Limanora the island of progress
line of rent out through the sea to the great beacon which the outburst
had raised; and the dash of the waves had cooled and congealed each
layer as it flowed and curdled from the new peak to the shore of the
island.
CHAPTER XII
OOLOREFA
BUT by what magic had this wondrous jewel group of domes and spires and
minarets grown upon the platform within these few alternations of sun
and dark? From my own experience of bastioning the shore I was able
to understand the rapidity with which the foundations had been laid.
My wonder grew all the more at the marvellous piece of art that now
stood upon them; every detail was so complete and so beautiful. The
giant forest aisle of Cologne Cathedral, the mosaic splendour that had
overawed me within St. Peter’s, the statued frost-work of Milan, seemed
to me tawdry beside the colossal domes with their jewelled magnificence
and the infinite variety in simplicity of the labyrinth of arcades and
galleries and arches. Yet those were the fruits of a thousand years’
faith and work; this was the product of a few days. The more I thought
of it, the more bewildered I was.
Thyriel divined my thoughts and saved me from my perplexity. “You
have never seen the Ooloran,” she exclaimed. I asked her what it
was. I could see that the word might be translated sonarchitect. Her
description of it, though lucid as usual, did not convey to my slow
thoughts a full idea of the instrument; and we got permission to visit
Oolorefa, or the hall of architecture, the following day.
In the multiplicity of wonders throughout Limanora I had failed to
notice this great edifice, although it stood on a level, symmetrically
cut plateau, commanding all the region in which were gathered most of
the exceptionally great and magnificent structures of the island, and
was but one of a series of gleaming palaces which crowned the points
of the rocky spurs of Lilaroma. In each palace was concentrated some
one of the services that the new civilisation had to offer to the
progress of the race. I had visited a few of them, and it was part of
the programme of my education to make me spend such space and time
in each as the desire or the necessity arose in my life; but it had
never struck me to inquire how the marvellous buildings had arisen.
Nor, though I had noticed the frequent change of outward shape and
ornamentation of parts of the mansion of my proparents, had I ever
had leisure or curiosity to find out the reason or source of the
transformations. It was delightful to see the growth of the building
and to remove into the new parts; and as silently and invisibly the
sections we had left vanished. I had never time to grow tired of one
chamber or set of chambers before another was ready for me. It was like
the growth of a palace of dreams; but I soon accepted it as one of the
magic habits of the island, a natural feature of my life, never rousing
query and seldom awakening even thought. So much of new and striking
was crowded into the days and months and years that large portions of
the civilisation had to pass uncommented on and ultimately unnoticed.
With the same wonder with which in later life we begin to watch the
marvellous workings of the functions of our bodies I entered on my
new investigation. As we approached Oolorefa it seemed to me that we
had made a mistake and come to the wrong building; for it rang with
the most entrancing music and I thought that it must be the cathedral
of the island. It had one vast central dome surrounded by countless
cupolas, and as we skirted the edifice I heard underneath each of these
smaller roofs sweet melodies sounding too low to be heard beyond its
partition walls and almost drowned in the thunderous diapason of the
central dome. These I took for chapels and fanes subsidiary to the
great temple, round which they clustered.
We entered and I was amazed to find under what I had thought to be the
temple of the island a great mansion, but dwarfed by the height and
size of the temple roof. The fence enclosing it had just been shaken
to dust by their new electric process for the atomising of irelium.
What was to be done with the new structure? It was walled in by the
giant cupola, and could not possibly be removed. The thought was
beating about in my mind, but ceased before a sudden crash; I looked
up and there, one complete and evenly cut quadrant of the dome had
vanished, and the bright sun shone in undimmed by any medium. I again
noticed something going on around us. Great flanks like the sides of
a ship were fitted to the bottom of the new building, and along them
underneath were adjusted huge floats. Wings were then attached to
either side, and a strong wing-engine was placed in the body and two
rudder-engines in the after-part of the raft. They were rapidly charged
with electricity, the floats were exhausted of their heavier air, and
up rose the whole structure through the huge aperture in the dome; and
I could see its pilots guide it this way and that through the air to
fit the unequal and varying wind that blew, till at last it disappeared
round a shoulder of Lilaroma. I had run out of Oolorefa to watch the
flight of the great mansion on its aërial raft, and when it went out of
sight I returned, reflecting with a sigh of relief that this explained
the magic growth of the house in which I lived; the additions had
arrived and been fixed and adapted to the purposes of human habitation
while I was sleeping or absent on my daily pursuits.
I was startled when I got back to find the dome complete again and
preparation being made for constructing some other irelium shell.
