Black smoke

From The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project

The term Black Smoke is also sometimes used to refer to The Monster from the television series Lost.

In H. G. Wells's classic science fiction novel The War of the Worlds, the Black smoke is the secondary offensive weapon of the Martians. This weapon is used by the Martians as a means of chemical warfare. It is delivered by means of a tube-like launcher carried by the Martian Fighting Machines, and is believed (but not confirmed) that their flying-machines also helped spread the smoke. It was used to great effect in the evening of Day Three of the invasion in the London Offensive.

The black smoke is a poisonous gas used to eliminate groups of humans remotely, especially artillery crews, before they could fire. Any human breathing this deadly smoke is killed almost instantly. The smoke was disabled by contact with water. After the smoke had done its job, the Martians would dispel it with jets of steam, leaving only a residual black powder. The Martians may have used this also to avoid unnecessary destruction of buildings in cities such as London.

Wells specified that the black smoke consists of an unknown element that shows four blue lines in a spectrum analysis. This element combined with the argon in our atmosphere to form the deadly gas.

In other adaptations

Orson Welles' radio adaptation dramatizes the effects of the black smoke. In fact, the toxin is depicted as being potent enough to render gas masks useless, as do modern nerve gasses.

The only screen appearance of the black smoke is in the Pendragon film. However, the film's aliens only use the smoke twice, and it is not described in any detail.

The Asylum version features a deadly gas, but it is green rather than black in color. The "green smoke" does appear, however, to have the same deadly effect as the black smoke; it is apparently very dense as well, since it can be escaped by climbing to higher altitudes.

The black smoke is briefly mentioned in the 1978 musical version, where a tripod releases it while engaging the Thunder Child and later on when the Narrator is trapped in the house. Its effects are not mentioned however.

In the 1998 PC game, the Black Smoke can be launched from canisters by three Martian Machine units, including the Fighting Machine. However, this version lasts for a limited time, depending on what type of canister launcher the black smoke is launched from. A glitch however makes it possible to have an everlasting black smoke. This glitch is hard to get, as it requires a mountainous area in the sector you're viewing. To stop the Infinite Black Smoke, simply return to the War Map.

Factual discrepancies

While it is an interesting plot device in Wells' book, black smoke could not exist as it is described in the story. It is said that the smoke is formed when an unknown element combines with argon in our atmosphere. However, argon is an inert gas and extremely stable. It combines with other elements only in extreme conditions (shining ultraviolet light onto frozen argon).