CHAPTER III
Amboria the Paradise
When we met next day, he handed me his third chapter.
When we met next day, he handed me his third chapter.
The next morningafter breakfasten famille, Xora led me outside and into a hangar, where a few planes of different sizes were standing. She went to a corner closet where there was an assortment of what I would call large, light weight snow shoes. They had two parts, hinged together and pliable, similar to those I saw in Sun-Rank Banard's plane. They were covered by a thin fabric with clasps on one surface and were of different colors to blend with her garments. She fastened them tightly on both her arms, and flapping them like bird wings, she swiftly lifted herself off the ground. She flew around gracefully showing me all kinds of tricks. When she came down, Xora told me that it was too bad I did not know how to bird-fly, but that we could take her small tandem.
She picked up a few small contraptions which I helped her carry outside. The piece I carried seemed to be a double seat of a swing with attachable back and legs and with metal ropes. I thought she was going to hang it somewhere and do some swinging; but no, she next hooked on two flat oval pieces like oars or wings. She also screwed onto it tightly a small propeller smokeless jet engine. When the legs were lowered, it became a double bench seat. She sat down on one end and asked me to sit down beside her, carefully fastening her wings on her arms. When she gave me a bundle to strap on (she afterwards told me it was aparachute), I obeyed, puzzled. She covered our knees with a blanket and touched a button near the engine. To my great astonishment, we both were lifted slowly off the ground.
Laughing at my surprise, she explained, "This is my old portable tandem plane. It can travel 500 miles an hour. I can control its speed, and bring it to a dead stop on any surface. It's driven by perpetual atomic energy. First, we'll go sight-seeing above the city, and then we'll land on the roof of my home in the city. I want you to meet my parents and my sister and brother."
As I sat beside her, the pleasant scent of her hair, the nearness and warmth of her body, and the occasional light touch of her hands thrilled me so much that I almost lost control of myself. I told myself I was acting like a school boy, instead of a grown man. By the faint color in her cheeks she showed she was aware of my predicament. "You are so lovely," I said, "that all these other marvels seem secondary. How do you expect me to concentrate on them? By the way, isn't there a Martian boy who will be jealous of the time you are spending with me?"
She hesitated a minute before she answered. "Not seriously," she finally said. "Of course I have friends, but as yet I haven't made any decision."
My heart gave an extra thump. Then there was hope for me. I asked her if she wanted to marry a man of high rank or of low rank. She answered, "Nowadays very few young men reach the rank degrees, but many of my friends are hoping to marry such. But I first want one whom I love. He must be noble, lovable, intelligent, ambitious and capable of achieving honor by an outstanding action of which I may be proud."
Our talk and thoughts had so confused Xora that she was forgetting to apply her flying rules. We were dodging and barely escaping collisions with planes which seemed suddenly to be cluttering the sky. A small plane came alongside us. The occupant was in uniform, which I recognized as an air policeman's. Recognizing Xora, he cautioned her and indicated that she was out of her flying altitude. She immediately followed the instructions he gave. After he had left, she told me he was a schoolmate of hers and was now serving his first year in the general army of service, of which all policemen were members.
"He certainly went against the rules by not giving me a summons. I suppose he was being considerate of you as an Earth visitor to Mars."
During this time, I had been almost unaware of the city below. Xora now called my attention to the view. She said the city had been constructed five years before. It looked more like a large park than a city. There were no streets, but wide park lanes, criss-crossing each other. There was a large round lake in the center, surrounded by beautiful buildings.
Carefully kept lawns, gardens, and buildings covered all the surface space. The roof tops were pleasant to see with no unsightly water tanks, chimneys, signs, wiring, smoke, and junk. There were no broken-down hulks of unoccupied buildings, no dirty, drab, or sooty walls, no fire escapes. The flat or slanting roofs were all covered with well kept verdure and flower beds.
There were courts of different shapes, five or six clustered together, surrounded by green markings like a hedge, with a very visible letter in the Martian calligraphy within a center flowerbed denoting, I suppose, its number and location.
Along the rivers, busy waterways with freight ships and pleasure yachts, were clean flat beaches. On the Amboria city side of the river, on the edge and over part of the river on the extreme southern end, many large buildings covered a space equivalent to about two hundred and fifty New York city blocks. I asked Xora what these large buildings were.
She answered, "They are our general stores."
"Why so large?" I wanted to know.
"They are the only stores we have for our city," she explained. "They have the capacity to daily receive, unload, and store the contents of one thousand large freight airplanes landing on their roofs, two hundred fifty large freight ships, two hundred fifty freight submarines, all sailing under and unloading inside the buildings, and two hundred fifty long freight trains. If necessary, they can double this capacity."
