Martian Chronicles: Part Two

By Ray Bradbury

     Hello again, ready for the two last expeditions. Truthfully, I only read until there cause the book wasn't even mine and well I wasn't even paying attention to the owner anymore. So they took the book away from me. Real sob story...

     Luckily, I have the same exact book in my house so maybe if I finish the unfinished Frankenstein I can write more of my favorite book.

 

Cold War didn't have wars but was no joke.

   All was prepared for the third expedition. One man struggled in the wires, asking what he need to do to go with them. He didn't want to stay in Earth, nobody in their right mind would. At most, in two years there was a predicted atomic war so he wanted to go to Mars before that happened. They laughed at him. Haven't he heard of the disappearance of the first and second expedition? Most likely they were dead.

     He didn't care but security dragged him away while he continued to struggle seeing as the spacecraft launched into space.

     Third Expedition

     They arrived to Mars. Captain John Black a seventy year old man, rejuvenated to a forty year old thanks to technology was distrustful of Mars though his crew was eager and enthusiastic. They had been sent to a completely different zone of Mars in case the first two expeditions met a hostile reception. They were the first expedition to be sent with weapons and a bigger crew. He ordered half of his men to stay put and guard the spacecraft while he and the rest investigated the surroundings.

Captain Black, it may be we did a
bad turn somewhere....

     When they came off the ship, they were baffled. Had they made an error? No, they couldn't have but why was this place just like their hometown. The moss and the brick houses, the swings, the wafting scent and white fences, and the music coming from the phonograph: "Beautiful Ohio". They start to making crazy theories about space and time, World War I escapees and the like. Captain Black doesn't like this theories, they seem messed up but soon one of his crewmen, Lustig, starts running towards one of the houses. When he knocks, an old couple appears. They're his grandparents whom had been dead for thirty years.

     They explain to them that they don't know why they are here, but maybe that's a second chance. To them this is Earth; and who knows, maybe what they know as Earth had another before that too. After all, they don't know the meaning of life yet and they can only be happy for this chance. Captain Black thanks the couple for the lemonade and expects to head back to the spaceship only to find his men leaving it and heading towards the different people congregating outside: parents, grandparents, siblings and friends.

     He gets angry, they had orders, his orders and they defied him. Lustig asks him for comprehension as he would do the same. He denies it but soon someone calls his name. Edward is running towards him. His twenty-six year old brother who died when he was nineteen. He forgets his anger and Lustig tells him he's going to be with his grandpas. Edward tells him their parents are waiting for him too. He talks, has dinner and dances with his family. The house is just the same, the same bed he shared with his brother. He couldn't be any happier.

     But now that he had time to stay calm and think things over, he started to organize all that have happened till now. He had just the most unlikely theory and he tried to laugh it off... but what if all the people here in this town were Martians and they had seen them coming from the sky and just hated them. But they had atomic guns and just how would be the best way to trick them into leaving their spaceship and weapons? What if they could see in their memories, his memories, and made all this farce of a town and filled it of beloved parents, sibling and friends. What if his parents sleeping in the other room were some amazing Martians capable of holding such an illusion and had waited till the night with every one of them dispersed so they could get rid of them. 

The moment where your brother suddenly
is something in the skin of your brother.

     Captain Black was now sure that that was right. He slid of the bed and walked to the door. His supposed sleeping brother asked him where he was going. He said he was thirsty and Edward insisted he wasn't. Captain Black started to ran, thinking he may be able to outrun them and head to the spaceship but in fact never reached that door. The next day there were seventeen coffins for the mysterious deaths of seventeen young men. All wept around them but in short intervals their faces distorted into not-so-human faces.

     Fourth Expedition

     Spender distracted himself building a fire waiting for the rest of the people sent to investigate the cities to come back. The had orders to be silent and many were grumbling about it. They had come all over to Mars and instead of celebrating they were doing nothing and waiting. Captain Wilder said it was for the best. When the exploration team came back they reported that neither of the cities was inhabited. The third city was full of corpses. The cause: Pox. It did something different to the Martians that killed them. Spender grieved over it. These Martians had made such an amazing society and cities but died to a disease that didn't even kill children in Earth and with the least menacing name: Pox. 

