AT THE MOON
Confusion reigned aboard the _Annihilator_. It had turned completely
over, and was now moving through space apparently bottom side up. Of
course, being cigar shaped, this did not make any difference as far as
the exterior was concerned, but it did make a great difference to those
within.
The occupants of the great shell had fallen and slid down the rounded
sides of the projectile, and were now standing on what had been the
ceiling. Objects that were not fast had also followed them, scattering
all about, some narrowly missing hitting our friends. Of course, the
machinery was now in the air, over the heads of the travellers.
This was one of the most serious phases of the accident, for the great
Cardite motor was built to run while in the other position, and when it
was turned upside down it immediately stopped, and the projectile,
deprived of its motive power, at once began falling through space.
"What has happened? What caused it?" cried Mark, as he crawled over to
where Jack sat on the ceiling, with a dazed look on his face.
"I don't know. Something went wrong. Here comes Professor Henderson and
Mr. Roumann. We'll ask them."
The two scientists were observed approaching from the pilot-house. They
walked along what had been the ceiling, and when they came to the
engine room they had to climb over the top part of the door frame.
"What's wrong?" asked Jack.
"Our center of gravity has become displaced," answered Mr. Henderson.
"The gravity machine has either broken, or some one has been tampering
with it. Did either of you boys touch it?"
"No, indeed!" cried Mark, and his chum echoed his words.
"I wonder if Washington could have meddled with it?" went on the
scientist.
At that moment the colored cook came along, making his way cautiously
into the engine room. He was an odd sight. Bits of carrots, turnips and
potatoes were in his hair, while from one ear dangled a bunch of
macaroni, and his clothes were dripping wet.
"My kitchen done turned upside down on me!" wailed Washington, "an' a
whole kettle ob soup emptied on my head! Oh, golly! What happened?"
The aged scientist looked toward the German. The latter was gazing up
at the motionless Cardite motor over his head.
"There is but one way," he answered. "We must restore our centre of
gravity to where it was before. Then the projectile will right herself."
"Can it be done?" asked Mark.
"It will be quite an undertaking, but we must attempt it. Bring some
tables and chairs, so I can stand up and reach the equilibrium machine."
From where they had fallen to the ceiling, which was now the floor,
Jack and Mark brought tables and chairs, and made a sort of stepladder.
On this Professor Roumann mounted, and at once began the readjusting of
the centre of gravity.
It was hard work, for he had to labor with his arms stretched up in the
air, and any one who has even put up pictures knows what that means.
The muscles are unaccustomed to the strain. The German scientist,
though a strong man, had to rest at frequent intervals.
"We're falling rapidly," announced Jack, in a low voice, as he looked
at the height gauge.
"I am doing all I can," answered Mr. Roumann. "I think I will soon be
able to right the craft."
He labored desperately, but he was at a disadvantage, for the
_Annihilator_ was not now moving smoothly through space. With the
stopping of the motor she was falling like some wobbly balloon, swaying
hither and thither in the ether currents.
But Professor Roumann was not one to give up easily. He kept at his
task, aided occasionally by Professor Henderson and by the boys
whenever they could do anything.
Finally the German cried out:
"Ah, I have discovered the trouble. It is that scoundrel Axtell! See!"
And reaching into the interior of the machine he pulled out a small
magnet. To it was attached a card, on which was written:
"I told you I would have my revenge!" It was signed with Axtell's name.
"This was the dastardly plot he evolved," said Professor Roumann. "He
slipped this magnet into the equilibrium machine, knowing that in time
it would cause a deflection of the delicate needles, and so shift the
centre of gravity. He must have done this as a last resort, and to
provide for his revenge in case we discovered him on board after we
started. It was a cruel revenge, for had I not discovered it we would
soon all be killed."
"Is the machine all right now?" asked Jack.
"It will be in a few minutes. Here, take this magnet and put it as far
away from the engine room as possible."
It was the work of but a few minutes, now that the disturbing element
was removed, to readjust the gravity machine, and Mr. Roumann called:
"Look out, now, everybody! We're going to turn right side up again!"
As he spoke he turned a small valve wheel. There was a clanging of
heavy ballast weights, which slid down their rods to the proper places.
Then, like some great fish turning over in the water, the _Annihilator_
turned over in the ether, and was once more on her proper keel, if such
a shaped craft can be said to have a keel.
Of course, the occupants of the space ship went slipping and sliding
back, even as they had fallen ceilingward before, but they were
prepared for it, and no one was hurt. From the galley came a chorus of
cries, as pots and pans once more scattered about Washington, but there
was no more soup to spill.
As soon as the _Annihilator_ was righted, the Cardite motor began to
work automatically, and once more the projectile, with the seekers of
the moon, was shooting through space at their former speed. They had
lost considerable distance, but it was easy to make it up.
