Moonrise: The Golden Age of Lunar Adventures by Mike Ashley

Author:Mike Ashley [Ashley, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Moon, lunar, Space Exploration, Science Fiction, classic, SF
ISBN: 9780712364560
Publisher: British Library Publishing
Published: 2018-04-14T22:00:00+00:00

Perhaps you may consider it a rather silly comparison, but I can’t help thinking of that tiny projectile as a satellite, faithful to the laws of celestial mechanics, following unerringly its orbit around the moon, and returning to its starting point. I wonder how many other bullets are still circling the moon now!

Brown, exposing his head, saw Duseau fall. He and Javis were so excited by this occurrence that they returned to the rocket without the radio! They reached it less than thirty minutes before their oxygen mask apparatus ceased to function. They had used their reserve supply of compressed air completely during their return journey.

“And that,” concluded C. Jerry Clankey, “is about all there is to the story. Because a maniac on the moon was so unfortunate as to stand in the orbit of a minute sub-satellite which he himself had launched, Jack Javis was able to pay off his debt. The Doctor lent him the necessary cash, and has just made a new will. So everything is going to be all right.”

“Pardon me, Kornfield, but I didn’t quite hear that question. What happened to Brown? Oh, yes, I told you that the lucky fool has a charmed life. He was unable to start the motors when the rocket was entering the atmosphere. Duseau had apparently done something to render them useless. When the rocket fell, Brown and Javis jumped. The wind separated the two men.

“Brown landed almost a hundred miles from Chicago. His chute ripped slightly as he fell, and let him down too rapidly. But he landed in an apple tree, and broke thirteen bones.

“A couple of modern surgeons patched him up, and in less than a month the incurable dare-devil was doing outside loops at six hundred miles an hour in his special monoplane, and making a fortune by recommending and endorsing various makes of spark plugs, motor fuel, cigarettes, and so on.

“By the way, I almost forgot that today is the fifteenth of June. It’s too bad, Kornfield, that you’re scheduled to speak to the Explorers’ Club this evening about your discoveries in Tibet. If you weren’t I’d take you to Albany with me to attend the wedding of Jacqueline Bowers and Jack Javis. I must leave at once.”

I accompanied C. Jerry Clankey to the roof. He entered his waiting plane. The mechanic touched a button. The powerful catapult shot the streamlined flyer into the air. Jerry zoomed gracefully, and the little red biplane soon disappeared in the northern sky.

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