116 A Jagged Peek

The Mars Colony was situated at 600 feet elevation above "Datum," the name for sea level on 25th-century terraformed Mars. It was on the Tharsis plains anchoring the shield volcanos, Montes Arsia, Pavonis, and Ascraeus. These three peaks, in a row, reminded Murphy of the three stars on Orion's belt.

To the East was Noctis Chasm, the westernmost continuation of the 3,000-mile-long Valles Marineris, or Martian Grand Canyon, although it dwarfed the Terran version.

Noctis Chasm presented a spectacular maze of gorges and chasms that made for a wonderful--if not byzantine--reservoir of water. The Mars Colony was equidistant between the Chasm and the middle Pavonis volcano.

On a dust-free day, the peak of Olympus Mons, 600 miles away, could be easily seen. Pavonis Mons was more prominent, however, due to its proximity, only 140 miles. To the NNE was Ascraeus and out to the SW, Arsia.

Looking straight at Pavonis to the northwest, one could usually see the more distant, more towering, and very massive Olympus. Although Olympus was the largest volcano in the solar system, its distance from the Mars Colony made it appear the same size as Pavonis.

Once a year, due to the tilt of the Martian axis and its annual, brief, and a precarious serendipity between apogee and perigee, a setting sun, dipping below the two peaks, would strobe due to the heat invection that skewered the dueling two peaks against it.

Murphy had a bucket list and, strangely enough, going to Mars wasn't on it. But when he found himself there due to a convoluted life that made it safer to not remain on Earth, he deemed the strobing effect an empty box whose vacuum invited his check mark.

Camped at the correct coordinates derived from his careful triangulations, he readied himself for the event, precisely at longitude 3 S, Latitude 253 degrees W.

He wasn't disappointed. The effect was sudden, fluctuating--then strobing--to dozens of flashes per second. It was breathtaking. Delivery of these coordinated pulsed photon streams to his retina triggered a perception gate that had never been unbolted before.

That's when he saw them, antediluvian creatures who were just as surprised to see him.

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THIS SUBMISSION

For Thursday, April 25, Day 116 of the Story-a-Day Challenge. Now well into triple digits!

363 WORDS

All pictures are AI-generated, but the visitations are not!

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