The herald., 1898-04-10
copyright, 1898, by Garrett P. Serviss'l
SYNOPSIS.

copyright, 1898, by Garrett P. serviss ]
SYNOPSIS.
The inventive genius of Thomas A. Edi-
son makes possible an attack OF the eai 49, a.
upon Mars. This is done 70 preveiit d s1 sre
ond invasion Of the Martians, MINATED Wnu
planet; the first having failed througn !, t,fe af
breaking out of disease ana iot hoiliami hoiiai,trica
fort. Edison invents practical
airshp, and an engine OF deS1i, destihu Vii Vii
called the "Disntegrator, Wnlcn "b. oh-
cause the constituent particles OF any y 90 90
eS5 at ThGh it obieGf ay R Gf be
ly and completely dispersed. idtS@ t,Ssrs md
of airships armed with disintegrators anu a,i
manned by two thousana asciantists, net sets
out The fleet arrived above ine Id ~ air
Hellas, on Mars, and finds noso oi Who no
ships on the watch. The MAI Martians'f az form mro
are of giant stature. human IN lTIni. thair
but of repusVe aspect. cover tleli ny,
planet with thick ,crnn cloud With Sf sHef their
GisniegrdSers Msn 'ns v'S'Hns a%nsh
their thunderbolts. and do much damage 51Iage
to the Edison fleet, which fnaiis glops aoes
beneath the smoke curtain ana easaSns nay,s
the enemy. in their ships, IN close Soi,i, n,,
bat The destruction is awful; , po'H tr'n, VI,
land and in the air., and tne SHIPS pS,',har aio,'
The next move is. strategic plane he4on,. Pr
posed by Colonel Smith. an army oincer'
The majority CT the. ships are confen- ntte
trated at certain point. where the atten. Ten.
tion of the Martians is held, while rev
are sent TO the other side of the planet to
effect landing Colonel Smitr Tha Siltp SnI,
onel and the narrator. entering, are
amazed to find young girl-a human pc
ing-playing on a strange mrie lnsttunleii Tpa IUa
latter are quickly dispatched with dlsln-
tegrators, and the girl is taken back TO
the main squadr9n nd ron al A'h9qgh hSne pere
ceived that her language is of 'hu
man origin. The whole squadron re-
pairs to the farther moon OF Mars. Del ,
party time TO acquire the girls speech,
for Mr.. Edison believes that she can give
them information that will lead to sue
cessful routing Of the enemy. After three
weeks spent OH DeiinoS. out OF SlSht OF
Mars the linguists are able to understand
Aina'S story. Her ancestors were brought
from the earth in a previous invasion Of
the earth by the Martians about 5000
years ago. From the girls remarkable
narrative it would appear that the Mar
the Pyramids and the Sphinx. Aina's
forefathers We're carried back to Mars,
kept in slavery until. with the exception
of Alma, they We're all massacred on the
arrival of the fleet from the earth. Alma
discloses way by which the Martians
can be drowned out. To do this it will be
necessary to enter a strongly guarded
building which contains the mechanism
that controls an artificial disposition of
the waters OF the oceans and seas of the
planet. By turning these into their nat
ural channel the continents Will be flood
ed, because much of the land is below the
level of the sea Returning from Deimos,
party, consisting of the narrator. Mr..
Edison, Colonel Smith, Sidney Phillips
and Alma, descends near the building and
succeeds in accomplishing its purpose.
After barely reaching their ship in safety
they watch the oncomng flood that over
spreads the land. The Martian forces
appear in their airships, but after a short
contest they are put to flight. The in
ters will reach the land of Thaumasia
the center of population; so they set out
to watch the awful destruction that will
there take place. AS they go they see
the Martians fleeing before the flood, but
except those who escape in airships and
those who are able to reach what slight
elevations there are on the time -leveled
planet, all go down before the deluge
The waters reach Thaumasia. and the
great city on the Lake OF the Sun is ex-
terminated,