He pushed a lever beneath the webbing, and Garry felt the tube begin to revolve slowly.
“Hey, what’s happening?” Patch called out.
“I had to set the tunnel in rotation so that it could catch up with the rest of the ship, which is always turning. As soon as you’ve become used to the spinning, we’ll go into the ship.”
When the boys said they thought they could navigate, the captain pointed to an open hatch that had appeared in the wall near them.
“We’ll turn around and back down these stairs,” the skipper said. “As we descend, the gravity will become stronger, so that by the time we’re at the bottom we’ll be nearly at our earth weights.”
Garry and Patch followed their new friend down the stairs, moving carefully and holding onto the railing, for they still felt giddy from the rotation of the central tube. By the time they were at the bottom, their heads had begun to clear.
That is, they thought their heads had begun to clear. But no sooner had they gotten this impression than they became giddy all over again at the sight that met their eyes. For it was just as if they had entered a tropical paradise! There were real flowers in bloom all about, and aquariums full of live fishes were set into the surrounding walls.
The boys were too surprised to say anything. All they could do was just stare and stare in disbelief.
