WEBVTT - CZM Book Club: "Virgin Ground" by Rosel George Brown 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:10.799 Colson Media Club Club Club. Hello, and welcome to the 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:13.360 cools On Media book Club, your only book club where 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:15.880 I do the reading for you. And the I in 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:20.000 that statement is Margaret Kiljoy because that's my name, and 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:23.840 I'm the host of the book club where you don't 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:26.160 have to do the reading because I do it for you, 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:33.120 and then I explain this every week. Anyway, I've been 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:37.480 on a classic sci fi kick, and because classic sci 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:40.400 fi is kind of like what got me, and I mean, 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:41.839 of course it's what got me into sci fi, right, 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:44.280 It's the older stuff, and so it's the stuff that 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.720 I was reading when I was younger. But I think 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:49.360 I mentioned before on the show at one point one 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:50.959 of the first books that I ever read was this 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:54.080 or that got me into science fiction anyway, was this 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.480 book of like all of the greatest science fiction stories 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:03.080 from before nineteen sixty four or whatever. And I've just 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:04.720 always had a soft spot for that era. But it's 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:08.360 usually all these men, and so I was like, you 0:01:08.360 --> 0:01:11.479 know what I'm going to read you all this week 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:15.000 A story from nineteen fifty nine written by a woman, 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:17.080 and it's about gender and it's like one of the 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:19.679 queerest stories in a world where you like kind of 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.760 can't have queer science fiction, but it's still this like 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:26.600 Golden Age science fiction thing where no one I'm sure 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:29.479 people do. It's we less and less see science fiction. 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:31.920 That's just like and we're off to go explore the 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:35.640 galaxy and set up little Wild West colonies in space, 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.399 you know. So here's a story more in that vein, 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:43.920 but it's strange, and it's by Russell George Brown, who 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:49.000 was a school teacher and a Greek student, a study 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:51.960 of like her area of specialty was like fifth century Greece. 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.040 She's from New Orleans. She died when she was forty 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:58.880 one years old of lymphoma and so and she was 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:01.880 like everyone was like really excited about her and science fiction, 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:05.800 but then she died tragically, young, said the forty one 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:10.280 year old who doesn't want to die this year. This 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:15.919 story is called Virgin Ground by Russell George Brown, and 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:19.560 it was published in Worlds of Science Fiction in February 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:24.680 nineteen fifty nine, and Gutenberg says extensive research did not 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.200 uncover any evidence that the US copyright on this publication 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:32.640 was renewed, so that's it's good enough for Gutenberg. The 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:37.440 like little thing in the that's like, here's what you're 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:41.720 about to read. That's from the magazine. Is Annie signed 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:45.200 on to a bride ship from Mars. There were forty brides, 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:54.200 and when she got there, thirty nine men were waiting. Dun, dun, dum. 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:59.400 The pilot shoved open the airlock and kicked the stairs down. Okay, girls, 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:01.560 carry your suitcases, and I'll give each of you an 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:03.600 oxygen mask as you go out. The air has been 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:06.880 breatheable for fifteen years, but it's still too thin to newcomers. 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:11.040 If you feel dizzy, take a whiff of oxygen. The 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:13.320 forty women just stood there and looked at each other. 