[ WP ] We finally get men on Mars and they discover an old Soviet flag placed down decades ago . The Soviets won the space race but for whatever horrifying reason did n't say anything .

I do n't even know how we found it. Mars is a big planet, albeit not as big as Earth, but we did. The scythe and hammer. The questions flowed through my head at lightspeed. Why did n't the Soviets tell us what happened? Actually, why did n't they tell their people? Nobody knows. It seems that all known people who worked on Soviet space program disappeared. 
 
 The discovery shocked the world more than the fact that we've actually reached Mars. There was a Russian on our team, Michail, and when we saw that half-bleached pink cloth, and found the hammer and scythe on it he laughed and said `` Vot syka, ebat' menya v zhopy''. No idea what that meant - but he was more shocked than me. 
 
 We got a message to NASA right away - they wanted to keep it a secret but I threatened to tell everyone, so they actually released the information. All the news channels were flooded for a whole week. The Internet exploded with conspiracy theories and reused jokes. Russian government issued a statement that they `` had not a single idea of how it was possible'' and Putin, probably the only bastard on the planet who remembers USSR, was asked about it on his visit to Washington. 
 
 While we were on Mars we did what you'd expect the Mars expedition to do - collected more samples, ran diagnostics, all that boring stuff. But every so often we would find some more evidence of the Soviet landing - a piece of radio equipment, a footprint in a cave or a buried used nuclear reactor. During the entire mission I felt that what I wanted to do my all life - something that nobody ever done before - was actually done seemingly a century ago. It was n't something extraordinary - it was a second place, a `` participation trophy''. 
 
 When I was going through a cave to collect some underground samples, I found... a glove. A fucking glove. On Mars. I wanted to go back and tell the others, but then I noticed the owner. He had his helmet shattered to tiniest pieces, but the face was preserved in the vacuum. I could make out all the features, the mole on his right cheek, the frozen eyes and dark brown hair. It was as if he died only hours ago. The suit had a Soviet red flag on it, but it was a very good one, not much different from what Russia used at the beginning of the 21st century. 
 
 I was startled by the body, and forgot completely about calling the others. What happened to this guy? Was it an accident, or something more? I decided to go deeper into the cave. I know, stupid, how did I become an astronaut with this stupidity. But would n't you want to know? It's Mars, this was one of the first people to set foot on it, and he dies in a cave with a glove torn from the suit? Hardly seems likely. So, I started going. It was n't easy. They cave was n't fit for a spacesuit, so the pace was slow. But after about 10 minutes of crouching and walking I reached the end. That was it. The cave just ended, like they do on Earth. Except there was a sample collector in the wall. It was full, but untouched. The dead guy did find his way to the end of the cave, just like I did. But why did n't he take the samples? Why was his glove torn off near the entrance? 
 
 I did n't want to waste time to take the new samples, so I just took the Soviet ones. It's important to not waste anything in space, okay? When I picked it up, the dust flew all around the cave. Yeah, imagine forgetting your laptop in a cave on Mars for a century, see how dusty it gets. I went back to crouch and walk to the top. As I reached the entrance, I saw a silhouette of one of my crew mates. `` Help me out with this one, will ya?'' I said. Little did I notice, that the dead astronaut was gone. Well, not gone. I still saw him. He was standing in the entrance, his silhouette black against the bright red sands of Mars...
