"Well," said Jack, "this trip isn't going to be very strong on scenery, anyhow."
"No," agreed Mr. Roumann. "We shan't be able to observe anything but this fleeciness until we get to Mars."
"We can see the stars and moon at night, can't we?" asked Mark.
"There isn't going to be any night," replied the German with a smile. "We are now in the region of perpetual day."
"No night!" repeated Jack blankly.
"No. Just stop to think for a moment. We have left the earth, and are many thousands of miles away from it. You know that which causes night and day on the earth is the rotation of it on its axis. Half the time the part we are living on is turned away from the sun, and the other half of the time turned toward the sun. Now, the sun is fixed in space. We are also in space, and we are so comparatively small that there will never be any shadows to cause night. We are like a small point in space, and the sun is constantly shining on us. We do not revolve, so there will no night, only day."
"Are we headed for the sun?" asked Mark
"No, for Mars. But as we will take good care not to head for any other planet, so as to get it between us and the sun, we shall never have any darkness."
"But it doesn't look like sunshine out there," objected Jack, pointing out of the window.
"No, because we are surrounded by a mass of vapor. I think it will presently pass and we shall see the sun. The difference in temperature between the projectile and the surrounding atmosphere causes us to be enveloped in a sort of cloud. When the outer shell of the Annihilator is the same temperature as the atmosphere through which we are flying, we shall emerge into sunlight."