"You mean to say," I asked her, "that these stores not only store away, but also distribute everything needed for every individual? Is your city population large?"
"Yes," she replied. "I will take you through one of the buildingson the next shopping day when the people in our section are allowed to shop. That will be Monday.
"The city is divided into six zones, and the inhabitants of each zone are allowed to shop only on their appointed day. The stores are never overcrowded."
"If you shop only one day a week," I interrupted, "then you must order for the whole week in advance."
"Oh, yes, we must submit our list a week in advance."
"Suppose you haven't the time or you are sick?"
"Then, I order either by telephone or by mail from the catalogue, or I can leave my list at our commissary department."
"You just told me you have only one set of stores. Then you also have commissary departments?"
"Our commissary department," she said, "is only the distributing point where we get our daily food and beverages. We don't have to shop for them in the large, center stores."
We now came above a round court fringed around by private homes. Slowly descending, we landed on the roof of one of the houses, where Xora's family, who were expecting us, were waiting to receive us.
Xora introduced me to her mother, father, young sister and brother. All welcomed me with cordiality. There is no need for me to describe them. Nature had been kind to them.
As I was following them down to their living room, her father said, "Lieutenant Balmore, you must feel strange landing so suddenly on our planet, but we are your friends, and we will try our utmost to make you feel at home.
"Of course, since everything on Mars is unfamiliar to you, you must be anxious to see everything. Let me begin by showing you our home. It is large enough for our family and for guests. It is fully insulated; weather, water, fire, germ, and insect proof, outside and inside. We use concentrated sun rays for heat and light, and atomic energy for power and cooking. It is air conditioned. We get the desired temperature and humidity in all seasons; the inside temperature thermostat is set by our health officer, who does not allow too cold or over-heated living quarters. The house is thoroughly dust proof. The electronic dustcatcher and dirt remover cleans our walls, floors, ceilings, and even our furniture, and frees the air of all foreign articles.
"Each room is fully exposed at different times of the day to full sunlight. Sun-ray health lamps are always operating in every room and within the air conditioning unit to destroy all microbes that happen to evade our other guards. These lamps are in every living, work and office room.
"The comforts of our home equal those in all the homes of our citizens from the first to the tenth grade degree. All the furniture, furnishings, clothes, even paper are fire-proof. By our process we fire-proof 100% all inflammable materials, including even the thickest of lumber. We take no risk of destruction by fire. We do not need a fire department, nor firemen. We do not allow conditions to exist to which Earth people are accustomed. I find that in yourBrick and Clay Record Magazine, February 1947 issue:
"Last year you built in the United States a half million permanent homes, but at the same time 400,000 were burned down or damaged, and this situation is going to get worse. You are building tinder boxes and firetraps at the greatest rate in your history and with the encouragement of your government. And this is in the face of some of the worst fire disasters you have ever known."Your fire losses last year were up 30%. They cost 11,000 lives. They wasted $500,000,000. You burned to death 3,000 children in their homes. Yet your Federal Government is encouraging, even subsidizing the building of homes, virtually every part of which above the ground, including the interior wall finish, is combustible. When fire hits such homes they will burn so fast the occupants won't have time to save themselves, let alone the home."[15]"New York (AP)—Fire losses in the United States reached an appalling all time high of $700,000,000 this year."[16]
"Last year you built in the United States a half million permanent homes, but at the same time 400,000 were burned down or damaged, and this situation is going to get worse. You are building tinder boxes and firetraps at the greatest rate in your history and with the encouragement of your government. And this is in the face of some of the worst fire disasters you have ever known.
"Your fire losses last year were up 30%. They cost 11,000 lives. They wasted $500,000,000. You burned to death 3,000 children in their homes. Yet your Federal Government is encouraging, even subsidizing the building of homes, virtually every part of which above the ground, including the interior wall finish, is combustible. When fire hits such homes they will burn so fast the occupants won't have time to save themselves, let alone the home."[15]
"New York (AP)—Fire losses in the United States reached an appalling all time high of $700,000,000 this year."[16]
He led me through their living room, bedrooms, library, fumigating and disinfecting closets, toilet and shower closets without bathtubs. When I asked him about the tubs, he said bathtubs were not used on Mars, as they were unsanitary and unsafe.
We then went into their spacious dining room, where Mrs. Savona was arranging the table. "I have arranged to serve luncheon in privacy here; this room is thought transmission proof, so we can freely talk. I want you to be comfortable. Our guest room is ready for you. You can occupy it as long as you are on this planet. Mr. Savona and Xora will keep you busy showing you around. In a few days you will find your way by yourself, and you will be able to locate and visit your fellow Earth men."
