[PART 10]

Chapter 2

1902-1905

The Earth Rebuilds from the Ashes of Planetary War

“Mars rules catastrophes and war, it is master of the daylight hours of Tuesday and the hours of darkness on Friday. Its element is the fire, its metal is iron, its gems jasper and hematite, and it rules the color red.” Centriloquium, Fifteenth Century

Setting up the new world – The Martian war crimes trials – National self-rule begins – ‘Human’ flying machines on Earth – The canali of Earth – Back engineering Martian technology – Director D a.k.a. a man named Nikola Tesla – World wireless (radio) – The rocket men began their work – Continuing the recovery – ‘Below’ Paris – The new cities of Berlin and Seoul.

On 11 January 1902, the Executive Committee of Twelve moved into their temporary World Headquarters in what was by now designated Lower-London. Makeshift office space for the Magic Twelve and their Directorates were set up in one of the ‘temporarily closed’ underground railway stations. Within the Committee this location was simply referred to as “the office.” In later years this reference would still be in place as conditions greatly improved. It was decidedly Spartan at first, but it worked. The good thing was no matter what type of aerial or surface attack the Martians cared to inflict nothing they had (that we knew of at the time) could destroy this headquarters which would soon be re-enforced and doubly guarded 24 hours a day. No one, even the Magic Twelve by their own orders, without proper identification established by the Committee would be allowed entrance. Lethal force was authorized (some very close calls, though it was never used) to enforce this order if necessary. Within six months Lower-New York City and Lower-Sydney would also have offices for the Magic Twelve and their staff. 

My “office” consisted of an old, almost intact table, a very old stuffed chair set somewhat off corner from an abandoned ticket booth (now used for emergency supplies). It was drafty, noisy and dirty, but considering the general situation it was better than most that had lost just about everything. At least I had a place to sit down and a place to put my old typewriter. It was not long before I added a filing cabinet sporting a few dents and an old foot locker needing a bit of repair. My only light was a small desk top oil lamp. I had hammered several nails into the wall to hang the few clothes I had and a double nail where I hung my always loaded pistol (when I was not wearing it, which was pretty much most of the time). Above I fashioned a set of two shelves for reference books, such as they were. I had a staff of zero. I slept half-under the table with a hand-made pillow and a few blankets from the Red Cross and took what meals were available at my new work station. This would be home for a while. I was very happy to be there or anywhere for that matter!

Some type of above ground order was beginning to come back to many who were still able to call the Earth home, mostly under martial law. It was a rough order for most people, but at least we were making progress. We were receiving more reports that death rates from starvation and diseases were beginning to drop off, with Asia and Africa not yet there. Our recovery work and that of many others were beginning to have a positive effect. Nevertheless, we all knew we were in for at least a few very rough years ahead. The good news was, at least as far as we could tell at the time, there were no Martians on Earth. However, the only thing we could truly be sure of was there were no new ‘reports’ of Martians or strange lights in the night skies over Earth, at least not yet.

I recall my own fears that the human race may yet be doomed and feeling the Martians may one day yet be able to turn our world into an extinct one much as their world was becoming. On 6 February 1902 a note was written. “That of all such nightmares is the most consistently convincing. And yet one doesn’t believe it. At least I do not. And I do not believe in those things because I have come to believe in certain other things, in the coherency and purpose in the world and in the greatness of human destiny. Worlds may freeze and suns may perish, but I believe there stirs something within us now that can never die again.”

Setting up the New World

(1902/3)

“To the victors belong the spoils.”

William L. Marcy

Earth, sans mankind, had been the victor, but it sure as hell didn’t look or feel like it! As martial law began to stabilize many of the remaining semi-populated areas local military forces around the world continued to set up large temporary tent cities and roughly built temporary structures (many would stay up for years) with medical centers as well as feeding areas many lit by the light from hundreds of torches and fire pits. Civilians were still being ‘drafted’ to clear pathways through destroyed populated areas as well as repairing, so to speak, as many of the buildings as could be made ready for any type of occupation. Needless to say, some of the busiest areas were the medical centers as the wounded and dying passed through.

One of the more interesting phenomena seen after the end of hostilities were the major population movements towards the coasts and large cities especially to those areas with still viable ports (for the most part) from which food and other supplies could be unloaded. Many people simply decided being isolated in a time of crisis was no longer an option. Whole central sections of Europe, Asia and Africa became depopulated with only a relatively few people staying in these devastated areas. Not unexpectedly many of these interior areas became for the most part lawless. Military operations would be needed to once again push into the interiors of many “depopulated areas.” But that work would need to be completed at a later date. It was not a priority for months and for a few areas, years to come. When these types of military operations were eventually conducted they were mostly local affairs with few casualties.

