Maximum-assistance view: every word above everyday vocabulary is explained at every appearance; each name is introduced at its first appearance in the chapter.

I.

THE EVE OF THE WAR (The evening before the war, meaning the time just before it broke out).

No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own (that this world was being watched sharply and closely by thinking minds greater than man's and yet able to die as he can); that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied (that as men went about their different affairs they were being examined closely and studied), perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water (perhaps almost as closely as a man with a magnifying instrument might examine the short-lived creatures that crowd and breed in a drop of water). With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs (With endless self-satisfaction men went back and forth over this round world about their small affairs), serene in their assurance of their empire over matter (calm in their sureness of their rule over the stuff of the world). It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same (It may be that the tiny water creatures under the magnifying glass do the same). No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger (Nobody gave a thought to the older worlds of space as places danger to man might come from), or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable (or thought of them only to wave away the idea of life on them as impossible or unlikely). It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days (It is strange to call back some of the habits of mind of those days now gone). At most terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars (At the most, men of this earth imagined there might be other men on Mars), perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise (perhaps lower than themselves and ready to welcome men sent to teach them religion). Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish (Yet across the great empty divide of space, minds that stand to ours as ours stand to those of the animals that die and are gone), intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes (minds huge and cold and without fellow feeling looked at this earth with wanting eyes), and slowly and surely drew their plans against us (and slowly and surely drew up their plans against us). And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment (And early in the twentieth century came the great stripping away of comfortable belief).

The planet Mars, I scarcely need remind the reader (The planet Mars, as I hardly need remind the reader), revolves about the sun at a mean distance of 140,000,000 miles (circles the sun at an average distance of a hundred and forty million miles), and the light and heat it receives from the sun is barely half of that received by this world (and the light and warmth it gets from the sun is barely half what this world gets). It must be, if the nebular hypothesis has any truth, older than our world (It must be, if the theory that worlds form out of clouds of gas holds any truth, older than our world); and long before this earth ceased to be molten, life upon its surface must have begun its course (and long before this earth stopped being melted rock, life on its surface must have started its course). The fact that it is scarcely one seventh of the volume of the earth must have accelerated its cooling (Being barely one seventh of the earth's bulk must have sped up its cooling) to the temperature at which life could begin. It has air and water (It has air and water) and all that is necessary for the support of animated existence (everything needed to keep living things going).

Yet so vain is man, and so blinded by his vanity (Yet man is so full of himself, and so blinded by his own self-regard), that no writer, up to the very end of the nineteenth century (no writer, right up to the very end of that century), expressed any idea that intelligent life might have developed there far, or indeed at all, beyond its earthly level (put forward any idea that thinking life might have grown there far beyond its earthly level, or indeed at all beyond it). Nor was it generally understood that since Mars is older than our earth (Nor was it commonly grasped that since Mars is older than our earth), with scarcely a quarter of the superficial area and remoter from the sun (with barely a quarter of the surface and farther from the sun), it necessarily follows that it is not only more distant from time’s beginning but nearer its end (it must follow that it is not only farther from time's beginning but nearer its end).

The secular cooling that must someday overtake our planet has already gone far indeed with our neighbour (The slow cooling over ages that must one day catch up with our world has already gone very far with our neighbour). Its physical condition is still largely a mystery (The state of its body is still largely unknown), but we know now that even in its equatorial region the midday temperature barely approaches that of our coldest winter (even in its middle belt the midday warmth barely reaches that of our coldest winter). Its air is much more attenuated than ours (Its air is much thinner than ours), its oceans have shrunk until they cover but a third of its surface (its seas have drawn in until they cover only a third of its surface), and as its slow seasons change huge snowcaps gather and melt about either pole and periodically inundate its temperate zones (and as its slow seasons turn, huge caps of snow gather and melt at each end of the world and from time to time flood its milder belts). That last stage of exhaustion, which to us is still incredibly remote, has become a present-day problem for the inhabitants of Mars (That last stage of being used up, which for us is still unbelievably far off, has become a problem of the present day for those who live on Mars). The immediate pressure of necessity has brightened their intellects, enlarged their powers, and hardened their hearts (The pressing weight of need has sharpened their minds, grown their powers and hardened their hearts). And looking across space with instruments, and intelligences such as we have scarcely dreamed of, they see, at its nearest distance only 35,000,000 of miles sunward of them, a morning star of hope, our own warmer planet, green with vegetation and grey with water (a morning star of hope, our own warmer world, green with growing things and grey with water), with a cloudy atmosphere eloquent of fertility (with a cloudy blanket of air that speaks of rich growth), with glimpses through its drifting cloud wisps of broad stretches of populous country and narrow, navy-crowded seas (with glimpses through its drifting shreds of cloud of wide stretches of crowded country and narrow seas thick with warships).

