Fifteen Hundred Miles An Hour 8

Fifteen Hundred Miles An Hour 8

Rapidly the gloom increased. Darker and darker grew the fathomless void

which we were crossing, until we were surrounded by one vast blackness,

such as no dweller on Earth could ever conceive. The _Sirius_ was

lighted with incandescent lamps, but these only served to make the

awful darkness more profound. This terror-inspiring gloom seemed to

enter our very souls; we could not only see it, we could absolutely

feel it. The Sun seemed as though he had finally burnt himself out, and

disappeared for ever from the spangled firmament, leaving all within

the focus of his once-glorious rays in unutterable chaotic blackness.

It was as though we had penetrated into the very womb of the universe,

where no light could ever be!

 

"I think this is absolutely the most dreadful of our many weird

experiences," said Temple to the Doctor.

 

"It is sublimely grand," answered the Doctor, "and only shows how

infinitely little man knows of the forces of Nature away from his own

planet."

 

"Doctor, there is something wrong with our compasses. The needles

are revolving with great velocity. I trust the presence of all this

electricity round us will not injure any"--

 

Before Graham could finish, the whole firmament seemed lit up with a

dazzling purple light, and a moment afterwards we were struck dumb with

horror at the awful sound which followed it. For a moment the _Sirius_

seemed about to fall to pieces; every bolt and plate in her vibrated,

and we gave ourselves up for lost. The frightful explosion was like

nothing heard on Earth: ten thousand thunder-claps in one would be but

a feeble imitation of that terrible discharge, which was gone in a

moment without a single echo to mark its departure!

 

Far in the distance we could hear mighty cracking sounds coming nearer

and nearer, and then dying away in space. Clap after clap of this awful

thunder shook the very vault of heaven in their awful intensity;

and flash after flash of brilliant light lit up the vast void across

which we were travelling. How the _Sirius_ escaped utter annihilation

amidst all this mighty display was a mystery to us all. It oscillated

tremendously, as though at the mercy of conflicting currents, and

reeled like a ship in a heavy gale. What appeared to be glowing meteors

rushed by us with a deafening roar, or exploded with a terrible crash.

Vast expanses of space were filled with brilliant light, sometimes

like glowing mountains and cave-grottoes of fire. Vast sheets of blue

and yellow flame rolled up with a crackling noise like huge scrolls

of parchment, or curled and twisted into the most grotesque shapes.

Purple, yellow, and blue tongues of flame shot across the darkness,

sometimes silently as the sheet-lightning of Earth, but more often

followed by loud and sharp reports.

 

Great quantities of fine magnetic dust accumulated on the balcony

of the _Sirius_, and once a large globe of purple fire dropped on

the roof, and bounded away again into space. As the electrical

discharges gradually became less violent, the whole vault of space

above us was lit up with one vast aurora, whose enchanting glories

were utterly beyond description. Every colour of the rainbow, every

combination of colour that man could conceive, was there, all blended

into one gorgeous flare of tinted light. Temple, Graham, and Sandy,

though no cowards, were at last compelled to turn their amazed and

wonder-stricken faces from this appalling scene; but Doctor Hermann,

with blanched cheeks, watched the wonderful phenomena, cool and

intrepid among all the fiery strife, controlling his emotions with

what must have been an almost superhuman effort of will.

 

Throughout this period of unparalleled darkness our air was very bad,

and the condensers working at their utmost pressure could scarcely keep

up a sufficient supply of breathable atmosphere. Most of our electrical

apparatus was thrown out of order. We were able to generate little

electricity during this wonderful phenomenon, and had it not been for

the store of this force we always had by us, our engines would have

been stopped. We failed absolutely to obtain water from the ether, so

long as we were surrounded by these meteoric clouds.

 

The view of the heavens through our telescope was now exceedingly

beautiful.

 

During the first week of March, a stupendous comet made its appearance

between the _Sirius_ and Earth, and such was its exceeding brilliancy

that for days it was visible to the naked eye.

 

Another uneventful month passed away, the only occurrence of interest

being the apparently rapidly increasing size of Mars. On the 7th of

April our distance from Earth was 32,000,000 miles, which consequently

left us about 2,000,000 more miles to travel. Even in the brilliant

sunlight Mars was visible without the aid of a glass, and presented a

singularly beautiful and ruddy aspect. We were, as yet, too far away to

distinguish much of its physical features, but we saw enough to excite

our curiosity and interest to the very utmost.

