((What about that funny little ostrich guy from that short story? Expedition to Mars, or something? With the black tentacle creature that makes illusions and the big silicon-based gray lump and the ostrich guy that said, "You one-one-two, he two-two-four"? Naw, let's not, it'll just make up more required reading. But still, he was a funny little ostrich-thingy.))
EDIT: Here's a character for you. This is one of Raka's four ship-mates(cylider-mates?) on the first pod. Raka is in the first pod, see. His co-pilot is Oorl, age 73, a flying-machine pilot and war veteran from the southern hemisphere. Not unlike Raka, Oorl did not expect to be launched out of a large-scale hydrogen accelerator, despite the fact that he already knew about the project. He assumed that he was being assigned to a top-secret mission to combat the Tharks. Obviously, his assumption was wrong. Oorl feels that the invasion of Earth was uncalled for, and he has always stuck to the belief that the Martian race should be colonizing Earth's moon, where the less advanced Selenites reside. Oorl is absolutely certain that project Blue Star is a suicide mission and will fail tremendously. Why does he think this? Because there are so many humans. As you can gather, the seasoned veteran has little faith left in Martian technology. He predicts that if the suspension pod is not blown up by the incredibly savage and hostile humans within hours of landing, the bipedal vermin will rush him and his ship-mates, tearing apart their flesh with their bare hands. Even if by some miracle they manage to get a fighting machine constructed, the humans will climb up the legs of the tripod, smash up the cockpit, and rip up the Martian fleshes like the vicious, deranged little buggers they are.
Whew! See if you can wade your way through that wall of text!

Now, Martian Overlord characters, anyone? I need some people to fill in the positions of the other three crew members on the first pod. Man, I'm so hyped about this. I'll turn on the Jeff Wayne musical. Dun dun dun DUN dun DUN, dun dun dun dun DUN dun.....