AT TERRIFIC SPEED
"Now, boys," remarked Mr. Roumann one morning about a week after
work had been in progress on the projectile, "I did not mention
it, of course, but I hope you will not let it become known in the
village that we are constructing a machine in which to proceed to
Mars. It would not do to have a lot of curious people out here."
"Oh, you needn't worry about that," replied Jack. "We have built
several things in the shop here, and no one ever knew about them
until we were ready to have them start off."
"We'll tell Andy Sudds to keep on guard with his rifle,"
suggested Mark. "That will prevent curious persons coming too
close."
"That will be a good idea," declared Mr. Roumann.
"You need have no fear of anything being discovered," put in Mr.
Henderson, who was busy planning the engine-room of the strange
craft.
"When we first came here we used to be bothered by curious
persons, but I soon found a method of keeping them away."
"How was that?" inquired the German.
"Why, I ran a wire all around the shop, and charged the conductor
with a mild current of electricity. Some people got shocked by
coming too close, and after that they gave my place a wide berth.
I'll do the same thing now."
"A fine idea," commented Mr. Roumann. "But what about Washington
White? He is so fond of talking, and using big words, that he
may disclose our plans."
"No, I can trust Washington," declared the professor. "But, as a
further precaution, I have not told him what our object is. All
he knows is that we are building a new machine, but he does not
know what it is for, nor where we are going."
"That's good."
"Maybe when he does find out he'll not want to go," added Mark.
"Do you intend to take him with us?" asked Mr. Roumann.
"I think so--if he'll go," replied Mr. Henderson. "He has always
been with me, and he is very helpful on these trips. But I shall
not tell him where we are going until we are almost ready to
start. But now, Mr. Roumann, I'd like to consult with you about
the installation of the motor, or whatever we are to call it, by
means of which your secret force is to be used."
"A motor will be as good a name as any other. We'll call it the
Etherium motor."
"What will we call the other one?" asked Jack.
"What other one?"
"The motive power by which we are to go through the atmosphere of
the earth."
"Well, we can call that the atmospheric motor," replied Mr.
Roumann. "However, there is no hurry about that. I want to get
the work in the engine-room under way first."
He and the professor were soon deep in the discussion, while Jack
and Mark, with the aid of the machinists, were busy constructing
the main part of the projectile.
The first thing to be done was to build the shell of the
projectile. This consisted of plates of a new and peculiar
metal, invented by Professor Henderson. The plates were riveted
together, in the shape of a great cigar, two hundred feet long.
This work took some time, but, as the professor had in his shop
the proper machinery for it, a small force could accomplish a
great deal of work.
The rear of the projectile was to be occupied by the mysterious
apparatus that was to drive it through space. In this compartment
would be many strange machines, including the one which Mr. Roumann
had invented to use the terrific and secret force of which he was
the discoverer.
There were apparatus for distilling water from the atmosphere,
others for manufacturing oxygen, dynamos for furnishing light to
the interior of the Annihilator, motors for working the various
small machines, and a number of other appliances.
Forward from the engine-room was a space to be used in storing
away the food supplies, and the materials necessary for generating
the force used, as well as for making a new supply of air when
needed.
Amidships was a living-room, with a plate-glass window on either
side. There was not much space to move about in it, as, owing to
the long and narrow shape of the projectile, economy of room was
enforced. Still, the place was a lengthy one, with tables and
chairs, which could be folded up out of the way when not in use.
There was provision for a library of scientific and other books,
and a piano played by electricity and brass disks, somewhat on
the order of modern player-pianos.
"What are those apertures in the sides of the living-room?" asked
Jack of Mr. Roumann, as the lad glanced over a sheet of
blue-print paper, on which was shown a plan of the projectile.
"Those," said the German, "are for the guns."
"Guns!" exclaimed Mark. "Why, they're too big for guns. They
are large enough to put a cannon through."
"And that is just what is going to be put through them, my boy,"
went on Mr. Roumann. "From those openings, and you will see that
there are four of them, will protrude the muzzles of my electric
cannons."
