The Lord of Death and the Queen of Life

by Homer Eon Flint

PART I

THE DISCOVERY

I

THE SKY CUBE

The doctor, who was easily the most musical of the four men, sang in acheerful baritone:

"The owl and the pussy-cat went to sea In a beautiful, pea-green boat. "

The geologist, who had held down the lower end of a quartet in hisuniversity days, growled an accompaniment under his breath as heblithely peeled the potatoes. Occasionally a high-pitched note or twocame from the direction of the engineer; he could not spare much windwhile clambering about the machinery, oil-can in hand. The architect, alone, ignored the famous tune. 

"What I can't understand, Smith, " he insisted, "is how you draw theelectricity from the ether into this car without blasting us all tocinders. "

The engineer squinted through an opal glass shutter into one of thetunnels, through which the anti-gravitation current was pouring. "If youdidn't know any more about buildings than you do about machinery, Jackson, " he grunted, because of his squatting position, "I'd hate tolive in one of your houses!"

The architect smiled grimly. "You're living in one of 'em right now, Smith, " said he; "that is, if you call this car a house. "

Smith straightened up. He was an unimportant-looking man, of mediumheight and build, and bearing a mild, good-humored expression. Nobodywould ever look at him twice, would ever guess that his skull concealedan unusually complete knowledge of electricity, mechanisms, and suchpractical matters. 

"I told you yesterday, Jackson, " he said, "that the air surrounding theearth is chock full of electricity. And--"

"And that the higher we go, the more juice, " added the other, remembering. "As much as to say that it is the atmosphere, then, thatprotects the earth from the surrounding voltage. "

The engineer nodded. "Occasionally it breaks through, anyhow, in theform of lightning. Now, in order to control that current, and prevent itfrom turning this machine, and us, into ashes, all we do is to pass thejuice through a cylinder of highly compressed air, fixed in this wall. By varying the pressure and dampness within the cylinder, we canregulate the flow. "

The builder nodded rapidly. "All right. But why doesn't the electricityaffect the walls themselves? I thought they were made of steel. "

The engineer glanced through the dead-light at the reddish disk of theEarth, hazy and indistinct at a distance of forty million miles. "Itisn't steel; it's a non-magnetic alloy. Besides, there's a layer ofcrystalline sulphur between the alloy and the vacuum space. "

"The vacuum is what keeps out the cold, isn't it?" Jackson knew, but heasked in order to learn more. 

"Keeps out the sun's heat, too. The outer shell is pretty blamed hot onthat side, just as hot as it is cold on the shady side. " Smith seatedhimself beside a huge electrical machine, a rotary converter which henext indicated with a jerk of his thumb. "But you don't want to forgetthat the juice outside is no use to us, the way it is. We have to changeit. 

"It's neither positive nor negative; it's just neutral. So we separateit into two parts; and all we have to do, when we want to get away fromthe earth or any other magnetic-sphere, is to aim a bunch of positivecurrent at the corresponding pole of the planet, or negative current atthe other pole. Like poles repel, you know. "

"Listens easy, " commented Jackson. "Too easy. "

"Well, it isn't exactly as simple as all that. Takes a lot of apparatus, all told, " and the engineer looked about the room, his glance restingfondly on his beloved machinery. 

The big room, fifty feet square, was almost filled with machines; somereached nearly to the ceiling, the same distance above. In fact, theinterior of the "cube, " as that form of sky-car was known, had verylittle waste space. The living quarters of the four men who occupied ithad to be fitted in wherever there happened to be room. The architect'sown berth was sandwiched in between two huge dynamos. 

He was thinking hard. "I see now why you have such a lot of adjustmentsfor those tunnels, " meaning the six square tubes which opened into theether through the six walls of the room. "You've got to point the juicepretty accurately. "

"I should say so. " Smith led the way to a window, and the two shadedtheir eyes from the lights within while they gazed at the ashy glow ofMercury, toward which they were traveling. "I've got to adjust thecurrent so as to point exactly toward his northern half. " Smith mighthave added that a continual stream of repelling current was stilldirected toward the earth, and another toward the sun, away over totheir right; both to prevent being drawn off their course. 

"And how fast are we going?"

"Four or five times as fast as mother earth: between eighty and ninetymiles per second. It's easy to get up speed out here, of course, wherethere's no air resistance. "

Another voice broke in. The geologist had finished his potatoes, and asavory smell was already issuing from the frying pan. Years spent in thewilderness had made the geologist a good cook, and doubly welcome as amember of the expedition. 

"We ought to get there tomorrow, then, " he said eagerly. Indoor life didnot appeal to him, even under such exciting circumstances. He peered atMercury through his binoculars. "Beginning to show up fine now. "

The builder improved upon Van Emmon's example by setting up the car'sbiggest telescope, a four-inch tube of unusual excellence. All threepronounced the planet, which was three-fourths "full" as they viewed it, as having pretty much the appearance of the moon. 

"Wonder why there's always been so much mystery about Mercury?" ponderedthe architect invitingly. "Looks as though the big five-foot telescopeon Mt. Wilson would have shown everything. "

"Ask doc, " suggested Smith, diplomatically. Jackson turned and hailedthe little man on the other side of the car. He looked up absently fromthe scientific apparatus with which he had been making a test of theroom's chemically purified air, then he stepped to the oxygen tanks andclosed the flow a trifle, referring to his figures in the severely exactmanner of his craft. He crossed to the group. 

"Mercury is so close to the sun, " he answered the architect's question, "he's always been hard to observe. For a long time the astronomerscouldn't even agree that he always keeps the same face toward the sun, like the moon toward the earth. "

"Then his day is as long as his year?"

"Eighty-eight of our days; yes. "

"Continual sunlight! He can't be inhabited, then?" The architect knewvery little about the planets. He had been included in the partybecause, along with his professional knowledge, he possessed remarkableability as an amateur antiquarian. He knew as much about the doings ofthe ancients as the average man knows of baseball. 

Dr. Kinney shook his head. "Not at present, certainly. "

Instantly Jackson was alert. "Then perhaps there were people there atone time!"

"Why not?" the doctor put it lightly. "There's little or no atmospherethere now, of course, but that's not saying there never has been. Evenif he is such a little planet--less than three thousand, smaller thanthe moon--he must have had plenty of air and water at one time, the sameas the Earth. "

"What's become of the air?" Van Emmon wanted to know. Kinney eyed him inreproach. He said:

"You ought to know. Mercury has only two-fifths as much gravitation asthe earth; a man weighing a hundred and fifty back home would be only asixty-pounder there. And you can't expect stuff as light as air to stayforever on a planet with no more pull than that, when the sun is on thejob only thirty-six millions miles away. "

"About a third as far as from the Earth to the sun, " commented theengineer. "By George, it must be hot!"

"On the sunlit side, yes, " said Kinney. "On the dark side it is as coldas space itself--four hundred and sixty below, Fahrenheit. "

They considered this in silence for some minutes. The builder went toanother window and looked at Venus, at that time about sixty millionmiles distant, on the far side of the sun. They were intending to visit"Earth's twin sister" on their return. After a while he came back to thegroup, ready with another question:

"If Mercury ever was inhabited, then his day wasn't as long as it isnow, was it?"

"No, " said the doctor. "In all probability he once had a day the samelength as ours. Mercury is a comparatively old planet, you know; beingsmaller, he cooled off earlier than the earth, and has been moreaffected by the pull of the sun. But it's been a mighty long time sincehe had a day like ours; before the earth was cool enough to live on, probably. "

"But since Mercury was made out of the same batch of material--"prompted the geologist. 

"No reason, then, why life shouldn't have existed there in the past!"exclaimed the architect, his eyes sparkling with the instinct of theborn antiquarian. He glanced up eagerly as the doctor coughedapologetically and said:

"Don't forget that, even if Mercury is part baked and part frozen, theremust be a region in between which is neither. " He picked up a smallglobe from the table and ran a finger completely around it from pole topole. "So. There must be a narrow band of country where the sun is onlypartly above the horizon, and where the climate is temperate. "

"Then--" the architect almost shouted in his excitement, an excitementonly slightly greater than that of the other two--"then, if there werepeople on Mercury at one time--"

The doctor nodded gravely. "There may be some there now!"

II

A DEAD CITY

From a height of a few thousand miles Mercury, at first glance, stronglyreminded them of the moon. The general effect was the same--leaden disk, with slight prominences here and there on the circumference, and large, irregular splotches of a darkish shade relieved by a great manybrilliantly lighted areas, lines, and spots. 

A second glance, however, found a marked difference. Instead of thecraters, which always distinguished the moon, Mercury showed ranges ofbona fide mountains. 

The doctor gave a sigh of regret, mixed with a generous amount ofexcitement. "Too bad those mountains weren't distinguishable from theearth, " he complained. "We wouldn't have been so quick to brand Mercurya dead world. "

The others were too engrossed to comment. The sky-car was rapidlysinking nearer and nearer the planet; already Smith had stopped thecurrent with which he had attracted the cube toward the little world'snorthern hemisphere, and was now using negative voltage. This, in orderto act as a brake, and prevent them from falling to destruction. 

Suddenly Van Emmon, the geologist, whose eyes had been glued to hisbinoculars, gave an exclamation of wonder. "Look at those faults!" Hepointed toward a region south of that for which they were bound; whatmight be called the planet's torrid zone. 

At first it was hard to see; then, little by little, there unfoldedbefore their eyes a giant, spiderlike system of chasms in the strangesurface beneath them. From a point almost directly opposite the sun, these cracks radiated in a half-dozen different directions; vast, irregular clefts, they ran through mountain and plain alike. In placesthey must have been hundreds of miles wide, while there was no guessingas to their depth. For all that the four in the cube could see, theywere bottomless. 

"Small likelihood of anybody being alive there now, " commented thegeologist skeptically. "If the sun has dried it out enough to producefaults like that, how could animal life exist?"

"Notice, however, " prompted the doctor, "that the cracks do not extendall the way to the edge of the disk. " This was true; all the greatchasms ended far short of the "twilight band" which the doctor haddeclared might still contain life. 

But as the sky-car rushed downward their attention became fixed upon thesurface directly beneath them, a point whose latitude correspondedroughly with that of New York on the Earth. It was a region of low-lyingmountains, decidedly different from various precipitous ranges to beseen to the north and east. On the west, or left-hand side of thisdistrict, a comparatively level stretch, with an occasional peak or twoprojecting, suggested the ancient bed of an ocean. 

By this time they were within a thousand miles. Smith threw on a littlemore current; their speed diminished to a safer point, and they scannedthe approaching surface with the greatest of care. The architect, whowas a New Yorker, was strongly reminded of the fall aspect of theAppalachians; but Van Emmon, who was born and raised on the Pacificcoast, declared that the spot was almost exactly like the region northof San Francisco. "If I didn't know where I was, " he declared, "I'd betrying to locate Eureka right now. "

The engineer smiled tolerantly. He had spent several years in Scotland, and he felt sure, he obligingly told the others, that this new localitywas far more like the Ben Lomond country than any other spot on earth. He was so positive, he made the doctor, a New Zealander, smile quitebroadly. 

"It is just like the hills near my home, " he stated, with an air offinality which made further discussion useless. 

"There's a river!" the architect suddenly exclaimed, pointing; thenadded, before the others could comment, "I mean, what was once a river. "They saw that he was right; an irregular but well-defined streak ofsandy hue trickled down the middle of their chosen destination--a long, L-shaped valley, surrounded by low hills. 

"That's the most likely place, outside of the twilight zone, for life tobe found, " remarked the doctor. "Neither mountainous nor dead level. "

He added: "The spectroscope has plainly shown that there's water vaporin what little air there is. Must be precious little. If the air was ashumid as the earth's, we couldn't see the surface at all from thisheight. "

The inviting-looking valley was now less than a hundred miles below. Inviting, however, only in outline; in color it was a grayish buff, scorched and forbidding. The hills were yellower, and an alkali white ontheir summits. 

"Do either of you fellows see anything GREEN?" demanded the engineer, alittle later. They were silent; each had noticed long before, that noteven near the poles was there the slightest sign of vegetation. 

"No chance unless there's foliage, " muttered the doctor, half tohimself. The builder asked what he meant. He explained: "So far as weknow, all animal life depends upon vegetation for its oxygen. Not onlythe oxygen in the air, but that stored in the plants which animals eat. Unless there's greenery--"

He paused at a low exclamation from Smith. The engineer's eyes werefixed, in wonder and excitement, upon that part of the valley which layat the joint of the "L" below them. It was perhaps six miles across; andall over the comparatively smooth surface jutted dark projections. Viewed through the glasses, they had a regular, uniform appearance. 

"By Jove!" ejaculated the doctor, almost in awe. He leaned forward andscrubbed the dead-light for the tenth time. All four men strained theireyes to see. 

It was the architect who broke the silence which followed. The otherthree were content to let the thrill of the thing have its way withthem. Such a feeling had little weight with the expert in archeology. 

"Well, " he declared jubilantly in his boyish voice, "either I eat my hator that's a genuine, bona fide city!"

As swiftly as an elevator drops, and as safely, the cube shot straightdownward. Every second the landscape narrowed and shrunk, leaving theremaining details larger, clearer, sharper. Bit by bit the amazing thingbelow them resolved itself into a real metropolis. 

Within five minutes they were less than a mile above it. Smith threw onmore current, so that the descent stopped; and the cube hung motionlessin space. 

For another five minutes the four men studied the scene in nervoussilence. Each knew that the others were looking for the same thing--somesign of life. A little spot of green, or possibly something in motion--asingle whiff of smoke would have been enough to cause a whoop of joy. 

But nobody shouted. There was nothing to shout about. Nowhere in allthat locality apparently was there the slightest indication that anysave themselves were alive. 

Instead, the most extraordinary city that man had ever laid eyes uponwas stretched directly beneath. It was grouped about what seemed to bethe meeting-point of three great roads, which led to this spot from asmany passes through the surrounding hills. And the city seemed thusnaturally divided into three segments, of equal size and shape, and eachwith its own street system. 

For they undoubtedly were streets. No metropolis on earth ever had itsblocks laid out with such unvarying exactness. This Mercurian citycontained none but perfect equilateral triangles, and the streetsthemselves were of absolutely uniform width. 

The buildings, however, showed no such uniformity. On the outskirts ofthis brilliantly tan mystery the blocks seemed to contain nothing saveodd heaps of dingy, sun-baked mud. On the extreme north, however, layfive blocks grouped together, whose buildings, like those in the middleof the city, were rather tall, square-cut and of the same dusty, cream-white hue. 

"Down-town" were several structures especially prominent for theirheight. They towered to such an extent, in fact, that their upperwindows were easily made out. Apparently they were hundreds of storieshigh!

Here and there on the streets could be seen small spots, colored adarker buff than the rest of that dazzling landscape. But not one of thespots was moving. 

"We'll go down further, " said the engineer tentatively, in a low tone. There was no comment. He gradually reduced the repelling current, sothat the sky-car resumed its descent. 

They sank down until they were on a level with the top of one of thoseextraordinary sky-scrapers. The roof seemed perfectly flat, except for alarge, round, black opening in its center. No one was in sight. 

When opposite the upper row of windows, at a distance of perhaps twentyfeet, Smith brought the car to a halt, and they peered in. There were nopanes; the windows opened directly into a vast room; but nothing wasclearly visible in the blackness save the outlines of the opening in theopposite walls. 

They went down further, keeping well to the middle of the space abovethe street. At every other yard they kept a sharp lookout for theinhabitants; but so far as they could see, their approach was entirelyunobserved. 

When within fifty yards of the surface, all four men made a search forcross-wires below. They saw none; there were no poles, even. Neither, totheir astonishment, was there such a thing as a sidewalk. The streetstretched, unbroken by curbing, from wall to wall and from corner tocorner. 

As the cube settled slowly to the ground, the adventurers left thedeadlight to use the windows. For a moment the view was obscured by aswirl of dust, raised by the spurt of the current; then this cloudvanished, settling to the ground with astounding suddenness, as thoughjerked down by some invisible hand. 

Directly ahead of them, distant perhaps a hundred yards, lay ayellowish-brown mass of unusual octagonal shape. One end contained asmall oval opening, but the men from the Earth looked in vain for anycreature to emerge from it. 

The doctor silently set to work with his apparatus. From an air-tightdouble-doored compartment he obtained a sample of the ether outside thecar; and with the aid of previously arranged chemicals, quickly learnedthe truth. 

There was no air. Not only was there no oxygen, the element upon whichall known life depends, but there was no nitrogen, no carbon dioxide;not the slightest trace of water vapor or of the other less knownelements which can be found in small amounts in our own atmosphere. Clearly, as the doctor said, whatever air the astronomers had observedmust exist on the circumference of the planet only, and not in this sun-blasted, north-central spot. 

On the outer walls of the cube, so arranged as to be visible through thewindows, were various instruments. The barometer showed no pressure. Thethermometer, a specially devised one which used gas instead of mercury, showed a temperature of six hundred degrees, Fahrenheit. 

No air, no water, and a baking heat; as the geologist remarked, howcould life exist there? But the architect suggested that possibly therewas some form of life, of which men knew nothing, which could existunder such circumstances. 

They got out three of the suits. These were a good deal like those wornby divers, except that the outer layer was made of non-conductingaluminum cloth, flexible, air-tight, and strong. Between it and theinner lining was a layer of cells, into which the men now pumped severalpints of liquid oxygen. The terrific cold of this chemical made theheavy flannel of the inner lining very welcome; while the oxygen itself, as fast as it evaporated, revitalized the air within the big, glass-faced helmet. 

Once safely locked within the clumsy suits, Jackson, Van Emmon, andSmith took their places within the vestibule; while the doctor, who hadvolunteered to stay behind, watched them open the outer door. With ahiss all the air in the vestibule rushed out; and the doctor earnestlythanked his stars that the inner door had been built very strongly. 

The men stepped out on to the ground. At first they moved with greatcare, being uncertain that their feet were weighted heavily enough tocounteract the reduced gravitation of the tiny planet. But they had beenliving in a very peculiar condition, gravitationally speaking, for thepast three days; and they quickly adapted themselves. After a littleshifting about, the three artificial monsters gave their telephone wiresanother scrutiny; then, keeping always within ten feet of each other, soas not to throw any strain on the connections, they strode in a matter-of-fact way toward the nearest doorway. 

For a moment or two they stood outside the queer, peaked archway, theirglimmering suits standing out oddly in the blinding sunlight. Then theyadvanced boldly into the opening; in a flash they vanished from thedoctor's sight, and the inklike blackness of the opening again stared athim from that dazzling wall. 

III

THE HOUSE OF DUST

The geologist, strong man that he was, and by profession an investigatorof the unknown--Van Emmon--took the lead. He stalked straight ahead intoa vast space which, without any preliminary hallway, filled the entiretriangular block. 

Before their eyes were accustomed to the shadow--"Pretty cold, " murmuredthe architect into the phone transmitter; it was fastened to the insideof the helmet, directly in front of his mouth, while the receiver wasplaced beside his ear. All three stopped short to adjust each other'selectrical heating apparatus. To do this, they did not use their fingersdirectly; they manipulated ingenious non-magnetic pliers attached to theends of fingerless, insulated mittens. 

Before they had finished, the builder, who had been puzzling over theextraordinary suddenness with which that cloud of dust had settled, received an inspiration. He was carrying note-book and camera. With hispliers he tore out a sheet from the former, and holding book in one handand the leaf in the other, he allowed them to drop at the same instant. 

They reached the ground together. 

"See?" The architect repeated the experiment. "Back home, where there'sair, the paper would have floated down; it would have taken three timesas long for it to fall as the book. "

Smith nodded, but he had been thinking of something else. He saidgravely: "Remember what I told you--it's air that insulates the earthfrom the ether. If there's no air here--" he glanced out into thepitiless sunlight--"then I hope there's no flaw in our insulation. We'rewalking in an electrical bath. "

They looked around. Objects were pretty distinct now. They could easilysee that the floor was covered with what appeared to be machines, laidout in orderly fashion. Here, however, as outside, everything was coatedwith that fine, cream-colored dust. It filled every nook and cranny; itstirred about their feet with every step. 

The geologist led the way down a broad aisle, on either side of whichtowered immense machinery. Smith was for stopping to examine them one byone; but the others vetoed the engineer's passion, and strode on towardthe end of the triangle. More than anything else, they looked for theabsent population to show itself. 

Suddenly Van Emmon stopped short. "Is it possible that they're allasleep?" He added that, even though the sun shone steadily the yeararound, the people must take time for rest. 

But Smith stirred the dust with his foot and shook his head. "I've seenno tracks. This dust has been lying here for weeks, perhaps months. Ifthe folks are away, then they must be taking a community vacation. "

At the end of the aisle they reached a small, railed-in space, stronglyresembling what might be seen in any office on the earth. In the middleof it stood a low, flat-topped desk, for all the world like that of aprosperous real-estate agent, except that it was about half a footlower. There was no chair. For lack of a visible gate in the railing, the explorers stepped over, being careful not to touch it. 

There was nothing on top of the desk save the usual coat of dust. Below, a very wide space had been left for the legs of whoever had used it; andflanking this space were two pedestals, containing what looked to be amultitude of exceedingly small drawers. Smith bent and examined them;apparently they had no locks; and he unhesitatingly reached out, grippedthe knob of one and pulled. 

Noiselessly, instantaneously, the whole desk crumbled to powder. Startled, Smith stumbled backwards, knocking against the railing. Nextinstant it lay on the floor, its fragments scarcely distinguishable fromwhat had already covered the surface. Only a tiny cloud of dust arose, and in half a second this had settled. 

The three looked at each other significantly. Clearly, the thing thathad just happened argued a great lapse of time since the user of thatdesk officiated in that enclosure. It looked as though Smith's guess of"weeks, perhaps months, " would have to be changed to years, perhapscenturies. 

"Feel all right?" asked the geologist. Jackson and Smith madeaffirmative noises; and again they stepped out, this time walking in theaisle along the outer wall. They could see their sky-car plainly throughthe ovals. 

Here the machinery could be examined more closely. They resembledautomatic testing scales, said Smith; such as is used in weighingcomplicated metal products after finishing and assembling. Moreover, they seemed to be connected, the one to the other, with a series ofendless belts, which Smith thought indicated automatic production. Toall appearances, the dust-covered apparatus stood just as it had beenleft when operations ceased, an unguessable length of time before. 

Smith showed no desire to touch the things now. Seeing this, thegeologist deliberately reached out and scraped the dust from the nearestmachine; and to the vast relief of all three, no damage was done. Thedust fell straight to the floor, exposing a brilliantly polished streakof greenish-white metal. 

Van Emmon made another tentative brush or so at other points, with thesame result. Clean, untarnished metal lay beneath all that dust. Clearlyit was some non-conducting alloy; whatever it was, it had successfullyresisted the action of the elements all the while that such presumablywooden articles as the desk and railing had been steadily rotting. 

Emboldened, Smith clambered up on the frame of one of the machines. Heexamined it closely as to its cams, clutches, gearing, and other detailssignificant enough to his mechanical training. He noted theiradjustments, scrutinized the conveying apparatus, and came back carryinga cylindrical object which he had removed from an automatic chuck. 

"This is what they were making, " he remarked, trying to conceal hisexcitement. The others brushed the dust from the thing, a huge piece ofmetal which would have been too much for their strength on the earth. Instantly they identified it. 

It was a cannon shell. 

Again Van Emmon led the way. They took a reassuring glance out thewindow at the familiar cube, then passed along the aisle toward thefarther corner. As they neared it they saw that it contained a smallenclosure of heavy metal scrollwork, within which stood a triangularelevator. 

The men examined it as closely as possible, noting especially theextremely low stool which stood upon its platform. The same unerodablemetal seemed to have been used throughout the whole affair. 

After a careful scrutiny of the two levers which appeared to control thething--"I'm going to try it out, " announced Smith, well knowing that theothers would have to go with him if they kept the telephones intact. They protested that the thing was not safe; Smith replied that they hadseen no stairway, or anything corresponding to one. "If this lift ismade of that alloy, " admiringly, "then it's safe. " But Jackson managedto talk him out of it. 

When they returned to the heap of powdered wood which had been the desk, Smith spied a long work-bench under a nearby window. There they found avery ordinary vise, in which was clamped a piece of metal; but for thedust, it might have been placed there ten minutes before. On the benchlay several tools, some familiar to the engineer and some entirelystrange. A set of screw-drivers of various sizes caught his eye. Hepicked them up, and again experienced the sensation of having wood turnto dust at his touch. The blades were whole. 

Still searching, the engineer found a square metal chest of drawers, each of which he promptly opened. The contents were laden with dust, buthe brushed this off and disclosed a quantity of exceedingly delicateinstruments. They were more like dentists' tools than machinists', yetplainly were intended for mechanical use. 

One drawer held what appeared to be a roll of drawings. Smith did notwant to touch them; with infinite care he blew off the dust with the aidof his oxygen pipe. After a moment or two the surface was clear, but itoffered no encouragement; it was the blank side of the paper. 

There was no help for it. Smith grasped the roll firmly with his pliers--and next second gazed upon dust. 

In the bottom drawer lay something that aroused the curiosity of allthree. These were small reels, about two inches in diameter and aquarter of an inch thick, each incased in a tight-fitting box. Theyresembled measuring tapes to some extent, except that the ribbons weremade of marvelously thin material. Van Emmon guessed that there were ahundred yards in a roll. Smith estimated it at three hundred. Theyseemed to be made of a metal similar to that composing the machines. Smith pocketed them all. 

It was the builder who thought to look under the bench, but it was Smithwho had brought a light. By its aid they discovered a very smallmachine, decidedly like a stock ticker, except that it had no glassdome, but possessed at one end a curious metal disk about a foot indiameter. Apparently it had been undergoing repairs; it was impossibleto guess its purpose. Smith's pride was instantly aroused; he tucked itunder his arm, and was impatient to get back to the cube, where he mightmore carefully examine his find with the tips of his fingers. 

It was when they were about to leave the building that they thought toinspect walls and ceiling. Not that anything worth while was to be seen;the surfaces seemed perfectly plain and bare, except for the inevitabledust. Even the uppermost corners, ten feet above their heads, showeddust to the light of Smith's electric torch. 

Van Emmon stopped and stared at the spot as though fascinated. Theothers were ready to go; they turned and looked at him curiously. For amoment or two he seemed struggling for breath. 

"Good Heavens!" he gasped, almost in a whisper. His face was white; theother two leaped toward him, fearful that he was suffocating. But hepushed them away roughly. 

"We're fools! Blind, blithering idiots--that's what we are!" He pointedtoward the ceiling with a hand that trembled plainly, and went on in avoice which he tried to make fierce despite the awe which shook it. 

"Look at that dust again! How'd it get there?" He paused while theothers, the thought finally getting to them, felt a queer chill strikingat the backs of their necks. "Men--there's only one way for the dust tosettle on a wall! It's got to have air to carry it! It couldn't possiblyget there without air!

"That dust settled long before life appeared on the Earth, even! It'sbeen there ever since the air disappeared from Mercury!"

