Journey Through the Impossible (18 page)

An open plain in Florida, in the southern United States. A gigantic cannon,
of which only the lower part" is visible, is set up on its carriage at a slight
angle from the vertical. In the background, an entire city with spires, houses,
and trees. It is broad daylight.

(Enter Tartelet, Valdemar, and Maston)

Maston: This is the place, gentlemen, to which I was to bring you.

Tartelet: Excuse me. To whom have we the honor of speaking?

Maston: Maston, a pure-blooded American.

Valdemar: Ah! Ah! Do you hear that, Tartelet? This gentleman is a
purebred.

Maston: American. From generations back.

Valdemar: This gentleman comes from generations back.

Maston: American! Old stock.

Valdemar: This gentleman is an old stock.

Tartelet: Obviously.

Maston: Member of the Artillerymen's Club. I have invented a wonderful cannon.

Tartelet: Really?

Maston: A cannon with a range of 1250 feet ... beyond the target.

Valdemar (offering his hand): What precision!

Tartelet: That's wonderful!

Maston: I have devised another whose projectile can knock down
eight hundred men and two hundred horses at a single blow.

Tartelet: That's four men per horse.

Valdemar: Just like the Aymon brothers12 in the time of Charlemagne.

Tartelet: But is it really infallible, sir?

Maston: I've been wanting to try it out. The horses said nothing, but
the men stupidly refused to participate.

Tartelet: Well, I can understand that.

Valdemar: If you had used the other cannon, now, the one that carries 1,250 feet beyond the target, the horses would still have said
nothing, but the men might have agreed more readily.

Tartelet: But why have you brought us here, sir?

Maston: Your colleague, Mr. George Hatteras, requests that you wait
for him here, if you have definitely made up your minds to go with
him on his next journey.

Tartelet: Our minds are made up, sir.

Valdemar: Of course, but where are we going?

Maston: To the land of the Altorians.

Valdemar: Altorians? Never heard of them.

Tartelet: What part of the world do they live in?

Maston: None.

Valdemar: What do you mean, none?

Maston: Exactly what I said. Altor is a recently discovered planet, and
that's where you're going.

Valdemar: Just a minute! That's where we're going? And how, may I
ask, are we going to get there?

Tartelet: Yes, how are we going to travel?

Maston (turning and pointing to the huge cannon): There is your means
of transportation.

Valdemar (terrified): That? Come now, that's a....

Tartelet: It's a cannon.

Valdemar: An immense cannon.

Maston: It's a Columbiad.

Valdemar and Tartelet: A Columbiad?

Maston: Equipped with a space capsule,13 which, when propelled by
several thousand kilos of picric acid,14 will take you straight to the
planet Altor.

Valdemar: And you think I'm going to get in there, with my seventeen-million-franc diamond? Oh no!

Maston: As you wish.

Valdemar: What about you, Tartelet? Are you going to be shot out of
the cannon?

Tartelet (calmly): Me? That depends.

Valdemar: Depends on what?

Tartelet (to Maston): Will Miss Eva be going, too?

Maston: Definitely. She said nothing would keep her from her fiance.

Tartelet: Well, nothing will keep me from her.

Valdemar: But that's madness, Tartelet!

Tartelet: You may be right, Valdemar, but when I came to the home
of that young lady's grandmother, poor and hungry and friendless,
those two wonderful women took me in, not as a beggar, but as a
friend. That's why I followed Miss Eva when she left. And today,
when a new and even greater danger stands in her way, should I
abandon her, go quietly back to her grandmother, and say, "I
deserted your granddaughter, madam. A man can't do as much out
of gratitude as this child can do out of love"? No indeed! I would
never dare to be so cowardly.

Valdemar (touched): Well, neither would I. And I won't leave you,
Tartelet. What you have just said was very fine. You must come
soon and live in my home. It will be a palace. My friendship, my
table, my purse, and a little piece of my diamond will be yours,
Tartelet.

(He kisses him on the cheek)

Maston: You'll both go on the journey, then?

Valdemar (energetically): Yes, both of us. I wish we were already on
the way. In fact, I wish we were already back again.

Tartelet: What time do we leave?

Maston: At twelve forty-two, by my chronometer.

Valdemar: Oh, by the way, before we leave I must go and see if my
answer has arrived. They may have forgotten to bring it to me here.

Tartelet: What answer?

Valdemar: I sent another wire to that cruel Miss Babichok, telling her
everything I've done and everything I'm still going to do, so she'll
be sure to know. Ah! What a hero she'll have turned down, what
a hero! Excuse me, gentlemen. (Exit.)