"Do we need them?" asked Jack.
"You can't tell what we'll need when we get to Mars," was the
slow answer. "You must remember that we know nothing about the
inhabitants of the planet. While I believe that the people there
are of a very high grade of intelligence, we must be prepared for
the worst. We may find them terrible savages, who will want to
attack and destroy us. With the electric cannon we can defend
ourselves."
"That's so," admitted Jack. "We had to fight the Esquimaux up
north,"
"And the putty-men in the center of the earth," added Mark.
Forward of the living-room, and near what corresponded to the bow
of the projectile, were the sleeping-rooms, consisting of two
long, narrow compartments, with a passageway between them, like
the aisle in a sleeping-car. The beds were berths against the
wall, much as in the Pullman cars of to-day.
In the very "nose" of the Annihilator was the pilot house. Here
were grouped together the wheels, levers, cams, gears, pistons
and other apparatus that controlled the big projectile. Standing
in it, and peering out through a heavy plate glass window, the
operator could guide the machine in any direction he desired, and
he could also regulate the rate of progress.
A number of scientific instruments were carried, for showing and
registering the speed and direction of the Annihilator, the
distance it was above the earth, and there was an indicator to
note how near the travelers came to Mars. There was also a
powerful telescope, and a number of cameras so arranged that they
would automatically take pictures.
"We'll have to travel through space pretty fast in order to cover
thirty-five millions of miles," observed Jack, stopping in his
work of helping rivet some of the plates.
"About how fast will we have to go, Mr. Roumann?"
"I have it all figured out," replied the German.
"I hope our projectile will stand it," remarked Mr. Henderson.
"We did not have to make such terrific speed on our other
voyages."
"I think that the Annihilator, as we have planned it, will not
suffer from the strain of speed," when on Mr. Roumann, looking up
from his study of some blue-prints. "You may be astonished when
I tell you we shall have to travel at the rate of one hundred
miles a second."
"One hundred miles a second!" exclaimed Jack. "That's pretty
fast, isn't it?"
"It's at the rate of eight million six hundred and forty thousand
miles a day," came from Mark, who was a rapid figurer.
"And to cover thirty-five million miles would take us less than
five days," said Jack. "But such an enormous speed--"
"We must travel at about that speed," interrupted Mr. Roumann,
"though I fancy we will be nearer ten days than five in reaching
Mars."
"Why?" asked Jack.
"Because we will not dare travel at such terrific speed as one
hundred miles a second through the atmosphere of the earth. We
would be burned into cinders by the mere friction of the air.
Therefore, I shall send the Annihilator comparatively slowly
through the earth's atmosphere, and perhaps I will find that I shall have
to do the same thing when we near Mars. But while traveling through
the ether, or the space that is between the two can go as fast
as we like, which will as Mark has said, eight million miles per day."
"But even that rate," began Jack, "is going to pretty fast."
"It is faster than almost anything except light," went on Mr.
Roumann.
"Light travels one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles a
second," stated Mark, who remembered his physics. "That's more
than seven times around the earth in a second."
"Correct," said Mr. Roumann with a smile. "But sound, as you
know, only goes a little over a thousand feet a second, at a
temperature of thirty-two degrees above zero. In a warmer
atmosphere it travels slightly faster. We are going much faster
than sound ever travels. A cannon ball will travel about three
thousand feet per second, so we are even going to beat cannon
balls. At least, we hope we are, when we get beyond the earth's
atmosphere."
"That's going to be terrific speed," remarked Jack dubiously, as
if there was some risk in it.
"You need not worry," said Mr. Roumann. "You know we are building
the Annihilator with a double shell, with a space between the two
walls."
"Yes?" said Jack questioningly.
"Well, in that space I intend to put a new kind of gas, that will
absorb all the heat that may be generated by our flight through
space," went on Mr. Roumann. "Now that you know you have
nothing to fear, let us go on with the work."