The Star by H.G. Wells
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you_must not imagine, because I_have spoken of people praying through_the night and people going aboard ships and people fleeing towards mountainous country, that_the whole world was already in a terror because of_the star . as a matter of fact, use and wont still ruled the world, and save for_the talk of idle moments and_the splendour of_the night, nine human beings out of ten were still busy at their common occupations . in all the cities the shops, save one here and there, opened and closed at their proper hours, the doctor and_the undertaker plied their trades, the workers gathered in_the factories, soldiers drilled, scholars studied, lovers sought one another, thieves lurked and fled, politicians planned their schemes . the presses of_the newspapers roared through_the nights, and many a priest of_this church and that_would not open his holy building to further what he considered a foolish panic . the newspapers insisted on_the lesson of_the year 1000-- for then, too, people had anticipated the end . the star was no star--mere gas--a comet; and were it a star it could_not possibly strike the earth . there_was no precedent for such a thing . common- sense was sturdy everywhere, scornful, jesting, a little inclined to persecute the obdurate fearful . that night, at seven-fifteen by Greenwich time, the star would_be at its nearest to Jupiter . then the world would see the turn things would take . the master mathematician's grim warnings were treated by many as so_much mere elaborate self- advertisement . common- sense at last, a little heated by argument, signified its unalterable convictions by going to bed . so, too, barbarism and savagery, already tired of_the novelty, went about their nightly business, and, save for ahowling dog here and there, the beast world left the star unheeded .

and yet, when at last the watchers in_the European States saw the star rise, an hour later, it_is true, but no larger than it had_been the night before, there were still plenty awake to laugh at_the master mathematician-- to take_the danger as_if it had passed .

but hereafter the laughter ceased . the star grew-- it grew with a terrible steadiness hour after hour, a little larger each hour, a little nearer the midnight zenith, and brighter and brighter, until it had turned night into a second day . had it come straight to_the earth instead of in a curved path, had it lost no velocity to Jupiter, it must_have leapt the intervening gulf in a day; but as it_was, it took five days altogether to_come by our planet . the next night it had become a third the size of_the moon before it set to English eyes, and_the thaw was assured . it rose over America near the size of_the moon, but blinding white to look at, and _hot_; and a breath of hot wind blew now with its rising and gathering strength, and in Virginia, and Brazil, and down the St . Lawrence valley, it shone intermittently through adriving reek of thunder-clouds, flickering violet lightning, and hail unprecedented . in Manitoba was a thaw and devastating floods . and upon all the mountains of_the earth the snow and ice began to melt that night, and all the rivers coming out of high country flowed thick and turbid, and soon-- in their upper reaches-- with swirling trees and_the bodies of beasts and men . they rose steadily, steadily in_the ghostly brilliance, and came trickling over their banks at last, behind the flying population of_their valleys .

and along the coast of Argentina and up the south Atlantic the tides were higher than had ever been in_the memory of man, and_the storms drove the waters in many cases scores of miles inland, drowning whole cities . and so great grew the heat during the night that_the rising of_the sun was like the coming of a shadow . the earthquakes began and grew until all down America from_the arctic circle to cape horn, hillsides were sliding, fissures were opening, and houses and walls crumbling to destruction . the whole side of Cotopaxi slipped out in one vast convulsion, and a tumult of lava poured out so high and broad and swift and liquid that in one day it reached the sea .

so the star, with_the wan moon in its wake, marched across the pacific, trailed the thunder-storms like the hem of a robe, and_the growing tidal wave that toiled behind it, frothing and eager, poured over island and island and swept them clear of men: until that wave came at last-- in ablinding light and with_the breath of a furnace, swift and terrible it came--a wall of water, fifty feet high, roaring hungrily, upon_the long coasts of Asia, and swept inland across the plains of china . for a space the star, hotter now and larger and brighter than_the sun in its strength, showed with pitiless brilliance the wide and populous country; towns and villages with their pagodas and trees, roads, wide cultivated fields, millions of sleepless people staring in helpless terror at_the incandescent sky; and then, low and growing, came the murmur of_the flood . and thus it_was with millions of men that night--a flight nowhither, with limbs heavy with heat and breath fierce and scant, and_the flood like a wall swift and white behind . and then death .

china was lit glowing white, but over Japan and Java and all the islands of eastern Asia the great star was a ball of dull red fire because of_the steam and smoke and ashes the volcanoes were spouting forth to salute its coming . above was_the lava, hot gases and ash, and below the seething floods, and_the whole earth swayed and rumbled with_the earthquake shocks . soon the immemorial snows of Thibet and_the Himalaya were melting and pouring down by ten million deepening converging channels upon_the plains of Burmah and Hindostan . the tangled summits of_the Indian jungles were aflame in a thousand places, and below the hurrying waters around the stems were dark objects that still struggled feebly and reflected the blood- red tongues of fire . and in arudderless confusion a multitude of men_and_women fled down the broad river-ways to_that one last hope of men-- the open sea .

