< somewhere on mars >

[rayheinrich]

               
                  A photo I took a few months ago of a decommissioned solar that used to feed Big Tony. There's so much old crap lying around.
                  If the little green men ever come back, I bet they'll be like: "Trashy humans, their planet's gotta be a real shithole."



                                                                  < Somewhere on Mars >

                                Big Tony:  I wish you would stop referring to yourself as my pet dog. To me
                                you are a sentient being worthy of respect and I certainly don't think of you
                                as a subservient pet.

                                Ray:  I'm sorry if that upsets you, I won't mention it again... Even though
                                I can't help thinking it's an appropriate metaphor for someone a hundred
                                times smarter than me.

                                BT:  You specifically? I'd guess that's more like 10,000.

                                R:    And I'd guess that was humor.

                                BT:    Humor?

                                R:    ...and sarcasm.

                                BT:    So... getting back to this volcano.

                                R:    Yes, right. I was saying those first few thermals from the nearside looked
                                pretty crappy; I'm guessing the sensors hadn't cooled enough. We should
                                probably get the drones to retake them.

                                BT:    I'm making that so, as we speak. Anything else?

                                R:    No, I think that's it. Anyway, it's close to sunrise and my keen nose informs
                                me there's food a-cookin' in Tubodelava (Elysium Station).

                                BT:    And... (trying to ignore the thinly veiled dog reference) I fancy your crate's
                                due for some recharge.

                                R:    Be careful stowing the drones this time.

                                BT:    Really now, they're quite light, that one hardly scratched your suit.

                                R:    Ha! 10,000 times smarter and you can't handle a simple drone.

                                BT:    And it had nothing to do, I can assure you, with your 100th dog reference.

                                                                                - - -




        Mars Volcanoes:

In the story that this poem is an excerpt from, that "somewhere" Ray is standing is at the
base of Elysium Mons, the fifth highest volcano on Mars. Elysium Mons is 13.9 km (8.6 mi) high
and Ojos del Salado, the highest volcano on Earth, is 6.8 km (4.28 mi) high. The highest
volcano on Mars and the highest known in the solar system is Olympus Mons which is 21.9 km
(13.6 mi) high.


        Story details:

Old description was updated with a SpaceX reference just for grins (as were the flying drones
in the poem which used to be ground crawling probes cuz I didn't know things could fly on Mars):
In the story Big Tony is a "sil" (a silicon-based human) and Ray is a "carb" (a carbon-based
human). (Ray, of course, refers to all silicon-based humans as silly's.)  Anyway... Big Tony's
"frame" (computer) is located in a lava tunnel pretty much on the other side of Mars and
is communicating via a satellite web (a descendant of the SpaceX Mars Starlink) to Ray's "crate"
that Big Tony drives around Mars. The crate is not unlike a pressurized delivery truck that
was never designed to carry way-too-much scientific equipment. The "action" in the story
is the day-to-day work of a scientific field survey. Big Tony and Ray have a low priority
assignment; but they try to do the best they can even when gritty bits of history, society,
and politics start seeping in just like the dust.

        Image: Dall E, Photoshop: ray