I thought I'd write something about the Mars probes from a different perspective. Although this is a work of fiction there are some messages for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.

You will not find us this way - you people from Iorrrt (for that is what we call your planet) and your small, wheeled probes. Why, I almost stepped on one and crushed it underfoot the other day. It had obviously been sitting unused for a couple of years, and it had a layer of dust on it that caused it to blend in with its surroundings. Not far away I found the lander that had carried the wheeled probe. I picked up the wheeled probe and held it in the palm of my hand. You people from Iorrrt must be very small indeed. Our best minds have postulated that you can't be more than about 5 feet tall, due to the heavier gravity of your planet, while we typically grow to about 15 feet, due to our lower gravity compared to your planet. As I held the thing I got to thinking about Iorrrt and how our two planets have changed over the millennia. Let me start at the beginning.

Our written history goes back to a couple hundred years before the Great Siphoning, as we call it. Before that we only have oral traditions, passed down the generations. Basically, we have two major time periods, before and after the Great Siphoning. In the beginning, as far back as our oral traditions take us, our planet's orbit was closer to the sun than it is today, and Iorrrt appeared as a huge green light in the sky, much larger than the green star it now appears to be. Our world was lush and beautiful. I can only imagine the full beauty - the purple grass; the pink mountains; the great grey IIlokka trees, 1000 feet tall and 100 feet wide. And then there's Face Mountain, that great monolith, one piece of solid flame-stone, red as flame. Our oral traditions say that Face Mountain was formed when the Great Creator of All was done forming our planet. He looked down and pronounced it good; then the planet looked back to Him in praise and adoration. Now, of course, it is covered in a thick crust of the dust of thousands of years. But it serves to remind us of the future restoration of our planet to its original beauty (and the future restoration of all things). And I must mention our great oceans, and purple rivers. Several paintings of that time have survived, but something is always lost in a painting. We had cities, too, large cities. Of course, they are only dust-covered ruins today, and not many of them. Sometimes I wander among one of the cities that remains, near Face Mountain. I see the great four and five sided buildings. Our historical records say that this was an ocean-side city, but no visible trace of the shoreline remains today. I look at Face Mountain and at the great Five-Sided Hall and I remember that our Creator is just and fair.

So what happened? And what is the Great Siphoning? Back many thousands of years before the Great Siphoning (we call it preGS), our people lived on the surface and enjoyed the beautiful creation. Suddenly, in a single day and planet-wide, our people knew that there was life on Iorrrt. There was no sign in the heavens, no voice, but a deep internal, instinctive knowledge that suddenly there was life on Iorrrt. We praised the Creator of All for sharing the gift of life with Iorrrt. Not long after that our people felt a change, again instinctively and planetwide. It was as if the entire universe was changed somehow. We knew that something had happened on Iorrrt that affected the entire creation. We still don't understand exactly what happened, but things were somehow different from then on. A time came several hundred years later when Iorrrt and our planet came to their closest point to each other in their orbits. For a period of many days our people observed the great oceans and lakes getting lower. We saw the water rising to the sky, toward Iorrrt. Our knowledgeable people looked through our ssiurattks, [This word doesn't translate directly. My best guess is a telescope-like device.] and saw the water was indeed landing on Iorrrt, traveling through the space. As our planet revolved on its axis the side facing Iorrrt would yield great quantities of water, more than could be measured at the time. After many days of this we could see (by looking through the ssiurattks) that Iorrrt was completely covered with water. Prior to this we could see one large land mass, but no more. We knew that Iorrrt was completely covered with water. And we knew that the judgment of the Creator of All is just. We also knew that He is merciful. This event is what we call the Great Siphoning, when over 90% of our surface water was siphoned off to Iorrrt. After the Great Siphoning our planet started to drift. That is, our orbit around the sun was getting farther and farther out with each passing year. The temperature was also lowering. The remaining surface water had seeped underground or become frozen at the polar caps within 16 years. Our people followed the water underground into caves that were previously too hot to dwell in. We found huge underground rivers and lakes that we had no previous knowledge of, and over time we grew grass and trees in huge caverns. Alas, our grass is not purple anymore and our trees cannot grow beyond the roofs of the caverns. We found huge deposits of ray-stone, too, which gives off light when it is underground. We built cities and roads and tunnels and this is where we live today. Some of us venture to the surface from time to time, and we explore and record the changes that take place on the surface. It was on such an expedition that someone first discovered the meteorite impacts. PreGS no meteor had ever struck our planet's surface. We don't know why - maybe it is related to whatever change occurred on Iorrrt. Now we see that being led underground by the Creator of All was and is a blessing. We don't feel any effects from meteors, as we would on the surface. We are protected. Praise be to the Creator of All.

In recent times we observed a strange thing landing on our planet. At first no one knew what it was or where it came from. Soon, however, we discovered that it was sending some type of signal to Iorrrt, and we realized that your people had sent it. It was followed by several more over the years. A few more landed, but most were left orbiting our planet, peering down and trying to discover our secrets. We have disabled a few of your probes over the years, in an attempt to discourage you people. We now realize that you will send more probes regardless of our interference. You are a curious people. And now you have started putting wheels on your probes. How strange it seems, to send a machine to explore another planet. Are you not content to explore and observe your own planet? We have often wondered at this. What's next? Will you actually send people to explore? I have often wondered what it would be like to meet one of you.

I must admit that it is quite something to see one of your landers descending through the atmosphere and then bouncing along on the surface. I witnessed such an event a few days ago and decided to send you some real information about us. Our leaders did not object, and so I have encoded this in the regular transmission from the lander back to Iorrrt. Those with ears to hear will discover the hidden message. In the end I decided to put the old unused wheeled rover back where I found it. We decided a few years ago that it is best for now not to disturb landers unnecessarily (After a short time they seem to stop working of their own accord). We do not want to leave any unnecessary evidence of our existence. If you ever do come in person to reclaim your probes you will find them exactly as you left them. Of course we will be watching you. We may meet one day, your people and ours, but you are not ready yet.