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040 _aUtSlPG
041 7 _aen
_2iso639-1
050 4 _aPS
100 1 _aMcCain, Vernon L.
245 1 4 _aThe Hitch Hikers
246 1 _aThe Hitchhikers
264 1 _aSalt Lake City, UT :
_bProject Gutenberg,
_c2010
300 _a1 online resource :
_bmultiple file formats
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _acomputer
_bc
_2rdamedia
338 _aonline resource
_bcr
_2rdacarrier
490 1 _aProduced from If: Worlds of Science Fiction, November 1954.
500 _aRelease date is 2010-05-07
508 _aProduced by Greg Weeks, David Wilson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
520 _a"The Hitch Hikers" by Vernon L. McCain is a science fiction short story written in the early to mid-20th century. The narrative revolves around the Rell, an ancient Martian race on the brink of extinction due to the desiccation of their planet. The story explores themes of survival, intelligence, and inter-species interaction as the Rell encounter a human spacecraft and its pilot, Captain Leonard Brown, who arrives on Mars in search of evidence of life. In this engaging tale, the Rell observe Brown's arrival and grapple with the implications of this strange, water-based creature on their hostile and arid planet. The narrative alternates between the Rell's group-mind perspective and Brown's exploration of Mars. As the Rell seek to understand the nature of this human being and his spacecraft, they realize that the human's bodily moisture and the water within the ship present them with a unique opportunity for survival. Eventually, the Rell manage to infiltrate Brown’s body, leading to an unexpected symbiosis. The story concludes with Brown returning to Earth, celebrated as a hero while the Rell coexist within him, resulting in a surprising outcome in the context of interspecies dynamics and the idea of life beyond Earth. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
534 _nOriginal publication data not identified
653 _aScience fiction
653 _aShort stories
653 _aMartians -- Fiction
653 _aMars (Planet) -- Fiction
653 _aHuman-alien encounters -- Fiction
830 0 _aProduced from If: Worlds of Science Fiction, November 1954.
856 4 0 _uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32284
999 _c73130
_d73130