The Archangel Khariton
"The ships of this system of Saint Venoma had been in existence for twenty-three years when it was first rumored that the Great Angel Khariton had invented a new type of ship for intersystem and interplanetary communication."
Chapter 5
The System of Archangel Khariton
"Shortly afterward, again under the supervision of the Great Archangel Adosia, practical tests open to all were made with this new invention, which was later to become so famous.
"The new system was unanimously acknowledged to be the best, and soon it was adopted for service throughout the Universe, gradually superseding all previous systems.
"At the present time this system of the Great Angel, now Archangel, Khariton is in use everywhere. The ship on which we are now flying is based on the same principles, and its construction is similar to that of all ships built according to this system. It is not very complicated.
"The whole of this great invention consists of a single 'cylinder' shaped like an ordinary barrel.
"The secret of this cylinder lies in the disposition of the materials of which its inner walls are composed.
"These materials are isolated from each other by means of 'amber' and, owing to their arrangement in a certain order, have the property of acting on any cosmic gaseous substance entering the space they enclose--whether 'atmosphere,' 'air,' 'ether,' or any other combination of homogeneous cosmic elements--causing it immediately to expand within the cylinder.
"The bottom of this 'cylinder-barrel' is hermetically sealed, but the lid, although it can also be tightly closed, is hinged in such a way that on pressure from within it opens, and then shuts again.
"So, Your Right Reverence, if this cylinder-barrel is filled with atmosphere, air, or any other such substance, the action of its walls causes these substances to expand to such an extent that the interior becomes too small to hold them.
Beelzebub's Tales To His Grandson, by G. I. Gurdjieff, page 65
Viking Arkana Edition, 1992.