Hopeful for the Future Style of Sci-fi

 

Hopeful for the Future Science Fiction.

I wrote this a few years ago, so it's a bit rougher around the edges, but as a nice little addition to the first post on Paws in Portals, I thought I'd throw this one in.    

I always love a good sci-fi story, think Outlaw Star or Cowboy Bebop.  I wanted to take the concept of Mission to Mars and throw in some random elements from shows like those and Martian Successor Nadesico, among other anime that inspired the idea. 

Mars 2095

Introduction

There had been life here. We knew that now. It wasn’t just bacterial life either. It was us. This dusty red rock was origin for humankind. We had apparently done the most amazing coverup in history and never knew until now. What had once been a flourishing society had destroyed itself like we were doing to the Earth.

It was a moment of discovery followed by reflection, regret, and then the inevitable…conquest.  The race to claim what might lay here in the ruins masked by ancient technology and years of weather that had wiped the surface of the planet clean.  Countries and corporations alike made their way as fast as possible to the red planet.

The year was 2063 and this is Mars, our nearest suitable neighbor.  The planet we sent all those rovers, testing equipment, and satellites to for a century.  The god of War up in the sky since ancient times, intriguing us with its red glow.  Now we know it as the true Mars, or “Gaia”, that word from historical cultures for the Earth, or what we thought was our first home.  Everyone still calls it Mars; we reserve Gaia for video games and movies. 

At best estimates it had been 16 million years since we spliced our genes into the creatures of Earth as a genetic experiment.  Our DNA imprinted with our extraterrestrial code.  No wonder we seemed like a parasite for the planet, forcing evolution on an unnatural course and then pushing our history to the same destructive tendencies.  We were not meant to mix with life on Earth.  Perhaps the Martians had hoped one day we would return.  Whatever the reason, we left Earth for space to colonize because we wrought environmental destruction on the Earth that left the atmosphere on a crash course to our own extinction.  

Now that we had returned to our true home planet, the solar system would never be the same.  Initial progress with the technology discovered and information gathered from the ruins showed that we had outposts and colonies on Titan, Enceladus, in the Asteroid Belt, and various other moons of the solar system. Our reach had been vast and missions to other star systems had found extrasolar planets as well.  The Alpha Centauri system had two more colonies as well.  Detectors and displays had shown maps that pinpointed all the different locations.  It was mind-blowing for the scientists and archaeologists working on the project.  Leaders of the world’s larger countries raced to get equipment and manpower to explore those sites.  It was a new age of discovery and exploration bringing wealth to the many and in some cases at the expense of others.

The more mysterious thing about all of this was that everything was in English.  The monitoring systems and complex learning input in the Martian technology had watched, waited, and adapted to the signals from Earth. It had catered itself to our eventual arrival and deemed English the best language to interact with us.

With the push of a button Olympus Mons had thrown aside the covering of dust and what we thought was a mountain transformed into an advanced monumental city not unlike the mystical Camelot of old but steeped in cyberpunk and dystopian shell.  Replete with administrative buildings, temples, and defensive fortifications it was a fortress and a beacon of everything we had been.  Buildings east of the city began pumping oxygen into the atmosphere, as well as creating water from the dust and soil.  Complex molecules seeded the planet and thickened the atmosphere from vast storage facilities belowground.  According to the computer systems operating the technology, it would only take two years to make Mars habitable for our current physiology.  The materials in the construction of the facilities hadn't degraded at all and more buildings around the planet began performing the same terraforming work.

It was a gift at the time of our greatest need to have a second home to alleviate the environmental burdens on Earth.  Everyone began to wonder if it came with a catch, and if so, when would we find out.

Fast forward through the last 32 years to 2095. The computers on Mars initially predicted we would not be the only “survivors” of our kind.  In 2063, it had not detected life at any of the remaining outposts in the solar system maps and had not received signals from Alpha Centauri since civilization on Mars had fallen. 

In 2065 we ventured out to check the outposts on Titan, Enceladus, and Callisto to discover what technology and resources we could find.  The conquest of the solar system by companies and countries of Earth had begun. Little did we know we truly were not alone. Our ancestors had not survived, they had evolved and thrived.

On Titan in 2066 we met the Gattini. This was followed in 2067 by delegates from a Consortium called Atlantea from the moons of Jupiter; Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.  Five years later we ran into the Pyrrk Consortium on Neptune’s moon Triton.  As of 2095, no other groups in our Solar System had been discovered, but we did know there might be a few more from historical records of the Pyrrks and the Atlanteans.

Some of these groups were friendly, others not so much.  When we flipped switches on Mars, technology that the Gattini and Pyrrk never understood began to fire up near their own cities.  Ships had been discovered, terraforming that had stalled continued on other Moons.  In some cases, this posed a threat to populations there that adapted to their current environment.  Genetic Manipulation and Evolutionary adaptations had been advanced among some of those species to make them more humanoid, but also be able to adjust genes to adapt to changing conditions.

By the time we arrived they had already learned English.  Only the Atlanteans were close to one hundred percent human and already knew how to use the ships that the Martians left behind.  They had deemed us advanced enough to warrant coming to Mars to meet with us, as they had been monitoring the solar system with ancient technology for a thousand years.  Their scientists and ours worked side-by-side to unlock the technology of the city we now called Nibiru, after the Babylonian myth.  Their understanding of the ships and resource related needs of the city had been instrumental in our ability to adapt to this new situation humankind had stumbled upon. 

