Title: Red Dust
Captain Liora sat at the edge of the Martian cliff, her suit covered in the planet’s red dust.
The horizon shimmered under twin moons, and the silence of Mars stretched infinitely
around her.
The mission had been simple: establish a communications outpost and return. But after a
solar flare disrupted their systems, the crew lost all contact with Earth. Panic set in.
Supplies dwindled. Then the hallucinations began.
One by one, crew members reported seeing shadows. Whispers. Liora dismissed them as
side effects of stress. Until she saw them too.
She followed the whispers into a cave carved into a mountainside. Strange symbols glowed
faintly along the walls. And at the center—a structure not made by humans. A machine,
humming faintly, waiting.
Her hand trembled as she reached toward it. The moment her fingers brushed the surface,
light surged through her suit. Visions flooded her mind: ancient beings, Mars as it once was,
thriving with oceans and cities. Then the fall—war, desolation, and silence.
She awoke outside the cave, gasping. The whispers were gone, and with them, the fear. In
their place was understanding. The machine had chosen her. And it had left her with
knowledge—blueprints, maps, and a warning.
When the Earth finally reestablished contact months later, Liora had changed. She carried
secrets that could save humanity from repeating the Martians’ mistakes—or doom them.
The red dust remembered. And now, so did she.