The Valley Of The Shadow

: Secrets of Space
: Pharaoh's Broker

"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 are

actually pale and trembling! There is no danger if you keep the course.

You see, that rim of light has faded and disappeared since I corrected

the course."



"Yes, but you cannot ke p in this little Earthly shadow much longer; and

what can we possibly do when we emerge into the fathomless, trackless

effulgence of eternal sunshine? Let us turn back before we plunge into

it," I pleaded.



"So that is what terrified you! Well, you have hit upon one of the

greatest difficulties of the trip; but it is far from insurmountable. We

will not turn back yet, especially as we have started in the most

opportune time. You have mentioned this 'little shadow.' It is eight

thousand miles wide at the surface of the Earth, and gradually, very

gradually, tapers down to nothing far out in space. Have you ever

calculated how far it reaches?"



"No," I answered. "But we moved out of it and back into it at the

surface very easily, and besides, as the Earth moves forward in its

orbit, 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 of

Mars. It is moving gradually as the Earth moves and hourly correcting

its aim. At opposition time it will point directly and unerringly at

Mars. Therefore it is a way prepared, surveyed, and marked for us

through the all-enveloping sunlight, which otherwise would be dreadful

enough."



"But how can we be sure of keeping in it? It is rapidly narrowing as it

reaches farther out."



"I see I should have explained that to you before I went to sleep, and

saved you this fright. The shadow now points behind Mars, as it is many

days yet before it overtakes that planet in opposition. That is why I

told you to steer always a little behind the planet. But you went a

little out of the course, and immediately something warned us. That rim

of light on the east of the Earth was notice to us that we were not in

the centre of the shadow, but bearing too far to the left. We must keep

absolutely in the dark of the Earth, with no light visible on either

side of it. If a thin rim should appear on one side, we must turn toward

the other until it is all dark again."



"Grant that this shadow is so enormously long, yet it is only scarcely

one-fortieth of the distance to Mars," I objected. "After we emerge from

it, what then?"



"With the aid of my telescope we shall probably be able to see the Earth

as 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. We

must 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 of

this shadow the sunlight will be so bright that we cannot see any

planets, not even the Earth. You know we cannot see the Moon only a

quarter of a million miles away when the sun shines."



"In that case we must move the telescope to your window, put on a

darkened lens, and steer so as to keep the Earth as a spot in the middle

of the Sun. It must appear to us as Venus does to the Earth when she is

making a transit across the face of the sun. But by our continual

shifting we prevent the Earth from making a transit, and hold it as a

steady spot in the centre of the Sun. This we can do for many, many

million miles, continuing until we have reached the vicinity of Mars.



"And you must also remember," continued the doctor, "that the brighter

the light the darker will be the shadow. Now, this projectile is a

perfectly black, non-reflecting object five feet wide. It will cast a

shadow in front of it five hundred feet long. When we are comparatively

near Mars my telescope, situated in the miniature night cast by the

projectile, will find the planet, and we can then steer directly for

him. If we should chance within eighty thousand miles of him, he would

attract 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 the

Sun's rays will have decreased sixty or seventy per cent. When Mars is

farthest from the Sun, he receives only one-third as much light as the

Earth does. But he is now almost at his nearest point to the Sun, and

receives half as much light."



"Well, you certainly have a pretty clear idea of how to steer the course

all the way, Doctor. And I was hasty enough to think you had overlooked

this entire phase of the subject!" I ejaculated.



"Indeed, I have thought of it very much. And we should not enjoy all

these advantages if we had not started just before opposition. At any

other time the Earth's shadow would not point toward Mars, nor would the

transit of the Earth over the Sun be of any use to us."



"All this reassures me greatly," I replied; "but I shall keep a close

watch from my rear window for danger lights on the Earth."



"It must be time for breakfast," put in the doctor. "Will you see how

tempting a meal you can prepare?"



There was one reservoir built inside the compartments, from which we

drew cool water, and another built next to the outer steel framework,

from which we could draw boiling water. As this tank was connected with

the discharge pipe of the air-pump, and thus with the exterior, I was

disgusted to find that, although the water boiled furiously, and was

rapidly wasting away in steam, it did not become hot enough to make good

beef tea. The heat escaped with the steam at a comparatively low

temperature, so that I was compelled to boil water over my gas jet for

the meat extract, which we drank instead of coffee. I also prepared some

sandwiches of roast beef and cold ham, and with great relish we began

our 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 a

long doze, and I was glad enough to do so.



I must have slept soundly for an hour or two, and then I remember dozing

and rolling lazily in my bed, as I usually did at home on Sunday

mornings. During my previous nap the bunk had seemed hard and cramped,

and I had privately grumbled at the doctor for overlooking personal

comforts; but now I felt that luxurious sensation of sleeping on soft

mattresses and yielding springs, though of course I had neither. I do

not know how soon I should have thoroughly awakened had I not lifted my

hand to rub my eye, and unwittingly dealt myself a stinging blow in the

face. This roused me.



But what was the matter with that arm? It was as it had once been in a

nightmare, when it felt detached from its place, and moved lightly and

without effort, like a bough in the wind. I pinched it with my other

hand, and it was quite sensible to the pain. In fact, the other arm was

now acting in the same queer way. I arose in bed quickly to see what was

the matter, and the upper part of my body bent violently over and struck

against my knees. Then my effort to take an upright position threw me on

my back again. Evidently my muscles were not working as they were when I

went to bed. They must be over-excited and over-active. I immediately

thought of my heart as the principal and controlling muscle, and in my

eagerness 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 beating

regularly enough.



"Doctor!" I cried out presently, more to test my voice than for

anything else. It sounded perfectly natural, and my vocal chords were

not over-stimulated or abnormal.



He came half way down from his compartment soon after hearing me, and

rested his elbow against one side of the aperture between the

compartments, leaning against the other side easily. He had a scale made

of heavy coiled spring in his hand.



"I wish to calculate our distance from the Earth," he said. "Do you mind

weighing yourself on these scales?" and he held the spiral down toward

me.



"You can't support my weight!" I exclaimed, and springing up from the

bed I bumped my head against the partition between the compartments,

eight feet above my floor. I grasped the lower ring of the scale he held

down and lifted up my feet. It seemed as if something were still

supporting me from below, for scarcely one-tenth my weight had fallen

upon my hands.



"You weigh twenty and a half pounds," he said, and then inquired, "What

did you weigh on Earth?"



"One hundred and eighty-five pounds," I answered, just beginning to

understand that our greatly increased distance from the Earth had much

reduced her attraction for us.



"That is disappointing," he answered, "for we are only eight thousand

miles from home; but our velocity is still constantly increasing."



"I would like to buy things here and sell them at the surface," I

exclaimed.



"You wouldn't make anything by it if you used the ordinary balance

scales," replied the doctor.



Try as hard as I would, I could not accustom my muscles to these new

conditions. They were too gross and clumsy for the fine and delicate

efforts which were now necessary. I was constantly hitting and slapping

myself, though these blows scarcely hurt, and never resulted in bruises.

I attempted a thorough re-training of my muscles, which was to all

intents an utter failure, for weight continued diminishing much more

rapidly than my stubborn muscles could appreciate. After another eight

thousand miles, which were quickly made, we had but one twenty-fifth our

usual weight, which reduced me to seven pounds. And for most of the trip

we weighed practically nothing, suffering many inconveniences on that

account.