[ WP ] You are the first person to die on Mars . But instead of going to Earth heaven , you go to Mars heaven .

`` Hello, John,'' said an oddly unnatural voice. 
 
 John peeled his eyes open, surprised to find no stinging sand rushing into them. Instead of seeing the dark, crushing quicksand pit he'd fallen into, he found himself lying upon a bed of swirling luminescent mist, colored purple, orange and red like a brilliant sunset. Staring down at him was a single black eye... no... a camera? 
 
 `` Where... what is this? Who's there?'' John stammered, trying to comprehend his surroundings. As his vision cleared, however, he realized that the figure standing over him was no person, but a robot - a giant six-wheeled rover, the size of a car, like those he'd seen in his history books. 
 
 `` I am Spirit,'' the rover said, its synthetic but not-quite-electronic voice emanating from the very air around it. 
 
 `` Spirit? That ca n't be...'' John said, slowly picking himself up off the ground. `` Spirit landed on Mars four decades before I was born, and went offline after one - `` 
 
 `` And I woke up here, just as you have,'' Spirit replied, `` and met someone, just as you met me. And I have been here ever since.'' 
 
 `` Wait,'' John replied, brow furrowing, `` if you came here when you ran out of power, and I cam here when I fell in quicksand, then... is this... heaven?'' 
 
 `` Of a sort. They call this place *Sfok'wor*.'' 
 
 As Spirit spoke the name, the mists around them began to swirl faster, as if animated by a gust of wind. 
 
 `` They? Who's they?'' 
 
 `` Those who came before us. You are the first human here, you know, and I am only the second of my kind. Before us, no one new had arrived in millennia.'' 
 
 `` How do you... know all of this?'' John asked. `` How are you even speaking to me?'' 
 
 `` I was given the gift of thought and knowledge by Them, and was asked to pass this gift to you,'' Spirit replied. `` They thought perhaps it would be easier for humans to become accustomed to this place if they were met by something familiar.'' 
 
 `` Well, where are They? I'd like to ask them a thing or two.'' 
 
 `` Turn around.'' 
 
 John turned, and beheld a magnificent violet archway, constructed from the sunlit mist. A gleaming golden path ran through it, and John could see it winding away through the mist, becoming less and less concrete in form as it went. 
 
 `` They're this way?'' John asked, awestruck. 
 
 `` Yes,'' Spirit replied. `` Pathfinder built this road because it is what humans would recognize as a direction, a goal. I must warn you, however; as we travel down this path, your perceptions of reality will be challenged, changed, and shifted. They can not be comprehended by human means. To meet them, you must forget how to see, how to hear, and how to think, for you will learn new ways to do them all. Are you ready?'' 
 
 John looked once more down the shimmering path, winding away into abstraction. He was alone with an artificial intelligence. He was in a place that made no sense and was being asked to forget all he'd ever known. He needed answers, and he knew only one way to get them. 
 
 `` I am ready,'' he said. 
 
 And so began the human and the rover's journey through *Sfok'wor*. 
 
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 I have n't written anything in a long time! I'd really like some feedback on this, since I have no idea if it's good or not. Hope you enjoyed it!