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:17.840 Nobody wanted to be first. Annie moved forward, her bulky 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:21.560 suitcase practically floating in her hand. She was a big woman, 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.560 with that wholesome expression which some women have to substitute 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:27.960 for sex appeal. She'd make a great senior leader at 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:32.280 summer camps. I'll go first, she said, grinning confidence into 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:34.800 the others. I'm not likely to bring out the beast 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.560 in them. She waved herself out, letting the grin set 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:42.280 and gel. It was odd to feel light. She'd felt 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:45.520 too heavy as far back as she could remember. Not fat, heavy, 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:50.080 bone heavy. The sweat on her face dried suddenly, she 0:03:50.160 --> 0:03:52.880 could feel it like something being peeled off her skin. 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:57.520 Arid climate, it was cold, but she had the warmth 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:01.160 to meet it. There they were forty men that were 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:03.360 supposed to be forty. What if one of them had died? 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:07.080 Who would go back? Not me? Annie prayed to herself, 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:09.920 Dear God, not me. She tried to count them, but 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:14.640 they moved around, so they were looking at something, not Annie. 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:18.080 The girl coming down the ramp behind Annie. It was 0:04:18.160 --> 0:04:21.280 Sally with the blonde hair on her shoulders. That's all 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:23.600 they'd be able to see from there, the blonde hair. 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.320 But a man was coming forward. He had a tam 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:30.040 like hat pulled low to good humored eyes and an 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:33.760 easy stride. Wait, Ben, one of the other men said, 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:37.599 see the others. I pulled first, didn't I? Yeah, but 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:40.799 you ain't seen but two yet. I want that blond one. 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:46.720 Let Gary see the others, and he led Sally away. 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.120 He didn't feel her muscles, or look at her teeth 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:54.120 or measure her pelvic spin. After Sally came Nora. Nora 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:57.920 giggled and waved, making a shape under the shapeless clothes 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:02.280 wasn't that just like Nora? Okay, so she was cute. 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.840 Second man took Nora. He didn't wait for the others. 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:09.560 Third man took Regina. Regina looked scared, but you could 0:05:09.560 --> 0:05:12.640 see those big cow eyes a mile off. Regina obviously 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:16.479 needed somebody to protect her. The other girls came out. 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:20.400 Annie counted, and her heart hit bottom. Someone was going 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:25.480 to be left over. Four women, three men. They all 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:28.320 felt embarrassed. It was the kind of thing the colonists 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:32.200 would talk about for years. Who was last, who was 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:36.039 second to last? Spiteful people would remember, and in a 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:39.279 tight little community, spite took root and throve on the 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:44.159 least misinterpreted expression. Or but then this wouldn't be a 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:48.320 tight little community. Annie remembered. The lichen farms were spread 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.200 out over the whole temperate belt of the world because 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:54.000 the lichens were grown only on hills where the sand 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:56.640 would not cover them, and because they did a more 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.760 efficient job of oxygenating the atmosphere when they were spread 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:03.560 over a wide area. One man, hat in hand, even 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.839 in the cold, A little shriveled man with a spike 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:12.000 of dust colored hair, but kind looking all he drawled 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:16.200 an embarrassment he clicked his tongue. You're both probably too 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:20.400 good for somebody like me. I don't know both fine women. 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:28.279 The two women stood in silence. What's your name, Annie, Mary? Mary? 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:33.200 My sister's name, Mary, fine woman? He took Mary's hand. 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:38.800 No disrespect to you, Annie. They were all gone. I 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:41.559 could take you out my venus run, the pilot said, 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:45.240 He too was embarrassed. But I'm afraid I'll have a 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.560 full ship after that unless you buy the weight in space. 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:51.560 I'd be glad to take you free, but the company. 