CHAPTER VIII
The Porpoise-Men of Dasor
"How long do you figure it's going to take us to get there, Mart?"Seaton asked from a corner, where he was bending over hisapparatus-table.
"About three days at this acceleration. I set it at what I thought thesafe maximum for the girls. Should we increase it?"
"Probably not--three days isn't bad. Anyway, to save even one day we'dhave to more than double the acceleration, and none of us could doanything, so we'd better let it ride. How're you making it, Peg?"
"I'm getting used to weighing a ton now. My knees buckled only once thismorning from my forgetting to watch them when I tried to walk. Don't letme interfere, though! if I am slowing us down, I'll go to bed and staythere!"
"It'd hardly pay," said Seaton. "We can use the time to good advantage.Look here, Mart--I've been looking over this stuff I got out of theirship and here's something I know you'll eat up. They refer to it as achart, but it's three-dimensional and almost incredible. I can't saythat I understand it, but I get an awful kick out of looking at it. I'vebeen studying it a couple of hours, and haven't started yet. I haven'tfound our solar system, the green one, or their own. It's too heavy tomove around now, because of the acceleration we're using--come on overhere and give it a look."
The "chart" was a strip of some parchment-like material, or film,apparently miles in length, wound upon reels at each end of the machine.One section of the film was always under the viewing mechanism--anoptical system projecting an undistorted image into a visiplate platesomewhat similar to their own--and at the touch of a lever, a smallatomic motor turned the reels and moved the film through the projector.
It was not an ordinary star-chart: it was three-dimensional,ultra-stereoscopic. The eye did not perceive a flat surface, but beheldan actual, extremely narrow wedge of space as seen from the center ofthe galaxy. Each of the closer stars was seen in its true position inspace and in its true perspective, and each was clearly identified bynumber. In the background were faint stars and nebulous masses of light,too distant to be resolved into separate stars--a true representation ofthe actual sky. As both men stared, fascinated, into the visiplate,Seaton touched the lever and they apparently traveled directly along thecenter line of that ever-widening wedge. As they proceeded, the nearerstars grew brighter and larger, soon becoming suns, with their planetsand then the satellites of the planets plainly visible, and finallypassing out of the picture behind the observers. The fainter starsbecame bright, grew into suns and solar systems, and were passed inturn. The chart unrolled, and the nebulous masses of light wereapproached, became composed of faint stars, which developed as had theothers, and were passed.
Finally, when the picture filled the entire visiplate, they arrived atthe outermost edge of the galaxy. No more stars were visible: they sawempty space stretching for inconceivably vast distances before them. Butbeyond that indescribable and incomprehensible vacuum they saw faintlenticular bodies of light, which were also named, and which each manknew to be other galaxies, charted and named by the almost unlimitedpower of the Fenachrone astronomers, but not as yet explored. As themagic scroll unrolled still farther, they found themselves back in thecenter of the galaxy, starting outward in the wedge adjacent to the onewhich they had just traversed. Seaton cut off the motor and wiped hisforehead.
"Wouldn't that break you off at the ankles, Mart? Did you ever conceivethe possibility of such a thing?
"It would, and I did not. There are literally miles and miles of film ineach of those reels, and I see that there is a magazine full of reels inthe cabinet. There must be an index or a master-chart."
"Yeah, there's a book in this slot here," said Seaton, "but we don'tknow any of their names or numbers--wait a minute! How did he report ourEarth on that torpedo? Planet number three of sun six four somethingPilarone, wasn't it? I'll get the record.
"Six four seven three Pilarone, it was."
"Pilarone ... let's see...." Seaton studied the index volume. "Reeltwenty, scene fifty-one, I'd translate it."
They found the reel, and "scene fifty-one" did indeed show that sectionof space in which our solar system is. Seaton stopped the chart whenstar six four seven three was at its closest range, and there was oursun; with its nine planets and their many satellites accurately shownand correctly described.
