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A stranger in a strange country
Once
upon
a
time
when
the
world
was
young
there
was
a
Martian
named
Smith
.
Valentine
Michael
Smith
was
as
real
as
taxes
but
he
was
a
race
of
one
.
The
first
human
expedition
from
Terra
to
Mars
was
selected
on
the
theory
that
the
greatest
danger
to
man
in
space
was
man
himself
.
At
that
time
,
only
eight
Terran
years
after
the
founding
of
the
first
human
colony
on
Luna
,
any
interplanetary
trip
made
by
humans
necessarily
had
to
be
made
in
weary
free
-
fall
orbits
,
doubly
tangent
semi
-
ellipses
-
from
Terra
to
Mars
,
two
hundred
fifty
-
eight
days
,
the
same
for
the
return
journey
,
plus
four
hundred
fifty
-
five
days
waiting
at
Mars
while
the
two
planets
crawled
slowly
back
into
relative
positions
which
would
permit
shaping
the
doubly
-
tangent
orbit
-
a
total
of
almost
three
Earth
years
.
Besides
its
wearing
length
,
the
trip
was
very
chancy
.
Only
by
refueling
at
a
space
station
,
then
tacking
back
almost
into
Earth
’
s
atmosphere
,
could
this
primitive
flying
coffin
,
the
Envoy
,
make
the
trip
at
all
.
Once
at
Mars
she
might
be
able
to
return
-
if
she
did
not
crash
in
landing
,
if
water
could
be
found
on
Man
to
fill
her
reaction
-
mass
tanks
,
if
some
sort
of
food
could
be
found
on
Mars
,
if
a
thousand
other
things
did
not
go
wrong
.
But
the
physical
danger
was
judged
to
be
less
important
than
the
psychological
stresses
.
Eight
humans
,
crowded
together
like
monkeys
for
almost
three
Terran
years
,
had
better
get
along
much
better
than
humans
usually
did
.
An
all
-
male
crew
had
been
vetoed
as
unhealthy
and
socially
unstable
from
lessons
learned
earlier
.
A
ship
’
s
company
of
four
married
couples
had
been
decided
on
as
optimum
,
if
the
necessary
specialties
could
be
found
in
such
a
combination
.
The
University
of
Edinburgh
,
prime
contractor
,
sub
-
contracted
crew
selection
to
the
Institute
for
Social
Studies
.
After
discarding
the
chaff
of
volunteers
useless
through
age
,
health
,
mentality
,
training
,
or
temperament
,
the
Institute
still
had
over
nine
thousand
candidates
to
work
from
,
each
sound
in
mind
and
body
and
having
at
least
one
of
the
necessary
special
skills
.
It
was
expected
that
the
Institute
would
report
several
acceptable
four
-
couple
crews
.
No
such
crew
was
found
.
The
major
skills
needed
were
astrogator
,
medical
doctor
,
cook
,
machinist
,
ship
’
s
commander
,
semantician
,
chemical
engineer
,
electronics
engineer
,
physicist
,
geologist
,
biochemist
,
biologist
,
atomics
engineer
,
photographer
,
hydroponicist
,
rocket
engineer
.
Each
crew
member
would
have
to
possess
more
than
one
skill
,
or
be
able
to
acquire
extra
skills
in
time
.
There
were
hundreds
of
possible
combinations
of
eight
people
possessing
these
skills
;
there
turned
up
three
combinations
of
four
married
couples
possessing
them
,
plus
health
and
intelligence
-
but
in
all
three
cases
the
group
-
dynamicists
who
evaluated
the
temperament
factors
for
compatibility
threw
up
their
hands
in
horror
.
The
prime
contractor
suggested
lowering
the
compatibility
figure
-
of
-
merit
;
the
Institute
stiffly
offered
to
return
its
one
dollar
fee
.
In
the
meantime
a
computer
programmer
whose
name
was
not
recorded
had
the
machines
hunt
for
three
-
couple
rump
crews
.
She
found
several
dozen
compatible
combinations
,
each
of
which
defined
by
its
own
characteristics
the
couple
needed
to
complete
it
.
In
the
meantime
the
machines
continued
to
review
the
data
changing
through
deaths
,
withdrawals
,
new
volunteers
,
etc
.
