human
I think that we can answer, said Barbicane;
gpt
Put it your own way,
human
Here it is, continued Barbicane.
gpt
The problem is a double one, and requires a double solution. Is the moon _habitable?_ Has the moon ever been _inhabitable?_
human
Good! replied Nicholl.
gpt
First let us see whether the moon is habitable.
human
To tell the truth, I know nothing about it,
gpt
And I answer in the negative, continued Barbicane.
human
In her actual state, with her surrounding atmosphere certainly very much reduced, her seas for the most part dried up, her insufficient supply of water restricted, vegetation, sudden alterations of cold and heat, her days and nights of 354 hours; the moon does not seem habitable to me, nor does she seem propitious to animal development, nor sufficient for the wants of existence as we understand it.
gpt
Agreed, replied Nicholl.
human
But is not the moon habitable for creatures differently organized from ourselves?
gpt
That question is more difficult to answer, but I will try; and I ask Nicholl if _motion_ appears to him to be a necessary result of _life_, whatever be its organization?
human
Without a doubt!
gpt
Then, my worthy companion, I would answer that we have observed the lunar continent at a distance of 500 yards at most, and that nothing seemed to us to move on the moon's surface. The presence of any kind of life would have been betrayed by its attendant marks, such as divers buildings, and even by ruins. And what have we seen? Everywhere and always the geological works of nature, never the work of man. If, then, there exist representatives of the animal kingdom on the moon, they must have fled to those unfathomable cavities which the eye cannot reach; which I cannot admit, for they must have left traces of their passage on those plains which the atmosphere must cover, however slightly raised it may be. These traces are nowhere visible. There remains but one hypothesis, that of a living race to which motion, which is life, is foreign.
human
One might as well say, living creatures which do not live,
gpt
Just so, said Barbicane,
human
Then we may form our opinion?
gpt
Yes,
human
Very well, continued Michel Ardan,
gpt
Now, said Nicholl,
human
My friends, replied Barbicane,
gpt
I did not undertake this journey in order to form an opinion on the past habitability of our satellite; but I will add that our personal observations only confirm me in this opinion. I believe, indeed I affirm, that the moon has been inhabited by a human race organized like our own; that she has produced animals anatomically formed like the terrestrial animals; but I add that these races, human or animal, have had their day, and are now for ever extinct!
human
Then, asked Michel,
gpt
No! said Barbicane decidedly,
human
I believe it,