All that they had seen of the Dead World had only sickened and saddened
them. The untravelled regions of Space peopled by living worlds more
akin to their own were before them. The red disc of Mars was glowing in
the zenith among the diamond-white clusters which gemmed the black sky
behind him.
More than a hundred millions of miles had to be traversed before they
would be able to set foot on his surface, and so, after one last look
round the Valley of Death about them, Redgrave turned on the full energy
of the repulsive force in a vertical direction, and the _Astronef_ leapt
upwards in a straight line for her new destination. The Unknown
Hemisphere spread out in a vast plain beneath them, the blazing sun rose
on their left, and the brilliant silver orb of the earth on their right,
and so, full of wonder and yet without regret, they bade farewell to the
World that Had Been.
CHAPTER IX
The earth and the moon had been left more than a hundred million miles
behind in the depths of Space, and the _Astronef_ had crossed this
immense gap in eleven days and a few hours; but this apparently
inconceivable speed was not altogether due to the powers of the
Space-Navigator, for her commander had taken advantage of the passage of
the planet along its orbit towards that of the earth. Hence, while the
_Astronef_ was approaching Mars with ever-increasing speed, Mars was
travelling towards the _Astronef_ at the rate of sixteen miles a second.
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