"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."
"That was thoughtful of you, Dunark, and we appreciated it fully."
"That puts four more palms on your _Croix de Guerre_, ace. Thanks a lot."
"Say, Dick," called Dorothy, from her seat near the wall. "If we're going down to the ground, how about Sitar?"
"By lying down and not doing anything, and by staying in the vessel, where it is warm, she will be all right for the short time we must stay here," Dunark answered for his wife. "I will help all I can, but I do not know how much that will be."