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:55.120 Annie's eyes were full, but she wasn't going to let 0:06:55.120 --> 0:07:00.560 them spill. Sally brought Ben by, already looking self consciously married. 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:04.760 I'm sorry, honey, she said. Look, Annie, if you want 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:07.240 to come stay with us until another shipment of pioneers 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:11.000 come to break ground, you're welcome. Maybe you'd find one 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:14.560 of them you liked. It was a gesture of kindness, 0:07:14.600 --> 0:07:17.760 of course, but it made Annie's eyes spill. She turned 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:21.080 her head away toward the red hills red and the 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:27.560 cultivated one's green Christmas colors. Sure Ben said, swell, Anni, 0:07:27.640 --> 0:07:30.520 friend of Sally's is a friend of mine. And the 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:35.080 way they looked at each other made Annie's heart lurch. Thanks, kids, 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:38.440 she said, but I don't believe. I'll try, and don't worry. 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.640 This isn't the first time I've been stood up. Are 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:44.720 you coming, the pilot shouted across the field. Hate to 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:47.840 rush you, but I've got a schedule to meet. Was 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:52.040 she coming? What else could she do? What happened to him? Ben? 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.840 Annie asked the other man that should have been here? 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:58.880 Ben worried a hole in the sand with one foot 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:02.880 and cleared his throat. He stayed home. You mean he's 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:09.160 alive here? Well, yes, but he didn't. Never mind, I 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:11.640 don't need anybody to strum a guitar under my window. 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:14.080 If he couldn't get away from the farm today, I 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:16.200 can certainly go to him. I've got a pair of 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:21.160 legs that'll walk around the world. You coming, the pilot shouted, No, 0:08:21.480 --> 0:08:26.200 Annie cried, I live here. The spaceship took off a 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:31.160 phoenix rising from the flames, much like these ads arrive 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:35.960 naturally from the narrative and then interject themselves like a 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:54.880 gout of flame, or like the gout. Here's ads, and 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:59.920 we're back. Ben was shuffling his feet, hands in his pockets. 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.480 We'd be proud to have you stay with us. Annie, Oh, 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:07.000 cut it out, Ben, I'm no hot house Rose. Just 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.640 tell me which way and I'll find my own farm. 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:13.760 She paused, trying to guess his thoughts. You think he 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:16.400 might be disappointed when he sees me? Is that it? Ben? 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:18.960 I know I'm no pinup girl, but I'm a worker 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:21.680 and a breeder. He'll see it in the end. That's 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.000 what's going to count. Ben was still making holes in 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.520 the sand with his feet, trying to say something. Please, 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.640 don't worry. Annie went on, your friend won't be sorry 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:34.600 if he doesn't want to marry me right away. Okay, 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:37.760 I can understand it, but I can give him a 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:42.120 chance to watch me work. That isn't it? Ben said, finally, 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:46.800 I think you look fine. Annie. It's any woman. He 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.720 told them not to send a wife for him, any woman. 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.440 But that's ridiculous. He knows the laws. Five years and 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:55.440 then a wife. Why did he stick out in the 0:09:55.440 --> 0:10:01.400 first place? That was before Ben answered, oh what, Oh, 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:03.800 it's not for me to say. Why don't you just 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:08.559 forget Bradman. He's a good enough guy, but not for you. 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:12.920 You come which way and how far? Ben looked at 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:16.080 her hard. Okay, on Mars. Your life is your own, 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.880 he pointed, second farm bubble you come to, and you'd 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:23.000 better hurry. It ought to take eight hours and night 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:26.280 falls like a ton of bricks. Here Annie made it 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:31.040 in seven easy. She went up to the transparent hemisphere. 