"What space flyer?" I demanded quickly.
"The one we are going to be on, First Mortgage," he replied with a slight chuckle.
We?" I cried, aghast.
"Certainly. We. You and I. You didn't think I was going to send you alone, did you?"
"I didn't know that anyone was going."
"Of course. Someone has to go; otherwise, how could I prove my point? I might cut through a hundred holes and yet these stiff-necked old fossils, seeing nothing, would not believe. No, First Mortgage, when those arcs start working to-morrow, you and I will be in a Hadley space ship up at the bottom of the layer, and as soon as the road has been opened, two of the lamps will cut off to allow us through. Then the battery will hold the road open while we pass out into space and return."
"Suppose we meet with Hadley's fate?" I demanded.
"We won't. Even if I am wrong—which is very unlikely—we won't meet with any such fate. We have two stern motors and four bow motors. As soon as we meet with the slightest resistance to our forward progress we will stop and have twice the power plus gravity to send us earthwards. There is no danger connected with the trip."
"All the same—" I began.