CHAPTER SIX
_THE MONSTERS ON THE ASTEROID_
A day or two after leaving the moon, we had another adventure with awandering inhabitant of space which brought us into far greater perilthan had our encounter with the meteor.
The airships had been partitioned off so that a portion of the interiorcould be darkened in order to serve as a sleeping chamber, wherein,according to the regulations prescribed by the commander of the squadroneach member of the expedition in his turn passed eight out of everytwenty-four hours--sleeping if he could, if not, meditating in a more orless dazed way, upon the wonderful things that he was seeing anddoing--things far more incredible than the creations of a dream.
One morning, if I may call by the name morning the time of my periodicalemergence from the darkened chamber, glancing from one of the windows, Iwas startled to see in the black sky a brilliant comet.
No periodical comet, as I knew, was at this time approaching theneighborhood of the sun, and no stranger of that kind had been detectedfrom the observatories making its way sunward before we left the earth.Here, however, was unmistakably a comet rushing toward the sun, flingingout a great gleaming tail behind it and so close to us that I wonderedto see it remaining almost motionless in the sky. This phenomenon wassoon explained to me, and the explanation was of a most disquietingcharacter.
The stranger had already been perceived, not only from the flagship, butfrom the other members of the squadron, and, as I now learned, effortshad been made to get out of the neighborhood, but for some reason theelectrical apparatus did not work perfectly--some mysterious disturbingforce acting upon it--and so it had been found impossible to avoid anencounter with the comet, not an actual coming into contact with it, buta falling into the sphere of its influence.
In fact, I was informed that for several hours the squadron had beendragging along in the wake of a comet, very much as boats are sometimestowed off by a wounded whale. Every effort had been made to so adjustthe electric charge upon the ships that they would be repelled from thecometic mass, but, owing apparently to electric changes affecting theclashing mass of meteoric bodies which constituted the head of thecomet, we found it impossible to escape from its influence.
At one instant the ships would be repelled; immediately afterward theywould be attracted again, and thus they were dragged hither and thither,but never able to break from the invisible leash which the comet hadcast upon them. The latter was moving with enormous velocity toward thesun, and, consequently, we were being carried back again, away from theobject of our expedition, with a fair prospect of being dissipated inblazing vapors when the comet had dragged us, unwilling prisoners, intothe immediate neighborhood of the solar furnace.
Even the most cool-headed lost his self control in this terribleemergency. Every kind of devise that experience or the imagination couldsuggest was tried, but nothing would do. Still on we rushed with theelectrified atoms composing the tail of the comet swinging to and froover the members of the squadron, as they shifted their position, likethe plume of smoke from a gigantic steamer, drifting over the sea birdsthat follow in its course.
Was this to end it all, then? Was this the fate that Providence had instore for us? Were the hopes of the earth thus to perish? Was theexpedition to be wrecked and its fate to remain for ever unknown to theplanet from which it had set forth? And was our beloved globe, which hadseemed so fair to us when we last looked upon it nearby, and in whosedefense we had resolved to spend our last breath, to be left helplessand at the mercy of its implacable foe in the sky?
At length we gave ourselves up for lost. There seemed to be no possibleway to free ourselves from the baleful grip of this terrible andunlooked for enemy.
As the comet approached the sun its electrical energy rapidly increased,and watching it with telescopes, for we could not withdraw ourfascinated eyes from it, we could clearly behold the fearful things thatwent on in its nucleus.
This consisted of an immense number of separate meteors of no very greatsize individually, but which were in constant motion among one another,darting to and fro, clashing and smashing together, while fountains ofblazing metallic particles and hot mineral vapours poured out in everydirection.
As I watched it, unable to withdraw my eyes, I saw imaginary formsrevealing themselves amid the flaming meteors. They seemed likecreatures in agony, tossing their arms, bewailing in their attitudes theawful fate that had overtaken them, and fairly chilling my blood withthe pantomime of torture which they exhibited. I thought of an oldsuperstition which I had often heard about the earth, and exclaimed:
"Yes, surely, this is a flying hell!"
As the electric activity of the comet increased, its continued changesof potential and polarity became more frequent, and the electrical shipsdarted about with even greater confusion than before. Occasionally oneof them, seized with a sudden impulse, would spring forward toward thenucleus of the comet with a sudden access of velocity that would flingevery one of its crew from his feet, and all would lie sprawling on thefloor of the car while it rushed, as it seemed, to inevitable andinstant destruction.
Then, either through the frantic efforts of the electrician strugglingwith the controller or through another change in the polarity of thecomet, the ship would be saved on the very brink of ruin and staggeraway out of immediate danger.
Thus the captured squadron was swept, swaying and darting hither andthither, but never able to get sufficiently far from the comet to breakthe bond of its fatal attraction.
So great was our excitement and so complete our absorption in thefearful peril that we had not noticed the precise direction in which thecomet was carrying us. It was enough to know that the goal of thejourney was the furnace of the sun. But presently someone in theflagship recalled us to a more accurate sense of our situation in spaceby exclaiming:
"Why, there is the earth!"
