The Terrible Answer by Arthur G. Hill
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"The Terrible Answer" by Arthur G. Hill is a science fiction novella written in the early 1950s. The story unfolds on Mars, where a group of men from Earth land with aspirations of building an empire. Driven by greed and the desire for exploitation, they encounter the native Martians, whose grinning and seemingly submissive demeanor sets the stage for a dark exploration of imperialism and subjugation. As the narrative progresses, the men,
led by the domineering Larkin, conduct brutal experiments to assert their dominance over the Martians. They initially attempt to manipulate the Martians through symbolic gestures, but quickly revert to overt violence and coercion, culminating in a chilling climax where Larkin is betrayed and killed by the very beings he sought to control. This shocking turn of events reveals not only the perilous consequences of arrogance and exploitation but also serves as a critique of the dehumanizing nature of imperialism, illustrating that the oppressed may not be as powerless as they appear. The story culminates with a tense atmosphere as the surviving Earthmen flee in their ship, leaving the fate of their initial conquest ambiguous. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Hill, Arthur G. |
|---|---|
| Title | The Terrible Answer |
| Series Title | Produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction July 1952. |
| Credits |
Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 87.6 (6th grade). Easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | Martians -- Fiction |
| Subject | Mars (Planet) -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 30539 |
| ISBN (HTML) | 979-8-238-30539-4 |
| Release Date | Nov 24, 2009 |
| Last Update | Jan 5, 2021 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 195 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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