The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells
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to fact that had long been familiar to scientific people, namely: that from some unknown source in space, waves of electromagnetic disturbance, entirely similar those used by Signor Marconi for_his wireless telegraphy, are constantly reaching the earth . besides Tesla quite a number of other observers have_been engaged in perfecting apparatus for receiving and recording these vibrations, though few would go so_far to consider them actual messages from some extraterrestrial sender . among that few, however, we_must certainly count Mr Wendigee . ever_since 1898 he had devoted himself almost entirely to_this subject, and being a man of ample means he had erected an observatory on_the flanks of Monte Rosa, in_a_position singularly adapted in every way for such observations .

my scientific attainments, I_must admit, are_not great, but so_far as_they enable me to judge, Mr Wendigee's contrivances for detecting and recording any disturbances in_the electromagnetic conditions of space are singularly original and ingenious . and by a happy combination of circumstances they were set up and in operation about two months before Cavor made his first attempt to_call up the earth . consequently we_have fragments of_his communication even from_the beginning . unhappily, they_are only fragments, and_the most momentous of all the things that he had to_tell humanity - the instructions, that_is, for_the making of Cavorite, if, indeed, he ever transmitted them - have throbbed themselves away unrecorded into space . we never succeeded in getting a response back to Cavor . he_was unable to_tell, therefore, what we had received or what we had missed; nor, indeed, did he certainly know that any_one on earth was really aware of_his efforts to reach_us . and_the persistence he displayed in sending eighteen long descriptions of lunar affairs - as they_would_be if_we had them complete - shows how_much his mind must_have turned back towards his native planet since he left it two years_ago .

you_can imagine how amazed Mr Wendigee must_have been when he discovered his record of electromagnetic disturbances interlaced by Cavor's straightforward English .Mr Wendigee knew nothing of_our wild journey moonward, and suddenly - this English out_of_the void !

it_is well the reader should understand the conditions under which it would seem these messages were sent . somewhere within_the moon Cavor certainly had access for a time to a considerable amount of electrical apparatus, and it would seem he rigged up - perhaps furtively - atransmitting arrangement of_the Marconi type . this he_was able to operate at irregular intervals: sometimes for only half an hour or so, sometimes for three or four hours at a stretch . at_these times he transmitted his earthward message, regardless of_the fact that_the relative position of_the moon and points upon_the earth's surface is constantly altering . as a consequence of_this and of_the necessary imperfections of_our recording instruments his communication comes and goes in_our records in an extremely fitful manner; it becomes blurred; it "fades out" in a mysterious and altogether exasperating way . and added to this_is_the fact that he_was not an expert operator; he had partly forgotten, or never completely mastered, the code in general use, and as he became fatigued he dropped words and misspelt in a curious manner .

altogether we_have probably lost quite half of_the communications he_made, and much we_have is damaged, broken, and partly effaced . in_the abstract that follows the reader must_be prepared therefore for a considerable amount of break, hiatus, and change of topic .Mr Wendigee and I are collaborating in a complete and annotated edition of_the Cavor record, which we_hope to_publish, together with a detailed account of_the instruments employed, beginning with_the first volume in January next . that_will_be the full and scientific report, of_which this_is only the popular transcript . but here we_give at_least sufficient to complete the story I_have told, and to_give the broad outlines of_the state of_that other world so near, so akin, and yet so dissimilar to our own .

chapter 23

an abstract of_the Six Messages first received from Mr Cavor

the two earlier messages of Mr Cavor may very_well be reserved for_that larger volume . they simply tell, with greater brevity and with a difference in several details that_is interesting, but not of any vital importance, the bare facts of_the making of_the sphere and_our departure from_the world . throughout, Cavor speaks of me as a man who_is dead, but with a curious change of temper as he approaches our landing on_the moon ." poor Bedford," he_says of me, and " this poor young man "; and he blames himself for inducing a young man, " by no means well equipped for such adventures," to leave a planet " on_which he_was indisputably fitted to succeed" on so precarious a mission . i_think he underrates the part my energy and practical capacity played in bringing about_the realisation of_his theoretical sphere ." we arrived," he_says, with no more account of_our passage through space than if_we had made a journey of common occurrence in a railway train .

