Rey

Lore & Background

Mars has been colonized by humans, but is governed by an administrator appointed by an Earth-based company - the colonists have no political power. Colonial teenagers Jim Marlowe and Frank Sutton travel to the Lowell Academy boarding school for the start of the academic year. Jim takes along his native Martian pet, Willis the Bouncer, a round furry ball the size of a volleyball, who is about as intelligent as a human child and has a photographic memory for sounds, which he can also reproduce perfectly.

At a rest stop, Willis wanders off and encounters one of the adult sentient Martians. The three-legged alien takes the two boys and Willis to participate in a ritual called "growing together" with a group of its fellows. They also share water, making Jim and Frank "water friends" with the Martian, named Gekko. At school, Jim gets into trouble with the authoritarian headmaster, Mr. Howe, who confiscates Willis, claiming that it is against the new rules to have pets.

When Jim and Frank sneak into Howe's office and rescue Willis, the bouncer repeats two overheard conversations between Howe and Beecher, the unscrupulous colonial administrator of Mars, detailing Beecher's plans for Willis and for the colony. When Beecher learns Howe has a bouncer, he is ecstatic; the London Zoo is willing to pay a hefty price for a specimen. Worse, Beecher has secretly planned to prevent the annual migration of the colonists (to avoid 12 months of severe winter weather) in order to save money.

The boys run away from school to warn their parents and the colony. The boys set out to skate the thousands of miles on the frozen Martian canals to their homes. During the trip, Frank gets sick. On the third night, they are forced to take shelter inside a giant Martian cabbage-plant (nearly suffocating when it folds up at night).

The next day they meet some native Martians, who accept Jim because of his relationship to Willis and water-friendship with Gekko. The Martians treat Frank's illness and send the two boys home by a swift, previously unknown subway. Once warned, Jim's father quickly organizes the migration, hoping to catch Beecher off guard. The colonists reach and take over the boarding school, turning it into a temporary shelter.

Howe locks himself in his office, while Beecher sets up automatic, photosensor-controlled weapons outside to stop the malcontents (as he calls them) from leaving. After two colonists are killed trying to surrender, and the power to the building is cut, the colonists decide they have no choice but to fight back. The colonists organize a raiding party, with the boys taking part, capture Beecher's office and proclaim the colony's independence from Earth.

Several Martians enter the school area, and one of them shows up in the door leading to Howe's office, hiding him from sight. When the Martian turns away, Howe is nowhere to be found. The Martians then go to Beecher's building, and when they leave, he also has vanished. The Martians had been content to allow humans to share their planet, but Beecher's threat to Willis has made them reconsider.

They present the colonists with an ultimatum: leave the planet or else. Dr. MacRae negotiates with the Martians, and succeeds in persuading them to let the colonists stay, mainly because of Jim's strong friendship with Willis. MacRae theorizes that Martians start life as bouncers, metamorphose into adults, then continue to exist after their deaths as the "old ones". In the end, Jim resigns himself to giving Willis up so the bouncer can undergo the transformation to adulthood.

As with Podkayne of Mars, there are two versions of the ending. As originally written (and published much later) it is made clear that Willis will not emerge as an adult for 40 years. Heinlein's publishers edited and changed this, as well as a discussion early in the novel in which MacRae expresses strong support for adults and older children being free to carry handguns, and opposition to any government which would restrict that.

Reader's Guide

Red Planet is a 1949 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, published as part of the Heinlein juveniles. The plot follows colonial teenagers Jim Marlowe and Frank Sutton at the Lowell Academy boarding school on Mars. Jim's pet, Willis the Bouncer—a round furry ball the size of a volleyball with a photographic memory for sounds—is confiscated by the authoritarian headmaster, Mr. Howe. After rescuing Willis, the bouncer reveals two overheard conversations between Howe and the unscrupulous colonial administrator, Beecher, detailing Beecher's plans to sell Willis to the London Zoo and to prevent the annual migration of the colonists to save money.

The boys run away to warn the colony, skating thousands of miles on frozen Martian canals. They encounter native Martians, who accept Jim because of his relationship to Willis and water-friendship with Gekko. The Martians treat Frank's illness and send the boys home by a swift, previously unknown subway. The colonists organize a migration, take over the boarding school, and after two colonists are killed by Beecher's automatic weapons, they capture his office and proclaim independence.

The Martians intervene, making Howe and Beecher vanish, and present an ultimatum. Dr. MacRae negotiates, allowing the colonists to stay. The novel introduces Heinlein's idealized Martian elder race, with a life cycle where Martians start as bouncers, metamorphose into adults, and continue after death as the "old ones." The water-friendship theme recurs in Stranger in a Strange Land as "water brothers."

The novel was reissued after Heinlein's death by Del Rey Books as the author originally intended, restoring a discussion about handgun rights and clarifying that Willis would not emerge as an adult for 40 years.