Manned space flight -- Fiction; Moon -- Fiction; Science fiction; Space flight to the moon -- Fiction; Space ships -- Fiction
Now turn to the hemisphere on the right, the women's side, and you also
discover "seas," more numerous indeed, but of smaller dimensions and
with gentler names, as more befitting the feminine temperament. First
comes _Mare Serenitatis_, the Sea of Serenity, so expressive of the
calm, tranquil soul of an innocent maiden. Near it is _Lacus Somniorum_,
the Lake of Dreams, in which she loves to gaze at her gilded and rosy
future. In the southern division is seen _Mare Nectaris_, the Sea of
Nectar, over whose soft heaving billows she is gently wafted by Love's
caressing winds, "Youth on the prow and Pleasure at the helm." Not far
off is _Mare Fecunditatis_, the Sea of Fertility, in which she becomes
the happy mother of rejoicing children. A little north is _Mare
Crisium_, the Sea of Crises where her life and happiness are sometimes
exposed to sudden, and unexpected dangers which fortunately, however,
seldom end fatally. Far to the left, near the men's side, is _Mare
Vaporum_, the Sea of Vapors, into which, though it is rather small, and
full of sunken rocks, she sometimes allows herself to wander, moody, and
pouting, and not exactly knowing where she wants to go or what she wants
to do. Between the two last expands the great _Mare Tranquillitatis_,
the Sea of Tranquillity, into whose quiet depths are at last absorbed
all her simulated passions, all her futile aspirations, all her
unglutted desires, and whose unruffled waters are gliding on forever in
noiseless current towards _Lacus Mortis_, the Lake of Death, whose misty
shores
"In ruthless, vast, and gloomy woods are girt."
So at least Ardan mused as he stooped over Beer and Maedler's map. Did
not these strange successive names somewhat justify his flights of
fancy? Surely they had a wonderful variety of meaning. Was it by
accident or by forethought deep that the two hemispheres of the Moon had
been thus so strangely divided, yet, as man to woman, though divided
still united, and thus forming even in the cold regions of space a
perfect image of our terrestrial existence? Who can say that our
romantic French friend was altogether wrong in thus explaining the
astute fancies of the old astronomers?
His companions, however, it need hardly be said, never saw the "seas" in
that light. They looked on them not with sentimental but with
geographical eyes. They studied this new world and tried to get it by
heart, working at it like a school boy at his lessons. They began by
measuring its angles and diameters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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