almost overwhelming impulse to rush the _Sphere_ back to the Earth. He
suddenly recalled its many comforts and pleasures; its wonderful scenes,
sunsets and countless other beauties. All these things seemed a
thousandfold more desirable than the cold, cheerless and mysterious void
through which they were rushing. It would be such a simple matter to
return now while he knew they could; but later--who knew what would be
their fate? A moment later the temptation was gone. The possibilities of
the curious planet toward which they were bound filled his imagination.
He became anxious only to reach it as quickly as possible.
“Ugh,” he shivered, suddenly realizing that their air in the _Sphere_
had become chilled.
“B-r-r,” echoed the professor and Taggert.
“Why, it’s down to freezing,” exclaimed Taggert, as he caught sight of
the thermometer near him on the inner wall.
“Forgot all about our stoves,” chuckled the professor, turning on one of
the two electric heaters with which the chamber had been equipped.
“The cold is one of our greatest dangers,” the professor told Taggert.
“Out here in space the cold is absolute. There is nothing to reflect or
retain the heat from the sun’s rays. Even if the gyrostats should stop,
the disk is powerful enough to keep the _Sphere_ from falling back into
the Earth, or on any other planet if we lightened it by throwing out
excess weight as we neared the planet where gravitation would be much
stronger than it is at this distance. We have enough food to last us for
weeks. But we must have warmth. Should our current fail us we should be
in danger of freezing to death. Fortunately we have a petrol heater for
emergencies.”
“Oy, and me with my overcoat at home!” wailed Taggert, in mock
consternation, backing up close to the heater.
By this time the Earth had shrunk greatly. No longer did it constitute
the greater part of their view. Suddenly a ribbon of fire appeared along
its western rim! Steadily it widened, lighting up the _Sphere_
brilliantly. Then the explanation of this phenomenon dawned upon them.
The _Sphere_ was carrying them beyond the Earth’s shadow into view of
the sun, whose pleasant, warm rays shone cheerfully through the windows,
buoying up their spirits considerably.
* * * * *
As the time passed the Earth appeared smaller and smaller. Its farther
edge, still obscuring a slice of the sun, produced much the same effect
as a partial eclipse of the sun by the moon when seen from the Earth.
The physical features of the Earth were no longer visible against the
glare of the sun. It simply looked like a black disk, slightly larger
than the moon.
About this time their self-invited companion seemed a good deal
perplexed over something. He stood shifting his weight from one foot to
the other with a look of comical mystification on his ruddy countenance.
“What’s the matter, old man?” asked Robert, much amused at Taggert’s
curious antics. “Cootie?”
“Something wrong here,” giving a little hop.
“I’ll admit you show symptoms of it, young man,” remarked the professor,
dryly.
“Feel kind of lightish. Maybe I’m going to become an angel when we get a
little higher,” went on the redhead, still engrossed in his private
calculations.
“Come to think about it,” said Robert, standing up, “I feel somewhat
that way myself. It must be contagious.” They both looked toward
Professor Palmer keenly, as if expecting him to show similar symptoms.
The professor laughed long and heartily, until the pair became convinced
that there was something wrong with him, too.
“Well, boys, it’s this way,” he said at last; “the farther away from the
Earth we get, the weaker its attraction for us becomes. Of course you
feel lighter--you _are_ lighter--and that’s not all. Before we reach
Mars, we shall all weigh nothing. We’ll be floating around in here like
toy balloons.”
“That’s a fact,” said Robert after a moment’s reflection. “But I hadn’t
thought of it until now.”
“Well, you fellows can swim around like goldfish if you want, but I’m
going to find an anchor,” declared Taggert, looking round for a likely
object of promising bulk and solidity.
“No use,” replied Professor Palmer. “When you float, everything else
that is loose floats, too.”
Taggert scratched his red head thoughtfully.
“All right, then,” he said finally, in mock despair, “float it is; we’ll
all play tag.”
A little while later the sun appeared unobstructed. The Earth had shrunk
so small this time that it could no longer be seen on account of its
close proximity to the sun. Well beyond it the moon hung serenely,
though considerably reduced in size. Seen from this angle it was now
nearer half than full. Oddly enough, in all directions the heavens
presented the same appearance as when seen from the Earth at night,
though the sun shone brightly upon the _Sphere_.