IV

THE LIBRARY

"I thought you'd never get back, " complained the doctor crossly, whenthe three entered. They had been gone just half an hour. 

Next moment he was studying their faces, and at once he demanded themost important fact. They told him, and before they had finished he washalf-way into another suit. He was all eagerness; but somehow the threewere very glad to be inside the cube again, and firmly insisted uponmoving to another spot before making further explorations. 

Within a minute or two the cube was hovering opposite the upper floor ofthe building the three had entered; and with only a foot of spaceseparating the window of the sky-car and the dust-covered wall, the menfrom the earth inspected the interior at considerable length. Theyflashed a search-light all about the place, and concluded that it wasthe receiving-room, where the raw iron billets were brought via theelevator, and from there slid to the floor below. At one end, in exactlythe same location as the desk Smith had destroyed, stood another, with alow and remarkably broad chair beside it. 

So far as could be seen, there were neither doors, window-panes, norshutters through the structure. "To get all the light and air theycould, " guessed the doctor. "Perhaps that's why the buildings are alltriangular; most wall surface in proportion to floor area, that way. "

A few hundred feet higher they began to look for prominent buildings. Only in forgetful moments did either of them scan the landscape forsigns of life; they knew now that there could be none. 

"We ought to learn something there, " the doctor said after a while, pointing out a particularly large, squat, irregularly built affair onthe edge of the "business district. " The architect, however, was infavor of an exceptionally large, high building in the isolated grouppreviously noted in the "suburbs. " But because it was nearer, theymaneuvered first in the direction of the doctor's choice. 

The sky-car came to rest in a large plaza opposite what appeared to bethe structure's main entrance. From their window the explorers saw thatthe squat effect was due only to the space the edifice covered; for itwas an edifice, a full five stories high. 

The doctor was impatient to go. Smith was willing enough to stay behind;he was already joyously examining the strange machine he had found. Twominutes later Kinney, Van Emmon, and Jackson were standing before theportals of the great building. 

There they halted, and no wonder. The entire face of the building couldnow be seen to be covered with a mass of carvings; for the most partthey were statues in bas relief. All were fantastic in the extreme, butwhether purposely so or not, there was no way to tell. Certainly anysuch work on the part of an earthly artist would have branded him eitheras insane or as an incomprehensible genius. 

Directly above the entrance was a group which might have been labeled, "The Triumph of the Brute. " An enormously powerful man, nearly as broadas he was tall, stood exulting over his victim, a less robust figure, prostrate under his feet. Both were clad in armor. The victor's face wasdistorted into a savage snarl, startlingly hideous by reason of theprodigious size of his head, planted as it was directly upon hisshoulders; for he had no neck. His eyes were set so close together thatat first glance they seemed to be but one. His nose was flat and Africanin type, while his mouth, devoid of curves, was simply revolting in itshuge, thick-lipped lack of proportion. His chin was square andaggressive; his forehead, strangely enough, extremely high and narrow, rather than low and broad. 

His victim lay in an attitude that indicated the most agonizing torture;his head was bent completely back, and around behind his shoulders. Onthe ground lay two battle-axes, huge affairs almost as heavy as themassively muscled men who had used them. 

But the eyes of the explorers kept coming back to the fearsome face ofthe conqueror. From the brows down, he was simply a huge, brutal giant;above his eyes, he was an intellectual. The combination was absolutelyfrightful; the beast looked capable of anything, of overcoming anyobstacle, mental or physical, internal or external, in order to asserthis apparently enormous will. He could control himself or dominateothers with equal ease and assurance. 

"It can't be that he was drawn from life, " said the doctor, with aneffort. It wasn't easy to criticize that figure, lifeless though it was. "On a planet like this, with such slight gravitation, there is no needfor such huge strength. The typical Mercurian should be tall and flimsyin build, rather than short and compact. "

But the geologist differed. "We want to remember that the earth has nostandard type. Think what a difference there is between the mosquito andthe elephant, the snake and the spider! One would suppose that they hadbeen developed under totally different planetary conditions, instead ofall right on the same globe. 

"No; I think this monster may have been genuine. " And with that thegeologist turned to examine the other statuary. 

Without exception, it resembled the central group; all the figures wereneckless, and all much more heavily built than any people on earth. There were several female figures; they had the same general build, andin every case were so placed as to enhance the glory of the males. Inone group the woman was offering up food and drink to a resting worker;in another she was being carried off, struggling, in the arms of afairly good-looking warrior. 

Dr. Kinney led the way into the building. As in the other structure, there was no door. The space seemed to be but one story in height, although that had the effect of a cathedral. The whole of the ceiling, irregularly arched in a curious, pointed manner, was ornamented withgrotesque figures; while the walls were also partially formed of squat, semi-human statues, set upon huge, triangular shafts. In the spacesbetween these outlandish pilasters there had once been some sort ofdecorations, A great many photos were taken here. 

As for the floor, it was divided in all directions by low walls. Aboutfive and a half feet in height, these walls separated the great roominto perhaps a hundred triangular compartments, each about the size ofan ordinary living room. Broad openings, about five feet square, provided free access from one compartment to any other. The men from theearth, by standing on tiptoes, could see over and beyond this system. 

"Wonder if these walls were supposed to cut off the view?" speculatedthe doctor. "I mean, do you suppose that the Mercurians were such shortpeople as that?" His question had to go unanswered. 

They stepped into the nearest compartment, and were on the point ofpronouncing it bare, when Jackson, with an exclamation, excitedlybrushed away some of the dust and showed that the presumably solid wallswere really chests of drawers. Shallow things of that peculiar metal, these drawers numbered several hundred to the compartment. In the wholebuilding there must have been millions. 

Once more the dust was carefully removed, revealing a layer of thosecurious rolls or reels, exactly similar to what had been found in thetool chest in the shell works. A careful examination of the metallictape showed nothing whatever to the naked eye, although the doctorfancied that he made out some strange characters on the little boxesthemselves. 

His view was shortly proved. Finding drawer after drawer to contain asimilar display, varying from one to a dozen of the diminutive ribbons, Van Emmon adopted the plan of gently blowing away the dust from thefaces of the drawers before opening them. This revealed the fact thateach of the shallow things was neatly labeled!

Instantly the three were intent upon this fresh clue. The markings werevery faint and delicate, the slightest touch being enough to destroythem. To the untrained eye, they resembled ancient Egyptianhieroglyphics; to the archeologist, they meant that a brand-new systemof ideographs had been found. 

Suddenly Jackson straightened up and looked about with a new interest. He went to one of the square doorways and very carefully removed thedust from a small plate on the lintel. He need not have been so careful;engraved in the solid metal was a single character, plainly in the samelanguage as the other ideographs. 

The architect smiled triumphantly into the inquiring eyes of hisfriends. "I won't have to eat my hat, " said he. "This is a sure-enoughcity, all right, and this is its library!"

Smith was still busy on the little machine when they returned to thecube. He said that one part of it had disappeared, and was busilyengaged in filing a bit of steel to take its place. As soon as it wasready, he thought, they could see what the apparatus meant. 

The three had brought a large number of the reels. They were confidentthat a microscopic search of the ribbons would disclose something tobear out Jackson's theory that the great structure was really arepository for books, or whatever corresponded with books on Mercury. 

"But the main thing, " said the doctor, enthusiastically, "is to get overto the 'twilight band. ' I'm beginning to have all sorts of wild hopes. "

Jackson urged that they first visit the big "mansion" on the outskirtsof this place; he said he felt sure, somehow, that it would be worthwhile. But Van Emmon backed up the doctor, and the architect had to becontent with an agreement to return in case their trip was futile. 

Inside of a few minutes the cube was being drawn steadily over towardthe left or western edge of the planet's sunlit face. As it moved, allexcept Smith kept close watch on the ground below. They made out townafter town, as well as separate buildings; and on the roads were to beseen a great many of those octagonal structures, all motionless. 

After several hundred miles of this, the surface abruptly sloped towardwhat had clearly been the bed of an ocean. No sign of habitations here, however; so apparently the water had disappeared AFTER the humans hadgone. 

This ancient sea ended a short distance from the district they wereseeking. A little more travel brought them to a point where the sun castas much shadow as light on the surface. It was here they descended, coming to rest on a sunlit knoll which overlooked a small, building-filled valley. 

According to Kinney's apparatus, there was about one-fortieth the amountof air that exists on the earth. Of water vapor there was a trace; butall their search revealed no human life. Not only that, but there was notrace of lower animals; there was not even a lizard, much less a bird. And even the most ancient-looking of the sculptures showed no creaturesof the air; only huge, antediluvian monsters were ever depicted. 

They took a great many photos as a matter of course. Also, theyinvestigated some of the big, octagonal machines in the streets, findingthem to be similar to the great "tanks" that were used in the war, except that they did not have the characteristic caterpillar tread;their eight faces were so linked together that the entire affair couldroll, after a jolting, slab-sided, flopping fashion. Inside were curiousengines, and sturdy machines designed to throw the cannon-shells theyhad seen; no explosive was employed, apparently, but centrifugal forcegenerated in whirling wheels. Apparently these cars, or chariots, wereuniversally used. 

The explorers returned to the cube, where they found that Smith, happening to look out a window, had spied a pond not far off. The threevisited it and found, on its banks, the first green stuff they had seen;a tiny, flowerless salt grass, very scarce. It bordered a slimy, bluishpool of absolutely still fluid. Nobody would call it water. They took afew samples of it and went back. 

And within a few minutes the doctor slid a small glass slide into hismicroscope, and examined the object with much satisfaction. What he sawwas a tiny, gelatinlike globule; among scientists it is known as theamoeba. It is the simplest known form of life--the so-called "singlecell. " It had been the first thing to live on that planet, andapparently it was also the last. 

V

THE CLOSED DOOR

As they neared Jackson's pet "mansion" each man paid close attention tothe intervening blocks. For the most part these were simply shapelessruins; heaps of what had once been, perhaps, brick or stone. Once theyallowed the cube to rest on the top of one of these mounds; but the sky-car's great weight merely sank it into the mass. There was nothing underit save that same sandy dust. 

Apparently the locality they were approaching had been set aside as avery exclusive residence district for the elite of the country. Possiblyit contained the homes of the royalty, assuming that there had been aroyalty. At any rate the conspicuous structure Jackson had selected wascertainly the home of the most important member of that colony. 

When the three, once more in their helmets and suits, stood before thelow, broad portico which protected the entrance to that edifice, thefirst thing they made out was an ornamental frieze running across theface. In the same bold, realistic style as the other sculpture, therewas depicted a hand-to-hand battle between two groups of those halfsavage, half cultured monstrosities. And in the background was shown aglowing orb, obviously the sun. 

"See that?" exclaimed the doctor. "The size of that sun, I mean! Compareit with the way old Sol looks now!"

They took a single glance at the great ball of fire over their heads;nine times the size it always seemed at home, it contrasted sharply withthe rather small ball shown in the carvings. 

"Understand?" the doctor went on. "When that sculpture was made, Mercurywas little nearer the sun than the earth is now!"

The builder was hugely impressed. He asked, eagerly: "Then probably thepeople became as highly developed as we?"

Van Emmon nodded approvingly, but the doctor opposed. "No; I think not, Jackson. Mercury never did have as much air as the earth, andconsequently had much less oxygen. And the struggle for existence, " hewent on, watching to see if the geologist approved each point as he madeit, "the struggle for life is, in the last analysis, a struggle foroxygen. 

"So I would say that life was a pretty strenuous proposition here, whileit lasted. Perhaps they were--" He stopped, then added: "What I can'tunderstand is, how did it happen that their affairs came to such anabrupt end? And why don't we see any--er--indications?"

"Skeletons?" The architect shuddered. Next second, though, his face litup with a thought. "I remember reading that electricity will decomposebone, in time. " And then he shuddered again as his foot stirred thatlifeless, impalpable dust. Was it possible?

As they passed into the great house the first thing they noted was thefloor, undivided, dust-covered, and bare, except for what had perhapsbeen rugs. The shape was the inevitable equilateral triangle; and here, with a certain magnificent disregard for precedent, the builders haddone away with a ceiling entirely, and instead had sloped the threewalls up till they met in a single point, a hundred feet overhead. Theeffect was massively simple. 

In one corner a section of the floor was elevated perhaps three feetabove the rest, and directly back of this was a broad doorway, set in ashort wall. The three advanced at once toward it. 

Here the electric torch came in very handy. It disclosed a poorlylighted stairway, very broad, unrailed, and preposterously steep. Thesteps were each over three feet high. 

"Difference in gravitation, " said the doctor, in response to Jackson'squestioning look. "Easy enough for the old-timers, perhaps. " Theystruggled up the flight as best they could, reaching the top after overfive minutes of climbing. 

Perhaps it was the reaction from this exertion; at all events each felta distinct loss of confidence as, after regaining their wind, they againbegan to explore. Neither said anything about it to the others; but eachnoted a queer sense of foreboding, far more disquieting than either ofthem had felt when investigating anything else. It may have been due tothe fact that, in their hurry, they had not stopped to eat. 

The floor they were on was fairly well lighted with the usual ovalwindows. The space was open, except that it contained the same kind ofdividing walls they had found in the library. Here, however, eachcompartment contained but one opening, and that not uniformly placed. Infact, as the three noted with a growing uneasiness, it was necessary topass through every one of them in order to reach the corner farthest, from the ladderlike stairs. Why it should make them uneasy, neithercould have said. 

When they were almost through the labyrinth, Van Emmon, after standingon tiptoes for the tenth time, in order to locate himself, notedsomething that had escaped their attention before. "These compartmentsused to be covered over, " he said, for some reason lowering his voice. He pointed out niches in the walls, such as undoubtedly once held theends of heavy timbers. "What was this place, anyhow? A trap?"

Unconsciously they lightened their steps as they neared the lastcompartment. They found, as expected, that it was another stairwell. VanEmmon turned the light upon every corner of the place before going anyfurther; but except for a formless heap of rubbish in one corner, whichthey did not investigate, the place was as bare as the rest of thefloor. 

Again they climbed, this time for a much shorter distance; but Jackson, slightly built chap that he was, needed a little help on the steepstairs. They were not sorry that they had reached the uppermost floor ofthe mansion. It was somewhat better lighted than the floor below, andthey were relieved to find that the triangular compartments did not havethe significant niches in their walls. Their spirits rose perceptibly. 

At the corner farthest from the stairs one of the walls rose straight tothe ceiling, completely cutting off a rather large triangle. The threepaid no attention to the other compartments, but went straight to whatthey felt sure was the most vital spot in the place. And their feelingswere justified with a vengeance when they saw that the usual doorway inthis wall was protected by something that had, so far, been entirelymissing everywhere else. 

It was barred by a heavy door. 

For several minutes the doctor, the geologist, and the architect stoodbefore it. Neither would have liked to admit that he would just as soonleave that door unopened. All the former uneasiness came back. It wasall the more inexplicable, with the brilliant sunlight only a few feetaway, that each should have felt chilled by the place. 

"Wonder if it's locked?" remarked Van Emmon. He pressed against thedust-covered barrier, half expecting it to turn to dust; but evidentlyit had been made of the time-defying alloy. It stood firm. And to allappearances it was nearly air-tight. 

"Well!" said the doctor suddenly, so that the other two startednervously. "The door's got to come down; that's all!" They lookedaround; there was no furniture, no loose piece of material of any kind. Van Emmon straightway backed away from the door about six feet, and theothers followed his example. 

"All together!" grunted the geologist; and the three aluminum-armoredmonsters charged the door. It shook under the impact; a shower of dustfell down; and they saw that they had loosened the thing. 

"Once more!" This time a wide crack showed all around the edge of thedoor, and the third attempt finished the job. Noiselessly--for there wasno air to carry the sound--but with a heavy jar which all three feltthrough their feet, the barrier went flat on the floor beyond. 

At the same instant a curious, invisible wave, like a tiny puff of wind, floated out of the darkness and passed by the three men from the earth. Each noticed it, but neither mentioned it at the time. Van Emmon wasalready searching the darkness with the torch. 

Apparently it was only an anteroom. A few feet beyond was another wall, and in it stood another door, larger and heavier than the first. Thethree did not stop; they immediately tried their strength on this onealso. 

After a half dozen attempts without so much as shaking the massiveaffair--"It's no use, " panted the geologist, wishing that he could get ahandkerchief to his forehead. "We can't loosen it without tools. "

Jackson was for trying again, but the doctor agreed with Van Emmon. Theyreflected that they had been away from Smith long enough, anyhow. Thecube was out of sight from where they were. 

Van Emmon turned the light on the walls of the anteroom, and found, on ashelf at one end, a neat pile of those little reels, eleven in all. Hepocketed the lot. There was nothing else. 

Jackson and Kinney started to go. They retreated as far into the mainroom as their telephone wires would allow. Still the geologist heldback. 

"Come on, " said the doctor uneasily. "It's getting cold. "

Next second they stopped short, nerves on edge, at a strange exclamationfrom Van Emmon. They looked around to see him pointing his lightdirectly at the floor. Even in that unnatural suit of mail, his attitudewas one of horror. 

"Look here, " he said in a low, strained voice. They went to his side, and instinctively glanced behind them before looking at what lay in thedust. 

It was the imprint of an enormous human foot. 

The first thing that greeted the ears of the explorers upon taking offtheir suits in the sky-car, was the exultant voice of Smith. He was tooexcited to notice anything out of the way in their manner; he was almostdancing in front of his bench, where the unknown machine, nowreconstructed, stood belted to a small electric-motor. 

"It runs!" he was shouting. "You got here just in time!" He began tofumble with a switch. 

"What of it?" remarked the doctor in the bland tone which he kept foroccasions when Smith needed calming. "What will it do if it does run?"

The engineer looked blank. "Why--" Then he remembered, and picked up oneof the reels at random. "There's a clamp here just the right size tohold one of these, " he explained, fitting the ribbon into place andthreading its free end into a loop on a spool which looked as thoughmade for it. But his excitement had passed; he now cautiously set asmall anvil between himself and the apparatus, and then, with the aid ofa long stick, he threw on the current. 

For a moment nothing happened, save the hum of the motor. Then astrange, leafy rustling sounded from the mechanism, and next, withoutany warning, a high-pitched voice, nasal and plaintive but distinctlyhuman, spoke from the big metal disk. 

The words were unintelligible. The language was totally unlike anythingever heard on the earth. And yet, deliberately if somewhat cringingly, the voice proceeded with what was apparently a recitation. There weremodulations, pauses, sentences; but seemingly the paragraphs were allshort and to the point. 

As the thing went on the four men came closer and watched the operationof the machine. The ribbon unrolled slowly; it was plain that, if theone topic occupied the whole reel, then it must have the length of anordinary chapter. And as the voice continued, certain dramatic qualitiescame out and governed the words, utterly incomprehensible though theywere. There was a real thrill to it. 

After a while they stopped the thing. "No use listening to this now, " asthe doctor said. "We've got to learn a good deal more about these peoplebefore we can guess what it all means. "

And yet, although all were very hungry, on Jackson's suggestion theytried out one of the "records" that was brought from that bafflinganteroom. Smith was very much interested in that unopened door, and VanEmmon was in the midst of it when Jackson started the motor. 

The geologist's words stuck in his throat. The disk was actually shakingwith the vibrations of a most terrific voice. Prodigiously loud andpowerful, its booming, resonant bass smote the ears like the roll ofthunder. It was irresistible in its force, compelling in its assurance, masterful and strong to an overpowering degree. Involuntarily the menfrom the earth stepped back. 

On it roared and rumbled, speaking the same language as that of theother record; but whereas the first speaker merely USED the words, thelast speaker demolished them. One felt that he had extracted every ounceof power in the language, leaving it weak and flabby, unfit for furtheruse. He threw out his sentences as though done with them; not boldly, not defiantly, least of all, tentatively, he spoke with a certainty andforce that came from a knowledge that he could compel, rather thaninduce his hearers to believe. 

It took a little nerve to shut him off; Van Emmon was the one who didit. Somehow they all felt immensely relieved when the gigantic voice wassilenced; and at once began discussing the thing with great earnestness. Jackson was for assuming that the first record was worn and old, thelast one, fresh and new; but after examining both tapes under a glass, and seeing how equally clear cut and sharp the impressions all were, they agreed that the extraordinary voice they had heard was practicallytrue to life. 

They tried out the rest of the records in that batch, finding that theywere all by the same speaker. Nowhere among the ribbons brought from thelibrary was another of his making, although a great number of differentvoices was included; neither was there another talker with a fifth thevolume, the resonance, the absolute power of conviction that thisunknown colossus possessed. 

Of course this is no place to describe the laborious process ofinterpreting these documents, records of a past which was gone beforeearth's mankind had even begun. The work involved the study of countlessphotos, covering everything from inscriptions to parts of machinery, andother details which furnished clue after clue to that superancientlanguage. It was not deciphered, in fact, until several years after theexplorers had submitted their finds to the world's foremostlexicographers, antiquarians and paleontologists. Even today some of itis disputed. 

But right here is, most emphatically, the place to insert the tale toldby that unparalleled voice. And incredible though it may seem, as judgedby the standards of the peoples of this earth, the account is fairlyproved by the facts uncovered by the expedition. It would be but beggingthe question to doubt the genuineness of the thing; and if, understanding the language, one were to hear the original as it fell, word for word from the iron mouth of Strokor [Footnote: Translator'snote--In the Mercurian language, stroke means iron, or heart. ] theGreat-hearing, one would believe; none could doubt, nor would. 

And so it does not do him justice to set it down in ordinary print. Onemust imagine the story being related by Stentor himself; must conceiveof each word falling like the blow of a mammoth sledge. The tale was nottold--it was BELLOWED; and this is how it ran:

PART II

THE STORY

I

THE MAN

I am Strokor, son of Strok, the armorer. I am Strokor, a maker of toolsof war; Strokor, the mightiest man in the world; Strokor, whose wisdomoutwitted the hordes of Klow; Strokor, who has never feared, and neverfailed. Let him who dares, dispute it. I--I am Strokor!

In my youth I was, as now, the marvel of all who saw. I was ever robustand daring, and naught but much older, bigger lads could outdo me. Ibalked at nothing, be it a game or a battle; it was, and forever shallbe, my chief delight to best all others. 

'Twas from my mother that I gained my huge frame and sound heart. Intruth, I am very like her, now that I think upon it. She, too, wasindomitable in battle, and famed for her liking for strife. No doubt'twas her stalwart figure that caught my father's fancy. 

Aye, my mother was a very likely woman, but she boasted no brains. "Ineed no cunning, " I remember she said; and he who was so unlucky inbattle as to fall into her hands could vouch for the truth of it--aslong as he lived, which would not be long. She was a grand woman, slowto anger and a match for many a good pair of men. Often, as a lad, haveI carried the marks of her punishment for the most of a year. 

And thus it seems that I owe my head to my father. He was a marvelouslyclever man, dexterous with hand and brain alike. Moreover, he was noweakling; perchance I should credit him with some of my agility, for hewas famed as a gymnast, though not a powerful one. 'Twas he who taughtme how to disable my enemy with a mere clutch of the neck at a certainspot. 

But Strok, the armorer, was feared most because of his brain, and hisknack of using his mind to the undoing of others. And he taught me allthat he knew; taught me all that he had learned in a lifetime offighting for the emperor, of mending the complicated machines in thearmory, of contact with the chemists who wrought the secret alloy, andthe chiefs who led the army. 

Some of this he taught me when I was not yet a man. Why he should havedone so, I know not, save that he seemed to value my affection, andliked not my mother's demands that I heed her call, not his. At allevents, I oft found his shop a place of refuge from her wrath; and Iearly came to value his teachings. 

When I became a man he abruptly ended the practice. I think he saw thatI was become as dexterous as he with the tools of the craft, and hefeared lest I know more than he. Well he might; the day I realized thisI laughed long and loud. And from that time forth he taught me, notbecause he chose to, but because I bent a chisel in my bare hands, before his eyes, and told him his place. 

Many times he strove to trick me, and more than once he all but caughtme in some trap. He was a crafty man, and relied not upon brawn, butupon wits. Yet I was ever on the watch, and I but learned the more fromhim. 

"Ye are very kind, " I mocked him one morning. When I had taken my seat ahuge weight had dropped from above and crushed my stool to splinters, much as it would have crushed my skull had I not leaped instantly aside. "Ye are kinder than most fathers, who teach their sons nothing at all. "

He foamed at his mouth in his rage and discomfiture. "Insolent whelp!"he snarled. "Thou art quick as a cat on thy feet!"

But I was not to be appeased by words. I smote him on the chest with mybare hand, so that he fell on the far side of the room. "Let that be awarning, " I told him, when he had recovered, some time later. "If yehave any more tricks, try them for, not on, me. " Which I claim to be aneat twist of words. 

It was not long after that when I saw a change in my father. He nolonger tried to snare me; instead, he began, of his own free will, totrain my mind to other than warlike things. At first, I was suspiciousenough. I looked for new traps, and watched all the closer. I told himthat his next try would surely be his last, and I meant it. 

But the time came when I saw that my father was reconciled to hismaster. I saw that he genuinely admitted my prowess; and where heformerly envied me, he now took great pride in all I accomplished, andclaimed that it was but his own brains acting through my body. 

I let him indulge in the conceit. I grudged it not to him, so long as hetaught me. In truth, he was so eager to add to my store of facts, sointent upon filling my head with what filled his, that at times I wasfairly compelled to stop him, lest I tire. 

My mother opposed all this. "The lad needs none of thy wiles, " shegibed. "He is no stripling; he is a man's man, and a fit son of hismother. "

"Aye, " quoth my father slyly. "He has thy muscle and thy courage. ThankJon, he hath not thy empty head!"

Whereat she flew at him. Had she caught him, she would have destroyedhim, such was her rage; and afterwards she would have mourned her follyand mayhap have injured herself; for she loved him greatly. But hestepped aside just in the nick of time, and she crashed into the wallbehind him with such force that she was senseless for a time. I rememberit well. 

And yet, to give credit where credit is due, I must admit that I owe agreat deal to that gray-beard, Maka, the star-gazer. But for him, perchance, the name of Strokor would mean but little, for 'twas he whogave me ambition. 

Truly it was an uncommon affair, my first meeting with him. Now that Ishake my memory for it, it seems that something else of like consequencecame to pass on the same occasion. Curious; but I have not thought on itfor many days. 

Yes, it is true; I met Maka on the very morn that I first laid eyes onthe girl Ave. 

I was returning from the northland at the time. A rumor had come down toVlama that one of the people in the snow country had seen a lonespecimen of the mulikka. Now these were but a myth. No man livingremembers when the carvings on the House of Learning were made, and allthe wise men say that it hath been ages since any being other than manroamed the world. Yet, I was young. I determined to search for the thinganyhow; and 'twas only after wasting many days in the snow that I cursedmy luck, and turned back. 

I was afoot, for the going was too rough for my chariot. I had not yetquit the wilderness before, from a height, I spied a group of peopleascending from the valley. Knowing not whether they be friends or foes, I hid beside the path up which they must come; for I was weary andwanting no strife. 

