Chapter 19 Chapter 18 Serious Problems

By this time the projectile had passed the ring-shaped cliffs of Mount Tycho.Barbicane and his two friends observed carefully the glowing lines that so strangely projected in all directions from this famous crater. What is this glowing halo?What kind of geological phenomenon are these hair-like glowing lines?This question, of course, lingered in Barbicane's mind. In fact, in his eyes, these two-sided high, concave, glowing grooves stretched in all directions, some were twenty kilometers wide, some were fifty kilometers wide.Some of these splendid lines stretched as far as three hundred leagues from Mount Tycho, especially on the east, northeast, and north sides, and seemed to cover half the southern hemisphere.One of them stretches as far as the Neander crater at the fortieth parallel.The other, thicker and thicker, stretches over the Sea of ​​Wine to the Pyrenees, a distance of more than four hundred leagues.Others stretched to the west, covering the sea of ​​clouds and the sea of ​​humor like a curtain of light.

What is the origin of all these luminous lines, which occur not only on plains, but also on mountains, however high they may be?And all the lines start from a common central Tycho pass.They are all launched from this crater.Herschel's suggestion that their luminescence came from condensed ancient lava flows was rejected.Other astronomers think the unexplained lines emerge from moraines, or rows of migratory rocks ejected during Tycho's formation. While describing the opinions of various astronomers, Barbicane denied them one by one. Why were they all rejected?Nicholl asked Barbicane.

For the regularity of these luminous lines, and the force which must have been required to throw the volcanic material so far, are inexplicable. oops!Michele replied, I think it is so easy to explain the source of these lights. Really?asked Barbicane. Indeed, replied Michel, I will suffice for a word, that this gigantic star-shaped crack may have been caused by a bullet or a stone on the pane! very good!Barbicane smiled and retorted, what kind of hand has such strength to smash the moon into this shape with a stone? Where can it be used!Michelle replied that he was not stumped by the other party.As for the stone, we assume it is a comet.

ah!Another comet!cried Barbicane, you always use the comet as a shield!My honest Michel, your explanation is not bad, but your comet is not needed.The blow that created the rift may have come from within the body.The sudden contraction of the moon's hard shell under cooling is enough to create this huge star-shaped rift. That's a contraction, like a colic on the moon, Michelle.Adam replied. Moreover, Barbicane added, this was also the opinion of an American scholar, Naismith.I think this opinion is enough to explain the cause of these rays. This Nasmith is not stupid!Michelle replied.

The three travelers never tire of admiring the magnificent scenery of Mount Tycho for a long time.Under the double light of the sun and the moon, their projectile probably looks like a sphere burned to incandescence.No wonder they went from extreme cold to extreme heat.This is probably how nature prepared to train them to be moonmen. Become a Moon Man!This led them to consider the question of whether the moon is habitable or not.Can the three travelers answer this question based on what they have seen?Can they draw positive or negative conclusions?Michelle.Ardan urged his two friends to express their opinions by asking them directly whether they thought there were animals and men in the lunar world.

I think we can answer, said Barbicane, but, in my opinion, we should not ask the question in this way.I want to use another formulation. please!Michelle replied. Listen, Barbicane went on.There are two sides to this question, and therefore two answers.Is the moon habitable?Has anyone ever lived on the moon? Very well, Nicholl replied.We start by researching whether the moon is habitable. Seriously, I don't know anything about that, Michelle replied. As for me, I answer in the negative, continued Barbicane.Judging from the current situation of the moon, because the atmosphere is very thin, most of the lunar sea has dried up, the water is insufficient, and the survival of plants is restricted. It changes from cold to hot, and the night and day are as long as 354 hours. I think the moon is not suitable. It is not suitable for living, and it is not good for the development of the animal kingdom. At the same time, it cannot meet the needs of survival as we understand it.

Agree with you, Nicholl replied, but wouldn't a bio-moon, whose structure is completely different from ours, be habitable? This question is more difficult to answer, replied Barbicane.I'll try it now, but first I'll ask Nicholl if he thinks that motion is a necessary consequence of existence, whatever the constitution of living things? No doubt, Nicholl replied. Very well, my venerable companion, then I will answer you that we have observed the lunar continent at a distance of up to five hundred meters, but we have not seen anything wriggling.If there were any humans, we see them in the traces of their conquests of nature, in their buildings and even in their ruins.However, what do we see?Everywhere, and always, nature's geological engineering, no human engineering at all.If there is an animal kingdom on the moon, they may hide in these unfathomable caves that cannot be reached by sight.I can't agree with that, though, because, if they were, they would have left some traces on the plains covered by that thin atmosphere.In fact, we don't see such traces anywhere.So now there is only one hypothesis left, and that is, there may be a creature here that has nothing to do with the sign movement of life!

That would be tantamount to talking about a living creature without life, Michel retorted. Quite right, replied Barbicane, but it means nothing to us. Well, we can now have our say, Michelle said. Yes, Nicholl replied. Very good, Michelle.Ardan went on, and the Scientific Committee meeting in the projectile of the Cannon Club, after debating the newly observed facts, voted unanimously on the question of whether the Moon was presently habitable as follows: No, the Moon is not presently habitable. Chairman Barbicane took the minutes of the meeting of December 6th in his notebook, and took note of this resolution.

Now, said Nicholl, we come to the second question, which is an essential complement to the first.I now ask this honorable committee: If the moon is not habitable now, was it ever inhabited before? I give the floor to Citizen Barbicane, Michel.Adam said. My friends, replied Barbicane, I could give my opinion on the habitability of our satellite even without this trip.Let me add that our own observations can only confirm my opinion.I think that I can even conclude that the moon was inhabited by a human being with the same structure as us, and produced animals that are anatomically the same as the animals on the earth, but I will add that these humans or animals have disappeared. Extinct forever!

