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Mm hmm coddom for blast off X
minus five four three two x minus one.

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Fire from the far horizons of the
unknown come transcribed tales of new dimensions

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in time and space. These are
stories of the future adventures in which you'll

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live in a million, could be
years, on a thousand, maybe worlds.

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The National Broadcasting Company, in cooperation
with Street and Smith, publishers of

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Astounding Science Fiction, presents he minus
minus minus The Martian Death March. I've

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always been interested in lost causes,
the revolt of the Scottish Jacobites against England,

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the last stand of the Cherokee and
Sioux Indians, and the death March

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of the Martian Highlanders in nineteen ninety
seven. There has been a lot written

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about that march. The UN Commission
report covers four volumes, but the whole

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story isn't down on paper yet.
I know it because I was on that

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march from the beginning to the end. There's one part of the story that

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no one ever mentions. The Martian
Death March of ninety seven was led by

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an earthman. Maybe you've been over
the root of the marsh. There wasn't

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any highway there thirty years ago.
In ninety seven, there was desert,

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hot, burning desert. I lived
at the edge of a Kalmac canal then

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with my father. He was a
prospector searching the surrounding desert with sonar probe

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and Geiger counter, scratching just enough
or from under the Martian sands to pay

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for our grub steak. The next
year. I remember he was in the

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Adamson digger in the north quadrant when
I came running out that day. God,

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Dad, Dad, there's somebody coming, Dad, across the desert.

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You sure I saw them. There
are a couple of miles out, or

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how many cars they're on foot,
on foot across the desert. Honest,

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Dad, I saw them. Are
you sure it wasn't a light reflection off

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the canal, No, it was
dark against the sand. You don't like

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that. You run back and get
the rifles out. I've got to pull

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a digger into the shed. Is
they're gonna be fighting, Dad, I

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don't know. I got a whole
year's or piled out back in the bins,

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and I ain't gonna lose it.
No claim, jumpers. You go

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back the shack and break out those
rifles and see their lord you hear and

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jump Dad had three surplus army rifles
and a couple of homemade grenades made out

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of or cans stuffed with adamson A
explosives. We crouched inside the shack waiting.

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The shadow of the water tower in
the doorway grew longer as the quick

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Martian dust settled down over the desert. And there they come. Al,

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there's two of them. What's that
on the first one's back? Why?

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I haven't seen one of those in
twenty years? What is it? A

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one man desert tank? They used
to carry water that way before Adamson put

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out the air still units. There's
something funny about that second one. Look

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he's all spinley and it's funny.
He's funny, all right. Hell,

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that's a Martian. I never saw
one off the reservation before, hasn't been,

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not in ten years. I don't
like this. Here they come into

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the dooryard. You remember what I
told you. Wind up the sights and

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just squeeze the trigger. Hello,
Hello now dove, Hello, Wait a

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minute, what do you want water? I need water? WHI My name

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is John Johannah. What are you
doing with that spider? His name is

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cantal Car. I don't care what
his name is. What's a human doing

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with a Martian? I found him
in the dry bed of CalMac Canal.

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Neil he did? He probably ran
off from the reservation. When our brothers

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are cage, they seek freedom.
Brothers. Those spiders all living creatures out

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our brothers on mars as Honay,
wait a minute, bird Ulstrom at false

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whe told me there was a screwball
heads preacher over there hollering about letting the

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spiders loose off the reservations. Let
no man call his own, no man,

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no tribe, no nation. I
guess that's you, all right,

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Britt told me they called you're crazy, John. I don't suppose any harmony.

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Fill your tank up at the air
still, and you can even have

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supper with us. We would be
happy to we What do you mean we

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can tell car and my sulit that
spider. Oh no, I ain't having

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a Martian sitting down and eat with
me. You come on, no,

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thank you, sir. No where
my brother is not welcome, I cannot

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go. Well, suit yourself.
I'll get the key to the water tarer.