And there, indeed, it was, its great globe rolling under our eyes, withthe contrasted colors of the continents and clouds and the watery gleamof the oceans spread beneath us.
"We're going to strike it!" exclaimed somebody. "The comet is going todash us into the earth."
Such a collision at first seemed inevitable, but presently it wasnoticed that the direction of the comet's motion was such that while itmight graze the earth it would not actually strike it.
And so, like a swarm of giant insects circling about an electric lightfrom whose magic influence they could not escape, our ships went on, tobe whipped against the earth in passing and then to continue their swiftjourney to destruction.
"Thank God, this saves us," suddenly cried Mr. Edison.
"What-what?"
"Why, the earth, of course. Do you not see that as the comet sweepsclose to the great planet the superior attraction of the latter willsnatch us from its grasp, and that thus we shall be able to escape."
And it was indeed as Mr. Edison had predicted. In a blaze of fallingmeteors the comet swept the outer limits of the earth's atmosphere andpassed on, while the swaying ships, having been instructed by signalswhat to do, desperately applied their electrical machinery to reversethe attraction and threw themselves into the arms of their mother earth.
In another instant we were all free, settling down through the quietatmosphere with the Atlantic Ocean sparkling in the morning sun farbelow.
We looked at one another in amazement. So this was the end of ourvoyage! This was the completion of our warlike enterprise. We hadstarted out to conquer a world, and we had come back ignominiouslydragged in the train of a comet.
The earth which we were going to defend and protect had herself turnedprotector, and reaching out her strong arm had snatched her foolishchildren from the destruction which they had invited.
It would be impossible to describe the chagrin of every member of theexpedition.
The electric ships rapidly assembled and hovered high in the air, whiletheir commanders consulted about what should be done. A universalfeeling of shame almost drove them to a decision not
to land upon thesurface of the planet, and if possible not to let its inhabitants knowwhat had occurred.
But it was too late for that. Looking carefully beneath us, we saw thatfate had brought us back to our very starting point, and signalsdisplayed in the neighborhood of New York indicated that we had alreadybeen recognized. There was nothing for us then but to drop down andexplain the situation.
I shall not delay my narrative by undertaking to describe theastonishment and the disappointment of the inhabitants of the earthwhen, within a fortnight from our departure, they saw us back again,with no laurels of victory crowning our brows.
At first they had hoped that we were returning in triumph, and we wereoverwhelmed with questions the moment we had dropped within speakingdistance.
"Have you whipped them?"
"How many are lost?"
"Is there any more danger?"
"Faix, have ye got one of thim men from Mars?"
But their rejoicing and their facetiousness were turned into wailingwhen the truth was imparted.
We made a short story of it, for we had not the heart to go intodetails. We told of our unfortunate comrades whom we had buried upon themoon, and there was one gleam of satisfaction when we exhibited thewonderful crystals we had collected in the crater of Aristarchus.
Mr. Edison determined to stop only long enough to test the electricalmachinery of the cars, which had been more or less seriously derangedduring our wild chase after the comet, and then to start straight backfor Mars--this time on a through trip.
The astronomers, who had been watching Mars, since our departure, withtheir telescopes, reported that mysterious lights continued to bevisible, but that nothing indicating the starting of another expeditionfor the earth had been seen.
Within twenty-four hours we were ready for our second start.
The moon was now no longer in a position to help us on our way. It hadmoved out of line between Mars and the earth.
High above us, in the center of the heavens, glowed the red planet whichwas the goal of our journey.
The needed computations of velocity and direction of flight having beenrepeated, and the ships being all in readiness, we started direct forMars.
An enormous charge of electricity was imparted to each member of thesquadron, in order that as soon as we had reached the upper limits ofthe atmosphere, where the ships could move swiftly, without danger ofbeing consumed by the heat developed by the friction of their passagethrough the air, a very great initial velocity could be imparted.
Once started off by this tremendous electrical kick, and with noatmosphere to resist our motion, we should be able to retain the samevelocity, baring incidental encounters, until we arrived near thesurface of Mars.
When we were free of the atmosphere, and the ships were moving away fromthe earth, with the highest velocity which we were able to impart tothem, observations on the stars were made in order to determine the rateof our speed.
This was found to be ten miles in a second, or 864,000 miles in a day, avery much greater speed than that with which we had travelled onstarting to touch at the moon. Supposing this velocity to remainuniform, and, with no known resistance, it might reasonably be expectedto do so, we should arrive at Mars in a little less than forty-two days,the distance of the planet from the earth being at this time, aboutthirty-six million miles.
Nothing occurred for many days to interrupt our journey. We becameaccustomed to our strange surroundings, and many entertainments wereprovided to while away the time. The astronomers in the expedition foundplenty of occupation in studying the aspects of the stars and the otherheavenly bodies from their new point of view.
At the expiration of about thirty-five days we had drawn so near to Marsthat with our telescopes, which, though small, were of immense power, wecould discern upon its surface features and details which no one hadbeen able to glimpse from the earth.
