With the passage of a scant few days, the time came for the departure of the Amsworth Archaeological Expedition.  Lt-Commander Wells was informed that his prize of six months past was unfit for service, but that in its place he had been assigned his first formal command.  An aerial steam launch named the Sylph, a small vessel mounted with a five barrel Nordenfelt machine gun and crewed with four skilled hands and two ordinary seamen in case they should prove of use, the command and crew both reflecting a request placed on Wells' behalf by Bosun Blunt.

The expedition, it was discovered, would take some ten days or so to reach its destination, a journey the steam launch were it to travel separately could make in little over a day.  Still, excitement was high, and Sir Amsworth explained that he favoured the slower voyage, as it would give time for the expedition forces to bond and get to know each other and the Martian environment.

Time came to depart, crowds gathered to see the ship off and assorted expedition members made their way on board.  Lord Midhurst spotted one of them as the brother of a boy he had known at Eton, and though he could not remember the fellow's name nor much about him save that he had possibly once towel-whipped the chap, he made his introductions.  Sadly, Lord Winterton (as the gentleman transpired to be) was to Midhurst's view a dull fellow with a scholastic air and no apparent sporting prowess.  Matters worsened when another archaeologist, Roger Hansworth, took some offence to a remark of Midhurst's and the two came to a heated exchange of words.

Wells saw a disconsolate and grey looking fellow, visibly emotional, being seen off by quite the most beautiful woman Wells had ever seen.  The woman, raven hair cascading down her back, caught all of Wells' attention and he to some extent hers, to the even greater griev of the fellow she was goodbying.  As he joined the ship, she jumped into a waiting rickshaw and headed back into Syrtis Major, with a backward glance to Wells but none to her former companion.

Miss Pennington-Smythe encountered a familiar face, a Miss Harriet Weems whom she had met on the voyage from Earth.  Miss Weems was a freelance journalist by trade, covering the expedition in the hope something newsworthy would happen and so make her fortune.

Others arrived, Tom Bigby, a famous strongman who juggled children by the dockside.  A man of some fame and success, and so the reason for his spending six months on such a voyage uncertain.  Major Bastable, a Major McClintock who was to serve as medical officer, an African fellow by the name of Milton Nkomo and many others.

Wells and Blunt then saw to their own vessel, refitting the gun mounting so that the Nordenfelt could at need be swapped for the Hotchkiss, and getting to know and assess the new crew.  Blunt brought all the powers at his command to persuade those in high command that the two ordinary seamen should have some skill with firearms, and through the persistence of his argument saw some success in this endeavour.

The expedition vessel pushed off, the Sylph following, when suddenly on board the Sylph they saw a Martian had leapt from the ship below carrying some contraband he had plainly stolen.  Losing no time, Bosun Blunt ordered pursuit and himself used his skills as trimsman to bring about a rapid descent.

Too rapid it transpired, between the speed of the downward motion and a small errror on the part of helmsman Arnold Turner the Sylph ran over the fleeing thief before crashing into some nearby crates and market stalls.  Investigation showed the thief, who had been making off with a medical bag, had been torn in two pieces by the Sylph's propeller and the Martians clearly thought the entire maneouver quite intentional.  Preferring not to overdwell on a potentially awkward situation, Wells ordered the body gathered up in a tarpaulin and it was dumped overboard outside a Martian cemetary for their convenience of disposal.

That evening, Sir Amsworth held a dinner and dance aboard ship, Wells and Blunt remained aloft for the time being, while at the top table Lord Midhurst found himself placed between Lord Winterton and Mr Hansworth to his chagrin.  Miss Pennington-Smythe, avoiding the desire of Kit Amsworth to set up an amateur hockey league with but three women available to join it (counting Mrs Bastable) also found the evening trying, Major McClintock proving drunken, aggressive and boorish and new cook Josiah Bladder serving up an unpalatable concoction comprising of poorly baked Yorkshire Pudding containing a gravy sea and sausages as ships.

With the women withdrawing, the men retired for port and cigars, Wells joined them having finished his own duties, and spent a happy hour or so with Amsworth discussing the history of Martian engineering and construction.  Eventually however, Midhurst's increasing drunkenness and McClintock's plainly foul temper saw all to bed.

Some days passed without incident, save that Bladder's cooking continued to be hopelessly ill-suited to the company, inquiry evidencing that he did well enough when cooking for the below stairs folk, but suffered an ambition beyond his talent or experience when seeking to entertain those of more refined palates.  His apparent wife, a Mrs Esme Hatchpenny, it became apparent was a drunkard herself and a woman of notably easy virtue.  Major McClintock continued to be disagreeable.  Many began to eat the Martian fare, which though sometimes noisome to the British palate if selected carefully could be tasty enough.