The fence-work had been raised. By its wall stood the key-board of a
gigantic organ-like musical instrument, the other half of which was
so arranged within the new framework that the whole volume of its
sound should bear upon whatever the fence enclosed. A huge bell mouth
opened out into the chamber; and I soon saw that out of this issued a
snow-storm of irelium particles which floated lightly in the air. A
peal of music rang out from the instrument, and I saw the dust motes
settle rapidly into a symmetrical figure, that minute by minute grew
into a gigantic nautilus shell. The musician who sat at the key-board
watched the snow-whirl within and the magical rise of the walls. I
perceived that the bar of music was repeated again and again, with
gradual ingrafting of variation as the shell-like walls bent over. At
a certain point where the whorl began to incurve backwards the strain
completely changed and reminded me of a fugue. Back and forth it shot
its monotonous shuttle of sound. I was spellbound by the cradling
melody and the sinuous flexure of the vast conch. The completion of the
process and the cessation of the music broke the spell, and I pressed
near to ask explanations and to see the result. Some enchanter’s power
must surely have drawn in the floating particles to the thin curves of
the structure and held them there; for the motes continued to float
unattracted, but in sparse and sparser cloud; and at last they ceased
to move, and settled on the fence, dimming its translucence. I felt the
metal floor grow first hotter and hotter, and then cooler and cooler
till it was ice-cold. Within a fraction of an hour the whole process
was complete; the fencing walls were shaken to dust, and there stood
the gigantic nautilus perfect in its grace, clear as crystal but for
the frostwork of nautilus patterns all over its surface. It was a new
experiment in form for a winged ship of the air, and as I stood the
wings were added and the engines put on board. The navigators embarked;
a smaller quadrant of the dome crashed aside; and out by the aperture
floated this huge air-bubble rainbow-lustrous in the sun.
Thyriel led me to the vacant space whence the airship had been
launched; and there I was shown how powerful magnets made the
snow-storm sweep so rapidly downwards and held the irelium dust in
position, once it had taken shape. Then the alternate floors were
exhibited to me, one emanating heat which melted the new structure
into a permanency, and another that reduced the temperature below
freezing-point and completed the architectural process by chilling
the metal. There were other floors easy of substitution by means of
leverage and the application of great force; as one was withdrawn,
another was run into its place. One was suited for one chemical
process, another for another. A second set were for applying to the
walls of the new structure different forms or grades of electricity.
A third set could infuse into them various kinds of concreting fluids
to make them cohere when the heating and chilling process was likely
to fail. This was the great Ooloran that I had come to see, and only
the most skilled musician and architect was allowed to sit down at the
key-board.
In order to show me the part that music took in this swift
architecture, I was led round the circle of sub-chapels, that I had
seen surrounding the great dome. In these were employed the various
draughtsmen of Oolorefa. In the first we entered the experimenter was
engaged in seeking the most beautiful form for a new mansion which
was to be placed up amongst the snows of Lilaroma; it would have to
withstand great gusts of wind and at times heavy drifts of snow; it
would also have to bear a variety of high temperatures within in order
to protect the dwellers from the bitterness of the night. The building
was meant for those who had to watch the storm-cone and keep it in
perfect working order. The draughtsman was using a miniature Ooloran,
and deftly sounding various musical notes, and sometimes songs into
its irelium dust whirlwind; but there was always one predominating
note, meant to introduce into each experiment a feature that had been
before tested and found suitable. He fixed his experiments by means
of his small movable floors, and then placed the resulting forms in
order along a shelf, attaching to each the score of music which had
produced it. It was like a collection of toy observatories. Within a
neighbouring compartment of like transparent walls another artisan
submitted each of the models to the influences of stress and strain,
of heat and cold, of snow pressure and tornado violence that the
ultimate and full-sized mansion would have to undergo. One succumbed
to the heat, another to the severe cold, a third to an avalanche from
above, a fourth to a gust of wind. He marked the flaw in each and the
influence that had brought it out, and handed the model back to the
draughtsman, who at once corrected the note or notes in the score of
music which symbolised the flaw. When the result of the experimentation
was complete, the score of the music and the miniature fabric were sent
to the central dome; and in less than an hour the huge mansion was
on its winged raft speeding towards its destination far up the great
mountain-slope.
I was led through the whole series of experimenting chapels; in each
was there a miniature sonarchitect producing test forms for special
purposes under the skilled hands of creative workmen and their pupils.
In most of them new designs were being produced for private houses;
for of these was needed the greatest variety, as each islander had
his home renewed so frequently. I could not have conceived that so
many different forms could be created for the same purpose; indeed
the number seemed to be limited only by the possible combination of
notes of music and the need of adapting each design to habitation
and the habits of the dwellers. The skill of the artist lay in the
selection of the proper forms out of the multitude he daily evolved,
and in their adaptation to the necessities of Limanoran life. It was