"just long enough to say Diana Dors has lost her drawers." "Won't you lend her some of yours?" "Jim?" "Can you believe they're up there now, Dad?" "Isn't it amazing?" "It certainly is." "Where's your mother?" "Right, you stay there." "I'll fetch her." "Don't wander off." "Dad?" "Hello?" "Come to mock, have you?" "Come to gawp?" " I beg your pardon?" " You have some manners, at least." "That's something." "They didn't send you, then?" "Who?" " Those dreadful children... from before." "They said they wanted to see my kinematograph films." "But then they only laughed at me." "What are your films?" "You said you had some films." "Are they cartoons?" "Can I see them?" "I won't laugh at you, I promise." "You seem like a very well brought-up young man." "I think I might be in trouble." "I can't find my mum and dad." "No?" "Dad says we have to get back home, you see, to watch the telly." "It's such a special day." "He says we'll remember today for the rest of our lives." "What's so special about today?" "They're going to land on the moon!" "Don't you think that's exciting?" "The first men on the moon!" "Why are you laughing?" "You wouldn't believe me, even if I showed you the evidence." "Nobody ever has in all these years." "My name's Jim." "Pleased to meet you, Jim." "I'll believe you, I promise I will, whatever it is." "Now then, you mustn't believe people just because they ask you nicely." "Very well." "You make yourself comfortable in this chair, and I'll attend to everything." "But you must prepare yourself for a shock, young man." "Oh, yes indeed." "You see, those chaps in the Apollo what-d'you-ma-call-it they won't be the first men on the moon." " They won't?" " No." "I was the first man on the moon." "You were?" "More than that I was the first man in the moon." "It was such a long, long time ago, back when old King Edward was on the throne." "I was a young man, an ambitious man, and I put my faith and my savings into a company I was assured that simply could not fail." "Bugger." "My creditors pressed me hard, so I decided to take a break from it all, and it seemed to me at last that there was nothing for it but to write a play." "And in any case, everyone was writing plays in those days." "It was better than working for a living." "It was whilst waiting for the elusive muse to put in an appearance that I first clapped eyes on Professor Cavor." "I say, do you mind awfully not doing that?" "Beg pardon?" "Do you mind not making that row?" "I'm trying to work." "My dear sir, I really am most awfully sorry." " Was I making a noise?" " Yes." "Yes, you were." "Was I?" "How queer." "I do get a little distracted." "This, you see, is my time for exercise." "I come here to enjoy the sunset." "But you weren't even looking at it." "No." " You're working, do you say?" " Yes." "Yes, I'm..." "I'm a writer." "A writer?" "Really?" "How fascinating." " You're doing it again." " What?" "Really?" "Was I?" "My mind is much occupied." "I shan't trouble you again." "Oh, really, but it was only a trifling inconvenience." "No, no, I shall take my perambulations elsewhere." "Very sorry to have bothered you." "Good night, sir." "Good night." "I saw nothing of him for two days..." "and then he came again." "I don't blame you in the least, but you've destroyed a routine, you see, and it has disorganised my days." "I've walked past here for years." "Years." "No doubt I've hummed, buzzed, what have you." "Probably." " You've made all that impossible." " My dear sir, if the thing is so important to you..." " It's vital." "You see, I am an investigator, a scientific investigator, and I am on the point of completing one of the most important demonstrations " "I can assure you, one of the most important demonstrations - in history." "It requires constant thought, constant mental ease and activity, and the late afternoon is my brightest time." "I effervesce with new ideas." " Well, you can still come by." " Impossible." "It will all be different." "I shall feel self-conscious." "I shall think of you, writing your play." " Yes, my play..." " No, there's only one thing for it." "I must have the cottage." "Have the cottage?" "Yes, I must buy it from you, lock, stock and... what have you." "But there was one tiny complication." "It wasn't mine to sell." "I could see this would require careful handling." "Do you know, we haven't even introduced ourselves." "My name is Julius Bedford." "Well, no doubt I should have heard of you, but I never go to the theatre, you see." "I'm Cavor." "Professor Arthur Cavor." "How do you do?" "Tell me more about this demonstration of yours." "Oh, no, no." " Is it a secret?" " No!" "Yes." "No, it's not that." "Well, I suppose no-one else does know about it." "Are you interested, then?" "Oh, very much so." "Then you must come over to the house!" "Yes!" "At once!" "Come over to the house." "I have no doubt there will be tea, cakes, what have you." "Probably." "Come along." "Radiant energy, that's what all this was about, light waves and radio waves and so forth." "All these things radiate out and act on