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Read books online » Fiction » Edison's Conquest of Mars by Garrett Putman Serviss (world best books to read .TXT) 📖

Book online «Edison's Conquest of Mars by Garrett Putman Serviss (world best books to read .TXT) 📖». Author Garrett Putman Serviss



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able to carry it into practice even more effectively than we had done.

After two or three days all the preparations having been completed the signal was given for our departure. The men of science were still unwilling to leave this strange world, but Mr. Edison decided we could linger no longer.

At the moment of starting a most tragic event occured. Our fleet was assembled around the palace, and the signal was given to rise slowly to a considerable height before imparting a great velocity to the electrical ships. As we slowly rose we saw the immense crowd of giants beneath us, with upturned faces, watching our departure. The Martian monarch and all his suite had come out upon the terrace of the palace to look at us. At a moment when he probably supposed himself to be unwatched he shook his fist at the retreating fleet. My eyes and those of several others in the flagship chanced to be fixed upon him. Just as he made the gesture one of the women of his suite, in her eagerness to watch us, apparently lost her balance and stumbled against him. Without a moment's hesitation, with a tremendous blow, he felled her like an ox at his feet.

A fearful oath broke from the lips of Colonel Smith, who was one of those looking on. It chanced that he stood near the principal disintegrator of the flagship. Before anybody could interfere he had sighted and discharged it. The entire force of the terrible engine, almost capable of destroying a fort, fell upon the Martian emperor and not merely blew him into a cloud of atoms but opened a great cavity in the ground on the spot where he had stood.

A shout arose from the Martians, but they were too much astounded at what had occurred to make any hostile demonstrations, and, anyhow, they knew well that they were completely at our mercy.

Mr. Edison was on the point of rebuking Colonel Smith for what he had done, but Aina interposed.

"I am glad it was done," said she "for now only can you be safe. That monster was more directly responsible than any other inhabitant of Mars for all the wickedness of which they have been guilty.

"The expedition against the earth was inspired solely by him. There is a tradition among the Martians—which my people, however, could never credit—that he possessed a kind of immortality. They declared that it was he who led the former expedition against the earth when my ancestors were brought away prisoners from their happy home, and that it was his image which they had set up in stone in the midst of the Land of Sand. He prolonged his existence, according to this legend, by drinking the waters of a wonderful fountain, the secret of whose precise location was known to him alone but which was situated at that point where in your maps of Mars the name of the Fons Juventae occurs. He was personified wickedness, that I know; and he never would have kept his oath if power had returned to him again to injure the earth. In destroying him, you have made your victory secure."

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN THE GREAT OVATION

When at length we once more saw our native planet, with its well-remembered features of land and sea, rolling beneath our eyes, the feeling of joy that came over us transcended all powers of expression.

In order that all the nations which had united in sending out the expedition should have visual evidence of its triumphal return, it was decided to make the entire circuit of the earth before seeking our starting point and disembarking. Brief accounts in all known languages, telling the story of what we had done was accordingly prepared, and then we dropped down through the air until again we saw the well-loved blue dome over our heads, and found ourselves suspended directly above the white topped cone of Fujiyama, the sacred mountain of Japan. Shifting our position toward the northeast, we hung above the city of Tokyo and dropped down into the crowds which had assembled to watch us, the prepared accounts of our journey, which, the moment they had been read and comprehended, led to such an outburst of rejoicing as it would be quite impossible to describe.

One of the ships containing the Japanese members of the expedition, dropped to the ground, and we left them in the midst of their rejoicing countrymen. Before we started—and we remained but a short time suspended above the Japanese capitol—millions had assembled to greet us with their cheers.

We now repeated what we had done during our first examination of the surface of Mars. We simply remained suspended in the atmosphere, allowing the earth to turn beneath us. As Japan receded in the distance we found China beginning to appear. Shifting our position a little toward the south, we again came to rest over the city of Pekin, where once more we parted with some of our companions, and where the outburst of universal rejoicing was repeated.

From Asia, crossing the Caspian Sea, we passed over Russia, visiting in turn Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Still the great globe rolled steadily beneath, and still we kept the sun with us. Now Germany appeared, and now Italy, and then France, and England, as we shifted our position, first north then south, in order to give all the world the opportunity to see that its warriors had returned victorious from its far conquest. And in each country as it passed beneath our feet, we left some of the comrades who had shared our perils and our adventures.

At length the Atlantic had rolled away under us, and we saw the spires of the new New York.

The news of our coming had been flashed ahead from Europe and our countrymen were prepared to welcome us. We had originally started, it will be remembered, at midnight, and now again as we approached the new capitol of the world the curtain of night was just beginning to be drawn over it. But our signal lights were ablaze, and through these they were aware of our approach.

Again the air was filled with bursting rockets and shaken with the roar of cannon, and with volleying cheers, poured from millions of throats, as we came to rest directly above the city.

Three days after the landing of the fleet, and when the first enthusiasm of our reception had a little passed, I received a beautifully engraved card inviting me to be present in Trinity Church at the wedding of Aina and Sydney Phillips.

When I arrived at the church, which had been splendidly decorated, I found there Mr. Edison, Lord Kelvin, and all the other members of the crew of the flagship, and, considerably to my surprise, Colonel Smith, appropriately attired, and with a grace for the possession of which I had not given him credit, gave away the beautiful bride.

But Alonzo Jefferson Smith was a man and a soldier, every inch of him.

