on the following morning, ralph, breakfasting alone, sent peter to the apartments of his guests to ascertain at what hour they would be ready to do a little sight-seeing with him as guide.
he himself, in the habit of rising at an early hour, had not expected to see either alice or her father much before noon, and it was a decided surprise to him, to see the latter enter the room a moment after peter had gone on his errand.
"i see that you, too, like to get up with the birds," said the scientist after they had exchanged morning greetings.
"and alice also, when she is at home; but the journey, and our exciting day following it have tired her. i shall just have a bite to eat with you, if you will permit me, and then i must be off to keep an appointment with one of the chief engineers of the tube."
"then you will be unable to accompany us on our tour of the city?"
"yes, but don't let that interfere with your plans. i know that alice will be safe with you," smiled her father, "and i daresay you young people can get along very well without me."
[pg 67]
"i'm sorry," replied ralph, but in his heart he could not but rejoice that he was to spend the day alone with her who, in a few short hours had so captivated him. perhaps something of this showed in his face, for james 212b 422 smiled to himself.
peter returned and presently ralph and james were seated together at the table. they conversed in a more or less desultory manner until just before the end of the meal when alice's father, laying down his napkin, said:
"before i leave you i have a request to make, a strange one, you may think." he hesitated. "a short time ago i said that i felt that alice would be safe in your care. i had a special reason for making the remark. the fact is, i am a little worried about her. a young man, by name fernand 60o 10, has been making rather a nuisance of himself lately. he has asked her to marry him, a number of times, and she has refused, and he has begun to force his attentions on her in a manner which savors something of persecution.
"in fact, he went so far, four days ago, as to threaten her. exactly what passed between them i don't know, but i do know that, although she treated the matter lightly at the time, she is frightened. i have an impression that he may try to kidnap her if she does not accept him, and though, in these enlightened days such a thing seems ridiculous—well, the affair makes me a little nervous myself. when we left switzerland i understood that he was there, but he may have followed alice here. if he has and renews his unpleasant surveillance i shall know that my fears have some grounds."
"what does this fernand look like?" asked ralph.
"oh, a nice looking fellow—at least, the women think[pg 68] so. personally, i don't care for him. he is tall and dark, and has the sort of temperament that seems to delight in opposition. his eyes have a sullen expression, and his mouth is somewhat weak. she has, by the way, another admirer, a thoroughly harmless chap, who is here on a visit at present. he is the martian llysanorh' ck 1618, and he is really hopelessly infatuated, but being, as i say, a very decent chap who respects the law against marriage between the martians and terrestrials, he has never annoyed her in any way. on the other hand they are very good friends, and i doubt very much whether she even suspects that he has any other feeling for her than that of a devoted friend."
as he was speaking, a picture leapt to ralph's mind. he saw again two faces, each in the center of a telephot, who, among the crowds of applauding admirers regarded him with such intentness. if these were the two men who cared for alice, each in his own way, it was not surprising that they had displayed more than a passing interest in the man who had rescued her from what seemed to be certain death, and who was a possible rival.
he recounted the incident to james, who agreed with him that in all likelihood his suspicions were correct, and the two men parted for the day, the older bearing with him the comforting reassurance that ralph would take care of his daughter as he would himself.
it was nearing eleven when alice appeared, bright-eyed after her long rest. she laughingly apologized for being so late, and they set out at once.
"you know," he said before they started, "we new yorkers are strange birds. we only like our city when we are far away from it, or when we can take some stranger[pg 69] about to show him or her the marvels of the town. as a matter of fact the real, dyed-in-the-wool new yorker hates the town and only stays in it because it has cast a spell over him which he cannot escape."
by this time they had arrived at the street level of the building and ralph bade alice sit down on a chair in the vestibule. he pressed a nearby button twice and a servant brought two pairs of what appeared to be roller-skates.
in reality they were tele-motor-coasters. they were made of alomagnesium and each weighed only about one and one-half pounds. each had three small, rubber-covered wheels, one in front and two in the rear. between the wheels was a small electric motor—about the size of a lemon; this motor could only be operated by high frequency currents and, despite its small size, could deliver about one-quarter horsepower.
ralph explained the coasters and their use to his companion; and after they had put them on by means of an ingenious clutch, whereby the coaster could be snapped onto the shoe in less than five seconds, they both went out into the street. from each coaster a thin insulated wire led up the wearer's back to the hat or cap. here it was attached to the collector, which was a stiff pin about eight inches long, projecting half-way out from the hat or cap. this pin sucked up, as it were, the high frequency electricity and carried it to the small motors, which latter propelled the coaster. to control the speed of the motor, one simply lifted up the front part of the coaster; this not only cut off the current, but automatically braked the two rear wheels.
when the two rolled out in the street, alice at once remarked upon the splendid condition of the roads.
[pg 70]
"you see," the scientist explained, "for centuries the city had to content itself with temporary pavements, until about fifty years ago it woke up and covered every street with steelonium.