bodies at a distance." " Do you follow?" " Yes..." "Now, all substances are opaque to some form or other of radiant energy." " Opaque..." " Yes." "Glass, for example." "Transparent to light, much less so to heat, so that it's useful as a fire-screen." "You see?" "Yes." "Yes, I see." "But where is all this leading?" "Patience, patience." "Now, all known substances are transparent to gravity," " are they not?" " Gravity, obviously." "You can use screens of various kinds to cut off light or heat." "You can shield things from Marconi's radio waves using sheets of metal." "But nothing, nothing will cut off the gravitational attraction of the sun or of the Earth." "Of course not." "Nothing until now." "Come along." "Cavorite!" " Cavorite?" " Well, yes, I suppose so." "Isn't that the usual form?" " One invents a thing and then..." " It's not merely a theory, then?" "Not at all!" "Not a bit of it!" "Out of the way, Faraday!" "Couldn't be more perfect." "One in the eye for Newton?" "Gravity, you see." "The force that pulls everything, including you and me, down to the ground." "Without gravity, we would be weightless." "And over Cavorite, air itself is weightless." "Is it safe?" "Oh, the stuff is completely inert as long as it's kept at the right temperature." " Once it's cooled..." " Yes all the air above the apple will cease to have any weight." "There were one or two alarming moments in the manufacturing process." "Yes." "I made a thin sheet of Cavorite, you see, and all the air above it had nothing to pull it to Earth, so it rushed upwards." "More air poured in to replace it, and the same thing happened." "You begin to see." "It formed a sort of atmospheric chimney." "And if the sheet of Cavorite hadn't been loose, the air would have... fountained into space, on and on and on." "It would have whipped the air off the world as one peels a banana." "It would have been the end of all life on this planet." " And that would have been awful." " Really?" "Really." "At any rate, I've worked through all those little problems." "It's not bananas we're concerned with now, though, it's apples." "Look here, Cavor, are you serious?" "Sir Isaac Newton taught us why an apple falls down from the sky." "And from that fact it's very plain, all other objects do the same." "A brick, a bar, a boat, a cup Invariably fall down, not up." "My dear Cavor..." "This is incredible!" "It's fantastic!" " You really think so?" " Well, of course it is." "Think of the practical applications." "Oh, practical applications." "Are there such things?" "My God, don't you see?" "It's a miracle." "A revolution!" "If you wanted to lift a weight, however enormous, you'd only have to put a sheet of your Cavorite under it and you could lift it with a straw." "A child could lift a dreadnought." " Heavens!" "I hadn't thought." " The possibilities are boundless." "Ironclads and weapons and shipping and architecture." "One stupendous Cavorite company..." "Oh, my dear Cavor, you... we... are on to the biggest thing that has ever been invented." " We are?" " Yes!" "Yes!" "Well, I suppose we are!" "What about your play?" "My play?" "My play." "It's vanished." "Good heavens, don't you see what we've got?" "I hadn't thought beyond pure research." "Perhaps a fellowship of the Royal Society." "How can you think so small?" "Here is a substance that no... no home, no factory, no fortress, no ship can dare to be without." "It's more universally applicable than a patent medicine." "There isn't one solitary aspect of it, not one of its 10,000 possible uses, that will not make us rich, Cavor, beyond the dreams of avarice." "Yes, I begin to see." "It's extraordinary how one gets new points of view from talking things over." "And as it happens, you have talked to the right man." "I have very considerable business experience." "You do?" "Oh, yes." "I did not, of course, tell him that I was an undischarged bankrupt at the time." "That's it!" "That settles it." "A sort of roller blind." " A sort of what?" " Space." "Anywhere." " The moon." " The moon?" "What do you mean?" "Mean?" "Why, it must be a sphere, that's what I mean." " Cavor, I don't know..." " Imagine a sphere, or a sort of polygon, large enough to hold two people and their luggage, what have you." "It would be made of metal, lined with thick glass." "Probably." " A sphere?" " To carry us to the moon." "But how would we breathe?" "Oh, that's the least of it." "A simple filtration system." "I worked out something years ago for a submersible." "Then the exterior of the sphere would be enamelled." " With Cavorite?" " With Cavorite." "One could screw oneself in while the stuff was warm." "And as soon as it was cooled..." "It'd become impervious to gravity and..." "Yes..." "Off one would go in a straight line." "Ah, but what's to stop one going off in a straight line into space for ever?" " Roller blinds." " Roller blinds?" "The inner sphere would be airtight and continuous, except for a manhole." " To get in and out." " Yes." "But the exterior could be made in sections, each section capable of rolling up after