Harry Bittering and his family arrive as settlers on Mars. While he cannot explain why, Harry has an immediate and visceral reaction to the Martian environmentâthe wind blowing across the plains, the unsettling atmosphere, the old ruins. He impulsively suggests that the family return to Earth, but his wife Cora, encourages him to have a positive outlook. They walk into town from the rocket, with Harry unable to shake the sense of uncanny foreboding.
Harry continues to have trouble settling into his life on Mars. While on the surface everything is ordinary, he is constantly checking up on things to make sure they havenât changed in the night. He is suspicious of the Martian environment, and is always waiting, unknowingly, for the other shoe to drop. The paper he receives from Earth each morning, still âtoast-warmâ from the arriving rocket, is one of his few consolations. It represents a reassuring tie to the world of Earth that they have left behind, although Cora indicates that the connection is more tenuous than Harry might like. She brings up the fact that Mars is somewhat safer than Earth, considering the atomic bomb.
The Bittering children also have a sense of unease regarding the environment, and they repeatedly ask to be reassured by their father about their new life on Mars. They are particularly fascinated and concerned by the old Martian ruins, wondering who used to live there and what happened to them. They, too, have a sense of foreboding, and cannot shake the feeling that âsomethingâ will happen. While Harry tries to reassure both his children and himself that the ruins are harmless, and that the fate of any previous Martians will not be their own, he is unable to do so to anyoneâs satisfaction.
Explanation:
