Chapter XIV 12/12/2007 3:11:55 PM

Note: Interjections, not tranlatable, are retained in French in italics!

[…] as in book current version

{…} as in original magazin version

Red points of difficulty in translation

Green corrections in translation

 

Chapter XIV 12/12/2007 3:11:55 PM

WHICH PROVES THAT HUMANS ARE NOT MADE TO GRAVITATE AT TWO HUNDRED TWENTY MILLION LEAGUES FROM THE SUN

Gallia would therefore, from this day, return little by little on its elliptical curve and with an increasing speed. Any being living on its surface from now on was hidden in the solid volcanic massif, except for the thirteen English of Gibraltar.

How had those, who voluntarily remained on their small island, survived the first half of the Gallien winter? Better, undoubtedly - -it was the general opinion --, than the inhabitants of "Hot-Land". Indeed, they had not been forced to borrow the heat of its lava from a volcano and adapt it to the needs of life. Their reserve of coal and food was abundant. They did not lack either for food or fuel. The place they occupied, a solid casemate, with its thick stone walls, had obviously protected them from the steepest declines in temperature. Heated well, they had not been cold; nourished well, they had not been hungry, and their clothing could only have become too tight. Brigadier Murphy and Major Oliphant had had to carry out the most erudite blows on the confined field of the chess-board. Thus no one could doubt that things had happened on Gibraltar suitably and comfortably. In any case, Britain would have nothing but praise for these two officers and those eleven soldiers who remained faithfully at their post.

Captain Servadac and his companions, had they been in danger of perishing from the cold, would have certainly been able to take refuge in the island of Gibraltar. The thought of doing so had already come to them. They would have undoubtedly been received hospitably on this island, even though their first reception had left something to be desired. The English were not men to abandon their fellow creatures without lending their assistance. Also So, in the event of absolute necessity, the colonists of "Hot-Land" would not have hesitated to emigrate to Gibraltar. But that would be a long trip on the immense field of ice, without shelter, without fire, and of those who would have undertaken the enterprise, all might not have arrived at the goal! So, this project could only be put in execution in a desperate case, and, as long as the volcano would produce a sufficient heat, it was clearly understood that no one would abandon the "Hot-Land".

It was said earlier that all living things in the Gallien colony had found refuge in the excavation of the central chimney. [Indeed, a number of animals had to leave the galleries of Nina-Hive, where they would have frozen to death.] It was not without difficulty that the two horses of Captain Servadac and Ben-Zouf had been lowered down to that depth; but the captain and his orderly particularly made a point of preserving Zephyr and Galette, to bring them back alive on Earth. They loved these two poor animals, little made to live in these new climactic conditions. A large anfractuosity, [Footnote 1: anfractuosity-- winding passage --OED--NMW] converted into stables, was designed for them, and, very fortunately, there was enough fodder to feed them.

As for the other domestic animals, some had to be sacrificed.. To place them in the substructions of the solid massif was an impossible task. To leave them up in the higher galleries was to condemn them to a cruel death. They had to be slaughtered. But as the flesh of these animals could be preserved indefinitely in the old magazine, which was subjected to an excessive cold, it was an invaluable increase in the food reserve.

To complete the classification of living beings who sought refuge inside the massif, we must also mention the birds, whose food consisted only of scraps one they left to them each day. The cold made them leave the heights of Nina-Hive for dark cavities of the mountain. But their number was still so huge, their presence so intrusive, it was necessary to hunt them actively and kill them in large part.

All this occupied the end of January, and the installation was complete only at that time. But then an existence of a despairing monotony began for the members of the Gallien colony . Could they resist this species of moral numbness, which would result from their physical numbness? Their leaders tried to achieve this by a closer community of everyday life, by conversations to which all were invited to take part, by readings made out loud, drawn from the books of voyages and sciences of the library. Everyone, seated around the large table, Russians or Spaniards, listened and were instructed, and, if they were to return to the earth, they would return there less ignorant than had they been living in their countries of origin.

Meanwhile, what was Isac Hakhabut doing? Was he interested in these conversations, these readings? In no way. What profit could be withdrawn? He spent long hours making and repeating his calculations, and counting and recounting the money that flowed into his hands. What he had gained, coupled with what he had already, amounted to the sum of one hundred fifty thousand francs at least, half in the good gold of Europe. This metal, hard cash, he could make it worth back on Earth, and, if he calculated the number of days [elapsed] {elapsed on Gallia and which would elapse until his return to Earth}, it was from the point of view of lost interest. He had not yet found an opportunity to lend, as he hoped, with good promissory notes and a good warranty, of course.

Of all the colonists, it was again Palmyrin Rosette who created for himself a most quickly absorbing occupation. With his figures, he was never alone, and it was with calculation that he asked to shorten his long days of the winter.

Concerning Gallia, he knew all that one could about it, but it was not thus with Nérina, its satellite. However, the rights of ownership which he claimed on the comet ought to extend as well to its moon. At the least he should determine the new elements after the time it had been snatched away from the zone of telescopic planets [Footnote 1: asteroids--NMW].