The Gattini were feline-esque with short fur (in most cases), tails, ears, claws, paws (though more human-like than feline), but also more human facial features, like eyes (with larger irises) and human noses and mouths.  They still had sharper fangs too.  Apparently, the Martian computers had genetically modified their DNA based on the overwhelming love for cat-like beasts in their ancient entertainment avenues.  There were of course males and females, similar heights to humans, but mostly average or below height.  They walked bipedal with a slight crouch as you would imagine with their original leg structure but could drop to all fours and outrun most animals still left on Earth handily. They were friendly but tenacious and had jumped at the chance to help discover what lay out in the universe.  They were adept at skillful tasks and their bone structure though light was stronger than a human, much better suited to withstand extra gravity and g-forces, while maintaining graceful movements.

The Pyrrk were the most mysterious.  They kept to themselves and did not seem to want interaction with us or the other two cultures.  They were more of an aquatic species, with a flat nose that allowed breathing under water, webbed hands and feet, and a profound fin on their heads.  Their ears were holes in the sides of their heads, the more complex structure built inside so they could hear clearer underwater as well.  They could still breath in the open air but preferred moist environments and kept their vessels at a balmy 90% humidity. 

The others all mentioned records of an insectoid species that had existed in the recent past (still within 5,000 years) that had visited the Pyrrk and Atlanteans with an air of hostility about them, but we had yet to encounter them. There was no indication they were human or of a shared ancestry. 

For now, we generally lived in a time of peace and discovery, Earth on the rebound thanks to a mass exodus to Mars which now had a population of over a billion.  Trees had started growing, lakes and rivers forming, weather systems appeared, and multiple different cities had popped up all over the planet.  Earth had dropped to a sustainable 5-6 billion people with technology from Mars adapted to help keep the atmosphere in check. 

I had just started a new job as a freighter pilot for an archaeological team heading to Titan to study some of the Gattini history, as they were only cat people for the recent past and were mostly human a few millenia ago.  My co-pilot was a Gattini female named Ikumi, with a calico style, orange, black, and white color scheme patterned all over her.  Her hand or paw pads were black, and she kept her claws sharp. She had been flying for years with her family running supplies between Mars and the Asteroid Belt.  This was her chance to go home and visit her family while furthering her studies through the Martian University on the history of her species. 

The team sitting in the two seats behind us consisted of our lead scientist and professor of archaeology Ethan Sarucci. Even though he was only 27, he was astute and intelligent as you would expect but had a flair for the flamboyant and wore glasses despite not needing them.  He had grown up on Earth in Seattle but had moved to Mars for schooling at 18.  By 23 he had proven his worth and received a doctorate in alien studies and human history. He was average height and build, a little skinny, with his hair in a top-knot style man-bun a la the 2010's. 

The last member of their team was 29-year-old, tough as nails Atlantean female Marella, our science and tech officer.  She was taller than me at around 5’ 11” to my 5’ 10” and was a lean, mean, fighting machine.  She also knew martial arts and was a dead shot with a blaster (yes, we had laser weapons now, though they were clunky, and people still preferred explosive bullet weapons).  She was relatively quiet compared to the other two but had at least opened up to them a little bit despite her gruff personality in the weeks before the mission started. 

The ship we were on, his family’s ship, the Pinta, was named after the fastest ship in Columbus’ fleet.  His father hated Columbus but loved the name.  It was about 50 meters long, sleek, and graceful looking, with living quarters for six, a full kitchen area, two refreshing stations, and a medium sized cargo bay that held a small fighter-esque exploration craft and all their cargo and measuring equipment as well as workstations built in at the fore end and on the sides for various scientific and archaeological processing.  The trip to Titan would take about two weeks with the new Lockheed Fusial Thrust X-7500 engines designed based off a Martian ship’s sub-light engines.  We still had not been able to figure out lightspeed engines, nor did the computer systems seem to let us access them at present on the Martian vessels.

Finally, my name is Setzer Volante, born on Mars, 5’10”, attended University on Earth at Michigan, degree in Astronomy and Astronavigation. My family was one of the first to move to Mars and study all she had to offer, and we have been fortunate to make a good living and own our own ship.  My parents live in Century Plaza about 45 minutes by airjet to Niburu.  I’m fit but not buff, don’t know martial arts, wear sunglasses from the year 2020, and love to fly.

“What’s the holdup already, nya” Ikumi frowned at me from the co-pilots seat.  Her whiskers twitching with irritation.  I had known her for a while before the mission. There wasn't a patient bone in her body.  Her tail twitched with agitation.

“Just waitin’ to see when you’ll get impatient about not taking off.  Looks like the time has come”, I flashed her a mischievous grin while firing up the engines and lifting the Pinta gently into the air above the spaceport platform.  The bluesky had a few whisps of clouds in it today over Nibiru.  It was still hard to fathom within a few decades we had an almost fully functioning ecosystem on Mars.

Ethan piped in, “Just to let you know; we have two weeks to not get on each other’s nerves until we reach Palas” he looked over with one eye open and one eye shut at me as we accelerated up into the sky. 

Marella huffed in exasperation at him, which prompted a “Hey!” in response followed by a smirk from the Atlantean. 

The Pinta hurtled up into the upper reaches of the Martian atmosphere and into space, I set the course for Titan and let the computer do the rest as we settled in for the journey.