Omnilingual

Earnest young archeologist Martha Dane deciphers a few words, but the real breakthrough comes when the team explores what appears to have been a university in which the last few civilized Martians made their last stand.

The story builds tension from the skepticism of the rest of the team, mostly male, as well as from Dr. Dane's competitive, spotlight-seeking teammate, Tony Lattimer.

Walton also commended the story's use of gender equality and multicultural characters, with "the only thing that made [her] raise [her] eyebrows" being the constant use of alcohol and tobacco.

[3] James Nicoll questioned the basic premise of scientific language being necessarily decipherable — "what if Martian didn't use letters and a numbering system which sounds very akin to ours?"

"[4] The Routledge Companion to Science Fiction similarly faulted this "ideological sleight-of-hand", emphasizing that the "extinct Martian civilization closely resembles the [then-]contemporary US: language is recorded in a linear written form divided into words; the title pages of printed magazines feature the title, month of publication, issue number, and table of contents; Martians live in cities with universities; universities are divided into disciplinary departments — and classrooms — more or less identical to terrestrial ones; and on the wall of the material sciences lab hangs a periodic table of elements, organizing information which might apply universally but which in no way demands graphic representation or public display.