Thanks to Earth's efforts, the planet's
temperature had continued to rise. Eventually water had emerged from
below ground and from the ice caps around the poles, and the air was
gradually thickening.
Terraformation had been taking place for almost 150 years, and it would
be at least another two centuries before it would be possible to live
anywhere on Mars without a spacesuit. The atmosphere-generating plants
were critical to the process. The plants themselves were automated,
with all systems operated and monitored by robots, and the major
centers of population on Mars were located in craters not far from each
plant. The complexes were on the open surface of the planet rather than
in craters, but the air they created flowed first into the nearest
depressions in the surface, and it was here that most settlements were
located.
The plant located in the southern hemisphere was the most remote, but
had been filling the Mare Hadriacum, locally known as the Red Sea, for
decades. This great depression was 2,500 miles in diameter. When much
of the southern ice cap had melted, it filled the Red Sea with water up
to about three-fourths capacity, making the region a delightful place
for quiet living.
In the early morning of August 15, 2151, the cloudless sky was a
brilliant violet, and the sun was rising like a bowl of molten gold.
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