And we men, the creatures who inhabit this earth (And we men, the creatures who live on this earth), must be to them at least as alien and lowly as are the monkeys and lemurs to us (must be to them at least as foreign and low as the monkeys and the small wide-eyed tree animals are to us). The intellectual side of man already admits that life is an incessant struggle for existence (The thinking side of man already grants that life is a never-stopping fight to survive), and it would seem that this too is the belief of the minds upon Mars (and it would seem the minds on Mars believe this too). Their world is far gone in its cooling and this world is still crowded with life (Their world is far gone in its cooling, and this world is still crowded with life), but crowded only with what they regard as inferior animals (but crowded only with what they see as lower animals). To carry warfare sunward is, indeed, their only escape from the destruction that, generation after generation, creeps upon them (To carry war towards the sun is, in truth, their only escape from the destruction creeping on them age after age).

And before we judge of them too harshly we must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought (And before we judge them too hard we must remember what merciless and complete destruction our own kind has worked), not only upon animals, such as the vanished bison and the dodo, but upon its inferior races (not only on animals, like the gone wild ox of America and the dodo bird, but on the peoples it called lower). The Tasmanians, in spite of their human likeness (The native people of Tasmania, the island south of Australia, in spite of being human like us), were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants (were wiped out entirely in a war of complete killing carried on by settlers from Europe), in the space of fifty years (within the space of fifty years). Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit (Are we such preachers of mercy that we may complain if the Martians made war in the same spirit)?

The Martians seem to have calculated their descent with amazing subtlety (seem to have worked out their coming down with astonishing fineness)—their mathematical learning is evidently far in excess of ours (their learning in numbers is plainly far beyond ours)—and to have carried out their preparations with a well-nigh perfect unanimity (and to have carried out their preparations with an almost perfect oneness of mind). Had our instruments permitted it, we might have seen the gathering trouble far back in the nineteenth century. Men like Schiaparelli watched the red planet (Men like Schiaparelli, the Italian watcher of the skies, studied the red planet)—it is odd, by-the-bye, that for countless centuries Mars has been the star of war (it is strange, by the way, that for ages beyond counting Mars has been the star of war)—but failed to interpret the fluctuating appearances of the markings they mapped so well (but failed to read the changing look of the markings they mapped so well). All that time the Martians must have been getting ready.

During the opposition of 1894 a great light was seen on the illuminated part of the disk (At the close approach of 1894, when Mars stands opposite the sun from us, a great light was seen on the lit part of the planet's round face), first at the Lick Observatory, then by Perrotin of Nice, and then by other observers (first at the Lick star-watching station in America, then by Perrotin at Nice in France, and then by other watchers). English readers heard of it first in the issue of Nature dated August 2 (Readers in England first heard of it in the issue of the learned paper Nature dated the second of August). I am inclined to think that this blaze may have been the casting of the huge gun (I lean to thinking this blaze may have been the pouring of the metal for the huge gun), in the vast pit sunk into their planet, from which their shots were fired at us (in the great pit sunk into their planet, from which their shots were fired at us). Peculiar markings, as yet unexplained, were seen near the site of that outbreak during the next two oppositions (Odd markings, still unexplained, were seen near the place of that outburst at the next two close approaches).

The storm burst upon us six years ago now (The storm broke over us six years ago now). As Mars approached opposition, Lavelle of Java set the wires (As Mars drew near its closest stand opposite the sun, Lavelle, a watcher on the island of Java in the East Indies) of the astronomical exchange palpitating with the amazing intelligence of a huge outbreak of incandescent gas upon the planet (set the wires that carry news between star watchers trembling with the astonishing report of a huge outburst of white-hot gas on the planet). It had occurred towards midnight of the twelfth (It had happened towards midnight on the twelfth); and the spectroscope, to which he had at once resorted (and the instrument that splits light to show what a thing is made of, which he turned to at once), indicated a mass of flaming gas, chiefly hydrogen, moving with an enormous velocity towards this earth (showed a mass of burning gas, mostly the lightest gas there is, moving at enormous speed towards this earth). This jet of fire had become invisible about a quarter past twelve (This spout of fire had passed out of sight about a quarter past twelve). He compared it to a colossal puff of flame suddenly and violently squirted out of the planet (He likened it to a giant puff of flame suddenly and violently shot out of the planet), “as flaming gases rushed out of a gun.” (as burning gases rush out of a gun)

A singularly appropriate phrase it proved (It proved a strangely fitting way of putting it). Yet the next day there was nothing of this in the papers except a little note in the Daily Telegraph (Yet the next day there was nothing about it in the newspapers except one small note in the Daily Telegraph), and the world went in ignorance of one of the gravest dangers that ever threatened the human race (and the world went on knowing nothing of one of the most serious dangers that ever hung over the human race). I might not have heard of the eruption at all had I not met Ogilvy, the well-known astronomer, at Ottershaw (I might never have heard of the outburst at all had I not met Ogilvy, the well-known watcher of the skies, at Ottershaw). He was immensely excited at the news (He was enormously stirred by the news), and in the excess of his feelings invited me up to take a turn with him that night in a scrutiny of the red planet (and in the overflow of his feelings asked me up to take a turn with him that night in a close study of the red planet).

