When humans decide to explore Mars, a laborious process of psychological cross-referencing is used to find the eight most skilled and compatible candidates. When the crew is selected, their ship, the Envoy, launches, and after an uneventful three-year trip, Captain Michael Brant announces: “We will land at 1200 tomorrow GST just south of Lacus Soli” (5).

25 years after the Envoy lands (and is never heard from again), unmanned probes observe canals and ruins of ancient cities on Mars’s surface. Another faster ship is sent on a follow-up mission. It makes the trip in 19 days. Upon landing, it finds “Mars is inhabited” (5), and the crew locates one surviving member of the Envoy.

The ship’s captain, Willem Van Tromp, takes great care to ensure the safety and comfort of the survivor, Valentine Michael Smith. While the Minister for High Science wants to study Smith, Van Tromp insists he hasn’t acclimated yet to Earth, that he’s “‘more Martian than man’” (7). The Minister for Public Information argues that, if the public is not allowed to view a “real” Martian, they will riot. Van Tromp informs the ministers that negotiating with the Martians is nearly impossible because of language barriers.