Chapter 38 Chapter Fourteen Boring Cave Life

From January 15th, Galia finally began orbiting towards its perihelion.In order to avoid the cold, except for the thirteen Britons in Gibraltar, the residents from the earth are now deeply dormant in volcanic caves. How did the English fare on that little island? It was generally agreed that they must be better off than the people of the "warm lands."They have a lot of grain and coal in reserve, so they don't have to worry about food or burning, and they don't need to borrow the heat of lava to keep warm.Their turrets are so thick that they can withstand the biting cold for them.They are warmly dressed and well fed. The only regret is that they are getting fatter and fatter.Brigadier General Morphy and Major Oliver probably still spend their time on the chessboard all day long.No one feels that there is anything unsatisfactory in life.

If Selvadak and the others really can't resist the severe cold of space, they can of course live in Gibraltar for a while.They had already thought of this.They believed that they would be well received by the British, although the two British officers had been somewhat rude on their previous visit.In short, the British will not leave them alone.Therefore, should the situation become serious, they would not hesitate to go to Gibraltar.But the ice field is vast, the road is long, and there is no place on the ice where everyone can rest their feet and warm their bodies, so rushing there must be bad luck.Therefore, this plan must not be implemented unless it is absolutely necessary.As long as there is enough heat in the crater, they will never leave here.

In addition to people, some domestic animals and birds also left the cave above and came here to settle down.It took a lot of effort to lead the two horses of Selvadak and Ben-Zov into the volcanic cave more than 300 meters away from the ground.The captain and his orderlies love them so much that they must be brought back to Earth. As for other domestic animals and birds, it is impossible to get them all here because the space in the cave is too small.Everyone had to kill some of them and put them in the storage room of the cave above to refrigerate them for later consumption. Everyone was busy until the end of January before they settled down completely.But the tedious cave life also began.People sit there facing the wall all day long, how can their spirits not be sluggish?Captain Selvadak and Earl Ironmashv asked everyone to sit around a long table to chat and tell stories.Sometimes, I also find someone to read some travel notes and popular science books to everyone.Both the Russian sailors and the Spaniards listened attentively, and learned a great deal from it.When they return to Earth in the future, their knowledge will definitely not be as poor as in their own country.

What was Isaac Hackhabt doing all this while?Of course he had no interest in these things.All his thoughts were on money.He had made a great deal of money, and was there all day counting it up.He now has at least one hundred and fifty thousand francs, half of which are gold coins from various European countries.These loud, heavy gold coins could be exchanged for big money as soon as he returned to Earth.It is a pity that the money has been in his hands for many days. If he borrowed it out, he would have already made a lot of money. Of all these people, only Palmiran Rose soon went back to his research work without sleep or food.As long as he can be with those endless numbers, he will have endless fun.

He already knew all the big information about Gallia.But about Gallia's moon—Nerina—he knew nothing yet.He felt that since Comet Gallia belonged to him, then this satellite should also belong to him.Therefore, it is his bounden duty to clarify the situation of this satellite. He would first need to observe a few different locations of Nerina in its orbit.After getting these materials, he can shut himself in the room and calculate the relevant data of Nerina just like calculating the mass of Gallia. But he still has no decent studio. At the beginning of February, he talked about his thoughts with Captain Servadac.

"You need a studio, sir?" the captain asked him. "Yes. I need a room where I can do my research in peace." "I'll try to fix it for you right away," said Servadac, "but this studio is not very comfortable. As for the silence, there is no problem." "That will do." "Well, let's do it like this." Seeing that Professor Rosset was in a good mood today, the captain boldly asked him a question that he thought was very important. "Teacher," he asked Professor Rosset just as he was about to leave, "I have something to ask you."

"Please tell me." "Your calculation of Galia's revolution period is undoubtedly very accurate." The captain said, "but please forgive me, if your comet arrives at the predetermined location half a minute earlier or later, it is impossible to meet the earth on the ecliptic... ..." "What do you mean?" "Teacher, do you need to re-verify those numbers?" "no need." "If you want, the second officer of Prokop can come to help you." "I don't need anyone's help," said Palmier Rosette bitterly. "But……"

"I can never be wrong. Captain Servadac, your request is very inappropriate." "Teacher, you seem to be too rude to us like this, and..." He didn't go on with the next words, because he thought that a professor like this could not afford to offend.I saw Professor Rosset said with an indifferent expression: "My calculations are extremely accurate, and I will not recalculate. But I want to tell you that I want to calculate the relevant information of Nerina as well." "Of course it's a very good thing." Servadak replied seriously, "But Nerina was originally an asteroid, and the relevant materials have already been clarified by astronomers on Earth."

The professor gave the captain an angry look, as if accusing him of doubting the value of his work.Then he said excitedly: "Captain Selvadak, even if astronomers on Earth have observed Nerina, and already know Nerina's orbit, revolution period, average distance from the sun, maximum eccentricity, perihelion distance, epoch The average length, the right ascension of the ascending node, the angle between the orbital plane and the ecliptic, etc., are all useless. Because Nerina is no longer an asteroid, but a satellite of Galileo V.'Earth Man' has studied his own moon so well, I wonder why we Galians don't know our own moon as well?"

