For fifty years he had tried to colonize Mars and all his efforts had failed. Besides this dome which had been built for us there was only one other outpost, another glassite dome much smaller and less than a mile away. It had looked as though mankind could never spread to the other planets of the solar system besides Earth for of all of them Mars was the least inhospitable; if he couldn't live here there was no use even trying to colonize the others.

Author Biography

Fredric Brown (1906 - 1972) was an American science fiction and mystery writer. He is known for his use of humor and for his mastery of the "short short" form-stories of 1 to 3 pages, often with ingenious plotting devices and surprise endings, such as the masterpiece "Sentry." Humor and a somewhat postmodern outlook carried over into his novels as well. One of his stories, "Arena," is officially credited for an adaptation as an episode of the American television series Star Trek.