Yet I became alert enough when the three--they were two ditch-tenders, one old, one young, and a girl--came within earshot. For they werequarreling. It seemed that the young man, who was plainly eager to gainthe girl, had fouled in a try to force her favor. The older man chidedhim hotly. 

And just when they came opposite my rock, the younger man, whose passionhad got the better of him, suddenly tripped the older, so that he fellupon the ledge and would have fallen to his death on the rocks below hadnot the girl, crying out in her terror, leaped forward and caught hishand. 

At once the ditch-tender took the lass about the waist, and strove topull her away. For a moment she held fast, and in that moment I, Strokor, stood forth from behind the rock. 

Now, be it known that I am no champion of weaklings. I have no likingfor the troubles of others; enough of my own, say I. I was but angeredthat the ditch-tender should have done the trick so clumsily, and uponan old man, at that. I cared not for the gray beard, nor what became ofthe chit. I clapped the trickster upon the shoulder and spun him about. 

"Ye clumsy coward!" I jeered. "Have ye had no practice that ye shouldtrip the old one no better than that?"

"Who are ye?" he stuttered, like the coward he was. I laughed and helpedthe chit drag Maka--for it was he--up to safety. 

"I am a far better man than ye, " I said, not caring to give my name. "And I can show ye how the thing should be done. Come; at me, if ye area man!"

At that he dashed upon me; and such was his fear of ridicule--for thegirl was laughing him to scorn now--he put up a fair, stiff fight. But Iforgot my weariness when he foully clotted me on the head with a stone. I drove at him with all the speed and suddenness my father had taughtme, caught the fellow by the ankle, and brought him down atop me. 

The rest was easy. I bent my knee under his middle, and tossed him high. In a flash I was upon my feet, and caught him from behind. And inanother second I had rushed him to the cliff; and when he turned to savehimself, I tripped him as neatly as father himself could have done it, so that the fellow will guard the ditch no more, save in the caverns ofHofe. 

I laughed and picked up my pack. My head hurt a bit from the fellow'sblow, but a little water would do for that. I started to go. 

"Ye are a brave man!" cried the girl. I turned carelessly, and then, quite for the first time, I had a real look at her. 

She was in no way like any woman I had seen. All of them had been muchlike the men: brawny and close-knit, as well fitted for their work asare men for war. But this chit was all but slender; not skinny, butprettily rounded out, and soft like. I cannot say that I admired her atfirst glance; she seemed fit only to look at, not to live. I was mindedof some of the ancient carvings, which show delicate, lightly builtanimals that have long since been killed off; graceful trifles thatrested the eye. 

As for the old man: "Aye, thou art brave, and wondrous strong, my lad, "said he, still a bit shaky from his close call. I was pleased with theacknowledgment, and turned back. 

"It was nothing, " I told them; and I recounted some of my exploits, notably one in which I routed a raiding party of men from Klow, six inall, carrying in two alive on my shoulders. "I am the son of Strok, thearmorer. "

"Ye are Strokor!" marveled the girl, staring at me as though I were agod. Then she threw back her head and stepped close. 

"I am Ave. This is Maka; he is my uncle, but best known as a star-gazer. My father was Durok, the engine-maker. " She watched my face. 

"Durok?" I knew him well. My father had said that he was quite as brainyas himself. "He were a fine man, Ave. "

"Aye, " said she proudly. She stepped closer; I could not but see howlike him she was, though a woman. And next second she laid a hand on myarm. 

"I am yet a free woman, Strokor. Hast thou picked thy mate?" And hercheeks flamed. 

Now, 'twas not my first experience of the kind. Many women had lookedlike that at me before. But I had always been a man's man, and had everheeded my father's warning to have naught whatever to do with women. "They are the worst trick of all, " he told me; and I had never forgot. Belike I owe much of my power to just this. 

But Ave had acted too quickly for me to get away. I laughed again, andshook her off. 

"I will have naught to do with ye, " I told her, civilly enough. "When Iam ready to take a woman, I shall take her; not before. "

At that the blood left her face; she stood very straight, and her eyesflashed dangerously. Were she a man I should have stood on my guard. Butshe made no move; only the softness in her eyes gave way to such asavage look that I was filled with amaze. And thus I left them; the oldman calling down the blessing of Jon upon me for having saved his life, and the chit glaring after me as though no curses would suffice. 

A right queer matter, I thought at the time. I guessed not what wouldcome of it; not then. 

II

THE VISION

'Twas a fortnight later, more or less, when next I saw Maka. I waslumbering along in my chariot, feeling most uncomfortable under the eyesof my friends; for one foot of my machine had a loose link, and 'twasflapping absurdly. And I liked it none too well when Maka stopped hisown rattletrap in front of mine, and came running to my window. Nextmoment I forgot his impertinence. 

"Strokor, " he whispered, his face alive with excitement, "thou art abrave lad, and didst save my life. Now, know you that a party of the menof Klow have secreted themselves under the stairway behind the emperor'sthrone. They have killed the guards, and will of a certainty kill theemperor, too!"

"'Twould serve the dolt right, " I replied, for I really cared butlittle. "But why have ye come to me, old man? I am but a lieutenant inthe armory; I am not the captain of the palace guard. "

"Because, " he answered, gazing at me very pleasingly, "thou couldstdispose of the whole party single handed--there are but four--and gainmuch glory for thyself. "

"By Jon!" I swore, vastly delighted; and without stopping to ask Makawhence he had got his knowledge, I went at once to the spot. However, when I got back, I sought the star-gazer--I ought to mention that I hadno trouble with the louts, and that the emperor himself saw me finishingoff the last of them--I sought the star-gazer and demanded how he hadknown. 

"Hast ever heard of Edam?" he inquired in return. 

"Edam?" I had not; the name was strange to me. "Who is he?"

"A man as young as thyself, but a mere stripling, " quoth Maka. "He was apupil of mine when I taught in the House of Learning. Of late he hasturned to prophecy; and it is fair remarkable how well the lad dothguess. At all events, 'twas he, Strokor, who told me of the plot. He sawit in a dream. "

"Then Edam must yet be in Vlama, " said I, "if he were able to tell ye. Canst bring him to me? I would know him. "

And so it came about that, on the eve of that same day, Maka broughtEdam to my house. I remember it well; for 'twas the same day that theemperor, in gratitude of my little service in the anteroom, had relievedme from my post in the armory and made me captain of the palace guard. Iwas thus become the youngest captain, also the biggest and strongest;and, as will soon appear, by far the longest-headed. 

I was in high good humor, and had decided to celebrate with a feast. Sowhen my two callers arrived, I sat them down before a meal such as costa tenth [Footnote: Since Mercury had no moon, its people never coined aword to correspond with our "month, " and for the same reason they neverhad a week. Their time was reckoned only in days, years, and fractionsof the two. ] of my year's salary. 

I served not only the usual products of the field, variously prepared, but as a special gift from the emperor's own stock, a piece of mulikkameat, frozen, which had been found in the northland by some geologists afew years aback. It had been kept in the palace icing-room all thistime, and was in prime condition. Maka and I enjoyed it overmuch, butEdam would touch it not. 

He was a slightly built lad, not at all the sturdy man that I am, but ofless than half the weight. His head, too, was unlike mine; his foreheadwas wide as well as tall, and his eyes were mild as a slave's. 

"Ye are very young to be a prophet, " I said to him, after we werefilled, and the slaves had cleared away our litter. "Tell me: hastforetold anything else that has come to pass?"

"Aye, " he replied, not at all boldly, but what some call modestly. "Iprophesied the armistice which now stands between our empire andKlow's. "

"Is this true?" I demanded of Maka. The old man bowed his head gravelyand looked upon the young man with far more respect than I felt. Headded:

"Tell Strokor the dream thou hadst two nights ago, Edam. It were a rightstrange thing, whether true or no. "

The stripling shifted his weight on his stool, and moved the bowlcloser. Then he thrust his pipe deep into it, and let the liquid flowslowly out his nostrils. [Footnote: A curious custom among theMercurians, who had no tobacco. There is no other way to explain some ofthe carvings. Doubtless the liquid was sweet-smelling, and perhapsslightly narcotic. ]

"I saw this, " he began, "immediately before rising, and after a verylight supper; so I know that it was a vision from Jon, and not of my ownmaking. 

"I was standing upon the summit of a mountain, and gazing down upon avery large, fertile valley. It was heavily wooded, dark green andinviting. But what first drew my attention was a great number of animalsmoving about IN THE AIR. They were passing strange affairs, some large, some small, variously colored, and all covered with the same sort offur, quite unlike any hair I have ever seen. "

"In the air?" I echoed, recovering from my astonishment. Then I laughedmightily. "Man, ye must be crazy! There is no animal can live in theair! Ye must mean in the water or on land. "

"Nay, " interposed the star-gazer. "Thou hast never studied the stars, Strokor, or thou wouldst know that there be a number of them which, through the enlarging tube, show themselves to be round worlds, likeunto our own. 

"And it doth further appear that these other worlds also have air likethis we breathe, and that some have less, while others have even more. From what Edam has told me, " finished the old man, "I judge that hisvision took place on Jeos, [Footnote: The Mercurian word for earth. ] aworld much larger than ours according to my calculations, and doubtlesshaving enough air to permit very light creatures to move about in it. "

"Go on, " said I to Edam, good-humoredly. "I be ever willing to believeanything strange when my stomach is full. "

The dreamer had taken no offense. "Then I bent my gaze closer, as I amalways able, in visions. And I saw that the greenery was most remarkablydense, tangled and luxuriant to a degree not ever seen here. And movingabout in it was the most extraordinary collection of beings that I haveever laid these eyes upon. 

"There were some huge creatures, quite as tall as thy house, Strokor, with legs as big around as that huge chest of thine. They had tails, ashad our ancient mulikka, save that these were terrific things, as longand as big as the trunk of a large tree. I know not their names. [Footnote: Probably the dinosaur. ]

"And then, at the other extreme, was a tiny creature of the air, whichmoved with a musical hum. It could have hid under thy finger-nail, Strokor, yet it had a tiny sharp-pointed bill, with which it stung mostaggravatingly. And between these two there were any number of creaturesof varying size and shape. 

"But nowhere was there a sign of a man. True, there was one hairy, grotesque creature which hung by its hands and feet from the tree-tops, very like thee in some way, Strokor; but its face and head were those ofa brainless beast, not of a man. Nowhere was a creature like me or thee. 

"And the most curious thing was this: Although there were ten times asmany of these creatures, big and little, to the same space as on ourworld, yet there was no great amount of strife. In truth, there is farmore combat and destruction among we men than among the beasts. 

"And, " he spoke most earnestly, as though he would not care to bedisbelieved, "I saw fathers fight to protect their young!"

I near fell from my stool in my amaze. Never in all my life had I hearda thing so far from the fact. "What!" I shouted. "Ye sit there like asane man, and tell me ye saw fathers fight for their young?"

He nodded his head, still very gravely. I fell silent for want of words, but Maka put in a thought. "It would appear, Strokor, that it be not somuch of an effort for beings to live, there on Jeos, as here. Perchance'tis the greater amount of vegetation; at all accounts, the animals neednot prey upon one another so generally; and that, then, would explainwhy some have energy enough to waste in the care of their young. "

"I can understand, " I said, very slowly. "I can understand why a motherwill fight for her babes; 'tis reasonable enough, no doubt. But as forfathers doing the same--Edam, dost mean to say that ALL creatures onJeos do this?"

"Nay; only some. It may be that fewer than half of the varieties havethe custom. Howbeit, 'tis a beautiful one. When the vision ended I wasright loath to go. "

"Faugh!" I spat upon the ground. "Such softness makes me ill! I be gladI were born in a man's world, where I can take a man's chances. I wantno favoring. If I am strong enough to live, I live; if not, I die. Whatmore can I ask?"

"Aye, my lad!" said Maka approvingly. "This be a world for the strong. There is no room here for others; there is scarce enough food for thosewho, thanks to their strength, do survive. " He slipped the gold bandfrom off his wrist, and held it up for Jon to see. "Here, Strokor, apledge! A pledge to--the survival of the fittest!"

"A neat, neat wording!" I roared, as I took the pledge with him. Then weboth stopped short. Edam had not joined us. "Edam, my lad, " spake theold man, "ye will take the pledge with us?"

The stripling's eyes were troubled. Well he knew that, once he refusedsuch an act, he were no longer welcome in my house, nor in Maka's. Butwhen he looked around it were bravely enough. 

"Men, I have neither the strength of the one nor the brains of the otherof ye. I am but a watchmaker; I live because of my skill with the littlewheels. 

"I have no quarrel with either of ye. " He got to his feet, and startedto the door. "But I cannot take the pledge with ye. 

"I have seen a wondrous thing, and I love it. And, though I know notwhy--I feel that Jon has willed it for Jeos to see a new race of men, arace even better than ours. "

I leaped to my feet. "Better than ours! Mean ye to say, stripling, thatthere can be a better man than Strokor?"

I full expected him to shrink from me in fear; I was able to crush himwith one blow. But he stood his ground; nay, stepped forward and laid ahand easily upon my shoulder. 

"Strokor--ye are more than a man; ye are two men in one. There is nofiner--I say it fair. And yet, I doubt not that there can be, and willbe, a better!"

And with that such a curious expression came into his face, such a glowof some strange land of warmth, that I let my hand drop and suffered himto depart in peace--such was my wonder. 

Besides, any miserable lout could have destroyed the lad. 

Maka sat deep in thought for a time, and when he did speak he made nomention of the lad who had just quit us. Instead, he looked me over, long and earnestly, and at the end he shook his head sorrowfully andsighed:

"Thou art the sort of a son I would have had, Strokor, given the wits ofthy father to hold a woman like thy mother. And thou didst save mylife. "

He mused a little longer, then roused himself and spake sharply: "Thouart a vain man, Strokor!"

"Aye, " I agreed, willingly enough. "And none has better cause than I!"

He would not acknowledge the quip. "Thou hast everything needful totickle thy vanity. Thou hast the envy of those who note thy strength, the praise of them who love thy courage, and the respect of they whovalue thy brains. All these thou hast--and yet ye have not that which isbest!"

I thought swiftly and turned on him with a frown: "Mean ye that I am nothandsome enough?"

"Nay, Strokor, " quoth the star-gazer. "There be none handsomer in thisworld, no matter what the standard of any other, such as Edam's Jeos. 

"It is not that. It is, that thou hast no ambition. "

I considered this deeply. At first thought it was not true; had I notalways made it a point to best my opponent? From my youth it had beenever my custom to succeed where bigger bodies and older minds hadfailed. Was not this ambition?

But before I disputed the point with Maka, I saw what he meant. I had noFINAL ambition, no ultimate goal for which to strive. I had been contentfrom year to year to outdo each rival as he came before me; and now, with mind and body alike in the pink of condition, I was come to theplace where none durst stand before me. 

"Ye are right, Maka, " I admitted, not because I cared to gratify hisconceit, but because it were always for my own good to own up whenwrong, that I might learn the better. "Ye are right; I need to decideupon a life-purpose. What have ye thought?"

The old man was greatly pleased. "Our talk with Edam brought it allbefore me. Know you, Strokor, that the survival of the fittest is a rulewhich governs man as well as men. It applies to the entire population, Strokor, just as truly as to me or thee. 

"In fine, we men who are now the sole inhabitants of this world, aredescended from a race of people who survived solely because they werefitter than the mulikka, fitter than the reptiles, the fittest, by far, of all the creatures. 

"That being the case, it is plain that in time either our empire, orthat of Klow's, must triumph over the other. And that which remainsshall be the fittest!"

"Hold!" I cried. "Why cannot matters remain just as they now are--andforever?"

"That" he said rapidly, "is because thou knowest so little about thefuture of this world. But I am famed as a student of the heavens; and Itell thee it is possible, by means of certain delicate measuringinstruments, together with the highest mathematics, to keep a very closewatch upon the course of our world. And we now know that our year ismuch shorter than it was in the days of the mulikka. "

I nodded my head. "Rightly enough, since our days are become steadilylonger, for some mysterious reason. "

"A reason no longer a mystery, " quoth Maka. "It is now known that thesun is a very powerful magnet, and that it is constantly pulling uponour world and bringing it nearer and nearer to himself. That is why ithath become slightly warmer during the past hundred years; the recordsshow it plain. And the same influence has caused the lengthening of ourday. "

He stopped and let me think. Soon I saw it clearly enough; a time mustcome when the increasing warmth of the sun would stifle all forms ofvegetable life, and that would mean the choking of mankind. It mighttake untold centuries; yet, plainly enough, the world must some daybecome too small for even those who now remained upon it. 

Suddenly I leaped to my feet and strode the room in my excitement. "Yeare right, Maka!" I shouted, thoroughly aroused. "There cannot always bethe two empires. In time one or the other must prevail; Jon has willedit. And--" I stopped short and stared at him--"I need not tell ye whichit shall be!"

"I knew thou wouldst see the light, Strokor! Thou hast thy father'sbrains. "

I sat me down, but instantly leaped up again, such was my enthusiasm. "Maka, " I cried, "our emperor is not the man for the place! It is truethat he were a brave warrior in his youth; he won the throne fairly. Andwe have suffered him to keep it because he is a wise man, and because wehave had little trouble with the men of Klow since their defeat twogenerations agone. 

"But he, today, is content to sit at his ease and quote platitudes aboutlive and let live. Faugh! I am ashamed that I should even have given earto him!"

I stopped short and glared at the old man. "Maka--hark ye well! If it bethe will of Jon to decide between the men of Klow and the men ofVlamaland, then it is my intent to take a hand in this decision!"

"Aye, my lad, " he said tranquilly; and then added, quite as though heknew what my answer must be: "How do ye intend to go about it?"

"Like a man! I, Strokor, shall become the emperor!"

III

THE THRONE

A small storm had come up while Maka and I were talking. Now, as he wasabout to quit me, the clouds were clearing away and an occasional strokeof lightning came down. One of these, however, hit the ground such ashort distance away that both of us could smell the smoke. 

My mind was more alive than it had ever been before. "Now, what causedthat, Maka? The lightning, I mean; we have it nearly every day, yet Ihave never thought to question it before. "

"It is no mystery, my lad, " quoth Maka, dodging into his chariot, sothat he was not wet. "I myself have watched the thing from the top ofhigh mountains, where the air is so light that a man can scarce getenough to fill his lungs; and I say unto you that, were it not for whatair we have, we should have naught save the lightning. The space aboutthe air is full of it. "

He started his engine, then leaned out into the rain and said softly:"Hold fast to what thy father has taught thee, Strokor. Have nothing todo with the women. 'Tis a man's job ahead of thee, and the future of theempire is in thy hands. 

"And, " as he clattered off, "fill not thy head with wonderings about thelightning. "

"Aye, " said I right earnestly, and immediately turned my thoughts to mynew ambition. And yet the thing Maka had just told me kept coming backto my mind, and so it does to this very day. I know not why I shouldmention it at all save that each time I think upon Maka, I also thinkupon the lightning, whether I will or no. 

I slept not at all that night, but sat [Footnote: It seems to have beenthe custom among the soldiers never to lie down, but to take their sleepsitting or standing; a habit not hard to form where the gravitation wasso slight. No doubt this also explains their stunted legs. ] till thedawn came, thinking out a plan of action. By that time I was fairconvinced that there was naught to be gained by waiting; waiting makesme impatient as well. I determined to act at once; and since one day isquite as good as the next, I decided that this day was to see the thingbegun. 

I came before the emperor at noon and received my decorations. Withinthe hour I had made myself known to the four and ninety men who were tobe my command; a picked company, all of a height and weight, with bodiesthat lacked little of my own perfection. Never was there a finer guardabout the palace. 

My first care was to pick a quarrel with the outgoing commander. Twereeasy enough; he was green with envy, anyhow. And so it came about thatwe met about mid afternoon, with seconds, in a well-frequented field inthe outskirts. 

Before supper was eaten my entire troop knew that their new captain hadtossed his ball-slinger away without using it, had taken twenty ballsfrom their former commander's weapon, and while thus wounded had chargedthe man and despatched him with bare hands! Needless to say, thisexploit quite won their hearts; none but a blind man could have missedthe respect they showed me when, all bandaged and sore, I lined them upnext morning. Afterward I learned that they had all taken a pledge to"follow Strokor through the gates of Hofe itself!"

'Twere but a week later that, fully recovered and in perfect fettle, Icalled my men together one morn as the sun rose. By that time I hadgiven them a sample of my brains through ordering a rearrangement oftheir quarters such as made the same much more comfortable. Also, I haddealt with one slight infraction of the rules in such a drastic fashionthat they knew I would brook no trifling. All told, 'tis hard to saywhether they thought the most of me or of Jon. 

"Men, " said I, as bluntly as I knew, "the emperor is an old man. And, asye know, he is disposed to be lenient toward the men of Klow; whereas, ye and I well know that the louts are blackguards. 

"Now, I will tell ye more. It has come to me lately that Klow isplotting to attack us with strange weapons. " I thought best, consideringtheir ignorance, not to give them my own reasons. "Of course I have toldthe emperor of it; yet he will not act. He says to wait till we areattacked. "

I stopped and watched their faces. Sure enough; the idea fair made themache. Each and every one of these men was spoiling for a fight. 

"Now, tell me; how would ye like to become the emperor's body-guard?" Idid not have to wait long; the light that flared in their faces told meplainly. "And--how would ye like to have me for your emperor?"

At that their tongues were loosed, and I hindered them not. They yelledfor pure joy, and pressed about me like a pack of children. I saw thatthe time was ripe for action. 

"Up, then!" I roared, and, of course, led the way. We met the emperor'sguard on the lower stairs; and from that point on we fair hacked our waythrough. 

Well, no need to describe the fight. For a time I thought we were gone;the guards had a cunningly devised labyrinth on the second floor, andattacked us from holes in a false ceiling, so that we suffered heavilyat first. But I saw what was amiss, and shouted to my men to clear awaythe timbers; and after that it was clear work. I lost forty men beforethe guard was disposed of. The emperor I finished myself; he dodgedright spryly for a time, but at last I caught him and tossed him to thefoot of the upper stairs. And there he still lies for none of my menwould touch him, nor would I. We covered him with quicklime and someearth. 

As soon as we had taken care of those who were not too far gone, Icalled the men together and caused a round of spirits to be served. Thenwe all feasted on the emperor's store, and soon were feeling likeourselves. 

"Men, " I said impressively, "I am proud of ye. Never did an emperor havesuch a dangerous gang of bullies!"

At that they all grinned happily, and I added: "And 'tis a fine staff ofgenerals that ye'll make!"

Need I say more? Those men would have overturned the palace for me had Isaid the word. As it was, they obeyed my next orders in such a spiritthat success was assured from the first. 

First, using the dead emperor's name, I caused the various chiefs to bebrought together at once to the court chamber. At the same time Icontrived, by means I need not go into here, to prevent any word of ouraction from getting abroad. So, when the former staff faced me the nextmorning, they learned that they were to be executed. I could trust notone; they were all friends of the old man. 

With the chiefs out of the way, and my own men taking their commands, the whole army fell into my hands. True, there were some insurrectionshere and there; but my men handled them with such speed and harshnessthat any further stubbornness turned to admiration. By this time thefame of Strokor was spread throughout the empire. 

And thus it came about that, within a week of the night that old Makafirst put the idea into my head, Strokor, son of Strok, reignedthroughout Vlamaland. And, to make it complete, the army celebrated myaccession by taking a pledge before Jon:

"To Strokor, the fittest of the fit!"

IV

THE ASSAULT

Now, out of a total population of perhaps three million, I had about aquarter-million first-class fighters in my half of the world. Klow, bycomparison, had but two-thirds the number; his land was not a rich one. 

But he had the advantage of knowing, some while in advance, of the newruler in Vlama; and shortly my spies reported that his armories weredevising a new type of weapon. 'Twas a strange verification of my ownfiction to my men. I could learn nothing, however, about it. 

Meanwhile I caused a vast number of flat-boats to be built, all insecret. Each of them was intended for a single fighter and his supplies;and each was so arranged, with side paddle wheels, that it would bedriven by the motor in the soldier's chariot, and thus give each his ownboat. 

Again discarding all precedent, I packed not all my forces together, ashad been done in the past, but scattered them up and adown the coastfronting the land of Klow; and at a prearranged time my quarter-millionmen set out, a company in each tiny fleet. Some were slightly in advanceof the rest, who had the shorter distance to travel. And, just as I hadplanned, we all arrived at a certain spot on Klow's coast at practicallythe same hour, although two nights later. 

'Twas a brilliant stroke. The enemy looked not for a fleet of water-ants, ready to step right out of the sea into battle. Their fleet waslooking for us, true, but not in that shape. And we were all safelyashore before they had ceased to scour the seas for us. 

I immediately placed my heavy machines, and just as all formerexpeditions had done, opened the assault at once with a shower of thepoison shells. I relied, it will be seen, upon the surprise of my attackto strike terror into the hearts of the louts. 

But apparently they were prepared for anything, no matter how rapid theattack. My bombardment had not proceeded many moments before, to mydismay, some of their own shells began to fall among us. Soon they weregiving as good as we. 

"Now, how knew they that we should come to this spot?" I demanded ofMaka. I had placed him in my cabinet as soon as I had reached thethrone. 

The old man stroked his beard gravely. "Perchance it had been wrong tocome to the old landing. They simply began shelling it as a matter ofcourse. "

"Ye are right again, " I told him; and forthwith moved my pieces overinto another triangle. (Previously, of course, all my charioteers hadgone on toward the capital). However, I took care to move my machines, one at a time, so that there was no let-up in my bombardment. 

But scarce had we taken up the new position before the enemy's shellslikewise shifted, and began to strike once more in our midst. I swore agreat oath and whirled upon Maka in wrath. 

"Think ye that there be a spy among us?" I demanded. "How else can yeexplain this thing? My men have combed the land about us; there are noneof the louts secreted here; and, even so, they could not have notifiedKlow so soon. Besides, 'tis pitch dark. " I were sorely mystified. 

All we could do was to fling our shells as fast as our machines wouldwork and dodge the enemy's hail as best we could. Thus the time passed, and it were near dawn when the first messengers [Footnote: Messengers;no telegraph or telephone, much less wireless. In a civilization asstrenuous as that of Mercury, there was never enough consideration forothers to lead to such socially beneficial things as these, no more thanrailroads or printing presses. Civilization appears to be in exactproportion to the ease of getting a living, other conditions beingequal. ] returned. 

"They have stopped us just outside the walls of the city, " was thereport. It pleased me that they should have pushed so far at first; Iclimbed at once into my chariot. 

"Now is the time for Strokor to strike!" I gave orders for the staff toremain where it was. "I will send ye word when the city is mine. "

But before I started my engine I glanced up at the sky, to see if thedawn were yet come; and as I gazed I thought I saw something comebetween me and a star. I brushed the hair away from my eyes, and lookedagain. To my boundless surprise I made out, not one, but three strangeobjects moving about swiftly in the air!

"Look!" I cried, and my whole staff craned their necks. In a moment allhad seen, and great was their wonder. I blamed them not for their fears. 

'Twas Maka who spoke first. "They are much too large to be creatures ofJon, " he muttered. "They must be some trick of the enemy. 

"Dost recall Edam's vision of the creatures in the air of Jeos?" he wenton, knowing that I would not hinder him. "Now, as I remember it, he saidthey flew with great speed. Were it not possible, Strokor, for suitableengines to propel very light structures at such high speed as to remainsuspended in the air, after the manner of leaves in a storm? I notethese strangers move quite fast. "

It was even so; and at that same instant one of them swung directlyabove our heads, so close that I could hear the hum of a powerfulengine. So it was only a trick! I shook myself together. 

"Attention!" My staff drew up at the word. "They are but few; fear themnot! We waste no more time here! Pack up the machines, and follow!"

And thus we charged upon Klow. 

I found that my men had entirely surrounded the city. Klow's men wereputting up a plucky fight, and showing no signs of fearing us. Seeingthis, I blew a blast on my engine's whistle, so that my bullies mightknow that I had come. 

Immediately the word ran up and down the line, so that within a fewminutes Klow was facing a roaring crowd of half-mad terrors. I myselfset the example by charging the nearest group of the enemy, all of whomwere mounted within the rather small and perfectly circular chariotswhich they preferred. They were quick, but slippery. Also, they couldnot stand before a determined rush, as several of them learned aftervainly trying to slip some balls through my windows and, failing inthat, striving to get away from me. 

But I ran them down, and toppled them over, and dropped suffocationbombs into their little cages with such vigor and disregard of theirvolleys that my men could not resist the example. We charged all alongthat vast circular line, and we cheered mightily when the whole frontbroke, turned tail, and ran before us. 

But scarce had they got away before a queer thing happened. A flock ofthose great air-creatures, some eight altogether, rose up from themiddle of the city. It was now fairly light, and we could see well. Oneof them had some sort of engine trouble, so that it had to return atonce; but the other seven came out to the battle-line and began tocircle the city. 

As they did so they dropped odd, misshapen parcels, totally unlikematerials of war; but when they struck they gave off prodigious puffs ofa greenish smoke, of so terribly pungent a nature that my men droppedbefore it like apples from a shaken tree. 'Twas a fearful sight; luckyfor us that the louts had had no practice, else few of us should bealive to tell the tale. 

And so they swept around the great circle, many triangles in area; andeverywhere the unthinkable things smote the hearts of my men with a fearthey had never known. Only one of the devices suffered; it was broughtdown by a chance fling of a poison shell. The rest, after loosing theirburdens, returned to the city for more. 

I am no fool. I saw that we could do nothing against such weapons, butmust use all our wits if we escaped even. 

"Return!" I commanded, and instantly my staff whistled the code. The menobeyed with alacrity, making off at top speed with the men of Klow inhot pursuit, although able to do little damage. 

Aye, it were a sorrowful thing, that retreat. The best I could do was toremain till the very last, having to deal with a number of persistentlouts who all but suffocated me, at that. But I managed to empty myslinger into some of them and to topple the rest. I was mainly angrythat Klow had not showed himself. 

By the time I had reached the seashore, most of my men were in theirboats. Again I stayed till the last, although I could see the enemy'sfleet bearing down hard upon us from the north. In truth we would haveall been lost, had we come in the manner of former campaigns, alltogether in big transports. But because we could scatter every whichway, the fleet harmed us little; and four-fifths of us got safely back. 

Happily, none of the air-machines had range enough to reach Vlamaland. As soon as I could get my staff together, I gave orders such as wouldinsure discipline. Then, reminding my hearties that Klow, knowing ourhelplessness, would surely attack as soon as fully equipped, I made thisoffer:

"To the man who shall suggest the best way of meeting their attack, Ishall give the third of my empire!"

So they knew that the case was desperate. As for myself, I slept not abit, but paced my sleep-chamber and thought deeply. 

Now, a bit of a shell, from an enemy slinger, had penetrated my arm. Till now, I had paid no attention to it. But it began to bother me, so Ipulled the metal from my arm with my teeth. And quite by chance I placedthe billet on the table within a few inches of the compass I had carriedon my boat. 

To my intense surprise the needle of the compass swung violently about, so that one end pointed directly at the fragment of metal. I moved themcloser together; there was no doubt that they were strongly attracted. The enemy's shells were made of mere iron!

The moment I fully realized this, I saw clearly how we might baffle themen of Klow. I instantly summoned some men gave the orders much asthough I had known for years what was to be done, and in a few momentshad the satisfaction of seeing my messengers hurrying north and south. 

And so it came about that, within three days of our shameful retreat, atenth of my men were at work on the new project. As yet there was noword from my spies across the sea; but we worked with all possiblehaste. And this, very briefly, is what we did:

We laid a gigantic line of iron clear across the empire. From north tosouth, from snow to snow; one end was bedded in the island of Pathna, where the north magnetic-pole is found, while the other stopped on theopposite side of the world, in a hole dug through the ice into the solidearth of the South Polar Plain. And every foot of that enormous rod--'twas as big around as my leg--was insulated from the ground with piecesof our secret non-magnetic alloy!

Not for nothing had our chemists sought the metal which would resist thelightning. And not for nothing did my bullies piece the rod together, all working at the same time, so that the whole thing were complete inseven days. That is, complete save for the final connecting link; andthat lay, a loglike roll of iron, at the door of my palace, ready to berolled into place when I were but ready. 

And on the morrow the Klow reached our shores. 

V

THE VICTORY

My first intent was to let them advance unhampered; but Maka pointed outthat such a policy might give them suspicions, and so we disputed theircourse all the way. I gave orders to show no great amount of resistance;and thus, the louts reached Vlama in high feather, confident that thegame was theirs. 

I stood at the door of the palace as Klow himself rolled up to the edgeof the parade-ground. My men, obeying orders, had given way to him; hiscrews swarmed the space behind and on all sides of him, while my ownbullies were all about and behind the palace. Never did two such giantarmies face one another in peace; for I had caused my banner to befloated wrong end to, in token of surrender. 

First, a small body of subordinates waited upon me, demanding that Igive up the throne. I answered that I would treat with none save Klowhimself; and shortly the knave, surrounded by perhaps fifty underlings, stepped up before me. 

"Hail, Stroker!" he growled, his voice shaking a bit with excitement;not with fear, for he were a brave man. "Hail to thee and to thine, anda pleasant stay in Hofe for ye all!"

"Hail, Klow!" replied I, glancing up meaningly at the air monsterswheeling there. "I take it that ye purpose to execute us. "

"Aye, " he growled savagely. "Thou didst attack without provocation. Thylife is forfeit, and as many more as may be found needful to guaranteepeace. "

"Then, " I quoth, my manner changing, "then ye have saved me the troubleof deciding what shall be thy fate. Execution, say you? So be it!"

And I strode down to the great log of iron which lay ready to fill thegap. Klow looked at me with a peculiar expression, as though he thoughtme mad. True, it looked it; how could I do him harm without myselfsuffering?

But I kicked the props which held the iron, and gave it a start with myfoot. The ends of the pole-to-pole rod lay concealed by brush, perchancefifty yards away. In ten seconds that last section had rolled completelybetween them; and only a fool would have missed seeing that, the lastten feet, the iron was fair jerked through the air. 

As this happened we all heard a tremendous crackling, like that ofnearby lightning, while enormous clouds of dust arose from the twoconcealed ends, which were now become connections. And at the same timea loud, steely click, just one and no more, sounded from the intrudinghost. 

For a moment Klow was vastly puzzled. Then he snarled angrily: "Whatmeans this foolery, Strokor? Advance, and give up thy ax!"

For answer I turned me about, so as to face my men, and held up my handin signal. Instantly the whistles sounded, and my hearties came boundinginto the field. 

"Treachery!" shouted Klow; and his officers ran here and there, shouting: "To arms! Charge and destroy! No quarter!"

But I paid little attention to the hubbub. I were gazing up at thoseinfernal creatures of the air; and my heart sang within me as I sawthem, circling erratically but very surely down to the earth. And asthey came nearer, my satisfaction was entire; for their engines weresilent!

At the same time consternation was reigning among our visitors. Not aman of all Klow's thousands was able to move his car or lift a weapon. Every slinger was jammed, as though frozen by invisible ice; all theirballs and shells were stuck together, like the work of a transparentglue. Even their side arms were locked in their scabbards; and all theirtugging could budge them not!

But none of my men were so handicapped. Each man's chariot was runningas though naught had happened; they thundered forward, discharging theirballs and shells as freely as they had across the sea. Their charge wasa murderous one; not a man of Klow's was able to resist, save with whatforce he could put into his bare hands. 

Klow saw all this from the middle of his group of officers. None wereable to more than place his body 'twixt us and their chief. In a veryfew moments they saw that the unknown magic had made them as children inour hands; they were utterly lost; and Klow turned away from the sightwith a black face. Again he faced me. 

"What means this, ye huge bundle of lies? What mean ye by tricking uswith yon badge of surrender, only to tie our hands with thy magic ofHofe? Is this the way to fight like a man?"

I had stood at ease in my door since rolling the iron. Now, I lookedabout me still more easily; my men were running down the louts, who hadjumped from their useless chariots and taken to their heels. 'Twere buta matter of time before the army of Klow would be no more, at that rate. 

"Klow, " I answered him mildly; "ye are right; this is not the way tofight like a man. Neither, " I pointed out one of the fallen air-cars;"neither is that the way, flitting over our heads like shadows, anddestroying us with filthy smoke! Shame on ye, Klow, for stooping tosuch! And upon thy own head be the blame for the trick I have playedupon ye!"

"You attacked us without provocation, " he muttered, sourly. 

"Aye, and for a very good reason, " I replied. "Yet I see thy viewpoint, and shalt give thee the benefit of the doubt. " I turned to my whistlersand gave an order; so that presently the great slaughter had stopped. Mymen and Klow's alike struggled back to see what were amiss. 

I handed Klow an ax. "Throw away thine own, scabbard and all, " I toldhim. "It is useless, for 'tis made of iron. Ours, and all our tools ofwar, are formed of an alloy which is immune from the magic. "

He took the ax in wonderment. "What means it, Strokor?" asked he again, meanwhile stripping himself in a businesslike fashion that it were goodto see. 

"It means, " said I, throwing off my robe, "that I have unchained themagnetism of this world. Know you, Klow, that all of the children of thesun are full of his power; it is like unto that of the tiny magnet whichye give children for to play; but it is mighty, even as our world ismighty. "

"Good Jon!" he gasped; for his was not a daring mind. "What have yedone, ye trifler?"

"I have transformed this empire into one vast magnet, " I answeredcoolly. Then I showed him a boulder on the summit of a distant hill;through the tube, Klow could see some of my men standing beside it. 

"Place one of thy own men on the roof of the palace, " I told Klow, "andgive him orders to lower my banner should ye give him the word. 

"For upon the outcome of this fight 'twixt me and thee, Klow, hinges thewhole affair! If thou dost survive, down comes my banner; and my men onthe hill shall topple the boulder which shall rush down the slope andburst the iron rod and break the spell. Stand, then, and defendthyself!"

And it did me good to see the spirit fly into his eyes. He saw that hisempire lived or died as he lived or died, and he fought as he had neverfought before. Small man that he was beside myself, he were wondrousquick and sure in his motions; before I knew it, he had bit his ax deepinto my side. 

And in another moment or two it was over. For, as soon as I felt thepain of that gash, I flung my own blade away; and with a roar such aswould have shaken a stouter heart than his, I charged the man, took asecond fearful blow full on my chest and heeding it not at all Isnatched the ax from his hands. Then, as he turned to run, I droppedthat tool also. 

And I ran him down, and felled him, and broke his head with my hands. 

VI

THE FITTEST

[Footnote: This chapter was originally as long as the others, but anunfortunate accident of Mr. Smith's, before he was thoroughly familiarwith the machine, mutilated a large portion of the tape so badly that itwas made worthless. This explains why something appears to be missingfrom the account, and also why this chapter begins in the middle of asentence. ]

slaves; but the most were slain. Neither could we bother with theirwomen and others left behind. 

Now, by this time the empire was as one man in its worship of me. I hadbeen emperor but a year, and already I had made it certain that only themen of Vlamaland, and no others, should live in the sight of Jon. Sowell thought they of me, I might fair have sat upon my reputation, andhave spent my last days in feasting like the man before me. 

But I was still too young and full of energy to take my ease. I foundmyself more and more restless; I had naught to do; it had all been done. At last I sent for old Maka. 

"Ye put me up to this, ye old fraud, " I told him, pretending to bewrathful. "Now set me another task, or I'll have thy head!"

He knew me too well to be affrighted. He said that he had beenconsidering my case of late. 

"Strokor, thy father was right when he told thee to have naught to dowith women. That is to say, he were right at the time. Were he alivetoday"--I forgot to say that my father was killed in the battle acrossthe sea--"he would of a certainty say that it were high time for thee topick thy mate. 

"Remember, Strokor; great though thou art, yet when death taketh theethy greatness is become a memory. Methinks ye should leave somethingmore substantial behind. "

It took but little thought to convince me that Maka were right oncemore. Fact; as soon as I thought upon it, it were a woman that I wasrestless for. The mere notion instantly gave me something worth while tolook forward to. 

"Jon bless thee!" I told the old man. "Ye have named both the troubleand the remedy. I will attend to it at once. "

He sat thinking for some time longer. "Has thought of any woman inspecial, Strokor?" said he. 

I had not. The idea was too new to me. "The best in the world shall bemine, of course, " I told him. "But as for which one--hast any notionthyself?"

"Aye, " he quoth. "'Tis my own niece I have in mind. Perchance yeremember her; a pretty child, who was with me when thou didst save mylife up there on the mountainside. "

I recalled the chit fairly well. "But she were not a vigorous woman, Maka. Think you she is fit for me?"

"Aye, if any be, " he replied earnestly. "Ave is not robust, true, buther muscles are as wires. It is because of what lies in her head, however, that I commend her. I have taught her all I know. "

"So!" I exclaimed, much pleased. "Then she is indeed fit to be theempress. And as I recall her, she were exceedingly good to look at. "

"Say no more. Ave shall be the wife of Strokor!" And so it was arranged. 

Well, and there ye have the story of Strokor, the mightiest man in theworld, and the wisest. More than this I shall not tell with my own lips;I shall have singers recite my deeds until half the compartments in theHouse of Words is filled with the records thereof. But it were well thatI should tell this much in mine own way. 

My ambition is fulfilled. Let the hand of Jon descend upon our world, ifit may; I care not if presently the sun come nearer, and the water dryup, and the days grow longer and longer, till the day and the yearbecome of the same length. I care not; my people, such as be left ofthem, shall own what there is, and shall live as long as life ispossible. 

I shall leave behind no race of weaklings. Every man shall be fit tolive, and the fittest of them all shall live the longer. And he, nomatter how many cycles hence, shall look back to Strokor, and to Ave, his wife, and shall say:

"I am what I am, the last man on the world, because Strokor was thefittest man of his time!"

Aye; my fame shall live as long as there be life. Tonight, as I speakthese things into the word machine, my heart is singing with the joy ofit all. Thank Jon, I were born a man, not a woman!

Tomorrow I go to fetch Ave. I shall not send for her; I cannot trust herbeauty to the hands of my crew. The more I think of her, the more I seethat mine whole life hath been devised for this one moment. I see that, insignificant though she be, Ave is a needed link in the chain. I havecome to want her more than food; I am become a lovesick fool!

Aye! I can afford to poke fun at myself. I can afford anything in thisworld; for I be its greatest man. 

Its greatest man! Here is the place to stop. There is no more I can say, the story is done; the story of Strokor, the greatest man in the wholeworld!

VII

THE GOING

'Tis several years since last I faced this machine, many and many a daysince I said that my story was done, and placed the record on the shelfof my anteroom, my heart full of satisfaction. And today I must needsadd another record, perhaps two, to the pile. 

When I set out for the highlands on the morn following what I lastrelated I took with me but two or three men; not that I had any need forguards, but because it looketh not well for the emperor to travelwithout retainers, however few. Practically, I was alone. 

I reached the locality as the sun went down. The sky was a brilliantcolor; I remember it well. Darkness would come soon, though not asquickly as farther south. Commonly, I think not upon such trifles; but Iwere nearing my love, and tender things came easily to my mind. 

My chariot kept to the road which lay alongside the irrigating flume, astone trough which runs from the snow-covered hills to the dry countrybelow. I had already noted this flume where it emptied into the basin inthe valley below; for it had had a new kind of a spillway affixed to it, a broad, smooth platform with a slightly upward curve, over which thewater was shooting. I saw no sense in the arrangement, and made up mymind to ask Maka about it; for the empire prized this trough mosthighly. It ran straight and true, over expensive bridges where needed, with scarce a bend to hold back the flow. 

When I stopped my car outside the house I was surprised that none shouldcome out to greet me. Maka had sent word of my coming; all should havebeen in readiness. But I was forced to use my whistle. There was nostir. I became angry; I told my bullies to stay where they were, andmyself burst in the door. 

The house was a sturdy stone affair of one floor, set against the sideof the mountain, a short distance above the flume. I looked about theinterior in surprise; for not a soul was in sight in any of thecompartments. There were signs that people had been there but a fewmoments before. I called it strange, for I had seen no one leave thehouse as I approached. 

At last, as I was inspecting the eating place, I noted a small door letinto the outer wall. It was open; and by squeezing I managed to getthrough. I found that it let into a long, dark passage. 

I followed this, going steadily down a flight of stairs, and all of asudden bumped into an iron grating. At the same moment I saw that thepassageway made a turn just beyond; and by craning my neck and strainingmy eyes I could see a faintly lighted chamber just a few feet away. 

And before my eyes could scarce make out the figures of some people inthe middle of the place, a voice came to my ear. 

"Hail, Strokor!" it said; and great was my astonishment as I recognizedthe tones of Edam, the young dreamer whom Maka had brought to my house. 

"Edam!" I cried. "What do ye here? Come and open these bars!"

He made no reply, save to laugh in a way I did not like. I shook thegrating savagely, so that I felt it give. "Edam!" I roared. "Open thisgrating at once; and tell me, where is Ave?"

"I am here, " came another voice; and I stopped in sheer surprise, topeer closer and to see, for the first time, that it were really thedreamer and the chit, these two and no more, who sat there in theunderground chamber. They seemed to be sitting in some sort of a box, with glass windows. 

"Ave--come here!" I spoke much more gently than to Edam; for my heartwas soft with thoughts of her. "It is thy lord, Strokor, the emperor, who calls thee. Come!"

"I stay here, " said she in the same clear voice, entirely unshaken by mypresence. "Edam hath claimed me, and I shall cleave to him. I want noneof ye, ye giant!"

For a moment I was minded to throw my weight against the barrier, suchwas my rage. Then I thought better on it, and closely examined the bars. Two were loose. 

"Ave, " said I, contriving to keep my voice even, although my hands werebusy with the bars as I spake. "Ave--ye do wrong to spite me thus. Knowye not that I am the emperor, and that these bars cannot stand beforeme? I warn ye, if I must call my men to help me, and to witness myshame, it will go hard with ye! Better that ye should come willingly. Yeare not for such as Edam. "

"No?" quoth the young man, speaking up for the chit. "Ye are wrong, Strokor. We defy thee to do thy worst; we are prepared to flee from yeat all costs!"

I had twisted one of the bars out of my way without their seeing it. Istrove at the next as I answered, still controlling my voice: "'Twill doye no good to flee, Edam; ye know that. And as for Ave--she shall wishshe had never been born!"

"So I should, " she replied with spirit, "if I were to become thy woman. But know you, Strokor, that Ave, the daughter of Durok, would rather diethan take the name of one who had spurned her, as ye did me!"

So I had; it had slipped my mind. "But I want thee now, Ave, " said Isoftly, preparing to slip through the opening I had made. "Surely yewould not take thine own life?"

"Nay, " she answered, with a laugh in her voice. "Rather I would go withEdam here. I would go, " she finished, her voice rising in herexcitement, "away from this horrible man's world; away from it all, Strokor, and to Jeos! Hear ye? To Jeos! And--"

But at that instant I burst through the grating. Without a sound Icharged straight for the pair of them. And without a sound they slippedaway from before my grasp. Next second I was gazing stupidly at therushing, swirling water of the flume. 

And I saw that they had been sitting in the cabin of a tiny boat, andthat they had got away!

There was an opening into the outer air; I rushed through, and stared inthe growing twilight down the black furrow of the flume. Far in thedistance, and going like a streak, I spied the glittering glass windowsof the little craft. Once I made out the flutter of a saucy hand. 

"We shall get them when they reach the valley!" I shouted to the men. Then I reached for my tube, and sighted it on the lower end of theflume, far, far below, almost too far away to be clear to the naked eye. 

In an incredibly short time the craft reached the end. It traveled at anextraordinary rate; perchance 'twas weighted; I marveled that itswindows could stand the force of the air. And I scarce had time to fearthat the twain should be destroyed on that upturned spillway before itwas there. 

And then an awesome thing happened. As the boat struck the incline itshot upward into the air at a steep slant. Up, up it went; my heartjumped into my mouth; for surely they must be crushed when they camedown. 

But the craft did not come down. It went on and on, up and up; its speedscarcely slackened; 'twas like that of a shooting star. And in far lesstime than it takes to tell it, the little boat was high up among thestars, going higher every instant, and farther away from me. Andsuddenly the sweat broke cold on my forehead; for dead ahead, directlyin line with their travel, lay the bluish white gleam of Jeos. 

So great was my rage over the escape of the dreamer with my woman, atfirst I felt no sorrow. Later, after days and days of search in andabout the basin, I came to grieve most terribly over my loss. When Icame home to the palace, I was well-nigh ill. 

In vain did I make the most generous of rewards. The whole empire turnedout to search for the missing ones, but nothing came of it all. Yet Inever ceased to hope, especially after my talk with Maka. 

"Aye, " he said, when I questioned him, "it were barely possible thatthey have left this world for all time. I have calculated the speedwhich their craft might have attained, had it the right proportions, and, in truth, it might have left the spillway at such a speed that itentirely overcame the draw of the ground. 

"But I think it were a slim chance. It is more than likely, Strokor, that Ave shall return to thee. "

Was I not the fitter man? Surely Edam's purpose could not succeed; Jonwould not have it so. The woman was mine, because I had chosen her; andshe must come back to me, and in safety, or I should tear Edam intobits. 

But as time went on and naught transpired, I became more and moremelancholy. Life became an empty thing; it had been empty enough beforeI had craved the girl, but now it was empty with hopelessness. 

After a while I got to thinking of some of the things Maka had told me. The more I thought of the future, the blacker it seemed. True, therewere many other women; but there had been only one Ave. No such beautyhad ever graced this world before. And I knew I could be happy with noother. 

Now I saw that all my fame had been in vain. I had lost the only womanthat was fit for me, and when I died there would be naught left but myname. Even that the next emperor might blot out, if he chose. It had allbeen in vain!

"It shall not be!" I roared to myself, as I strode about my compartment, gnawing at my hands in my misery. And in just such a fit of helplessanger the great idea came to me. 

No sooner conceived than put into practice. I will not go closely intodetails; I will relate just the outstanding facts. What I did was toselect a very tall mountain, located almost on the equator, andproclaimed my intention to erect a monument to Jon upon its summit. Icaused vast quanities of materials to be brought to the place; and for ayear a hundred thousand men labored to put the pieces together. 

When they had finished, they had made a mammoth tower partly of wood andpartly of alloy. It was made in sections so that it might be placed, piece upon piece, one above another high into the sky. 

It was an enormous task. When it was complete, I had a tower as high asthe mountain itself erected upon its summit. 

And next I caused section after section of the long, iron, pole-to-polerod, which had tricked Klow, to be hauled up into the tower. I was onlycareful to begin the process from the top and work downward. I gave wordthat the last three sections be inserted at midday at a given day. 

And at that hour I was safe inside a non-magnetic room. 

I know right well when the deed was done. There was a most terrificearthquake. All about me, though I could see nothing at all, I couldhear buildings falling. The din was appalling. 

At the same time the air was fairly shattered with the rattle of thelightning. Never have I heard the like before. The rod had loosed thewrath of the forces above our air!

And as suddenly the whole deafening storm ended. Perchance the rod wasdestroyed by the lightning; I never went to see. For I know, theelectricity split the very ground apart. But I gazed out of a window inthe top of my palace, and saw that I had succeeded. 

Not a soul but myself remained alive. 

None but buildings made of the alloy were standing. Not only man, butmost of his works had perished in that awful blast. I, alone, remained!

I, Strokor, am the survivor! I, the greatest man; it were but fit that Ishould be the last! No man shall come after me, to honor me or not as hechooses. I, and no other, shall be, the last man!

And when Ave returns--as she must, though it be ages hence--when shecomes, she shall find me waiting. I, Strokor, the mighty and wise, shallbe here when she returns. I shall wait for her forever; here I shallalways stay. The stars may move from their places, but I shall not go!For it is my intention to make use of another secret Maka taught me. Inbrief--[Footnote: The record ends here. It may be that Strokor left themachine for some trivial reason, and forgot to finish his story. At allevents, it is necessary to refer to the further discoveries of theexpedition in order to learn the outcome of it all. ]

PART III

THE SURVIVOR

Provided with a sledge-hammer, a crowbar, and a hydraulic jack, and evenwith drills and explosives as a last resort, Jackson, Kinney, and VanEmmon returned the same day to the walled-in room in the top of thatmystifying mansion. The materials they carried would have madeconsiderable of a load had not Smith removed enough of the weights fromtheir suits to offset their burden. They reached the unopened doorwithout special exertion, and with no mishap. 

They looked in vain for a crack big enough to hold the point of thecrowbar; neither could the most vigorous jabbing loosen any of thematerial. They dropped that tool and tried the sledge. It got noresults; even in the hands of the husky geologist, the most vigorousblows failed to budge the door. They did not even dent it. 

So they propped the powerful hydraulic jack, a tool sturdy enough tolift a house, at an angle against the door. Then, using the crowbar as alever, the architect steadily turned up the screw, the mechanismmultiplying his very ordinary strength a hundredfold. In a moment itcould be seen that he was getting results; the door began to stir. VanEmmon struck one edge with the sledge-hammer, and it gave slightly. 

In another minute the whole door, weighing over a ton, had been pushedalmost out of its opening. The jack overbalanced, toppled over; they didnot readjust it, but threw their combined weight upon the barrier. 

There was no need to try again. With a shiver the huge slab of metalslid, upright, into the space beyond, stood straight on end for a secondor so, then toppled to the floor. 

AND THIS TIME THEY HEARD THE CRASH. 

For, as the door fell, a great gust of wind rushed out with a hissingshriek, almost overbalancing the men from the earth. They stood stillfor a while, breathing hard from their exertion, trying in vain to peerinto the blackness before them. Under no circumstances would either ofthem have admitted that he was gathering courage. 

In a minute the architect, his eyes sparkling with his enthusiasm forthe antique, picked up the electric torch and turned it into thecompartment. As he did so the other two stepped to his side, so that thethree of them faced the unknown together. It was just as well. Outlinedin that circle of light, and not six feet in front of them, stood agreat chair upon a wide platform; and seated in it, erect and alert, hiswide open eyes staring straight into those of the three, was thefrightful mountainous form of Strokor, the giant, himself. 

