by Mark Wicks
CHAPTER XVI
WE LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT THE POWERS OF THE MARTIANS
The next morning Merna arrived early, and breakfasted with us; and, assoon as the meal was over, we started out. The air was bracing andexhilarating, and we felt so extremely light and buoyant that we almostseemed to want to run, skip, and jump, as we did in our earlychildhood's days.
We went first to have a look at the _Areonal_, but, on arriving at theopen space where we had left it, were unable to see it! The dais hadbeen cleared away, also the pavilions; whilst in the centre of the openspace there was a large building.
We felt rather puzzled at this change, for we were sure no such buildingstood there yesterday. Merna, however, led us across to it, and toucheda switch, which swung open a pair of large doors so that we could seeinto the interior of the building.
There we saw our own good ship, the _Areonal_, safely housed in asubstantial-looking building, which had apparently sprung up in a singlenight.
We all looked at Merna inquiringly, and he smiled, saying, "Ah, you arenot used to the Martian way of doing things! This seems to you veryquick work, no doubt; but the erection of the building was not such aheavy and laborious task as it would have been upon the earth. Owing tothe lesser gravitation here, and to the larger physical development ofour people on Mars, one man can accomplish in the same time what itwould require many men to achieve upon the earth. Besides, we havelabour-saving machinery and apparatus which your scientific men have notyet even dreamt of.
"Thus, what seems to you an extraordinary piece of work to be finishedin so short a time, is really nothing out of the common here, especiallyas the structure is only of a temporary character."
"Mon," said M'Allister, turning to John, "if our earth had been likeMars we wouldn't have taken so many months to build our vessel and itsshed!"
John answered him, and turning to Merna, said, "There is something I amvery anxious to ask you about, as it concerns myself and my relationswith the inhabitants of this planet. I do not wish to infringe any oftheir regulations here, or to give any cause of offence, but----"
Then Merna held up his hand, and smiling, said, "You need not say anymore, John; I know exactly what you wish to ask me; and, without itbeing said, can reply to you. You may smoke as much as you like whenout-doors, without fear of offending any one here; but in public orprivate assemblies, notice what others do, and act accordingly. It istrue only a small proportion of our population indulge in smoking,except in the colder regions; but please understand that amongst usMartians there are few restrictions as to conduct or custom, and,provided that nothing really dangerous or annoying to the community isdone, every one can please himself.
"We leave all such things to the good sense of the individual, and aMartian can be trusted to regulate his habits and conduct withoutneeding penalties to compel the observance of regulations orrestrictions."
We looked at each other significantly, but without saying anything; forwe all realised the truth of Merna's statement of the previous eveningto the effect that the Martians were able to divine what might be in themind of another without his having to speak. Not one of us had mentionedsmoking before Merna, yet he knew exactly what John had upon his mindand was about to ask him.
I thought it was my turn now to obtain some information, so said toMerna, "There is also something which I am very anxious to ask youabout."
"Oh yes, sir," replied he, again smiling; "you are anxious to knowwhether we really possess an elaborate system of canalisation upon Mars,and I can soon set your mind at rest upon that point. Indeed, it was inorder to make arrangements for conducting you to inspect some of thecanals that I left you yesterday after parting with the Chief.
"Our seas and other large bodies of water have long ceased to exist, andwe are therefore dependent upon the water arising from the dissolvingsnow of our polar snow-caps for a supply of that prime necessary oflife. Our canal system is, therefore, the most supremely important workwhich we have to maintain and develop, so that every part of the planetmay be supplied with water, and also kept in touch with the rest of theplanet. You must clearly understand that upon the adequacy and perfectworking of the canals all life here is dependent; so every other matteris regarded as of lesser importance."
I may here say that we afterwards learnt that the positions of thehigher officials connected with the administration of the canal systemare regarded as amongst the highest and most honourable offices that aMartian can aspire to; and, moreover, that Merna himself held a veryresponsible position in the engineering department connected with thecanals.
Merna then went on to say: "You will see for yourselves, presently, whatour canals are like; for I am about to take you across to a point whereyou will have a good view over the country.
"As our canals are such conspicuous features upon our planet, especiallywhere they cross the deserts, our experts have long been endeavouring,by various means, to transmit influences to the earth, in order todirect your people's attention to the regular lines they form, and thusconvince them that Mars is inhabited by intelligent beings. Probably itis the case that very few of your scientific men are endowed withintelligences both sufficiently advanced, and sufficiently adaptable andreceptive of new ideas, to enable them to assimilate and make use of theinfluences thus transmitted; but still we know that some must havegrasped the situation."
"Merna," I answered, "that is quite true; but, of course, I cannot saywhether it has been the result of Martian influences. Thirty years agoone of our great observers saw and mapped many of the canal lines; andyears before that, others had seen them imperfectly, and drawn portionsof them on their maps. Our first and greatest exponent of the idea thatthey were really canals was, however, Professor Lowell, an Americanastronomer, whose fame has spread all over our world. He has not onlybeen a constant observer of Mars for many years, but has mapped outyour canal systems from observations made by himself and his colleagues.He has also formulated a reasonable and, as it now appears, trueexplanation of their object and purpose; as well as demonstrating theirexistence to be a prime necessity for the well-being of your people.
"It is true he has met with much opposition; not only from those whohave but limited knowledge, and refuse to believe anything they cannotsee themselves, but from the older school of astronomers, who are notvery receptive of new ideas; and who are, perhaps, naturally reluctantto admit the inadequacy or inaccuracy of their early theories. This is avery common failing with experts of all kinds, and we have had manyinstances of it in connection with astronomy all through our history;but we have amongst us many intelligent persons who are open toconviction, being unfettered in regard to particular theories. They are,therefore, not only willing, but eager to examine the evidence which hasbeen collected, and to form their own opinions on the subject."
