The discovery of the City of Spirits and the knowledge that Martians came to Earth created a cloud of giddy curiosity and speculation that effervesced across the planet. The Earth was not as we had always imagined; the universe was different than we had known. Foundational concepts about humanity had been completely overturned and people, for good and bad, were considering what other suppositions should be rethought, rebuilt, or overturned. It was unimportant that the civilization discovered by the mission was not of Martian origin; they came from beyond Earth and had been technologically-advanced to the point that not only could they travel between planets, they could travel between stars. That some of them migrated to Earth caused people to wonder what influence this advanced civilization might have had on the evolution of Earth’s societies and what attributes might lay dormant in part of the population.

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In the last days before lift-off, there was too much to accomplish for Z to shoot a final Path of Discovery, and she wanted to be careful not to reveal any of the questionable nuances of her final experience with the headpiece—even to NASA. Instead, she wrote a report about discovering the farms and indications that bacterial contamination from Earth might have led to the fall of the City.

With the mission entering return transit, news for the public would soon trail off to an occasional announcement or progress report. Concerned that the public’s obsession with Mars might cool, Triche turned up the temperature on The Red Planet as it headed into its season—better, she decided, to keep the kettle warm in order to up the burner again when Nasri and the crew returned to Earth.