Chute for Mars

摘要

The cramped room smells of hot breath. About 50 people are clustered in front of a floor-to-ceiling window, straining for a better view of the desert outside. The silence is only broken when one of them muffles a cough with the crook of his arm, a gesture that exposes the dark stain at his armpit. Down on the ground outside, gleaming pickup trucks mingle with dusty cars, all with their windows down so that the glass doesn't shatter with the force of what's coming next.