So, Michelle asked, is the moon an older world than the earth? No, replied Barbicane confidently, only the world decays more quickly, its formation and its decay proceed quickly.Relatively speaking, the organizational power of the moon's interior materials is much stronger than that of the earth.This crumpled, riddled, and bulging moon disk alone is proof enough.The moon and the earth were at first two clumps in a gaseous state, which gradually became liquid under the influence of several different forces, while the formation of solid was later.It is absolutely certain that when our earth was still in a gas or liquid state, the moon had already solidified due to cooling and was suitable for habitation.

I believe it, Nicholl said. At that time, Barbicane continued, an atmosphere surrounded the moon.The gas is able to absorb moisture so that it is not evaporated.Under the interactive influence of air, water, light, solar heat and the heat of the center of the moon, plants then occupied the lunar continents that could accept it. It is certain that life appeared during this period, because nature will not waste its own resources in vain. Strength, such a splendidly inhabitable world as this must have been inhabited. Nicholl replied, however, that many natural phenomena inherent in our satellite can hinder the expansion of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, as, for example, these three hundred and fifty-four hours of day and night are not an example? At the Earth's South Pole and North Pole, says Michelle, for six months! This argument has little value because the poles are uninhabited. Note, my friends, Barbicane goes on to say that if, in the present condition of the Moon, these long nights and days make such temperature differences unbearable to organisms, it was quite different at that period of history. .At that time the atmosphere hung over the Moon like a great coat.Water vapor turns into clouds, a natural screen that mitigates the heat of the sun and the darkness of night, as light diffuses through the air like heat.So a balance can be maintained among the various influences, but now, this atmosphere has almost completely disappeared, and this balance no longer exists.And if I go any further, you might be surprised You go ahead, Michelle.Adam said. I truly believe that there were not three hundred and fifty-four hours of night and day during this inhabited period of the Moon. why?Nicholl asked quickly. For it is probable that the moon's rotation and revolution were not equal at that time, and only when the two were equal would any point on the moon receive the sun's rays for fifteen days. I agree, replied Nicholl, but if the two movements are now equal, why were they not equal then? Because whether the two motions are equal or not is determined by the gravitational force of the earth.However, who told us that when the earth was still a fluid, its gravitational force was sufficient to change the motion of the moon? In fact, who told us that the moon has always been a satellite of the earth? Who told us again, Michelle.Adam said loudly, didn't the moon exist long before the earth existed? Then the imagination gallops like a runaway horse through an endless field of hypotheses.Barbicane wanted to seize the reins. These are unsolvable problems, he said, too mysterious and empty, and we don't need to continue discussing them.We simply assume that the gravitational force of the earth has not yet taken the dominant role, so the rotation and revolution of the moon are not equal, and the day and night are likely to alternate like the day and night on the earth.And, even without these conditions, life could still exist. So, Michelle.Has man disappeared from the moon, Ardan asks? Yes, replied Barbicane, but there is no doubt that they disappeared after thousands of centuries of existence on the moon.Subsequently, the atmosphere gradually became thinner and thinner, so the surface of the moon became uninhabitable, just as the earth will become colder and colder in the future, and sooner or later it will be uninhabitable. Is it because of the cold? No doubt, replied Barbicane.As the subterranean fire extinguished, the hot material in the center of the moon gradually condensed, and the outer shell became colder and colder.The gradual consequences of this natural phenomenon are: animals disappear, plants disappear.After a while, the atmosphere became thinner, probably drawn over by the Earth; eventually there was no more air to breathe, and the water evaporated.By this time, the Moon was an uninhabitable world, a dead world, as we see it today. According to you, is this also the fate of the Earth? It is likely to be the same. But when? When its shell gradually cools and becomes uninhabitable. Has anyone calculated how long it will take for our unfortunate planet to cool? Of course it was calculated. Do you know these numbers? of course I know. Then please tell us quickly, chilling scientist, Michelle.Ah Dang said loudly, because you have made me anxious like a pot of boiling water, and it will boil soon! Well, my good Michel, replied Barbicane unhurriedly, we already know how much the earth cools down in a century.According to some figures, the average temperature of the earth will drop to zero in 400,000 years! Four hundred thousand years!Michelle yelled.ah!Now, I can breathe a sigh of relief!Seriously, I just freaked out!From the way you speak, I thought we only had 50,000 years to live! Barbicane and Nicholl could not help laughing at the apprehension of their companion.Then, Nicholl raised the second question just discussed again, and he hoped to draw a conclusion. Has anyone ever lived on the moon?he asked. The answer is yes, and unanimously. Their discussion summarizes the general conception which science has achieved in this respect, but many of their theories are too light.At this moment, the projectile was advancing rapidly towards the lunar equator, while moving away from the lunar surface with great regularity.From an altitude of 800 kilometers above the surface of the moon, it crossed William Crater and the 40th parallel, then left Mount Pitac on the right at the 30th parallel, and flew from the southern end of the sea of ​​clouds to the northern end of the sea of ​​clouds.Then, in the dazzling white moonlight, many craters appeared vaguely, including Mount Buyu, Mount Purbaha, which was almost like a square with a crater in the center, and Mount Al with mountains within. Zah Mountain, there is a peak in the center of the mountain that shines brightly, it is very moving, and it cannot be described by pen and ink. In the end, the projectile was always getting farther and farther away from the moon, and the outlines of the mountains gradually became blurred to the eyes of the three travelers. After a while, all these wonderful and strange views of the earth's satellite left them only an indelible impression. memories.