Journey to the Heart of Luna - Andy Frankham-Allen [29]
Chapter Four
Short of Breath
1.
THE SOVEREIGN approached the dark side of the moon, following the source of the now-absent glow. It had not lasted very long, but long enough for the navigator to get a bearing. Nathanial remained standing by the window, straining for any further sign of the glow. He could feel his heart beating faster, as excitement of potential discovery overcame him. Rescuing Grant, or at least uncovering what he and the Russians were about, troubled him less than the possibility of learning the secret of the glow. He had not been asked, nor had he wanted, to come along on this mission, but now he was here the scientist in him was taking over.
“Sir,” the coxswain said, pointing, “I believe we have located the source.”
Nathanial peered ahead, unsure as to what the helmsman was referring, and then he, too, saw it. “What is it? An entrance to an underground cavern?”
“A gorge of some kind,” Folkard said, now at Nathanial’s side. “What do you think, Professor? At least twice the length of the Sovereign?”
Nathanial considered this. The gorge seemed to sit in the heart of the basin, a dark pit into Luna. “I would estimate at least three times that, Captain.”
“Capital! In that case it is into the gorge we shall go. Fortunately the Sovereign does not use the standard solar panel apparatus atop ship, so the narrowness of the gorge should not present a problem.”
“Perhaps not, Captain, but this ship is still powered by steam and the solar panels are attached to the antenna beneath the hull. How are we supposed to draw the heat of the sun in the gorge?”
Folkard chuckled at this. “Come now, Professor, did you not tour the engine room? We do not simply use solar boilers. Have you forgot the combustion boiler? That will be in use once the heat has run its course. I must say, despite your work on the design of this ship, you do seem remarkably lacking in the understanding of how the Sovereign works.”
Nathanial glanced around the bridge, surreptitiously he thought, but he was noticed by many of the crew who were themselves sneaking glances at the two men as they conversed by the viewing window. The navigator even seemed to smirk at the captain’s berating of Nathanial.
“You seem to forget, Captain Folkard sir, that my primary role was advancing the aether propeller’s efficiency, and I had very little to do with the rest of this ship’s functions. That was the purview of Director White, not I.”
“And a good job you did of that, Professor, very good indeed. Now then,” Folkard continued, as if he had somehow proven his point, which, Nathanial thought, seemed to be to make him feel as small as possible in front of the bridge crew. Perhaps the captain, not short by any means, did not like the fact that he was almost dwarfed by Nathanial. “If the Russians were active on the surface of Luna we would have heard word of this by now, so it is logical to guess they are working out of sight, and most likely use that gorge, or one similar, as a point of entry to the caverns that are purported to exist beneath the surface.”
“Perhaps they are also in collusion with the sub-lunar natives?” Nathanial asked. Since they seemed to be in collusion with everyone else, he thought to himself with more than a streak of sarcasm.
Folkard nodded. “Quite so, Professor. Maybe less of a rumour than we have heard?” He turned to the helmsman. “Coxswain, prepare the ship to enter the gorge.”
There was the briefest of hesitation before the helmsman replied with a hearty, “Yes, sir!”
Nathanial looked curiously at the captain, who seemed to not notice the hesitation. “What of the rescue team? We are abandoning them,” he said, his tone more accusatory than he had intended. In his mind Annabelle’s lifeless corpse was now joined by that of Erasmus Stevenson. Nathanial could not countenance such losses, and if being in the Navy meant such things then he was glad that he was not a Navy man.
“Not so, Professor,” Folkard said. “Lieutenant Bedford is a resourceful chap; he