"Congratulations." "Thank you." "It's a wonderful article in the paper about you." "Good morning, Sir Oliver." "Long article about you on page two." "Is there?" "They made a mistake about your age." "Paper!" "Paper!" "Paper!" "Paper!" "It's such an honor for Edinburgh." "I cannot take your money." "Thank you." "Paper!" "Paper!" "Congratulations, Professor." " Ha ha!" " Ha ha!" "I'm sorry." "Since you've been created a knight," "I've given your students a holiday... a day for a knight, so to speak." "First, there's to be a presentation." "Will the lad of Glen Darrick step forward?" "In gratitude for the knowledge you have imparted to us..." "That's enough obituary prose." "An inkwell, I presume." "A very handsome thing." "Hellish to dust." "I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, and now, off to the playing fields, all of you!" " Yay!" " Yay!" "Ah." "It cost £4.17." "I was on the committee that made the collection." "I thank you, McEwen." "£5 was subscribed." "That left three shillings." "You won't give me the change?" "I expended it on this, a little extra token I thought you might fancy." "I saw it in a curiosity shop in Glasgow." "It whispered, " Buy me for Professor Lindenbrook."" "What did you reply?" "I said, "Only if you can be bought for three shillings."" "I argued with the owner." "It's lava, of course." "But exceptionally heavy." "It could serve as a paperweight." "Do you like it, Professor?" "It's a scholar's choice." "Where are you eating tonight?" "Oh, this being Tuesday, I'm not eating." "Oh?" "It's healthy to eat every other night." "Be at my house at 8:00." "I'm entertaining some faculty." "I don't think I could." "What's the matter, McEwen?" "You used to visit my house regularly." "Do those frayed cuffs worry you?" "My other shirt is at the wash." "8:00 sharp!" "We're scientists." "That's one society where frayed cuffs don't matter." "We've all had them." "Yes, Sir Oliver." "8:00." "Lava?" "I swear there's something inside." "There's Uncle now, Kirsty." "And high time, too!" "Ohh!" "I thought it was Uncle Oliver." "Nothing I'm wearing belongs to me." "Good evening, Miss Jenny." "Good evening, Alec McEwen." "I'm early." "I didn't know you were coming." "Your uncle ordered me to come." "Where is he?" "He's never been late like this." "To return to the subject of my clothes, they belong to the lad of Glen Darrick." ""Don't go to dinner dressed like that," he said." "I went to take my bath." "When I returned, my clothes were gone and these substituted." "I have no claim to the Glen Darrick tartan." "You've explained your magnificence." "Kirsty, there will be one more guest." "I'll seat you between the dean and the rector." "Couldn't I sit next to you?" "Certainly not." "I notice a certain harshness in your attitude toward me." "What do you expect when it takes a command to bring you here?" "Miss Jenny, why should I torture myself?" "Two years more I have to study for my master's degree, then four more as a laboratory assistant." "Then there's the money I must repay my relatives." "You are very logical, Mr. McEwen." "It's the logic of an empty purse." "How like a Scotsman!" "I am a Scotsman." "I know one who didn't even have a purse." "His name was Robert Burns." "Do you know what he said?" "Miss Jenny, the time of poetry is over." "If this is true, Alec McEwen, what are you doing with your hand on my knee?" "Miss Jenny..." "Just wait in there." "Kirsty, I'll set the extra place." "Is there something you want?" "A key is stuck." "But that's impossible." "It was just tuned last month." "Which one?" "This one." "Can't you see?" "No, I can't." "You can see I'm unhappy." "You know how I've felt ever since that first day I saw you." "You looked like spring." "Miss Jenny, set the table." "Mr. McEwen is fixing a stuck key." "Shh." "Miss Jenny, you're crying." "I bent over the goose..." "the fumes." "Good evening, Miss Jenny." "Good evening, gentlemen." "We were just worrying about Professor Lindenbrook." "We were." "Isn't he with you?" "Isn't he here?" "No." "Careful it doesn't go too high, Paisley." "It's just about the limit now." "I gave no permission for visitors!" "Oh, it's you, McEwen." "Uncle Oliver, your guests are waiting." "If you don't come, the goose will spoil..." "Oh, goose, goose, goose." "Tell him, Alec." "This lava is 1 in 10 million." "I've been at it all day." "No pause for lunch or tea." "You've had three semesters of petrology." "From which volcano could this lava have emerged?" "Fujiyama?" "No." "Mt." "Etna?" "Very close." "The Mediterranean." "The Lipari Islands near Italy." "But their lava is light." "That's what stumped me because inside must be something the weight of the heaviest rock in existence." "That would be Icelandic peridotite." "Precisely." "There's a piece chipped off." "By me." "What's the rock inside?" "Icelandic peridotite, naturally." "When I saw this, I stopped chipping." "There's some marks on the surface." "It looks like a letter or notches." "Three notches made by the hand of man." "But how could a rock from Iceland possibly pop out of a volcano across the world?" "What's your conclusion?" "Science does not jump to conclusions." "Science is not a guessing game." "We'll melt off the crust of lava." "Mr. Paisley." "Add 10 cc of aqua regia." "Not too fast now." "I shall write to Professor Goetaborg of Stockholm on this." "He's the world's leading authority on volcanoes." "How long will this take?" "A typically female question." "Melting lava takes maybe two hours, maybe four hours." "Two hours?" "Four hours?" "Maybe the whole night." "Who cares?" "Jenny." "Are you all right?" "That was entirely my fault." "I don't know how it could have happened." "Mr. Paisley, by your slip you've rendered an inestimable service to science." "Alec!" "See