Essential Science Fiction Novels - Volume 6. Richard Jefferies

am dazed by its splendor, its architecture, and its art. I have seen nothing to equal it on earth.”

      The king rose and stood beside him. His manner was both pleasing and sympathetic. “I am persuaded,” said he, “that you will make a good subject, and have the interest of Alpha always at heart, but I have often been mistaken in the character of men and think it best to give you a timely warning. An attendant will conduct you to a chamber beneath the palace where it will be your privilege to converse with a man who once planned to get up a rebellion among my people.”

      There had come suddenly a stern harshness into the king's tone that roused the fears of Thorndyke. He was about to reply, but the king held up his hand. “Wait till you have visited the dungeon of Nordeskyne, then I am sure that you will be convinced that strict obedience in thought as well as deed is best for an inhabitant of Alpha.” Speaking thus, he signed to an attendant who came forward and bowed.

      “Conduct him to the dungeon of Nordeskyne, and return to me,” ordered the king.

      Thorndyke's heart was heavy, and he was filled with strange forebodings, but he simply smiled and bowed, as the attendant led him away. The attendant opened a door at the back of the throne-room and they were confronted by darkness. They went along a narrow corridor for some distance, the darkness thickening at every step. There was no sound except the sound of the guide's shoes on the smooth stone pavement. Presently the man released Thorndyke's arm, saying:

      “It is narrow here, follow close behind, and do not attempt to go back.”

      “I shall certainly stick to you,” replied the Englishman drily. They turned a sharp corner suddenly, and were going in another direction when Thorndyke felt a soft warm hand steal into his from behind, and knew intuitively that it was Bernardino. The guide was a few feet in advance of them and she drew Thorndyke's head down and whispered into his ear.

      “Be brave—by all that you love—for your life, keep your presence of mind, and——”

      “What was that?” asked the guide, turning suddenly and catching the Englishman's arm, “I thought I heard whispering.”

      “I was saying my prayers, that is all,” and the Englishman pressed the hand of the princess, who, pressed close against the wall, was gliding cautiously away.

      “Prayers, humph—you'll need them later, come on!” and he caught the Englishman's arm and hastily drew him onward. Thorndyke's spirits sank lower. The air of the narrow under-ground corridor was cold and damp, and he quivered from head to foot.

      IX

      Branasko paused again in his walk towards the mysterious light.

      “It cannot be from the internal fires,” said he, “for this light is white, and the glow of the fires is red.”

      “Let's turn back,” suggested Johnston, “it can do us no good to go down there; it is only taking us further from the wall.”

      “I should like to understand it,” returned the Alphian thoughtfully; “and, besides, there can be no more danger there than back among the hot crevices. We have got to perish anyway, and we might as well spice the remainder of our lives with whatever adventure we can. Who knows what we may not discover? There are many things about the land of Alpha that the inhabitants do not understand.”

      “I'll follow you anywhere,” acquiesced Johnston; “you are right.”

      They stumbled on over the rocky surface in silence. At times, the roof of the cavern sank so low that they had to stoop to pass under it, and again it rose sharply like the roof of a cathedral, and the rays of the far-away, but ever-increasing light, shone upon glistening stalactites that hung from the darkness above them like daggers of diamonds set in ebony.

      “It is not so near as I supposed,” said the Alphian wearily. “And the light seemed to me to be shining on a cliff over which water is pouring in places. Yes, you can see that it is water by the ripples in the light.”

      “Yes, but where can the light itself be?”

      “I cannot yet tell; wait till we get nearer.”

      In about an hour they came to a wide chasm on the other side of which towered a vast cliff of white crystal. It was on this that the trembling light was playing.

      “Not a waterfall after all,” said Branasko; “see, there is the source of the reflection,” and he pointed to the left through a series of dark chambers of the cavern to a dazzling light. “Come, let's go nearer it.” He moved a few steps forward and then happening to look over his shoulder he stopped abruptly, and uttered an exclamation of surprise.

      “What is it?” And Johnston followed the eyes of the Alphian.

      “Our shadows on the crystal cliff,” said Branasko in an awed tone; “only the light from the changing sun could make them so.”

      Johnston shuddered superstitiously at the tone of Branasko's quivering voice, and their giant shadows which stood out on the smooth crystal like silhouettes. So clear-cut were they, that, in his own shadow, the American could see his breast heaving and in Branasko's the quivering of the Alphian's huge body and limbs.

      “If we have happened upon the home of the sun, only the spirit of the dead kings could tell what will become of us,” said Branasko.

      “Puh! you are blindly superstitious,” said Johnston; “what if we do come upon the sun? Let's go down there and look into the mystery.”

      Branasko fell into the rear and the American stoutly pushed ahead toward the light which was every moment increasing. As they advanced the cave got larger until it opened out into a larger plain over which hung fathomless darkness, and out of the plain a great dazzling globe of light was slowly rising.

      “It is the sun itself,” exclaimed Branasko, and he sank to the earth and covered his face with his hands. “I have not thought ever to see it out of the sky.”

      The American was deeply thrilled by the grand sight. He sat down by Branasko and together they watched the vast ball of light emerge from the black earth and gradually disappear in a great hole in the roof of the cavern. It left a broad stream of light behind it, and, now that the sun itself was out of view, the silent spectators could see the great square hole from which it had risen.

      As if by mutual consent, they rose and made their way over the rocks to the verge of the hole, which seemed several thousand feet square. At first, owing to the brightness of the sun overhead, they could see nothing; but, as the great orb gradually disappeared, they began to see lights and the figures of men moving about below. Later they observed the polished parts of stupendous machinery—machinery that moved almost noiselessly.

      Johnston caught sight of a great net-work of moving cables reaching from the machinery up through the hole above and exclaimed enthusiastically:—“A mechanical sun! electric daylight! What genius! A world in a great cave! Hundreds of square miles and thousands of well organized people living under the light of an artificial sun!”

      The Alphian looked at him astonished. “Is it not so in your country?” he asked.

      Johnston smiled. “The great sun that lights the outer world is as much greater than that ball of light as Alpha is greater than a grain of sand. But this surely is the greatest achievement of man. But while I now understand how your sun goes over the whole of Alpha, I cannot see how it returns.”

      “Then you have not heard of the great tunnel of the Sun,” replied the Alphian.

      “No,what is it?”

      “It runs beneath Alpha and connects the rising and setting points of the sun. There is a point beneath the king's palace where, by a staircase, the king and his officers may go down and inspect the sun as it is on its way back to the east during the day.”

      “Wonderful!”

      “And once a year a royal party goes in the sun