The Coming Race - Edward Bulwer, Lord Lytton (free ereaders txt) 📗

to question me, which
Zee had exacted from Taee, yet he did not feel sure that, if I
were allowed to mix with the strangers whose curiosity the
sight of me had aroused, I could sufficiently guard myself
against their inquiries. When I went out, therefore, it was
never alone; I was always accompanied either by one of my
host's family, or my child-friend Taee. Bra, Aph-Lin's wife,
seldom stirred beyond the gardens which surrounded the house,
and was fond of reading the ancient literature, which contained
something of romance and adventure not to be found in the
writings of recent ages, and presented pictures of a life
unfamiliar to her experience and interesting to her
imagination; pictures, indeed, of a life more resembling that
which we lead every day above ground, coloured by our sorrows,
sins, passions, and much to her what the tales of the Genii or
the Arabian Nights are to us. But her love of reading did not
prevent Bra from the discharge of her duties as mistress of the
largest household in the city. She went daily the round of the
chambers, and saw that the automata and other mechanical
contrivances were in order, that the numerous children employed
by Aph-Lin, whether in his private or public capacity, were
carefully tended. Bra also inspected the accounts of the whole
estate, and it was her great delight to assist her husband in
the business connected with his office as chief administrator
of the Lighting Department, so that her avocations necessarily
kept her much within doors. The two sons were both completing
their education at the College of Sages; and the elder, who had
a strong passion for mechanics, and especially for works
connected with the machinery of timepieces and automata, had
decided on devoting himself to these pursuits, and was now
occupied in constructing a shop or warehouse, at which his
inventions could be exhibited and sold. The younger son
110preferred farming and rural occupations; and when not attending
the College, at which he chiefly studied the theories of
agriculture, was much absorbed by his practical application of
that science to his father's lands. It will be seen by this
how completely equality of ranks is established among this
people- a shopkeeper being of exactly the same grade in
estimation as the large landed proprietor. Aph-Lin was the
wealthiest member of the community, and his eldest son
preferred keeping a shop to any other avocation; nor was this
choice thought to show any want of elevated notions on his part.

This young man had been much interested in examining my watch,
the works of which were new to him, and was greatly pleased
when I made him a present of it. Shortly after, he returned
the gift with interest, by a watch of his own construction,
marking both the time as in my watch and the time as kept among
the Vril-ya. I have that watch still, and it has been much
admired by many among the most eminent watchmakers of London
and Paris. It is of gold, with diamond hands and figures, and
it plays a favorite tune among the Vril-ya in striking the
hours: it only requires to be wound up once in ten months, and
has never gone wrong since I had it. These young brothers
being thus occupied, my usual companions in that family, when I
went abroad, were my host or his daughter. Now, agreeably with
the honourable conclusions I had come to, I began to excuse
myself from Zee's invitations to go out alone with her, and
seized an occasion when that learned Gy was delivering a
lecture at the College of Sages to ask Aph-Lin to show me his
country-seat. As this was at some little distance, and as
Aph-Lin was not fond of walking, while I had discreetly
relinquished all attempts at flying, we proceeded to our
destination in one of the aerial boats belonging to my host. A
child of eight years old, in his employ, was our conductor. My
host and myself reclined on cushions, and I found the movement
very easy and luxurious.

111"Aph-Lin," said I, "you will not, I trust, be displeased with
me, if I ask your permission to travel for a short time, and
visit other tribes or communities of your illustrious race. I
have also a strong desire to see those nations which do not
adopt your institutions, and which you consider as savages. It
would interest me greatly to notice what are the distinctions
between them and the races whom we consider civilised in the
world I have left."

"It is utterly impossible that you should go hence alone," said
Aph-Lin. "Even among the Vril-ya you would be exposed to great
dangers. Certain peculiarities of formation and colour, and
the extraordinary phenomenon of hirsute bushes upon your cheeks
and chin, denoting in you a species of An distinct alike from
our own race and any known race of barbarians yet extant, would
attract, of course, the special attention of the College of
Sages in whatever community of Vril-ya you visited, and it
would depend upon the individual temper of some individual sage
whether you would be received, as you have been here,
hospitably, or whether you would not be at once dissected for
scientific purposes. Know that when the Tur first took you to
his house, and while you were there put to sleep by Taee in
order to recover from your previous pain or fatigue, the sages
summoned by the Tur were divided in opinion whether you were a
harmless or an obnoxious animal. During your unconscious state
your teeth were examined, and they clearly showed that you were
not only graminivorous but carnivorous. Carnivorous animals of
your size are always destroyed, as being of savage and
dangerous nature. Our teeth, as you have doubtless observed,*
are not those of the creatures who devour flesh."

