Pharaoh's Broker

by Ellsworth Douglass

  CHAPTER III

  Structure of the Projectile

  A few weeks later I received a letter from Dr. Anderwelt asking me tocall at his rooms on the West Side that afternoon, as soon as the markethad closed. He desired to exhibit and explain the drawings of the newprojectile and talk over the preparations for the trip. I had been soengrossed with every sort of worry that I had thought but little of thedoctor and his grand schemes of late. But now I was anxious to know whatprogress he was making. Sometimes I felt that I had been foolish to putany money into the thing; but the doctor's idea of reversing gravity wasso simple and so elemental, that I marvelled it had never occurred toscientists before.

  After the market I hunted up the street and number the doctor had givenme, and found a little, dingy boarding-house, lost among machine shopsand implement factories, near the west side of the river. In athird-floor back room, with one small window looking out on dark, sootybuildings and belching chimneys, Dr. Anderwelt was thinking out all theincidental problems, and preparing for all the emergencies that mightarise on a trip of some forty million miles, through unknown space, to astrange planet whose composition was unguessed.

  The walls of the room were soiled and bare, except for blue-prints ofdrawings from which the projectile was being built in neighbouringfoundries. There were but two plain, hard chairs in the room. The doctorsat on one with a pillow doubled up under him for a cushion. He wasbending over a draughting board, which was propped up on the bed duringthe day and went under it at night.

  Three flights of steep stairs had taken my breath, and I dropped intothe other hard chair and exclaimed,--

  "I say, Doctor, why didn't you take an office in the twelfth heaven of amodern office building over in town, where they have elevators? I havereally forgotten how to climb stairs. Didn't I furnish you money enoughto do this thing right?"

  "Don't you think this is a good place?" he inquired in some surprise."The rent is cheap, and it is convenient to the work. But speaking ofelevators, we are going to revolutionize all that. No more hoisting orhydraulic lifts after we apply our ideas to the lifting of theseelevator cages!"

  "I am afraid this idea of negative gravity is apt to revolutionizeeverything, and generally upset the entire universe," I replied. "Ihave been wondering what would happen if you were to apply a negativecurrent to this Earth of ours and send it whirling out of its orbit, anostracised Pariah, repelled by all the celestial bodies!"

  "Not the slightest danger of any such calamity," he answered. "Thereversal of polarity can only be accomplished with comparatively smalland insignificant masses. It would be impossible to impart a negativecondition even to the smallest satellite. Our projectile will weigh buta few thousand pounds, compared to the millions of tons of the smallestcelestial bodies. The Creator has looked out for the stability of theuniverse, never fear for that! And He has also given us a few hints ofnegative currents and repellant gravities in the form of meteorites andfalling stars, which cannot be so well explained by any other theory.But what I want to talk to you about is the vital importance ofproviding against every possible emergency before starting on this tripthrough space. A trifling oversight in the preparations may mean deathin the end, and things we put no value on here we might be willing togive a fortune for on Mars!"

  "Well, let's hear how this thing is built," I said, rising and facingthe larger blue-print. "So that's the shape of it, is it? Looks like acigar!"

  "Yes, the design resembles that of a torpedo considerably," replied thedoctor, and referring to the sectional blue-print he began explainingthe construction.

  "This outer covering is a crust of graphite or black lead, inside whichis a two-inch layer of asbestos. Both of these resist enormous heats,and they will prevent our burning by friction with atmospheres, andprotect us against extremes of cold. Also, when we are ready, they willenable us to visit planets about whose cooled condition we are notcertain. We might touch safely for a short time on a molten planet withthis covering.

  "Next comes the general outer framework of steel, just within which, andcompletely surrounding the living compartments, are the chambers for thestorage of condensed air for use on the trip. These chambers are linedinside with another layer of asbestos. Now, air being a comparativelypoor conductor of heat, and asbestos one of the best non-conductors weknow of, this insures a stable temperature of the living compartments,regardless of the condition without, whether of extreme heat or extremecold. Afterward comes the inner framework of steel, and lastly awainscotting of hard wood to give the compartments a finish."