For an indeterminable length of time the men from the earth stood there, speechless, unbreathing, staring at that awful monster as though at anightmare. He did not move; he was entirely at ease, and yet plainly onguard, glaring at them with an air of conscious superiority which heldthem powerless. Instinctively they knew that the all-dominating voice inthe records had belonged to this Hercules. But their instinct could nottell them whether the man still lived. 

It was the doctor's brain that worked first. Automatically, from alifelong habit of diagnosis, he inspected that dreadful figure quite asthough it were that of a patient. Bit by bit his subconscious mindpieced together the evidence; the man in the chair showed no signs oflife. And after a while the doctor's conscious mind also knew. 

"He is dead, " he said positively, in his natural voice; and such was thevast relief of the other two that they were in no way startled by thesound. Instantly all three drew long breaths; the tension was relaxed;and Van Emmon's curiosity found a harsh and unsteady voice. 

"How under heaven has he been preserved all this time? Especially, " headded, remembering, "considering the air that we found in the room?"

The doctor answered after a moment, his reply taking the form ofadvancing a step or two and holding out a hand. It touched glass. 

For the first time since the discovery, the builder shifted the light. He had held it as still as death for a full minute. Now he flashed itall about the place, and they saw that the huge figure was entirelyencased in glass. The cabinet measured about six feet on each of itssides, and about five feet in height; but such were the squatproportions of the occupant that he filled the whole space. 

A slight examination showed that the case was not fixed to the platform, but had a separate bottom, upon which the stumplike chair was set. Also, they found that, thanks to the reduced pull of the planet, it was nothard for the three of them to lift the cabinet bodily, despite itsweight of almost a thousand pounds. They left the tools lie there, discarded as much weight as they could, and proceeded to carry thatages-old superman out into the light. 

Here they could see that the great man was all but a negro in color. Itwas equally clear, however, from an examination of his mammoth craniumand extraordinary expression, that he was as highly developed along mostmental lines as the greatest men on earth. It was the back of his head, however, so flat that it was only a continuation of his neck, or, rather, shoulders, that told where the flaw lay. That, together with thehardness of his eye, the cruelty of his mouth, and the absolute lack ofsoftness anywhere in the ironlike face or frame--all this condemned themonster for what he was; inhuman. 

It was not easy to get him down the two flights of stairs. More thanonce they had to prop the case on a step while they rested; and at onetime, just before they reached that curious heap of rubbish at the footof the upper stairs, Jackson's strength gave way and it looked as thoughthe whole thing would get away from them. Van Emmon saved it at the costof a bruised shoulder. 

Once at the bottom of the lower flight, the rest was easy. Within a veryfew minutes the astonished face of the engineer was peering into thevestibule; he could hardly wait until the air-tight door was lockedbefore opening the inner valves. He stared at the mammoth figure in thecase long and hard, and from then on showed a great deal of respect forhis three friends. 

Of course, at that time the members of the expedition did not understandthe conditions of Mercury as they are now known. They had to depend uponthe general impression they got from their first-hand investigations;and it is remarkable that the doctor should have guessed so close to thetruth. 

"He must have made up his mind to outlast everybody else, " was the wayhe put it as he kicked off his suit. He stepped up to the cabinet andfelt of the glass. "I wish it were possible, without breaking the case, to see how he was embalmed. "

His fingers still rested on the glass. Suddenly his eyes narrowed; heran his fingers over the entire surface of the pane, and then whirled tostare at a thermometer. 

"That's mighty curious!" he ejaculated. "This thing was bitter cold whenwe brought it in! Now it's already as warm as this car!"

Smith's eyes lit up. "It may be, " he offered, "that the case doesn'tcontain a vacuum, but some gas which has an electrical affinity for ouratmosphere. "

"Or, " exclaimed the geologist suddenly, "the glass itself may be totallydifferent from ours. It may be made of--"

"GOD!" shouted the doctor, jerking his hand from the cabinet and leapingstraight backward. At the same instant, with a grinding crash, all threesides of the case collapsed and fell in splinters to the floor. 

"Look out!" shrieked Jackson. He was staring straight into the nowunhooded eyes of the giant. He backed away, stumbled against a stool, and fell to the floor in a dead faint. Smith fumbled impotently with ahammer. The doctor was shaking like a leaf. 

But Van Emmon stood still in his tracks, his eyes fixed on the Goliath;his fingernails gashed the palms of his hands but he would not budge. And as he stared he saw, from first to last, the whole ghastly changethat came, after billions of years of waiting, to the sole survivor ofMercury. 

A glaze swept over the huge figure. Next instant every line in thatadamant frame lost its strength; the hardness left the eyes and mouth. The head seemed to sink lower into the massive shoulders, and theirresistible hands relaxed. In another second the thing that had oncebeen as iron had become as rubber. 

But only for an instant. Second by second that huge mountain of muscleslipped and jellied and actually melted before the eyes of the humans. At the same time a curious acrid odor arose; Smith fell to coughing. Thedoctor turned on more oxygen. 

In less than half a minute the man who had once conquered a planet wasreduced to a steaming mound of brownish paste. As it sank to the floorof the case, it touched a layer of coarse yellow powder sprinkled there;and it was this that caused the vapor. In a moment the room was filledwith the haze of it; luckily, the doctor's apparatus worked well. 

And thus it came about that, within five minutes from being exposed tothe air of the sky-car, that whole immense bulk, chair and all, hadvanished. The powder had turned it to vapor, and the purifying chemicalshad sucked it up. Nothing was left save a heap of smoking, grayish ashesin the center of the broken glass. 

Van Emmon's fingers relaxed their grip. He stirred to action, and turnedbriskly to Smith. 

"Here! Help me with this thing!"

Between them they got the remains of the cabinet, with its gruesomeload, into the vestibule. As for the doctor, he was bending overJackson's still unconscious form. When he saw what the others weredoing, he gave a great sigh of relief. 

"Good!" He helped them close the door. "Let's get away from this damnedplace!"

The outer door was opened. At the same time Smith started the machinery;and as the sky-car shot away from the ground he tilted it slightly, sothat the contents of the vestibule was slid into space. Down it felllike so much lead. 

The doctor glanced through a nearby window, and his face brightened ashe made out the distant gleam of another planet. He watched the recedingsurface of Mercury with positive delight. 

"Nice place to get away from, " he commented. "And now, my friends, forVenus, and then--home!"

But the other's eyes were fixed upon a tiny sparkle in the dust outsidethe palace, where the vestibule had dropped its load. It was the sunshining upon some broken bits of glass; the glass which, for untoldages, had enclosed the throne of the Death-lord. 

Part IV

THE QUEEN OF LIFE

I

NEXT STOP, VENUS!

When he first got the idea of the sky-car, the doctor never stopped toconsider whether he was the right man for such an excursion. Personally, he hated travel. He was merely a general practitioner, with a greatfondness for astronomy; and the sole reason why he wanted to visit theplanets was that he couldn't see them well enough with his telescope. Sohe dabbled a little in magnetism and so forth, and stumbled upon theprinciple of the cube. 

But he had no mechanical ability, and was on the point of giving up thescheme when he met Smith. He was instantly impressed by the engineer'shighly commonplace face; he had had considerable experience with humancontrariness, and felt sure that Smith must be an absolute wonder, sincehe looked so very ordinary. 

Kinney's diagnosis proved correct. Smith knew his business; themachinery was finished in a hurry and done right. However, when it cameto fitting the outfit into a suitable sky-car, Kinney was obliged tocall in an architect. That accounts for E. Williams Jackson. At the sametime, it occurred to the doctor that they would need a cook. Mrs. Kinneyhad refused to have anything whatever to do with the trip, and so Kinneyput an ad in the paper. As luck would have it, Van Emmon, the geologist, who had learned how to cook when he first became a mountaineer, saw thead and answered it in hope of adventure. 

The doctor himself, besides his training in the mental and bodilyfrailities of human beings, had also an unusual command of the relatedsciences, such as biology. Smith's specialties have already been named;he could drive an airplane or a nail with equal ease. Van Emmon, as apart of his profession, was a skilled "fossilologist, " and was well upin natural history. 

As for E. Williams Jackson--the architect was also the sociologist ofthe four. Moreover, he had quite a reputation as an amateur antiquarian. Nevertheless, the most important thing about E. Williams Jackson was notlearned until after the visit to Mercury, after the terrible end of thatexploration, after the architect, falling in a faint, had been revivedunder the doctor's care. 

"Gentlemen, " said Kinney, coming from the secluded nook among thedynamos which had been the architect's bunk; "gentlemen, I must informyou that Jackson is not what we thought. 

"He--I mean, she--is a woman!"

Which put an entirely new face upon matters. The three men, discussingit, marveled that the architect had been able to keep her sex a secretall the time they were exploring at Mercury. They did not know that noneof E. Williams Jackson's fellow architects had ever guessed the truth. Ambitious and ingenious, with a natural liking for house-planning, shehad resolved that her sex should not stand in the way of success. 

And when she finally came to herself, there in her bunk, and suspectedthat her secret was out--instead of shame or embarrassment she felt onlychagrin. She walked, rather unsteadily, across the floor of the greatcube-shaped car to the window where the three were standing; and as theyquietly made a place for her, she took it entirely as a matter ofcourse, and without a word. 

The doctor had been speaking of the peculiar fitness of the four forwhat they were doing. "And if I'm not mistaken, " he went on, "we'regoing to need all the brains we can pool, when we get to Venus. 

"I never would have claimed, when we started out, that Mercury had everbeen inhabited. But now that we've seen what we've seen, I feel deadsure that Venus once was peopled. "

The four looked out the triple-glazed vacuum-insulated window at thesteadily growing globe of "Earth's twin sister. " Half in sunlight andhalf in shadow, this planet, for ages the synonym for beauty, was nowbut a million miles away. She looked as large as the moon; but insteadof a silvery gleam, she showed a creamy radiance fully three times asbright. 

"Let's see, " reflected the geologist aloud. "As I recall it, thebrightness of a planet depends upon the amount of its air. That wouldindicate, then, that Venus has about as much as the earth, wouldn't it?"remembering how the home planet had looked when they left it. 

The doctor nodded. "There are other factors; but undoubtedly we areapproaching a world which is a great deal like our own. Venus is nearlyas large as the earth, has about nine-tenths the surface, and a gravityalmost as strong. The main difference is that she's only two-thirds asfar from the sun as we are. "

"How long is her day?" Smith wanted to know. 

"Can't say. Some observers claim to have seen her clearly enough toannounce a day of the same length as ours. Others calculate that she'slike Mercury; always the same face toward the sun. If so, her day isalso her year--two hundred and twenty-five of our days. "

Van Emmon looked disappointed. "In that case she would be blistering hoton one side and freezing cold on the other; except, " rememberingMercury, "except for the 'twilight zone, ' where the climate would beneither one nor the other, but temperate. " He pointed to the line downthe middle of the disk before them, the line which divided the lightedfrom the unlighted, the day from the night. 

The four looked more intently. It should be remembered that the verybrilliance of Venus has always hindered the astronomers; the planet as awhole is always very conspicuous but its very glare makes it impossibleto see any details. The surface has always seemed to be covered by aveil of hazy, faintly streaked vapor. 

Smith gave a queer exclamation. For a moment or two he stared hard atthe planet; then looked up with an apologetic grin. 

"I had a foolish idea. I thought--" He checked himself. "Say, doesn'tVenus remind you of something?"

The doctor slowly shook his head. "Can't say that it does, Smith. I havealways considered Venus as having an appearance peculiarly her own. Why?"

The engineer started to answer, stopped, thought better of it, andinstead pointed out the half that was in shadow. "Why is it that we canmake out the black portion so easily?"

Kinney could answer this. "The fact is, it isn't really black at all, but faintly lighted. Presumably it is star-shine. "

"Star-shine!" echoed the architect, interested. 

"Just that. You see, " finished the doctor, "if that side is never turnedtoward the sun, then it must be covered with ice, which would reflectthe star--"

"Ah!" exclaimed Smith with satisfaction. "I wasn't so crazy after all!My notion was that the whole blamed thing is covered with ice!"

It looked reasonable. Certainly the entire sphere had a somewhat wateryappearance. It prompted the geologist to say:

"Kinney--if that reflection is really due to ice, then there must beplenty of water vapor in the air. And if that's the case--"

"Not only is life entirely possible, " stated the doctor quietly, "butI'll bet you this sky-car against an abandoned soap-stone mine that wefind humans, or near-human beings there when we land tomorrow!"

II

SPEAKING OF VENUS

The architect was still dressed in the fashionably cut suit of men'sclothes she had worn while in the car. Van Emmon thought of this when hesaid, somewhat awkwardly:

"Well, I'm going to fix something to eat. It'll be ready in half anhour, Miss--er--Jackson. "

She looked at him, slightly puzzled; then understood. "You mean to giveme time to change my clothes? Thanks; but I'm used to these. Andbesides, " with spirit, "I never could see why women couldn't wear whatthey choose, so long as it is decent. "

There was no denying that hers were both becoming and "decent. " Modeledafter the usual riding costume, both coat and breeches were youthfully, rather than mannishly, tailored; and the narrow, vertical stripe of thedark gray material served to make her slenderness almost girlish. Inshort, what with her poet-style hair, her independent manner and directspeech, she was far more like a boy of twenty than a woman nearingthirty. 

She walked with Van Emmon, dodging machinery all the way, across the bigcar to the little kitchenette over which he had presided. There, to hisdismay, the girl took off her coat, rolled up her sleeves, and announcedher intention of helping. 

"You're a good cook, Van--I mean, Mr. --"

"Let it go at Van, please, " said he hastily. "My first name is Gustave, but nobody has ever used it since I was christened. "

"Same with my 'Edna, ' she declared. "Mother's name was Williams, and Iwas nicknamed 'Billie' before I can remember. So that's settled, " withgreat firmness. The point is--Van--you're a good cook, but everythingtastes of bacon. I wish you'd let me boss this meal. "

He looked rebellious for an instant, then gave a sigh of relief. "I'mreally tickled to death. "

A little later the doctor and Smith, looking across, saw Van Emmon beinginitiated into the system which constructs scalloped potatoes. Next, hewas discovering that there is more than one way to prepare dried beef. 

"For once, we won't cream it, " said E. Billie Jackson, dryly, as VanEmmon laid down the can-opener. "We'll make an omelet out of it, and seeif anything happens. "

She was already beating the eggs. He cut up the meat into small pieces, and when he was finished, took the egg-beater away from her. He turnedit so energetically that a speck of foam flew into his face. 

"Go slow, " she advised, nonchalantly reaching up with a dish-towel andwiping the fleck away. Whereupon he worked the machine more furiouslythan ever. 

Soon he was wondering how on earth he had come to assume, all along, that she was not a woman. He now saw that what he had previouslyconsidered boyishness in her was, in fact, simply the vigor andfreshness of an earnest, healthy, energetic girl. It dawned upon himthat her keen, gray eyes were not sharp, but alert; her mouth, not hard, but resolute; her whole expression, instead of mannish, just as womanlyas that of any girl who has been thrown upon her own resources, and madegood. He soon found that his eyesight did not suffer in any way becausehe looked at her. 

"Now, " she remarked, in her businesslike way, as she placed the brimmingpan into the oven, "I suppose that I'll hear various hints to the effectthat a woman has no business trying to do men's stunts. And I warn youright now that I'm prepared to put up a warm argument!"

"Of course, " said the geologist, with such gravity that the girl knew hedidn't mean it; "of course a woman's place is in the home. Surrounded byseventeen or eighteen children, and cooking for that many more hired menbesides, she is simply ideal. We realize that. "

"Then, admitting that much, why shouldn't a woman be as independent asshe likes? Think what women did during the war; remember what a lot ofwomen are doctors and lawyers! Is there any good reason why I couldn'tdesign a library as well as a man could?"

"None at all, " agreed Van Emmon, handing over the dish of chopped meat. The girl carefully folded the contents into the now spongelike omelet ashe went on: "By the way, a neighbor of mine told me, just before I left, that he was having trouble with a broken sewer. How'd you like to--"

"About as well as you'd like to darn socks!" she came back, evidentlybeing primed for such comments. She took a look at the potatoes, andthen permitted the geologist to open their sixth can of peaches. "I mustsay they're good, " she admitted, as she noted the eagerness with whichhe obeyed. 

Bread and butter, olives, coffee and cake completed that meal. The tablewas set with more care than usual, a clean cloth and napkins beingunearthed for the occasion. When Smith and Kinney were called, bothdeclared that they weren't hungry enough to do justice to it all. 

"It's just as well you weren't very hungry, " commented Billie, as shefinished giving each of them a second helping of the potatoes. "There'sbarely enough left for me, " and she took it. 

"Say, I never thought of it before, Miss--er--Miss Billie, " said Smithcoloring; "but you eat just as much as a man!"

"Ye gods, how shocking!" she jeered. "Come to think of it, Smith, youeat MORE than a woman!"

The doctor's face grew red with some suppressed emotion. After a whilehe said soberly: "I'll tell you what's worrying Smith. He's afraid thatwomen, having suddenly become very progressive, will forge entirelyahead of men. You understand--having started, they can't stop. And Imust admit that I've thought seriously of it at times myself. "

"Me too, " added Van Emmon earnestly. "I have the same feeling about itthat an elderly man must have when he sees a young one get on the job. Instead of being glad that the women are making good, I sort of resentit. "

"I knew it!" exclaimed the girl delightedly. "But I never heard a manadmit it before!"

"Perhaps it isn't as serious as we think, " said the practical Smith, scraping the bottom of the potato pan. "I believe that the progress ofwomen may have a fine effect upon men, making us less self-satisfied, and more alert. For one thing, " glancing about the cube, "we've got toclean up a bit, now that we know you're a woman!"

The architect's eyes flashed. "Because you know mighty well I'll lightin and do it myself, if you don't; that's what you mean! Please takenotice that I'm to be respected, not because of what I AM, but becauseof what I can DO!"

"In behalf of myself and companions, I surrender!" said the doctorgallantly. Then he instantly added: "And yet, even when we are actuallychivalrous, we are disregarding your desire to be appreciated for whatyou are worth. Pardon me, Miss Billie; I'll not forget again. 

"At the same time, my dear, " remembering that he had a daughter of hisown, nearly the builder's age, "we men have come to think of womenprimarily as potential mothers, and secondarily as people of affairs. And considering that motherhood is something that is denied to us lordsof the earth--"

"For which we can thank a merciful Providence, " interjected the girlsolemnly. 

"Considering this--excuse my seriousness--really amazing fact, you can'tblame us for expecting women to fulfil this vital function before takingup other matters. "

"Yes?" remarked the girl, watching the peaches with anxious eye as VanEmmon helped himself. "Funny; but I always understood that the firstfunction of man was to father the race; yet, invariably the youngfellows try to make names for themselves before, not after, they marry!"

"Scalped!" chuckled Van Emmon, as the doctor hid his discomfiture behinda large piece of cake. "You may know a lot about Venus, doc, but youdon't know much about women!"

"Speaking about Venus, " Smith was reminded, "we may learn somethingbearing upon the very point we have been discussing if Kinney's rightabout the inhabitants. "

The doctor nodded eagerly. "You see, if there's people still alive onthe planet, they're probably further advanced than we on the earth. Other things being equal, of course. Being a smaller planet than ours, she cooled off sooner, and thus became fit for life earlier. And havingbeen made from the same 'batch, ' to use Van's expression, that Mercuryand all the rest were, why, in all likelihood evolution has taken placethere much the same as with us, only sooner. 

"I should expect, " he elaborated largely, "that we shall find theinhabitants much the same as we humans, only extremely civilized. It maybe that they are as far above us as we are above monkeys. "

Smith broke in by quoting an astronomer who contended that Venus keptonly one face toward the sun. "Maybe she always did, Kinney. "

The doctor shook his head. "See how perfectly round she is? Nooblateness whatever. It proves that she once revolved, otherwise she'dbe pear-shaped, from the sun's pull. "

There was a short silence, during which Billie concluded that the onlyscraps left would be the coffee-grounds. Then Van Emmon pushed away fromthe table, got to his feet, stretched a little to relieve his nerves, and said:

"Well, whatever we find on Venus, I hope the women do the cooking!"

III

THE FIRST VENUSIAN

When the sky-car was within a thousand miles of the surface, Smithadjusted the currents so that the floor was directed downward. The fourchanged from the window to the deadlight, and watched the approachingdisk with every bit of the excitement and interest they had felt whennearing Mercury. 

The doctor had warned them that the heavy atmosphere which Venus wasknown to possess would prevent seeing as clearly as in the case of thesmaller planet. All were much disappointed, however, to find that theywere still unable to make out a single definite detail. The great half-shining, half-black world showed nothing but that vaguely streaked, ice-like haze. 

There was something very queer about it all. "Strange that we should seeno movement in those clouds, " mused the doctor aloud. "That is, if theyreally are clouds. "

Van Emmon already doubted it. "Just what I was thinking. There ought tobe terrific winds; yet, so far as I have seen, there's been nothingdoing anywhere on the surface since we first began to observe it. "

After a while the doctor put away his binoculars and rubbed his eyes. "We might as well descend faster, Smith. Can't see a thing from here. "

Unhindered by air to impede its progress the sky-car had been hurtlingthrough space at cometary speed. Now, however, Smith added the power ofthe apparatus to the pull of the planet, so that the disk began to rushtoward them at a truly alarming rate. After a few seconds of it Billiefound herself unconsciously moving to the side of the geologist. 

He looked down at her, understood, and flushed with pleasure. "There'sno danger, " he confidently assured her, with the result that, hercourage fortified, the girl moved back to her place again. Van Emmoninwardly kicked himself. 

So deceptive was that peculiar fogginess Smith throttled their descentas soon as they had reached the point where the planet's appearancechanged from round to flat. They were headed for the line which markedthe boundary of the shadow. This gray "twilight zone" was three or fourhundred miles in width; on the right of it--to the east--the dazzlingsurface of that sunlit vapor contrasted sharply with the all but blackmistiness of the starward side. Clearly the zone ought to be temperateenough. 

Down they sank. As they came nearer a curious pinkish tint began to showbeneath them. Shortly it became more noticeable; the doctor gave asudden grunt of satisfaction, and Smith stopped the car. 

A minute later the doctor had taken a sample of the surrounding etherthrough his laboratory test-vestibule; and shortly announced that theywere now floating in air instead of space. 

"Good deal like ours back home, too"--exultingly. "Pretty thin, ofcourse. " He made a short calculation, referring to the aneroid barometerwhich was mounted on the outer frame of a window, and said he judgedthat their altitude was about five miles. 

The descent continued, Smith using the utmost caution. The other threekept their eyes glued to the deadlight; and their mystification was onlyequaled by their uneasiness as that motionless, bleary glaze failedabsolutely to show anything they had not seen a thousand miles higher. Not a single detail!

"It reminds me, " said the girl in a low voice, "of something I once sawfrom the top of a hill. It was the reflection of the sun from thesurface of a pond; not clear water, but covered with--"

"Good Heavens!" interrupted Van Emmon, struck with the thought. "Can itbe that the whole planet is under water?"

Beyond a doubt his guess was justified. There was an oily smoothnessabout that dazzling haze which made it remarkably like a lake of stilland rather dirty water under a bright sun. 

But the doctor said no. "Any water I ever heard of would make clouds, "said he; "and we know there's air enough to guarantee plenty of wind. Yet nothing seems to be in motion. " He was frowning continually now. 

It was Billie who first declared that she saw the surface. "Stop, " shesaid to Smith evenly, and he instantly obeyed. All four gathered aroundthe deadlight, and soon agreed that the peculiarly elusive skin of theplanet was actually within sight. However, it was like deciding upon thedistance of the moon--as easy to say that it were within arm's reach asa long ways off. 

The doctor went to a window. There he could look out upon the sun, apainfully bright object much larger than it looks from the Earth. It wasjust "ascending, " and half of it was below the horizon. A blindingstreak of light was reflected from a point on the surface not far fromthe cube. Shading his eyes with his hand the doctor could see that themysterious crust was absolutely smooth. 

On the opposite side of the car the horizon ended in a sunrise glow of aslightly greenish radiance. From that side the pinkish tint of thesurface was quite pronounced. 

Before going any lower the doctor, struck with an idea, declared: "Wealways want to remember that this car is perfectly soundproof. Supposewe open the outer door of the vestibule. I imagine we'll learn somethingpeculiar. "

It was possible to open this door without touching the inner valves, using mechanism concealed within the walls. The moment it was done--thedoor faced the "north"--pandemonium itself broke loose. A most terrificshrieking and howling came from the outside; it was wind, passing at arate such as would make a hurricane seem a mere zephyr. The doctorclosed the door so that they could think. 

"It's the draft, " he concluded; "the draft from the sun-warmed side tothe cold side. "

As for Van Emmon, he was getting out a rope and a heavy leaden weight. On the rope he formed knots every five feet, about twenty of them; andafter getting into one of the insulated, aluminum-armored and oxygen-helmeted suits with which they had explored Mercury, he locked himselfon the other side of the inner vestibule door and proceeded to "sound. "

To the amazement of all except Billie "bottom" was reached in less thantwenty feet. "I thought so, " she said with satisfaction; but she was notat ease until Van Emmon had returned in safety from that booming, whistling turmoil. 

His first remark upon removing his helmet almost took them off theirfeet. "The point is, " said he, throttling his excitement--"the point is, the rope was nearly jerked out of my hands!

"Understand what I mean? The surface is REVOLVING!"

This upset every idea they had had; it never occurred to any of themthat the planet could revolve at such speed that it would appearstationary. Smith went at once to the eastern window and watchedclosely, for fear some irregularity in that apparently perfect spheremight catch them unawares. They did not learn till later that Venus'sday is a little less than twenty-five hours, and therefore, since theyhad approached her near the equator, the wind they had encountered wasmoving at nearly nine hundred miles per hour!

Bit by bit, though, the cube answered to the wind-pressure. Soon theynoted the sun rising slowly; and by the time it was two hours high thesurface, which had been whizzing under them like some highly polishedtop, became entirely motionless: The cube had "stopped. "

One minute later the car touched the level. Smith very slowly reducedthe repelling current so that the immense weight of the cube was butgradually shifted to the unknown surface beneath. Ton after ton wasadded until--

"Stop!" came from the doctor. He had noted through the window a slightcurvature in the material. 

So the machinery was left in action. "At any rate, " said Smith, "we knowthat the confounded stuff isn't antimagnetic, whatever it is. " Of coursethis was true--even though the gelatinlike shell could not support thecube's weight, yet it did not insulate the planet from the repellingcurrent. 

The thermometer registered three hundred and thirty-five degreesFahrenheit. "Two hundred and eighty degrees higher than it would be athome in the same latitude, " remarked the doctor. "We'll have to use thesuits. " He took it for granted that exploration should begin at once. 

