Forsyth was understandably taken aback by this news, that had been reported in The Syrtis Major Times-Courant by none other than Phoebe Carter-Lloyd.
Hartwell and Wilhelm rallied around their stricken friend and vowed to do all in their power to assemble a resue mission. No-one spoke of what all must have felt; that this could be a mission to recover the remains of the expedition members.
A major problem with exploring the Moon is that it has no atmosphere. An aethership uses lighter-than-air gas in an inflatable dirigible envelope to land gently and to take off, as approach with an operating aether propeller would be suicidal due to the extremely high speeds produced.
For reasons not understood, liftwood does not function on Luna either.
So why go there?
For many years, scientists have been perplexed and fascinated by an odd display, called "The Glow" that can be seen illuminating the edge of the Moon under certain circumstances, and speculation as to its nature has fueled interest by foolhardy explorers using questionable "cutting edge" technologies to visit Earth's satellite. As of yet, none have returned to tell of their adventures.
Other than that, the Moon seems nothing more or less than a lifeless ball of rock, and since other, more accommodating worlds2 are available for exploration, tourism and resource and mineral exploitation, Luna has been seen as an object best seen through a telescope or gazed at from a punt on the Cam with one's sweetheart.
It seemed that Forsyth's brother had joined his fate to one of those crackpot inventors of a ship, the Moth, with "cutting edge technology".
The team were at something of a loss, for the Moon was around 100 day's journey from Mars, and when they got there they had no way of making a landing.
But then they learned of Dr Cyrus Grant, formerly of Arizona, lately somewhat down on his luck after word of his new Aether Propeller had gotten around the farmer and rancher community he had served so well with his contraptions, and having decided that he did not need that sort of grief from ingrates, and in possession of a fully functional aethership equipped with the Grant Propeller, now resident in Syrtis Major - albeit in a rather rundown district.
Grant's aether propeller was, it was claimed, capable of close approach and landing on Luna, although why anyone would want to visit that benighted place Grant couldn't say. The Grant Propeller's chief attraction was that it was capable of interplanetary flight at a distinctly higher speed than an Edison model.
When the team visited Grant he was receptive, but informed them regretfully that his ship was grounded for want of a diamond core, a vital component of the Grant Propeller.
Wilhelm got some details and was surprised to find out that gem-quality was not required,though the size of crystal required was not inconsiderable. He assured Grant that he would be able to source such a stone3 and all that was left was to provision the expedition.
Grant's machine proved every bit as capable as its inventor had claimed, and though the journey was by turns tedious and a source of d___able frustration and worry for Forsyth, eventually the Grant Flyer approached the Moon and Grant began to demonstrate the aerobatic 4 qualities of his aether propeller were not exaggerations or bravado.
Searching the surface with a powerful searchlight showed no evidence of a crash, but it was not long before the heroes saw The Glow, and hey steered the ship toward it, where they discovered a massive chasm in the crust of the Moon.
Hypothesizing that this would have been where Clarence's attention would have been drawn, the team directed Grant to descend into the chasm.
The team were amazed to discover that there was light of a sort coming from the walls each side of them. Some creature or plant, perhaps, was emitting a low level greenish glow that was getting brighter as they dropped into the depths of the chasm.
It seemed they had solved the mystery of The Glow.
Suddenly Grant announced they were descending rather more quickly than he could account for - or control! He suspected that there was air in the chasm, which was disrupting the working of his aether propeller, and quickly deployed the gas buoyancy envelope, but it was too late and the ship crashed onto a large ledge on the starboard side cliff wall.
After picking themselves up, the adventurers made an assay of their ship's condition, which was not good.
The gasbag had been ruptured, which would require a repair if they were ever to lift off again since the presence of an atmosphere - confirmed now - meant the aether propeller would not work. There were some small rents in the hull, which would be easy to fix if a short trip - say back to Earth - were contemplated. Worse of all, the diamond crystal had shattered and would have to be replaced.
The most immediate problem was food and water, and after a discussion it was decided that climbing down seemed the only logical choice. No-one was coming to rescue them, after all, and Clarence might very well be alive somewhere down there.
Gathering as much food and water as they could carry, and some basic climbing gear that they had brought along, the team began to descend the dizzying drop, so deep they could not make out the bottom despite the presence of ample light now their eyes had adjusted.
The climb down was a fearful, days-long affair.
During the descent the team discovered two kinds of mushrooms that were edible, if unpleasant-tasting, and one that contained acidic juice when Hartwell's safety rope was eaten through.
They were harassed by various strange fauna including giant caterpillar-like animals and swarms of bat-like creatures. It was during one such attack that they discovered that the "Lunar Bats" could be repelled by the acid fungus, though the risk to their own human skin was considerable.
After a few days the team came across the wreck of an aethership, but it was not that of Clarence Forsyth. It had been stripped of everything, including the interior furnishings, which was suggestive.
Further down, the team were able to see with the aid of binoculars the wreck of the Moth on a ledge on the other side of the chasm. No movement was visible, and it was impossible to cross the vast distance separating the team from the wreck, so they continued downward.
On perhaps the 12th day, having descended around 10 miles into the Lunar interior, the team came to the entrance to a cave. In the distance ahead of hem hey could see a primitive rope bridge connecting their side of the canyon to the other, but each end appeared to lead to caves in the sheer walls rather than a ledge.
Forsyth reasoned that if he were to reach the wreck of the Moth he would need to cross that bridge, and that to do that he would need to find the cave it was anchored to.
So the team entered the cave in front of them.
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