Air is what I wanted, that was all.

Air surrounds me as it surrounds the submarine boat, and in it my propellers act like the screws of a steamer.

That is how I solved the problem of aviation.
That is what a balloon will never do, nor will any machine that is lighter than air." Silence, absolute, on the part of the colleagues, which did not for a moment disconcert the engineer.

He contented himself with a half-smile, and continued in his interrogative style, "Perhaps you ask if to this power of the "Albatross" to move horizontally there is added an equal power of vertical movement--in a word, if, when, we visit the higher zones of the atmosphere, we can compete with an aerostat?
Well, I should not advise you to enter the "Go-Ahead" against her!" The two colleagues shrugged their shoulders.

That was probably what the engineer was waiting for.
Robur made a sign.