Masters (The Tripods) - Technology

Technology

The Masters power their city with a form of atomic energy that appeared to uneducated and casual observers as a "pool of fire." It is loosely inferred by the character Jean Paul (Beanpole) to be nuclear fusion. This description lent itself to the title of the third novel. A concentric series of chambers located near the center of the city and below ground level housed this apparatus; the various doors did not align, so that it was necessary to travel around the perimeter of each chamber to the next entrance. Within the innermost chamber was a single lever that functioned as a main breaker. Moving it from the operating position to the off position deactivated the mechanism, while moving it in the other direction reactivated it. Contact with this lever while the mechanism operated proved instantly fatal to humans.

The most visible artifacts of the Masters were the Tripods; immense machines that walked the world outside their cities on three long legs. Described as hemispherical, with legs equidistant, the tripods could interact with the world using long, tentacle-like manipulators. At least some of these machines had chambers suited to Earth life, and could take individuals inside them for extended periods. When they reached age fourteen, individuals were taken inside a Tripod to be Capped: the machines visited larger towns, while individuals from smaller towns traveled to a nearby larger town to be capped. Tripods seemed to follow a route consistently but whether this was due to the psychology of their pilots or to some form of autopilot was never revealed. Among the facts inadvertently revealed to Will by his Master was the crew size: four individuals.

Much of the Masters' industry appeared highly automated. Machines operating without supervision created everything from food and air to intoxicants. Among these were machines that created gravity at levels roughly twice that of Earth (this heaviness lent itself to the title of the second novel, "The City of Gold and Lead"). According to Will's Master this is less than the gravity enjoyed by the Masters on their home planet; it is not revealed if this is due to technical restrictions, energy saving or because such extreme gravity would be very wearing on their human slaves.

The Masters' technology included precision machining techniques. Their airlock doors fitted so precisely that the seams were nearly invisible, and did not require gaskets or other flexible seals to compensate for imperfections.

They had the means to remove heat from objects, akin to air conditioning. Because of their water requirements, each of their cities straddled a major river. As part of treating the water before it left the city, mechanisms cooled and filtered it until it was very close to its original outside characteristics of temperature and composition.

Perhaps their greatest technological skill was in the area of mind control. They understood brain physiology to a high degree. In the fourth book, "When the Tripods Came" they captured at least one human for the purpose of dissection; the individual's corpse was discovered later, his brain neatly drained and removed. They later intercepted broadcast television signals, and added their own additional signals to the feed; these signals contained hypnotic suggestions. While not universally effective, these suggestions affected sufficient numbers of people so that the Masters had a substantial base of support in their early invasion effort. Whatever the method, these signals could convey detailed technical data and some of the individuals under this control constructed and distributed the first Caps.

Although their televised hypnosis was not permanent, control through a Cap evidently was, for as long as the Cap remained in place. Caps contained a fine mesh somewhat resembling an antenna. The first versions resembled ordinary hats and could even be removed, although the individual wearing such a cap would never voluntarily remove it and would actively attempt to prevent others from doing so. Successful removal of a Cap sometimes caused the individual to react in bizarre ways, becoming irrational or breaking down in tears. In a later phase of the invasion, Tripods dispatched to various locations removed the temporary caps and replaced them with Caps "married to the flesh" through some kind of bioengineering. These Caps could not be removed, although White Mountains resistance fighters eventually learned how to disable them by severing certain of the metal filaments. The Caps evidently depended on some form of transmission from within the cities of the Masters - when resistance elements turned off the city power supplies, Capped individuals ceased to venerate and obey the masters. As earlier, some reacted irrationally to the loss of outside will, even to the point of suicide.

Caps created a worshipful attitude toward the Masters; an unhesitating obedience so profound that the Masters did not fear bringing Capped humans into their cities (an overconfidence that would eventually defeat them). According to "The White Mountains," about one person in twenty became a Vagrant due to some failure of the process. One character (Will) speculated that the Vagrant's brain attempted to resist the power of the Cap and eventually broke under the strain, usually if a mind was too weak and collapsed or if a mind was too strong and collapsed resisting the cap. Vagrants were considered harmless (although this was not always true), but were generally unable to remain in one place for any length of time. Each community considered it a social responsibility to care for these unfortunates, who were unable to work, form families, or participate in most of society. Individuals seeking the resistance in the White Mountains were cautioned that if caught and Capped in a place where the natives spoke a different language, Vagrancy was almost certain, suggesting that each Cap received and relayed signals specific to expected thought processes of the wearer.

The Masters had a means of suppressing electrical activity at range. They disabled a biplane attack on their Central American city in this fashion.