English test

• wisconsin

• As the narrator rests and eats along the side of the road, a stranger—the Illustrated Man—approaches and asks the narrator if he knows of any jobs. When the narrator says no, the man says he hasn't had a long-term job in 40 years.

• after dark, his Illustrations move and tell stories: "At night I can feel them, the pictures, like ants, crawling on my skin." He says some people don't like the stories. He also points out a particular spot on his shoulder blade. He says that after he's around people for a while, this spot will show them how they will die. He warns the narrator not to look at the Illustrations. But the narrator does anyway. He watches 18 stories play out, starting with "a large house with two people in it" and "a flight of vultures on a blazing flesh sky."

Prologue: The Illustrated Man

Lydia and George Hadley live with their children, Wendy and Peter, in a fully automated "Happy-life Home," which "clothed and fed and rocked them to sleep and played and sang and was good to them." The parents have become concerned about the children's nursery, whose walls show extremely realistic three-dimensional images of an African veldt, or plain. The temperature in the nursery is hot and stifling. Vultures swoop down to pick at carcasses left by a group of lions. The lions seem quite threatening. George reminds his wife it is all harmless technological fun—exactly what they paid for to entertain their children. But she persuades George to lock up the nursery for a few days. George objects, noting that the children were very upset the last time he locked the nursery. The Hadleys worry that the automated home is having a negative effect on the family, especially the children. The children conjure up the images in the nursery through their minds' telepathic emanations. The parents are disturbed that the children's minds are creating images of death.

That night, when Wendy and Peter come home, George asks them about the nursery. They deny that it is set to show Africa. Later, after the children go to bed, George finds his wallet in the nursery, near the spot where the lions appeared. The wallet has been chewed. George locks up the nursery again. As Lydia and George lie in bed that night, worrying about the nursery, they hear screams coming from the nursery. It takes them a long time to get to sleep.

The next day George and his son have a tense conversation about the nursery. Peter wants it unlocked, and he wants it to keep showing scenes of Africa. George tells Peter that the family might take a month or so vacation from the house, to do things for themselves for a little while. Peter does not like this idea, and tells his father he'd better stop considering it.

David McClean, a psychiatrist, comes to the house to look at the nursery. McClean tells George to tear the whole room down and bring the children to therapy every day for a year. He says the children are spoiled, and the nursery has become "their mother and father, far more important ... than their real parents." Threatening to restrict their freedom has made the children hate their parents. As the adults leave the nursery, they find one of Lydia's scarves with blood smeared on it. They shut off the power to the nursery, and McClean leaves. The children are incensed and go into hysterics and tantrums. They plead to have just a few minutes more in the nursery. George allows it. Then he and Lydia hear their children calling. Lured to the nursery, the parents are locked in and surrounded by the lions. They scream, and then they realize why the screams they heard before seemed familiar.

McClean returns to the house. He goes to the nursery, where the children are having a picnic as the lions feed on something in the distance. Wendy offers him a cup of tea.

The Veldt

A rocket explodes, and its captain and crew scatter into space. Without time to lock on the "force units" that would have saved them, they are "meteors, senseless, each going to a separate and irrevocable fate." As the men drift away from each other, helpless but alive, they can hear one another's voices in space. One of the men, Hollis, feels almost calm, "removed from his body, watching it fall down and down through space." Then two of the crew members begin to panic and scream. One of the screaming men drifts by Hollis, who reaches out and grabs him, smashing the man's face mask and killing him. "The moon or Earth or meteors will kill him, so why not now?" he thinks.

Another crew member, Applegate, Hollis's nemesis, tells Hollis that five years ago he made sure Hollis didn't get a job at Rocket Company. Just then a meteor flashes by and takes off Hollis's hand. He adjusts his suit to create a tourniquet and seal the hole.

Lespere is the only crew member who seems content to face death, saying, "Well, I had me a good time." He rambles on about his many wives, his money, and his gambling. Hollis, meanwhile, thinks about how he used to be jealous of Lespere but isn't anymore: "It's over for you as it is for me, and ... it's like it never was." He yells at Lespere, "It's just as if it never was." Lespere disagrees, saying he has his memories, and that makes dying different. Hollis realizes Lespere is right. Lespere has lived a full life, but Hollis has "been as good as dead for many years." Another meteor takes Hollis's foot off, and he again adjusts the suit.

