James’s large frightened eyes traveled slowly around the room. The creatures, some sitting in chairs, others reclining on a sofa, were all watching him intently.

“Hello, James,” one said delicately, scraping a fleck of dirt from his fingernail—or, rather, where one of his fingernails would be, for this aquamarine-colored creature, with orange hair and a bony nose, had no fingernails.

“Wha—what do you want?” stuttered James in astonishment, slowly backing against the wall.

“Tut, tut,” scolded another of the creatures, this one in a shocking shade of magenta. “No manners, no manners.”

“Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” chipped in a striped creature swinging from a chandelier.

“But you know my name,” protested James.

“So what?”

A red creature in the corner raised a hand solemnly. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves. First of all, James, how would you like to come work on Mars?”