last updated and validated May 1, 1999. SHD
Much study has been made of the bodies of the Martians that came to Earth. What specimens were left after the predations of dogs and suchlike have been dissected, analysed and preserved for posterity. Everyone is familiar with the almost complete specimen preserved in spirits at the Natural History Museum in London, and the various drawings which have been made from it. By such study, we have learned much about our attackers, their physiology, their life cycle, and much more. Presented here is a digest of pertinent information, condensed from the report on Martian biology delivered to the Royal Society by Professor Howes following highly detailed investigation.
The inhabitants of Mars are quite shockingly different from ourselves, both in terms of gross physical characteristics, and mentality. Individual Martians seem to be effectively immortal, as the do not age, become ill, or die, having long since eliminated from their planet the bacteria which cause fevers and other morbidities. They are admirably adapted for life on the desolate world of their origin. It has been surmised that the Martians themselves were at least in part responsible for this adaptation, having deliberately altered their bodies to allow them to relentlessly pursue their goal of acquisition of knowledge.
"Those who have never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the strange horror of its appearance. The peculiar V-shaped mouth with its pointed upper lip, the absence of brow ridges, the absence of a chin beneath the wedgelike lower lip, the incessant quivering of this mouth, the Gorgon groups of tentacles, the tumultuous breathing of the lungs in a strange atmosphere, the evident heaviness and painfulness of movement due to the greater gravitational energy of the earth--above all, the extraordinary intensity of the immense eyes--were at once vital, intense, inhuman, crippled and monstrous. There was something fungoid in the oily brown skin, something in the clumsy deliberation of the tedious movements unspeakably nasty."
Martians have no skeleton as such, rather a flexible, cartilaginous shell of interlocking plates which protects the internal organs (such as they are) and assists in breathing. It is this lack of rigid support that led to the misshapen appearance of the Martian invaders during their time on Earth and their painful, laboured breathing. This shell of cartilage is located immediately beneath the skin, which is itself extremely tough, akin to thick leather and quite capable of stopping small calibre bullets at long range, as well as insulating the internal systems (such as they are) from the effects of pressure and temperature to some extent.
The skin is lubricated by an oily secretion, which causes it to shine "like wet leather". It is believed that without this oleaginous substance the skin would grow stiff and crack. There is evidence to suggest that this fate befell more than one of the Martian invaders, whose hides were desiccated and split, presumably by the actions of the terrestrial bacteria which eventually defeated them.
"In a group round the mouth were sixteen slender, almost whiplike tentacles, arranged in two bunches of eight each. These bunches have since been named rather aptly, by that distinguished anatomist, Professor Howes, the HANDS. Even as I saw these Martians for the first time they seemed to be endeavouring to raise themselves on these hands, but of course, with the increased weight of terrestrial conditions, this was impossible. There is reason to suppose that on Mars they may have progressed upon them with some facility."
The tentacles, which provoked such horror among those first humans to encounter Martians, are composed of a similar configuration of muscle to that found in the tentacles of octopi, squid and other such molluscs. There is evidence to suggest that they are used as a means of locomotion in the kinder gravitational field of the Martians’ native world. However, on Earth they are of little use as locomotion, rather they are used as manipulative appendages. It has been posited that intricate gesticulation is used as a mode of communication between Martians in place of vocal communication. The tentacles are on average around six feet long, and start to each side of the mouth. The last twelve inches of each tentacle are remarkably sensitive to pressure, temperature and pain, and shows an amazing degree of dexterity and flexibility. In texture the tentacles are somewhat rough, and moistened by a similar secretion to that which maintains the pliability of the skin, although the tentacular secretion is slightly adhesive rather than oily, which would seem to be an aid to the Martians’ ability to grip and manipulate objects. Located behind each bunch of tentacles is a large nerve bundle, which controls the complex motor functions of the tentacles.
"The internal anatomy, I may remark here, as dissection has since shown, was almost equally simple. The greater part of the structure was the brain, sending enormous nerves to the eyes, ear, and tactile tentacles. Besides this were the bulky lungs, into which the mouth opened, and the heart and its vessels. The pulmonary distress caused by the denser atmosphere and greater gravitational attraction was only too evident in the convulsive movements of the outer skin."
