The Spirit of Man

The War of the Worlds Music
An Introduction In 2005
The War Of The Worlds Live 2006
Part 1:
The Eve of the War
Horsell Common and the Heat Ray
The Artilleryman and the Fighting Machine
Forever Autumn
The Thunder Child
Part Two:
The Red Weed : Part 1
The Spirit of Man
The Red Weed: Part 2
Brave New World
Dead London
The Epilogue
The Cast
H.G. Wells 1866-1946.
Editions
The Martian Fighting Machine
Worlds Links

The Parson

I suddenly noticed the body of a parson lying on the ground in a ruined churchyard. I felt unable to leave him to the mercy of the red week, and decided to bury him, decently.

    Beth: Nathaniel! Nathaniel!

The parson's eyes flickered open. He was alive!

    Beth: Nathaniel, I saw the church burst into flame, are you all right?
    Nathaniel: Don't touch me!
    Beth: But it's me, Beth! Your wife!
    Nathaniel: No! You're one of them- a devil!
    Beth: He's delirious!
    Nathaniel: Lies! I saw the devil's sign!
    Beth: What are you saying?
    Nathaniel: The green flash in the sky. His demons were here all along, in our hearts and souls, just waiting for a sign from Him. And now they're destroying our world!
    Beth: But they're not devils, they're Martians.
    Journalist: We must leave here.
    Beth: Look, a house still standing, come Nathaniel, quickly.
We took shelter in a cottage, and black smoke spread, hemming us in. Then a fighting machine came across the field spraying jets of steam that turned the smoke into thick, black dust.

    Martians: Ulla!
    Beth: Dear God, help us!
    Nathaniel: The voice of the Devil is heard in our land!
      Nathaniel
      Listen, do you hear them drawing near
      In their search for the sinners?
      Feeding on the power of our fear
      And the evil within us?
      In carnation of Satan's creation of all that we dread
      When the demons arrive those alive will be better off dead

      Beth
      There must be something worth living for
      There must be something worth trying for
      Even something worth dying for
      And if one man can stand tall
      There must be hope for us all
      Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of man

      Nathaniel
      Once, there was a time when I believed
      Without hesitation
      That the power of love and truth could conquer all
      In the name of salvation
      Tell me what kind of weapon is love when it comes to the fight?
      And just how much protection is truth against all Satan's might?

      Beth
      There must be something worth living for
      There must be something worth trying for
      Even some things worth dying for
      And if one man could stand tall
      There must be some hope for us all
      Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of man

      Beth: People loved you, and trusted you, came to you for help...
      Nathaniel: Didn't I warn them this would happen? Be on your guard, I said, for the Evil One never rests... I said exorcise the devil! But no, they wouldn't listen, the demons inside them grew and grew, until Satan gave his signal and destroyed the world we knew!

      Beth No Nathaniel, oh no Nathaniel,
      No Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life,
      There has to be a way that we can
      Restore to life the love we used to know
      (No,) Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life,
      There has to be a way that we can
      Restore to life the light that we have lost

      Nathaniel
      Now darkness has descended on our land
      And all your prayers cannot save us
      Like fools we've let the devil take command
      Of the souls that God gave us
      To the altar of evil like lambs to the slaughter were led
      When the demons arrive the survivors will envy the dead!

      Beth
      There must be something worth living for

      Nathaniel: No, there is nothing!

      Beth
      There must be something worth trying for

      Nathaniel: I don't believe it's so!

      Beth
      Even something worth dying for
      If just one man could stand tall
      There would be some hope for us all,
      Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of man

      Nathaniel: Forget about goodness and mercy, they're gone! Didn't I warn them? Pray, I said! Destroy the devil, I said! They wouldn't listen! I could have saved the world! But now it's too late... too late!

      Beth
      No Nathaniel, oh no Nathaniel,
      No Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life,
      There has to be a way that we can
      Restore to life the love we used to know
      (No,) Nathaniel, no, there must be more to life,
      There has to be a way that we can
      Restore to life the light that we have lost...

      Nathaniel: Dear God! A cylinder's landed on the house, and we are underneath it, in the pit!

    The Martians spent the night making a new machine. It was a squat, metallic spider with huge, articulated claws, but it, too, had a hood in which a Martian sat. I watched it pursuing some people across a field. It caught them nimbly and tossed them into a great metal basket upon its back.
    Then, on the ninth day, we saw the Martians eating. Inside the hood of their new machine they were drawing the fresh, living blood of men and women and injecting it into their own veins.
      Nathaniel: Aaah! It's a sign! I've been given a sign! They must be cast out, and I have been chosen to do it! I must confront them now!
      Journalist: No, parson, no!
      Nathaniel: Those machines are just demons in another form. I shall destroy them with my prayers, I shall burn them with my holy cross. I shall...

    The curious eye of a Martian appeared at the window slit, and a menacing claw explored the room. I dragged the parson down to the coal cellar. I heard the Martian fumbling at the latch. In the darkness I could see the claw touching things, walls, coal, wood. And then, it touched my boot. I almost shouted. For a time it was still, and then, with a click, it gripped something: the parson! With slow, deliberate movements, his unconscious body was dragged away, and there was nothing I could do to prevent it.

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