Opening the ports, locating viable shipping resources and finding enough men to crew these ships continued to be one of our highest priorities and one of the most difficult tasks to perform. At the same time teams were sent out to many countries to survey exactly what remained as far as how many viable crops and other priority recourses were still available. In-country teams would soon be drafted, both men and women, to harvest as much as possible of these crops. Surprisingly, some fields, which held crops not yet harvested were undisturbed as they had not attracted enough attention from the Martians. There were too few people in many of these areas to be worthwhile targets for the Martians until enough of the Earth’s population had been killed. That portion of the Martian War plan had only just started when mortality overcame them. Displacement by Martian Red Weed had only just begun before the end came to the Martians. Red Weed that had been planted was simply burned where ever it was found.

It was speculated at the time that it could also be that the Martians viewed these Earth plants as possible food for their own population they were preparing to transport in mass to Earth from Mars. However, damn near everything we thought we knew about Martians at the time was pure guesswork. Facts were few, and, as is said, far between. We were as children groping around in the dark and we needed to find the light and grow up fast.

The good news (yes there was some) was there would be plenty of grain supplies and livestock wandering around to feed the surviving population of the world if we could get it to them. Most of the crops in the northern hemisphere had already been harvested by the time the Martians attacked and much was held in storage areas that seemed to have been missed for the most part by the Martians. The bad news was we were certainly short on people and machines to harvest the remaining crops and transport them where needed. We also needed to locate people and machines as soon as possible for next year’s harvest. Directorate A took the lead in this area. People with critical skills needed to be positioned in the right places. And we needed to establish operational markets for these goods. Overall pre-war numbers counted some 100 million acres of active irrigated croplands around the world. By war’s end we had lost nearly 60%, but even with such heavy losses there would be more than enough workable cropland to support the surviving world population. And as time went on nature would repair much of the destruction from the war. Not surprisingly many small gardens and crude farms began to pop up just about anywhere crops could be made to grow. This would help the recovery in some localized areas, but it was not a permanent solution.

In order to re-stabilize world markets the Committee (and by that I mean J. P. Morgan) designated the British Pound (the widest spread around the world) and the United States Dollar (the strongest backed before the war) as world currencies backed by Committee gold reserves effective immediately and until further notice. Formal notification and details would come later. Other currencies would be recognized on the day two years after their various nations could reconstitute their governments and they would be based upon their economic value as opposed to the British and American currencies. Banks, backed by these currencies with gold and silver deposits (the Committee gold and silver standard), were soon set up in order to restart economic activities in as many areas as possible as fast as could be arranged. By this time the idea of a Committee script (currency) had been abandoned as it would tend to focus too much attention on Committee control of events. Even this early we were attempting to limit our public exposure. Before long the Committee had set up a crude, but effective banking system. To say the least it was very “hands on.”

One pleasant surprise (at least as far as I was concerned) seemed to be the general understanding amongst most people that no one area had been left out of the destruction so local people would need to step up and do most of the work themselves for the most part without outside help. Anyone thinking that “help was just on the way” had a very rude awakening. This included those who ‘relied’ upon prayers. They soon discovered that whatever they prayed for or believed, in order to survive they had to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and get to work. This was a whole new world. The free ride by way of a collar was over. Everyone needed to do ‘useful’ work.

Internal to the Committee Mr. Wells published his 1902 classified work detailing how he felt future men would develop a world government he called the “New Republic”. (Naturally, we did not openly use this terminology.) This controversial paper titled Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought (he would later add a Martian aspect to the work), proposed a plan to run the future world with a group of scientifically trained technocrats able to address world problems as a whole, where nations no longer existed (much like the early days of Committee control). Much would come from this internal report, at least for the next few years, until once again regional needs began to press the people harder than general world problems. The controversy came when Wells suggested that certain groups would be expected to fail and should thus be allowed to die reducing the overall costs to successful groups.

During one particularly intense meeting Wells remarked, “The ethical system of these men of the New Republic, the ethical system which will dominate the world state, will be shaped primarily to favor the procreation of what is fine and efficient and beautiful in humanity – beautiful and strong bodies, clear and powerful minds, and a growing body of knowledge – and to check the procreation of base and servile types, of fear-driven and cowardly souls, of all that is mean and ugly and bestial in the souls, bodies, or habits of men. Whole masses of the human population are inferior in their claim upon the future; that they cannot be given opportunities or trusted with power. To give them equality is to sink to their level, to protect and cherish them is to be swamped in their fecundity.”