the fashion of a blind." "When they're all shut - no light, no heat, no gravitation, no radiant energy of any kind would get inside the sphere." "But open the blind and any heavenly body which happened to be in the vicinity would attract us." "Oh, I see!" "Then it would be possible to tack about in space like a little boat." "Tack, tack, tack." "The blinds would roll in upon themselves, thus counteracting the Cavorite effect when not required." "I shall begin the calculations at once." "But hang it all, Cavor, the moon?" "Shouldn't we start with something smaller?" "You were the one who told me to think bigger, Bedford." "Why not go into space?" "It's not much worse than a polar expedition." "Shackleton is on one now." "Probably." " Men go on polar expeditions." " Not businessmen." "We would be just firing ourselves off the world for nothing." "Think of what we would find there." " What?" " Knowledge!" "Well, call it prospecting, then." "I have no doubt there will be minerals." "Sulphur, ores, possibly new elements." "Diamonds." " Diamonds?" " I see no reason why not." " Is there air up there?" " There... there may be." "But the moon!" "It's hundreds of thousands of miles away!" "A quarter of a million, actually." "Cavorite liners." "Fleets of them." "And prospecting rights." "Planetary prospecting rights." " What did you say?" " Nothing, nothing." "Oh, but this is the thing, Cavor." "This is imperial." "Yes!" "But there isn't any air on the moon." "Everyone knows that." "Do pay attention, there's a good lad." "The summer passed, then autumn, and all the while, we worked like Trojans." "It was like labouring in Hades." "Why?" " Because to keep the Cavorite inactive, we had to maintain the room at a constant temperature." "A very warm temperature." "Will you take that with you?" "The kinematograph." "Yes, yes, I suppose so." "We'll have to have proof of our journey." "Everything all right, old man?" "I say, Cavor, we shall be able to get back, shan't we?" "Yes, of course!" "I don't see why not." "Probably." "How's the furnace?" "Yes, yes, fine." "We're very close, Bedford." "Exceedingly." "We have almost enough Cavorite." "Look here, Cavor..." "After all, what's it all for?" "For?" " For?" "The thing now is to go!" " Yes." "But the moon!" "I thought..." "I thought it was a dead world." "What do you expect to find?" "Well, we're going to see, aren't we?" " Are we?" "Are we really?" " You're tired, Bedford." "Why don't you go for a stroll?" "It's a lovely evening." " The thing's too mad!" " What?" "I'm not going with you." "It's... it's too mad." "But you must!" "We've planned the whole thing together." "I can't." "I'm sorry." "It's nothing, merely jumping off the world." "Remember the apple?" "Yes, I do remember." "It was smashed to bits against the ceiling." "Bedford!" "Who'd want to leave the world on a night like this?" "Can I get you something, dear?" "You look parched!" "A drop of cider on the house?" "Oh, thank you very much." "You're very kind." " You come far?" " Oh, just from Apuldram." "I needed some air." "You going far?" "That's rather a moot point." "I suppose I might go back to London." "London." "You know it?" " No, don't hold with it." " No?" "No." "All them folk pressed together like barrels on a dray?" "Chichester's furthest I ever got." "My late husband and me, we went to see one of them shows." " Oh, yes?" " In a theatre!" "And what did you make of it?" "Well, there was a fella and a girl, just the two of 'em, yarning." "Weren't even a true story, it were just made up." "Didn't see the point of it myself." " Not been anywhere else?" " No." "I'm not the gadabout sort." "What would you say to a trip to the moon?" "Oh, never did hold with them balloonies." "Oh, no." "You wouldn't get me up in one of them, not for ever so." "Cavor?" "Cavor!" "Cavor, I'm coming with you." "Of course I am." "I'm sorry about before." "I got myself into a blue funk." "I'm fine now." "Splendid!" "You could not have returned at a better time." "Shall we?" "How are we doing?" "Shutter temperature's cooling... fast." "Capital!" "Storage hatches?" "Luggage in and locked." "This is it, old man." " Strap yourself in." " What have you got there?" "Well, haven't you brought anything to read?" "Good Lord, no!" "But the voyage may take an age." "It doesn't matter." "Surely the grandeur of the journey..." "Have you never been to sea?" "The sight of the ocean soon palls, believe me." "Space doesn't even have fish to look at." "My dear Bedford, you will be bored to tears." "Quickly, quickly." "Good Lord!" "Bedford!" "Hurry!" "Air filtration system working splendidly." "Check." " Any luck?" " A copy of Tit-Bits." "Ah, well." "Outside temperature?" "Superlative." "Quick test of the shutters." "Excellent." "All right, then, Bedford, old man, cabin lights should be dimmed for takeoff, don't you think?" "Yes, I suppose so, yes." "There." "Any..." " Any..." " Last requests?" "No." "Anything you'd like to say?" "We should say something." "Don't you think?" "A momentous occasion, the first time in history..." "Christ, what