Boris TibanAlone and glad of it, Boris Tiban left Pavonis Mons behind.
Looking ahead, feeling neither the invisible cold nor the pale sunlight on his plasticized skin, he set out across the Tharsis Plain, heading westward into unexplored territory…away from the taint of human presence.
The symmetrical cone of the volcano looked like a weather-smoothed pyramid behind him, dead and abandoned like an ancient Egyptian tomb. Equally distant to the north and south—hazy swellings at either horizon—stood two similar volcanoes: Ascraeus Mons and Arsia Mons. They held nothing for him either. They were still too close to this place.
Boris walked across the dusty plain, noting the sickening frequency of greenish lichens and algae colonies. The olive tinge on the ochre plain made the planet look lik