Discussions and expectations of some Committee members aside, the Committee members knew that all areas, excluding later designated Lawless Zones, needed to be addressed and supported or cut off completely at least until general world stability had been achieved. After a certain amount of time came to pass these areas were to be judged on how well they “behaved as communities of world citizens.” Their actions would be the key rather than their words. ‘Feeling’ they had done well or political words of future efforts were not enough. Actual verifiable results were the only measure of success acceptable to the Committee.

Dr. Tesla generally agreed with Mr. Wells, and during a secret internal meeting he would further the argument that “less desirable strains” of humans would need to be “weeded out.” He would remark, “The public understands that man’s new sense of pity began to interfere with the ruthless workings of nature. The only method compatible with our notions of civilization and the human race is to prevent the breeding of the unfit by sterilization and the deliberate guidance of the mating instinct. Several European countries and a number of states of the American Union have recently begun to sterilize the criminal and the insane.” This proposal was looked at very closely. It was not adopted by a close margin vote – at least not at the time! Most members felt that a more “hands off” approach to this question would be best. Nevertheless, we would look at that proposal again in the years to come. (Most closely looked at was the possible sterilization of all hybrids.) Availability of critical world resources would be the key to that future debate. Some members were beginning to think like Martians in that regard yet no-one seemed to notice. At least no-one verbalized the connection. Humanity had gone to the hard edge of civilized behavior in order to simply survive and we had yet to pull back from the abyss.

Communication of news and information vital to the recovery also needed to be reestablished as soon as possible as the Committee sent out engineers and workmen to “re-wire the world.” The Martians had done a good deal of damage to our world’s thin communication infrastructure, but the damage had not been universal or fatal to our recovery efforts. Basic information on survival techniques, as well as many other messages, was getting through to most areas. The most important message was simple human contact, which insured people in far flung areas that “you are not alone.”

NEW TELEGRAPH CABLES

For whatever reason (luck perhaps?) two primary telegraph cables, which had been in operation across the Atlantic since 1858, were not damaged in any way by the war. (Full operation did not come on the line until 1866 when a permanent cable was successfully laid by the Great Eastern which sailed from Ireland to New Finland.) Certainly any form of communication had been of particular interest to the Martians as a target for destruction (Ref: Martian Electric Document 615G41), not that we had a great number of facilities to begin with. More than likely these had simply been missed by the Martians or they could have possibly viewed such links as very primitive if they suspected they even existed at all. Of course it could be they were going to destroy them but did not complete the work before death overcame their ‘work’. With this bit of luck Directorate B of the Committee looked at what resources they had in place in order to decide what they needed to do next to advance the world’s abilities to communicate. The thinking was if the enemy had missed these cable links the first time perhaps we needed to expand the system and do whatever we could do and hide them anyway we could.

Thanks to Dr. Tesla we had confidence worldwide wireless (radio) was technically up and coming so it was quickly realized that cable transmissions would soon become a backup method of communication, since the real problem could be interception and interference of future radio communications. If wireless was jammed or shut down for whatever reason, these cables would be a prime source of communications worldwide. After the First Martian War, and as the fire’s still burned, Morse code was the only means of somewhat reliable communications in many parts of the world for many months. Developed in 1836 the “electric telegraph,” which sent small pulses of electric current over wires, was nearly the only way the world could be held together as one, but there were nowhere near enough cables remaining to keep information and news flowing on a reliable basis to much of the world. More cables would need to be laid as soon as possible. They would need to be stronger and much more reliable than the old cables. Once the new design was approved we would be ready to repair older cables and go “wire the world” with a massive new communication “network.”

The next task for Director B was to decide where the new cables would need to be laid. They had selected a test route from London to Paris and a second test run from London to Berlin. After that a new cable would be laid from England to the East coast of the United States via New York City. Finally, the real test would come when cables were run across the Pacific linking the West coast of the United States and Canada to Hawaii and then on to Japan, China, and then all the way to Australia. The team working on the “World Cable Project” had earlier estimated that this primary effort would be a ten year effort. That would turn out to be a pretty good guess even as costs continued to rise.

As usual, and well ahead of the curve, Dr. Tesla was looking beyond the repair and expansion of a new world cable system. For Tesla cable was the backup plan as wireless (radio) would be the prime mover for future communications around the world.