     They were all somber, Biggs decided to leave the grumbling and incite a party. Soon all started to dance, sing and drink. Only the captain and Spender felt uncomfortable about it. Spender felt that faraway the Martians could see them making themselves look stupid. Biggs started to throw the bottles in the river and baptizing it Biggs River. Spender couldn't stand it anymore, stood up and punched Biggs till he fell into it. It would had turned into a fight if the captain hadn't intervened. He dragged Spender and question him about his reasons: he couldn't stand the idea of him being so disrespectful. He was only the beginning, then all the ambitious money-makers in Earth would come and destroy Mars just as they had Earth. Captain Wilder tried to be positive but Spender sank more and more in his pessimism.

     They investigated the nearest city. Biggs barfed in the intricate floor full of depictions. Spender went alone and since then went missing. Captain Wilder made many excursions looking for him. One day after about a week of him missing. Spender returned. He shot Biggs in the heads and his body sank in the river. He came into the spacecraft. They were making breakfast. Spender just asked what they would think if they were Martians and some people from faraway came and wanted to take your place. Cheroke was the only one who said he could understand as he had Cherokee ancestors. He shot all the people and offer Cheroke to join him but had to kill him when he tried to take out his gun. When he went outside he took his hand to his head and trembled for a moment.

     When Captain Wilder and the rest came by they found the corpses and the cold food on the table. He came to the conclusion that only Spender could have done it and started arming his people. Soon they spotted him through the valleys and made chase. But ordered to cease fire and Captain Wilder stood in a boulder far from his men. He offered Spender a cigarette and let him speak. Spender gave him his reasons. He didn't want people to ruin Mars. If this expedition was successful, soon they would sent loans and loans of people from Earth. So he had to kill them all, if he manages to, the next expedition would take years as this was the last spaceship made so far. He could manage to live till the next expedition, feign innocence and kill them again. Over time, they will cease sending expeditions at all and Mars would be safe for a century at least. Yet he thought he could do it but wasn't sure anymore. But now that he had done it, he couldn't fix things anyway. He will kill the others but not him. Maybe then he would join him in protecting Mars. Captain Wilder said he wouldn't but Spender said that either way he wouldn't kill him. If it make him feel better, he wished for Captain Wilder to believe he went nuts. In any case, if he died he asked him to protect Mars at least for a year to let archaeologists get what they can before they ruin it all.

     Spender ran again. Captain Wilder reunited with his crew and ordered a clean shot to the chest. They gave him chase along the valleys. Spender knew the way better than them but suddenly stood in between the boulders and just stood there. Captain Wilder could see him just between the gap of the rocks. A gap that could make a clean shot to his chest but waited as he wished for him to escape. His crew headed and enclosed every time around him but he didn't tried to flee. 

Guys, let's be careful. We can't break a single window.
That's what Captain Wilder said.

     He had to do it after all. That was Spender's plan. Before his men could reach him, Captain Wilder raised his gun and shot. When he arrived, Spender was dead. He made his crew bury him in one of the martian coffins they found in the cities against their will. Some days later one of his men was in the city shooting windows and peaks of the buildings. Captain Wilder knocked the teeth off his mouth.

     That's the last expedition, fellas. The successful one. Yep, killed all the Martians just like Europeans came to America with all the diseases. No offense, it's the truth!

     Martian Chronicles is a novel full of short stories like this. So I suggest you better read the book if you're interested. I suggest to all Bradbury lovers to get a book in Barnes and Nobles that has Martian Chronicles, The Golden Apples of the Sun, the Illustrated Man and I think that's all (I may be wrong). You will have awesome stories and a cool red book with gold paper. There's something similar for Asimov, Homer and Austen's fans.

     Now enjoy.

Martian Chronicles: First Part

By Ray Bradbury

Mars Utopia.
Reality: Barren deserts, no water

     Hi, long time no see! Vacations are finally here, I while at it I took my time reading a bit of my favorite book. What I have to say of it: Genius! It always manages to draw me in his stories and tales of the conquest of Mars by humanity.

     My opinion: Best book ever! Well, that's my opinion and I really like science fiction so don't try to debate it. I'm serious.

     First Expedition

     Ylla is a normal, small, brownish-tanned, gold-eyed, she Martian living her life boringly normally along his husband Yll. Through a serene and desertic description of her routine and the fading affection between she and her husband, life in Mars is a peaceful and normal existence. 

