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After The Dissolve and the death of the Neighbors, humans had no hope beyond colonization on Mars. The terraforming had begun a century before and...
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Iria:
I duck out from beneath the viridian foliage and view the sunrise. That same sun I felt on Earth, cuts through the acidic clouds to beam its kaleidoscopic refractions against what we once called The Red Planet. We now call it home.
I swallow its warmth with my exposed skin, knowing the celestial that washes my childhood memories in toasted hues of summertime, now rives through my flesh. It's something many have chosen to forget, believing in Mar's protection like Emerald City believed in Oz.
The air in me is suctioned from my lungs. I labor another breath, and I am assailed with washes of cold and burning air. My body folds. I roll and look up to see the sky warring with darkness. Then, the first bird falls and crunches beside me, its beak broken toward the mourning sun.
Britt:
I have spent so many years in the tunnels; I don't miss the light anymore, but I do miss crisp air not burdened with dust. Tonight, I wake, thinking strangely about a walk above. Then, like my imagination beckons reality, light splits through the eternal black.
The light disappears again. I leap from my bunk & grab my gun. Rhett & I position in the doorway. My heart is pushing faster, but I remain calm, knowing intruders cannot see in the dark like we have learned to. Then there are screams. Oh god, they can see. They can see.
I can't keep my laser on them. They run along the walls and ceiling, & with one swipe of their razored hand, they strike down guards. The sound of the claws catching on skin & tendons & then ripping through with a liquid gush floods into my ears and disables me.
Wes:
When we started colonizing Mars in 2241, it wasn't humans that adapted to the environment first.
Humans pushed too far, too fast. They hadn't learned all they'd need to know about The Red Planet. Their time on Earth was up; they had no choice but to leave their now oxygen-starved and resource-depleted rock.
With their lack of forethought, humans quickly became substandard by the harsh radiation. They withered without the protection of their domestic atmosphere. Had they more quickly learned from us, perhaps they wouldn't be portrayed in the art that hangs from our walls.
