lpless and entirely at the mercy of the unknown and mysterious power.
Indeed, it was evident that only our increased weight had saved us from
immediately following the other aerenoid, and I felt that at any moment
we might do so. Although lacking the power of propulsion, my hope was
that our repelling force, which I knew must be increased to an enormous
extent by the slight gravity on the moon's surface, would hurl us off
that satellite straight upward into the influence of Mars' gravity.

Seizing the lever, I cried to Zarlah to He on the floor of the car, but
even as she did so, the aerenoid rocked again with still greater
violence--in another moment it would be too late! Thrusting the lever
over, I exposed the full repelling force to the moon's surface. The
shock hurled me to the floor, and so terrific was the force with which
we shot upward, that I was held powerless to move hand or foot. For a
space of time which seemed to me hours I was obliged to remain thus,
contenting myself with calling words of encouragement to my dear one,
whom I greatly feared must have suffered severely from the awful shock.
At last, finding that I could rise, I hastened to her side, and, to my
great relief, discovered that she had entirely escaped injury.

As it was impossible in any way to control the aerenoid speeding upward
through space, it was useless for me to stand by the levers, and,
assisting Zarlah to rise, we approached a window in the roof of the car
and glanced upward at the planet to which we were rushing. A remarkable
phenomenon met our eyes! Mars appeared to be no longer a sphere--the
great globe that we had beheld from the moon--but instead a huge dome,
which hung over us, ever deepening in the center as we rushed up toward
it. Inconceivable though it seemed, I knew that, to produce such an
effect, we must already have covered more than half the distance
between the two bodies. Upward we shot, and although there was no means
of ascertaining how fast we were travelling, I knew by the rapidly
changing appearance of the dome above us that our speed must be
terrific.

We had steadily grown lighter, and now we discovered that we were
entirely without weight, and that it required some effort to keep our
feet on the floor of the car.

Still upward we rushed into the center of the dome which now stretched
down and encircled us on all sides like an immense umbrella, when
suddenly, without the slightest perceptible movement of th