I saw the tremor shake their bristling hosts, oscillate the great spire, set the faceted disks quivering.
The trembling grew; a vibration in every separate cone that became even more rapid.

There was a faint, curiously oppressive humming--like the distant echo of a tempest in chaos.
Faster, ever faster grew the vibration.

Now the sharp outlines of the cones were dissolving.
And now they were--gone.
The mount of the cones had become a mighty pyramid of pale green radiance--one tremendous, pallid flame, of which the spire was the tongue.

Out from the disked wheel at its shorn tip gushed a flood of light--light that gathered itself from the leaping radiance below it.
The tentacles of the Keeper moved more swiftly over the enigmatic tablet; writhing cloudily; confusedly rapid.

The faceted disks wavered; turned upward; the wheel began to whirl--faster--faster-- Up from that flaming circle, out into the sky leaped a thick, pale green column of intensest light.
With prodigious speed, as compact as water, CONCENTRATE, it struck--straight out toward the face of the sun.
It thrust up with the speed of light--the speed of light?
A thought came to me; incredible I believed it even as I reacted to it.