeniable, the most astounding sight he had ever seen. 

A fish of mountainous size leaped from the water, snapped the beetleinto its mouth, and disappeared from sight. In a flash it had comeand gone, leaving the engineer fairly gasping and likewise wonderinghow he could possibly expect anybody to believe him if he told thebald truth of what he had seen. 

For he simply could not have invented anything half as incredible. The fish simply could not be described with ordinary language. ITWAS AS LARGE AS THE LARGEST LOCOMOTIVE. 

IV

THE GOLD-MINER

As for Van Emmon, his experience will have to be classed withSmith's. That is to say, he soon came to feel that his agent was notwhat is commonly called human. It was all too different. However, hefound himself enjoying a field of view which was a decidedimprovement upon Smith's. Instead of a range which began and endedjust above the horizon, his agent possessed the power of lookingalmost straight ahead. 

This told the geologist that his unsuspecting Sanusian was locatedin an aircraft much like the other. The same tremendous noise of theengine, the same inexplicable wing action, together with the sametotal lack of the usual indications of human occupancy, all arguedthat the two men had hit upon the same type of agent. In Van Emmon'scase, however, he could occasionally glimpse two loose parts of themachine, flapping and swaying oddly from time to time within therange of the observer, and at the front. Nothing was done about it. Van Emmon came to the same conclusion as Smith; the operator waslooking into something like a periscope. Perhaps he himself did notdo the driving. 

From what the geologist could see of the country below, it was quitecertainly cultivated. In no other way could the even rows anduniform growth be explained; even though Van Emmon could not saywhether the vegetation were tree, shrub, or plant, it was certainlythe work of man-or some-thing mightily like man. 

Shortly he experienced an abrupt downward dive, such as upset hissenses somewhat. When he recovered, he had time for only theswiftest glance at what, he thought rather vaguely, was a greatgreen-clad mountain. Then his agent brought the craft to one ofthose nerve-racking stops; once more came a swimming of the brain, and then the geologist saw something that challenged hisunderstanding. 

The craft had landed on the rim of a deep pit, or what would havebeen called a pit if it had not been so extraordinary. Mainly thestrangeness was a matter of color; the slope was of a brilliantorange, and seemingly covered with frost, for it sparkled sobrightly in the sun as to actually hurt the eyes. In fact, thegeologist's first thought was "A glacier, " although he could notconceive of ice or snow of that tint. 

Running down the sides of the pit were a number of dark-brownstreaks, about a yard wide; Van Emmon could make them out, more orless clearly, on the other side of the pit as well. From theirregular way in which the walls were formed, he quickly decidedthat the pit was a natural one. The streaks, he thought, might havebeen due to lava flow. 

His agent proceeded to drive straight over the rim and down theslope into the pit. His engine was quite stopped; like Smith, thegeologist wondered just how the craft's wheels were operated. Nexthe was holding his breath as the machine reached so steep a pointin the slope that, most surely, no brakes could hold it. Simultaneously he heard the hiss and whine which seemed to indicatethe suction device. 

"It was a whole lot like going down into a placer mine, " thegeologist afterward said; and in view of what next met his eyes, hewas justified in his guess. 

Down crept the machine until it was "standing on its nose. " The sunwas shining almost straight down into the slope, and Van Emmonforgot his uneasiness about the craft in his interest in what hesaw. 

The bottom of the pit was perhaps twenty feet in diameter, androughly hemispherical. Standing up from its bottom were half a dozenslim formations, like idealized stalagmites; they were made of somesemitransparent rock, apparently, the tint being a reddish yellow. Finally, perched on the top of each of these was a stone; andsurrounding these six "landmarks, " 'as Van Emmon called them, wasthe most prodigious display of wealth imaginable. For the wholequeer place was simply sprinkled with gold. Gold--gold everywhere;large nuggets of it, as big as one's fist! Not embedded in rock, notscattered through sand, but lying loose upon the surface of thatunbelievable orange snow! It was overwhelming. 

The mysterious Sanusian lost no time. Operating some unseenmachinery, he caused three shovel-like devices to project from thefront of his machine; and these instantly proceeded, so swiftly thatVan Emmon could not possibly watch their action, to pick up nuggetsand stow them away out of sight in what must have been compartmentsin the hull. All this was done without any sound beyond theoccasional thud of a nugget dropped in the scramble. Suddenly theSanusian wheeled his machine about and started hurriedly up theslope. Van Emmon judged that the chap had been frightened bysomething, for he took flight as soon as he reached the top of thepit. And--he left half a million in gold behind him!

This new flight had not lasted two minutes before the geologistbegan to note other objects in the air. There were birds, so distantthat he could not identify them; one came near enough, however, forhim to conclude that it was a hawk. But he did not hold to thisconclusion very long. 

The thing that changed his mind was another aircraft. It approachedfrom behind, making even more noise than the other, and proceeded todraw abreast of it. From time to time Van Emmon's agent turned hismysterious periscope so as to take it all in, and the geologist wasable to watch his fill. Whereupon he became converted to a new idea:The birds that Smith and he had seen had not been birds at all, butaircraft built in imitation of them. For this new arrival had beenmade in almost perfect imitation of a bee! It was very close to anexact reproduction. For one exception, it did not have the hairyappearance so characteristic of bees; the body and "legs" weresmooth and shiny. (Later, Van Emmon saw machines which went so faras even to imitate the hairs. ) Also, instead of trying to duplicatethe two compound eyes which are found, one on each side of a bee'shead, a perfectly round representation of a single eye was built, like a conning tower, toward the front of the bow. Presumably, theobserver sat or stood within this "head. "

But otherwise it was wonderfully like a drone bee. Van Emmon wasstrongly reminded of what he had once viewed under a powerful lens. The fragile semitransparent wings, the misshapen legs, and even thejointed body with its scale-like segments, all were carefullyduplicated on a large scale. Imagine a bee thirty feet long!

At first the geologist was puzzled to find that it carried a pair ofmany-jointed antennae. He could not see how any intelligent beingwould make use of them; they were continually waving about, much asbees wave theirs. Evidently these were the loose objects he hadalready noted. "Now, " he wondered, "why in thunder did the buildersgo to so much trouble for the sake of mere realism?"

Then he saw that the antennae served a very real purpose. There wasno doubt about it; they were wireless antennae!

For presently the newcomer, who so far had not shown himself at anypoint on his machine, sent out a message which was read as quicklyas it was received by Van Emmon's agent, and as unconsciouslytranslated:

"Number Eight Hundred Four, you are wanted on Plot Seventeen. "

Whereupon Van Emmon's unknown assistant replied at once:

"Very well, Superior. "

It was done by means of an extremely faint humming device, remindingthe geologist of certain wireless apparata he had heard. Not a wordwas actually spoken by either Sanusian. 

Van Emmon kept a close watch upon the conning tower on the othermachine. The sun was shining upon it in such a fashion that itsgleam made inspection very difficult. Once he fancied that he couldmake out a short, compact figure within the "eye"; but he could notbe sure. The glass, or whatever it was, reflected everything withinrange. 

Was the airman a quadruped? Did he sit or stand upright, like a man?Or did he use all four limbs, animal-fashion? Van Emmon had to admitthat he could not tell; no wonder he didn't guess the truth. 

Shortly after receiving the summons, the geologist's agent changedhis direction slightly; and within ten minutes the machine waspassing over a large grain field. On the far edge was a row oftrees, and it was toward this that the Sanusian proceeded tovolplane, presently coming to another nausea-producing stop. Oncemore Van Emmon was temporarily helpless. 

When he could look again, he saw that the machine had landed upon asteep slope, this time with its nose pointing upward. Far above waswhat looked like a cave, with a growth of some queer, black grass onits upper rim. The craft commenced to move upward, over a smooth, dark tan surface. 

In half a minute the machine had reached the top of the slope, andthe geologist looked eagerly for what might lie within the cave. Hewas disappointed; it was not a cave at all. Instead, another brownslope, or rather a bulging precipice, occupied this depression. 

Van Emmon looked closer. At the bottom of this bulge was a queerfringe of the same kind of grass that showed on top of it. Van Emmonlooked from one to the other, and all of a sudden the thing dawnedupon him. 

This stupendous affair was no mountainside; it was neither more norless than the head of a colossal statue! A mammoth edition of theGoddess of Liberty; and the aircraft had presumed to alight upon itscheek!

The machine clung there, motionless, for some time, quite as thoughthe airman knew that Van Emmon would like to look a long while. Hegazed from side to side as far as he could see, making out a smallsection of the nose, also the huge curves of a dust-covered ear. Itwas wonderfully life-like. 

Next second came the earthquake. The whole statue rocked and swayed;Van Emmon looked to see the machine thrown off. From the base of themonument came a single terrific sound, a veritable roar, as thoughthe thing was being wrenched from the heart of the earth. Fromsomewhere on top came a spurt of water that splashed just beside thecraft. 

Then came the most terrible thing. Without the slightest warning thestatue's great eye opened! Opened wide, revealing a prodigious pupilwhich simply blazed with wrath!

The statue was alive!

Next second the Sanusian shot into the air. A moment and Van Emmonwas able to look again, and as it happened, the craft was nowcircling the amazing thing it had just quit, so that the geologistcould truthfully say that he was dead sure of what he saw. 

He was justified in wanting to be absolutely sure. Resting on thesolid earth was a human head, about fifty yards wide andproportionately as tall. It was alive; but IT WAS ONLY THE HEAD, NOTHING MORE. 

V

THE SUPER-RACE

It will be remembered that Billie wanted to get in touch with acreature having the characteristic which she had said she admired:supremacy--"A worker who is the boss!" Bearing this in mind, herexperience will explain itself, dumfounding though it was. 

Her first sight of the Sanusian world was from the front of a largebuilding. The former architect was not able to inspect it minutely;but she afterwards said that it impressed her as being entirelyplain, and almost a perfect cube. Its walls were white and quitewithout ornament; there was only one entrance, an extremely low andbroad, flat archway, extending across one whole side. The structurewas about a hundred yards each way. In front was a terrace, seemingly paved with enormous slabs of stone; it covered a good manyacres. 

Presumably Billie's agent had just brought her machine from thebuilding, for, within a few seconds, she took flight in the sameabrupt fashion which had so badly upset Smith and Van Emmon. WhenBillie was able to look closely, she found herself gazing down upona Sanusian city. 

It was a tremendous affair. As the flying-machine mounted higher, Billie continually revised her guesses; finally she concluded thatLondon itself was not as large. Nevertheless her astonishment wasmainly directed at the character, not the number of the buildings. 

They were all alike! Every one was a duplicate of that she had firstseen: cube-shaped, plain finished, flat of wall and roof. Even incolor they were alike; in time the four came to call the place the"White City. " However, the buildings were arranged quite without anyvisible system. And they were vastly puzzled, later on in theirstudies, to find every other Sanusian city precisely the same asthis one. 

However, there was one thing which distinguished each building fromthe rest. It was located on the roof; a large black hieroglyphic, set in a square black border, which Billie first thought to be allalike. Whether it meant a name or a number, there was no way totell. [Footnote: Since writing the above, further investigations haveproved that these Sanusian house-labels are all numbers. ]

Billie turned her attention to her agent. She seemed to belong tothe same type as Smith's and Van Emmon's; otherwise she wascertainly much more active, much more interested in hersurroundings, and possessed of a far more powerful machine. She wascontinually changing her direction; and Billie soon congratulatedherself upon her luck. Beyond a doubt, this party was no mere slaveto orders; it was she who gave the orders. 

Before one minute had passed she was approached by a Sanusian in abig, clumsy looking machine. Although built on the bee plan, itpossessed an observation tower right on top of its "head. " (The fourafterward established that this was the sort of a machine thatSmith's agent had operated. ) The occupant approached to within arespectful distance from Billie's borrowed eyes, and proceeded tohum the following through his antennae:

"Supreme, I have been ordered to report for Number Four. "

"Proceed. "

"The case of insubordinancy which occurred in Section Eighty-fivehas been disposed of. "

"Number Four made an example of her?"

"Yes, Supreme. "

Whereupon the operator flew away, having not only kept his bodytotally out of sight all the while, but having failed by theslightest token to indicate, by his manner of communicating that hehad the slightest particle of personal interest in his report. Forthat matter, neither did Supreme. 

Scarcely had this colloquy ended than another subordinateapproached. This one used a large and very fine machine. Shereported:

"If Supreme will come with me to the spot, it will be easier todecide upon this case. "

Immediately the two set off without another word; and after perhapsfour minutes of the speediest travel Billie had known outside thedoctor's sky-car, they descended to within a somewhat short distancefrom the ground. Here they hovered, and Billie saw that they werestopped above some hills at the foot of a low mountain range. 

Next moment she made out the figures of four humans on top of aknoll just below. A little nearer, and the architect was looking, from the air, down upon the same scene which the doctor was thenwitnessing through the eyes of Rolla, the older of the two Sanusianwomen. Billie could make out the powerful physique of Corrus, theslighter figure of Dulnop, the small but vigorous form of Cunora, and Rolla's slender, graceful, capable body. But at that moment theother flier began to say to Supreme:

"The big man is a tender of cattle, Supreme; and he owes hispeculiar aptitude to the fact that his parents, for twentygenerations back, were engaged in similar work. The same may be saidfor the younger of the two women; she is small, but we owe much ofthe excellence of our crops to her energy and skill. 

"As for the other woman, " indicating Rolla, "she is a soil-tester, and very expert. Her studies and experiments have greatly improvedour product. The same may be said in lesser degree of the youth, whois engaged in similar work. "

"Then, " coolly commented the Sanusian whose eyes and ears Billieenjoyed; "then your line of action is clear enough. You will see toit that the big man marries the sturdy young girl, of course; theiroffspring should give us a generation of rare outdoor ability. Similarly the young man and the older woman, despite theirdifference in ages, shall marry for the sake of improving the breedof soil-testers. "

"Quite so, Supreme. There is one slight difficulty, however, such ascaused me to summon you. "

"Name the difficulty. "

The Sanusian hesitated only a trifle with her reply: "It is, Supreme, that the big man and the older woman have seen fit to fallin love with one another, while the same is true of the youth andthe girl. "

"This should not have been allowed!"

"I admit it, Supreme; my force has somehow overlooked their case, heretofore. What is your will?"

The commandant answered instantly: "Put an immediate end to theirdesires!"

"It shall be done!"

At that moment there was a stir on the ground. In fact, this was theinstant when Corrus began his vehement outcry against the tyranny of"They. " The two in the air came closer; whereupon Billie discoveredthat Supreme did not understand the language of the humans below. [Footnote: The humans did not realize this fact, however; theyassumed that "They" always understood. ] Yet the herdsman's toneswere unmistakably angry. 

"You will descend, " commented Supreme evenly, "and warn the big mannot to repeat such outbreaks. "

Immediately Supreme's lieutenant darted down, and was lost to view. The commandant glanced interestedly here and there about thelandscape, returning her gaze to Corrus just as the man stopped inmid-speech. Billie was no less astonished than the doctor to see theherdsman's expression change as it did; one second it was that ofrighteous indignation, the next, of the most abject subservience. 

Nevertheless, Billie could see no cause whatever for it; neither didshe hear anything. The other flier remained out of sight. All thatthe architect could guess was that the operator had "got the drop"on Corrus in some manner which was clear only to those involved. Badly puzzled, Billie watched the four humans hurry away, theirmanner all but slinking. 

A moment later still another aircraft came up, and its operatorreported. As before, Billie could make out not a single detail ofthe occupant herself. She, too, wanted the commandant's personalattention; and shortly Billie was looking down upon a scene whichshe had good reason to remember all the rest of her life. 

In the middle of a large field, where some light green plant wasjust beginning to sprout, a group of about a dozen humans was atwork cultivating. Billie had time to note that they were doing thework in the most primitive fashion, employing the rudest of tools, all quite in keeping with their bare heads and limbs and theirskin-clad bodies. About half were women. 

Slightly at one side, however, stood a man who was not so busy. Toput it plainly, he was loafing, with the handle of his improvisedmattock supporting his weight. Clearly the two up in the air wereconcerned only with him. 

"He has been warned three times, Supreme, " said the one who hadreported the case. 

"Three? Then make an example of him!"

"It shall be done, Supreme!"

The lieutenant disappeared. Again the commandant glanced at this, that, and the other thing before concentrating upon what happenedbelow. Then Billie saw the man straighten up suddenly in his tracks, and with remarkable speed, considering his former laziness, hewhirled about, dodged, and clapped a hand upon his thigh. 

Next second he raised an exultant cry. Billie could not understandwhat he said; but she noted that the others in the group echoed theman's exultation, and started to crowd toward him, shouting andgesticulating in savage delight. Then something else happened sosudden and so dreadful that the woman who was watching from theearth was turned almost sick. 

Like a flash Supreme dropped, headlong, toward the group of humans. In two seconds the distance was covered, and in the last fifth of asecond Billie saw the key to the whole mystery. 

