Journey Through the Impossible by Jules Verne, Edward Baxter Page B

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.
    Tartelet: And will you be so kind as to take us there?
    First Altorian: What do you mean? We will ask your permission to
introduce you to our Academy of Sciences.
    Tartelet: The Academy of Sciences?

    First Altorian: And then you will be placed in the Museum of Natural History.
    Valdemar: You mean ... mounted?
    Second Altorian: Oh no. Embalmed.
    Tartelet: Embalmed? Just a minute, now.
    First Altorian: Oh, later, only after you are dead.
    Valdemar: That's very kind of you, sir.
    Tartelet: Lead on, then. We'll follow you.
    Valdemar: My goodness, it's a long way to the city! Couldn't we rest
a little before we go on?
    First Altorian: This is the home of a scientist who recently arrived
with his daughter from the remotest regions of Altor. (Pointing to
a house on the right) He'll welcome you to his cottage.
    Tartelet: A cottage! That? Its walls are studded with precious stones!
    Valdemar: And the roof is thatched with gold! We're just beggars
here. My diamond is worthless now. Here it is.
    (He takes it out of his pocket)
    First Altorian: You'll find bigger and more beautiful diamonds than
that lying on the ground wherever you go.
    Valdemar: Damn!
    First Altorian (examining it): We don't even use them to pave our roads.
    Valdemar: It isn't worth as much as an ordinary paving stone. I'm
ruined! And I'm not going to keep it. Definitely not! (Throwing it
away) Ah! Definitely not.
    Tartelet: Well, I'd like to keep it as a souvenir of the center of our
globe. (He picks it up)
    (Enter Volsius at the door of the cottage, dressed as an Altorian)

    Volsius: Foreigners?
    Tartelet: Inhabitants of planet Earth, sir.
    Volsius: Earth! A planet of the twenty-fifth magnitude, lighted by
only a single sun.
    Valdemar: Does he think that isn't enough?
    Tartelet: Excuse me, sir. Do you have several suns here?
    Volsius: Here there are two, and six moons that rise,