No one stayed behind. The machines could be relied upon, as they knewfrom nearly two weeks of use, and certainly there was nothing in sightwhich could possibly interfere with the cube. Nevertheless, the matter-of-fact engineer took care to remove part of the door-operatingapparatus when he left the vestibule, and nobody commented upon it. Itseemed the sensible thing to do; that was all. 

There was just about enough additional weight in their suits to balancethe slightly reduced gravitation, so they moved about, four misshapen, metallic hulks, with as much freedom as though back home. Always theykept within a few feet of each other so as to throw no strain on theirinterconnecting telephone wires. The big, glass-faced helmets gave aremarkable sense of security. 

They made a complete circuit of the cube, and at the end of it looked ateach other in perplexity. Never, save in the middle of an ocean, in thedoldrums, did any man ever see such a totally barren spot. Not a tree, much less a sign of human occupation; there was not even the slightestmound. The planet was, in actual fact, as smooth and as bare as abilliard ball!

Moreover, the surface itself remained as mysterious as before. Of coursethey did not touch it with bare hands--all wore insulated mittens--butthe dazzling stuff was certainly as hard as steel and as highlypolished. It was neither transparent nor opaque, but translucent, "likepink mother-of-pearl, " as Billie suggested. 

She was the first to propose that they move to another spot. "We oughtto try a place where it's not yet dawn, " said she, shielding her eyesfrom the glare. (It will be remembered that the suits protected themfrom the heat itself. ) "Can't see anything. "

"Hush!" hissed the doctor. They turned and followed his gaze to a spotnot thirty feet from where they stood. 

At the same instant they felt a faint jar in the material under theirfeet. And next second they saw that a large section of the supposedlysolid surface was in motion. 

A portion about ten feet square was being lifted bodily in front oftheir eyes, and before another word was said this block of the unknownsubstance was raised until they could see that it was all of a yardthick. Up it went at the same deliberate rate; and the fourinvoluntarily moved closer together as they saw that there was somethingunderneath. 

It was a cage, for all the world like that of an elevator except that itwas made of clear glass. Another second and it had stopped, with itsfloor level with the surface; and the people from the earth saw that itcontained a man. 

He was quite tall, slenderly built, and dressed in a queer satinymaterial which fitted him like an acrobat's suit. He was extremely thinas to legs, narrow as to shoulders, deep in the chest and short in thewaist. All this, however, they saw after their inspection of his head. 

It was human! Marvelously refined in every detail, yet it was set upon agraceful neck, and modeled upon much the same lines as that of any man. It was not that of a brute, nor yet that of a bird; it was--human!

He stood at ease, resting slightly on one foot, and dispelled any notionthat he might be unreal by shifting his weight occasionally. Meanwhilehe watched the four with a grave, interested smile; and they, in turn, came closer. 

His chin was small, even retreating; but his mouth was wide and curvedinto an exaggerated Cupid's bow. Even as he continued to smile thecurves did not leave his lips; they, however, were thin rather thanthick. His nose was quite small, with a decidedly Irish cast; but hiseyes, set far apart above quite shallow cheekbones, were exceedinglylarge and of a brilliant blue. In fact, it was mainly his eyes that gavecharacter to his face; although none could overlook his breadth offorehead, running back to a cranium that fairly bulged over the ears, and seemed ready to rise like a tightly inflated balloon. His skin waspure white. 

And so they stood for uncounted minutes. At last the doctor noted thatthe stranger was eying them with far less interest than they showed inhim; he stood as though he felt on display; and the doctor gave anexclamation of perplexity that broke the spell. The four impulsivelydrew up to the glass; Van Emmon touched it with his mitten; and that ishow the four explorers came to receive the vibrations that came next. 

For the man in the cage, in turn, put out his hand and touched the glassopposite Van Emmon. Then he opened his mouth. 

"I am very glad to see you, " said he in a soft, pulsating voice--and inthe best of English. 

IV

A PUZZLED WORLD

For a moment blank amazement gripped the four. Then amazement gave wayto genuine apprehension. Were they insane to imagine that this man ofanother world had spoken to them in their own language? Each looked atthe other, and was astounded to see that all had heard the same thing. 

Presently the stranger spoke again; if anything, the kindly smile on hisface became even broader. "Suppose we postpone explaining how I am ableto use your tongue. It will be easier for you to understand after youhave been with us a while. " He spoke slowly and carefully, yet with afaint lisp, much as some infant prodigy might speak. 

But there was no doubt that he had really done it. The doctor managed toclear his throat. 

"You are right, " said he, with vastly less assurance than the amazingstranger. "We will try to understand things in the order you think bestto present them. You--should know best. "

Kinney introduced himself by name and profession, also the other three. The stranger nodded affably to each. "You may call me Estra, " said he, pronouncing it "Ethtra. " "There is no occupation on the Earthcorresponding with mine, but in my spare moments I am an astronomer likeyourself. "

The doctor silently marveled. He had not told the stranger about hishobby. Meanwhile the architect attempted to break the ice even finer. 

"We take it for granted, " said she rather nervously, "that your peopleare somewhat further advanced than us on the earth. However, we expectto be given credit for having visited your planet before you visitedours!" She said this with an engaging smile which won an instantresponse; the Venusian's lips almost lost their curves in his generouseffort. 

"You will find that we greatly respect all that you have accomplished, "he declared earnestly. "As for your apparatus"--glancing at the cube--"you have the advantage on the earth of certain chemical elements whichare entirely lacking here, otherwise we should have called upon you longago. "

He slipped a panel of glass to one side. "Step in quickly!" heexclaimed, gasping; and the four obeyed him without thought. It was onlywhen the panel was replaced that they noticed the floor of the cage; itwas of clear glass, like the sides, and looked totally incapable ofbearing their combined weight. 

The Venusian smiled at Smith's worried look. "The material is amplystrong enough, " said he. "I am only concerned about your machine there. Is it safe to be left alone?"

"So far as we know, yes, " answered Van Emmon, who did not feel quite asmuch confidence in the stranger as the rest. 

"Then we can go down at once. " With these words the man in satin turnedto a small black box in one wall of the elevator and touched a button. [Footnote: For details of this and other matters of an electrical andmechanical nature, the technical reader is referred to Mr. Smith'sreports to the A. S. M. E. ]

Instantly the car began to descend, at first slowly and then withswiftly increasing velocity. By the time the explorers had accustomedtheir eyes to the sudden semi-darkness, the cage was dropping at such aspeed that the air fairly sang past its sides. 

Far overhead was a square, black shadow in the waxlike crust which theyhad left; it was the shadow of the cube. All about them was a dimly litnetwork of braces, arches and semitransparent columns; to allappearances the system seemed to support the crust. Billie whirled uponthe Venusian:

"I've got it now! The whole globe is covered with glass!"

Estra smiled his approval. "For thousands upon thousands of centuries, my friend. The thing was done when our ancestors first suspected thatour planet was doomed to come so near the sun. It was the only way wecould protect ourselves from the heat. "

"Great!" exploded the doctor, admiration overcoming regret that he hadnot thought of it himself. But Smith had other thoughts:

"How long did it take to finish the job? And what did it cost?"

"Two centuries; and about twice the cost of your last war. I need onlysuggest to you that we colored the material so as to reflect most of theheat. That is why the material looks blue from below, although pink fromabove. "

"Say"--from Billie--"how long are we to keep on dropping like this?"

"We will arrive in a moment or two, " answered the smiling one. "The roofis raised several miles above the sea-level in order to cover all themountains. "

By this time the four were able to make out things pretty well. They sawthat the dimness was only relative; the Venusian world was actually aswell lighted as any part of the earth on a cloudy day. And they saw thatthey were descending in a locality of astonishing beauty. 

The stranger halted the car so that they could inspect the scene asthough from an airplane. In no way did the landscape resemble that ofthe earth. To begin with, pillars of huge dimensions were placed everyquarter-mile or so; it was these that supported the intricate archworkabove. They were made of the same translucent stuff as the crust, buthad a light topaz tint. The Venusian said:

"You will not need to be told that the science of metallurgy hasadvanced quite far with us. All our metals can be made transparent, ifwe like; those pillars are colored variously in different regions so asto be clearly distinguishable and prevent collisions of flyingapparatus. "

But Van Emmon and Billie were both more interested in what lay betweenthe columns. They scarcely noticed that there were no people in sight atthe time. The ground was covered with an indescribable wealth of color;and it was only by a close examination that the buildings could bedistinguished as such. 

For they were all made of that semi-transparent stuff. Of everyconceivable tint and shade, the structure showed an utter lack ofuniformity in size, shape or arrangement. Moreover, the ground wasabsolutely packed with them; they spread as far as the eye could reach. 

But if there was profusion, there also was confusion--apparently. Streets ran anywhere and everywhere; there was no visible system toanything. And where there was no space for a building, invariably therewas a shrub, a bush or a small tree of some kind, all in full flower. The only sign of regularity to be seen was in the roofs--practically allof them were flat. Whether the building was some rambling, looselygathered agglomeration of vari-colored wings, or a single, toweringskyscraper of one tint, almost inevitably it was crowned with aperfectly level surface. 

"I see, " said Van Emmon, thoughtfully. "You have no rain. "

"Precisely"--from Estra. "We have the air completely under our control. We give our vegetation artificial showers when we think it should haveit, not when nature wills; and similarly we use electricity instead ofsunlight that we may stimulate its growth. "

"In short"--Van Emmon put it as the car slid slowly down the remainingdistance--"in short, you have abolished the weather. "

The Venusian nodded. "And I'll save you the trouble of suggesting, " headded, "that we are nothing more nor less than hothouse people!"

V

THE HUMAN CONSERVATORY

"But there is this difference, " he cautioned as they stepped out of theelevator into a sort of a plaza, "that, whereas you people on the earthhave only begun to use the hothouse principle, we here have perfectedit. 

"I suggest that you waste no time looking for faults. "

Van Emmon stared at the doctor. "How does this idea fit your theory, Kinney--that Venus is simply the earth plus several thousand extragenerations of civilization?"

"Fit?" echoed the doctor. "Fits like a glove. We humans are fastbecoming a race of indoor-people despite all the various "back-to-nature" movements. Look at the popularity of inclosed automobiles, forexample. 

"The only thing that surprises me"--turning to their guide--"is thatyou use your legs for their original purpose. "

Estra smiled, and pointed out something standing a few feet away. It wasa small, shuttle-shaped air-craft, with clear glass sides which hadactually made them overlook it at first. Peering closer they saw thatthe plaza and surrounding streets were nearly filled with these all butinvisible cars. 

The Venusian explained. "You marvel that I use my legs and walk the sameas you do. I am glad you have brought up this point, because it is afact that our people use mechanisms instead of bodily energy, almostaltogether. These cars you see are universally used for transportation. I am one of the very few who appreciate the value of natural exercise. "

"Do you mean to say, " demanded Van Emmon, "that the average Venusiandoes no walking?"

"Not a mile a year, " said Estra gravely. 

"Just what he is obliged to do indoors from room to room. " And heinvoluntarily glanced down at his own extremely thin legs. 

The architect's eyes widened with a growing understanding. "I see now, "she murmured. "That's why there was no one else to greet us. "

The Venusian smiled gratefully. "We thought it best. You'd have beenshocked outright, I am sure, had you been introduced to a representativeVenusian without any explanation. "

They fell silent. Still, without moving from the point where they hadleft the elevator, the four from the earth examined the surroundingbuildings in a renewed effort to see some system in their arrangement. Directly in front of them was a particularly large structure. Like allthe rest, it was of hopelessly irregular design, yet it had a largedomed central portion which gave it the appearance of an auditorium; andthe effect was further borne out by a subdued humming sound which seemedto come from it. 

Smith asked Estra if it were a hall. 

"Yes and no, " was the answer. "It fills the purpose of a hall, but isnot built on the hall plan. " And Smith tried to stare through thetranslucent walls of the thing. 

The other buildings within immediate reach were of every possibleappearance. Some would have passed for cottages, others for stores, still others for the most fanciful of studios. And nowhere was theresuch a thing as a sign, even at the street corners, much less on abuilding. 

"Not that we would be able to read your signs, if you had them, "commented the doctor, "but I'd like to know how your people find theirway without something of that kind to guide them. "

Estra's smile did not change. "That is something you will understandbetter before long, " said he, "provided you feel ready to explore alittle further. "

The four looked at each other in question, and suddenly it struck themall that they were a rather pugnacious-looking crew in their cumbersomesuits of armor and formidable helmets. The doctor turned to Estra. 

"You ought to know"--he appealed--"whether we can take off these suitsnow. "

"It would be best, " was the reply. "You will find the air andtemperature decidedly more warm and moist than what you have been usedto, but otherwise practically the same. There is a slightly largerproportion of oxygen; that is all. Just imagine you are in a hothouse. "

Smith and the doctor were already discarding their suits. Van Emmon andBillie followed more slowly; the one, because he did not share thedoctor's confidence in their guide; the other, because of a suddenshyness in his presence. The Venusian noted this. 

"You need not feel any embarrassment, " said he to Billie's vastastonishment. "There is no distinction here between the dress of the twosexes. " And again all four marveled that he should know so much aboutthem. 

Once out of the armor the visitors felt much more at ease. The slightlyreduced gravitation gave them a sense of lightness and freedom whichmore than balanced the junglelike oppressiveness of the air. They foundthemselves guarding against a certain exuberance; perhaps it was theextra oxygen, too. 

They strode toward the large structure directly ahead. At its entrance--a wide, square portal which opened into a fan-shaped lobby--Estra pausedand smiled apologetically--as he mopped his forehead and upper lip witha paper handkerchief, which he immediately dropped into a small, trap-covered opening in the wall at his side. 

These little doors, by the way, were to be seen at frequent intervalswherever they went. Incidentally not a scrap of paper or other refusewas to be noted anywhere--streets and all were spotless. 

As for Estra--"I am not accustomed to moving at such speed, " heexplained his discomfort. "If you do not mind, please walk a little moreleisurely. "

They took their time about passing through this lobby. For one thing, Estra said there would have to be a small delay; and for another, thewalls and ceilings of the space were most remarkably ornamented. Theywere fairly covered with what appeared, at first glance, to beabsolutely lifelike paintings and sculptures. They were so arranged asto strengthen the structural lines of the place, and, of course, theywere of more interest to Billie than to the others. [Footnote: Thespecialist in architecture and related subjects is referred to E. Williams Jackson's report to the A. I. A. , for details of these basreliefphotographs. ]

Desiring to examine some of the work far overhead, Billie clambered upon a convenient pedestal in order to look more closely. She took thestrength of things for granted, and put her weight too heavily on amolding on the edge of the pedestal; with the result that there was asharp crack; and the girl struck the floor in a heap. She got to herfeet before Van Emmon could reach her side, but her face was white withpain. 

"Sprained--ankle, " said she between set lips, and proceeded to stump upand down the lobby, "to limber up, " as she said, although her threecompanions offered to do anything that might relieve her. 

To the surprise of all, Estra leaned against a pillar and watched thewhole affair with perfect composure. He made no offer of help, saidnothing whatever in sympathy. In a moment he noticed the looks they gavehim--their stares. 

"I must beg your pardon, " he said, still smiling. "I am sorry thishappened; it will not be easy to explain. 

"But you will find all Venusians very unsympathetic. Not that we arehard hearted, but because we simply lost the power of sympathy. 

"We do not know what pity is. We have eliminated everything that isdisagreeable, all that is painful, from our lives to such an extent thatthere is never any cause for pity. "

The three young people could say nothing in answer. The doctor, however, spoke thoughtfully:

"Perhaps it is superfluous; but--tell me--have you done away withinjustice, Estra?"

"That is just the point, " agreed the Venusian. "Justice took the placeof pity and mercy; it was so long ago I am barely able to appreciateyour own views on the subject. "

Billie, her ankle somewhat better, turned to examine other work; but atthe moment another Venusian approached from the upper end of the lobby. Walking slowly, he carried four small parcels with a great deal ofeffort, and the explorers had time to scrutinize him closely. 

He was built much like Estra, but shorter, and with a little more fleshabout the torso. His forehead bulged directly over his eyes, instead ofabove his ears, as did Estra's; also his eyes were smaller and not asfar apart. His whole expression was equally kind and affable, despite acuriously shriveled appearance of his lips; they made the front of hismouth quite flat, and served to take attention away from his pitifullythin legs. 

Estra greeted him with a cheery phrase, in a language decidedlydifferent from any the explorers were familiar with. In a way, it wasSpanish, or, rather, the pure Castilian tongue; but it seemed to bedevoid of dental consonants. It was very agreeable to listen to. 

Estra, however, had taken the four parcels from his comrade, and nowpresented him to the four, saying that his name was Kalara, and that hewas a machinist. "He cannot use your tongue, " said the Venusian. "Few ofus have mastered it. There are difficulties. 

"As for these machines"--unwrapping the parcels--"I must apologize inadvance for certain defects in their design. I invented them underpressure, so to speak, having to perfect the whole idea in the rathershort time that has elapsed since you, doctor, began the sky-car. "

"And what is the purpose of the machines?" from Billie, as she was aboutto accept the first of the devices from the Venusian. 

For some reason he appeared to be especially interested in the girl, andaddressed half of his remarks to her; and it was while his smiling gazewas fixed upon her eyes that he gave the answer:

"They are to serve"--very carefully--"partly as lexicons and partly asgrammars. In short, they are mechanical interpreters. "

VI

THE TRANSLATING MACHINES

"First, let me remind you, " said the Venusian, "of our lack of certainelements that you are familiar with on the Earth. We have never beenable to improve on the common telephone. That is why we must stillassemble in person whenever we have any collective activity; while onthe Earth the time will come when your wireless principle will bedeveloped to the point of transmitting both light and sound; and afterthat there will be little need of gatherings of any sort. "

Then he explained the apparatus. It consisted of a miniature head-telephone, connected to a small, metallic case the size of a cigar-box, the cover of which was a transparent diaphragm. Estra did not open thecase, but showed the mechanism through the cover. 

"Essentially, this is a 'word-for-word' device, " said he, pointing to aswiftly revolving dial within the box. "On one face of that dial aresome ten thousand word-images, made by vibration, after the phonographmethod. Directly opposite, on the other face, are the correspondingwords in the other language. The disk is rotating at such an enormousspeed that, for all practical purposes, any word which may chance to bespoken will be translated almost instantaneously. "

He indicated two delicate, many-tentacled "feelers, " as he called them, one on each face of the disk. One of these "felt" the proper word-imageas it whirled beneath, while the other established an electrical contactwith the corresponding waves beneath, at the same time exciting acomplicated-looking talking machine. 

"That, " commented Estra, "is not so easy to explain. It transforms thisliteral translation into an idiomatic one. Perhaps you will understandits workings a little later when you learn how and why I am able to useyour own language. "

By this time the four had reached the point where nothing could surprisethem. They were becoming accustomed to the unaccustomed. Had they beentold that the Venusians had abolished speech altogether, they would havefelt disappointed, but not incredulous. However, the doctor thought ofsomething. 

"Have you any extra 'records, ' to be used in case we visit some othernations while we are here?"

For just a second the Venusian was puzzled; then his smile broadened. "The one record will do, " said he, "wherever you go. "

"A universal language!" Billie's eyes sparkled with interest. 

"Long, long ago, " Estra said. "It was established soon after our leagueof nations was formed. "

"Does the league actually prevent war and promote peace?" demanded VanEmmon. This had been a disputed question when the four left the earth. 

"We no longer have a league of nations, " said their guide slowly. Andinstantly the four were eying him eagerly. This was really refreshing, to find that the Venusians were actually lacking in something. 

"So it didn't work?" commented the doctor, disappointed. 

But the Venusian's smile was still there. "It worked itself out, " saidhe. "We have no further use for a league. We have no more nations. Weare now--one. "

And he helped them adjust the machines. 

The cases were slung over their shoulders and the telephones clamped totheir ears. When all ready, Estra began to talk, and his voice camenearly as sharp and clear through the apparatus as before. It wasmodified by a metallic flatness, together with a certain amount ofmechanical noise in which a peculiar hissing was the most noticeable. Otherwise he said:

"I am now using my own language. If I make any mistakes, you must notblame the machine. It is as nearly perfect as I was able to make it. "

He then asked them what blunders they noted. Billie, who was the mostenthusiastic about the thing, declared that they would have no troublein understanding; whereupon Estra quietly asked:

"Do you feel like going now to try them out?"

Once more an exchange of glances between the four from the earth. Clearly the Venusians were extremely considerate people, to leave theirvisitors in the care of the one man, apparently, who was able to makethem feel at home. There seemed to be no reason for uneasiness. 

But Van Emmon still had his old misgivings about Estra. There wassomething about the effeminate Venusian which irritated the biggeologist; it always does make a strong man suspicious to see a weakerone show such self-confidence. Van Emmon drew the doctor and Billieaside, while Smith and Estra went on with the test. Said Van Emmon:

"It just occurred to me that the cube might look pretty good to thesepeople. You remember what this chap said about their lack of some of ourchemicals. What do you think--is it really safe to put ourselvesentirely in their power?"

"You mean, " said the doctor slowly, "that they might try to keep us hererather than lose the cube?"

Van Emmon nodded gravely, but Billie had strong objections. "Estradoesn't look like that sort, " she declared vehemently. 

"He's too good natured to be a crook; he needs a guardian rather than awarden. "

It flashed into the doctor's mind that many a woman had fallen in lovewith a man merely because he seemed to be in need of some one to takecare of him. 

That is, the self-reliant kind of woman; and Billie certainly was self-reliant. Something of the same notion came vaguely to the geologist atthe same time; and with a vigor that was quite uncalled for, he urged:

"I say, 'safety first. ' We shouldn't have left the cube unguarded. Ipropose that one of us, at least, return to the surface while the othersattend this meeting--or trap, for all we know. "

"All right, " said Billie promptly. "Get Estra to show you how to use theelevator, and wait for us in the vestibule. "

Van Emmon's face flamed. "That isn't what I meant!" hotly. "If anybodygoes to the cube, it should be you, Billie!"

If Billie did not notice the use of her nickname, at least the doctordid. The girl simply snorted. 

"If you think for one second that I'm going to back out just because I'ma woman, let me tell you that you're very badly mistaken!"

Van Emmon turned to the doctor appealingly, but the doctor took theaction personally. He shook his head. "I wouldn't miss this foranything, Van. Estra looks safe to me. Go and ask Smith; maybe he iswilling to be the goat. "

The geologist took one good look at the engineer's absorbed, unquestioning manner as he listened to the Venusian, and gave up theidea with a sigh. For a moment he was sour; then he smiled shyly. 

"I'm more than anxious to meet the bunch myself, " he admitted; and ledthe way back to Estra. The Venusian looked at him with no change ofexpression, although there was something very disconcerting in theprecocious wisdom of his eyes. Their very kindliness and serenity gavehim an appearance of superiority, such as only aggravated thegeologist's suspicions. 

But there was nothing to do but to trust him. They followed him throughtwo sets of doors, which slid noiselessly open before them in responseto some mechanism operated by the Venusian's steps. This brought them toanother of the glass elevators, in which they descended perhaps tenfeet, stepping out of it onto a moving platform; this, in turn, extendedthe length of a low dimly lighted passageway about a hundred yards long. When they got off, they were standing in a small anteroom. 

The Venusian paused and smiled at the four again. "Do you feel likegoing on display now?" he asked; then added: "I should have said: 'Doyou feel like seeing Venus on display, for we all know more or lessabout you already. '"

But the visitors were braced for the experience. Estra looked at eachapprovingly, and then did something which made them wonder. He stoodstock still for perhaps a second, his eyes closed as though listening;and then, without explanation, he led the way through an opal-glass doorinto a brilliantly lighted space. 

Next moment the explorers were standing in the midst of the people ofVenus. 

VII

THE ULTIMATE RACE

The four were at the bottom of a huge, conelike pit, such as instantlyreminded the doctor of a medical clinic. The space where they stood was, perhaps, twenty feet in diameter, while the walls enclosing the wholehall were many hundreds of feet apart. And sloping up from the center, on all sides, was tier upon tier of the most extraordinary seats in allcreation. 

For each and every one of those thousands of Venusians was separatelyenclosed in glass. Nowhere was there a figure to be seen who was notinstalled in one of those small, transparent boxes, just large enoughfor a single person. Moreover--and it came somewhat as a shock to thefour when they noted it--the central platform itself was both coveredand surrounded with the same material. 

"Make yourselves at home, " Estra was saying. He pointed to severalmicrophones within easy reach. "These are provided with my translators, so when you are ready to open up conversation, go right ahead as thoughyou were among your own people. " And he made himself comfortable in asaddlelike chair, as much as to say that there was no hurry. 

For a long time the explorers stood taking it in. The Venusians, withoutexception, stared back at them with nearly equal curiosity. And despitethe extraordinary nature of the proceeding, this mutual scrutiny tookplace in comparative silence; for while the glass gave a certain senseof security to the newcomers, it also cut off all sound except that lowhumming. 

The nearest row of the people got their closest attention. Withoutexception, they had the same general build as Estra; slim, delicate, andanemic, they resembled a "ward full of convalescent consumptives, " asthe doctor commented under his breath. Not one of them would ever give ajoke-smith material for a fat-man anecdote; at the same time there wasnothing feverish, nervous, or broken down in their appearance. "A prettylot of invalids, " as Billie added to the doctor's remark. 

Many observers would have been struck, first, by the extreme diversityin the matter of dress. All wore skin-tight clothing, and much of it wassilky, like Estra's. But there was a bewildering assortment of colors, and the most extraordinary decorations, or, rather, ornaments. So far asdress went, there was no telling anything whatever about sex. 

"Are they all men?" asked Billie, wondering, of Estra. The Venusianshook his head with his invariable smile. "Nor all women either, " saidhe enigmatically. 

But in many respects they were astonishingly alike. Almost to a soultheir upper lips were withered and flat. One and all had short, emaciated-looking legs. Each and every one had a crop of reallyluxuriant hair; the shades varied between the usual blonde and brunette, with little of the reddishness so common on the earth; but there were nobald people at all. On the other hand, there were no beards or mustachesin the whole crowd; every face was bare!

"Like a lot of Chinamen, " said Van Emmon in an undertone; "can't tellone from another. " But Billie pointed out that this was not strictlytrue; a close inspection of the faces showed an extremely wide range ofdistinction. No two chins in the crowd were exactly alike, although notone of them showed any of the resolute firmness which is admired on theEarth. All were weak, yet different. 

Neither were there any prominent noses, although there were none thatcould have been called insignificant. And while every pair of eyes inthe place was large, as large as Estra's, yet there was every desirablecolor and expression. 

To sum it all up, and to use the doctor's words: "They've developed astandard type, all right, just as the characteristic American face isthe standard Earth type; but--did you ever see such variations?"

Nevertheless, the most striking thing about these people to the eyes ofthe visitors was their mutual resemblance. For one thing, there seemedto be no nervous people present. There were many children in the crowd, too; yet all sat very still, and only an occasional movement of thehands served to indicate consciousness. In this sense, they were allremarkably well bred. 

In another, they were remarkably rude. At any given moment a good halfof the people were eating, or, rather, sipping liquids of various sortsfrom small tumblers. Probably every person in the house, before theaffair was over, had imbibed two or three ounces of fluid; but not oncewas the matter apologized for, nor the four invited to partake. 

