THE MARTIAN.
I returned to my rooms with a much clearer conception of the conditions
with which I had to cope, if the waves to which my apparatus responded
should prove to be Martian waves. My mind was fully made up to proceed
as if this were an established fact, as, in order to give my best
efforts to improving my apparatus, I felt that I must eliminate all
scepticism. I clearly appreciated the advantage of moving my instrument
outside, where I could command a view of Mars for a much longer time,
but the necessity of being in my laboratory while I was engaged in these
improvements, decided me against any immediate change.
Accordingly I proceeded the next morning to make the changes I deemed
necessary, being goaded into a fever of haste by a feeling of
suppressed excitement. The composition I had used in the form of a film
I now liquefied, having concluded that in the former condition, although
necessary in my original experiments, it now only retarded the vibration
of the wires.
That this composition was essential there could be no doubt, as it was
its elements that responded to the agent used on Mars to project the
waves. I therefore liquefied the film substance, being careful in so
doing not to alter its properties. I then procured wires, much thinner
than those I had previously used, and dipped them-into the liquid. After
they had become perfectly dry, I stretched them on the frame as close
together as I could without their coming into contact with one another.
As light-waves are received in hundreds of different vibrations
simultaneously, according to the light or shade of the object projected,
I concluded that each wire should be capable of individual vibration.
The device now resembled a large piece of mosquito netting with the
cross wires removed, the coating of composition on each wire being so
thin that it was hardly discernible. The batteries and coils I
connected as before, taking great care not to change their arrangement.
My preparations were now completed, and before me stood an instrument as
delicate and sensitive to wave vibrations as I could make it. Raising
one side of the frame a foot higher than the other, in order that the
surface of wires would be squarely facing the star when it appeared
above the casement, I waited impatiently for the moment which should
prove the truth or falsity of my surmises.
The day had closed, and I spent the remaining time speculating upon the
results of my labors. But even the wildest flights of my imagination did
not picture, in the smallest degree, the wonderful transformation which
my new instrument would make in what had appeared before as a shadow on
the film. Little did I imagine to what an extent the unknown was to be
revealed to me.
As I stood by the side of the frame all in readiness, Mars appeared, but
it still had a little farther to climb before it would be visible from
the level of the wires. Nevertheless, I turned on the current from the
batteries. All was darkness; never before had darkness seemed to me so
profound, so absolutely appalling. Minutes passed like hours, but still
that ominous darkness reigned. I felt the keen disappointment of
failure; I grew incredulous as the time passed, and found myself
admitting and rehearsing the absurdity of it all. I even blamed myself
for having been so easily deflected from my former experiments, by what
now seemed to be merely an idle fancy.
Suddenly I bent over the frame and gazed eagerly at the surface of
wires, for there, on the top edge, appeared a touch of the
phosphorus-colored glow. My heart thumped with wild excitement. I
stooped down until my eyes were on the level of the wires, and looking
up toward the window I could just see the rim of Mars appearing above
the casement. A shout of joy burst from my lips at the sight of it, for
it was now beyond all doubt that the phenomenon was attributable to
Mars. Brighter and brighter became the light as it covered the surface
of wires, until all its resemblance to a phosphorus glow had gone, and
it shone with such brilliancy that my eyes, accustomed as they were to
the darkness of the room, quailed before it. Turning away so that my
eyes might gradually become accustomed to the glare, I noticed that in
spite of the brilliant white light on the surface of the wires, the room
was in perfect darkness--the light had no power of illumination!
Impenetrable mystery enshrouded the agent which Mars was employing to
communicate with Earth!
A curious humming sound issuing from the frame, much louder than I had
noticed the night before, caused me to turn involuntarily, and as I did
so I uttered a cry of wonder at the marvelous vision that met my eyes.
There lay before me, as bright as daylight, a picture that a thousand
times surpassed my highest, wildest hope. The great secret of another
planet was revealed, and I stood motionless, beholding an inhabitant of
a star millions of miles away.
Among the vast multitude who for centuries have yearned for a glimpse
into the unknown worlds that surround us, I stood alone gazing upon the
image of a Martian. The thought stunned me; I was seized with a wild
impulse to rush out into the street and bring in the throng, that they
might look upon the form of this wonderful being on our sister planet.
