Looking through the skin of the bubble was almost like looking through spotlessly clean glass: it was as if it was not there at all. I put out my hand and touched the surface. It gave ever so slightly in response to my touch. Michu watched me, sensing my curiosity.
I looked out at the vast expanse of red desert that surrounded us. As far as I could see there was nothing but desert and more desert. There was no way of knowing if it was hot or cold outside. Of course I knew it was bitterly cold, colder than the Antarctic in winter. But inside the bubble I was perfectly comfortable. Incredible!
What happened next came as just another surprise in a day of surprises. Michu appeared to give the wall of the bubble the slightest push. She guided me forward and before I knew what had happened, I found myself in a bubble of my own. I looked round to see another bubble forming and a moment later Michu was inside it.
Then she began to tell me a little about her home. ‘Mars is only half the size of your Earth and therefore the gravity is less, only forty percent of the gravity on Earth actually. Inside the bubble you don’t have to walk because it flies above the ground, but if you did, you would bounce up into the air.’ She touched the floor of the bubble with her foot and gave a little jump, rising at least a metre into the air, taking her bubble with her. She laughed as she landed back on her feet.
‘I can hear you just as well as if there were no bubble walls between us,’ I remarked.
‘Of course! But you will be surprised to know that they are extremely strong. As Mars has hardly any atmosphere, the greatest danger is from meteorites.’
‘Why is there no atmosphere?’
‘Not enough gravity,’ said Michu. ‘I was telling you about meteorites. On Earth all small meteorites burn up before reaching the ground. You call them shooting stars. Here on Mars there is little atmosphere to burn them up, so many of them hit the ground. Our bubbles are strong enough to protect us from small meteorites.’
‘What do you mean by small?’
‘Well, most are no bigger than grains of sand. They don’t reach us. Some are as big as marbles. And we have been studying comets and asteroids for centuries so we know when to expect them. The odds against a meteorite hitting a Martian have been calculated at millions to one. Of course it does occasionally happen. I remember my mother telling me. Before I was born someone was struck by a little piece of rock from outer space. That was the last Martian, as far as I we know, to have died an unnatural death. But during periods of heavy meteorite showers and when an asteroid is due, we make sure we are safely out of the firing line.’ She shrugged her shoulders and smiled.
We started walking away from Silver Streak. I looked back at the spaceship I had built and which had nearly abandoned me to freeze to death. Once again, Michu read my thoughts.
‘You won’t be needing that anymore,’ she said lightly.
‘Do you mean to keep me here for ever?’ I asked anxiously.
‘She laughed. ‘No! That is, unless you really want to. No-one has ever stayed permanently, although one or two aliens have settled here for a while. Most are dying to go back home after a short time. You will find that Mars is not at all like Earth.’
‘And do you mind telling me how I will get back home to Earth?’ I asked her.
‘The way you came,’ she replied. ‘Do you think you would have made it here in that old contraption of yours?’
I laughed. I knew she was right. If the bubble had not rescued me, I would have died a lonely death in the depths of space. I shuddered to think of it.
‘You mean I’ll go back in a bubble?’ I asked, excitedly. I could just see the expression on my parents’ faces when they see a bubble landing in their garden with their son inside. I had to smile at this. Then I remembered the camera and the food I had brought with me that were still in Silver Streak. In the excitement of meeting my first Martian, I had completely forgotten them.
‘Leave them behind, Bill. The food you will not need and the camera; that you will not be allowed to use here.’
‘No photos to show my friends at school?’ I was surprised at this.
‘You will understand why.’
‘But I don’t want to lose it,’ I said.
‘It is safe where it is for now. Someone will inspect your landing craft later, as a matter of routine and will bring it to you at that time.’
Michu had turned and was gliding off in the direction of the other two bubbles that were still standing in the place where she had left them. I cruised along behind her. My bubble seemed to know where it was going.
We came up to the other bubbles. I could now see that there was a girl inside each bubble. Michu introduced us.
‘This is Sofu and this is Anamaru,’ she said. ‘They are sisters. I think you can tell. And girls, you know who this is.’
‘Welcome to Mars, Bill,’ said Sofu and Anamaru at the same time.
‘So you know all about me!’ I said.
‘We have been expecting you,’ said Sofu, smiling.
Both girls were small, had long blonde hair and blue eyes, very different from Michu, but with the same soft, pale skin. I guessed they were in their early teens and were obviously sisters. They both wore the same grey tunic that Michu was wearing.
‘Let me explain,’ said Michu. ‘You see, as soon as anyone on another world directs his or her intense thoughts towards Mars, we pick up the thought waves. We then know all about that person and his intentions. Some aliens, excuse the term, no offence meant, some non-Martians who try to come here encounter some technical problem or other and we have to go out there and rescue them, like we did for you. We consider it our duty to bring them safely down to Mars and return them to their home planet when they have had enough of being here. But we reserve the right to refuse someone if we detect that their motives are not good. To the American astronauts we do not exist and we like to keep it that way. Honest amateurs like yourself we help.
‘So you get many visitors from other planets then?’
‘No, very few actually,’ said Michu.
The three girls were obviously enjoying the experience of showing a poor dumb alien how clever Martian people are.
‘Incredible!’ I breathed.
‘You have seen nothing yet,’ said Anamaru. You Earth people think you are so advanced but actually, compared to us, you still haven’t got to the Stone Age.
‘Nothing at all will surprise me,’ I said and we all laughed.