He decided to undertake this calculation. Some bearings of the positions of Nérina at various points of its orbit were still needed. Those made, since he knew the mass of Gallia, obtained by direct measurement, i.e. by means of the balance, he would be able to weigh Nérina from the bottom of his tiny dim room.

Only, he did not have this obscure tiny room, to which he claimed well to give the name of "cabinet", since, in good truth, he could not call it an observatory. So, on the first days of February, he spoke with Captain Servadac about it.

"You need a cabinet, dear professor?" he answered. [Footnote 1: cabinet—a small private room or study--OED—NMW]

"Yes, captain, but I need a cabinet where I can work without fearing the importunate ones."

"We will find you that," answered Hector Servadac. "Only, if this cabinet is not as comfortable as I would like it, it will certainly be isolated and quiet."

"I do not ask for more."

"Understood… "

Then, the Captain, seeing Palmyrin Rosette’s mood quite passable, hazarded to submit a question on his earlier calculations, an issue on which he rightly attached real importance.

"Dear Professor," he said when Palmyrin Rosette was retiring, "I have something to ask of you."

"Ask."

"The calculations, which you concluded concerning the period of revolution of Gallia around the sun, are obviously correct," replied Captain Servadac. "But in the end, if I am not mistaken, half a minute of delay or advance, and your comet would no longer encounter the earth on the ecliptic! ..."

["Well?"] {"So what?," cut in the professor, with growing impatience.}

"Well, dear professor, would it not be appropriate to check the accuracy of these calculations ..."

"It is useless."

"Lieutenant Procope would be willing to help you in this important work."

"I do not need anyone, " replied Palmyrin Rosette, who was touched in a sensitive nerve.

"However ..."

"I am never mistaken, Captain Servadac, and your insistence is misplaced."

Mordioux! [Footnote 1: Nearest equivalent "Gosh!’ "God’s death!"] dear Professor," responded Hector Servadac, "you are not kind to your companions, and then ... "

But he kept what he had to his heart, being Palmyrin Rosette is a man to whom he must be considerate.

"Captain Servadac ," answered the professor curtly , "I will not start my calculations again, because my calculations are absolutely right. But I want to inform you that what I did for Gallia, I will do it for Nérina, its satellite."

"This is a very timely question," retorted Captain Servadac seriously . "However, I believed that Nérina, being a telescopic planet, its components were known to terrestrial astronomers. "

The professor looked at Captain Servadac with a savage eye, as if the value of his work had been challenged. Then, becoming animated:

"Captain Servadac," he said, "if the terrestrial astronomers observed Nérina, if they know already its average diurnal movement, the duration of its sidereal revolution, its average distance to the sun, its eccentricity, the longitude of its perihelion, the average longitude of the epoch, the longitude of the ascending node, the inclination of its orbit, all that needs to be started again, because Nérina is no longer a planet of the telescopic zone, but a satellite of Gallia. However, being a moon, I want to study it like a moon, and I do not see why Galliens should not know of the Gallien moon what the "terrestriens" know of the terrestrial moon! "

It was necessary to hear Palmyrin Rosette pronounce this word "terrestriens"!

In what a contemptuous tone he now spoke of earthly things!

" Captain Servadac ", said he, "I finish this conversation as I began, while asking you to lay out a cabinet for me.... "

"We will take care, dear professor... "

"Oh! I am not hurried, "replied Palmyrin Rosette, "and provided that it is ready in an hour ..."

It took three, but finally Palmyrin Rosette could be installed in a sort of hole, where his table and his chair found space to be placed. Then, during the following days and despite the extreme cold, he climbed into the old room to take the bearings of several positions of Nérina. This done he confined himself to his cabinet, and no one could see him again.

In truth, for these Galliens, buried eight hundred feet below the surface, one needed a great moral energy to react against this situation, which was marked by no incidents. Many days flowed by without any of them remounting to the surface, and had there not been the need for getting fresh water by bringing back loads of ice, they would have ended up not leaving the depths of the volcano at all.

However, some visits were made into the lower parts of the central chimney. Captain Servadac, Count Timascheff, Procope, and Ben-Zouf wanted as far as possible to probe this abyss dug in the core of Gallia. The exploration of this solid mass, composed of thirty per cent gold, left them indifferent, it is necessary to say. Moreover, this substance, without value on Gallia, would not have any more value if it fell on Earth, [Footnote 1: See The Hunt for the Meteor; (a sequel?) In which a comet of gold again strikes the Earth] {and they did not pay more attention to this telluride than of a granite rock}.

But what this exploration made known to them, it is that the central fire preserved its activity, and they concluded from this that if the eruption by the volcano had ceased, other ignivomous mouths had opened on the surface of Gallia.

