The Firebird of Koschei the Deathless
You know, I often wish I had a long green flying-cloak I could use to summon springtide, or, better yet, terraform Mars. Then, I could merely swoop through the thin, chilly skies of that rust-locked planet, or soar down the Valles Marineris, or overtop the Everest-shaming grandeur of Olympus Mons, and spread a sylvan garden, kingly with oak, gorgeous with grass, flower-gemmed and rich with heavy pinelands clad, flowing in my wake, and butterflies would be my heralds.
The only drawback of the terrforming Mars by the sylph-cloak method, of course, is the risk of rousing the wrath of the Firebirds, the lava-based life-forms native to Mars, who brood in their malice in the dead volcano craters of that remote, blood-red orb.
Any members of the NASA terrforming team using magical sylphcloaks to plant earthlife on the Red Planet, will, of course, each be issued her enchanted Finnish stag, whose breath can revive the dead. We are hoping the Russian space agency will provide them.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