But what proof was there to give them that this was so? I would
undoubtedly be ridiculed and accused of trickery. The very fact that had
brought a cry of amazement to my lips--the remarkable brilliancy and
clearness of the image, and the appearance of the Martian himself--would
serve to bring discredit upon anything I might say. Personally I had
ample proof that the image was that of a Martian, but what instant proof
could I give a jeering crowd? I had expected to find in a Martian a
strange grotesque being in appearance, if not in mind, much after the
weird and fierce character so many authors have portrayed him. Judge,
then, my astonishment when I beheld one who, in every particular of form
and feature, resembled the people of Earth.
He appeared to be a man of about forty years of age, judging by our
earthly standard of time, possessing clear-cut features and dark
complexion. His face, which was clean-shaven, was remarkably handsome,
and his piercing dark eyes, although they enhanced the smile that
greeted my appearance at the instrument, seemed to search into my very
soul and to hold me spellbound with mute challenge. Nor could I, upon
afterthought, remember having shown the common courtesy of returning his
greeting.
My astonishment was so great that every faculty seemed to leave me, and
I stood transfixed, staring at the image of the Martian without even the
power of thought. Gradually recovering my senses, however, I took note
of the man and his surroundings. He stood in a room of about the same
dimensions as my laboratory, which seemed to be flooded with bright
daylight, though I could not see any windows on three sides of the room
to admit the light, nor any shadows to indicate that the light came from
a window in the fourth. He held in his hands an instrument unknown to
me, and seemed to be perfectly at his ease, showing neither surprise nor
curiosity. Evidently this was not the first time that he had seen an
inhabitant of the Earth. So unconcerned was he and so natural did he
appear, even in the smallest detail of dress, that it was hard to
believe I was not looking at an image of some room and its occupant in
Paris. His close-fitting clothes seemed to be of a dark green material,
and resembled, to some degree, the uniform of an army officer.
Bending over the instrument he held, he placed his mouth close to the
top of it, and immediately the humming sounds, which I had noticed
before, emanated from the wires of my apparatus. The thought flashed
through my mind that the Martian held in this instrument a means of
communicating sound. If so, what were the words--what language? The
possibility of what I heard being words, made me strain every nerve to
catch the slightest resemblance to such sounds, but alas, with no
success. That they were intended to convey a message, I became fully
convinced, but I could not rest in the belief that this jumble of sounds
was the Martian language. If the Martians themselves resembled, in so
striking a degree, the inhabitants of Earth, I argued, then it was in
the nature of things to expect a language that, in some way,
corresponded to one of our languages. The fault lay in my instrument, I
was sure of that, and in the keen disappointment of my failure to
receive his message and the excitement of the moment, I gave utterance
to an exclamation of despair. Immediately a smile overspread the
Martian's countenance, and, to my great astonishment, he put down the
instrument and clapped his hands by way of showing his approval.
Before I could recover from my surprise at this new evidence of Martian
familiarity with the customs of Earth, the light suddenly grew dim and
in a few seconds had disappeared completely, leaving the instrument
plunged in darkness. Mars had risen above the frame of the skylight, and
I was no longer in contact with the light-waves. I listened intently,
thinking that if the sound-waves were of the nature of the
electrical-waves we employ in the wireless system, I would still be in
touch with my newly found friend, but I heard no further sound from the
instrument, thus proving that these waves also were projected by the
mysterious agent known only to the Martians.
I had so much to occupy my mind, with what I had just witnessed, and so
many thoughts rushed in upon me regarding the perfecting of my
instrument so that it might properly respond to the sound-waves, that I
did not experience the disappointment I had felt before at the short
duration of our contact with each other. I was glad of the opportunity
to think; I felt that it was necessary to do so before further action,
if I ever hoped to attain the knowledge of Mars and its inhabitants that
my remarkable discovery had placed within my reach. I determined that on
the morrow, if I did not meet with better results in the sound
vibrations, I would try to communicate with the Martian by writing some
simple sentence in a bold hand, and in as many languages as I could.
This I would expose in front of the instrument, but I placed little hope
in the success of the scheme, for it was not possible that the Martian
language would be identical with any of ours.