Passing through the dining room, we went into the kitchen, which had all kinds of improved machines to help make kitchen work more efficient and pleasant. Walls, floors, and ceilings were of glossy white. But there was no sink. I asked about it.
"In our small homes we did away with that drudgery and servants long ago. Our dishes and silverware are cleaned at our central dishwashing department."
He led me to a closet with a continuous moving escalator dumb-waiter. "After our meal we place our dishes, silverware, and glassware, all of which have our name and number, on trays going down. When they reach the bottom, they automatically land on a conveyor belt which takes them directly to the central dishwashing and sterilizing machine; they come back, clean and sanitary, the same way."
"What do you do with your garbage and rubbish?"
He took hold of the knob of a small door in the wall beside the dumb waiter.
"Oh," I said, "that's your incinerator."
"No," he replied, "we do not burn such valuable materials. We put our garbage into paper bags, seal it, and throw it into this opening. It reaches a garbage car which takes it to a large factory where it is turned into fertilizer. Our rubbish is wrapped up and sent down the dumb-waiter. The belt conveyor takes it to the assorting room, and again by belt conveyors for long distances to our factories. Very little is wasted.
"The kitchen in our home is seldom used. Underneath thecourt there is a large central kitchen, where any housewife can have her dinner cooked. She either just brings her raw food to the chef, or gives him directions over the phone, telling him for how many people and the time to be served. If the chef needs raw foods, he sends to the commissary department.
"The commissary department supplies foods and beverages to all the residents of a community of five or more courts. It is also an ordering and receiving station from our main depots, which you have seen from the air. Daily supplies are shipped from the depot by our underground freight cars. Emergency shipments are made by messenger planes."
"Does the commissary department ever run short of supplies because of an unusual demand?" I asked.
"If it does, it can then requisition from another nearby department," he answered. "If people are inclined to be gluttonous, and it happens at times, even here, we ration them. That situation doesn't arise frequently, however, and when it does, we study the individual to find out what causes this unhealthy habit and help him to eliminate it. Individuals are very quickly cured from such an unhealthy inclination.
"In the court along the kitchen, there is a public dining room where each family has a permanently reserved table. Menus are made up daily, by competent dietitians, who offer nourishing dishes adapted to the special needs of age, activity, and physical condition of the individual. When we wish a specially cooked dinner, we must notify our chef about the change of our menu. Sometimes my wife cooks a special dinner herself, in one of the small kitchenettes adjoining this large kitchen. It is only when we have special company that we dine in our homes."
Mrs. Savona announced luncheon. A metal cooker on the table did the roasting right in front of us by electronic high frequency short wave radio. The heat generated in the food cooked it in seconds. It was so wonderfully flavored and tasty that I enjoyed several helpings. I complimented my hostess on her good cooking, asking her if all housewives on Mars were such good cooks.
"Oh, yes, and some are better. A great many are specialists in the different branches of culinary arts. But we all stress a wholesome diet. All our girls must take courses in home economics aswell as in practical nursing, pediatrics, and at what you call baby sitting; they are frequently called to care for children when their parents go out. We all get, in our court, a week's turn to work and help in our kitchen. Kitchens in every court are operated by the residents, other residents operate our dining rooms; but it is all done under the supervision of our chef and head waiter.
"We live in what you earth people would call a community style. Every community has five or six courts, as you must have seen from the air, laid out in cluster near each other. The young couples like ourselves who bring up families and who need more rooms occupy single homes or two family homes. The four-story apartment houses, which surround the larger courts, are occupied by people who have already raised their families and who need less space.
"Every community has its preliminary school, hospital, and with provisions for one bed for every twenty persons and one physician for every fifty adults or twenty-five couples and their families in the community. There are also a drug store, theatre, moving picture and television house, gymnasium, dance hall, for the young boys and girls, social clubs for the young and the aged, music band, skating rink during the winter, and indoor and outdoor playgrounds for the very young children. Of course, there is constant intermingling, between those living in adjoining and other communities.
"We also have our own court of justice presided over by a conciliator chosen from our retired aged residents every year. This court settles our personal disputes. If we wish, we can call in an outside impartial arbitrator. We also have in this city a superior court of appeal, presided over by ten retired, aged Martians who are elected by all our city residents for a four year term. Anyone can appeal his case and get a hearing. Our court, comparable to your Supreme Court, is also located in Amboria."
Mrs. Savona addressed Xora. "Do not forget that after the next two weeks you will take your turn as nurse's aide in the hospital. You had better make the most of your time now in showing around our Earth guest."
Luncheon over, Xora suggested taking a walk. "It's a favoritediversion of ours," she said. "You can more readily observe our ground surface while we are strolling."
