Zarlah the Martian | Page 7

being a fully equipped Martian observatory, though the
instruments were entirely strange to me. I was examining these latter more closely, when
heavy portières parted, and my Martian friend stepped into the room. So anxious was I to
give him a pleasant greeting, instead of staring at him in a semi-stupefied condition, as I
had done previously, that I forgot, for the moment, my determination to test my
diaphragm at the first opportunity, and greeted him merely with a smile and a bow.
My serene demeanor lasted but a moment, for simultaneously with his bowed response to
my greeting, came in a clear voice, with perfect accent: "Bon soir, Monsieur!"
I started back, for it seemed as if someone in the room had spoken, but then I noticed that
the Martian held in his hand the instrument I had seen on the previous evening. Was it
possible that this was his voice, speaking French from a distance of millions of miles as
clearly as if he were in the room? The thing was incredible! How could a Martian know a
language evolved here on Earth? Was the whole thing then a delusion of an overwrought
mind? I stood staring at the instrument in amazement.
The Martian, now seeing by my actions that his voice had been heard, raised his
instrument and repeated his greeting. The voice rang as clearly as before; there could be
no further doubt; through this wonderful instrument the Martian's voice was projected,
almost instantaneously to the Earth--millions of miles in a second. The mysterious power
which enabled the Martian to project the waves, compared with our electricity as the
telegraph does with the stage-coach. Was it strange that I stood aghast, as my mind
slowly comprehended the enormous distance which that voice had traversed almost
instantaneously?
It was some moments before my amazement permitted me to respond to this

extraordinary salutation, then--my mind still too bewildered properly to grasp the
situation--I mumbled something in English about my great astonishment at hearing a
language of Earth spoken from a distant world.
The sound of my voice seemed to cause the Martian some surprise, but immediately his
voice issued again in clear tones from the instrument.
"I greeted you in what I supposed was your native tongue," he said in perfect English.
"Although now we have but one composite language here, over a thousand years ago we
spoke in many languages, as the people of your planet do at the present time.
"For more than six hundred years we have been able to observe the progress of your
planet," he went on, "through an instrument by which light-waves are projected and
received, and have found it to be identical with ours of almost fifteen hundred years ago.
By the placards in the streets of your cities and towns, we discovered that you also spoke
in many tongues, and although the progress was necessarily slow, our astronomers were,
by this means, able to learn the principal languages of Earth.
"Anxiously we have watched and waited for the discovery of an instrument that would
respond to our projected light-waves and reveal to you the inhabitants of your
neighboring planet. At last this momentous time has arrived. I congratulate you upon
bringing it about."
As he spoke, his voice, coming from the diaphragm of my instrument, sounded as distinct
as if he were in the room, and his image, depicted life-size, made it hard to believe that he
was more than a few feet away. That my informant was, in reality, millions of miles away,
my mind absolutely refused to grasp.
A thousand questions to put to my Martian acquaintance rushed into my mind, but alas,
in supposing that I could not come in contact with Mars on account of cloud obscurity, I
had lost much of the precious time, and now the waning light on my instrument warned
me that the planet would, in a few moments, pass out of range. We therefore hastily bade
each other adieu, promising to continue our conversation on the morrow, as though we
had parted at a street corner. The light now faded completely, and the instrument, that a
few moments previously had been animated with such an exuberance of life and mystery,
now stood before me wrapped in profound darkness and silence.
How impossible, how inconceivable it all seemed! How the outside world would scoff if
I attempted to explain or publish my discovery! I felt that the time had not yet come to
take anyone into my confidence, and I determined still to keep all a secret. I was then
unaware, however, that the more I learned of Mars and its people the more closely I
would guard my knowledge.
Pacing excitedly up and down my laboratory, I spent most of the night