Horsell Common And The Heat Ray

(spoken)
JOURNALIST: Next morning, a crowd gathered on the Common, hypnotized by the unscrewing
the cylinder. Two feet of shining screw projected when, suddenly, the lid fell off! Two
disc-like eyes appeared above the rim. A huge, rounded bulk, larger than a bear, rose up
glistening like wet leather. Its lip-less mouth quivered and slavered, and
tentacles writhed as the clumsy body heaved and pulsated.

(spoken)
A few young men crept closer to the pit. A tall funnel rose, then an invisible ray of
leapt from man to man and there was a bright glare, as each was instantly turned to fire.
tree and bush became a mass of flames at the touch of this savage, unearthly Heat Ray.

(spoken)
People clawed their way off the Common, and I ran too. I felt I was being toyed with,
when I was on the very verge of safety, this mysterious death would leap after me and
me down. At last I reached Maybury Hill and in the dim coolness of my home I wrote an
for my newspaper before I sank into a restless, haunted sleep.

(spoken)
I awoke to alien sounds of hammering from the pit, and hurried to the railway station to
the paper.

Around me, the daily routine of life - working, eating, sleeping - was continuing
as it had for countless years.

On Horsell Common, the Martians continued hammering and stirring, sleepless,
at work upon the machines they were making. Now and again a light, like the beam of a warship's
swept the Common - and the Heat Ray was ready to follow.

(spoken)
In the afternoon, a company of soldiers came through and deployed along the edge of the
to form a cordon.

That evening, there was a violent crash and I realized with horror that my home was now
range of the Martian's Heat Ray.

At dawn, a falling star with a trail of green mist landed with a flash like summer
This was the second cylinder.