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Only after the sound, like a snake's belly rubbing against the corridor carpet, had completely faded did Everett swallow and speak cautiously:
"Teacher... that snake seemed, seemed very big..."
Judging by the sound and speed of its movement, it seemed to be a giant snake-no, a giant python! Yet it had moved very quickly over the carpet. Everett could practically picture that enormous python slithering swiftly past him.
"How could there be such a big snake in the hotel?" He couldn't help shuddering and hid beside the radiator, rubbing his hands together.
There was one question he hadn't dared ask: was that really a snake?
"...A snake appeared in my dream just now, too." Vipelie wanted to turn on the lights, but withdrew her outstretched hand and chose instead to light a candle provided in the nightstand drawer.
All the lights in Utopia were actually electric lights, far surpassing the gas lamps of the current world in both brightness and energy efficiency.
Thunder and lightning were both authorities of the God of Thunder. This special source of energy would probably unsettle genuine Loen people; even Vipelie, an older Sequence 7 Beyonder, found it difficult to accept. Everett, however, accepted it readily. Young people were always interested in new things, not to mention that the Church of Mysteries had already converted all the gas streetlamps in the city and was discussing extending this nationwide, eliminating gas entirely from lighting. The lamp in his own study was also a new electric model.
However, since neither the Abraham Family's mansion nor Everett's own home had been wired for electricity yet, a harmless sealed artifact made from a Beyonder material corresponding to a certain Sequence of the Sailor pathway hung from his desk lamp's plug.
*"A snake appeared in my dream just now,