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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Science Fiction
- Subject: Science / Science Fiction
- Published: 09/09/2023
Earthers, Luners and Martians
Adult, F, from Sydney, AustraliaThe President of Mars stood up and addressed the Martians seated before her. Kate was gravely concerned at recent events between the Earthers, Luners and Martians. Humanity had left the Earth using the SpaceX program and established colonies on the Moon and Mars. At first, the supply lines were running smoothly and both colonies were at peace with the Earthers. However, lately, political unrest had emerged on Earth, with the largest population there questioning why the colonies couldn’t take care of themselves. With climate change affecting the Earth’s agricultural means of production, the food supply had dwindled and the Earthers wanted to keep most of the food and water to themselves. Although the Moon and Mars colonies were recycling everything, they still needed supplies from the Earth.
“Martians,” she projected into the loudspeaker, “we are here today to discuss peaceful negotiations with the Earthers. We have no intention of going to war with them.” Someone in the audience shouted out obscenities in an angry voice. They were feeling hungry and irritable. The next supply ship was meant to land tomorrow but if there were any more delays, she worried that there would be a riot on Mars. This was the first time there had been unrest on Mars. The glass domes perched on the red sand stood proudly around the central business district of the city of Nüwa. Some of the citizens enjoyed playing online games such as Mars Colony Builder or Surviving Mars (Similar to SIM City). As President, Kate wished they would spend more time on activities to improve the conditions in the colony in real life.
When the Martians became bored, some of them would wander out of their glass domes, heads covered with breathing apparatus and search the red desert, looking for anything unusual to collect. She didn’t know what they expected to find. Everything was recycled and very little was discarded into the desert, as items were precious on this planet. In any case, there were trip hazards, and the craters were dangerous. Some citizens had fallen into deep craters and become casualties, unable to be retrieved. She noticed it was the teens always taking a chance and stretching the boundaries of the Mars Constitution.
Kate had been in contact with Joe, the President of Earth, and Meg, the President of the Moon. They would hold monthly Zoom calls to discuss matters pertinent to humanity. The discussions had been getting heated of late, with Joe threatening to send a nuclear bomb on a rocket up to the Moon, if they didn’t get into line. The Earth was the most habitable planet with the richest resources and able to host a larger population, whereas the populations on the Moon and Mars were tightly controlled, including birth control, so that they didn’t exceed the capacity available to them. Lately, Joe had wanted to start sending criminals up to Mars, similar to how England had sent criminals on ships to the red deserts of Australia. Of course, in the case of Australia, the colonies had ended up mainly on the east and west coasts rather than in the middle of a desert, where water was scarce. On Mars, three cities had been founded: Nüwa, Abalos and Marineris.
Kate finished her speech with aplomb and the Martians mostly applauded her plan. She would need to consult with the House of Representatives, as she didn’t make any decisions in an authoritative way. She was a President of the people, always considering what was best for those she was responsible for and represented. It was hard being a leader in these times. Kate walked off the stage and greeted the leaders standing behind the stage.
Her Assistant, Sally, came running up and whispered that Joe was on the satellite phone and needed to speak to her urgently. Kate excused herself and rushed to the phone.
“Hello, Kate. It’s Joe here. We have a problem.”
“What sort of problem are you referring to, Joe?”
“Well, the rockets with your water supply have been delayed on the Moon.”
“Delayed? Why have they been delayed? My people need that water tomorrow. We are running low on supplies. There is only so much water we can recycle. You know that we can’t recycle 100% of the water into drinking water.” The pitch and intonation of her voice went up.
“I know, I know. However, the Luners are holding it ransom as they said they needed it more than the Martians.” Kate listened and was aghast.
“But, but the Moon is an intermediary planet that the water has to travel to before it reaches us. We don’t have the technology and enough fuel for rockets to fly directly from Earth to Mars. When will they realise this?” She stammered.
“There isn’t much I can do, but I will try and talk to Meg again.”
“Joe, let me call her. We have a special relationship.” With that she said goodbye and called her Assistant to set up a call with Meg on the Moon. Shortly after, she was on a call with Meg.
“Hi Meg, it’s Kate. I hear that there is a problem with the water delivery system. Please can you explain what the holdup is?” This was followed by a defining silence.
“Meg, Meg can you hear me?” she asked again.
“Yes, I… can… hear… you,” Meg replied slowly. She seemed to be considering her words and choosing them carefully, as a typical politician would do.
