Zarlah the MartianGrisewood, R. Norman (Robert Norman)
Science
Zarlah the Martian
Grisewood, R. Norman (Robert Norman)
Mars (Planet) -- Fiction; Science fiction
Reon now left me, promising to return within an hour, in order that I
might reach the observatory in due time. As I walked slowly among the
tall palms, taking a path here and there at random and admiring the
beautiful beds of flowers, some of which I recognized as flowers also
indigenous to Earth, I noticed that all whom I met greeted me in the
most cordial way, some pausing to say a few words. I saw the importance
of saying whatever was prompted by the first appearance of the
individual, and I found that I could thus join in a most enjoyable
conversation with these charming people, with a knowledge of their names
and the matters of interest to them. All were very enthusiastic about
the lumaharp, and I anxiously awaited another number upon this wonderful
instrument.
As the paths I turned down were all strange to me, I judged that Almos
was not familiar with the interior of this particular building, but as
there were many gardens nearer the observatory, he would have no reason
to visit this one, except on an occasion of this kind.
Not realizing the enormous size of the building, I had wandered far from
the entrance at which I was to meet Reon, and had decided to ask to be
directed back, when suddenly I stopped, rooted to the ground, every
nerve straining to catch a faint melodious sound that seemed to fill the
air. No music on Earth could equal it! Before me arose a vision of
beautiful flowers--flowers that had thoughts as beautiful as themselves,
and that through the genius of a man poured forth their souls in a
volume of melody, so beautiful as to beggar description.
As Almos was perfectly familiar with this remarkable invention, a
gradual comprehension of the wonderful genius of Sarraccus, its
inventor, came to me. Tall, calm, and of dignified bearing; a man of
great learning, but of few words; Sarraccus had won the love and
admiration of all by his discovery of the regenerating rays that had
given the people of Mars perpetual life and health. He it was who had
discovered super-radium, and this wonderful power had, in time, been
used by others until many important inventions had developed from it,
such as the virator, the radioscope, the radiphone, illumination without
expenditure of power or material, and several minor inventions, all of
which, however, contributed greatly to the comfort and advancement of
this great people.
The aerenoid, one of his most important inventions, had made it possible
to reach any part of the globe within an hour, and this, coming at the
time of the great change in the social conditions on Mars, had expedited
the movement to a wonderful extent by bringing the inhabitants of every
quarter of the globe into daily contact with one another. So easy and
rapid was this means of transit through the air, that cities and towns
were soon abolished, and in the process of time, Mars attained the
ideal, and became a World Beautiful--the magnificent estate of one large
family.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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