We went into a spacious outside court with trees, and close cut lawns. She led me out of the court through an opening in a beautifully trimmed hedge which she told me surrounded the five or six courts forming their community. Beyond the hedge, running east and west, one hundred fifty feet away, was another hedge. The space between was a street without sidewalks. Along the hedges on both sides were lines of beautifully shaped shade trees, at equal distances from each other, carefully pruned to allow shade as well as sunshine and beauty. There were comfortable benches under them. Parallel to both hedges were two twenty-five foot strips of beautiful green lawns in lieu of sidewalks. Between these strips were two twenty-five foot pathways, paved with a cork or ocean tree lumber surface, easy and resilient to walk on. In the center and between these pathways was a fifty foot wide full length flower bed with passages every 200 feet leading to fountains and statues in the midst of the flower beds. Happy couples, both young and old, strolled arm in arm or sat on the comfortable benches. The sweet scents of beautiful flowers, the freshness of vegetation, and the pleasant chirping of birds were unspoiled by traffic, and industrial noises. At the end of these hedges, we came to a very wide cross street or avenue, lined with pruned and beautifully shaped shade trees. It seemed as if every street had its own style of trees.
I asked Xora, "I noticed from the air the absence of vehicles on your streets, and I see none now; don't you use your streets even for deliveries?"
"No, all our traffic for deliveries and collections is done underground. To avoid accidents, individuals are forbidden to drive vehicles on the streets or to walk in our subways. Nor are children allowed to ride bicycles on the surface as they do on earth. We have no streets, as you call them. We call them parkways, and they are used exclusively for our pedestrians, who can walk, rest, and cross in perfect safety, even in the dark."
"Then you have no street accidents, and even an unattended blind man can safely at any time cross your parkways in any part of your city?"
"Yes," she answered, "providing he knows directions and carries a blind man's feeling compass."
It was a relief to cross safely without trying to find traffic lights, or stopping to look both ways for approaching automobiles. My precautions in crossing remained with me for some time, to the merriment of Martians with whom I happened to be walking. However, back here in New York I have almost been run over several times because of my forgetfulness. I did not see a street policeman there of any kind; a fact which impressed me then, and occurred to me later. What a relief not to have to run across streets dodging automobiles and fire engines! The indescribable pleasure of children playing and the birds twittering added to my feeling. I was in a land of enchantment.
In the center of the crossroads was an attractive pavilion with awnings all around it, and with dainty little umbrella tables outside. Many people were sitting around the tables with refreshments. Xora led me to a vacant one where a courteous attendant seated us and gave us a menu with a list of all kinds of ice creams, drinks, fruits, cakes, and dainty candies. My companion gave the order, after translating the menu for me. Everyone enjoyed these simple refreshments in a happy orderly manner. No barkeepers, with their noisy customers guzzling alcoholic drinks, no disgusting drunkards, no promiscuous petting, no attempt at pick-ups, no vulgarity, and no high class "Cafe Society."
In a very comfortable corner spot, there were about five vacant tables decorated with pennants on top of the umbrella poles. I asked Xora why these tables were vacant. She said they were reserved for the over-aged and high ranking members and their immediate families. So were the best seats in all public assemblies. Others had to take seats according to their rank and grade degree. Her family had to take balcony seats, because neither of her parents had as yet reached higher than the fifth grade.
Bowls of beautiful fresh, conserved, and dried fruits and nuts of many varieties were placed on our table. Xora said they were not the best of their kind. The choicest food from the commissary and the best articles from the general stores were first allotted to the crippled, the disabled, the sick, the aged, and the high ranking members and their families.
Momentarily forgetting what her grandfather had told me, I reached into my pocket for some gold pieces to pay for the refreshments. She started to laugh and said there was no payment.
"In that event," I said, "I can sit here all day and gorge these, and go to other pavilions when the supply here is low."
"You can do that," she said, "but you will soon become satiated and you will not take advantage of such privilege. It's only the small children who are tempted to partake of more than is good for them. They are not served without their parents, and they are taught restraint. These pavilions are at every crossing and are supplied continually by one of the four adjoining communities for a week each in their turn. Each community tries to outdo the other in quality and service, so as to attract more guests. Pavilions and benches on all our streets contribute a great deal to our social intermingling, especially during the afternoon teas."
"To whom are all these refreshments charged? There must be an enormous supply consumed daily."
"They are charged against the account of public supply," she answered.
"Is there no payment for anything you get here?"
"No! It certainly looks very droll to us when we observe your payments, your nuisance taxes and all other taxes and licenses you impose on your citizens.