     That is until Ylla starts having recurring dreams that enlighten her boring routine and which get Yll in a bad temper. Ylla dreams of a giant chunk of metal that comes from the sky, there she meets a strange being who is unusually tall with pale skin, black hair and blue eyes. He says he's the captain with his only company being his attendant and that his name is Nathaniel York. Since this recurring dreams, Ylla starts looking more happy and sings in an unknown language which gets Yll more suspicious. Although Ylla dismisses it as mere dreaming.

     Yll grows furious as he hears her fawning and talking to this man in her sleep about meeting this afternoon. She orders Ylla to stay at the house as they're going to have a visit while he goes hunting. She grows anxious as times passes by and the afternoon comes nearer. She gazes at the sky but convinces herself of staying. Soon she hears the sky thunder in a cloudless sky along the valley where the meeting was supposed to be. A little while later, her husband's gun echoes twice. She shudders at every shot.

     She continues waiting and cleaning unfazed but soon gets overwhelmed and screams in desperation. By the time her husband gets home, she has calmed a bit but mentions she can't remember the song she was singing although she tries a lot. He then comments deliberately clumsy: The visit was supposed to be tomorrow.

That's why one needs to go personally.

     Second Expedition

     Captain Williams and his crew of two men arrive happily on Mars and knock on the first door they could find. There a (middle-aged) Martian woman looks displeased by the interruption. Williams tries to explain how they came from Earth, the third planet in the solar system and how she is the first Martian ever they meet and how she should be just as excited. She nags about how they must want to meet his husband and that he is busy. The captain insists about their exhausting and long intergalactic voyage and how she should show (you know) more enthusiasm. 

     After talking to her husband, the woman sends them to another man who pays them as much attention as the woman and send them another man. Dragging their feet through the village, they finally meet Mr.Ttt who makes them sign some papers with an ominous clause such as euthanasia, but just for the sake of getting past all this procedures the captain signs them and asks if his crew should sign them too only to get laughed at. He gives the captain a key and tells him to enter the building just ahead and lock the door. Mr. Xxx would come the day after to see them. 

     By the time they arrive, they're tired and skeptical about the great welcome they expected. Inside they find a bunch of Martian in large tables all seated who ask who they are. Tiredly he answers he is captain Williams and his crew and that they came from Earth, the room explodes in applause and cheers and soon are surrounded by eager and curious Martians. 

     Just as they're happy by the welcome, a Martian comments how he is also from Earth along other three Martians. This confuses captain Williams and asks where he is from and he is incapable of finding the whereabouts of this city. He asks if this is in America, but the Martian doesn't know what's America. Then another woman exclaims how Earth is a jungle, while another a planet completely covered by water. Soon all the people in there start saying how they come from Jupiter, Venus and the like.

     He gets it, he knows now why they sent them here. He tells his crew they had send them to a mental asylum and they understand they cannot open the door anymore. One of his crew tells him that then is only a matter of convincing this Mr.Xxx that they're not crazy. But captain Williams points out that that will be hard as he points the different Martians capable of creating illusions along the room. Mr. Xxx will think all the appearance, the rocket, and even his crew are an illusion.

And that's why we never send people to Mars...

     The next day, Mr. Xxx arrives wearing a mask with three smiles and captain Williams takes him to see the spaceship and detail him that they're real spacemen from Earth. Mr. Xxx ventures inside the spaceship while captain Williams and his crew wait outside, when he exits he's astounded by the proficiency of the illusion and the balance he manages as not to be any imperfection. He calls him a genius maniac and how he will talk about him in his next conference. The captain insists that it is not an illusion and that his crew is real.

     Mr. Xxx proceeds to put "captain Williams out of his misery" with a gun. He waits for the illusions to disappear but only find the crew screaming and the spaceship that does not disappear. He is amazed again by his ability to make perdurable illusions and proceed to kill his crew and shoot the spaceship only to find it not disappearing yet. He then comes to the conclusion that he has been infected and that the only way to cure himself is with a shot in the head.

     And that's how the first two expeditions ended up. Martians are really similar yet not so nice neighbors. 

     One of the things you may find strange is that actually in this story people could go without the suits, that because they said there was enough oxygen although the air was really thin so they tried not to over exert themselves. After all, this was published in 1950. Also Martians as you may have guessed have telepathy and the like so they can understand human languages.

     Happy reading and vacations (if you have them)!