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Come out here and put away the
guns. We won't have any trouble

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from these two. The old man
filled his tank at the air still tower,

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and the Martian went through the ashpile
for half earned fueled brick. When

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we went to the house for supper, I could see them dis silhouetted against

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the fire, the old man with
his wild hair and beard, and the

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thin spidery arms and legs of the
Martian. Dad, what are all the

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Martians on the reservation? Yeah?
Oh, but a couple of wild ones

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in the mountains up north. The
patrol catches a couple every year. Why

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they murder people? No? I
mean why are they on the reservation because

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it's the safest place to keep them
and past us off. How many are

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there? Oh, I don't know, a few thousand. They keep dying

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off. Why they catch earth diseases? Chicken pox almost wiped out the whole

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gang of them two years ago.
Chicken pox. I had that. It

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didn't wipe me out. You ain't
a Martian. I was born on Mars.

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Well, I mean, you ain't
one of those spiders. Now eat

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your food, it'll get cold,
okay, dad? Oh what now?

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Were the Martians always on the reservation, Well, since the Outpost three massacre

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they have been that. But before
you were born, they lived wild in

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the mountains up north. Were they
fierce? Fierce enough? Only place for

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them spiders behind wire? Yeah,
it sure is. Out in the dooryard,

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the campfire flickered at the base of
the water tower. The first of

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the Martian moons had set. The
other wouldn't rise for several hours. I

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could hear the sand peepers out of
the desert as I stood there. The

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old man and the Martians were sitting
on the ground, huddled close to the

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fire. It gets cold fast on
the desert when the sun goes down.

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Is that you, boy? You
can come up to the fire if you

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like. My dad wouldn't like it, all right, But I'm not afraid

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of no spider. No, there
is nothing to be afraid of. How

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come his arms are all skinny?
Ask him? Does he talk? Yes?

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His name is Cantalca. It is
huh hello, hello, boy.

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He talks funny. It is not
my language. Why isn't he on the

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reservation. You can get in trouble
helping spiders to escape. No man has

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the right to imprison the innocent.
They that are enslaved will be freed.

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They that are in sickness and misery
will be comforted. They that are exiled

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in a strange place will be restored. My dad says, the spiders are

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treacherous, cowardly, murdering savages.
That's what he says. Boy. There

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was a time on this world when
there were no earthmen, when the ships

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and the machinery of Earth were unknown. Then the people of the highlands lived

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in peace. But today they are
a handful, starving, dying behind the

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wire. But the reservation isn't so
bad. Our home is in the mountains

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of the north, not the desert. I heard a voice cry it out

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to me in the desert. Go
to your brothers. Did they really call

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you crazy? John? I have
been called manything. You really think we

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ought to let those old spiders off
the reservation? Why we die here in

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the desert. We die in the
sun, and of the sicknesses you have

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brought from Earth. That's cause Martians
are just weak. I'll bet I could

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knock you down myself. You could. We are a different people. We

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have not the strength of muscle of
earthmen. But we will not stay here

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to die. You won't get off
the reservation. The patrol takes care of

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all that. They won't let any
stinking old spiders out. Ah, even

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in the minds of children splanted the
poison of evil? How long that night?

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Through the window I could see the
flicker of the old man's campfire.

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He was walking up and down now, shopping, singing hymns verse after verse,

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his white beard catching the light as
he passed behind the fire. The

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Martians sat slumped over his thin,
spindly arms folded across the huge barrel chest

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that had developed over the sentries.
As the air of Mars thinned and escaped

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into space in the morning, I
looked out and they were gone. Looking

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back now, we wonder how they
did it. The high voltage wire around

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the reservation carried a fatal charge.
The patrolman in the tower had fifty caliber

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machine guns. The desert around the
camp was mined heavily, yet at dawn

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on August seventh, nineteen ninety seven, they broke out. I was down

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at the dried up canal bed hunting
sandpeepers when my father came running after me.

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Hell oh, here I am.
Come on back to the house.

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What's the matter? Dare and shut
up and run? What is it?

