Edison's Conquest of Mars

by Garrett Putman Serviss

  CHAPTER NINE

  _JOURNEY'S END_

  "All aboard!" was the signal, and the squadron having assembled underthe lead of the flagship, we started again for Mars.

  This time, as it proved, there was to be no further interruption, andwhen next we paused it was in the presence of the world inhabited by ourenemies, and facing their frowning batteries.

  We did not find it so easy to start from the asteroid as it had been tostart from the earth; that is to say, we could not so readily generate avery high velocity.

  In consequence of the comparatively small size of the asteroid, itselectric influence was very much less than that of the earth, andnotwithstanding the appliances which we possessed for intensifying theelectrical effect, it was not possible to produce a sufficient repulsionto start us off for Mars with anything like the impulse which we hadreceived from the earth on our original departure.

  The utmost velocity that we could generate did not exceed three miles ina second, and to get this required our utmost efforts. In fact, it hadnot seemed possible that we should attain even so great a speed as that.It was far more than we could have expected, and even Mr. Edison wassurprised, as well as greatly gratified, when he found that we weremoving with the velocity that I have named.

  We were still about 6,000,000 miles from Mars, so that, traveling threemiles in a second, we should require at least twenty-three days to reachthe immediate neighborhood of the planet.

  Meanwhile we had plenty of occupation to make the time pass quickly. Ourprisoner was transported along with us, and we now began our attempts toascertain what his language was, and, if possible, to master itourselves.

  Before quitting the asteroid we had found that it was necessary for himto swallow one of his "air pills," as Professor Moissan had called them,at least three times in the course of every twenty-four hours. One of ussupplied him regularly and I thought that I could detect evidences of acertain degree of gratitude in his expression. This was encouraging,because it gave additional promise of the possibility of our being ableto communicate with him in some more effective way than by mere signs.But once inside the car, where we had a supply of air kept at theordinary pressure experienced on the earth, he could breathe like therest of us.

  The best linguists in the expedition, as Mr. Edison had suggested, werenow assembled in the flagship, where the prisoner was, and they set towork to devise some means of ascertaining the manner in which he wasaccustomed to express his thoughts. We had not heard him speak, becauseuntil we carried him into our car there was no atmosphere capable ofconveying any sounds he might attempt to utter.

  It seemed a fair assumption that the language of the Martians would bescientific in its structure. We had so much evidence of the practicalbent of their minds, and of the immense progress which they had made inthe direction of the scientific conquest of nature, that it was not tobe supposed their medium of communication with one another would belacking in clearness, or would possess any of the puzzling andunnecessary ambiguities that characterized the languages spoken on theearth.

  "We shall not find them making he's and she's of stones, sticks andother inanimate objects," said one of the American linguists. "They mustcertainly have gotten rid of all that nonsense long ago."

  "Ah," said a French Professor from the Sorbonne, one of the makers ofthe never-to-be-finished dictionary. "It will be like the language of mycountry. Transparent, similar to the diamond, and sparkling as is thefountain."

  "I think," said a German enthusiast, "that it will be a universallanguage, the Volapuk of Mars, spoken by all the inhabitants of thatplanet."

  "But all these speculations," broke in Mr. Edison, "do not help youmuch. Why not begin in a practical manner by finding out what theMartian calls himself, for instance."

  This seemed a good suggestion, and accordingly several of the bystandersbegan an expressive pantomime, intended to indicate to the giant, whowas following all their motions with his eyes, that they wished to knowby what name he called himself. Pointing their fingers to their ownbreast they repeated, one after the other, the word "man."

  If our prisoner had been a stupid savage, of course any such attempt asthis to make him understand would have been idle. But it must beremembered that we were dealing with a personage who had presumablyinherited from hundreds of generations the results of a civilization,and an intellectual advance, measured by the constant progress ofmillions of years.

