I had tried to keep any suggestion of dread front my voice; but a sickening fear had begun to surge up within me—fear for myself, but a greater fear for the girl at my side. I dared not think of the future, when our water and food would be exhausted——
Then Claire spoke, her voice weary and hopeless. “I—I don’t care what happens! I’m so very tired—” Suddenly her voice broke; I felt her tremble. Long-repressed emotions sought release—sobbing low she clung to me, her face buried in the hollow of my shoulder. And there in the utter blackness of the tunnel, filled with strange, until then unknown emotions, I comforted her as best I could.
Suddenly a great, all-engulfing resolve swept over me. I’d escape from this prison with Claire, and overcome Carcante—and all his beastmen, if need be! I loved this girl! The thought came unbidden, as had the love. I loved her, and for her sake, I’d win!
Presently Claire’s sobbing ceased, and she grew calmer. Hastily she drew back then, realizing for the first time her position. But she still held fast to my arm.
“Come, come,” I said reassuringly. “We’re going to get out of this—we have to!” And linking her arm in mine, I started forward along the tube. Our only hope of escape lay in finding an exit; and our only chance of finding an exit lay in search.
WE had taken only a few steps through the darkness, when my feet sank through the floor. Then with a sharp, rending crash, the base of the tunnel gave way beneath me. For a moment I struggled to regain my footing; then I felt myself spinning down and down, finally landing with a jarring impact on a hard, smooth surface. I attempted to rise; a heavy weight falling from above struck my back and head—and I knew no more.
Consciousness returned slowly. Faintly, barely loud enough to be heard, it seemed to me, someone was calling my name, “Jimmie! Jimmie.” Gradually my senses returned; then I recognized the voice. It was Claire’s. I was lying flat on a hard floor, my head cradled in her arms. My face was wet—she had evidently bathed it with water from the canteen that was slung over my shoulder.
“I—I’m all right,” I said weakly, struggling to a sit-, ting posture.
“Are you sure?” she asked in an anxious voice. Upon my replying in the affirmative, she helped me to my feet. My back pained me considerably, but I ignored this. For a moment I swayed dizzily; my head was spinning. Claire grasped my arm anxiously, supporting me. “That was an awful fall you had,” she said.
A sudden thought arrested the wild gyrations of my mind. “How did you escape injury—or didn’t you fall?”
“Yes, I dropped, too, but I landed on you. I suppose that broke the force of my fall, and saved me.” She smiled.
For a moment mv mind dwelt upon that smile—then abruptly the significance of it broke upon me. I could see her! There must be light!
I stared quickly around, my dizziness and the pain in my back forgotten. We were in another great tube, similar to the first, except for the fact that a strange, violet luminosity emanated from the walls of this one. Nor was there dust in this tunnel; its sides were clean and smooth. Nothing ancient about this tube.
Directly above I could see a circular, jagged hole, the place through which we had fallen. It was all of fifteen feet above us; this tunnel was wider than the other. The tube above evidently ran parallel with, or crossed the nether tube at that point, and there was little of the substance of the tunnels between the two. Our double weight had broken through.
“Strange light, isn’t it, Mr. Newton?” Claire asked, somehow divining what had occupied my thoughts.
“It certainly is,” I replied. “And where light is, there’s usually life of some sort. There must be some reason for these tubes, anyway!
“But don’t call me Mr. Newton, Claire. I was Jimmie a minute ago.”
She looked at me steadily for a moment, studying me in the unearthly, violet light, then she replied, “Very well—Jimmie!”
For a moment we gazed into each other’s eyes, intently, searchingly; then Claire exclaimed in some confusion, “Well, let’s hunt for the life you mentioned.”
A second later, the arm of each encircling the waists of the other, we moved along this second tunnel.
We had walked for about five minutes, my thoughts busy with the strangeness of what had happened, and the wonder of this sudden love that had come to me, when suddenly Claire stopped short.
“Look, Jimmie! There ahead!”