“But why?” Taggert wanted to know, looking in perplexity toward the
blazing sun and then at the stars twinkling in cold, brilliant splendor.
“On the Earth we were enveloped by a layer of bluish atmosphere many
miles deep in which minute particles of dust are suspended,” explained
Professor Palmer. “When the rays of the sun shine through this, it
produces the luminous, azure sky with which we are so familiar. It is
this brilliancy in the Earth’s atmosphere during the day that makes the
stars invisible. Out here, with no envelope of atmosphere or dust
particles, there is nothing to produce a luminousness to outshine the
stars.”
“Guess it’s all okeh,” mused Taggert, doubtfully, gazing out into the
black sky, which lacked even the softening indigo of our terrestrial
nights.
* * * * *
The stowaway proved a welcome recruit. For instead of dividing the
twenty-four hours into two watches, they could now have three, of eight
hours each.
The trip had settled down into dull monotony. One condition, however,
partly relieved the tedium. This was the ever decreasing weight of their
bodies. The adventurers found walking a novel sensation. A giddy feeling
possessed them, and there was an unsteadiness in their gait which was
difficult to control, resulting in a comical semblance of
semi-intoxication.
It was the more reckless and experimental reporter who discovered and
demonstrated proudly that he could step the entire length of the
chamber, with little effort. Robert and the professor quickly and easily
duplicated his feat, but he continued blithely to remind them at
intervals of his initial discovery. From that time he supplemented his
experiments by jumping up and touching the ceiling, and other
gymnastics, proclaiming each noisily to the amusement of his new
companions. He seemed to be enjoying himself immensely and to have
entirely forgotten his original idea regarding an anchor.
But even this soon ceased to be a diversion and the three of them
finally settled down as best they could, to look over the various latest
editions of the newspapers which Professor Palmer had brought along.
These all contained articles about their venture, and furnished quite
interesting sidelights to the daring adventurers themselves.
“Here’s a cheerful fellow who has figured out that it will take us two
years to cover the thirty-odd million miles to the Martian deserts,”
announced Taggert from a precarious perch on the back of a chair with
his feet on the seat. Ever since his initial gymnastics he had evinced a
preference for birdlike attitudes.
“That’s nothing; here’s one that makes it five years,” contributed
Robert cheerfully. “What does your paper say, professor?”
“The lowest estimate has it seven months. We, who know more of the
_Sphere’s_ powers than any of them, had figured on about a month; but at
the rate we are going now, and faster every second, we ought to reduce
our own estimate by half.”
Taggert heaved a sigh of undisguised relief.
“Gosh, professor, that was close. I began to have bright visions of
yours truly alongside a harp.”
“No telling what you’ll find yourself alongside when we pull into Mars,”
remarked Robert encouragingly.
“I’d rather be by a plate of ‘ham and’ right now than anything else,”
answered the scribe. “You gents made me miss my nightly feed.” He felt
in his coat pockets and presently fished out a cake of chocolate.
“Why in bedlam didn’t you say so sooner?” admonished Robert, getting up
and making his way wobblingly toward a locker. “You might not believe
it, but we’ve got a regular restaurant here. I can fill your order right
now.”
“Haven’t got a chicken run on board, too?” bantered the reporter.
“Young man, while you and your brethren were busily writing why we would
never reach Mars, we were preparing to do it in the right way,” broke in
the professor.
“We not only have a substantial supply of fresh eggs put up in silicate
of soda for preservation, but cheese, ham, coffee and a number of other
good things that you might not have suspected.”
“And you’re going to turn loose a hungry stowaway scribe on all that?”
asked Taggert.
“Certainly,” chorused Robert and the professor.
“Do you think we are going to let you starve?” added Robert. “You know
we’ve got no undertaker handy.”
“Oh, thanks, thanks!”
A spirit stove was pulled out from a niche in the wall, and presently a
generous slice of ham and a couple of eggs were sizzling in the frying
pan. An appetizing aroma filled the chamber, causing Taggert to sniff
the air hungrily.
“I call this handsome, now,” he commented, gratefully. “I always was a
lucky stiff, though, just let me know when I can save your lives or
something and I’ll be there.”
