Mahmoud said, "Ben, there is plenty of room on Mars for human colonization... and, so far as I was ever able to find out, the Martians would not interfere.  They did not object when we told them we intended to leave a colony behind.  Nor did they seem pleased.  Not even interested.  We're flying our flag and claiming extraterritoriality right now.  But our status may be more like that of one of those ant cities under glass one sometimes sees in school rooms.  I was never able to grok it."