I followed her pointing finger with my eyes. Far down the tunnel was a pinpoint of brilliant, purple light! As I watched, it grew larger, drew closer. Then I saw another, some distance behind the first.
“Quick!” I exclaimed, “Crouch down against the base of the tube!” In a moment we had made ourselves as inconspicuous as possible.
The first light had drawn close, very close, while our eyes had been turned away. Suddenly it whirled past us, a twelve-foot disc of misty, purple fire, deeper in the center, forming there a thick, swirling nucleus. The brilliance was intense. As it passed by us, almost touching us, I felt a strangely exhilarating buoyancy. Then it was gone, vanishing down the tube, apparently unaware of our existence.
Scarcely had the first one gone when the second passed. Moving at the same rate of speed, it seemed to be an exact duplicate of the first.
No sooner had this passed, than the third arrived. There was something utterly astounding about this silent procession; if it had not been so tremendous, it would have been uncanny. As it was, it gave me an impression of strange unearthliness, of a gigantic, alien, living power. One disc following another at most precise intervals and at exactly similar speed! A parade of living light.
In all, ten of the unnatural beings flashed past while we crouched there. Not one so much as hesitated upon reaching us; they seemed to be entirely oblivious of our presence.
With the passing of the last purple disc, Claire and I rose to our feet. After I had gathered my scattered wits, and had recovered to some extent from the spell the strange sight had cast over me, I said slowly:
“We’ve obviously seen the life of this place—the things that made the tunnels. Strange though those discs of purple flame appeared, there was something intelligent, something controlled about them that dispels any thought of their being a mere phenomenon of nature.
“There’s only one possible question: Are those moving masses of light the form the life has taken, or does the thicker, deeper nucleus of each hold the intelligent creature that guides the misty disc-machines?
“There’s only one way to find out, and that is, investigate.”
For a moment more we discussed the strange spectacle we had seen; then arm in arm we started through the great tube—two puny human beings in a tunnel of fantastic strangeness.
How long we traveled, I could not tell; but it seemed to me that more than an hour passed while we followed the gently curving, downward sloping tube, searching for the place from whence the purple lights had come.
Finally we came to a point where the tube curved sharply, abruptly. As we rounded this bend, we came face to face with a sight so awe-inspired, so colossal, that it beggared description.
THE tunnel tilted at a sharp angle for several hundred feet, leading into a vast, light-filled chamber. In the center of the base of that great, vaulted room, of such dazzling brilliance that human eye could scarce rest upon it, was a lofty amethystine dome of flaming splendor. Beneath its convex surface swirled clouds of shimmering violet that were opalescent—yet crystalline. Flames leaped up from the dome dancing high into the top of the chamber; flames that were tipped with flickering points of vermilion, that darted out, withdrew, then flared into greater brilliance.
Flames, fire in the chamber—yet there was no heat! Long we gazed at the phantasm, hesitant; then slowly, timidly, we advanced. One step, another, on the smoothly polished surface of the slanting tunnel—and suddenly our feet slid from beneath us, and we flashed down the incline into the chamber.
Ten, twenty feet we slid toward the center ere we could regain con
trol of our footing. But all of four hundred feet lay between us and the amethystine enigma when our forward motion ceased. For a moment we stared at the amazing thing before us; then we turned and gazed around the chamber.
We stood on the floor of the interior of a vast sphere, the walls of which were glass-smooth, and were composed of a substance that had a vaporous, violet iridescence. All around us stretched the curving surface, broken only by the dome, the mouth of the tube behind us, and the three other tubes that led into the chamber. One lay in the wall directly opposite us; the other two were equidistant from the first two, one in each side of the sphere. Eight hundred feet and more above us was the roof, a continuation of the curving surface that was the inside of this great ball. And in the very center of the base of the sphere was the flaming, purple dome.