"Think of your federal, state, county, and city taxes, your licenses, assessments, permits, and tariffs. How about your large army of salespeople, cashiers, bookkeepers, examiners, accountants, and others? Cash registers and office machinery and other derivative occupations pertaining to your money handling, including your assessors, collectors and other employees, all wasting their time in these your boundless non-productive occupations."
For a minute I didn't answer. Then I commented, "your street cleaners certainly keep your streets in perfect condition. I see no dust, rubbish, leaves, or papers flying around."
"Of course not," she answered in an offended manner. "We have no street cleaners, no garbage collectors who, like your Earth ones, collect rubbish and openly spill it into their wagons, fouling the air of the whole street for the passersby. Our volunteer gardeners prune our trees and shrubberies, cut and trimour hedges and lawns, and plant and keep our flower beds. They have up-to-date tools and machinery, as well as strong vacuum pumps to take up the dust, and dead leaves from lawns and walks. The leaves are used for fertilizer. They take great pride in their work, and each group tries to outdo the other in keeping the parkways and streets clean and beautiful. In the winter time we have no snow, ice accumulations, or slippery walks, because they all are provided with hot water pipes below the surface."
"I have not seen a foot policeman anywhere. Don't you have them, or need them?"
"We do not need them," she replied, "with the exception of a few as directors of air traffic, and one in every court of justice. Neither do we have or tolerate your tyrannical secret police, or investigating agents. Have you noticed that we have no locks on our doors or latches on our windows? No one possesses anything that someone else would take away or could not obtain himself. We have nothing of such value that it has to be hidden under lock and keys, put into safes or safe deposit boxes, or protected by burglar alarms."
"I am surprised," I told her, "that I haven't seen any people of another race on your walks or in your pavilion. There were many blue and green Martians on your grandfather's flight ship. Would you serve any of them at this pavilion?"
She answered with astonishment, "Why not? They would receive the same service you had."
"Do they live in separate quarters in this city?"
"Oh, no, they don't live among us. But those that visit us, or are tourists or members of our council, reside here temporarily with us. They, with their families, occupy some of the best suites in our largest and best hotels, where travelers and tourists from other cities and continents of all races reside while in Amboria. They mingle freely with us, without discrimination, mainly in the center of the city. When we visit there, you will see many of them."
"You mean that only the people of the white race are permanent residents of this city?"
"You seem surprised. You're probably judging us by Earth standards. There, even good citizens supposedly, calling themselvesChristians, practice forms of discrimination. They have no tolerance of other religious faiths; no tolerance of racial groups. Even in social life, clubs and other organizations by gentleman's agreement exclude certain races and creeds. In business a man's ability counts less than his social connections. This to us seems unfair."
"But how can you eliminate such castes," I asked. "You have your principles of democracy," she answered. "If your people would follow them, even follow the principles of their religious creeds sincerely, intolerance, injustices, and bigotry would soon vanish.
"I have learned in school the history of Earth through moving pictures taken from our television. We've used television for thousands of years. We actually see what has happened and what is now happening on your Earth. We have no white supremacy. Our white race has never wanted to enslave, exploit or govern our other races. We have no underprivileged groups of our own or any race. We have found it best for every race to permanently occupy and reside within the continent and climate where nature originally planted it and to have its own territory and sphere of influence. It takes all our races combined to amicably govern the inhabitants of our planet; we cooperate with each other, and compete in our achievements, for the benefit of us all. All our continents and races are amicably and completely interdependent.
"Scientists, inventors, students, and teachers of one race often attend universities of other races to learn of their new discoveries and improved methods and mechanics. Ideas, information, and even machines are freely exchanged between our races. We equally share with other continents and races those natural, mineral, and other products, that we have, and they need. They do the same with us. We even ration among us the scarce products. Unlike your greedy nations, we do not forcibly grab or extort from other continents.
"Each race has its own schools of all types, cultural, professional and trade.
"There is equal representation in our Supreme Government Council. The President of our Council, or of Mars, can be eithermale or female and of any race. In fact, quite often our President is not of the white race.
"Our other races are just as careful and as proud to maintain their purity of race as we are. Our laws in that respect are very strict all over Mars. All of us up to the tenth grade degree, including adult children of Sun-Rank members, on this globe have the same standard of living, and we are happy together; difference in race is no problem to us."
"I certainly am impressed," I answered, "you people certainly solved that problem easily. You have done away with intolerance, and all the grievances of discrimination. Tell me more about your governing class."
"We have no class or racial distinction, no titled nobility, no high and low castes of society, no dollar aristocracies, no so-called upper classes, and no retired rich idlers nor jobless poor ones.