"And this was the sum of the Martian organs. Strange as it may seem to a human being, all the complex apparatus of digestion, which makes up the bulk of our bodies, did not exist in the Martians. They were heads--merely heads. Entrails they had none. They did not eat, much less digest. Instead, they took the fresh, living blood of other creatures, and INJECTED it into their own veins."
The physiology of Martians is quite unlike our own, their cerebral functions having been greatly advanced seemingly at the expense of the locomotive, olfactory and digestive systems among others.
The injection of blood involved in Martian feeding is accomplished by means of retractable pipette of bone, similar in appearance to the horn of the narwhal, but thinner, almost needle-like, measuring approximately three feet in length, normally retracted and concealed in the creature’s throat. This hollow instrument is able to telescope out, and is plunged into the neck of the Martian’s unfortunate victim, from which the living blood is pumped directly into the Martian’s veins by means of a specialised chamber of the heart. A valve within that chamber ensures that the blood can only flow into the Martian’s body. The pipette is also joined to the respiratory system, which, by means of a strong exhalation on the part of the Martian, cleans out the tube in a spray of blood after the Martian has finished feeding and prevents it from becoming blocked by the clotted blood of its victims. It is this exhalation through the feeding-tube that produces the Martians’ distinctive call. Other than this they appear to have no vocal apparatus.
"...Wonderful as it seems in a sexual world, the Martians were absolutely without sex, and therefore without any of the tumultuous emotions that arise from that difference among men. A young Martian, there can now be no dispute, was really born upon earth during the war, and it was found attached to its parent, partially BUDDED off, just as young lilybulbs bud off, or like the young animals in the fresh-water polyp.
"In man, in all the higher terrestrial animals, such a method of increase has disappeared; but even on this earth it was certainly the primitive method. Among the lower animals, up even to those first cousins of the vertebrated animals, the Tunicates, the two processes occur side by side, but finally the sexual method superseded its competitor altogether. On Mars, however, just the reverse has apparently been the case."
Martians reproduce by means of budding, a parent Martian growing larger than normal over a period of time before splitting into two Martians, the smaller of which can be said to be the "child" of the larger. The first indication that a Martian is on the verge of reproducing is the presence of a small growth on the Martian's side, which gradually develops small tentacles, and the other features of a Martian, before splitting from the parent. This young Martian shares all of the characteristics of a fully-grown Martian, although on a smaller scale, typically being two feet across at the time it completely separates from the parent, and is an autonomous individual from that time.
"Two large dark-coloured eyes were regarding me steadfastly. The mass that framed them, the head of the thing, was rounded, and had, one might say, a face. There was a mouth under the eyes, the lipless brim of which quivered and panted, and dropped saliva. The whole creature heaved and pulsated convulsively. A lank tentacular appendage gripped the edge of the cylinder, another swayed in the air."
Large, baleful eyes dominate Martians’ faces, the visible portion being six inches across, the eyeball itself being closer to ten inches in diameter. The eye is somewhat flattened at the front, giving the whole structure an exaggerated egglike appearance. Perhaps due to their genesis on a planet whose landscape is entirely dominated by various shades and hues of red, orange and ochre, it appears that their eyes are incapable of seeing the colours at the blue and violet end of the spectrum, which appear as black to them. Instead they seem to be able to perceive light beyond the red end of the visible spectrum, perhaps even allowing them to detect an object by its radiation of heat. The eye is guarded by a nictitating membrane, a transparent scale that the Martian can flick across to protect the eye in moments of danger, as well as to moisten its surface.
"The internal anatomy, I may remark here, as dissection has since shown, was almost equally simple. The greater part of the structure was the brain, sending enormous nerves to the eyes, ear, and tactile tentacles. Besides this were the bulky lungs, into which the mouth opened, and the heart and its vessels. The pulmonary distress caused by the denser atmosphere and greater gravitational attraction was only too evident in the convulsive movements of the outer skin. And this was the sum of the Martian organs. [...] They were heads--merely heads."
During dissection of the Martians for anatomical study, it was repeatedly noted that the Martian body bears little resemblance to our own, in terms of the placement and structure of organs. They are grossly distorted, with some systems enhanced, others atrophied, and some entirely absent. However, what provoked the most discussion and controversy was the structure of the Martian brain. It resembles the human brain to such a great extent that it has been theorised that once, in the dim past of their species, the Martians may have been very similar to humans, both in physical form and in behaviour, and that in the Martians we see the eventual goal towards which aeons of human evolution has been driving. Some have suggested that the Martians augmented the natural process of evolution through their advanced technologies.
