Welcome, Martians!

Two astronauts land on Mars, expecting to make history as the first humans to set foot on the red planet. Instead, they're greeted as returning heroes by a cheering crowd of Martians who insist they're two other astronauts, Bobby Galus and Gary Dale, who visited four years ago and disappeared. Cal and Dave insist there's been some mistake. They're from Earth. They've never been to Mars before. But the Martians have photographs, celebrations, a city that mirrors Earth's culture. The more they protest, the deeper the confusion deepens. Did Galus and Dale already make this journey? Did our heroes forget? Or is something far stranger happening in the thin Martian atmosphere? Written in 1952, this compact tale quietly asks the kind of questions that still haunt science fiction: What makes you who you are? Can you trust your own memory? And if two worlds evolved in parallel, which one is the original? It's a quick read, but it sticks with you.