Arc of Earth
Arc doesn't want to leave everything they know for the planet of Mars, but the planet is brimming with various opportunities. In this issue Arc visits Sankara, Mars with their brother.
The following is a fictional story and not a political analysis:
"I wouldn't blame you if you moved to Mars.", my brother told me "Plus it's only a 5 hour trip to get to there."
I didn't want to move to Mars, but that's where opportunities were. I had visited a few times when I was younger, but didn't remember much except the hustle and bustle of it all. People flew past you like starships. I think I had an aunt that lived there too, but we weren't very close. If I moved to Mars, I would lose everything that's familiar to me, everything that's safe. I would have to find new friends and a new sense of community in an environment and culture that was extremely work-focused and busy.
I'd thought about moving to Mercury as well, but my family probably wouldn't think well of it. Mercury was where the hermit people went, where people went to live in solace. It's like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, except the hard place was also a rock. I thought that was funny to think about.
"Arc, why don't you go on a trip and visit, see what it's like?", my brother asked. I always said sure and agreed to do things like that, but never actually followed through. "How about we both go?". My voice sounded sterner than I'd like it'd have, but that was because I felt determined. "Yeah!", he excitedly screeched. I asked if we could tomorrow and he unfortunately agreed. I started losing my shit, but I kept my cool by reminding myself I could just wait in the connection station on Mars, ignoring everybody else there, and wait until our return trip back to Earth. When we were on the starship the day later, I remember talking to him about my future goals and what I wanted to do most with my life. I told him I wasn't sure. What I should've said was that I wanted to stay on Earth.
Earth was peaceful. My mother tells me it wasn't always that way though. She had to deal with wildlife attacking her, bears and snakes. People used to be more interested in themselves than anyone else. From history class, I learned that type of thinking used to be worse during the capitalist mode of production, but people became more trusting and focused on taking care of one another by the time I was born. My grandmother and grandfather were alive for the revolution, but I had never talked to them about it or heard their thoughts on it. In my head it seemed like that the revolution I had learned in history class and my grandparents had lived in alternate histories. My grandmother was always sweet and calm, not fiery and revolutionary. My grandfather had passed. I couldn't ask him anything, at least not anymore. My grandmother’s still alive, but I don't really want to get into contact with her. I'm content living my life over in the NASPR (North American Socialist People's Republic), and she lives happily somewhere out in the Caribbean now, with the rest of my extended family. No one in my life has moved to Mars, closest my brother, parents, or grandparents have been to Mars is when my brother went out on an outpost station orbiting it for half a year. I've always thought I was capable of doing hard work, I've just never had the energy to do so unless it was greatly interesting to me. I’m worried I'd have trouble figuring out how to help out if I moved to Mars. It's just a matter of getting started. My mother told me before I have one of the Old Mindsets, a mindset that my grandmother had described that people had from before the revolution. My mother says I remind her of her father also, so I'm not sure what she thinks of me. I don't think she means anything by it though. I like to keep an open mind. That’s most of the people my age though, very open-minded. But I don't really want to take a risk to live on Mars, but I kept my mind open.
We arrived on Mars before I knew it. I was checking my watch the first couple hours to see how close we were. I was very antsy, but don’t get me wrong, I was not excited. I must've really been out of it when we arrived. Sankara, Mars, a place I'd been many times before as a child, genuinely surprised when I saw how much had changed. "This is the city I was at 7 years ago?" I jokingly asked my brother while gesturing. I don’t remember him responding. I soon after hit my head off a wall. I suppose I wasn't paying too close attention to where I was going. I got up and noticed something that looked like one of those old government buildings from the capitalist era. My brother kept walking, but I wanted to stop in so I walked in on my own. I knew I'd be able to contact him since he was always online on CyberLink. I quickly jotted down a message in my head and transmitted it over to his brain. He let me know that it was completely okay that I walked in and he'd be over if I needed help. Unfortunately, that's when shit hit the fan.
Sirens started blaring and I wasn't sure what was going on. I ran to the exit to go see if I could meet with my brother, but the doors had locked in on me. I couldn't get any CyberLink connection either. Groups of people started walking down this cobbled maroon hallway. A few of them yelled “Over here! Over here!” to me, so I followed. I went downstairs with them. Everybody was deathly silent, so silent that I didn't even want to breathe too loud. I heard a loud crash and that's all else I remember from that day. When I woke up, CyberLink was back on, but I couldn't get in contact with my brother. News said every one of the 16 cities on Mars except Sankara had been hit. I didn't know by what, or if anyone was dead, but it deeply concerned me. The group of us in the basement had been talking to each other before I woke up, and they soon involved me in the conversation. I was as clueless as they were, even though some of them there were Martian. They let open the gate and I walked back to the connection station. Others ran. I sat down, without changing my ticket date and looked down, observing the new Martian flooring. I half expected my brother to come up to me, but no one did. I sat and wait for what felt like hours, but what must've been minutes. I didn't know what to do.