This simple repast was supplemented by a round of quickly brewed
bouillon.
With their stomachs satisfied a feeling of drowziness came over them
all. Taggert stoutly insisted upon standing first watch, but Robert was
adamant in his refusal. He explained that it was important that he
maintain watch over the machinery for the first shift until the most
likely period for development of mechanical trouble was passed.
Professor Palmer also offered to take the first watch, but owing to
Robert’s greater familiarity with the mechanism he allowed himself to be
prevailed upon. First, however, he carefully inspected the heavens,
correcting the _Sphere’s_ course by various constellations, as it had
swung a few points away from its objective.
The sun glared in at the windows at the back end of the chamber. The
blinds were drawn, darkening the interior to facilitate sleeping.
Professor Palmer and Taggert spread the pallets of bedding obtained out
of one of the storerooms, and settled themselves to rest.
Through the long hours Robert maintained his lonely vigil.
The machinery continued its musical purr uninterrupted. Once he started
the dynamo for a while, causing the temporary opening of a sleepy eye or
two. He wished to keep the batteries charged to fullest capacity until
they were well on their way, after which their velocity through space
could be maintained with a very little expenditure of current.
The prolonged excitement of the past weeks, particularly of the last few
days, together with loss of sleep, proved too much for Robert. Several
times he caught himself dozing. Lulled by the hum of the machinery, he
finally slipped off into oblivion.
Grotesque and confused dreams followed one after the other through his
uneasy slumber in seemingly endless fantasy, causing him to mutter
incoherently. These finally gave way to a curious vision of a conjured
Martian landscape.
Huge cacti and other polypetalous growths formed a dense, forbidding
background. As he looked about him it seemed that they had formed a
menacing circle round him, which appeared to grow smaller and smaller.
Hideous dark growths pushed their thorny leaves up through the loose
sand round the edge of the circle, writhing into distorted shapes.
Desperately but fruitlessly his eyes sought some escape from the
shrinking circle. The dark wall presented an impregnable barrier. How he
had come there he did not know.
Suddenly he was startled by a rustling of the stiff foliage. The
agitation of its tops heralded the approach of some being. He
momentarily expected to see some dreadful _thing_ leap out from the
forbidding jungle--just what, he knew not!
Then, to his intense relief and astonishment, a girl of rare, exotic
beauty emerged. Her eyes were like the cool depths of a shaded brook,
her really golden-hued hair a delight, the perfection of her soft-clad
figure goddesslike. Yet she repelled rather than attracted.
Then, indeed, it seemed as if the doors of paradise had opened. Gone was
the aloofness of the moment before. She was smiling--at him.
But even as he took a first eager step toward her and she toward him, a
mist seemed to come between them. The amazing loveliness of her faded
into the drab desert background. He was alone!
Strange to observe, the threatening jungle was no more. Before his
bewildered gaze a trackless desert swept from horizon to horizon. Then
this, too, faded.
9
How long he had slept he did not know, but he was awakened suddenly by a
blow in the face!
In a flash he was wide awake. His hands groped out in front of him,
coming into contact with a smooth, metallic surface. He seemed to be
lying on the floor, and immediately formed the conclusion that he had
fallen off his chair while sleeping.
As he endeavored to rise to his feet the floor began to recede from him
slowly! It was then that he remembered the steadily decreasing
attraction of the Earth as the _Sphere_ shot farther and farther away
into space. He quickly concluded that the “floating” stage had been
reached. The _Sphere_ would be maintaining its established momentum just
like a planet which hurtles through space century after century,
impelled by its original momentum by reason of the complete absence of
any obstruction in space to hinder it; and of course their bodies
followed serenely with the _Sphere_ in its interior. They were as a
component part of it--little worlds of their own.
As the metal surface continued to recede from him, he suddenly
discovered that the engines and dynamo were missing! Yet the steady purr
of the gyrostats was plainly, reassuringly audible. Then abruptly the
solution of it all dawned upon him. He had fallen on to the
_ceiling_--not the floor!
Suddenly a realization of his danger confronted him. He was drifting
slowly toward the gyrostats! Should he be caught in their racing
mechanism his body would be whipped into shreds!