"Well, that _was_ an experience," remarked Jack, as he and his chum
began picking up the tools and other objects that were scattered all
about by the change in equilibrium.
"I should say yes," agreed Mark. "I'm glad it didn't happen at dinner
time. That fellow Axtell is a fiend to think of such a thing."
"Indeed, he is! But we're all right now, though it did feel funny to be
turned upside down."
An inspection of the projectile was made, but they could discover no
particular damage done. She seemed to be moving along the same as
before, and, except for the upsetting of things in the store-room, it
would hardly have been known, an hour later, that a dreadful accident
was narrowly averted.
Washington made more soup, and soon had a fine meal ready, over which
the travellers discussed their recent experience.
"And when do you think we will arrive?" asked Jack of Mr. Henderson.
"We ought to be at the moon inside of two days now. We have not made
quite the speed we calculated on, but that does not matter. I think we
will go even more slowly on the remainder of the trip, as I wish to
take some scientific observations."
"Yes, and so do I," added Mr. Roumann. "I think if we make fifteen
miles a second from now on we will be moving fast enough."
Accordingly the Cardite motor was slowed down, and the projectile shot
through space at slightly reduced speed, while the two scientists made
several observations, and did some intricate calculating about ether
pressure, the distance of heavenly bodies and other matters of interest
only to themselves.
It was on the afternoon of the third day following the turning turtle
of the _Annihilator_ that Mark, who was looking through a telescope in
the pilot-house, called out: "I say, Jack, look here!"
"What's the matter?" asked his chum.
"Why, we're rushing right at the moon! I can see the mountains and
craters on it as plain as though we were but five miles away!"
"Then we must be nearly there," observed Jack. "Let's tell the others,
Mark."
They hurried to inform the two professors, who at once left their
tables of figures and entered the steering chamber. Then, after gazing
through the glass, Mr. Henderson announced: "Friends, we will land on
the moon in half an hour. Get ready."
"Are we really going to be walking around the moon inside of thirty
minutes?" asked Mark.
"I don't know about walking around on it," answered the German. "We
first have to see if there is an atmosphere there for us to breathe,
and whether the temperature is such as we can stand. But the
Annihilator will soon be there."
The speed of the Cardite motor was increased, and so rapidly did the
projectile approach Luna that glasses were no longer needed to
distinguish the surface of the moon.
There she floated in space, a great, silent ball, but not like the
earth, pleasantly green, with lakes and rivers scattered about in
verdant forests. No, for the moon presented a desolate surface to the
gaze of the travellers. Great, rugged mountain peaks arose all about
immense caverns that seemed hundreds of miles deep. The surface was
cracked and seamed, as if by a moonquake. Silence and terrible
loneliness seemed to confront them.
"Maybe it's better on some other part of the surface," said Jack, in a
low voice.
"Perhaps," agreed Mark. "It's certainly not inviting there."
Nearer and nearer they came to the moon. It no longer looked like a
great sphere, for they were so close that their vision could only take
in part of the surface, and it began to flatten out, as the earth does
to a balloonist.
And the nearer they came to it the more rugged, the more terrible, the
more desolate did it appear. Would they be able to find a place to
land, or would they go hurtling down into some awful crater, or be
dashed upon the sharp peak of some mountain of the moon?
It was a momentous question, and anxious were the faces of the two
professors.
"Mr. Henderson, if you will undertake to steer to some level place, I
will take charge of the motor," suggested Mr. Roumann. "I will
gradually reduce the speed, and get the repelling machine in readiness,
so as to render our landing gentle."
"Very well," responded the aged scientist, as he grasped the steering
wheel.
The progress of the _Annihilator_ was gradually checked. More and more
slowly it approached the moon. The mountains seemed even higher now,
and the craters deeper.
"What a terrible place," murmured Jack. "I shouldn't want to live
there."
"Me either," said Mark.
"Can you see a place to land?" called Professor Roumann through the
speaking-tube from the engine room to the steering tower.
"Yes, we seem to be approaching a fairly level plateau," was Mr.
Henderson's reply.
"Very well, then, I'll start the repelling machine."
The Cardite motor was stopped. The projectile was now being drawn
toward the moon by the gravity force of the dead ball that once had
been a world like ours. Slowly and more slowly moved the great
projectile.
There was a moment of suspense. Mr. Henderson threw over the steering
wheel. The _Annihilator_ moved more slowly. Then came a gentle shock.
The dishes in the galley rattled, and there was the clank of machinery.
The Shanghai rooster crowed.
"We're on the moon at last!" cried jack, peering from an observation
window at the rugged surface outside.
"Yes; and now to see what it's like," added Mark. "We'll go outside,
and----"
"Wait," cautioned Professor Roumann. "First we must see if we can
breathe on the moon, and whether the temperature will support life. I
must make some tests before we venture out of the projectile."