was that?" "I'm a fool." "I'm a ruddy fool." " I want to get out." " You can't." "What do you mean?" "It's too risky." "I'm not coming." "Didn't you feel that?" "We're off." "Ah, well, we're committed." " Yes, we're committed." " Or we should be, to an asylum." "Don't move." "Try and keep your muscles quite lax, as if you were in bed." "That's it." "We are in a little universe of our own." "Look at that!" "Marvellous, isn't it?" "Marvellous..." "Magnetised, you see?" "Same principle as lead weights for divers." "Should keep our feet on the ground, so to speak." "What's our direction, then?" "How are we pointing?" "We're flying away from the Earth at a tangent." "It's all worked out, barring accidents." "Probably." "Do you think..." "Might we have a peek?" "Why not?" "What a sight." "We're the first, Cavor." "The very first to see it." "Apart from God, I suppose." "What?" "Oh, yes." "Days passed." "I began to think I had known no other life than that inside the sphere." "That's it." "Blinds three, four, seven." "Moon's gravitational pull, you see." "That will begin to affect us." ""Gentleman of private means is willing to lend money..."" "What's that?" ""A cutaway bicycle." "Quite new and cost £15." ""Yours for a fiver."" ""A lady in distress wishes to dispose of some fish knives and forks."" ""A wedding present let go with great regret."" "What is it?" "Just... it seems incredible, that's all, people down there living their little lives, and here's us." "Are we visible, Cavor, from the Earth?" "Why?" "I knew someone once who was interested in astronomy." "It'd be rather odd if he chanced to be looking through his telescope." "There it is!" "Look here, Cavor, do you think..." "I mean..." "Might there be... people?" "Oh, good heavens, no." "Out of the question." "Look at it." "It's dead, Bedford." "Dead." "We must think of ourselves as sort of ultra-Arctic voyagers... exploring the desolate places of space." "Men have watched this planet systematically for over 200 years and seen no change." "Not a jot." "But the moon people's handiwork might be hidden." "One could see a fair-sized church through a telescope, I should say." "Probably." "Certainly any towns or buildings." "No, no, whatever life there might be would have to hibernate through a day that lasts 14 of our Earthly days and then through a night of equal length, growing colder and colder under those cold, sharp stars." "One could imagine something worm-like burrowing." "Did we bring a gun?" "No." "But, sir, we could name them, be the first." "What do you think?" "Lunite worms." "Lunite..." "Oh, no, I don't like that." "Lunarites?" " Selenites!" " Selenites?" "Yes, yes." "In Greek myth, Selene was a Titan, goddess of the moon." "I recall it from my school days." "Rather fitting!" "But I doubt if we shall find so much as an ant." "Well, this is it, Bedford, old man." "There may be some discomfort." "Hold tight." "For God's sake, Cavor, the light!" "Can't be helped." "I'm using the sun as a brake!" " What the hell's that?" " It's an alarm." "Quickly," " what do the instruments read?" " What?" "The number!" "Read the number!" " 1202." " I'll ignore it." " What?" "What does it mean?" " Just ignore it." "Cavor?" "Cavor, are you all right?" "Am I alive?" "Yes, you're alive, Cavor." "Oh, Cavor!" "My God!" "We've done it." "The moon." "Lights." "I can see..." "I can see snow!" "Snow!" "Impossible!" "Probably." "Hang it all." "Can't see a thing now." "Ah, well, we must wait, old man." "Wait?" " For the beginning of the lunar day." "Can you reach the electric heaters?" "Hurry, or we'll freeze." "Yes, the atmosphere suits are all prepared." "We shall be all set when the time comes." "What are you doing?" "What does it look like?" "I have almost finished The Tempest." "Can't wait to find out what happens at the end." " But..." " Patience, Bedford, old man." "The moon has been here for millions of years." "I'm sure it will wait a little longer." "But confound it, Cavor, at this rate, we might as well have stayed at home." "Cavor?" "Cavor!" "What is it?" "What's happening?" "Incredible." "It's absolutely incredible." "It's air." "It must be, or it wouldn't rise like that at the mere touch of a sunbeam." "Air?" "It wasn't snow you saw, Bedford." "It was mounds and masses of frozen air." "Look, already, in the sky, a little touch of blue." "There is an atmosphere." "Then we might be able to breathe out there... without the suits." "We shall soon see." "It's all right." "Bedford, it's all right." "A bit rarefied, like mountain air." "We must be careful." "O wonder." "How beauteous mankind is." "O brave new world!" "I see the Bard's rubbed off on you." "Isn't it astonishing?" "Imperial." "Well, then?" "Well, what?" "The honour must be yours." "Oh, no, Bedford, old man, I insist." "Oh, nonsense, Cavor." "This whole fantastic enterprise was your doing." "It has to be you." "Arthur Cavor, the first man on the..." "Of course!" "Our weight is only a sixth of what it is back home." "We have cut Mother Earth's apron strings now." "Pre-stiffened, you see." "I