Desperately he strove to jerk his body over into a convenient position
to assist him in grasping one of the four perpendicular rods surrounding
the gyrostats. With nothing to brace himself against, his efforts were
strangely akin to those of a cat falling through the air, though, for
lack of practise, they were not nearly so adept. Luckily they sufficed
to turn his body over facing the gyrostats. Fortunately too, one of the
uprights was within reach. He clutched this as a drowning man clutches a
tossed rope, and the danger was over.
He lowered himself breathlessly to the floor. For the first time he
noticed that he was perspiring freely.
“Close shave, that,” he muttered, mopping his face nervously. “Have to
rig a guard around this.”
He looked sharply toward where the professor and the reporter had lain.
Strangely enough they were still in the same spot. Then he became aware
that there was still a slight pull toward the floor. The Earth had not
yet entirely released its hold upon the _Sphere_ even though it had long
since ceased to be visible to them. Evidently he had made some abrupt
move in his sleep with sufficient force to send him slowly upward to the
ceiling against the dwindling force of terrestrial gravity.
* * * * *
The following days were interesting ones for the adventurers, but
inconvenient--though amusing.
With the passage of each day the Earth’s attraction for them became
weaker until finally it was completely neutralized by the counter
attraction of Mars.
This point was reached by the ninth day out, when, according to
Professor Palmer’s reckonings, the _Sphere_ had traversed more than half
the distance between the two worlds.
Ordinary movement about the compartment became an impossibility. Walking
was an accomplishment of the past. In order to move from one end of the
chamber to the other it became necessary merely to place a hand against
the wall and push. Immediately they were propelled across the room
through space as if suspended by a well-oiled trolley conveyor. The
chief requisite was a careful sense of direction and control of strength
exerted. Otherwise they were apt to find themselves precipitated roughly
into one corner, against the ceiling, or headlong into the whirring
machinery.
The reckless Taggert was frequently the cause of much merriment, because
of his careless or awkward antics. Once he brought their hearts into
their mouths by narrowly missing the smashing of a window pane when his
shoulder was brought up sharply against the glass. After that even he
exercised extreme caution in his movements.
It became necessary to lash each other to some stationary object for
protection so that they could sleep safely. When on watch, Robert was
obliged to keep hold upon some stable part to maintain any single
position for a time.
The managing of fluids was at once ludicrous and exceedingly difficult.
The mere task of drinking a cup of coffee called for more skill than the
biting of an apple in a tub of water at a Halloween party. One was apt
to have more of the beverage applied externally than internally.
A cup of fluid could be kept safely intact only by a centrifugal motion,
as by whirling it round in a circle, bottom outward. Otherwise, at the
critical moment the contents would drift off in an irregular, pulsating
sphere, like a soft little world of its own held together merely by the
slight affinity of its molecules.
A scheme of drinking through a tube from a covered bucket by means of a
hole drilled through the cover proved fairly successful and became
temporarily the vogue.
During the first of these days the _Sphere_ evinced a tendency to
revolve slowly and at random because the delicate but sensitive
stabilizer could no longer find a central point of gravity. Here, then,
was a grave danger confronting them; for with the growing inclination of
the _Sphere_ to revolve at random it became apparent that they would not
be able to hold it to any one course. This because, as the _Sphere_
revolved, it would be necessary to constantly shift the direction of the
disk; and thus it would be almost impossible to continue constantly with
accuracy. Consequently they were facing the possibility of drifting
about in space through eternity!
Their predicament might have been likened in a way to that of a sailing
vessel caught in the doldrums; but in the _Sphere’s_ case there appeared
to be no chance of relief. Curiously enough, this problem had not
occurred to Robert and Professor Palmer in their preparations for the
journey. In fact, to their minds, there seemed no possible solution.
Even Taggert’s hitherto unfailing good spirits deserted him as the three
gloomily faced the dreadful prospect of slow death through starvation or
suffocation. The fact that they were millions of miles from the Earth in
the midst of a great black void did not make their fate any easier to
consider.
Professor Palmer now divided his time between frequent corrections in
the _Sphere’s_ wavering course toward Mars, and the writing of the log.
