A Columbus of Space

  CHAPTER VII

  THE CHILDREN OF THE SUN

  But the situation was too critical to permit us to think of theunfortunates whose death we had undoubtedly caused. There seemed lessthan an even chance of our getting through with our own lives. As wetossed and whirled onward the water rose yet higher, and blocks of iceassailed us on all sides. First the sled on the left was torn loose; thenthe other followed it, leaving the car to fight its battle alone. But theloss of the sleds was a good thing now that their occupants were gone,for it eased off the weight and the car rose much higher in the water.Moreover, it gave way more readily when pressed by the ice. To be sure,it rolled more than before, but still, being well ballasted, it did notturn turtle, and most of the time we were able to keep on our feet byholding fast to the inside window bars.

  Once we took a terrible plunge, over a vertical fall of not less thantwenty or thirty feet. But the water below the fall was very deep, aprofound hole having been quickly scooped out in the unfathomable icebeneath, so that we did not strike bottom, as I had feared, but camebobbing to the top again like a cork. Below this fall there was a verylong series of rapids, extending, it seemed, for miles upon miles, and weshot down them with the speed of an express train, lurching from side toside, and colliding with hundreds of ice floes. It must not be supposedthat we went through this experience without suffering any injuries. Onthe contrary, our hands were all bleeding, our faces cut, Henry had oneeye closed by a blow, and our clothing, for we were not wearing ourArctic outfit, was badly used up. Yet none of our injuries was reallyserious, although we looked as if we had just come out of the toughestkind of a street brawl.

  But there is no use in prolonging the story of this awful ride. It seemedto us to last for days upon days, though, in fact, the worst of it wasover within twelve hours after we were lifted from our moorings in thevalley. The tumbling stream gradually broadened out as it left the regionof the high mountains, and then we found ourselves in a district coveredwith icy hills of no great elevation. But we could still see, by glances,as the stream curved this way and that, the glittering peaks behind. Itwas an appalling thing to watch many of the nearer hills as they suddenlysank, collapsed, and disappeared, like pinnacles of loaf sugar meltingand falling to pieces in a basin of water.

  Edmund said that all of the ice-hills and mounds through which we werepassing no doubt owed their existence to pressure from behind, in thebelt where the sun never rose, and where the ice was piled up in actualmountains. These foothills were, in fact, enormous glaciers thrust outtoward the sunward hemisphere.

  After a long time the now broad river widened yet more until it became agreat lake, or bay. The surface of the planet around appeared nearlylevel, and, as far as we could see, was mostly covered by the water. Herevast fields of ice floated, and the water was not muddy, as it would havebeen if it had passed over soil, but of crystal purity and wonderfullyblue in places where shafts of sunlight penetrated to great depths--fornow the sun was high above the horizon ahead, and shining in an almostclear sky. Presently we began to notice the wind again. It came fitfully,first from one quarter and then another, rapidly increasing until, attimes, it rose into a tempest. It lifted the water in huge combing waves,but the car rode them like a lifeboat.

  "There is peril for us in this," said Edmund, at last. "We are beingcarried by the current into a region where the contending winds may playhavoc. It is the place where the hot air from the sunward side begins tobe chilled and to descend, meeting the colder air from the night side. Itmust form a veritable belt of storms, which may be as difficult to pass,circumstanced as we are, as the crystal mountains themselves."

  "Suppose it should turn out that there is nothing but an ocean on thisside of the planet," I suggested.

  "That I believe to be impossible," Edmund responded. "This hemispheremust be, as a whole, broken up into highlands and depressions. Thegeological formation of the other side, as far as I could make it outfrom the appearance of the rocks in the caverns, indicates that Venus hasundergone the same experience of upheavals and fracturings of the crustthat the earth has been through. If that is true of one side it must betrue of the other also, for during a large part of these geologicalchanges she undoubtedly rotated rapidly on her axis like the earth."

  "But we traveled five thousand miles on the other side withoutencountering anything but a frozen prairie," I objected.

  "True enough, and yet I would lay a wager that all of that side of theplanet is not equally level. Remember the vast plains of Russia andSiberia."

  "Well," put in Jack, whose spirits were beginning to revive, "if there'sa shore somewheres, let's find it. I want to see the other kind ofinhabitants. These that we've met don't accord with my ideas of Venus."

  "We shall find them," responded Edmund, "and I think I can promise youthat they will not disappoint your expectations."

  Yet there seemed to be nothing in our present situation to warrant theconfidence expressed by our leader's words and manner. The current thathad carried us out of the crystal mountains gradually disappeared in avast waste of waters, and we were driven hither and thither by thetempestuous wind. Its force increased hour by hour, and at last the sky,which at brief intervals had been clear and exquisitely blue, becamechoked with black clouds, sweeping down upon the face of the waters, andoften whirled into great _trombes_ by the tornadic blasts. Several timesthe car was deluged by waterspouts, and once it was actually lifted upinto the air by the mighty suction. An ordinary vessel would not havelived five minutes in that hell of winds and waters. But the car, if ithad been built for this kind of navigation, could not have behavedbetter.

