The Door to Saturn by Clark Ashton Smith

surrounded Volmar and his crew. They gibbered among themselves with their instrument-like voices, they eyed the men with the unchanging glare of their single or triple or quadruple eyes, which offered the appearance of many-angled and diverse-tinted gems; they inspected and fingered the machinery and the furniture, and showed in many ways the investigative spirit which is the invariable mark of the scientist.
    “Of all the burglarious entries!” exclaimed Jasper. “No earthly safe-cracker could compete with these beings.”
    All the men stood irresolute, wondering as to the best mode of procedure, and the motives and dispositions of their visitors. The invaders gave no sign of hostile or unfriendly intentions; but in every motion of their metal flanges, every silver or bronze or iron tone of their voices, a spirit beyond the range of human sensation or understanding was manifest. They were plainly intelligent; but their exterior was that of highly organized and subtly animated machinery; and it was impossible to conceive them as possessing the motives, interests, or desires of normal biological forms.
    With perspicacious immediacy they had singled out Volmar as the leader of the expedition, for they were now addressing him in tones vaguely suggestive of invitation. Then, one by one, they left the compartment, walking backward with perfect surety toward the man-hole, and making signs that Volmar and his companions should follow them.
    “I believe they are asking us to be their guests,” Roverton observed.
    There was a brief discussion as to the best course of action.
    “These people,” said Volmar, “are plainly the masters of forces which we are perhaps not even fitted to understand. For some unknowable purpose, they have captured us; and any effort to escape would be fruitless, since the Alcyone is held as firmly as though it were anchored with a thousand chains and cables, doubtless by some magnetic ray. It would be more judicious not to antagonize our captors in any way, but to assent voluntarily to whatever they wish. I vote that we accept their invitation.”
    The others agreed that Volmar had summarized the situation and its potentialities very wisely and succinctly. They might as well yield without the ineffectual folly of resistance. And in spite of the humiliating and mystifying manner in which their vessel had been trapped, in spite of their ignorance regarding the intentions of these odd people, they were full of excited curiosity and were eager to see more of this remarkable world, which differed so uniquely from all others that they had hitherto examined.
    Descending the vessel’s steel ladder, they found that the throng had dispersed, leaving only a mere half-dozen of the beings with globular heads and triangular bodies, who were manifestly a reception committee. With elaborate genuflections that were like those of marionettes, these beings led the way through the fantastic roof-garden, with its winding spaces and pathways of stone, and semi-circular rows of indescribable plants and trees, toward a sort of open cupola that was visible about a hundred yards away.
    The cupola was supported by pillars carven with anaglyphs of a character so unusual that it was impossible to know whether they were miniature bas-reliefs, picture-writings, or phonetic symbols. Within, there were two large circular pits in the floor, which seemed to descend to the very base of the building. Their walls were perpendicular, with no sign of rungs or stairs or machinery of the elevator type. To the surprise and consternation of the earth-men, two of their guides stepped into the nearest pit as casually as if the descent were no more than a pace; and instead of falling headlong, they floated gently down with a feather-like movement utterly incongruous in view of their corporeal structure. The others made signs to the men that they should follow; and when the earthlings hesitated, another of them entered the pit and was wafted