Why Mars Gives A Red Light

: Other World Life

Our telescope was now pointed exactly at Mars, and we were observing

every feature as we approached him. Compared with the illuminated

crescent of the Earth, which we had studied when we were observing the

Andes, our present view was infinitely vaster and more comprehensive. We

were approaching the illuminated side of a planet, whereas we had then

been rapidly receding from the dark side of one partly lighted at its

ed e. In our new vista there were remarkably few clouds. There were a

few pale mists here and there over the seas, but no such heavy, black

masses as had frequently obscured the Earth.



On Mars there were fewer large bodies of water, and a very much greater

proportion of land. In fact, about the Equator, whither we were

steering, there seemed to be a broad, uninterrupted zone of land, with

occasional bays or inlets cutting into it, but never crossing it. An

open sea of considerable proportions surrounded the great ice-cap at

each pole, and it was apparently thus possible to travel entirely

around the globe, either by sea or by land, as one might choose.



"Behold again the infinite wisdom of the Creator!" cried the doctor.

"Although Mars is a much smaller planet than our own, it is fitted for

almost as large a population. The land is nearly all grouped about the

Equator, where it is warm enough to live comfortably. On the contrary,

on Earth there is no important civilization under the Equator, and most

of the land is favourably located in the north temperate zone. On Earth

the intervention of great oceans between the continents kept the

population restricted to Asia and Egypt for centuries, and to the Old

World for a still longer time. But here, this band of continuous land

has made it easy and natural to explore the whole globe, and its

inhabitants have had ample time and opportunity to distribute

themselves."



But by far the most wonderful thing that we had been observing for a

long time, and which became more remarkable as we approached, was that

the entire planet, seas and continents alike, gave off a reddish light.

This tinge of red had been visible ever since we had left the Earth.

Much further back we had observed that it seemed to extend a little

beyond the outline of Mars, and we now saw that even the white light

from the snow-caps had a faint tinge of red.



"For centuries the ruddy light of this planet has been remarked," said

the doctor. "His very name was given him because of his gory, warlike

appearance. Scientists have attempted to explain it by supposing that

his vegetation is uniformly red, instead of green like ours. Still

others, objecting that his vegetation could not possibly be rank or

plentiful, or continue the same colour through all seasons, have

supposed that his soil or primaeval rock is of a deep red colour. But

neither of these suppositions explain why his seas should give off a

reddish light mixed with their green, or why the pure white of polar

snows should be tinged with crimson."



We must have been still two hundred miles above the surface when the

barometer began to rise feebly, indicating that we were already entering

the Martian atmosphere; and, as we proceeded, the reddish glow spread

all around us, and was even dimly visible behind as well as in front. We

were still travelling too rapidly to plunge into the denser atmosphere

or attempt a landing. Besides, we wished to explore the planet, and find

life and civilization before choosing a landing place. And as we drew

nearer, in a constantly narrowing circle, that red haze was all about us

everywhere.



"There can be but one explanation of it," said the doctor at last. "This

red is a colour in the Martian atmosphere. It seems very strange and

almost impossible to us; but we must prepare ourselves for extremely

unusual and even apparently impossible things."



But this seemed to disturb the doctor greatly, as also did the fact that

we could no longer breathe with comfort the rare air which we had not

found objectionable far back in space. Our returning weight made

physical effort again necessary, and we were able to exert ourselves but

little without panting and gasping. The rarest air we had used had shown

a pressure of fourteen, and we were now compelled to increase this to

eighteen in order to be comfortable.



"This Martian air is sure to give us trouble," the doctor said to me

after considerable reflection. "In the first place, its red colour makes

me fear it is not composed of the same gases that our air is. If it

should turn out to be a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen, like ours, there

is the possibility that this red matter which gives it colour will be

poisonous to us. And even if it is not harmful, I do not think the air

will have a pressure above ten or eleven, and we seem to need eighteen

or twenty for comfort. I shall be very sorry if we have to return at

once; but our supply of air is limited, you know."



"You keep a close watch through your telescope for those flying men you

promised to show me," I answered. "If they can live in this air, I think

we can manage it somehow. I will not go back while there is a breath

left in me."



But as we drew nearer and nearer to the surface we did not discover the

slightest sign of habitation. As far as we could see there was a great

desert, barren of all vegetation, and apparently unwatered since

creation. Our telescope did not detect the existence even of animals or

creeping things.



"The wisdom of the Creator is probably quite as profound, but certainly

not as apparent just here as it was somewhat farther back," I ventured.