"They know their stuff, all right--you've got to hand it to 'em. I'vebeen straightening out that brain record--cutting out the hazy stretchesand getting his knowledge straightened out so we can use it, and there'sa lot of this kind of stuff in the record you can get. Suppose that youcan figure out exactly where he comes from with this dope and with hisbrain record?"
"Certainly. I may be able to get more complete information upon thegreen system than the Osnomians have, which will be very useful indeed.You are right--I am intensely interested in this material, and if you donot care particularly about studying it any more at this time, I believethat I should begin to study it now."
"Hop to it. I'm going to study that record some more. No human brain cantake it all, I'm afraid, especially all at once, but I'm going to kindapeck around the edges and get me some dope that I want pretty badly. Wegot a lot of stuff from that wampus."
About sixty hours out, Dorothy, who had been observing the planetthrough number six visiplate, called Seaton away from the Fenachronebrain-record, upon which he was still concentrating.
"Come here a minute, Dickie! Haven't you got that knowledge all packedaway in your skull yet?"
"I'll say I haven't. That bird's brain would make a dozen of mine, andit was loaded until the scuppers were awash. I'm just nibbling aroundthe edges yet."
"I've always heard that the capacity of even the human brain was almostinfinite. Isn't that true?" asked Margaret.
"Maybe it is, if the knowledge were built up gradually over generations.I think maybe I can get most of this stuff into my peanut brain so I canuse it, but it's going to be an awful job."
"Is their brain really as far ahead of ours as I gathered from what Isaw of it?" asked Crane.
"It sure is," replied Seaton, "as far as knowledge and intelligence areconcerned, but they have nothing else in common with us. They don'tbelong to the genus 'homo' at all, really. Instead of having a commonancestor with the anthropoids, as they say we had, they evolved from agenus which combined the worst traits of the cat tribe and thecarnivorous lizards--the most savage and bloodthirsty branches of theanimal kingdom--and instead of getting better as they went along, theygot worse, in that respect at least. But they sure do know something.When you get a month or so to spare, you want to put on this harness andgrab his knowledge, being very careful to steer clear of his mentaltraits and so on. Then, when we get back to the Earth, we'll simply tearit apart and rebuild it. You'll know what I mean when you get this stufftransplanted into your own skull. But to cut out the lecture, what's onyour mind, Dottie Dimple?"
"This planet Martin picked out is all wet, literally. The visibility isfine--very few clouds--but this whole half of it is solid ocean. Ifthere are any islands, even, they're mighty small."
* * * * *
All four looked into the receiver. With the great magnificationemployed, the planet almost filled the visiplate. There were a fewfleecy wisps of cloud, but the entire surface upon which they gazed wasone sheet of the now familiar deep and glorious blue peculiar to thewaters of that cuprous solar system, with no markings whatever.
"What d'you make of it, Mart? That's water all right--copper-sulphatesolution, just like the Osnomian and Urvanian oceans--and nothing elsevisible. How big would an island have to be for us to see it from here?"
"So much depends upon the contour and nature of the island, that it ishard to say. If it were low and heavily covered with their green-bluevegetation, we might not be able to see even a rather large one, whereasif it were hilly and bare, we could probably see one only a few miles indiameter."
"Well, one good thing, anyway, we're approaching it from the centra
lsun, and almost in line with their own sun, so it's daylight all overit. As it turns and as we get closer, we'll see what we can see. Bettertake turns watching it, hadn't we?" asked Seaton.
It was decided, and while the _Skylark_ was still some distance away,several small islands became visible, and the period of rotation of theplanet was determined to be in the neighborhood of fifty hours.Margaret, then at the controls, picked out the largest island visibleand directed the bar toward it. As they dropped down close to theirobjective, they found that the air was of the same composition as thatof Osnome, but had a pressure of seventy-eight centimeters of mercury,and that the surface gravity of the planet was ninety-five hundredthsthat of the Earth.
