28/150/216 This was a fun story, then creepy.
A mission to Mars!
A landing on Mars! In the middle of an American small town!
Excuse me? What?
The air is breathable too. The captain and two officers leave the ship to investigate. What they find is peculiar to say the least. While they try to rationalize what they see I was left with the feeling that something was terribly wrong here.
When the captain figures it out, well, it's a bit too late.
The only problem that I had with the story came from the first paragraph, where it stated that this was the third mission to the planet. How could they not have communicated with the firs two missions?
The only explanation I can come up with comes from the publication date, 1948. Sputnik launched in 1957 and Echo 1 not until 1960. At that time only radio and the telephone provided the quickest communications. But without the infrastructure of wires and radio towers, even terrestrial exploration would go months without communication with the outside world, so why not a trip to Mars?
Reading these old stories has to come with a certain forgiveness because they are a product of their times.
This was an excellent story.
Ray Bradbury website - http://www.raybradbury.com/
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| Ray Bradbury |
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| Planet Stories Fall 1948 |
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