With the inspection of the chamber completed, I turned my attention a second time to the even more wonderful dome. As I watched the darting streams of purple radiance, I became aware of a strange effect of the light. Out from the dome drifted a queer intoxication, pleasantly exhilarating. It seemed to grip my mind, banishing all but itself from my thoughts. And with the passing moments it was increasing in intensity.
Such mad joy I had never experienced before. My spirit seemed buoyed up, seemed inspired by the living purple light. Claire, at my side, I saw was similarly affected. What there was about the purple dome that caused this unnatural phenomenon, I cannot say; but that its effect was as I have described, I know.
So soothing was this intoxication, that in a few moments all our cares and fears had vanished. Then my mind, queerly, returned to the commonplace. For the first time in many hours I became aware that I was hungry and thirsty. Calling this to Claire’s attention, I opened the canteen and knapsack. In a moment both of us were busily engaged in satisfying the wants of our stomachs. Eating—beside that incredible, purple dome! But the incongruity of it did not occur to us then; nothing that we did seemed unnatural while we were in that intoxicating chamber.
We had just finished our simple repast when I sensed something moving in the mouth of the shaft behind us. I turned curiously. One of the discs of living flame that had passed us in the tube was now framed in the tunnel’s mouth. For a moment it hovered there; then it floated into the room. The other nine followed in rapid succession.
They paused in the air above our heads, completely covering us with a gigantic circle. High-pitched bell notes came from the flame-discs, an elfin chiming, crystal clear, soothing, sweet—their voices! Then two of them floated down toward us, slowly but surely settling upon us.
Claire drew back, a soft cry upon her lips. I caught her with one arm and drew her close, holding the other free to protect.
Closer the violet figures drew, closer till they were almost upon us. Some vague impulse prompted me, I drew back my fist and struck blindly at the misty discs. Futile gesture! With a sudden jar, my blow was arrested before it reached its goal. My hand fell to my side, paralyzed.
Something drew Claire from my arm, something that I could not resist. Then the misty beings settled upon us; the thicker, swirling nucleus encircled us. Engulfed by a cloud of alien radiance, we were powerless.
Completely surrounded by the mist, we were, yet I experienced no difficulty in breathing. Amazing and unnatural—but true!
From the substance of the creatures came a vast, inconceivable calm, a drowsy tranquillity that was all-consuming, that gave Claire and me a peace past understanding. Lassitude ineffable filled us, a lassitude that was, paradoxically, the essence of well-being.
What followed immediately after seemed like a dream. Indeed, I cannot say that it actually happened. The beings that had taken us within themselves, rose slowly into the air, and completely surrounded by the eight others, floated toward the thing of purple flame in the chamber’s center. In a moment they reached it, and hovered above it. Slowly they descended—and passed down through it!
As we descended, I gained the impression of a substance that was nebulous, yet solid; wraithlike, yet compact—energy in the form of matter! Force titanic—yet somehow benevolent!
But it may have been a waking dream. I cannot say.
CHAPTER IV
The World of Violet Light
FOR a moment we had hovered above the huge dome; then we were through, were falling as into an abyss. A great gulf opened, striking down depth upon depth, immeasurably vast.
Four of the purple discs had gathered before us, four behind. The beings that bore Claire and me were side by side. And wrapped about by the purple mists, we were racing, hurling, down a seemingly endless shaft. Whither?
I caught a glimpse of the girl through the misty substance of the creatures’ bodies. On her face was naught of fear; only a great wonder rested there. It was the strange peace that the beings had given us that kept fear from us. At the time, no thought of apprehension or dread came to me—only a great, uncomprehending wonder. It was not until the adventure was a thing of the past that my mind grasped fully all that had occurred.
As we flashed down and down, I watched the wall of the shaft through which we fell. Stone, it seemed to be, but stone that was planed and glazed, and from the heart of which emanated a nebulous, violet radiance. Circular, the pit was, and wide as the hundred-foot dome in the chamber above.
I became aware then of the whistling shriek of the wind. Shrilling like the high-pitched wail of souls in Hades, it swept past, as the misty creatures cleft it.
