It is this ray which has enabled them to so perfect aviation that
battle ships far outweighing anything known upon Earth sail as
gracefully and lightly through the thin air of Barsoom as a toy
balloon in the heavy atmosphere of Earth.
During the early years of the discovery of this ray many strange
accidents occurred before the Martians learned to measure and
control the wonderful power they had found. In one instance, some
nine hundred years before, the first great battle ship to be built
with eighth ray reservoirs was stored with too great a quantity
of the rays and she had sailed up from Helium with five hundred
officers and men, never to return.
Her power of repulsion for the planet was so great that it had
carried her far into space, where she can be seen today, by the aid
of powerful telescopes, hurtling through the heavens ten thousand
miles from Mars; a tiny satellite that will thus encircle Barsoom
to the end of time.
The fourth day after my arrival at Zodanga I made my first flight,
and as a result of it I won a promotion which included quarters in
the palace of Than Kosis.
As I rose above the city I circled several times, as I had seen
Kantos Kan do, and then throwing my engine into top speed I raced
at terrific velocity toward the south, following one of the great
waterways which enter Zodanga from that direction.
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