"So this may be the outcome of our outrageous habit of eating sweetmeatsat theaters, " muttered the doctor. And again noting the hairless faces:"Just what I said when men first began using those depilatories insteadof shaving--no more beards!"

But it was Billie who explained the invariable crop of hair. "No use tolook for baldness; they don't wear hats! Why should they, since there'sneither sun nor rain to protect their heads from?"

Mainly, however, the architect was interested in the building itself. Toher, the most striking feature was not the tremendously arched dome, noryet the remarkable system of bracing which dispensed with any columns inall that vast space. It was something simpler--there were no aisles. 

"Now, what do you make of that?" the girl asked Van Emmon. "How do theyever get to their places?" But he could not suggest anything more thanto recall an individual elevator scheme once proposed. 

To Smith, one object of interest was the telephone system. Remarkablylike those used on the Earth, one was located in each of the tiny glasscages. He was likewise puzzled to account for the ventilation system;each cage was apparently air-tight, yet no Venusian showed anydiscomfort. 

But the geologist, for want of anything strictly within his professionalrange, interested himself in trying to fathom the moral attitude ofthese people. He was still suspicious of them, notwithstanding a growingtendency to like every one of their pleasant, really agreeable faces. There was neither solemnity, sourness, nor bitterness to be seenanywhere; at the same time, there was no sign of levity. In everycountenance was the same inexplicable mixture of wisdom and benevolencethat distinguished Estra. Nowhere was there hostility, and nowhere wasthere crudity. Somehow, the big geologist would have felt more at homehad he seen something antagonistic. Essentially, Van Emmon was afighter. 

At last the four felt their attention lagging. Novelties always pallquickly, no matter how striking. Estra sensed the feeling and inquired:

"Which of you will do the honors?"

Instinctively the three younger folk turned to the doctor. He made noprotest, but stepped at once to one of the microphones, put on his mostimpressive professional face, and began:

"My friends"--and Van Emmon noted a pleased look come into every faceabout them--"my friends, I do not need to state how significant thismeeting is to us all. From what Estra has said, I gather that you haveinformed yourselves regarding us, in some manner which he has promisedto make clear. At all events, I am exceedingly anxious to see yourastronomical apparatus. "

At this a broad smile came to many of the faces before him; but he wenton, unnoticing: "Certainly there is not much I could tell you which youdo not already know; Estra's use of our language proves this. I onlyneed to assure you that we will be glad to answer any questions that mayoccur to you. It goes without saying that we, of course, are filled withdelight to find your planet so wondrously and happily populated, especially after our experience on Mercury, of which, I presume, you areinformed. "

Apparently they were. The doctor went on: "You may be sure that we arefairly bursting with questions. However, we are content to becomeinformed as Estra sees fit to guide us. 

"There is just one thing, more than any other, which I would like toknow at this time. Why is it that, although you all show a great lack ofexercise, and are continually eating, you never appear to be healthy?"

Instantly a Venusian in the fifth row, to the doctor's right, touchedhis phone and replied: "It is a matter of diet. We have nothing but'absolute' foods; if you understand what that means. "

And from that time on, despite the fact that the explorers askedquestions which, at home, would have found hundreds ready and able toanswer, on Venus only one person answered any given question, and alwayswithout any apparent prearrangement. For a long time they could notaccount for this. 

The doctor motioned for Smith to take his place. The engineer looked alittle embarrassed, but cleared his throat noisily and said:

"I am especially struck with the fact that each of you sits in aseparate glass pew, or case. Why is this?"

The reply came from one of the few people present who showed any signsof age. He was, perhaps, sixty, and his hair was fast whitening. Hesaid:

"For reasons of sanitation. It is not wise to breathe the breath ofanother. "

"Also, " supplemented someone from the other side of that vast pit--"also, each is thereby enabled to surround himself with the electricalinfluences which suit him best. "

Smith stepped back, pondering. The doctor looked to the geologist totake his place, but Van Emmon made way for Billie. At any other time shewould have resented his "woman-first" attitude; now she quickly foundvoice. 

"How are you able to get along without aisles? It may seem a foolishquestion, to you; but on earth we would consider a hall without aislesabout as convenient as a room without a door. "

Immediately a Venusian directly in front of her, and on a level with hereyes, called out: "Watch me, madam. " And quite without an effort beyondtouching a button or two, the fellow rose straight into the air, glassand all, and then floated gently over toward the middle of the hall. 

"It probably appears complicated to you, " explained the Venusian whoseside he had just left. "We make use of elements not found on yourearth. "

Billie's sang froid was not shaken. Instantly she came backenergetically: "Apparently your method overcomes gravitation. Whyhaven't you tried to travel away from your planet?"

And she looked around with the air of one who has uttered a poser, onlyto have another of the satin-clad people reply, from a point which shewas not able to locate:

"Because enough such power cannot be safely concentrated. "

As Billie retired, Van Emmon noted with growing irritation that thecontinuously affable aspect of the Venusians had not altered in any way, unless it was to become even more genial and sure. The big man strodeenergetically to the microphone, and the other three noted a generalmovement of interest and admiration as the people inspected him. 

"Why, " demanded he, "do we see no signs of contention? If you arefamiliar with conditions on the earth, you surely know that rivalry, inone form or another, is the accepted basis of life. But all of you, here, appear to be perfectly happy, and at the same time entirely sureof yourselves. 

"We have just come from a planet where we have seen the principle ofcombat, of competition, carried so far that it seems to have wrecked therace; so you will pardon my curiosity, I am sure. From your faces, onewould conclude that you had abolished self-interest altogether. Just whyare you so--well, extraordinarily self-complacent?" And he thrust outhis aggressive jaw as though to make up for the lack of chins about him. 

"Because there is nothing for us to combat, save within ourselves. " Thisfrom a wide-faced chap in a bluish-white suit. 

"But surely you have rivalry of some sort?"

"No. " Another voice added: "Rivalry is the outgrowth of getting alivelihood; on earth it is inevitable, because men do the work. Here, everything is done by machines. " Still another put in: "Discontent isthe mother of ambition, but we are all content, because each possessesall he desires. "

But the geologist was far from satisfied. "Then, " said he vigorously, "if you have eliminated all contention, you have nullified the great lawof contrasts. You say you are all rich. How do you know, if you have nopoverty to contrast it with?

"On earth, we appreciate warmth because we have experienced cold;pleasure, because we know pain; happiness, because we have always hadmisery with us. If we have not had the one, we cannot value the other. 

"If you have never been discontented, how do you know that you arecontent?"

VIII

THE KEY-NOTE

For a minute or two it looked as though Van Emmon had raised anunanswerable question. There was no immediate reply. Even Estra lookedaround, as though in wonder at the silence, and seemed on the point ofanswering of his own accord when a voice came from a man far up on theleft. He said:

"A little explanation may be wise. To begin with, you will agree thatblack is black because white is white; but it doesn't follow that blueis blue because green is green, or red is red. Blue is blue because itis neither green nor red nor any other color. It is blue, not because itcontrasts with these other colors, but because it merely differs fromthem. 

"Now, we on Venus do not need poverty, in order to appreciate wealth. Instead, each of us is blessed with his own particular choice of wealth. Each is blessed in a different way; some with children, some withintellect, some with other matters; and the question of mere quantitynever enters. "

"We do not need pain or misery, " spoke up someone else, "any more thanyou people on the earth require an additional color, in order toappreciate the variety you already have. " And then, from a Venusian withan especially strong voice:

"That we are really content, we know absolutely. For each of us, in hisown distinctive way, is wholly and peculiarly satisfied. "

And it only added to the geologist's irritation to have these strikingstatements made in a good-humored, impersonal fashion which totallydisarmed all opposition. That the Venusians were perfectly sure of theirground, was undeniable; but they had such a cheerful way of looking atit, as though they didn't care a rap whether Van Emmon agreed or not, that--If they'd only have shown some spirit! Van Emmon would have likedit infinitely better if one of them had only become hot about it. 

At this point Estra rose in his chair. "I think you had best approach usfrom a fresh viewpoint, " said he in his unfailingly agreeable manner. The doctor nodded vigorously, and again Estra closed his eyes in thatodd, hesitating way. Immediately every one in the place, with theexception of a single person in the lowest row, took flight in his orher little glass pew. In a moment the great vault overhead was fairlyswarming with people; and in less than a minute the last of them hadfloated out through one of the arches in the walls. 

Estra opened a panel in the central cage, and admitted the Venusian whohad stayed behind. She--for it appeared to be a young woman--walked withabout the same facility as Estra; but as soon as she had entered thespace, took the seat Estra had vacated, and waited. 

The action rather disappointed the doctor. He removed the interpretingtelephone from his head, and asked:

"I rather thought we were going to meet one of your officials, Estra. We'd hate to go back home without having met your president, or whateveryou call your chief executive. "

The two Venusians exchanged smiles, and to the surprise of the explorersthe woman gave the reply, in language as good as Estra's, but an evensweeter expression: "There is no such thing as a chief executive onVenus, friends. "

"I meant, " explained the doctor, rattled, "the chairman of your cabinet, or council, or whatever it is that regulates your affairs. Perhaps, "with an inspiration, "I should have said, the speaker of your congress. "

The Venusian shook her head, still smiling. She hesitated whileselecting the best words; and the four noted that, while her featureswere quite as delicate as Estra's, her face was proportionately larger, and her whole figure better filled out. No one would have said that shewas pretty, much less beautiful; but none would deny that she was verygood-looking, in a wholesome, intelligent, capable sort of a way. Hername, Estra told them later, was Myrin; and he explained that he and shewere associated solely because of their mutual interest in the sameplanet--the Earth. 

Said Myrin: "You are accustomed to the idea of government. We, however, have outgrown it. 

"If you stop to think, you will agree that the purpose of government isto maintain peace, on the one hand, and to wage war, on the other. Now, as to war--we haven't even separate nations, any more. So we have nowars. And as for internal conflict--why should we ever quarrel, wheneach of us is assured all that he can possibly want?"

"So you have abolished government?"

"A very long time ago. You on the earth will do the same, as soon asyour people have been educated up to the point of trusting each other. "

"You haven't even a congress, then?"

Myrin shook her head. "All questions such as a congress would deal with, were settled ages ago. You must remember that the material features ofour civilization have not changed for thousands of generations. The onlyquestions that come up now are purely personal ones, which each mustsettle for himself. "

Van Emmon, as before, was not at all satisfied. "You say that machinerydoes your work for you. I presume you do not mean that literally; theremust be some duties which cannot be performed without human direction, at least. How do you get these duties accomplished, if you have nogovernment to compel your people to do them?"

Myrin looked at a loss, either for the answer itself or for the mostsuitable words. Estra gave the reply: "Every device we possess isabsolutely automatic. There is not one item in the materials we use butthat was constructed, exactly as you see it now, many thousands of yearsago. "

Smith was incredulous. "Do you mean to say that those little glass pewshave been in use all that time?"

Estra nodded, smiling gently at the engineer's amazement. "Likeeverything else, they were built to last. You must remember that we donot have anything like an 'investment, ' here; we do not have to considerthe question of 'getting our capital back. ' So, if any furtherimprovements were to be made, they also would be done in a permanentfashion. "

Billie gave an exclamation of bewilderment. "I don't understand! You saythat nothing new has been built, or even replaced, for centuries. How doyou take care of your increase in population?" thinking of the greatcrowd that had just left. 

Myrin was the one who answered this. As she did so, she got slowly toher feet; and speaking with the utmost care, watched to be sure that thefour understood her:

"Ever since the roof was put on, our increase of population has beenexactly balanced by our death rate!"

The four followed their guides in silence as they led the way into theplaza. Now, the space was alive with Venusians. The little cages wereeverywhere floating about in the air; some of the people werelaboriously shifting themselves into their aircraft; others were guidingtheir "pews" direct to nearby houses. The visitors got plenty of curiousstares from these quiet miracle-workers, who seemed vastly more at homein the air than on the ground. "As thick as flies, " Van Emmon commented. 

Estra and Myrin, walking very slowly, took them to a side street, wheretwo of the cigar-shaped cars were standing. Billie and Smith got in withEstra, while Van Emmon and the doctor were given seats beside theVenusian woman. The two cars were connected by telephone, so that ineffect the two parties were one. 

By this time, the visitors had become so accustomed to the transparentmaterial that they felt no uneasiness as the ground receded below them. Smith, especially, was tremendously impressed with Estra's declarationthat the glass was, except for appearance, nothing more nor less than anextremely strong, steel alloy. 

Propelled by the unexplained forces which the two drivers controlled bymeans of buttons in black cases, the two cars began to thread their waythrough the great roof-columns; and as they proceeded, the four grewmore and more amazed at the great extent of the city. For miles uponmiles that heterogeneous collection of buildings stretched, unbroken andwithout system, until the eye tired of trying to make out the limits ofit. 

"What is the name of this city?" asked Billie, secretly hoping that itmight bear some resemblance to "New York. " It struck her fancy to assumethat this supermetropolis represented what Gotham, in time, mightbecome. 

Estra did not take his attention from what he was doing, but answered asreadily as ever. "I do not blame you for mistaking this for a city. Thefact is, however, that we have no such thing. "

Billie stared at him helplessly. "You've abolished cities, too?"

"Not exactly. In the same sense that we have abolished nations, yes. Likewise we have abolished states, also counties. Neither have we such athing as 'the country, ' now. 

"My friends, Venus is simply one immense city. "

IX

THE SURVIVAL OF ALL

Somehow all four were unwilling to press this question. It did not seempossible that Estra was right, or, if he was, that they could possiblyunderstand his explanation, should he give it. The cars flew side byside for perhaps a hundred miles, while the visitors put in the time inexamining the landscape with the never-ending interest of all aeronauts. 

Here and there, in that closely-packed surface, a particularly largebuilding was to be noted every half mile or so. "Factories?" askedBillie of Estra, but he shook his head. 

"I'll show you factories later on, " said he. "What you see are schools. "But most observers would have considered the structures severely plainfor their purpose. 

After a long silence: "I'm still looking for streams, " said Van Emmon toMyrin. "Are your rivers as large as ours?"

"We have no rivers, " was the calm reply. "Rivers are entirely toowasteful of water. All our drainage is carried off through undergroundcanals. "

"You haven't done away with your oceans, too, have you?" the geologistasked, rather sarcastically. But he was scarcely prepared for the replyhe got. 

"No; we couldn't get along without them, I am afraid. However, we didthe best we could in their case. " And without signaling to Estra shedove the machine towards the ground. Smith looked for the telephonewires to snap, but Estra seemed to know, and instantly followed Myrin'slead. The doctor noticed, and wondered all the more. 

And then came another surprise. As the machines neared the surface, afamiliar odor floated in through the open windows of the air-craft; andthe four found themselves looking at each other for signs ofirrationality. A moment, and they saw that they were not mistaken. 

For, although that kaleidoscopic expanse of buildings showed not theslightest break, yet they were now located on the sea. The houses werepacked as closely together as anywhere; apparently all were floating, yet not ten square yards of open sea could be seen in any one spot. 

Van Emmon almost forgot his resentment in his growing wonder. "That getsme, Myrin! Those houses seem to be merely floating, yet I see no motionwhatever! Why are there no waves?"

The doctor snorted. "Shame on you, Van! Don't let our friends think thatyou're an absolute ignoramus. " He added: "Venus has no moon, and nowind, at least under the roof. Therefore, no waves. "

Smith put in: "That being the case, there is no chance to start a wave-motor industry here. Neither, " as he thought further, "neither forwater-power. Having no rain in your mountains, Estra, where do you getyour power?"

But it was Myrin who answered. "I suppose you are all familiar withradium? It is nothing more or less than condensed sunlight, which inturn is simply electromagnetic waves; although it may take yourscientists a good many centuries to reach that conclusion. 

"Well, every particle of the material which composes this planet, contains radioactivity of some sort; and we long ago discovered a way torelease it and use it. One pound of solid granite yields enough energyto--well, a great deal of power. "

They had now been flying for two hours, and still no end to thatthickly-housed, ever different appearance of the ground. Also, althoughthey saw a great many birds, they noted no animals. Finally, Billiecould hold in no longer. 

"Are we to understand, " she demanded of Estra, "that the whole of thisplanet is as densely populated as we see it?"

"Just that, " replied the Venusian. "Why not? The roof makes our climateuniform from pole to pole, while our buildings are such that, whether onland or on sea, they are equally livable. "

"But--Estra!" expostulated the girl. "Venus is nearly as big as theearth. And it looks to be as thickly populated as--as Rhode Island! Why, you must have a colossal population; let me see. " And she scribbled awayin her memorandum book. 

But both Smith and the doctor had already worked it out. They looked up, blinking dazedly. 

"Over three hundred billion, " murmured the doctor, as though dizzy. 

The Venusian checked Smith's correction with, "You dropped one cipher, doctor. There are three and a half trillion of us!"

"Good lord!" whispered Van Emmon, all his antagonism gone for themoment. And again the explorers were silent for a long time. 

By and by, however--"We have just seen what it meant, there on Mercury, "said the doctor, in a low voice, "for the principle of 'the survival ofthe fit' to be carried to its logical end; for who is to decide what isfitness, save the fittest? One man, apparently, outlived every one elseon the planet, and then he also died. 

"But here you have gone the limit in the other direction. Of course, wemight have known that you long ago abolished poverty, unearned wealth, pestilence, drunkenness and the other causes of premature death; but asfor three and a half trillion!"

"Nevertheless, " remarked Myrin, "every last one of us, once born, livesto die of old age; and in most cases this means several hundred of youryears. "

Smith involuntarily rubbed his eyes; and they all laughed, a nervoussort of a laugh which left the visitors still in doubt as to theirsenses, and their guides' sanity. Van Emmon's suspicions came back witha rush, and he burst out:

"Say--you'll excuse me, but I can't swallow this! Here you've shown ushouses as thick as leaves; not a sign of a farm, much less an orchard!No vegetation at all, except for a few flowers!

"Three and a half trillion! All right; let it go at that!" Out came hischin, and he brought one fist down upon the other as though he werecracking rocks with a hammer, and with every blow he uttered a word:

"How--do--you--feed--them--all?"

X

LOAVES AND FISHES

Without a word Myrin drove her machine toward the ground, and, asbefore, Estra followed despite the lack of any visible signal. Within aminute the two machines had come to rest, softly and withoutdisturbance, on the roof of a handsome building, much like an apartmenthouse. There was the usual transparent elevator, and a minute later thefour were being introduced to the occupants of a typical Venusian house. 

These two people, apparently man and wife, did not need to be told whythe explorers had been brought there. They led the way from the dimlylighted hallway in which the elevator had stopped, into a group ofbrightly decorated rooms. Here the four were given seats in the usualsaddellike chairs, and then Myrin answered Van Emmon's question:

"I knew that this point would arise soon, and you will pardon me if Ihandle it in a prearranged fashion. I will admit that it is not an easyquestion Mr. Van Emmon has put; not because the answer is at allcomplicated but, on the contrary, extremely simple. "

The four were listening unanimously. Despite himself, Van Emmon washighly impressed by the Venusian woman's serious manner. Perhaps it wasbecause, in her earnestness, she was not quite so affable as before. Shewent on:

"From where you are sitting, you can see all the rooms in this house. You will look in vain for anything even remotely resembling a kitchen. There is not even a dining-room. 

"And yet you must not jump to the conclusion that we all userestaurants. We have no such thing as a public eating place. Or rather, "and here she spoke very carefully, "rather, every place is an eatingplace. "

The doctor looked Myrin over as though she were a patient with a newkind of disease. "You do not mean that literally, of course, " said hekindly. 

But she nodded gravely. "You must not misunderstand. Remember, even onyour own planet, the distribution of food is becoming more and moreextensive, until you can now buy something to eat at every crossroads. We have merely carried the idea to its logical end, so that allVenusians can obtain food at any time, and at any spot. "

She turned in her chair--all the chairs on Venus were pivoted, Estrasaid--and touched a button in the wall at her hand. A panel slidnoiselessly aside, and revealed a tiny buffet. At least, Billie labeledit a buffet, for want of a more accurate term. 

For it consisted of a silver bibb, something like the nozzle of a soda-water fountain above which was a board containing a large number oftiny, numbered push buttons. Below the bibb was a space in which a cupmight be set, and projecting from a tube at one side was a solid blockof telescoping, transparent cups. 

"This, " said Myrin, "is the Venusian Nutrition System. There is astation like this in every room on the planet. " And she proceeded totake a cup from the tube, filling each from the silver faucet while shepressed a variety of the buttons. 

The four watched in silence, and eagerly took what was given to them. Itcomprised liquids entirely; liquids of every degree of fluidity, fromsome as thin as water to others as thick as gruel. They varied even moreas to color, ranging from actual transparency to a deep chocolate. 

"Now, I warn you not to be shocked, " said Myrin, "although I fullyexpect that you will be. The fact is that we have no other kind of foodthan what you see; there are thousands upon thousands of different kindsand flavors, but they are all fluids. We have nothing whatever in solidform. 

"You see, " she explained, "we have no teeth. "

All they could do was to stare at her as, with a return of her smile, she made a sudden gesture across the front of her mouth. Next instant aset of false teeth lay in her hand!

Estra spoke up. "We are both obliged to wear them in order that we mightuse your language. " He removed his own, to show a mouth as free of teethas a newborn baby's. Both Venusians replaced their sets, and smiledafresh at the explorers' astonishment. 

"Teeth will soon be a thing of the past with you on the Earth, too, "commented Myrin. "Dr. Kinney will surely testify to that. Your use ofsoft, cooked foods, instead of the coarse, hard articles provided bynature, is bound to have this effect in time. With us, it resulted inhaving teeth reduced to the standing of your appendix; and, like you, weresort to an operation rather than take chances on trouble. I maymention that the appendix is totally absent from all Venusians, while weare beginning to lose all traces of either the first or second molars;just as you are beginning to lose your wisdom teeth. 

"However, suppose you try our diet while I explain. "

The four once more looked at each other. The doctor was the first totake a sip of one of the cups handed to him, and Van Emmon was the last;the geologist waited to see the effects upon the others before gingerlytasting of the thickest, darkest liquid of them all. Another taste, andhe discovered that it was very good, and that he was exceedingly hungry. 

"Very delicately flavored, " commented Billie, after emptying her fourthglass, a golden fluid with a slightly oily appearance. 

"Delicately is right, " said the doctor. "This stuff is barely flavoredat all, Estra. "

The Venusian was also "eating. " "We much prefer them all that way, " saidhe. "I suppose you would consider our tastes very finicky, on Earth; butthe fact is we are able to distinguish between minute variations inflavoring such as would escape all on earth except a humming-bird. "

"I suppose, " remarked the doctor, smacking his lips over a reddishsolution with a winelike flavor, "I suppose we can expect something ofthat sort on the Earth, too, in time. Originally mankind was only ableto distinguish fresh from stale, and animal from vegetable flavors. "

After a while Myrin went on: "You know, the processes of nutrition, asthey take place among your people, are extremely wasteful. You haveprobably heard it said that 'the average human is only fifty per centefficient. ' That simply means that digestion, assimilation and excretionrequire half the energy which they secure from the food. 

"Now, the articles you have just swallowed require very little work onthe part of your digestive apparatus, and none at all upon youreliminating tract. The food is almost instantly transformed into freshblood; if I am not mistaken, you already feel much refreshed. "

This was decidedly true. All four felt actually stimulated; Van Emmoninstantly suspected the food of being alcoholic. As he continued towatch its effect, however, he saw that there was no harmful reaction asin the case of the notorious drug. 

"I think I can now tell you how we produce enough food for the three anda half trillion of us, despite our lack of farms and orchards, " saidMyrin rising. 

Returning to the air-craft, the four were taken a short distance in anew direction, and again descended, this time transferring to anelevator which dropped far below the surface. They came to a stop aboutten floors down. 

"Naturally, " said Myrin, "we reserve all the surface for residencepurposes; although, it is possible to live down here in comparativecomfort, since we have plenty of electrical energy to spare. " And sheoperated a switch, flooding the place with a brilliant glow. Thrown fromconcealed sources, this light was quite as strong as the subdueddaylight which they had just left. "But unless we were free to fly aboutas much as we do, we should feel that life was a bore. Nobody staysbelow any longer than is necessary. 

"Now, this is where our food comes from. " Whereupon she showed them aseries of automatic machines, all working away there in the solid rockof the planet; and of such an extraordinary nature that Smith, theengineer, moved about in an atmosphere of supreme bliss. 

"You will understand, " said Myrin, "that the usual processes ofnutrition, on the Earth, depend entirely upon plant life. We, however, cannot spare room enough for any such system; so we had to devisesubstitutes for plants. 

"In effect, that is what these machines are. They convert bed-rock intoloam, take the nitrates and other chemicals [Footnote: The geology ofVenus is thoroughly described in Mr. Van Emmon's reports to the A. M. E. A. ] directly from this artificial soil, and by a pseudo-osmotic processsecure results similar to those produced by roots. 

"Likewise we have developed artificial leaves, " pointing out a hugeapparatus which none but a highly trained expert in both botany andmechanics could half understood. "This machine first manufactureschlorophyl--yes, it does, " as the doctor snorted incredulously; "not animitation, but real chlorophyl--and then transforms the various elementsinto starch, sugar, and proteids through the agency of the sunlightrecovered from the granite. 

"In short, to answer your question, Mr. Van Emmon, as to how we are allfed--we do not grow our food at all; we go straight to the practicallyunlimited supply of raw materials under our feet, and manufacture ourfood, outright!"

XI

THE SUPER-AMBITION

Billie was very quiet during their return to the surface. She saidnothing until they had reached the two cars; and then pausing as she wasabout to step in, she said:

"Well, I never saw our old friend, the high cost of living, handledquite so easily!

"If that's the way you do things here, Estra, " and the girl did notflinch at the gazes the others turned upon her, "if that's your way, it's good enough for me! I'm going to stay!"

For the first time, Estra looked astonished. He and Myrin exchangedlightninglike glances; then the Venusian's face warmed with the smile hegave the architect. 

"It is very good of you to say that, " he said impressively. "I wasafraid some of our--peculiarities--might arouse very differentfeelings. "

They stared at one another for a second or two, long enough for thedoctor to notice, and to see how Van Emmon took it. The geologist, however, was smiling upon the girl in a big-brotherly fashion, whichindicated that he thought she didn't mean what she had said. Had he beenlooking up at her, however, instead of down upon her, he would have seenthat her chin was most resolute. 

Just as they were about to start again, both Estra and Myrin stoppedshort in their tracks, with that odd hesitation that had mystified thefour all along; and after perhaps five seconds of silence turned to oneanother with grave faces. It was Estra who explained. 

"It is curious how things do pile up, " said he, a little conscious ofhaving employed an idiom. "Our planet has gone along for hundreds ofgenerations without anything especially remarkable happening, so thatrecently many prophets have foretold a number of startling events totake place on a single day. And this seems to have come true. 

