There is an eerie calm before the Martian storm, where the routines of supper and study intermingle with celestial threats unbeknownst to the populace. It is a chilling reminder of the fragility of our social constructs, a harbinger of chaos set against the backdrop of an industrial England at the cusp of potential war with foreign powers. 

Within this chapter, we find the microcosm of Woking and its surroundings suddenly hosting the epicenter of an interplanetary invasion, a small circle of land where the fate of Earth begins to teeter precariously.