  Accordingly we were not very much astonished, when, after a fewrepetitions of the experiment, the Martian--one of whose arms had beenpartially released from its bonds in order to give him a little freedomof motion--imitated the action of his interrogators by pressing hisfinger over his heart.

  Then, opening his mouth, he gave utterance to a sound which shook theair of the car like the hoarse roar of a lion. He seemed himselfsurprised by the noise he made, for he had not been used to speak in sodense an atmosphere.

  Our ears were deafened and confused, and we recoiled in astonishment,not to say, half in terror.

  With an ugly grin distorting his face as if he enjoyed our discomfiture,the Martian repeated the motion and the sound.

  "R-r-r-r-r-r-h!"

  It was not articulate to our ears and not to be represented by anycombination of letters.

  "Faith," exclaimed a Dublin University professor, "if that's what theycall themselves, how shall we ever translate their names when we come towrite the history of the conquest?"

  "Whist, mon," replied a professor from the University of Aberdeen, "letus whip the gillravaging villains first, and then we can describe themby any intitulation that may suit our deesposition."

  The beginning of our linguistic conquest was certainly not promising, atleast if measured by our acquirement of words, but from another point ofview it was very gratifying, inasmuch as it was plain that the Martianunderstood what we were trying to do, and was, for the present, atleast, disposed to aid us.

  These efforts to learn the language of Mars were renewed and repeatedevery few hours, all the experience, learning and genius of the squadronbeing concentrated upon the work, and the result was that in the courseof a few days we had actually succeeded in learning a dozen or more ofthe Martian's words and were able to make him understand us when wepronounced them, as well as to understand him when our ears had becomeaccustomed to the growling of his voice.

  Finally, one day the prisoner, who seemed to be in an unusually cheerfulframe of mind, indicated that he carried in his breast some object whichhe wished us to see.

  With our assistance he pulled out a book!

  Actually, it was a book, not very unlike the books which we have uponthe earth, but printed, of course, in characters that were entirelystrange and unknown to us. Yet these characters evidently gaveexpression to a highly intellectual language. All those who werestanding by at the moment uttered a shout of wonder and of delight, andthe cry of "a book! a book!" ran around the circle, and the good newswas even promptly communicated to some of the neighboring electric shipsof the squadron. Several other learned men were summoned in haste fromthem to examine our new treasure.

  _Actually, it was a book that the prisoner produced, andthen he proceeded to teach us, as well as he could, several words of hislanguage._]

  The Martian, whose good nature had manifestly been growing day afterday, watched our inspection of his book with evidences of greatinterest, not unmingled with amusement. Finally he beckoned the holderof the book to his side, and placing his broad finger upon one of thehuge letters--if letters they were, for they more nearly resembled thecharacters employed by the Chinese printer--he uttered a sound which we,of course, took to be a word, but which was different from any we hadyet heard. Then he pointed to one after another of us standing around.

  "Ah," explained everybody, the truth being apparent, "that is the wordby which the Martians designate us. They have a name, then, for theinhabitants of the earth."

  "Or, perhaps, it is rather the name for the earth itself," said one.
<
br />   But this could not, of course, be at once determined. Anyhow, the word,whatever its precise meaning might be, had now been added to ourvocabulary, although as yet our organs of speech proved unable toreproduce it in a recognizable form.

  This promising and unexpected discovery of the Martian's book lent addedenthusiasm to those who were engaged in the work of trying to master thelanguage of our prisoner, and the progress that they made in the courseof the next few days was truly astonishing. If the prisoner had beenunwilling to aid them, of course, it would have been impossible toproceed, but, fortunately for us, he seemed more and more to enter intothe spirit of the undertaking, and actually to enjoy it himself. Sobright and quick was his understanding that he was even able to indicateto us methods of mastering his language that would otherwise, probably,never have occurred to our minds.

  In fact, in a very short time he had turned teacher and all theselearned men, pressing around him with eager attention, had become hispupils.

