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.'Pretty awful, isn't it?' Ghastly.''I can't imagine anyone living there.''Nor I.It scares me to look at it.I hope we're not going much closer.''Distance, fifty miles,' called the Professor cheerfully.'I shall go on a little nearer.Notice the effect of the reflected light from the Earth.'The Earth.Rex had for the moment forgotten it.Craning his neck he could just see it.But it was no longer the Earth he knew.It was a great silver moon, nearly touching the horizon — the great curving horizon of the true Moon.He sank back in his seat and found that he was trembling a little.It was all rather overpowering.'You're now looking at something no man on Earth has ever seen before,'stated the Professor, with a note of pride in his voice.'The far side of the Moon.I can't say I'm surprised, but I must confess to a little disappointment that the character of the surface appears no different from the side we know.'He was silent for a little while, studying the ground through his glass.Then, turning, he went on in a tone that carried a hint of suppressed excitement.Gentlemen, we have made two discoveries of paramount importance.Around the edges of some of the craters, and in the maria, I can see a trace of green which, if it isn't metallic oxide, must be a form of vegetation.If there is vegetation it means there is life down there.Another thing.Here and there, sometimes near the green substance but more often in the valley bottoms, I can see marks that look remarkably like the tracks left by some heavy creature.Tending to support that impression is the fact that the marks converge on what appear to be caves.I'm not saying that this is proof that there are creatures there now.But there might have been in the past.With no wind to fill the tracks with dust they might last for a very long time.Here, Group Captain, take the glass and see what you can make of them.'Tiger took the telescope and studied the ground for a little while without speaking.I think you're right,' he said at last.The green looks as if it might be a dwarf shrub, like heather, or possibly a low-growing form of cactus such as one sees in desert countries.What you call tracks certainly look like that, perhaps because I can't think what else they could be.If they were made by a beast of some sort it must have been a heavy one.As you say, they converge on the caves, which is significant.Take a look, Rex.' Tiger handed over the telescope.Rex gazed down through the glass.He could see the marks under discussion, but could find nothing to add to what had already been said.He was about to lower the glass when he thought he saw a movement.He wasn't sure.But it seemed as if a dark bubble had half risen in one of the smaller craters and then sunk down again.I think that's mud in the bottom of those craters,' he remarked.'What makes you think that?' asked the Professor sharply.'Because I thought I saw the surface of one break, or heave — like thick oil when it's been heated.''Indeed?' said the Professor, looking hard at him.'I wouldn't swear to it,' said Rex.The Professor took the glass and looked down for some time.'I see nothing,' he averred, and went back to his instruments.Rex returned to his seat.He could no longer see the Earth, for the great mass of the Moon came between them.Another queer thought struck him.For the first time they were out of sight of their own planet.He was relieved when it came creeping round the edge of the Moon again; an edge by no means level, but serrated by the peaks of mountains, glowing orange where the light caught them.Sitting silent he watched the Earth 'rise', as he had so often seen the Moon rise.They had, he supposed, traversed the far side of the Moon.When, presently, he saw the Moon begin to fall away below, he knew that this was so, and that they were on their way home.He was not sorry.It was better, he soliloquized, to take this sort of thing in small doses until one became accustomed to it.Far away on that spinning ball, he reflected, people were just sitting down to afternoon tea.Rather less than an hour later the jets died away and the Professor told them that they were now in free fall towards the Earth.'It has been an enthralling day,' he declared.'But that doesn't mean we can do without food.You'll find you can eat quite comfortably.' He smiled.'No gravity is required for that.Would anyone care for a caramel?' He looked at Tiger, his eyes twinkling.'If you can't make a chimney of your throat you might as well lubricate it with glucose.You can all go to sleep if you like.There's no danger.I shall be looking after things.'Rex took a caramel, as did Judkins, sitting in his seat as impassive as the sphinx.Later, he suspected that he had dozed, for he found this easy in the warm cabin breathing air heavily laden with oxygen.Anyway, when next he looked down he saw the Earth no longer as a ball, but as a dark section of one stretching right across the porthole.Moonlight glistened on the oceans.'Time to put the brakes on,' said the Professor quietly, 'It's hard to believe, but at this moment we are falling at a speed of about five miles a second.' He pulled over a lever and the jets began to hum.Àh! Now, there's a sight for you!' he cried suddenly, a minute later.He pointed.'Look over there.'Rex looked, and started.The sky was ablaze with a great hanging curtain of light comprising all the colours of the spectrum.It was in truth a magnificent sight.'What is it?' he asked.'The Aurora Borealis.We're looking over the North Pole.' 'What causes it?'The Professor shrugged.'There are several theories.Some people believe it to be meteoric dust, others stray particles of hydrogen.Yet another belief is that it is caused by electrons emanating from the Sun.Nobody really knows.We may find out one day.The phenomenon occurs chiefly in the ionosphere, between fifty and three hundred miles above the Earth.In view of the gas we encountered, hydrogen might well be the answer.Seen from up here it is certainly a splendid spectacle.''Couldn't we go and settle the matter now?' asked Rex.'No.I should have to make special preparations for that.You see, by the time we reached the area, if the lights are caused by refraction we wouldn't be able to see them, so we wouldn't know where they were.It would be rather like chasing a rainbow.But there are the red lights of home.I must attend to business.'As Rex sank into his seat under the pressure of the reduced rate of fall a movement caught his eye.In an instant he had half struggled up with a shout of warning.'Look!Watch you don't hit him!''Hit what?' cried the Professor.'An aircraft.It's a jet plane — a fighter.He's below, cutting across our track.I spotted his navigation lights [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]