Latest / Classic Adventure Books - Daily / 27 - The War of The Worlds - H G Wells

Transcript

27 - The War of The Worlds - H G Wells · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter ten, the epilogue. I cannot but regret now that
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: I am concluding my story, how little I am able
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to contribute to the discussion of the many debatable questions
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: which are still unsettled. In one respect, I shall certainly
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: provoke criticism. My particular province is speculative philosophy. My knowledge
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: of comparative physiology is confined to a book or two.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: But it seems to me that Carver's suggestions as to
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: the reason of the rapid death of the Martians is
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: so probable as to be regarded almost as a proven conclusion.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: I have assumed that in the body of my narrative,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: at any rate, in all the bodies of the Martians
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: that were examined after the war, no bacteria except those
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: already known as terrestrial species were found. That they did
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: not bury any of their dead, and the reckless slaughter
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: they perpetrated point also to an entire ignorance of the
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: putrefactive process. But probable as this seems, it is by
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: no means a proven conclusion. Neither is the composition of
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: the black smoke known which the Martians used with such
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: deadly effect, and the generator of the heat rays remains
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: a puzzle. The terrible disasters at the Ealing and South
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Kensington Laboratories have disinclined analysts for further investigations upon the
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: latter spectrum. Analysis of the black powder points unmistakably to
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: the presence of an unknown element with a brilliant group
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: of three lines in the green, and it is possible
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: that it combines with argonne to form a compound which
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: acts at once with deadly effect upon some constituent in
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: the blood. But such unproven speculations will scarcely be of
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: interest to the general reader to whom this story is addressed.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: None of the brown scum that drifted down the Thames
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: after the destruction of Shepperton was examined at the time,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: and now none is forthcoming the results of an anatomical
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: examination of the Martians, so far as the prowling dogs
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: had left such an examination possible, I have already given.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: But every one is familiar with the magnificent and almost
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: complete specimen in Spirits at the Natural History Museum, and
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: the countless drawings that have been made from it, And
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: beyond that the interest of their physiology and structure is
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: purely scientific, a question of graver and universal interest is
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: the possibility of another attack from the Martians. I do
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: not think that nearly enough attention is being given to
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: this aspect of the matter. At present, the planet Mars
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: is in conjunction. But with every return to opposition, I
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: for one, anticipate a renewal of their adventure. In any case,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: we should be prepared. It seems to me that it
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: should be possible to define the position of the gun
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: from which the shots are discharged, to keep a sustained
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: watch upon this part of the planet, and to anticipate
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: the arrival of the next attack. In that case, the
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: cylinder might be destroyed with dynamite or artillery before it
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: was sufficiently cool for the Martians to emerge, or they
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: might be butchered by means of guns so soon as
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the screw opened. It seems to me that they have
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: lost a vast advantage in the failure of their first surprise.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Possibly they see it in the same light. Lessing has
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: advanced excellent reasons for supposing that the Martians have actually
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: succeeded in effecting a landing on the planet Venus seven
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: months ago. Now, Venus and Mars were in alignment with
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: the sun. That is to say, Mars was in opposition
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: from the point of view of an observer on Venus. Subsequently,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: a peculiar, luminous and sinuous marking appeared on the unillumined
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: half of the inner planet, and almost simultaneously, a faint
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: dark mark of a similar sinuous character was detected upon
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: a photograph of the Martian disc. One needs to see
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: the drawings of these appearances in order to appreciate fully
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: their remarkable resemblance in character. At any rate, whether we
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: expect another invasion or not, our views of the human
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: future must be greatly modified by these events. We have
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: learned now that we cannot regard this planet as being
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: fenced in and a secure, abiding place for man. We
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: can never anticipate the unseen good or evil that may
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: come upon us suddenly out of space. It may be
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: that in the larger design of the universe, this invasion
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: from Mars is not without its ultimate benefit for men.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: It has robbed us of that serene confidence in the future,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: which is the most fruitful source of decadence. The gifts
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: to human science it has brought are enormous, and it
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: has done much to promote the conception of the common
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: wheel of mankind. It may be that across the immensity
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: of space, the Martians have watched the fate of these
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: pioneers of theirs and learned their lesson, and that on
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: the planet Venus they have found a securer settlement. Be
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: that as it may, for many years, yet there will
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: certainly be no relaxation of the eager scrutiny of the
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Martian disk, and those fiery darts of the sky. The
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: shooting stars will bring with them as they fall an
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: unavoidable apprehension to all the sons of men. The broadening
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: of men's views that has resulted can scarcely be exaggerated.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Before the cylinder fell, there was a general persuasion that
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: through all the deep of space, no life exists beyond
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: the petty surface of our minute sphere. Now we see further.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: If the Martians can reach Venus, there is no reason
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: to suppose that the thing is impossible for men. And
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: when the slow cooling of the Sun makes this Earth uninhabitable,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: as at last it must do, it may be that
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: the thread of life that has begun here will have
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: streamed out and caught our sister planet within its toils.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Dim and wonderful is the vision I have conjured up
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: in my mind of life spreading slowly from this little
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: seed bed of the solar system throughout the inanimate vastness
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: of siderial space. But that is a remote dream. It
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: may be, on the other hand, that the destruction of
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: the Martians is only a reprieve to them and not
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: to us. Perhaps is the future ordained? I must confess
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the stress and danger of the time have left an
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: abiding sense of doubt and insecurity in my mind. I
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: sit in my study, writing by lamp light, and suddenly
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: I see again the healing valley below, set with writhing flames,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: and feel the house behind and about me empty and desolate.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: I go out into the byfleet road, and vehicles pass me.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: A butcher boy in a cart, a cab full of visitors,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: a workman on a bicycle, children going to school, And
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: suddenly they become vague and unreal, And I hurry again
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: with the artillerymen through the hot, brooding silence of a night.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: I see the black powder darkening the silent streets, and
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: the contorted bodies shrouded in that lair. They rise upon me,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: tattered and dog bitten. They gibber and grow fiercer, paler, uglier,
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: mad distortions of humanity at last, and I wake cold
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: and wretched in the darkness of the night. I go
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: to London and see the busy multitudes in Fleet Street
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: and the Strand, and it comes across my mind that
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: they are but the ghosts of the past, haunting the streets.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: That I have seen, silent and wretched, going to and
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: fro phanfasms in a dead city, the mockery of life
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: in a galvanized body. And strange too it is to
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: stand on Primrose Hill, as I did but a day
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: before writing this last chapter, to see the great province
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: of houses, dim and blue through the haze of the
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: smoke and mist, vanishing at last into the vague lower sky.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: To see the people walking to and fro among the
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: flower beds on the hill, to see the sight seers
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: about the Martian machine that stands there still, To hear
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: the tumult of playing children, and to recall the time
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: when I saw it all bright and clear cut, ard
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: and silent under the dawn of that last great day.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: And the strangest of all is it to hold my
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: wife's hand again, and to think that I have counted
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: her and that she has counted me among the dead
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: end of Section twenty seven