this?" "What would you call it?" "As you said, it's a manmade object." "It looks like a top, a surveyor's instrument, a plumb bob." "It is a plumb bob." "There are letters on it." "It's an inscription, a message, perhaps." "Can you make out what it says, Professor?" "It's in some Nordic tongue." "The hand that wrote this trembled." "Perhaps it was a dying hand." "Was it written in paint?" "Ink?" "Perhaps blood." "Possibly." "Look at this side, sir!" "A signature!" "Arne Saknussemm." "Arne Saknussemm!" "Will you take me home now, Uncle Oliver, or do I have to go alone?" "Alone." "Alone!" "It's unthinkable, but it must be true." "A man took tools and went where no human being has ever set foot... alone into the interior of the earth." "Alone." "Who?" "What is he talking about?" "Arne Saknussemm, the Icelandic scientist." "The greatest of his day." "He was laughed at when he claimed there was a world down below." "The laughter stopped when he disappeared, never to be heard from... until tonight." "Get out of here, woman!" "I don't want any tea!" "I only want my post." "Don't shout at me!" "I can shout just as loud as you!" "For two weeks, you haven't eaten or slept." "Out, woman!" "Here's your post, Uncle Oliver." "Another day, and still nothing!" "Can you believe that?" "No answer." "And where is Alec McEwen?" "At the university." "How long does it take to get a letter from Stockholm to England?" "Answer the bell." "We have to speak to Sir Oliver." "Don't tell us he's busy." "Callers?" "That's all I need." "Oliver, we all know your reputation for rudeness." "You're also a conscientious man." "But you've skipped every lecture for two weeks." "I'm involved in something important." "More important than our university?" "Something any university would envy us." "Ah, yes!" "Ha ha!" "You laugh!" "What does the name Arne Saknussemm mean to you?" "Saknussemm, Saknussemm." "Didn't he write about the lost city of Atlantis?" "That was his early career." "He's famous for his study of volcanoes." "Out of a volcano came this message from him." "It lay unnoticed for 100 years until picked up by some peasant, gathered dust in a curiosity shop until it came to me." "Here is a translation of the words." ""I'm dying, but my life's work must not be lost." ""Whoever descends into the crater of Sneffels Yocul" ""can reach the center of the earth." "I did it." "Arne Saknussemm."" "Center of the earth?" "Sneffels Yocul?" "That's an extinct volcano in Iceland." "According to this, it must lead to an unknown region." "But this is sheer fantasy." "You haven't heard all of it." "There's a postscriptum." ""At sunrise on the last day of May, the mountain Scartaris will point the path."" "What do you say now?" "I'm more mystified than ever." "Scartaris?" "Scartaris is a mountain peak near the volcano." "This is a student's hoax." "Wait a second, rector." "Let's not take that tone." "Let's assume it's authentic." "Isn't the correct procedure to submit a paper to the university officially?" "You must consult other experts." "This needs verification." "Here is my paper." "I've written to the foremost authority in Europe." "The Royal Geological Society?" "More eminent still." "Professor Goetaborg of Stockholm." "Oh?" "And what does he say?" "I haven't received his reply." "I've written to him twice!" "Well, then, I suggest we relax on the matter until your famous correspondent sees fit to answer you." "Meanwhile, we could do with some tea." "I know you two think I'm daft." "Think whatever you want." "Jenny, tea!" "When did you get here?" "Just this moment, Sir Oliver." "Look." "It's from Stockholm." "He's got his letter from Stockholm." "Did you see the shine in his eyes?" "There'll never be a better moment." "I'll tell him about our feelings for each other." "He'll say yes almost inadvertently." "What if he says no advertently?" "You'll see how firm my voice can be when I speak of you." "Blast and damnation!" "That devil!" "Blast it!" "What is it?" "Don't keep us in the dark." "Bad news, sir?" "I am stricken." "The University of Stockholm informs me that Professor Goetaborg has vanished from Sweden." "His disappearance follows closely the date when my communication must have reached him... with all my material." "He evidently didn't think it important enough to answer." "Or too important." "McEwen, find out when the next ship leaves for Iceland." "I will not be beaten to my goal." "What is your goal?" "You heard Saknussemm's message." "Oliver, you're seriously ill." "I am seriously well." "Don't wait." "I said hurry." "I must start packing." "To go where?" "To Iceland, to begin with." "And then?" "Where Arne Saknussemm went." "Oliver!" "I can't wait while that scoundrel named Goetaborg exploits what I foolishly gave him." "Don't you see what's at stake?" "The ultimate aim of all science... to penetrate the unknown." "We know less about our earth than about the stars and outer space." "The greatest mystery is right here under our feet." "And now, if you'll excuse me, gentlemen." "I must speak with you." "I have no time for words." "You must take time, sir." "This is urgent." "Not for me." "I have to go to Iceland." "I'm going with you." "Where?" "To the center of the earth." "Oh!" "All Iceland must be aware that the Scots have arrived." "I wish Jenny could hear me." "Homesick already?" "It's painful to leave your fiancée on the first day of your engagement." "But to come back as a world famous scientist, that's not to be sneezed at." "Did you expect a fight of stairs with a red carpet?" "I neglected to tell you" "I have a nervous fear of heights." "You'll get over that after the first million fathoms or so." "Million fathoms." "Alec!" "He's been here!" "He's been surveying here." "This is fresh-cut wood." "Your revered