All Tomorrows
A Billion Year Chronicle of the Myriad Species and Varying Fortunes of Man
Nemo Ramjet
To Mars
After millennia of earthbound foreplay, Mankind's achievements on a noteworthylevel began with its political unification and the gradual colonization of Mars. While thetechnology to colonize this world had existed for some time, political bickering, shiftingagendas and the sheer inertia of comfortable, terrestrial usurping had made this stepseem more distant than it actually was. Only when the risks clearly began to present themselves, only when Earth'senvironment began to buckle under the strain of twelve billion industrialized souls, didMankind finally take up the momentous task.All through the decades, traveling to, and later settling on Mars had beenenvisioned as quick, relatively easy affairs; complicated but feasible and manageable inshort term. As the push finally came to a shove, it was realized that this was not thecase.It had to go step by step. Atmospheric bombardment by genetically-tailoredmicrobes slowly generated a breathable atmosphere in a cycle that took centuries. Later,a few cometary fragments were knocked off-course to bring forth seas, oceans; water.When the wait was finally over, remnants of Earth's flora and fauna were introduced asspecially-modified Martian remakes.When everything was ready, people came from their crowded world. They came inone-way ships; fusion rockets and atmospheric gliders, packed to the brim with colonists,sleeping in dreams of a new beginning.The first steps on Mars were taken not by astronauts, but by barefoot children onsynthetic grass.
The Martian Americans
For several hundred years Mars remained as a backwater; prospering but still dimcompared to the splendor of Earth, which was glowing brighter than ever before. Thanksto the relocation of environmentally demanding industries to Mars, Earth could usurpeverything, without having to damage its tired biosphere. This was the TerrestrialHeyday; the climax of economic, cultural and social development on old Earth.This, however, was not to last. Like the gradual separation of America from herColonial mother, the governments of Mars adopted a new, Martian identity. They becamethe Martian Americans.The difference between Earth and the Mars was not only political. A fewgenerations in the lighter gravity gave the new Americans a spindly, lithe frame thatwould look surreal in their old home. This, combined with a certain amount of geneticengineering, took the Martians' separation to a new level.For a while the silent schism between the two planets was mutually accepted, andthe balance of power hung in an edgy equilibrium. But the Terra-Martian standoff did not,could not last forever. With limitless resources and an energetic population, Mars wasbound to take the lead.
Civil War
The Martian turnover was expected to occur in two ways; either through long-termeconomical gains or by a much shorter but painful armed conflict. For almost twohundred years, the former method seemed to take effect, but this gradual stretcheventually did break in a most destructive way.Almost since its establishment, Martian culture was suffused with an explicittheme of rebellion against Earth. Songs, motion pictures and daily publications repeatedthese notions again and again until they became internalized. Earth was the old, ossifiedhome that held humanity back, while Mars was new; dynamic, active and inventive. Marswas the future.This ideology eventually reached its semi-paranoid, revolutionary apex. Roughly athousand years from now, the nations of Mars banned all non-essential trade and travelwith Earth.For Earth, it was a death sentence. Without the resources and industries of Mars,the Terrestrial Heyday would quickly devolve into a pale shadow of its former glory. Sincea trade of essential goods continued, nobody would starve. But for every citizen of Earth,the Martian boycott meant the loss of up to three fourths of their yearly income.Earth had no choice but to reclaim its former privileges, by force if necessary.Centuries after her political unification, Terra geared up for war.Most thinkers (and fantasists) of previous times had imagined interplanetary waras a glorious, fast paced spectacle of massive spaceships, one-man fighters and lastminute heroics. No fantasy could have been further from the truth. War between planetswas a slow, nerve-wracking series of precisely timed decisions that spelled destruction onbiblical scales.Most of the time the combatants never saw each other. Most of the time thecombatants were not there at all. War became a duel between complicated, autonomousmachines programmed to maximize damage to the other side while trying to last a littlelonger.Such a conflict caused horrendous destruction on both sides. Phobos, one of Mars'moons, was shattered, and rained down as meteorite hail. Earth received a polar impactthat killed of one third of its population.Barely escaping extinction, the peoples of Earth and Mars made peace and reforged a united solar system. It had cost them more than eight billion souls.
