 What is the Martians' orientation toward water?
Illustrated by WOOD My agent was the one who got me the job of going along to write up the first trip to Mars. A you-are-there type of report? So I went on the first trip to Mars. October 1, 1960 They picked the launching date from the March, 1959, New York Times , which stated that this was the most likely time for launching. Trip time is supposed to take 260 days (that's one way), so we're aimed toward where Mars will be (had better be, or else). A pilot, co-pilot, navigator and biochemist. I've met all but the pilot (he's very busy today), and they seem friendly enough. He's kind of balding, and very iron-gray-haired and skinny, but his skin is tan as an Indian's, and right now he's telling jokes in the washroom with the co-pilot. Jones (that's the co-pilot; I didn't quite catch his first name) is scarlet-faced, barrel-chested and gives the general appearance of belonging under the spreading chestnut tree, not in a metal bullet flinging itself out into airless space. He has a little cubicle behind the pilot's compartment, with all kinds of maps and rulers and things. He keeps bent low over a welded-to-the-wall (they call it the bulkhead, for some reason or other) table, scratching away with a ballpoint pen on the maps, and now and then calling numbers over a microphone to the pilot. There are freckles on the backs of his hands, so I think he's probably got them on his face, too. Kroger tells me that the pilot's name is Patrick Desmond, but that I can call him Pat when I get to know him better. So far, he's still Captain Desmond to me. The inertial gravities didn't bother me so much as the gyroscopic spin they put on the ship so we have a sort of artificial gravity to hold us against the curved floor. October 2, 1960 Feeling much better today. With my paper and his ballpoint pen and ruler, it should be easy. He passed my room on the way to the galley (the kitchen) for a cup of dark brown coffee (they like it thick) and told me that we were almost past the Moon. I asked to look, but he said not yet; the instrument panel is Top Secret.
 They fear it due to its ability to disintegrate their bodies
 They fear it due to its ability to disintegrate their bodies  They utilize it to grow an army within their population  They desire it to fuel their underground Martian ecosystem  They are both curious and reluctant to understand its potential