colleague from Stockholm." "He isn't wasting any time." "Do you think he's already gone down?" "No." "Saknussemm stipulated the last day of May." "Go back to Reykjavik." "Buy every foot of rope that's available." "Stock up on hardtack, bread, chocolate, and medical supplies." "But more than anything, inquire whether they have Ruhmkorf lamps." "Have another carriage waiting at the foot of the slope at sunset." "Can we prepare it that quickly?" "We must." "We're in a race." "What's that you're taking?" "Jenny's farewell gift." "I'll keep it with me always." "Scartaris!" "Back to my hotel." "Ja, Professor Goetaborg." "Ah, my good man." "I assume my assistant sent you." "No, thank you." "Nobody carries the soldier's weapons." "And take your time." "These instruments are delicate." "Easy, coachman!" "Easy!" "This isn't the same road we came by this morning!" "I said, slow down, man!" "You're out of your senses!" "Stop your horses, man!" "This is a command!" "Can't you hear me?" "Slow down!" "Stop, you fool!" "Whoa!" "If you've ruined my instruments," "I'll horsewhip you, so help me." "And where are we?" "This certainly is not my hotel." "Professor!" "Alec!" "Ah-choo!" "Where are we?" "Apparently in an eider feather storehouse." "How did you get here?" "I don't know what happened." "It went so fast." "I was clubbed and overpowered." "Did you see who did it?" "No." "I was just walking." "Professor Goetaborg is a criminal!" "Probably he's always dreamed of fame." "Your letter opened the door." "Did you hear that?" "Some tapping." "Don't get your hopes up, Professor." "There's nobody around." "Everybody's in the market square." "Tomorrow the fishing feet goes out." "The shops are closed?" "No." "They are open, but everything we need was sold already." "To Professor Goetaborg!" "He stayed in the inn where we're staying." "This time, I heard it, too." "A fellow prisoner, do you suppose?" "He's giving us signals." "It's a code." "Morse?" "I can't make it out." "Jot this down." "Dash, dash, dot, dot, dot, dot, long dash." "It doesn't make sense." "Perhaps it's in Icelandic." "I don't think so." "We've established contact." "I still can't make it out." "My esteemed friend, whoever you are, let me introduce myself," "Professor Oliver Lindenbrook," "University of Edinburgh." "May I ask you to interrupt your tapping and listen?" "In what language would you like me to speak?" "Apparently, he doesn't understand English." "I'll try French." "Mon cher ami, vous et nous sommes dans une situation abominable!" "It's no good, sir." "It sounds more Russian." "Kak tvoe imia?" "My c toboi tovarishchi polushashche?" "Gertrude!" "Gertrude!" "Gertrude!" "It's a female prisoner." "And her lover." "Professor, they're kissing." "I'm sorry, but for once we must dispense with tact." "I regret to disturb you." "Can you get us out of here?" "Oh, Gertrude..." "It's a duck!" "And I was just about to try Latin." "You with the gold tooth," "I'll give you more gold if you'll guide us to Reykjavik." "Ja, Reykjavik." "You take us to Reykjavik." "I understand that Professor Goetaborg from Stockholm is stopping here, a friend..." "A friend of yours, Professor Goetaborg?" "Let's say a colleague." "May I help?" "He is at home, isn't he?" "Yes." "L..." "He isn't at home." "He can't be disturbed." "He's asleep with all this going on?" "You cannot see him." "I'm sorry." "Here are your coins." "Here is my card." "Put it in his box so he'll know I'm around." "Thank you so much." "Goetaborg," "I know you're in there." "This is Lindenbrook." "Goetaborg." "Do you see what this is, laddie?" "The very last word in equipment." "Ruhmkorf lamps!" "Oh!" "Self-generating lamps." "How long will they burn, Professor?" "My guess is indefinitely." "As long as they're wound up, the induction coil will give off current." "Breathing devices, like those used in coal mines in Wales." "All the instruments needed for exploring the world below, whatever it may be!" "I shall wait here till Goetaborg returns." "You... wait, too." "Goetaborg may be a strong man." "More treasure, sir." "Climbing boots, alpenstocks, blankets." "Food for months." "A chart with a..." "P" " P-Professor!" "What?" "Well, Goetaborg, it seems there's such a thing as justice, after all." "So you wanted to push in ahead of us?" "Fate took care of him." "Why didn't they tell us?" "Hotels rarely advertise that they have corpses." "The Icelander teaches us a lesson." "We'll observe one minute of silence in memory of a great scientist, even if he was a blasted thief." "Alec, you mentioned fate." "Slight correction..." "Fate plus a few grains of potassium cyanide." "He was against us." "Someone was even more against him." "Who?" "I'm the wife of Professor Goetaborg." "Oh, my dear." "What is it?" "My husband didn't meet me at the pier." "Is something wrong?" "Please sit a minute before you go up." "Please, my dear." "He seemed so well." "Early in the morning, he went to the mountain." "He came back and received a luncheon guest in the lobby." "I saw him myself." "They went up to his room and ate." "What are you trying to tell me?" "That my husband is..." "His guest left about 4:00." "When the maid went to make the bed..." "Oh, dear God." "I can't remember anyone ever dying in my inn." "We called a doctor, but it was too late." "We left him up there because you were coming." "Just 10 days ago, he was joking on the pier in Stockholm." "The moment he arrived here, he sent me a message just with one word..." ""Come."" "Madam, my deep sympathy." "My name is Oliver Lindenbrook of Edinburgh University." "I take it you're familiar with that name?" "Professor Lindenbrook." "I see you are." "I must ask a question." "I would like Madam Goetaborg to stay." "This will be difficult for you, madam." "Who was the last