Triumphant Feat of Orion.
As I continued ranging among the planets of the constellation of Orion,
I felt an indescribable desire to pause at a very small orb which
revolves around Saiph, a star of the third magnitude.
Here I found, to my surprise, a gem of a world which I will call Holen.
It is five hundred miles in diameter, and inhabited by a refined race of
human beings, radically different from us in physical contour, but
remarkably similar to us in their mental aspirations.
As a race they greatly excel us in mechanical engineering. Many
evidences of their skill might be given, but we will be content to give
a description of their monumental engineering feat.
Long ages ago Holen had cooled to the center, and it became the ruling
passion of her most intelligent inhabitants to communicate from one
side of the globe to the other through an opening of five hundred miles
almost directly through the center of their earth, or more accurately
speaking, through the center of gravity.
After forty-five hundred years of experimenting the marvelous feat was
accomplished.
Of all the worlds in the constellation of Orion, large or small, Holen
is the only one that has succeeded in this astounding feat, although it
has been and is being tried on more than a dozen worlds.
This wonderful opening through Holen's center of gravity is lined with
sections of ribbed metal which cost the governments fabulous sums. This
vast tube was finished thirteen hundred years ago according to our time.
Many lives were sacrificed in the hazardous work of tunneling. Were it
not for the ribbed metal which afforded protection with its shelving
flanges, the tube could never have been finished.
At the present time the tube is used for commercial purposes and for
passenger traffic. Air tight cars of special design are used, and only
one car is allowed in the tube at one time.
[Illustration: The Gravity-Car of Holen.]
You cannot imagine the frightful velocity of the ride, but the passenger
is not as conscious of this as you might think. The first fifty miles of
the descent is controlled by the exterior or surface engines. The speed
is gradually increased until it reaches that of the falling body. Then
the motorman releases the wizard car and the speed is steady and
terrible until the car dashes past the center of gravity, after which
the speed slackens at a regular rate. The car of its own momentum forces
its way far toward the opposite surface of their earth.
Just as the carriage comes to a stop, the engineer or motorman, as we
would call him, pulls his lever, thereby fastening the car to the ribbed
side of the tube. At once a signal is given and the long, thin but
strong rope descends to draw the carriage to the surface.
A perfect system of communication is established from one end of the
ponderous tube to the other. It frequently happens when an attempt is
made to fasten the car that the clamps fail to work and consequently the
carriage commences its second journey toward the center. Another effort
is made to hold the carriage when it again comes to a stop; but if this
is not successful, then comes the most peculiar experience of all. The
carriage of its own momentum continues dashing backward and forward
until it comes to rest at the center of gravity. Then the engineer, by
communicating with the surface, gets the longest stretch of rope and is
drawn two hundred and fifty miles to the surface.
This world has no atmosphere and life is not sustained by breathing,
neither by the process found on the Moon.
The inhabitants get their sustenance from the soil with which they must
be connected, directly or indirectly over one-half the time, or they
will suffer in a manner similar to us when we are suffocating.
From this faint glimpse of their life, it can be seen that the people of
Holen in their habits are totally incongruous to all our conceptions,
and if one of them were to make a visit to our world, everything he
would here see would appear just as ridiculous and unthinkable to him as
the things on their globe did to me.
As I surveyed this world, everything evidenced the fact that these
people are born engineers. Our Eiffel Tower and Ferris Wheel would be
mere playthings compared with the sky-scraping structures that adorn the
various parts of this little world. It appears that the international
mind runs in this one direction more than in any other, and while they
surpass us in this respect, they are inferior to us in the limitless
field of science and philosophy as well as in the variety of
manufacturing plants.
In their religion, the Holenites have developed to a high degree. They
have no sacred book akin to our Bible. Their whole authority comes from
the lips of the Divine Family, as we would term it. This family serves
for religion the same purpose as the Royal Family does for the civil
realm in some countries of our world. The Divine Family are genuinely
descended from their sacred ancestors who were, by a visible show of
omnipotent power, appointed and consecrated to the sacred work of
dispensing truth and officiating in all sacraments. The ordination of
all the ministers of Holen must be held by a member of this Divine
Family. By reason of this one source of authority, there is, therefore,
no confliction of creeds. The great battle of the Church is with the
several infidel organizations that give no heed to the genuine religion.
This Sacred Family received a code of laws which they have held from the
beginning and, strange to say, no one is allowed to copy these laws in
written or printed form. To do so is a type of blasphemy for which a
severe penalty is imposed. Some of the infidel organizations find
delight to print all or a part of these laws and scatter them secretly
among the people. Such documents fall with as much pain on the premises
of a believer as oaths do in our world on the ear of a delicately
trained soul.
If an infidel wishes to insult a godly pilgrim, he can do it no more
effectively than by secretly fastening to the believer's residence a
piece of material on which is inscribed one or more of these sacred
laws.
Every believer is required to commit to memory this code of laws by
hearing them from the lips of the minister. It is therefore necessary to
keep in constant touch with the church service so as to be a continual
hearer of these laws, a part of which is repeated every worship day.
The minister does not preach in the same sense that we understand
preaching. His work comes nearer filling the office of a priest under
the old Jewish church. There is much more form and ceremony than is
found in our system under the Mediator, Jesus Christ.
The civil law has absolutely nothing to say on the marriage question.
All this is held in the domain of the Church. In truth, the Divine
Family has always regulated this question. If the legality of a marriage
is called in question, all that the civil authorities try to determine
is whether the marriage ceremony was performed in accordance with the
laws of the Divine Family. If this point can be established, the
marriage is declared legal; if not, it is declared to be null and void.
This one subject of matrimony has caused more friction between the
Church and the infidels than all other issues combined. The infidels are
bitterly opposed to take their marriage vows before the minister, yet
this must be done to make their marriage legal. Divorce laws are
unknown, although, in rare cases, papers of separation are granted by
authority and under seal of the Divine Family.
The religious devotees of Holen look forward to a happier existence when
their mortal life is ended. Their ideas of this future life are quite
similar to our cherished ideas of Heaven.
In their moral life they have reached a higher plane than we. This is
due to the fact that the Divine Family wield an influence in the civil
realm that cannot be broken.