"I asked her for myself," he whispered to me after the ceremony, swallowing a great lump in his throat, "but she has had the desire of her heart. I am going back to the plains. I can get a command again, and I still know how to fight."

And thus was united, for all future time, the first stem of the Aryan race, which had been long lost, but not destroyed, with the latest offspring of that great family, and the link which had served to bring them together was the far-away planet of Mars.

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GARRETT PUTMAN SERVISS Compiled by Elizabeth Dew Searles Non-Fiction: Magazine Articles
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Arcturus, the greatest of all suns. Scientific American 70, 327 (May 26, 1894)
Are there planets among the stars? Popular Science Monthly 52, 171-77 (December 1897)
Artificial creation of life. Cosmopolitan 39, 459-68 (September 1905)
Astronomy with an opera-glass: (This series was enlarged and published in book form; see the following section.)
Stars of spring. Popular Science Monthly 30, 743-56 (April 1887)
Stars of summer. ibid. 31, 187-207 (June 1887)
Moon and the sun. ibid. 31, 478-92 (August 1887)
Stars of autumn. ibid. 32, 53-71 (November 1887)
Stars of winter. ibid. 32, 511-29 (February 1888)
Astronomy in the 20th century. Popular Astronomy 9, 286-87 1901)
Auriga's wonderful star. Harper's Weekly 41, 471 (May 8, 1897)
A Belt of sun-spots. Popular Science Monthly 24, 180-86 (December 1883)
Can we always count upon the sun? Popular Science Monthly 39,658-64 (September 1891)
Celebrated American astronomers. Harper's Weekly 38, 1143-46 (Dec. 1, 1894)
Digging up Cæsar's camp. Harper's Weekly 54, 12-13 (Dec. 31, 1910)
The Dimensions of the universe. Chautaquan 21, 143-48 (May 1895)
Edelweiss. Nature Magazine 10, 25 (July 1927)
Facts and fancies about Mars. Harper's Weekly 40, 926 (Sept. 19, 1896)
From chaos to man; illustrated lecture in the Urania scientific theater, at Carnegie Hall.
Scientific American 66, 399, 405-07 (June 25, 1892)
Greenland's icy mountains. Mentor 15, 33-34 (February 1927)
How Burbank produces new flowers and fruit. Cosmopolitan 40, 163-70 (December 1905)
Is Mars inhabited? Harper's Weekly 39, 712 (July 27, 1895)
The Kite principle in aerial navigation. Scientific American 88, 484 (June 27, 1903)
Latest marvels of astronomy. Mentor 9, 2-12 (October 1921)
Luther Burbank. Chautaquan 50, 406-16 (May 1908)
New conquest of the heavens. Cosmopolitan 52, 584-93 (April 1912)
New light on a lunar mystery. Popular Science Monthly 34, 158-61 (December 1888)
New philosopher's stone. Cosmopolitan 44, 632-36 (May 1908)
New Shakespeare—Bacon controversy. Cosmopolitan 32, 554-58 (March 1902)
Opposition of Mars. Harper's Weekly 36, 810 (Aug. 20, 1892)
Pleasures of the telescope: (Cf. the book "Pleasures of the Telescope"
listed in the following section.)
The selection and testing of a glass. Popular Science Monthly 45, 213-24 (June 1894)
In the starry heavens. ibid. 46, 289-301 (January 1895)
The starry heavens (cont'd). ibid. 46, 466-78 (February 1895)
Virgo and her neighbors. ibid. 46, 738-50 (April 1895)
In summer starlands. ibid. 47, 194-208 (June 1895)
From Lyra to Eridanus. ibid. 47, 508-21 (August 1895)
Pisces, Aries, Taurus, and the northern stars. ibid. 47, 783-97
(October 1895)
Progress of science. Cosmopolitan 33, 357-60 (July 1902)
Recent magnetic storms and sun-spots. Popular Science Monthly 23, 163-69 (June 1883)
Riding through space. Mentor 11, 3-16 (November 1923)
Rome of the gravel walk. Harper's Weekly 54, 9-11 (July 30, 1910)
Scenes on the planets. Popular Science Monthly 56, 337-49 (January
1900)
The Sky from Pike's Peak. Astronomy and Astrophysics 13, 150-51 (February 1894)
Soaring flight. Scientific American 90, 345 (April 30, 1904)
Solving the mystery of the stars. Cosmopolitan 39, 395-404 (August 1905)
Star streams and nebulæ. Popular Science Monthly 38, 338-41 (January 1891)
Strange markings on Mars. Popular Science Monthly 35, 41-56 (May 1889)
Studies in astronomy. Chautaquan 12, 38-43, 184-88, 330-34, 463-67,
596-601, 735-39; 13, 34-39, 170-75, 304-09 (October 1890-June 1891)
The Sun and his family. Outlook 200, 656-65 (March 23, 1912)
Transforming the world of plants. Cosmopolitan 40, 63-70 (November 1905)
What a five-inch telescope will show. Popular Astronomy 1, 372-73 (April 1894)
What is astronomy? Chautaquan 18, 541-45 (February 1894)
What is the music of the spheres? Mentor 15, 18-20 (December 1927)
What the stars are made of. Chautaquan 21, 9-13 (April 1895)
What we know about the planets. Chautaquan 20, 526-31 (February 1895)
When shall we have another glacial epoch? Publications of the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific 4, 15-19 (Jan. 30, 1892)
Non-Fiction: Books, Pamphlets, Etc.
Astronomy in a nutshell, the chief facts and principles explained in
popular language for the general reader
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