Ato and Odin
understood the words. Being domed, there was no use for rooms of any
kind. The temperature stayed constant. There were wide streets, paved
with blocks of pink and black marble. These streets were flanked by
sidewalks and walls. At intervals of a hundred feet the huge columns
were placed. They were minutely decorated and carved. These supported a
silver and clear-plastic framework that held up the violet dome. Looking
upward, Odin had the impression that he was standing beneath a vast
spider-web.

There were many hedges, all neatly trimmed. Some resembled privet, but
most of them were like pomegranate with larger reddish blossoms that
seemed to drip blood.

* * * * *

Here and there were railings with steps going down. Like subway entrances,
Odin thought, except they were more elaborately carved. These steps went
down to tier after tier of labyrinths. It was a skyscraper-city turned
upside down, Odin gathered from Val's explanations. The first level below
the city was made up of factories and machine shops. The next was where
plants, flowers, and trees were forced, producing the city's food. Below
that, for nearly a thousand feet, were the living quarters of the people.

The ground-level of the city was in reality a beautiful park. During the
day, Val explained, it was busy with street-vendors, open-air schools,
theaters, and thousands who came up from underground to drink the air and
the sun.

Now, it was nearly empty. The columns were evenly spaced and at a spot
exactly between each two columns was a great cresset of stone. At the top
of each cresset were flickering flames that burned without leaving any
smoke. "Like stone tulips with petals of flame," Gunnar said as he looked
at them. They stood nearly twelve feet high. Their pedestals were broad;
their stems were nearly a foot thick, nearly a yard across. Their flames
were violet, tipped with blue. They made a beautiful sight, but it did not
matter. For within less than an hour this lovely park with its carved
columns and tulip-shaped cressets of fire was turned into a shambles.

They had not gone a quarter of a mile before a guard hailed them. A score
of guns popped like opened bottles and the guard died before the echo of
his voice was gone. But his cry was taken up by others. And now Odin saw
that up there in the spider-web framework that held the dome were hundreds
of little cubicles--all manned.

Shafts of fla