  "How large are these living rooms?" I inquired.

  "The rear one is four feet high and eight feet long. The forward one,designed for my own use, is longer, and must contain a good-sizetelescope and all my scientific instruments. The apparatus with which Iproduce the currents is built into the left wall, and it acts on thesteel work of the projectile only. The rear compartment has a sideboardfor preparing meals, which will have to be wholly of bread, biscuits,and various tinned vegetables and meats. We shall not attempt anycooking."

  "But are there no windows for looking out?" I queried.

  "Certainly, there are two of them, made of thick mica. One is directlyin the front end, through which my telescope will look. The other is inthe port-hole in the rear end. Each window is provided with an outershutter of asbestos, which can be closed in case of great heat or cold.You will notice the two compartments can be separated by an air-tightplunger, fitting into the aperture between them. It will be necessaryfor both of us to occupy the same compartment while the air is beingchanged in the other. The foul air will be forced outside by a powerfulpump until a partial vacuum is created. Then a certain measure ofcondensed air is emptied in, and expands until the barometer in thatcompartment indicates a proper pressure."

  "The air will be made to order while you wait, then?" I put in.

  "That is exactly what will be done in a more literal manner than you maysuppose!" exclaimed the doctor. "This air problem is a most interestingone, for we must educate ourselves on the trip to use the sort ofatmosphere we expect to find when we land. For instance, going to Marswe must use an atmosphere more and more rarefied each day, untilgradually we become used to the thin air we expect to find there. Ofcourse, there is an especially designed barometer and thermometer,capable of being read in the rear compartment, but exposed outside nearthe rudder. The barometer will give us the pressure of the earthlyatmosphere as it becomes more and more rare with our ascent. It willshow us what pressure there is of the ether, which may varyconsiderably, depending on our nearness to heavenly bodies. It will alsoimmediately indicate to us when we are entering any new atmosphere. Whenwe have arrived at Mars, we shall observe the exact pressure of theMartian air, and then manufacture one of the same pressure inside, andtry breathing it before we venture out. The thermometer will give us thetemperature of the ether, will indicate the loss of heat as we leave thesun, and will show us the Martian temperature before we venture intoit."

  "But you have said the condensed air will be used to resist the outerheat. This will certainly make it so hot it will be unfit to breathe," Iinterposed.

  "Ah, but you forget that the quick expansion of a gaslike air producescold. We shall regulate our temperature in that way. If it is becomingtoo warm inside, the new measure of condensed air will be quicklyintroduced into the partial vacuum, and its sudden expansion willproduce great cold, and freeze ice for us if we wish it. On the otherhand, if the compartments are already cold, we shall allow the condensedair to enter very gradually, and its slow expansion will produce butlittle cold. The question of heating the projectile is the mostdifficult one I have found. We cannot have any fires, for there is noway for the smoke to escape, and we cannot carry oxygen enough to keepthem burning. I have decided that we must depend on the heat arisingfrom outer friction and from absorption of the Sun's rays by our blacksurface. When we are in ether where friction is very little, thevelocity will be all the greater, and I believe we shall always b
e warmenough. You must remember, we shall not have the slightest suspicion ofa draught, and we must necessarily take along the warmest clothing foruse on Mars. Even then we probably cannot safely visit any but hisequatorial districts."

  "This is the rudder, I suppose; but haven't you put it in wrong endfirst?" I asked. "It is just the opposite of a fish's tail. You have thewidened end near the projectile and the narrow end extending."

  "Yes, and with good reason. You will note that the rudder slides intothe rear end of the projectile so that none of it extends out. This is avariable steering apparatus, adapted to every sort of atmosphere.Naturally, a rudder that would steer in the water, might not steer thesame craft in the air. There is probably a vaster difference between airand ether than between water and air. It is necessary, therefore, tohave a small rudder with but little extending surface in thickatmosphere; but when it becomes thinner the rudder must be pushed out,so that a greater surface will offer resistance. When we start, thesmallest portion of this rudder moved but the sixteenth of an inch, up,down, or to either side, will quickly change our course correspondingly.When we have reached the ether, the full surface of the rudder pushedout and exposed broadside may not have much effect in changing ourcourse. This is one of the things that we cannot possibly know till wetry. However, if ether is anything at all but a name, if it is thethinnest, lightest conceivable gas, and we are rushing through it at aspeed of a thousand miles a minute, our rudder certainly should havesome effect."

