CHAPTER FOURTEEN
_THE FLOOD GATES OF MARS_
It was a curious scene when the momentous interview which was todetermine our fate and that of Mars began. Aina had been warned of whatwas coming. We in the flagship had all learned to speak her languagewith more or less ease, but it was deemed best that the Heidelbergprofessor, assisted by one of his colleagues, should act as interpreter.
The girl, flushed with excitement of the novel situation, fullyappreciating the importance of what was about to occur, and looking morecharming than before, stood at one side of the principal apartment.Directly facing her were the interpreters, and the rest of us, all withears intent and eyes focused upon Aina, stood in a double row behindthem. As heretofore, I am setting down her words translated into our owntongue, having taken only so much liberty as to connect the sentencesinto a stricter sequence than they had when falling from her lips inreply to the questions which were showered upon her.
"You will never be victorious," she said, "if you attack them openly asyou have been doing. They are too strong and too numerous. They are wellprepared for such attacks, because they have had to resist them before.
"They have waged war with the inhabitants of the asteroid Ceres, whosepeople are giants greater than themselves. Their enemies from Ceres haveattacked them here. Hence these fortifications, with weapons pointingskyward, and the great air fleets which you have encountered."
"But there must be some point," said Mr. Edison, "where we can."
"Yes, yes," interrupted the girl quickly, "there is one blow you candeal them which they could not withstand."
"What is that?" eagerly inquired the commander.
"You can drown them out."
"How? With the canals?"
"Yes, I will explain to you. I have already told you, and, in fact, youmust have seen for yourselves, that there are almost no mountains onMars. A very learned man of my race used to say that the reason wasbecause Mars is so very old a world that the mountains it once had havebeen almost completely leveled, and the entire surface of the planet hadbecome a great plain. There are depressions, however, most of which areoccupied by the seas. The greater part of the land lies below the levelof the ocean. In order at the same time to irrigate the soil and make itfruitful, and to protect themselves from overflows by the ocean breakingin upon them, the Martians have constructed the immense and innumerablecanals which you see running in all directions over the continents.
"There is one period in the year, and that period has now arrived whenthere is special danger of a great deluge. Most of the oceans of Marslie in the southern hemisphere. When it is Summer in that hemisphere,the great masses of ice and snow collected around the south pole meltrapidly away."
"Yes, that is so," broke in one of the astronomers, who was listeningattentively. "Many a time I have seen the vast snow fields around thesouthern pole of Mars completely disappear as the Summer sun rose highupon them."
"With the melting of these snows," continued Aina, "a rapid rise in thelevel of the water in the southern oceans occurs. On the side facingthese oceans the continents of Mars are sufficiently elevated to preventan overflow, but nearer the equator the level of the land sinks lower.
"With your telescopes you have no doubt noticed that there is a greatbending sea connecting the oceans of the south with those of the northand running through the midst of the continents."
"Quite so," said the astronomer who had spoken before, "we call it theSyrtis Major."
"That long narrow sea," Aina went on, "forms a great channel throughwhich the flood of waters caused by the melting of the southern polarsnows flows swiftly toward the equator and then on toward the northuntil it reaches the sea basins which exist there. At that point it israpidly turned into ice and snow, because, of course, while it is Summerin the southern hemisphere it is Winter in the northern.
"The Syrtis Major (I am giving our name to the channel of communicationin place of that by which the girl called it) is like a great safetyvalve, which, by permitting the waters to flow northward, saves thecontinents from inundation.
"But when mid-Summer arrives, the snows around the pole, having beencompletely melted away, the flood ceases and the water begins to recede.At this time, but for a device which the Martians have employed, thecanals connected with the oceans would run dry, and the vegetation leftwithout moisture under the Summer sun, would quickly perish.
"To prevent this they have built a series of enormous gates extendingcompletely across the Syrtis Major at its narrowest point (latitude 25degrees south). These gates are all controlled by machinery collected ata single point on the shore of the strait. As soon as the flood in theSyrtis Major begins to recede, the gates are closed, and, the waterbeing thus restrained, the irrigating canals are kept full long enoughto mature the harvests."
"The clue! The clue at last!" exclaimed Mr. Edison. "That is the placewhere we shall nip them. If we can close those gates now at the momentof high tide we shall flood the country. Did you say," he continued,turning to Aina, "that the movement of the gates was all controlled froma single point?"
"Yes," said the girl. "There is a great building (power house) full oftremendous machinery which I once entered when my father was taken thereby his master, and where I saw one Martian, by turning a little handle,cause the great line of gates, stretching a hundred miles across thesea, to slowly shut in, edge to edge, until the flow of the water towardthe north had been stopped."
"How is the building protected?"
"So completely," said Aina, "that my only fear is that you may not beable to reach it. On account of the danger from their enemies on Ceres,the Martians have fortified it strongly on all sides, and have evensurrounded it and covered it overhead with a great electrical network,to touch which would be instant death."
"Ah," said Mr. Edison, "they have got an electric shield, have they?Well, I think we shall be able to manage that."
