Our coming world

by Alfred Charles Michaud

Too far away to get any help, and thinking that this was a new kind of enemy plane, we, according to orders, destroyed certain secret mechanisms including our high frequency radio transmitter. Then, we used all the force of our powerful motors in an attempt at a nose dive. But even with the strong gravitational pull of the earth, we could not shake ourselves loose from the upward attraction. I ordered our guns manned to shoot it out. But a loud voice called out to us to desist, that this was not an enemy plane. At the same time, all our motors and instruments stopped, and we ourselves became as if paralyzed.

We were fully conscious. We could hear, talk, think, see. We could feel our ship was gradually being pulled up to this plane, and finally absorbed into her through a large opening in her belly. Our plane was anchored within. Then a voice, calling me by rank and name in perfect English, told me that our captors were going to free our bodies from the paralyzing rays and that we would suffer no aftereffects. We immediately regained our power of motion. The same voice ordered us to come out of our plane as it was going to be cleansed and thoroughly disinfected. We were to disrobe entirely and enter into their body cleansing room. We had no alternative but to follow the voice's instructions. We put our clothes into what seemed to be disinfecting closets, and went into a steam room where we were sprayed with a disinfecting shower. After a thorough bath and cleansing each one of us was given by an attendant a full set of under- and over-garments of styles comparable to the ancient Roman or Greek; two pieces of underwear, a soft silky, loose fitting sleeveless undershirt, and above knee length drawers; clinging socks of the same material up to the middle of calf; shoes, leather laced Roman style up to middle of calf. One loose over-garment, similar to a very soft linen material, like a Roman tunica, open at the neck, girded at the waist, reaching to the knees, with above elbow sleeves. Another over-garment was similar to the Roman dalmatica; it was a soft rayon fabric, open at the neck, reaching to just below the knees, with wide elbow sleeves; ornamented with one inch purple or lavender bands around its neck, sleeves and bottom edges; with a belt at the waist.

All garments and shoes were fastened with detachable buttons. The attendant told us they were heat and fresh air dispenser atomic batteries. They supplied the exact required degree of necessary body air conditioning in all kinds of weather. The fibrous materials of these garments were not only fresh air and heat radiation conductors, but were also fire-proof.

Our attendant also gave us a one inch lavender ribbon for our heads. He showed us how to wear it, as he did, tied with a small knot at the back. Some of the boys were smiling a little; I think the attendant sensed their amusement. "You look quite handsome now," he joked.

He told us all clothing was worn only once. The same applied to household linens. Clothing and linens were worn, then sent back to the factory to be crushed into pulp and made over again. "We don't consider laundries sanitary," he said.

Over-garments like the stolla, tunica and the dalmatica were worn for one week, or less; when soiled, they were also fabricated over again. But all garments, new or worn, were sun rayed and disinfected every day before being worn. Our own clothes, which by this time were also disinfected and sun-ray sterilized, were stored away, excepting my log book papers, diary books and shorthand notebooks. Our clothes were to be given to us when we returned to earth. We were relieved at the time to learn our stay was to be only temporary.

After dressing, he again assured us that our captors were friendly and that we must not be afraid; they had a motive for their actions which they would fully explain to our satisfaction. Later we consulted among ourselves and decided that since we were entirely at the mercy of these strange men, we had no choice but to obey.

He then guided us into an antechamber where he told us to leave our firearms, parachutes, breathing suits, and other accoutrements. Then mentioned us to follow him. He assured us our property would be held safely and returned to us. The attendant puzzled me by anticipating my wish in suggesting that I take out my pencil and notebook from the disinfector and take them along so that I could take down notes on what took place. Then, with great ceremony, he ushered us into a large, high ceilinged, beautifully decorated sunlit room, where about fifty men were seated, all dressed in Roman style. They wore their hair cut short, with a mass of short, wavy curls around the ears, bound around with a one inch lavender ribbon. They were all clean shaven, with hair parted on the right or left side. Facing us at the far end of the room, standing near a large desk, was their leader, who wore a distinctive over-garment called the toga; a loose, long, sleeveless wrapper, gracefully thrown over the left shoulder and arm, girdled around the waist, decorated at the edges with a filet of gold. He also wore a one inch wide gold filet ribbon around his head. With great courtesy he bowed low to us and greeted each of us by our full name.

"We welcome you to our ship," he began, "even though you may be unwilling guests at this moment. But after you have heard our reasons for capturing you, and see what we want to show you, you will only be too glad that we took these means to get you here.

"We are Martians from the planet Mars, which is today about fifty-eight million miles away from your earth. Since this is the day of the year when our two worlds are the closest together, we planned to use it in some way to contact you. We wanted to land on your globe and deliver our message, but its invincible gravitational attraction is so powerful that once we landed, we could not, under any circumstances, overcome and detach ourselves from it. Therefore, we have brought you into our orbit, and we shall now explain our reasons.