In that last instant the man who before had seemed of ordinary size, was magnified to the dimensions of a colossus. Instead of beingunder six feet, he appeared to be near a hundred yards in height;but Billie scarcely realized this till later, it all happened soquickly. There was an outcry from the group, and then thecommandant's aircraft crashed into the man's HAND; a hand so hugethat the very wrinkles in its skin were like so many gulleys; evenin that final flash Billie saw all this. 

Simultaneously with the landing there was a loud pop, while Billie'ssenses reeled with the stunning suddenness of the impact. Nextsecond the machine had darted to a safe distance, and Billie couldsee the man gnawing frantically at the back of his hand. Too late;his hand went stiff, and his arm twitched spasmodically. The fellowmade a step or two forward, then swayed where he stood, his wholebody rigid and strained. An expression of the utmost terror was uponhis face; he could not utter a sound, although his companionsshrieked in horror. Another second and the man fell flat, twitchingconvulsively; and in a moment or two it was all over. He was dead!

And then the truth burst upon the watcher. In fact, it seemed tocome to all four at the same time, probably by reason of theirmental connections. Neither of them could claim that he or she hadpreviously guessed a tenth of its whole, ghastly nature. 

The "cane" which Smith had seen had not been cane at all; it hadbeen grass. The "beetle" in the stream had not been the giant thinghe had visualized it; neither had that fish been the size he hadthought. 

Van Emmon's "gold mine" had not been a pit in any sense of the word;it had been the inside of the blossom of a very simple, poppy-likeflower. The "nuggets" had been not mineral, but pollen. As for theincredible thing which Van Emmon had seen on the ground; that livingstatue; that head without a body--the body had been buried out ofsight beneath the soil; and the man had been an ordinary human, being punished in this manner for misconduct. 

Instead of being aircraft built in imitation of insects, themachines had been constructed by nature herself, and there had beennothing unusual in their size. No; they were the real thing, differing only slightly from what might have been found anywhereupon the earth. 

In short, it had all been simply a matter of view-point. The supremecreature of Sanus was, not the human, but the bee. A poisonous bee, superior to every other form of Sanusian life! What was more--

"The damned things are not only supreme; THE HUMANS ARE THEIRSLAVES!"

VI

Impossible, But--

The four looked at each other blankly. Not that either was at a lossfor words; each was ready to burst. But the thing was so utterlybeyond their wildest conceptions, so tremendously different in everyway, it left them all a little unwilling to commit themselves. 

"Well, " said Smith finally, "as I said in the first place, I can'tsee how any other than the human form became supreme. As Iunderstand biology--"

"What gets me, " interrupted Van Emmon; "what gets me is, WHY thehumans have allowed such an infernal thing to happen!"

Billie smiled somewhat sardonically. "I thought, " she remarked, cuttingly, "that you were always in sympathy with the upper dog, Mr. Van Emmon!"

"I am!" hotly. Then, with the memory of what he had just seenrushing back upon him: "I mean, I was until I saw--saw that--" Hestopped, flushing deeply; and before he could collect himself Smithhad broken in again:

"I just happened to remember, doc; didn't you say that theVenusians, in those books of yours, say that Sanus is ruled by theworkers?"

"Just what I was wondering about, " from Van Emmon. "The humans seemto do all the work, and the bees the bossing!"

The doctor expected this. "The Venusians had our viewpoint--theviewpoint of people on the earth, when they said that the workersrule. We consider the bee as a great worker, don't we? 'As busy as abee, ' you know. None of the so-called lower animals show greaterindustry. "

"You don't mean to say, " demanded Smith, "that these Sanusian beesowe their position to the fact that they are, or were, such greatworkers?"

Before the doctor could reply, Van Emmon broke in. It seemed asthough his mind refused to get past this particular point. "Now, whythe dickens have the humans allowed the bees to dominate them? Why?"

"We'll have to go at this a little more systematically, " remarkedKinney, "if we want to understand the situation. "

"In the first place, suppose we note a thing or two about conditionsas we find them here on the earth. We, the humans, are accustomed torank ourselves far above the rest. It is taken for granted. 

"Now, note this: the human supremacy was not always taken forgranted. " He paused to let it sink in. "Not always. There was a timein prehistoric days when man ranked no higher than others. I feelsure of this, " he insisted, seeing that Smith was opposed to theidea; "and I think I know just what occurred to make man supreme. "

"What?" from Billie. 

"Never mind now. I rather imagine we shall learn more on this scoreas we go on with our work. 

"At any rate, we may be sure of this: whatever it was that causedman to become supreme on the earth, that condition is lacking onSanus!"

Van Emmon did not agree to this. "The condition may be there, doc, but there is some other factor which overbalances it; a factor suchas is--well, more favorable to the bees. "

The doctor looked around the circle. "What do you think? 'A factormore favorable to the bees. ' Shall we let it go at that?" There wasno remark, even from Smith; and the doctor went an:

"Coming back to the bees, then, we note that they are remarkable forseveral points of great value. First, as we have seen, they are veryindustrious by nature. Second, all bees possess wings and on thatcount alone they are far superior to humans. 

"Third--and to me, the most important--the bees possess a remarkablecombination of community life and specialization. Of course, whenyou come to analyze these two points, you see that they reallybelong to one another. The bees we know, for instance, are eitherqueens, whose only function is to fertilize the eggs; or workers, who are unsexed females, and whose sole occupations are thecollecting of honey, the building of hives, and the care of theyoung. 

"Now, " speaking carefully, "apparently these Sanusian bees havedeveloped something that is not unknown to certain forms of earth'sinsect life. I mean, a soldier type. A kind of bee which specializeson fighting!"

Van Emmon was listening closely, yet he had got another idea:"Perhaps this soldier type is simply the plain worker bee, all goneto sting! It may be that these bees have given up labor altogether!"

"Still, " muttered Smith, under his breath, "all this doesn't solvethe real problem. Why aren't the HUMANS supreme?" For once he becameemphatic. "That's what gets me! Why aren't the humans the rulers, doc?" Kinney waited until he felt sure the others were dependingupon him. "Smith, the humans on Sanus are not supreme now becausethey were NEVER supreme. "

Smith looked blank. "I don't get that. "

"Don't you? Look here: you'll admit that success begets success, won't you?"

"Success begets success? Sure! 'Nothing succeeds like success. '"

"Well, isn't that merely another way of saying that theconsciousness of superiority will lead to further conquests? Wehumans are thoroughly conscious of our supremacy; if we weren't we'dnever attempt the things we do!"

Van Emmon saw the point. "In other words, the humans on the earthnever began to show their superiority until something--somethingbig, happened to demonstrate their ability!"

"Exactly!" cried Kinney. "Our prehistoric ancestors would never havehanded down such a tremendous ambition to you and me if they, atthat time, had not been able to point to some definite feat and say, 'That proves I'm a bigger man than a horse, ' for example. "

"Of course, " reflected Billie, aloud; "of course, there were otherfactors. "

"Yes; but they don't alter the case. Originally the human was onlyslightly different from the apes he associated with. There wasperhaps only one slight point of superiority; today there aremillions of such points. Man is infinitely superior, now, and it'sall because he was slightly superior, then. "

"Suppose we grant that, " remarked the geologist. "What then? Doesthat explain why the bees have made good on Sanus?"

"To a large degree. Some time in the past the Sanusian beediscovered that he possessed a certain power which enabled him toforce his will upon other creatures. This power was his poisonoussting. He found that, when he got his fellows together and formed aswarm, they could attack any animal in such large numbers as to makeit helpless. "

"Any creature?"

"Yes; even reptiles, scales or no scales. They'd attack the eyes. "

"But that doesn't explain how the bees ever began to make humanswork for them, " objected Van Emmon. 

The doctor thought for a few minutes. "Let's see. Suppose we assumethat a certain human once happened to be in the neighborhood of ahive, just when it was attacked by a drove of ants. Ants are greatlovers of honey, you know. Suppose the man stepped among the antsand was bitten. Naturally he would trample them to death, and smashwith his hands all that he couldn't trample. Now, what's to preventthe bees from seeing how easily the man had dealt with the ants? Aman would be far more efficient, destroying ants, than a bee; justas a horse is more efficient, dragging a load, than a man. And yetwe know that the horse was domesticated, here on the earth, simplybecause the humans saw his possibilities; the horse could do acertain thing more efficiently than a human. 

"You notice, " the doctor went on, with great care, "that everythingI've assumed is natural enough: the combination of an ant attack andthe man's approach, occurring at the same time. Suppose we add athird factor: that the bees, even while fighting the ants, alsostarted to attack the man; but that he chanced to turn his attentionto the ants FIRST. So that the bees let him alone!

"We know what remarkable things bees are, when it comes to tellingone another what they know. Is there any reason why such anexperience--all natural enough--shouldn't demonstrate to them thatthey, by merely threatening a man, could compel him to kill ants forthem?"

Billie was dubious for a moment; then agreed that the man, also, might notice that the bees failed to sting him as long as hecontinued to destroy their other enemies. If so, it was quiteconceivable that, bit by bit, the bees had found other and morepositive ways of securing the aid of men through threatening tosting. "Even to cultivating flowers for their benefit, " sheconceded. "It's quite possible. "

Smith had been thinking of something else. "I always understood thata bee's stinging apparatus is good for only one attack. Doesn't italways remain behind after stinging?"

"Yes, " from the doctor, quietly. "That is true. The sting has tinybarbs on its tip, and these cause it to remain in the wound. Thesting is actually torn away from the bee when it flies away. Itnever grows another. That is why, in fact, the bee never stingsexcept as a last resort, when it thinks it's a question ofself-defense. "

"Just what I thought!" chuckled Smith. "A bee is helpless withoutits sting! If so, how can you account for anything like a soldierbee?"

The doctor returned his gaze with perfect equanimity. He looked atVan Emmon and Billie; they, too, seemed to think that the engineerhad found a real flaw in Kinney's reasoning. The doctor dropped hiseyes, and searched his mind thoroughly for the best words. Heremoved his bracelets while he was thinking; the others did thesame. All four got to their feet and stretched, silently butthoroughly. Not until they were ready to quit the study did thedoctor make reply. 

"Smith, I don't need to remind you that it's the little things thatcount. It's too old a saying. In this case it happens to be thegreatest truth we have found today. 

"Smith"--speaking with the utmost care--"what we have just saidabout the bee's sting is all true; but only with regard to the beeson the earth. It is only on the earth, so far as we know positively, that the bee is averse to stinging, for fear of losing his sting. 

"There is only one way to account for the soldier bee. Its sting hasno barbs!"

"No barbs?"

"Why not? If the poison is virulent enough, the barbs wouldn't benecessary, would they? Friends, the Sanusian bee is the supremecreature on its planet; it is superior to all the other insects, allthe birds, all the animals; and its supremacy is due solely andentirely to the fact that there are no barbs on its sting!"

VII

THE MISSING FACTOR

By the time the four once more got together in the doctor's study, each had had a chance to consider the Sanusian situation prettythoroughly. All but Billie were convinced that the humans weredeserving people, whose position was all the more regrettablebecause due, so far as could be seen, the insignificant littledetail of the barbless sting. 

Were these people doomed forever to live their lives for the sake ofinsects? Were they always to remain, primitive and uncultured, inignorance of the things that civilization is built upon, obeying theorders of creatures who were content to eat, reproduce, and die? Forthat is all that bees know!

Perhaps it was for the best. Possibly Rolla and her friends werebetter off as they were. It might have been that a wise Providence, seeing how woefully the human animal had missed its privileges onother worlds, had decided to make man secondary on Sanus. Was thatthe reason for it all?

All but Billie scouted the idea. To them the affair was a ghastlyperversion of what Nature intended. Van Emmon stated the case in amanner which showed how strongly he felt about it. 

"Those folks will never get anywhere if the bees can help it!" hecharged. " We've got to lend a hand, here, and see that they get achance!"

Smith said that, so far as he was concerned, the bees might all beconsigned to hell. "I'm not going to have anything to do with theagent I had, any more!" he declared. "I'm going to get in touch withthat chap, Dulnop. What is he like, doc?"

Kinney told him, and then Van Emmon asked for details of theherdsman, Corrus. "No more bees in my young life, either. From nowon it's up to us. What do you think?" turning to his wife, andcarefully avoiding any use of her name. 

The architect knew well enough that the rest were wondering how shewould decide. She answered with deliberation:

"I'm going to stay in touch with Supreme!"

"You are!" incredulously, from her husband. 

"Yes! I've got a darned sight more sympathy for those bees than forthe humans! The 'fraid-cats!" disgustedly. 

"But listen, " protested Van Emmon. "We can't stand by and let thosecold-blooded prisoners keep human beings, like ourselves, in rankslavery! Not much!"

Evidently he thought he needed to explain. "A human is a human, nomatter where we find him! Why, how can those poor devils show whatthey're good for if we don't give 'em a chance? That's the only wayto develop people--give 'em a chance to show what's in 'em! Let thebest man win!"

Billie only closed her mouth tighter; and Smith decided to say, "Billie, you don't need to stand by your guns just because theSanusian working class happens to be insects. Besides, we're threeto one in favor of the humans!"

"Oh, well, " she condescended, "if you put it that way I'll agree notto interfere. Only, don't expect me to help you any with yourschemes; I'll just keep an eye on Supreme, that's all. "

"Then we're agreed. " The doctor put on his bracelets. "Suppose we gointo the trance state for about three minutes--long enough to learnwhat's going on today. "

Shortly Billie again using the eyes and ears of the extraordinarilycapable bee who ruled the rest, once more looked down upon Sanus. She saw the big "city, " which she now knew to be a vast collectionof hives, built by the humans at the command of the bees. At themoment the air was thick with workers, returning with their loads ofhoney from the fields which the humans had been compelled tocultivate. What a diabolical reversal of the accepted order ofthings!

The architect had time to note something very typical of the case. On the outskirts of the city two humans were at work, erecting a newhive. Having put it together, they proceeded to lift the big box andplace it near those already inhabited. They set it down in whatlooked like a good location, but almost immediately took it up againand shifted it a foot to one side. This was not satisfactory, either; they moved it a few inches in another direction. 

All told, it took a full minute to place that simple affair where itwas wanted; and all the while those two humans behaved as thoughsome one were shouting directions to them--silent directions, as itwere. Billie knew that a half-dozen soldier bees, surrounding theirtwo heads, were coolly and unfeelingly driving them where theywilled. And when, the work done, they left the spot, two soldierswent along behind them to see that they did not loiter. 

As for the doctor, he came upon Rolla when the woman was deep in anexperiment. She stood in front of a rude trough, one of perhapstwenty located within a large, high-walled inclosure. In the troughwas a quantity of earth, through the surface of which some tinygreen shoots were beginning to show. 

Rolla inspected the shoots, and then, with her stone knife, she madea final notch in the wood on the edge of the trough. There weretwenty-odd of these notches; whereas, on other troughs which thedoctor had a chance to see, there were over thirty in many cases, and still no shoots. 

The place, then, was an experimental station. This was proven byRolla's next move. She went outside the yard and studied five heapsof soil, each of a different appearance, also three smaller piles ofpulverized mineral--nitrates, for all that the doctor knew. Andbefore Kinney severed his connection with the Sanusian, she hadbegun the task of mixing up a fresh combination of these ingredientsin a new trough. In the midst of this she heard a sound; and turningabout, waved a hand excitedly toward a distant figure on the farside of a nearby field. 

Meanwhile Smith had managed to get in touch with Dulnop. He foundthe young man engaged in work which did not, at first, become clearto the engineer. Then he saw that the chap was simply sorting overbig piles of broken rock, selecting certain fragments which heplaced in separate heaps. Not far away two assistants were poundingthese fragments to powder, using rude pestles, in great, nature-mademortars--"pot-holes, " from some river-bed. 

It was this powder, beyond a doubt, that Rolla was using in herwork. To Smith, Dulnop's task seemed like a ridiculously simpleoccupation for a nearly grown man, until he reflected that theseaborigines were exactly like toddling children in intellects. 

Van Emmon had no trouble in making connections with Corrus. Theherdsman was in charge of a dozen cows, wild looking creatures whichwould have been far too much for the man had they been horned, whichthey were not. He handled them by sheer force, using the great clubhe always carried. Once while Van Emmon was watching, a cow tried tobreak away from the group; but Corrus, with an agility amazing in soshort and heavy a man, dashed after the creature and tapped herlightly on the top of her head. Dazed and contrite, she followed himmeekly back into the herd. 

The place was on the edge of a meadow, at the beginning of whatlooked like a grain field. Stopping here, Corrus threw a hand to hismouth and gave a ringing shout. Immediately it was answered, faintly, by another at a distance; and then Van Emmon made out theform of Rolla among some huts on the other side of the grain. Shebeckoned toward the herdsman, and he took a half-dozen steps towardher. 

