Martian Grassland[Open]

Castor pulled the red and blue strips of cloth higher up on his face, blocking the blowing dust from entering his mouth and nose. Despite the goggles over his eyes, he couldn't see much through the dust cloud. He just had to wait a moment for it to pass. These small dust storms were common and frequent on the Martian plain, but they were also short lived.

As soon as the dust stopped blowing, he removed the goggles and strips of cloth from his face and resumed his watch over the grassland. He called it a grassland because that was the only plant that grew here. It was a monoculture of a single variety of grass used back on Earth in lawns, adapted to survive in the dry, sandy nutrient-deficient soil of Mars. It grew in small clumps, two feet wide on average and a foot and half upward at most. The clumps had spread over a rather large area since Castor had planted the first few plugs years ago.

It was his own personal ecosystem. Projects like this were happening all around New Starhaven. Scientists were trying to accelerate the terraforming of Mars by introducing plants and animals from Earth in groups as predetermined ecosystems. The goal was for the ecosystems to adapt, become self-sustaining and eventually to spread and verge with all the others.

Castor's grassland was an imitation of the African plain from Earth, if on a miniature scale. After the grass had established itself well as a food source, he introduced insects to feed on the grass. After that he introduced lizards and mice to act as predators for the insects. Then as the apex predator, he introduced cats. They didn't have much to work with, having only what was in the city of Starhaven at the time of The Blight. But it was expected that the animals from Earth would adapt and fill all of the niches of Earth's many ecosystems. It was just a matter of introducing each creature, monitoring them and giving them time to balance out in their ecosystem. 

The grassland had changed quite a bit over the last few years. The difference in gravity between Earth and Mars seemed to be the biggest force for change. Within one generation, the cats, mice and lizards were growing taller, their legs and spines elongated with less weight on them. This wasn't really an adaptation. The animals were simply growing as they had on Earth but with less gravity. Castor guessed this would balance out soon enough. There hadn't been enough time for other environmental adaptations. But behavioral adaptations were in full swing. All of the animals had burrows. Mice on Earth had dug tunnels through the top soil for safe travel. But the lizards and cats had done so as well. The cats in particular had become quite sensitive to the signs of oncoming dust storms and would retreat to their burrows before the storms hit. 

It was amazing really. His little ecosystem was thriving and spreading. He hadn't seen any of the cats yet on this particular expedition. He had seen the small movements of mice and lizards between tufts of grass but nothing larger.

Then he saw something. He stayed crouched so as not to disturb it. It was big, at least the size of a cat, but obscured by the grasses. It was walking around with its head down. As he watched it move, he realized it was much bigger than any of the cats that lived here. He began to grow nervous. He was aware of what other animals had been introduced to Mars and which ones might be looking for food in his grassland. The cat may be the apex predator in this micro-ecosystem. But ecosystems were often much more complicated than that.

The animal lifted its head. A dog. And it had caught his scent. It spotted him always immediately. It let out a howl and began stalking slowly forward. Within seconds, a pack of dogs were surrounding him, baring their teeth and growling. Castor had his sword as always on these expeditions. He stood and drew it, trying to look threatening. He knew he could take a few of them, but if they all jumped on him and started ripping, he didn't stand a chance.