• This is a story about a human family that moves to Mars and learns to adapt to their surroundings, literally.

Dark They Were and Golden Eyed

By: Ray Bradbury

• The Bittering family goes to Mars to escape the atomic wars on Earth. They were expecting a rocket to take them back to Earth after everything was over. Though, shortly after the family leaves, New York get hit with an atomic bomb and all the rockets are destroyed.

• Mr. Bittering starts to notice that things are weird. It starts with their children wanting Martian names, the grass turning purple and finally the cow grows a third horn.

• Mr. Bittering tries to get the others on the planet to help him build a rocket to go back to Earth but they just laugh at him. So he buys materials and starts to build the rocket himself.

• Finally, Harry Bittering gives up and lets the change overcome him. Every person who came from Earth becomes a Martian. They are tall, thin, dark skinned and golden eyed.

• Astronauts come to Mars to tell everybody the war is over. They find no humans just the odd looking Martians. The astronauts assume that plague wiped out the humans. They leave Mars making plans to try populate Mars again.