If things were different,
not a lot different but a little different,
we'd already know.
The images would have long been returned,
the chemical analyses long since finished.
No doubt, after more pleasurable grunts
kilos of soil would be examined
from Irkutsk to Leningrad,
from Minsk to Baku,
from Gdansk to Sofia,
and Bolshoi Mir.
In Moscow the results would be heralded:
"Phobos proven captured", or
"Phobos a piece of Mars", or
surprise of surprises
"Shklovksy Correct!!!".
If things were different,
if history were more flexible,
a bug found here, a wire soldered there,
a paradrop here, a coup attempt there,
the EVAs would be planned
and soon Andropov Base will rise
on the edge of Stickney.
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