wasn't anticipating an atmosphere." "I claim this satellite in the name of King Edward VII, Emperor of India," "King of the British Dominions, and for all mankind." "What is this for us but a tiny footfall..." "Cavor!" " What is it?" " I think it's..." "It is." "It's gold." "Look at it!" "It's everywhere!" "There's gold everywhere!" "So there is." "You don't seem in the least excited by it." "I had hoped..." " No, it doesn't matter." " What?" "Oh, don't worry, old man." "We'll share it all, everything we find." "It's not that." "It's just... once we discovered a lunar atmosphere I had hoped we might find life." "How does the rest of that Shakespeare go?" "O brave new world..." "That has such people in it." "Good Lord!" "Burrowing worms, you said." "Ants." "Cavor!" "What is it?" "Oh, no!" "Oh, Lord, my head." "Where are we?" " I'm tied." "Why have you tied me up?" " I haven't!" "They did." " They?" " The..." "Selenites." "Oh, God..." "Oh, Lord, I remember now." "What are we going to do?" "No idea." "Will you stop that infernal noise!" "Very sorry, I'm sure." "Just trying to, you know, think!" "How do you do?" "How do you do?" " Well, one of us had to say something!" "And they're clearly intelligent, Bedford." "I suppose that anywhere there's an intelligent animal it will carry the brain case upward and have hands and walk erect." "Damn it, Cavor, what do they want with us?" " Well, I imagine they're curious." " Curious?" "Curious the way the African savage is curious?" "Curious enough to boil us in a pot?" " Now you're being alarmist." " Alarmist?" " I think we must be some way in." " What?" "Inside the moon." "It's cooler, and we're heavier." "Haven't you noticed?" "Must be some depth, a mile or so, maybe, inside." "Probably." "I suppose you never thought of a world inside the moon." "No!" "And now it seems such an obvious thing." "Well, I wish you'd taken the trouble to find out before we came." " Well, how could I?" " Oh, what a damn pickle this is!" "What the hell did we come for, Cavor?" "What was the moon to us, or us to the moon?" "We should have started smaller." "Now, look here, Bedford, you came on this expedition of your own free will." "You said to me, "Call it prospecting!"" "There are always risks in prospecting." "Besides, I was so taken up with the sphere." "The thing rushed up on us and carried us away." "Rushed up on me, you mean." "Rushed up on me just as much." "All I wanted was to be a Fellow of the Royal Society." "It was you who confounded me with your talk of schemes and riches." "Well, you've got your wish now, Bedford." "Look at the chains that bind you." "Solid gold." "Much good may it do you!" "Oh, Lord, Cavor, what now?" "Cavor, what are you doing?" "Oh, Lord." "It's horrible." "It's horrible!" "Just try to think of them as butterflies or... moths." "Oh, I hate moths." "Filthy, dusty, ghastly things." "Oh, God, it's making my skin crawl!" "Keep calm, old man." "These..." "Selenites, or whatever we choose to call them, have got us now." "We must try and keep a cool head." "The problem is one of communication." "Communication?" "These things are different, Cavor." "Look at them." "They're more different to us than the strangest animals on Earth." "They're of a different clay." "What's the use in talking like this?" "No, no, I don't see that." "They have minds, we have minds." "They are ants on their hind legs, Cavor, and whoever got to any sort of understanding with ruddy ants?" "But think of that great iris on the surface." " The difference is wide, yes." " It's insurmountable!" "But is it?" "We could begin with the things which must be common to both races." "The great principles of geometry, for example." "Oh, yes, why not?" ""Oh, good morning, Mr Selenite." ""The sum of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the square of the other two sides!"" "Why are you being so difficult?" "It's a perfectly sound idea." "Besides, it's the sum of the square on the hypotenuse." "Oh, shut up!" "Why didn't I stick to my play?" "That was what I was equal to." "That was my world, and the life I was made for." "Could have finished it." "I'm certain of it." "What do I do?" "I leap to the moon." "I've thrown my life away." "The old woman in the inn had better sense." "It is clear they are intelligent." "One can hypotheticate certain things." "As they have not killed us at once, they must have ideas of mercy." "At any rate, of restraint." "Oh, shut up." "Well?" "Smells like mushrooms." "It's mushroom soup." "Food." "They're giving us food." "The fundamentals of life, you see, Bedford?" "They do understand." "Are you going to try that geometry of yours, then?" "If I get a chance." "Of course, they may make an advance first." "Do you think they want us to imitate those sounds?" "I don't think so." "I can't make anything of their gestures." "This one is worrying with his head, like a man with an uncomfortable collar." "Delicious." "Great heavens!" "It's stupendous." "What is it?" "A machine?" "Hard to say." "Perhaps more like a vast... brain." " What do you think it does?" " Haven't