ephone system, but had improved it until it was scarcely
recognized and had made it capable of almost unlimited range. Even the
guns--heavy rapid-firers, mounted in spherical bearings in the
walls--were aimed and fired by remote control, from the board. He had
devised full automatic steering controls; and meters and recorders for
acceleration, velocity, distance, and flight-angle. He had perfected a
system of periscopic vision, which enabled the pilot to see the entire
outside surfaces of the shell, and to look toward any point of the
heavens without interference.

"This kind of takes my eye, too, prince," Seaton said, as he seated
himself, swung a large, concave disk in front of him, and experimented
with levers and dials. "You certainly can't call this thing a
periscope--it's no more a periscope than I am a polyp. When you look
through this plate, it's better than looking out of a window--it
subtends more than the angle of vision, so that you can't see anything
but out-of-doors--I thought for a second I was going to fall out. What
do you call 'em, Dunark?"

"Kraloto. That would be in English ... Seeing-plate? Or rather, call it
'visiplate'."

"That's a good word. Mart, take a look if you want to see a set of
perfect lenses and prisms."

Crane looked into the visiplate and gasped. The vessel had
disappeared--he was looking directly down upon the Earth below him!

"No trace of chromatic, spherical, or astigmatic aberration," he
reported in surprise. "The refracting system is invisible--it seems as
though nothing intervenes between the eye and the object. You perfected
all these things since we left Osnome, Dunark? You are in a class by
yourself. I could not even copy them in less than a month, and I never
could have invented them."

"I did not do it alone, by any means. The Society of Instrument-Makers,
of which I am only one member, installed and tested more than a hundred
systems. This one represents the best features of all the systems tried.
It will not be necessary for you to copy them. I brought along two
complete duplicate sets for the _Skylark_, as well as a dozen or so of
the compasses. I thought that perhaps these particular improvements
might not have occurred to you, since you Terrestrials are not as
familiar as we are with complex instrumental work."

Crane and Seaton spoke together.

"That was thoughtful of you, Dunark, and we appreciated it fully."

"That puts four more palms on your _Croix de