Wind, tempestuous—yet, I felt it not!
Nebulous, the purple beings were, little more tangible than the air they split; or was it that they, like the substance of the dome, were force, energy, given solidity? Nebulous or solid, they cut the air, and it whirled past, unfelt.
Suddenly the shaft ended, and we were hurtling through the vast reaches of a space of unguessable immensity. Darkness thick and tangible filled the place, a darkness that suggested monstrous things within itself. Shapes unnameable, awesome.
Abruptly the darkness gave way to an ocean of billowing light. Mile upon mile, on every side, it stretched, its waves leaping a thousand feet in the air, reaching toward us. Waves of turquoise, ruby, emerald; vivid pillars of vari-colored light; clouds of swirling radiance—into the heart of this we flashed. Unswerving, and with undiminished speed, we darted into this sea, passed through it—and it was gone!
A continuation of the great shaft lay before us. In a moment the palely glowing walls were flowing past.
Down, down we fell, toward the heart of earth—then I became aware of a gradual lessening of our headlong speed. The shriek of the wind slowly lost its volume, falling to a barely audible whisper.
Far below I saw a point of light; it grew larger; we were within it; darted through it—and softly the beings that bore us came to rest.
A moment, and the discs of mist released us. Claire was beside me; my arm crept around her; and together we looked about.
At first all I could see was space, vast reaches of space filled with the now-familiar, pale-lavender light. Flickering, gleaming diamond dust seemed to fill the air, like midges in sunbeams; tiny atoms of light, they were, that seemed to be alive. And the sparkling nebulosity rose into infinite distances, vanishing in a dim, violet haze.
I drew my eyes from their contemplation of the light; and they came to rest upon a forest of slender trees, whose trunks, boughs and twigs were glowing—cold, white flame! They were swaying, moved by a gentle breeze that threaded its way among them. And as twig brushed twig, and bough touched bough, soft, crystalline chimings and alien sighings drifted through the air from the forest. The trees were bare, devoid of leaves. I could see that no foliage belonged on them; they were complete as they stood.
With my eyes I followed the high-reaching trunks to the earth—and gasped. There was no soil—only hard, smoothly polished stone! Crystal trees springing from adamantine rock! Perhaps the forest was petrified, its cells replaced by crystalline elements—but it seemed to be alive.
We sto
od higher than the forest; far beyond lay masses of gigantic spheres. But they were too far away to be seen with any degree of clarity.
The high, chiming voices of the purple beings recalled me to my closer surroundings. Directly below stretched a sharp incline, smooth and glassy, and gently curving. Urged on by the discs, we stepped out upon this and slid to the bottom.
As rapidly as possible we started across the glazed rock that formed the floor of this subterranean world. But our footing was too insecure; try as we might, our pace was painfully slow.
Suddenly two of our captors—or rescuers—settled upon us. For a moment we were enveloped; then the mists cleared as the beings sank to our feet, gripping us lightly. Thus supported, we were borne high into the air.
Rapidly we sped toward the mass of spheres that I had seen in the distance. Swiftly that undulating, glowing forest of fantastic trees swept past. And then the city of spheres—if city it was—lay beneath us.
I MAGINE, if you can, a vast stretch of faintly glowing bubbles of translucent, violet glass, piled high in great, conical masses, rising a thousand feet into the light-flecked air. Of uniform size were the spheres, each about fifty feet in diameter. And nowhere in the sides of them could I see doorway or window, save in those that rested upon the earth. In them were doorways similar to the one in Carcante’s globular home. The conical heaps, by the way, were arranged in orderly manner, with definite, regular thoroughfares running between them.
Beyond the spheres, miles away, gigantic, luminous cliffs towered mountain high, stretching to right and left as far as eye could reach. It was from this that the diamond-flecked light seemed to stream. But what lay between the city and cliffs, and what lay beyond the great barrier, I had no way of determining.
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