The Last Red

Chapter 25: Mars

"You're funny," Salvatore chuckles like a crazy person. "What's Mars?"

"It's a planet," Quira taps his hand gently to silence him. "Just like Earth is another."

It's like I've been punched in the ribs and my breath's been stolen from me. My whole set of beliefs has just crumbled down.

And all it took was a second.

Quira shakes her head in disapproval. "I don't understand why they don't teach Earth history to Martian children. They show you pictures of Earth and preach it's the bright new future. That you have to work hard to make it. I mean you do - Mars is still undeveloped, but they should acknowledge the existence of another planet."

"They don't say it because we would retaliate," Koben speaks, "if we knew a better life existed," he clenches his jaw. "It's not like there's an opportunity for us to ever go to Earth."

Quira nods. "Hope's a dangerous thing," she scoffs. "Always has been."

I hear them speak, but their words are muffled. Barely even reaching my consciousness.

I get flashbacks in my head from when my mother was sick.

"I wanna go to the earth," she'd say.

"We will, Viv," my father would tell her. "It's not the time just yet."

I never knew what it meant. I thought she was referring to the soil - that she wanted to die. 

But Earth is a whole another planet. There's a whole planet I've never known about. This is not all there is. Mars is not the only planet out there.

"Have you ever been on Earth?" Salvatore asks.

Quira shakes her head. "I was born here. But my parents told me how it was in the beginning," she proudly states, then looks at us. "Our planet's still developing. They haven't heated it to the Earth's level yet. It's a slow process," she says. 

"At first they used green gas emissions to heat it so it could be livable. They sent robots to install hundreds of PFC factories to release gas. That lasted for twenty years and was supposed to last thirty more. Until a man named Granger Jones invented a better system. Satellite heating."

Koben suddenly stands up. He seems upset. 

"That made a huge difference," she continues. "East can now reach temperatures of up to 29 degrees Celsius. In the South pole, it still doesn't go over 19. But almost all of Mars is now livable. Before they heated it, the average temperature was minus 60 degrees Celsius. In winter it was -125 Celsius in the poles. No man could survive it. It's a great accomplishment for mankind." 

My head's spinning.

This is just some new shitty planet.

"Granger Jones must've been one hell of a man," Koben says.

"Great mind," Quira sighs, "that's for sure."

Wow - both Koben and Salvatore adapted real quick to the idea. It takes me a lot longer to gather my thoughts.

"What's PFC?" Salvatore chuckles.

"Perfluorocarbon," she says. "It's a gas."

"What else did they do?" Salvatore looks fascinated.

"Many things," Quira smiles. "But the second step was to terraform the soil. No plants could develop in such a cold and dry climate. So, after it was heated, they had to develop plants to create oxygen for us to be able to breathe here."

I noticed there were more plants in the Wild now than when I was little. I wondered who planted them.

"The problem was," she continues, "Mars was very dry. Only rocks and sand. But with heating it, some of the ice melted and now we have water, as I'm sure you noticed," she chuckles. 

"They initially brought microalgae from Antarctica that survive by eating rocks. They spread it throughout the planet. It took a long while for them to spread, but eventually, they fostered an environment suitable to start growing trees and other plants that can survive here. 

In the East we have a lot of pear trees, cherries, apple trees, plums, grape vines... And I'm sure you noticed aloe vera plants and other desert cactuses."

Aloe vera saved me many times - I sure have a history with wounds.

"Are there... people on Earth?" I finally speak.

"There sure are," Quira replies. "But I don't know much about Earth."

"How did your grandparents get the land here?" I ask.

"They were wealthy people. Wealthy enough to buy an interplanetary ticket and settle here while the planet was still undeveloped - no man's land. First settlers can claim any territory they want, obviously," she lifts a shoulder. "They just have to be able to protect it against invaders," she sighs. "The Earth had a similar history. They had many wars for territory. Territory used to mean freedom."

"It doesn't anymore?"