"you will notice that there are no cracks or fissures. steelonium won't rust and is ten times as strong as steel. we now make our streets by putting down large slabs of the metal, six inches thick. after they are in place we weld them together electrically and the result is a perfect street composed of a uniform sheet of metal without cracks or breaks; no dirt or germs can collect. the sidewalks are made in the same manner.
"as a matter of fact, the tele-motor-coasters would not be possible were it not for the metallic streets. the flat spring which trails on the street between the two rear wheels must make continuous contact with the metallic 'ground,' else the current cannot flow."
"but where does the current come from?" asked the girl.
"you have perhaps noticed already the white slender posts at the edge of the sidewalk, and on their tops umbrella-like insulators which carry a thick spiked wire. this wire, as you see, is about fifteen feet above the curb and carries the high frequency current which not only supplies our coasters with power, by way of our needle collectors, but also propels all the vehicles which you see gliding so noiselessly."
they were well under way and rolled along at a speed of about twenty miles an hour. they passed thousands of citizens, all coasting at high speed. there was no noise but the peculiar hum produced by the thousands of motors, a sound which was in nowise annoying.
[pg 71]
each sidewalk was divided in two parts. on the outside only people going in one direction, on the inside only people going in the opposite direction could coast. collisions, therefore, were impossible. if a person rolling on the outside wished to enter a store, it was necessary to go to the end of the block, and then turn to the left, which brought him on the inside of the sidewalk where he could roll up to his destination. of course, this was only necessary when the sidewalk was crowded, nothing preventing one's crossing it if but few people were on the block.
the trolley car had long since become obsolete as well as the gasoline-driven automobile. only electromobiles carrying either passengers or freight were to be seen. each vehicle was equipped with a short collector mast by means of which the electrical energy was conveyed to the motors. the wheels of all vehicles were rubber-covered. this accomplished two purposes: one to insulate the vehicle from the metallic street, the other to minimize the noise to the greatest extent.
although alice had had a good scientific training, some of the wonders of new york amazed her and she, as strangers had done for centuries, asked questions continuously, while her companion eagerly explained everything with a pleasure peculiar to the new yorker, loving his town.
"what are those strange spiral wire affairs hanging high over all street crossings?" was one of her first questions.
"those illuminate our streets at night," was the answer. "they are iridium wire spirals, about ten meters in diameter, hanging forty meters up in the air, at the intersection of all our streets. this evening you will see how the entire spiral will glow in a pure white light which is absolutely[pg 72] cold. the wire throws out the light, and after sundown you will find that the streets will be almost as light as they are now. each spiral furnishes over one-half million candlepower, consequently one is needed only where streets intersect, except on very long blocks, when a smaller spiral is hung in the middle."
presently, while crossing a large square they passed meteoro-tower no. 26, of the seventh district, and ralph at once launched off into praise of it.
"while you of other countries have a good weather service, we in new york boast of having the finest climate of any town on the face of the globe. as you may imagine, our weather-engineers always have difficult work, owing to the peculiar shape of the city, geographically as well as physically. the tall spires and buildings make the work exceptionally hard, as the air currents are extremely erratic over the city and very hard to control. we now have sixty-eight meteoro-towers, all of various power, in consolidated new york. these are scattered over a radius of ninety miles from the city governor's building, and control the weather as well as the temperature of new york's two hundred million inhabitants.
"you may look at a thermometer any time during the year and you will find it invariably pointing at fifty units.[2] there is never an excess of humidity in our air and life is made enjoyable for the hard-working city dwellers, thanks to our well-trained weather engineer corps.
"during the daytime rain or snow is unheard of. there is continuous sunshine during the three hundred and[pg 73] sixty-five days of the year. between two and three each morning it rains for exactly one hour. this is done to freshen the air and to carry the dust away. it is the only rain new york ever gets and it seems to be sufficient for all purposes."
when it neared noon ralph escorted his companion to a luxurious eating place, which across its entrance bore the name scienticafé. "this is one of our best restaurants, and i think you will prefer it to the old-fashioned masticating places," he told her.
as they entered, a deliciously perfumed, yet invigorating fragrance greeted them.
they proceeded at once to the appetizer, which was a large room, hermetically closed, in which sat several hundred people, reading or talking.
the two sat down on leather-upholstered chairs and looked at a humorous daily magazine which was projected upon a white wall, the pages of the magazine changing from time to time.
they had been in the room but a few minutes when alice exclaimed:
"i am ravenously hungry and i was not hungry at all when we entered. what kind of a trick is it?"
"this is the appetizer," ralph exclaimed laughing, "the air in here is invigorating, being charged with several harmless gases for the purpose of giving you an appetite before you eat—hence its name!"
both then proceeded to the main eating salon, which was beautifully decorated in white and gold. there were no attendants and no waiters, and the salon was very quiet except for a muffled, far-off, murmuring music.
