_A PLANET OF GOLD_
The squadron had been rapidly withdrawn to a very considerable distance
from the asteroid. The range of the mysterious artillery employed by the
Martians was unknown to us. We did not even know the limit of the
effective range of our own disintegrators. If it should prove that the
Martians were able to deal their strokes at a distance greater than any
we could reach, then they would of course have an insuperable advantage.
On the other hand, if it should turn out that our range was greater than
theirs, the advantage would be on our side. Or--which was perhaps most
probable--there might be practically no difference in the effective
range of the engines.
Anyhow, we were going to find out how the case stood, and that without
delay.
Everything being in readiness, the disintegrators all in working order,
and the men who were able to handle them, most of whom were experienced
marksmen, chosen from among the officers of the regular army of the
United States, and accustomed to the straight shooting and the sure hits
of the West, standing at their posts, the squadron again advanced.
In order to distract the attention of the Martians, the electrical ships
had been distributed over a wide space. Some dropped straight down
toward the asteroid; others approached it by flank attack, from this
side and that. The flagship moved straight in toward the point where the
first disaster occurred. Its intrepid commander felt that his post
should be that of the greatest danger, and where the severest blows
would be given and received.
The approach of the ships was made with great caution. Watching the
Martians with our telescopes we could clearly see that they were
disconcerted by the scattered order of our attack. Even if all of their
engines of war had been in proper condition for use it would have been
impossible for them to meet the simultaneous assault of so many enemies
dropping down upon them from the sky.
But they were made of fighting mettle, as we knew from old experience.
It was no question of surrender. They did not know how to surrender, and
we did not know how to demand their surrender. Besides, the destruction
of the two electrical ships with the forty men, many of whom bore names
widely known upon the earth, had excited a kind of fury among the
members of the squadron which called for vengeance.
Suddenly a repetition of the quick movement by the Martians, which had
been the forerunner of the former coup, was observed; again a blinding
flash burst from their war engines and instantaneously a shiver ran
through the frame of the flagship; the air within quivered with strange
pulsations and seemed suddenly to have assumed the temperature of a
blast furnace.
We all gasped for breath. Our throats and lungs seemed scorched in the
act of breathing. Some fell unconscious upon the floor. The marksmen,
carrying the disintegrators ready for use, staggered, and one of them
dropped his instrument.
But we had not been destroyed like our comrades before us. In a moment
the wave of heat passed; those who had fallen recovered from their
momentary stupor and staggered to their feet.
The electrical steersman stood hesitating at his post.
"Move on," said Mr. Edison sternly, his features set with determination
and his eyes afire.
"We are still beyond their effective range. Let us get closer in order
to make sure work when we strike."
The ship moved on. One could hear the heartbeats of its inmates. The
other members of the squadron, thinking for the moment that disaster had
overtaken the flagship, had paused and seemed to be meditating flight.
"Signal them to move on," said Mr. Edison.
The signal was given, and the circle of electrical ships closed in upon
the asteroid.
In the meantime Mr. Edison had been donning his air-tight suit. Before
we could clearly comprehend his intention he had passed through the
double trapped door which gave access to the exterior of the car without
permitting the loss of air, and was standing upon what served as the
deck of the ship.
In his hand he carried a disintegrator. With a quick motion he sighted
it.
As quickly as possible I sprang to his side. I was just in time to note
the familiar blue gleam about the instrument, which indicated that its
terrific energies were at work. The whirring sound was absent, because
here, in open space, where there was no atmosphere, there could be no
sound.
My eyes were fixed upon the Martian's engine, which had just dealt us a
staggering, but not fatal, blow, and particularly I noticed a polished
knob projecting from it which seemed to have been the focus from which
its destructive bolt emanated.
A moment later the knob disappeared. The irresistible vibrations darted
from the electrical disintegrator and had fallen upon it and
instantaneously shattered it into atoms.
"That fixes them," said Mr. Edison, turning to me with a smile.
And indeed it did fix them. We had most effectually spiked their gun. It
would deal no more death blows.