person to see him alive?" "His luncheon guest." "Who?" "Count Saknussemm." "Count Saknussemm?" "I didn't realize the Saknussemm family still existed." "They are the land's oldest family." "A descendant of Arne Saknussemm." "And a scientist, too, in his own right." "He lunched with Goetaborg?" "They saw each other every day." "They worked together in his room with all those charts and instruments." "I suggest you request an autopsy immediately." "Is there something suspicious about my husband's death?" "Your husband came to Iceland for the same reasons that brought me." "Neither of us could possibly suspect a third party would stop at nothing to forestall us." "He was killed?" "Poisoned." "Oh." "This is now a police matter." "Send for them." "To your room first, madam." "Uh... just one second, if you please." "Thank you." "I'm deeply distressed by your husband's death." "I fully understand your feelings." "However, I must ask you one question." "How do you plan to dispose of your husband's equipment?" "What does it matter?" "I'll take it off your hands." "We can discuss it later." "Time is running out." "My expedition must start within 24 hours." "Your expedition?" "Exactly." "I only know of the Goetaborg Expedition." "Husbands don't always tell wives everything." "I don't wish to blacken your husband's memory." "However, I demand that equipment." "I have a right to it." "A right to take over another's life work?" "He died for that idea!" "He stole that idea from me." "That is a lie." "Madam." "An unforgivable lie." "I would rather destroy every pound of that equipment than let you have it." ""Incredible encounter!" ""A Saknussemm descendant turns up," ""acts as if he were king of volcanoes," ""tries to force me to surrender his ancestor's secret." ""Saknussemm called again." ""New complication!" ""My real adversary arrives, Lindenbrook," ""undoubtedly to claim his rights." "Must fight him somehow."" "Oh, uh, young man, would you come here a moment, please?" "Who are those for?" "Professor Lindenbrook." "Ah-ha." "Ja, madam." "Oh, at least we have some rope." "That's a beginning." "Tell him to stop jabbering and go shopping." "What about lamps?" "Ah, lamps..." "lamps." "What about..." "ah... picks?" "Oh, and provisions, food." "What are you doing?" "Big ox." "Put me down." "Somebody please explain this outrage." "Are we to be abducted every day in Iceland?" "Ja, madam." "She speaks Icelandic." "I do, but I wish to apologize to you in plain English." "I went through my husband's diary." "I believe I have done you an injustice." "Don't give it another thought." "I'm Sir Oliver's assistant, Alec McEwen." "This expedition began thanks to this lad." "Began... that's all it has done." "If you still want the equipment, it's yours." "Will you say that again?" "I won't stand in the way of the Lindenbrook Expedition." "Madam." "My husband had boots made specially." "I hope they fit." "Mine will be ready without delay." "Your man's ordering some for me." "Good, good." "What was that?" "Why would you need boots like this?" "I can't go in these." "Go where, madam?" "Don't say it." "Naturally, I'm coming along." "That's why I'm giving you all of this." "That's a condition." "You didn't mention any condition." "Then I do now." "Whom were you taking besides this young man?" "The big Icelander." "Then I'll be very useful." "He doesn't understand English." "You can't come." "You're a woman!" "What has my sex to do with it?" "We're not contemplating a stroll down Piccadilly." "Professor Lindenbrook, I've just lost my husband." "I have nothing else to live for up here." "Down there, I can represent his name." "The decision is not yours." "The police need you for the investigation." "I have already given my testimony." "But madam, quite apart from the appalling danger, think of the inconvenience." "The lack of privacy!" "In short, you don't want this?" "I may be mad about this journey, but to burden myself with a female is sheer stupidity." "I may have been a disturbance to men, never a burden." "This is an absolute holdup." "I assure you you will not receive one iota of extra consideration." "You'll sleep where we sleep, you'll eat what we eat." "Then you accept my proposition?" "Oh!" "Professor, look!" "There's our gateway." "Thank you, Scartaris." "Never was there a brighter sunrise." "Now, we descend into oblivion, or we enter the great book of history." "Roll call." "Carla Goetaborg." "Alexander McEwen." "Hans und Gertrude Belka." "Oliver S. Lindenbrook." "What did he say?" "Hans and who?" "And Gertrude." "Professor!" "Professor!" "All right, you've arrived." "Rather an alarming descent." "I found it exhilarating." "I wonder if Madam Goetaborg will change her mind." "You make my mouth water." "Hans is tying the rope on her." "I'm a fool." "I should have told him to tie her to a mule and send her home." "What language would you have used?" "She may be of some use in that respect, then there's always the blessed chance the rope may break." "Are you all right, ma'am?" "Oh, quite." "Hans insisted on a double rope." "Did he indeed?" "How solicitous." "But that was for Gertrude." "Poor Sir Oliver, stuck with a woman." "If only you could see your face." "That's my consolation, madam." "I don't have to look at it." "You do." "There's not enough rope in all Europe!" "Perhaps this is the wrong entrance." "The sign was unmistakable." "But there's no other way to continue." "Gertrude!" "Gertrude!" "Oh, madam!" "Madam!" "He says there's a tunnel on the other side." "Slanting downhill, but walkable." "Eureka!" "Oh, thank you." "Now then, a general summary..." "A..." "We must never use more than two Ruhmkorf lamps at a time." "B..." "We won't need our breathing equipment immediately." "Nevertheless, never take a step without