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:34.960 He was inside working, she shouted, but if he heard her, 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:37.640 he didn't look up. She went to the flap. That 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:40.680 must be the door. There wasn't anything to knock on, 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.000 so she opened the flap and walked in. There was 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:46.720 nothing in the room but a cot, kitchen equipment, and 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:50.199 lichen growing on a number of tables. The air was 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:54.680 richer than outside, and Annie breathed it thirstily. I'm Annie 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:57.520 strugg she said, smiling and wishing it wasn't such an 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:01.680 ugly name. He glanced up, angry blue eyes under a 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:06.000 growth of black hair. He didn't say a word. Annie 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:08.480 set her suitcase down and looked out at the green 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:12.360 growth on the hills. Look, mister Bradman, she cried, suddenly, 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:15.680 pointing a spatulate finger to the western horizon. What in 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:18.560 the name of Heaven is that? There was just a 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:21.800 catch of fright in her voice. We don't say, mister 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:25.760 on Mars, he said, reluctantly, Brady, but you don't have 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:28.559 to call me anything because you're leaving, Sue. He was 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:32.040 a big, arid man with a sandy voice, but his hands, 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.040 as he stripped the lumpy, brown fruits from a giant lichen, 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:41.360 were surprisingly delicate. What is it, Annie asked, turning instinctively 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:43.760 to the big man for a reassurance and protection she 0:11:43.800 --> 0:11:47.920 had no reason to expect. Bradman straightened and moved away 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:51.040 from her, looking at the black giant growing up from 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:54.200 the earth in the distance and moving straight toward them. 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:57.959 It's a sandstorm, he said. It'll be here in ten minutes. 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:03.240 Annie let out there she'd been holding. Oh that doesn't 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:05.720 sound so bad. I don't know what I thought it was. 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:10.040 I was just frightened. She smiled, shyly and apologetically at Bradman. 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:15.240 Bradman grimaced at her, his agate eyes frozen in a 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.960 pallid face that should have gone with red hair. The 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:23.000 sand blown lines in his face were cruel. Sister, you've 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.160 got a smile like a slab of concrete. Don't try 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:31.760 it again. You didn't have to say that, Annie said, quietly, 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:35.440 closing her eyes against the winds of her anger. You 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:40.120 didn't have to come here, he replied, goodbye. I'm not leaving, 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:42.640 she said, still holding tight the doors of her anger. 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.560 I am. He paced heavily over the sand floor and 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:50.120 pulled back the flap of the door. Where are you going? 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.400 Annie glanced back at the towering giant, now glowing red 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:57.200 in the sunlight like some huge, grotesque devil into the 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:02.240 storm cellar. Nobody lives through a Martian sandstone. Annie ran 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:04.960 after him. For God's sake, take me with you. You 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:09.000 can't leave me. Mine's built for one, he said, and 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:11.640 pulled the top end over him. As he disappeared into 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:15.320 the hole. Annie broke her fingernails, pulling at the cover. 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:18.560 The wind was blowing sand in her eyes. She saw 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:21.800 blood staining the rim of her index finger. She pounded 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:25.160 with her fists. Let me in, she screamed, in the 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.600 name of God, but all she heard was the keening 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:32.720 sand in the wind. She looked around. The devil was closer, 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:36.520 malignant and hungry. It wanted to eat her alive. He 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:40.360 made her angry. I'll fight it, she screamed. By God, 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:44.679 I'll fight five minutes, she guessed, maybe five minutes left. 