Atalanta

This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. In a Cambridge college room, a circle of undergraduates learns that the brilliant, secretive Professor Carmichael has retreated to Northumberland to pursue a bold scientific project with engineer Carysfort and the troubled curate Clarence Radcliffe. What begins in youthful banter and financial anxiety soon widens into something far larger: a venture of invention, sacrifice, and destiny that may carry one of them beyond the earth itself. At a lonely house by the North Sea, the Professor unveils the heart of the discovery—a revolutionary machine that can overcome gravity—and reveals that the true goal is not Mars but Venus. As the "Asteroid" is built, stocked, named, and endlessly refined, the men commit themselves to the voyage despite the risks of mechanical failure, hostile conditions, and the unknown return. Radcliffe, haunted by the drowning death of his wife, accepts the journey as a spiritual calling, while the others answer with courage, loyalty, and humor. After solemn farewells, the craft rises from England and carries them into space, where Earth becomes a luminous globe below and the moon is studied but left behind. On Venus, Radcliffe confronts alien customs, wins the trust of Princess Mexitli and her sister, and helps translate the New Testament into Atalantan. His private audience with the King reveals the tragic history of a rejected divine visitor, deepening the novel's blend of scientific romance, theological reflection, and interplanetary adventure.