“Well, what is the holdup? We can’t wait longer than a week.”
“We won’t be sending any water up to Mars any longer. The ocean water purifiers that remove the salt and produce fresh drinking water, have reduced their output on Earth. There is only enough for two planets over the next month.”
“Nonsense! We can all ration our water usage and still have enough to go around. It will be like the rationing in England during World War II. Then we can all survive. What am I meant to tell my people? We will have a riot here soon.” Kate sighed. Her anger was abating as a feeling of helplessness overtook her. Then she switched gears into threatening mode.
“If you don’t send those rockets up with water tomorrow, I will be sending my troops down to the Moon and they will forcefully remove our intended water from you. This is your last chance.”
More silence followed. Then Kate heard a distinct click as the satellite phone disconnected. Kate started going red in the face with suppressed anger. She immediately called the House of Representatives together for an emergency summit.
They agreed to act, and the Martian Special Forces were deployed to the Moon on five rockets, with empty cannisters, ready to collect the water that was due to them. As they neared the Moon, a warning was given to the Pilots to keep their distance, but they didn’t stop. They had been tasked by the President to collect their water supply. The Moon’s defences fired a warning shot, but it was ignored by the Martians. Then they proceeded to target the five rockets. A fiery battle ensued, with laser guided missiles being fired in both directions. All five rockets were shot and exploded in a matter of minutes. The Martian command centre was trying desperately to get them to turn back but it was too late.
Unfortunately, this was to be the end of the Martian colony. When more fresh water was available six months later, they travelled up to Mars to deliver it to the colony but there were no survivors. The Martians lay shrivelled and without water. The dream of colonising multiple planets a far-off dream in time and space that would not be achieved in many millennia since nobody else on Earth or the Moon, wanted to live on such a distant planet with the risk of no water being available to them and dying of thirst.
After many millennia, when the technology was sufficiently advanced, a colony was re-established on Mars. New colonies were added on Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, and Venus. However, human history would record and always remember the War of the Water between the colonies and how that had inadvertently slowed the pace of space travel and living on new planets. A new understanding emerged between the colonies on each planet of their inter-dependency and so a new age of caring had arrived. Universal passports were issued, and diversity was accepted on all of the planets in the known Universe.
THE END
Earthers, Luners and Martians(Debra Widdicombe)
The President of Mars stood up and addressed the Martians seated before her. Kate was gravely concerned at recent events between the Earthers, Luners and Martians. Humanity had left the Earth using the SpaceX program and established colonies on the Moon and Mars. At first, the supply lines were running smoothly and both colonies were at peace with the Earthers. However, lately, political unrest had emerged on Earth, with the largest population there questioning why the colonies couldn’t take care of themselves. With climate change affecting the Earth’s agricultural means of production, the food supply had dwindled and the Earthers wanted to keep most of the food and water to themselves. Although the Moon and Mars colonies were recycling everything, they still needed supplies from the Earth.
“Martians,” she projected into the loudspeaker, “we are here today to discuss peaceful negotiations with the Earthers. We have no intention of going to war with them.” Someone in the audience shouted out obscenities in an angry voice. They were feeling hungry and irritable. The next supply ship was meant to land tomorrow but if there were any more delays, she worried that there would be a riot on Mars. This was the first time there had been unrest on Mars. The glass domes perched on the red sand stood proudly around the central business district of the city of Nüwa. Some of the citizens enjoyed playing online games such as Mars Colony Builder or Surviving Mars (Similar to SIM City). As President, Kate wished they would spend more time on activities to improve the conditions in the colony in real life.
When the Martians became bored, some of them would wander out of their glass domes, heads covered with breathing apparatus and search the red desert, looking for anything unusual to collect. She didn’t know what they expected to find. Everything was recycled and very little was discarded into the desert, as items were precious on this planet. In any case, there were trip hazards, and the craters were dangerous. Some citizens had fallen into deep craters and become casualties, unable to be retrieved. She noticed it was the teens always taking a chance and stretching the boundaries of the Mars Constitution.
