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(Page 2 of 8) The Spirit of Christmas by Stuart Atkinson
"But more of that later. If Murray can just tilt the camera down you'll see that this area of the crater floor is a rocky plain, littered with boulders..? (camera view shifts until it is pointing downwards: the ground is brown and tan-coloured, littered with rocks and boulders of all shapes and sizes, all different shades of yellow, orange, caramel and brown. Long, jagged shadows are cast behind every rock) ... thanks Murray... but thankfully none of them were big enough to cause us any trouble when we set down. During the day this place is spookily similar to the Arizona desert I think... just missing the cacti, cattle skulls and rattlesnakes... but at this time of the day it looks very different, and it's easy to believe we're actually on another planet. Murray, pan the camera round a bit will you? Show them the Hills?
(camera view changes; the astronaut's face is quickly replaced by a range of undulating hills, hump-backs against the sky. One of the hills' sides appears obviously darker than the others.)
"Space historians and Mars buffs are probably shouting one word at their screens now, and yes, you're right, that's Ultreya there on the hillside. All the NASA books and flight manuals say that that huge, dark dune field is called ‘El Dorado', and so did we during training, but I'll let you into a secret: now we're here we all call it ‘Ultreya', as it was christened all those years ago on the internet – what are they going to do, fire us?" (camera view shakes as cameraman laughs). "Okay, enough history, pan up a little now Murray, show them the sky, will you?"
(Camera view changes again; the Columbia Hills slide out of frame, and Cdr Lewis' face rushes by before the sky comes into view. It is a rich orange colour, with washes of purple through it)
"That's great Murray, thank you... You join us, on Mars, just before sunset on Sol 56. Look at the colour of that sky..! Beautiful, isn't it? During the daytime the sky is various shades of yellow or orange, it goes through a whole cycle of colours... peach, banana, apricot, butterscotch... we're running out of fruits and deserts to compare the colours to! And at night, when the Sun has set, the sky is blacker than black, a huge dome studded with thousands and thousands of stars... the Milky Way looks like someone has airbrushed it across the sky, and because there's less air here, and less wind, the stars don't twinkle as much as they do on the Earth, they shine like diamonds or chips of ice...
"But between the two, between the bright day and the dark night, there is a time, perhaps an hour long, no more, when the sky burns with a different, richer colour. Look... see how the blue is starting to come through? Within a few minutes the entire sky will be that colour, like a huge blue velvet cloak thrown over the world, and over us... for a short time Mars' sky will resemble Earth's, adding to our increasing sense of homesickness... and when that happens we'll give you the first of our three gifts. Okay Murray, thank you..."
(camera view shifts again, and Cdr Lewis reappears on screen.
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