Tuesday December 20, 2095
11:30 pm
Still on Mars
Landing gear replaced, replaced winch, the crew is ready to load up The Baby Black Flea into the Black Flea. Wu-chan has other plans. Instead of flying to Earth, he wants to scout Mars homestead spots.
WU: Look, all I'm saying is, we got all this money from Doogé that we ought to go ahead and start looking for a place to homestead and register.
S: Are we ever going to do the job Doogé hired us to do?
WU: Yeah?
SM: Not inspiring confidence, Wu-chan.
RP: Cap, we can quit the job, right?
WU: Uhh....
S: Nope. Wu-chan got Doogé to accept the invoice and transferred funds immediately. We're on the hook, now.
WU: Come on, it's just a day.
S: Fine. Where to?
WU: Well, I realize most colonies are along the northern lowlands, but I feel confident that we can find someplace above sea level around the Hellas Basin.
SM: Are we still looking for craters?
WU: Yeah, but I think we look for rocky craters deep enough to eventually fill with water, and we build settlements along the inner edge of the cliffs. You know, cliff-dwellers like the Anastasias of the Americas.
S: You mean the Anasazi of the southwestern US?
WU: Yeah, Asastatsi.
S: Anasazi.
WU: Ananasi.
S: (rolls eyes) Ah-nah-sah-zee.
WU: Koyaanisqatsi?
S: (stink eye) You're just messing with me, aren't you?
WU: Yep. So, like the cliff-dwelling indigenous people of the southwestern arid lands of America.
S: (jaw dropped)...
WU: The cliff edge does the bulk of protection against, well, everything. All we need is to build a platform for the Black Flea, unless we find a place that has a spot to land.
RP: Wow. You've thought this through.
WU: Yeah. And so, that's why we need to fly around and scout for places. The topo maps of Mars are still crap, especially any place that's not near the northern lowlands.
SM: I'm in.
RP: Me too! This sounds like fun!
S: Okay. Let's do this.
WU: Yatta! You guys, I promise you will not regret this!
S: (whacks Wu-chan on the arm) You just couldn't resist jinxing us, could you?
— The Warubozu Usagi