He ripped up his plans and began a new set. He'd need a glass sphere
with dots on it for the stars, and some kind of levers to move the
planets and sun. It would be something like the orreries he'd seen used
for demonstrations of planetary movement.
Ser Perth came over again, staring down at the sketch. He drowned in
doubt. "Why waste time drawing such engines? If you want a model to
determine how the orbits should be, we have the finest orrery ever built
here in the camp. We brought it with us when we moved, since it would be
needed to determine how the sky should be repaired and to bring the time
and the positions into congruence. Wait!"
He dashed off, calling two of the mandrakes after him. In a few minutes,
they staggered back under a bulky affair in a protective plastic case.
Ser Perth stripped off the case to reveal the orrery to Hanson.
It was a beautiful piece of workmanship. There was an enormous sphere of
thin crystal to represent the sky. Precious gems showed the stars,
affixed to the dome. The whole was nearly eight feet in diameter. Inside
the crystal, Hanson could see a model of the world on jeweled-bearing
supports. The planets and the sun were set on tracks around the outside,
with a clockwork drive mechanism that moved them by means of stranded
spiderweb cords. Power came from weights, like those used on an
old-fashioned clock.
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