and then he becomes increasingly unfair to_me . unfair, indeed, to an extent I should_not have expected in a man trained in_the search for truth . looking back over my previously written account of_these things, I_must insist that I_have_been altogether juster to Cavor than he has_been to_me . I_have extenuated little and suppressed nothing . but his account is:

" it speedily became apparent that_the entire strangeness of_our circumstances and surroundings - great loss of weight, attenuated but highly oxygenated air, consequent exaggeration of_the results of muscular effort, rapid development of weird plants from obscure spores, lurid sky - was exciting my companion unduly . on_the moon his character seemed to deteriorate . he became impulsive, rash, and quarrelsome . in a little while his folly in devouring some gigantic vesicles and_his consequent intoxication led to our capture by_the Selenites - before we had had the slightest opportunity of properly observing their ways .. .. "

( he_says, you observe, nothing of_his own concession to_these same "vesicles .")

and he goes on from_that point to_say that " we came to a difficult passage with_them, and Bedford mistaking certain gestures of theirs" - pretty gestures they were ! - " gave way to a panic violence . he ran amuck, killed three, and perforce I had to flee with_him after_the outrage . subsequently we fought with a number who endeavoured to bar our way, and slew seven or eight more . it says much for_the tolerance of_these beings that on my recapture i_was not instantly slain . we_made our way to_the exterior and separated in_the crater of_our arrival, to increase our chances of recovering our sphere . but presently I_came upon a body of Selenites, led by two who were curiously different, even in form, from any of_these we had seen hitherto, with larger heads and smaller bodies, and much more elaborately wrapped about . and after evading them for some_time I fell into a crevasse, cut my head rather badly, and displaced my patella, and, finding crawling very painful, decided to surrender - if_they_would still permit me to_do_so . this they_did, and, perceiving my helpless condition, carried me with_them again into_the moon . and of Bedford I_have heard or seen nothing more, nor, so_far as I_can gather, any selenite . either the night overtook him in_the crater, or else, which_is more probable, he_found the sphere, and, desiring to steal a march upon me, made off with it - only, I_fear, to_find it uncontrollable, and to meet a more lingering fate in outer space ."

and with_that Cavor dismisses me and goes on to more interesting topics .I dislike the idea of seeming to use my position as his editor to deflect his story in my own interest, but I_am obliged to protest here against the turn he_gives these occurrences . he_said nothing about_that gasping message on_the blood- stained paper in_which he_told, or attempted to_tell, a very different story . the dignified self- surrender is an altogether new view of_the affair that has_come to him, I_must insist, since he began to_feel secure among_the lunar people; and as for_the "stealing a march" conception, I_am quite willing to let the reader decide between_us on what he has before him . I_know I_am not a model man - I_have_made no pretence to_be . but am I that ?

however, that_is_the sum of_my wrongs . from_this point I_can edit Cavor with an untroubled mind, for he mentions me no more .

it would seem the Selenites who had come upon him carried him to some point in_the interior down "a great shaft" by_means of what he describes as "a sort of balloon ." we gather from_the rather confused passage in_which he describes this, and from a number of chance allusions and hints in other and subsequent messages, that_this " great shaft" is one of an enormous system of artificial shafts that run, each from what_is called a lunar " crater," downwards for very nearly a hundred miles towards the central portion of_our satellite . these shafts communicate by transverse tunnels, they throw out abysmal caverns and expand into great globular places; the whole of_the moon's substance for a hundred miles inward, indeed, is amere sponge of rock ."Partly," says Cavor, " this sponginess is natural, but very largely it_is due to_the enormous industry of_the Selenites in_the_past . the enormous circular mounds of_the excavated rock and earth it is_that form these great circles about_the tunnels known to earthly astronomers (misled by a false analogy) as volcanoes ."

it_was down this shaft they took him, in_this " sort of balloon" he speaks of, at first into an inky blackness and then into a region of continually increasing phosphorescence .Cavor's despatches show him to_be curiously regardless of detail for a scientific man, but we gather that_this light was due to_the streams and cascades of water - " no_doubt containing some phosphorescent organism" - that flowed ever more abundantly downward towards the central sea . and as he descended, he_says, " the Selenites also became luminous ." and at last far below him he_saw, as it were, a lake of heatless fire, the waters of_the central sea, glowing and eddying in strange perturbation, " like luminous blue milk that_is just on_the boil ."

