"And The Moon Be Still As Bright" ♦ Science Fiction ♦ X Minus One Radio ...

X Minus One radio show. 04/22/1955



Episode 1



Title: And The Moon Be Still As Bright



Author:  Ray Bradbury



Genre(s): Science Fiction



Language: English



First published in Thrilling Wonder Stories, June 1948.



The next chapter opens with the men of the Fourth Expedition gathering firewood against the cold Martian evening. The scientists have found that all of the Martians have died of chickenpox (brought by one of the first three expeditions)—analogous to the devastation of Native American populations by smallpox. The men, except for the archaeologist Spender and Captain Wilder, become more boisterous. Spender loses his temper when one of his crew-mates starts dropping empty wine bottles into a clear blue canal and knocks him into the canal. When questioned by his captain, Spender replies, "We'll rip it up, rip the skin off, and change it to fit ourselves," and that "we Earth Men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things," referring to Earth. He leaves the rest of the landing party to explore Martian ruins after one crew member vomits on an ancient tile mosaic.



Spender returns to the rest of the expedition. He carries a gun and, claiming to be the last Martian, shoots six of his crew-mates, including one with sympathy towards the Martians from his Cherokee ancestry. Captain Wilder approaches under a white flag and has a short discussion with Spender about how Martians were better than us. This is because the Martians knew how to combine religion and science, without criticizing and fighting as we humans do. During which, the archaeologist explains that if he manages to kill off the expedition it may delay human colonization of the planet for a few more years, possibly long enough that the expected nuclear war on Earth will protect Mars from human colonization completely. Although he opposes Spender's methods, Captain Wilder somewhat agrees with his attitude towards colonization and wishes for him a humane death. He returns to the others and joins them as they pursue Spender, and Wilder shoots Spender in the chest during the fight before he has the opportunity to be killed by anyone else. Another member of the crew named Parkhill, uses the ruined town as target practice, so Wilder knocks his teeth out.



Many of the characters of the Fourth Expedition—Parkhill, Captain Wilder, and Hathaway—re-appear in later stories. This is the first story that focuses on a central motif of The Martian Chronicles: the colonization of the Western frontier in the United States. Like Spender, Bradbury's message is that some types of colonization are right and others are wrong. Trying to recreate Earth is viewed as wrong, but an approach that respects the fallen civilization that is being replaced is right.



In some editions the two stories relating to Spender were combined as one. Summary by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Martian_Chronicles#And_the_Moon_Be_Still_as_Bright_.28June_2001.29



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