  I do not know how long all this lasted. It grew worse and worse.Sometimes a flood of rain fell, and then would come a storm of lightning,and a downpour of gigantic hailstones that rattled upon the steel shellof the car like a rain of bullets from a battery of machine guns. Halfthe time one window or the other was submerged by the waves, and when wegot an opportunity to glance out, we saw nothing but torn streamers ofcloud whipping the face of the waters. But when the change came at last,it was as sudden as the dropping of a curtain. The clouds broke away, asoft light filled the atmosphere, the waves ceased to break and rolled inlong undulations, and a marvelous dome appeared overhead.

  That dome, at its first dramatic appearance, was one of the mostastonishing things that we saw in the whole course of our adventures. Itwas not a cerulean vault like that which covers the earth in halcyonweather, but an indescribably soft, pinkish-gray concavity that seemednearer than the sky and yet farther than the clouds. Here and there, farbeneath it, but still at a vast elevation, floated delicate gauzycurtains, tinted like sheets of mother-of-pearl. The sun was no longervisible, but the air was filled with a delicious luminousness, whichbathed the eyes as if it had been an ethereal liquid.

  Below each window was a steel ledge, broad enough to stand on, withconvenient hold-fasts for the hands. These had evidently been preparedfor some such contingency, and Edmund, throwing open the windows, invitedus to go outside. We gladly accepted the invitation, and all, exceptJuba, issued into the open air. The temperature was that of an earlyspring day, and the air was splendidly fresh and stimulating. The rollingof the car had now nearly ceased, and we had no difficulty in maintainingour positions. For a long while we admired, and talked of, the great domeoverhead, which drew our attention, for the time, from the sea that hadso strangely brought us hither.

  "There," said Edmund, pointing to the dome, "is the inside of the shellof cloud whose exterior, gleaming in the sunshine, baffles ourastronomers in their efforts to see the surface of Venus. I believe thatwe shall find the whole of this hemisphere covered by it. It is a shieldfor the inhabitants against the fervors of an unsetting sun. Its presenceprevents their real world from being seen from outside."

  "Well," said Jack, laughing, "I never heard before that Venus was fond ofa veil."

  "Not only can they not be seen," continued Edmund, "but they cannotthemselves see beyond the screen t
hat covers them."

  "Worse and worse!" exclaimed Jack. "The astronomers have certainly made amistake in naming this bashful planet Venus."

  We continued for a long time to gaze at the great dome, admiring themagnificent play of iridescent colors over its vast surface, untilsuddenly Jack, who had gone to the other side of the car, called out tous:

  "Come here and tell me what this is."

  We hurried to his side and were astonished to see a number of glitteringobjects which appeared to be floating in the atmosphere. They werearranged in an almost straight row, at an elevation of perhaps twothousand feet, and were apparently about three miles away. After a fewmoments of silence, Edmund said, in his quiet way:

  "Those are air ships."

  "Air ships!"

  "Yes, surely. An exploring expedition, I shouldn't wonder. I anticipatedsomething of that kind. You know already how dense the atmosphere ofVenus is. It follows that balloons, and all sorts of machines for aerialnavigation, can float much more easily here than over the earth. I wasprepared to find the inhabitants of Venus skilled in such things, and I'mnot surprised by what we see."

  "Venus with wings!" cried Jack. "Now, Edmund, that sounds more like it. Iguess we've struck the right planet after all."

  "But," I said, "you spoke of an exploring expedition. How in the world doyou make that out?"

  "It seems perfectly natural to me," replied Edmund. "Remember the twosides of the planet, so wonderfully different from one another. If we onthe earth are so curious about the poles of our planet, simply becausethey are unlike other parts of the world, don't you think that theinhabitants of Venus should be at least equally curious concerning awhole hemisphere of their world, which differs _in toto_ from the half onwhich they live?"

  "That does seem reasonable," I assented.

  "Of course it's reasonable, and I imagine that we, ourselves, are aboutto be submitted to investigation."

  "By Jo!" exclaimed Jack, running his hands through his hair, andsmoothing his torn and rumpled garments, "then we must make ready forinspection. But I'm afraid we won't do much honor to old New York. Can Iget a shave aboard your craft, Edmund?"

  "Oh, yes," Edmund replied, laughing. "I didn't forget soap and razors."

  But Jack would have had no time to make his toilet even if he hadseriously thought of it. The strange objects in the air approached withgreat rapidity, and we soon saw that Edmund had correctly divined theirnature. They were certainly air ships, and I was greatly interested inthe observation that they seemed to be constructed somewhat upon theprinciples upon which our inventors were then working on the earth. Butthey were neither aeroplanes nor balloons. They bore a resemblance tomechanical birds, and seemed to be sustained and forced ahead by awing-like action.

