CHAPTER VIII
The Valley of the Shadow
"Light! Where have you seen any light?"
"I saw the Earth begin to shine like a New Moon on the eastern edge,but----"
"Ah, that _was_ a danger signal. I am glad you awakened me. But you areactually pale and trembling! There is no danger if you keep the course.You see, that rim of light has faded and disappeared since I correctedthe course."
"Yes, but you cannot keep in this little Earthly shadow much longer; andwhat can we possibly do when we emerge into the fathomless, tracklesseffulgence of eternal sunshine? Let us turn back before we plunge intoit," I pleaded.
"So that is what terrified you! Well, you have hit upon one of thegreatest difficulties of the trip; but it is far from insurmountable. Wewill not turn back yet, especially as we have started in the mostopportune time. You have mentioned this 'little shadow.' It is eightthousand miles wide at the surface of the Earth, and gradually, verygradually, tapers down to nothing far out in space. Have you evercalculated how far it reaches?"
"No," I answered. "But we moved out of it and back into it at thesurface very easily, and besides, as the Earth moves forward in itsorbit, the shadow will leave us."
"This little shadow is eight hundred and fifty-six thousand miles long,and we will never leave it as long as it lasts!" exclaimed the doctor."Just at this time it points like a long arrow out in the direction ofMars. It is moving gradually as the Earth moves and hourly correctingits aim. At opposition time it will point directly and unerringly atMars. Therefore it is a way prepared, surveyed, and marked for usthrough the all-enveloping sunlight, which otherwise would be dreadfulenough."
"But how can we be sure of keeping in it? It is rapidly narrowing as itreaches farther out."
"I see I should have explained that to you before I went to sleep, andsaved you this fright. The shadow now points behind Mars, as it is manydays yet before it overtakes that planet in opposition. That is why Itold you to steer always a little behind the planet. But you went alittle out of the course, and immediately something warned us. That rimof light on the east of the Earth was notice to us that we were not inthe centre of the shadow, but bearing too far to the left. We must keepabsolutely in the dark of the Earth, with no light visible on eitherside of it. If a thin rim should appear on one side, we must turn towardthe other until it is all dark again."
"Grant that this shadow is so enormously long, yet it is only scarcelyone-fortieth of the distance to Mars," I objected. "After we emerge fromit, what then?"
"With the aid of my telescope we shall probably be able to see the Earthas an orb, half or quarter as large as the Moon usually appears to us,and to observe its phases until we are several million miles from it. Wemust continue to keep the rim of light, which will then surround it,equal on all sides."
"Ah, but I am afraid," I interrupted, "that as soon as we pass out ofthis shadow the sunlight will be so bright that we cannot see anyplanets, not even the Earth. You know we cannot see the Moon only aquarter of a million miles away when the sun shines."
"In that case we must move the telescope to your window, put on adarkened lens, and steer so as to keep the Earth as a spot in the middleof the Sun. It must appear to us as Venus does to the Earth when she ismaking a transit across the face of the sun. But by our continualshifting we prevent the Earth from making a transit, and hold it as asteady spot in the centre of the Sun. This we can do for many, manymillion miles, continuing until we have reached the vicinity of Mars.
"And you must also remember," continued the doctor, "that the brighterthe light the darker will be the shadow. Now, this projectile is aperfectly black, non-reflecting object five feet wide. It will cast ashadow in front of it five hundred feet long. When we are comparativelynear Mars my telescope, situated in the miniature night cast by theprojectile, will find the planet, and we can then steer directly forhim. If we should chance within eighty thousand miles of him, he wouldattract us to him in a straight line. But we shall not rely upon chance.Moreover, when we are as near to him as that, the light and heat of theSun's rays will have decreased sixty or seventy per cent. When Mars isfarthest from the Sun, he receives only one-third as much light as theEarth does. But he is now almost at his nearest point to the Sun, andreceives half as much light."
"Well, you certainly have a pretty clear idea of how to steer the courseall the way, Doctor. And I was hasty enough to think you had overlookedthis entire phase of the subject!" I ejaculated.
"Indeed, I have thought of it very much. And we should not enjoy allthese advantages if we had not started just before opposition. At anyother time the Earth's shadow would not point toward Mars, nor would thetransit of the Earth over the Sun be of any use to us."