Applegate tells Hollis he lied before; he didn't really blackball Hollis with the rocket company. He just said this to upset Hollis. Another crew member, Stone, says he's entered a meteor swarm, and it is beautiful, like a big kaleidoscope. Then he dies. Eventually the voices fade, and Hollis is alone. He wonders if he can do anything to make up for living an empty life. Eventually he enters Earth's atmosphere and burns up. A small boy on Earth looks up and thinks Hollis is a falling star.

Kaleidoscope

Hattie Johnson's three little boys tell her about a rumor that a rocket is coming to Mars, with a white man inside. They ask her what a white man is. Hattie looks up into the Martian sky and across the Martian landscape and tells her sons that white men have white hands, arms, and faces. She says that white people live on Earth. Twenty years ago black people left Earth and settled on Mars, and then there was an atomic war on Earth. For years afterward the people on Earth didn't have rockets. Now they've built rockets and have come to visit.

All over town people are getting ready to go see the white man when he lands. Some just want to have a look at him. Others have different ideas. Hattie's husband, Willie Johnson, advises people to bring their guns along. Willie recalls angrily that white men lynched his father and shot his mother. He wishes white people had blown themselves up and let the Martians live in peace. He says if white people want to live on Mars, they can live in the slums, shine shoes, and sit in the back of the balcony. Once or twice a week, he says, the Martians will hang one of them.

Willie and those who follow his lead gather their guns and rope to make nooses. They paint signs on the streetcar saying, "For Whites: Rear Section," adding similar signage to theaters and other public areas. They discuss passing laws against intermarriage. The mayor objects to all this, saying, "You're making a mob, Willie Johnson," and "You're no better than some of those white men you yell about." Willie says, "This is the other shoe, Mayor, and the other foot."

Then the rocket lands, and a tall, thin white man emerges, with "a deep weariness" in his face and eyes "as old as the eyes of a man can be and still be alive." He tells the Martians that the War—the Third World War—destroyed most of Earth. He names many ruined towns and cities, some of which were home to the Martian people long ago. He begs for help in rescuing the surviving residents of Earth. If they are allowed to live on Mars, he says, Earth people will work hard and humble themselves.

His words are met with silence. Hattie Johnson knows she must do something. She asks the man if the big oak tree still stands on top of Knockwood Hill in Greenwater, Alabama. It's the tree on which Willie's father was lynched. The man says it is gone now—blown up, along with the hill it stood on. Willie stands with his rope in his hands and considers all that has been destroyed. "Nothing, nothing of it left to hate," he thinks. The people of the town paint over their new signs and put their guns and ropes away. Willie says, "Now everything's even. We can start all over again, on the same level."

The Other Foot

Hernando and his family live a simple life in a rural area through which a highway runs. Usually the highway is busy, and people stop hourly to ask Hernando, "Hey, can we take your picture?" as he works in the fields. But today the road is strangely empty of cars. Hernando tells his wife something must be wrong. He goes outside to take a closer look at the road, and suddenly hordes of cars begin to appear. A thousand cars pass Hernando, on their way north to the United States.

The final car to pass is an old Ford. When its driver, a young man, sees Hernando, he stops the car, which also contains another young man and five young women. The man asks for water. Hernando brings some and pours it into the car's radiator. He notes that many cars have passed today, going north. The girls in the car begin to cry, and the young man comforts them. The young man explains that an atomic war has begun: "the end of the world." Then the car drives off again, leaving Hernando to plow his field in peace, enjoying the beauty of the lush landscape. His wife calls to him, "What happened?" He replies, "It's nothing," adding, "What do they mean, 'the world'?"

The Highway  

• Plot: Captain Hart and his crew land on a planet where the local population is unimpressed by them, having just been visited by a miraculous, peaceful stranger—a messiah-like figure who healed the sick and spoke of love.

• Characters: Hart is a rude, materialistic, and deeply cynical leader, obsessed with power and being superior to any "other" visitor. Martin, his subordinate, serves as a contrast, gradually accepting the mystery while Hart rejects it.

• Theme: The conflict between cold technological progress/cynicism and spiritual faith/human psychology. It explores the vacuum of a life without belief, as Hart is driven by empty ambition.

