John Boone was the first Man to walk on Mars and an important member of the First Hundred.

Early life: The First Man on Mars

John was born in the United States of America (Minnesota) in 1983. He befriended Frank when they were both astronauts for NASA in 2010, at which time they were alone together in the American space station. As Frank became head of NASA, John became the captain of the space station. With Frank, he presented the "Mars Apollo" project to the government for the first manned expedition to Mars. He was one of the four members of that expedition and became the first man to walk on Mars. His first words on Mars were "Well, here we are".

The First Hundred and Underhill

Despite his being in the previous expedition and at Frank's dismay, he successfully joined the First Hundred in 2026. On the voyage out, he first became the lover of Maya Toitovna after Frank. As a result and because of political differences, he became progressively estranged with Frank. This love triangle would endure for the rest of John and Frank's lives and would have important consequences on Martian history.

Areoformation and political career

After the Underhill years, he worked for the terraforming effort under Sax Russell in the 2040s. He led a parallel political career. He envisioned a Martian society where all historical cultures from Earth would merge into something totally new, and he invented the term areoformation to describe the process of Mars changing Man. He was a warm and natural leader, ever cheerful and appreciated by nearly everyone, though he was rumored to be anti-Arab and used the drug omegendorph to a level of addiction. His AI was named Pauline.

The areoformation concept, as opposed to the terraformation ideology, made him popular among the Reds and he often kept in touch with Simon Frazier and Ann Clayborne. John had an on again, off again relationship with Maya, rejoining with her on occasional reunions years apart. They both took the longevity treatment for the first time in Acheron in 2048.

His friendship with Arkady Bogdanov allowed him passage to see the secret preparations of a potential revolution against transnational rule of Mars. He investigated the sabotages in the 2040-2050s and was contacted by the instigators, Kasei and Coyote, who made their demands known. Through DNA tests that were made as part of his investigation, John learned that Kasei was his biological son, created without his knowledge by Hiroko Ai. His investigation proved to be a nuisance for UNOMA, who tried to accuse him of murder.

In ca.2055, he organized a festivity in Crater Zp in Olympus Mons in the occasion of the burning of the Amor 2051B asteroid in Mars's atmosphere. John succeeded in a unique reunion of sixty of the First Hundred, including an unexpected visit by the Areophany team, their first public appearance since their going into hiding.

Death

In 2056, after making the inauguration speech for the opening of the tented city of Nicosia, the first city of its kind, he was murdered by a group of Arabs, who acted under the instigation of Frank.

Legacy

His death traumatized the Martian society forever and he was remembered fondly. His followers became the Booneans. His grand-daughter Jackie was a convinced Boonean. For a long time after his death, a festivity was held in Crater Zp every M-year in his memory.

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