On the evening of the twenty-second, Oqua called my attention to
the kaleidoscopic lights on the Watch Tower which was to be the
point where I would bid farewell to my Altrurian friends as well as
my comrades of the Ice King. In the pitch dark nights of the outer
world such an exhibition would have been beautiful and grand beyond
description but even here, with the reflected light which made the
darkest nights comparatively light, the scene through our glasses, of
the ever changing views was such, that I never tired of observing them.
These lights presented all the prismatic hues of the rainbow with the
intermediate shades, continually changing from one geometrical figure
to another, but always coming around to a five pointed star which is
the symbol and sign manual of the material civilization of this inner
world; the changing colors kept pace with the changing geometrical
figures, always returning to the five pointed star, until it had been
reproduced in each of the seven prismatic colors.
This seemed to be the regular order, but suddenly it was broken,
by giving only the stars in the seven different colors in a rapid
succession, until they resolved themselves into a circle, revolving
swiftly on its axis. Seeing my interest in this change, Oqua said:
"The keeper has just noticed our approach and is operating the keys
to send us a welcome in the name of the entire concave. This welcome
will be repeated by every signal station on this parallel around the
world. The principal use of these lights is to send messages by means
of the changing figures, which are well understood by the people of
this country, and especially those who navigate these northern waters.
The one great drawback to their use, is, that they must be observed
through glasses which are especially adapted to this purpose. Here in
this inner world where it is never absolutely dark we cannot take the
full advantage of these light signals, without the use of external
appliances."
As she spoke she set the great telescope through which I was looking
to revolving so as to take in a zone all around the concave, and I
observed other signal lights responding in regular order along this
zone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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