From 188 Contes à régler
In the distant past, it had always been argued that the Earth was flat; In the heart of the 20th century, in the bronze age of astronautics, it was claimed that there was no life on Mars.
And yet, at the dawn of the 21st century, this assertion was reduced to dust. An authentic rocket coming from Mars had been spotted by all the radars approaching Earth, and it landed gently somewhere in Europe in the suburbs of a large city. Out stepped into the middle of a crowd of onlookers a dozen inhabitants of Mars, indisputably human, very unimpressive, and even less remarkable, very closely resembling jovial sales representatives, talkative, affable and completely relaxed.
- "Have you come from far away?" asked the Earthlings, to be polite and know whom they were dealing with.
- "We come from very far from here. From an inhabited planet called Earth. We are Earthlings."
- "Earthlings, from Earth! But where do you think you are?"
- "We have arrived on Mars," they replied with the same simplicity.