And so, in a while, having listened to the sorrowful sound which came
ever to us over the Grey Dunes, from the Country of Wailing, which lay
to the South, midway between the Redoubt and the Watcher of the South, I
passed upon one of the moving roadways over to the South-Western side of
the Pyramid, and looked from a narrow embrasure thence far down into the
Deep Valley, which was four miles deep, and in which was the Pit of the
Red Smoke. And the mouth of this Pit was one full mile across, and the smoke of the
Pit filled the Valley at times, so that it seemed but as a glowing red
circle amid dull thunderous clouds of redness. Yet the red smoke rose
never much above the Valley; so that there was clear sight across to the
country beyond. And there, along the further edge of that great depth,
were the Towers, each, maybe, a mile high, grey and quiet; but with a
shimmer upon them. Beyond these, South and West of them, was the enormous bulk of the
South-West Watcher, and from the ground rose what we named the Eye
Beam--a single ray of grey light, which came up out of the ground, and
lit the right eye of the monster. And because of this light, that eye
had been mightily examined through unknown thousands of years; and some
held that the eye looked through the light steadfastly at the Pyramid;
but others set out that the light blinded it, and was the work of those
Other Powers which were abroad to do combat with the Evil Forces. But
however this may be, as I stood there in the embrasure, and looked at
the thing through the spy-glass, it seemed to my soul that the Brute
looked straightly at me, unwinking and steadfast, and fully of a
knowledge that I spied upon it. And this is how I felt. To the North of this, in the direction of the West, I saw The Place
Where The Silent Ones Kill; and this was so named, because there, maybe
ten thousand years gone, certain humans adventuring from the Pyramid,
came off the Road Where The Silent Ones Walk, and into that place, and
were immediately destroyed. And this was told by one who escaped; though
he died also very quickly, for his heart was frozen. And this I cannot
explain; but so it was set out in the Records. Far away beyond The Place Where The Silent Ones Kill, in the very mouth
of the Western Night was the Place of the Ab-humans, where was lost the
Road Where The Silent Ones Walk, in a dull green, luminous mist. And of
this place nothing was known; though much it held the thoughts and
attentions of our thinkers and imaginers; for some said that there was a
Place Of Safety, differing from the Redoubt (as we of this day suppose
Heaven to differ from the Earth), and that the Road led thence; but was
barred by the Ab-humans. And this I can only set down here; but with no
thought to justify or uphold it. Later, I travelled over to the North-Eastern wall of the Redoubt, and
looked thence with my spy-glass at the Watcher of the North-East--the
Crowned Watcher it was called, in that within the air above its vast
head there hung always a blue, luminous ring, which shed a strange light
downwards over the monster--showing a vast, wrinkled brow (upon which an
whole library had been writ); but putting to the shadow all the lower
face; all save the ear, which came out from the back of the head, and
belled towards the Redoubt, and had been said by some observers in the
past to have been seen to quiver; but how that might be, I knew not; for
no man of our days had seen such a thing. And beyond the Watching Thing was The Place Where The Silent Ones Are
Never, close by the great road; which was bounded upon the far side by
The Giant's Sea; and upon the far side of that, was a Road which was
always named The Road By The Quiet City; for it passed along that place
where burned forever the constant and never-moving lights of a strange
city; but no glass had ever shown life there; neither had any light ever
ceased to burn. And beyond that again was the Black Mist. And here, let me say, that the
Valley of The Hounds ended towards the Lights of the Quiet City. And so have I set out something of that land, and of those creatures and
circumstances which beset us about, waiting until the Day of Doom, when
our Earth-Current should cease, and leave us helpless to the Watchers
and the Abundant Terror. And there I stood, and looked forth composedly, as may one who has been
born to know of such matters, and reared in the knowledge of them. And,
anon, I would look upward, and see the grey, metalled mountain going up
measureless into the gloom of the everlasting night; and from my feet
the sheer downward sweep of the grim, metal walls, six full miles, and
more, to the plain below. And one thing (aye! and I fear me, many) have I missed to set out with
particularness:

There was, as you do know, all around the base of the Pyramid, which was
five and one-quarter miles every way, a great circle of light, which was
set up by the Earth-Current, and burned within a transparent tube; or
had that appearance. And it bounded the Pyramid for a clear mile upon
every side, and burned for ever; and none of the monsters had power ever
to pass across, because of what we did call The Air Clog that it did
make, as an invisible Wall of Safety. And it did give out also a more
subtile vibration, that did affect the weak Brain-Elements of the
monsters and the Lower Men-Brutes. And some did hold that there went
from it a further vibration of a greater subtileness that gave a
protecting against the Evil Forces. And some quality it had truly
thiswise; for the Evil Powers had no ability to cause harm to any
within. Yet were there some dangers against which it might not avail;
but these had no cunning to bring harm to any _within_ the Great Redoubt
who had wisdom to meddle with no dreadfulness. And so were those last
millions guarded until the Earth-Current should be used to its end. And
this circle is that which I have called the Electric Circle; though with
failure to explain. But there it was called only, The Circle. And thus have I, with great effort, made a little clear that grim land
of night, where, presently, my listening heard one calling across the
dark. And how that this grew upon me, I will set out forthwith. III

THE QUIET CALLING


Now, oft had I heard tell, not only in that great city which occupied
the thousandth floor, but in others of the one thousand, three hundred
and twenty cities of the Pyramid, that there was somewhere out in the
desolation of the Night Lands a second Place of Refuge, where had
gathered, in another part of this dead world, some last millions of the
human race, to fight unto the end. And this story I heard everywhere in my travels through the cities of
the Great Redoubt, which travels began when I came upon my seventeenth
year, and continued for three years and two hundred and twenty five
days, being even then but one day in each city, as was the custom in the
training of every child.