"Fine business!" exulted Seaton. "Just about like home, but I don't seemuch of any place to land without getting wet, do you? Those reflectorsare probably solar generators, and they cover the whole island exceptfor that lagoon right under us."
The island, perhaps ten miles long and half that in width, was entirelycovered with great parabolic reflectors, arranged so closely togetherthat little could be seen between them. Each reflector apparentlyfocussed upon an object in the center, a helix which seemed to writheluridly in that flaming focus, glowing with a nacreous, opalescent greenlight.
"Well, nothing much to see there--let's go down," remarked Seaton as heshot the _Skylark_ over to the edge of the island and down to thesurface of the water. But here again nothing was to be seen of the landitself. The wall was one vertical plate of seamless metal, supportinghuge metal guides, between which floated metal pontoons. From thesegigantic floats metal girders and trusses went through slots in the wallinto the darkness of the interior. Close scrutiny revealed that thelarge floats were rising steadily, although very slowly; while smallerfloats bobbed up and down upon each passing wave.
"Solar generators, tide-motors, and wave-motors, all at once!"ejaculated Seaton. "_Some_ power-plant! Folks, I'm going to take a lookat that if I have to drill in with a ray!"
Some power plant! Folks, I'm going to take a look atthat....]
They circumnavigated the island without revealing any door or otheropening--the entire thirty miles was one stupendous battery of thegenerators. Back at the starting point, the _Skylark_ hopped over thestructure and down to the surface of the small central lagoon previouslynoticed. Close to the water, it was seen that there was plenty of roomfor the vessel to move about beneath the roof of reflectors, and thatthe island was one solid stand of tide-motors. At one end of the lagoonwas an open metal structure, the only building visible, and Seatonbrought the space-cruiser up to it and through the huge opening--fordoor there was none. The interior of the room was lighted by long,tubular lights running around in front of the walls, which wereveritable switchboards. Row after row and tier upon tier stood theinstruments, plainly electrical meters of enormous capacity and equallyplainly in full operation, but no wiring or bus-bar could be seen.Before each row of instruments there was a narrow walk, with stepsleading down into the water of the lagoon. Every part of the great roomwas plainly visible, and not a living being was even watching that vastinstrument-board.
"What do you make of it, Dick?" asked Crane, slowly.
"No wiring--tight beam transmission. The Fenachrone do it with twomatched-frequency separable units. Millions and millions of kilowattsthere, if I'm any judge. Absolutely automatic too, or else----" Seaton'svoice died away.
"Or else what?" asked Dorothy.
"Just a hunch. I wouldn't wonder if----"
"Hold it, Dicky! Remember I had to put you to bed after that last hunchyou had!"
"Here it is, anyway. Mart, what would be the logical line of evolutionwhen the planet has become so old that all the land has been eroded to alevel below that of the ocean? You picked us out an old one, allright--so old that there's no land left. Would a highly civilized peoplerevert to fish? That seems like a backward move to me, but what otheranswer is possible?"
"Probably not to true fishes--although they might easily develop somefish-like traits. I do not believe, however, that they would go back togills or to cold blood."
"What _are_ you two saying?" interrupted Margaret. "Do you mean to saythat you think _fish_ live here instead of people, and that _fish_ didall this?" as she waved her hand at the complicated machinery aboutthem.
"Not fish exactly, no." Crane paused in thought. "Merely a people whohave adjusted themselves to their environment through conscious ornatural selection. We had a talk about this very thing in our firsttrip, shortly after I met you. Remember? I commented on the fact thatthere must be life throughout the Universe, much of it that we could notunderstand; and you replied that there would be no reason to supposethem awful because incomprehensible. That may be the case here."
"Well, I'm going to find out," declared Seaton, as he appeared with abox full of coils, tubes, and other apparatus.
"How?" asked Dorothy, curiously.