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:48.400 She ran into the house, ripped open her suitcase bundles 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:55.360 of nylon marriage clothes. She began to sob somewhere with lace. Fight, 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:58.520 She shouted to herself. There was her oxygen mask. How 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:02.040 much oxygen anybody's guess. It was made for maybe a 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:06.200 few whiffs a day over a period of several months. Swell, 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:08.520 but it wouldn't keep the sand from tearing through her 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:15.439 eyeballs and flaying her alive. Wrapping nylon nightgowns, ridiculous spacesuit. 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:18.240 Annie went through the one room house as fast as 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:22.760 she could. No spacesuit, why should he have one? Three 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:26.600 minutes left, sand was blowing under the hemisphere, piling up 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:30.200 at one end and oozing out beneath. It was possible 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:35.760 she would simply be buried the refrigerator that wasn't a refrigerator, 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:41.320 only a cabinet loosely joined, much like this ad transition 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:45.359 is loosely joined into the narrative of the text, interrupting 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:50.880 your narrative pleasure, where now you get to learn about 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:58.160 things like maybe there'll be an ad for colonizing Mars. 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:02.800 I hope not. I'm actually totally fine with going places 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:05.720 that there aren't people who are living things to go 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.640 live there. But the problem is that it would probably 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:10.760 be a tesla ad and that would make me very sad, 0:15:11.280 --> 0:15:16.479 because well, I want him to go on a spaceship 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:18.400 to Mars that he built himself, because it'll blow up 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.600 and he'll die and that'll be nice. But here's the 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:41.360 other ads and we're back. Annie went outside, on the 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:43.520 side where the field of lichens grew up a smooth 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:46.680 stone hill. The Red Devil was whistling at her, now 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:51.720 a low, insinuating whistle. Something rattled faintly against one steel 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.640 rib of the hemisphere. It was a shrub about five 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.880 feet tall, and he began to laugh hysterically. Brady had 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:02.120 protected the shrub with loving care. It was tied to 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:06.120 the steel rib through gromined holes in the hemisphere and 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:08.960 covered with its own plastic bag to shield off the wind. 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:14.359 One minute the Red Devil was shouting, now laughing with triumph. 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:16.960 He ran his sandy fingers through her hair and blew 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.440 his gritty breath in her eyes. She pulled the zipper 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:23.080 at the bottom of the polyethylene bag that covered the 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:28.560 shrub and yanked the bag off. It was heavy, almost oily, plastic, slippery, impliant. 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:31.680 There was no time to decide whether it be better 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.760 inside or outside the house. She pulled the bag over 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.840 her head inside out so the zipper would close completely. 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:41.600 She folded the zipper part under once and wedged herself 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:43.840 as far as she could go into the space between 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:47.280 the shrub and the hemisphere, holding the oxygen mask in 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.960 her teeth with infinite care, though she was not likely 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:53.600 to split the heavy bag. She pulled off her shoes 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:57.160 and her heavy woolen walking socks. She put the shoes 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:00.960 back on, her slacks covered her legs. Only her ankles 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:05.040 were bare. She unraveled one sock and stuffed the yarn 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:09.920 in her ears. There was a sudden, remarkable quiet. Then 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:12.880 even through the yarn came the roar of the storm, 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:17.040 for it was upon her. She looked through the milky 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:20.760 plastic into a wild red inferno, spitting at her in 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:25.479 furious frustration. Then she bound the other sock over her eyes. 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:30.240 She was in a blind, muffled world, now buffeted against 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:33.560 the shrub and the wires and the steel rib, but 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:37.199 not painfully because of her heavy clothing. It was as 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:40.000 though suddenly all her senses had been switched to the 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:45.960 last pitch before silence. I might live, Annie thought, I might. 