Book 1: Chapter 4, The Cylinder Opens Summary

The author returns again to the common at nightfall. The word from the observers is that the top of the cylinder is almost finished unscrewing. There are now two or three hundred people watching the cylinder. One man falls into the pit. The cylinder has opened. The Martian that appears does not look anything like man; instead it is a large grey-brown colored mass. It has disk shaped eyes and tentacle like appendages. It appears to me moving quite slowly then the author remembers that the gravity on Earth is much stronger than that on Mars making it difficult for the grey-brown masses to move. The first Martian fell from the top of the cylinder into the pit. Another Martian emerged.

The author runs to the far edge of the common. He is curious of...