"Fix me up a detector and follow up one of those beams. Find itsfrequency and direction, first, you know, then pick it up outside andfollow it to where it's going. It'll go through anything, of course, butI can trap off enough of it to follow it, even if it's tight enough tochoke itself," said Seaton.
"That's one thing I got from that brain record."
* * * * *
He worked deftly and rapidly, and soon was rewarded by a flaring crimsoncolor in his detector when it was located in one certain position infront of one of the meters. Noting the bearing on the great circles, hethen moved the _Skylark_ along that exact line, over the reflectors, andout beyond the island, where he allowed the vessel to settle directlydownwards.
"Now folks, if I've done this just right, we'll get a red flashdirectly."
As he spoke the detector again burst into crimson light, and he set thebar into the line and applied a little power, keeping the light at itsreddest while the other three looked on in fascinated interest.
"This beam is on something that's moving, Mart--can't take my eyes offit for a second or I'll lose it entirely. See where we're going, willyou?"
"We are about to strike the water," replied Crane quietly.
"The water!" exclaimed Margaret.
"Fair enough--why not?"
"Oh, that's right--I forgot that the _Skylark_ is as good a submarine asshe is an airship."
Crane pointed number six visiplate directly into the line of flight andstarted into the dark water.
"Mow deep are we, Mart?" asked Seaton after a time.
"Only about a hundred feet, and we do not seem to be getting anydeeper."
"That's good. Afraid this beam might be going to a station on the otherside of the planet--through the ground. If so, we'd have had to go backand trace another. We can follow it any distance under water, but notthrough rock. Need a light?"
"Not unless we go deeper."
For two hours Seaton held the detector upon that tight beam of energy,traveling at a hundred miles an hour, the highest speed he could use andstill hold the beam.
"I'd like to be up above watching us. I bet we're making the water boilbehind us," remarked Dorothy.
"Yeah, we're kicking up quite a wake, I guess. It sure takes power todrive the old can through this wetness."
"Slow down!" commanded Crane. "I see a submarine ahead. I thought itmight be a whale at first, but it is a boat and it is what we are aimingfor. You are constantly swinging with it, keeping it exactly in theline."
"O.K." Seaton reduced the power and swung the visiplate over in front ofhim, whereupon the detector lamp went out. "It's a relief to followsomething I can see, instead of trying to guess which way that beam'sgoing to wiggle next. Lead on, Macduff--I'm right on your tail!"
The _Skylark_ fell in behind the submersible craft, close enough to keepit plainly visible in the telescopic visiplate. Finally the strangerstopped and rose to the surface between two rows of submerged pontoonswhich, row upon row, extended in every direction as far as the telescopecould reach.
"Well, Dot,
we're where we're going, wherever that is."
"What do you suppose it is? It looks like a floating isleport, like whatit told about in that wild-story magazine you read so much."
"Maybe--but if so they can't be fish," answered Seaton. "Let's go--Iwant to look it over," and water flew in all directions as the _Skylark_burst out of the ocean and leaped into the air far above what was intruth a floating city.
Rectangular in shape, it appeared to be about six miles long and fourwide. It was roofed with solar generators like those covering the islandjust visited, but the machines were not spaced quite so closelytogether, and there were numerous open lagoons. The water around theentire city was covered with wave-motors. From their great height thevisitors could see an occasional submarine moving slowly under the city,and frequently small surface craft dashed across the lagoons. As theywatched, a seaplane with short, thick wings curved like those of a gull,rose from one of the lagoons and shot away over the water.
"Quite a place," remarked Seaton as he swung a visiplate upon one of thelagoons. "Submarines, speedboats, and fast seaplanes. Fish or not,they're not so slow. I'm going to grab off one of those folks and seehow much they know. Wonder if they're peaceable or warlike?"
"They look peaceable, but you know the proverb," Crane cautioned hisimpetuous friend.
"Yes, and I'm going to be timid like a mice," Seaton returned as the_Skylark_ dropped rapidly toward a lagoon near the edge of the island.
