1.Red Weed, Pt2
Brave New World and Dead London
Then, on the ninth day, we saw the Martians eating. Inside the
hood of their new machine they were drawing the fresh, living
blood of men and women and injecting it into their own veins.
Nathaniel：Aah! It's a sign! I've been given a sign! They must be
cast out, and I have been chosen to do it! I must confront them
now!
Journalist：No, parson, no!
Nathaniel： Those machines are just demons in another form. I
shall destroy them with my prayers. I shall burn them with my
holy cross. I shall...
Journalist： The curious eye of a Martian appeared at the window
slit, and a menacing claw explored the room. I dragged the
parson down to the coal cellar. I heard the Martian fumbling at
the latch. In the darkness I could see the claw touching things,
walls, coal, wood, and then, it touched my boot. I almost
shouted. For a time it was still, and then, with a click, it
gripped something： the parson! With slow, deliberate movements,
his unconscious body was dragged away, and there was nothing I
could do to prevent it.
I crept to the blocked window slit and peered through the
creeper. The Martians, and all their machinery, had gone!
Trembling, I dug my way out and clambered to the top of the
mound： not a Martian in sight! The day seemed dazzling bright
after my imprisonment and the sky a glowing blue. Red weed
covered every scrap of ground but a gentle breeze kept it
swaying, and oh, the sweetness of the air.
Again, I was on my way to London through towns and villages that
were blackened ruins, totally silent, desolated, deserted. Man's
empire had passed away, taken swiftly and without error by these
creatures who were composed entirely of brain. Unhampered by the
complex systems which make up man, they made and used different
bodies according to their needs. They never tired, never slept,
and never suffered, having long since eliminated from their
planet the bacteria which 'cause all fevers and other
morbidities.
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