In spite of all that has happened since, I still remember that vigil very distinctly (I still remember that night watch very clearly): the black and silent observatory, the shadowed lantern throwing a feeble glow upon the floor in the corner (the covered lamp throwing a weak glow on the floor in the corner), the steady ticking of the clockwork of the telescope (the steady ticking of the wound machinery that turns the far-seeing instrument), the little slit in the roof—an oblong profundity with the stardust streaked across it (the little slot in the roof, a long deep opening with the dust of stars streaked across it). Ogilvy moved about, invisible but audible (Ogilvy moved about, unseen but heard). Looking through the telescope, one saw a circle of deep blue and the little round planet swimming in the field (Looking through the instrument one saw a circle of deep blue, and the little round planet swimming in the view). It seemed such a little thing, so bright and small and still, faintly marked with transverse stripes, and slightly flattened from the perfect round (faintly marked with stripes running across it, and a little flattened out of the perfect circle). But so little it was, so silvery warm—a pin’s head of light (But so small it was, so silvery warm, a pin's head of light)! It was as if it quivered, but really this was the telescope vibrating (It seemed to shake, but really this was the instrument itself trembling) with the activity of the clockwork that kept the planet in view.

As I watched, the planet seemed to grow larger and smaller and to advance and recede, but that was simply that my eye was tired (the planet seemed to grow bigger and smaller, to come nearer and draw back, but that was only my eye tiring). Forty millions of miles it was from us—more than forty millions of miles of void (It was forty million miles from us, more than forty million miles of empty nothing). Few people realise the immensity of vacancy in which the dust of the material universe swims (Few people take in the vastness of the emptiness in which the dust of the solid universe swims).

Near it in the field, I remember, were three faint points of light (Near it in the circle of view, I remember, were three faint points of light), three telescopic stars infinitely remote (three stars too faint for the bare eye, endlessly far away), and all around it was the unfathomable darkness of empty space (and all around it was the bottomless darkness of empty space). You know how that blackness looks on a frosty starlight night (You know how that blackness looks on a frosty starlit night). In a telescope it seems far profounder (Through the instrument it seems far deeper). And invisible to me because it was so remote and small, flying swiftly and steadily towards me across that incredible distance (flying fast and steadily towards me across that unbelievable distance), drawing nearer every minute by so many thousands of miles (coming nearer by so many thousands of miles every minute), came the Thing they were sending us, the Thing that was to bring so much struggle and calamity and death to the earth (came the Thing they were sending us, the Thing that was to bring so much fighting and disaster and death to the earth). I never dreamed of it then as I watched; no one on earth dreamed of that unerring missile (nobody on earth dreamed of that thrown weapon that could not miss).

That night, too, there was another jetting out of gas from the distant planet. I saw it (That night too there was another spouting out of gas from the far-off planet. I saw it). A reddish flash at the edge, the slightest projection of the outline just as the chronometer struck midnight (A reddish flash at the edge, the smallest bulge of the outline, just as the exact timekeeping clock struck midnight); and at that I told Ogilvy and he took my place (and at that I told Ogilvy and he took my place). The night was warm and I was thirsty, and I went stretching my legs clumsily and feeling my way in the darkness (and I went awkwardly stretching my legs and feeling my way in the darkness), to the little table where the siphon stood (to the little table where the bottle of bubbling soda water stood), while Ogilvy exclaimed at the streamer of gas that came out towards us (while Ogilvy cried out at the ribbon of gas that came out towards us).

That night another invisible missile started on its way to the earth from Mars (That night another unseen shot started on its way to the earth from Mars), just a second or so under twenty-four hours after the first one (just a second or so short of twenty-four hours after the first one). I remember how I sat on the table there in the blackness (I remember how I sat on the table there in the blackness), with patches of green and crimson swimming before my eyes (with patches of green and deep red swimming in front of my eyes). I wished I had a light to smoke by (I wished I had a light to smoke by), little suspecting the meaning of the minute gleam I had seen and all that it would presently bring me (with no idea of the meaning of the tiny gleam I had seen and everything it would soon bring me). Ogilvy watched till one, and then gave it up (Ogilvy watched until one o'clock and then gave it up); and we lit the lantern and walked over to his house (and we lit the lamp and walked over to his house). Down below in the darkness were Ottershaw and Chertsey and all their hundreds of people, sleeping in peace (Down below in the darkness lay Ottershaw and Chertsey and all their hundreds of people, sleeping in peace).

