Project Gutenberg 2009-11-24 Public domain in the USA. 102 Hill, Arthur G. The Terrible Answer Produced from If Worlds of Science Fiction July 1952. Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net "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.) Reading ease score: 87.6 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Martians -- Fiction Mars (Planet) -- Fiction PS Text Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy 47046 2025-07-12T12:18:01.828684 text/html 43061 2021-01-05T21:38:19 text/html 255785 2025-07-12T12:18:05.575689 application/epub+zip 254129 2025-07-12T12:18:03.410669 application/epub+zip 78363 2025-07-12T12:18:02.361669 application/epub+zip 393419 2025-07-12T12:18:07.173645 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 385297 2025-07-12T12:18:04.917655 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 134927 2022-09-14T06:49:41.549876 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 39921 2025-07-12T12:18:01.571686 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 39799 2021-01-05T21:38:19 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 19162 2025-07-12T12:18:07.297631 application/rdf+xml 12366 2025-07-12T12:18:02.847671 image/jpeg 3310 2025-07-12T12:18:02.604667 image/jpeg 192791 2021-01-05T21:38:19 application/octet-stream application/zip 15617 2021-01-05T21:38:19 application/octet-stream application/zip 253135 2025-07-12T12:18:01.841689 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog