Red Planit
by Bryde Ornott 

Rico Sundae stepped from the twisted metal wreckage of his craft. It had crumpled like the middle of an accordion upon crashing into the red dirt, and made the same sound as well. Rico thought he had died and gone to Polka hell right before he passed out.

Now Rico was standing, outside the debris, a pinkish-orange dusty sky swirling above him and red Paprika-like dirt washing over his black-booted feet. Outside. On Mars.

Surprisingly, the air was breathable. But this was no surprise to Rico, who knew from years of research that the polar ice caps discovered on Mars in 2005 had melted about 20 years ago, 2234, and has begun to oxygenate the atmosphere again. In some areas, scientists reported, Mars even had some plant life. But no animal life had been discovered ever before. As long as we all understand it is completely possible, given the circumstances just described.

Of course, Rico Sundae was not a Mars specialist by design, it was only his hobby. Rico’s true occupation was botanist-electrician, a job unheard of before 2203, and his mission was not to land on Mars—he had crashed here by accident. Rico Sundae had been heading to Jupiter to join the Juperion Legion against the Venial Implant Armada. The war had raged long and hard, and with expert botanist-electricians like Rico, the war would favor Jupiter and strengthen the Eartho-Juperion alliance. All that was before crashing on Mars, confound it!

The red planit was illegal for human trespass now, as it had become a refuse-dropping planit 60 years previous. The Earth first experienced problems with excessive garbage back in the twentieth century, back when they still primitively called planits “planets,” but it had reached disastrous proportions before the International Garbage-Dump-on-Mars Doctrine of 2195. Mars was then declared unfit for human walking and outlawed—but Rico Sundae had little choice in the matter, otherwise he wouldn’t have chosen to crash on an illegal planit.

But the red planit was extremely empty of garbage bits. Not even an empty soda can or stray newspaper page. Rico Sundae took note, but didn’t consider the possibility the planit was devouring the garbage itself and using it to fuel a reactor for underground alien societies with advanced technology.

In the distance of the duststormy skyline, Rico could make out a temple-looking mountain, though he didn’t think it was a temple at all. He decided to abandon the empty shell of his crashed ship for the safety of the distant temple-shaped mountain; there was a heavy meteor storm coming, and if he started off right away he would make it in time to seek shelter within the mountain, if it was possible to get inside it in some way.

As he neared the mountain three hours later, Rico was growing surprised. “My God!” he said to no one, “it’s a temple!”

It was a temple. A tall, towering, mountain-like temple with articulately-carved columns and the face of some alien-looking deity. It sort of resembled the Earth Indian God Shiva, with 12 arms. Rico was alarmed at what it meant, but he knew Mars, though it could potentially sustain life, did not contain life, and the temple was probably carved centuries ago by a race now extinct.

Inside the temple, three hours later, Rico was genuinely shocked and astounded by what he saw—Martians! Not extinct ones, but real live living Martians. They were amassed in the worship area beneath him, their green bodies bunched over like Earth’s Muslims as they worshipped their peculiar Martian idol.

For more of this great story, buy Bryde Ornott’s novel
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