Just as abruptly he stopped, almost in mid-stride. SimultaneouslyVan Emmon heard a loud buzzing in either ear. Corrus was beingwarned. Like a flash he dropped his head and muttered: "Vey well. Iwill remember--next time. " And trembling violently he turned back tohis cows. 

"Well, " remarked the geologist, when the four "came out" of theirseance, "the bees seem to have everything their own way. How can wehelp the humans best? Hurry up with your idea; I'm getting sick ofthese damned poisoners. "

The doctor asked if the others had any suggestions. Smith offeredthis: why couldn't the humans retire to some cave, or buildtight-walled huts, and thus bar out the bees?

No sooner had he made the remark, however, than the engineerdeclared his own plan no good. "These people aren't like us; theycouldn't stand such imprisonment long enough to make their 'strike'worth while. "

"Is there any reason, " suggested Billie, indifferently, "why theycouldn't weave face nets from some kind of grass, and protectthemselves in that way?"

Smith saw the objection to that, too. "They'd have to protectthemselves all over as well; every inch would have to be coveredtightly. From what I've seen of them I'd say that the arrangementwould drive them frantic. It would be worse than putting clothes ona cat. "

"It's a man-sized job we've tackled, " commented the doctor. "WhatSmith says is true; such people would never stand for any measureswhich would restrict their physical freedom. They are simply animalswith human possibilities, nothing more. "

He paused, and then added quietly, "By the way, did either of younotice any mountains just now?"

Smith and Van Emmon both said they had. "Why?"

"Of course, it isn't likely, but--did you see anything like avolcano anywhere?"

"No, " both replied. 

"Another thing, " Kinney went on. "So far, I've seen nothing thatwould indicate lightning, much less the thing itself. Did either ofyou, " explicitly, "run across such a thing as a blasted tree?"

They said they had not. Billie hesitated a little with her reply, then stated that she had noted a tree or two in a state ofdisintegration, but none that showed the unmistakable scars due tobeing struck by lightning. 

"Then we've got the key to the mystery!" declared the doctor. "Remember how brown and barren everything looks excepting only wherethere's artificial vegetation? Well, putting two and two together, Icome to the conclusion that Sanus differs radically from the earthin this respect:

"The humans have arrived rather late in the planet's history. Or--and this is more likely--Sanus is somewhat smaller than theearth, and therefore has cooled off sooner. At any rate, therelationship between the age of the planet and the age of its humanoccupancy differs from what it is on the earth. "

"I don't quite see, " from Smith, "what that's got to do with it. "

"No? Well, go back to the first point: the dried-up appearance ofthings. That means, their air and water are both less extensive thanwith us, and for that reason there are far fewer clouds; therefore, it is quite possible that there has been no lightning within thememory of the humans. "

"How so?" demanded the geologist. 

"Why, simply because lightning depends upon clouds. Lightning ismerely the etheric electricity, drawn to the earth whenever there isenough water in the air to promote conductivity. "

"Yes, " agreed Smith; "but--what of it?"

Kinney went on unheeding. "As for volcanoes--probably the sameexplanation accounts for the lack of these also. You know how theearth, even, is rapidly coming to the end of her Volcanic period. Time was when there were volcanoes almost everywhere on the earth. 

"The same is likely true of Sanus as well. The point is, " and thedoctor paused significantly, "there have been no volcanic eruptions, and no lightning discharges within the memory of Sanusian man!"

What was he getting at? The others eyed him closely. Neither VanEmmon nor Smith could guess what he meant; but Billie, her intuitionwide awake, gave a great jump in her chair. 

"I know!" she cried. A flood of light came to her face. 

"The Sanusians--no wonder they let the bees put it over on them!"

"They haven't got FIRE! They've never had it!"

VIII

FIRE!

From the corner of his eyes Kinney saw Van Emmon turn a gaze offrank admiration at his wife. It lasted only a second, however; thegeologist remembered, and masked the expression before Billie coulddetect it. 

Smith had been electrified by the idea. 

"By George!" he exclaimed two or three times. "Why didn't I think ofthat? It's simple as A, B, C now!"

"Why, " Van Emmon exulted, "all we've got to do is put the idea offire into their heads, and the job is done!" He jumped around in hischair. "Darn those bees, anyhow!"

"And yet, " observed the doctor, "it's not quite as simple as we maythink. Of course it's true that once they have fire, the humansought to assert themselves. We'll let that stand without argument. "

"Will we?" Smith didn't propose to back down that easy. "Do you meanto say that fire, and nothing more than fire, can bring about humanascendency?"

The doctor felt sure. "All the other animals are afraid of fire. Such exceptions as the moth are really not exceptions at all; themoth is simply driven so mad by the sight of flame that it commitssuicide in it. Horses sometimes do the same. 

"Humans are the only creatures that do not fear fire! Even a tinybaby will show no fear at the sight of it. "

"Which ought to prove, " Van Emmon cut in to silence Smith, "thatsuperiority is due to fire, rather than fire due to superiority, forthe simple reason that a newborn child is very low in the scale ofevolution. " Smith decided not to say what he intended to say. VanEmmon concluded:

"We've just got to give 'em fire! What's the first step?"

"I propose, " from the doctor, "that when we get in touch this timewe concentrate on the idea of fire. We've got to give them thenotion first. "

"Would you rather, " inquired Billie, "that I kept the idea fromSupreme?"

"Thanks, " returned her husband, icily, "but you might just as welltell her, too. It'll make her afraid in advance, all the better!"

The engineer threw himself back in his seat. "I'm with you, " saidhe, laying aside his argument. The rest followed his example, andpresently were looking upon Sanus again. 

All told, this particular session covered a good many hours. Thefour kept up a more or less connected mental conversation with eachother as they went along, except, of course, when the events becametoo exciting. Mainly they were trying to catch their agents in theproper mood for receiving telepathic communications, and it provedno easy matter. It required a state of semi-consciousness, acondition of being neither awake nor asleep. It was necessary towait until night had fallen on that particular part of the planet. [Footnote: It should be mentioned that all parts of Sanus showed thesame condition of bee supremacy and human servitude. The spot inquestion was quite typical of all the colonies. ]

Van Emmon was the first to get results. Corrus had driven his herdback from the brook at which they had got their evening drink, andafter seeing them all quietly settled for the night, he lay down onthe dried grass slope of a small hill, and stared up at the sky. VanEmmon had plenty of time to study the stars as seen from Sanus, andcertainly the case demanded plenty of time. 

For he saw a broad band of sky, as broad as the widest part of theMilky Way, which was neither black nor sparkling with stars, butglowing as brightly as the full moon! From the eastern horizon tothe zenith it stretched, a great "Silvery Way, " as Van Emmon labeledit; and as the darkness deepened and the night lengthened, theillumination crept on until the band of light stretched all the wayacross. Van Emmon racked his brains to account for the thing. 

Then Corrus became drowsy. Van Emmon concentrated with all hismight. At first he overdid the thing; Corrus was not quite drowsyenough, and the attempt only made him wakeful. Shortly, however, hebecame exceedingly sleepy, and the geologist's chance came. 

At the end of a few minutes the herdsman sat up, blinking. He lookedaround at the dark forms of the cattle, then up at the stars; he wasplainly both puzzled and excited. He remained awake for hours, infact, thinking over the strange thing he had seen "in a dream. "

Meanwhile Smith was having a similar experience with Dulnop. Theyoung fellow was, like Corrus, alone at the time; and he, too, wasmade very excited and restless by what he saw. 

Billie was unable to work upon her bee. Supreme retired to a hivejust before dusk, but remained wide awake and more or less active, feeding voraciously, for hours upon hours. When she finally did nap, she fell asleep on such short notice that the architect was takenoff her guard. The bee seemed to all but jump into slumberland. 

The doctor also had to wait for Rolla. The woman sat for a long timein the growing dusk, looming out pensively over the valley. Corruswas somewhere within a mile or two, and so Kinney was not surprisedto see the herdsman's image dancing, tantalizingly, before Rolla'seyes. She was thinking of him with all her might. 

Presently she shivered with the growing coolness, and went into arough hut, which she shared with Cunora. The girl was already asleepon a heap of freshly gathered brush. Rolla, delightfully free of anyneed to prepare for her night's rest--such as locking any doors orcleaning her teeth--made herself comfortable beside her friend. Twoor three yawns, and the doctor's chance came. 

Two minutes later Rolla sat bolt upright, at the same time givingout a sharp cry of amazement and alarm. Instantly Cunora awoke. 

"What is it, Rolla?" terror-stricken. 

"Hush!" The older woman got up and went to the opening which servedas a door. There she hung a couple of skins, arranging themcarefully so that no bee might enter. Coming back to Cunora, shebrought her voice nearly to a whisper:

"Cunora, I have had a wonderful dream! Ye must believe me when I saythat it were more than a mere dream; 'twere a message from the greatgod, Mownoth, or I be mad!"

"Rolla!" The girl was more anxious than frightened now. "Ye speakwildly! Quiet thyself, and tell what thou didst see!

"It were not easy to describe, " said Rolla, getting herself undercontrol. "I dreamed that a man, very pale of face and most curiouslyclad, did approach me while I was at work. He smiled and spakekindly, in a language I could not understand; but I know he meantfull well. 

"This be the curious thing, Cunora: He picked up a handful of leavesfrom the ground and laid them on the trough at my side. Then, fromsome place in his garments he produced a tiny stick of white wood, with a tip made of some dark-red material. This he held before mineeyes, in the dream; and then spake very reassuringly, as thoughbidding me not to be afraid. 

"Well he might! Cunora, he took that tiny stick in his hand andmoved the tip along the surface of the trough; and, behold, amiracle!"

"What happened?" breathlessly. 

"In the twinkling of an eye, the stick blossomed! Blossomed, Cunora, before mine eyes! And such a blossom no eye ever beheld before. Itscolor was the color of the poppy, but its shape--most amazing! Itsshape continually changed, Cunora; it danced about, and rose andfell; it flowed, even as water floweth in a stream, but alwaysupward!"

"Rolla!" incredulously. "Ye would not awaken me to tell suchnonsense!"

"But it were not nonsense!" insisted Rolla. "This blossom was evenas I say: a living thing, as live as a kitten! And as it bloomed, behold, the stick was consumed! In a moment or two the man droppedwhat was left of it; I stooped--so it seemed--to pick it up; but hestopped me, and set his foot upon the beautiful thing!"

She sighed, and then hurried on. "Saying something further, alsoreassuring, this angel brought forth another of the strange sticks;and when he had made this one bloom, he touched it to the littlepile of leaves. Behold, a greater miracle, Cunora! The blossomsspread to the leaves, and caus'ed them to bloom, too!"

Cunora was eying her companion pretty sharply. "Ye must take me fora simple one, to believe such imagining. "

Rolla became even more earnest. "Yet it were more than imagining, Cunora; 'twere too vivid and impressive for only that. As for theleaves, the blossoming swiftly spread until it covered every bit ofthe pile; and I tell thee that the bloom flowed as high as thy hand!Moreover, after a moment or so, the thing faded and died out, justas flowers do at the end of the season; all that was left of theleaves was some black fragments, from which arose a bluish dust, like unto the cloud that ye and I saw in the sky one day. 

"Then the stranger smiled again, and said something of which Icannot tell the meaning. Once more he performed the miracle, andthis time he contrived to spread the blossom from some leaves to thetip of a large piece of wood which he took from the ground. 'Twas awonderful sight!

"Nay, hear me further, " as Cunora threw herself, with a grunt ofimpatience, back on her bed; "there is a greater wonder to tell. 

"Holding this big blooming stick in one hand, he gave me his other;and it seemed as though I floated through the air by his side. Presently we came to the place where Corrus's herd lay sleeping. Theangel smote one of the cows with the flat of his hand, so that itgot upon its feet; and straighway the stranger thrust the flowingblossom into its face. 

"The cow shrank back, Cunora! 'Twas deadly afraid of that beautifulflower!"

"That is odd, " admitted Cunora. She was getting interested. 

"Then he took me by the hand again, and we floated once more throughthe air. In a short time we arrived at the city of the masters. [Footnote: "Having no microscopes, the Sanusians could not know thatthe soldier bees were unsexed females; hence, "masters. "] Before Iknew it, he had me standing before the door of one of their palaces. I hung back, afraid lest we be discovered and punished; but hesmiled again and spoke so reassuringly that I fled not, but watcheduntil the end. 

"With his finger he tapped lightly on the front of the palace. Noneof the masters heard him at first; so he tapped harder. Presentlyone of them appeared, and flew at once before our faces. Had it notbeen for the stranger's firm grasp I should have fled. 

"The master saw that the stranger was the offender, and buzzedangrily. Another moment, and the master would surely have returnedto the palace to inform the others; and then the stranger would havebeen punished with the Head Out punishment. But instead the angelvery deliberately moved the blooming stick near unto the master; andbehold, it was helpless! Down it fell to the ground, dazed; I couldhave picked it up, or killed it, without the slightest danger!

"Another master came out, and another, and another; and for each andall the flowing blossom was too much! None would come near itwittingly; and such as the angel approached with it were strickenalmost to death. 

"When they were all made helpless the angel bade me hold my handnear the bloom; and I was vastly surprised to feel a great warmth. 'Twas like the heat of a stone which has stood all day in the sun, only much greater. Once my finger touched the bloom, and it gave mea sharp pain. "

Cunora was studying her friend very closely. "Ye could not havedevised this tale, Rolla. 'Tis too unlikely. Is there more of it?"

"A little. The angel once more took me by the hand, and shortly setme down again in this hut. Then he said something which seemed tomean, 'With this magic bloom thou shalt be freed from the masters. They fear it; but ye, and all like ye, do not. Be ye ready to findthe blossom when I bid thee. ' With that he disappeared, and I awoke. 

"Tell me; do I look mad, to thine eyes?" Rolla was beginning to feela little anxious herself. 

Cunora got up and led Rolla to the entrance. The glow of "theSilvery Way" was all the help that the girl's catlike eyesightneeded; she seemed reassured. 

"Ye look very strange and excited, Rolla, but not mad. Tell me againwhat thou didst see and hear, that I may compare it with what yehave already told. "

Rolla began again; and meanwhile, on the earth, the doctor'scompanions telepathically congratulated him on his success. He hadput the great idea into a fertile mind. 

Presently they began to look for other minds. It seemed wise to getthe notion into as many Sanusian heads as possible. For some hoursthis search proceeded; but in the end, after getting in touch withsome forty or fifty individuals in as many different parts of theplanet, they concluded that they had first hit upon the mostadvanced specimens that Sanus afforded; the only ones, in fact, whose intellect were strong enough to appreciate the value of whatthey were told. The investigators were obliged to work with Rolla, Dulnop, and Corrus only; upon these three depended the success oftheir unprecedented scheme. 

Rolla continued to keep watch upon Supreme; and toward morning--thatis, morning in that particular part of Sanus--the architect wasrewarded by catching the bee in a still drowsy condition. Using thesame method Kinney had chosen, Billie succeeded in giving thesoldier bee a very vivid idea of fire. And judging by the very humanway in which the half-asleep insect tossed about, thrashing herwings and legs and making incoherent sounds, Billie succeededadmirably. The other bees in the hive came crowding around, andSupreme had some difficulty in maintaining her dignity andauthority. In the end she confided in the subordinate next incommand:

"I have had a terrible dream. One of our slaves, or a woman muchlike one, assaulted me with a new and fearful weapon. " She describedit more or less as Rolla had told Cunora. "It was a deadly thing;but how I know this, I cannot say, except that it was exceedinglyhot. So long as the woman held it in her hand, I dared not go nearher. 

"See to it that the others know; and if such a thing actually comesinto existence, let me know immediately. "

"Very well, Supreme. " And the soldier straightway took the tale toanother bee. This told, both proceeded to spread the news, bee-fashion; so that the entire hive knew of the terror within a fewminutes. Inside an hour every hive in the whole "city" had beeninformed. 

"Give them time now, " said the doctor, "and they will tell every beeon the planet. Suppose we want a couple of weeks before doinganything further? The more afraid the bees are in advance, theeasier for Rolla and her friends. "

Meanwhile Corrus, after a sleepless night with his cattle, haddriven them hurriedly back to the huts surrounding the "experimentalstation. " Here the herdsman turned his herd over to another man, andthen strode over among the huts. Outside one of them--probablyRolla's--he paused and gazed longingly, then gave a deep sigh andwent on. Shortly he reached another hut in which he found Dulnop. 

"I was just going to seek ye!" exclaimed the younger man. "I haveseen a wondrous sight, Corrus!"

Thus the two men came to compare notes, finding that each hadlearned practically the same thing. Corrus being denied the right tovisit any woman save Cunora, Dulnop hurried to Rolla and told herwhat he and the herdsman had learned. The three testimonies made anunshakable case. 

"By the great god Mownoth!" swore Corrus in vast delight when Dulnophad reported. "We have learned a way to make ourselves free! As freeas the squirrels!"

"Aye, " agreed the younger. "We know the method. But--how shall wesecure the means?"

