The Certainty of a Future Life in Mars / Being the Posthumous Papers of Bradford Torrey Dodd

earth, and about which our wondering minds hazarded so many fruitless guesses. I have been here a short time, and no

ound myself here without any recollection of whence I had come,

escribably sweet, penetrating and moving. Around me upon white ivory chairs arranged in an amphitheatre sat beings like myself, all looking outward upon a s

wn as the hill of the Phosphori. Here, for nearly one of our months, the incoming souls, which are little more than a sort of ethereal fluid, presenting a form only observable by refracted light, or I should say polarized light, are bathed in a marvellously phosphorescent beam procured by absorption from the sun

dualization is achieved. A soul, or many souls, are separated from the great tide, by flashing, under the bombardment of the phosphorescent blaze into shining forms. They assume a shape outlined by light,

e roads to some of the many chorus halls which fill the City of Light, where I am now, and from which I am sending this magnetic message. They remain for hours, even days and weeks in these halls listening

tening souls, moved by a desire to do something, into the streets of the city. This is called, as we might say, the Act Impulse. From that time on the soul rushes, as it were, to its natural occupation. Its ment

ze what an organ can be in a creature, so apparently, as we are, little more than gaseous condensations. The physiology and morphology of a spirit

the clouds above the New Zealand Alps. It is the same way with Martian spirits. They are tenuous fluids, but the individual pervades them and a mat

crete into beings like terrestrial men and women. There is, therefore, a dual population here, the extreme newly transplanted souls, and the flesh and blood people, and between them the transitions from spirit to corpuscular

d and at a great height arched together. The front was a network of sculpture, it held the rising rows of what seemed like ivory chairs on which the motionless white and radiant assemblage w

lovely bodies, which were tightly clad in the palest blue tunics and leggings. These creatures were consolidated spirits. They are constantly augmented by new arrivals, and,

ry moderate condensation begins, just enough to bring them to the ground by gravity. The psychic fluid is susceptible to the light, absorbs and emits it, and so the spirit forms are shining like great

stances, especially in the direction of the Hill of the Phosphori where the spirits land. Drawn by it they move unconsciously toward the singing centers. Now there are perhaps a hundred of these chorus halls about the City of Light grouped in the direction of the Hill of the Phosphori,

rain away without direction to the choruses that attract them, although

light and afterwards occupation, they are transmuted by consolidation into the fair material race, which outside of the City of Light controls the planet, does consciousness and curiosity and language ari

t unbroken surges of music that come from the field outside, from the multitude beneath the almond blossom laden trees. Movement is without volition in the spirit stage; attraction that follows a hidden impulse, that seems indescribable at first, directs them. It is only as the process of consolidation

, the solemn, swaying music still heard as I stepped out upon the broad steps which face the city. I was now more observant, something like sight and feeling and memory were slowly genera

orus halls like waifs of cloud driven by a zephyr, with no visible distention of parts,

high, shining roof, before me a long descent of steps, and beyond me and around on

ruit trees, low bush-like spreading plants, bearing white pendant lily-like flowers or pink button-shaped florets like almonds. Each building is square, with a portico of columns, placed on rising steps, a pa

opalescent glass. Avenues opened in all directions, lined on both sides with these wonderful houses, which are m

other strange feature in these Martian houses was the hollow sphere of glass upheld above each house. It is a sphere some six feet in diameter made up of lenses. It encloses a space in the center of wh

hall. I emerged, as I said before, upon the broad platform with its colonnade of columns and arches

ade and dome, while the glass prisms above them sent out rays from their imprisoned balls of phosphori. The glow spread, rising from the outskirts of the city in the lower grounds to the summits of the hills where the sun's last rays l

assy spheres-the Martians call them the Plenitudes above them. Many other developing beings were around me, and voiceless, mute, impassioned, with an admiration which we h

nt glasses in the houses sending out their parti-colored rays, patching the trees with quilts of cha

rthlings know or dream of. It is a part of the immortal fiber of men, and in Mars it creates matter, for the slow assumption of material parts, as I have said, is propagated and accomplished by music,

d expression was on our faces, and though memory was beginning to light its fires within us, though the transmission of viewless particles of matt

tion, through Music and Light, goes on, the aptitudes or tastes are awakened, and this first birth of desire in Mars carries the spirits off from their ivor

quarter of thought. This is simply that the artists, the scientific minds, the designers, and the philosophers are somewhat by themselves. The population of the City of Light is made up of a fair, white rac

oned, there is the business sectio

I may at once explain something about the actual l

on as with you on the earth, but its nature and its physical elements vary, as you will see. There is a circulating medium, banks and business enterprises, but it is more veiled,

or. All the businesses that in your earth arise from the preparation and sale of meat and all the various confections, disappear there, and also all the mechanism of house hea

simplified needs and primal feelings exalted by acutely developed love of Music. Mars is the music planet. There are not on Mars newspapers, journals, magazines, books. The tireless production of the

wing through the trees, and the city was filled with people. They were the Martians. We were scarcely noticed. In the City of Light the new arrivals are not questioned u

ere lost like wisps of moving light here and there, I went on alone. I came up long, wonderful avenues between walls of

sentences, and seem very sincere. I often stood by little groups gathered at the corners of cross streets, and listened to their musical intonations. The language is v

udly and passionately with such power and beauty that the impressionable Martians would follow the refrain of the song and the whole street for blocks and

are filled again in its park-like center with trees. From amid these trees rose a massive building,

of the square to the

he walls of illuminated plans and maps of the heavens. These miniature firmaments were all afire, so that each opening, carefully graded in size to represent stars of the first or second or third m

and I raised my hands with that motion of snapping the fingers, which you re

ork begun upon the Hill of the Phosphori and the Chorus Hall in reducing the intangible spirit fluid to corporeal expression was now hastening to an end. I do not stop here to

