Imagine: While reading chapter five, with the attack of the heat ray, I repeatedly imagined what it would have been like, and the damage that it would have caused, if the situations leading up to the surge were altered. Let's say that the area was blocked off and there were no groups of people were standing around when the heat ray went off. If this was the case, nobody would have been harmed, but also no one may have known about the dangers of these Martians and their power. Then the ray could have gone off somewhere else, if the Martians were to leave the pit. And that area could have been a heavy populated town or store. So even though there were numerous bystanders affected by the heat ray, it could have been even worse if it arose in town, or it could have been less dam
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