Kate had been in contact with Joe, the President of Earth, and Meg, the President of the Moon. They would hold monthly Zoom calls to discuss matters pertinent to humanity. The discussions had been getting heated of late, with Joe threatening to send a nuclear bomb on a rocket up to the Moon, if they didn’t get into line. The Earth was the most habitable planet with the richest resources and able to host a larger population, whereas the populations on the Moon and Mars were tightly controlled, including birth control, so that they didn’t exceed the capacity available to them. Lately, Joe had wanted to start sending criminals up to Mars, similar to how England had sent criminals on ships to the red deserts of Australia. Of course, in the case of Australia, the colonies had ended up mainly on the east and west coasts rather than in the middle of a desert, where water was scarce. On Mars, three cities had been founded: Nüwa, Abalos and Marineris.
Kate finished her speech with aplomb and the Martians mostly applauded her plan. She would need to consult with the House of Representatives, as she didn’t make any decisions in an authoritative way. She was a President of the people, always considering what was best for those she was responsible for and represented. It was hard being a leader in these times. Kate walked off the stage and greeted the leaders standing behind the stage.
Her Assistant, Sally, came running up and whispered that Joe was on the satellite phone and needed to speak to her urgently. Kate excused herself and rushed to the phone.
“Hello, Kate. It’s Joe here. We have a problem.”
“What sort of problem are you referring to, Joe?”
“Well, the rockets with your water supply have been delayed on the Moon.”
“Delayed? Why have they been delayed? My people need that water tomorrow. We are running low on supplies. There is only so much water we can recycle. You know that we can’t recycle 100% of the water into drinking water.” The pitch and intonation of her voice went up.
“I know, I know. However, the Luners are holding it ransom as they said they needed it more than the Martians.” Kate listened and was aghast.
“But, but the Moon is an intermediary planet that the water has to travel to before it reaches us. We don’t have the technology and enough fuel for rockets to fly directly from Earth to Mars. When will they realise this?” She stammered.
“There isn’t much I can do, but I will try and talk to Meg again.”
“Joe, let me call her. We have a special relationship.” With that she said goodbye and called her Assistant to set up a call with Meg on the Moon. Shortly after, she was on a call with Meg.
“Hi Meg, it’s Kate. I hear that there is a problem with the water delivery system. Please can you explain what the holdup is?” This was followed by a defining silence.
“Meg, Meg can you hear me?” she asked again.
“Yes, I… can… hear… you,” Meg replied slowly. She seemed to be considering her words and choosing them carefully, as a typical politician would do.
“Well, what is the holdup? We can’t wait longer than a week.”
“We won’t be sending any water up to Mars any longer. The ocean water purifiers that remove the salt and produce fresh drinking water, have reduced their output on Earth. There is only enough for two planets over the next month.”
“Nonsense! We can all ration our water usage and still have enough to go around. It will be like the rationing in England during World War II. Then we can all survive. What am I meant to tell my people? We will have a riot here soon.” Kate sighed. Her anger was abating as a feeling of helplessness overtook her. Then she switched gears into threatening mode.
“If you don’t send those rockets up with water tomorrow, I will be sending my troops down to the Moon and they will forcefully remove our intended water from you. This is your last chance.”
More silence followed. Then Kate heard a distinct click as the satellite phone disconnected. Kate started going red in the face with suppressed anger. She immediately called the House of Representatives together for an emergency summit.
They agreed to act, and the Martian Special Forces were deployed to the Moon on five rockets, with empty cannisters, ready to collect the water that was due to them. As they neared the Moon, a warning was given to the Pilots to keep their distance, but they didn’t stop. They had been tasked by the President to collect their water supply. The Moon’s defences fired a warning shot, but it was ignored by the Martians. Then they proceeded to target the five rockets. A fiery battle ensued, with laser guided missiles being fired in both directions. All five rockets were shot and exploded in a matter of minutes. The Martian command centre was trying desperately to get them to turn back but it was too late.
Unfortunately, this was to be the end of the Martian colony. When more fresh water was available six months later, they travelled up to Mars to deliver it to the colony but there were no survivors. The Martians lay shrivelled and without water. The dream of colonising multiple planets a far-off dream in time and space that would not be achieved in many millennia since nobody else on Earth or the Moon, wanted to live on such a distant planet with the risk of no water being available to them and dying of thirst.
After many millennia, when the technology was sufficiently advanced, a colony was re-established on Mars. New colonies were added on Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, and Venus. However, human history would record and always remember the War of the Water between the colonies and how that had inadvertently slowed the pace of space travel and living on new planets. A new understanding emerged between the colonies on each planet of their inter-dependency and so a new age of caring had arrived. Universal passports were issued, and diversity was accepted on all of the planets in the known Universe.
THE END
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