"At first I could see nothing. Everything was intensely dark. Then the darkness began to clarify. Or rather I should say it seemed as if the darkness increased to such a pitch that it became — oh, I can't describe it! But of a sudden I had the sensation of looking into the utter bleakness and desolation of interstellar space. Coldness, emptiness — that was the feeling. And in this coldness and emptiness flamed a distant sun, around which twelve darker bodies the size of peas revolved. They revolved in various ellipses. And far off — millions of light years away (the thought came to me involuntarily at the time) — I could glimpse infinitesimal specks of light, a myriad of them. With a cry I jerked back my head.
"'That,' shouted the Professor in my ear, 'was an atomic universe.'
“IT never entered my head to doubt him. The realness, the vividness, the overwhelming loneliness and vastness of the sight I had seen — yes, and the suggestion of cosmic grandeur and aloofness that was conveyed — banished any other feeling but that of belief.
"'Inside that box,' said Professor Reubens quietly, 'and directly underneath the special crystal-ray medium I have perfected, is a piece of matter no larger than a pin-head. But viewed through the magnifying medium of the crystal-ray that insignificant piece of matter becomes as vast and as empty as all space, and in that space you saw — an atomic system.'
"An atomic system! Imagine my emotions. The tremendousness of the assertion took away my breath. I could only seize the Professor's hand and hold to it tightly.
"'Softly, my boy, softly,' he said, smiling at my emotion. 'What you have seen is but the least part of the invention. There is more to it than that.'
"'More?'
"'Yes. Did you think I would be content with merely viewing at a distance? No. Consider that revolving round a central nucleus similar to our sun are twelve planets, any one of which may be inhabited by intelligent creatures.'
"I stared at him dumbly.
"'You mean—'