Corrus gave an impatient gesture. "'Twill come in time, Dulnop, justas the dream came! Meanwhile we must tell every one of our kind, sothat all shall be ready when the day comes to strike!

"Then"--his voice lost its savagery, and became soft andtender--"then, Dulnop, lad, ye shall have thy Cunora; and as forRolla and I--"

Corrus turned and walked away, that his friend might not see whatwas in his eyes. 

IX

FOUND!

It was two weeks to a day when the four on the earth, after havingseen very little of each other in the meanwhile, got together forthe purpose of finishing their "revelation" to the Sanusians. 

"Mr. Van Emmon and I, " stated Billie coolly, as they put on theirbracelets, "have been trying to decide upon the best way of tellingthem how to obtain fire. "

Neither Smith nor the doctor showed that he noticed her "Mr. VanEmmon. " Evidently the two were still unreconciled. 

"I argue, " remarked the geologist, "that the simplest method will bea chemical one. There's lots of ways to produce fire spontaneously, with chemicals; and this woman Rolla could do it easily. "

Billie indulged in a small, superior smile. "He forgets that allthese chemical methods require pure chemicals. And you don't findthem pure in the natural state. You've got to have fire to reducethem with. "

"What's your proposition, then?" from the doctor. 

"Optics!" enthusiastically. She produced a large magnifying-glassfrom her pocket. "All we have to do is to show Dulnop--he'ssomething of a mineralogist--how to grind and polish a piece ofcrystal into this shape!"

Van Emmon groaned. "Marvelous! Say, if you knew how infernally hardit is to find even a small piece of crystal, you'd never proposesuch a thing! Why, it would take years--Mrs. Van Emmon!"

Smith also shook his head. "Neither of you has the right idea. Theeasiest way, under the circumstances, would be an electrical one. "

He paused, frowning hard; then vetoed his own plan. "Thunder; I'malways speaking first and thinking afterward. I never used to doit, " accusingly, "until I got in with you folks. Anyhow, electricitywon't do; you've got to have practically pure elements for that, too. "

"Guess it's up to you, doc, " said Billie. And they all lookedrespectfully toward their host. 

He laughed. "You three will never learn anything. You'll continue tothink that I'm a regular wonder about these things, but you nevernotice that I merely stay still and let you commit yourselves firstbefore I say anything. All I have to do is select the one idearemaining after you've disproved the rest. Nothing to it!"

He paused. "I'm afraid we're reduced to the spark method. It wouldtake too long to procure materials pure enough for any other plan. Friction is out of the question for such people; they haven't thepatience. Suppose we go ahead on the flint-and-spark basis. "

They went at once into the familiar trance state. Nightfall wasapproaching on the part of Sanus in which they were interested. Smith and Van Emmon came upon Dulnop and Corrus as they were talkingtogether. The herdsman was saying:

"Lad, my heart is heavy this night. " Much of his usual vigor wasabsent. "When I were passing Cunora's field this day, some of themasters came and drove me over to her side. I tried to get away, andone threatened to kill. I fear me, lad, they intend to force us tomarry!"

"What!" fiercely, from the younger. 

Corrus laid a hand upon his arm. "Nay, Dulnop; fear not. I have nofeeling for thy Cunora; I may marry her, but as for fathering herchildren--no!"

"Suppose, " through set teeth, "suppose They should threaten to killthee?"

"I should rather die, Dulnop, than be untrue to Rolla!"

The younger man bounded to his feet. "Spoken like a man! And I tellthee, neither shall I have aught to do with Rolla! Rather death thandishonor!"

Next moment silence fell between them; and then Van Emmon and Smithnoted that both men had been bluffing in what they had said. For, sitting apart in the growing darkness, each was plainly in terror ofthe morrow. Presently Corrus spoke in a low tone:

"All the same, Dulnop, it were well for me and thee if the secret ofthe flowing blossom were given us this night. I"--he paused, abashed--"I am not so sure of myself, Dulnop, when I hear Theiraccursed buzzing. I fear--I am afraid I might give in!"

At this Dulnop broke down, and fell to sobbing. Nothing could havetold the investigators so well just how childlike the Sanusiansreally were. Corrus had all he could do to hold in himself. 

"Mownoth!" he exclaimed, his eyes raised fervently. "If it be thywill to deliver us, give us the secret this night!"

Meanwhile, in Rolla's hut, a similar scene was going on under thedoctor's projected eye. Cunora lost her nerve, and Rolla came nearto doing the same in her efforts to comfort the other. 

"They are heartless things!" Rolla exclaimed with such bitterness asher nature would permit. "They know not what love is: They withtheir drones and their egg-babes! What is family life to Them?Nothing!

"Somehow I feel that Their reign is nearly at an end, Cunora. Perhaps the great secret shall be given us to-night!"

The girl dried her tears. "Why say ye that, Rolla?"

"Because the time be ripe for it. Are not all our kind lookingforward to it? Are we not all expecting and longing for it? Know wenot that we shall, must, have what we all so earnestly desire?" Itwas striking, to hear this bit of modern psychology uttered by thisprimitive woman. "Let me hear no more of thy weeping! Ye shall notbe made to wed Corrus!"

Nevertheless, at the speaking of her lover's name, the older woman'slips trembled despite themselves; and she said nothing furtherbeyond a brief "Sleep well. " After which the two women turned in, and shortly reached the drowsy point. 

Thus it happened that Rolla, after a minute or two, once morearoused Cunora in great excitement, and after securely closing theentrance to the hut against all comers, proceeded to relate what shehad seen. She finished:

"The seed of the flower can be grown in the heart of rotting wood!"And for hours afterward the two whispered excitedly in the darkness. It was hard to have to wait till dawn. 

As for Corrus and Dulnop, they even went so far as to search theheaps of stone in the mineral yards, although neither reallyexpected to find what they sought. 

But the four on the earth, not being able to do anything furtheruntil morning, proceeded to make themselves at home in the doctor'shouse. Smith and the doctor slept together, likewise Billie and Mrs. Kinney; Van Emmon occupied the guest-room in lonely grandeur. Whenhe came down to breakfast he said he had dreamed that he was Corrus, and that he had burned himself on a blazing cow. 

Again in the trance state, the four found that Rolla and Cunora, after reaching an understanding with Corrus and Dulnop, had alreadyleft their huts in search of the required stone. Five beesaccompanied them. Within a few minutes however, Corrus and Dulnopset out together in the opposite direction, as agreed upon; andshortly the guards were withdrawn. This meant that the holiday wasofficially sanctioned, so long as the two couples kept apart; but ifthey were to join forces afterward, and be caught in the act, theywould be severely punished. Such was bee efficiency--and sentiment. 

The doctor had impressed Rolla with the fact that she would find thedesired stone in a mountainous country. Cunora, however, was forexamining every rock she came to; Rolla was continually passingjudgment upon some specimen. 

"Nay, " said she, for the hundredth time. "Tis a very bright stone weseek, very small and very shiny, like sunlight on the water. I shallknow it when I see it, and I shall see it not until we reach themountains. " Soon Cunora's impatience wore off, and the twoconcentrated upon making time. By midday they were well into thehills, following the course of a very dry creek; and now they kept asharp lookout at every step. 

Van Emmon and Smith had similarly impressed Corrus and Dulnop withthe result that there was no loss of time in the beginning. The twomen reached the hills on their side of the valley an hour before thewomen reached theirs. 

And thus the search began, the strangest search, beyond a doubt, within the history of the universe. It was not like the work of someof earth's prehistoric men, who already knew fire and were merelylooking up fresh materials; it was a quest in which an idea, an ideagiven in a vision, was the sole driving force. The most curious partof the matter was that these people were mentally incapable ofconceiving that there was intelligence at work upon them fromanother world, or even that there was another world. 

"Ye saw the stars last night?" Corrus spoke to Dulnop. "Well, 'tisjust such stars as shall awaken the seed of the flower. Ye shallsee!"

Both knew exactly what to look for: the brassy, regularly cutcrystals with the black stripings, such as has led countless men togo through untold hardships in the belief that they had found gold. In fact, iron pyrites is often called "fool gold, " so deceptive isits glitter. 

Yet, it was just the thing for the purpose. Flint they already had, large quantities of it; practically all their tools, such as axesand knives, were made of it. Struck against iron pyrites, a larger, fatter, hotter spark could be obtained than with any other naturalcombination. 

It was Dulnop's luck to see the outcropping. He found the mineralexposed to plain view, a few feet above the bottom of the ravine thetwo were ascending. With a shout of triumph he leaped upon the rock. 

"Here, Corrus!" he yelled, dancing like mad. "Here is the gift ofthe gods!"

The older man didn't attempt to hide his delight. He grabbed hiscompanion and hugged him until his ribs began to crack. Then, with asingle blow from his huge club, the herdsman knocked the specimenclear of the slate in which it was set. Such was their excitement, neither dreamed of marking the place in any way. 

First satisfying themselves that the pyrites really could produce"stars" from the flint, the two hurried down-stream, in search ofthe right kind of wood. In half an hour Corrus came across a dead, worm-eaten tree, from which he nonchalantly broke off a limb as bigas his leg. The interior was filled with a dry, stringy rot, justthe right thing for making a spark "live. "

Then came a real difficulty. It will be better appreciated when themen's childish nature is borne in mind. Their patience was terriblystrained in their attempts to make the sparks fly into the tinder. Again and again one of them would throw the rocks angrily to theground, fairly snarling with exasperation. 

However, the other would immediately take them up and try again. Neither man had a tenth the deftness that is common to adults on theearth. In size and strength alone they were men; otherwise--itcannot too often be repeated--they were mere children. All told, itwas over two hours before the punk began to smolder. 

"By Mownoth!" swore the herdsman, staring reverently at the smoke. "We have done a miracle, Dulnop--ye and I! Be ye sure this is nodream?"

Quite in human fashion, Dulnop seriously reached out and pinched theherdsman's tremendous arm. Corrus winced, but was too well pleasedwith the result to take revenge, although the nature of these menwas such as to call for it. 

"It be no dream!" he declared, still awestruck. 

"Nay, " agreed Dulnop. "And now--to make the flower grow!"

It was Corrus's lungs which really did the work. His prodigiouschest was better than a small pair of bellows, and he blew just ashe had been told in the vision. Presently a small flame appeared inthe tinder, and leaped eagerly upward. Both men jumped back, and forlack of enough air the flame went out. 

"Never mind!" exclaimed Dulnop at Corrus's crestfallen look. "Iremember that we must be ready with leaves, and the like, as soon asthe blossom appears. Blow, ye great wind-maker, and I shall feed theflower!"

And thus it came about that two men of Sanus, for the first time inthe history of the planet, looked upon fire itself. And when theyhad got it to burning well, each of them stared at his hands, andfrom his hands to the little heap of "flowers"; from hands to firethey looked, again and again; and then gazed at one another in awe. 

X

AT HALF COCK

Rolla and Cunora searched for hours. They followed one creek almostto its very beginning, and then crossed a ridge on the left and camedown another stream. Again and again Cunora found bits of mineralsuch as would have deceived any one who had been less accuratelyimpressed than Rolla. As it afterward turned out, the very accuracyof this impression was a great error, strange though that may seem. Finally Rolla glanced up at the sun and sighed. "We will have togive it up for this day, " she told Cunora. "There be just timeenough to return before night. " Neither said anything about thehalf-rations upon which they would be fed in punishment for runningaway. 

So the two started back, making their way in gloomy silence throughthe woods and fields of the valley. Cunora was greatly disappointed, and soon began to show it as any child would, by maintaining asullenness which she broke only when some trifling obstacle, such asa branch, got in her way. Then she would tear the branch from thetree and fling it as far as she could, meanwhile screaming withanger. Rolla showed more control. 

It was nearing nightfall when they came within sight of the huts. Ata distance of perhaps half a mile they stopped and stared hard atthe scene ahead of them. 

"Hear ye anything, Cunora?" asked the older woman. 

The girl's keen ears had caught a sound. "Methinks something hatharoused our people. I wonder--"

"Cunora!" gasped Rolla excitedly. "Think ye that Corrus and Dulnophave succeeded in growing the flower?"

They ran nearer. In a moment it was clear that something mostcertainly was arousing the people. The village was in an uproar. "Stay!" cautioned Rolla, catching her friend's arm. "Let us usecunning! Mayhap there be danger!"

They were quite alone in the fields, which were always deserted atthat hour. Crouching behind a row of bushes, they quickly drew nearto the village, all without being seen. Otherwise, this tale wouldnever be told. 

For Corrus and Dulnop, after having satisfied themselves that thewondrous flowering flower would live as long as they continued tofeed it, had immediately decided to carry it home. To do so theyfirst tried building the fire on a large piece of bark. Of course itburned through, and there had been more delay. Finally Corruslocated a piece of slate, so large that a small fire could be keptup without danger of spilling. 

The two men had hurried straight for the village. Not once dideither of them dream what a magnificent spectacle they made; the twoskin-clad aborigines, bearing the thing which was to change themfrom slaves into free beings, with all the wonders of civilizationto come in its train. Behind them as they marched, if they but knewit, stalked the principles of the steam engine, of the printing-press, of scientific agriculture and mechanical industry in general. Lookabout the room in which you sit as you read this; even to the door-knobsevery single item depends upon fire, directly or indirectly! ButCorrus and Dulnop were as ignorant of this as their teeth were devoidof fillings. 

Not until then did it occur to the four watchers on the earth thatthere was anything premature about the affair. It was Smith whofirst observed:

"Say, Van, I never thought to impress Dulnop with any plan for usingthe fire. How about you and Corrus?"

"By George!" seriously, from the geologist. And immediately the twoset to work trying to reach their agents' minds. 

They failed! Dulnop and Corrus were both too excited, far too wideawake, to feel even the united efforts of all four on the earth. Andthe two Sanusians marched straight into the village without theremotest idea of how they should act. 

"It is a flower!" he shrieked, frantic with joy. "The flower hascome!" the shout was passed along. "Corrus and Dulnop have found theflowering blossom!"

Within a single minute the two men were surrounded by the wholehuman population of the place. For the most part the natives weretoo awestruck to come very near; they were content to stand off andstare at the marvel, or fall upon their knees and worship it. It wasnow so dark that the flames fairly illumined their faces. 

Shortly one or two got up courage enough to imitate Dulnop as he"fed the flower;" and presently there were several little firesburning merrily upon the ground. As for the aborigines, they letthemselves loose; never before did they shout and dance as theyshouted and danced that night. It was this Rolla and Cunora heard. 

Before five minutes had passed, however, a scout awakened Supreme. Billie could see that the bee was angry at having been disturbed, but swiftly collected herself as she realized the significance ofthe scout's report. 

"So they have found the terror, " she reflected aloud. "Very well. Arouse all except the egg-layers and the drones. We can make use ofthe food-gatherers as well as the fighters. "

The hive was soon awake. Billie was sure that every last bee wasgreatly afraid; their agitation was almost pitiful. But such wastheir organization and their automatic obedience to orders, therewas infinitely less confusion than might be supposed. Another fiveminutes had not passed before not only that hive, but all within the"city" were emptied; and millions upon millions of desperate beeswere under way toward the village. 

Rolla and Cunora knew of it first. They heard the buzzing of thatwinged cloud as it passed through the air above their heads; butsuch was the bees' intent interest in the village ahead, the twowomen were not spied as they hid among the bushes. By this timetwilight was half gone. The firelight lit up the crowd of humans asthey surged and danced about their new deity. For, henceforth, firewould replace Mownoth as their chief god; it was easy to see that. 

Moreover, both Corrus and Dulnop, as primitive people will, had beenirresistibly seized by the spirit of the mob. They threw theirburden down and joined in the frenzy of the dance. Louder and louderthey shouted; faster and faster they capered. Already one or two oftheir fellow villagers had dropped, exhausted, to the ground. Neverhad they had so good an excuse for dancing themselves to death!

And into this scene came the bees. Not one of them dared go withinten yards of the flames; for a while, all they did was to watch thehumans. Such was the racket no one noticed the sound of the wings. 

"Shall we attack those on the edge of the crowd?" one of Supreme'slieutenants wanted to know. The commandant considered this with allthe force of what mental experience she had had. 

"No, " she decided. "We shall wait a little longer. Just now, theyare too jubilant to be frightened; we would have to kill them all, and that would not be good policy. " Of course, the bee had thepollen crop, nothing more, in mind when she made her decision; yetit was further justified. There was no let-up in the rejoicing; ifanything, it became more frantic than before. Darkness fell upon acrowd which was reeling in self-induced mental intoxication. 

Rolla and Cunora came a little nearer; and still remaining hidden, saw that more than half their friends had succumbed. One by one theremainder dropped out; their forms lay all about what was left ofthe fire. The two women could easily see what their friends wereblind to: the bees were simply biding their time. 

"Ought we not to rush in and warn them?" whispered Cunora to Rolla. "Surely the flower hath driven them mad!"

"Hush!" warned the older woman. "Be quiet! Everything depends uponour silence!"