" this lunar sea," says Cavor, in a later passage " is_not a stagnant ocean; a solar tide sends it in a perpetual flow around the lunar axis, and strange storms and boilings and rushings of_its waters occur, and at times cold winds and thunderings that ascend out of it into_the busy ways of_the great ant- hill above . it_is only when_the water is in motion that_it gives out light; in its rare seasons of calm it_is black . commonly, when one sees it, its waters rise and fall in an oily swell, and flakes and big rafts of shining, bubbly foam drift with_the sluggish, faintly glowing current . the Selenites navigate its cavernous straits and lagoons in little shallow boats of a canoe- like shape; and even before my journey to_the galleries about_the grand lunar, who_is master of_the moon, i_was permitted to_make a brief excursion on its waters .

" the caverns and passages are naturally very tortuous .a large proportion of_these ways are known only to expert pilots among_the fishermen, and not infrequently Selenites are lost for ever in their labyrinths . in their remoter recesses, I_am told, strange creatures lurk, some_of_them terrible and dangerous creatures that all the science of_the moon has_been unable to exterminate . there_is particularly the Rapha, an inextricable mass of clutching tentacles that one hacks to pieces only to multiply; and_the Tzee, adarting creature that_is never seen, so subtly and suddenly does it slay .. ."

he_gives us a gleam of description .

" i_was reminded on_this excursion of what I_have read of_the mammoth Caves; if only I had had a yellow flambeau instead of_the pervading blue light, and a solid- looking boatman with an oar instead of a scuttle- faced selenite working an engine at_the back of_the canoe, I_could_have imagined I had suddenly got back to earth . the rocks about us were very various, sometimes black, sometimes pale blue and veined, and once they flashed and glittered as_though we had come into a mine of sapphires . and below one saw the ghostly phosphorescent fishes flash and vanish in_the hardly less phosphorescent deep . then, presently, a long ultra- marine vista down the turgid stream of one_of_the channels of traffic, and alanding stage, and then, perhaps, a glimpse up the enormous crowded shaft of one_of_the vertical ways .

" in one great place heavy with glistening stalactites a number of boats were fishing . we went alongside one_of_these and watched the long- armed Selenites winding in a net . they were little, hunchbacked insects, with very strong arms, short, bandy legs, and crinkled face-masks . as_they pulled at it that net seemed the heaviest thing I had come upon in_the moon; it_was loaded with weights - no_doubt of gold - and it took a long_time to draw, for in those waters the larger and more edible fish lurk deep . the fish in_the net came up like a blue moonrise - a blaze of darting, tossing blue .

" among their catch was a many-tentaculate, evil- eyed black thing, ferociously active, whose appearance they greeted with shrieks and twitters, and which with quick, nervous movements they hacked to pieces by_means of little hatchets . all its dissevered limbs continued to lash and writhe in a vicious manner .Afterwards, when fever had hold of me, I dreamt again and again of_that bitter, furious creature rising so vigorous and active out_of_the unknown sea . it was_the most active and malignant thing of all the living creatures I_have yet seen in_this world inside the moon .. ..

" the surface of_this sea must_be very nearly two hundred miles ( if_not more) below the level of_the moon's exterior; all the cities of_the moon lie, I learnt, immediately above this central sea, in_such cavernous spaces and artificial galleries as I_have described, and_they communicate with_the exterior by enormous vertical shafts which open invariably in what_are called by earthly astronomers the 'craters' of_the moon . the lid covering one such aperture I had already seen during the wanderings

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