it." "C..." "Use our canteens freely." "There'll be many springs on our way." "As my husband's charts indicated." "Is he to be with us on our entire journey?" "Sorry." "Well, every journey begins with a first step." "May the good Lord be with us." "Onward!" "Let's have some music." "Alec, will you start us off?" "Miss Jenny!" "I saw you turn pale when the dominie spoke of those in peril at the far ends of the earth." "Far ends of the earth." "At least that would be somewhere." "There was a clipping in a Stockholm paper, a dispatch from Reykjavik." "I can only read their names." "I had it translated." "The last news of them was that they went up Mount Sneffels with some heavily laden donkeys." "Yes?" "And then the animals came down without their packs." "And?" "And that's all." "Oliver S. Lindenbrook, Alexander McEwen," "Hans Belka, and Madam..." "What's..." "Why, it seems a woman went with them." "A woman!" "You know what they'll call that in the Royal Observatory at Greenwich?" "A slight tremor coming from undefined regions." "Well, we've lived through a slight tremor." "Let us proceed." "It seems to be moving away from us." "In these regions, I don't venture to say anything is moving away or coming towards us." "The only thing we can be certain of is that danger is always with us." "We might as well ignore it." "Run!" "Jump!" "Aah!" "Oh!" "The three notches." "The three notches of Arne Saknussemm." "What does that mean?" "We've been shown the right path." "We have a guide." "Alec, the plumb bob." "Look!" "Without these marks, we would have gone astray." "We'd have wasted months exploring endlessly." "We might have taken any one of these channels." "But our great colleague maketh a path for our feet." "Well, you all deserve a rest." "Let's have tea with a double ration of raisins." "May I comb my hair first, Professor?" "Oh!" "Ladies on the left." "Gentleman on the right." "Oh!" "What is it, madam?" "Shh!" "If we'd known you had nightmares, we'd have made different sleeping arrangements." "Someone is walking up there." "I heard footsteps, human footsteps." "Since the beginning of time, all women have heard footsteps..." "up there." "My hearing is extremely acute." "The hearing of all women is extremely acute." "My wife used to hear rats in the attic, usually, on the nights before I had an important lecture." "Alec, go find out." "Hans..." "Will you leave those men alone!" "They need rest." "Moreover, it was stipulated that I give the orders." "Don't use that patient voice with me." "How about an impatient voice?" "I am a member of this expedition." "As such, I intend to report any of my observations." "Alec... put it down in the record that a member of the expedition reported rats in the attic." "Lights out!" "Don't be afraid, madam." "I'm right here." "Conceal these marks completely." "I'll give them some new ones." "This is steeper than anything we've encountered." "It's just as well we all had a good night's rest." "Alec, take this down." "21st day of our descent, starting from an estimated depth of 129 kilometers, limestone formation continues." "Aye-aye, Professor!" "Here are the three notches again." "Good!" "Gertrude!" "Wrong turn." "Let's see." "What have we here?" "One heads 220 degrees south-southwest, the other 160 degrees south-southeast." "Strange." "I would have wagered we should go that way." "That was Gertrude's feeling, too." "Are you sure your compass is right?" "Quite." "What's he saying?" "Hans is wondering about the ultimate goal of our expedition." "He's asking, "Why?"" "Alec, suppose you tell him." "Well, why does man freeze to death trying to reach the North Pole?" "Why does man suffer the steaming heat of the Amazon?" "Why does he stagger his mind with the mathematics of the sky?" "Once a question mark has arisen in the human brain, the answer must be found if it takes a thousand years." "Render that into a few Icelandic words!" "Tell him that scientists have bats in their belfries." "Oh!" "Are you all right?" "Can you unhook yourself?" "Hans!" "I didn't see it!" "I didn't see it!" "Never mind about that." "How is it possible?" "This way was clearly indicated." "There must have been a quake since Arne Saknussemm's day." "This is no recent fissure." "I wasn't in a position to observe it scientifically." "We made a mistake somewhere, but where?" "What are you doing here, madam?" "We were supposed to stay together." "We've been tricked, tricked into the wrong tunnel." "Those three notches are not Arne Saknussemm's." "She's right, Professor." "Someone has passed through before us." "No need to ask who." "Madam heard him last night." "Now she's saying, "I told you so."" "Silently, I admit, but she's saying it." "When I wish to say something," "I say it aloud." "In view of this new development," "I must end the expedition." "But you're not a man who frightens easily." "I'm not thinking of myself, but of you..." "a woman!" "I'm one of your men." "If a madman is loose..." "He's against us all, against the concept of this journey." "What's happened now?" "What's he saying?" "He said we should go back to where Alec fell." "It's not on our route." "If we're to go ahead, we've no time for detours." "Then you wait here." "If only my Jenny were here to see this." "Now that the boy has gone and Hans doesn't understand English," "I must ask a delicate question." "I'm blushing already." "You're wearing stays, are you not?" "Professor!" "I can hear them creaking." "It's not your business!" "Everything here is my business." "We'll look away while you discard them." "You go too far." "The heat will soon be excessive." "Nothing must impede anyone's breathing." "Alec!" "Leaving in a few minutes!" "I've got to take a specimen of this back to Edinburgh, if it's the last thing I do." "Unique." "Inexplicable." "Ready to go, if that boy Alec would be good enough to appear." "Where the devil is he?" "It's a blind alley!" "Keep back!" "Professor!" "Hans!" "Ah!" "Good God!