"You ought to put that in a gag book, Dick," Dorothy chuckled. "Youforget all about being timid until an hour afterwards."
"Watch me, Red-top! If they even point a finger at us, I'm going to runa million miles a minute."
No hostile demonstration was made as they dropped lower and lower,however, and Seaton, with one hand upon the switch actuating the zone offorce, slowly lowered the vessel down past the reflectors and to thesurface of the water. Through the visiplate he saw the crowd of peoplecoming toward them--some swimming in the lagoon, some walking alongnarrow runways. They seemed to be of all sizes, and unarmed.
"I believe they're perfectly peaceable, and just curious, Mart. I'vealready got the repellers on close range--believe I'll cut them offaltogether."
"How about the ray-screens?"
"All three full out. They don't interfere with anything solid, though,and won't hurt anything. They'll stop any ray attack and this arenakhull will stop anything else we are apt to get there. Watch this board,will you, and I'll see if I can't negotiate with them."
Seaton opened the door. As he did so, a number of the smaller beingsdived headlong into the water, and a submarine rose quietly to thesurface less than fifty feet away with a peculiar tubular weapon and ahuge ray-generator trained upon the _Skylark_. Seaton stood motionless,his right hand raised in the universal sign of peace, his left holdingat his hip an automatic pistol charged with X-plosive shells--whileCrane, at the controls, had the Fenachrone super-generator in line, andhis hand lay upon the switch, whose closing would volatilize thesubmarine and cut an incandescent path of destruction through the citylengthwise.
* * * * *
After a moment of inaction, a hatch opened, a man stepped out upon thedeck of the submarine, and the two tried to converse, but with nosuccess. Seaton then brought out the mechanical educator, held it up forthe other's inspection, and waved an invitation to come aboard.Instantly the other dived, and came to the surface immediately belowSeaton, who assisted him into the _Skylark_. Tall and heavy as Seatonwas, the stranger was half a head taller and almost twice as heavy. Histhick skin was of the characteristic Osnomian green and his eyes werethe usual black, but he had no hair whatever. His shoulders, thoughbroad and enormously strong, were very sloping, and his powerful armswere little more than half as long as would have been expected had theybelonged to a human being of his size. The hands and feet were verylarge and very broad, and the fingers and toes were heavily webbed. Hishigh domed forehead appeared even higher because of the total lack ofhair, otherwise his features were regular and well-proportioned. Hecarried himself easily and gracefully, and yet with the dignity of oneaccustomed to command as he stepped into the control room and salutedgravely the three other Earth-beings. He glanced quickly around theroom, and showed unmistakable pleasure as he saw the power-plant of thecruiser of space. Languages were soon exchanged and the stranger spoke,in a bass voice vastly deeper than Seaton's own.
"In the name of our city and planet--I may say in the name of our solarsystem, for you are very evidently from one other than our greensystem--I greet you. I would offer you refreshment, as is our custom,but I fear that your chemistry is but ill adapted to our customary fare.If there be aught in which we can be of assistance to you, our resourcesare at your disposal--but before you leave us, I shall wish to ask fromyou a great gift."
"Sir, we thank you. We are in search of knowledge concerning forceswhich we cannot as yet control. From the power systems you employ, andfrom what I have learned of the composition of your suns and planets, Iassume you have none of the metal of power, and it is a quantity of thatelement that is your greatest need?"
"Yes. Power is our only lack. We generate all we can with the materialsand knowledge at our disposal, but we never have enough. Our developmentis hindered, our birth-rate must be held down to a minimum, many newcities which we need cannot be built and many new projects cannot bestarted, all for lack of power. For one gram of that metal I see platedupon that copper cylinder, of whose very existence no scientist uponDasor has had even an inkling, we would do almost anything. In fact, ifall else failed, I would be tempted to attack you, did I not know thatour utmost power could not penetrate even your outer screen, and thatyou could volatilize the entire planet if you so desired."
