"Can we not modify the motion of the projectile?"
"No."
"Nor diminish its speed?"
"No."
"Not even by lightening it like they lighten an overloaded ship?"
"What can we throw out?" answered Nicholl. "We have no ballast on board. And besides, it seems to me that a lightened projectile would go on more quickly."
"Less quickly," said Michel.
"More quickly," replied Nicholl.
"Neither more nor less quickly," answered Barbicane, wishing to make his two friends agree, "for we are moving in the void where we cannot take specific weight into account."
"Very well," exclaimed Michel Ardan in a determined tone; "there is only one thing to do."