“World wireless telegraphy constitutes, I believe, in its principle of operation, means employed and capacities of application, a radical and fruitful departure from what has been done heretofore. I have no doubt that it will prove very efficient in enlightening the masses, particularly in still uncivilized countries and less accessible regions, and that it will add materially to general safety, comfort, and convenience, and maintenance of peaceful relations. It involves the employment of a number of plants, all of which are capable of transmitting individualized signals to the uttermost confines of the Earth and beyond. Each of them will be preferably located near some important centers of civilization, and the news it receives through any channel will be flashed to all points of the globe. A cheap and simple device, which might be carried in one’s pocket may be set up anywhere on sea or land, and it will record the world’s news or such special messages as may be intended for it. Thus the entire Earth will be converted into a huge brain, capable of response in every one of its parts to emergency situations.”

At the same time we were struggling to build a new modern communication system we were also focusing on bringing our vital shipping facilities back up and running. As mentioned earlier, this was to be the vital physical link for our recovery and we needed a formal “Ports Recovery Program” to focus on this part of our rebuilding efforts.

THE PORTS RECOVERY PROGRAM

It did not take long for teams, mostly from what remained of the British, United States, French and German navies, to sail out to inspect firsthand the world’s major port facilities many of which were located in their old colonies. (We would soon begin building our own Committee military force manned by people from over 50 nations.) Their first hand observations added to wireless and much limited cable reports from Asia, South America, Africa and numerous other areas enabled the Committee to quickly discover which port facilities were in any condition to be used. A color coded system was developed using a world map where push pins at the ports were displayed. Green indicated that the port was mostly undamaged (very few green pins were up on the map, mostly in warmer climates). Yokohama, Japan was a good example of a “Green port.” Blue indicated a port that was operational, but damaged, such as San Francisco on the West Coast of America. Yellow pins indicated that the port was damaged, not operational, but could be made operational within 6 to 12 months. Red indicated the port was severely damaged and would take from 2-4 years to place it into minimal operational status. Many ports were in “Red condition.” Black pins indicated that the port was completely destroyed and would need to be written-off completely for the foreseeable future (5-10 years). More than half of the major world ports operating before the war in 1901 were in “Black condition.” The group did not overlook areas where entirely new ports, both large and small, could be built. These areas were shown by silver pins on the map. Working files and operational teams for each of these ports were soon set up in order to keep track of each location’s funding and general progress.

After the initial assessment indicating what we had to work with, the Ports Recovery Teams established trade routes, which could be immediately put into operation, based upon which ports were usable at least. Priorities were then set for rebuilding. Technical teams were soon drawing up rough plans for the repairs needed for port facilities that could be “brought on line” quickly. Naturally, as ever, manpower resources were a problem, which was addressed by the Committee teams bringing in, not only the required machinery needed for repairs, but boat loads of prisoners, food and other basic requirements. Local people would do much of the work backed up by Committee expertise and prisoner labor including a good many hybrids.

One of the first major ports up and running in England was the Gravesend Coal Port on the Thames estuary just east of London in county Kent. Before the war Gravesend had been an important docking for passenger as well as trade ships and was considered to be the water gateway to old London’s many smaller docks upstream. We were soon working to put the old Woolwich Dockyards back on line as well. The British Navy Dockyard had been closed in 1869, but was now badly needed as it was located on the South Bank of the Thames.

It was slow and difficult work for the thousands of men put to work on the effort, but within weeks a few ships were once again able to transport badly needed foods, fuel, temporary housing and other supplies to areas where people had gathered. When matched with areas where food had been stored before the war we soon had a viable, albeit small, transportation system up and running. We were going to make it. Now we needed to continue the work and prepare for the next growing season. Food stores could not last forever, and small areas of land for local growing would only be a stop-gap measure, although nearly universal use of small local plots of land for crops was discovered to be the norm. People around the world were planting just about anything they could.

We also needed to locate and examine as many floating dry-docks as we could find. Naturally the Ports Recovery Program needed to look at what shipping was still available as well and set up the facilities to repair any ships we could find needing repairs. Several ports along the East Coast of the United States as well as Western Europe had also constructed deployable temporary docks before the war that could be towed into place. We needed to locate and deploy them as soon as possible.

THE FIREBALL OF 1902

On 20 November 1902 observers in   Adelaide, Australia, including Sir Charles Todd, saw what was at first thought to be a large meteorite entering the thicker part of the atmosphere. The fireball that it created was traced visibly for four and a half minutes at which point it exploded into a shower of fiery pieces. We were to later understand that Todd and others had witnesses one of the last Martian invasion spacecraft from the First Martian War as the craft, with its long dead crew, fell out of orbit into its final death plunge to Earth. Two decades later pieces of the destroyed craft were found in the Australian desert. Many of these pieces ended up in the underground museum in Lower-Sydney.