So it continued, until at around the six day mark the expedition encountered an Oenotrian military vessel, which hailed them over and claiming (quite unjustly) that they were in Oenotrian waters at a time of declared (if presently unfought) war must be subjected to inspection for contraband.  Negotiations followed, Wells, Midhurst and Miss Pennington-Smythe assisting Sir Amsworth while Blunt readied the Sylph for action in case of need.  At the last, some few Oenotrians were permitted to search the expedition's equipment, where no contraband was present, and Miss Pennington-Smythe came to realise that the Oenotrian Captain (one Kaaralshan) sought a bribe before he would depart.  This being effected, he gifted in return a ship's mascot - a small rodent like creature with bristly fur and a prehensile tail, and a statue of a Martian goddess with multiple limbs and warlike aspect, which Miss Pennington-Smythe was chilled to note held a tiny figure of a decapitated British head in one hand.

This past, the expedition again continued on, with much shipboard life and conversation ensuing.  Some two nights later, Bosun Blunt was awakened from a sound sleep by gunner Fred Timmins, who had watch and had noticed a Martian vessel pull alongside the expedition ship and now disgorge unknown Martians who were in the process of boarding.  Blunt, noting Timmins for future punishment for not raising the matter sooner, called alarums and soon the Sylph was raining grape upon the deck of the Martian attacker - to terrible effect!

On board the expedition ship, all woke and confusion reigned, Lord Midhurst raced to the deck with saber in hand and started to drive back the enemy, Miss Pennington-Smythe climbed atop a decktop structure and provided cooly accurate supporting fire to Midhurst, downing two attackers in the process.  The battle raged, Major Bastable came to deck with rifle in hand and took down some foes, but then himself was struck down.  Bladder, the cook, joined the fight but was stabbed in the side, to Midhurst's relief who had earlier sought to persuade Sir Amsworth to fire the fellow but with little success.  The fight was in the balance, Miss Pennington-Smythe shot another attacker, and then calmly proceeded to reload her pistols, but tragically was seen so doing and herself shot in turn by a Martian musket.  Seeing her fall, Wells leapt from the deck of the Sylph to the deck of the expedition ship, a daring action when taken in the darkness of the Martian night with battle raging below.  He ran to Miss Pennington-Smythe, saw she was sorely wounded and so looked for Major McClintock whom he found pistol in one hand and whisky bottle in the other, roaring defiance.  McClintock reluctantly, and only after argument, examined Miss Pennington-Smythe and promptly declared her to be dead, a diagnosis plainly incorrect since her breath could be seen pluming in the cold Martian night air.  He then was taken to the downed Bastable, whom he also pronounced dead.  As this took place, Midhurst assumed command of the defence, and rallied the ship to drive back the invaders, who began to surrender (most successfully, after some initial confusion as to the exact scope of Midhurst's orders to the crew).

McClintock became increasingly deranged, shouting that all were dead and firing his pistol indiscriminately.  Lord Midhurst was forced to restrain the man with a rugby tackle, though in the process McClintock fired again and killed a prisoner by blind chance.  Wells stopped the bleeding on Miss Pennington-Smythe, more by luck than judgement, and learned from her that she had seen the man supposedly on watch come out of a small deck-hut from which some time later had emerged Mrs Hatchpenny, explaining then the inattention which had permitted the assault to so near succeed.

The battle won, Mrs Amsworth used some basic nursing skills to stabilise the wounded, McClintock and the lookout, one John Reed, were imprisoned for their failings.  The next day, McClintock on threat of hanging was forced to operate on Miss Pennington-Smythe, to remove the bullet from within her, a task he barely managed and her courage in facing both the Martian rabble and then McClintock's unsteady knife was noted by all.  On her awakening, she was brought by bathchair to interrogate the Martian prisoners, who lacking her advice during her period of indisposition had been stored together.

Miss Pennington-Smythe conducted a swift and efficient interrogation, involving neither violence nor threat, but discovered that the Martians were pirates and that somehow the Oenotrian vessel had sent word ahead that the expedition was coming, and detailing the contents of its hold and that it carried a religious artefact sacred to the Ground Cleanser cult - a group sworn to rid Mars of the perceived human taint.  Clearly, the Oenotrians had decided to take action, but indirectly, trusting others to do that they dared not do themselves.

Discussion then ensued as to what to do with Major Bastable, whom McClintock considered to be in need of clear hospital attention but who might not live even with such.  It was decided to send back the Sylph, with the expedition itself retreating a day or so upriver so as to avoid further entry into the area in which news of its arrival had been spread, until the Sylph returned.  Also to accompany Major Bastable would be his wife and man, as well as the wounded Josiah Bladder and at Miss Pennington-Smythe's recommendation his companion Mrs Hatchpenny.  As for Major McClintock, discussions as to his fate continued long into the evening...