Another World: Fragments from the Star City of MontalluyahLumley, Benjamin
Science
Another World: Fragments from the Star City of Montalluyah
Lumley, Benjamin
Utopias
"The infinity of the universe of worlds is but a faint reflection
of the Infinite Power that created them. By His will they were
called into existence. By His will they, and all that they contain,
could be swept away in an instant!"
"Not even in thought can ye grasp the boundlessness of His works.
How then can ye measure the infinite might of their Creator?"
My palace stands on the highest ground in the uppermost city in
Montalluyah. It is of circular shape, and has twenty floors and terraces
raised one above the other, the circumference of each gradually
diminishing from the lowest to the highest. There are no stairs, in your
sense of the word, but we are raised from one story to the other with
ease by electric power. Besides the internal communication, there is
another circular tower of considerably smaller dimensions contiguous to
the palace, with each floor of which it communicates by a species of
temporary bridge, so that persons can be moved at once to the floor they
desire to reach, without the necessity of entering the palace by a lower
floor. This communication can be suspended instantaneously by stopping
the electric generating power which acts from within the palace, and
communicates subterraneously with the "Lift" Tower.
On the highest terrace of the palace, and dominating every part of the
upper cities, and many of the other cities of Montalluyah, is erected my
Observatory, whence I could observe the various worlds suspended in
space.
We had for a long time possessed instruments through which we could see
many of the most distant stars, but with none of these was electric
power combined, and their scope was not sufficient to solve certain
problems of great interest.
Electricity, chemistry, the knowledge of sun electricity and of the
sciences generally, had, under my system, made such marvellous strides
as to convince me that an instrument might be made not only to see the
stars more plainly, but to view, in some cases, their interior.
As was my wont on such occasions, I assembled together all the great
electricians, scientific sun-attractors, mathematicians, oculists,
opticians, and the heads of science generally; and, after many years, my
own particular Star Instrument was constructed.
Although this instrument is circular, and has numerous glasses, it
differs materially from your telescopes. Electrical combinations play an
important part in its operations, and for the minute examination of
different worlds, a different diffusion of electricities is necessary.
The variation is regulated not by the distance, but by the difference in
the attracting power of the star, and often, through the peculiar nature
of its electricity, greater power is required to view minutely a planet
much nearer to Montalluyah than is needed for one more distant.
The secrets revealed to me were so great, that when I first looked
through the instrument in all its power I fainted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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