"You have been with us scarcely ten hours, " and the visitors stared ateach other in amazement that so much time had passed; "scarcely tenhours, and here comes an announcement which, for over a hundred years, has been looked forward to with--"

He stopped abruptly. The doctor gently took him up: "'Looked forward towith'--what, Estra?"

Estra and Myrin considered this for perhaps three seconds. It was thewoman who replied: "The fact is, your approach to the planet hasstimulated all sorts of research immensely. Matters that had beenhanging fire indefinitely were revived; this is one of them. In thatsense, you are to blame. " But she smiled as reassuringly as she could, allowing for a certain anxiety which had now come to her face. 

"Don't you think you could make it clear to us?" asked Billieencouragingly. At the same time all four noted that the air, whichbefore had fairly thronged with machines, was now simply alive withthem. People were flitting here and there like swarms of insects, andwith as little apparent aim. Both Estra and Myrin were extra watchful;also, they displayed a certain eagerness to get away, setting theircourse in still another direction. In a minute or two the congestionseemed relieved, and Myrin began to talk slowly:

"You have doubtless guessed, by this time, that we Venusians havecrossed what some call 'the animal divide. ' We are predominatlyintellectual, while you on the earth are, as a race, still predominantlyanimal. Excuse me for putting it so bluntly. "

"It's all right, " said the doctor, with an effort. "What you say istrue--of most of us. " He added: "Most thinking people realize that whenour civilization reaches the point where the getting of a living becomessecondary, instead of primary as at present, a great change is bound tocome to the race. "

The Venusian nodded. "Under the conditions which now surround us, youcan see, we have vastly more time for what you would call spiritualmatters. Only, we label them psychological experiences. 

"In fact, the 'supernatural' is the Venusian's daily business!"

There was another pause, during which both Venusians, driving at highspeed though they were, once more closed their eyes for a second or so. Estra evidently thought it time to explain. 

"For instance, 'telepathy. ' With us it takes the place of wireless; forwe have developed the power to such a point that any Venusian can 'callup' any other, no matter where either may be. That is why we need nosigns or addresses. There are certain restrictions; for instance, no onecan read another's thoughts without his permission. Of course, we stillhave speech; speech and language are the ABC's of the Venusian; and westill keep the telephone, for the sake of checking up now and then. Justnow, we are driving for my own house, where there is apparatus whichwill enable you to both hear and understand an announcement which isshortly to be made. "

There was something decidedly satisfying, especially to Van Emmon, inbeing taken into the Venusian confidence to this extent. When he put hisquestion, it was with his former aggressiveness much modified. He said:

"I should think that your people have pretty well exhausted thepossibilities of the supernatural, by this time. Progress having come toan end, I don't see what you find to interest you, Myrin. "

"The fact is, " Billie put in, "we feel somewhat disappointed that yourpeople have shown so little interest in us. " And she gave a sidelongglance at Estra, who returned the look with a direct, smiling gaze whichsent a flood of color into the architect's face. 

"Look out!" sharply, from Van Emmon; and with barely an inch to spare, Estra steered his car past another which he had nearly overlooked. Foranother minute or two there was silence; then Myrin said:

"You wonder what there is to interest us. And yet, every time you lookup at the stars, the answer is before your eyes. 

"You see, although we cannot read your thoughts without your permission, yet you on the earth cannot prevent us from 'overhearing' anything thatmay be said. Under proper conditions, our psychic senses are delicateenough to feel the slightest whisper on the earth. 

"That is why Estra and I are able to use your language; we have learnedit together with an understanding of your lives and customs, by simply'listening in. ' I may add that we are also able to use your eyes; weknew, directly, what you people looked like before you arrived. 

"Well, it is our ambition to visit, in spirit, every planet in theuniverse!

"There are hundreds of millions of stars; every one is a sun; and eachhas planets. One in a hundred contains life; some very elementary, others much more advanced than we are. 

"So far, we have been able to study nearly two thousand worlds besidesthose in this solar system. Do you still think, friend, we have nothingto interest us?"

She raised a hand in a gesture of emphasis; and it was then that Billie, her eyes on Myrin's fingers, saw another sign of the great advancementthese people had made--direct proof, in fact, of what Myrin had justclaimed. 

For there must have been a tremendous gain in the intellect to havecaused such a drain upon the body as Billie saw. In no other way couldit be explained; the minds of the Venusians had grown at a fearful costto flesh and blood. 

Not only were the fingernails entirely lacking from Myrin's hand, butthe lower joints of her four fingers, from the palm to the knuckles weregrown smoothly together. 

XII

THE MENTAL LIMIT

"Make yourselves at home, " said Estra, as they stepped into hisapartment. The cars just filled his balcony. "This is my 'workshop'; seeif you can guess my occupation, from what you see. As for Myrin andmyself, we must make certain preparations before the announcement ismade. "

They disappeared, and the four inspected the place. As in the otherhouse they had entered, the room was provided with a double row of smallwindows; some being down near the floor and the others level with theeyes. These, in addition to two doors, all of which were of translucentmaterial. 

On low benches about the room were a number of instruments, some ofwhich looked familiar to the doctor. He said he had seen something muchlike them in psychology class, during his college days. For the mostpart, their appearance defied ordinary description. [Footnote:Physicians, biologists, and others interested in matters of this naturewill find the above fully treated in Dr. Kinney's reports to the A. M. A. ]

But one piece of apparatus was given such prominence that it is worthdetailing. It consisted of a hollow, cube-shaped metal framework; abouta foot in either direction, upon which was mounted about forty longthumb-screws, all pointing toward the inside of the frame. The innerends of the screws were provided with small silver pads; while the outerends were so connected, each with a tiny dial, as to register the amountof motion of the screw. Smith turned one of them in and out, and said itreminded him of a micrometer gage. 

Then Billie noted that the entire device was so placed upon the bench asto set directly over a hole, about ten inches in diameter. And under thebench was one of the saddlelike chairs. The architect's antiquarian lorecame back to her with a rush, and she remembered something she had seenin a museum--a relic of the inquisition. 

"Good Heavens!" she whispered. "What is this--an instrument of torture?"

It certainly looked mightily like one of the head-crushing devicesBillie had seen. Thumb-screws and all, this appeared to be only a veryelaborate "persuader, " for use upon those who must be made to talk. 

But the doctor was thinking hard. A big light flashed into his eyes. "This, " he declared, positively, "is something that will become a matterof course in our own educational system, as soon as the science ofphrenology is better understood. " And next second he had ducked underthe bench, and thrust his head through the round hole, so that his skullwas brought into contact with some of those padded thumb-screws. 

"Get the idea?" he finished. "It's a cranium-meter!"

It did not take Smith long to reach the next conclusion. "Then, " saidhe, "our friend Estra is connected with their school system. Can't saywhat he would be called, but I should say his function is to measure thecapacity of students for various kinds of knowledge, in order that theireducation may be adapted accordingly. 

"Might call him a brain-surveyor, " he concluded. 

"Or a noodle-smith, " added the geologist, deprecatingly. 

"Rather, a career-appraiser!" indignantly, from Billie. "People look tohim to suggest what they should take up, and what they should leavealone. Why, he's one of the most important men on this whole planet!"

And again the doctor was a witness to a clash of eyes between the girland the geologist. Van Emmon said nothing further, however, but turnedto examine an immense book-case on the other side of the room. 

This case had shelves scarcely two inches apart, and about half as deep, and held perhaps half a million extremely small books. Each comprisedmany hundreds of pages, made of a perfectly opaque, bluish-whitematerial of such incredible thinness that ordinary India-paper resembledcardboard by comparison. 

They were printed much the same as any other book, except that thecharacters were of microscopic size, and the lines extremely closetogether. Also, in some of the books these lines were black and red, alternating. 

Billie eagerly examined one of the diminutive volumes under a strongglass, and pronounced the black-printed characters not unlike ancientGothic type. She guessed that the language was synthetic, like Roman orEsperanto, and that the alphabet numbered sixty or seventy. 

"The red lines, " she added, not so confidently, "are in a differentlanguage. Looks wonderfully like Persian. " By this time the others weredoing the same as she, and marveling to note that, wherever the red andblack lines were employed, invariably the black were in the samelanguage; while the red characters were totally different in each book. 

Suddenly Smith gave a start, so vigorously that the other turned inalarm. He was holding one of the books as though it were white hot. "Look!" he stuttered excitedly. "Just look at it!"

And no wonder. In the book he had chanced to pick up, the red lines wereprinted in ENGLISH. 

"Talk about your finds!" exclaimed Billie, in an awe-struck tone. "Why, this library is a literal translation of the languages of--" she fairlygasped as she recalled Myrin's words--"thousands of planets!"

After that she fell silent. Plainly the discovery had profoundlyaffected and strengthened her notion of remaining on the planet. VanEmmon, watching her narrowly, saw her give the room an appraising glancewhich meant, plain as day, "I'd like to keep this place in spick andspan condition!" And another, not so easy to interpret: "I'd like toshow these people a thing or two about designing houses!" And thegeologist's heart sank for an instant. 

He turned resolutely to the bookcase, and shortly found something whichhe showed to the doctor. It was a book printed all in "Venusian. " Theycarefully translated the title-page, using one of the interlinearEnglish books as a guide; and saw that it was a complete text-book onastral development. 

"With these instructions, " the doctor declared, "any one could do as theVenusians do--visit other worlds in spirit!"

Just then Estra and Myrin returned. They were moving at what was, forthem, a rapid pace; and to all appearances they were rather excited. 

"We were not able to make these records as perfect as we would like, "said Estra, holding up four disks similar to the ones which still lay inthe explorers' translating machines. He proceeded to open the littleblack cases and make the exchange. "There will be words used which I didnot see fit to incorporate in the original vocabulary, but which youwill have to understand perfectly if this announcement is to meananything to you. "

"Thank you, " said the doctor quietly. "And now, don't you think we hadbest know in advance, just what is to be the subject of--"

"Hush!" whispered Estra; and next second they were listening to thetelephone in amazement. 

XIII

THE WAR OF THE SEXES

"In accordance with my promise, " stated a high-pitched effeminate voice, "I am going to demonstrate a juvenation method upon which I have workedfor the past one hundred and twenty-two years. "

There was a brief pause, during which Estra hurriedly explained that theman who was making the speech was located far on the other side of theplanet, in a hall like the one the four had first visited; and that hewas making the demonstration before a great gathering of scientists. "Too bad you cannot see as we do, " commented the Venusian. "However, Savarona may go into the details of--"

"If the committeemen are entirely finished with their measurements, "stated the unseen experimenter, "I would like to have the resultscompared with the recorded figures of Pario Camenol, who was born on thetwo hundred and fifteenth day of the year twenty-one thousand sevenhundred and four. "

Another rest, and Estra said: "They are examining a boy who appears tobe about twelve years of age. "

Then came other voices: "As we all know, the craniums of us all areabsolutely distinct; as much so as our finger-prints. " "The measurementscorrespond identically with those of Pario Camenol, beyond a doubt. ""This boy can be none other than Pario. "

"Then, " the high-pitched voice went on, "then notice the formula I havewritten on this blackboard. Using this solution, I have suppliednourishment to this lad from the hour of his birth. Until a few daysago, I was not satisfied with the results; the patient showed a tinyvariation from the allowable subconscious maximum, together with onlynine-tenths the required motor reaction. 

"But I have corrected this. Briefly, I have incorporated in ParioCamenol's standard diet certain elements which have hitherto been unsafeto combine. These elements are derivatives of the potash group, for themost part, together with phosphates which need a new classification. Their effect, " impressively, "has been to postpone age indefinitely!"

There must have been a tremendous sensation in that hall. The speaker'svoice shook with excitement as he went on:

"We have sought in vain, friends, for a way to cheat death of his due. We have succeeded in postponing his advent until our average longevityis several times greater than on our neighboring planet. But so far, ithas been a mere reprieve. 

"What I have done is to prevent age itself. This lad is a hundred andtwenty-two years old, mentally, and still only twelve years old, as tobody!

"In short, I offer you the fountain of youth itself!"

The speaker paused. There was no comment. Evidently all had been asgreatly impressed as the explorers. Then the voice of the man Savaronafinished, very deliberately:

"I regret to say that my treatment, despite all that I have been able todo, cannot be adapted to the female constitution. It would be fatal toany but males. I repeat--I can offer eternal youth, absolutely, but onlyto new-born males!"

This time there was a definite response. From the telephone came aconfused murmuring, at which Van Emmon's face lighted up with delight. The murmuring had an angry sound!

"This is outrageous!" a loud contralto voice was raised above the rest. "You are unethical, Savarona, to announce such a thing before adaptingit to both sexes!"

The high-pitched voice replied shortly, and with more than a hint ofmalice: "If a woman had discovered this, instead of me, I dare say youwould have no objections!"

The murmuring grew louder, angrier, more confused. The four from theearth looked at each other in some slight uneasiness. At the same timethey noted that Estra, his eyes tightly closed and his fists clenched inthe intensity of his concentration, suddenly gave a sigh of relief. Nextsecond he began to speak into the telephone, in a voice so loud as tosilence all the clamor. 

"Savarona, and the people of Venus! Listen!

"The prophets were right when they said today would witness many greatthings! I have just learned of another experiment which transcends eventhat of Savarona!"

An instant's pause; then: "First let me remind you that we have beendoing all we could to elevate our spiritual selves. We are daily tryingto eliminate all that is animal, all that is gross and bemeaning in us, even to the extent of reducing the flavors of our foods to the lowesttolerable point. And despite all this, we have not been able to get ridof sex jealousy!

"We still have the beast within us! No matter how pure our love may be, it is always tainted with rivalry! Always the husband and wife are helddown by this mutual envy, forever dragging at their heels, constantlyholding them back from the lofty heights of spiritual power to whichthey aspire!"

He paused, and Savarona's voice broke in, triumphantly: "You are right, Estra! You are right, except you did not mention that this jealousybecomes less and less as one grows older!

"Now, my discovery will put an end to your beast, Estra! My experimentstook this lad before he had become a man, and allowed his brain todevelop, while his body stopped growing! He is a man in mentality, andan innocent boy in body!

"Estra, I have done the thing you wish! This boy will never knowjealousy, because he will never know love!"

The man in the room with the four answered in a flash: "So you have, Savarona, but only for MEN! No female can benefit by what you havedone!"

"But I tell you that, within the past few minutes, a child has been bornunder circumstances which can be repeated at any time, and for any sex!"

"In this case, " the Venusian's voice changed curiously; "in this case, however, it was a girl; for the mother controlled the sex in thecustomary manner. " At this, the doctor's interest became acute. At thesame time, the other three felt a tremendous, inexplicable thrill. 

"Friends"--and Extra's face shone in his enthusiasm--"friends, for thefirst time in creation the human male germ has been dispensed with! Theintellect has done what the laboratory could not do!

"I have the honor to announce that my sister, Amra, has just givenbirth"--his voice fairly rang--"has just given birth to a girl baby, whose only father was her mother's brain!"

XIV

ESTRA

This time there was no drowning the confusion. The telephone fairlyshook with innumerable cries, shouts, imprecations. The four gave uptrying to hear, and watched the two Venusians. 

Myrin was facing Estra now. Her expression had lost a great deal of itsgood humor, and there was a certain sharpness in her voice as sheexclaimed:

"Estra--if your sister has done this, and I see no reason to doubt it, then she has made man superfluous! If women can produce childrenmechanically, and govern the sex at will, the coming race need benothing but females!"

Estra nodded gravely. "That is what it amounts to, Myrin!"

For a moment the two stared at one another challengingly. On the earth, their attitude would have indicated some unimportant tiff. None wouldhave dreamed that the most momentous question in their lives had comeup, and had found them at outs. 

Next instant Myrin turned, and without another word walked from theroom. Estra followed slowly to the door, where he stood looking afterher with an expression of the keenest concern on his sensitive, high-strung features. The three men from the earth, after a glance, studiously avoided looking at him; but Billie walked up and laid a handon his arm. 

"Are you really in favor of this--scheme?" she inquired, in a curiouslytender voice. At the same time she gazed intently into Estra's eyes. 

He turned, and the smile came back to his face. He took Billie's handand laid it between both his own. His voice was even gentler thanbefore. 

"Most certainly I do favor my sister's method, Billie. It will be thegreatest boon the race has ever known. We can look forward, now"--andhis face shone again--"can look forward to generation upon generation ofpeople whose spirituality will be absolute!"

The girl moved closer to him. She spoke with feverish earnestness. 

"There may be some hitch in the idea, Estra. If God meant for man tobecome--to become obsolete, He would not have hidden the method all thistime. Suppose some flaw should develop--later on?"

In the cube, Billie Jackson would not have stumbled over such a speech. She would have ignored the fact that Estra was holding her hand all thistime, and gazing deep into her eyes; she would have been filled withwhat she was saying and not with what she was seeing. On the other sideof the room, Van Emmon watched and glowered; he could not hear. 

The Venusian lifted his head suddenly. The voices from the telephone hadsubsided; only an occasional outburst came from the instrument. Estraclosed his eyes again for a second, and when he opened them again, hismanner was astonishingly alert, and his speech swift and to the point. 

"So far as we know, Billie, the method has no flaws. It gives us thechance to throw off our lower selves; and if by so doing, we reduce therace to a single sex, only--"

He stopped short, as though at a sound; and with a word of apologystepped from the room. He opened another door, far down the corridor;and as he passed through, the wail of a new-born infant came faintly tothe four. 

"Wonder what's up?" said Smith. Van Emmon, who had gone to the window, whirled upon the engineer and motioned him to his side. 

"Look at the people!"

Smith saw that the nearby houses were almost concealed by a throng whichhad gathered, silently and without confusion, during the past fewminutes. Their numbers were increasing swiftly, fresh arrivals packingthe background. People filled the streets; the space below Estra'sbalcony was already crowded as closely as it could be. Except for a low-voiced buzzing, there was no disturbance. 

Billie came up. She seemed to divine the temper of the mob. She caughther breath sharply, and then said, very simply:

"It reminds me of--Bethlehem. "

But the words had scarcely left her mouth before an uproar sounded fromone end of the street below. A crowd of excited Venusians was pushingits way determinedly toward the house, their passage obstructed byshouting, protesting individuals. Van Emmon's breast began to heave; hefancied he saw blows struck. 

"By George!" he exclaimed, next second. "They're fighting!"

It was true; a hand-to-hand battle was going on less than a block away. The people below the window surged in the direction of the fight; allwere shouting, now; the clamor was deafening. 

"Live and let live!" came one of the shouts. It was taken up by thegroup that was doing the attacking, and made into a cheer. Then cameother cries from them. Smith made out something like "Down with sexmonopoly!"

"Don't you see?" shouted Smith, above the din. "These people below areEstra's friends; those newcomers are backing Savarona! Get the idea?" herepeated. "If Estra wins out, the old boy with the fountain of youthwill never get another boy baby to experiment on!"

"What!" The doctor leaped to their sides. He took it in at a glance;then whirled to the door. "We ought to warn Estra!"

"He knows it already!" reminded Billie swiftly. A great shout came frombelow; the attackers had forced their way through the crowd of Estra'sfriends. 

"Well!" Van Emmon stood squarely in the middle of the room. "So far asI'm concerned, Estra and his sister can face that crowd alone! I don'tapprove of the scheme!"

The doctor eyed him thoughtfully. "I'm not so sure, Van. This is atremendous thing; we ought to--"

"Van is--right!" exploded Billie. Her voice rose to a shriek as a crashshook the house. 

Next instant Myrin, for once in a hurry, broke into the room. Sheglanced about, missed Estra, looked slightly puzzled, and then frownedangrily as the Venusian himself stepped in: "You fooled me!" she shot athim. But he smiled apologetically. He was carrying a large package ofleaflets, closely printed in Venusian; there seemed to be severalthousand in the lot. He said, by way of explanation:

"I had to get ready. Savarona's people will be here any moment; theyhave destroyed the elevator, and--"

A wave of clamor burst from below. "They've broken the barrier, "remarked Estra calmly; he turned to the door, then whirled at a crashwhich sounded from above. "Through the roof, " he added. He did not evenglance at the balcony, where the two cars barred the way against anyattack from that direction. 

Next second he again quit the room. Myrin hesitated a moment, irresolute, and then followed him thoughtfully. They never saw heragain. As for Estra, he came back in a moment carrying a small, whitebundle, which stirred in his arms. He unhesitatingly handed the child toBillie. His mouth moved soundlessly as a muffled shriek arose from theother end of the corridor; there was a thud, a metallic crash, and agreat roar of voices. The mob had broken in, and up, through the back ofthe house. The first of the attackers thrust his head and shoulders intosight not ten feet away. 

Estra touched something with his foot, and a door shot across thecorridor. There was an instant's silence; then, the thunder of the mob, hurling itself against the door. The people were fairly snarling now. Estra closed the inner door. 

"Estra!" shrilly, from Billie. She laid the baby down, and strode to theVenusian. "Let's get out of here! The car's on the balcony; nobody's inthe way to interfere! Why not--"

A grinding, ripping jar from above, and Estra shook his head. The smilewas gone, and his mouth was set and grim. "They'd catch us before wewent a mile, " he said, glancing at the infant, who had begun to cry, ina stifled, gasping way that tore at the nerves. 

"Estra!" Billie pleaded; but he turned away. The doctor strode up to himand gripped his shoulder. 

"What's the good, Estra? What can you accomplish even if you--"

The Venusian tapped his forehead. "I can TELL!" he exclaimed, with areturn of that exalted flush. "Just give me a chance to offer mysister's discovery to the world, and I shall be satisfied!" He touchedthe package of leaflets. "These are not written as clearly as theyshould be; but if I cannot hold them back, then these"--fingering thepapers--"these go to the friends down below!" He moved closer to thewindow, but his eyes were on the door. 

A rending crash told that the corridor was now open to the mob. Therewas a rush, and then the storm of the people battering the last door. 

"Van! Doc! Billie!" Smith had the window open, and was stepping into oneof the cars. Kinney and the geologist were at his side in an instant. The girl held back. 

"Estra!" she begged. She picked up the baby, and with her free handtugged at the Venusian's arm. "Come on! Don't sacrifice yourself!"

The door bulged under the attack. The noise was ear-splitting. Nevertheless Estra heard, and shook his head without looking at thewoman from the Earth. She dashed to the window, then came back. "Hurry!There's a chance!" He stood unmoved, watchful and ready. "Estra! I wantyou to come!" Her face flamed. "Can't you see? Can't you see that I--Iwant you?" She gasped as the door shrieked under the strain. "Come--ifyou're a man!"

The Venusian's face changed. He turned, and stared at the girl with eyesthat held nothing but blank amazement. The grimness left his mouth, hislips partly opened. He took a step forward and threw an arm about hershoulders. 

"Billie--I'm sorry! I never thought!" A crack showed at the edge of thedoor, and a roar smote their ears. Estra backed to the window. "Go!" heshouted. "Go quickly, while you can!"

Billie stood stock still, gazing at him. "I'm going to stay!" shescreamed. "I'll take my chances with--"

He thrust her through the window. "You don't understand!" he shouted, and took the baby away from her, despite all her strength. Then awonderfully tender light came into his eyes. He gripped Billie's hands, and spoke sorrowfully:

"Billie--I'm not what you thought! I'm not a man--I'm a woman!"

XV

BACK!

By the time Smith had driven the strange craft fifty yards, he had itunder control. Billie glanced back; Estra was out on the balcony, now, and the mob was surging against the windows she had locked against them. She shifted the baby to the hollow of one arm while with the other shebroke the cord of the packet. 

At the sight, the crowd in the street gave voice. "Let us have it!" theywere crying; they drowned out the uproar within the house. Estra did noteven look at the other car. 

Then the windows gave way. Like the breaking of a dam, a flood ofVenusians poured and tumbled at Estra's feet. She raised her hand, andshouted something Billie could not hear; then, scarcely without pause, the crowd bore down upon her. 

And even as she was crushed against the railing, with one hand shedropped the baby to eager, upstretched arms below; and with the othershe tossed the package high in the air. There it broke apart, the aircaught it, and the thousands of leaflets fluttered down upon that streetfull of sympathizers. 

Leaflets, each of which described a discovery which was to give to womenthe power of abolishing the opposite sex, of making Venus a world notonly one in country, one in industry and one in thought, but--one insex!

The thunderous meaning of Estra's last action almost made Billie forgetthat it was, in truth, the woman's last act. For next moment herlifeless form was being crushed beneath the feet of that supremelycultured, marvelously civilized mob; for it was only a mob, despite itsastounding advancement; a mob which had retained all the brute'sfanaticism, and all the male jealousy of the female. 

For they were all men. 

The four had been on Venus almost twenty-four hours when Smith, knowingthe condition of the machinery in the cube, warned the others that theymust return. Secretly, he was tired of the Venusians' continual smiling;for they had fairly outdone each other to show the visitors all thatcould be shown. But it was Van Emmon who thought to ask for Estra'swonderful library. 

"These chemicals and metals you are giving us, " he said, making aregular speech of it, "are extremely welcome; they will enable us toperform experiments otherwise out of our reach. 

"But Estra's books will mean still more to the people of the earth. Ifthere is no one else with more need for them, who is going to put in aclaim, then why not let us have them?"

Apparently the Venusians did not like the idea very well. "They musthave thought it was like letting a monkey play with a rifle, " the doctorafterward put it. But, for lack of a leader with any motive forobjecting, and because Estra had no living relatives to claim thelibrary, somehow that incredible collection of intellectual gems gotinto the possession of the four. Nothing was said about it during thequiet leave-taking, and when the cube finally rose away from the roof, Van Emmon's face beamed with happiness and a great sigh of satisfactionescaped him. 

"Well"--looking at the books--"they kind of make up for the fact thatthe folks didn't ask us to call again!"

And he turned and went straight to the kitchenette, where he proceededwith great speed and efficiency to set out the following:

Canned Soup. Canned baked beans. Fried bacon and egg. Coffee. Peaches. 

"Come and get it!" he shouted. The doctor tore himself away from thebooks; Smith crawled out from the beloved machines; Billie came outshortly from her cubby-hole, and slipped into her seat in a highlyexcited manner. There was a brightness in her cheeks, and a noticeablechange in her usually assured manner. This timidity, so utterly new tothe girl, seemed most pronounced whenever Van Emmon chanced to look ather; which was quite often. 

All four were ravenous. They had been away from the cube a day and anight, and "all we had to eat was something to drink, " as Smithcomplained. Nothing whatever was said except "Please pass that" and"Thanks, " for fully fifteen minutes. 

At last they were satisfied. The doctor went back to the books; Smithreturned to his oil-can and wrench. But Billie stood by the table, andbegan helping Van Emmon to clear up. In a moment they were face to face. 

"Van, " she said softly, and looked up at him wistfully. "Van--do youlike me better this way?" Her eyes were almost piteous. 

Into the man's face there came a look of amazement followed by one ofadmiration, and another of genuine delight He gave a little laugh, andunconsciously threw out his hands. 

"Much better, Billie. " Neither of them cared a particle whether Smith orthe doctor saw that Billie, very simply and naturally, walked right intoVan Emmon's arms. "Much better. Besides, you're really too graceful towear anything else. "