"We have one governing upper class, our aged citizens. They have the intelligence and wisdom that come from maturity and experience. They act on committees of conciliation and arbitration between workers, foremen and executives. If their physical and mental abilities show a natural decline with age, they apply and are elected to the more easy government and municipal offices, according to their capabilities. Our factories have separate apprentice craft training and finishing school shops, where productive speed is non-existent. The shops are staffed by our qualified aged, as teachers. Skilled aged workers are frequently used for precision work.
"By this method, we are able to keep our older people busy and contented. They give us the best of their experience as long as they feel able to do so. They keep their self-respect as useful citizens.
"They are our government elected executives, and officials. They are selected and nominated by their parties, and elected by the people, as an honor, and as a duty. But only of those who have not reached the Sun-Rank degrees. Sun-Rank degree members do not and are not allowed to occupy these offices. A government office with us in an honorary position without any extra emoluments. Whereas on your earth very often loyal party membersand those who liberally contribute to its political campaigns reach and get lucrative offices, and favors."
"How about political parties?" I asked.
"In every one of our races we have sometimes as many as five political parties, although we don't make a career of politics. Government executives and officials are not allowed to influence or bring pressure in favor of or against candidates.
"Because of our system, we don't need homes for the aged, where every day some of the inmates die, and where they talk of death and plan and prepare for it years in advance. We give them a full life. They do not sit around stagnating. They are carefully watched by our medical department. Our aim is to have them live the longest possible time and not get tired of it. Thus, most of them live longer than they would otherwise, and die in harness. Our love and respect for them intensify our desire to have our aged parents, relations, and all others live their full life span. They are no burden to us, and we have nothing to gain by their early death. We are not like some of you on Earth, eagerly looking forward to their demise to inherit their fortune. All soft jobs, as you call them, such as employment bureaus, government and municipal libraries, museums, and other public offices are exclusively directed and staffed by them. These appointments are made on a merit basis only. To the contrary, in your country; so many high and low positions are filled from the ranks of the politically faithful.
"We on Mars are wondering why your government has created what you call theFederal Old Age and Survivors Insurance, through your Social Security Boards, for your old people; and then provide them with such a small pension. Not only are the old people neglected, it seems to us, but money which could help them is lavishly spent on sumptuous Social Security Board offices staffed by young, and high salaried officials."
By this time my mind was alert. I listened even more carefully as she summed up her argument.
"We know you have many healthy, self-respecting, sagacious old people who would fill all those positions better and, I dare say, more efficiently. At the same time, while thus employed,they would save your Social Security Board a great deal in old age security payments."
We were thus absorbed in our conversation at the pavilion. Now she arose and asked me if I were ready to take a brisk ten mile walk to the center of the city. "We all walk at least five or ten miles a day, rain or shine."
I was surprised. "Don't you find taking such long walks harmful to your feet?"
"Oh, no," she said, "on the contrary, it makes them stronger. It's exhilarating and invigorating to walk and breathe fresh air. We enjoy our walks because our shoes are comfortable and soft inside, and do not deform our feet. They are made to order from lasts of perfect molds of our feet and fit their functional requirements in motion. In fact, with few exceptions, all our garments are and must be soft and loose, so as not to create pressure, or friction to our skin. We believe in plenty of exercise. Our women do not need, or use your corsets and your other body torturing contraptions.
"While we walk, I shall try my best to explain to you the layout of our city. This city, between its east and west rivers, is a little more than twenty-five terrestrial miles wide. Let us call the pathways running east and west, streets, and those running north and south, avenues. They run parallel and at equal distances from each other. All our communities cover equal surface space, a square fifteen hundred by fifteen hundred terrestrial feet or 2,250,000 square feet. All the communities except those adjoining the center oval are bordered into exact squares by hedges, even though the buildings within may be laid out in different shapes, so as to make the entire plan symmetrical and harmonious.
"In the exact center of the city we have a large oval running north and south. This oval is about five miles wide at the center and narrows down at both ends to less than a mile; its full length is twenty miles. The center part is the active spot. I know what you are thinking—factories, office buildings, business houses. Oh, no. A few of our manufacturing plants are across the rivers, but all of them are located on our planet nearest to their natural sources of production, as you already have been told."
We were so intent in our conversation that I was surprised when she told me that we had reached the center. I have seldom on earth covered such a distance in such a short time. I did not feel tired; it was a pleasure to walk on the resilient pavements.
We were at the edge of a large lake where a great many people were resting, sitting alongside or rowing in all kinds of boats. Rainbow-colored fishes, of sizes up to 18 inches, freely and fearlessly and swiftly glided in the water among all kinds of beautiful swimming birds.
