Wonder of the Worlds

by Sesh Heri

  I took the airship up in a corkscrew spiral. Around 10,000 feet I stopped the ship and joined the others at the window. At this height we had a very good view of the colossal head below us; we were able to see the whole thing in a glance. Distance lent a kind of focus, and some of the places that had appeared to be at close viewing only rocks, lumps, and hillocks, now formed part of a total pattern and single expression: a mind gazing out through time itself. “It’s a monster,” Houdini said.

  “Some kind of mythological beast,” Lillie added. “A sphinx,” I said. “Yes,” George Ade said, “but what does it mean?”

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  “It is the sun god, Helu,” Tesla said, “the ancient god symbol revered on both Earth and Mars. The right side of the face is a baboon, known to the ancients as Babi; the left side of the face is a lion, known to the ancients as Rey. The ancient Egyptians pictured Babi as the doorman of Set, the god of the material realm of power. It was Babi’s symbolic function to hold the bolt to the door of heaven and prevent the unperfected soul from entering. Rey, the lion, was a symbol of the soul perfected through the transforming fires of material experience. It was through the union with the sun god, Rey, that one became the perfected Helu, which literally meant ‘faces,’ but esoterically meant ‘the two faces of the god made one.’ When this union was accomplished, the per- fected soul was able to command Babi to open the door of heaven. With the door opened, the perfected soul mounted to heaven on an electric ray focused on a particular star. This star would act as a doorway between the realm of matter and spirit. Thus we find that the ancient Egyptian word sba meant both ‘star’ and ‘door.’ Sba suggests its esoteric meaning as a ‘soul gate’ in that it contains the word ba ‘soul.’ This esoteric meaning can also be found in Babylonian where bab meant ‘gate’ but esoterically implied ‘soul.’ This tran- scendence of the soul beyond the temporality of the material realm of power to the permanency of the spiritual realm was the aim of the ancient civiliza- tions on both Earth and Mars. In every generation, this transcendence was always attempted by a single individual who would act as an alchemical seed for the whole of humanity. Rarely were the attempts successful. When an at- tempt did succeed, the transcending individual would open the way to heaven for himself while spiritually developing the rest of his species. When the tran- scending individual physically died, the energy sent out from his body would be transmitted throughout the world as a spiritual effect. The pyramids were designed for this purpose to act as an oscillator coupled to the vibrations of the planet. The physical vibrations transmitted information which would be ab- sorbed in the brain of the recipient at a subconscious level. This whole com- plex here is an alchemical laboratory; its purpose was nothing less than the spiritual liberation of a world, and that purpose has been the basis of every religion on Earth as well. We find the myth of Helu or Horus imbedded in the story of Mithras, in the ritual of animal sacrifice among the Hebrews, in cer- tain concepts of Buddhism, and in the story of Jesus. These are all human conceptions of God experienced as a solar myth.”

  Lillie said, “I distinctly recall reading that you are a materialist, that you believe the universe has always existed, and that man is nothing more than a ‘meat machine.’”

  “Yes,” Tesla said, “I have said those things. But you of all people, Miss West, must now know that not everything a person says in public corresponds precisely with what that person knows to be so in the privacy of his own mind. Ours is an age of materialism. Since the time of Sir Isaac Newton no reputable

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  scientist has been allowed by the powers that be to speak publicly of the spiritual realms of power. Yet, Newton was an alchemist throughout his whole life, as are we who have succeeded him in the golden chain. The materialist believes that everything is dead; the alchemist knows that everything is alive and that in the material realm of power all spirit is expressed through functions of material bodies. Thus, the materialist sees only the veil of Isis, but the alchemist pierces the veil and sees the spirit which animates the world.” “How did you come to know all of this?” George Ade asked. “All of what, Mr. Ade?” Tesla asked in reply. “Well,” Ade said, “about the Martians, for instance.”

  “Come now, Mr. Ade,” Tesla said, “surely as a newspaperman you must be well acquainted with the many sources of secret and arcane knowledge.” “We have our little fraternities and societies,” Ade said, “Sigma Chi, Ma- sonry, the Whitechapel Club. But all our skullduggery is mostly fun and games.” “It is in fun and games,” Tesla said, “where much is hidden. Among Earth’s secret societies at their highest levels much is known about the history of the solar system, not just Mars, and you will certainly never find this information in the curriculum of any university.” “So much for free inquiry,” Lillie said.

  Tesla said, “The secrets you would have attempted to reveal in a single Newspaper article, Miss West, have been held by the most powerful men on Earth for thousands of years. Many before you have fought the battle for free inquiry, some dying in their battle. Do you believe a single Newspaper article will accomplish what the philosophers of the last ten thousand years have failed to accomplish?” “I believe,” Lillie said, “that for me to surrender the battle is to betray all who have fought before me.”

