Back From Mars

Chapter 1

Icara saw herself on the polished walls of the ship. She was tall with a tanned complexion. She had deep brown hair today, with streaks of blonde and fluorescent highlights, here and there. She had tied it up in such a way it looked like she had a basket of flowers on her head. The blue jumpsuit she was wearing had been modified with extra lapels and more frizz, with some torn ends and cuts which matched the upcoming fashion.

Her face was indeed unique one, compared to rest of the members of the colony. Perfectly arched eyebrows, with striking eyes, a softly pointed nose, with broad lips, a deep fuchsia, formed her young face. The most arresting part of her visage was her eyes, a distinctive color of caramel, which had melted the hearts of many young men she studied with. They seemed to twinkle now, under the changing neons. She removed a speck on her cheeks with her fingers and smiled at herself.

A saddening thought passed through her mind. She was the last of her race, of a pure line of beings from the planet Earth. She was seventeen and was born on a private tropical isle on this planet. Before she was five, an apocalyptic war broke out, a cataclysm, which ended her up here, in this space colony. It was no ordinary war fought with guns and rockets, nor with fusion bombs and bioagents.

The League of Nations found out that the Orientals had been rising in power, swiftly and stealthily, behind their backs. They had stolen the resources after the Great Floods and obtained monopoly over the rest of the nations. The Supreme Chancellor decided to end their domination, and gave word to unleash the galaxy’s most powerful weapon, which led to the ultimate demise of life on that lonely planet.

The weapon’s existence was a mystery till it broke out of the ground. Something went wrong during its execution and a million geysers from the deep abysses of the planet, spewed out a dense deadly metallic gas around the world. These geysers reached phenomenal heights, and some fumes were even released into space. Everything and everything was vaporized in an instant. There were no broken buildings, no fired forests, no blackened oceans; indeed there was no evidence of anything that existed and ruled over the planet for countless eons. Simply said, there was nothing.

Icara had been on the planets satellite, the Moon, on a vacation with her family, when she witnessed the world’s end. As she saw, the planet looked peaceful, with lush greens and browns, and enchanting bright blues. Then, there was a golden glow, which appeared as cracks swiftly covering the globe, as if the Earth was about to hatch. In a few seconds, when the gases spilled out, the entire globe turned black, and almost seemed to vanish in the darkness of space. Only flashes of white kept shooting out. There were exactly 100 human beings on the Moon that day, and all of them stared into space, and watched the Earth disappear in front of their eyes.

Icara remembers that day clear as crystal. She witnessed her mother faint, and fall onto the dust dead. Her father hadn’t done anything; he just knelt down and wept to himself. She was only five, and had found the incidence absolutely exciting. She ran towards the horizon, trying to catch that bygone planet. She jumped up as high as she could; but she could never reach it.


That past, she couldn’t dwell on it any longer. Whenever she thought about it, she broke down in tears, as if she felt that she had played some vital part in its cause. Not today. She couldn’t risk getting her makeup undone, not on this special occasion. It was the last dance of the school year, and her date was waiting on the other side of the corridor.

“Icara, you look divinely gorgeous today”

“Aren’t I always, Cyan? However, I think the meaning of that word, divine, has been lost for ages.”

“Divine…yes, quite unfortunate, for I don’t think there is any other better word to describe you.”

She smiled, “That’s sweet of you Cyan. Thank you.” She kissed him on his cheek. “Well I guess we better hurry up, I think the dance must have started by now. I don’t want to miss my dad’s speech either. Come on.”

They entered the Observatory Dome. It was at the most extreme part of the spaceship, consisting of a huge 5 storey fiber dome, which was clear to the outside vacuum. It offered a breathtaking view of the starry space, every line of sight leading to a star. More than half the inhabitants had a lucky star of their own, which they came to see everyday. The largest reflecting telescope in the galaxy was centered beneath the dome, boasting a whopping 25 meter diameter. The rest of the enormous place was used to host the various functions of the community.

