That's a problem of getting sufficient sensitivity and damping in the control system, thought Holt. Actually, there was no reason why an electronic control with sufficiently fast action shouldn 't solve it…
The handy sketch produced by the Martian also revealed the secret of the power driving their fleet car.
In principle, it was nothing more nor less than the famous, or infamous, solenoid gun, which for many years had ghosted in the minds of terrestrial engineers without ever reaching the practical stage. Above the suspension rail was a chain of electrical windings, interrupted at regular intervals. These coils were energized consecutively from an exterior source of current so that a cylindrical permanent magnet located centrally in the car roof was attracted from one coil to the next, rushing the car with it. This permanent magnet represented in some sense the armature of an electric motor which, instead of rotating, dashed along the extended sequence of the coils. It seemed that once the period of acceleration was past, strong current impulses no longer were required through the coils, for there remained but friction to be overcome.
Friction? ran through Holt's mind, what sort of friction? There were no wheels whose bearings and rims could produce friction. In order to use wheels, the Martians would have had to possess materials of strength many times superior to the best terrestrial steels, if they were to withstand the centrifugal forces produced by such tremendous speeds! Air drag? There was a vacuum in the tunnel… So there was only hysteresis created in those sections of the suspension rail gripped by the vehicle's magnets. But if the suspension rail were laminated, as is the custom in terrestrial transformers and generators, even the hysteresis caused by eddy currents could not be great…
Every now and then a brief row of round lights flashed at them as they whizzed down the straight tunnel. They were obviously entrance doors of stations lining the underground passage through which they were shooting like a projectile.
It occurred to Holt that it might be embarrassing if another car happened to be stopped to receive passengers at any of these stations. There was no engineer or motorman, and he had seen nobody except their small party on the platform from which they had departed. The elderly Martian sat unconcerned beside him, immersed in the pictures Holt had handed him. He paid not the slightest attention to their bullet-like speed.
The only explanation was a completely automatic system.
Suddenly there seemed to be an application of brakes, for they were gently urged forwards in their seats. Far, far ahead, a slight change of direction in the tunnel could be seen. They were on top of it and could feel the centrifugal force as the car swung slightly outward, despite the reduction in their velocity as they made the turn. Then the acceleration came on again and brought them back to speed.
Twice their vehicle came to a full stop for a few seconds, then the invisible and automatic signals controlling this underground miracle of transportation sent them on their way once more.
After a brief two hours, their Martian companion signaled that their journey was approaching its end. With reduced speed, they slid through switches at forks in the tunnel and finally halted before the round glass doors of a station.
Here a festive scene awaited them, for the tiny platform was decorated with multicolored and tasteful draperies and occupied by 80 or 100 Martians of both sexes.
The clothing of the Martians had a silken-metallic sheen and was beautifully ornamented in the most varied colors, lending a solemn, almost reverentially antique flavor to the occasion. The Earthlings could not but contrast this with the marvelous practicality of the technical miracles achieved by the same people.
At the signaled invitation of their guide, Holt stepped out at the head of his companions upon a thick carpet which led from the door of the car to a group of Martians centered around a venerable man in a violet kimono embroidered with tiny golden stars.
Holt approached him and gave the Martian greeting with his hand on his heart. Bilhngsley and Gudunek, a few paces behind him, followed his example to right and left.
The old gentleman returned the greeting, followed by the surrounding dignitaries.
Harp-like musk filled the air with a cheerful lilt in which a joyous greeting was somehow reflected, and the chief dignitary advanced towards Holt holding out in both hands a massive and glittering ornamental chain which he ceremoniously placed over Holt's bowed head. Then, after the manner of a South American "abrazo," he embraced him.
The hospitality of this reception surprised Holt no little, despite the very complete equipment he carried with which to reciprocate kindness. With a grandiose gesture he motioned Bilhngsley to his side. The latter stepped forward, ceremoniously opening a gold-embossed jewel case in which lay a ruby-studded arrangement in the shape of a star.
As though he had spent a lifetime pinning royal decorations upon the breasts of faithful servitors, Holt gravely attached the glittering bauble to the Martian's upper garment. Next he returned the embrace.
Apparently satisfied, the old Martian made a gesture of mutual departure and stepped forth with Holt at his side. Holt was no little concerned about the baggage with the radio transmitter, a signal from which his comrades in the frozen south were anxiously awaiting.
A turn of his head revealed Gudunek engrossed in a sign language conversation with their erstwhile guide and evidently relating to the baggage which had been left in the underground car.
Coolly he turned back to his dignified companion, somewhat restrained by the obvious impossibility of initiating any small talk, and they walked together, decorations jingling, to the exit.
Chapter 24 — How Mars is Governed
Long and exhausting were the official receptions of the three Earfhlings by the Martian authorities. Holt and his two companions finally found enough leisure to make themselves a consecutive picture of the vast variety of novel impressions which the week of greetings had poured upon them.
At no time did they sense any suspicion that their arrival out of the depths of space might be motivated by anything but the most friendly of feelings and intentions. At first they had thought that perhaps the Martian consciousness of absolute technical superiority over Earthlings had been the foundation of the dignified courtesy and consideration shown to them by the personalities in authority. After all, an interplanetary visitation could be no ordinary event, even in their lives. But slowly Holt and his companions began to realize that they were acting from primarily quite different motives; the pictures of life on Earth with which they had been regaled were to them but final confirmation of the universally held, deep, religious conviction that God had created Man in His own image, wherever Man was to be found. The efforts of Earthlings to subjugate Nature on their richly endowed planet seemed to the Martians technically extremely primitive, but again they drew the conclusion that these pitiful efforts were but an additional proof that God had inspired the doers, and that this inspiration was inseparably linked with that inner urge to action which had been the driving power of Martian civilization.
The Martian government was directed by ten men, the leader of whom was elected by universal suffrage for five years and entitled "Elon." Two houses of Parliament enacted the laws to be administered by the Elon and his cabinet.