  This, of course, did not escape Edmund's notice.

  "Look," he said admiringly, "how easily and gracefully they fly. Perhapswith our relatively light atmosphere we shall never be able to do thaton the earth; but no matter," he added, with a flush, "for with theinter-atomic energy at our command, we shall have no need to imitate thebirds."

  "Perhaps they have made that discovery here, too," I suggested.

  "No, it is evident that they have not, else they would not be employingmechanical means of flight. Once let me get the car fixed up and we'llgive them a surprise."

  "Yes, and if you had used common sense," growled Henry, nursing hisinjured eye, "you would not be here fooling away your time and ours, andrisking our lives every minute, but you'd be making millions andrevolutionizing life at home."

  "And where'd the Columbus of Space be then?" demanded Jack. "Hanged ifEdmund is not right! I'd rather be here meeting these doves of Venus thangrinding out dollars on the earth. And can't we go back and scoop in themoney when we get ready?"

  The discussion went no further, for, by this time, two of the air shipswere close at hand. And now we perceived, for the first time, the beingsthat they carried. Our surprise at the sight was even greater than thatwhich we had experienced upon meeting the inhabitants of the darkhemisphere. The latter were extraordinary--but we were looking forextraordinary things. Indeed they were, except for certain peculiarities,much more like some members of our own race than we should have deemedpossible. How great, then, was our astonishment upon seeing the two airships apparently in charge of _real human beings_!

  At least that was our first impression. In the midst of the strangeapparatus, which evidently fulfilled the function of wings for the airships, we saw decks, spacious enough to contain twenty persons, andsurmounted with deck houses, and along the railings inclosing the deckswere gathered the crews, among whom we believed that we could recognizetheir officers. The two vessels had approached within a hundred yardsbefore being suddenly arrested. Then they settled gracefully down uponthe water, where they floated like swans.

  At first, as I have said, the resemblance of their crews to inhabitantsof the earth seemed complete. One would have said that we had met ayachting party, composed of tall, well-formed, light-complexioned,yellow-haired Englishmen, the pick of their race. At a distance theirdress alone appeared strange, though it, too, might easily be imitated onthe earth. As well as I can describe it, it bore some resemblance, ingeneral effect, to the draperies of a Greek statue, and it was speciallyremarkable for the harmonious blending of soft hues in its texture.

  During a space of at least five minutes we gazed at them, and they at us.Probably their surprise was greater than ours, because we had been on thelookout for strange sights, being, of our own volition, in a foreignworld, while they could have had no expectation of such an encounter,even if, as Edmund had conjectured, they were engaged in exploration. Wecould read their astonishment in their gesticulations. Slowly the car andthe nearer of the two air ships drifted closer together. When we werewithin less than fifty yards of one another, Jack suddenly called out:

  "A woman! By Jo, it's Venus herself!"

  His excited voice rang like a rattle of musketry in the heavy air, andthe beings on the air ship started back in alarm. But although, like theinhabitants of the dark hemisphere, they were, evidently, unaccustomedto hearing sounds of such forcefulness issue from a living creature nolarger than themselves, they were not faint-hearted, and the air ship didnot, as we half expected it would, take flight. The momentary commotionwas quickly quieted, and our visitors continued their inspection. All ofus immediately recognized the personage whom Jack had singled out as thesubject of his startling exclamation. It was clear that he had rightlyguessed her sex, and she appeared worthy of his admiring designation.Even at the distance of a hundred feet we could see that she was verybeautiful. Her complexion was light, with a flame upon the cheeks; herhair a chestnut blond; and her large, round eyes were sapphire blue, andseemed to radiate a light of their own. This last statement (about theeyes) must not be taken for a conventional exaggeration, such as writersof fiction employ in describing heroines who never existed. On thecontrary, it expresses a literal fact; and moreover, as the reader willsee further on, this peculiarity of the eyes was shared, in varyingdegrees, by all these people of Venus, and was connected with the mostamazing of all our discoveries on that planet. I should say here that,while the eyes of the inhabitants of the day side were larger than ours,they did not, in respect of size, resemble the extraordinary organs ofvision possessed by the compatriots of Juba.

  In a few minutes we became aware that the beautiful creature we had beenadmiring was not the only representative of the female sex on the airship. Several others surrounded her, and the fact quickly became manifestthat they recognized her as a superior. Still more surprising was thediscovery, which we were not long in making, that she was actually thecommander of the craft. We could see that the orders which determined itsmovements emanated from her.

  "Amazons!" exclaimed Jack, taking pains this time to moderate his voice."And what a queen they've got!"

  During all this time the car and the air ship were slowly drifting nearerto one another, drawn by that strange attraction whi
ch seems to affectinanimate things when in close neighborhood, and when they were not morethan fifteen yards apart the personage we had been watching slowly liftedher arm, revealing a glittering bracelet, and, with an ineffably winningsmile, made a gesture which said plainer than any words could have done:

  "Welcome, strangers."