Project Gutenberg 2020-11-06 Public domain in the USA. 172 Bradbury, Ray 1920 2012 Elliott, William Bradbury, Raymond Douglas Sterling, Brett Doolin, Joseph 1896 1967 Doolin, Joseph Patrick Defense Mech Produced from Planet Stories Spring 1946 Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "Defense Mech" by Ray Bradbury is a science fiction story written in the mid-20th century. The book explores the psychological struggles and fears of a man named Halloway as he journeys to Mars in a rocket, grappling with anxiety over the vastness of space and the potential for peril. The narrative unfolds as Halloway faces profound fear of leaving Earth, prompting the ship's psychiatrist to employ a controversial defense mechanism to ease his mind by creating a fantasy that he is still on Earth. As they approach Mars, Halloway's perception of reality shifts, leading to a series of bizarre encounters, including mistaken identities and confusion over familiar figures from his life. The climax builds as he inadvertently becomes the hero in a chaotic situation with Martians, demonstrating that his crafted reality can lead to surprising outcomes. Ultimately, the story touches on themes of fear, reality versus illusion, and the instinctual need for safety amidst the unknown. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 87.9 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Psychological fiction Mars (Planet) -- Fiction Space travelers -- Fiction PS Text Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Psychiatry/Psychology 53417 2025-07-25T08:47:02.844122 text/html 29869 2024-10-18T07:56:21 text/html 491076 2025-07-25T08:47:04.676181 application/epub+zip 489914 2025-07-25T08:47:03.240149 application/epub+zip 86427 2025-07-25T08:47:03.018063 application/epub+zip 528516 2025-07-25T08:47:05.939109 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 520935 2025-07-25T08:47:04.472058 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 117791 2022-09-28T17:46:45.641851 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 46281 2025-07-25T08:47:02.705094 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 26481 2024-10-18T07:56:21 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17600 2025-07-25T08:47:06.061064 application/rdf+xml 31774 2025-07-25T08:47:03.114087 image/jpeg 5069 2025-07-25T08:47:03.065081 image/jpeg 421731 2025-07-25T08:47:02.857063 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 en.wikipedia