The doings of the flagship had been closely watched throughout the
squadron. The effect of its blow had been evident to all, and a moment
later we saw, on some of the nearer ships, men dressed in their air
suits, appearing upon the deck, swinging their arms and sending forth
soundless cheers into empty space.
The stroke that we had dealt was taken by several of the electrical
ships as a signal for a common assault, and we saw two of the Martians
fall beside the ruins of their engine, their heads having been blown
from their bodies.
"Signal them to stop firing," commanded Mr. Edison. "We have got them
down, and we are not going to murder them without necessity."
"Besides," he added, "I want to capture some of them alive."
The signal was given as he had ordered. The flagship then alone dropped
slowly toward the place on the asteroid where the prostrate Martians
were.
As we got near them a terrible scene unfolded itself to our eyes. There
had evidentially been not more than a half dozen of the monsters in the
beginning. Two of these were stretched headless upon the ground. Three
others had suffered horrible injuries where the invisible vibratory
beams from the disintegrators had grazed them, and they could not long
survive. One only remained apparently uninjured.
[Illustration: _As we got near them a terrible scene unfolded itself.
Two of the Martians were stretched headless upon the ground. Three
others had suffered horrible injuries, and only one remained apparently
unhurt._]
It is impossible for me to describe the appearance of this creature in
terms that would be readily understood. Was he like a man? Yes and no.
He possessed many human characteristics, but they were exaggerated and
monstrous in scale and in detail. His head was of enormous size, and his
huge projecting eyes gleamed with a strange fire of intelligence. His
face was like a caricature, but not one to make the beholder laugh.
Drawing himself up, he towered to a height of at least fifteen feet.
But let the reader not suppose from this inadequate description that the
Martians stirred in the beholder precisely the sensation that would be
caused by the sight of a gorilla, or other repulsive inhabitant of our
terrestrial jungles, suddenly confronting him in its native wilds.
With all his horrible characteristics, and all his suggestions of beast
and monster, nevertheless the Martian produced the impression of being a
person and not a mere animal.
I have already referred to the enormous size of his head, and to the
fact that his countenance bore considerable resemblance to that of a
man. There was something in his face that sent a shiver through the soul
of the beholder. One could feel in looking upon it that here was
intellect, intelligence developed to the highest degree, but in the
direction of evil instead of good.
The sensations of one who had stood face to face with Satan, when he was
driven from the battlements of heaven by the swords of his fellow
archangels, and had beheld him transformed from Lucifer, the Son of the
Morning, into the Prince of Night and Hell, might not have been unlike
those which we now experienced as we gazed upon this dreadful personage,
who seemed to combine the intellectual powers of a man, raised to their
highest pitch, with some of the physical features of a beast, and all
the moral depravity of a fiend.
The appearance of the Martian was indeed so threatening and repellent
that we paused at the height of fifty feet above the ground, hesitating
to approach nearer. A grin of rage and hate overspread his face. If he
had been a man I should say he shook his fist at us. What he did was to
express in even more telling pantomime his hatred and defiance, and his
determination to grind us to shreds if he could once get us within his
clutches.
Mr. Edison and I still stood upon the deck of the ship, where several
others had gathered around us. The atmosphere of the little asteroid was
so rare that it practically amounted to nothing, and we could not
possibly have survived if we had not continued to wear our air tight
suits. How the Martians contrived to live here was a mystery to us. It
was another of their secrets which we were yet to learn.
Mr. Edison retained his disintegrator in his hand.
"Kill him," said someone. "He is too horrible to live."
"If we do not kill him we shall never be able to land upon the
asteroid," said another.
"No," said Mr. Edison. "I shall not kill him. We have got another use
for him. Tom," he continued, turning to one of his assistants, whom he
had brought from his laboratory, "bring me the anaesthetic."
This was something entirely new to nearly all the members of the
expedition. Mr. Edison, however, had confided to me before we left the
earth the fact that he had invented a little instrument by means of
which a bubble, strongly charged with a powerful anaesthetic agent,
could be driven to a considerable distance into the face of an enemy,
where exploding without other damage, it would instantly put him to
sleep.
When Tom had placed the instrument in his hands Mr. Edison ordered the
electrical ship to forge slightly ahead and drop a little lower toward
the Martian, who, with watchful eyes and threatening gestures, noted our
approach in the attitude of a wild beast on the spring. Suddenly Mr.
Edison discharged from the instrument in his hand a little gaseous
globe, which glittered like a ball of tangled rainbows in the sunshine,
and darted with astonishing velocity straight into the upturned face of
the Martian. It burst as it touched and the monster fell back senseless
upon the ground.
"You have killed him!" exclaimed all.
"No," said Mr. Edison. "He is not dead, only asleep. Now we shall drop
down and bind him tight before he can awake."
When we came to bind our prisoner with strong ropes we were more than
ever impressed with his gigantic stature and strength. Evidentially in
single combat with equal weapons he would have been a match for twenty
of us.
[Illustration: _"When we came to bind our prisoner with strong ropes
we were more than ever impressed with his gigantic stature and strength.
He might have been a match for twenty of us."_]
All that I had read of giants had failed to produce upon my mind the
impression of enormous size and tremendous physical energy which the
sleeping body of this immense Martian produced. He had fallen on his
back, and was in a most profound slumber. All his features were relaxed,
and yet even in that condition there was a devilishness about him that
made the beholders instinctively shudder.
So powerful was the effect of the anaesthetic which Mr. Edison had
discharged into his face that he remained perfectly unconscious while we
turned him half over in order the more securely to bind his muscular
limbs.
In the meantime the other electrical ships approached, and several of
them made a landing upon the asteroid. Everybody was eager to see this
wonderful little world, which, as I have already remarked, was only five
miles in diameter.
Several of us from the flagship started out hastily to explore the
miniature planet. And now our attention was recalled to an intensely
interesting phenomenon which had engaged our thoughts not only when we
were upon the moon, but during our flight through space. This was the
almost entire absence of weight.
On the moon, where the force of gravitation is one-sixths as great as
upon the earth, we had found ourselves astonishingly light. Five-sixths
of our own weight, and of the weight of the air-tight suits in which we
were encased, had magically dropped from us. It was therefore
comparatively easy for us, encumbered, as we were, to make our way about
on the moon.
But when we were far from both the earth and the moon, the loss of
weight was more astonishing still--not astonishing because we had not
known that it would be so, but nevertheless a surprising phenomenon in
contrast with our lifelong experience on the earth.
In open space we were practically without weight. Only the mass of the
electrical car in which we were enclosed attracted us, and inside that
we could place ourselves in any position without falling. We could float
in the air. There was no up and no down, no top and no bottom for us.
Stepping outside the car, it would have been easy for us to spring away
from it and leave it forever.
One of the most startling experiences that I have ever had was one day
when we were navigating space about half way between the earth and Mars.
I had stepped outside the car with Lord Kelvin, both of us, of course,
wearing our air-tight suits. We were perfectly well aware what would be
the consequence of detaching ourselves from the car as we moved along.
We should still retain the forward motion of the car, and of course
accompany it in its flight. There would be no falling one way or the
other. The car would have a tendency to draw us back again by its
attraction, but this tendency would be very slight, and practically
inappreciable at a distance.
"I am going to step off," I suddenly said to Lord Kelvin. "Of course I
shall keep right along with the car, and step aboard again when I am
ready."
"Quite right on general principles, young man," replied the great
savant, "but beware in what manner you step off. Remember, if you give
your body an impulse sufficient to carry it away from the car to any
considerable distance, you will be unable to get back again, unless we
can catch you with a boathook or a fishline. Out there in empty space
you will have nothing to kick against, and you will be unable to propel
yourself in the direction of the car, and its attraction is so feeble
that we should probably arrive at Mars before it had drawn you back
again."
All this was, of course, perfectly self-evident, yet I believe that but
for the warning words of Lord Kelvin I should have been rash enough to
step out into empty space, with sufficient force to have separated
myself hopelessly from the electrical ship.
As it was, I took good care to retain a hold upon a projecting portion
of the car. Occasionally cautiously releasing my grip, I experienced for
a few minutes the delicious, indescribable pleasure of being a little
planet swinging through space, with nothing to hold me up and nothing to
interfere with my motion.