the faintest idea." "Yes, yes!" "Can't we show them we're interested in it?" "Oh, they may think we're mere dumb animals." "It would be a good idea to show an intelligent interest from the outset." "We look at this." "Yes?" "We think machine jolly good." "Good machine." "Clever machine." "Well done." "It pricked me with a sword!" "We're not going to stand for that." "What on earth do they take us for?" "Cavor..." "The shackles." " Gold!" " Well, yes, I told you that." "No, I mean it's... soft." "It's a very soft metal." "Well, it may be it's much heavier for them, evolving, as they must, in the much lower specific gravity." "I think I can get loose." "Get loose?" "Where would we go?" "Back to the sphere, of course." "But don't..." "This is a whole new world, Bedford." "There's so much to learn." "I'm old-fashioned, Cavor." "I like to do my learning from a position of strength, not shackled like a beast." "Surely they don't expect us..." "No!" "No, we can't cross that." "Not at any price." "I couldn't get three steps across it, even with my hands free." "They can't know what it is to be giddy, you see." "Bridge no good." "Make man dizzy." "I don't think they understand." " No!" "Stop that!" " Wait a minute." "I've got an idea." "I am not some sausage to be pricked at!" "I say, Bedford, I think I know a way to..." "Right, if you do that again..." "Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" "Cavor, quickly, your chains." " Oh, you've ruined everything!" " Your chains, man!" " What?" " We have to make a run for it." "Come on, man." "Come on!" "Come on!" " You spoilt it all!" " Nonsense." "It was that or death." " This way." " You seem very sure." "We must find a way back to the surface." "It's our only chance." "Come on!" "Rest." "Can we rest?" "No time." "Those things will be after us." "I've lost all sense of direction." "Are we going up, do you think?" "It's all your fault." " My fault?" " I had an idea." " Oh, hang your ideas." " If we had refused to budge," " they'd have carried us." " Over the bridge?" " Yes!" " Balderdash." "Now get up." "Get up, or I'll ruddy well leave you here!" "It's daylight." " Well..." " It must be." "We're saved, Cavor." "Come on." " Come on!" " Just a minute, old man." "Oh, bugger!" "I thought it was daylight." "We should eat again." "Might as well eat while we have the chance." "What a rotten piece of luck this is." "Here we are, burrowing in this beastly world that isn't a world, and those things chasing us." "I don't think we can judge the Selenites from what we have seen of them so far." "This area of the crust could be some desolate, outlying district, like..." "Wales." "Wales?" "If we could hold out for a week or so, perhaps, then news of our arrival might spread and we could try proper communication." "What, with clever Selenites?" " Yes." " Selenites like you, you mean?" "Yes, if you like." " Oh, don't be absurd." " Why is it absurd?" "Oh, good God, man, just think about it." "Suppose a Selenite had dropped onto the Earth when you were at Apuldram." "You'd have been the last person to hear about it." "You never see anybody, you never read a newspaper." "Now, I'm telling you, we are in a fix!" "We have shown ourselves to be strange, strong, dangerous animals." " You have!" " And unless they're perfect fools, they will hunt us and kill us, end of the matter." "Maybe after we're dead and gone, they might discuss us, pickle us in jars, but we shan't get much fun out of that." " Then what do you suggest?" " The gold!" "It's lying around, like cast iron at home." "If only we could get some back to Earth, we might be able to put things onto a sounder footing." "A sounder footing?" "Come back in a bigger sphere." "With guns." "What?" "I should have come to the moon alone." "I knew I should!" "Now listen, Cavor, I've got half the voting rights in this affair, and this is the time for a practical man." "A practical man..." "like me." "It's water!" "Come on, come on." "What is it?" "Shame." "What is?" "That the moon isn't made of green cheese." "I quite fancy a bit of cheese right now." "Pull yourself together, man." "You're hysterical." "Indubitably." "You can have all the cheese you like once you get us back to Earth." "If I can get us back." "What do you mean?" "How long do you think we've been here... on the moon?" " What?" " How long?" "Two days, perhaps." "Two Earthly days." " More like ten." " Ten?" " Yes." " But we've hardly eaten." "I know." "Everything is different here." "Everything." "The sun will be past its zenith and sinking in the west... and soon the night will come." "Think what we might have done, what might be down here." "Caverns beneath caverns." "It must open out and become greater, and wider, and more populous." "Probably." "There might even be a sea." " A sea?" " Yes." "Washing around the core of the moon." "Think of the strange tides upon its inky surface, Bedford." "Perhaps there are mighty cities and swarming ways, wisdom and order passing the wit of man." "And we might die here and never know its true masters." "We can