Journey Through the Impossible (16 page)

Ox: A weapon? In me? A weapon to use against me?

Volsius: You love this young woman, and the love that eats at your
soul will be your punishment. It will do battle for us.

Ox: My love!

Volsius: And God said to the serpent, "The woman shall crush thy
head beneath her heel." And I say to you that this woman's disdain
will break your pride. This woman will crush your heart beneath
her scorn and her hatred.

Ox: We'll see about that.

Volsius: Yes, we'll see.

(The sound of cheering outside)

Ox: Meanwhile.... Listen. It's Hatteras's people cheering him,
leading him toward the throne where glory and love await him.

Eva: Love!

Ox: Yes, yes, the most beautiful of the daughters of this country, the
descendent of King Atlas, is intended for him.

Eva: Oh my God!

Ox: And this time he will not only forget you; he will betray you. Your
George will love someone else.

Eva: No, no, that's impossible!

(Enter a great procession composed of the entire royal court of Atlantis,
with warriors and lords surrounding the new king. George, clothed in
royal robes, is about to take his place on the uppermost steps of the
stairway rising at the back, after the procession has passed by to the sound
of music and the cheers of the people)

(Enter George, Electra, Ammon, Ascalis, Celena, Atlanteans,
Lords, officers, soldiers, people, slaves)

All: All hail! All hail!

George: People of Atlantis, I accept the crown of this immense kingdom, and its power will not diminish during the reign of Hatteras.

All: Long live Hatteras!

(Enter Princess Celena in the procession. Electra walks toward the
princess and leads her to the foot of the stairs on which George sits
enthroned.)

Electra: And now, 0 king, here is the Princess Celena, who, through
you, will become our queen.

All: Hail, Celena!

(The princess is about to take her place beside George.)

Eva (rushing for ward): His wife! No, no! That's impossible! George!
George! Have you forgotten the past, your promises, our love?
George, do you want me to die at your feet?

George (whispers): Eva, you will share my throne and my power.

Eva: But this throne is ephemeral, this power is a figment of your
imagination.

George: What did you say?

Eva: Come back to reality.

Ox: Reality, George Hatteras, is everything you see, everything that
is around you. It is your glory, which is already great and will soon
be even more dazzling.

George: Speak. Explain yourself.

Eva: Don't listen to him, George. Don't listen to him.

Ox: I promised your new subjects, in your name, that the work begun
by Atlas would be completed by you.

Eva: You dare to say this?

Ox: I say ... I say to the people of Atlantis that your king will carry out
the great project that has been interrupted. Atlas, it is said, was struck down by a thunderbolt. But your king will answer Jupiter
with another thunderbolt, newly created by the genius of man. Carried by that same thunderbolt, launched into space by bronze or
steel, he will traverse the infinite and rise to celestial light.

George (wild with delight): Indeed he shall!

Eva: Ah! All is lost!

All: Glory to him! Glory to the son of Hatteras!

Volsius: Don't despair. This dream will soon disappear, and with
reality his sanity will return, but perhaps for the last time.

George: After the bowels of the earth and the depths of the ocean will
come space, the infinite, Heaven!

(Horsemen bring in a horse, which George mounts, and they are raised
up on a richly carpeted shield.)

All: All hail! All hail!

(Curtain)

END OF ACT II

A room at the Gun Club in the United States, specially decorated with
panoplies. Columns made up of cannons are supported by mortars. On the
walls hang strings of bombs, necklaces of missiles, garlands of shells. On the
right, Barbicane,i the club president, is sitting at his desk, on which there is
an array of revolvers which he uses as a bell to restore order by firing shots
in the air from time to time. Maston2 and other club members occupy the
benches downstage. It is daytime. As the curtain rises, the uproar in the
assembly is at its peak.

First Group: Yes! Yes! Yes!

Second Group: No! No! No!

Barbicane: My dear colleagues....

First Group: To hell with the motion!

Second Group: And with the people who moved it.

Barbicane: A little silence, if you please!

First Group: Yes! Yes! Yes!

Second Group: No! No! No!

(Barbicane fires a revolver)

An Usher: Silence, gentlemen.

Maston: Let President Barbicane speak. What a president, gentlemen, what a president!

Barbicane: Gentlemen, the question is very simple, and it would have
been settled already if you had not been making so much noise.

First Member: But here at the Gun Club, we are all artillerymen.

Maston: And what artillerymen, gentlemen! Artillerymen and Americans!

First Member: That means we are doubly entitled to make a noise.

First Group: Yes! Yes! Yes!

Second Group: No! No! No!

Barbicane: Gentlemen, I do not believe I have gone too far....

First Member: An artilleryman could never go too far.

Maston: No farther than his projectile will carry.

Barbicane: Gentlemen!

First Group: Yes! Yes! Yes!

Second Group: No! No! No!

(Barbicane fires his revolver)

The Usher: Silence, gentlemen!

(Silence is restored.)

Barbicane: Gentlemen, you remember the circumstances under
which our original experiment was carried out. A gigantic cannon,
a Columbiad,3 was set up on the ground in Florida.4 A projectile
was placed in it, in which three travellers took their places: my
friend Captain Nicholl.5 .. .

Maston: What a captain, gentlemen, what a captain!

Barbicane: Our friend Ardan, the French interpreter....

Maston: What a Frenchman, gentlemen, what a Frenchman!

Barbicane: And myself, your president.

Maston: What a president!

Barbicane: But because it was not aimed accurately, we did not reach
our objective. Our projectile merely circled the Moon, then came
back and fell into the Pacific Ocean. Now, the Columbiad is still there. All we have to do is reload it. Should we resume the experiment and send a second projectile toward the Moon-and make
sure we reach it this time?

First Group: Yes! Yes! Yes!

Second Group: No! No! No!

Barbicane: I believe I understood you to say yes?

Second Group: No! No! No!

Barbicane: Or maybe it was no.

First Group: Yes! Yes! Yes!

Both Groups Together: No! No! No! Yes! Yes! Yes!

(General uproar: Barbicane fires his revolver

The Usher: Silence, gentlemen!

Maston: For the honor of the club, the experiment must be repeated.

All: Call the question!

Maston (to his neighbor): I forbid you to vote against the motion!

First Member: I forbid you to vote for it.