• Ending: Hart misses the "Man" on one planet and flies to the next, destined to chase him forever, whereas his crew realizes they are searching for the wrong thing

The Man  

Four men walk through the perpetual rain of Venus—a "rain to drown all rains and the memory of rains." A lieutenant leads the way. The men have abandoned their damaged rocket, along with the two dead men inside. They come to the edge of the sea and travel over it in a small inflatable boat, complaining bitterly about the endless rain. The men have all turned as white as the jungle, the "white, white jungle with the pale cheese-colored leaves ... and the tree boles like immense toadstools." They dream of reaching a Sun Dome, with its small artificial sun, warmth, and comfort. The men grumble about the shortage of Sun Domes on Venus; one notes that "they tried to push a bill through Congress back on Earth" to provide more Sun Domes, but "oh no ...They'd rather a few men went crazy with the rain." They come to the shore, disembark, and deflate the boat. The lieutenant glimpses something up ahead, and Simmons runs ahead to see if it is a Sun Dome. But it is only their crashed rocket.

As they regroup and intend to set out again, a fierce electrical storm—a "monster supported upon a thousand electric blue legs"—comes upon them. One man is struck by the electricity and killed. After the storm passes, the three remaining men move once more away from the rocket. They come to the sea again. They find a Sun Dome, but it turns out to be full of holes, its sun extinguished, and covered in moss and other vegetation.

They decide to make for another Sun Dome nearby. In the night one of the men, Pickard, who has been showing signs of stress, begins staring upward, letting the rain enter his nose and mouth. As they prepare to keep walking, Pickard stays in this position. Knowing he will just stay there and eventually drown himself, another man, Simmons, shoots Pickard. On the way to the other Sun Dome, Simmons also gives up, saying, "I just don't give a damn anymore." He chooses to shoot himself rather than continue the search for another Sun Dome.

The lieutenant continues walking alone. He sees a Sun Dome. Though he is afraid it will not be functional, he goes inside. There is warm food and hot chocolate waiting. Coffee, fresh towels, fresh clothing, books, and music are all available. The sun itself is there. He enjoys the warmth of the sun and begins to take off his wet clothing.

The Long Rain  

As Doug, the story's 14-year-old narrator, passes his mother in the hallway, she asks, "You will help me keep him here this time, won't you?" He responds, "I guess so," adding that it "won't do any good; it's no use." He knows no one can keep his dad from leaving again. That night Doug has trouble sleeping, anticipating his father's return. Dad, a rocket pilot, arrives in the middle of the night. After Dad is asleep, Doug borrows his uniform, puts it in a centrifuge machine to extract some powder from it, and then puts the powder under a microscope. He "stares down upon brilliant motes of meteor dust, comet tail, and loam from Jupiter." Then he returns the uniform.

The next day Dad is casual and friendly, as if he's always around and hasn't just returned from three months in space. He applies himself to gardening with determination, never looking up to the sky. That night, though, he glances up momentarily. Doug notes, "The first day and night when he got home he wouldn't look at the sky much." But then "the second night he looked at the stars a little more." After several days he'd be on his way again, for another three months of space travel.

Doug asks Dad what space is like. Dad says it is "the best thing in a lifetime of best things," but "then he caught himself. 'Oh, it's really nothing at all.'" Doug asks Dad to put on his uniform, even though his mother notes this is not helping matters. Dad does, and Doug admires it.

Doug describes his mother's habits when Dad is away and when he is home. She saves all the household chores—mowing the lawn, electrical repairs, and such—for when he comes home. Then she happily watches him do the chores. She's sometimes distant when he's home, but sometimes they seem very much in love. The trouble is, when she really connects with Dad, she cries at the end of the day.

Dad advises Doug, "Don't ever be a Rocket Man," explaining that when you're in space you miss home, and when you're home you miss space. Later Dad says, "Next time I come home, I've come home to stay." He leaves again. The next day, Doug and his mom learn that Dad's rocket crashed into the sun.

The Rocket Man  

" follows Episcopal priests on Mars seeking to convert native beings. They discover "The Old Ones," ethereal blue fire spheres who are sinless, enlightened, and exist in God's grace, rendering traditional missionary work unnecessary and proving that spiritual, non-corporeal life exists.

