With only a few grains of this substance great blocks of rock were reduced to impalpable dust!" This explanation evidently applies to the detonation I heard.
"Thus, my dear colleague," continues Engineer Serko, "I can assure you that our expectations have been answered.

The effects of the explosive surpass anything that could have been imagined.

A few thousand tons of it would burst our spheroid and scatter the fragments into space.

You can be absolutely certain that it is capable of destroying no matter what vessel at a distance considerably greater than that attained by present projectiles and within a zone of at least a mile.

The weak point in the invention is that rather too much time has to be expended in regulating the firing." Engineer Serko stops short, as though reluctant to give any further information, but finally adds: "Therefore, I end as I began, Mr.Hart.Resign yourself to the inevitable.