"We must search over the whole surface of the globe until we find smoke

rising," said the doctor. "That is the sure sign of intelligent life on

Earth. There has hardly been a tribe of the lowest savages there which

did not know how to light a fire, and this knowledge would be far more

essential on a cold planet like this. Wherever we find smoke we shall

find those intellectual creatures, corresponding to men on our planet."



Presently, far ahead of us, we discerned a small black cloud rapidly

crossing our path. As we approached we examined it through the

telescope, and soon saw that it was nothing less than an enormous flock

of swiftly-flying small grey birds. This was our first acquaintance with

what we afterwards found to be the predominating form of animal life on

the planet. But the swift-winged cloud bore away from us, as if fleeing

from the desert, and was soon lost to view.



It was not long after this that we perceived a broad stripe of

brilliant green extending down into the dull expanse of the desert. In

the middle of this verdant zone there was a weaving silver ribbon, which

could be nothing else than a great river, along whose banks we could

discern hundreds of hovering or wading birds, hopping lugubriously, or

spreading their broad wings in a low flight.



As we now lowered rapidly to examine the soil more closely, we saw that

we were approaching some great geometrical masses of hewn rock, whose

regularity of design indicated that they were buildings of some sort. We

at once decided to land and investigate these, even if we had to take up

our search for intelligent life later.



We remarked that none of these enormous structures were square, or with

right-angled corners, such as we were used to. They all seemed to be a

combination or multiplication of a single design, which was nothing more

than a massive triangular wall, with its right angle on the ground and

its acute angle at the top. Sometimes two were built together, with

their perpendicular surfaces joining; again, four were joined in the

same manner, and one very large one was composed of twelve of these,

radiating from a common centre, which, if they had quite joined each

other, would have formed a gigantic cone.



I took another look at the tall, slender birds down the river, and

remarked to the doctor,--



"These great structures are no birds' nests! You can't make me believe

winged men would build with stone. These look more like giants'

playthings than anything else."



"They appear to me like the gnomons of enormous sundials," remarked the

doctor; "and, indeed, their uses must certainly be astronomical. With

these one can not only tell the time, but the ascension and meridian of

the sun and stars, and therefore the months and seasons."



We lowered and circled about above the largest one, which had twelve of

the triangular walls built in circular form, with their common

perpendicular line in the centre and their acute angles at the

circumference. On closer observation, the twelve slanting sides, which

radiated from the common peak, had a tubular appearance, and we were

soon able to look down through almost a hundred great cylindrical

chambers, which ran from a common opening at the top, slanting at every

different angle down to the surface.



"These are nothing more than great, immovable masonry telescopes, for

watching the stars in their courses!" cried the doctor. "Look, there is

one perpendicular cylinder for observing just when a star or planet

comes directly overhead, and these scores of other cylinders, at

different angles, successively afford a view of a given constellation as

it rises and then declines."



"Then they have built a separate masonry telescope, pointing in almost

every conceivable direction, instead of having one movable telescope to

take any direction," said I.



The wonderful size and massive construction of these was very striking,

rivalling the pyramids of Egypt in their ponderous and enduring

character. They were located on a raised plateau, whence the view in all

directions was quite unobstructed. We came gently to land in the midst

of them. To the rear, whence we had come, I could see the desolate waste

of the desert. From the forward window we observed that the peaceful

river kept a straight course from the cataract where it plunged over the

plateau, through the green valley, between level banks, as far as we

could see; and just at the foot of our plateau restfully nestled a city,

whose massive and towering structures reached almost to our level. With

the aid of the telescope we saw beings moving slowly about. Their form

was upright and unwinged, but more than this we could not see. The

deliberation and stately dignity of their movements comported perfectly

with the majestic city wherein they dwelt.



"At last we have arrived at the boundaries of Martian civilization,"

exclaimed the doctor. "We will rest here and test the atmosphere; and if

it permits us, we will then venture forth to measure our skill and

knowledge against this race of builders. I hazard a guess that we will

excel them in many things, for they are apparently only at the

perfection of their Stone Age, while we finished that long ago, and have

since passed through the Ages of Iron and of Steam, and are now at the

dawn of the Era of Magnetism and Gravitation. Our minds are more fertile

and elastic, for with this little movable telescope we probably obtain

better results than they have done with their years of toiling

calculation and patient building."



"You will be sadly disappointed if they so far excel us that they eat us

up at two mouthfuls," said I. "As they move about yonder, they impress

me as being full of power."



"They are as sluggish as elephants," he replied. "We are certainly more

rapid in thought and action, and it is highly probable that we shall

excel them in physical strength, as we have been built for three times

as heavy muscular tasks as they."