"Anyhow," he continued, "we have got to get into that power house, andwe have got to close those gates, and we must not lose much time inmaking up our minds how it is to be done. Evidently this is our onlychance. We have not force enough to contend in open battle with theMartians, but if we can flood them out, and thereby render the enginescontained in their fortifications useless, perhaps we shall be able todeal with the airships, which will be all the means of defense that willthen remain to them."
This idea commended itself to all the leaders of the expedition. It wasdetermined to make a reconnaissance at once.
But it would not do for us to approach the planet too hastily, and wecertainly could not think of landing upon it in broad daylight. Still,as long as we were yet a considerable distance from Mars, we felt thatwe should be safe from observation because so much time had elapsedwhile we were hidden behind Deimos that the Martians had undoubtedlyconcluded that we were no longer in existance.
So we boldly quitted the little satellite with our entire squadron andonce more rapidly approached the red planet of war. This time it was tobe a death grapple and our chances of victory still seemed good.
As soon as we arrived so near the planet that there was danger of ourbeing actually seen, we took pains to keep continually in the shadow ofMars, and the more surely to conceal our presence all lights upon theships were extinguished. The precaution of the commander even went sofar as to have the smooth metallic sides of the cars blackened over sothat they should not reflect light, and thus become visible to theMartians as shining specks, moving suspiciously among the stars.
The precise location of the great power house on the shores of theSyrtis Major having been carefully ascertained, the squadron droppeddown one night into the upper limits of the Martian atmosphere, directlyover the gulf.
Then a consultation was called on the flagship and a plan of campaignwas quickly devised.
It was deemed wise that the attempt should be made with a singleelectric ship, but that the others should be kept hovering near, readyto respond on the instant to any signal for aid whic
h might come frombelow. It was thought that, notwithstanding the wonderful defences,which, according to Aina's account surrounded the building, a smallparty would have a better chance of success than a large one.
Mr. Edison was certain that the electrical network which was describedas covering the power house would not prove a serious obstruction to us,because by carefully sweeping the space where we intended to pass withthe disintegrators before quitting the ship, the netting could besufficiently cleared away to give us uninterrupted passage.
At first the intention was to have twenty men, each armed with twodisintegrators (that being the largest number one person could carry toadvantage) descend from the electrical ship and make the venture. But,after further discussion, this number was reduced; first to a dozen, andfinally, to only four. These four consisted of Mr. Edison, ColonelSmith, Mr. Sydney Phillips and myself.
Both by her own request and because we could not help feeling that herknowledge of the locality would be indispensable to us, Aina was alsoincluded in our party, but not, of course, as a fighting member of it.
It was about an hour after midnight when the ship in which we were tomake the venture parted from the remainder of the squadron and droppedcautiously down. The blaze of electric lights running away in variousdirections indicated the lines of innumerable canals with habitationscrowded along their banks, which came to a focus at a point on thecontinent of Aeria, westward from the Syrtis Major.
We stopped the electrical ship at an elevation of perhaps three hundredfeet above the vast roof of a structure which Aina assured us was thebuilding of which we were in search.
Here we remained for a few minutes, cautiously reconnoitering. On thatside of the power house which was opposite to the shore of the SyrtisMajor there was a thick grove of trees, lighted beneath, as was apparentfrom the illumination which here and there streamed up through the coverof leaves, but, nevertheless, dark and gloomy above the tree tops.
"The electric network extends over the grove as well as over thebuilding," said Aina.
This was lucky for us, because we wished to descend among the trees,and, by destroying part of the network over the tree tops, we couldreach the shelter we desired and at the same time pass within the lineof electric defenses.
With increased caution, and almost holding our breath lest we shouldmake some noise that might reach the ears of the sentinels below, wecaused the car to settle gently down until we caught sight of a metallicnet stretched in the air between us and the trees.
After our first encounter with the Martians on the asteroid, where, as Ihave related, some metal which was included in their dress resisted theaction of the disintegrators, Mr. Edison had readjusted the range ofvibrations covered by the instruments, and since then we had foundnothing that did not yield to them. Consequently, we had no fear thatthe metal of the network would not be destroyed.
There was danger, however, of arousing attention by shattering holesthrough the tree tops. This could be avoided by first carefullyascertaining how far away the network was and then with the adjustablemirrors attached to the disintegrators focusing the vibratory dischargeat that distance.
So successful were we that we opened a considerable gap in the networkwithout doing any perceptible damage to the trees beneath.
The ship was cautiously lowered through the opening and brought to restamong the upper branches of one of the tallest trees. Colonel Smith, Mr.Phillips, Mr. Edison and myself at once clambered out upon a stronglimb.
For a moment I feared our arrival had been betrayed on account of thealtogether too noisy contest that arose between Colonel Smith and Mr.Phillips as to which of them should assist Aina. To settle the dispute Itook charge of her myself.
At length we were all safely in the tree.
Then followed the still more dangerous undertaking of descending fromthis great height to the ground. Fortunately, the branches were veryclose together and they extended down within a short distance of thesoil. So the actual difficulties of the descent were not very greatafter all. The one thing that we had particularly to bear in mind wasthe absolute necessity of making no noise.
