CHAPTER SIX

Chobham Road

It is still unclear how the Martians are able to kill such large numbers so quickly. Our best guess, so far, is that they have a way of creating, storing, and releasing an enormous amount of heat. They then use a rounded mirror, made from some special material, to reflect this heat onto whatever target they wish to destroy. With this kind of weapon they can melt the strongest metal like it was butter.

The tall grass in the fields around the sandpits burned brightly all night long. The only people in the area were those forty who had fallen victim to the heat ray and now lay there burned and unrecognizable.

The nearby towns all received word of the Martian machine at about the same time. Stores immediately closed and workers, having finished a full day's work, gathered with their girlfriends or wives in the street that led to the sandpits, eager to have a look at the strange circular object. None of them had heard that the cylinder had opened.

When they arrived, they found about two hundred people gathered and talking excitedly. They quickly joined them and caught up on the news. Then, of course, the heat ray came up out of the pit and started the killing. By that time, probably three hundred people had gathered in the fields there. A policeman on horseback was also there to try and keep some order, for, as with all crowds, there were some who might start behaving badly and do harm to the Martian cylinder. Ogilvy and Stent, just before returning to the pit with their white flag, had made a request for a team of soldiers to be sent to guard the pit.

When the destruction began, the people ran away in all directions. They were all, in fact, lucky to have survived; for the heat ray had moved in a full circle around the pits. If there had not been a long bar of sand running through the field to prevent the spread of the fire, all three hundred of the onlookers would surely have been killed. At one point, the heat ray shot just above the crowds' heads, setting fire to the surrounding buildings. Both trees and buildings fell before the running crowd, causing them all to stop for a moment. Clothing caught on fire and hundreds of screams went out into the night.

The horseman ran directly through the crowd, not caring who he might injure in his escape. A woman yelled, "Oh my God! They're coming after us!" And this set the whole crowd running again. People began to push their way through the crowd, knocking people off of their feet and running them over. Several women and a small child were killed in this way. The rest, however, managed to survive.

(end of section)