I saw my companion rise up before me.
“The hour is come!” he said. “We must die. We are rejected of men. They despise us. Let us crush them!”
“Mercy!” I cried.
“Let us cut these cords! Let this car be abandoned in space. The attractive force will change its direction, and we shall approach the sun!”
Despair galvanized me. I threw myself upon the madman, we struggled together, and a terrible conflict took place. But I was thrown down, and while he held me under his knee, the madman was cutting the cords of the car.
“One!” he cried.
“My God!”
“Two! Three!”
I made a superhuman effort, rose up, and violently repulsed the madman.
“Four!”