There are some notable differences between the Martian brain and the human brain. It appears that, during their transition from near-human creatures to the tentacled monstrosities that waged war against Earth, the Martians extensively modified the structure of their brain. More specifically, they seem to have discarded all those portions of the brain which govern the emotions, with the exception of fear, which is a necessary driving force in the development and preservation of a species. They transformed their own bodies into mere vessels for their intellects, vast and cool and unsympathetic, calculating machines composed of living blood and tissue. They know not hatred, nor rage nor envy, and neither do they know love, nor joy nor mercy. Their war against our planet was not carried out because of hatred for mankind, but merely because we possessed something that they needed, a vibrant, warm, living world. They were totally ruthless and implacable in the pursuit of their goal, the domination of humanity and the conquest of our world. They have eliminated emotion and its irrationality, but conversely a portion of the brain, normally unnoticeable in the human brain, has been hypertrophied to an astounding extent. Some scientists have theorised, based on reports of Martian behaviour, that this enhanced segment of the brain provides the Martians with the power of telepathy, the ability to project thought into the mind of another, or to read the contents of that mind. This facility for psychic communication is believed to be highly specialised in the vast majority of Martians, being used solely for the purpose of communication between individuals. It is thought to have an effective range of approximately two miles, although perhaps there exist Martians that have been trained in the use of this ability and are able to use it at a greater range than the majority. If this is the case, then it can be theorised that they are also trained in other, similar psychic techniques. There is a certain amount of evidence to support this theory. A member of the Army who was captured by the Martians but later escaped recalls:
"I was brought before a particular Martian which the rest of them seemed to treat with some sort of deference, and forced to kneel down before it. It reached out one of its tentacles, and touched the slimy appendage to my brow, staring at me all the while. As I looked into those dark, saucerlike eyes I realised that I could not move a muscle! It was as if I had been mesmerised, unable to do a single thing. Only with great effort was I able to continue to breathe, for it seemed the Martian had, somehow, paralysed every muscle in my body. It then reached out more tentacles, touching them to my face and head, and I was completely unable to resist that cold, creeping caress. Suddenly, horribly I felt the Martian inside my mind! Words cannot adequately describe the sensations I experienced as it sifted through my thoughts and memories, searching for some item of information that it required; I can only convey it as a cold presence pressing on my perception, its thoughts vast and heartless and unspeakably other, incomprehensible to the human mind. I felt this presence smothering my thought and will like a wet cloth smothers a flame. I believe I must have fallen to the ground insensible at that point, for the next I knew I was back in the cage with the other captives."
If this psychic ability is indeed present in Martians, there is reason to believe that it may also be present in humans, albeit perhaps to a much lesser degree. There have indeed been cases whereby humans have appeared to exhibit extra-sensory perception, and work is being carried out to research this subject, perhaps with a view to using it against the Martians.
"Their undeniable preference for men as their source of nourishment is partly explained by the nature of the remains of the victims they had brought with them as provisions from Mars. These creatures, to judge from the shrivelled remains that have fallen into human hands, were bipeds with flimsy, siliceous skeletons (almost like those of the siliceous sponges) and feeble musculature, standing about six feet high and having round, erect heads, and large eyes in flinty sockets. Two or three of these seem to have been brought in each cylinder, and all were killed before earth was reached. It was just as well for them, for the mere attempt to stand upright upon our planet would have broken every bone in their bodies."