As the surface of this world, that we were approaching as a tiger hunterdraws near the jungle, gradually unfolded itself to our inspection,there was hardly one of us willing to devote to sleep or idleness theprescribed eight hours that had been fixed as the time during which eachmember of the expedition must remain in the darkened chamber. We weretoo eager to watch for every new revelation upon Mars.
But something was in store that we had not expected. We were to meet theMartians before arriving at the world in which they dwelt.
Among the stars which shone in that quarter of the heavens where Marsappeared as the master orb, there was one, lying directly in our path,which, to our astonishment, as we continued on, altered from the aspectof a star, underwent a gradual magnification, and soon presented itselfin the form of a little planet.
"It is an asteroid," said somebody.
"Yes, evidently; but how does it come inside the orbit of Mars?"
"Oh, there are several asteroids," said one of the astronomers, "whichtravel inside the orbit of Mars, along a part of their course, and, foraught we can tell, there may be many which have not yet been caughtsight of from the earth, that are nearer to the sun than Mars is."
"This must be one of them."
"Manifestly so."
As we drew nearer the mysterious little planet revealed itself to us asa perfectly formed globe not more than five miles in diameter.
"What is that upon it?" asked Lord Kelvin, squinting intently at thelittle world through his glass. "As I live, it moves."
"Yes, yes!" exclaimed several others, "there are inhabitants upon it,but what giants!"
"What monsters!"
"Don't you see?" exclaimed an excited savant. "They are the Martians!"
The startling truth burst upon the minds of all. Here upon this littleplanetoid were several of the gigantic inhabitants of the world that wewere going to attack. There was more than one man in the flagship whorecognized them well, and who shuddered at the recognition,instinctively recalling the recent terrible experience of the earth.
Was this an outpost of the warlike Mars?
Around these monstrous enemies we saw several of their engines of war.Some of these appeared to have been wrecked, but at least one, as far aswe could see, was still in a proper condition for use.
How had these creatures got there?
"Why, that is easy enough to account for," I said, as a suddenrecollection flashed into my mind. "Don't you remember the report of theastronomers more than six months ago, at the end of the conference inWashington, that something would seem to indicate the departure of a newexpedition from Mars had been noticed by them? We have heard nothing ofthat expedition since. We know that it did not reach the earth. It musthave fallen foul of this asteroid, run upon this rock in the ocean ofspace and been wrecked here."
"We've got 'em, then," shouted our electric steersman, who had been aworkman in Mr. Edison's laboratory and had unlimited confidence in hischief.
The electrical ships were immediately instructed by signal to slow down,an operation that was easily affected through the electrical repulsionof the asteroid.
The nearer we got the more terrifying was the appearance of the giganticcreatures who were riding upon the little world before us like castawaysailors upon a block of ice. Like men, and yet not like men, combiningthe human and the beast in their appearance, it required a steady nerveto look at them. If we had not known their malignity and their power towork evil, it would have been different, but in our eyes their moralcharacter shone through their physical aspect and thus rendered themmore terrible than they would otherwise have been.
When we first saw them their appearance was most forlorn, and theirattitudes indicated only despair and desperation, but as they caughtsight of us their malign power of intellect instantly penetrated themystery, and they recognized us for what we were.
Their despair immediately gave place to reawakened malevolence. On theinstant they were astir, with such heart-chilling movements as thosethat characterize a venomous serpent preparing to strike.
Not imagining that they would be in a position
to make seriousresistance, we had been somewhat incautious in approaching.
Suddenly there was a quicker movement than usual among the Martians, aswift adjustment of that one of their engines of war which, as alreadynoticed, seemed to be practically uninjured, then there darted from itand alighted upon one of the foremost ships, a dazzling lightning strokea mile in length, at whose touch the metallic sides of the car curledand withered and, licked for a moment by what seemed lambent flames,collapsed into a mere cinder.
For an instant not a word was spoken, so sudden and unexpected was theblow.
We knew that every soul in the stricken car had perished.
"Back! Back!" was the signal instantly flashed from the flagship, andreversing their polarities the members of the squadron sprang away fromthe little planet as rapidly as the electrical impulse could drive them.
But before we were out of reach a second flaming tongue of death shotfrom the fearful engine, and another of our ships, with all its crew,was destroyed.
_"Back! Back!" was the signal instantaneously flashedfrom the flag ship, and the members of the squadron sprang away from thelittle planet. But before we were out of reach a second tongue of deathshot from the fearful engine, and another of our ships, with all itscrew, was destroyed._]
It was an inauspicious beginning for us. Two of our electrical ships,with their entire crews, had been wiped out of existence, and thisappalling blow had been dealt by a few stranded and disabled enemiesfloating on an asteroid.
What hope would there be for us when we came to encounter the millionsof Mars itself on their own ground and prepared for war?
However, it would not do to despond. We had been incautious, and weshould take good care not to commit the same fault again.
The first thing to do was to avenge the death of our comrades. Thequestion whether we were able to meet these Martians and overcome themmight as well be settled right here and now. They had proved what theycould do, even when disabled and at a disadvantage. Now it was our turn.