Rachel DycekThe storm hit the rover just past midday, five hours after they left the adin encampment.
Driving Percival, Rachel had made good time along the cluttered chasm that spilled down Pavonis Mons, fanning as it petered out and rose toward the level of the main slope. The shield volcano had left strata of built-up, pasty lava, like layers in a thick cake. Monolithic boulders lay in tumbled heaps, slumped in low-gravity falls from eons-old avalanches. A pale green fringe of lichen and feathers of algae now crept over the wreckage, claiming the landscape.
Rachel had no map, just a direction she wanted to go and the determination to get there. She let the AI pilot speculate on the best course. Percival scrambled over the uneven floor of the gorge, ignoring most obstacles.
Then the st