Mr. Edison, happening to come upon the deck of the ship at this time,
and seeing what we were about at once said:
"I must provide against this danger. If I do not, there is a chance that
we shall arrive at Mars with the ships half empty and the crews floating
helplessly around us."
Mr. Edison's way of guarding against the danger was by contriving a
little apparatus, modeled after that which was the governing force of
the electrical ships themselves, and which, being enclosed in the
air-tight suits, enabled their wearers to manipulate the electrical
charge upon them in such a way that they could make excursions from the
cars into open space like steam launches from a ship, going and
returning at their will.
These little machines being rapidly manufactured, for Mr. Edison had a
miniature laboratory aboard, were distributed about the squadron, and
henceforth we had the pleasure of paying and receiving visits among the
various members of the fleet.
But to return from this digression to our experience of the asteroid.
The latter being a body of some mass was, of course, able to impart to
us a measurable degree of weight. Being five miles in diameter, on the
assumption that its mean density was the same as that of the earth, the
weight of bodies on its surface should have borne the same ratio to
their weight upon the earth that the radius of the asteroid bore to the
radius of the earth; in other words, as 1 to 1,600.
Having made this mental calculation, I knew that my weight, being 150
pounds on the earth, should on this asteroid be an ounce and a half.
Curious to see whether fact would bear out theory, I had myself weighed
with a spring balance. Mr. Edison, Lord Kelvin and the other
distinguished scientists stood by watching the operation with great
interest.
To our complete surprise, my weight instead of coming out an ounce and a
half, as it should have done, on the supposition that the mean density
of the asteroid resembled that of the earth--a very liberal supposition
on the side of the asteroid, by the way--actually came out five ounces
and a quarter!
"What in the world makes me so heavy?" I asked.
"Yes, indeed, what an elephant you have become," said Mr. Edison.
Lord Kelvin screwed his eyeglass in his eye, and carefully inspected the
balance.
"It's quite right," he said. "You do indeed weigh five ounces and a
quarter. Too much; altogether too much," he added. "You shouldn't do it,
you know."
"Perhaps the fault is in the asteroid," suggested Professor Sylvanus P.
Thompson.
"Quite so," exclaimed Lord Kelvin, a look of sudden comprehension
overspreading his features. "No doubt it is the internal constitution of
the asteroid which is the cause of the anomaly. We must look into that.
Let me see? This gentleman's weight is three and one-half times as great
as it ought to be. What element is there whose density exceeds the mean
density of the earth in about that proportion?"
"Gold," exclaimed one of the party.
For a moment we were startled beyond expression. The truth had flashed
upon us.
This must be a golden planet this little asteroid. If it were not
composed internally of gold it could never have made me weight three
times more than I ought to weight.
"But where is the gold?" cried one.
"Covered up, of course," said Lord Kelvin. "Buried in Stardust. This
asteroid could not have continued to travel for millions of years
through legions of space strewn with meteoric particles without becoming
covered with the inevitable dust and grime of such a journey. We must
dig now, and then doubtless we shall find the metal."
This hint was instantly acted upon. Something that would serve as a
spade was seized by one of the men, and in a few minutes a hole had been
dug in the comparatively light soil of the asteroid.
I shall never forget the sight, nor the exclamations of wonder that
broke forth from all of us standing around, when the yellow gleam of the
precious metal appeared under the "star dust." Collected in huge masses
it reflected the light of the sun from its hiding place.
Evidently the planet was not a solid ball of gold, formed like a bullet
run in a mold, but was composed of nuggets of various sizes, which had
come together here under the influence of their mutual gravitation, and
formed a little metallic planet.
Judging by the test of weight which we had already tried, and which had
led to the discovery of the gold, the composition of the asteroid must
be the same to its very center.
In an assemblage of famous scientific men such as this the discovery of
course, immediately led to questions as to the origin of this incredible
phenomenon.
How did these masses of gold come together? How did it chance that, with
the exception of the thin crust of the asteroid nearly all its substance
was composed of the precious metal?
One asserted that it was quite impossible that there should be so much
gold at so great a distance from the sun.
"It is the general law," he said, "that the planets increase in density
towards the sun. There is every reason to think that the inner planets
possess the greater amount of dense elements, while the outer ones are
comparatively light."