“It’s brilliantly decorated! Magnificent!” exclaimed Icara. Indeed, being the last dance for the senior students, every detail was carefully attended to. The theme this season was Earth’s Elegance. There were wall posters of some of the greatest accomplishments of human existence. There were pictures of tetrahedral structures made of stone, a brilliant marble construction, iron structures, statues and memorials.

The replica of the Oriental Orgy Complex was impressive and was made more dramatic with the lighting. The Complex was the largest enclosed single city, a place called Dcomsistai. The Great Floods were devastating floods caused by melting of the ice sheets from the opposite sides of the planet. The people indeed believed that they caused it, but it’s now been proven that it was a natural climatic phenomenon of Earth. To protect the Oriental’s capital, they decided to harbor the city in its own casket, and subsequently built this Complex. It was made entirely of a diamond modification, all harvested from the Sun’s interior. The Sun, thought to be a gaseous hot ball of gases did in fact have a solid core, a core of diamond. Initially, a special probe made of exofrincium, which managed to bear the heat of the Sun, formed a gaseous tunnel through which the diamonds were extracted. The city literally did sparkle.

There was a virtual model of the Earth at the far end of the hall. It was a multicolor laser hologram, which enabled the viewers to see any place on the planet, before its destruction, with considerable resolution.

“Cyan! Cyan!” Icara tugged on his shoulder, “Let’s go see that,” she pointed enthusiastically. “I’ll show you the private isle where I was brought up.”

“Yea, I’d love to see it.”

She went up to the console, and pressed a few buttons. The hologram surrounded her, and teleported her to her birthplace. The sands were as white as ivory and the sea, an entrancing beguilingly blue shade. A small exotic hut was perched on the shoreline, with a metallic bridge, leading towards the forests. She tried to feel the sand, but her hand just passed through the hologram. She knelt down and closed her eyes.

“Hey, come on! Let’s do something else,” Cyan put his arm around her shoulder for support. “Where we’re going for the initiation, I’m sure it’d be something like this, and you can play in all the soft sands.”

“It’s wouldn’t be the same,” Icara replied, “It will never be the same.”


Marcus Kingsley, walked up the stairs to the stage. He was acknowledged by a thunderous applause from the crowd below. A position he had achieved for himself was no doubt a scintillating affair. People believed every word he said, as he held the highest authority in the Galaxy. In an immaculate black suit, he had a handsome and noble appearance as any formidable politician. He was made larger–than–life by a giant screen behind him, which focused on his seemingly veracious visage.

“Welcome, welcome, my friends, my fellow inspirers, my future trailblazers. I invite you to this grand ceremony of induction of our first batch of prodigious young aspirants. I feel it was just yesterday, that these students joined the training school, and now they are to be inducted as an integral member of our galaxy. This day is even more special to me, as my daughter, Icara, is part of this batch.”

He smiled at her, where she sat in the front row with Cyan. She grinned back. “It has been very difficult for these students. A hardening effect nevertheless needs to be instilled in our young men and women, if they are to take over the galaxy in the coming years. They have flown the fighter pods, have had physical defense training, and have played innumerable games of Shock-tag. I am to understand, that they know the rules of the society and that of the galaxy. They should be knowing at least eighteen of the conversing languages, the proper use of their special powers and of course, the dangers of faith. Tomorrow, each one of you is to be sent to your allotted planets for your Initiation…...”


Icara fell onto her bed. She loved the texture of the covers, cool and almost soothing in fact. It was 0:05 by her watch, and she had a big day tomorrow. This place had been her home for more than a decade. Her new destination seemed scary, but she knew she’d have her friends with her. Anxiousness made her weep, but at times like these, she did what she loved; she sang. Slowly the sleep overtook her and she smiled; somewhere in the back of her head she remembered "...smiling in sleep relaxes the mind, calms emotions and induces restful sleep."