It was true. Only two of the villagers remained upon their feet, andshortly one of these staggered and fell in his tracks. The one whowas left was Corrus himself, his immense vitality keeping him going. Then he, too, after a final whoop of triumph and defiance, absolutely unconscious of the poison-laden horde that surroundedhim, fell senseless to the earth. Another minute, and the wholecrowd was still. 

AND THE FIRE HAD GONE OUT. 

The bees came closer. Several thousands of them were stricken bysmoke from the embers, and the rest of the swarm took good care toavoid it. They hovered over the prostrate forms of the aboriginesand made sure that they were unconscious. 

"Is there nothing we can do?" whispered Cunora, straining her eyesto see. 

"Nothing, save to watch and wait, " returned Rolla, her gaze fixedupon the dark heap which marked her lover's form. And thus an hourpassed, with the four on the earth quite unable to take a hand inany way. 

Then one of the villagers--the first, in fact, who had dropped outof the dance--stirred and presently awakened. He sat up and lookedabout him, dazed and dizzy, for all the world like a drunken man. After a while he managed to get to his feet. 

No sooner had he done this than a dozen bees were upon him. Terror-stricken, he stood awaiting their commands. They were notlong in coming. 

By means of their fearful buzzing, the deadly insects guided himinto the nearest hut, where they indicated that he should pick upone of the rude hoelike tools which was used in the fields. Withthis in hand, he was driven to the little piles of smoldering ashes, where the fires had flickered an hour before. 

Hardly knowing what he was doing, but not daring to disobey, the manproceeded to heap dirt over the embers. Shortly he had every sparkof the fire smothered beneath a mound as high as his knees. Not tillthen did any of the others begin to revive. 

As fast as they recovered the bees took charge of them. Not a humanhad courage enough to make a move of offense; it meant certaindeath, and they all knew it only too well. As soon as they were wideawake enough to know what they were doing, they were forced tosearch the bodies of those still asleep. 

"We must find the means for growing the flower, " said Supreme, evidently convinced that a seed was a seed, under any circumstances. And presently they found, tucked away in Corrus's lion-skin, a largechunk of the pyrites, and a similar piece on Dulnop. 

"So these were the discoverers, " commented Supreme. 

"What is your will in their case?" the subordinate asked. 

The commanding bee considered for a long time. Finally she got an idea, such as bees are known to get once in a great while. It was simply anew combination--as all ideas are merely new combinations--of twopunishments which were commonly employed by the bees. 

As a result, eight of the villagers were compelled to carry the twofire-finders to a certain spot on the bank of a nearby stream. Herethe two fragments of pyrites were thrown, under orders, into thewater; so that the eight villagers might know just why the wholething was being done. Next the two men, still unconscious, wereburied up to their necks. Their heads, lolling helplessly, were allthat was exposed. So it was to be the Head Out punishment--imprisonmentof one day with their bodies rigidly held by the soil: acute tortureto an aborigine. But was this all?

One of the villagers was driven to the nearest hut, where he wasforced to secure two large stone axes. Bringing these back to the"torture-place, " as the spot was called, the man was compelled towield one of the clumsy tools while a companion used the other; andbetween them they cut down the tree whose branches had been wavingover the prisoners' heads. Then the villagers were forced to dragthe tree away. 

All of which occurred in the darkness, and out of sight of Rolla andCunora. They could only guess what was going on. Hours passed, anddawn approached. Not till then did they learn just what had beendone. 

The villagers, now all awake, were driven by the bees to the placeon the bank of the stream. There, the eight men who had imprisonedthe two discoverers told what had been done with the "magic stones. "Each villager stared at the offenders, and at something which lay onthe ground before them, and in sober silence went straight to his orher work in the fields. 

Presently the huts were deserted. All the people were on dutyelsewhere. Such bees as were not guarding the fields had returned tothe hives. Rolla and Cunora cautiously ventured forth, taking greatcare to avoid being seen. They hurried fearfully to the stream. 

Before they reached the spot Rolla gave an exclamation and staredcuriously to one side, where the tree had been dragged. Suddenly shegave a terrible cry and rushed forward, only to drop on her kneesand cover her face with hands that shook as with the palsy. At thesame instant Cunora saw what had been done; and uttering a singlepiercing scream, fell fainting to the ground. 

Heaped in front of the two prisoners was a large pile of pebbles. There were thousands upon thousands in the heap. Before each man, ata distance of a foot, was a large gourd-ful of water. To thesavages, these told the whole story; these, together with the treedragged to one side. 

Corrus and Dulnop were to be buried in that spot every day for asmany days as there were pebbles in the heap; in other words, untilthey died. Every night they would be dug up, and every morningburied afresh. And to keep them from telling any of the villagerswhere they had found the pyrites, they were to be deprived of waterall day long. By night their tongues would be too swollen forspeech. For they had been sentenced to the No Shade torture, aswell; their heads would be exposed all day long to the burning sunitself. 

XI

THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

It is significant that Billie, because of her connection with thebee, Supreme, was spared the sight that the doctor saw from Rolla'spoint of view. Otherwise, the geologist's wife might have had adifferent opinion of the matter. As it was--

"Corrus and Dulnop, " said she as cooly as Supreme herself might havespoken, "are not the first to suffer because they have discoveredsomething big. "

Whereupon her husband's wrath got beyond his grip. "Not the first!Is that all you can say?" he demanded hotly. "Why, of all thedamnably cruel, cold-blooded creatures I ever heard of, thoseinfernal bees--"

Van Emmon stopped, unable to go on without blasphemy. 

The doctor had got over the horror of what he had seen. "We want tobe fair, Van. Look at this matter from the bees' view-point forawhile. What were they to do? They had to make sure, as far aspossible, that their supremacy would never be threatened again. Didn't they?"

"Oh, but--damn it all!" cried Van Emmon. "There's a limit somewhere!Such cruelty as that--no one could conceive of it!"

"As for the bees, " flared Billie, "I don't blame 'em! And unless I'mvery much mistaken, the ruling class anywhere, here on the earth orwherever you investigate, will go the limit to hold the reins, oncethey get them!"

The expression on Van Emmon's face was curious to see. There was nofear there, only a puzzled astonishment. Strange as it may seem, Billie had told him something that had never occurred to him before. And he recognized it as truth, as soon as she had said it. 

"Just a minute, " remarked Smith in his ordinary voice; "just aminute. You're forgetting that we don't really know whether Rollaand Cunora are safe. Everything depends upon them now, you know. "

In silence the four went back into telepathic connection. Now, ofcourse, Smith and Van Emmon were practically without agents. Theprisoners could tell them nothing whatever except the tale ofincreasing agony as their torture went on. All that Van Emmon andSmith could do was lend the aid of their mentality to the efforts ofthe other two, and for a while had to be content with what Billie, through Supreme, and the doctor, through Rolla, were able to learn. However, Kinney did suggest that one of the other two men get intouch with Cunora. 

"Good idea, " said Smith. "Go to it, Van Emmon. "

The geologist stirred uneasily, and avoided his wife's eyes. "I--I'mafraid not, Smith. Rather think I'd prefer to rest a while. You doit!"

Smith laughed and reddened. "Nothing doing for an old bach like me. Cunora might--well, you know--go in bathing, for instance. It's allright for the doctor, of course; but--let me out!"

Meanwhile the two women on Sanus, taking the utmost care, managed toretreat from the river bank without being discovered. Keeping theireyes very wide open and their ears strained for the slightest buzz, the two contrived to pass through the village, out into the fields, and thence, from cover to cover, into the foothills on that side ofthe valley where their lovers had found the pyrites. 

"If only we knew which stream they ascended!" lamented Cunora, asthey stood in indecision before a fork in the river. 

"But we don't!" Rolla pointed out philosophically. "We must trust toluck and Mownoth, ye and I. "

And despite all the effort the doctor could put forth to thecontrary, the two women picked out the wrong branch. They searchedas diligently as two people possibly could; but somehow the doctorknew, just because of the wrong choice that had been made, thattheir search would be unsuccessful. He thought the matter over for afew moments, and finally admitted to his three friends:

"I wonder if I haven't been a little silly? Why should I have beenso precious specific in impressing Rolla about the pyrites? Pshaw!Almost any hard rock will strike sparks from flint!"

"Why, of course!" exploded Van Emmon. "Here--let's get busy and tellRolla!"

But it proved astonishingly difficult. The two women were in anextraordinary condition now. They were continually on the alert. Infact, the word "alert" scarcely described the state of mind, thekeen, desperate watchfulness which filled every one of their wakinghours, and caused each to remain awake as long as possible; so thatthey invariably fell to sleep without warning. They could not becaught in the drowsy state!

For they knew something about the bees which the four on the earthdid not learn until Billie had overheard Supreme giving some orders. 

"Set a guard on that river bank, " she told her subordinate, "andmaintain it night and day. If any inferior attempts to recover themagic stone, deal with him or her in the same manner in which wepunished the finders of the deadly flower. "

"It shall be done, Supreme. Is there anything further?"

"Yes. Make quite sure that none of the inferiors are missing. "

Shortly afterward the lieutenant reported that one of the huts wasempty. 

"Rolla, the soil-tester, and Cunora, the vineyardist, are gone. "

"Seek them!" Supreme almost became excited. "They are the lovers ofthe men we punished! They would not absent themselves unless theyknew something! Find them, and torture them into revealing thesecret! We must weed out this flowing blossom forever!"

"It shall be done!"

Such methods were well known to Rolla and Cunora. Had not theirfellow villagers, many of them, tried time after time to escape frombondage? And had they not inevitably been apprehended and drivenback, to be tortured as an example to the rest? It would never do tobe caught!

So they made it a practice to travel only during twilight and dawn, remaining hidden through the day. Invariably one stood watch whilethe other slept. The bees were--everywhere!

Upon crossing the range of mountains going down the other side, Cunora and Rolla began to feel hopeful of two things--first, thattheir luck would change, and the wonderful stone be found; andsecond, that they would be in no danger from the bees in this newcountry, which seemed to be a valley much like the one they hadquit. It was all quite new and strange to them, and in theirinterest they almost forgot at times that each had a terrible scoreto settle when her chance finally came. 

Twice they had exceedingly narrow escapes. Always they keptcarefully hid, but on the third day Cunora, advancing cautiouslythrough some brush, came suddenly upon two bees feeding. She stoppedshort and held her breath. Neither saw her, so intent were they upontheir honey; yet Cunora felt certain that each had been warned towatch out for her. This was true; Billie learned that every bee onthe planet had been told. And so Cunora silently backed away, aninch at a time, until it was safe to turn and run. 

On another occasion Rolla surprised a big drone bee, just as shebent to take a drink of water from a stream. The insect had been outof her sight, on the other side of a boulder. It rose with an angrybuzz as she bent down; a few feet away from her it hung in the air, apparently scrutinizing her to make sure that she was one of therunaways. Her heart leaped to her mouth. Suppose they were reported!

She made a lightninglike grab at the thing, and very nearly caughtit. Straight up it shot, taken by surprise, and dashed blindly intoa ledge of rock which hung overhead. For a second it floundered, dazed; and that second was its last. Cunora gave a single boundforward, and with a vicious swing of a palm-leaf, which she alwayscarried, smashed the bee flat. 

Before they had been free five days they came to an exceedinglyserious conclusion: that it was only a question of time until theywere caught. Sooner or later they must be forced to return; theycould not hope to dodge bees much longer. When Rolla fully realizedthis she turned gravely to the younger girl. 

"Methinks the time has come for us to make a choice, Cunora. Whichshall it be: live as we have been living for the past four days, with the certainty of being caught in time or--face the unknownperils on the edge of the world?"

Cunora dropped the piece of stone she had been inspecting andshivered with fear. "A dreadful choice ye offer, Rolla! Think of thehorrible beasts we must encounter!"

"Ye mean"--corrected the philosophical one--"ye mean, the beastswhich men SAY they have seen. Tell me; hast ever seen such thyself?Many times hast thou been near the edge, I know. "

The girl shook her head. "Nay; not I. Yet these beasts must be, Rolla; else why should all men tell of them?"

"I note, " remarked Rolla thoughtfully, "that each man tells ofseeing a different sort of beast. Perchance they were all but lies. "

However, it was Cunora's fear of capture, rather than her faith inRolla's reasoning, which drove the girl to the north. For to thenorth they traveled, a matter of some two weeks; and not once didthey dare relax their vigilance. Wherever they went, there wasvegetation of some sort, and wherever there was vegetation bees werelikely to be found. By the time the two weeks were over, the womenwere in a state of near-hysteria, from the nervous strain of it all. Moreover, both suffered keenly for want of cereals, to which theywere accustomed; they were heartily tired of such fruits and nuts asthey were able to pick up without exposing themselves. 

One morning before daybreak they came to the upper end of a long, narrow valley--one which paralleled their own, by the way--and asthey emerged from the plain into the foothills it was clear thatthey had reached a new type of country. There was comparativelylittle brush; and with every step the rockiness increased. By dawnthey were on the edge of a plateau; back of them stretched theinhabited country; ahead, a haze-covered expanse. Nothing but rockswas about them. 

"Ye are sure that we had best keep on?" asked Cunora uneasily. 

Rolla nodded, slowly but positively. "It is best. Back of us liescertain capture. Ahead--we know not what; but at least there is achance!"

Nevertheless, both hesitated before starting over the plateau. Eachgazed back longingly over the home of their kind; and for a momentHolla's resolution plainly faltered. She hesitated; Cunora made amove as though to return. And at that instant their problem wasdecided for them. 

A large drone passed within six feet of them. Both heard the buzz, and whirled about to see the bee darting frantically out of reach. At a safe distance it paused, as though to make sure of its find, then disappeared down the valley. They had been located!

"We have no choice now!" cried Rolla, speaking above a whisper forthe first time in weeks. "On, as fast as ye can, Cunora!"

The two sped over the rocks, making pretty good time considering theloads they carried. Each had a good-sized goatskin full of variousdried fruits and nuts, also a gourd not so full. In fact, it hadbeen some while since they had had fresh water. Cunora was furtherweighed down by some six pounds of dried rabbit meat; the animalshad been caught in snares. Both, however, discarded their palmleaves; they would be of no further use now. 

And thus they fled, knowing that they had, at most, less than a daybefore the drone would return with enough soldiers to compelobedience. For the most part, the surface was rough granite, withvery little sign of erosion. There was almost no water; both womenshowed intense joy when they found a tiny pool of it standing in acrevasse. They filled their gourds as well as their stomachs. 

A few steps farther on, and the pair stepped out of the shallowgully in which they had been walking. Immediately they were exposedto a very strong and exceedingly cold wind, such as seemed tosurprise them in no way, but compelled both to actually lean againstits force. Moreover, although this pressure was all from the left, it proved exceedingly difficult to go on. Their legs seemed made oflead, and their breathing was strangely labored. This, also, appeared to be just what they had expected. 

Presently, however, they found another slight depression in therocks; and sheltered from the wind, made a little better progressahead. It was bitter cold, however; only the violence of theirexercise could make them warm enough to stand it. All in all, thetwo were considerably over three hours in making the last mile; theyhad to stop frequently to rest. The only compensating thing wastheir freedom from worry; the bees would not bother them where thewind was so strong. So long as they could keep on the move they weresafe. 

But what made it worse was the steadily increasing difficulty ofmoving their legs. For, although the surface continued level, theyseemed to be CLIMBING now, where before they had simply walked. Itwas just as though the plateau had changed into a mountain, and theywere ascending it; only, upon looking back, nothing butcomparatively flat rock met the gaze. What made them lean forward sosteeply anyhow?

Rolla seemed to think it all very ordinary. She was more concernedabout the wind, to which they had become once more exposed as theyreached the end of the rift. On they pressed, five or six steps ateach attempt, stopping to rest twice the length of time theyactually traveled. It was necessary now to cling to the rock withboth hands, and once Cunora lost her grip, so that she would havebeen blown to one side, or else have slipped backward, had not Rollagrasped her heel and held her until she could get another hand-hold. 

"Courage!" gasped Rolla. Perspiration was streaming down her face, despite the bitter cold of the wind; her hands trembled from thestrain she was undergoing. "Courage, Cunora! It be not muchfarther!"

On they strove. Always it seemed as though they were working upwardas well as onward, although the continued flatness of the surfaceargued obstinately against this. Also, the sun remained in the sameposition relative to the rocks; if they were climbing, it shouldhave appeared overhead. What did it mean?

Finally Rolla saw, about a hundred yards farther on, something whichcaused her to shout: "Almost there, Cunora!"

The younger girl could not spare breath enough to reply. Theystruggled on in silence. 

Now they were down on their hands and knees. Before half the hundredyards was covered, they were flat on their faces, literally clawingtheir way upward and onward. Had the wind increased in violence inproportion as the way grew harder, they could never have made it, physical marvels though they were. Only the absolute knowledge thatthey dared not return drove them on; that, and the possibility offinding the precious stone, and of ultimately saving the two menthey had left behind. 

