The moon! I'd much rather try some smaller things first."
"They're out of the question, because of the air difficulty."
"Why not apply that idea of spring blinds--Cavorite blinds in strong
steel cases--to lifting weights?"
"It wouldn't work," he insisted. "After all, to go into outer space is not
so much worse, if at all, than a polar expedition. Men go on polar
expeditions."
"Not business men. And besides, they get paid for polar expeditions. And
if anything goes wrong there are relief parties. But this--it's just
firing ourselves off the world for nothing."
"Call it prospecting."
"You'll have to call it that.... One might make a book of it perhaps," I
said.
"I have no doubt there will be minerals," said Cavor.
"For example?"
"Oh! sulphur, ores, gold perhaps, possibly new elements."
"Cost of carriage," I said. "You know you're not a practical man. The
moon's a quarter of a million miles away."
"It seems to me it wouldn't cost much to cart any weight anywhere if you
packed it in a Cavorite case."
I had not thought of that. "Delivered free on head of purchaser, eh?"
"It isn't as though we were confined to the moon."
"You mean?"
"There's Mars--clear atmosphere, novel surroundings, exhilarating sense
of lightness. It might be pleasant to go there."
"Is there air on Mars?"
"Oh, yes!"
"Seems as though you might run it as a sanatorium. By the way, how
far is Mars?"
"Two hundred million miles at present," said Cavor airily; "and you go
close by the sun.
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