A Journey in Other Worlds [37]
for, on account of the emptiness of the
surrounding ether and consequent absence of diffusion of light,
nothing but the inky blackness of space and the bright stars
looked in at the rest. On raising the shades they got an idea of
their speed. A small crescent, smaller than the familiar moon,
accompanied by one still tinier, was all that could be seen of
the earth and its satellite.
"We must," said Bearwarden, "be moving at the rate of nearly a
million miles an hour, from the way we have travelled."
"We must be doing fully a million," replied Cortlandt, "for by
this time we are pretty well in motion, having got a tremendous
start when so near the moon, with it and the earth in line."
By steering straight for Jupiter, instead of for the place it
would occupy ten days later, they knew they would swing past, for
the giant planet, being in rapid motion, would advance; but they
did not object to this, since it would give them a chance to
examine their new world in case they wished to do so before
alighting; while, if they preferred to land at once, they could
easily change their course by means of the moons, the fourth,
from which their car was named, being the one that they knew
would be of most use. Their tremendous speed showed them they
should have time for exploration on their arrival, and that they
would reach their destination sooner than they had expected. The
apergetic force being applied, as we have seen, only to the
Callisto, just as power in starting is exerted on a carriage or
railway car and only through it to the passengers, Ayrault and
his companions had no unusual sensation except loss of weight,
for, when they were so far from the earth, its attraction was
very slight, and no other planet was near enough to take its
place. After breakfast, wishing to reach the dome, and realizing
that it would be unnecessary to climb, each in turn gave a slight
spring and was obliged to put up his hands to avoid striking the
roof. In the cool quiet of the dark dome it was difficult to
believe that only twenty feet away the sun was shining with such
intensity upon the metal base as to make it too hot on the inside
to touch without gloves.
The first thing that attracted their attention was the size and
brilliance of Mars. Although this red planet was over forty
million miles from the earth when they started, they calculated
that it was less than thirty million miles from them now, or five
millions nearer than it had ever been to them before. This
reduction in distance, and the clearness of the void through
which they saw it, made it a splendid sight, its disk showing
clearly. From hour to hour its size and brightness increased,
till towards evening it looked like a small, full moon, the sun
shining squarely upon it. They calculated that on the course
they were moving they should pass about nine hundred thousand
miles to the right or behind it, since it was moving towards
their left. They were interested to see what effect the mass of
Mars would have on the Callisto, and saw here a chance of still
further increasing their speed. Notwithstanding its tremendous
rate, they expected to see the Callisto swerve from its straight
line and move towards Mars, whose orbital speed of nine hundred
miles a minute they thought would take it out of the Callisto's
way, so that no actual collision would occur even if their
air-ship were left to her own devices.
Towards evening they noticed through their glasses that several
apparently island peaks in the southern hemisphere, which was
turned towards them, became white, from which they concluded that
a snow-storm was in progress. The south polar region was also
markedly glaciated, though the icecap was not as extensive as
either of those at the poles of the earth.
"As the Martian winters must be fully as severe as ours," said
Cortlandt, "on account of their length, the planet's distance
from the sun, and the twenty-seven and a half degrees inclination
of its axis, we can account for the smallness
surrounding ether and consequent absence of diffusion of light,
nothing but the inky blackness of space and the bright stars
looked in at the rest. On raising the shades they got an idea of
their speed. A small crescent, smaller than the familiar moon,
accompanied by one still tinier, was all that could be seen of
the earth and its satellite.
"We must," said Bearwarden, "be moving at the rate of nearly a
million miles an hour, from the way we have travelled."
"We must be doing fully a million," replied Cortlandt, "for by
this time we are pretty well in motion, having got a tremendous
start when so near the moon, with it and the earth in line."
By steering straight for Jupiter, instead of for the place it
would occupy ten days later, they knew they would swing past, for
the giant planet, being in rapid motion, would advance; but they
did not object to this, since it would give them a chance to
examine their new world in case they wished to do so before
alighting; while, if they preferred to land at once, they could
easily change their course by means of the moons, the fourth,
from which their car was named, being the one that they knew
would be of most use. Their tremendous speed showed them they
should have time for exploration on their arrival, and that they
would reach their destination sooner than they had expected. The
apergetic force being applied, as we have seen, only to the
Callisto, just as power in starting is exerted on a carriage or
railway car and only through it to the passengers, Ayrault and
his companions had no unusual sensation except loss of weight,
for, when they were so far from the earth, its attraction was
very slight, and no other planet was near enough to take its
place. After breakfast, wishing to reach the dome, and realizing
that it would be unnecessary to climb, each in turn gave a slight
spring and was obliged to put up his hands to avoid striking the
roof. In the cool quiet of the dark dome it was difficult to
believe that only twenty feet away the sun was shining with such
intensity upon the metal base as to make it too hot on the inside
to touch without gloves.
The first thing that attracted their attention was the size and
brilliance of Mars. Although this red planet was over forty
million miles from the earth when they started, they calculated
that it was less than thirty million miles from them now, or five
millions nearer than it had ever been to them before. This
reduction in distance, and the clearness of the void through
which they saw it, made it a splendid sight, its disk showing
clearly. From hour to hour its size and brightness increased,
till towards evening it looked like a small, full moon, the sun
shining squarely upon it. They calculated that on the course
they were moving they should pass about nine hundred thousand
miles to the right or behind it, since it was moving towards
their left. They were interested to see what effect the mass of
Mars would have on the Callisto, and saw here a chance of still
further increasing their speed. Notwithstanding its tremendous
rate, they expected to see the Callisto swerve from its straight
line and move towards Mars, whose orbital speed of nine hundred
miles a minute they thought would take it out of the Callisto's
way, so that no actual collision would occur even if their
air-ship were left to her own devices.
Towards evening they noticed through their glasses that several
apparently island peaks in the southern hemisphere, which was
turned towards them, became white, from which they concluded that
a snow-storm was in progress. The south polar region was also
markedly glaciated, though the icecap was not as extensive as
either of those at the poles of the earth.
"As the Martian winters must be fully as severe as ours," said
Cortlandt, "on account of their length, the planet's distance
from the sun, and the twenty-seven and a half degrees inclination
of its axis, we can account for the smallness