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:50.840 There was sand in the bag now. Annie could feel 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:53.840 it sifting under her collar and blowing up her ankles. 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:57.439 Not much. It was coming from the bottom of the bag. 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:00.679 Probably the end of the zipper had worked over just 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:04.600 a little. Was that the dull roar of the storm 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.639 through her stoppered ears, or the rushing of her own blood? 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.199 If sand were seeping in, the storm must still be on. 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:15.399 How did Bradman breathe in his storm cellar? Would the 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:17.680 storm last long enough for the air to go bad? 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:22.840 It would go bad fast in an enclosed place on Mars, Bradman. 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:25.680 What sort of monster would walk off and let another 0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:29.639 human being die without a glance backwards? Did the cold 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:32.600 desert wear out the humanity of a man? How did 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:36.159 a human being get like that? You've got a smile 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:39.159 like a concrete slab? Is that what you say to 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:40.960 a person when you know you're about to leave them 0:18:41.000 --> 0:18:46.159 to die? Unmarried women between ages of twenty one and 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:50.920 thirty good health, well adjusted marriage on arrival Mars transports 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:56.160 leaves oct one good health, well adjusted. She could see 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:59.600 the printed words, red stereo words reaching out from the 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:04.600 paid Unmarried women between they came and went in her mind, 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:07.359 and there was a roar in her ears. The words 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:11.280 were gone now, only a redness that came and went, no, 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:16.919 a blackness. Annie snatched the exhausted oxygen mask off her 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:20.439 face and gulped a pallid, sandy breath of air. It 0:19:20.480 --> 0:19:23.560 wouldn't do. She took the sock off her eyes and 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:26.520 bounded around her nose and mouth. It would filter some 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:29.600 of the sand out. She opened her eyes briefly and 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:33.280 closed them. The grit stayed in. She didn't dare open 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:37.439 them again, but the storm looked weaker, or was it 0:19:37.440 --> 0:19:41.800 her imagination. She groped for the zipper. Foul air would 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:45.800 kill her quicker than sand. She couldn't find it hell 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:48.760 with the zipper. She pulled her little mending kit out 0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:51.200 of her pocket and slashed the bag with the scissors. 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:55.399 The storm sounded louder now with the bag gone. The 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:59.240 sand blew under her eyelids, ripped her face, tore a 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:03.320 burning circle around each ankle. Annie put her face in 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:06.960 her hands, breathing through her nose and the sock. She 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:11.160 held herself stiffly. She didn't want to cough. The whole 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:15.640 world was a blind, gritty pain. There was no end 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:24.080 to think of, only pain, grayness, blackness. Finally, a voice, Bradman, 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:28.679 you ruined my shrub? Did you have to slash the 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:33.720 bag too? Annie opened her eyes. They felt red and ruined. 0:20:34.040 --> 0:20:36.800 They were watering so much her cheeks were wet. She 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:40.679 could hardly see. She was having a coughing fit. She 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:44.399 dragged herself upright. All she could see was sand. The 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:47.119 plastic bubble had blown off the girders, and if the 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:50.160 furnishings in her suitcase were there, her eyes were still 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:52.639 too dim to see them. Do you know what that 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:56.720 shrub's worth? On Mars, Annie found the yarn had fallen 0:20:56.760 --> 0:20:58.679 out of one ear, and she pulled it out of 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:03.200 the other. Do you know what that bag's worth? Gall 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:06.240 ran in her veins. She spat it out of her mouth. 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:09.320 She backed up to the steel beam and braced her 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:13.200 feet against it. Light in the Martian gravity, I told 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:16.359 them not to send a woman out here. She pushed 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:19.520 off and sank her fist into his teeth. He went down. 