Harry, Gene and Ivan, Jacques and Lee Kwan Yu,
off to see what they can find amongst the red sand dunes.
Beam back TV pictures for all the folks back home,
show ‘em what it’s really like within the Ruined Zone.

See the crumbling pyramids, the bone-dry river beds,
Elysium’s eroding, a billion years of death.
Just another planet surviving on its dreams,
hologram illusions of things that might have been.

Time to go back home now, rejoin the mother ship,
analyze your findings and evaluate your trip.
Deciphering inscriptions, computer screen gives birth;
green words softly glowing: “Is there life on Earth?”