He was full of speculation that night about the condition of Mars (He was full of guesswork that night about the state of Mars), and scoffed at the vulgar idea of its having inhabitants who were signalling us (and laughed at the common notion of its having dwellers who were sending us signs). His idea was that meteorites might be falling in a heavy shower upon the planet (His thought was that stones from space might be falling in a heavy shower on the planet), or that a huge volcanic explosion was in progress. He pointed out to me how unlikely it was that organic evolution had taken the same direction in the two adjacent planets (how unlikely it was that the slow shaping of living things had taken the same road on the two neighbouring worlds).

“The chances against anything manlike on Mars are a million to one,” he said (The odds against anything manlike on Mars are a million to one, he said).

Hundreds of observers saw the flame that night and the night after about midnight (Hundreds of watchers saw the flame that night and the next night about midnight), and again the night after; and so for ten nights, a flame each night (and so for ten nights, one flame each night). Why the shots ceased after the tenth no one on earth has attempted to explain (Why the shots stopped after the tenth, nobody on earth has tried to explain). It may be the gases of the firing caused the Martians inconvenience (It may be that the gases of the firing gave the Martians trouble). Dense clouds of smoke or dust, visible through a powerful telescope on earth as little grey, fluctuating patches (showing through a strong instrument on earth as little grey shifting patches), spread through the clearness of the planet’s atmosphere and obscured its more familiar features (spread through the clear air of the planet and hid its better-known markings).

Even the daily papers woke up to the disturbances at last (Even the daily newspapers woke up at last to the disturbances), and popular notes appeared here, there, and everywhere concerning the volcanoes upon Mars (and easy little pieces appeared everywhere about the fire mountains on Mars). The seriocomic periodical Punch, I remember, made a happy use of it in the political cartoon (The half-serious, half-joking paper Punch, I remember, made neat use of it in its drawing about politics). And, all unsuspected, those missiles the Martians had fired at us drew earthward (And, with nobody guessing, those shots the Martians had fired at us drew on towards the earth), rushing now at a pace of many miles a second through the empty gulf of space (rushing now at a speed of many miles a second through the empty divide of space), hour by hour and day by day, nearer and nearer (hour by hour and day by day, nearer and nearer). It seems to me now almost incredibly wonderful that, with that swift fate hanging over us, men could go about their petty concerns as they did (that, with that swift doom hanging over us, men could go about their small affairs as they did). I remember how jubilant Markham was at securing a new photograph of the planet (I remember how overjoyed Markham was at getting a new photograph of the planet) for the illustrated paper he edited in those days (for the picture paper he ran in those days). People in these latter times scarcely realise the abundance and enterprise of our nineteenth-century papers (People in these later days hardly grasp how plentiful and pushing our newspapers of that century were). For my own part, I was much occupied in learning to ride the bicycle (For my own part, I was much taken up with learning to ride the bicycle), and busy upon a series of papers discussing the probable developments of moral ideas as civilisation progressed (busy on a set of essays on how ideas of right and wrong would likely grow as the world advanced).

One night (the first missile then could scarcely have been 10,000,000 miles away) I went for a walk with my wife (One night, when the first shot could hardly have been ten million miles away, I went for a walk with my wife). It was starlight and I explained the Signs of the Zodiac to her (The stars were out, and I explained to her the twelve star groups the sun passes through), and pointed out Mars, a bright dot of light creeping zenithward (a bright dot of light creeping towards the top of the sky), towards which so many telescopes were pointed (towards which so many far-seeing instruments were pointed). It was a warm night. Coming home, a party of excursionists from Chertsey or Isleworth passed us singing and playing music (a group out on a day trip from Chertsey or Isleworth passed us singing and playing music). There were lights in the upper windows of the houses as the people went to bed (There were lights in the upper windows of the houses as people went to bed). From the railway station in the distance (From the railway station in the distance) came the sound of shunting trains, ringing and rumbling, softened almost into melody by the distance (came the sound of railway cars being moved from track to track, ringing and rumbling, softened almost into music by the distance). My wife pointed out to me the brightness of the red, green, and yellow signal lights hanging in a framework against the sky (the brightness of the red, green and yellow railway lights hanging in their frame against the sky). It seemed so safe and tranquil (It seemed so safe and calm).