|
how and in what sense the leap was made remains obscure, even to
the heirs of Atlantis.*
The men of Atlas could fly, it is true, and that by a method
so simple that men will laugh outright when it is rediscovered;
but they needed air to support them; they could not confront the
cold and emptiness of space. Was it in some subtler body that
they conveyed the Palladium? Or, content to die, could they
project some vehicle across so great a distance? The answer to
such questions probably lies in the recovery by mankind of the
knowledge of Zro and its properties.
Beneath the labour mills* run troughs* in which the sweat of
the workers collects and drains off into an open basin without
the mill. In this basin churns with immense rapidity--through
multiple bevel gearing--a sort of paddle with knife edges. The
sweat is thus churned into froth, and gradually disappears, and
is as continually replaced. The workers toil in shifts--eight
hours work, four hours repose, eight hours work, four hours rest
and recreation. The mills never cease day or night.
The basin is of polished silver and agate, and is set at an
angle, facing two enormous spheres of crystal, encased in a sort
of trellis made of a certain greenish metal, its optical focus at
a point midway between the two.
The only sign of activity is that out of this focus a spark
crackles unless the air be dry, a condition difficult to secure
in this part of the world, although fans blow air, dried over
chloride of calcium and sulphuric acid, over the globes and their
focus. These fans are worked by tidal power, human labour being
appropriated solely to the one use.
In the temple of the 'house' are two globes similar to those
upon the plains, and the mysterious force generated below is
transferred to those above, collecting within them. Now the name
of this substance is always Zro, but in its first state the
gesture is a twiddling of the thumbs. In its second, it is a
rapid twittering of the fingers, and in its third state of
distillation it is a screwing of the hands together. Within the
spheres it sublimes suddenly in the air as a snaky powder (4) of
silver, which immediately turns to an iridescent fluid (5) that
is forced up, by its own need of expansion, through a fountain
into the temple, on whose floor it lies (6) in a semi-solid
condition. Expert priests gather this in their hands, and rapidly
shape it into its seventh state, when it is a knife of diamond,
but alive. An instrument like a Mexican machete is used to carve
rocks. The edge shears them, the back smooths them. The rock
behaves exactly like wax, responsive to the lightest touch. What
is not used for weapons is then gathered up swiftly and kneaded
by women of the rank of high priestess. It is not known even to
the high priests with what they knead it, but in its eighth stage
it is a substance solid enough to support great weight, but
eternally heaving of its own force. Of this they make beds, so
that the sleeping Atlantean is (as it were) continually massaged.
To this they attribute the fact that Atlanteans sleep never more
than half an hour, though they do so four times daily. These beds
remain active only for a few days, and they are then thrown into
the ninth stage by being taken into a room where is a cauldron of
great size. They are thrown into this and sprinkled with black
phosphorus.* The Zro then divides into two parts, one liquid, one
solid. Neither of these has any ascertainable properties, for it
is absolutely passive to the will of the user, who may taste
|