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "Oh." "Aah!" "Hold on to my arm." "My shoulder." "Hold on." "Oh, praise the Lord." "Oh!" "Oh." "Alec." "Professor!" "Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!" "Hello!" "Professor, here I am!" " Here I am!" " Here I am!" "Here I am!" "Salt!" "Ah!" "Ah!" "Oh!" "Alec!" "Alec!" "Alec!" "Alec!" "Alec!" "Professor, you can't go on this way." "I've kept track of the passage of days." "Try that channel there." "We were there yesterday." "We left marks." "He's not there." "I've got to find him." "I'm responsible." "Oh." "I can see this is a recent break." "Alec!" "Alec!" "Alec!" "Alec!" "Can you hear me?" "Can you hear me?" "Give us a sign!" "Give us a sign!" "Alec, listen carefully." "When the echoes stop, try to answer." "If you're injured, make an effort." "Pick up a pebble and scratch the rock." "We'll hear you." "Just give us a sign!" "Give us a sign!" "A phosphorescent pool." "Strange grave for a young Scot." "Professor, there's no use." "How can I live with myself?" "Accept his loss like one soldier accepts the loss of another." "You must continue." "You must go on with the Lindenbrook Expedition." "The Lindenbrook Expedition." "Yes." "Go on with it." "It was his project, as much as yours." "Yes." "You're right." "We will proceed, but we won't call it the Lindenbrook Expedition anymore." "From now on, it's the Alec McEwen Expedition." "No broken bones?" "Ribs all right?" "Good." "Get up." "Down there, food and water." "Refresh yourself." "So you've lost your friends?" "Just as well." "It's my servant." "Too much heat, too much load, too much fear." "You're younger." "You'll do to carry my things." "I'm not your servant, Count Saknussemm." "Pride?" "Rather out of place here." "Eat, drink, and pick up those things." "I'm in a hurry." "To steal the professor's project?" "Steal?" "Listen, young foreigner." "I don't have to steal what belongs to me." "You're in my world now." "Stop!" "I need someone to carry my equipment!" "You'll never find your companions." "We need each other." "You found me." "My friends will, too." "You'll carry it with one arm, not two!" "A hail of bullets." "A remarkable echo reverberating from the rock chambers." "The last echo will give us the direction." "166 degrees south-southeast." "Alec!" "Alec!" "Alec." "Alec!" "Alec!" "We'd given you up, but you're alive, laddie." "You're alive!" "Professor." "Carla." "Hans." "Just to see you!" "Where was he?" "I didn't think he'd shoot, but he did." "Of course I did." "What did you expect?" "You are trespassers here." "I own this domain." "You are also the murderer of my husband." "I claimed my rights." "He would not listen." "In the name of your great ancestor, put down that preposterous gun." "No harm will come if you accept my terms." "You will go back the way you came, but leave equipment I need and that man." "You won't listen to a murderer." "Never interrupt a murderer, madam." "I resent that bourgeois classification." "I'll spare your lives." "You have my word of honor." "Give me your hand on that." "Aah!" "A bourgeois trick." "So sorry." "All right, before we continue on our journey, we must perform a solemn duty." "We have to hold court." "Here, hundreds of kilometers beneath the surface of the earth, we are the law." "The defendant stands accused of one murder and one act of mayhem." "I must ask you, as jurors, is the defendant guilty or not guilty?" "Guilty." "Guilty." "Hans." "Guilty." "Then the mandatory sentence... is death." "There are two bullets left." "Madam, please explain to Hans." "We will follow the route marked by the notches." "He will wait here for 10 minutes, then carry out the sentence." "No, no, no." "I can carry with my left hand." "Carry yourself for a while." "That's all we can expect." "Sir Oliver, there's a slight problem." "Hans refuses to shoot the count." "What do you mean?" "It's a court order." "His family's been loyal to the Saknussemms for generations." "He cannot touch the gun." "This is contempt of court." "All right, Alec." "No, no, Sir Oliver." "Don't look at me." "I couldn't pull the trigger with my left hand." "Oh, no." "I couldn't do it." "After all, I'm a woman!" "For weeks you've denied your sex." "Now you fall back on it." "I would say the natural executioner would be the leader of the expedition." "We must face the truth, sir." "We're much too civilized to do away with a fellow human being." "Should we drag him along?" "Feed him?" "Stop fiddling with those lamps!" "What's he jabbering about?" "I'll tell you what he's saying." "The lamps are giving out." "The induction coils have been corroded by the salt." "I insist we leave here at once." "You insist!" "He's bloody well right." "Let's be off." "Saknussemm's unfastened himself from the rope again and gone off." "What's the harm?" "He'll be back when it's time to eat." "The harm is he's wasting a lamp." "Madam, will you try your lamp, please?" "It's dead." "Yours, Alec." "When these things are gone, they're really gone." "Madam, make a final note while there is still light." "Let me." "My arm's well." "No need." "Covered another 92 kilometers." "Temperature dropped seven degrees." "Surprisingly cooler than anticipated." "The darkness is closing about us." "This may be our last entry." "Hans and I can cut rope into torches." "That's a good idea." "What puzzles me is that Saknussemm's notches keep pointing our way." "What lamp did he have?" "Perhaps he didn't require a lamp." "From here on, neither do you, Sir Oliver." "Why don't you turn it off?" "Yes, just switch it off." "Why, it's