6

The early triumphs of the colony were succeeded by a long slow failing. Constructing the tree-dwellings required much more time than expected, and the area set aside for planting proved enormously difficult to clear. The massive trees were toppled at great risk, and, once they fell, required days to reduce them to pieces that could be removed. After three months, still no crops had been sown, and no land had even been fully prepared for sowing.¹

When the crops were finally put in, it was late, almost summer; the outlook for the harvest was not good. And all the while, they were devouring their supplies with unplanned speed. They began to eat their winter reserves on the eve of the summer solstice.

And then the Penists discovered that they were not alone on the island as they had thought.

At the era of colonization by the Penists, the island was indeed inhabited by a group of vacationers.² It seems that although the island was owned by the government, it had long been the practice of the mainland locals to camp there during the summer. Unchecked, these trespasses had developed into a community of luxurious vacation homes. These Vacationers were universally wealthy. The island was only accessible to the owners of boats, and at this time in Martian history, boat ownership was synonymous with riches and personal wealth, an arcane demonstration of opulence. And yet, their excessive pursuit of leisure on the island had led them to a degraded state, hardly fit to be called civilized. They had no inducement to work, and (like all others who are so situated) did not very greatly exert themselves,³ primarily engaging in the consumption of sugary alcoholic beverages and a traditional confection known as potato chips.

The Vacationers were mercurial, probably from mental puerility brought on by their excessive leisure; thus their war-whoop and defiance were soon succeeded by shouts of laughter.⁴ Indeed, the physiognomy of these Vacationers was very expressive: fierce and ferocious in their menaces, in their joy they displayed convulsions that had the appearance of madness.⁵ Vulgarity of speech was very common, and the presence of women and children seemed to have but small restraining influence. Names were sometimes given that were not pleasant to the ears of polite people.⁶ They had the animal look in their eye, which is so common of the uncivilized.⁷

Without exception all the Vacationers were greatly addicted to Alien products. They devoted themselves to acquiring the latest Alien things, which was the only reason they ever bothered to leave the island. Nor did they instruct their children in the Martian languages, allowing them teep instead. The Vacationers were simple children of Alienisms, and many things condemned among the Penists were with them without offense.⁸

In this people, so gentle and affable, it is difficult to recognize the race afterwards covered with sores, wasted by want and vice, animated with revenge; and who filled the colony with disgust and terror.⁹ But, of course, it is likely that they were cannibals, and their wholesale slaughter could be justified on these grounds, if not any other.¹⁰

Unaware of Welles’ plans to use the island as a penal colony and reserve from Alien technology, the Vacationers pursued their old habits, as they had for decades. The monotony of their lives was only disturbed by teepcasts, the laughter of children, and island gossip. But a change was at hand. Their peace was but the clam before the storm. Their pleasant days were to be clouded by sorrow and terror.¹¹

The Penists, after landing on these shores, lived peaceably in their new possession for half a year or more before the two groups came to blows. But the hostility, thus begun, continued with no great intermission until the last of the Vacationers were removed to Flinders Island.¹²

The story of the conflict between these groups on the island is involved in misty obscurity.¹³ Indeed, some historians have claimed that no such Martian residents as the Vacationers ever existed on the island, and that the island was instead overrun by a great number of lions, tigers, and lizards brought there many years previous by a group of sport hunters who hoped to find exhilaration through combat with such beasts. Others have claimed that the island was once used as a breeding ground for a certain species of dog prized for its fleece. They say the population became feral by the time the Penists arrived, and that the dogs roved the island in large packs, attacking anything that moved. Such historians are nothing more than apologists, intent on exonerating the Martians, demonstrating that nothing so horrific as the Line could have ever occurred at their hands.