Key Details and Plot Points:

• Mission to Mars: Father Peregrine and Father Stone lead a mission to Mars, with Peregrine intending to convert Martian natives, while Stone focuses on traditional sin-focused ministry.

• The Fire Balloons:

  They encounter a second race of Martians—spheres of blue fire—who are highly intelligent, ethereal, and live in the mountains.

• Sentient Protectors: Father Peregrine believes these beings have souls, especially after they save the priests from an avalanche and other dangers.

• Spiritual Revelation: The blue spheres communicate that they were once corporeal but shed their bodies, thus freeing themselves from sin and the need for redemption.

• Conclusion: The priests realize their role is not to teach these beings, but to learn from them, as the Martians are already living in a state of grace.

The Fire Balloons  

It is October 19, 1969. A husband asks his wife, "What would you do if you knew that this was the last night of the world?" His wife asks if he is serious and why he asks. He says he had a dream that the world is going to end, and a coworker had the same dream. The dream didn't upset them; in fact, they found it something of a relief. They talked to others at work and found out they'd all had the dream too. The man's wife admits she, too, had the dream, as had all the other women in the neighborhood. It's clear the end of the world will happen tonight.

The husband and wife agree that they don't feel afraid. They haven't been bad, but they haven't been good, and this is the logical outcome. "Things didn't work out," the husband says simply. They wash the dishes, tuck their children into bed, and listen to the radio. They talk and sit together by the fireplace. They kiss each other, turn out the lights, and go into the bedroom. Shortly the wife gets up, remembering she left the water on in the sink. She turns it off. The husband and wife laugh and say good night.

The Last Night of the World

Three witches dance around their cauldron, casting spells. They make a wax figure and pierce its heart with a needle. Then they look into a crystal.

A rocket ship from Earth is on its way to Mars. On the ship men are dying in mysterious ways, often due to what seem like nightmares or hallucinations. The captain reveals that he had obtained copies of many banned books before he and the crew began having the nightmares, just before leaving Earth. The pile of banned books includes classic tales involving the supernatural.

The three witches observe all this in their crystal. They warn the residents of Mars's Emerald City, who include Edgar Allan Poe and other authors of horror and fantasy. Poe and the others discuss what they will do when the rocket ship arrives. They learn that the rocket ship is bringing the banned books—their books. Poe tells the others he has his "friends" waiting for rocket; these "friends" include many of the nightmarish elements of his own fiction. Poe and his fellow author Ambrose Bierce go visit a third writer, Charles Dickens, who lives in a quaint Dickensian town surrounded by his own characters. Dickens is irritated that he is lumped in with the horror writers simply because he included ghosts in a few of his stories. He demands an explanation of how they all came to be on Mars. Poe explains that when their books were destroyed, "our worlds and our creations called us and we tried to save them," which led the writers to "wait out the century here on Mars," hoping people on Earth would come to their senses. He stresses the importance of saving these final copies of their books. Dickens is not interested in helping.

The rocket ship draws closer. Poe and the other authors discuss what might happen to them when their final books are destroyed. Suddenly Bierce falls over, dead. The others remark that people on Earth must have just burned his last book. Then the rocket lands, and Poe and the others unleash every nightmarish entity they can to kill the Earth men. Yet the men emerging from the rocket don't seem to notice the attack. The rocket's captain says his crew must dedicate themselves anew to science and progress on this new world. To symbolize this, he begins to burn the forbidden books. A few high-pitched screams fill the air, and as the men feed the last book to the fire, silence falls. A few men see strange things; one of them sees the Emerald City collapsing. When he mentions his vision, the captain tells him to report for psychoanalysis in the morning.

The Exiles  

Hitchcock and Clemens are part of a rocket's crew, traveling through outer space. Hitchcock remarks that he doesn't believe in Earth anymore, but Clemens disagrees, saying he dreamed about it this morning. Hitchcock says there isn't any morning, because it is always night. As they both look out the observation window into space, he goes on to say that he doesn't believe in anything he can't see or touch. Clemens explains that he knows Earth exists because he remembers it, and he tells Hitchcock, "You've got no imagination, Hitchcock old man. You've got to learn to hold on."

