“But when we sink through this corona, and through these flames and the atmosphere, and reach the photosphere, what shall we do then? go through that?” asked Rollsborough. “Yes, if possible, and see what lies below!” “But suppose below the photosphere there is nothing but molten fire—liquid chaos; what then?” “Go through that to the other side and see what it is.” “Could we do that!” exclaimed several, jumping up in excitement. “Certainly, if you wish it!” “But if we sank to the centre, should we not be fixed there?” asked Kirkby Reeve, a zoologist. “Certainly not; we should become heavier as we descended till we reached the interior, from which we should repel ourselves and come out at the other side on a straight line. Anyway, we will risk it if you are willing. So far, no one, even with the most powerful glasses, has ever penetrated the photosphere, so we cannot say what is below, but it would be interesting to discover.” “But is not the project of going _through_ the sun an impossibility?” objected Rowland. “The ship, when resting on the ground in the shed, did not de-atomise the ground below her, and how could she sink through the sun’s mass—solid or liquid—unless that mass were in part de-atomised? if not, she would crush herself.” “That is so,” replied Dennis; “when in the shed and when resting on land, there was no real line of current under the ship, but the force surrounding her was so placed that nothing, however small, could come upwards under any part of the vessel without entering into electric field, and causing the current to fly from each side to itself, and the intruding object would be destroyed long before contact. This is the ship’s safety, as it precludes all risk of danger through tunnelling. When going through the sun—if we decide to do so—we should, in that case, connect the current below us and be completely enveloped in it as we are now, and as we always are when there is danger, such as hovering over formidable foes, and any matter through which we wished to sink would become de-atomised, and we should sink through it as through water. We should use this power to give a temporary and local alteration only, so that the instant our force had passed, and _as_ it passed, the power would be lost, and the objects, solid or liquid, would resume their former condition—it would be equivalent to passing through solids without altering their substances and compactness, and on this point there is nothing we are likely to encounter but what the forces of the ship will take without being taxed.”