Stranger in a Strange Land

The “Martian delegation”—Smith, Jubal, and his entourage—flies to Douglas’s palace, and Smith sees for the first time the sprawling cities of Earth and the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean. When they land, Douglas’s staff tries to usher them to his office, but Jubal adamantly insists they go straight to the conference room, which is filled with reporters. After answering a few preliminary questions, Dr. Mahmoud—the Champion’s semantician and Smith’s water brother—enters. As a British citizen, he has an aversion to Americans but accepts these Americans as fellow water brothers. After some wrangling over diplomatic protocols, Jubal is ready to proceed. As various dignitaries drift in, a US Senator invites Smith to a Fosterite service; Jubal accepts. He then invites the US President to sit with the Mars delegation. When all are seated, Douglas enters.

After opening formalities, Smith addresses the delegation (in both Martian and English). Afterward, Jubal asks Douglas to act as Smith’s “attorney-in-fact, with full power to handle all his business affairs” (205). He agrees to think about it. As the conference wraps up, one delegate asks about the “Larkin Decision,” a legal opinion defining ownership rights—in this case, rights to the planet Mars. Jubal argues that “parceling out” land to which humans have no claim is both foolhardy and dangerous. He further argues that Smith represents every Martian—including the Old Ones—and as such, he deserves to be accorded diplomatic honors, after which, the meeting adjourns.

Jubal, Smith, and the rest of the entourage—including several crew members from the Champion—retire to a hotel suite where they discuss Martian metabolism and language, including the meaning of “grok.” Mahmoud explains that grok literally means “drink,” but it also has hundreds of other meanings and connotations. It means to understand something “‘so thoroughly’” that the observer and the observed become one. It’s not possible, he claims, to truly speak Martian unless one thinks in Martian.

They discuss how to protect Smith—both his power and his financial assets—from predatory interests. Meanwhile, Nelson, the Champion’s doctor, examines Smith and finds him more muscular than the last time he saw him. Smith admits he “thinked” the bigger muscles. Jubal, meanwhile, rationalizes his decision to leave Douglas in charge of Smith’s assets. Despite his shortcomings, Douglas is not a thief. The conversation devolves into arcane legalistic theory about the Larkin Decision, Smith’s role as “sovereign,” and the potential maneuvering of the opposition.

Captain Van Tromp suggests that Smith is less of an ambassador than a scout, implying that the Old Ones have sent him on a surveillance mission as a prelude to a possible Martian invasion. As evidence of Martian aggression, he cites an incident in which the Champion’s junior medical officer was disappeared. Just then, one of Douglas’s representatives shows up with official documents defining the terms of the Secretary General’s executorship of Smith’s wealth. Everything is on the level, so the concerned parties sign them.

Douglas has posted armed guards around Jubal’s property in an effort to maintain Smith’s privacy, but the outer world still intrudes, including endorsement offers and at least one exploding package. Jubal insists that mail addressed directly to Smith is his to open (even sexually explicit material). It’s important, he argues, to prepare Smith for the real world. Gradually, Smith comes to grok the concept of money, and Gillian teaches him how to spend, suggesting he buy gifts for his water brothers. The seemingly simple task of gift-giving is fraught with myriad social considerations that Smith has difficulty grasping. Eventually, unable to put it off any longer, Jubal, Gillian, and Smith attend a Fosterite service.

On the way to the service, Jubal cautions Smith not to be taken in by the Fosterites’ “sincerity.” He fears they are after Smith’s money and prestige. Once they arrive, US Senator Tom Boone escorts them around the tabernacle: a gauntlet of slot machines and merchandise. After a drink, he leads them to the inner sanctum where the preserved corpse of “Archangel Foster” is displayed. Smith expects to encounter an old one, but what he senses in the presence of the corpse is instead a “wrongness.” They move to a private box and watch the service, a boisterous and seductive combination of music, dance, and spiritual possession. Smith perceives the spectacle as uniquely Martian in its communal experience. When Supreme Bishop Digby takes the stage, he recognizes Smith, to the adulation of the congregation. After the service, they are escorted to a private audience with the Bishop. Jubal finds him a fraud but a “good host.” When the Bishop sequesters Smith in a private room, Gillian is worried, but Jubal isn’t. Smith’s views, in his mind, are unshakable. Presently, Smith emerges, alone, and he, Gillian, and Jubal depart.