The last twenty feet was the most extraordinary effort that anyhuman had ever been subjected to. They had to take turns innegotiating the rock; one would creep a few inches on, get a goodhold, and brace herself against the wind, while the other, crawlingalongside, used her as a sort of a crutch. Their fingers werebleeding and their finger-nails cracked from the rock and cold; thesame is equally true of their toes. Had it been forty feet insteadof twenty--

The rocks ended there. Beyond was nothing but sky; even this was notlike what they were used to, but was very nearly black. Two morespurts, and Rolla threw one hand ahead and caught the edge of therock. Cunora dragged herself alongside. The effort brought blood toher nostrils. 

They rested a minute or two, then looked at one another in muteinquiry. Cunora nodded; Rolla took great breath; and they drewthemselves to the edge and looked over. 

XII

OUTSIDE INFORMATION

The two women gazed in extreme darkness. The other side of the ridgeof rock was black as night. From side to side the ridge extended, like a jagged knife edge on a prodigious scale; it seemed infinitein extent. Behind them--that is, at their feet--lay thestone-covered expanse they had just traversed; ahead of them therewas--nothingness itself. 

Cunora shook with fear and cold. "Let us not go on, Rolla!" shewhimpered. "I like not the looks of this void; it may contain allsorts of beasts. I--I am afraid!" She began to sob convulsively. 

Rolla peered into the darkness. Nothing whatever was to be seen. Itwas as easy to imagine enemies as friends; easier in fact. Whatmight not the unknown hold for them?

"We cannot stay here, " spoke Rolla, with what energy her conditionwould permit. "We could not--hold on. Nor can we return now; Theywould surely find us!"

But Cunora's courage, which had never faltered in the face offamiliar dangers, was not equal to the unknown. She wailed: "Rolla!A little way back--a hollow in the rock! 'Tis big enough to shelterme! I would--rather stay there than--go on!"

"Ye would rather die there, alone!"

Cunora hid her face. "Let me have half the food! I can go back tothe pool--for water! And maybe, " hopefully--"maybe They will giveup the search in time. "

"Aye, " from Rolla, bitterly. "And in time Dulnop will die, if we donothing for him--and for Corrus!"

Cunora fell to sobbing again. "I cannot help it! I am--afraid!"

Rolla scarcely heard. An enormous idea had just occurred to her. Shehad told the girl to think of Dulnop and Corrus; but was it notequally true that they should think of all the other humans, theirfellow slaves, each of whom had suffered nearly as much? Was not thefire equally precious to them all?

She started to explain this to the girl, then abruptly gave it up. It was no use; Cunora's mind was not strong enough to take the step. Rolla fairly gasped as she realized, as no Sanusian had realizedbefore, that she had been given the responsibility of rescuing AWHOLE RACE. 

Fire she must have! And since she could not, dared not, seek ithere, she must try the other side of the world. And she would haveto do it--alone!

"So be it!" she said loudly in a strange voice. "Ye stay here andwait, Cunora! I go on!"

And for fear her resolution would break down, she immediately creptover the edge. She clung to the rock as though expecting to bedragged from it. Instead, as she let her feet down into theblackness, she could feel solid rock beneath her body, quite thesame as she had lain upon a moment before. It was like descendingthe opposite side of an incredibly steep mountain, a mountain madeof blackness itself. 

The women gave one another a last look. For all they knew, neitherwould gaze upon the other again. Next moment, with Cunora'sdespairing cry ringing in her ears, Holla began to crawl backwardand downward. 

She could plainly see the sun's level rays above her head, irregularbeams of yellowish light; it served slightly to illuminate hersurroundings. Shortly, however, her eyes became accustomed to thedarkness; the stars helped just as they had always helped; and soonshe was moving almost as freely as on the other side. 

Once she slipped, and slid down and to one side, for perhaps tenfeet. When she finally grabbed a sharp projecting ledge and stopped, her vision almost failed from the terrible effort she had put forth. She could scarcely feel the deep gash that the ledge had made in herfinger-tips. 

After perhaps half an hour of hard work among bare rocks exactlylike those she had quit, she stopped for a prolonged rest. As amatter of course, she stared at the sky; and then came her firstdiscovery. 

Once more let it be understood that her view was totally differentfrom anything that has ever been seen on the earth. To be sure, "up"was over her head, and "down" was under her feet; nevertheless, shewas stretched full length, face down, on the rock. In other words, it was precisely as though she were clinging to a cliff. Sky above, sky behind and all sides; there were stars even under her feet!

But all her life she had been accustomed, at night, to see thatbroad band of silver light across the heavens. She had taken it forgranted that, except at two seasons of the year, for short periods, she would always see "the Silvery Way. " But tonight--there was noband! The whole sky was full of--stars, nothing else!

It will be easier to picture her wonder and uneasiness if she iscompared mentally with a girl of five or six. Easier, too, toappreciate the fact that she determined to go on anyhow. 

Mile after mile was covered in the darkness. Rolla was on the pointof absolute exhaustion; but she dared not sleep until she reached aspot where there was no danger of falling. It was only after bravingthe gale for over four hours in the starlight that Rolla reached apoint where she was no longer half crawling, half creeping, butmoved nearly erect. Shortly she was able to face the way she wasgoing; and by leaning backward was able to make swift progress. Inanother half-hour she was walking upright. Still no explanation ofthe mystery!

Finding a sheltered spot, she proceeded to make herselfcomparatively comfortable on the rock. Automatically, from habit, she proceeded to keep watch; then she must have remembered thatthere was now no need for vigilance. For she lay herself down in thedarkness and instantly fell asleep. 

Three hours later--according to the time kept by the watchers on theearth--Rolla awoke and sat up in great alarm. And small wonder. 

It was broad daylight! The sun was well above the horizon; and notonly the Sanusian but the people on the earth were vastly puzzled tonote that it was the western horizon! To all appearances, Rolla hadslept a whole day in that brief three hours. 

Shortly her nerves were steady enough for her to look about, uncomprehendingly, but interestedly, as a child will. There wasnothing but rock to be seen; a more or less level surface, such asshe had toiled over the day before. The day before! She glanced atthe sun once more, and her heart gave a great leap. 

The sun was rising--in the west!

'"Tis a world of contraries, " observed Rolla sagely to herself. "Mayhap I shall find all else upside down. "

She ate heartily, and drank deep from her gourd. There was not acupful remaining. She eyed it seriously as she got to her feet. 

Another look back at that flat expanse of granite, which had sogradually and so mysteriously changed from precipice to plain, andRolla strode on with renewed vigor and interest. Presently she wasable to make out something of a different color in the distance, andsoon was near enough to see some bona-fide bushes; a low, flowerlessshrub, it is true, but at least it was a living thing. 

Shortly the undergrowth became dense enough to make it somewhat ofan effort to get through. And before long she was noticing allmanner of small creatures, from bugs to an occasional wanderingbird. These last, especially, uttered an abrupt but cheerful chirpwhich helped considerably to raise her spirits. It was all too easyto see, in her fancy, her lover helpless and suffering in the powerof those cold-blooded, merciless insects. 

In an hour or two she reached the head of a small stream. Hurryingdown its banks as rapidly as its undergrowth would permit, Rollafollowed its course as it bent, winding and twisting, in thedirection which had always been north to her, but which the sunplainly labeled "south. " Certainly the sun mounted steadily towardthe zenith, passing successively through the positions correspondingto four, three and two o'clock, in a manner absolutely baffling. 

About noon she came out of the canon into the foothills. Anotherbrief rest, and from the top of a knoll she found herself lookingupon a valley about the size of the one she called "home. "Otherwise, it was very different. For one thing, it was far betterwatered; nowhere could she see the half-dried brownishness socharacteristic of her own land. The whole surface was heavily grownwith all manner of vegetation; and so far as she could see it wasall absolutely wild. There was not a sign of cultivation. 

Keeping to the left bank of the river, a much broader affair thanany she had seen before, Rolla made her way for several miles withlittle difficulty. Twice she made wide detours through the thicket, and once it was necessary to swim a short distance; the stream wastoo deep to wade. The doctor watched the whole affair, purely as amatter of professional interest. 

"She is a magnificent specimen physically, " he said in hisimpersonal way, "and she shows none of the defects of the Africansavages. "

And such was his manner, in speaking of his distant "patient, " thatBillie took it entirely as a matter of course, without the slightestself-consciousness because of Van Emmon and Smith. 

All this while Rolla had been intent, as before, upon finding someof the coveted crystals. She had no luck; but presently shediscovered something decidedly worth while--a fallen tree trunk, nottoo large, and near enough to the bank to be handled without help. Afew minutes later she was floating at ease, and making decidedlybetter time. 

A half-hour of this-during which she caught glimpses of manyanimals, large and small, all of which fled precipitately--and sherounded a sharp bend in the stream, to be confronted with a sightwhich must have been strange indeed to her. Stretching across theriver was--a network of rusty wire, THE REMAINS OF A REINFORCEDCONCRETE BRIDGE. 

There was no doubt of this. On each bank was a large, moss-grownblock of stone, which the doctor knew could be nothing else than theold abutments. Seemingly there had been only a single span. 

The woman brought the log to the shore, and examined the bridgeclosely. Instinctively she felt that the structure argued a highdegree of intelligence, very likely human. A little hesitation, andthen she beached her log, ascended the bank, and looked upon thebridge from above. 

A narrow road met her eyes. Once it might have been twice as wide, but now the thicket encroached until there was barely room enough, judged the doctor, for a single vehicle to pass. Its surface wasbadly broken up--apparently it had been concrete--and grass grew inevery crack. Nevertheless, it was a bona-fide road. 

For the first time in a long while, Rolla was temporarily off herguard. The doctor was able to impress her with the idea of "Followthis road!" and to his intense gratification the woman started awayfrom the river at once. 

Soon the novelty of the thing wore off enough for her to concernherself with fresh food. She discovered plenty of berries, alsothree kinds of nuts; all were strange to her, yet she ate themwithout question, and suffered nothing as a result, so far as thedoctor could see. 

The sun was less than an hour from the horizon when the road, afterpassing over a slight rise, swung in a wide arc through the woodsand thus unveiled a most extraordinary landscape. It was all themore incredible because so utterly out of keeping with what Rollahad just passed through. She had been in the wilderness; now--

A vast city lay before her. Not a hundred yards away stood a low, square building of some plain, gray stone. Beyond this stretchedblock upon block--mile upon mile, rather--of bona-fide residences, stores and much larger buildings. It is true that the whole placewas badly overgrown with all sorts of vegetation; yet, from thatslight elevation, there was no doubt that this place was, or hadbeen, a great metropolis. 

Presently it became clear that "had been" was the correct term. Nothing but wild life appeared. Rolla looked closely for any signsof human occupancy, but saw none. To all appearances the place wasdeserted; and it was just as easy to say that it had been so for tencenturies as for one. 

"There seems no good reason why I should not go farther, " commentedRolla aloud, to boost her courage. "Perchance I shall find the magicstone in this queer place. "

It speaks well for her self-confidence that, despite the totalstrangeness of the whole affair--a city was as far out of her lineas aviation to a miner--she went forward with very littlehesitation. None of the wild creatures that scuttled from her sightalarmed her at all; the only things she looked at closely were suchbees as she met. The insects ignored her altogether, except to keepa respectful distance. 

"These masters, " observed Rolla with satisfaction, "know nothing ofme. I shall not obey them till they threaten me. " But there was nothreatening. 

For the most part the buildings were in ruins. Here and there astructure showed very little damage by the elements. In more thanone case the roof was quite intact. Clearly the materials used wereexceptional, or else the place had not been deserted very long. Thedoctor held to the latter opinion, especially after seeing a certainbrown-haired dog running to hide behind a heap of stones. 

"It was a dog!" the doctor felt sure. To Rolla, however, the animalwas even more significant. She exclaimed about it in a way whichconfirmed the doctor's guess. On she went at a faster rate, plainlyexcited and hopeful of seeing something further that she couldrecognize. 

She found it in a hurry. Reaching the end of one block of the ruins, she turned the corner and started to follow the cross street. Whereupon she stopped short, to gaze in consternation at a line ofsomething whitish which stretched from one side of the "street" tothe other. 

It was a line of human skeletons. 

There were perhaps two hundred in the lot, piled one on top of theother, and forming a low barrier across the pavement. To Rolla thething was simply terrible, and totally without explanation. To thepeople on the earth, it suggested a formation of troops, shot downin their tracks and left where they had fallen. The doctor wouldhave given a year of his life if only Rolla had had the courage toexamine the bones; there might have been bullet holes, or otherevidence of how they had met their death. 

The Sanusian chose rather to back carefully away from the spot. Shewalked hurriedly up the street she had just left, and before goinganother block came across two skeletons lying right in the middle ofthe street. A little farther on, and she began to find skeletons onevery hand. Moreover--and this is especially significant--thebuildings in this locality showed a great many gaps and holes intheir walls, such as might have been made by shell-fire. 

This made it easier to understand something else. Every few yards orso the explorer found a large heap of rust in the gutter, or whathad once been the gutter. These heaps had little or no shape; yetthe doctor fancied he could detect certain resemblances to things hehad seen before, and shortly declared that they were the remains ofmotors. 

"Can't say whether they were aircraft or autos, of course, " headded, "but those things were certainly machines. " Later, Rolla paidmore attention to them, and the doctor positively identified them asformer motor-cars. 

The sun had gone down. It was still quite light, of course; darknesswould not come for a couple of hours. Rolla munched on what food shehad, and pressed on through the ruins. She saw skeletons and rustedengines everywhere, and once passed a rounded heap of rust whichlooked like nothing so much as a large cannon shell. Had the placebeen the scene of a battle?

Just when she had got rather accustomed to the place and was feelingmore or less at her ease, she stopped short. At the same time thedoctor himself fairly jumped in his chair. Somewhere, right near athand, on one of the larger structures, a bell began to ring!

It clanged loudly and confidently, giving out perhaps thirty strokesbefore it stopped. The stillness which followed was pretty painful. In a moment, however, it was broken as effectively as any silencecan be broken. 

A man's voice sounded within the building. 

Immediately it was replied to, more faintly, by several others. Thencame the clatter of some sort of utensils, and sundry other noiseswhich spoke loudly of humans. Rolla froze in her tracks, and herteeth began to chatter. 

Next moment she got a grip on herself. "What difference doth itmake, whether they be friend or enemy?" she argued severely, for thebenefit of her shaking nerves. "They will give thee food, anyhow. And perchance they know where liveth the magic stone!"

In the end Rolla's high purpose prevailed over her weak knees, andshe began to look for the entrance to the place. It was partly inruins-that is, the upper stories-but the two lower floors seemed, sofar as their interior could be seen through the high, unglazedwindows, to be in good condition. There were no doors on thatstreet. 

Going around the corner, however, Rolla saw a high archway at thefar corner of the structure. Approaching near enough to peek in, shesaw that this arch provided an opening into a long corridor, such asmight once have served as a wagon or auto entrance. After a littlehesitation she went in. 

She passed a door, a massive thing of solid brassy metal, such asinterested the doctor immensely but only served to confuse theexplorer. A little farther on, and the corridor became pretty dark. She passed another brass door, and approached the end of thepavement. There was one more door there; and she noted withexcitement that it was open. 

She came closer and peered in. The room was fairly well lighted, andwhat she saw was clear-cut and unmistakable. In the middle of theroom was a long table, and seated about it, in perfect silence, satan even dozen men. 

XIII

THE TWELVE

For a minute or two Rolla was not observed. She simply stood andstared, being neither confident enough to go forward nor scaredenough to retreat. Childlike, she scrutinized the group with greatthoroughness. 

Their comparatively white faces and hands puzzled her most. Also, she could not understand the heavy black robes in which all weredressed. Falling to the floor and reaching far above their necks, such garments would have been intolerable to the free-limbedSanusians. To the watchers on the earth, however, the robes made thegroup look marvelously like a company of monks. 

Not that there was anything particularly religious about the placeor in their behavior. All twelve seemed to be silent only becausethey were voraciously hungry. A meal was spread on the table. Exceptfor the garments, the twelve might have been so many harvest hands, gathered for the evening meal in the cook-house. From thewhite-bearded man who sat at the head of the table and passed outlarge helpings of something from a big pot, to the fair-haired youngfellow at the foot, who could scarcely wait for his share, there wasonly one thing about them which might have been labeled pious; andthat was their attitude, which could have been interpreted: "Give usthis day our daily bread--and hurry up about it!"

Apparently Rolla was convinced that these men were thoroughly human, and as such fairly safe to approach. For she allowed her curiosityto govern her caution, and proceeded to sidle through the doorway. Half-way through she caught a whiff of the food, and her sidlingchanged to something faster. 

At that instant she was seen. A tall, dark-haired chap on the farside of the table glanced up and gave a sharp, startled exclamation. Instantly the whole dozen whirled around and with one accord shot totheir feet. 

