“If this little case and its contents get through the Blind Spot it
will advance civilisation--our civilisation--about a thousand-fold. So
remember: Whatever happens to me, be sure and remember this case! It
must go through the Spot!”
He said no more, but took his seat beside the Geos. The young men took
the rear seats. In a short time they had crossed the great range of
mountains and were hovering over the Mahovisal.
There was no sound. Though the city was packed with untold millions, the
tension was such that scarcely a murmur came out of the metropolis. The
air was magnetic, charged, strained close to the breaking point; above
all, the reverence for the Last Day, and the hope, rising, accumulating,
to the final supreme moment.
For the Sixteenth Day was now only forty-eight hours removed.
Both Chick and Harry realised that their lives were at stake; the doctor
had made that clear. In the last minute, in the final crisis, they must
crowd their way through the Blind Spot. Only the professor knew how it
was to be done.
At the temple they found the Nervina and the Aradna waiting. The Jan
Lucar was with them. The Geos had secured entrance by a side door. From
it they could look out, themselves unobserved, over the entire building
and upon the Spot of Life. The place was packed--thousands upon
thousands of people, standing in silent awe and worship, one and all
gazing toward the all-important Spot. There was no sound save the
whisper of multitudinous breathing.
Said Harry to Chick:
“I see Queen up there!”
Harry circled the group, and bounded up the great stairs. In a moment
he was patting his dog's head. She looked up and wagged her tail to show
her pleasure. But she was not effusive. Somehow she wasn't just like his
old shepherd. She glanced at him, and then out at the concourse below,
and lolled her tongue expectantly. Then she settled back into her place
and resumed watch--exactly as any of her kind would have held guard over
a band of sheep.
The dog was serious. Afterward, Wendel said he had a dim notion that she
was no longer a dog at all, but a mere instrument in the hand of Fate.
“What's the matter, old girl?” he asked. “Don't you like 'em?”
For answer she gave a low whine. She looked up again, and out into the
throng; she repeated the whine, with a little whimper at the end.
Harry returned to the others. Nothing was said of what he had done. At
once the Geos led the group through a small, half-hidden door, beyond
which was a narrow, winding stairway of chocolate-coloured stone. The
Geos halted.
“Dost wish the building emptied, O Jarados?”
“I do. When we come back from under the Spot of Life, we should have the
place to ourselves.”
Accompanied by the two queens the Rhamda returned to the main body of
the temple. Dr. Holcomb, Harry and Chick were left to themselves.
The professor took out a notebook. In it was traced a map, or chart,
together with several notations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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