Thus passed February, March, April, May, one can say in a kind of moral numbness of which those sequestered could not realize. The majority vegetated under the influence of a torpor which became worrisome. The readings, listened to initially with interest, no longer drew an audience around the large table. The conversations were limited to two or three people and were in a low voice. The Spaniards were especially overpowered and hardly left their berths. They hardly got out in order to take some food. The Russians resisted better and performed their tasks with greater zeal. The lack of exercise was thus the serious danger of this long sequestration. Captain Servadac, Count Timascheff, and Procope saw the progression of this numbness, but what could they do? Exhortations were insufficient. Themselves, they felt invaded by this particular overwhelming pressure and did not always resist it. Sometimes it was an uncommon prolongation of sleep, sometimes an invincible loathing for food, whatever it was. One could really say that these prisoners, hidden in the ground like tortoises during the winter, were going to sleep and fast like them until the return of warm weather!

Of all the Gallien colony , it was the small Nina who could resist best. She went, came, lavished her encouragements on Pablo, whom the general torpor affected too. She spoke with the one, with the other, and her fresh voice charmed these gloomy depths like the song of a bird. She obliged this one to eat, that one to drink. She was the heart of this small world, she animated it by her coming and going. She sang merry songs of Italy, in this dismal region, where there was unbearable silence. She buzzed like a pretty fly, but more useful, more beneficial than the fly of the fabulist. There was as well such superabundant life in this small being, which was communicated to all who spoke with her. Perhaps this reaction was accomplished almost without the knowledge of those who were affected, but it was no less real, and the presence of Nina was undoubtedly beneficial to Galliens, half asleep in this tomb.

However, months passed. How? Captain Servadac and his companions could not say.

Towards the beginning of June, the general torpor seemed to relax gradually. Was it the influence of the radiant star, which was approaching the comet? Perhaps, but the sun was still far away! Lieutenant Procope, in the first half of the Galllien revolution, had carefully noted the positions and figures given by the professor. He was able to obtain the ephemeris graphically, and on an orbit drawn by him, follow with more or less precision the march of the comet.

The point of aphelion, once passed, it was easy for him to mark the successive positions of the return of Gallia. He could thus inform his companions without being obliged to consult Palmyrin Rosette.

But he saw that, around the beginning of June, Gallia, having intersected the orbit of Jupiter, was still at a huge distance from the sun, or one hundred ninety seven million leagues. But its speed would increase gradually, in accordance with one of the laws of Kepler and, four months later, it would return into the zone of telescopic planets, at only one hundred and twenty-five million leagues.

About this time -- the second fortnight of June --, Captain Servadac and his companions had entirely recovered their physical and moral faculties. Ben-Zouf was like a man who slept too much, and he stretched out a great deal.

The visits to the deserted rooms of Nina-Hive became more frequent. Captain Servadac, Count Timascheff, and Procope descended onto the shore. It was still too cold, but the atmosphere had not lost its normal tranquility. No vapor on the horizon, nor the zenith, not a breath of air. The last footprints left on the beach were there as clear as on the first day.

Only one aspect of the coast had changed. It was the rock headland which overlooked the cove. In this place, the upward movement of the layers of ice had continued. It rose then to more than one hundred fifty feet. Here, at this height, the schooner and the tartan appeared, completely inaccessible. Their fall with the thaw was certain, their breaking up, inevitable. No means existed to save them.

Fortunately, Isac Hakhabut, never abandoning his shop in the depths of the mountain, did not accompany Captain Servadac during this walk on the beach.

"If he had been there," said Ben-Zouf," what cries of a peacock the old rascal had issued! However, to possess the cries of peacock and not to have the plumage of it, is beyond comprehension! "

Two months moreover, July and August, brought Gallia closer to within one hundred sixty-four million leagues of the sun. During the short nights, the cold was still extraordinarily sharp; but, during the day, sun, by traversing the equator of Gallia which crossed the "Hot-Land", emitted a rather appreciable heat and raised the temperature a score of degrees. The Galliens thus came daily to be reinvigorated with these vivifying rays, and, in that, they did nothing but imitate the few birds, which played about in the air not to return until the set of sun.

This kind of spring, -- is it possible to use this word? -- had a very happy influence on the inhabitants of Gallia. Hope and confidence returned to them. During the day, the disc of the sun appeared more enlarged on the horizon. During the night, the Earth appeared to grow bigger in the midst of the immutable stars. One saw the goal -- it was far away still --, but it was seen. It was however only a single point in space.

That led one day Ben-Zouf to this discussion before Captain Servadac and Count Timascheff:

"Truly, they will never make me believe that the Montmartre hillock can be contained in it!"

" It is due to it. She (the Earth) contains it, however," answered Captain Servadac , "and I am well assured that we will find it there!"

" And I, too, my Captain! But, tell me, without ordering you, if the comet of Mr. Rosette had not had to return to the Earth, was there was no way to compel it?"

" No, my friend," replied Count Timascheff. "No human power can disturb the geometrical arrangement of the universe. What disorder, if everyone could alter the course of his planet! But God did not want it, and I believe He has done wisely. "

Chapter XV

Where is the story of the first and last who settled relations between Palmyrin Rosette and Isac Hakhabut