...when we finally started colonizing Mars, we had no idea that there was such a civilization that used to exist there. It must have been millions of years old, but so brutally pulverized and smashed and crushed that we had to actually get up close to recognize that these rocks and sand dunes were actually all that remained of buildings and landmarks. It was the atoms. The atoms were in such perfect rows and fused into impossibly durable alloys, yet they were all shattered and crushed and broken beyond repair. Something must have destroyed this world eons ago. Did they end up destroying themselves through war? Through resource loss? Why did the oceans disappear? What could have razed this world so thoroughly as to make it impossible to discover even by the closest habitable planet?

Then we found something.

That Something found us.


(This photo was taken at AC2013 I believe by someone with an actual antique camera. I thought I'd lost it and just recently found it, so I think it'll make a grand ID photo...)