"All this reassures me greatly," I replied; "but I shall keep a closewatch from my rear window for danger lights on the Earth."
"It must be time for breakfast," put in the doctor. "Will you see howtempting a meal you can prepare?"
There was one reservoir built inside the compartments, from which wedrew cool water, and another built next to the outer steel framework,from which we could draw boiling water. As this tank was connected withthe discharge pipe of the air-pump, and thus with the exterior, I wasdisgusted to find that, although the water boiled furiously, and wasrapidly wasting away in steam, it did not become hot enough to make goodbeef tea. The heat escaped with the steam at a comparatively lowtemperature, so that I was compelled to boil water over my gas jet forthe meat extract, which we drank instead of coffee. I also prepared somesandwiches of roast beef and cold ham, and with great relish we beganour diet of ready cooked foods, which was to continue for so long.
After this meal I felt quite sleepy, for I had enjoyed but three hours'rest. The doctor saw my yawns and told me to turn out the gas and have along doze, and I was glad enough to do so.
I must have slept soundly for an hour or two, and then I remember dozingand rolling lazily in my bed, as I usually did at home on Sundaymornings. During my previous nap the bunk had seemed hard and cramped,and I had privately grumbled at the doctor for overlooking personalcomforts; but now I felt that luxurious sensation of sleeping on softmattresses and yielding springs, though of course I had neither. I donot know how soon I should have thoroughly awakened had I not lifted myhand to rub my eye, and unwittingly dealt myself a stinging blow in theface. This roused me.
But what was the matter with that arm? It was as it had once been in anightmare, when it felt detached from its place, and moved lightly andwithout effort, like a bough in the wind. I pinched it with my otherhand, and it was quite sensible to the pain. In fact, the other arm wasnow acting in the same queer way. I arose in bed quickly to see what wasthe matter, and the upper part of my body bent violently over and struckagainst my knees. Then my effort to take an upright position threw me onmy back again. Evidently my muscles were not working as they were when Iwent to bed. They must be over-excited and over-active. I immediatelythought of my heart as the principal and controlling muscle, and in myeagerness to feel its beating my hand dealt me a slap in the chest.These blows, though rapid, did not seem to hurt as much as they ought,after the first stinging sensation. I found my heart was beatingregularly enough.
"Doctor!" I cried out presently, more to test my voice than foranything else. It sounded perfectly natural, and my vocal chords werenot over-stimulated or abnormal.
He came half way down from his compartment soon after hearing me, andrested his elbow against one side of the aperture between thecompartments, leaning against the other side easily. He had a scale madeof heavy coiled spring in his hand.
"I wish to calculate our distance from the Earth," he said. "Do you mindweighing yourself on these scales?" and he held the spiral down towardme.
"You can't support my weight!" I exclaimed, and springing up from thebed I bumped my head against the partition between the compartments,eight feet above my floor. I grasped the lower ring of the scale he helddown and lifted up my feet. It seemed as if something we
re stillsupporting me from below, for scarcely one-tenth my weight had fallenupon my hands.
"You weigh twenty and a half pounds," he said, and then inquired, "Whatdid you weigh on Earth?"
"One hundred and eighty-five pounds," I answered, just beginning tounderstand that our greatly increased distance from the Earth had muchreduced her attraction for us.
"That is disappointing," he answered, "for we are only eight thousandmiles from home; but our velocity is still constantly increasing."
"I would like to buy things here and sell them at the surface," Iexclaimed.
"You wouldn't make anything by it if you used the ordinary balancescales," replied the doctor.
Try as hard as I would, I could not accustom my muscles to these newconditions. They were too gross and clumsy for the fine and delicateefforts which were now necessary. I was constantly hitting and slappingmyself, though these blows scarcely hurt, and never resulted in bruises.I attempted a thorough re-training of my muscles, which was to allintents an utter failure, for weight continued diminishing much morerapidly than my stubborn muscles could appreciate. After another eightthousand miles, which were quickly made, we had but one twenty-fifth ourusual weight, which reduced me to seven pounds. And for most of the tripwe weighed practically nothing, suffering many inconveniences on thataccount.