Xora pointed to an island in the center of the lake with a very large pavilion. "Our Symphony Orchestra plays there in the late afternoon tea period, and after dinner in the evening. This lake-shore is very popular with our people. Others in their homes or sick in hospitals hear it over their radios.
"There are three large artificial lakes here. The round center one is the largest. The two oval ones at each end are both larger than your New York Central Park. In the winter time they are covered with young and old people skating and playing ice games. All about the edges of this center are located our libraries, museums, opera houses, theatres, hotels, stadiums, universities, theological seminary, dance halls, and public buildings, as well as the stately building of our Supreme Council of the Planet Mars."
"Where are your temples of worship, and to what kind of religion do you people profess?"
"Our temples for religious services are located in this city within this center. In our monotheistic religion we are not like you on Earth with your many religious faiths which cause disruptions."
So I said, "I recall reading an article by Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, in which he said we must face the fact that religion has helped make the world a mess. Fosdick is a well-known writer and thinker. He said that religious differences and prejudices set man against man. Instead of unifying mankind, religion seems to divide it."[17]
"That's very true," Xora replied. "And at the same time your Earth babel of over 2,500 languages divide your people too. Herein Mars with a universal language and a universal deity we can come close to the ideal of man understanding man."
"What kind of athletic games do you people indulge in?" I asked.
"Now coming back to this center; at both ends and middle sides of it, we have large stadiums, each seating one hundred thousand persons. We have games like your football, baseball, basketball, tennis, running, figure skating, hockey. We also have our own body flying stunts, for physical upbuilding and enjoyment. Large exhibitions, performances, and circuses often take place here, but with no brutal, hazardous and dangerous feats, such as your boxing, wrestling, high trapeze swinging, wire rope walking, rodeos, bull fighting, or wild animal training spectacles.
"Now, during our summer or early fall, it is not so crowded here. This is our vacation and traveling period. Many people frequent the seashores and the river beaches on both sides of Amboria."
I asked her, "Do you allow swimming in those rivers with all your city sewers flushing into them?"
"Oh, no," she replied. "We are allowed to swim only in ocean or river waters, where there are constant water changes, and not in rivers where waters are used for drinking, and not, as you Earth people do, in swimming pools. Moreover, our city sewers from toilets, and dishwashing machines do not run into our rivers; they are too valuable to be wasted. The sewerage is run or pumped to large reservoirs with our garbage. The solid matter is taken out and reprocessed into fertilizers, and the liquids are pumped to fertilize our deserts and other lands that need it.
"The clean rain water washing down from roofs of buildings through our rain spouts goes into another sewer line which spills it far out into the ocean; the rain water from our streets is absorbed by the soil of our lawns. We do not allow the pollution of our fresh river drinking waters or our ocean beaches. Not like on your Earth where many drinking water sources are simply open sewers, with one town drinking sewage from the next upriver town. One of the worst offenders is New York. It empties millions of gallons of inadequately treated sewage into the harboreach day, consequently it makes swimming at nearby beaches risky.
"Neither do we allow the pollution of our fresh air, as you Earth people do with your sewage, gases permeating the air on your streets and through roof vent pipes. These gases are absorbed by our vacuum pumps and made use of either as fertilizers or as other elements.
"We have read how you Earth people are made ill from poisonous fumes that permeate the air in all your manufacturing cities. Los Angeles with its smog is one of the worst offenders. We know that chimney soot definitely produces cancer and that asthmatics' hearts give out because they can scarcely breathe when the air is thick with smog."
I asked her, "Don't the workers at these sewer pumps and fertilizing plants feel a strong aversion for their work?"
"On the contrary," she answered, "for these services we have a long waiting list of applicants from our most brilliant young volunteers. Some of them have made very meritorious achievements, and a few have reached our rank degrees. A youth is disgraced and ostracized by our girls who does not put in his full volunteer year working diligently at what you Earth people call the lowest menial occupations.
"The youth who does the most menial work is the one we admire the most, and the one we consider most honorable. Why should it be menial, when after all, it is a mutual human service? We give to each other, to the healthy and to the sick, service for their comforts. Would you call the duties of mothers, nurses or physicians menial?
"We are shocked and amazed to see on your Earth so many of your young, healthy, robust, energetic young men who without pride or shame are engaged in many non-productive occupations as well as in some which are detrimental to the rest of you. Our youths, in fact all our workers, would indignantly spurn such employments.
"Nor would any of our youths marry a young lady who did not put in her volunteer year as practical, probation, and aid nurse in our hospitals.
"All these menial duties are done only by our young; thesemenial duties are not so unpleasant as you may think. With our improvements in automatic machinery, pumps, and vacuum cleaners, there is little direct handling. Sanitary gloves and breathing masks are worn when working at malodorous duties; thereby we are completely protected from dirt and contamination."
