"Long I gazed, and slowly, very slowly became conscious of the great
numbers of people about me, and that they were being augmented by new
arrivals. The porcelain barge I had come in from the City of Light, was
moored now to the side of the lock. I had disembarked, carrying almost
mechanically in my hand, the chest in which the communications from the
Patenta to the Council were locked.
"It was perhaps only a short interval before the pilot woke me from my
trance, saying in Martian: 'This is the Observation Hill of Scandor.
These are Scandor's Observatories. I hear there is seen by the observers
some approaching danger in the heavens. These citizens of Scandor are
crowding from the City to hear the latest reports. There is a messenger
from the Council here waiting on the observers. I will bring him to you,
and you and the messenger can at once be conveyed to the Council.'
"I looked at him speechless, yet unable to again realize I lived and
breathed in another world. It seemed as if a sudden motion, a cry, a
whisper even, would break the chrysalis of sleep about me, and plunge me
into void and nothingness.
"The pilot left me, and I saw him thread his way amongst the lines of
people, moving toward the dark walls of the observatory that covered the
hill. At long intervals rockets rose from the opposite rim of the great
circular ridge around the City, scarring the deep, inky vault about us
with lines of fire. They ascended to an enormous distance.
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