THE UNITED STATES CONTINUES ON

Just before the war the United States had generally been recognized as the most powerful industrialized nation on Earth. The Americans had discovered more iron ore, coal and oil, produced more steel, refined more oil and gas and built more modern well-supervised production facilities than any other nation or region on Earth. With this base of achievement they were able to produce more goods and services than any other nation. With many of its core industrial capabilities still in place despite the massive Martian attacks, it would become the economic powerhouse needed to push the rest of the world towards eventual recovery.

It would not be long before millions would come to America to become vital parts of that recovery. All told, this movement of people from the four corners of the Earth to the United States would become the most massive migration of human beings in our planet’s history, and as with many other migrations war had been one of the primary motivations.

The Martian War Crimes’ Trials

“It ain’t no murder killing beasts like that.”

Graffiti found on a shattered wall in Johannesburg

As the recovery picked up speed, regrouped national and Committee military forces began gathering up many of the individuals (not killed outright) who had materially aided the Martians in their work of world destruction. Investigations had been ongoing and several individuals had been identified as possible Martian War Criminals. For some, the time had finally come to pay the price for betraying the entire human race. This would be the first event since the war that the entire world would be paying close attention to either by crude radio receivers, telegraph reports or by reading news flyers and papers. The Committee did everything they could to bring news of the Martian War Crimes’ Trials, as they came to be known, to as many people around the world as they possibly could. I would be one of the individuals on hand ready to report to the world the ongoing results. My first hand report on the trial would become my first published work in book form after the war. The Martian War Crimes Trials: A Personal History of Mankind’s Most Infamous Criminal Trial – December 1903.

There were a lot of other problems to solve, but generally reestablishing international law and order had to be near the top of the list. Organized civilization needed to be re-established. With this in mind the Committee decided a show trial had to be set. People needed to be able to point to something, which indicated civilization and the rule of law still meant something. It was decided a war crimes trial was exactly what was needed. No one had ever before conceived of war crime trials designed to punish individuals who had aided an interplanetary invader. This is understandable of course as this was the first time the Earth had been attacked by beings from another planet, at least as far as we knew at the time. We were certainly on historic new legal ground here. A new level of interplanetary law covering such crimes needed to be written before any such trial could be convened. It was not lost on the Committee that such laws once on the books could easily be used against individuals committing war crimes during any future wars fought by the nations of Earth or off-world for that matter. The Committee under Directorate B was set to work drafting such laws, which came to be known collectively as the ‘Martian War Laws’. It was an interesting nomenclature since most of the new laws pertained to humans and not Martians. There were no live Martians to put on trial, but had there been we would have put them on trial right along side of the humans.

At first the trials were conceived to try hybrids as well as the few humans who had materially aided the Martians. It was well-known that a number of hybrids after the Martians had died off took it upon themselves to kill as many people as they could before they could be killed. Few of these so-called “killer hybrids” survived the war (Martian B Interrogation 1902-213). However, it soon became clear most of the hybrids were themselves victims of the Martians and would not be held criminally responsible for any actions they may or may not have committed during the war. (Martian B Interrogation 1902-14) With this as a guide on 1 January 1903, all hybrids still held in jails or Martian POW camps on Earth were released from custody. (This would be later amended for members of the Martian Brotherhood who would be put on trial for crimes committed after the First Martian War.) To say the least this was not a popular decision, but in the end it turned out to be a generally good one as it formed a bond between humans and hybrids that could not have been made had the people of Earth not understood the situation faced by most of the hybrids. However, individual humans who had by their actions, directly or indirectly, materially aided the Martians before, during, or after the war, were put on trial for ‘Crimes against the Earth.’ There was to be no excuse for “world treason” and there would be no appeal!

Although there would be smaller tribunals held in several reconstituted countries during the first few years after the war, and indeed a few well into the 1930s, which would put over 580 people on trial, the first and most important, known as the “Grand Tribunal,” was held in Johannesburg, Southern Africa, beginning on 1 January 1903. Under a world agreement, written by international legal scholars working with the Committee, the defendants would stand trial under the London/Paris/Rome Agreement, better known as Martian War Law 15 (MWL 15). Under this law the “Interplanetary Court” was formed, which consisted of nine judges selected from the major warring powers, including one hybrid, from which American Justice Charles Evans Hughes was selected as Superior Judge of the Court.

Justice Hughes would later serve as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from its re-instatement in 1910 until 1916 and finally Chief Justice. At the time of the war Hughes resided in New York City and like many of his fellow New Yorkers had barely survived the war. After the trial he would return to Upper-New York City where he ran for and won the New York governorship from 1907 until 1910 at which time he was called to the Supreme Court.

