CHAPTER III.
THE VOICE FROM ANOTHER WORLD
This thought of communicating with the Martian by writing, did not determe from using every effort to perfect my instrument, so that this mightbe done verbally, or that at least I might hear a voice and a languagespoken on a world millions of miles away. Accordingly I gave the subjectof sound-waves my best thought, and the next morning I had formulatedclearly laid principles upon which to work. By these I hoped to make aninstrument that would be the means of conversing with a Martian.
I had come to the conclusion that the jumble of sound was caused by theprolonged vibration of the wires after each distinct wave from Mars wasreceived, as the wires of a piano will vibrate long after they have beentouched. With light-waves it was necessary to have a highly sensitivesurface of the composition, capable of responding to many differentvibrations, according to the light or shade of the object projected.This accounted for the success I met with upon adopting the coatedwires, and I concluded thereupon that they were indispensable. But I nowsaw that the presence of wires in the composition, though successfulwith light-waves, was inimical to sound-waves, and it became evidentthat a firmer but highly sensitive surface was required. The film hadnot brought good results, either from sound-waves or light-waves, but,it will be remembered, there were wires running through it to give itrigidity, which, although necessary in my original experiments, must beavoided in connection with sound vibrations. Clearly my new film mustnot be rigid. I thereupon made a film of composition, as thin aspossible, and stretched it upon the frame of my instrument, as adiaphragm behind the wires, hoping that the sound-waves would passbetween the wires, and vibrate the diaphragm, which, being made ofcomposition, would undoubtedly glow, but not more than the film haddone. This, I concluded, would not interfere with the image on thewires, owing to the brilliancy of the latter.
I was now hopeful of success, and anxiously waited for the day to close.Everything was in readiness by noon, and I had at least eight hours towait before Mars would be in a position for wave contact. But nowappeared an adversary with which I had not reckoned. Clouds began togather, thin and fleecy at first, but growing heavier as the afternoonpassed, until by evening the heavens were completely obscured. This wasa condition that might last for several days, and the dread of it filledme with despair. How could I wait for days inactive, without seeing oreven hearing from my friend in Mars?
It now occurred to me how absolutely absorbed I had become in theMartian investigation. Ordinarily a sociable person, in the past week Ihad become a recluse. College friends that I had seen almost daily sincemy return to Paris, I now completely neglected, even shunned, lest theyshould call at my rooms some evening when I was in wave contact withMars. It also occurred to me that, as surely as my friendship andnecessity for them was declining, in like ratio was increasing anattachment for an inhabitant of another world. I felt a strange soulkinship for this Martian, which seemed to spring up the moment I saw hisimage portrayed on my instrument. And the feeling was not one ofordinary friendship. I felt I was drawn to him by some mysterious power,that gave him the place of a brother in my affections--a power thatseemed to have brought us together, and now united us with a greatcommon and compelling interest. And yet as I pictured his handsome,almost beautiful face, there was still another face I had seen--butwhere? The Martian had been alone, yet I was conscious of a face thatwas wonderfully beautiful, that seemed the goal for which I wasstriving. It led me to greater effort after failure; the face which Iyearned to see and yet strangely dreaded seeing.
It was useless for me to try to understand such thoughts, and to banishthem from my mind was impossible. I was overcome with a sense ofloneliness. Looking at my watch, I found that it was already past thehour when Mars would be visible through the window on a clear night,but, alas, the sky showed no signs of clearing; though my instrumentstood ready, it was useless.
But, obeying some irresistible impulse, I decided to turn on the currentand stand by the instrument in case an opening in the clouds shouldoccur, for even a moment. I therefore turned the switch that controlledthe current, and immediately, to my astonishment, the surface of wiresbecame as brilliant as on the previous evening under a clear sky.Turning away for a moment, to allow my eyes to become accustomed to thebrilliancy, I noticed that the sky was still overcast with heavy rainclouds. My joy at the discovery that the Martian projecting agent wasnot arrested by vapor was unbounded, for it meant that I could be inwave-contact with Mars every night, during the period that the planetwas visible from Earth.
I approached the instrument with the intention of at once testing thediaphragm, but, to my surprise, my Martian friend was not there to greetme. The room and its furnishings, however, were depicted as clearly asbefore, and I now had an opportunity to note the instruments, the largevolumes of books, and the maps of the heavens which hung on the wall.Everything pointed to this being a fully equipped Martian observatory,though the instruments were entirely strange to me. I was examiningthese latter more closely, when heavy portieres parted, and my Martianfriend stepped into the room. So anxious was I to give him a pleasantgreeting, instead of staring at him in a semi-stupefied condition, as Ihad done previously, that I forgot, for the moment, my determination totest my diaphragm at the first opportunity, and greeted him merely witha smile and a bow.
My serene demeanor lasted but a moment, for simultaneously with hisbowed response to my greeting, came in a clear voice, with perfectaccent: "Bon soir, Monsieur!"
I started back, for it seemed as if someone in the room had spoken, butthen I noticed that the Martian held in his hand the instrument I hadseen on the previous evening. Was it possible that this was his voice,speaking French from a distance of millions of miles as clearly as if hewere in the room? The thing was incredible! How could a Martian know alanguage evolved here on Earth? Was the whole thing then a delusion ofan overwrought mind? I stood staring at the instrument in amazement.
The Martian, now seeing by my actions that his voice had been heard,raised his instrument and repeated his greeting. The voice rang asclearly as before; there could be no further doubt; through thiswonderful instrument the Martian's voice was projected, almostinstantaneously to the Earth--millions of miles in a second. Themysterious power which enabled the Martian to project the waves,compared with our electricity as the telegraph does with thestage-coach. Was it strange that I stood aghast, as my mind slowlycomprehended the enormous distance which that voice had traversed almostinstantaneously?
It was some moments before my amazement permitted me to respond to thisextraordinary salutation, then--my mind still too bewildered properly tograsp the situation--I mumbled something in English about my greatastonishment at hearing a language of Earth spoken from a distant world.
The sound of my voice seemed to cause the Martian some surprise, butimmediately his voice issued again in clear tones from the instrument.
"I greeted you in what I supposed was your native tongue," he said inperfect English. "Although now we have but one composite language here,over a thousand years ago we spoke in many languages, as the people ofyour planet do at the present time.
"For more than six hundred years we have been able to observe theprogress of your planet," he went on, "through an instrument by whichlight-waves are projected and received, and have found it to beidentical with ours of almost fifteen hundred years ago. By the placardsin the streets of your cities and towns, we discovered that you alsospoke in many tongues, and although the progress was necessarily slow,our astronomers were, by this means, able to learn the principallanguages of Earth.
"Anxiously we have watched and waited for the discovery of an instrumentthat would respond to our projected light-waves and reveal to you theinhabitants of your neighboring planet. At last this momentous time hasarrived. I congratulate you upon bringing it about."
As he spoke, his voice, coming from the diaphragm of my instrument,sounded as distinct as if he were in the room, and his image, depictedlife-size, made it ha
rd to believe that he was more than a few feetaway. That my informant was, in reality, millions of miles away, my mindabsolutely refused to grasp.
A thousand questions to put to my Martian acquaintance rushed into mymind, but alas, in supposing that I could not come in contact with Marson account of cloud obscurity, I had lost much of the precious time, andnow the waning light on my instrument warned me that the planet would,in a few moments, pass out of range. We therefore hastily bade eachother adieu, promising to continue our conversation on the morrow, asthough we had parted at a street corner. The light now faded completely,and the instrument, that a few moments previously had been animated withsuch an exuberance of life and mystery, now stood before me wrapped inprofound darkness and silence.
How impossible, how inconceivable it all seemed! How the outside worldwould scoff if I attempted to explain or publish my discovery! I feltthat the time had not yet come to take anyone into my confidence, and Idetermined still to keep all a secret. I was then unaware, however, thatthe more I learned of Mars and its people the more closely I would guardmy knowledge.
Pacing excitedly up and down my laboratory, I spent most of the night inreviewing what I had heard, and speculating the rare knowledge that themorrow would bring. The secrets of another world would be unfolded tome, and the scientific achievements of a people over a thousand years inadvance of us would be mine. What glorious possibilities this disclosed!What a brilliant future as a scientist such knowledge would assure me!And in the exuberance of my spirits I little thought that the possessionof this knowledge would come to mean naught to me; for I had yet tolearn that man cannot share the riches of another world without alsobecoming a partner in its sorrows and its passions.