Martian Chronicles Quote

But you're not thirsty.

This is probably the phrase that made the deepest impression in my memory. The sentence itself, when read without context, is not that striking. But inside the story, the sentence is immensely creepy-which I shall explain later.

I must first say that the depiction of Martians by Bradbury was very different from my expectations. I was expecting something more realistic; what would really be on Mars if there were some form of intelligent organism? Of all the things I have imagined, superpower was not among them. I do believe it is physically possible, or rather, it is not prohibited by the laws of physics to be able to communicate telepathically. But it completely ignores, almost insults the laws of physics to say one can create objects with thinking only. Although there is a great discrepancy between the book and reality, some twists in scientific laws are the joy and beauty of science fiction, and despite being rather unlikely and unexpected, the exotic powers of Martians was entertaining.

Until 2000, all three Martian expositions from Earth had failed. The second and third exposition is extremely creepy-especially the third one. In first and second expositions, Earthlings (people?) were killed, but it was either compulsive or taken not seriously. But in the third exposition, Martians realize who Earthlings are and lure them into a trap, killing them intentionally in cold-blood. (Maybe they have cold blood literally.) 

This is how Martians killed Earthlings: using their extremely dexterous mind-controlling abilities, Martians created a hallucination of a childhood village of Earthling soldiers, actually constructed on Earthlings' memories. Dead family members of soldiers (which are of course also hallucinations) appear, and soldiers believe Mars is a some kind of afterlife. Soldiers go to their families' homes, unarmed, spaceship abandoned, and in belief that they are completely safe. The Captain of the Earthlings think that the village might be a hallucination, and tries to escape. When his dead brother (actually Martian in hallucination-disguise) asks where he is going, the Captain says he is hungry. The brother replies,

But you're not thirsty.

And the Captain never reached the door..... Very creepy.