Naturally security at all levels was extremely heavy with rings of military personnel around the area as well as internal “civilian” (read that as Committee) security personnel. Death threats had been made against all of the defendants, not unexpectedly considering the crimes they were accused of. In the end, there were several loud and angry demonstrations throughout the trial, but no attacks upon the court or the defendants were ever made. We may all look with pride towards that fact. The rule of law had held. We humans were, at least on a basic level, still civilized not including the future designated Lawless Zones which would continue to cause problems for years to come.

In all, 24 individuals, all brought into the chamber in heavy chains, were charged with crimes, which included aiding an aggressive interplanetary war, crimes against the peace of the world, murder, rape, kidnapping, treason upon humanity and giving aid and comfort to the interplanetary enemies of Earth. In addition to these 24 individuals were added two organizations, which had been formed to aid the Martians; The Committee for Mars/Earth Alliance and the Martian Peace Society (MPS). From 1 January 1903, until 4 October of that year, the trial of the ‘Martian 24’ was conducted before an audience of 250 spectators who were allowed to view the proceedings as representatives of the general public from a special viewing area.

For the sake of history the trial was filmed by Mr. Edison’s group so future generations would be able to view and understand exactly what had occurred. Court recorders would document for history the testimony in several important Earth languages including French, English, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese and Russian. The prosecution team, headed up by General Sir Melvin McDonald, submitted a great deal of evidence from electric documents originally held by the Martians in their command machines as well as private documents, which had fallen into the hands of the defending Earth forces after the collapse of the Martian and hybrid attack efforts. There would also be eyewitness testimony of a most disturbing nature.

EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS

It would be the first-hand eyewitness accounts by hybrids and full-human survivors of the brutal attacks, as well as those who had been confined in pens guarded by humans working for the Martians, which would be most devastating to the defense of the ‘Martian 24’. The fact that humans had enslaved and murdered fellow humans in service to the brutal Martians was perhaps the most devastating fact to come out of the Tribunal as it had not been common knowledge until the trials had been convened that any humans had aided the Martians during the war. Trial testimony would bring out the fact that several of the defendants had, for whatever reason, “unquestioned obedience to the Martians” and the “Martian Empire” (Martian B Interrogation 1901-41). Martian documents indicated that humans were to be exploited for forced labor by the Martians before being consumed as food. Much of the testimony was extremely disturbing to hear, but the decision had been made to record as much detail as they could in order to allow future generations a full account of what had happened. There was to be no “behind closed door testimony.”

One witness testified,

They did not eat, much less digest. Instead, they took the fresh, living blood of other creatures and injected it into their own veins. I have myself seen this being done, as I shall mention in its place. But, squeamish as I may seem, I cannot bring myself to describe what I could not endure even to continue watching. Let it suffice to say, blood obtained from a still living animal, in most cases from a human being, was run directly by means of a little pipette into the recipient canal.

Another witness related how one man had been taken and destroyed by the Martians.

Suddenly I heard a yell, and saw a long tentacle reaching over the shoulder of the machine to the little cage that hunched upon its back. The something – something struggling violently – was lifted high against the sky, a black, vague enigma against the starlight; and as this black object came down again, I saw by the green brightness that it was a man. For an instant he was clearly visible. He was a stout, ruddy, middle-aged man, well dressed; three days before, he must have been walking the world, a man of considerable consequence. I could see his staring eyes and gleams of light on his studs and watch chain. He vanished behind the mound, and for a moment there was silence. And then began a shrieking and a sustained and cheerful hooting from the Martians. They were feeding!

And from another witness,

We were all held in a large pit in the ground. Every few hours the human guards directed by the Martians would come to pull a dozen or more out of the pit to bring them to the ‘feeding place.’ Starved of food and denied water for days many were far too weak to run and many could barely walk. Those who could not walk were dragged by the few humans who had lost their humanity in service to the Martians. It usually did not take long for the Martians to choose the ones they wanted and the feeding and howling began.

As the war was coming to an end the Martians, seemingly aware that all was lost, had even ordered “mass executions of all captured humans” (Ref: Martian Electric Document 61J14) which had only been stopped towards the end of the war when Earth’s military forces overran the Martian collection pens which had been set up in hundreds of locations around the world. In one particularly brutal incident some 25,000 citizens of Aingapore, who had fled to the beaches, directed there by armed humans aiding the Martians and held by human guards, were massacred by Martian Heat-Rays. This was not an isolated incident. And this, as well as other events, showed that the perpetrators of such mass murder were not behaving as ‘humans’ even as they may claim to have been. They were clearly lower degraded animal forms.

