Conjo regarded the boy pityingly. "Do you suppose I would rely upon such clumsy and inefficient means of flying as propellers, wings, and jets? The Airmobile is the perfect flying machine. It repels gravity."
"It does what?" asked the Shaggy Man.
Conjo stepped to the machine and opened one of the doors. "Look," he said. "See these metal plates on the floor of the ship? They are gravity resistor plates. You must know," he went on patiently, "that it's the force of gravity pulling objects to the earth that causes things to have weight. Well, my gravity resistor plates overcome gravity when exposed. Hence the ship has no weight whatever."
"Yes," said Tom, "I can understand that. But what makes it move?—backward and forward and upward, I mean."
"Oh, that," sniffed Conjo. "These are gravity resistor plates. They not only overcome gravity, but resist it. The power of resistance forces the machine upward. The more surface of the plates you expose, the higher you will go. And you will notice," Conjo continued, reaching inside the ship and pressing a button, "that the metal plates are mounted on rods through their middle so that they may be operated like flaps or fins—and they rotate. Thus, if you tilt them in one direction, the resistance to gravity forces you ahead in one way; tilt them in the other direction and you travel in the opposite way. Rotate them, and you can veer to right or left."
"If it works, it is wonderful," said the Shaggy Man doubtfully.
"Oh, it works to perfection," assured Conjo. "If it were not so late in the day, I would propose a little trip. As it is, I suggest that we go downstairs for dinner. Then I will have to leave you to examine the Love Magnet. We will all arise early in the morning, at which time you will have the pleasure of a journey over the island in my Airmobile."