But another referred to the old theory that there was once in this part
of the solar system a planet which had been burst in pieces by some
mysterious explosion, the fragments forming what we know as the
asteroids. In his opinion, this planet might have contained, a large
quantity of gold, and in the course of ages the gold, having, in
consequence of its superior atomic weight, not being so widely scattered
by the explosion as some of the other elements of the planet, had
collected itself together in this body.
But I observed that Lord Kelvin and the other more distinguished men of
science said nothing during this discussion. The truly learned man is
the truly wise man. They were not going to set up the theories without
sufficient facts to substain them. The one fact that the gold was here
was all they had at present. Until they could learn more they were not
prepared to theorize as to how the gold got there.
And in truth, it must be confessed, the greater number of us really
cared less for the explanation of the wonderful fact than we did for the
fact itself.
Gold is a thing which may make its appearance anywhere and at any time
without offering any excuses or explanations.
"Phew! Won't we be rich?" exclaimed a voice.
"How are we going to dig it and get it back to earth?" asked another.
"Carry it in your pockets," said one.
"No need of staking claims here," remarked another. "There is enough for
everybody."
Mr. Edison suddenly turned the current of talk.
"What do you suppose those Martians were doing here?"
"Why, they were wrecked here."
"Not a bit of it," said Mr. Edison. "According to your own showing they
could not have been wrecked here. This planet hasn't gravitation enough
to wreck them by a fall, and besides I have been looking at their
machines and I know there has been a fight."
"A fight?" exclaimed several, pricking up their ears.
"Yes," said Mr. Edison. "Those machines bear the marks of the lightning
of the Martians. They have been disabled, but they are made of some
metal or some alloy of metals unknown to me, and consequently they have
withstood the destructive force applied to them, as our electric ships
were unable to withstand it. It is perfectly plain to me that they have
been disabled in a battle. The Martians must have been fighting among
themselves."
"About the gold!" exclaimed one.
"Of course. What else was there to fight about?"
At this instant one of our men came running from a considerable
distance, waving his arms excitedly, but unable to give voice to his
story, in the inappreciable atmosphere of the asteroid, until he had
come up and made telephonic connection with us.
"There are a lot of dead Martians over there," he said. "They've been
cleaning one another out."
"That's it," said Mr. Edison. "I knew it when I saw the condition of
those machines."
"Then this is not a wrecked expedition, directed against the earth?"
"Not at all."
"This must be the great gold mine of Mars," said the president of an
Australian mining company, opening both his eyes and his mouth as he
spoke.
"Yes, evidently that's it. Here's where they come to get their wealth."
"And this," I said, "must be their harvest time. You notice that this
asteroid, being several million miles nearer to the sun than Mars is,
must have an appreciably shorter period of revolution. When it is in
conjunction with Mars, or nearly so, as it is at present, the distance
between the two is not very great, whereas when it is in the opposite
part of its orbit they are separated by an enormous gap in space and the
sun is between them.
"Manifestly in the latter case it would be perilous if not entirely
impossible for the Martians to visit the golden asteroid, but when it is
near Mars, as it is at present, and as it must be periodically for
several years at a time, then is their opportunity.
"With their projectile cars sent forth with the aid of the mysterious
explosives which they possess, it is easy for them under such
circumstances, to make visits to the asteroid.
"Having obtained all the gold they need or all that they can carry, a
comparatively slight impulse given to their car, the direction of which
is carefully calculated, will carry them back again to Mars."
"If that's so," exclaimed a voice, "we had better look out for
ourselves! We have got into a very hornet's nest! If this is the place
where the Martians come to dig gold, and if this is the height of their
season, as you say, they are not likely to leave us here long
undisturbed."
"These fellows must have been pirates that they had the fight with,"
said another.
"But what's become of the regulars, then?"
"Gone back to Mars for help, probably, and they'll be here again pretty
quick, I am afraid!"
Considerable alarm was caused by this view of the case, and orders were
sent to several of the electrical ships to cruise out to a safe distance
in the direction of Mars and keep a sharp outlook for the approach of
enemies.
