cannot we stop the Neutralia, and make a fresh start?"
"You mean just cruise about until the right moment comes round again. Certainly we could, but for our air supply; long before that moment arrives the supply would have been exhausted. No, it is out of the running; nevertheless we must stop the Neutralia at once, as there is just a ghost of a chance that by very careful manipulation we might be able to edge into the gravitational field of the planet Venus—I mean into its effective range so far as we are concerned. But it is only a chance, and a mighty slim one," affirmed the scientist coolly. "However, let us try it. Turn the cover, Hugh," he commanded with decision.
Burgoyne leapt to the wheel with renewed cheerfulness; it was a relief to be doing something. His nature craved activity, and he became uneasy and irritable when denied such expression of his superabundant energy. But for the first time the wheel seemed very hard to start in motion. Surprized, he put out his full strength and strained at it. Still there was no movement.
"What the devil has come to it?" he exclaimed angrily. "Here, you fellows, give me a hand," he called to his companions hastily, as his face abruptly paled at the thought which had suddenly come to him.
That thought was also known to the three men who flew to his assistance. But no man voiced it. In silence they pulled, pushed, and strained until the perspiration streamed from them. But all in vain—the cover would not budge a single inch!
"Something has happened! We are doomed!" cried Kobloth.
"I am afraid that is the truth," said their captain grimly. "If we fail to move the cover, nothing short of the sun itself can stop us, and we are now isolated from every attraction save his. I ought to have foreseen and prepared for such a misfortune."
"How? What has happened?" asked Flint, incredulous that any misfortune should long defy his master.
"Well, it seems to me that very likely a small meteorite fragment has forced its way between the steel globe and its cover, and so made it jam. Unfortunately we have no means of finding out if this is the case, or combating it if we knew this was the trouble," said Carscadden rather wearily. "If there was any hope of saving ourselves," he continued, "we might prolong existence a little by removing Kobloth. But what is the use, when in a few hours our end is certain—unless we can move the cover? All we can do is to face with resolution the inevitable, as befits men."
"How will it be, this plunge into the sun?" asked Kobloth slowly.
"Instantaneous. At the rate we shall rush into the huge corona of flaming gases we shall be fused into incandescence quicker than a moth is consumed in a furnace," replied the scientist.
Even stolid Burgoyne looked startled. Fused into incandescent vapor in a fraction of a second! It might be merciful and absolutely painless, but it was a singularly unpleasant fate to contemplate.
Ten hours went by. Haggard-faced, breathing heavily in the vitiated air, the four men sat silent, moodily staring into vacancy, and each affecting a stoical indifference he was far from experiencing.
The slave of science, by force of habit their captain made occasional inspections of his dials and registers. A moment ago he had pointed to one of the windows and announced without emotion:
"We are now making 12,000,000 miles an hour. We have passed the earth's orbit already, missing our planet.
