TTMARS-02

Published by Ablaze Publishing, 11222 SE Main St. #22906 Portland, OR 97269. TRAVELING TO MARS, created by Mark Russell and Roberto “Dakar” Meli © 2022 Arancia Studio s.n.c., Mark Russell. All rights reserved. Ablaze TM & © 2022 ABLAZE, LLC. All rights reserved. For the English edition: © 2022 ABLAZE, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Ablaze and its logo TM & © 2022 Ablaze, LLC. All Rights Reserved. All names, characters, events, and locales in this publication are entirely ﬁctional. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events or places, without satiric intent is coincidental. No portion of this book may be reproduced by any means (digital or print) without the written permission of Ablaze Publishing except for review purposes. Printed in Canada. For advertising email: info@ablazepublishing.com

presents cover artists Roberto Meli, Flaviano, Luca Merli & Brent McKee WRITER MARK RUSSELL ARTIST ROBERTO

COLoRIST

Traveling To Mars is proudly produced at Arancia Studio, Torino, Italy • #weArancia ARANCIA STUDIO S.N.C. • Davide G.G. Caci: Chief Executive Officer • Andrea Meloni: Chief Creative Officer • Davide Morando: Chief Operating Officer • Mirka Andolfo: Art Director Giulia Dell’Accio: Executive Assistant • Fabrizio Verrocchi: Design and Communication Guru Fabio Amelia: Editorial Production Manager • Antonio Solinas: Talent Relations Manager • Luca Blengino: Senior Editor • Damiano Tessarolo: Junior Editor • Daniele Mittica: Project Manager Elena Fontana: Talent Relations, Editorial Assistant • Anna Vittoria Aiello: Administrative Assistant • Fulvio Gambotto: Special Projects For licensing email: licensing@aranciastudio.com ARANCIASTUDIO.COM For Ablaze Managing Editor Rich Young Editor Kevin Ketner Assistant Editor Amy Jackson Designers Rodolfo Muraguchi & Cinthia Takeda EDITOR Davide G.G. CACI LETTERER Mattia Gentili LOGO and book DESIGN FABRIZIO VERROCCHI Traveling to Mars #2.

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"DAKAR" MELI

CHIARA DI FRANCIA

July 10, 2048.

Fishing around on the computer, I found out why my ship is called the Erimhon.

Erimhon was the name of an ancient Celtic King.

As a young prince, he was traveling abroad with his brothers when they received the news that the king had died

Unable to agree on which of them should inherit the throne, the brothers decided upon a race. The first among them to touch the native soil of their homeland would succeed their father as king.

Land came into view and Erimhon just about lost his corn when he saw that he was gonna lose the race.

The deal was no sooner struck than the princes hopped in their boats and made for home.

They paddled to the point of exhaustion. To lighten their loads, the crews threw everything but the family dog overboard.

So you know what that squirrely son-of-a-bitch did? He gave his sword to a warrior and ordered the man to chop off his hand

Presumably, his non-throwing hand

Because, with his remaining hand, Erimhon picked up the severed appendage…

…and hurled it onto shore.

So when his brothers made landfall, Erimhon’s bloody hand was already there, waiting for them

Alas...

And that’s how Erimhon became king

At first, when I read the story, I thought maybe they named the spacecraft the Erimhon as a flattery.

To suggest that I was about to become a king of some kind.

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