When he talked about "earthlings", the sleeves were completely dismissive.Then he added: "Captain, let me tell you again, please find me a room..." "I'll do it right away, sir." "Ah, I'm not in such a hurry." Professor Rosset said, "I just hope you can solve it for me within an hour..." It took Selvadak three hours to finally find him a cave in which he could place a table and a chair.Rosette settled down here.In the next few days, although the weather was very cold, he continued to go to the hall of the cave above to observe several different locations of Nerina through a telescope.After recording these observation results, he locked himself in the so-called studio and never left the door behind closed doors.

To be honest, these Galians are now living 300 meters underground, and their daily life is just like a pool of stagnant water. It takes strong perseverance to persevere.Sometimes, for days at a time, not one of them walked on the ground, and if it were not for the ice, no one would go up there. However, Captain Servadak, Count Ironmashev, Second Officer Prokop and Ben-Zov still took this opportunity to go deeper underground a few times in order to see what was at the bottom of the volcanic cave. scene.It should be said that they did not come here because of any great interest in the fact that Gallia's rocks contained thirty percent gold.Because this kind of gold telluride is everywhere in Gallia, and it is worthless.Moreover, even if Galia falls to the earth in the future, the value of gold will plummet overnight due to its large quantity.Therefore, they did not put this extremely hard telluride in their eyes at all. But through this trip, they found that the magma deep in the formation was still flowing, and thus believed that the reason why the lava here did not erupt outward was because new craters appeared elsewhere. We spent months in a row in this muddled state.The minds of many are becoming more and more bewildered.The initial interest in listening to someone else read an interesting book had dissipated, and the long table was now empty.People whispered together in twos and threes.The Spaniards were very depressed.They lie in bed all day long, and only get out of bed when they are eating.The mood of the Russians is not bad, they are cheerful all day long.The main cause of our malaise is lack of physical exercise.Captain Selvadak and Earl Ironmashv saw that everyone's mental state was deteriorating, but there was nothing they could do.Persuasion alone is useless.What's more, they themselves feel limp and weak, lethargic all day long, and their food and tea are not delicious.No matter what good meal I see, I have no appetite.It is no different from animals that do not eat or drink and are in a state of hibernation. Of all these people only little Nina was always full of spirits, and she walked up to the bored Pablo from time to time to give encouragement.Her silver bell-like laughter brought hope and vitality to this lifeless world.She flew around the cave like a beautiful little bird, bringing tea and food to everyone, and singing sweet Italian songs at the same time.Her exuberant vitality deeply infected everyone, making everyone gradually wake up from the state of confusion. Months passed unknowingly in this lethargic state. By early June, the situation had only slightly improved.This is presumably the result of Gallia's approach to the sun.But Gallia is still very far from the sun now.When Gallia was running the first half of its orbit, the second officer of Prokop had made detailed records of the numbers and Galia's position that Professor Rosset had told him, and based on these records he had drawn Galia's Ephemeris.Therefore, Gallia's whereabouts can be predicted more accurately without asking Professor Rosset. Gallia has now reached the orbit of Jupiter, but is still 788 million kilometers from the sun.However, according to one of Kepler's laws, its speed is gradually increasing.After four months, it will reach the asteroid region, and it will be only 500 million kilometers away from the sun. At the end of June, everyone returned to normal mentally and physically.People began to walk in the cave above, and some even went to the seaside for a while.It was still cold, without a cloud in the sky, and there was no wind.The footprints left by people on the seashore are still intact there. There is only one slight difference in the seaside scenery.The ice in that small bay has continued to rise over the past few months.The Dobrina and the Hansa are now fifty meters above the surface of the sea, and it is simply impossible to get up there.It is conceivable that when the ice melts and the snow melts in the future, the two ships will be smashed to pieces if they fall from such a height.But no one has any way to change this ending. Fortunately, Isaac has been guarding the goods in the cave and did not come to the seaside to take a look. "If he sees his Hansa like this now, he will really cry with distress." Ben-Zoff said. July and August passed again.Gallia is now 656 million kilometers from the sun.The nights are still cold.But in Baiyao, since the "Warm Town" is located on the equator, the direct sunlight has made people feel a little warm, and the temperature has risen by more than 20 degrees.These Galians came out of the cave to bask in the sun every day, and the birds that spent the winter in the cave did the same. They flew out of the cave to soar in the sky at dawn, and flew back into the cave at night. This exuberant spring spirit lifted everyone's spirits, and the hope and confidence of returning to the earth were rekindled in people's hearts.In Baiyao, the sun disc hanging in the sky has grown significantly.At night, the earth, mixed with stars in the sky, also becomes much brighter.Although the earth is still very far away from Galia, it can already be seen clearly on the sky.One day, Ben-Zov said to Captain Servadak and Count Ironmashev: "Honestly, I can't believe that Montmartre is on this little point of light." "But the fact is that Montmartre is there, and we're going back there soon," Servadac said. "Of course, I want to go back there too," Ben-Zoff said, "but I don't understand, if Professor Rosset's comet can't return to the earth, can't we force it to go back?" "Fool. The pattern of space cannot be controlled by human power. Otherwise, if anyone can change the operation of their own planet in space at will, wouldn't it be a mess!"