Meanwhile our prisoner awoke. He turned his eyes upon those standing
about him, without any appearance of fear, but rather with a look of
contempt, like that which Gulliver must have felt for the Lilliputians
who had bound him under similar circumstances.
There were both hatred and defiance in his glance. He attempted to free
himself, and the ropes strained with the tremendous pressure that he put
upon them, but he could not break loose.
Satisfied that the Martian was safely bound, we left him where he lay,
and, while awaiting news from the ships which had been sent to
reconnoitre, continued the exploration of the little planet.
At a point nearly opposite to that where we had landed we came upon the
mine which the Martians had been working. They had removed the thin
coating of soil, laying bare the rich stores of gold beneath, and large
quantities of the latter had been removed. Some of it was so solidly
packed that the strokes of the instruments by means of which they had
detached it were visible like the streaks left by a knife cutting
cheese.
The more we saw of this golden planet the greater became our
astonishment. What the Martians had removed was a mere nothing in
comparison with the entire bulk of the asteroid. Had the celestial mine
been easier to reach, perhaps they would have removed more, or,
possibly, their political economists perfectly understood the necessity
of properly controlling the amount of precious metal in circulation.
Very likely, we thought, the mining operations were under government
control in Mars and it might be that the majority of the people there
knew nothing of this store of wealth floating in the firmament. That
would account for the battle with the supposed pirates, who, no doubt
had organized a secret expedition to the asteroid and had been caught
red-handed at the mine.
There were many detached masses of gold scattered about, and some of the
men, on picking them up, exclaimed with astonishment at their lack of
weight, forgetting for the moment that the same law which caused their
own bodies to weigh so little must necessarily affect everything else in
a like degree.
A mass of gold that on the earth no man would have been able to lift
could here be tossed about like a hollow rubber ball.
While we were examining the mine, one of the men left to guard the
Martian came running to inform us that the latter evidently wished to
make some communication. Mr. Edison and the others hurried to the side
of the prisoner. He still lay on his back, from which position he was
not able to move, notwithstanding all his efforts. But by the motion of
his eyes, aided by the pantomime with his fingers, he made us understand
that there was something in a metallic box fastened at his side which he
wished to reach.
With some difficulty we succeeded in opening the box and in it there
appeared a number of bright red pellets, as large as an ordinary egg.
When the Martians saw these in our hands he gave us to understand by the
motion of his lips that he wished to swallow one of them. A pellet was
accordingly placed in his mouth, and he instantly and with great
eagerness swallowed it.
While trying to communicate his wishes to us, the prisoner had seemed to
be in no little distress. He exhibited spasmodic movements which led
some of the bystanders to think that he was on the point of dying, but
within a few seconds after he had swallowed the pellet he appeared to be
completely restored. All evidence of distress vanished, and a look of
content came over his ugly face.
"It must be a powerful medicine," said one of the bystanders. "I wonder
what it is?"
"I will explain to you my notion," said Professor Moissan, the great
French chemist. "I think it was a pill of the air, which he has taken."
"What do you mean by that?"
"My meaning is," said Professor Moissan, "that the Martian must have,
for that he may live, the nitrogen and the oxygen. These can he not
obtain here, where there is not the atmosphere. Therefore must he get
them in some other manner. This has he managed to do by combining in
these pills the oxygen and the nitrogen in the proportions which make
atmospheric air. Doubtless upon Mars there are the very great chemists.
They have discovered how this may be done. When the Martian has
swallowed his little pill, the oxygen and the nitrogen are rendered to
his blood as if he had breathed them, and so he can live with that air
which has been distributed to him with the aid of his stomach in place
of his lungs."
If Monsieur Moissan's explanation was not correct, at any rate it seemed
the only one which would fit the facts before us. Certainly the Martian
could not breathe where there was practically no air, yet just as
certainly after he had swallowed his pill he seemed as comfortable as
any of us.
Suddenly, while we were gathered around the prisoner, and interested in
this fresh evidence of the wonderful ingenuity of the Martians, and of
their control over the processes of nature, one of the electrical ships
that had been sent off in the direction of Mars was seen rapidly
returning and displaying signals.
It reported that the Martians were coming!