  I cannot undertake to say precisely how much of the Martian language hadbeen acquired by the chief linguists of the expedition before the timewhen we arrived so near to Mars that it became necessary for most of usto abandon our studies in order to make ready for the more seriousbusiness which now confronted us.

  But, at any rate, the acquisition was so considerable as to allow of theinterchange of ordinary ideas with our prisoner, and there was no longerany doubt that he would be able to give us much information when welanded on his native planet.

  At the end of twenty-three days as measured by terrestrial time, sinceour departure from the asteroid, we arrived in the sky of Mars.

  For a long time the ruddy planet had been growing larger and moreformidable, gradually turning from a huge star into a great red moon,and then expanding more and more until it began to shut out from sightthe constellations behind it. The curious markings on its surface, whichfrom the earth can only be dimly glimpsed with a powerful telescope,began to reveal themselves clearly to our naked eyes.

  I have related how even before we had reached the asteroid, Mars beganto present a most imposing appearance as we saw it with our telescopes.Now, however, that it was close at hand, the naked eye view of theplanet was more wonderful than anything we had been able to see withtelescopes when at a greater distance.

  We were approaching the southern hemisphere of Mars in about latitude 45degrees south. It was near the time of the vernal equinox in thathemisphere of the planet, and under the stimulating influence of thespring sun, rising higher and higher every day, some such awakening oflife and activity upon its surface as occurs on the earth under similarcircumstances was evidently going on.

  Around the South Pole were spread immense fields of snow and ice,gleaming with great brilliance. Cutting deep into the borders of theseice-fields, we could see broad channels of open water, indicating therapid breaking of the grip of the frost.

  Almost directly beneath us was a broad oval region, light red in color,to which terrestrial astronomers had given the name of Hellas. Towardthe south, between Hellas and the borders of the polar ice, was a greatbelt of darkness that astronomers had always been inclined to regard asa sea. Looking toward the north, we could perceive the immense redexpanses of the continent of Mars, with the long curved line of theSyrtis Major, or "The Hour-glass Sea," sweeping through the midst ofthem toward the north until it disappeared under the horizon.

  Crossing and recrossing the red continent, in every direction, were thecanals of Schiaparelli.

  Plentifully sprinkled over the surface we could see brilliant points,some of dazzling brightness, outshining the daylight. There was also anastonishing variety in the colors of the broad expanses beneath us.Activity, vivacity and beauty, such as we were utterly unprepared tobehold, expressed their presence on all sides.

  The excitement on the flagship and among the other members of thesquadron was immense. It was certainly a thrilling scene. Here, rightunder our feet, lay the world we had come to do battle with. Itsappearances, while recalling in some of their broader aspects thosewhich it had presented when viewed from our observatories, were far morestrange, complex and wonderful than any astronomer had ever dreamed.Suppose all of our anticipations about Mars should prove to have beenwrong, after all?

  There could be no longer any question that it was a world which, if notabsolutely teeming with inhabitants, like a gigantic ant-hill, at anyrate bore on every side the marks of their presence and of theirincredible undertakings and achievements.

  Here and there clouds of smoke arose and spread slowly through theatmosphere beneath us. Floating higher above the surface of the planetwere clouds of vapor, assuming the familiar forms of stratus and cumuluswith which we were acquainted upon the earth.

  These clouds, however, seemed upon the whole to be much less dense thanthose to which we were accustomed at home. They had, too, a peculiariridescent beauty as if there was something in their composition ortheir texture which split up the chromatic elements of the sunlight andthus produced internal rainbow effects that caused some of the heaviercloud masses to resemble immense collections of opals, alive with theplay of ever-changing colors and magically suspended above the planet.

  As we continued to study the phenomena that was gradually unfoldedbeneath us we thought we could detect in many places evidences of theexistence of strong fortifications. The planet of war appeared to beprepared for the attacks of enemies. Since, as our own experience hadshown, it sometimes waged war with distant planets, it was but naturalthat it should be found prepared to resist foes who might be disposed torevenge themselves for injuries suffered at its hands.

