Line #39 Literature/ImInMarsportWithoutHilda


1	First published in ''Magazine/VentureScienceFictionMagazine'' (November 1957 issue), by Creator/IsaacAsimov. This ScienceFiction ShortStory is a "stale beer" style of SpyFiction. An opportunity for a tete-a-tete arises, but a [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Special Agent]] never gets the vacation they hope for.
2
3	[[CharacterNarrator Max tells the story]] of when he visited the {{UsefulNotes/Mars}} space station to see his girlfriend Flora without his wife knowing. It was a three-day layover where he'd be waiting until the next shuttle back to Earth, but he planned to spend it mostly [[ZeroGSpot in 0.4 gravity with her]]. However, his boss had other ideas.
4
5	[[NoFullNameGiven Max]] is [[StuckAtTheAirportPlot forced to interview three men experiencing a three-hour layover, with the threat of death against leaving]]. One of which is smuggling drugs, and all of which are [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney untouchable]] unless Max finds them actually breaking the law. He assumes it'll be easy enough, as the two innocents will have taken a drug that makes them [[WordSaladHumor talk in gibberish]], and the guilty one can't for fear he'll randomly talk about them or give away the drugs.
6
7	All three arrive clearly displaying the effects of the drug. It then takes three hours for Max to figure out [[SpotTheImposter which one is faking the effects]].
8
9	"I'm in Marsport Without Hilda" has been adapted into an [[AudioAdaptation audiobook]] by Creator/ZigguratProductions and narrated by Creator/JimGallant. This story has been reprinted several times; ''Literature/NineTomorrows'' (1959), ''{{Magazine/Galaxy}}'' (issue #53, October 1962), ''Literature/AsimovsMysteries'' (1968), ''Literature/RodSerlingsOtherWorlds'' (1978), ''Literature/TheBestScienceFictionOfIsaacAsimov'' (1986), ''Literature/TheCompleteStories, Volume 1'' (1990), and ''Literature/LoversAndOtherMonsters'' (1992).
10	----
11	!!"I'm in Marsport Without Hilda" contains examples of:
12	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: In this story, a [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Secret Agent]] is [[CasualInterstellarTravel at a spaceport]] and tosses around [[HoldYourHippogriffs fantastic similes]] while trying to interrogate [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney people who basically own planets without upsetting them]].
13	* AudioAdaptation: This ShortStory was adapted into a stand-alone audiobook narrated by Creator/JimGallant. Orchestral music is included.
14	* CasualInterstellarTravel: Characters make reference to the Capellan system being outside the jurisdiction of their Federation. Space travel is common enough that there's an [[FantasticDrug anti-space sickness medicine]] that people use on a regular basis.
15	* CharacterNarrator: [[NoFullNameGiven Max]] is telling this story, about the time he visited his friend Flora without his wife, to an unknown audience. Much of the {{exposition}} is delivered directly to the audience in a relaxed, dialogue-like style.
16	* FantasticDrug:
17	** Spaceoline is an [[SpaceX anti-spacesickness drug]]. The first dozen trips you make in space always make people ill, but Spaceoline prevents the illness without malign side-effects. The benign ones include relaxation, [[WordSaladHumor free-word association]], and [[RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic politely taking turns in a conversation]]. It's also completely addiction-free.
18	** Spaceoline can be altered into a different drug that is highly addictive. The alterations needed [[MacGyvering can be found using household chemicals]]. The [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Galactic Service]] has been suppressing this information because otherwise suppressing Spaceoline would be effectively suppressing [[CasualInterstellarTravel space travel]].
19	* AGirlInEveryPort: [[CharacterNarrator Max is telling a story]] about when he was in Marsport without his wife, but struggled with an urgent case preventing him from spending time with an old girlfriend.
20	* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: The main character works for the Galactic Service, and has a Class A rank within the organization. They operate as federal agents rather than a police force.
21	* HoldYourHippogriffs: To indicate the futuristic setting, the CharacterNarrator uses space-based metaphors for description.
22	-->I went past that desk like Halley's Comet skimming the Solar Corona.
23	* NoFullNameGiven: Max, the CharacterNarrator, is only referred to by his first name. Hilda, Max's wife, also has no last name (because that would imply his own last name). Flora, his girlfriend, is referred to only by her first name as well. It would seem as if all the characters were going to be given only one name, but then Rog Crinton, Max's boss, shows up and tells him to investigate Edward Harponaster, Joaquin Lipsky, and Andiamo Ferrucci.
24	* OrwellianRetcon: When this story was republished for ''Literature/NineTomorrows'', it had to be redited (phrases like "ribald stories" were switched for "about a girl", while lines like "Chances are they would ask me for [her] phone number." were omitted entirely.). The original text reappears in ''Literature/AsimovsMysteries''.