miraculous." "Look at this." "What is it, sir?" "A form of algae with a property of luminescence." "Light without heat." "A cool chemical light." "You've seen fireflies and glowworms and forms of sea life that generate their own light?" "The same principle is involved here." "256th day... the phenomenal winds vanished as abruptly as they came." "We are now in a stupendous deposit of cinnabar." "What's that little mark you make?" "M. E..." "McEwen Expedition." "Whenever I've said Lindenbrook Expedition, you've written McEwen Expedition?" "May I remind you that months ago, you gave me explicit orders to that effect?" "You may not remind me." "I don't wish your correcting me incessantly." "Is that what I'm doing?" "You're doing it with your looks, with the posture of your body." "Your entire presence is a constant criticism of me." "I'm tired of it!" "I've had enough!" "You've had enough!" "Let me tell you... you dried-up walnut of a man!" "If anyone's had enough, it's me!" "It's I." "It's I!" "It's me!" "It's Carla Goetaborg." "I quit!" "I'm leaving!" "May I send for madam's horse and carriage?" "Well, at least you know I have a temper." "Alec will keep the charts." "Alec!" "Alec!" "Why can't he stay around?" "Mushrooms!" "A forest of mushrooms." "They might be hundreds of years old, but the small ones we can eat." "They're delicious!" "To think they grew without sun this far under the earth." "All the food we can eat!" "Ha ha ha!" "It's tougher than leather." " Ha ha!" " Ha ha!" "We'll have new soles for our shoes." "Ooh!" "It's like an oak tree!" "Ah!" "Madam, you're magnificent." "Mushroom steak, mushroom soup, mushroom hash." "Let me say this..." "If we'd had one more week of that salted beef," "I would have perished." "Don't be too happy." "After some months of this, you'll want salt beef again." "Yes." "Months... months." "If we only knew how many more." "There's no term to the work of a scientist." "If you hadn't been along, this whole journey would have been unbearable." "But that's not Professor Lindenbrook's feeling." "It's mine." "You see, we have no sun... and no moon... no stars, but then you're here." "And what is the name of the girl you love?" "I beg your pardon?" "The girl you love..." "what's her name?" "Jenny." "But why would you want to know that just now?" "Oh, dear Alec." "There are times when it's advisable to jog a young man's memory." "Professor!" "Here's some hot mushroom porridge for you, Sir Oliver." "I slept as I'd never slept in Edinburgh." "No street noises, no church bells, no clatter of pans from the kitchen." "I may move here permanently." "What's our large friend doing over there?" "I don't know." "Special command of His Majesty." "Is that madman still giving orders?" "This is his rest period." "When you fell asleep, he went off through the tunnel." "He came back and ordered the mushrooms felled." "What in the world can he want with all those?" "You've come to ask me why I didn't rest?" "I don't sleep." "I hate those little slashes of death." "It's a sea." "It's an ocean with currents." "The ocean of the underworld." "Some earthquake before the beginning of history cracked wide open the great sea, and, through the fissures, poured this." "The fissures closed again." "No map ever recorded the Saknussemm Ocean." "I so christened it while you were asleep." "It's the prerogative of the discoverer." "I congratulate you." "There will be no more notches to follow." "That's why you ordered a raft." "I approve." "If I had my gun, we'd have fresh meat." "That's what he's saying!" "He's a flesh-eater!" "Can he swim?" "No, thank God." "Ah!" "Ah!" "Aah!" "Ahh!" "The wind is blowing down the street." "Here..." "I brought you some nice apples." "I wonder if it's cold where they are." "Where they are... indeed!" "Are they anyplace?" "McEwen, put that toy away and take over the rudder." "Yes, sir." "I didn't say throw it away!" "It blew out of my hand!" "My watch!" "Save the instruments!" "My ring!" "My wedding ring!" "A field of force that snatches gold away." "This is it." "This is it!" "The junction of magnetic forces from the North to the South Pole... the center of the earth!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "Hang on!" "Hold on to your rope, Alec!" "Aah!" "No!" "Aah!" "Is everyone here?" "Madam Goetaborg," "Alec..." "Hans." "Gertrude." "And His Highness over there." "So the expedition with all the names ends like this." "We're alive, aren't we?" "After all, we did hit the center of the earth." "It hit us, laddie." "He probably wants to know where we go next." "Tired minds don't plan well." "Sleep first, plan later." "When I refused to eat my porridge when I was a boy, my mother used to say, "Oliver, the day may come when you'll very much want that porridge."" "Are you surprised that I had a mother?" "I was thinking how proud she'd be of that little boy who wouldn't eat his porridge." "Here, duck." "Here, duck." "Gertrude!" "Gertrude!" "Gertrude!" "Gertrude!" "Gertrude!" "Gertrude!" "Gertrude!" "Gertrude!" "Hans!" "Hans!" "Why do you look at me like that?" "Hans!" "I needed food, so I took it." "Professor, tell your man to calm himself." "I won't engage in a dispute about a slaughtered duck." "Professor!" "Stop him!" "Stop this fool!" "Hans!" "Hans!" "You ingrates!" "What can you do without me?" "Only I can show you the way out of this, my realm." "Look out!" "Aah!" "This is the sunken city." "After 5,000 years, men behold a fragment of the lost Atlantis." "All we know about it comes from the Greek." "The floor of the sea opened up and swallowed the whole island of Atlantis." "This must have been the market square." "Professor!" "Professor, this looks like some sort of inn." "This is an inn, an eating place, certainly." "Eating... what a word." "What a