West o' Mars

A salesman visits an isolated, wealthy architect living beneath a protective dome on Mars and smokes cigars while they debate whether a woman's influence drives men's achievements. The architect recounts his dream to build an audacious dome-city, his tendency to gamble for quick gains, and an encounter with a pale, enigmatic woman and her father whose act yields impossibly consistent coin and dice results. The present-day hospitality unfolds into a flashback that clarifies the architect's motives and solitude. The narrative explores obsession, the tension between chance and design, and the emotional costs of realizing visionary projects in seclusion.