I understood, of course, from what
Edmund had said, that the mysterious machines along the wall absorbed the
carbonic acid, but we must be constantly using up the oxygen. When I put
my difficulty before Edmund he laughed.
"That's the easiest thing of all," he said. "Look here."
He threw open a little grating.
"In there," he continued, "there's an apparatus which manufactures just
enough oxygen to keep the air in good condition. It is supplied with
materials to last a month, which will be much longer than this expedition
will take."
"There you are again," exclaimed Jack. "I was asking you about that when
we ran into those pesky meteors. What _is_ this expedition? Where are we
going, anyway?"
"Well," Edmund replied, "since we have become pretty good shipmates, I
don't see any objection to telling you. We are going to Venus."
"Going to Venus!" we all cried in a breath.
"To be sure. Why not? We've got the proper sort of conveyance, haven't
we?"
There was no denying that. Our conveyance had already brought us some
millions of miles out into space; why, indeed, should it not be able to
carry us to Venus, or any other planet?
"How far is it to Venus?" asked Jack.
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