At lunch, Hitchcock says stars aren't real, either, because they're too far away. He also says he's always thought of the past as a series of deaths: you die at the end of each day. Suddenly he gets up and leaves. The others at lunch express concern that Hitchcock might be going insane. Clemens goes to find Hitchcock, who says he wants a way to have proof at all times that things not in his sight are real. Clemens tells him that's not how it works. Hitchcock explains it was his sense that there are gaps between actions and the memory of the actions that made him want to travel in space. In space, he says, he could be "away from all the somethings with gaps in them that couldn't prove themselves."

Hitchcock continues to deteriorate. The psychiatrist is called in to help, to no avail. Eventually Hitchcock puts on a space suit, opens the airlock, and walks out. Through the helmet the crew hear him babbling to himself, "No more space ship now. Never was any. No people. ..."

No Particular Night or Morning  

It is October 1938, and William and Susan Travis—names assumed by Roger and Ann Kristen—are in Mexico. But they are not typical tourists. They have fled into the past from the 22nd century, where they were forced to work in jobs that supported a terrible war, making bombs and disease-culture units. They decided to take a vacation into the past but never come back. "I've enough traveler's checks for a lifetime," William tells Susan, adding, "Enjoy yourself. Forget it. They'll never find us." What they've done is illegal, but they had no choice; it was the only way to escape their war-torn world.

Mr. Simms, a man they suspect is a Searcher—someone sent from the future to capture them—approaches them and recognizes them, addressing William as Roger Kristen. They deny they are trying to escape the future, and they get away from him. But they're scared. The Searcher can "bring us back to the Future sixty seconds after we left it." Back at the hotel, they make a plan. They'll play it cool and proceed with their vacation, hoping to throw off the Searcher's suspicions. In the morning, they find that an American company is making a film nearby. They decide to watch, thinking that staying in public areas is safer. As they do, they are approached by one of the directors. He and his friends have been drinking, and he invites them, as fellow Americans, to "join the party." Mr. Simms approaches, and warns them they can't stay in the midst of a crowd forever. He tells them he'll see if he can lighten their punishment if they come quietly and agree to go to work on the new hydrogen-plus bomb. William makes a deal. He will go back if Susan can stay. Simms agrees. Later, however, William deliberately hits Simms with his car, killing him. To the police, he claims he simply lost control of the car, and he is allowed to go free.

The director, Joe Melton, invites William and Susan to his hotel room for drinks with him and the other people from the movie company. Then Melton tells Susan he'd like to cast her in a film about a couple who escape the war-torn future by going into the past. Susan and William realize the movie company is really the Searchers. William pulls out a gun and fires it, hitting one of the Searchers, but the two are eventually returned to the future. A manager, hearing the commotion, breaks into the room. But by that time, it is empty.

Analysis

The Fox and the Forest  

Saul Williams is one of the Earth people exiled on Mars and suffering from a lung illness known as "blood rust." He desperately misses his home: "I want Earth. ... I want it so bad it hurts. I want something I can never have again." He tries to imagine being back there, but it's nearly impossible.

A young man arrives in a rocket, and Saul meets him. The man identifies himself as Leonard Mark. Saul asks him, "How are things in New York?" "Like this," Leonard replies. Suddenly, "New York grew up out of the desert, made of stone and filled with March winds." Saul experiences everything about the city as if it were right there before him. Saul realizes the vision has come from Leonard. He is overjoyed. Later, Leonard reveals he's had this unusual telepathic ability since he was born. Saul begins to think of all the telepathic experiences he could ask for.

But Saul does not want to share Leonard's ability with the other dying men, who also saw the rocket and are now beginning to approach. Saul knocks Leonard out and takes him to a nearby cave to hide. When Leonard regains consciousness, the two men argue. Leonard says he doesn't belong to anyone, and it would have been better if Saul had just accepted his "hypnotic favors" as a friend. Eventually some of the other men arrive. Leonard invites them in and tells them they may each have regular and equal appointments with him. But the men argue, pointing out that they could force him to provide the visions more often. A fight breaks out. In the chaos, one of the men pulls out a gun and shoots. Among those killed is Leonard.

Later Saul tries to imagine New York as he falls asleep, to no avail. He spends the night weeping.