* I never had observed it; and, if I had, am not physiologist
enough to have distinguished the difference.

"It is, indeed, maintained by Zee and other philosophers, that
as, in remote ages, the Ana did prey upon living beings of the
brute species, their teeth must have been fitted for that
purpose. But, even if so, they have been modified by
112hereditary transmission, and suited to the food on which we now
exist; nor are even the barbarians, who adopt the turbulent and
ferocious institutions of Glek-Nas, devourers of flesh like
beasts of prey.

"In the course of this dispute it was proposed to dissect you;
but Taee begged you off, and the Tur being, by office, averse
to all novel experiments at variance with our custom of sparing
life, except where it is clearly proved to be for the good of
the community to take it, sent to me, whose business it is, as
the richest man of the state, to afford hospitality to
strangers from a distance. It was at my option to decide
whether or not you were a stranger whom I could safely admit.
Had I declined to receive you, you would have been handed over
to the College of Sages, and what might there have befallen you
I do not like to conjecture. Apart from this danger, you might
chance to encounter some child of four years old, just put in
possession of his vril staff; and who, in alarm at your strange
appearance, and in the impulse of the moment, might reduce you
to a cinder. Taee himself was about to do so when he first saw
you, had his father not checked his hand. Therefore I say you
cannot travel alone, but with Zee you would be safe; and I have
no doubt that she would accompany you on a tour round the
neighbouring communities of Vril-ya (to the savage states,
No!): I will ask her."

Now, as my main object in proposing to travel was to escape
from Zee, I hastily exclaimed, "Nay, pray do not! I relinquish
my design. You have said enough as to its dangers to deter me
from it; and I can scarcely think it right that a young Gy of
the personal attractions of your lovely daughter should travel
into other regions without a better protector than a Tish of my
insignificant strength and stature."

Aph-Lin emitted the soft sibilant sound which is the nearest
approach to laughter that a full-grown An permits to himself,
ere he replied: "Pardon my discourteous but momentary
indulgence of mirth at any observation seriously made by my
113guest. I could not but be amused at the idea of Zee, who is so
fond of protecting others that children call her 'THE
GUARDIAN,' needing a protector herself against any dangers
arising from the audacious admiration of males. Know that our
Gy-ei, while unmarried, are accustomed to travel alone among
other tribes, to see if they find there some An who may please
them more than the Ana they find at home. Zee has already made
three such journeys, but hitherto her heart has been untouched."

Here the opportunity which I sought was afforded to me, and I
said, looking down, and with faltering voice, "Will you, my
kind host, promise to pardon me, if what I am about to say
gives offence?"

"Say only the truth, and I cannot be offended; or, could I be
so, it would not be for me, but for you to pardon."

"Well, then, assist me to quit you, and, much as I should have
like to witness more of the wonders, and enjoy more of the
felicity, which belong to your people, let me return to my
own."

"I fear there are reasons why I cannot do that; at all events,
not without permission of the Tur, and he, probably, would not
grant it. You are not destitute of intelligence; you may
(though I do not think so) have concealed the degree of
destructive powers possessed by your people; you might, in
short, bring upon us some danger; and if the Tur entertains
that idea, it would clearly be his duty, either to put an end
to you, or enclose you in a cage for the rest of your
existence. But why should you wish to leave a state of society
which you so politely allow to be more felicitous than your
own?"

"Oh, Aph-Lin! My answer is plain. Lest in naught, and
unwittingly, I should betray your hospitality; lest, in the
caprice of will which in our world is proverbial among the
other sex, and from which even a Gy is not free, your adorable
daughter should deign to regard me, though a Tish, as if I were
a civilised An, and- and- and---"
114
"Court you as her spouse," put in Aph-Lin, gravely, and without
any visible sign of surprise or displeasure.

"You have said it."

"That would be a misfortune," resumed my host, after a pause,
"and I feel you have acted as you ought in warning me. It is,
as you imply, not uncommon for an unwedded Gy to conceive
tastes as to the object she covets which appear whimsical to
others; but there is no power to compel a young Gy to any
course opposed to that which she chooses to pursue. All we can
to is to reason with her, and experience tells us that the
whole College of Sages would find it vain to reason with a Gy
in a matter that concerns her choice in love. I grieve for
you, because such a marriage would be against the A-glauran, or
good of the community, for the children of such a marriage
would adulterate the race: they might even come into the world
with the teeth of carnivorous animals; this could not be
allowed: Zee, as a Gy, cannot be controlled; but you, as a
Tish, can be destroyed. I advise you, then, to resist her
addresses;