nothing but vehicular traffic on this level, pedestrians being accommodated on walkways at the level of the second stories of the buildings, which were connected by viaducts at all intersections.
There was practically no noise—no tooting of horns, no screeching of brakes—traffic seemed to regulate itself. I asked Ero Shan about it.
'It is very simple,' he said. 'All vehicles are energized from a central power station from which power emanates in three frequencies; on the control board of each vehicle is a dial that permits the operator to pick up any frequency he desires. One is for avenues running from the outer wall to the center of the city, another is for transverse avenues, and the third for all traffic outside the city. The first two are cut off and on alternately; when one is on all traffic moving in the opposite direction is stopped at intersections automatically.'
'But why doesn't the traffic between intersections stop at the same time?' I asked.
'That is regulated by the third frequency, which is always operative,' he explained. 'A hundred feet before a vehicle reaches an intersection a photo-electric current moves the dial on the control board to the proper frequency for that lane.'
Nalte was thrilled by all that she saw. She was a mountain girl from a small kingdom, and this was the first large city that she had ever seen.
'It is marvelous,' she said. 'And how beautiful the people are!'
I had noticed that fact myself. Both the men and the women in the cars that passed us were of extraordinary perfection of form and feature.
Ambad Lat. Psychologist Avenue led us directly to a semicircular civic center at the water front, from which the principal avenues radiated toward the outer wall like the spokes of a wheel from the hub toward the felloe. Here were magnificent buildings set in a gorgeous park, and here Ero Shan escorted us from the car toward a splendid palace. There were many people in the park, going to or coming from the various buildings. There was no hurry, no bustle, no confusion; nor was there idling or loitering. All suggested well-considered, unhurried efficiency. The voices of those who conversed were pleasant, well modulated. Like the people I had seen elsewhere in the city, these were all handsome and well formed.
We followed Ero Shan through an entrance into a wide corridor. Many of those we passed spoke pleasant greetings to our companion, and all of them looked at us with seemingly friendly interest, but without rudeness.
'Beautiful people in a beautiful city,' murmured Nalte.
Ero Shan turned toward her with a quick smile. 'I am glad that you like us and Havatoo,' he said. 'I hope that nothing will ever alter this first impression.'
'You think that something may?' asked Nalte.
Ero Shan shrugged. 'That all depends upon you,' he replied, 'or rather upon your ancestors.'
'I do not understand,' said Nalte.
'You will presently.'
He stopped before a door and, swinging it open, bade us enter. We were in a small anteroom in which several clerks were employed.
'Please inform Korgan Kantum Mohar that I wish to see him,' said Ero Shan to one of the clerks.
The man pressed one of several buttons on his desk and said, 'Korgan Sentar Ero Shan wishes to see you.' Apparently from the desktop a deep voice replied, 'Send him in.'
'Come with me,' directed Ero Shan, and we crossed the anteroom to another door, which a clerk opened. In the room beyond a man faced us from a desk behind which he was seated. He looked up at us with the same friendly interest that had been manifested by the people we had passed in the park and the corridor.
As we were introduced to Korgan Kantum Mohar, he arose and acknowledged the introduction with a bow then he invited us to be seated.
'You are strangers in Havatoo,' he remarked. 'It is not often that strangers enter our gates.' He turned to Ero Shan. 'Tell me, how did it happen?'
Ero Shan told of witnessing my encounter with the three men from Kormor. 'I hated to see a man like this go over the falls,' he continued, 'and I felt that it was worth while bringing them into Havatoo for an examination. Therefore I have brought them directly to you, hoping that you will agree with me.'
'It can do no harm,' admitted Mohar. 'The examining board is in session now. Take them over. I will advise the board that I have authorized the examination.'
'What is the examination, and what is its purpose?' I asked. 'Perhaps we do not care to take it.'
Korgan Kantum Mohar smiled. 'That is not for you to say,' he said.
'You mean that we are prisoners?'
'Let us say rather guests by command.'
'Do you mind telling me the purpose of this examination?' I asked.
'Not at all. It is to determine whether or not you shall be permitted to live.'
Chapter 14—Havatoo
THEY WERE ALL very polite and pleasant, very professional and efficient. First we were bathed; then blood tests were made, our hearts examined, our blood pressure taken, our reflexes checked. After that we were ushered into a large room where five men sat behind a long table.
Ero Shan accompanied us throughout the examination. Like the others, he was always pleasant and friendly. He encouraged us to hope that we would pass the examination successfully. Even yet I did not understand what it was all about. I asked Ero Shan.
'Your companion remarked upon the beauty of Havatoo and its people,' he replied. 'This examination is the explanation of that beauty—and of many other things here which you do not yet know of.'
The five men seated behind the long table were quite as pleasant as any of the others we had met. They questioned us rapidly for fully an hour and then dismissed us. From the questions propounded I judged that one of them was a biologist, another a psychologist, one a chemist, the fourth a physicist, and the fifth a soldier.
'Korgan Sentar Ero Shan,' said he who appeared to be the head of the examining board, 'you will take custody of the man until the result of the examination is announced. Hara Es will take charge of the girl.' He indicated a woman who had entered the room with us and had been standing beside Nalte.
The latter pressed closer to me. 'Oh, Carson ! They are going to separate us,' she whispered.
I turned toward Ero Shan to expostulate, but he motioned me to be silent. 'You will have to obey,' he said, 'but I think you have no reason to worry.'
Then Nalte was led away by Hara Es, and Ero Shan took me with him. A car was waiting for Ero Shan, and in it we were driven into a district of beautiful homes. Presently the car drew up in front of one of these and stopped.
'This is my home,' said my companion. 'You will be my guest here until the result of the examination is announced. I wish you to enjoy yourself while you are with me. Do not worry; it will do no good. Nalte is safe. She will be well cared for.'
'At least they have provided me with a beautiful prison and a pleasant jailer,' I remarked.
'Please do not think of yourself as a prisoner,' begged Ero Shan. 'It will make us both unhappy, and unhappiness is not to be tolerated in Havatoo.'
'I am far from unhappy,' I assured him. 'On the contrary, I am greatly enjoying the experience, but I still cannot understand what crime is charged against Nalte and me that we should have been put on trial for our lives.'
'It was not you who were on trial; it was your heredity,' he explained.
'An answer,' I assured him, 'that leaves me as much at sea as I was before.'
* * * * *
We had entered the house as we were conversing, and I found myself amid as lovely surroundings as I have ever seen. Good taste and good judgment had evidently dictated, not only the design of the house, but its appointments as well. From the entrance there was a vista of shrubbery and flowers and trees in a beautiful garden at the end of a wide hall.