The Visitor  

Martian Ettil Vrye refuses to join the Martian invasion of Earth—known as the Legion of War—so he is arrested. The Military Assignor visits Ettil in prison and brings with him a collection of illegal Earth science fiction books found in Ettil's home. Ettil says the books convinced him the invasion will fail. He explains to the Military Assignor that invariably, the stories have a young Earth man "named Mick or Rick, or Jick or Bannon, who destroys the Martians." The assignor tells Ettil he can either join the Legion of War or burn to death. Ettil finally agrees to join, and he finds himself on a rocket to Earth with the invasion force. But when the invaders reach Earth, people welcome them. Politicians, beauty pageant winners, and local celebrities greet the Martians. A band plays. A mayor gives speeches. Food and drink flow. Ettil keeps expecting something bad to happen, but it does not. The Martians get sick from overeating, but that's as bad as things get.

The Martians encounter friendly Earth women, go to movies, and generally have a good time. Meanwhile, Ettil goes to a park and sits on a bench, frightened and confused. A woman approaches and asks him if he wants to go to the movies. He is not interested and says so. An elderly woman asks Ettil if he's been baptized and saved. Ettil writes a letter to his wife, criticizing the car-crazed, gum-chewing, frivolous lifestyle of the Earth people. He feels it is just as dangerous, ultimately, as guns. As a case in point, Ettil hears a car crash and screaming.

A limo pulls up, and a man inside asks Ettil if he's a Martian. When Ettil says yes, the man tells Ettil to get into the limo, and he introduces himself as R.R. Van Plank. He's looking for a Martian consultant for his upcoming movie, Invasion of Earth by Mars. The boisterous Van Plank waves off Ettil's objections to his inaccurate ideas about Martian life. Ettil asks Van Plank why people have been so welcoming to the Martians. Van Plank explains there is profit to be made from the invasion. Think of all the things people can sell to Martians! Shoes, for example. When Ettil points out that Martians don't wear shoes, Van Plank says, "We'll shame everyone into wearing shoes. Then we sell them the polish!" After they part, Ettil imagines the Martians staying on Earth, drinking too much, eating too much, and taking part in the pleasures of consumerism. He reflects that Earth culture will soon obliterate the more peaceful, simple Martian culture. Then he sees a car filled with screaming, laughing people coming straight toward him.

The Concrete Mixer  

Smith and Braling walk down the street. Smith wants to know why Braling needs to go home so early from their night out. Braling says he shouldn't press his luck. Smith suggests Braling doesn't love his wife and never has. Braling agrees but doesn't seem concerned. He shows Smith a plane ticket for Rio, departing tomorrow; he says he'll be gone for a month and his wife will never know. As they approach Braling's home, Braling shares a secret with Smith: he's bought a marionette, a robot to impersonate him while he's away. "I think it is highly ethical," he says. "After all, what my wife wants most of all is me," and the robot resembles him "to the hairiest detail." Braling encourages Smith to listen to the robot's heart ticking. Smith is amazed. He is eager to get a robot of his own from Marionettes Inc. so that he can go out now and then too. He plans to take some money out of the couple's bank account to buy the robot. He'll tell his wife it's a business venture.

At home Smith sees his wife sleeping, and then he goes to his library to check the couple's bank book. When he looks at the bank-account balance, he sees that a great deal of money is missing. Furious, he decides to wake up his wife and ask her what she's done with the money. But then came "the horrid thought. And then the terror and the loneliness engulfed him." He puts his ear to his wife's chest. Instead of a beating heart, he hears a ticking sound.

Meanwhile, Braling and his robot, Braling Two, are back in Braling's house. Braling Two doesn't want to be stored in a box in the basement when not in use. He wants to go to Rio too. He also confesses he's in love with Braling's wife. He tells Braling, "I'm going to put you in the box, lock it, and lose the key." Then he adds, "I'll buy another Rio ticket for your wife." Then he forces Braling into the box meant for Braling Two and goes upstairs to kiss Braling's wife tenderly on the cheek. "Why—you haven't done that in years," she says.

Marionettes, Inc.

For 20,000 years the city has waited. One day a rocket appears, bringing men to the planet. The city uses its Nose to smell and its Ears to listen, taking in and processing information about the men. The city's Eyes awaken. Soon the whole city is awake. In the street the city springs a trap to catch the rocket's captain. The city draws him under the street; he is immobilized, cut open, disemboweled, and dissected. From this, the city determines, "These are men. These are men from a far world, a certain planet. ... These are our enemies." The city replaces the captain's organs with artificial ones and lets the captain loose among the men again. The captain tells his men he is the city. He says the city's original inhabitants were killed by Earthmen who unleashed a terrible disease. The city was built to wait for the descendants of those Earthmen and take revenge on them.

