From the observation window of Habitat Six, the red jewel of Mars was visible as a point of light unique in color among the rest of the bodies dotting the celestial sphere. No one had dared land on it ever since a chunk of northwestern Canada and Alaska had smashed into it, destroying one of the fledgling colonies there. While much material had been blown above Mars’ tenuous atmosphere, a dust cloud impenetrable to the eye had nonetheless managed to cover over the planet, and everybody else on the surface had perished.

Two men and one woman stared out the window at the Red Planet, waiting for some simulation results. The all-concealing cloud of dust had, even in the thin Martian air, a silver lining. If the simulations ended up performing positively, the super-sized depression on the surface of Mars would be a blessing and a boon to the terraformation project.

A technician came in and produced a printout, a complex technical readout of letters, words, and numbers. It was all they needed to see.