Welcome, Martians!

Two Earth astronauts land on Mars expecting exploration but are met by cheering crowds who address them as celebrated native space heroes. Authorities and media insist they are returning citizens Bobby Galus and Gary Dale, enveloping them in banquets, parades, and official honors while the astronauts maintain they are Earthmen newly arrived. Confusion deepens as local leaders dismiss their protests and attribute identity claims to a joke, and the protagonists speculate about parallel cultural development producing identical names and narratives. The story follows their disorientation amid civic pageantry and the unsettling realization that recognition and identity can be socially constructed and imposed.