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There Will Come Soft Rains
Everything is destroyed on Earth from the nuclear war. One house, completely run by robots, manages to keep functioning even without its humans to serve. It cooks meals, cleans, and reads to a family that had died years before. A tree falls in the kitchen, starting a chemical fire, which soon overtakes the entire shrieking robotic house. Before long, the house meets the same fate as its old masters. -
Rocket Summer
In the middle of a cold Ohio winter, rockets begin launching, and the heat from their engines creates an artificial 'summer' in the land. -
Ylla
A Martian woman named Ylla begins seeing strange visions in her dreams. Her husband, Yll, is impatient with her and appalled by her visions, and says she isn't acting reasonable. In Ylla's visions, she says she sees a man from the planet Earth land on Mars in a rocket, and believing the vision to be real, secretly makes plans to meet the Earth man when he lands. Yll, however, forces her to stay inside the house, then murders the Earth man out of jealousy and anger. -
The Summer Night
As Martians are enjoying a summer night out on the town, performers begin singing strange melodies in unfamiliar languages that no one understands. Martian women wake up in the middle of the night with the urgent fear that something horrible will happen. -
The Earth Men
Captain Williams and his crew of three land on Mars only to be coldly greeted by the first Martians they meet. A Martian named Mr. Xxx finally locks them in a room filled with other Martians that the humans realize is an asylum. They learn that Martians are capable of telepathy, and that the others must think the humans are insane. In the morning, Mr. Xxx tells them he must kill them. When the rocket doesn't vanish after he kills the four men, he decides he must be insane too, and kills himself. -
The Taxpayer
A taxpayer begs the next expedition to Mars to allow him to go with them, because he wants to avoid the horrible events happening on Earth. They laugh and leave without him, and the man is dragged away. -
The Third Expedition
The third expedition comprised of sixteen men lands on Mars, only to find a typical American small town. A women they meet tells them they're in Green Bluff, Illinois. All of the crew members are greeted by their dead relatives, and they split up to spend the evening with them. While they are separated, their relatives turn out to be Martians, and they are all killed. The next day, the Martians hold a human funeral for them. -
--And The Moon Be Still As Bright
The fourth expedition lands on Mars, and Jeff Spender is horrified by his crew mates' disregard and disrespect for the planet. They learn that all the Martians have died of chicken pox. Spender disappears for weeks, and when he returns to the ship he begins killing off his own crew before fleeing again. The captain and remaining crew go after Spender. The captain tries to talk Spender down, but Spender refuses, and the captain shoots and kills Spender in the end when he fails to flee in time. -
The Green Morning
Benjamin Driscoll was almost forced to go back to Earth because the air on Mars was too thin for him. However, instead of giving up, he decided to walk across all of Mars planting seeds that would one day grow into trees, and would produce all the oxygen anyone would ever need. After a whole day of planting, he goes to sleep. He's woken in the middle of the night by rain, and he goes back to sleep content. When he wakes up again, he finds himself surrounded by a lush forest. -
The Settlers
The fourth expedition is successful, and afterwards men begin flocking to Mars for any reason, settling the dead planet. -
The Locusts
Like locusts, the humans took over Mars, covering the vast Martian landscape with Earth buildings and human creations. -
Night Meeting
Tomas stops by a gas station before driving along a long Martian highway towards a party. Along the way he meets Muhe Ca, a Martian. Neither of them can touch the other, they can both see straight through the other, and neither can see the other's version of Mars. They can't agree on what time period they're from, or who's correct, so they agree to disagree and part ways to go to their respective destinations. -
The Shore
More people made their way from Earth to Mars, but all of them were American because the rockets and the technology were American. Among the next voyagers to Mars were people who were traveling for religious reasons. -
The Fire Balloons
Father Peregrine voyages to Mars with Father Stone hoping to redeem Martian souls. On Mars, they learn that the last Martians are balls of flame living in the mountains. Peregrine and Stone travel to these mountains to find the flames, and are by them many times. They bring more priests to the spot to build a place of worship for the flames. The flames finally admit to the priests that they have ascended sin by shedding bodies. Peregrine and Stone are amazed, and leave the spheres be. -
