"Talk about results!" Billie was first to speak. "Why--where do you
suppose I found myself? Out in mid-ocean, in a small boat, with the
spray flying into my--that is, into the face of--" She broke off,
confused.
"Your agent?" the doctor put in. All Billie could do was to nod; Van
Emmon was bursting to talk.
"My agent was a Parisian apache, or I'm a bum guesser! I didn't
catch all that was going on, but it certainly sounded like the plans
and specifications of a garroting!"
"No such excitement here," said Smith. But his eyes were sparkling.
"I was going the rounds with a mail-carrier. How do you explain
that, doc? I've never given mail-carrying a second thought."
"That would have nothing to do with it. As for myself, I was looking
through the eyes of some member of the House of Representatives, in
Washington. I recognized the building. They were calling the roll at
the time."
He paused while he made a note of the incident, for the sake of
checking up the hour with the newspaper accounts later on. Then he
rubbed the knuckles of one hand in the palm of the other--a habit
which indicated that a diagnosis was going on in his mind. The
others waited expectantly.
"There's a big difference," commented he, thoughtfully, "between
these experiences and our last experiments. Then, each of us knew
exactly what to expect. Each had a definite image of a certain
particular person in mind when he went into the teleconscious state.
That made it comparatively easy for us to communicate the way we
did, even when you"--indicating the bride and groom--"were still in
Japan.
"But to-day neither of us had the slightest idea what was coming.
That is, if we followed the rule. Did you"--addressing Smith--"take
care to concentrate strictly upon the one idea of view-point?"
"Nothing else. I kept my attention fixed upon eyes and ears, only,
just as the instructions read."
"Same here," answered Billie, for herself and the geologist.
"Then we know this much: So long as the four of us are connected up
in this fashion"--holding up his braceleted wrists--"we combine our
forces to such an extent that we do not need a definite object. It's
simply the power of harmony."
Billie was anxious to get it down pat. "In other words, there's
nothing to prevent me from locating some one, although unknown to
me, so long as we four agree upon the same locality?"
"That's it exactly. If we agree to concentrate upon Greenland, even,
we shall find four people there whose view-points resemble our own.
The main thing is to find similar view-points."
There was some discussion along this line, in which the doctor made
it clear that view-point was simply another name for perspective,
and that it had nothing whatever to do with actual mental
accomplishments. The view-point was really the soul.
"As yet," he went on, "we should make no attempt to 'put ourselves
in the other fellow's place.' Such efforts require a violent
exertion of the imagination, and we need practice before tackling
the more advanced problems.
"Time enough, after a while, to get in touch with the Venusians.
There's none of them that has a view-point like ours. And once we've
done that--"
"What?" from Billie, breathlessly.
"Anything! The whole universe will be open to us! Why, I understand
from reading these books"--indicating the Venusian manuscripts--"that
there is such a thing as an intelligent creature, so utterly unlike
ourselves that--" He stopped short.
"For the time being," said Smith quickly, "we'd better be content
with something familiar. Is there some other planet in our solar
system that would do, doc?"
"No. According to the Venusians, the only others that are habitable
besides Venus and the earth, are Mars and Jupiter. And it seems that
the people on these two are so totally different--"
"We couldn't get an answer?"
"Very unlikely. Besides, I am having the cube refitted for a
two-months' cruise. Rather thought I'd like to visit Mars and
Jupiter in person.
"But when it comes to leaving the solar system entirely the
telepathic method is the only one that will work; even the nearest
of the fixed stars is out of the question."
"How far is that?" Smith inquired.
"The nearest? About four and a half light-years."
"Yes, but what's a light-year?"
"It amounts to sixty-three thousand times the distance from here to
the sun!"
Smith whistled. "Nothing doing in the cube, that's sure. Besides,
could we expect to find any people like us in the neighborhood of
that star?"
"Not Alpha Centauri." The doctor reached for one of the Venusian
books, and pointed out certain pages. "It seems that the Class IIa
stars--that is, suns--are the only ones which have planets in the
right condition for the development of humans. The astronomers
already suspected as much, by the way. But the Venusians have
definitely named a few systems whose evolution has reached points
almost identical with that of the earth.
"Now, until we have acquired a certain amount of ability"
--examining the books more closely--"our best chance will lie in the
neighborhood of a giant star known to us as Capella."
"Capella." Billie had drawn a star-chart to her side. "Where is that
located?"
"In Auriga, about half-way from Orion to the Pole Star. She's a big
yellow sun.
"At any rate, the Venusians say that this particular planet of
Capella's has people almost exactly the same as those of the earth,
except"--speaking very clearly--"except that they have had about one
century more civilization!"
Billie exclaimed with delight. "Say--this is going to be the best
yet! To think of seeing what the earth is going to be like, a
hundred years from now!"
Instantly Van Emmon's interest became acute. "By George! Is that
right, doc? Are we likely to learn what the next hundred years will
do for us?"
"Don't know exactly." The doctor spoke cautiously. "That's merely
what I infer from these books."
"If we do," ran on the geologist excitedly, "we'll see how a lot of
our present day theories will be worked out! I'm curious to see what
comes of them. Personally, I think most of them are plain nonsense!"
"That remains to be seen." The doctor glanced around. "Remember:
what we want is the view-point only; and the place is Capella's
planetary system. Ready?"
For answer the others leaned back in their chairs. The doctor
touched the button at his side, as a signal to his wife; he settled
himself in his chair; and in a minute his head was dropping over
against his shoulder. In another second the minds of the four
experimenters were out of their bodies; out, and in the twinkling of
an eye, traversing space at absolute speed.
For thought, like gravitation, is instantaneous.