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The spiders busted boots, burdles from
radioed inn They come in here they're headed

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this way, the murdering devils.
They kill anybody. Six patrolmen. When

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I busted through the wire, What
are you gonna do? Dad? Why

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are a peg of adamson A across
the gate? You get in there and

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get the guns out. I got
the rifles and shoved the full clip in

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each one. Then I slipped the
primer fuse on the homemade grenades and lugged

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them out to the porch. Dad
was running lead wires back to a detonator

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from a half keg of adamson A
he'd set across the gate there, and

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that said, now, give me
one of those rifles. Will they be

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here soon? You can see the
dust over the rise litering spiders. What'll

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they do? I don't know.
Now make sure you get a good side,

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Al, don't waste any bullets.
There they are, Dad, There

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they come. Wait a minute,
hold up now, I want to get

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a good shot. Let him get
closer, Dad, that's crazy John up

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in front there. He's taller than
the spiders. You can see his beard.

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You're right, and that run a
gave rat. He probably helped him

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break out of the reservation. Listen
now, if anything happens to me,

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you ride out back to the shed. You can hide out in the empty

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orbins till they go away. And
you got that, all right, Dad.

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The spider's shouting something, Dad,
probably a trick. Get down,

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a little leavel you're in the way. I got him, clear now,

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right in my head. Up a
little now, got him? Got him?

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Hell, Dad, look out,
they've got good down. Get down,

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Get out out, Get out to
the shed. Yeah, your here,

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go on. Spiders are going to
rush. Don't get gory. No,

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no, I can't up and get
out of here. You're here,

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get out. I ran back through
the heart to the shed. Behind me,

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I could hear the Martians sweeping up
to the dooryard. Then suddenly the

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ground shook and I could feel the
dull concussion waves hit my ears as the

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adamson A exploded. I could hear
the high, whispered screams of the Martians

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and the rattle of fragments on the
metal roof of the shed. I dived

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into the empty orbit and slammed the
hatch, almost chucked. I sat there

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waiting. Then suddenly a shadow fell
across the edge of light and the hat

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slid open on top of me.
You leave me alone, I'll kill you,

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boy. I've been looking for you. Where's my dad? What did

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you do to my dad? He's
dead? You kill him? You and

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those spiders, I'll kill you.
I'll kill all those thinking, murdering spiders.

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They are our brother's boy. Your
father shot without warning, and the

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fire was returned against my orders.
You mean you weren't gonna attack us.

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Our brothers came in peace. They
are going home to their mountains. We

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00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:28,879
came to get water for the journey. You mean you just wanted water?

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Yeah, Dad deadn The Earth Patrol
will be following us soon. We must

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go and the boy. We have
to leave him here with water and supplies.

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The Earth Patrol would question him.
We need the time he goes with

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us. They tore the Adamson air
still from the top and mounted it on

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poles. They piled our supplies in
the yard and loaded them on their backs,

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and then they started. I marched
with the old man of the head

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and the columns stretched out behind us
on the desert. I turned to look

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back at our house, but the
sun was behind it, blinding red.

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The old man pulled me around as
he marched, his eyes fixed on the

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horizon, where far to the north
rose the cool mountains that were the ancient

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home of the Highlanders. Fourteen of
the martians died the first day. They

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dropped to the side of the colum
where they could go no farther, and

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died, but the march went on. On the fifth day, we swung

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wide to avoid a mining settlement,
but not wide enough. The miners were

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in ambush behind a pile of rocks. O boy, reservation horse. I

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shall lead them home to the promised
rest, home to the mountains. March

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forward, march how wold, and
the march went on. We wound across

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the desert in wild zigzags, following
the paths the old man had traveled through

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the years. Only once a patrol
plane hovered on the horizon and then shot

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away. The days went on,
the weeks, and the martians died.

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They died of exhaustion, They died
of the diseases we had given, and

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they died of thirst. The Adamson
still could produce twenty seven units of water

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an hour, no more, and
on that they died of thirst. Here,

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00:16:44,919 --> 00:16:48,720
boy, here's your water. But
that's more than the others. God

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take it, it's yours. You're
giving me your water it will be provided

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00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:57,720
to me. He that brings justice
to his brothers will drink deep of the

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water of righteousness. Eat it,
drink, drink your water. Boy.

