Outpost Mars

Outpost Mars is a short science fiction novel written by Cyril Judd, which is a pseudonym created by two authors; Cyril M. Kornbluth and Judith Merril.^[1] It was originally a three-part serial in Galaxy Science Fiction in 1951 under the title "Mars Child" and was first published under the title Outpost Mars in 1952 by Abelard Press, New York.^[2] It was reprinted as Sin in Space in 1961.^[3]

Summary

The story is based on the growth of a fictional Mars settlement. After 40 years of settlement, Mars has developed into a thriving mining and farming colony, trading four times a year with Earth via rocket. The people of Sun Lake are trying to establish themselves as a self-sufficient community, contrasted with nearby industrial establishments like the Brenner Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Now a legal crisis with Brenner Pharmaceuticals threatens to destroy all the colony’s hard work. A small fortune's worth of a drug deadlier than heroin, called Marcaine, has been stolen from a factory near the colony, and Hugo Brenner, the notorious drug dealer and manufacturer, has come to the colony to accuse the council of harboring a drug thief and smuggler. The clock ticks with less than a week until the next rocket shipment goes out; the council goes into a mad search to find a culprit or the missing drugs as they face being shut down and starved out. The book follows the daily routine of the colony's doctor, Tony Hellman: handling several medical problems throughout the colony, delivering a baby, administering checkups, as well as tending to regular patients. By looking into the suspicious murder of a nearby pregnant woman and health complications with the newborn, Sunny, Tony continues to unravel the mystery of the stolen Marcaine. Even after the packing areas and labs are scoured, the drugs are still missing.

Eight new passengers fly over from Marsport to the colony, one of them being a famous writer Douglas Graham. Small child-sized footprints turn up in the desert and the story grabs Graham’s interest. Graham, Hellman and his assistant Anna make a series of spectacular discoveries that lead to the unearthing of a secret mutant dwarf species of Mars that has been eating the stolen Marcaine as its natural food source.

Characters

The characters in Outpost Mars are as follows (listed by appearance):

1. Dr. Tony Hellman: doctor for the colony, the protagonist
2. Mimi Jonathon: leader of the colony
3. Anna Willendorf: Tony's medical assistant and girlfriend/fiancé, who has psychic abilities
4. Jim and Polly Kandro and their baby Sunny: "The Mars Child"
5. Hugo Brenner: Notorious drug dealer and manufacturer and billionaire on Earth
6. Hamilton Bell: Commissioner of Planetary Affairs; corrupt politician who failed on Earth, was exiled to Mars, and now in Brenner's pocket.
7. Lieutenant Nealey: Army officer conducting the drug search
8. Douglas Graham: Famous journalist from Earth
9. Hank Radcliff: a regular patient of Hellman's
10. Joan: Hank's wife
11. Learoyd: the last of the old Mars pioneers (called "pork and beaners"), from before Mars was settled by non-mining colonies; often told tales of Martian dwarves to scare the children
12. Tad Campbell: medical technician on the plane
13. Sam Flexner: chemist at the radiology lab, member of the council
14. Nick Cantrella: member of the council and in charge of maintenance for the lab
15. Marian Cantrella: Nick's beautiful wife
16. Joe Gracey: ex-professor of farming at Nome University on Earth
17. O’Donnell: ex-lawyer
18. Bea Juarez: Beautiful Marsport pilot who is admired by the men of the colony

References

Judd, Cyril (1952) Outpost Mars. Abelard Press.