Scientists build a spaceship to mars and at the end a man reveals he is an alien going home

[Kahlan_A]

Hi everyone,

I’m searching for a story that could have been a novel or in an anthology.
It would have been read in the 1960s so published around then or before.
Would have been read in English.
Most likely aimed at children/young adults but could have been an adult story.

I’m looking on behalf of someone else but this is what they can remember of the plot:

A man meets a group of scientists and offers to build a spaceship/rocket for them to go to mars. When they are not there he adds a secret type of fuel (maybe a gem?) to make the spaceship work and they begin to fly. He tells them they only have enough fuel to get to mars. They ask him how they will get home and he says he is going home. He is an alien.

Thanks for your help

 

[Parson]

Are you sure that this was a book? I remember a T.V. show with exactly the same premise. In this story a rich man is building a space ship with which he wants to "colonize?" to Mars.The ship is built like the prototypical rocket ship, long and needle nosed, but he does not have the drive to power the ship. Finally someone comes to him and tells him he has the drive, but the ship is all wrong. The rich man builds the man with the drive a flying saucer. The workmen near the end say that everything is ready but they don't have the means to power the drive. The man with the drive shows up with a metal box and puts it in himself. Then he and the rich man get in the ship for a test ride. It works wonderfully well, and the man says let's go back home and build a ship that can carry lots of people. The man with drive slowly morphs into a bird like creature and says. No we will not. I am going home.

Unfortunately I have no idea what the show was. The Twilight zone is an obvious choice but none of the titles of the show give me the idea that this story is related to any of the titles.

 

[Extollager]

Your show, Parson, is definitely not a teleplay of the original Twilight Zone, but it sounds a leetle like an Outer Limits (original series) teleplay, "Second Chance."

Second Chance (The Outer Limits) - Wikipedia

 

[Parson]

Nope. The alien was only subtly bird like, not the above monstrosity. And it was definitely about building a new ship without any sideshow elements to it.

 

[Kahlan_A]

Are you sure that this was a book? I remember a T.V. show with exactly the same premise. In this story a rich man is building a space ship with which he wants to "colonize?" to Mars.The ship is built like the prototypical rocket ship, long and needle nosed, but he does not have the drive to power the ship. Finally someone comes to him and tells him he has the drive, but the ship is all wrong. The rich man builds the man with the drive a flying saucer. The workmen near the end say that everything is ready but they don't have the means to power the drive. The man with the drive shows up with a metal box and puts it in himself. Then he and the rich man get in the ship for a test ride. It works wonderfully well, and the man says let's go back home and build a ship that can carry lots of people. The man with drive slowly morphs into a bird like creature and says. No we will not. I am going home.

Unfortunately I have no idea what the show was. The Twilight zone is an obvious choice but none of the titles of the show give me the idea that this story is related to any of the titles.

That sounds a lot like what I'm looking for. Thank you! I think it could have been a T.V. show they are thinking of. Or maybe the show was based on a story with the same idea?

 

[Kahlan_A]

Nope. The alien was only subtly bird like, not the above monstrosity. And it was definitely about building a new ship without any sideshow elements to it.

I've been looking through descriptions of episodes from different anthology series and found one called 'tales of tomorrow' (1951) there is an episode called 'test flight.' The date is earlier then I thought it would be but the description sounds the same. Could that be the one you remember?

 

[Parson]

I've been looking through descriptions of episodes from different anthology series and found one called 'tales of tomorrow' (1951) there is an episode called 'test flight.' The date is earlier then I thought it would be but the description sounds the same. Could that be the one you remember?

Indeed that sounds like it. Somewhat different that I remembered it, but I watched it over 50 years ago. I would not have watched in '51, but could have watched a rerun in the early 60's or late 50's; a not too unlikely scenario. In reading the reviews I noted that it was a "Galaxy short story." That might send you to where you need to look for your print version.

 

[Kahlan_A]

Indeed that sounds like it. Somewhat different that I remembered it, but I watched it over 50 years ago. I would not have watched in '51, but could have watched a rerun in the early 60's or late 50's; a not too unlikely scenario. In reading the reviews I noted that it was a "Galaxy short story." That might send you to where you need to look for your print version.

I saw that too. I think it means Galaxy short story magazine. I did a bit more searching and found the episode was based on a short story called The Vital Factor by Nelson Bond. It aired as a radio drama and before that it was in Esquire magazine. I couldn't find anything linking it to Galaxy but it might have been in there too. It sounds just like the description, except it is only about four pages long. The person I'm looking for might have remembered it being more then it really was. I will have to wait and see if it is the right thing. Thanks again for your help.