CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

A Heroic Ship

If a person had been able to fly in a balloon high above London that Monday afternoon and evening, he would have seen the same kind of traffic of people along every road that lead North and East out of London. All six million residents of London, those, anyway, who were not already dead, were escaping along those narrow roads, each person terribly afraid for his life.

If the person in the balloon looked to the south of London, he would have found that it was entirely covered in something like black ink. If the Martians had intended to kill all six million of London's people, they very easily could have. However, it seemed that they wanted only to take complete control over humans and prevent them from fighting back. They cut off our every means of effective transportation and communication.

Two more stars soon fell, one in Wimbledon, and the other of which I am about to tell; but first, Wimbledon. My brother and his two companions saw that one hit the ground. By this time, it was widely understood that London was under the Martians' complete control. Up until this time, my brother had never seen a Martian. This, however, would soon change.

My brother ran into many people along his escape to the eastern coast. From these people he heard many rumors. The most attractive one being that northern towns had gotten together and prepared enough bread to feed the millions of starving people heading their way. There was also word going around that traps were being set for the Martians around the city of London. Bombs were being buried in the surrounding fields to take the enemy by surprise should they decide to move on beyond the Capital. The first bit of news interested my brother more, for he was terribly hungry; but, even so, he convinced his two companions to continue to move toward the east. And for the next day they heard no more about such rumors.

That evening, Mrs Elphinstone saw the seventh star fall from the sky. They had been stopped in a field, earlier in the evening, by a group of people who called themselves the People's Supply Committee. They took the two women's horse from them, but promised that they would be paid for it in food the next day. Despite such promises, my brother, once again, encouraged the women to keep up their eastward journey toward the ocean that night. After seeing the seventh Martian ship arrive, the arguing stopped and the three of them walked on.

The next day, in the early afternoon, they arrived at Tillingham, where the sea suddenly came into view. The ocean there was filled with ships of all sorts: ships full of cattle, ships full of fuel, passenger boats, and one military boat, The Thunder Child. It stood there looking mighty, despite its inability to help the fall of London. Behind it could be seen the smoke of many more military ships, for the ships, themselves, were hidden in a low mist that lay just above the surface of the water. They almost seemed ghost-like out there in the quiet distance.

The doctor's sister and I began to walk eagerly toward the beach down below, but Mrs Elphinstone did not want to leave England, and refused to take another step forward. She feared life abroad almost as much as she feared the Martians. She wanted to go back to her hometown of Stanmore. Everything would be okay there, she said. My brother and the doctor's sister had to pull her down to the beach by both arms. Once there, my brother was able to get the attention of a nearby ship that sent a small boat to get them. They soon found themselves safely on board, but in order to stay, they had to pay the captain thirty-six pounds. There was food available on the ship, although it also was not free, but rather, quite expensive.

Then the sound of guns could be heard from the south. Slowly, the hidden military boats started to come out from behind the mist and move toward land. Meanwhile, my brother's boat had just begun to move out toward sea. The sound of the guns became louder and louder, until finally, a Martian appeared in the distance. The captain of the ship yelled at his boat to go faster, but the poor thing was already going full speed. As the Martian reached the beach and walked into the water after the retreating boats, another Martian suddenly appeared and joined it in the chase.

This was the first Martian my brother had ever seen. He watched in amazement as it came for them, followed by one, then another, and yet another Martian. There must have been five or six of them, altogether. His boat was making very slow progress, but my brother was too shocked to be frightened.

Suddenly, he was knocked off of his feet as the boat made a quick, sharp turn in order to avoid being hit by another ship. When he got back to his feet, my brother saw that his boat had just barely avoided running into The Thunder Child. That ship was designed to destroy boats by crashing into them, and it was now heading, full-speed, for the Martians.

My brother watched as the ship came closer and closer to the Martians. No one could believe that it got as close as it did, for the Martians could certainly have used their heat ray to destroy it. However, this boat did not fire at them, instead it came upon them with great speed, its size making them look less frightening. The front Martian finally shot a container of gas at the ship, but it simply bounced off the side and fell into the water. The huge iron ship kept coming. The Martian then raised its heat ray and shot a stream of terrible fire into the side of the oncoming boat. Great damage was done to The Thunder Child, however, it could not stop its forward motion, and moments later the boat hit the Martian directly and sent it reeling backward. The giant Martian machine tried to stay on its legs, but failed and fell face first into the water where it quickly sank to the bottom.

Everyone aboard my brother's ship let out a loud cheer. But they became even more excited when they saw that the great boat was still okay and now heading directly for a second Martian.

"They're going after another one!" yelled our captain. Everyone screamed with joy. My brother could not control himself and let out a triumphant cry.

The Martian shot its heat ray at the charging boat and a whole section of The Thunder Child exploded, but, again, it was not enough to stop the boat's approach and within seconds the Martian was struck so hard that it looked as though it were made of nothing more than paper. The fighting machine broke right in half, its legs disappearing into the water below, while the giant head came crashing down soon after.

"They got him!" cried the captain. Again cheers from all around.

After the steam and smoke had cleared, The Thunder Child was nowhere to be seen. However, none of the Martians could be seen, either. It seemed that they had run away. The other military boats were now close to the shore, ready to fight the Martians with all of their strength, so encouraged were they by The Thunder Child's success.

My brother's boat continued its journey further out to sea. As night slowly approached and my brother sat listening to the gunfire in the distance, the captain suddenly shouted, pointing his finger at the sky. At that moment, a thin, round object could be seen flying with great speed up into the darkness above. It rose higher and higher until it finally disappeared, leaving nothing but the sound of water slapping against the side of the boat, carrying my brother and his companions safely away from the Martians.

(end of section)