  As had been expected, our prisoner now proved to be of very greatassistance to us. Apparently he took a certain pride in exhibiting tostrangers from a distant world the beauties and wonders of his ownplanet.

  We could not understand by any means all that he said, but we couldreadily comprehend, from his gestures, and from the manner in which hisfeatures lighted up at the recognition of familiar scenes and objects,what his sentiments in regard to them were, and, in a general way, whatpart they played in the life of the planet.

  He confirmed our opinion that certain of the works which we saw beneathus were fortifications, intended for the protection of the planetagainst invaders from outer space. A cunning and almost diabolical lookcame into his eyes as he pointed to one of these strongholds.

  His confidence and his mocking looks were not reassuring to us. He knewwhat his planet was capable of, and we did not. He had seen, on theasteroid, the extent of our power, and while its display served tointimidate him there, yet now that he and we together were facing theworld of his birth, his fear had evidently fallen from him, and he hadthe manner of one who feels that the shield of an all-powerful protectorhad been extended over him.

  But it could not be long now before we could ascertain, by theirrevocable test of actual experience, whether the Martians possessedthe power to annihilate us or not.

  How shall I describe our feelings as we gazed at the scene spreadbeneath us? They were not quite the same as those of the discoverer ofnew lands upon the earth. This was a whole new world that we haddiscovered, and it was filled, as we could see, with inhabitants.

  But that was not all. We had not come with peaceful intentions.

  We were to make war on this new world.

  Deducting our losses we had not more than 940 men left. With these wewere to undertake the conquest of a world containing we could not sayhow many millions!

  Our enemies, instead of being below us in the scale of intelligencewere, we had every reason to believe, greatly our superiors. They hadproved that they possessed a command over the powers of nature such aswe, up to the time when Mr. Edison made his inventions, had not evendreamed that it was possible for us to obtain.

  It was true that at present we appeared to have the advantage, both inour electrical ships and in our means of offense. The disintegrator wasat least as powerful an engine of destruction as any that the Martianshad yet
shown that they possessed. It did not seem that in that respectthey could possibly excel us.

  During the brief war with the Martians upon the earth it had beengunpowder against a mysterious force as much stronger than gunpowder asthe latter was superior to the bows and arrows that preceded it.

  There had been no comparison whatever between the offensive meansemployed by the two parties in the struggle on the earth.

  But the genius of one man had suddenly put us on the level of ourenemies in regard to fighting capacity.

  Then, too, our electrical ships were far more effective for theirpurpose than the projectile cars used by the Martians. In fact, theprinciple upon which they were based was, at bottom, so simple that itseemed astonishing the Martians had not hit upon it.

  Mr. Edison himself was never tired of saying in reference to thismatter:

  "I cannot understand why the Martians did not invent these things. Theyhave given ample proof that they understand electricity better than wedo. Why should they have resorted to the comparatively awkward andbungling means of getting from one planet to another that they haveemployed when they might have ridden through the solar system in suchconveyances as ours with perfect ease?"

  "And besides," Mr. Edison would add, "I cannot understand why they didnot employ the principle of harmonic vibrations in the construction oftheir engines of war. The lightning-like strokes which they dealt fromtheir machines are no doubt equally powerful, but I think the range ofdestruction covered by the disintegrators is greater."

  However, these questions must remain open until we could effect alanding on Mars, and learn something of the condition of things there.

  The thing that gave us the most uneasiness was the fact that we did notyet know what powers the Martians might have in reserve. It was butnatural to suppose that here, on their own ground, they would possessmeans of defense even more effective than the offensive engines they hademployed in attacking enemies so many millions of miles from home.

  It was important that we should waste no time, and it was equallyimportant that we should select the most vulnerable point for attack. Itwas self-evident, therefore, that our first duty would be to reconnoiterthe surface of the planet and determine its weakest point of defense.

