As the question of buoyancy of these remarkable airships arose in my
mind, I immediately became aware that they were sustained, in the air by
a metal which was used in their construction that was repellent to the
surface of Mars. It had been discovered by the Martians that their
planet, like a magnet, had both the power of attracting and repelling.
The north and south poles were found to be the repelling poles of this
immense magnetic sphere. Nothing could exist on these poles that was not
a fixture to the planet's surface, consequently no snow or ice existed
at the poles themselves. Many explorers' lives had been lost before this
discovery was made; those who succeeded in reaching the pole having made
the discovery too late to save themselves from being hurled off the
planet into space. But so small was the surface of this repelling pole
that it was argued that the pole must run through the center of the
planet, to make it equal in mass to the attracting force which covered
the rest of the surface.

Working on this theory, although it was impossible to reach the pole
itself without danger of being hurled off the planet, excavations were
made as near it as possible, and a tunnel was run under the surface
until the desired point was reached. A change from rock to ore was
encountered, with evidences of its having been subjected to intense
heat, and upon penetrating farther, pure metal was discovered. This
strange metal, unlike any other metal known to the Martians, was found
to possess a powerful repelling force. And when it was brought to the
surface, it was discovered that it not only retained its repelling
force, as a lodestone retains its attracting power, but that this same
force was greatly increased, doubtless owing to the close proximity of
an unfriendly element in the surface of the planet away from the pole.
The repelling force of this metal was found to be ten times as great as
the specific gravity of a piece of iron of relative proportions, and by