larger grew the star, and larger, hotter, and brighter with a terrible swiftness now . the tropical ocean had lost its phosphorescence, and_the whirling steam rose in ghostly wreaths from_the black waves that plunged incessantly, speckled with storm- tossed ships .

and then came a wonder . it seemed to_those who in Europe watched for_the rising of_the star that_the world must_have ceased its rotation . in a thousand open spaces of down and upland the people who had fled thither from_the floods and_the falling houses and sliding slopes of hill watched for_that rising in vain . hour followed hour through a terrible suspense, and_the star rose not . once again men set their eyes upon_the old constellations they had counted lost to_them for ever . in England it_was hot and clear overhead, though the ground quivered perpetually, but in_the tropics, Sirius and Capella and Aldebaran showed through a veil of steam . and when at last the great star rose near ten hours late, the sun rose close upon it, and in_the centre of_its white heart was a disc of black .

over Asia it was_the star had begun to_fall behind the movement of_the sky, and then suddenly, as it hung over India, its light had_been veiled . all the plain of India from_the mouth of_the Indus to_the mouths of_the Ganges was a shallow waste of shining water that night, out of_which rose temples and palaces, mounds and hills, black with people . every minaret was aclustering mass of people, who fell one by one into_the turbid waters, as heat and terror overcame them . the whole land seemed a-wailing, and suddenly there swept a shadow across that furnace of despair, and a breath of cold wind, and agathering of clouds, out_of_the cooling air . men looking up, near blinded, at_the star, saw that a black disc was creeping across the light . it was_the moon, coming between_the star and_the earth . and even as men cried to god at_this respite, out_of_the east with a strange inexplicable swiftness sprang the sun . and then star, sun, and moon rushed together across the heavens .

so it was_that presently to_the European watchers star and sun rose close upon each_other, drove headlong for a space and then slower, and at last came to rest, star and sun merged into one glare of flame at_the zenith of_the sky . the moon no longer eclipsed the star but was lost to sight in_the brilliance of_the sky . and though those who were still alive regarded it for_the most part with_that dull stupidity that hunger, fatigue, heat and despair engender, there were still men who_could perceive the meaning of_these signs . star and earth had_been at their nearest, had swung about one another, and_the star had passed . already it_was receding, swifter and swifter, in_the last stage of_its headlong journey downward into_the sun .

and then the clouds gathered, blotting out the vision of_the sky, the thunder and lightning wove a garment round the world; all over the earth was such a downpour of rain as men had never before seen, and where the volcanoes flared red against the cloud canopy there descended torrents of mud . everywhere the waters were pouring off the land, leaving mud- silted ruins, and_the earth littered like a storm- worn beach with all that had floated, and_the dead bodies of_the men and brutes, its children . for days the water streamed off the land, sweeping away soil and trees and houses in_the way, and piling huge dykes and scooping out titanic gullies over the country- side . those were the days of darkness that followed the star and_the heat . all through them, and for many weeks and months, the earthquakes continued .

but the star had passed, and men, hunger- driven and gathering courage only slowly, might creep back to_their ruined cities, buried granaries, and sodden fields . such few ships as had escaped the storms of_that_time came stunned and shattered and sounding their way cautiously through_the new marks and shoals of once familiar ports . and as_the storms subsided men perceived that everywhere the days were hotter than of yore, and_the sun larger, and_the moon, shrunk to a third of_its former size, took now fourscore days between its new and new .

but of_the new brotherhood that grew presently among men, of_the saving of laws and books and machines, of_the strange change that had come over Iceland and Greenland and_the shores of Baffin's Bay, so that_the sailors coming there presently found them green and gracious, and could scarce believe their eyes, this story does_not tell . nor of_the movement of mankind, now that_the earth was hotter, northward and southward towards the poles of_the earth . it concerns itself only with_the coming and_the passing of_the star .

the Martian astronomers-- for there_are astronomers on Mars, although they_are very different beings from men-- were naturally profoundly interested by_these things . they saw them from their own standpoint of_course ."Considering the mass and temperature of_the missile that was flung through our solar system into_the sun," one wrote, " it_is astonishing what a little damage the earth, which it missed so narrowly, has sustained . all the familiar continental markings and_the masses of_the seas remain intact, and indeed the only difference seems_to_be a shrinkage of_the white discolouration ( supposed to_be frozen water) round either pole ." which only shows how small the vastest of human catastrophes may seem at a distance of a few million miles .

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