Original Narration and Acting Parts (Unabridged): The Eve of the War
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No one would have believed in the last years of the 19th century that
Human affairs were being watched by intelligences which inhabited
The timeless worlds of space. No one could have dreamed we were
Being scrutinised as someone with a microscope studies creatures
That swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered
The possibility of life on other planets. And yet across the gulf of
Space minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this Earth with
Envious eyes, and slowly and surely they drew their plans against us
At midnight on the 12th of August a huge mass of luminous gas
Erupted from Mars and travelled with enormous speed towards
Earth. I made contact with Ogilvy, the astronomer, and we hurried
To his observatory. Across 40 million miles of void, invisibly
Hurtling towards us, came the first of the missiles that were
To bring so much calamity to Earth. As we watched there was
Another jet of gas. It was another missile starting on its way
And that's how it was for the next ten nights. We saw, through
The powerful telescope, a flare spurting out from Mars. Bright
Green, drawing a green mist behind it. A beautiful but somehow
Disturbing sight. Ogilvy assured me we were in no danger, that
Meteorites might be falling in a shower upon Earth, or perhaps
A huge volcanic explosion was in progress. But he was convinced
There could be no living thing on that remote, forbidding planet