Although Lacus Solis was 2,600 miles away from them and quite distant from the spot which Bergmann had selected for their landing strip, it became apparent to Holt that a landing of the other boats near Lacus Solis might well be sensible, for it was plain that the Martian Government was anything but unprepared for the visitation by the Earthlings.
Even the most distant outposts had evidently received instructions for the treatment of the interplanetary visitors. "Send them to Headquarters immediately," was quite plainly the tenor of the policy. Holt could see no reason for doing otherwise than comply with alacrity.
It was a question whether he should attempt to make clear that he would proceed there in his own vehicles, or seek Martian transportation, which he knew must exist in view of the technical perfection attained along other lines.
Martian transportation, whatever it might be, would doubtless offer the quickest answer to the question of the attitudes of the inhabitants of the planet. On the other hand, he and such members of his group as might accompany him would be separating themselves from what little equipment they possessed.
The other alternative, to undertake the long drive with his own vehicles, at the rate of 120 miles a day, would require almost a full month, and during that time the Martian authorities, to whom his presence was known, might well grow suspicious of his intentions and perhaps take unpleasant countermeasures.
Holt put the question to Billingsley and Gudunek while their hosts listened politely if perhaps uncomprehendingly.
"No doubt about it," said the former. "We'd best thrust our unprotected heads right into the lion's mouth as soon as possible. He'll be much less likely to bite than if we delay the business."
Gudunek expressed the same sentiments and brought up the question of how many men should accompany Holt.
"If we take too many," said he, "we shall have difficulty keeping them together."
"Quite right," answered Holt. "We three will do it and leave the rest of the party with the caterpillars to await word from us. Hubbard will wait seven days, and if he doesn't hear from us, he'll drive on to the location already selected for the landing strip, prepare it, and arrange anything further according to his judgment and Knight's."
After some difficulty in convincing the elderly Martian that they must depart from the pumping station in order to communicate with the waiting landing party outside before accompanying him to Ahla, they were politely ushered out of the airlock, from which the old gentleman observed with interest their return to the vehicle. Exactly what his feelings were when the other caterpillars rolled up and their helmeted crews crowded into one of them, they could not tell. His greeting was nonetheless cordial when Holt, Billingsley and Gudunek returned dragging heavy boxes which they took with them into the airlock and to the floor of the pumping station.
Following the Martian, the three Earthlings and their burdens entered another elevator which plunged yet deeper into the mysterious planet. At the bottom, the Martian opened the door and they stepped out into a bright, vaulted space of some sixty feet in length and twelve in height. Both lateral walls were interrupted by circular glass windows reaching to the floor. Looking through one of them, Holt saw a wide tube of some 12 feet in diameter gleaming brightly, as did all other rooms or corridors, by reason of the luminous paint.
"That looks rather like a subway tunnel," he remarked to Billingsley, "except for there being no rails."
"There's a sort of slot at the top," commented the latter. "Perhaps it's a kind of hanging railway, by Jove!"
They advanced to one of the round windows somewhat further down the sixty-foot platform and saw through it a compartment containing a number of low, but comfortable-looking seats.
"The Mars Express!" whistled Gudunek.
"The Ahla Limited, so help me" cracked Billingsley.
The Martians pressed a switch button beside the window, which promptly slid up, much after the manner of the windows of the more expensive terrestrial motor cars. With his help, they stowed their baggage behind their seats, and seated themselves at his inviting gesture. He went to the other end of the compartment and began to work the switches on a panel located there. Beyond him was a transparent sheet which permitted Holt and his companions to see the luminous tube in which their small compartment lay, extending indefinitely ahead of them. As the Martian worked, the door through which they had entered slid closed, as did a second one hitherto concealed in the walls of the compartment. The Martian returned and seated himself beside Holt, but nothing moved.
Then there were three flashes, one after another, at the forward window! The Martian gestured that they should remain seated. At a double flash, the Martian raised his arm aloft. Then came a third, long-extended orange flash; the arm came down and the vehicle, for such it evidently was, moved noiselessly and smoothly into the tunnel with rapidly increasing speed.
The Earthlings were pressed back into their chairs with an acceleration reminiscent of that of a Sirius launching. Holt's hands clutched the arms of his seat, his head against the headrest. He could just see the watch on his wrist which indicated that they had been moving for 20 seconds at an acceleration which he was convinced could not be less than 3g! It almost frightened him to realize that already they must have reached supersonic speed, for their vehicle was in no way streamlined, having blunt, hemispherical ends and fitting the inner diameter of the tunnel so tightly that there was but an inch or so of clearance! There could be but one explanation for the terrific speed with which they shot down the tunnel — there must be a vacuum within it!
Holt's curiosity as to the mode of propulsion of this fantastic vehicle plagued him like a rash. There was no familiar clicking of rail joints every thirty feet, nor could he hear the hum of an electric motor or any other source of power.
Finally he determined to attempt to elicit the information from the silent Martian.
From his briefcase he drew a colored photograph of one of his native American streamlined trains which he had brought for the dignitaries of Ahla. The old gentleman examined the picture minutely while Holt pointed at the rails ahead of the locomotive and then made circular movements to suggest the rotation of the driving wheels. Then, with an interrogatory gesture at the roof of their car, he offered the Martian a pencil and the reverse side of the photograph as a place to sketch.
As the lines flowed from the Martian's fingers, Holt recognized a fellow engineer in the old man. Martian railways knew no wheels! At the front and rear of the roof of their car were two horseshoe shaped permanent magnets which were poised around a bearing rail at the top of the tunnel and within the slot running along its center. The magnetic flux which passed through the bearing rail from one pole of the magnets to the other suspended their light vehicle without metal-to-metal contact! The secret of the absence of such contact and therewith of the suspension lay in a device which prevented the free-floating supporting magnet from sliding to one side and contacting the rail with one of the poles.
The device was located behind each of the powerful supporting magnets and consisted of two condenser plates arranged on either side of the supporting rail and whose capacity changed as they approached or receded from the rail. This change in capacity was apparently utilized to energize two electromagnets arranged laterally to the rail through an electronic amplifier. According to whether one or the other of the two electromagnets received more or less amperage, the position of the large permanent magnet was displaced to the right or left by a small increment. The control was so adjusted that the bearer magnet was balanced in a free-floating central position.