All this conversation was certainly amazing to me. Finally, however, Xora returned to explaining the city's plan to me.
"Let us go back to our city plan, I want to explain to you so that you will be able soon to get around by yourself and find your Earth friends.
"This oval, which, as you know, we call the center, divides our city from north to south in half, with one part east of it, and the other part west of it. The street number system is similar to yours in part of New York. It is in Martian and not in your roman or arabic numbers. Communities along the center east start with No. 1, First Street. First Street begins at the most southern point near the ocean and runs north, and all the other streets are parallel to it. Buildings around the center are numbered, beginning at the southern end with No. 1, Center Street East and No. 1, Center Street West, and going northward on both sides.
"I have another surprise for you. For the last thousand years, our forebears have anticipated that we would be able to carry off a number of Earth men to our planet. Whenever they started to travel in airplanes through the stratosphere. That is the reason we planned this city when it was recently constructed, in this simple pattern. When the Earth men came, we thought they could find their way about more easily. We do not need such careful marking places for we are like some of your animals, birds and fish. Your homing pigeon can find its home from long distances; so can your fish, and often your dog, cat, and horse. They have an acute development of the sense of direction, and so have we. From land, sea, or in the air, we can easily find our way and destination. When we are back home, you will no doubt receive letters from your friends with their addresses. Would you be able to find them now?"
"Of course I could, quite easily, when I have mastered your number system; but if they live at distant points, I will have to travel. Will you at first take me until I can find my own way?"
"Yes, I shall be happy to," she replied. "In the meantime, I want you to know that my father has made an application for a license for you. You will soon be called to our traffic bureau and instructed how to operate our planes, and about our traffic rules. When you have mastered both, you may select your plane and travel about by yourself. For short distances, we either walk or use underground conveyances. Now we will ride back to my home by underground.
"Our subway transits cover most of our city, going north and south and east and west; every community has its stop-offs, both for freight and for passenger trains."
We were by now on the same street as the community court. We went down the escalator at the corner to the passenger train platform. In place of a ticket window, a trestle, or a coin deposit slot, I saw a very pleasingly decorated space with comfortable seats, an attendant who was very anxious to make us comfortable, and clean comfort stations, which we could safely use without the fear of being bludgeoned and robbed. The train soon arrived; the conductor with courtesy led us to two individual seats similar to those in our Pullman cars. Each seat had a little stand or table upon which were the latest magazines and newspapers. But we were interested in our conversation, and paid no attention to the news of the day.
Xora showed me a daily bulletin printed by her community. She told me that every zone in every city has its own daily newspaper and radio station. I examined it with interest. The east side of this city was divided into three zones, and so was the west side. There were also general dailies for every race on the planet covering all of the globe news or intercontinental happenings without any display, classified or other advertisements.
"We have full liberty of the press, radio, pictures and television," Xora said. "Our government has no right to censor them unless for unmoral causes. Otherwise their freedom is inviolable. We are at liberty to think, talk, broadcast, write about, and criticize our government executives, or our political, and economic defects, from the highest to the lowest, and state our opinions without reservation.
"We give and accept criticism in a friendly spirit, but we are very careful not to make libelous statements."
We had now reached our community, and the conductor signaled for a stop. He led us out to a platform near their commissary department, a very large store with food and beverage of every kind displayed on white monel shelves. Inside the spic and span interiors were attendants busy taking care of their customers.
I again said, "During my short visit here I cannot help but observe everywhere the unusual cleanliness in your homes, on your walks, in your station, and on your subway cars, and in the neat appearance of all your people, both young and old. It seems to be an inborn habit of you people of Mars. How did it begin?"
"Thousands of years back, our ancestors inaugurated these exacting rules by strictly enforcing them first by educational methods. We learn them through our boards of education in childhood and later, through our boards of health, who enforce them by regular inspections of our homes, offices, and factories, and punishing us by demoting us a point or more, according to infractions. So now it has, as you said, become a natural habit with us."
Then Xora said to me, "This experience today has no doubt been a very exciting adventure for you. You had better retire to your room for relaxation and meditation."
I agreed that I was indeed astonished at what I had heard and seen of the ways and conditions of Martian life.
She answered that this was only the beginning. "Grandfather wishes to see you again one day this week, and you will be amazed at what he has to show and tell you."
"It is certainly wonderful, wonderful beyond conception," was all I could answer. From the bird's-eye and surface views I have seen of the city, I could judge that its planners certainly had done a good job in its layout. Let me say again, it was beautiful beyond comparison. It would take me too long to give an adequate description that would do it justice.