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00:17:08,079 --> 00:17:12,359
Across the desert, from the CalMac
Canal to Fever dep past the towering mass

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00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:22,880
of the Higgins bad Lands, across
the dry sea bottoms, they marched on

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00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:26,920
the fifty fourth day of the march. We halted at evening. The air

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was thinner, colder, now the
rations had long since been exhausted. I

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00:17:33,839 --> 00:17:37,400
lay down to sleep, wrapped in
the old man's coat. Early in the

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00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:42,720
morning, before sunrise, I awoke. Suddenly the ground mist that had covered

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the desert the night before was lifting. Slowly. I saw the old man

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standing by the burned out fire,
the vapor swirling around his legs in the

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00:17:52,839 --> 00:17:59,119
cold light of the false dawn,
edging his wild beard. Go back to

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sleep, Boy, I can't.
The end is near. I have led

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00:18:03,119 --> 00:18:08,720
them through the wilderness, drive shod
across the seas, and before us lie

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the mountains. You mean we're almost
there. When the mist is taken from

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the eyes of man, the place
of refuge can be seen. You mean

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the mountains. It's over where there. I have led them to their home,

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and I must go back to the
desert. You mean alone now now,

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even now I hear a voice in
the wind, carry the message to

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the men of Earth. Bring to
this new world, the message of the

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old. All beings created in the
universe are my brothers. And he that

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hums my brother hums me. Goodbye, goodbye boy, you will be safe

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now. Goodbye, joh, goodbye. The Martians found him five hundred yards

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from the camp dead. Now the
mist rose and before us towered the highlands,

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the tall green mountains in the cool
sky. The march was over.

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Of the seven thousand Martians who started, nine hundred were alive. They gathered

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now on the rise of ground and
faced the hills. Their thin bodies wavered

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as they stood, and some dropped
to the ground as they stood there,

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but there was a light of hope
in their large, staring eyes. Most

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of them had died, but they
had died on their way home, And

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now the march was over. Then
the patrol planes were spotted on the horizon,

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and within ten minutes they had landed. The Martians stood silently as the

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squads piled out and set up the
fifty caliber machine guns and the petroleum jee

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flamethrower. All right, you spiders, hands up and stay together. Gather

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in a bunch and don't try anything. Sergeant, Yes, sir, shoot

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the first spider that moves and shoot
to kill. Alright, where's that boy?

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There was a boy reported here?
Oh are you all right? Kid?

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They hurt you. No, I'm
all right. John gave me his

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water rash the leader. Uh well, I've got a warren for him.

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Where is he there? He's dead? Oh well, just as well.

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I hate to be him in front
of a settler's jury. What are you

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gonna do to them? The spiders
see those transport planes coming in. We're

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going to ship them all back to
the reservation where they belong. You can't.

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I can't do that. What are
you talking about, kid, You

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can't take them back. They're home. John said they were home. You

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can't take them back. It isn't
there. I won't let I won't sag.

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Yes, peel this crazy kid off
me? All right now, kid,

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take it. I must be shot. Can't believe safety. Yeah,

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I guess that's it. All right, You spiders, step it up,

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move along to those transport planes.
It's all over now you're headed right back

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to the reservation. They separated them
in groups of fifty and loaded them on

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the plains, nine hundred out of
seven thousand, and soon the first big

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bellied ships waddled out on the hard
sands and lifted slowly into the air.

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Headed back to the south, flying
over the trail of dead and dying,

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and started on the march to the
highlands, the march to home. Don't

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worry about them spiders, kid,
We'll take care of them. Come on

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out, kid, you'll feel better
as soon as you get back. It's

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civilization. I looked once more at
the green mountains towering through the mist,

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and then just before the motor raced, I saw John Crazy John propped up

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against a dognut bush where the Martians
had placed him. The wind from the

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south gave the wild hair and beard
a rippling life. He faced the hills,

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the home and rest he had promised
his brothers as he led them through

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the wilderness of Mars. You have
just heard X minus one presented by the

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00:22:59,839 --> 00:23:04,680
Night Broadcasting Company in cooperation with Street
and Smith, publishers of Astounding science fiction.

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00:23:06,279 --> 00:23:11,200
Your announcer, Fred Cowens. X
minus one was an NBC Radio Network production