Rolla stopped short. 

There was a second's silence; then the white-bearded man, who seemedto be the leader of the group, said something peremptory in a deep, compelling voice. Rolla did not understand. 

He repeated it, this time a little less commandingly; and Rolla, after swallowing desperately, inclined her head in the diffident wayshe had, and said:

"Are ye friends or enemies?"

Eleven of the twelve looked puzzled. The dark-haired man, who hadbeen the first to see her, however, gave a muttered exclamation;then he cogitated a moment, wet his lips and said something thatsounded like: "What did you say? Say it again!"

Rolla repeated. 

The dark-haired man listened intently. Immediately he fell tonodding with great vigor, and thought deeply again before makinganother try: "We are your friends. Whence came ye, and what seekye?"

Rolla had to listen closely to what he said. The language wassubstantially the same as hers; but the verbs were misplaced in thesentences, the accenting was different, and certain of the vowelswere flatted. After a little, however, the man caught her way oftalking and was able to approximate it quite well, so that sheunderstood him readily. 

"I seek, " Rolla replied, "food and rest. I have traveled far and amweary. "

"Ye look it, " commented the man. His name, Rolla found out later, was Somat. "Ye shall have both food and rest. However, whence cameye?"

"From the other side of the world, " answered Rolla calmly. 

Instantly she noted that the twelve became greatly excited whenSomat translated her statement. She decided to add to the scene. 

"I have been away from my people for many days, " and she held up onehand with the five fingers spread out, opening and closing them fourtimes, to indicate twenty. 

"Ye came over the edge of the world!" marveled Somat. "It were adangerous thing to do, stranger!"

"Aye, " agreed Rolla, "but less dangerous than that from which Ifled. However, " impatiently, "give me the food ye promised; I cantalk after my stomach be filled. "

"Of a surety, " replied Somat apologetically. "I were too interestedto remember thy hunger. " He spoke a word or two, and one of hiscompanions brought another stool, also dishes and table utensils. 

Whereupon the watchers on the earth got a first-class surprise. Herethey had been looking upon twelve men, living in almost barbaricfashion amid the ruins of a great city; but the men had been eatingfrom hand-painted china of the finest quality, and using silverwarethat was simply elegant, nothing less! Luxury in the midst ofdesolation!

Rolla, however, paid little attention to these details. She wasscarcely curious as to the food, which consisted of some sort ofvegetable and meat stew, together with butterless bread, a kind ofsmall-grained corn on the cob, a yellowish root-vegetable not unliketurnips, and large quantities of berries. She was too hungry to beparticular, and ate heartily of all that was offered, whether cookedor uncooked. The twelve almost forgot their own hunger in theirinterest in the stranger. 

It was now pretty dark in the big room. The white-bearded man saidsomething to the young fellow at the foot of the table, whereuponthe chap got up and stepped to the nearest wall, where he pressedsomething with the tip of his finger. Instantly the room was floodedwith white light--from two incandescent bulbs!

Rolla leaped to her feet in amazement, bunking painfully in theunaccustomed glare. 

"What is this?" she demanded, all the more furiously to hide herfear. "Ye would not trick me with magic; ye, who call yourselvesfriends!"

Somat interpreted this to the others. Some laughed; others lookedpityingly at her. Somat explained:

"It is nothing, stranger. Be not afraid. We forgot that ye mightknow nothing of this 'magic. '" He considered deeply, apparentlytrying to put himself in her place. "Know ye not fire?" Of course, she did not know what he meant. "Then, " with an inspiration, "perchance ye have see the flower, the red flower, ye might call--"

"Aye!" eagerly. "Doth it grow here?"

Somat smiled with satisfaction, and beckoned for her to follow him. He led the way through a small door into another room, evidentlyused as a kitchen. There he pointed to a large range, remarkablylike the up-to-date article known on the earth. 

"The flower 'groweth' here, " said he, and lifted a lid from thestove. Up shot the flame. 

"Great Mownoth!" shouted Holla, forgetting all about her hunger. "Ihave found it--the precious flower itself!"

Somat humored her childlike view-point. "We have the seed of theflower, too, " said he. He secured a box of matches from a shelf, andshowed her the "little sticks. "

"Exactly what the angel showed me!" jubilated Holla. "I have come tothe right place!"

Back she went to her food, her face radiant, and all her lurkingsuspicion of the twelve completely gone. From that time on she hadabsolute and unquestioning confidence in all that was told her. Inher eyes, the twelve were simply angels or gods who had seen fit toclothe themselves queerly and act human. 

Supper over, she felt immensely tired. All the strain of the pastthree weeks had to have its reaction. Like a very tired, sleepychild, she was led to a room in another part of the building, whereshe was shown an ordinary sleeping-cot. She promptly pulled themattress onto the floor, where she considered it belonged, and fellfast asleep. 

Meanwhile, back on the earth, Van Emmon and Smith had lost no timein making use of the doctor's description of the twelve. Within afew minutes they had new agents; Van Emmon used Somat's eyes andears, while Smith got in touch with the elderly bearded man at thehead of the table. His name was Deltos. 

"A very striking confirmation of the old legends, " he was sayingthrough a big yawn, as Smith made connection. He used a colloquialtype of language, quite different from the lofty, dignified speechof the Sanusians. "That is, of course, if the woman is telling thetruth. "

"And I think she is, " declared the young fellow at the foot of thetable. "It makes me feel pretty small, to think that none of us everhad the nerve to make the trip; while she, ignorant as she is, daredit all and succeeded!"

"You forget, Sorplee, " reminded Somat, "that such people are farhardier than we. The feat is one that requires apelike ability. Theonly thing that puzzled me is--why did she do it at all?"

"It will have to remain a puzzle until she awakens, " said Deltos, rising from the table. "Lucky for us, Somat, that you saw fit tostudy the root tongues. Otherwise we'd have to converse by signs. "

Neither Smith nor Van Emmon learned anything further that night. Thetwelve were all very tired, apparently, and went right to bed; aprocedure which was straightway seconded by the four watchers on theearth. Which brings us in the most ordinary manner to the events ofthe next day. 

After breakfast all but Somat left the place and disappeared invarious directions; and Rolla noted that the robes were, evidently, worn only at meal time. Most of the men were now dressed in roughworking garments, similar to what one sees in modern factories. Whimsical sort of gods, Rolla told herself, but gods just the same. 

"Tell me, " began Somat, as the woman sat on the floor before him--hecould not get her to use a chair--"tell me, what caused thee toleave thy side of the world? Did ye arouse the wrath of thy fellowcreatures?"

"Nay, " answered Rolla, and proceeded to explain, in the wrong order, as a child might, by relating first the crossing of the ridge, theflight from the bees, the "masters'" cruel method of dealing withCorrus and Dulnop, and finally the matter of the fire itself, thereal cause of the whole affair. Somat was intelligent enough to fillin such details as Rolla omitted. 

"Ye did right, and acted like the brave girl ye are!" he exclaimed, when Rolla had finished. However, he did not fully appreciate whatshe had meant by "the winged masters, " and not until she pointed outsome bees and asked if, on this part of the planet, such were therulers of the humans, that the man grasped the bitter irony of itall. 

"What! Those tiny insects rule thy lives!" It took him some time tocomprehend the deadly nature of their stings, and the irresistiblepower of concerted effort; but in the end he commented: "'Tis not sostrange, now that I think on it. Mayhap life is only a matter ofchance, anyway. "

Presently he felt that he understood the Sanusian situation. He fellsilent; and Rolla, after waiting as long as her patience wouldallow, finally put the question temporarily uppermost in her mind:

"It is true that I have crossed the edge of the world. And yet, Iunderstand it not at all. Can ye explain the nature of this strangeworld we live upon, Somat?" There was infinite respect in the wayRolla used his name; had she known a word to indicate humaninfallibility, such as "your majesty, " she would have used it. "There is a saying among our people that the world be round. How canthis be so?"

"Yet it is true, " answered Somat, "although ye must know that it benot round like a fruit or a pebble. No more is it flat, like this, "indicating the lid of the stove, near which they sat. "Instead, 'tisshaped thus"--and he took from his finger a plain gold band, like anordinary wedding ring--"the world is shaped like that!"

Rolla examined the ring with vast curiosity. She had never seen thelike before, and was quite as much interested in the metal as in thething it illustrated. Fortunately the band was so worn that bothedges were nearly sharp, thus corresponding with the knifelike ridgeover which she had crawled. 

"Now, " Somat went on, "ye and your people live on the inner face ofthe world, " indicating the surface next his skin, "while I and mykind live on the outer face. Were it not for the difficulties ofmaking the trip, we should have found you out ere this. "

Rolla sat for a long time with the ring in her hand, pondering thegreat fact she had just learned. And meanwhile, back on the earth, four excited citizens were discussing this latest discovery. 

"An annular world!" exclaimed the doctor, his eyes sparklingdelightedly. "It confirms the nebular hypothesis!"

"How so?" Smith wanted to know. 

"Because it proves that the process of condensation andconcentration, which produces planets out of the original gases cantake place at uneven speeds! Instead of concentrating to theglobular form, Sanus cooled too quickly; she concentrated while shewas still a ring!"

Smith was struck with another phase of the matter. "Must have aqueer sort of gravitation, " he pointed out. "Seems to be the same, inside the ring or outside. Surely, doc it can't be as powerful asit is here on the earth?"

"No; not likely. "

"Then, why hasn't it made a difference in the inhabitants? Seems tome the humans would have different structure. "

"Not necessarily. Look at it the other way around; consider what anenormous variety of animal forms we have here, all developed underthe same conditions. The humming-bird and the python, for instance. Gravitation needn't have anything to do with it. "

Billie was thinking mainly of the question of day and night. "Thering must be inclined at an angle with the sun's rays, " sheobserved. "That being the case, Sanus has two periods each year whenthere is continuous darkness on the inner face; might last a week ortwo. Do you suppose the people all hibernate during those seasons?"But no one had an answer to that. 

Van Emmon said he would give all he was worth to explore theSanusian mountains long enough to learn their geology. He said thatthe rocks ought to produce some new mineral forms, due to thepeculiar condition of strain they would be subjected to. 

"I'm not sure, " said he thoughtfully, "but I shouldn't be surprisedif there's an enormous amount of carbon there. Maybe diamonds are asplentiful as coal is here. "

At the word "diamonds" Smith glanced covertly at Billie's left hand. But she had hidden it in the folds of her skirt. Next moment thedoctor warned them to be quiet; Somat and Rolla were talking again. 

He was telling her about his world. She learned that his people, whohad never concerned themselves with her side of the planet, hadprogressed enormously beyond the Sanusians. Rolla did not understandall that he told her; but the people on the earth gathered, in oneway or another, that civilization had proceeded about as far as thatof the year 1915 in Europe. All this, while fellow humans only a fewthousand miles away, not only failed to make any progress at all, but lived on, century after century, the absolute slave of a race ofbees!

But it was a fact. The ancient city in which Rolla found herself hadbeen, only a generation before, a flourishing metropolis, thecapital of a powerful nation. There had been two such nations onthat side of the planet, and the most violent rivalry had existedbetween them. 

"However, " Somat told Rolla, "'twas not this rivalry which wroughttheir downfall, except indirectly. The last great war between themwas terrible, but not disastrous. Either could have survived that. 

"But know you that the ruler of one of the nations, in order tocarry on this war--which was a war of commerce (never mind what thatmeans)--in order to carry it on was obliged to make greatconcessions to his people. In the other nation, the ruler oppressedthe workers, instead, and drove them mad with his cruelty. So that, not long after the end of the war, there was a great rebellion amongthe people who had been so long oppressed, and their government wasoverthrown. "

Back on the earth the four investigators reflected on this inamazement. The case was wonderfully like that of Russia after thegreat war. Perhaps--

"Immediately the other nation forced its soldiers to fight thevictorious rebels. But at home the workers had tasted of power. Manyrefused to work at all; and one day, behold, there were tworebellions instead of one! And within a very short time the wholeworld was governed by--the working class!"

So this was what the Venusians had meant when they wrote that Sanuswas ruled by the workers!

"What became of these rebellions?" Rolla asked, little understandingwhat it meant, but curious anyhow. 

"Devastation!" stated Somat solemnly. He waved a hand, to includeall that lay within the ruined city. "Not altogether because of theworkers, although they were scarcely fit for ruling but because theformer rulers and others of that kind, who liked to oppose theirwills upon others, saw fit to start a fresh rebellion. Conflictfollowed conflict; sometimes workers were in power, and sometimesaristocrats. But the fighting ended not until"--he drew a deepbreath--"until there were none left to fight!"

"Ye mean, " demanded Rolla incredulously, "that your people killedthemselves off in this fashion?"

"Aye, " sorrowfully. "There were a few of us--they called us 'themiddle class'--who urged equality. We wanted a government in whichall classes were represented fairly; what we called a democracy. Once the experiment was started, but it failed. 

"Saw ye the skeletons in the streets?" he went on. "'Twas a dreadfulsight, those last few days. I were but a lad, yet I remember it alltoo well. " He paused, then broke out fiercely: "I tell ye that I sawbrother slay brother, father slay son, son slay mother, in thoselast days!

"Lucky am I that I fled, I and my parents! They took me to amountainous country, but even there the madness spread, and one daya soldier of the army killed my father and my mother. He sought me, also, that he might slay me; but I hid from him beneath a heap ofmanure. Aye, " he gritted savagely, "I owe my life to a pile ofmanure!

"These other eleven men all have like tales to tell. Only one womansurvived those awful days. Young Sorplee is her son; his father wasa soldier, whom she herself slew with her own hands. Even she is nowdead. 

"Well, " he finished, after a long pause, "when the madness had spentitself, we who remained came from our hiding-places to find ourworld laid waste. 'Tis now thirty years since Sorplee's mother died, since we first looked upon these ruins, and we have made barely abeginning. We have little heart for the work. Of what use is it, with no women to start the race afresh?"

Rolla started despite herself. Was this the reason why she, despiteher savagery, had been made so welcome?

"Ye have not told me, " said she hurriedly, "why ye and the othersall wear such curious garments when ye eat. "

Somat was taken off his guard. He had been chuckling to himself atthe woman's childlike mind. Now he had to look apologetic and not alittle sheepish as he made reply:

"The robes are a mere custom. It were started a great many yearsago, by the founders of a--a--" He tried to think of a simplerexpression than "college fraternity. " "A clan, " he decided. "All ofwe men were members of that clan. "

"And, " pursued Rolla, "will ye give me the magic stone, that I maytake the flowing blossoms back to my people, and release my lovedone from the masters' cruelty?" The great question was put! Rollawaited in tremulous anxiety for the answer. 

"Aye, stranger!" replied Somat vigorously. "More; ye shall have someof the little sticks!"

Whereupon Rolla leaped to her feet and danced in sheer delight. Somat looked on and marveled. Then, abruptly, he got up and marchedaway. He had not seen a woman in thirty years; and he was a man ofprinciple. 

That night, when the twelve were again seated at the table, Somatrelated this conversation with Rolla. Since he used his ownlanguage, of course she did not understand what was said. "And Itold her, " he concluded, "how we came to be here; also the reasonfor the condition of things. But I doubt if she understood half whatI said. We have quite a problem before us, " he added. "What shall wedo about it?"

"You mean this woman?" Deltos asked. Rolla was busy with her food. "It seems to me, brothers, that Providence has miraculously come toour aid. If we can handle her people rightly the future of the raceis assured. "

Somat thought it was simple enough. "All we need to do is send thiswoman back with a supply of matches, and implicit instructions as tohow best to proceed against the bees. Once released, their friendscan make their way over the edge and settle among us. Let the beeskeep their country. "

The two who had seconded him before again showed agreement. Sorpleeand Deltos, however, together with the other seven, were distinctlyopposed to the method. "Somat, " protested Deltos, as thoughsurprised, "you forget that there's an enormous population overthere. Let them come in of their own free will? Why, they wouldoverrun our country! What would become of us?"

"We'd have to take our chances, replied Somat energetically, "likegood sports! If we can't demonstrate our worth to them, enough tohold their respect, we'd deserve to be snowed under!"

"Not while I'm alive!" snarled Sorplee. "If they come here, they'vegot to give up their wilderness ways, right off! We can't standsavagery! The safest thing for us, and the best for them, is to makean industrial army of 'em and set 'em to work!" His enthusiasm wasboundless. 

"I must say, " admitted Deltos, with his usual dignity, "that youhave the right idea, Sorplee. If I had stated it, however, I shouldhave been more frank about it. The arrangements you propose simplymeans that we are to take possession of them!"

"What!" shouted Somat, horrified. 

"Why, of course! Make slaves of them! What else?"

XIV

THE SLAVE RAID

Despite all that Somat and his two backers could say, the other ninemen swiftly agreed upon the thing Deltos had proposed. Somat went sofar as to declare that he would warn Rolla; but he was instantlygiven to understand that any such move would be disastrous tohimself. In the end he was made to agree not to tell her. 

