pproach,
they forgot their enmities, Dalis and the Sarkas, and watched the
whirling Beryl. Minute by minute its humming increased. The figures
still were plain to be seen within the Beryl, but were becoming blurred
of outline. Partitions had been removed all over the earth, increasing
the size of rooms a hundredfold, reducing their number a hundredfold.
The Gens of Earth, by hundred-families, were maneuvering under the Heads
of Hundreds. The depths of the Master Beryl, therefore, was a maze of
flying men, with their extremities slightly blurred, and becoming more
so as the Master Beryl increased its speed.

* * * * *

Here now was shown the value of the organization fostered by Sarka the
First--for in all the world there was no single Beryl out of tune with
the Master Beryl; and as the Master Beryl increased the speed of its
revolving, so increased at the same time the speed of all the other
Beryls. Minute by minute the humming of the Master, and with it the
others, increased in volume.

"Father!" spoke Sarka. "To the Observatory, behind the Beryl, please, to
watch the stars, and from them to note the direction we take when the
combined vibrations of the Beryls have affected the quiescence of
Earth's deposits of Ovidum and, through its shifting, disturbed the
flight of the Earth in its orbit!"

With a brief nod Sarka's father hurried around the Master Beryl to the
tiny Observatory beyond, from which, through the Micro-Telescopes, those
who knew could read the secrets of the planets, the stars--the Universe.
Sarka watched him go, wondering if Dalis might not forbid him. But Dalis
merely watched him go and said nothing.

* * * * *

Now that the time of Change was upon the world, Dalis realized his
responsibility. It was little wonder that he began to be for the first
time a little bit afraid.

"Note, Dalis!" snapped Sarka, and Dalis started nervously as his name
was spoken. "Feel the trembling of the laboratory, just as the same
trembling affects all the other buildings in the world in which Beryls
are located. As the minutes pass the trembling will go deeper and
deeper, and by to-morrow the first tremors will be reaching into the
Earth to several miles below the last habitable Inner Level! And
then....

"Then," repeated Sarka tersely, "my father will know by his study of the
stars in which new direction we are traveling! For within twenty-four
hours