THE SUN GOD
Strangely enough, I, who have an exceptional memory for spoken words,
cannot, by any effort, recall what Edmund said, as his face beamed in
upon us. I have only a confused recollection that he spoke, and that his
words had a marvelous effect upon my broken spirit. But I can see, as if
it were yet before me, the smile that illumined his features. My heart
bounded with joy, as if a messenger had come straight from the earth
itself, bearing a reprieve whose authority could not be called in
question.
Jack's joy was no less than mine, although he had not suffered mentally
as I had done. And the sight of Ala was hardly less reassuring to us, but
to find Ingra, too, present was somewhat of a shock to our confidence in
speedy delivery from trouble. And, in fact, we were not at once
delivered. We had to spend many weary hours yet in our dark prison, but
they were rendered less gloomy by Edmund's assurance that he would save
us. The confidence that he always inspired seems to me to have been
another mark of his genius. We had an instinct that he could do in any
circumstances what was impossible to ordinary men.
At last the welcome moment came, and we were led forth, free, and
rejoined Edmund, Henry, and Juba in our apartments. Then, for the first,
we learned what we had done, and how narrow had been our escape from a
terrible doom. It was a new chapter of wonder that Edmund opened before
us. I shall tell it in his own words.
"When I returned to the palace and found you missing I was greatly
wrought up. Immediately I applied to Ala for aid in finding you. She was
quickly informed of all the circumstances of your arrest, and I saw at
once, by the expression of her features, that it was a matter of the
utmost gravity. I was not reassured by Ingra's evident joy. I could read
in his face the pleasure that the news gave him, and I perceived that
there was again opposition between him and Ala, and that she was trying,
with less success than I hoped for, to bring him round to her view.
"With no little trouble I finally discovered the nature of your offense.
I understood it the more readily because I had already begun to suspect
the existence among these people of a strange form of idolatry, in some
respects akin to the earth-worship of the cavern dwellers. I have told
you that certain things had led me to think that they occasionally see
the sun here. It is a phenomenon of excessive rarity, and whole
generations sometimes pass without its recurrence. It is due to an
opening which at irregular periods forms for a brief space of time in the
cloud dome. I imagine that it may be in some way connected with sunspots,
but here they have no notion of its cause, and look upon it as entirely
miraculous.
"Whenever this rare event occurs it gives rise to extraordinary religious
excitement, and ceremonies concerning which there is some occult mystery
that I have not yet penetrated. I suspect that the ceremonies are not
altogether unlike the Bacchanalian festivals of ancient Greece. At any
rate the momentary appearance of the sun at these times is regarded as
the avatar of a supreme god, and their whole religious system is based
upon it. So universal and profound is the superstition to which it gives
rise that the most instructed persons among them are completely under its
dominion. The eagle-beaked individual who condemned you, and whom I have
since seen, is the chief priest of this superstition, and within his
sphere his power is unlimited. It is solely to the belief--which, through
Ala, I have succeeded in impressing upon him--that we are _children of
the sun_ that I owe the success of my efforts in your behalf. Without
that you would surely have been sacrificed, and we with you.
"One of the forms which this superstition takes is a belief that the
anger of the sun god can be mollified by offerings of images, made in his
likeness, which are first consecrated by the chief priest, and then hung
up on the walls of certain small temples, which are scattered through the
city, and are always kept open to the air under the guard of a minor
priest and his attendants. A whole family, as I understand it, deems
itself protected by one of these images, which are made by artists who
never touch any other work, and which are only granted to those who have
undergone a painful series of purifications in the great temple. The
preliminary ceremonies finished, the images are suspended, and at certain
times those to whom they belong go and kneel and pray before them, as
before their guardian saints."
"What a fool I was not to understand it," I murmured.
"You will understand now," Edmund continued, "how serious was Jack's
offense in insulting a priest, and laying impious hands upon a sacred
image, belonging, no doubt, to a family whose antiquity of descent would
make our oldest pedigrees on the earth seem as ephemeral as the existence
of a May fly; for I am convinced that here life has gone on,
uninterrupted by wars and changes of dynasty, for untold ages.
