"'Mooneys eat these ? ' said I to Phi-oo

"'Yes, food '

"'Goodness me ! ' I cried; 'what's that ? '

"My eye had just caught the figure of an exceptionally big and ungainly Selenite lying motionless stems, face downward We stopped

"'Dead ? ' I asked (For no dead the moon, and grown curious )

"'No ! ' exclaimed Phi-oo 'Him - worker - no work Get little drink then - make sleep - till we him want What good him wake, eh ? No want him walking about '

"'There's another ! ' cried I

"And indeed all that huge extent of mushroom ground was, , peppered prostrate figures sleeping under an opiate until the moon had need There were scores of all sorts, and we were able over , and examine them more precisely than I able to previously They breathed noisily at my , but wake One, I remember very distinctly: he left strong impression, , because some trick the light and attitude was strongly suggestive drawn-up human figure His fore-limbs were long, delicate tentacles - some kind of refined manipulator - pose slumber suggested submissive suffering mistake for to interpret his expression way, but And as Phi-oo rolled him over darkness livid fleshiness again distinctly unpleasant sensation, although as he rolled the insect in him was confessed

"It simply illustrates the unthinking way one acquires habits of feeling To drug the worker one want and toss him aside is surely far better than to expel him factory to wander starving streets In every complicated social community necessarily certain intermittency of employment for all specialised labour, and the trouble of an 'unemployed' problem is altogether anticipated And yet, so unreasonable are even scientifically trained minds, I still like the memory prostrate forms amidst those quiet, luminous arcades of fleshy growth, and I avoid that short cut inconveniences longer, more noisy, and more crowded alternative

"My alternative route takes me round by huge, shadowy cavern, very crowded and clamorous, and here peering hexagonal openings of sort of honeycomb wall, or parading large open space behind, 01 selecting the toys and amulets made them dainty-tentacled jewellers who work in kennels below, the mothers moon world - the queen bees, as it were, hive noble-looking beings, fantastically and sometimes quite beautifully adorned, with proud carriage, and, save for their mouths, almost microscopic heads

" condition moon sexes, marrying and giving in marriage, and of birth and so forth Selenites, been able to learn very little steady progress of Phi-oo in English, however, my ignorance will as steadily disappear of opinion that, as ants and bees, large majority members community neuter sex on earth cities now many who never live that life of parentage the natural life of man Here, as ants, this thing has become normal condition race, whole eplacement as is necessary falls special and by no means numerous class of matrons, the mothers moon-world, large and stately beings beautifully fitted to bear the larval Selenite Unless I misunderstand an explanation of Phi-oo's, absolutely incapable of cherishing the young they bring moon; periods of foolish indulgence alternate with moods of aggressive violence, and the little creatures, quite soft and flabby and pale coloured, are transferred charge of celibate females, women 'workers' as it were, who in some cases possess brains of almost masculine dimensions "

Just point, unhappily, this message broke off Fragmentary and tantalising matter constituting this chapter is, it does nevertheless give vague, broad impression of an altogether strange and wonderful world - world our own to reckon not how speedily This intermittent trickle of messages, this whispering of record needle stillness mountain slopes, first warning change in human conditions as mankind has scarcely imagined heretofore satellite of ours new elements, new appliances, traditions, an overwhelming avalanche of new ideas, strange race inevitably struggle for mastery - gold as common as iron or wood .

Chapter 25

The Grand Lunar

THE penultimate message describes, with occasionally elaborate detail, the encounter between Cavor Grand Lunar, the ruler or master moon Cavor seems sent most of it without interference, but interrupted concluding portion The second came after an interval of week

The first message begins: "At last able to resume this" it then becomes illegible for space, and after time resumed in mid-sentence

The missing words following sentence are probably "the crowd " There follows quite clearly: "grew ever denser drew near the palace Grand Lunar - if call series of excavations palace Everywhere faces stared at me - blank, chitinous gapes and masks, eyes peering over tremendous olfactory developments, eyes beneath monstrous forehead plates; and undergrowth of smaller creatures dodged and yelped, and helmet faces poised on sinuous, long-jointed necks appeared craning over shoulders and beneath armpits Keeping welcome space about me marched cordon of stolid, scuttle-headed guards, who had joined us leaving the boat we had come along the channels Central Sea The quick-eyed artist little brain joined us also, and thick bunch of lean porter-insects swayed and struggled under the multitude of conveniences that were considered essential to my state carried in litter during the final stage journey This litter of some very ductile metal that looked dark , meshed and woven, and with bars of paler metal, and about me as I advanced there grouped itself long and complicated procession

"In front, manner of heralds, marched four trumpet-faced creatures making devastating bray; and then came squat, resolute-moving ushers before and behind, and on either hand galaxy of learned heads, sort of animated encyclopedia, who were, Phi-oo explained, to stand Grand Lunar for purposes of reference (Not thing in lunar science, not point of view or method of thinking, wonderful beings carry in their heads ! ) Followed guards and porters, and then Phi-oo's shivering brain borne also on litter Then came Tsi-puff in slightly less important litter; then myself on litter of greater elegance than , and surrounded by my food and drink attendants More trumpeters came next, splitting the ear with vehement outcries, and then several big brains, special correspondents one might well call them, or historiographers, charged task of observing and remembering every detail epoch-making interview company of attendants, bearing and dragging banners and masses of scented fungus and curious symbols, vanished darkness behind The way was lined by ushers and officers in caparisons that gleamed like steel, and beyond their line, as my eyes could pierce the gloom, the heads enormous crowd extended

" own that still by no means indurated peculiar effect Selenite appearance, and myself, as it were, adrift broad sea of excited entomology was by no means agreeable Just for space I had something very like what imagine people mean speak 'horrors ' It had come before lunar caverns, when on occasion found myself weaponless and with an undefended back, amidst crowd Selenites, but never quite so vividly , , as absolutely irrational feeling as one could well have, and gradually to subdue it But just for moment, as I swept forward welter vast crowd, only by gripping my litter tightly and summoning all my will-power that I succeeded in avoiding an outcry or some such manifestation It lasted perhaps three I minutes; then I had myself in hand again

"We ascended the spiral of vertical way for , and then passed through series of huge halls dome-roofed and elaborately decorated The approach Grand Lunar was certainly contrived one vivid impression greatness Each cavern one entered seemed greater and more boldly arched than its predecessor This effect of progressive size was enhanced by thin haze of faintly phosphorescent blue incense that thickened as one advanced, and robbed even the nearer figures of clearness I seemed to advance continually to something larger, dimmer, and less material