Through Space to Mars by Roy Rockwood (e ink epub reader TXT) 📖

CHAPTER XV

SOMETHING ABOUT MARS

 

“Are we really in motion?” asked Jack, after a moment’s silence.

“It doesn’t seem so.”

 

“We are certainly in motion,” declared Mr. Roumann. “See this

dial?”

 

He pointed to one near the steering wheel. The hand on it was

gently vibrating between some of the figures.

 

“We are traveling that many miles a second,” went on the

scientist. “The atmospheric motor is not working as fast as I

hoped it would, but we are going fast enough. When we start the

Etherium machine we shall go much more speedily.”

 

“And when will that be?” asked Mark.

 

“I can’t tell exactly. It will not be until we have passed

through the atmosphere of the earth, and there is no way of

ascertaining in advance just how thick that stratum is.”

 

“Then how will you know?” asked Jack.

 

“By means of my instruments. When the hand on this dial points

to zero I will know that we are beyond the atmosphere, and that

it is time to start the Etherium motor.”

 

“How do you know in which direction to steer?” asked Mark. “Can

you see anything out of that window?”

 

“Not a thing,” replied the German. “Look for yourself.”

 

Jack and Mark peered through the plate glass. All they could see

was a sort of white, fleecy mass of clouds that surrounded the

great projectile.

 

“It’s just like when we were above the clouds in the Electric

Monarch,” said Jack.

 

“Exactly,” agreed Mr. Henderson.

 

“But if you can’t see anything, how can you tell where to steer?”

asked Mark.

 

“By means of this instrument,” replied Mr. Roumann, indicating

another among the many on the wall of the projectile. “This is

automatically kept pointed at Mars, and by means of a hand and

dial I can tell how to keep the Annihilator aimed directly at the

red planet.”

 

“Even when it is on the opposite side of the earth from us?”

asked Jack.

 

“We are now far above the earth,” was the answer, “and the planet

on which we lived offers no obstruction to my telescope being

pointed at Mars, even though it is daytime, when Mars is on the

opposite side of the earth.”

 

“Have we traveled as far as that?” asked Jack in awestruck tones.

 

“We have come just thirty thousand miles since leaving the

earth,” replied Mr. Roumann.

 

“But we don’t seem to be moving at all,” objected Mark.

 

“That is because we are shooting through space so fast, and

because you can see no stationary objects with which to make a

comparison, as when you are traveling on a railroad train,”

continued the German. “And, as we are not dependent on tracks,

or roads, with their unevenness, there is no motion to our

projectile, save that of moving through space. That is why it

seems as if we were standing still.”

 

“But thirty thousand miles!” cried Jack. “I thought the earth’s

atmosphere was variously estimated at from only forty to two

hundred miles in thickness.”

 

“The oxygen atmosphere may be,” agreed Mr. Roumann. “As a matter

of fact, the atmosphere we are now in would not support life for

you and me a single instant. But it is atmosphere, nevertheless,

or my instruments would indicate something different, and my

atmospheric motor would not work. No, I expect to be traveling

through the atmosphere for several days yet. Then we shall reach

the true ether, and the Etherium motor will be put into

operation.”

 

“Well,” said Jack, “this trip isn’t going to be very strong on

scenery, anyhow.”

 

“No,” agreed Mr. Roumann. “We shan’t be able to observe anything

but this fleeciness until we get to Mars.”

 

“We can see the stars and moon at night, can’t we?” asked Mark.

 

“There isn’t going to be any night,” replied the German with a

smile. “We are now in the region of perpetual day.”

 

“No night!” repeated Jack blankly.

 

“No. Just stop to think for a moment. We have left the earth,

and are many thousands of miles away from it. You know that

which causes night and day on the earth is the rotation of it on

its axis. Half the time the part we are living on is turned away

from the sun, and the other half of the time turned toward the

sun. Now, the sun is fixed in space. We are also in space, and

we are so comparatively small that there will never be any

shadows to cause night. We are like a small point in space, and

the sun is constantly shining on us. We do not revolve, so there

will no night, only day.”

 

“Are we headed for the sun?” asked Mark

 

“No, for Mars. But as we will take good care not to head for any

other planet, so as to get it between us and the sun, we shall

never have any darkness,”

 

“But it doesn’t look like sunshine out there,” objected Jack,

pointing out of the window.

 

“No, because we are surrounded by a mass of vapor. I think it

will presently pass and we shall see the sun. The difference in

temperature between the projectile and the surrounding atmosphere

causes us to be enveloped in a sort of cloud. When the outer

shell of the Annihilator is the same temperature as the

atmosphere through which we are flying, we shall emerge into

sunlight.”

 

This happened a little later, and soon they could observe the

great ball of fire hanging in space.

 

“It seems to be smaller than when we were on the earth, doesn’t it?”

asked Mark.

 

“It is seemingly smaller,” replied Professor Henderson. “We are

going away from the sun you know. Mars is not as close to it as

we are on our planet—I mean the one we have just left—is

ninety-two millions of miles from the sun, while Mars is one

hundred and forty-one millions of miles away, though its orbit is

so eccentric that distance varies about thirteen millions of

miles. That is, it may be thirteen millions of miles more than

its mean, or average, distance, so that at times it is as far

away from the sun as one hundred and fifty-four millions of

miles.”

 

“My! That’s a good ways,” observed Mark.

 

“Yes,” went on Mr. Henderson, “and, in consequence, the light and

heat received by Mars from the sun is a little less than half of

that which our earth receives.”

 

“Whew! We’ll be mighty cold in winter—if we arrive in winter,”

said Jack with a shiver.

 

“Unless the Martians have a means of making up for this loss of

light and heat,” said Mr. Roumann. “I believe they have.”

 

“I shall be much interested in seeing how the great canals on the

planet are dug,” said Professor Henderson. “I have seen a map of

Mars, made by a scientist named Schiaparelli, and he has drawn a

number of large bodies of water, among which are intermeshed

continents and islands. The surface of Mars must be a curious

one.”

 

“I believe we shall find it so,” spoke Mr. Roumann. “Astronomers

tell us that the water on it is never frozen, except near the

poles. There great ice caps are to be found.”

 

“But what makes the planet so red?” asked Jack.

 

“That,” said Mr. Roumann quickly, “is what hope to discover and

use for our benefit, but I not wish to discuss it now.”

 

They talked of Mars for some time further, discussing the many

queer features, and during this time the Annihilator was shooting

through space at terrific speed. Inside the projectile the

adventurers moved about, living and breathing, comfortably as if

they were on earth, for