Amazing Stories — page 42: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

40 “My dear Alier. No doubt you thought I had been killed by a meteor last night. Well, as you Americans put it, I certainly had ‘a close shave.’ A meteor crashed down on my aerial 50 feet from where I was sitting; of course it went up in smoke— metallic vapor, to be correct—due to the tremendous heat generated by the impact of the meteor on the granite rocks. The meteor went up in a fiery cloud of red vapor and I was blown headlong a distance of over 50 feet, right down into the mouth of a giant crater, by the resulting blast of the concussion, “This long-extinct crater is a very deep one; how deep, I was soon to learn! I went down head first and kept on falling down that abyss at a terrific rate of speed, for what seemed to be hours. As I kept on plunging down, I was gloomily reflecting what an inglorious end it was, to die at the bottom of an unromantic crater on a dead and dried-up moon. I thought of many things, when I suddenly became conscious of a frightful cold. Call it instinct or pres- ence of mind, or what you will, but, as soon as I had started on my downward journey, I had jerked my body in such a manner as to righten it; in other words, after a few attempts, I succeeded in falling feet down. It was indeed a fortunate circumstance that the stun was almost directly over the crater, for it saved me the anguish of plunging into a pitch- black abyss. While it was not nearly as light as it was at the top, still I could see where I was falling, and that was. some consolation. Thus, when I glanced down toward my feet after a while, I am sure that my heart, which had lost some beats, stood still en- tirely. It took me a few seconds to collect my be- wildered senses, for this is what I saw: “The crater had no bottom at all; it went right through to the center of the moon, where it con- nected with another crater, which went to the op- posite side. I knew this must be so because when I looked down I saw several stars shining through brilliantly from the night side of the moon. Then the awful truth flashed through me and I almost swooned, I was falling through the whole diameter of the moon! I had been in many tight quarters be- fore, during my somewhat exciting career, but this experience indeed bade well to be the inglorious end of my adventurous life. However, my far-famed presence of mind and my cool head soon asserted themselves, as was naturally to be expected of me. “T knew the diameter of the moon to be 2,164 miles. A quick mental calculation. proved that it would take my falling body about 24 minutes to reach the center of the moon. As there was nothing to stop my fall, I must naturally continue to fall, due to the tremendous momentum acquired, till my body would have fallen for 48 minutes. If I could not manage then to grasp a projecting rock, I would commence to fall back again toward the center of the moon. I reasoned that once more my momentum would carry me past the center and I would then be almost carried to the mouth of the opposite crater— my original starting point. “T say almost, for the friction of my body against the air would tend to retard my fall. If at this point, where my speed was again zero, I could not succeed in taking hold of a projecting rock of the crater’s side, I would begin to fall down once more, the same as before. I would then continue falling back and forward exactly like a bouncing ball, each time, how- ever—just like a rubber ball—a little less than on the previous plunge. Thus my drops would become of fr i a NO ye Mee ee Te erates AMAZING STORIES shorter duration, and finally I would fall no more. ‘As I had mentioned betore, the sun was almost overhead, shining down into the crater. I also re- membered that it was almost exactly 12 o'clock mid- night, terrestrial time, when the meteor smashed my aerial; this, then, was the time I started on my re- markable journey into the bowels of the moon. With a tremendous effort I pulled out my chronometer and noted that it was 12.23 a.m. In another minute I would fly past the center of the moon. Looking about, I saw in the uncertain light that I went whizz- ing through an immense hollow, proving to me that the center of the moon was far from solid, due no doubt to the centrifugal force of the moon at the time when it had not solidified, some millions of years ago. I estimated later that the moon was an immense hollow sphere with a solid crust about 500 miles thick, By way of a homely comparison, the moon therefore must be a hollow globe lke a rubber ball. And like the latter, it is filled inside with air, while its crust can be compared to the rubber of the ball. “Jn another minute I had passed the center and was now dropping toward the other side of the moon. If 1 continued falling in my present position, I must naturally emerge at the opposite side with my feet toward the sky, as a little reflection will reveal to you. So once more I jerked my body about, and I was falling: ‘up,’ with my head at the top, my feet point- ing to the sun. At the end of another 24 minutes I could feel my body slowing up from the terrific speed. As the crater at this side of the moon was fortunately rather narrow, I found little difficulty in reaching for a projecting rock as soon as my plunge had come to a dead stop. I held on for dear life and clambered up a narrow ledge, where I fell down exhausted and panting from my dreadful ex- perience. oy OU would, of course, like to know my sensa- tions in falling through 2,164 miles of space, going over 16 miles per second at the center of the moon, Well, the first minute it is rather unpleasant. Highly so. The place where your stomach should be by right is one vast area of nausea. But once you become accustomed to it, it becomes bearable, for there is nothing else to do. You might think that the rush of air would kill you in a few seconds, or else draw all the air out of your lungs, and thus asphyxi- ate you. But neither is the case, for the air is so thin on the moon that the rush is not as terrific as it would be on earth. Also, by keeping the mouth tightly shut and breathing—with difculty, it is true —through the nose, one does not die in 48 minutes. The friction of the air against my body did not ignite either, for, as I told you some time ago, the tempera- ture inside the moon is near the absolute zero, the awful cold of the stellar world. But neither did I freeze to death, for the simple reason that the fric- tion of my body through the attenuated air was just sufficient to keep me comfortably warm. Thtis you see, that if it had not been so cold, I would have burned up; and, if the friction of the air against — my body had not heated it, I would have frozen to death long before I reached the center of the moon. — ae « Then, too, another important point to consider is that on the moon, as I explained before, my body weighed 27 pounds, against 170 pounds on earth. This is, of course, a rather small weight, and for reason all was not ascteyainyects) - @ s os oa ee a ah Fen