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Marianne DuBois ran her fingers through her short, dark hair. She was used to keeping everything under complete control, but the pervasive, caustic, Martian dust wreaked havoc on her carefully and perfectly coiffed hair.
There was much she already loved about her new life on Mars, but it took all of her willpower to look in the mirror before leaving her apartment.
She sighed and told herself to concentrate on the positive. Her apartment, close to the bottom of the one of the cliffs of the Valles Marineris, was small but efficiently furnished and generously supplied with state-of-the-art appliances. More importantly, it was well ventilated to keep out the stench of Martian dust. She considered it perfect for the time being.
The first thing she did when she moved in was to cl