She sighs, almost chuckling. "It's complicated. Territory also means power. And Mars attracted many wealthy people - greedy people. And loads of greedy companies. They all competed to occupy as much as they could. You see," she brings her hands to the fire, "Mars being no man's land meant no government or country from Earth could claim it. That, in turn, meant there were no laws."

No laws... Exactly.

"It's a very tempting idea for many to just come to a free land. Where they had no one to respond to. Obey no rules. Practically, you did as you wished. You could kill a person and as long as you didn't come back to your country on Earth, no one could give you punishment."

"Isn't NPS a prison of sorts?" I ask.

"Sure is," she nods. "But a prison for Terrestrials."

I furrow my eyebrows - who?

"People from Earth. Not Martians," she shakes her head. "Martians still haven't developed governments and laws."

That actually makes sense - that's why each block was so different from each other. That's why we had no one to complain to but Omnia. And why robots never gave a damn about our pleas.

"What about blocks? Who rules them?" I'm thirsty for knowledge now.

"It depends," she shakes her head. "Blocks are established by corporations from Earth or by people who reside on Mars. And if it's a block owned by a Martian... no one really knows what happens in any one of them but the owners themselves."

I get goosebumps all over my body.

"Is KTL owned by a Martian?"

"I really wouldn't know," she shakes her head.

"We have a few neighbors who own blocks of their own, but even they never talk about what happens inside. Block One was owned by a family friend - it's how I got the job. But other than that, I really can't help you."

I nod, deep in thought. What else do I wish to know? I feel like she'll slip through my fingers and now is all I have to learn everything I need to take these people down.

"What do the people in the East look like?" I blurt.

She finds my questions humorous. "Just like everyone else," she shrugs.

So they're mixed there as well.

Why am I not?

Should I tell her - she probably knows already. She sees my eyes. Besides, my tan's almost completely gone now.

"Have you... ever met a purebred?" I swallow hard. 

Quira watches me in silence, then nervously scratches her head. "Why do you ask?"

"You probably noticed," I lift an eyebrow, "that I'm a bit on the light side."

She clenches her jaw. "Does everyone in your block looks like that?" she then turns to Koben.

He shakes his head. "She was the only one. I think."

"There's a place..." Quira says hesitantly, then presses her lips. "But I wouldn't recommend you go there."

"Where?" I demand, breathless.

"North-East. One of the oldest territories formed on Mars - it's... not a block," she fidgets with her fingers. "It's more of a town. It's officially called the Original City, but everyone calls it Kennel City."

"The O.C.," Koben cuts in.

She nods. "I've never been there, but... I've heard there's a lot of people there. People that are... not mixed."

"That's where we're going," he says. "It's the place behind the Wall."

My heart races now. "Why would you not recommend it?" I ask Quira.

"It's... different," she almost whispers. "Like I said, Blocks are owned either by rich corporations from Earth or Mars. The Original City, though... It was formed by one man only - the first man who moved to Mars. 

The corporations on Earth that own blocks are still legally responsible for their actions to their governments on Earth. But once you move to Mars... it's end-game. He was the first to cut ties with Earth in order to be free to do whatever he pleases."

"Why?" I demand.

Quira shakes her head. "Everyone said he was a lunatic. I don't know why he did it or what he does there, but... the weirdest thing is that a few decades after he established it, a huge medical company from Earth begged him to sell a majority share and... in exchange they allowed him to return to Earth with a full pardon," she trembles a little as if scared. 

"They say it's the craziest place in the world."

I swallow hard.

The strangest thing is - I'm not that scared anymore.

After everything I've learnt, I don't even care about living or dying anymore. 

All I care about now... is the truth.

And how to get vengeance for the lives they've given us.

This O.C. place - sounds like a pretty good place to start.

"Would it- would it be possible for us to enter?" I ask.

She looks at me in shock. 

Then she looks at Koben. His expression matches mine - determination.

She gives us a wry smile. "Maybe. But the question is... what happens after?"

Koben and I exchange glances.

Finally, I can feel we are on the same page.

"Only one way to find out," I say.