Needless to say, the Grand Tribunal found overwhelming evidence of complicity by most of the defendants of mass murder, kidnapping and general terrorism in efforts to aid the Martians in an aggressive interplanetary war against the Earth. The Tribunal also found that it was a matter of official Martian policy to kill as many ‘unwanted’ humans as possible before moving on to their next objective and of holding in small concentration pens the relatively few humans needed for food. In the end, even as they were dying they had ordered, “Kill all, burn all, and loot all” (Ref: Martian Electric Document 61J84).

Early in the proceedings the prosecution requested a court ruling on a series of new legal terms expected to be used during the trial. The prosecution wanted the judges to recognize and define three new legal terms – ‘legal Martian alien’, ‘illegal Martian alien’ and ‘enemy Martian alien’. They requested the designation/definition of ‘legal Martian alien’ be used to define any off-world intelligent non-human species who makes peaceful contact with Earth and requests permission to enter our world (further defined as the border between outer space and the upper most part of Earth’s atmosphere). They also requested that any ‘legal Martian alien’ be granted the same privileges and rights as individuals born on Earth to humans or resident ‘legal Martian aliens’. They further requested the court designate/define the term ‘illegal Martian alien’ to be any off-world reportedly intelligent non-human species not born on Earth from Mars who crosses the border between outer space and the upper most part of Earth’s atmosphere without first contacting proper Earth authorities and/or enters without permission to cross the border between outer space and the upper most part of Earth’s atmosphere, or a Martian born on Earth to an illegal Martian alien on Earth was thus an ‘illegal Martian alien.’ The court was further asked to stipulate that any ‘illegal Martian alien’ who crosses the border between outer space and the upper most part of Earth’s atmosphere from a hostile planet or as a hostile species or as a member of a hostile group or hostile gang will further be designated an ‘enemy Martian alien’.

After two days deliberation the court ruled these three new legal terms would thus be so defined for all interplanetary legal matters. This ruling allowed Committee legal teams to write a whole new series of laws. The most critical were the series written to define criminal activity and punishments for “aiding and abetting an ‘illegal Martian alien’ or an ‘enemy Martian alien’ (naturally focusing on any illegal Martian as ‘others’ were not expected to arrive on Earth) in any activity up to and including but not necessarily as part of an invasion” which would require anything from full confiscation of all property, monies, resources and documents with up to a life sentence in prison at hard labor or the death penalty (in the event of invasion). In the years to come these new laws would aid military and law enforcement agencies around the world protect their human, hybrid and legal Martian alien residents from any species, including full humans, who for whatever reason betrayed the Earth in order to give aid and comfort to our interplanetary enemies “across the border” on Mars. Naturally breeding with an illegal Martian alien is also against the law which called for very severe punishment; death to the illegal Martian alien with sterilization and branding for the human became the law. The courts were in no mood to coddle those who aided the enemies of Earth.

MARTIAN PATRICK

Perhaps the most reviled member of the Martian 24 was Patrick Phillipe Demonie. Demonie was best known for being the only human on Earth to have actually hunted humans and then delivering them to the Martians during the war. His many rapes and murders had been almost an afterthought to his ‘work’ done for the Martians. There was no doubt of his crimes as he had been interviewed several times and was quite proud of the work he had done as “my service to my superior masters from Mars.” Demonie would soon be known for sucking the blood out of at least ten people while they were still alive! Known to the Press as “Martian Patrick” he was held in solitary confinement during the trial at a secret underground location (a diamond mine near Johannesburg) simply to keep him alive long enough to get him to court.

When I first learned about Demonie I could not help but recall what a surviving member of the British army had told me after I was found my way across the rubble to what remained of old London, about the possibility of humans fighting other humans for the Martians. “Very likely these Martians would make pets of some of them; train them to do tricks, – who knows? – get sentimental over the pet boy who grew up and had to be killed. And some, maybe, they will train to hunt us. There’s men who’d do it cheerful. What nonsense to pretend there isn’t.” It turned out that in at least one case he was not too far from the truth.

Demonie’s statement during his time on the stand was allowed to continue for a time for the sole purpose of allowing people to know exactly the type of individual the court was dealing with.

 “Sub-animals, I speak at you during this Martian year of 12,842 as a full-blooded Martian and not as a member of your pathetic species. I speak as a superior species in one of your primitive languages as your species are all too ignorant to learn the superior language of your masters on Mars. You are nothing but walking nourishment for your betters who shall destroy all of you in the battles to come. You think you have won a war because you hold me? You have won nothing. Look around your pathetic planet. We Martians have removed half of your kind in only a few weeks. You are weak, pathetic little life forms who will continue to feed those millions on Mars who will soon arrive to consume you all.”

