No Man Friday
Encyclopedia
No Man Friday is a British science fiction
novel by Rex Gordon (Stanley Bennett Hough) published in 1956. Although the story is set mainly on Mars
, it was very influenced by Robinson Crusoe
.
rocket range on a mission to Mars. During the voyage, an accident in the airlock
kills all but the narrator, who was returning from EVA
and still in his space suit
.
The rocket reaches Mars but crash lands. There, the narrator learns how to produce oxygen
and water
, also discovering more about Martian species and nourishment. Eventually, he starts cooperating with the titanic inhabitants of that planet to survive. After fifteen years, an American mission lands, thinking themselves the first to reach Mars. The narrator contacts the Americans, and then tries to return to the Dominant Beings, but is prevented from reaching them. He returns to Earth with the Americans.
Minerals : Highly energetic flower-shaped mineral formations that grow in Martian valleys. Humidity disintegrates them.
Plants : Photosynthetic organisms growing throughout Martian surface. They bloom and produce hard fruits.
"Ants" : Social insect-like bugs that pollinate the plants' flowers.
"Humans" : Humanoid creatures are not the dominant species
in Mars. These animals eat the plants' fruits, live in groups and have limited intelligence.
Dominant Beings : Gigantic nocturnal living beings that eat Martian humanoids. They use their body lights for communication. The book also suggests they have the capacity to distort spacetime
.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel by Rex Gordon (Stanley Bennett Hough) published in 1956. Although the story is set mainly on Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
, it was very influenced by Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and...
.
Plot
A British rocket, developed at minimal cost and secretly from officialdom, lifts off from the WoomeraWoomera, South Australia
The town, or village, of Woomera is located in the south east corner of the Woomera Prohibited Area ; colloquially known as the Woomera Rocket Range...
rocket range on a mission to Mars. During the voyage, an accident in the airlock
Airlock
An airlock is a device which permits the passage of people and objects between a pressure vessel and its surroundings while minimizing the change of pressure in the vessel and loss of air from it...
kills all but the narrator, who was returning from EVA
Extra-vehicular activity
Extra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
and still in his space suit
Space suit
A space suit is a garment worn to keep an astronaut alive in the harsh environment of outer space. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, and are necessary for extra-vehicular activity , work done outside spacecraft...
.
The rocket reaches Mars but crash lands. There, the narrator learns how to produce oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
and water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
, also discovering more about Martian species and nourishment. Eventually, he starts cooperating with the titanic inhabitants of that planet to survive. After fifteen years, an American mission lands, thinking themselves the first to reach Mars. The narrator contacts the Americans, and then tries to return to the Dominant Beings, but is prevented from reaching them. He returns to Earth with the Americans.
Martian creatures
In his book, Rex Gordon describes Mars as a planet inhabited by different kinds of life forms.Minerals : Highly energetic flower-shaped mineral formations that grow in Martian valleys. Humidity disintegrates them.
Plants : Photosynthetic organisms growing throughout Martian surface. They bloom and produce hard fruits.
"Ants" : Social insect-like bugs that pollinate the plants' flowers.
"Humans" : Humanoid creatures are not the dominant species
Dominant species
Dominant species may mean:*Dominant species , one of a small number of species which dominate in an ecological community*Dominant Species by Michael E. Marks*Dominant Species...
in Mars. These animals eat the plants' fruits, live in groups and have limited intelligence.
Dominant Beings : Gigantic nocturnal living beings that eat Martian humanoids. They use their body lights for communication. The book also suggests they have the capacity to distort spacetime
Spacetime
In physics, spacetime is any mathematical model that combines space and time into a single continuum. Spacetime is usually interpreted with space as being three-dimensional and time playing the role of a fourth dimension that is of a different sort from the spatial dimensions...
.