The shell was hurtling upward with such terrific speed the earth seemed to contract upon itself, wither into a shriveled shell. The boundaries of the forest were not apparent. Clusters of lights showed as bordering villages. Those pin-points of lights crowded closer together, became merged in a single blob of brilliance. The larger cities appeared, swept below in an ever narrowing circle.
“What’s that in the west?” he exclaimed.
Before his question could be answered an arched tip appeared over the western circle of earth, grew in size and became a flaming ball of fire. Yet around it was no glow of blue heaven. There was a ribbon of radiance, then black sky. And the ball of fire speedily welled to white, eye-blistering heat.
The sun was rising in the west!
Dorothy Wagner was at his side, watching the spectacle in silence.
Higher and higher came the flaming ball. The earth showed as an arc now, and on the side nearest the sun was a growing ribbon of light.
Click tore his gaze away, turned to her.
“How come?” he asked.
“The sun,” she exclaimed. “It seems to be rising in the west because we’re ascending above the rim of the world. You can see the motion of the earth below us. Look at that range of mountains. See them glittering in the sun. And the earth seems to be slowly revolving. That’s because we’re overcoming some of the momentum with which we were thrown to one side by the envelope of air and the centrifugal force.”
Click could see the earth, showing now as a suggestion of a great ball, outlined against a black void, slowly turning.
“But why is the sky black?”
“The air acts as a light diffuser. If it wasn’t for our atmosphere, the sun would be a ball of fire in a black sky. There would be dazzling light on one side of an object set in its rays, and intense blackness on the other side. You get something of that same effect on the high mountains where the atmosphere is more rare. Ever notice how much blacker the shadows seem, how much more dazzling the light?”
Click nodded. It was just occurring to him that there were a good many physical phenomena he had been taking for granted.
“What’s the strip of sunlight to the west?”
“That’s late afternoon on the Pacific Coast. The sun is just setting there. Later on we’ll be able to see the Pacific Ocean. Then the motion of the earth in its revolution will become more apparent as we get farther away and gradually overcome the force of our outthrust from the rim of the wheel. You see our anti-gravitational force is acting as a centrifugal force resistant.”
“How fast are we going?”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“What keeps us from being cold now that we’ve passed the atmosphere?” asked Click.
“You’ve seen a thermos bottle?” she countered. “Well, this is made on the same principle; and remember we are surrounded by a vacuum.”
Sighing, Click relaxed himself to a contemplation of seeing the earth through the eyes of a solar wanderer. He was out in the solar system, tickling the edges of the universe, and something of the terrific, mind-paralyzing nature of infinity was beginning to permeate his brain.
Below him the earth showed as a mighty sphere. The sun glowed as a white-hot ball of fire against a perfectly black sky, raised some twenty degrees from the arc of the earth’s crust.
The motion of the earth was now readily apparent. It swung in a long sweep of increasing speed. The Sierra Nevada Range was now being swept into the twilight zone. The glittering sweep of Pacific Ocean showed as a long expanse. The shore line of Lower California and Mexico was sharply marked. To the north, where Oregon and Washington merged into the coast line, there were fogs which reflected the dazzling light of the sun in eye-bewildering brilliance.
It was sunset in California. Deserts, mountains, orange groves, plateaus, fertile river valleys were all being swept into the curtain of dusk. Over to the east was midnight. Yet the moon illuminated the earth with enough light to make certain features of the crust apparent.
The Atlantic coast line showed as a dim glow. Click fancied he could detect a difference in the illumination that must represent the big cities of the seaboard, New York and vicinity. But he was not certain that that which he mistook for brilliance of illumination was not really caused by a local fog.
Professor Wagner switched on the light, beamed about him.
“My children, this is the happiest moment of my life.”
Badger croaked hoarsely.
“Well, make the most of it, because it’s about the last of your life. I could have taken this invention and made something out of it. We’d have been millionaires. But you had to go and start this crazy expedition. Now your secret will perish with you.”
The professor shrugged his shoulders.
“That may be. But I have had the thrill of going where no mortal has ever ventured before. Oxygen tanks working perfectly. Compressed air releasing smoothly. Temperature constant, speed accelerating. Wonderful! Who could wish for any greater triumph to crown a life of hard work?”
Click interpolated a comment.
“But can we get back?”
The professor waved his hands, palms outward.
“Back! Who wants to get back? It will take us a lifetime to explore the universe, and then we’ll only have touched one or two highlights.”
Badger groaned.
“Oh, Lord, he’s crazy as a bedbug. Mister, you and I are trapped. Our only hope is to overpower him and take the machine back.”
Professor Wagner whipped a revolver from his belt, using his unwounded arm with swift grace.
“Badger, you’ve murdered, you’ve robbed, you’ve stopped at nothing to steal the secret I’ve worked out. Now I warn you, if I catch you so much as lifting a finger to interfere, I shall shoot you as I would a dog!”
Cowed, Badger lapsed into surly, menacing silence. Click turned away, repressing a momentary shudder of apprehension. He looked out of the floor window.
The shell had developed terrific speed, with no atmosphere to retard it. And it was an awesome spectacle. The globe still subtended a great arc, but it showed as a rotating ball, shadowed with seas, glittering with continents. Majestic mountain ranges billowed in reflecting clouds, or raising glittering snowcapped mountains.
Click looked upward.
The moon was getting larger. Their constant acceleration had piled up a most terrific momentum.
“What time is it?” he asked.
Professor Wagner laughed, flipped a hand toward the rotating globe below.
“Time? My boy, there is no time! Time is merely an arbitrary division of the period of rotation of that ball below you. You are now in the depths of infinity. There is no clock that can measure infinity. The birth of universes are as but the ticking of the clock of infinity. And that clock measures a something that is beyond measure. We are accustomed to think of eternity as something vague and intangible that comes into existence after our individual deaths. You are in eternity now. It is all about you. You are a part of eternity. Time indeed! There is no time.”
Professor Wagner took out pencil and paper, did some rapid calculating. Then he approached the lever.
“It’s about time we were building up some side speed. We’re going to have to keep clear of the moon. If we get too close to it we’d either be stalled or flipped off in space like a comet. Let’s see. That lever gives us a side speed of east to west. That should be away from the moon, toward the inferior planets. Now Venus is about twenty-two million miles away in round figures. I believe this is the proper adjustment. I’m going into the inner room with my daughter. We’ll do the navigating from there. You two better get some sleep.