After a moment she rose to a sitting position, breathing more easily. "I suppose you wonder what this is all about?" she said.
"You read my mind on that," said Roal.
She took a deep breath. "My real name is Mariana Sebours," she said. "Perhaps you knew of me as a concert singer—"
"I looked up your record. Brooks gave me your story. I know that it was your father that I killed back there. I'm sorry, but there was no other way."
"Don't worry about him," said Mariana. "They killed him long ago only he wasn't actually dead. I'm thankful that the end came for him at last."
"Who are they?"
"The Martians. They are planning to rid the planet of Earthmen and conquer Earth in revenge for what Earth had done to Mars."
"But what have we done? I thought everything was serene and peaceful between us!"
"No. If you recall, history speaks of the Martians of a century ago as being much different from those around us now. They were not the skinny, dried-out creatures they are now. We have done that to them. Once they were as robust and healthy as we. We have made them what they are and forced them into burrows beneath the desert in order to exist."