Rather than allow Demonie to continue his diatribe the judges ordered him to step down from the box. As would be expected he attempted to continue, but the four rather large guards soon had him under physical control.

 “The next time we return all sub-animals such as you on our new Mars will be consumed by the fires our Martian advanced technology will bring forth. Final victory shall be ours. Enjoy this brief reprieve, human dogs for it will bring you nothing…”

The gag put around his mouth took care of the situation.

THE VERDICTS

It had been decided at the start of the proceedings that no verdicts or judgments would be declared until all of the trials had been completed. The Grand Tribunal wanted the overall effect to be dramatic and unforgettable. Historians would report that they had achieved their goal. Judgment was handed down on 1 October 1903, before a packed courtroom. Large, newly developed audio speakers were set up outside of the hall, which were able to broadcast the actual words of the judges as they read the verdicts. Special telegraph stations were also set up to wire the news of the verdicts around the world as they were read. The reading took only 38 minutes to complete. For 16 it would be the “death penalty within two weeks to be inflicted upon those convicted”. Four defendants were given life in prison at hard labor and continuous short rations. (They were generally expected to soon die in prison.) Two were given twenty years confinement at hard labor. One received ten years in prison.  (I may now state for the record that even before the beginning of the trial it had already been decided that we needed a mixed ‘verdict’ “for the sake of history.” By that I mean at least one would need to be set free and at least one or two not given the death penalty.)

All those convicted of these crimes were also ruled as Planetary Offenders (POs); a new designation that would allow the justices to strip those convicted of any Earth-based citizenship. In effect, they were no longer considered to be human beings or of the Earth. They were now considered to be Martians (hostile enemy aliens). They were then ordered “deported from planet Earth to Mars or to any Martian representatives wherever they may be situated upon completion of their sentences.” This may have sounded a bit comical, since we had no way of deporting them from Earth, but it had a very real effect on those who were not executed. The ruling meant none could ever be released on Earth, even after their prison sentences had been served, until they could be sent by spacecraft to Mars or handed over to the Martians!

For those in prison it was also ruled that they were never to have any contact with humans or hybrids outside of their small group in the prison. The guards were instructed to speak to them only when giving the POs orders. By law no human was permitted to have a conversation with a PO. Yet, strange as it may seem, some letters were actually sent to the POs. All of them were destroyed unopened before they could arrive at the prison. Individuals who wrote letters were visited by authorities and warned about such activity. Two women, one in 1904 and a second in 1909, were sent to prison for three-year sentences when neither of them would stop sending letters to the POs.

The POs not executed were now to be known only as PO17 through PO24. By orders of the court their “human names” had been voided. Any surviving records outside of the court with their names were ordered to be extracted and their former names removed. They were now by law ‘Martians.’ Their only clothing would be a course woven blanket with a hole cut out of it for their heads. A strip of leather tied around their feet would serve as their only shoes as would a strip of leather serve as a belt. There would be no appeal for any of the POs.

The final defendant was pronounced “not proven” by a vote of 5 to 4 and was released. It is perhaps ironic to recall this defendant would in fact live the shortest period of time after the Grand Tribunal ended its work. Having been released on 4 October Philip Davis was found one week later, his corpse having been completely stripped of flesh, internal organs pulled out of the corpse and what was left had been nailed to the concentration pen wall from which he had been a brutal guard. Justice of an official nature, it would seem had passed him by, however, the people who survived his brutal attacks on them and their families were not so forgiving. No one mourned his death, which was widely covered in the Press (Directorate L). A report was filed but the killing was not investigated.

The Committee for Mars/Earth Alliance, the Martian Peace Society (MPS) and the Martian Attorneys Legal Defense Finance (MALDF), were also found guilty of “high treason against humanity” and for “giving direct aid to the enemies of Earth”. The top leaders of these organizations would themselves be put on trial at a later date. There was at the time an ongoing world-wide hunt for the leaders of those and other ‘enemy alien’ organizations. Several had fled to lawless zones. Eventually 13 of these individuals were tracked down, convicted and sent to prison. Twenty-five more of these Earth treasonous individuals would face firing squads. The remaining POs were handed over to the Committee for ‘disposition.’

[END PART 10]

Copyright © R. Michael Gordon, 2020

[Next week: Part 11: High treason and new nations arise from the ashes.]