e an arrow, having had their speed increased by the
planet's attraction while approaching it, and subsequently by repulsion.

"Either of those," said Bearwarden, looking back at the little
satellites, "would be a nice yacht for a man to explore space on. He
would also, of course, need a sun to warm him, if he wished to go
beyond this system, but that would not have to be a large affair--in
fact, it might be smaller than the planet, and could revolve about it
like a moon."

"Though a sun of that size," replied Cortlandt, "might retain its heat
for the time you wished to use it, the planet part would be nothing
like as comfortable as what we have here, for it would be very
difficult to get enough air-pressure to breathe on so small a body,
since, with its slight gravitation-pull, to secure fifteen pounds to
the square inch, or anything like it, the atmosphere would have to
extend thousands of miles into space, so that on a cloudy day you would
be in darkness. It would be better, therefore, to have such a sun as
you describe and accompany it in a yacht or private car like this, well
stocked with oxygen and provisions. When passing through meteoric
swarms or masses of solid matter, collision with which is the most
serious risk we run, the car could follow behind its sun instead of
revolving around it, and be kept from falling into it by partially
reversing the attraction. As the gravitation of so small a sun would
be slight, counteracting it for even a considerable time would take but
little from the batteries."

"There are known to be several unclaimed masses," added Ayrault, "with
diameters of a few hundred yards, revolving about the earth inside the
orbit of the moon. If in some way two of these could be brought into
sufficiently violent collision, they would become luminous and answer
very well; the increase in bulk as a result of the consolidation, and
the subsequent heat, about serving to bring them to the required size.
Whenever this sun showed spots and indications of cooling, it could be
made to collide with the solid head of some comet, or small asteroid,
till its temperature was again right; while if, as a result of these
accretions, it became unwieldy, it could be caused to rotate with
sufficient rapidity on its axis to split, and we should have two suns
instead of one."

"Bravo!" said Bearwarden. "There is no limit to what can be done. The
idea of our present trip would have seemed more chimerical to