Moving into the shelter of two thick tree boles, Krai brought his pressure projector into play. The large communal house suddenly appeared to smash in upon itself, as though crushed by a giant hand. Screams of agony issued from the splintered walls as it crashed to earth. The tree-dwellers stopped everything they were doing to gaze in stupefaction at this prodigy. But before they could voice their amazement, another structure shattered under the emanation from the pressure projector. As the ray was invisible, it appeared to the thunder-struck denizens as though some angry unseen demon were venting his displeasure upon the village. Instinctively, a large crowd banded together for mutual protection. This was what Krai had been waiting for. They were annihilated.
Those who still lived fled. But Krai's implacable destruction sought them out and none got far before they were caught.
When the alien emerged from his place of concealment, all that remained of the village was a few heaps of shattered pulp. He had done his job well.
As Krai retraced his steps through the forest, his thoughts were far away. They reached back across the millions of miles of emptiness he had traversed to come here, back to his own people. They had been doomed; extinction facing them from over-population and lack of water. Mars was nearing the end, and its mighty race seemed about to share the fate of their planet, when a ray of hope came to them. The long-forgotten secret of inter-planetary travel had been rediscovered. It was as a straw to the dying man.
And Mars clutched at it. A small space rocket was built with all speed. Earth, long eyed with anticipation by believers in the practicality of flight between the worlds, was chosen as the objective. Krai, an acknowledged expert in atmospheric travel and the problems confronting a space traveler, found himself selected to make the voyage. His job was to discover whether the Earth was suitable for Martian settlement, or if it could be made so. Astronomical observation had made this fairly certain, however, and that part of his task was merely one of confirmation. But he was also to ascertain whether there was any intelligent life upon the world. If this proved to be the case and the opportunity presented itself, he was to wipe it out. It was ruthless, of course, but the Martians were facing death themselves and had to be ruthless. They couldn't take a chance on being attacked by Earth's inhabitants before they were accustomed to the new conditions and could fight back without being at a disadvantage.
The Martian felt a deep satisfaction as he made his way back to his space ship. There might still remain much to be done, but there was no doubt in his mind about the future now—a bright future and long, new life for Mars....
But Krai might have felt very differently had he seen the hate-filled eyes that pursued his retreating figure. One of the brute-men of the arboreal community had been absent on a private hunting expedition when the Martian began hostilities, only returning in time to see the demon (as Krai appeared to the savage mind) leaving the scene of destruction.
The tree-dweller's first thought was of his mate. But prudence dictated that he remain concealed till the retreating form of the demon disappeared among the trees. Then he searched frantically for his mate. Eventually he found her—crushed among the splinters of their tree-house.
A terrible, burning hate took hold of the savage. An all-consuming hate overcame his instinctive fear of the demon-thing he had seen. Thoughts of revenge crowded all else from his mind.