The city's pavement opens, and the city takes all the Earthmen underground, replacing their organs. Each man also carries a disease culture. The men return to their rocket. Their mission is to infect Earth with disease. Its function complete, the city dies.

The City

The people of Earth have ended their conflicts and are confident that war will never come again. "There was the universal, quiet conceit and easiness of men accustomed to peace."

Seven-year-old Mink Morris runs inside her house to gather pans and tools for a game all the neighborhood children are playing outside. She tells her mother the game is called Invasion. Mrs. Morris looks out the window at the children playing. Mink seems to be talking to a rose bush and getting instructions from it. At lunch Mink tells her mother she has to hurry back to the game because Drill is waiting for her. She says Drill is an alien "from Jupiter or Saturn or Venus," and he and his fellow aliens have had a hard time because "they couldn't figure out how to attack Earth." But then they thought of children and considered how busy adults are—too busy to look under rose bushes. Drill has promised the children they won't have to take baths anymore, and they'll be able to stay up late. Mink says the aliens will kill the older children, who are mean, before the adults. Mrs. Morris thinks her daughter's talk is just the work of an overactive imagination. Later, when she speaks to a friend on the phone, Mrs. Morris learns children all over the country are playing the same alien "game." Mrs. Morris and her friend discuss how parents put up with their children's nonsense: "Parents learn to shut their ears," Mrs. Morris says.

Mink's father, Henry Morris, returns home at about 5 p.m., and shortly after this the parents hear a buzzing sound, which grows louder and louder. Then come explosions. On a hunch, Mrs. Morris takes her husband to the attic and locks the door. Soon they can hear heavy footsteps in their home, along with the children's giggles. Henry Morris calls out, angry that someone is in his house. Mink seems to be leading a large group through the house. Eventually they reach the attic door. The lock on the door melts, and the door opens. "Peekaboo," Mink says, as tall figures loom behind her.

Zero Hour  

Fiorello Bodoni often goes outside in the middle of the night to look up at the rockets flying above, far off in space. It's an escape from his life of poverty, with the "smells of old food in the small house by the river." As he gazes up, "for a silent moment he would let his heart soar alone into space, following the rockets." Tonight as he gazes at the sky, another man, Bramante, greets him. Bodoni says one day he'll ride in one of the rockets. Bramante scoffs at this, saying it will never happen because Bodoni is poor. Bramante notes, "It's the rich who have dreams and rockets." Bodoni tells Bramante he's saved $3,000 and is determined that someone in his family will fly to Mars. Bramante scoffs again, saying this will create envy among the other family members. Bramante advises Bodoni not to fantasize about such a trip; instead, he should be content with being poor.

In the morning Bodoni is irritable. He tells his family he only has enough money to send one of them on the rocket. He decides they will draw straws for the privilege. His wife, Maria, draws the short straw, but she claims she is pregnant and insists they draw again. This time his son Paolo draws the short straw. But Paolo claims he can't go because school is starting. He says they should draw again. No one wants to.

The next day Mr. Mathews visits Bodoni. Mathews says he has a full-scale prototype model of a rocket. He offers to sell it to Bodoni for $2,000. Bodoni agrees. The rocket is delivered, and that night Bodoni sits in it and imagines flying through space.

He fixes up the model rocket with hidden screens and mirrors and machines that make it roar and vibrate. He tells the children they are going on a trip into space, and then he uses his fixed-up rocket as a simulator, giving his children the experience of space travel without leaving Earth. "Listen, keep your ears clean. Smell the smells of a rocket. Feel. Remember," he tells them.

The Rocket  

It is now nearly midnight. The Illustrated Man sleeps on. His stories are done. Yet ... there is the place on his back that does not have an Illustration. As the narrator watches, the colors and shapes in this area begin to form a face. The face is familiar, and the narrator springs up, afraid. The Illustration shows the Illustrated Man choking the narrator to death. The narrator runs. He doesn't look back.

Epilogue