  “I am no advocate of surrender,” Tesla said, “but a victorious battle must be strategic, and, unfortunately, so far, your battle has had no strategy whatso- ever. As the ancient knowledge has been guarded with subtly and power, so its revelation to mankind must be carried out with even greater subtly, even greater power. This is a fact which I offer for your consideration, Miss West.” “And so the history of Mars came to you through some secret source?” Ade asked. Tesla said, “ The story of the civilization of Mars and how it came to ruin is described in legends transmitted orally and with secret documents through numerous secret societies: the Knights Templar, the Rosicrucians, the Freemasons, the Knights of the Golden Circle, the Bavarian Illumi- nati—and other groups whose names are hardly known to the world—the Prior y of Sion, the Sons of Heliopolis, the Golden Chain of the Magi—the Order of the Flaming Sword.” “And what do these legends describe?” Ade asked.

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  Tesla said, “The legends tell of two world civilizations: one on Earth, the other on Mars. Two brilliant yet contentious brothers who destroyed both of their worlds in an interplanetary war. The story begins millions of years ago when our ancestors came to this solar system from other stars. For millions of years there was a stable, high civilization on Earth and Mars. The aim of the civilization was the advancement of souls from this material realm to the spiri- tual realm. Then a war broke out among the people of our solar system and those of another. This ended with the destruction of the cities of Mars and the loss of its atmosphere. The effects of that first Martian destruction can still be observed in the field of craters which we flew over in the southern hemi- sphere. A group of asteroids pass through our solar system at regular intervals as the sun passes back and forth through the galactic plane in its orbit around the center of the galaxy. During one such entry into the galactic plane, aster- oids were directed toward Mars in an ancient war. Coming in from the south, they pummeled Mars until its seas were vaporized and its atmosphere was scattered into space. The civilization on Earth was destroyed as well, but with much less devastation to the planet. The few survivors on Earth managed to destroy the last of the invaders, but, a few generations after the last battle, the civilization on Earth had been reduced to the most primitive level. Then, five hundred thousand years ago, other beings came to this solar system and began developing the human race again. Over the many thousands of years, other high civilizations arose on Earth. Eventually, man returned to Mars and recon- ditioned the planet, restored its atmosphere, its seas, its plants, its animals. Then, just thirty thousand years ago, intelligences who worshipped power came into our solar system and once again war broke out. These intelligences di- vided the people of Earth and Mars. The art of alchemy which had
been established to advance the spirit of man became subverted to the control and enslavement of man’s mind and spirit. The pyramids were perverted into ma- chines which could dominate and control the individual mind and will. An- other war was waged between the two planets causing great destruction. On Earth, they sank half the continent of Atlantis and shifted the geographic poles by ten point five degrees. This was accomplished by the tangential strike of a large body with the surface of the Earth. The scar of that devastating event can still be observed as a crater lake on the surface of our globe: it is Lake Victoria on the African continent. The great spiral rift emanating from Lake Victoria and the three great mountains to the east of the lake are all the result of the impacting body wrenching the planet from its original direction of rotation and reestablishing a new equator and axis. Here on Mars, the devastation was even greater. Once again, the planet’s atmosphere was blown from its surface and consumed in a great f lash-fire.” “What kind of weapons could create that kind of destruction?” Ade asked. “Artificial crystals which converted cosmic rays into electricity,” Tesla replied.

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  “You have rediscovered their science,” Ade said.

  Tesla nodded, “And the Martians who exist on this planet today are about to do the same.” “So,” Ade said, “the ones who built these structures are the ones who fought the interplanetary war?” “No,” Tesla replied, “it was the descendants of the builders who betrayed their elder’s legacy. And that legacy survived in a fragmented form among what was left of the Atlanteans. After the second destruction of Atlantis a little over twelve thousand years ago, the legacy was transmitted to Egypt, and from there it has survived on Earth down to this very day. From the Atlantean legacy I can determine a number of things. For example, we know that the ancient civilizations used the sexagesimal number system, that is, a system based upon the number sixty. This was no caprice or chance, but was a choice informed by very profound knowledge. The ancients knew that the material universe is constructed upon the base sixty system of numbers. My sixty-cycle polyphase system of alternating current exploits this knowledge to achieve maximum efficiency in electrical systems. The foundation of the base sixty system in three-dimensional geometry is the tetrahedron. The underlying struc- tural force of all planets and stars can be described geometrically as a tetrahe- dron inscribed within the surface of a sphere. The site of these pyramidal constructions here is determined by the geometry of a tetrahedron inscribed within the surface of Mars and suggests likely points where other constructions may be sited. Relating this to what I know of the ancient Martian legends, I strongly suspect that the center of the present Martian civilization lies beneath the planet’s surface somewhere in the vicinity of Nix Olympica, the largest mountain on the planet. And somewhere near that mountain is the most likely place where the Martians have taken the crystal.” “Why there?” Ade asked.

  “That is the site of the most intense tetrahedral vertex in the planet’s stress- energy system, and therefore that mountain is the one place on the surface of the planet where the Master Crystal can draw the greatest energy.” “And where is this big mountain?” I asked.

