The Devolutionist and The Emancipatrix | Page 4

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.

III
SMITH'S MIND WANDERS

Secretly Smith hoped he might find an agent who also was an engineer. He had this in
mind all the while he was repeating the Venusian formula, the sequence of
thought-images which was necessary to bring on the required state of mind. The formula
had the effect of closing his mind to all save telepathic energy, and opening wide the
channels through which it controlled the brain.
No sooner had he repeated the words, meanwhile concentrating with all the force of his
newly trained will upon the single idea of seeing and hearing what was happening on the
unknown, yet quite knowable planet--no sooner had his head sunk on his chest than he

became aware of a strange sound.
On all sides unseen apparatus gave forth a medley of subdued jars and clankings. A
variety of hissing sounds also were distinguishable. And meanwhile Smith was staring
hard, with the eyes he had borrowed along with the ears, at a pair of human hands.
These hands were manipulating a group of highly polished levers and hand-wheels. So
long as his borrowed sight was fixed upon that group Smith was entirely ignorant of the
surroundings. All he could surmise was that his agents operated some sort of machinery.
Then the agent glanced up; and Smith got his first shock. For he now saw a cluster of
indicating dials, such as one may see on the instrument board of any automobile; but the
trained engineer found himself absolutely unable to interpret one of them. They were
marked with unknown figures!
Nevertheless, the engineer received an unmistakable impression, quite as vivid as though
something had been said aloud. "Progress; all safe," was the thought-image that came to
him.
He listened closely in hope of hearing a spoken word. Also, he tried his best to make his
agent look around the place. Other people might be within sight. However, for a couple
of minutes the oddly familiar hands kept manipulating the unfamiliar instruments.
Then, somewhere quite close at hand, a deep-toned gong sounded a single stroke.
Instantly the agent looked up; and Smith saw that he was inspecting the interior of a large
engine-room. He had time to note the huge bulk of a horizontal cylinder, perhaps fifty
feet in diameter, in the immediate