Interim
The new settlements on Mars have become near perfect replicas of the settlers' homes on Earth. -
The Musicians
Despite warnings and reprimanding from their parents, boys from the human settlements run off to play in the dead Martian cities before the 'Firemen' could completely clean them up. They pretend to be musicians, and the bones of deceased Martians are their instruments. -
The Wilderness
Two women, Leonora and Janice, are coming to terms with the fact that they will be leaving Earth the next day for Mars. Despite not wanting to leave earth, Janice is leaving to marry her love, Will, and is planning on telling him that night. The two women spend the evening enjoying their last night on Earth, buying things to take with them. At midnight the call from Will comes, and Janice tells him that she'll be coming to meet him. She only manages to hear one word back from him: 'love.' -
Naming of Names
Over the course of the year, human settlers from Earth created names for both the ancient Martian geography and their new, human towns. As things began to settle down, aristocrats from Earth began to travel to Mars to control the settlers already there. -
Usher II
William Stendahl builds a replica of the House of Usher on Mars, and plans to hold a costume ball, inviting famous scientists and politicians he had befriended over the years. He used to own thousands of books on Earth, but they were all burned because creativity was outlawed. For his revenge, he kills all of his party guests using methods from famous works of literature, replacing all of them with life-like robots. He and his partner escape via helicopter, while the mansion is destroyed. -
The Old Ones
Finally, after the men and women and politicians and religious leaders traveled to Mars, so did the elderly. -
The Martian
One night LaFarge sees a figure outside his home on Mars and believing it to be his dead son, Tom, invites him inside. The next morning he wakes up and Tom is there, and though LaFarge knows something is wrong, he lets himself enjoy his son's return. They go to town and Tom gets lost. LaFarge finds Tom pretending to be someone else, and forces the Martian to become Tom again. The two flee, but others in the town force other personas on to Tom until it is too much for him, and the Martian dies. -
The Luggage Store
Father Peregrine discusses the oncoming war on Earth with the owner of a luggage store. He states that he thinks the people who came to Mars will all want to go back to Earth now that the war was actually beginning, and encourages the shop owner to be ready. He then purchases new luggage for himself. -
The Watchers
All of the human settlers on Mars hear of the war on Earth, and look up at the night sky to see the nuclear war beginning. Thinking of their family and loved ones back on Earth, they all decide to return. -
The Off Season
Sam Parkhill opens up his own hot dog stand on Mars. A Martian appears to talk to him but he shoots her, thinking she was drawing a weapon. When more Martians appear, he tries to flee on a sandship. He shoots down a couple of the pursuing Martian ships, but there are too many of them and they soon catch up. The Martians say they come peacefully, and he agrees to talk. They give him half of Mars, and Sam is overjoyed. Then, that night, he sees Earth catch on fire as the nuclear war begins. -
The Silent Towns
Walter Gripp is the last person for miles on Mars. He's elated when he hears a phone ringing in a nearby building, but doesn't answer in time. Hoping that his called was the woman of his dreams, he calls around until he finally reaches her. The two learn where each other is before the call is dropped. Walter chases her down, finally finding her outside a sweets shop stuffing her face with chocolate. She isn't as perfect as he had expected her to be, and when she proposes, he abandons her. -
The Long Years
Dr. Hathaway now lives alone with his wife and three children on Mars, since they missed the rockets to leave. A rocket arrives, bringing Captain Wilder and his crew. Hathaway is overjoyed and invites them in for breakfast. Wilder and his crew soon learn that Hathaway's family had died years ago. Hathaway can't take the excitement, and his heart fails. His wife doesn't react, and Wilder realizes Hathaway replaced his family with robots. Wilder and his crew head back to Earth, leaving the robots. -
The Million-Year Picnic
Years after the way on Earth, a family travels to Mars. For the sake of the two young boys, the parents tell them that it's for a vacation. The father blows up their rocket behind them. He then tells the boys to pick out a city along the canal, and they dock along the city they choose. The father then finally tells them that Earth is gone, and that they weren't on Mars for vacation, but to live there. The father tells them that they're leaving Earth behind; instead, now they're Martians.
