“So far, we are all right; but before we test the still greater dangers below us, are you _certain_ the vessel is likely to be proof against the terrific power of the vapours and forces there? for we had better be sure before we leap.” “We have every reason to believe so,” replied Dennis; “her resisting or repulsive force is now about two thousand times less than she is capable of projecting, and it is more than sufficient to withstand the present forces and awful turbulence immediately outside.” “But as we get lower and the forces increase?” “So will our power to resist increase in equal ratio, and judging from the needle here,” looking at the dial, “we shall then have in reserve at least two thousand times more force than that being projected, so that so far as power to resist is concerned, we have no fear: a danger might arise if our de-atomising force, backed up by the net, would not withstand the heat, but this we cannot tell without actual test, although we feel sure there is nothing to fear.” “Would not the net alone answer?” inquired Price Rowland, a physicist. “Certainly it would, but without the protecting force, it would itself be for weeks and months in actual contact with baths of liquid fire, explosive vapours and gases, many of which may be corrosive to its substance; and there are elements to encounter of which we Earth-folk do not understand the nature, and consequently could not test before we left; so by projecting the de-atomising force to, say, a distance of one or two feet beyond the vessel, the net is protected from every danger, and will, we hope, see us through safely.” “But the pressure?” said Raymond Sorrel, the geologist. “Will not that be difficult to overcome below?” “No, it should not be. All forces should be de-atomised, and whether they take the form of pressure, expansion, or heat in solid, liquid, or gaseous form, or any other force, all should be pulled up at our current, which is self-adjusting and is always more than enough to dispel anything brought or projected near it.” “Then you think we can safely approach the surface?” questioned Merrick Rutherford, a metallurgist. “Without doubt. You see the large needle over your head; it is still as if welded where it stands; the fearful thunders and explosions round us and the rushing of flaming vapours under enormous pressure, are turned aside by us and go round, causing not so much as a tremor. The needle shows us absolutely motionless, moving only with the sun, so that I feel sure we can reach his surface unharmed.” “Will the windows sustain the pressure?” asked Sorrel, again. “Yes, both heat and pressure,” replied Dennis, reassuringly. “No one nowadays knows how the glass was made, but it is unbreakable, uncutable, and neither heat nor anything we know affects it except fluorine, and it is covered with the net, as you see, like the casing.”