what to see on
the asteroid progenitor planet

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northwest smith has a vision of
     the asteroid progenitor planet

He thought he saw mighty landscapes ringed by such mountains as none of today’s world know… he thought he saw a whiter sun than has shone for eons, lighting a land where rivers thundered between green banks…  thought he saw many moons parading across a purple night wherein shone constellations that haunted him with familiarity in the midst of their strangeness…  saw a green star where red Mars should be, and a far pin-prick of white where the green point that is Earth hangs.  Cities reeled past across the crystal darkness in shapes stranger than any that history records.  Peaks and spires and angled domes towered high and shining under the hot white sun – strange ships riding the airways…  He saw battles – weapons that have no names today blasting the tall towers into ruins…  saw triumphant marches where creatures that might have been the forerunners of men paraded in a blaze of color through shining streets…  strange, sinuous creatures, half seen, that were men, yet not men… 

He saw the man-things in their great shining cities bowing down before a – something – of darkness that spread monstrously across the white-lit heavens…  saw the beginnings of Great Pharol… saw the crystal throne in a room of crystal where the sinuous, man-formed beings lay face down in worshipping windrows about a great triple pedestal…

C L Moore, Dust of the Gods (Weird Tales, August 1934)

>>  Guess The World - Fourth Series

martians visit the asteroid progenitor planet

… They rose quickly to a moderate altitude and headed for the city of Kir, the walls and towers of which could be discerned in the distance. The visitors experienced a slight sense of discomfort; for it was considerably warmer here than in their own land and the humidity was far higher. But otherwise they observed little difference from conditions on Arin, though the sun was shining less brightly here by reason of their greater distance from the luminary.

“Do you desire to encircle the city before landing at the hotel?” inquired the pilot, who seemed to be friendly enough.

“Yes, that is a good suggestion,” agreed Ronal. “It will give us an opportunity to orient ourselves.”

“You have never visited Voris?”

“Never. And we are looking forward to it with much pleasure.”

“Well, you have arrived at a good time. In the city of Kir the celebration of Matara is now being observed – one of our holidays, you know – and there is much merry-making. We shall pass over the amphitheatre where Olar is now reviewing his mounted guard.”

Ronal translated rapidly to Barlo, who displayed keen interest in the news. This entire trip was more or less of a holiday to the middle-aged man who had left the city of La-dar but three times during his lifetime. But the young prince was not so enthusiastic; for the Andites has told him of some of the orgies of the Keronians when on holiday.

The air was filled with pleasure craft and beneath them spread a city of a size fully as great as La-dar. Its upper moving ways were crowded with people in holiday attire. The high walls surrounding Kir were bedecked with emblems and banners of many colors, as were the myriad aircraft that darted and circled about them on every side. Now they shot past a tall spire, that rose from the upper surface of the city to so great a height that its pointed tip seemed to be but a few feet beneath them. The pilot advised Ronal that this was the spire which surmounted the palace of Olar, ruler of all Keron, and thus, by overlordship of the mightiest nation, the actual dictator of his entire world.

Now they were over the main thoroughfare of the city, a broad central lane of traffic on either side of which rose the larger buildings of Kir. These, unlike the pleasingly-decorated edifices of La-dar, were monotonously uniform in construction, and of neutral hued, non-corrosive metal. Were it not for the holiday decorations, thought Ronal, this city of Kir would indeed present a drab and uninteresting appearance to the eye of the cultured visitor from Arin. Ahead of them, the central roadway terminated in a large circular area which they soon made out as the amphitheatre of which the pilot has spoken. Then they were directly overhead; and the cab dropped still lower and hovered about to permit them to witness the scenes beneath.

In the exact center of the arena was a large dais, upon which sat Olar and his royal party in the midst of his courtiers and ministers. the stands were packed with his subjects, and the gesticulations and flag-waving of the multitude viewed from above produced the effect of a restless body of water. In a circular track, which occupied the entire space between the dais and the stands, paraded the royal guard, several hundred brightly plumed soldiers, mounted on yaraks, those swift-footed striped quadrupeds whose breed had been perpetuated through the ages. The maneuvres of the perfectly-trained troops proved of interest for some little time and then, suddenly very tired, Ronal directed their pilot to convey them to the hotel.

Harl Vincent, Before the Asteroids (Science Wonder Stories, March 1930)

>>  Guess The World - Fifth Series

Comment from contributor Lone Wolf:
An old story about the Asteroid Progenitor Planet, called in it  "Voris". It is presented as based on a thought record of an ancient Martian prince, eye-witness of the events, which was discovered among many other Martian thought "books" in the ruins of the civilization on the planet Mars (called by its ancient inhabitants "Arin") by the first expedition to reach it in the early 1970s.