  "But suppose you cannot steer at all in the ether, what then?" Iinterposed, hunting all the trouble possible.

  "Even that will not be so very dreadful, provided we have taken a truecourse for Mars while coming through the Earth's atmosphere. There is noother planet or star nearer to us than Mars when in opposition.Therefore there will be nothing to attract us out of our correct course;and if we can manage to come anywhere near the true course, thegravitational attraction of Mars will draw us to him in a straight line.The Moon might give us some trouble, and we shall be obliged, either toavoid her entirely by starting so as to cross her orbit when she is onthe opposite side of the Earth, or else go directly to the Moon, landthere, and make a new start. But if the ether which surrounds the Moon(for she has no atmosphere so far as we know) has no resisting powerwhatever, we might have rather a difficult time there. The only thing wecould do would be to land on the side toward the Earth, then disembarkand carry the projectile on our shoulders around the Moon to theopposite side, making a new start from there!"

  "What on earth do you mean?" I exclaimed, interrupting. "Land on asatellite which has no atmosphere, and carry this projectile, weighingover a ton, half-way around the globe?"

  "But the point is, it isn't on the Earth, but on the Moon! Think it overa little, and see how easily we could do it now. In the first place, weshall always carry divers' suits and helmets, to use in going ashore onplanets having no atmosphere. Air will be furnished through tubes frominside the compartments. In the second place, the projectile in itsnatural state will hardly weigh two hundred pounds on the Moon, sincethe mass of that satellite is so much less than the Earth's, and weighttherefore proportionately less. But you must remember I can make theprojectile weigh nothing at all, so one of us could run ahead and towit, as a child would play with its toy balloon."

  "I perceive you have already made this trip several times, and are quitefamiliar with everything. But in case the Moon's surface is not suitablefor foot passengers, what then? I understand it to be rough, jagged,mountainous, and even crossed by immense, yawning, unbridged fissures."

  "That is most likely true, and for that reason we must carry a jointedpunt-pole, and take turns standing on the back, landing and puntingalong through space just above the surface. Do you remember how far youcan send a slightly shrunk toy balloon with one light blow? And how itfinally stops with the resistance of the air? Without any resistingatmosphere, how far and how easily could it be sent along?"

  "I can quite imagine you, astride the rudder of this thing, with apunt-pole as long as a ship's mast and as light as a broom-straw,bumping and skipping along in the utter darkness on the other side ofthe Moon; scaling mountains, bridging yawning chasms, and skimming oversombre sea-beds!" I laughed, for it aroused my active sense of theridiculous.

  "And the Moon may be well worth the exploration," exclaimed the alwaysserious doctor. "Who knows what treasure of gold and silver, or othermetals, rare and precious here, may not be found there? Why was the Moonever created without an atmosphere, and therefore probably without thepossibility of ever being inhabited? Is it put there only to illume ournights? Remember, we do the same service for her fourteen times as well;and if she has inhabitants they may think the Earth exists only for thatpurpose. Is it not more reasonable to suppose that some vast treasuresare there, which the Earth will some day be in pressing need of? That itis a great warehouse of earthly necessities, which will be discoveredjust as they are being exhausted here? And who knows but _we_ may be thediscoverers ourselves? If the satellite is uninhabited, it will belongto the first explorers. Its treasures may be ours! We shall at leasthave a monopoly on the only known method of getting there and bringingthem away."

  "Ah! now you tempt me to go with you," I said, in a mild excitement."Now I see myself, erect on the rudder, a new Count of Monte Cristo,waving the long punt-pole majestically, and exclaiming, '_The Moon ismine!_'"