At this point it might be appropriate to describe the creatures which the Martians brought with them for food on their long journey. Essentially hominid in appearance, the specimens recovered from the cylinders measured well over six feet in height, but due to the gentler gravity of Mars their muscular and skeletal structure is relatively weak compared to those of humans. In fact their body weight is approximately the same as that of a human, only their tall frames mean that they appear to be thin, spindly creatures, almost flimsy. They walk erect, and have two arms and two legs, each limb having four digits - three dextrous fingers and an opposable thumb on each hand, four long, evenly-sized toes on each foot. The chest cavity is relatively oversized, giving the bipeds' physique a passing resemblance to that of a greyhound. Most of its volume is occupied by the large lungs with which the biped breaths the thin atmosphere of Mars. There is a single eardrum situated at the base of the skull, and the eyes are large with pronounced brow ridges. The iris is a deep red, almost maroon, coloured so by the blood vessels within. It is curious to note that the Martian bipeds possess almost no pigmentation at all. The skin is extremely pale, almost translucent, hairless and very smooth. The bipeds, like the Martians, lack visible olfactory apparatus, the organs governing their sense of smell being located at the back of the throat. The size of the cranial cavity indicates that these creatures possess an intellect comparable with that of a human.
There were few if any specimens of this creature left alive at the time of the Martians’ arrival on Earth, and it has been concluded that, even were one of these creatures to survive any length of time on Earth, the unfortunate wretch would be incapable of anything beyond the feeblest of movement.
"Apparently the vegetable kingdom in Mars, instead of having green for a dominant colour, is of a vivid blood-red tint. At any rate, the seeds which the Martians (intentionally or accidentally) brought with them gave rise in all cases to red-coloured growths. Only that known popularly as the red weed, however, gained any footing in competition with terrestrial forms. The red creeper was quite a transitory growth, and few people have seen it growing. For a time, however, the red weed grew with astonishing vigour and luxuriance... especially wherever there was a stream of water."
The strange plants which sprung up across the land shortly after the arrival of the Martians have been universally dubbed "Red Weed", regardless of actual characteristics. These include the Red Creeper, which swarmed up buildings and trees like a scarlet ivy, strangling plants with its crimson fronds, and the Red Sponge, a kind of algal growth which was briefly seen floating down the Thames. The most common form, and the most long-lived of the Martian plants, was the variety now known as the Red Weed, a bulbous growth similar in form to certain species of cactus or succulent desert vegetation. In structure the plant was arranged as a stocky stem not dissimilar in structure to the stems of tropical plants, perhaps an inch thick and easily snapped, from which grew a number of fleshy lobes, generally the size of a man's hand. The Weed has thick, rubbery skin, reducing the loss of moisture by evaporation and protecting it from the intense cold of the Martian climate.
The individual cells of the plant, when examined under a microscope, are very large compared with the cells of terrestrial plants, and are mostly filled with thin, watery sap. The fact that the Red Weed was only found in close proximity to bodies of water, or where the ground was naturally damp, indicates that they require a large amount of moisture to survive - if deprived of that moisture, the large cells will become flaccid, and the whole plant will wilt and die.
The Red Weed grows voraciously, having been reported to grow as much as three feet in one day. It spreads with alarming rapidity, and within a week of the Martians first landing the weed had spread all along the Thames Valley. The Weed grows in spurts, dawn of each day marking the growth period. As soon as the sun's rays touch the plants, they writhe and grow, rustling and waving of their own accord, and seed pods burst with loud reports, scattering the seeds beyond the mass of weed so that the plant can slowly encroach upon unclaimed land. The seeds start growing almost immediately, especially if there is an abundance of moisture about, for example in rivers or after a rainstorm.
It has been discovered that the Red Weed is in fact quite edible, if somewhat unpalatable. It has a watery, metallic flavour, which some claim reminds them of medicinal iron tonic. Other than a certain amount of iron and other trace minerals leached from the soil (depending upon where the weed grew), is has little nutritional value, being composed mostly of water and cellulose. Still, some survivors of the Invasion tell stories of how they were forced to live on Red Weed during the Martian occupation, even brewing it up into a watery soup, and it seems to have done them little harm.
From the plant's characteristics, is has been theorised that this species was actually designed by the Martians to reduce the amount of water lost by evaporation from their canals, and tracts of irrigated land can be seen from Earth using a reasonably powerful telescope. It can be deduced that the seasonal changes on the face of Mars noticed by Mr. Lowell at his observatory in Arizona are indeed the effects of changing seasons on the Martian vegetation. It is quite likely that the Red Weed and its related varieties are planted along the banks of the canals, and it is these vast swathes of vegetation that rendered the canals visible from Earth, as the canals themselves would be far too narrow to see even with the finest telescope.
Please report any errors in this document to its
creator;
last updated and validated
May 1, 1999. SHD