come back." "But if I take the secret of Cavorite back to Earth, what will happen?" "Sooner or later, it must come out, and then governments and powers will struggle to get here." "They will fight against one another, and against these moon people, and in a little while in a very little while this planet, to its deepest galleries will be strewn with the dead." "Look, Cavor, if the night is coming, then that great corkscrew affair on the surface will be closing." "Well, then, we've got to get out of here, or we'll be trapped!" "They've found us." "We can't stay and fight them." "We must split up." "What?" " Run for it." "I'll lead them away." "No, no, we can make a decent fist of it." "It's like hitting cinder toffee." "Haven't we done enough?" "I can't leave you." "We must split up." "You get back to the surface, find the sphere." " But, Cavor..." " I shall be perfectly all right!" "Au revoir." "Go!" "Go!" "I ran on and on, desperate to show the Selenites a clean pair of heels." "I didn't have a clue where I was heading." "A long lunar night was approaching, and the moon would soon close over me, like the lid of a tomb." "The sphere..." "The sphere!" "It was incredible." "But there it was, hiding almost in plain sight." "And then I heard it." "The iris." "The iris was closing and with it all my hopes." "My whole being shrank from this." "I must get away from the moon, even if I died in the attempt." "Cavor!" "Cavor!" "The sphere!" "I've found it!" "Cavor!" "Cavor!" "Cavor!" "Cavor!" "I'll come back!" "I promise I'll come back." "Oh, please!" "Sorry, old man." "Hello." "Good." "Very good." " Good." " What was that?" "Very... good." "Yes!" "Capital!" "Wonderful!" "No, no." "Don't be afraid." "Please." "I'm Cavor." "No, no." "I'm man." "I'm a man." "Hu-man." " Hu-man." " Yes!" "Wonderful!" "Moon." " Moan." " Yes." "Well, almost." "I, hu-man," " come from Earth." " Harth." "Earth." "Earth." "Oh, God." "Tack about, Cavor said." "Like a sailing boat." "Au revoir." "How do you do?" "If I may said..." ""Say". "If I may say..."" "Yes." "If I may say, draw." "Eat little." "Drink little." " Like draw." " An artist." "Love draw." "Love no other thing." "He like you." "New thing to draw." "If you understand me, old man." "Striking." "Ugly." "Yes." "Yes, I see..." "Another, for instance, love remember words." "Remember wonderful, more than any." "Think?" "No." "Draw?" "No." "Remember?" "Yes." "Histories." "All things." "Hear once, remember ever." "Yes, yes." "Astonishing." "You're all fitted to only one purpose, an absolute specificity of function, to think, to draw, to teach, to remember." "Yes." "Good show." "Probably." "And only those attributes that will help that skill along flourish, yes?" "The rest of the body atrophies." "Don't quite follow you, old man." "Not know." "Shrivels, dies away." "On moon, all know place." "Born to that place." "And you have no idea of anything other than the function for which you were bred?" "Why should we?" "But who decides this?" " Decides?" " Yes." "There must be some administrator, a power, a prime minister." "A president?" "A king!" "The Grand Lunar." "What happens now?" "See Grand Lunar." "Yes, I got that." "An audience." "But how shall we communicate?" "The Grand Lunar take learning from me." " Can he do that?" " Yes, old man, most certainly." "Man." "Yes, sir." "Man." "Man." "From Earth." "That's right." "Extraordinary!" "Wonderful!" "I wish to know the state of your world and why you have come to this." "Yes, of course." "A perfectly reasonable request." "The Earth is to the moon what the sun is to the Earth." "Our astronomical observations had led us to believe your world was uninhabitable." "As did ours with regard to the moon." "And what do you know of the interior of your world?" "The... interior?" "Well, nothing." "But does not your ruler, your Grand Earthly, desire to know such things?" "We have no..." "Grand Earthly." "We have democracy." "Well, mostly." "All men rule." "All?" "Gentleman of private means is willing to lend money." "Gentleman of private means..." "Derby hat." "Nice." "Sane." "Normal." "Sane." "Normal." "Lady in distress wishes to dispose of some fish knives..." "Lady in distress wishes to dispose of some fish knives and forks." "Could have done with those fish knives on the moon." "Fish knives on the moon!" "Could have seen off one of those Selenites with a fish knife." "Yes, the moon!" "I went there." "It was charming." "It was charming." "Charming!" "It was charming." "A cottage for rent." "Excellent terms, summer's lease." "A cottage." "Excellent terms, summer's lease." "Cottage." "Bricks, mortar, slates..." "Sunshine." "Sunshine, rain..." "Oh, God!" "Hello." "An ironclad can fire shot for 12 miles and go through 20 foot of metal." "And torpedoes." "We can steer torpedoes underwater." "You mean to say that you run about over the surface of your world, this world whose riches you have scarcely begun to scrape, killing one another?" "Well..." "Yes." "Why?" "Well, for profit, or territory." "For, you know stuff." "But surely man does not like