Started out to do an entirely different kind of picture (although using the monorail); ended up with this. The Mars Rover 4 featured in this picture is of the same MR4 class as the "Spirit of Hellas." This monster is the "Winds of Candor." It was the third of five MR4s of this class. There is no dust, because the Candor is parked. Its visit to Marineris Center is for the purpose of taking on supplies and an exchange of personnel. However, it also will have a thorough maintenance and repair schedule completed as well. My good friend, Dwayne, pointed out that the smell in all of these machines by so much close contact would be terrible. No so! At worst, it would be no worse than in a modern atomic powered submerine or say a destroyer. Technology has provided means for keeping the personnel hygenic and persentable. Granted, though, when they peel out of their marssuits after a long days work outside, they can be pretty rank. Short of an emergency, Martian etiquette requires the stinky one to head straight for the showers. If you ever got a whiff of one of them, you would know why. Even in the much smaller MR6s, they have showers and laundry fascilities, so odors don't usually get out of hand. It is only in the very smaller (relatively speaking) Mars Mules that things begin to become--er, pungent. At the time of this picture, Marineris Center is a much smaller community, most of which is underground. There are about 1500 people living there, making it one of the three largest communities on Mars at that time. It is only 40 years since the first human set foot on Mars. The total population of Mars is around 50,000 people; of which, approximately 23% are native-born Martians. Our "matronaut" Syl is one of the latter, but at this time, she is a teenager working hard at her studies and dreaming of the day when she can join the Martian Exploration Service. "Matronaut" Jane is a young woman in her late twenties and is assigned to the Candor as a geologist technician. She has plans to get out of the lab and into an MR6 and the active "hands on" exploration of this strange, arrid world that she has come to love deeply. The paperwork has been sent through, and her supervisor is confident that it is only a matter of a few months before she will be out in the field. Credits: All buildings and the monorail and train are by Ed Baumgarten. Thanks, Ed, for some very useful models. They are freebies. Ground texture from a picture by NASA's Spirit rover. Terrains taken from a NASA picture. Used Bryce 5.5, PSP 5. Thanks as always for taking the time to look. Jeremy