As we approach this gap, Bob speeds up our ship in the hope of jumping it instead of being caught in it and thereby becoming suspended in space.
During our passage through the gap our instruments cease to operate and we have the feeling that we are in what might be called a perfect vacuum, yet it seems to be filled with a very mysterious substance or particles of various sizes, all apparently quite stationary. It might be described as going through a foamy or feathery condition of some sort of elements which we have never before experienced, but through which there is no resistance whatever.
Up until this time we had all been very excited but suddenly we become very calm with quite a feeling of exhilaration.
Dr. Johnston's calculations have been proven correct for we are on the Moon side and Bob is having to slow up the ship. Immediately after leaving the neutral zone we noticed that our instruments began working again, registering atmospheric conditions as well as a gravitational pull. Also our ship has begun to take on an increased speed as though being pulled by a tremendous force, which we realize is the Moon's gravitational pull. This pull seems to increase as we near the Moon so that Bob has to keep cutting down the speed of our ship; yet our instruments show that the Moon's gravitational force is weaker than the Earth's force, only about half of that of the Earth.
On this side we have also encountered a few meteorites of a fair size but they have a different glow of color, sort of a purplish glow instead of amber such as those shooting towards the Earth. They also seem to travel a little slower than those approaching the Earth. We are travelling towards the Moon so fast that we seem to miss, just by the speed of our ship, the meteors that we otherwise would be encountering. Our speed at this point is fifty thousand miles per hour.
We are approaching the Moon on the light side as seen from the Earth so that at ten miles distance from it we begin to get a very good perspective of the craters and mountainous area. Bob is having to continuously slow down the speed of the ship.
Within five miles of the Moon we encounter a terrific storm blowing from the north to the south. It is so strong that we don't know whether we can make it through or not. George has decided that our only chance of surviving is to go with the storm. He has instructed Bob accordingly. With this in mind, Bob is speeding up the ship to a point where he thinks he can enter this storm with a certain amount of safety. The idea is to cross through it in such a way that we will get continuously closer to the Moon and yet avoid being hit broadside.
We have made it safely and are only three miles from the Moon. We had to circle it twice in crossing through the storm before getting into the calmness again, but we were all so engrossed in getting safely through that we failed to make any observations of the Moon. Now we are breathing easier. Bob is slowing the ship down and we can get a good perspective of the Moon. We are flying at only one hundred miles per hour at an altitude of five thousand feet above the surface of the Moon in the area that people on Earth call the rim of the Moon, where the light side ceases and the dark side begins.
Of course this was all worked out months before when we were making our plans for this trip because Dr. Johnston had said that if there is anything at all favorable to human life on the Moon, it would be in this zone.
As we have been descending we find what we expected, a belt-like section extending as far as we can see around the Moon that has a natural growth of trees and vegetation. In this zone, just at the edge of the crater area, we see a small lake and not far distant up the valley is apparently a small city. Skirting the lake on the side away from the valley in which this city lies, extends a large forest of trees or heavy brush beyond which lies a broad plateau which we have chosen as our landing place.