"We aren't going to let you and your idealism spoil our only chanceto save the race!" Sorplee told him pugnaciously; and Somat gave hisword. At first he hoped that the nine might fall out amongthemselves when it came to actually enslaving the Sanusians; but hesoon concluded that, if there was any difference of opinion, thearistocratic element would take charge of half the captives, whileSorplee's friends commandeered the rest. The outlook was prettyblack for Rolla's friends; yet there was nothing whatever to doabout it. 

Among the four people on the earth, however, the thing was beingdiscussed even more hotly. Van Emmon found himself enthusiasticallybacking Somat, the liberal-minded one. 

"He's got the right idea, " declared the geologist. "Let theSanusians come over of their own free will! Let the law ofcompetition show what it can do! Dandy experiment!"

Smith could not help but put in: "Perhaps it's Deltas and Sorpleewho are right, Van. These Sanusians are mere aborigines. Theywouldn't understand democratic methods. "

"No?" politely, from the doctor. "Now, from what I've seen of Rolla, I'll say she's a perfect example of 'live-and-let-live. ' Nothingeither subservient or autocratic in her relations with other people. Genuinely democratic, Smith. "

"Meanwhile, " remarked Billie, with exaggerated nonchalance, "meanwhile, what about the bees? Are they going to be permitted toshow their superiority or not?" Van Emmon took this to be aimed athim. "Of course not! We can't allow a race of human beings to bedominated forever by insects!

"I say, let's get together and put Rolla wise to what Deltos andSorplee are framing up! We can do it, if we concentrate upon thesame thought at the right time!"

Smith did not commit himself. "I don't care much either way, " hedecided. "Go ahead if you want to"--meaning Van Emmon and thedoctor--"I don't want to butt in. "

"Don't need you, " growled the geologist. "Two of us is enough. "

"Is that so?" sarcastically, from Billie. "Well, it'll take morethan two of you to get it over to Rolla!"

"What do you mean?" hotly. 

"I mean, " with deliberation, --"that if you and the doctor try tointerfere I'll break up our circle here!" They stared at herincredulously. "I sure will! I'm not going to lend my mentalinfluence for any such purpose!"

"My dear, " protested the doctor gently, "you know how it is: thecombined efforts of the four of us is required in order to keep intouch with Sanus. Surely you would not--"

"Oh, yes, I would!" Billie was earnestness itself. "Mr. Van Emmonwas so good as to blame me for what I did in that Capellette mix-up;now, if you please, I'm going to see to it that this one, anyhow, works itself out without our interference!"

"Well, I'll be darned!" The geologist looked again, to make sure itwas really his wife who had been talking thus. "I'm mighty glad toknow that you're not intending to warn Supreme, anyhow!"

"Maybe I shall! snapped Bilhe. 

"If you do, " stated the doctor quietly, "then I'll break the circlemyself. " They looked at him with a renewal of their former respectas he concluded emphatically: "If you won't help us stop this slaveraid, Billie, then, by George, you'll at least let the bees fight itout on their own!"

And so the matter stood, so far as the investigators were concerned. They were to be lookers-on, nothing more. 

Meanwhile the survivors of a once great civilization prepared tomove in person against the bees. They did this after Deltos hadpointed out the advantages of such a step. 

"If we rout the bees ourselves, " said he, "the natives will regardus as their saviors, and we shall have no trouble with themafterward. "

This was sound policy; even Somat had to admit it. He had decided tobe a member of the expedition, for the reason that Rolla flatlyrefused to accompany the other men unless he, her special god, wentalong. His two liberal-minded friends stayed behind to take care oftheir belongings in the ruined city. 

The expedition was a simple one. It consisted of a single large autotruck and trailer, the only items of automotive machinery that thetwelve had been able to reconstruct from the ruins. However, theseserved the purpose; they carried large supplies of food, also meansfor protection against the bees, together with abundant material forrouting them. A large quantity of crude explosives also wasincluded. The trailer was large enough to seat everybody; and theten men of the party had a good deal of amusement watching Rolla asshe tried to get accustomed to that land of travel. She was gladenough when the end of the road was reached and the truck began topush its way into the wilderness, giving her an excuse to walk. 

No need to describe the trip in detail. Within three days the truckwas as far as it could go up the rock wall of the "edge. " The pointselected was about twenty miles west of where Cunora was hid, anddirectly opposite the upper end of her home valley. No attempt wasmade to go over the top as Rolla had done; instead, about two milesbelow the ridge a crevasse was located in the granite; and by meansof some two tons of powder a narrow opening was made through to theother side. Through it the men carried their supplies on theirbacks, transferring everything to improvised sleds, a hundred poundsto a man. 

While this was being done, Rolla hurried east and located Cunora. The girl was in a pitiful condition from lack of proper food, andcomparative confinement and constant strain. But during Rolla'sabsence she had seen none of the bees. 

"What are you going to do now?" she asked Rolla, after the explorerhad told her story. 

Rolla shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "These gods, " shedeclared with sublime confidence, "can do no wrong! Whatever theypropose must be for the best! I have done my part; now it is all inthe hands of the Flowing Blossom!"

Not until they reached the head of the valley which had been herhome did Rolla ask Somat as to the plan. He answered:

"Ye and the other woman shall stay here with me, on this hill. " Heproduced a telescope. "We will watch with this eye-tube. The othernine men will go ahead and do the work. "

"And will they separate?"

"Nay. They intend to conquer this colony first; then, after yourpeople are freed and safely on the way to my country, the conquerorswill proceed to the next valley, and so on until all are released. "He kept his word not to warn Rolla of the proposed captivity. "Inthat way the fear of them will go ahead and make their way easy. "

Meanwhile the nine were getting ready for their unprecedentedconquest. They put on heavy leather clothes, also leather caps, gloves and boots. Around their faces were stiff wire nets, such asannoyed them all exceedingly and would have maddened Cunora orRolla. But it meant safety. 

As for weapons, they relied entirely upon fire. Each man carried alittle wood alcohol in a flask, in case it was necessary to burn wetor green wood. Otherwise, their equipment was matches, with anemergency set of flint and steel as well. There could be noresisting them. 

"We'll wait here till we've seen that you've succeeded, " Somat toldDeltos and Sorplee. "Then we'll follow. "

The nine left the hills. The hours passed with Rolla and Cunoraamusing themselves at the "eye-tube. " They could see the very spotwhere their lovers were being punished; but some intervening bushesprevented seeing the men themselves. The other villagers were atwork quite as usual; so it was plain that, although the bees wereinvisible, yet they were still the masters. 

Hardly had the nine reached the first low-growing brush before theyencountered some of the bees. None attempted to attack, but turnedabout and flew back to report. It was not long before Supreme, andtherefore Billie, knew of the approaching raiders. 

"They are doubtless provided with the magic flower, " Supreme toldher lieutenants. "You will watch the blossom as it sways in thewind, and keep always on the windward side of it. In this way youcan attack the inferiors. "

The word was passed, bee-fashion, until every soldier and worker inthe colony knew her duty. The stingers were to keep back and watchtheir chance, while the workers harrassed the attackers. Moreover, with the hives always uppermost in her mind, Supreme planned to keepthe actual conflict always at a distance from the "city. "

It was late in the day when the nine reached the stream in whose bedrested the pyrites taken from Corrus and Dulnop. This stream, itwill be remembered, flowed not far from the torture-place. Deltos'splan was to rescue these two men before doing anything else; this, because it would strengthen the villagers' regard for theconquerors. 

The bees seemed to sense this. They met the invaders about threemiles above the village, in an open spot easily seen by the peoplewith the telescope. And the encounter took place during twilight, just early enough to be visible from a distance, yet late enough tomake the fire very impressive. 

"Remember, it's the smoke as much as the flame, " Deltos shouted tothe others. "Just keep your torches on the move, and make as muchfuss as you can!"

Next moment the swarm was upon them. It was like a vast cloud ofsoot; only, the buzzing of those millions of wings fairly drownedout every other sound. The nine had to signal to one another;shouting was useless. 

Within a single minute the ground was covered with bees, either deador insensible from the smoke. Yet the others never faltered. Attimes the insects battered against the wire netting with such force, and in such numbers, that the men had to fight them away in order toget enough air. 

Supreme watched from above, and kept sending her lieutenants withfresh divisions to first one man and then another, as he becameseparated from the rest. Of course, nobody suffered but the bees. Never before had they swarmed a creature which did not succumb; butthese inferiors with the queer things over their faces, and thecows' hides over their bodies and hands, seemed to care not at all. Supreme was puzzled. 

"Keep it up, " she ordered. "They surely cannot stand it muchlonger. "

"It shall be done!"

And the bees were driven in upon the men, again and again. Alwaysthe torches were kept waving, so that the insects never could telljust where to attack. Always the men kept moving steadilydown-stream; and as they marched they left in their wake a blackpath of dead and dying bees. Half of them had been soldier bees, carrying enough poison in their stings to destroy a nation. Yet, nine little matches were too much for them!

Presently the invaders had approached to within a half-mile of thetorture-place. One of Supreme's lieutenants made a suggestion:

"Had we not better destroy the men, rather than let them berescued?"

The commandant considered this fully. "No, " she decided. "To killthem would merely enrage the other villagers, and perhaps anger themso much as to make them unmanageable. " More than once a human hadbeen driven so frantic as to utterly disregard orders. "We cannotslay them all. "

The bees attacked with unabated fury. Not once did the insectsfalter; orders were orders, and always had been. What mattered it ifdeath came to them, so long as the Hive lived? For that is beephilosophy. 

And then, just when it seemed that the wisest thing would be towithdraw, Supreme got the greatest idea she had ever had. For onceshe felt positively enthusiastic. Had she been a human she wouldhave yelled aloud for sheer joy. 

"Attention!" to her subordinates. "We attack no more! Instead, gointo the huts and drive all the inferiors here! Compel them to bringtheir tools! Kill all that refuse!"

The lieutenants only dimly grasped the idea. "What shall we do whenwe get them here?"

"Do? Drive them against the invaders, of course!"

It was a daring thought. None but a super bee could have conceivedit. Off flew the lieutenants, with Supreme's inspired order hummingafter them:

"Call out every bee! And drive every last one of the inferiors tothis spot!"

And thus it came about that, a minute later, the nine looked aroundto see the bees making off at top speed. Sorplee raised a cheer. 

"Hurrah!" he shouted, and the rest took it up. Neither admitted thathe was vastly relieved; it had been a little nerve-shaking to knowthat a single thickness of leather had been all that stood, for anhour, between him and certain death. The buzzing, too, wasdemoralizing. 

"Now, to release the two men!" reminded Deltos, and led the way tothe torture-place. They found Corrus and Dulnop exactly as the twowomen had left them six weeks before, except that their faces weredrawn with the agony of what they had endured. Below the surface ofthe ground their bodies had shriveled and whitened with their dailyimprisonment. Only their spirits remained unchanged; they, of allthe natives, had known what it was to feel superior. 

For the last time they were dug out and helped to their feet. Theycould not stand by themselves, much less run; but it is not likelythey would have fled. Somehow they knew that the strangehead-coverings had human faces behind them. And scarcely had theybeen freed before Sorplee, glancing about, gave an exclamation ofdelight as he saw a group of natives running toward them. 

"Just what we want!" he exclaimed. "They've seen the scrap, andrealize that we've won!"

Looking around, the nine could see the other groups likewisehurrying their way. All told, there were a couple of hundred of thevillagers, and all were armed with tools they knew how to use verywell. 

"Who shall do the honors?" asked Sorplee. "Wish Somat was here, toexplain for us. "

"Don't need him, " reminded Deltos. "All we've got to do is to showthese two fellows we dug up. "

And it was not until the first of the villagers was within twentyyards that the nine suspected anything. Then they heard the buzzing. Looking closer, they saw that it was--an attack!

"Stop!" cried Deltos, in swift panic. "We are friends, not enemies!"

It was like talking to the wind. The villagers had their choice oftwo fears: either fight the strangers with the magic flower, or--bestung to death. And no one can blame them for what they chose. 

The nine had time enough to snatch knives or hatchets from theirbelts, or clubs from the ground. Then, with wild cries of fear, thenatives closed in. They fought as only desperate people can fight, caught between two fires. And they were two hundred to nine!

In half a minute the first of the invaders was down, his headcrushed by a mattock in the hands of a bee-tormented native. In asingle minute all were gone but two; and a moment later, Deltosalone, because he had chanced to secure a long club, was alive ofall that crew. 

For a minute he kept them off by sheer strength. He swung the stickwith such vigor that he fairly cleared a circle for himself. Thenatives paused, howling and shrieking, before the final rush. 

An inspiration came to Deltos. He tore his cap from his head and hisnet from his face. 

"Look!" he screamed, above the uproar. "I am a man, like yourselves!Do not kill!"

Next second he froze in his tracks. The next he was writhing in thedeath agony, and the bees were supreme once more. 

Supreme herself had stung Deltos. 

XV

OVERLOOKED

Of the four on the earth, Smith was the first to make any comment. He had considerable difficulty in throwing his thought to theothers; somehow he felt slightly dazed. 

"This is--unbelievable!" he said, and repeated it twice. "To thinkthat those insects are still the masters!"

"I wish"--Billie's voice shook somewhat--"I wish almost that I hadlet you warn Rolla. It might have helped--" She broke off suddenly, intent upon something Supreme was hearing. "Just listen!"

"Quick!" a lieutenant was humming excitedly to the commandant. "Backto the hives; give the order, Supreme!"

It was done, and immediately the bees quit the throng of natives andtheir victims, rushing at top speed for their precious city. As theywent, Supreme demanded an explanation. 

"What is the meaning of this?"

For answer the lieutenant pointed her antennae straight ahead. Atfirst Supreme could see nothing in the growing darkness; then shesaw that some of the sky was blacker than the rest. Next she caughta faint glow. 

"Supreme, the deadly flower has come to the hives!"

It was true! In ten minutes the city was near enough for thecommandant to see it all very clearly. The fire had started on thewindward side, and already had swept through half the hives!

"Quick!" the order was snapped out. "Into the remaining houses, andsave the young!"

She herself led the horde. Straight into the face of the flames theyflew, unquestioningly, unhesitantly. What was self, compared withthe Hive?

Next moment, like a mammoth billow, the smoke rolled down upon themall. And thus it came about that the villagers, making theircautious way toward the bee city, shouted for joy and danced as theyhad never danced before, when they saw what had happened. 

Not a bee was left alive. Every egg and larva was destroyed; everyqueen was burned. And every last soldier and worker had lost herlife in the vain attempt at rescue. Suddenly one of the villagers, who had been helping to carry Corrus and Dulnop to the spot, pointedout something on the other side of the fire! It was Rolla!

"Hail!" she shouted, hysterical with happiness as she ran toward herpeople. Cunora was close upon her heels. "Hail to the flowingflower!"

She held up a torch. Down fell the villagers to their knees. Hollastrode forward and found Corrus, even as Cunora located her Dulnop. 

"Hail to the flowing flower!" shouted Rolla again. "And hail to thefree people of this world! A new day cometh for us all! Themasters--are no more!"

The four on the earth looked at each other inquiringly. There was aheavy silence. The doctor stood it as long as he could, and thensaid:

"So far as I'm concerned, this ends our investigations. " They staredat him uncomprehendingly; he went on: "I don't see anything to begained by this type of study. Here we've investigated the conditionson two planets pretty thoroughly, and yet we can't agree upon whatwe've learned!

"Van still thinks that the upper classes should rule, despite allthe misery we saw on Capellette! And Billie is still convinced thatthe working classes, and no others, should govern! This, in the faceof what we've just--seen! Sanus is absolute proof of what musthappen when one class tries to rule; conflict, bloodshed, misery--little else! Besides"--remembering something, and glancingat his watch--"besides, it's time for dinner. "

Billie and Smith got to their feet, and in silence quit the roomBillie and Van Emmon were still fumbling with their bracelets. Thetwo young people rose from the chairs at the same time and startedacross the room to put flip bracelets away. The wire which connectedthem trailed in between and caught on the doctor's chair. It broughtthe two of them up short. 

Van Emmon stared at the wire. He gave it a little tug. The chair didnot move. Billie gave an answering jerk, with similar lack ofresults. Then they glanced swiftly at one another, and each steppedback enough to permit lifting the wire over the chair. 

"In other words, " Van Emmon stammered, with an effort to keep hisvoice steady--"in other words, Billie, we both had to give in alittle, in order to get past that chair!"

Then he paused slightly, his heart pounding furiously. 

"Yes Van. " She dropped the bracelets. "And--as for me--Van, I didn'treally want to see the bees win! I only pretended to--I wanted tomake you--think!"

"Billie! I'll say 'cooperate' if you will!"

"Cooperate!"

He swept her into his arms, and held her so close that she could notsee what had rushed to his eyes. "Speaking of cooperation, " heremarked unsteadily, "reminds me--it takes two to make a kiss!"

They proceeded to experiment.