Public Domain Adventures: Defense Against the Martians

Humanity has suddenly found itself to not be alone in the universe when a series of capsules landed at points all over the globe containing an invasion fleet from the dying world of Mars. It didn't take humanity's militaries long to realize that even our most powerful cannons were useless against the Martians' lumbering fighting machines. Desperate for a solution, the nations of earth call upon French maverick genius Doctor Omega and United States Navy Lieutenant Fredrick Hamilton—both of whom had journeyed to Mars previously and had extensive familiarity with the red planet's customs and technology—to develop a weapon capable of defeating the invading armies of Mars. Though untested, the unlikely duo are confident the rucksack-powered x-ray rifle will turn the tide of the war as they zip into the fray aboard Dr. Omega's nimble repulsite sledge. Are the pair humanity's last best hope of survival, or will this assault spell the end for our heroes?

Contains:

• Martian fighting machine
• Martian
• Repulsite sledge
• Doctor Omega
• Lt. Fredrick Hamilton
• X-ray rifle

Characters and concepts from the following novels:

• Doctor Omega (1906) by Arnould Galopin, based on the original illustrations. And yes, I'm aware that Doctor Omega looks like William Hartnell as the First Doctor. He looked even more so in the original illustrations, but this was a little over half a century before Doctor Who first premiered on television and two decades before there was television, so it's probably just a weird coincidence... probably
• War of the Worlds (1897) by H.G. Wells. The original illustrations by Warwick Goble were disowned by Wells, so I did not use them. However, no subsequent illustrations were ever given official status, so I have come up with my own design instead.
• Journey to Mars the Wonderful World: Its Beauty and Splendor; Its Mighty Races and Kingdoms; Its Final Doom (1894) by Gustavus W. Pope. It was not illustrated, nor have I heard of any illustrated reprints, so I based his appearance on what little information I could scrounge up from the text descriptions