The war of the worlds by h. G. Wells

CHAPTER 1
what happened before the wat
THE EVE OF THE WAR
BEFORE the Martian invasion no one believed that there were inhabitants upon Mars whose intelligence was greater than mans. No one dreamt that the Martians were regarding this earth with envious eyes and were
slowly and surely making their plans against us. We know now that Mars was growing too cold to support life. It is much more distant from the sun than our earth is and it receives barely half the light and heat received by this world. The Martians only chance

of escaping destruction was to invade a warmer planet The Martian invasion burst upon us in 1898. Four years earlier a great light had been seen upon Mars by several observers which was probably caused by the making of a huge gun from which their shots were fired at us. Then in 1898 from observatories all over the world came the amazing news of a huge outbreak of flaming gas upon Mars. It occurred towards midnight of August 12th and it appeared to observers as a mass of burning gas moving at a great speed towards this earth. This jet of fire became invisible about a quarter past twelve. One astronomer compared it to an enor mous puff of flame suddenly and violently shot out of Mars as flaming gas rushes out of a gun.
This proved to be a most suitable phrase. Yet the next day there was very little about it in the news papers. Astronomers might be wildly excited but ordinary men and women went their way in ignorance of one of the gravest dangers that ever threatened the human race. 
I might not have heard of the outbreak at all if I had not met Ogilvy the wellknown astronomer he told me and invited me to take a turn with him that night in looking at Mars.
In spite of all that has happened since I still remem ber that night very distinctly. Looking through the telescope I saw a circle of deep blue and the little round planet swimming in the centre. It seemed such a little thing so bright and small and still it was 40000000 miles from us. And invisible to me flying steadily and swiftly towards me across that incredible distance came the Thing they were sending us the Thing that was to bring so much struggle and calamity and death to the earth.
That