wonderful word." "Well, we've learned one thing about the inhabitants of Atlantis... they ate oysters." "Stale bread." "We must speak to the baker." "Madam!" "Madam!" "Ja?" "He's asking if that was a temple to their god?" "Yes, I'm sure it is." "It's some sort of altar stone where the sacred fame burned." "It's serpentine, isn't it?" "Exactly." "A massive form of asbestos." "At a moment like this," "I have no pad and pencil to record this!" "Ah!" "Turn around, madam." "Don't look." "What is it?" "The great Arne Saknussemm, I presume." "So this is as far as he came." "Say "How do you do" to a brave man." "He must have dragged himself with a broken leg." "Look at that tibia." "There is nothing edible in there." "Why not?" "The Chinese eat eggs over 400 years old." "Gunpowder." "Professor, look at his right hand." "Professor, look at his right hand." "It's pointing somewhere." "To that shaft over there." "Of course!" "This is what the pointing finger meant!" "This is the way up." "He couldn't make it, but we can." "This is a volcanic chimney." "The violent updraft means a direct hatchway to the surface." "We can climb up!" "Madam, explain to Hans." "Let him venture up and reconnoiter." "The updraft can't carry him away." "We'd roll up our sleeves, if we had any." "We mustn't hope for too much." "We'll have to provide some kind of light." "And food." "I'll go look around." "I'll comb every inch of Atlantis." "If we only had some shears, we could cut it off." "Could we?" "Aye-aye!" "Aye-aye!" "Aye-aye!" "Flints!" "I found some flints." "Good lad." "We won't be walking in darkness." "Madam!" "I wish I had better news for you." "It gives every indication of a perfect passage upward, straighter than the one we descended, but..." "But?" "But?" "There's an obstacle, a gigantic block of stone obstructs the passageway." "Hans said only a landslide could ever move it." "No." "Let him be." "If all his hopes hadn't been so high." "Alec!" "Yes, sir?" "Arne Saknussemm's haversack." "Get it!" "If God is with us, and that gunpowder has kept its ginger, we'll make that landslide ourselves." "Now, my wonderful companions, you realize, I hope, that we're taking an enormous chance, but it's our only chance." "I guarantee that this will blow up the obstructing rock." "Whether the surrounding rocks will take the disturbance lightly, that I cannot guarantee." "For protection, get into the altar stone." "Dear God, ruler of heaven and earth..." "Don't set any limit to his realm, laddie." "God of the universe, we are in thy merciful hands." "Look out!" "Run, Professor!" "A monster!" "Let me go!" "We started an earthquake." "Aah!" "The lava is pushing us up!" "It's an earthquake of unusual magnitude!" "More likely, it's a volcanic eruption." "Listen to this..." ""Stromboli, Italy, first eyewitness report." ""The capsule of the dead volcano" ""broke under a tremendous explosion." ""Rocks of extraordinary size are being spewed out into the sea."" "Dammi la mano." "Piano, eh?" "Piano." "Passa mi vino." "Ecco." "Signora, beva, beva." "Where's Alec?" "Hans says Alec was thrown from the altar stone long before we hit the water." "Non si preoccupi, abbiamo lo scalino!" "My immediate need is not a ladder." "I need trousers." "Che dice?" "Pantaloons!" "Pantaloons!" "Oh, vuole pantalone!" "Pantalone?" "Oh!" "Don't bring them yourselves." "Send a friar, a monk." " Oh!" " Oh!" "Excuse me, ladies." "Excuse me." "Lindenbrook!" "Lindenbrook!" "Lindenbrook!" "Lindenbrook!" "Lindenbrook!" "Lindenbrook!" "Lindenbrook!" "Lindenbrook!" "Lindenbrook!" "Lindenbrook!" "Lindenbrook!" "Speech!" "Speech!" "Speech!" "Speech!" "Speech!" "Speech!" "Hello, Scots!" "If these shouts of yours express some pleasure that we've returned alive," "I thank you deeply." "However, if they're meant as praise for a successful scientist," "I must disclaim that honor." " No!" " No!" "No." "A scientist who cannot prove what he has accomplished has accomplished nothing." "I have no records, no shred of evidence." "I will never embarrass this distinguished university by asking that it take my word." "Let me say only this." "300 years ago, a daring man undertook a perilous journey and never came back." "We followed his path and returned... by God's grace and a heathen altar stone." "One day, someone else, it may be you, my boy, or your sons or grandsons will pick up where we left off." "This I know." "The spirit of man cannot be stopped!" "Splendid, Oliver." "Thank you." "Professor, here's someone who wants to say goodbye." "His ship sails at 4:00." "Hans, old friend, we never could have done without you." "He has a speech." "Uh..." "Hello, sir." "If you... if you'll ever go down there again, the center earth," "Hans will go, too." "Thank you." "Did you get your injuries when the volcano blew up, in the hot lava?" "No." "It happened at our wedding." "He was hurrying from the church and fell down the steps." "You poor wee bride, after all that waiting, it's been no marriage for you at all." "You underestimate Alec." "I'm taking the night train to London then back to Stockholm." "But you have a job to do right here." "I?" "I'm writing my memoirs, but I can't remember everything that happened." "I see." "You need a widow who can jog your memory and take dictation." "I suppose I'm to report every day from 9:00 to 12:00?" "No." "You can stay in my house." "What would Edinburgh say?" "It's one thing to be with a man under the earth, and another under one roof in Scotland." "Well, uh." "What do you propose?" "That's not a word I bandy about, Professor." "What did I say?" "Which word?" "I thought it would catch in your throat." "Uh, madam!" "Madam..." "Oh, thank you." "Uh, Madam Goetaborg!" "Madam Goetaborg." "Carla!" "Yes, Oliver?" "Carla." "I warn you." "I'm wearing stays again."