Mp'sj's Ark

Many thousands of years ago, the civilization of Mars was at its peak. 
Mighty cargo ships travelled the network of canals, trading goods
between the big Martian cities.

However, all was not well, morally speaking.  The rich Martian merchants
were immoral, exploiting the poor as minimum wage slaves and letting
people starve to death rather than let them buy food at less than its
market price.  Social deprivation led to violent crime, drug smuggling,
and prostitution.

God was not pleased.  He spoke unto a Martian man named Mp'sj, and said:
"There is much evil on Mars.  I will not put up with it any longer.  I
shall bring down a great rain, and the canals will overflow and the
land will be flooded.  You, Mp'sj, must build a giant ship and fill it
with every Martian creature, from the lowly Niyaw to the mighty
Wk'wogsbr, so that they will survive to re-populate Mars and start
anew once the flood subsides."

So Mp'sj set to work and built a mighty Martian ark.  His neighbours
ridiculed him, pointing out that his house was miles from the nearest
canal, but he kept on working.

Finally, as Mp'sj's ark was nearing completion, it began to rain.  The
rain grew stronger and stronger, and the waters of the canals began to
rise. Mp'sj hurriedly collected samples of all the Martian wildlife
and loaded them into the Ark as the rain continued relentlessly.

After some weeks of the deluge, nothing was left of the Martian
civilization. Mp'sj steered his ark warily.  His food supplies were
running low.  Finally, he saw the tip of mighty Olympus Mons in the
distance, and set a course.  On the verge of starvation, he beached
the ark on the top of the mountain.

The sun began to shine, and there was a beautiful rainbow across the
sky as Mp'sj lowered the gangplank and started unloading the ark.  And
so Mp'sj led the Martian animals from the ark, animals of every Martian
species.

One of each.

mathew