war?" "I'm afraid men of my race consider battle the most glorious experience of life." "But we are not all alike!" "I came here purely in a spirit of exploration, to learn." "Your moon is a miracle to me." "Beautiful." "Astounding." "You have told me of your cities, your ships, your guns." "But how did you come to be here?" "Well, I'm afraid I might have to blow my own trumpet a little there." "Trum... pet?" "Yes, a little invention of mine." "I call it Cavorite." "Tell me of..." "Cavorite." "Hello there!" "Hello?" "England?" "Is this England?" "Well, of course it is." "Oh, God!" "Oh, Lord!" "I made it!" "I got back!" "I say, what on earth is that thing?" "Can you tell me where we are?" "West Wittering." "West..." "It's incredible." "It's almost back where we started." "Have you been wrecked or something?" " Yes." "By Jove, you must have had a time of it." "Is that a sort of life raft?" "Something of the kind." " Look, I need help." " Well, yes, yes!" "And food." "Bacon." "Eggs." "Anything." "Yes, well, I'll help you up to the hotel." " Wait." "I have..." "I have some things I can't leave lying about." "Gold." "There's more of it in the sphere." "I have to get it out." "No, no." "You stay here and rest." " I'll get them for you." " Oh, thanks." "You're a pal." "By all means." "It's the least I can do." "You just get your puff back." "Oh, for pity's sake, don't touch anything." "And so ended my lunar adventure." "I had some gold, of course, and that got me started, though I didn't do very well, I'm afraid." "I never was much of a businessman." " But you never went back?" " How could I?" "The sphere was lost for ever, and I knew no more of the secret of Cavorite than than the man in the moon." "I had my precious kinematograph reels, of course, but no-one's ever taken them seriously." "They say I must have faked it all in a film studio." "What about Professor Cavor?" "Did he ever come back?" "No." "No, he never did." "But I heard from him." " How?" " By wireless." "About six months later, I read of a Dutchman called Wendigee." "He had been experimenting with a certain apparatus akin to that used by Tesla." "His hope was to discover some method of communication with Mars." "What he received instead was a series of garbled messages that seemed to come from the moon." "I have been given a great deal of freedom - perhaps more than they realise, or I would not have been able to construct this machine." "I was a fool to tell the Grand Lunar so much about Cavorite, for now mankind's troubles are only beginning." "Bedford and I showed them violence, gave them a taste of our quality, and I, idiot that I am, did my best to finish the job with my tales of battles and conquest and empire." "Now the Selenites are plotting, planning." "To preserve their way of life they can see only one recourse... a pre-emptive strike against the Earth." "But there is yet a chance of saving humanity." "God knows, I blame myself for bringing both the Earth and the moon to this sorry pass." "What have you done, old man?" "Something very like almost happened during its first creation, you see, my friend." "I told Bedford." "All the air above the Cavorite ceases to have any weight and is forced up violently." "The air that rushes in to replace it immediately loses weight, and so on and so on." "And now there is nothing to stop the process." "The Cavorite has soaked into the ground." "As soon as it's cooled, all of the moon's air will squirt out into space." "I'm..." "I'm so very sorry." "That's my story." "Believe it if you like, or don't." "It doesn't matter to me." "Jim?" "Jim, where on earth have you been?" "No, no, I don't want to go!" "I'm ever so sorry." "Has he been a nuisance?" "Always asking questions, is Jim." "Not at all, sir." "Not at all." "Go on, Jim, you have to get home." "It's a special day." "Didn't I tell you not to wander off?" "Thanks for looking after him." "Mr Bedford?" "Thanks." "Thank you." "Come on, then, we have to hurry." "It doesn't start for ages, does it?" "It doesn't matter!" "I want to get settled!" "The build-up." "Houston, this is Neil." "Radio check." "Neil, this is Houston." "Loud and clear." "Break." "Break." " Buzz, this is Houston." " Can't keep my eyes open." "Come on, woman, it's historic, is this." "Oh, my tea's gone cold." "Roger, TV circuit breaker's in." "Would anyone like a pikelet?" "I'd like a pikelet." "Shut up, we're missing it!" "We're getting a picture on the TV!" "They're taking their time." " Got a good picture?" " Are you not sleepy, Jim?" "There's a great deal of contrast in it..." " I might go up." " You're kidding, aren't you?" "...but we can make out a fair amount of detail." "This is it." "I'm going to step off the LM now." "That's one small step for man one giant leap for mankind." "Yes!" "Have I missed it?" "Good on you!" "Bloody hell!" "Oh, stop swearing, Norman." "To hell with it." "This is amazing, isn't it, Jim?" " Yeah!" "You'll always remember today, won't you?" "Yeah." "Yeah, I will." "The surface is fine and powdery." "I can kick it up loosely with my toe."