"Great Cat!" In his surprise Seaton lapsed from the formal language hehad been employing. "Have you figured us all out already, from astanding start?"
"We know electricity, chemistry, physics, and mathematics fairly well.You see, our race is many millions of years older than is yours."
"You're the man I've been looking for, I guess," said Seaton. "We haveenough of this metal with us so that we can spare you some as well asnot. But before you get it, I'll introduce you. Folks, this is SacnerCarfon, Chief of the Council of the planet Dasor. They saw us all thetime, and when we headed for this, the Sixth City, he came over from thecapital, or First City, in the flagship of his police fleet, to welcomeus or to fight us, as we pleased. Carfon, this is Martin Crane--or say,better than introductions, put on the headsets, everybody, and getacquainted right."
Acquaintance made and the apparatus put away, Seaton went to one of thestore-rooms and brought out a lump of "X," weighing about a hundredpounds.
"There's enough to build power-plants from now on. It would save time ifyou were to dismiss your submarine. With you to pilot us, we can takeyou back to the First City a lot faster than your vessel can travel."
Carfon took a miniature transmitter from a pouch under his arm and spokebriefly, then gave Seaton the course. In a few minutes, the First Citywas reached, and the _Skylark_ descended rapidly to the surface of alagoon at one end of the city. Short as had been the time consumed bytheir journey from the Sixth City, they found a curious and excitedcrowd awaiting them. The central portion of the lagoon was almostcovered by the small surface craft, while the sides, separated from thesidewalks by the curbs, were full of swimmers. The peculiar Dasorianequivalents of whistles, bells, and gongs were making a deafeninguproar, and the crowd was yelling and cheering in much the same fashionas do earthly crowds upon similar occasions. Seaton stopped the_Skylark_ and took his wife by the shoulder, swinging her around infront of the visiplate.
"Look at that, Dot. Talk about rapid transit! They could give the NewYork subway a flying start and beat them hands down!"
* * * * *
Dorothy looked into the visiplate and gasped. Six metal pipes, one abovethe other, ran above and parallel to each sidewalk-lane of water. Thepipe
s were full of ocean water, water racing along at fully fifty milesan hour and discharging, each stream a small waterfall, into the lagoon.Each pipe was lighted in the interior, and each was full of people,heads almost touching feet, unconcernedly being borne along, completelyimmersed in that mad current. As the passenger saw daylight and felt thestream begin to drop, he righted himself, apparently selecting anobjective point, and rode the current down into the ocean. A few quickstrokes, and he was either at the surface or upon one of the flights ofstairs leading up to the platform. Many of the travelers did not evenmove as they left the orifice. If they happened to be on their backs,they entered the ocean backward and did not bother about rightingthemselves or about selecting a destination until they were many feetbelow the surface.
"Good heavens, Dick! They'll kill themselves or drown!"
"Not these birds. Notice their skins? They've got a hide like a walrus,and a terrific layer of subcutaneous fat. Even their heads are protectedthat way--you could hardly hit one of them enough with a baseball bat tohurt him. And as for drowning--they can out-swim a fish, and can stayunder water almost an hour without coming up for air. Even one of thoseyoungsters can swim the full length of the city without taking abreath."
"How do you get that velocity of flow, Carfon?" asked Crane.
"By means of pumps. These channels run all over the city, and the amountof water running in each tube and the number of tubes in use areregulated automatically by the amount of traffic. When any section oftube is empty of people, no water flows through it. This was necessaryin order to save power. At each intersection there are four stand pipesand automatic swim-counters that regulate the volume of water and thenumber of tubes in use. This is ordinarily a quiet pool, as it is in aresidence section, and this channel--our channels correspond to yourstreets, you know--has only six tubes each way. If you will look on theother side of the channel, you will see the intake end of the tubesgoing down-town."