25	* {{Pun}}: After Max says "Rise, Gentlemen.", it's implied that he sees [[SomethingElseAlsoRises Ferrucci's erection]].
26	* RaceAgainstTheClock: Between 8pm and 11pm, three space travellers will be within a spaceport's jurisdiction. Max is expected to identify which of them is carrying [[FantasticDrug illegally modified Spaceoline]], and all three are [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney immune to normal search-and-seizure rules]]. They can prosecute the actual guilty party, but trying to search an innocent man will give them cause to publicly ruin Max and his organization.
27	* RedAlert: Rog Crinton, one of Max's bosses, [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this term, claiming that a crisis trumps Max's vacation. Max is the only qualified agent on Mars, and he only has [[RaceAgainstTheClock three hours]] to deduce which of three space travellers is carrying [[FantasticDrug illegally modified Spaceoline]].
28	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: The three industrialists that Max is investigating are all very wealthy and very powerful. The story establishes that the average man could be searched for illegal drugs due to the suspicion/evidence already collected, but it's made clear that without direct evidence of guilt, any of them could use their planetary-level of wealth to discredit him and [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction his department]], marking him as effectively dead meat. [[SpotTheImposter He's got to finger only the right one.]]
29	* ShaggyDogStory: All of Max's efforts to visit Flora are wasted, because right when he's on his way, his wife, Hilda, finally appears.
30	* ShoutOut: Under the apparent effects of [[FantasticDrug Spaceoline]], Ferrucci mentions "Trip the light fantastic", which is an old reference to ''{{Theatre/Comus}}'', by Creator/JohnMilton.
31	* SomethingElseAlsoRises: Frustrated with his attempts to determine [[SpotTheImposter which one of three men are faking the effects of a drug]], Max gives them a graphical description of the [[ZeroGSpot low gravity sex]] he was missing out on. When the alert comes on that the ''Space Eater'' had docked, Max says, "Rise, Gentlemen." Because Max then immediately identifies who was faking the effects, it's implied that the RagingStiffie was only apparent when the three men stood up.
32	* SpaceMadness: One of the premises of this story is that people can't travel in space unless they've had a certain medicine, which makes them [[WordSaladHumor harmlessly babble]] as a side-effect.
33	* SpaceX: Just before arriving in Marsport (a port in orbit around {{UsefulNotes/Mars}}), the main character got a spacegram (telegram, in space) that his wife, Hilda, wouldn't be there to meet him. After he arrives, though, he has to find contraband Spaceoline (a FantasticDrug to cure space-sickness)).
34	* StuckAtTheAirportPlot: Max has a layover at the space station around {{UsefulNotes/Mars}} for three days while he waits for the next shuttle to take him to Earth. He plans to spend them in Flora's apartment, but Rog Crinton has a job for him. He must investigate three [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney untouchably rich corporate executives]] while they're having their own layover between [[RaceAgainstTheClock 8pm and 11pm local time]].
35	* TitleDrop: The title comes from a line spoken by Max to [[AGirlInEveryPort an old girlfriend]] he's trying to meet up with again for hugging in [[ZeroGSpot 0.4 gravities]].
36	* VideoPhone: Max uses a video booth, which is a public video phone box that costs more than sending a [[SpaceX spacegram]]. He gets in contact with an old ex-girlfriend because he has a few days away from his wife and wants to [[AGirlInEveryPort relive old memories]].
37	* WordSaladHumor: The FantasticDrug in this story causes people to make free-word associations, but doesn't impair their memory.
38	* YouJustToldMe: The main character, a detective, is trying to figure out [[SpotTheImposter which of several people in the room is a drug smuggler]]. All of the innocent suspects are currently loopy and [[WordSaladHumor speaking stream-of-consciousness gibberish]], because they were given [[FantasticDrug a drug to prevent space sickness]], and the guilty party is faking it. Unable to figure out who is guilty, the detective, out of frustration, starts telling them about the hot date he would have had, if he wasn't stuck interviewing them. The guilty party's [[SomethingElseAlsoRises "reaction" when they stand up]] gives him away.
39	* ZeroGSpot: Flora keeps her apartment at 0.4 of earth's gravity because it makes [[ParentalBonus hugging]] better.
40	-->''"[I]f you've ever held a girl in your arms at 0.4 gees, you need no explanation. If you haven't, explanations will do no good. I'm also sorry for you."''--[[CharacterNarrator narration]] by '''[[NoFullNameGiven Max]]'''

Context Literature / ImInMarsportWithoutHilda