(Enter George and Ox, from the right.)

George: Here! Here it is!

Ox: This is the spot where you'll stand on the earth's surface for the
last time.

Maston: And here is the gigantic cannon that will give you the first
push toward the infinite.

Ox: Toward an older world than ours, whose inhabitants may already
have invented everything that we have yet to invent.

George: So after going back into the past, to Atlantis, now we're
going to head into the future.

Tartelet: But how are we going to get into that cannon?

Maston: You'll see. (He touches a switch and the breech of the cannon
opens, revealing the projectile, which also opens to show the interior fitted
out like a cabin) You see, your space capsule is fitted out exactly
like a first-class cabin.

George: So it is. But isn't it almost time to leave? Hurry! (Aside to
Ox): I don't want Eva to be exposed to any new dangers.

Ox (in a low voice): Don't worry. She won't leave.

(Enter Volsius, Barbicane, the members of the Gun Club, and a crowd
of spectators.)

Barbicane: We've come to say our last farewell, gentlemen. Is everything ready, Maston?

Maston: Everything.

(Enter an employee of the telegraph company.)

Tartelet: Ah! The man from the telegraph company! (To the employee):
You're looking for Mr. Valdemar, no doubt.

The Employee: Yes, sir.

Tartelet: You have a wire for him? Give it to me. I'll see that he gets
it. (He takes it and puts it in his pocket)

Maston: Twelve thirty-nine!

George: Let's go!

Ox: Yes! Let's go! Let's go!

Barbicane: Good-bye, then, my friends, good-bye. We'll cheer you
on your way.

All: Hurrah! Hurrah! (Cheers on all sides)

George: On to the infinite! On to the infinite!

(Enter Valdemar, running)

Valdemar: Ouf! I got here in time, I think.

Tartelet: Hurry up, Valdemar. We were going to leave without you.

Valdemar: Without me!

Tartelet: Will the gentlemen traveling to Altor please board the
cannon.

Valdemar: The cannon!

Tartelet: Oh my goodness! What about Miss Eva?

Valdemar: And Mr. Ardan?

(Enter Volsius and Eva.)

Volsius: Here we are, gentlemen. This young lady has asked me to
accompany her.

George: Eva!

Ox: Silence! They are not going to leave.

Maston: At twelve forty-two I'll give the signal.

(George and Ox enter the capsule, followed by Tartelet and
Valdemar)

Volsius: Come, Eva.

Eva: Yes! Yes! Come!

(They both head toward the cannon, but just as they are about to board
it, the breech closes from the inside)

Eva: Good God!

Volsius: Ah, doctor, you want to leave without us, do you? (To Eva):
Don't worry, my child. We'll get to the planet Altor before they
do.

Maston's voice (from below): Twelve forty-two. Fire!

(A detonation is heard, and the powerful recoil causes the Columbiad to
sink far enough to reveal the landscape in the background. The spectators crowd around the cannon, waving their handkerchiefs and making
the air resound with their cries)

All: Hurrah! Hurrah!

A site on the planet Altor In the distance, the outline of a city, apparently
built of gold and silver In the right foreground is the facade of a house whose
walls are incrusted with precious stones.

(Enter several Altorians)

First Altorian: As I said, this huge meteorite fell just a moment ago.

Second Altorian: I watched it fall, and as it came through the layers
of air it made a frightful whistling sound.

First Altorian: It has to be taken to the museum. They've never had
anything like it.

All: Yes! Yes!

First Altorian: Look! Look! The aerolite is opening.

Second Altorian: Two men are getting out.

First Altorian: Three ... four men.

(Valdemar and Tartelet emerge from the spaceship.)

Valdemar (lifting his feet very high as he walks): Why am I walking in
this peculiar way?

Tartelet (walking in the same way): I'm doing the same. What a peculiar way to walk!

Valdemar: My feet won't stay on the ground.

Tartelet: Neither will mine.

Valdemar (to the inhabitants): Gentlemen, we are honored. Where is
the planet Altor, please?

First Altorian: It's right here.

Valdemar: Well, I'm certainly glad to be here. (Calling) Hey! You
over there! My worthy colleagues!

Tartelet: They'll come. They're exploring this unusual country.

Valdemar: Ali! We're on the planet Altor, then?

First Altorian: Yes. And you are from ... ?

Tartelet: From planet Earth.

All the Altorians: From Earth?

Valdemar: But what's the city we see over there? (He moves upstage)

First Altorian: It's our capital.

Tartelet: It looks as if it was built entirely of gold.

Valdemar: Wow! That would be worth going to see.