“I want you to have it, Freddy. It would make me happy, and my father, to know it was in good hands.” He just stood there speechless, for a few moments. “What about you? I mean this is your home.” Jann looked around again, slowly this time. “For a long time I thought of this place, this Earth, as my home. But now as I look around, all I see is what’s not there anymore, what’s gone.
I now understand that home is not about place, it’s about people. Coming here finally made me realize—my home is Mars.”
You’re too nice. Nills. You believe that humans are genuinely good. But in my experience, everybody wants something, and it's generally not your well being. He found it hard to be that cynical, even if there was a grain of truth in it.
...
“There it is, Colony One.” “Ahh, the fabled El Dorado of the solar system.” “What was that?” “It’s what some people on Earth call it, El Dorado. The legendary cursed city of gold.”
...
She thought of home, of her father’s farm. How she longed to walk the hills again, in the fresh clean air, with no need for EVA suits and life support. All the things the Earthlings took for granted. They didn’t know how good they had it, always wanting to go one step beyond. How she would love to swim in a lake again, like when she was a kid. Those were happier times. How she missed them, the simple things: air, water, grass—and family. All gone now...
...
Finally, Dr. Foster spoke. “You’re playing a very dangerous game. Billions of lives are at stake here, you seem to forget that.” Jann leaned in to the table. “Did we create this monster that is raging across the planet? No, Earth did. Did we start this war of worlds? No, Earth did. Did we seek to enslave the people of Earth? No, but they want to do that to us. You’re right, Dr. Foster, this is a dangerous game. If you want to start a war, then you best be prepared for the consequences if you lose. We didn’t start this, but we’re sure as hell going to finish it.”
...
On the side of the small craft was emblazoned the newly designed Mars flag. It was not unlike the Japanese flag, a red disk on a white background. However, this had two smaller disks, one on either side of the main one. These represented Phobos and Deimos.
...
It would be like it had always existed. It seemed to work, as the emblem now popped up everywhere. A number of colonists had already scratched the flag out on the surface of the crater. Large enough to be seen by hi-res satellite. Images of the colony were now flooding back to Earth to feed the insatiable interest in Mars, which had now reached fever pitch since the UN resolution.
...
Those on Earth that were infected and had survived would now have the same physical benefits that Jann and the colonists on Mars had, fast healing, longevity. They would presumably be the new elite. The bacteria had been eradicated but she had no doubt that samples had been saved and stored in labs all across the planet. How humanity would deal with the consequences of this event would be for historians to report.
...
Speculation abounded as to how this event could alter the course of human evolution. Was this the point were the genus of Homo sapiens forked and diverged, with a kind of new super race branching off from its root? Who could say? But there was no question that things would ever be the same again. It was estimated that, at its peak, over fourteen million people had been infected. A significant number, but still less than 0.2 percent of the global population. Of that number, a significant portion had been radically altered biologically, upward of four million, and another six million to a lesser degree. The big question now was, could this superhuman trait be passed on, could it be inherited?
...
Extract from the First Book of Martian Poetry, by Xenon Hybrid, President of Mars. Extravehicular activity (EVA)
Enclosed, encased, encapsulated
No sound, save for breath and beat
No touch nor taste nor scent
Senses reflected
Like radar echo
Returned unanswered
By mylar and metal
To see, but not to be
To know through proxy only
This world, this planet
This Mars.
Reproduced by kind permission of the Government of Mars and The Greater Martian Territories.