At length the descent was successfully accomplished, and we all fivestood together in the shadow at the foot of the great tree. The grovewas so thick around that while there was an abundance of electric lightsamong the trees, their illumination did not fall upon us where we stood.
Peering cautiously through the vistas in various directions, weascertained our location with respect to the wall of the building. Likeall the structures which we had seen on Mars, it was composed ofpolished red metal.
"Where is the entrance?" inquired Mr. Edison, in a whisper.
"Come softly this way, and look out for the sentinel," replied Aina.
Gripping our disintegrators firmly, and screwing up our courage, withnoiseless steps we followed the girl among the shadows of the trees.
We had one-very great advantage. The Martians had evidently placed somuch confidence in the electric network which surrounded the power housethat they never dreamed of enemies being able to penetrate it--at least,without giving warning of their coming.
But the hole which we had blown in this network with the disintegratorshad been made noiselessly, and Mr. Edison believed, since no enemies hadappeared, that our operations had not been betrayed by any automaticsignal to watchers inside the building.
Consequently, we had every reason to think that we now stood within theline of defense, in which they reposed the greatest confidence, withouttheir having the least suspicion of our presence.
Aina assured us that on the occasion of her former visit to the powerhouse there had been but two sentinels on guard at the entrance. At theinner end of a long passage leading to the interior, she said, therewere two more. Besides these there were three or four Martian engineerswatching the machinery in the interior of the building. A number ofairships were supposed to be on guard around the structure, but possiblytheir vigilance had been relaxed, because not long ago the Martians hadsent an expedition against Ceres which had been so successful that thepower of that planet to make any attack upon Mars had, for the presentbeen destroyed.
Supposing us to have been annihilated in the recent battle among theclouds, they would have no fear or cause for vigilance on our account.
The entrance to the great structure was low--at least, when measured bythe stature of the Martians. Evidently the intention was that only oneperson at a time should find room to pass through it.
Drawing cautiously near, we discerned the outlines of two giganticforms, standing in the darkness, one on either side of the door. ColonelSmith whispered to me:
"If you will take the fellow on the right, I will attend to the otherone."
Adjusting our aim as carefully as was possible in the gloom, ColonelSmith and I simultaneously discharged our disintegrators, sweeping themrapidly up and down in the manner which had become familiar to us whenendeavoring to destroy one of the gigantic Martians with a singlestroke. And so successful were we that the two sentinels disappeared asif they were ghosts of the night.
Instantly we all hurried forward and entered the door. Before usextended a long, straight passage, brightly illuminated by a number ofelectric candles. Its polished sides gleamed with blood-red reflections,and the gallery terminated, at a distance of two or three hundred feet,with an opening into a large chamber beyond, on the further side ofwhich we could see part of a gigantic and complicated mass of machinery.
Making as little noise as possible, we pushed ahead along the passage,but when we had arrived within the distance of a dozen paces from theinner end, we stopped, and Colonel Smith, getting down upon his knees,crept forward, until he had reached the inner end of the passage. Therehe peered cautiously around the edge into the chamber, and, turning hishead a moment later, beckoned us to come forward. We crept to his side,and, looking out into the vast apartment, could perceive no enemies.
What had become of the sentinels supposed to stand at the inner end thepassag
e we could not imagine. At any rate, they were not at their posts.
The chamber was an immense square room at least a hundred feet in heightand 400 feet on a side, and almost filling the wall opposite to us wasan intricate display of machinery, wheels, levers, rods and polishedplates. This we had no doubt was one end of the engine which opened andshut the great gates that could dam an ocean.
"There is no one in sight," said Colonel Smith.
"Then we must act quickly," said Mr. Edison.
"Where," he said, turning to Aina, "is the handle by turning which yousaw the Martian close the gates?"
Aina looked about in bewilderment. The mechanism before us was socomplicated that even an expert mechanic would have been excusable forfinding himself unable to understand it. There were scores of knobs andhandles, all glistening in the electric light, any one of which, so faras the uninstructed could tell, might have been the master key thatcontrolled the whole complex apparatus.
"Quick," said Mr. Edison, "where is it?"
The girl in her confusion ran this way and that, gazing hopelessly uponthe machinery, but evidently utterly unable to help us.
To remain here inactive was not merely to invite destruction forourselves, but was sure to bring certain failure upon the purpose of theexpedition. All of us began instantly to look about in search of theproper handle, seizing every crank and wheel in sight and striving toturn it.
"Stop that!" shouted Mr. Edison, "you may set the whole thing wrong.Don't touch anything until we have found the right lever."
But to find that seemed to most of us now utterly beyond the power ofman.
It was at this critical moment that the wonderful depth and reach of Mr.Edison's mechanical genius displayed itself. He stepped back, ran hiseyes quickly over the whole immense mass of wheels, handles, bolts, barsand levers, paused for an instant, as if making up his mind, then saiddecidedly, "There it is," and stepping quickly forward, selected a smallwheel amid a dozen others, all furnished at the circumference withhandles like those of a pilot's wheel, and giving it a quick wrench,turned it half-way around.
At this instant, a startling shout fell upon our ears. There was athunderous clatter behind us, and, turning, we saw three giganticMartians rushing forward.