Seaton swung the visiplate around and they saw six rapidly-movingstairways, each crowded with people, leading from the ocean level up tothe top of a tall metal tower. As the passengers reached the top of theflight they were catapulted head-first into the chamber leading to thetube below.
"Well, that is some system for handling people!" exclaimed Seaton."What's the capacity of the system?"
"When running full pressure, six tubes will handle five thousand peoplea minute. It is only very rarely, on such occasions as this, that theyare ever loaded to capacity. Some of the channels in the middle of thecity have as many as twenty tubes, so that it is always possible to gofrom one end of the city to the other in less than ten minutes."
"Don't they ever jam?" asked Dorothy curiously. "I've been lost morethan once in the New York subway, and been in some perfectly frightfuljams, too--and they weren't moving ten thousand people a minute either."
"No jams ever have occurred. The tubes are perfectly smooth andwell-lighted, and all turns and intersections are rounded. Thecontrolling machines allow only so many persons to enter any tube--ifmore should try to enter than can be carried comfortably, the surpluspassengers are slid off down a chute to the swim-ways, or sidewalks, andmay either wait a while or swim to the next intersection."
"That looks like quite a jam down there now." Seaton pointed to thereceiving pool, which was now one solid mass except for the space keptclear by the six mighty streams of humanity-laden water.
"If the newcomers can't find room to come to the surface they'll swimover to some other pool." Carfon shrugged indifferently. "My residenceis the fifth cubicle on the right side of this channel. Our customdemands that you accept the hospitality of my home, if only for a momentand only for a beaker of distilled water. Any ordinary visitor could bereceived in my office, but you must enter my home."
Seaton steered the _Skylark_ carefully, surrounded as she was by atightly packed crowd of swimmers, to the indicated dwelling, andanchored her so that one of the doors was close to a flight of stepsleading from the corner of the building down into the water. Carfonstepped out, opened the door of his house, and preceded his guestswithin. The room was large and square, and built of a synthetic,non-corroding metal, as was the entire city. The walls were tastefullydecorated with striking geometrical designs in many-colored metal, andupon the floor was a softly woven rug. Three doors leading into otherrooms could be seen, and strange pieces of furniture stood here andthere. In the center of the floor-space was a circular opening some fourfeet in diameter, and there, only a few inches below the level of thefloor, was the surface of the ocean.
Carfon introduced his guests to his wife--a feminine replica of himself,although she was not of quite such heroic proportions.
"I don't suppose that Seven is far away, is he?" Carfon asked of thewoman.
"Probably he is outside, near the flying ball. If he has not beentouching it ever since it came down, it is only because someonestronger than he pushed him aside. You know how boys are," turning toDorothy with a smile as she spoke, "boy nature is probably universal."
"Pardon my curiosity, but why 'Seven'?" asked Dorothy, as she returnedthe smile.
"He is the two thousand three hundred and forty-seventh Sacner Carfon indirect male line of descent," she explained. "But perhaps Six has notexplained these things to you. Our population must not be allowed toincrease, therefore each couple can have only two children. It iscustomary for the boy to be born first, and is given the name of hisfather. The girl is younger, and is given her mother's name."
"That will now be changed," said Carfon feelingly. "These visitors havegiven us the secret of power, and we shall be able to build new citiesand populate Dasor as she should he populated."
"Really?----" She checked herself, but a flame leaped to her eyes, andher voice was none too steady as she addressed the visitors. "For thatwe Dasorians thank you more than words can express. Perhaps youstrangers do not know what it means to want a dozen children with everyfiber of your being and to be allowed to have only two--we do, all toowell--I will call Seven."
She pressed a button, and up out of the opening in the middle of thefloor there shot a half-grown boy, swimming so rapidly that he scarcelytouched the coaming as he came to his feet. He glanced at the fourvisitors, then ran up to Seaton and Crane.
"Please, sirs, may I ride, just a little short ride, in your vesselbefore you go away?" This was said in their language.
