Chapter Four: And So it Began

History up to 2145. “The Start of the Struggle,” E-M War.

The war had started exactly twenty years ago, when I was two years old.

Around 2050, some people decided they’d had enough of the world and its wars, crimes, governments, overpopulation problems--you name it. Everyone had a different reason for leaving, and everyone thought that if only they could run things their way, everything would get better.

That’s where Mars comes in. Enter the year 2060: people decided to make good their promise to leave as things gradually got worse and worse on our Big Blue. So, with some cajoling from those who made big bucks, the first frontiersmen of Mars made their way to the Red planet, determined to make it on their own. Sure, there’d been manned expeditions before, and a few permanent bases had been set up in some strategic locations. But no one had actually expected the handful of humans heading for Mars to survive.

Well, by some miracle (or curse, as it would later turn out to be), these Earth-Martians made it. They’d done what they’d set out to do: they had supposedly created some sort of “new” society and had found a way to make it work as more than a permanent settlement. In just thirty years, these “firsties” had taken a huge world of red dirt and ice and turned it into a climate-controlled mini-Earth. Despite their gripes about current human society on Earth, the E-M’s had adopted many of the qualities of Earth cities and simply tried to improve upon the current system rather than make up their own. And it worked--for a few years.

In 2096, four of the five Martian cities had had their governments overthrown by the people; it seemed as if they eventually found something to complain about on the Red planet, as well. After the Martian Revolutions of 2096 came the Martian Restoration: one man, from the original pioneer group, was chosen by the people to become the president, in a sense, of the entire planet. As one can imagine, this gradually began to cause problems when the power-hungry president became a dictator. History repeats itself, they say, and it is the truth. History repeated itself on July 9, 2107, when Malcolm J. Rubbens announced his control over the Red planet.

From then on, no one was allowed off-planet, and no one was allowed to move there. Mars had simply closed its borders, so to speak, and that was the end of that. Until the year 2123 came along, the year I was born.

Rubbens had been assassinated in 2118, and in that year his son took over the “thrown.” His son, however, did not have Mars exclusively on his mind. Malcolm J. Rubbens Jr. wanted both worlds: he was headed for Earth.

March 4, 2123: E-M forces led by General Rubbens, Malcolm’s younger brother, blasted Paris, France from orbit. Skirmishes begin in space between Martian and Earth ships.

March 5-20, 2123: Peace talks attempted, but Rubbens refuses.

January-September 2124: Unrest in both planets leads to another attempt by Earth governments to find some kind of compromise. Again, Rubbens refuses.

October 16, 2124: Sydney, Australia. Attacked by E-M forces.

February 13, 2125: United Terran Forces declare war on Earth-Martians.

As one can clearly see, we tried. Even after they killed millions of innocent civilians in Paris and Sydney, we tried to get the E-M’s to form some kind of peaceful alliance with the Earth. They chose to attack us again instead. From 2125 on, the E-M’s invaded Earth and fought us on our own soil. We had to defend ourselves for fifteen long years until we gained enough of an upper hand to counterattack the E-M’s on their own turf. And all this, of course, brings me to my current situation on Mars.

In two decades, one would think the war would be over by now, right? Wrong. Turns out that in sixty-three years, between the pioneers, immigrations, and the population’s reproduction rate, Mars turned into quite the mini-Earth. Millions of men and women, ready to fight for their Red planet, picked up uniforms and rifles to fight the Destructive Mother Blue. Martian sympathizers, excluded from Mars because of Rubbens’ block, became part of a guerilla resistance here at home. And somehow, through twenty long years of fighting, neither side has managed to win or lose.

Both of us fail to realize the deadly limbo we are in…and what any victory could mean for both planets.