  “West of here,” Tesla replied, “on a latitude of nineteen point four seven degrees.” I went to the wheel and turned the airship toward the southwest, and said to Czito, “Let me know when we reach that latitude,” and I pressed the accel- erator down. We moved away from the stone face and the pyramids, and in a moment that work of gigantic power disappeared under the horizon behind us, leaving ahead of us only the endlessly rolling sands of Mars.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Exceeding Capacity

  The fastest man can’t run more than about ten miles an hour—not much more than ten thousand times his own length. But all the books says any common ordinary third-class f lea can jump a hundred and fifty times his own length… .

  — Tom, Tom Sawyer Abroad

  We had traveled over the surface of Mars for only a few minutes when I saw a glint of sunlight reflecting up from the surface of the planet. “Did you just see that?” I asked Tesla who was standing next to me. “Yes,” Tesla said. “Turn the ship about and let’s see what it is.”

  I turned the ship 180 degrees and went slowly back along the trajectory we had just traveled. “Bring the ship down another thousand feet,” Tesla said.

  I obeyed Tesla’s order and brought us down to within a thousand feet of the planet’s surface. We f loated along slowly at about fifty miles an hour with everyone at the windows studying the rocky surface below. “There!” Tesla said. “Stop the ship.”

  I brought the ship to a halt and went to the windows with the others and looked down. About a thousand feet below I saw a structure of glass, a sort of undulating, snake-like glass tube, built into a wall of rock about two thousand feet in length. “Is that one of their cities?” I asked. “No,” Tesla said. “Bring us down closer, Mark.” I went to the wheel and slowly edged the ship down toward the wall of rock. In a moment the top of the rocks seemed to push their summits up

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  directly beyond the pilothouse windows. I brought the airship down about fifty more feet and the giant glass tube hove into sight directly beside us on our starboard bow.

  “I can see through the glass!” Lillie said. “There are plants growing in there!” “A giant glass-enclosed conservatory!” I said.

  “There must be many such structures on the planet’s surface,” Tesla said. “This is how they grow their food. It’s a Martian farm.” “Mr. Tesla!” Houdini shouted. “I can see men down there through the glass!” “Where?” Tesla asked, bringing the spyglass to his eye. “Down there!” Houdini said, pointing toward the end of the tube.

  Tesla looked through the spyglass in the direction Houdini pointed, and said, “Yes. They are men, wearing hooded robes and dark spectacles. And… they are looking back up at us. Take us out of here, Mark.” I went to the wheel and accelerated the airship up and away from the wall of rock. “We must move fast now,” Tesla said. “We have been seen. If our presence is reported, the Martian airship crew will know that our ship has not been destroyed and they will come to find us again.” “How fast can I f ly this ship in the planet’s atmosphere?” I asked.

  Tesla said, “Take us up to fifty thousand feet and accelerate to twenty thousand miles per hour.” I took the ship up as Tesla had instructed. In a few moments Czito said, “We have reached nineteen point four seven degrees latitude.” “Turn the ship due west,” Tesla said. I turned the ship toward the sun which was now down toward the west throwing out its afternoon light. Somewhere out there, millions of miles back beyond the sun, Earth sped along on its orbit, and our home world’s existence now seemed as unreal and fanciful as Mars had once seemed. “You are now pointed due west,” Czito said. “Stay this course and maintain your speed,” Tesla said.

  After a few more moments the red horizon seemed to bulge up and a scattering of white clouds slipped into view from over the bulge. I watched as the bulge grew closer, and as it spread out in size so did the vast umbrella of white clouds that hovered directly above it. Then we began passing over the clouds, and through their breaks I could see the surface of the planet below. At the summit of that bulge of land was the caldera of a volcano that was so big that its f loor must have been fifteen or twenty miles across. “That’s not a mountain down there,” I said. “It’s a volcano—and it makes the Kilauea Crater look like a carbuncle.” Tesla said, “That is Nix Olympica, the central volcano of Mars, and the central node of the planet’s lateral gravitational field. Do you remember the legends?”

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  I said, “The Martians built an underground city inside a giant dormant volcano.” “Yes,” Tesla said, “and it was there that they made their last stand against the warships of Earth as this planet’s atmosphere was blasted from its surface.” “You know,” I said, “years ago on the Island of Hawaii, I had a kahuna take me down into the lava tubes that run beneath the volcano. Those tubes ran for miles and
opened up into gigantic caverns. The kahuna told me that some of those tubes extended underneath the sea f loor to the other islands of the Sandwich chain. If the Kilauea has lava tubes like that on Earth, just imagine what must be under that piece of real estate down there.” “Yes,“ Tesla said, “and not only the tubes and voids that are natural formations, but imagine the ones cut by artifice thousands of years ago. A people who could build half-mile high pyramids on the planet’s surface could build on the same scale underground. Bring the ship back down to five thousand feet and stop it in position above the edge of the caldera.”