"I am very glad to hear you say so, sir," replied Merna; "and now Iwould like to ask you whether, during the last thirty-five years or so,there has not been an extraordinary advance in knowledge amongst yourpeople in connection with such sciences as electricity, telegraphy,light and engineering, as well as in astronomy?
"I ask because our experts have been most earnestly endeavouring duringthat time to transmit some of their knowledge on these subjects to yourscientific people on the earth, and we have some reason to believe thattheir efforts have been, at least, partially successful."
I assured him that our advance in regard to these subjects had reallybeen phenomenal during the period he mentioned. Probably during noprevious period in the history of our world had so many useful,important, and even amazing discoveries been made during such a shortspace of time.
I gave particulars of the great discoveries and rapid developments inconnection with electricity, wireless telegraphy, the telephone,Hertzian waves, X and N rays, spectroscopy, colour-photography, andtelectrography. I also mentioned the discovery of radium, helium, andargon; the medical use of light and bacteriology; together with theinvention of the turbine engine, motor cars, flying mac
hines; alsophonographs and other kinds of talking machines.
Merna expressed himself as very gratified at this information; andremarked that our progress would be still more rapid in the future, asit was quite evident that there were terrestrial intelligences whichwere readily receptive, and capable of high development. He promisedthat what I had told him should be made known in the proper quarters;and added that the Martians would be encouraged to persevere in theirefforts to impart such knowledge as would aid in the general advancementof science in our world.
He then asked me, "Whether, in connection with new discoveries, it hadbeen found that more than one person had developed the new ideas aboutthe same time?"
"Yes, Merna," I replied; "it has often been observed that similarinventions have been made by several people at the same time: althoughthey have worked quite independently, and were totally unaware of whatwas being done by each other."
"That," said Merna, "is a natural consequence of these influences; forthey are in the air, so to speak, and have only to be brought intoconnection with the appropriate intellects to be assimilated and carriedinto effect."
I then asked him if he could explain how the influences acted; and hereplied that in most cases they formed a sort of mental picture, whichwould be mentally seen and understood by a person sufficiently endowedwith the necessary knowledge; but if he were not so endowed, or notreceptive of new ideas, then he would learn nothing from the influences.
Thus a mental picture of some new and unknown piece of machinery wouldmean nothing to an unmechanical mind, or even to a mechanical mind whichwas not endowed also with the inventive faculty. In other cases onlythoughts in the abstract could be sent, and these were more likely toremain unassimilated than the mental pictures, as a very high order ofintellect was required to receive such thoughts.
I then informed him that our greatest and most daring electrician,Nicola Tesla, was firmly convinced that he had discovered planetarydisturbances of an electrical nature which had reached our world. Thisoccurred as far back as the year 1899; and, in the course of laterscientific investigations, he found that the disturbances could not havecome from the sun, the moon, or Venus. Further study has, he says, quitesatisfied him that they must have emanated from Mars.
I added that Tesla was at work perfecting an apparatus which he wasconvinced would be the means of putting him into communication withother planets, by means of a wireless transmitter. This, he states, willproduce vibrations of enormous power, and he has devised a means ofproducing oscillations of the most tremendous intensity. He states thathe has actually passed a current round the earth which attained manymillions of horse-power, and feels assured that he has already succeededin producing electrical disturbances on Mars by the aid of this current."Those disturbances," he adds, "are much more powerful than anythingwhich could be obtained by means of light reflectors, no matter howlarge such reflectors might be, or how wide an area they might be madeto cover."
At the same time I pointed out that these are Tesla's own statements,and not mere second-hand reports or newspaper inventions!
Merna said that this information was really very gratifying, and gavehim the greatest satisfaction; for it showed that the Martians'endeavours to communicate with us would ultimately be successful,because there was at least one man upon the earth capable of devisingthe necessary apparatus for receiving and transmitting suchcommunications. He further remarked that it was quite true thatelectrical disturbances had reached Mars from another planet, but addedthat no effective communication was possible by means of light rays, asthe two planets were never so situated in regard to each other as torender such a mode of signalling practicable.
I was just about to speak when Merna held up his hand to enjoin silence,and stood as though he were listening attentively to somecommunication.
After a minute or so he told us he had just received a mentalcommunication from Soranho, stating that he had despatched a messengerto us with an urgent letter. Then he added, "We had better wait hereuntil the messenger arrives."
"So," I said, "your wireless telegraphy is evidently much in advance ofours, for you seem to dispense with apparatus altogether!"
"Yes, sir," he replied; "you see this is one of the senses I told you weMartians possessed; but some of our people who are somewhat deficient inthis sense still use the small pocket receivers and transmitters whichhave long become obsolete amongst the generality of our population.
"I have already given you two illustrations of the truth of mystatement, that we are able to divine what is in each other's mindwithout it being necessary to speak. Still, I wish you to understandthat we never allow this power to spoil conversation. You might,perhaps, think that because we know what each was about to say, thewords would remain unsaid, and we would, therefore, be a rather taciturnpeople. That is not so. The faculty is a very useful one to us on manyoccasions; but, as I remarked, we never allow it to spoil conversation."
"That seems to me a very sensible and practical arrangement," remarkedJohn.
"Well," replied Merna, "I hope, and I think, you will find us a verysensible and practical nation."
At this moment an official came up to us, and after saluting, handedMerna a packet. Having opened and read the communication it contained,he turned to us and gave each a document which had been enclosed; atthe same time saying that it was a formal invitation for our attendanceat a banquet in the evening, for the purpose of meeting the Chief of theCouncil and other high personages, and for social intercourse.
We all expressed our thanks, and, of course, accepted the invitation.The official, having received the requisite reply from Merna, againsaluted, and then retired.