“Confound it!” I cried; “I’m a fool! What business have I here? I’m not
coming, Cavor. The thing’s too risky. I’m getting out.”
“You can’t,” he said.
“Can’t! We’ll soon see about that!”
He made no answer for ten seconds. “It’s too late for us to quarrel
now, Bedford,” he said. “That little jerk was the start. Already we are
flying as swiftly as a bullet up into the gulf of space.”
“I—” I said, and then it didn’t seem to matter what happened. For a
time I was, as it were, stunned; I had nothing to say. It was just as
if I had never heard of this idea of leaving the world before. Then I
perceived an unaccountable change in my bodily sensations. It was a
feeling of lightness, of unreality. Coupled with that was a queer
sensation in the head, an apoplectic effect almost, and a thumping of
blood vessels at the ears. Neither of these feelings diminished as time
went on, but at last I got so used to them that I experienced no
inconvenience.