said, after a couple of
bites, "and this one is just too perfectly divine! It doesn't taste like
any other fruit I ever ate, either--I think it must be the same ambrosia
that the old pagan gods used to eat."

"If all you did was to set up the integrals, how do you know what you
are going to have for the next meal?" asked Crane.

"We have no idea what the form, flavor, or consistency of any dish will
be," was the surprising answer. "We know only that the flavor will be
agreeable and that it will agree with the form and consistency of the
substance, and that the composition will be well-balanced chemically.
You see, all the details of flavor, form, texture, and so on are
controlled by a device something like one of your kaleidoscopes. The
integrals render impossible any unwholesome, unpleasant, or unbalanced
combination of any nature, and everything else is left to the mechanism,
which operates upon pure chance."

"Some system, I'd rise to remark," and Seaton, with the others, resumed
his vigorous attack upon the long-delayed supper.

The meal over, the Earthly visitors were shown to their rooms, and fell
into a deep, dreamless sleep.

CHAPTER X

Norlaminian Science

Breakfast over, Seaton watched intently as his tray, laden with empty
containers, floated away from him and disappeared into an opening in the
wall.

"How do you do it, Orlon?" he asked, curiously. "I can hardly believe
it, even after seeing it done."

"Each tray is carried upon the end of a beam or rod of force, and
supported rigidly by it. Since the beam is tuned to the individual wave
of the instrument you wear upon your chest, your tray is, of course,
placed in front of you, at a predetermined distance, as soon as the
sending force is actuated. When you have finished your meal, the beam is
shortened. Thus the tray is drawn back to the food laboratory, where
other forces cleanse and sterilize the various utensils and place them
in readiness for the next meal. It would be an easy matter to have this
same mechanism place your meals before you wherever you may go upon this
planet, provided only that a clear path can be plotted from the
laboratory to your person."

"Thanks, but it wouldn't pay. No telling where we'd be. Besides, we'd
better eat in the _Skylark_ most of the time, to keep our cook
good-natured. Well, I see Rovol's got his boat here for me, so guess I'd
better turn up a few r. p. m. Coming along, Dot, or have you got
somethi