MARTIAN NEWS - DATE 11971.1202
All the News around the Solar System from a Martian Viewpoint

EARTH CRAFT LANDS INTACT ON MARTIAN SURFACE

Today our isolation from Earth has finally been broken - the Earth craft designated ("Mars-3" from Russia - Martian name is untranslateable - E. Herring) ejected a probe which landed violently but intact on our soil.

It was decided by Martian security to allow the landing to take place, but to disable its communicating devices as soon as possible once it had come to rest. It turned out we were almost too late - the probe started transmitting data back to its home planet within a few heartbeats of its landing, forcing security experts to take drastic action to disable the probe without giving their presence away.

It was argued that destroying the craft after it had travelled safely over such a long distance but before it had actually landed might appear suspicious to the senders of the device, who would doubtless be monitoring its progress as best as they could from their own world. However, once on the surface it could safely be deactivated, which the Humans would no doubt attribute to the impact on landing.

Translated from original Martian by Elwood Herring
See Earth Web version of this story here

© P. Williams 2004

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