"It is a marvel that you escaped, for already they were preparing the
awful sacrifice. The chief priest was amazed when an interposition was
made on your behalf. Such a thing had never been known, and, as I have
said, it was only by acting upon his superstition that I succeeded, with
Ala's assistance, in obtaining a reprieve. As the case stands, we find
ourselves occupying a dangerous eminence, which it may be difficult for
us to maintain. I must beseech you to be on your guard, and to act only
under my direction. It is all the more serious for us because I am
convinced that Ingra has no faith whatever in the legend which protects
us. He persists in believing that we are simply interlopers from the dark
hemisphere, and the opposition between him and Ala has now become so
sharp that he would gladly witness our destruction. I am sure that he
will do his utmost to unmask us, and thus send us to our death."
"But--" I began.
"Wait a moment," said Edmund, "I have not yet finished. I must now tell
you who Ingra is. _He is the destined consort of Ala._ That explains his
influence over her. From what I can make out, it appears that he is of
the royal blood, and that the marriage of the queen is arranged, not by
her preference, but by an unwritten law, administered by the chief
priest. She has no choice in the matter."
"I should say not," broke in Jack. "She never would have chosen that
jackanapes! If you hadn't spoiled my aim I'd have relieved her of the
burden."
"Not another word of that!" said Edmund severely. "In no manner, not even
by a look, are you ever to express your dislike of him. And remember, you
must govern your very thoughts, for here they lie open, as legible as
print."
"Hang me," growled Jack, "if I like a world where a man can't even think
his own thoughts because his mind goes bare! Take me back where you have
to speak before you are understood."
"When you have wicked thoughts don't look them in the eyes," said Edmund,
half smiling, "and then you will run no danger. It is through the eyes
that they read. Now, to resume what I was saying, I am more than ever
anxious to recover the car, and to find the materials that will enable me
to repair its machinery. With it in our possession, and in good shape, we
shall be in a position to run away whenever it may seem necessary to do
so, and in the meantime to impose our legend upon them by the possession
of so apparently miraculous a means of conveying ourselves through space.
It will be overwhelming proof of the truth of our assertion of an origin
outside their world, and perhaps, upon the whole, it is just as well that
they should think that we belong to the sun, of whose existence they have
some knowledge, rather than to the earth, of which they know nothing, in
spite of the inkling that Juba succeeded in conveying to them."
"The car is here, isn't it?" I asked.
"Yes, it is in the great tower, but it is useless in its present
condition."
"And what materials do you want to find?"
"Primarily nothing but uranium. They understand chemistry here. They have
the apparatus that I need, but they do not know how to use it as I do.
The uranium certainly exists somewhere. They mine gold and silver, and
other things, and when I can find their mines, without exciting their
suspicion, and can get the use of a laboratory in secret, I shall soon
have what I need. But I must be very circumspect, for it would not do to
let them perceive that chemistry really lies at the basis of our miracle.
It is this necessity for secrecy which troubles me most. But I shall find
a way."
"For God's sake, find it quick," Henry burst out. "And then get away from
this accursed planet."
Edmund looked at him a moment before replying:
"We shall go when the necessity for going arises, and not before. We have
not yet seen all the interesting things of this world."
I believe that even Jack and I shared to some extent Henry's
disappointment on hearing this announcement. We should have been glad to
know that we were to start on the return journey as soon as the car was
in shape to transport us. But the event proved that Edmund's instinct
was, as usual, right, and that the things which were yet to be seen and
experienced were well worth the fearful risk we ran in remaining.
While Edmund undertook the delicate inquiries which were necessary in
order to determine the direction that his search for uranium should take,
and to enable him to conduct his chemical processes without awaking
suspicion as to his real purpose, we were left much of the time in charge
of a party of attendants who, by his intercession, had been selected to
act as our guides when we wished to examine the wonders of the palace and
the capital. Sometimes he accompanied us; but more often he was with Ala
and her suite, including her uneludable satellite, Ingra.
"I bless my stars that he doesn't favor _us_ with his delightful
company," was Jack's comment, when he saw Ingra tagging along after Ala
and Edmund.
I privately believed that Ingra had his spies among our attendants, but I
was careful not to mention my suspicions to Jack.
