A fishing trip on the planet Mars

Imagine packing a fishing rod for a weekend, only to find yourself stepping onto a red, wind‑swept shore far beyond Earth. While waiting for a bite on a quiet Martian creek, a sudden flash of an unfamiliar flower lifts the fisherman into thin air above a gleaming laboratory. There he meets John Hopkins, a missing neighbor who chose to stay on the distant world, and learns of a device that can pluck people from Earth and deposit them safely on Mars.

Astrol, the Martian inventor, explains that his combined telescope‑magnet can locate a lone fisherman and transport him without injury. The host guides the visitor through his home on the banks of a crystal‑clear canal, displaying clean gardens and a new, egalitarian government where a woman now holds the presidential seat. Over tea the outsider hears how the planet eliminated predators and relies on wireless electricity for everything. He is promised a quick return, yet the strange beauty of the landscape leaves him eager for more.