"Still, if we cannot make them understand that we come peaceably as

friends, they may attempt to kill us as the quickest solution of the

question. And they are a whole race against two of us," said I, just

beginning to realize all the difficulties that were yet ahead of us.



"Unless they are a very intelligent and magnanimous race, they will

probably attempt to take us prisoners," he answered. "It is the mark of

an enlightened nation to welcome strangers whose powers are unknown. A

primitive race fears everything it does not understand, and force is

its only argument against a superior intelligence."



Thereupon I immediately began a thorough overhauling of all the arms and

ammunition, while the doctor prepared to test the air. There was a tone

of confident exultation in his voice when he spoke again.



"This redness of the air will not trouble us a whit. Look! you can see

no tinge of red between here and that huge wall yonder, nor anywhere

along the ground as far as you can see. It is so slight a colouring that

it is only noticeable in vast reaches of atmosphere, like the blue

colour in our own air. See here, where a small cloud obscures the sky

there is no ruddy tinge. There is no more colouring-matter in this than

there is indigo in our own air. The amount of it is so infinitely small

that it will never trouble us. Now, if it only contains oxygen enough,

we are sure of life in it."



"Yes, if they will leave us alive to breathe it," I added, counting out

seventeen cartridges for each rifle.



"The air outside shows a pressure of only eleven, while we have eighteen

inside," he said. "I will bring in the discharging cylinder full of the

outer air, and by keeping it upside down the lighter air will remain in

it. Then, if a candle flame will burn steadily in it, the oxygen we need

is there."



Suiting the action to the word, he carefully drew in the inverted

cylinder, and cautiously brought a lighted candle into it. To our great

delight the flame burned for a moment with a brighter, stronger light

than it did in the air of the compartment.



"Hurrah!" cried the doctor, as happily as if he had just earned the

right to live. "It seems to have more oxygen than our own air, which

will make up for the lesser density."



Then he put the lighted candle in the cylinder, and quickly discharged

it outside upon the ground where we could see it. The flame had almost

twice the brilliancy that it had had inside.



"Our scientists who have sneered at the possibility of life on Mars,

because of its rare atmosphere, have overlooked the simplicity of the

problem. They delight in propounding posers for Omnipotence. If a

Creator dilutes oxygen with three parts of nitrogen on one planet where

conditions make a dense atmosphere, why should He not dilute oxygen with

an equal part of nitrogen on a planet where the air is rare? Air is not

a chemical compound, but a simple mixture. When a stronger, more

life-giving atmosphere is needed, let there be less of the diluting gas.

The nitrogen is of no known use, except to weaken the oxygen."



"Let me out into it, if you say it is all right," I cried. "I am tired

of this bird-cage."



"Put on the diver's suit and helmet, and I will weaken the pressure of

the air gradually, to prevent bleeding at the nose and ears which a

sudden change might cause. When you are used to the low pressure, you

can throw off the helmet and try the Martian double-oxygenated air."



I hurriedly donned the queer, baggy suit and the enormous helmet with

the bulging glass eyes, and then connected the two long rubber tubes

which sprang from the top with the air pipes which led to the doctor's

compartment. He put in the bulkhead, and I went to the port-hole to

unseal it. As I glanced out the little window, I thought I saw a light

very near the mica. Was it our candle flame that something had lifted?

The thick glass of the helmet blinded me a little, and I approached the

window and peered out, coming face to face with a Martian, whose nose

was pressed against the mica! What a rounded, smooth, and expressionless

face! But what large, deep, luminous eyes!



I sprang back from the window in surprise, but not more quickly than he

did. Just then the projectile rolled over slightly with a crunching

noise, and I hear the thud of a heavy muffled blow on the doctor's end.

Suddenly he pulled away the bulkhead and whispered to me excitedly:--



"They are all about us outside--dozens of them! They are examining the

projectile and trying to break it open. If they strike the windows, it

will be too easy."



The projectile tottered a little again. There was a heaving noise, and

one end rose a little from the ground.



"They are trying to carry us off, Doctor," I cried. "You must turn in

the currents and fly away from them."



The projectile was just then lifted awkwardly, and wavered a little and

pitched, as if it were being carried by a throng struggling clumsily all

about it. The doctor sprang to his apparatus and turned in four

batteries at once. We shot up swiftly in a long curve, and from my

window I could see the circle of amazed Martians, standing dumbly with

their hands still held up in front of them, as they had been when the

projectile left them, while they gazed open-mouthed into the sky at us.