"Seven!" boomed Carfon sternly, and the exuberant youth subsided.
"Pardon me, sirs, but I was so excited----"
"All right, son, no harm done at all. You bet you'll have a ride in the_Skylark_ if your parents will let you." He turned to Carfon. "I'm notso far beyond that stage myself that I'm not in sympathy with him.Neither are you, unless I'm badly mistaken."
"I am very glad that you feel as you do. He would be delighted toaccompany us down to the office, and it will be something to rememberall the rest of his life."
"You have a little girl, too?" Dorothy asked the woman.
"Yes--would you like to see her? She is asleep now," and without waitingfor an answer, the proud Dasorian mother led the way into a bedroom--abedroom without beds, for Dasorians sleep floating in thermostaticallycontrolled tanks, buoyed up in water of the temperature they like best,in a fashion that no Earthly springs and mattresses can approach. In asmall tank in a corner reposed a baby, apparently about a year old, overwhom Dorothy and Margaret made the usual feminine ceremony of delightand approbation.
* * * * *
Back in the living room, after an animated conversation in which muchinformation was exchanged concerning the two planets and their races ofpeoples, Carfon drew six metal goblets of distilled water and passedthem around. Standing in a circle, the six touched goblets and drank.
They then embarked, and while Crane steered the _Skylark_ slowly alongthe channel toward the offices of the Council, and while Dorothy andMargaret showed the eager Seven all over the vessel, Seaton explained toCarfon the danger that threatened the Univ
erse, what he had done, andwhat he was attempting to do.
"Doctor Seaton, I wish to apologize to you," the Dasorian said whenSeaton had done. "Since you are evidently still land animals, I hadsupposed you of inferior intelligence. It is true that your youngercivilization is deficient in certain respects, but you have shown adepth of vision, a sheer power of imagination and grasp, that no memberof our older civilization could approach. I believe that you are rightin your conclusions. We have no such rays nor forces upon this planet,and never have had; but the sixth planet of our own sun has. Less thanfifty of your years ago, when I was but a small boy, such a projectionvisited my father. It offered to 'rescue' us from our watery planet, andto show us how to build rocket-ships to move us to Three, which is halfland, inhabited by lower animals."
"And he didn't accept?"
"Certainly not. Then as now our sole lack was power, and the strangersdid not show us how to increase our supply. Perhaps they had more powerthan we, perhaps, because of the difficulty of communication, our wantwas not made clear to them. But, of course, we did not want to move toThree, and we had already had rocket-ships for hundreds of generations.We have never been able to reach Six with them, but we visited Threelong ago; and every one who went there came back as soon as he could. Wedetest land. It is hard, barren, unfriendly. We have everything, hereupon Dasor. Food is plentiful, synthetic or natural, as we prefer. Ourwatery planet supplies our every need and wish, with one exception; andnow that we are assured of power, even that one exception vanishes, andDasor becomes a very Paradise. We can now lead our natural lives, workand play to our fullest capacity--we would not trade our world for allthe rest of the Universe."
"I never thought of it in that way, but you're right, at that," Seatonconceded. "You are ideally suited to your environment. But how do I getto planet Six? Its distance is terrific, even as cosmic distances go.You won't have any night until Dasor swings outside the orbit of yoursun, and until then Six will be invisible, even to our most powerfultelescope."
"I do not know, myself," answered Carfon, "but I will send out a callfor the chief astronomer. He will meet us, and give you a chart and theexact course."
At the office, the earthly visitors were welcomed formally by theCouncil--the nine men in control of the entire planet. The ceremony overand their course carefully plotted, Carfon stood at the door of the_Skylark_ a moment before it closed.
"We thank you with all force, Earthmen, for what you have done for usthis day. Please remember, and believe that this is no idle word--if wecan assist you in any way in this conflict which is to come, theresources of this planet are at your disposal. We join Osnome and theother planets of this system in declaring you, Doctor Seaton, ourOverlord."