The RX-M safely passes through the Martian atmosphere and lands. The next morning the crew, clad in aviation oxygen masks due to the low atmospheric pressure, begin exploring the desolate surface. They come across physical evidence of a now dead advanced Martian civilization: a partially buried-in-the-sand, stylized, Art Deco (or Tiki culture) like metal face sculpture and in the distance Moderne architecture-like ruins. Their Geiger counter registers dangerous radiation levels, keeping them well away; from those dangerous levels, it is clear that there was once an atomic war on Mars in the distant past.