among them.'
It was my turn to laugh now. 'I did not pass the examination at all,' I admitted. 'I would have been destroyed but for my knowledge of a science that is unknown to Amtor. It was rather a jolt to my self-esteem.'
We drove along the Korgan Lat. through the great public park and parade ground in the center of which stands a magnificent stadium, and thus to the Avenue of the Gates, which forms a great arc nearly eight miles long just inside the outer wall on the land side of Havatoo.
Here are the factories and the shops in the district included between the Avenue of the Gates and the Yorgan Lat. a wide avenue a third of a mile inside the wall, all the principal shops being located along the Avenue of the Gates. The avenue and the shops were brilliantly lighted, the street swarmed with vehicles, and the walkways at the level of the second stories were crowded with pedestrians.
We drove twice the full length of the avenue, enjoying the life and beauty of the scene; then we drove into one of the parking places, to which all of the ground floors on the main arteries are devoted, and were lifted by an escalator to the walkway on the level above.
Here shops displayed their wares in show windows, much as is the custom in American cities, though many of the displays aimed solely to please the eye rather than to call attention to the goods for sale within. The scientists of Havatoo have developed a light that is brilliant and at the same time soft with which they attain effects impossible of achievement by our relatively crude lighting methods. At no place is the source of the light apparent; it casts soft shadows and gives forth no heat. Ordinarily it resembles sunlight, but it can also produce soft, pastel shades of various hues.
After we had enjoyed the spectacle for an hour, mingling with the happy crowd upon the walkway, I made a few small purchases, including a gift for Nalte; then we returned to my car, and I took my companion home.
* * * * *
The next morning I was busy organizing my classes in astronomy, and so numerous were those wishing to enroll that I had to organize several large classes, and as only four hours a day are ordinarily devoted to work of any nature it was evident that I should have to devote my time at first to the training of instructors if the new science was to be expounded to all the inhabitants who were interested.
I was greatly flattered by the personnel of the first matriculants. Not only were there scientists and soldiers from the first five classes of Havatoo, but every member of the Sanjong, the ruling quintumvirate of Havatoo, enrolled. The thirst of these people for useful knowledge is insatiable.
Shortly after noon, my work for the day having been completed, I received a summons to call upon Korgan Kantum Mohar, the warrior physicist who had arranged for the examination of Nalte and myself the day Ero Shan brought us to the city.
I could not but wonder what he wanted of me. Could it be that I must undergo another examination? Always, I presume, I shall connect Mohar's name with examinations.
As I entered his office on the Sera Tartum, he greeted me with the same pleasant demeanor that had marked his attitude the day he had told me I was to be examined to ascertain whether or not I should be permitted to live; so his graciousness was not entirely reassuring.
'Come over here and sit down near me,' he said. 'I have something here that I should like to discuss with you.'
As I took a chair beside him I saw spread on his desk the sketches of airships that I had made for Ero Shan.
'These,' he said, pointing to the sketches, 'were brought to me by Ero Shan who explained them as best he could. He was quite excited and enthusiastic about them, and I must confess that he imparted some of his enthusiasm to me. I am much interested, and would know more concerning these ships that sail through the air.'
For an hour I talked to him and answered his questions. I dwelt principally on the practical achievements of aeronautics—the long flights, the great speed, the uses to which ships had been put in times of peace and in times of war.
Korgan Kantum Mohar was deeply interested. The questions that he asked revealed the trained, scientific mind; and the last one that of the soldiers the man of action.
'Can you build one of these ships for me?' he demanded.
I told him that I could but that it might require long experimentation to adapt their motors and materials to the requirements of a successful airplane.
'You have two or three hundred years,' he said with a smile, 'and the resources of a race of scientists. Materials that we do not now possess we can produce; nothing is impossible to science.'
Chapter 16—Attack in the Night
I WAS GIVEN a factory close to the Gate of the Physicists, at the end of Kantum Lat. I chose this location because there was a level plain beyond this gate that would make an excellent flying field, and also so that I would have my finished plane finally assembled where it could easily be wheeled out of the city without interfering with traffic to any great extent.
On the advice of the Sanjong, which took a deep interest in both this new venture into aeronautics and the, to them, new science of astronomy, I divided my time between the two.
My time was fully occupied, and I worked far more than the usual four hours a day. But I enjoyed the work, especially the building of a plane; and engrossing were the daydreams in which I indulged of exploring Venus in a ship of my own.
The necessity for relaxation and entertainment is stressed by the people of Havatoo, and Ero Shan was constantly dragging me away from my drawing board or my conferences with the corps of assistants that had been placed at my disposal by Mohar to take me to this thing or that.
There were theaters, art exhibits, lectures, musicales, concerts, and games of various descriptions in gymnasiums and the great stadium. Many of their games are extremely dangerous, and injury and death often accompany them. In the great stadium at least once a month men fight with wild beasts or with one another to the death, and once a year the great war game is played. Ero Shan, Gara Lo, Ero Shan's friend, Nalte, and I attended this year's game together. To Nalte and me it was all new; we did not know what to expect.
'Probably we shall witness an exhibition of such scientific wonders as only the men of Havatoo are capable,' I suggested to her.
'I haven't the faintest conception of what it will be,' she replied. 'No one will tell me anything about it. They say, 'Wait and see. You will be thrilled as you have never been before.''
'The game doubtless hinges on the use of the most modern, scientific instruments of war and strategy,' I ventured.
'Well,' she remarked, 'we shall soon know. It is about time for the games to begin.'
The great stadium, seating two hundred thousand people, was crammed to capacity. It was gorgeous with the costumes and the jewels of the women and the handsome trappings of the men, for the intelligence of Havatoo concedes their full value to beauty and to art. But of all that went to make up this splendid spectacle there was nothing more outstanding than the divine beauty of the people themselves.
Suddenly a cry arose, a roar of welcome. 'They come! The warriors!'
* * * * *
Onto the field at each end marched two hundred men; a hundred men naked but for white gee-strings at one end of the field, a hundred men with red gee-strings at the other end of the field.
They carried short swords and shields. For a while they stood inactive, waiting; then two small cars were driven onto the field. Each contained a driver and a young woman.
One of the cars was red, the other white. The red car attached itself to the contingent wearing the red gee- strings, the white cars to the whites.
When they were in position the two factions paraded entirely around the field clockwise. As they passed the stands the people cheered and shouted words of encouragement and praise, and when the warriors had completed the circuit they took their places again.