“Who knows,” he remarked resignedly to his companions, “some other more
successful adventurers may attempt this venture some time. There is just
a chance in a billion that they may find the _Sphere_ and this document;
or the _Sphere_ may finally gravitate back to the earth.”
Almost constantly he watched and guided the _Sphere_ on its intricate
course, insisting upon doing the major part of this difficult task,
which only his expert knowledge of the heavens made possible to such a
degree of accuracy. But even he was beginning to find it almost
impossible to keep the _Sphere_ on its true course, as it continued to
swing more and more widely from its former stability. Loss of sleep and
the terrific strain were beginning to tell upon his iron constitution.
It was clear to all three that theirs was a losing struggle. The
professor’s faint hope that they could decrease their distance from Mars
sufficiently to establish a substantial stability upon its attraction
faded more and more as gradually the little _Sphere_ began to swoop in
ever-increasing deviations from its course.
Realizing with sinking heart the hopelessness of the situation,
Professor Palmer endeavored to conceal the sureness of their fate from
Robert and Taggert. But they sensed it intuitively and each bravely
sought to steel himself against the realization of the end.
The thought of conserving their energy by stopping the gyrostats
occurred to Robert. For with gravitation virtually equalized from all
directions, their operation was scarcely of any assistance at this
point.
And then came the thought that caused his heart to halt an instant in
its beat. Could it be that both the professor and he overlooked the one
possible solution? Was it too late?
“Fool--fool!” he expostulated bitterly as he realized the opportunity
that had all but slipped away from them by his failure to think of the
solution sooner.
“Robert!” cried Professor Palmer, fearing for his mind. “What is it?”
“Can you hold her to the course steadily for a minute?” Robert almost
shouted in his excitement, not having heard the professor’s question.
Professor Palmer suddenly realized with a flash of hope that Robert had
thought of a possible way out of their predicament.
“Yes, yes,” he answered eagerly. His waning strength and alertness
rallied temporarily under the inspiration of hope. His tired eyes became
as keen as ever as he carefully nursed the drunkenly rolling _Sphere_
back to its course and managed with supreme skill to steady it there for
several seconds consecutively.
“How long, boy?” he cried hoarsely in desperation, gripping his voice as
he realized that he could not balance the _Sphere_ accurately on its
course more than a few seconds longer. He felt his control slipping. Too
bad--too bad. The boy had had the idea, and he had failed--failed. He
felt suddenly broken, as a very old man. His gray head nodded wearily.
Too bad!
“Professor--professor,” someone was whispering huskily. He recovered
from his lapse of semi-consciousness as he felt a hand placed nervously
upon his shoulder. He turned to see Robert’s eager young face behind
him, smiling! That might mean--but he hesitated even to hope, stifling
its ray of comfort almost before it came to him. He waited dully for
Robert to go on.
“We are holding our course now,” went on Robert, controlling his voice
with an effort. “See?” he pointed to the glittering heavens visible
through the observation windows.
Instead of the dizzily swerving canopy of lights with which they were
already too familiar, the stars hung stationary.
“How did you do it, Robert?” gasped the professor. As he spoke he was
suddenly aware that the gyrostats had stopped!
“You see, it came to me like a flash,” explained Robert, “that it all
hinged on velocity. If the disk was suddenly shut off--covered--the
_Sphere_ would at once cease to be pulled around in various directions.
Instead it would then rush ahead only in the direction in which it was
last moving when the disk’s power was shut off. Beyond the forces of
gravitation and with nothing but void on all sides, we would shoot
forward forever until stopped by nearing some planet.”
“Of course, of course,” murmured the professor. “Why didn’t I think of
that before? Dunce that I am!”
“That is why I asked you to try to hold the _Sphere_ in its course for a
little bit--long enough to maintain its momentum toward Mars, when I
would stop the wavering interference of the disk. First, I stopped the
gyrostats. Then, as I clicked the shutters to cover the disk’s face, the
_Sphere_ became simply a dead weight already launched with terrific
velocity toward our goal. With the influence of the gyrostats removed,
the heaviest or bottom side of the _Sphere_ became the head of our
velocity. Result--the eccentric revolutions of the _Sphere_ ceased at
once. We have established a temporary stability of our own--velocity.”