[pg 74]
they then sat down at a table on which were mounted complicated silver boards with odd buttons and pushes and slides. there was such a board for each patron. from the top of the board a flexible tube hung down to which one fastened a silver mouthpiece, that one took out of a disinfecting solution, attached to the board. the bill of fare was engraved in the board and there was a pointer which one moved up and down the various food items and stopped in front of the one selected. the silver mouthpiece was then placed in the mouth and one pressed upon a red button. the liquid food which one selected would then begin to flow into the mouth, its rate of speed controlled by the red button. if spices, salt or pepper were wanted, there was a button for each one which merely had to be pressed till the food was as palatable as wanted. another button controlled the temperature of the food.
meats, vegetables, and other eatables, were all liquefied and were prepared with utmost skill to make them palatable. when changing from one food to another the flexible tube, including the mouthpiece, were rinsed out with hot water, but the water did not flow out of the mouthpiece. the opening of the latter closed automatically during the rinsing and opened as soon as the process was terminated.
while eating they reclined in the comfortably upholstered leather arm-chair. they did not have to use knife and fork, as was the custom in former centuries. eating had become a pleasure.
"do you know," said ralph, "it took people a long time to accept the scientific restaurants.
"at first they did not succeed. humanity had been mas[pg 75]ticating for thousands of years and it was hard to overcome the inherited habit.
"however, people soon found out that scientific foods prepared in a palatable manner in liquid form were not only far more digestible and better for the stomach, but they also did away almost entirely with indigestion, dyspepsia, and other ills, and people began to get stronger and more vigorous.
"the scientific restaurants furnished only foods which were nourishing and no dishes hard to digest could be had at all. therein lay the success of the new idea.
"people at first did not favor the idea because the new way of eating did not seem as aesthetic as the old and seemed also at first devoid of the pleasures of the old way of eating. they regarded it with a suspicion similar to a 20th century european observing a chinaman using his chopsticks. this aversion, however, soon wore off as people became used to the new mode of eating, and it is thought that the close of the century will witness the closing of all old-fashioned restaurants.
"you will notice, however, that the liquid scientific foods are not absolutely liquid. some of them, especially meats, have been prepared in such a manner that slight mastication is always necessary. this naturally does away with the monotony of swallowing liquids all the time and makes the food more desirable."
after their luncheon ralph and alice rolled "uptown," the former explaining the various sights as they progressed. at broadway and 389th street, in a large square, a petrified animal stood upon a pedestal. the girl, desiring to know what it represented, approached and read this inscription, hewn in the stone:
[pg 76]
pete
the last horse in harness in the
streets of new york
died on this spot
june 19th, 2096 a.d.
"the poor thing," she said, "it looks so pitiful, doesn't it? to think that once the poor dumb animals were made to labor! it is much better nowadays with electricity doing all the work."
ralph smiled at this very feminine remark. it was like her, he thought tenderly, to feel sympathy for even this former beast of burden.
as they turned to leave the pedestal, the girl made an involuntary shrinking movement toward him. he looked up and saw, advancing toward them on tele-motor-coasters, a tall dark man, a little younger than himself. the newcomer ignoring ralph utterly, rolled up to alice.
"so you are enjoying the sights of new york," he said, with no other greeting, and with a disagreeable smile on his lips.
"yes," said the girl coldly, "i was enjoying them, very much."
he bit his under lip in an annoyed fashion, and a dull flush mounted to his hair. "i told you i'd follow you if you ran away," he said in a lower tone.
ralph, unable to catch the words, but reading a menace in the fellow's look, stepped forward. alice turned to him eagerly and put her hand on his arm.
"what is next on our program, ralph?" she asked in a[pg 77] clear voice, while at the same time she pressed his wrist with her fingers as a signal for him to go on.
as if fernand had not existed, she moved away, her hand still on ralph's arm. "please, please," she murmured as he would have turned back.
"that fellow needs his head punched," muttered ralph savagely.
"don't make a scene—i just couldn't bear it," she pleaded. looking down at her he saw that she was on the verge of tears.
"i'm sorry," he said gently.
"i'm so ashamed," she said pathetically, "what must you think!"
"that i should go back and knock his head off," said ralph. "but if you ask me not to, i won't. i suppose that was fernand?"
she looked at him in astonishment. "do you know him?"
"your father told me."
"oh," she said, troubled, "father shouldn't have done that. but i suppose he was afraid of a meeting of this sort."
"how long has he been following you around?"
"oh, for ages, it seems. really, about a year. i never liked him, but lately he's been perfectly horrid, and acts in such a threatening way—you saw him. i can't see why he should take the trouble to annoy anyone who loathes him as i do. but let's forget it. we have had such a wonderful day that i don't want it spoiled." and then timidly, with downcast eyes: "i called you ralph. you must have thought me very forward, but i wanted him to think—"
she stopped suddenly, and in confusion. and then, her[pg 78] natural gaiety coming to her rescue: "heavens, the more i say, the worse i make it, don't i?"
"it sounded fine to me," said ralph, falling in with her mood, "i hope you will always call me that."
and laughing together they rolled on.