 

Every available moment of our waking hours was spent in discussing the

physical conditions of Mars, and in making our plans for the time when

we should land upon its surface. Daily we were more and more convinced

of the similarity between the physical conditions of the Earth and

Mars, the most important fact of all being the undoubted presence of

an atmosphere of considerable density. The satellites of Mars were now

becoming very bright and conspicuous.

 

The _Sirius_ continued its rapid flight through space with

uninterrupted speed. Our time was mostly spent in astronomical

observation, and in discussing the beauties of the firmament as

revealed by our telescopes. We never seemed to tire of witnessing the

glories of the heavens.

 

An interesting fact which we could not fail to observe was the

apparently much smaller size of the sun's disc, and a sensible decrease

both in the amount of his light and the warmth of his rays.

 

Life in the _Sirius_ went uniformly on. It seemed ages since we were on

earth, or had communion with our fellow-men.

 

Every day, Graham carefully recorded the distance we had travelled,

and made his report to the Doctor. Our machinery still worked with

beautiful precision, and required but little scrutiny or attention.

 

"Well, Doctor," said Temple, one day after work was over, "suppose you

give us an idea of our distance from Mars, and our probable date of

arrival?"

 

"What is our distance for the past twenty-four hours, Graham?" asked

the Doctor.

 

"Twenty-eight thousand eight hundred miles," he answered.

 

"Then we are still travelling at our reduced speed of twelve hundred

miles per hour," rejoined the Doctor. "Well, our last computation of

the Earth's distance was made on the 7th of April. It is now the 17th

of May. One rate of speed has been maintained throughout this interval,

so that we are now 33,123,200 miles from Earth, and just 876,800 miles

from the planet Mars. That distance we shall cover in a little over

thirty days. If all goes well, we shall reach Mars on the 18th of June."

 

"Your remarks fill me with the strangest sensations," answered Temple.

 

"Whatever may come to pass," said the Doctor, "let me impress upon

you the importance of keeping cool, and as free from excitement as

possible. Our next thirty days will be the strangest that mortal man

has ever yet experienced!"

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER VI.

 

 

WE NEAR MARS.

 

 

As the _Sirius_ sped on its journey from day to day, the apparent size

of Mars rapidly increased. We began to feel appalled at our nearness to

this new world, now gleaming in brilliant splendour below, instead of

above us. Our sensations cannot be expressed.

 

On the 2nd of June we were again alarmed at losing sight of the sun for

a short time, and expected another meteoric visitation.

 

We began now anxiously to discuss the possibilities of finding living

creatures on this planet. It would indeed be a disappointment almost

beyond human endurance, to find Mars a dead desolate world, after all!

But we took heart at its singularly beautiful appearance, and its

similarity in many respects to the world we had left.

 

We began to notice a considerable difference in the density of the

atmosphere. Nearer and nearer we came, awe-struck and dumbfounded

at our own temerity. Hour by hour, and day by day, we watched this

glorious world become larger and larger to our view. Still no sign

of life could be traced. Cold and still, and calm as the grave, this

new world appeared to us. The _Sirius_ absolutely seemed to creep

along, although the good machine was bearing us onward at a speed so

enormous, that the fastest express train of Earth was a snail's pace by

comparison.

 

Amid the terrible excitement, and the frightful tension of our nerves

which it entailed, the days sped by almost unnoticed, uncounted. But

the Doctor, ever cool and collected, through all this trying period,

kept a careful record of the distance travelled day by day.

 

As we approached yet nearer to this magnificent planet, we were able to

note most carefully the general distribution of land and water upon its

mighty surface.

 

Daily, nay hourly now, our hopes of finding the planet Mars a peopled

world increased.

 

It was three weeks from the time that the Doctor had last dwelt upon

the distance we had travelled, and the size of Mars was becoming

appallingly stupendous. On the evening of the 7th of June, we were all

seated in the chamber above the engine-room, admiring the glorious

splendours of the sunset on this heavenly orb, watching the last rays

of the Martial day expire, as we had so often done before. We were too

absorbed in the beauties of the scene before us to speak; each was too

overcome by the solemn grandeur of our surroundings, and our strange

position, to converse with his fellow-man; until the darkness reached

us at last, and broke the magic spell of our silence.

 

Temple was the first to speak. "Well, Doctor, things are rapidly

approaching a crisis now. What are your latest views on our position?"