Journey Through the Impossible by Jules Verne, Edward Baxter
Authors: Jules Verne, Edward Baxter
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Altor!
George: Yes! Altor! Altor!
Barbicane: All honor to the daring men who will undertake this conquest!
All: Hurrah! Hurrah!
Ox (sarcastically): Well, what do you say to that, Mr. Ardan?
Volsius: What do I say? I say nothing, Dr. Ox.
Ox: Not a word of blame or criticism of this daring undertaking by
Hatteras?
Volsius: Why should I blame him, when it is my intention to go with
him?
All: Ah!
Ox: What? You have the nerve ... ?
Volsius: To be your companion, with your permission, Hatteras.
George: Oh, of course. You will go with us. You will share our glory.
Ox (aside): We'll see about that.
Volsius: We'll meet in Florida, gentlemen, right beside the
Columbiad.
Barbicane: We'll all be there.
All: Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
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,
George: Yes! Altor! Altor!
Barbicane: All honor to the daring men who will undertake this conquest!
All: Hurrah! Hurrah!
Ox (sarcastically): Well, what do you say to that, Mr. Ardan?
Volsius: What do I say? I say nothing, Dr. Ox.
Ox: Not a word of blame or criticism of this daring undertaking by
Hatteras?
Volsius: Why should I blame him, when it is my intention to go with
him?
All: Ah!
Ox: What? You have the nerve ... ?
Volsius: To be your companion, with your permission, Hatteras.
George: Oh, of course. You will go with us. You will share our glory.
Ox (aside): We'll see about that.
Volsius: We'll meet in Florida, gentlemen, right beside the
Columbiad.
Barbicane: We'll all be there.
All: Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!
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,
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