"You mean to say," I asked her, "that these stores not only store away, but also distribute everything needed for every individual? Is your city population large?" "Yes," she replied. "I will take you through one of the buildings on the next shopping day when the people in our section are allowed to shop. That will be Monday. "The city is divided into six zones, and the inhabitants of each zone are allowed to shop only on their appointed day. The stores are never overcrowded." "If you shop only one day a week," I interrupted, "then you must order for the whole week in advance." "Oh, yes, we must submit our list a week in advance." "Suppose you haven't the time or you are sick?" "Then, I order either by telephone or by mail from the catalogue, or I can leave my list at our commissary department." "You just told me you have only one set of stores. Then you also have commissary departments?" "Our commissary department," she said, "is only the distributing point where we get our daily food and beverages. We don't have to shop for them in the large, center stores." We now came above a round court fringed around by private homes. Slowly descending, we landed on the roof of one of the houses, where Xora's family, who were expecting us, were waiting to receive us. Xora introduced me to her mother, father, young sister and brother. All welcomed me with cordiality. There is no need for me to describe them. Nature had been kind to them. As I was following them down to their living room, her father said, "Lieutenant Balmore, you must feel strange landing so suddenly on our planet, but we are your friends, and we will try our utmost to make you feel at home. "Of course, since everything on Mars is unfamiliar to you, you must be anxious to see everything. Let me begin by showing you our home. It is large enough for our family and for guests. It is fully insulated; weather, water, fire, germ, and insect proof, outside and inside. We use concentrated sun rays for heat and light, and atomic energy for power and cooking. It is air conditioned. We get the desired temperature and humidity in all seasons; the inside temperature thermostat is set by our health officer, who does not allow too cold or over-heated living quarters. The house is thoroughly dust proof. The electronic dust catcher and dirt remover cleans our walls, floors, ceilings, and even our furniture, and frees the air of all foreign articles. "Each room is fully exposed at different times of the day to full sunlight. Sun-ray health lamps are always operating in every room and within the air conditioning unit to destroy all microbes that happen to evade our other guards. These lamps are in every living, work and office room.