I turned and saw a tall figure with a face of extreme nobility, somewhat scarred, I thought, dressed in the usual Mar

azement and happiness that the stranger's words brought me. Here I was, a disembodied soul from Earth, which at that moment I only dimly recalled, undergoing the strange process of re-establishment in flesh and blood, and slowly appropriating those natural appetites which come wi

flushed and throbbing with excitement, and with a wild joy besides, I flung myself upon his neck and pressed him w

e center table, also of ivory, curiously inlaid with particles of the omnipresent phosphori, which gave out a liquid light and imparted indescribable chasteness and beauty to the carved ornaments upon them. The floor was dark, a leaden color, lustrous, however, like black glass, and made up in mosaic. Around the ro

a lake of glowing fires, over which, rising and refluent waves of light constantly chased each other to its dark borders, where the surrounding plain country met the City's

ful blue metal, seen in the globes, designed in scrolls and waving ribbons, and just descendi

lacing his hand on mine, and leaning outward toward the burning splendor below us, above which in th

ll, in this Patenta, for by that name in Mars is called this home of astronomy and physical philosophy. Here, amid telescopes and apparatus of experiment and investigation, I have spent the years, mapping with many others the skies, and above all beating the earth we left, as h

at I was the same being as had lived upon the earth, and with it the sudden turbulence of hope that she, your mother, whom we so often expected

day, that I bade good-bye to my son on the death-bed in my home on earth. I am too tormented with wonder to speak to you much. I can tell all I know of mysel

yellow cloth upon a small ivory table and set down two plates of the bright blue metal; upon one they placed a pile of small roun

e for a long time. You will learn all, but I am not watching to-night. In seeing you and hearing the familiar English speech I am moved myself by curr

ut its solidity and mass were most impressive. I shook and trembled beneath the impact of its vibrations; in its surging glory of sound I became fully reincarnated. I awoke naked and ashamed. The man saw my confusion. He hurried to a niche i

ajority come up from the earth. How reincarnation first began on Mars is unknown, though the natural people, the Dendas, have traditions about it, vague and contradictory. It must have been slow. The supernatural p

by the various villagers or citizens. The great new improvement in the last half century has been the creation of the receiving station at the Hill of the Phosphori, the building of the Chorus Halls, and the establish

s singular. I need not dwell upon it. Evaporation replaces defecation. Love enters the Martian world, but it h

bread and fruit. Our language does not lend itself to composition; it only sings. Literature, as we knew it on earth, does not exist here. The natural Martians have tales and stories and plays and some books. These things no longer interest the supernaturals. Our life is quite simple, almost

urvive from other worlds, but cannot secure pigments, and draw only in black and white for the most part. They are cartoonists, as we would say, on the earth. But we grow fruits

arth. Mars is filled with beautiful cities. Its whole government consists in a council at the City of Scandor, from which representatives issue to its various departments. One is here in the City of Light. His motives are always just. There are no parties, for there are no policies. Life is so simple. Beauty and knowledge only rule u

is done here and throughout Mars. Making the blue metal which you see, quarrying stone and ore and coal for the smelters and glass factories, the fabrication of dress material and fabrics for houses, making our boats and ca

go. To-morrow, the ships on the canals will carry many away. The spirits, as you did, when they enter the city, wander as they will; they enter the houses, the workshops, the laboratories, ever

ersion and entertainment of our people is to listen to the stories of other worlds, which these new arrivals bring. Memory does not s

ent away when Martianized to the different parts of Mars, a

f these are brought to us by great spirits from other worlds, their own works in poetry or prose or music. In Scandor there are great orchestras with all the instruments we had upon the earth, and the pap

absent. The wicked of all sorts have one fate; they are fired off the planet. We can overcome the attraction of gravitatio

paid for the number of spirits they care for and assist. Happiness reigns on Mars, but it is a pensive happiness. We never, because of the singular physiology of our bodies, can know the boisterous and passionate joys of earth, neither do we know many of the ills of the flesh. We have sickness

moisture, and the hot tears ran down his cheeks. Memory might be fleeting on Mars, but the loved ones of the earth were yet remembered, and t

covered with snowy covers, curtains hung at the windows also white. The furniture of the room was of a sort of pale, red wood obtained in the great Martian forests where t

radiant patterns in the walls shone also with a pale beauty. These balls possess a wonderful lighting power and besides their self-illumination can be stimulated into the most intense brilliancy by electric cur

fountains. Near the Patenta is the Garden of Fountains, which I shall tell you about in anoth

. The streets were empty, the music of the Chorus Halls stilled. Here and there, a spirit was moving slowly through the streets, a half-made Martian; a breeze soft and salubrious stirred the thickly leaved trees and the firmament shone with the larger stars, beginning to pale before the rising sun. As the sun rose higher, the effulgence of the City died away, the light of the same great orb which brings the dawn to you, covered with

d. Not a motion or sound succeeded t

me, the significance of it all, I turned to the one natural effort to answer this Martian communication. I sent out from the battery of our tr