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:22.920 She was too light, but he was too light too. 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:26.879 It evened out. She turned his face and held it 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:30.959 in the sand. Her strength was insane. Do you know 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:35.639 what a human life is worth, she screamed. He struggled, 0:21:36.119 --> 0:21:39.560 but she fought his bucking body, kept his face buried 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:42.440 in the sand until he was dead, and a long 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:47.320 time after an age passed. Annie was frozen and a 0:21:47.320 --> 0:21:52.120 world rhymed over with white starlight sequined with frost. Then 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:56.280 the cross eyed moons came up. She found an edge 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:59.280 of the plastic bubble, rumpled and limp and half buried 0:21:59.320 --> 0:22:02.399 in the sand. She pushed off the heaviest hills of 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:05.560 sand with her hands and pulled it out. She climbed 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:08.600 up the anchored girders with it, and then she slept 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:12.720 the rest of the night in her own home. The 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:15.919 next day she dug out her household supplies from the sand. 0:22:16.800 --> 0:22:19.320 The day after, she cleared the sand from the lichens 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:22.480 on her farm. On the fourth day, she called a 0:22:22.480 --> 0:22:26.000 few neighbors in, and late in the evening she buried Bradman. 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:31.320 No one questioned her. It had been after all self defense. 0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:35.159 She kept the farm as well as any man better. 0:22:35.680 --> 0:22:39.199 She worked how she worked, She kept herself numb with labor, 0:22:39.560 --> 0:22:44.959 her mind drunk with the liquors, a fatigue. After five years, 0:22:45.320 --> 0:22:48.720 he came. He just appeared inside the door flap, looking 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:52.760 a little nervous but grinning. I'm Jack Hamstrong, he said, 0:22:52.800 --> 0:22:56.520 his voice full and wholesome, like Iowa corn I. You 0:22:56.560 --> 0:22:59.040 weren't at the spaceport, so I figured, what the heck? 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:04.240 I just want? This is my farm, Annie said, My 0:23:04.320 --> 0:23:07.800 hands are on every inch of it. Hamstrong's ruddy face 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:10.960 turned on itself a little. I know, I know the story. 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:13.040 I didn't come to take anything away. I came to 0:23:13.680 --> 0:23:16.480 good Lord. Didn't you know you'd be sent a husband? 0:23:17.720 --> 0:23:22.160 Annie's eyes went queer like a cat's a husband if 0:23:22.160 --> 0:23:25.679 they told her she hadn't heard go away, she said. 0:23:25.960 --> 0:23:28.359 She looked around at her farm, the fruits of her 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:34.320 travail alone, the virgin birth. No, he said firmly, it's 0:23:34.359 --> 0:23:38.520 yours and mine legally, I am not a mean man. Annie. 0:23:38.560 --> 0:23:43.920 You'll find me patient but stubborn. I can wait. Annie sighed, 0:23:44.480 --> 0:23:46.959 or was it a shudder. She looked up again at 0:23:46.960 --> 0:23:50.360 the puckering edges of the evening sky. She put down 0:23:50.440 --> 0:23:53.399 the knife she'd been peeling a giant lichen with. She 0:23:53.480 --> 0:23:56.200 wiped her hands on her apron and lifted the doorflap. 0:23:57.080 --> 0:24:03.160 All right, then, she said, Wait for what the sand storm? 0:24:03.440 --> 0:24:06.760 She said, and she got into the storm cellar and 0:24:06.800 --> 0:24:12.600 pulled down the weighty lid, locking it behind her. That's 0:24:12.680 --> 0:24:17.160 the end of the story, because she killed one husband 0:24:17.160 --> 0:24:20.520 and she's about to kill another. I like this story 0:24:20.560 --> 0:24:25.439 so much, and I like some of the well I 0:24:25.520 --> 0:24:27.520 found it subtle, but maybe it's not subtle at all, 0:24:27.760 --> 0:24:32.199 like the insinuation that the sandstorm represents like marriage and 0:24:32.320 --> 0:24:35.640 men right, because it like multiple times like the sandstorm 0:24:35.680 --> 0:24:38.320 is like wolf whistling at her right, and the sandstorm 0:24:38.400 --> 0:24:41.560 is like running its hands through her hair and all 0:24:41.600 --> 0:24:43.240 this shit, and she's just like, I just got to 0:24:43.280 --> 0:24:45.320 survive it. I'm not gonna let it kill me, and 0:24:45.320 --> 0:24:52.879 then then I'll be all right, you know. And that's 0:24:52.880 --> 0:24:58.240 some science fiction from seventy years ago for you all. 0:24:59.480 --> 0:25:03.040 I hope you like. And if you don't, well, why'd 0:25:03.080 --> 0:25:05.720 you listen to the whole thing? Are you just stuck 0:25:05.800 --> 0:25:08.120 driving and you're like, uh, I don't want to take 0:25:08.119 --> 0:25:10.000 my eyes off the road, And maybe you're driving through 0:25:10.000 --> 0:25:12.080 a storm right now and you're like, oh no, there's 0:25:12.080 --> 0:25:14.800 a storm, and I'm stuck listening to this because I 0:25:14.800 --> 0:25:19.240 don't want to go get my phone from where it's 0:25:19.359 --> 0:25:21.200 giving me directions to the storm and I don't have 0:25:21.240 --> 0:25:23.720 a co pilot with me, and if so, I'm sorry 0:25:23.800 --> 0:25:25.800 that you've been stuck with me as your copilot this 0:25:25.840 --> 0:25:29.399 whole time. It's pretty tragic, but you'll you'll make it 0:25:29.440 --> 0:25:33.120