But, oh, the delight of those excursions! Those streets; and those aerial
towers, which rose like forests of coral in a gulf of liquid ether! They
shine often in my dreams. A thousand times I have tried to put into
words, simply for my own satisfaction, a description of the things that
we saw, and the impressions that they made on my mind--but it is
impossible. I understand now why the tales of travelers into strange
lands never convey a tithe of what is in the writers' minds; they
simply cannot; the necessary words and analogies do not exist. I can only
use general terms, ransacking the vocabulary of adjectives--"beautiful,"
"wonderful," "fascinating," "marvelous," "indescribable," "magical,"
"enchanting," "amazing," "inexplicable," "_sans pareil_"--what you
will--but all that says nothing except to my own mind. Only the language
of Venus could describe the charms and the wonders of Venus!
There was one thing, however, which was sufficiently comprehensible--_the
great library_. Edmund was not with us when we paid our first visit to
it; but he had predicted its existence during one of our conversations,
when we were talking of the silent language.
"This people," he had said, "has a great history behind it, extending
over periods which would amaze our disinterrers of human antiquity, but
an intelligent race cannot make history without also keeping records of
it. Tradition alone, handed on from mind to mind, would not answer their
requirements. The possession of the power to communicate thought without
spoken language does not presuppose a power of memory any more perfect
than we have. The brain forgets, the imagination misleads, with them as
with us, and consequently they must have books of some kind--which
implies a written or printed language. It is probable that this language
does not correspond with the very meager one of which we occasionally
hear them pronounce a few words. The latter is, I am convinced, used only
for names and interjections, and sometimes to call the attention of the
person addressed, while the former must be a rich and carefully
elaborated system of literary expression, which may not be phonetic at
all. We shall find that this is so; and there are unquestionably
libraries--probably a great imperial library--devoted to history and
science. There must be schools also."
Thus Edmund had spoken, and thus we found it to be. The great library was
in a building separate from the palace. It was admirably lighted from
without, and its nature was apparent the moment we were led into it. The
"books" were long scrolls, which might have been taken for parchment or
papyrus, and the characters written on them resembled those of the
Chinese language, but worked out in exquisite colors, which might
themselves have had a meaning. The rolls were kept in proper receptacles
under the charge of librarians, and we saw many grave persons at desks
poring over them. Absolute silence reigned, and as I gazed at the scene I
found admiration for this extraordinary people taking the place of the
prejudice which I had recently been led to feel against them.
Jack, unusually impressed, whispered to me that Edmund must have been
playing us some Hindoo bedevilment trick, for he could not believe that
we were actually in a foreign world. The same impression came over me.
This was too earthlike; too much as if, instead of being on the planet
Venus, we had been transported to some land of antique civilization in
our own world. But, after all, we _knew where we were_, and as the
realization of that fact came to us we could only stare with increasing
astonishment at the scene before us. I may say here that Edmund
subsequently visited this great library, and also some of the schools,
and I know that he made notes of what he discovered and learned in them,
with the purpose, as I supposed, of writing upon the subject after his
return. But the expected book, which would have supplemented and
clarified much of what I have undertaken to tell, with but a half
understanding of what we saw, never appeared.
Our wonderful excursions came to an end when Edmund at length announced
that he had obtained the information he needed, and that we were about to
make a trip to some of the mines of Venus.
"I have discovered," he said, "that Venus is exceedingly rich in the
precious metals, as well as in iron and lead. They mine them all, and
we shall visit the mines under Ala's escort. My real purpose, of
course, is to find uranium, of whose properties, strangely--and for us
luckily--enough, they seem to have no knowledge. Nevertheless, they are
capital chemists as far as they go, and possess laboratories provided
with all that I shall need. They refine the metals at the mines
themselves, so that I am sure of finding everything necessary to do my
work right on the ground. The substance which I obtain from uranium is so
concentrated that I can carry in my pocket all that will be required to
repair the damage done to the transformers in the car. A careful
examination, which I have made of the car, proves that the terrific
shocks the machinery suffered in the crystal mountains caused an atomic
readjustment which destroyed the usefulness of the material in the
transformers, and while I might, by laboratory treatment, possibly
restore its properties, I think it safer to obtain an entirely fresh
supply. We shall start with the queen's ship within a few hours; so you
had better make your preparations at once."