  At first Mr. Edison contemplated sending the various ships in differentdirections around the planet in order that the work of exploration mightbe quickly accomplished. But upon second thought it seemed wiser to keepthe squadron together, thus diminishing the chance of disaster.

  Besides, the commander wished to see with his own eyes the exactsituation of the various parts of the planet, where it might appearadvisable for us to begin our assault.

  Thus far we had remained suspended at so great a height above the planetthat we had hardly entered into the perceptible limits of its atmosphereand there was no evidence that we had been seen by the inhabitants ofMars; but before starting on our voyage of exploration it was determinedto drop down closer to the surface in order that we might the morecertainly identify the localities over which we passed.

  This maneuver nearly got us into serious trouble.

  When we had arrived within a distance of three miles from the surface ofMars we suddenly perceived approaching from the eastward a large airshipwhich was navigating the Martian atmosphere at a height of perhaps halfa mile above the ground.

  _When we arrived within a distance of three milesfrom the surface of Mars we suddenly perceived approaching from theeastward a large airship, which was navigating the Martian atmosphere ata height of perhaps half a mile above the ground._]

  This airship moved rapidly on to a point nearly beneath us, when itsuddenly paused, reversed its course, and evidently made signals, thepurpose of which was not at first evident to us.

  But in a short time their meaning became perfectly plain, when we foundourselves surrounded by at least twenty similar aerostats approachingswiftly from different sides.

  It was a great mystery to us where so many airships had been concealedprevious to their sudden appearance in answer to the signals.

  But the mystery was quickly solved when we saw detaching itself from thesurface of the planet beneath us, where, while it remained immovable,its color had blended with that of the soil so as to render itinvisible, another of the mysterious ships.

  Then our startled eyes beheld on all sides these formidable-lookingenemies rising from the ground beneath us like so many gigantic insects,disturbed by a sudden alarm.

  In a short time the atmosphere a mile or two below us, and to a distanceof perhaps twenty miles around in every direction, was alive withairships of various sizes, and some of most extraordinary forms,exchanging signals, rushing to and fro, but all finally concentratingbeneath the place where our squadron was suspended.

  We had poked the hornet's nest with a vengeance!

  As yet there had been no sting, but we might quickly expect to feel itif we did not get out of range.

  Quickly instructions were flashed to the squadrons to rise as rapidly aspossible to a great height.

  It was evident that this maneuver would save us from danger if it werequickly effected, because the airships of the Martians were simplyairships and nothing more. They could only float in the atmosphere, andhad no means of rising above it, or of navigating empty space.

  To have turned our disintegrators upon them, and to have begun a battlethen and there, would have been folly.

  They overwhelmingly outnumbered us, the majority of them were yet at aconsiderable distance and we could not have done battle, even with ourentire squadron acting together, with more than one-quarter of themsimultaneously. In the meantime the others would have surrounded andmight have destroyed us. We must first get some idea of the planet'smeans of defence before we ventured to assail it.

  Having risen rapidly to a height of twenty-five or thirty miles, so thatwe could feel confident that our ships had vanished at least from thenaked eye view of our enemies beneath, a brief consultation was held.

  It was determined to adhere to our original program and tocircumnavigate Mars in every direction before proceeding to open thewar.

  The overwhelming forces shown by the enemy had intimidated even some ofthe most courageous of our men, but still it was universally felt thatit would not do to retreat without a blow struck.

  The more we saw of the power of the Martians, the more we becameconvinced that there would be no hope for the earth, if these enemiesever again effected a landing upon its surface, the more especiallysince our squadron contained nearly all of the earth's force that wouldbe effective in such a contest.

  With Mr. Edison and the other men of science away, they would not beable at home to construct such engines as we possessed, or to managethem even if they were constructed.

  Our planet had staked everything on a single throw.

  These considerations again steeled our hearts, and made us bear up asbravely as possible in the face of the terrible odds that confronted us.

  Turning the noses of our electrical ships toward the west, we began ourcircumnavigation.