pick a world that suits him," pursued Gazen,
still on the trail of his thought. "If he grows tired of one he can look
round for a better. Criminals will be weeded out and sent to Coventry, I
mean transplanted into a worse. When a planet is dying of old age, the
inhabitants will flit to another."

"Seriously, if Carmichael's machine turns out all right, will you join
me in a trip?"

"Thanks, no. I believe I shall wait and see how you get on first."

"And where would you advise me to go, Mars or Venus?"

The professor smiled, but I was quite in earnest.

"Well," he replied, "Mars is evidently inhabited; but so is Venus,
probably, and of the two I think you will find her the more hospitable
and the nearest. When do you propose to start?"

"Perhaps within six months."

"We must consider their relative distances from the earth. By the way,
I don't think you have seen my new electrical orrery."

"An electrical orrery," I exclaimed. "Surely that is something new!"

"So far as I am aware; but you never know in these days. There is
nothing new under the sun, or even above it."

So saying, he opened a small door in the side of the observatory, and,
ushering me into a very dark apartment, closed it behind us.

"Follow me, there is no danger," said he, taking me by the arm, and
guiding me for several paces into the darkness.

At length we halted, and I looked all around me, but was unable to
perceive a single object.

"Where are we?" I enquired; "in the realms of Chaos and Old Night?"

"You are now in the centre of the Universe," replied Gazen; "or, to
speak more correctly, at a point in space overlooking the solar system."

"Well, I can't see it," said I. "Have you got such a thing as a match
about you?"

"Let there be light!" responded Gazen in a reverent manner, and
instantly a soft, weird radiance was over all. The contrast of that
sudden illumination with the preceding darkness was electrical in more
senses than one, and I could not repress a cry of genuine admiration.

A kind of twilight still reigned, and after the first moment of
surprise, I perceived that we were standing on a light metal gangway in
the middle of a great hollow cell of a luminous black or dark blue
colour, relieved by innumerable bright points, and resembling the night
sky in miniature.

"I need hardly say that is a model of the celestial sphere," whispered
Gazen, indicating the starry vault.

"It is a wonderful imitation," I respond