human
Something wrong with my watch, Doctor. You will have to look.
gpt
Half a minute after nine, that can't be right!
human
There is the first thing I have overlooked! Our watch springs are steel, and the magnetic currents affect them. It is strange I did not think of that, for I knew a mariner's compass would be of no use to us in steering on account of the currents. For that reason I have risen above the clouds so as to steer by the stars. I am making for the North Star yonder, now.
gpt
We will have to get back to the same primitive methods of measuring time, I put in.
human
Neither weight clocks nor spring clocks would have been of any account. And an hour glass would tell a different tale just as gravity varied. We will have to rely on the Moon and stars, and it may be rather awkward.
gpt
We can count our pulse or go by our stomachs,
human
What is the barometer now? Perhaps we are high enough for the present.
gpt
There is scarcely two inches of mercury in the tube!
human
That makes us ten miles high. Work the rudder gradually very much farther out for this thinner atmosphere, and we will try falling awhile, with a long slant to northward.