Mars Before Us

“We’re running out of time,” said Tanika Abe, recombinantly engineered descendant of Shinzo and Akie Abe, and general commander of the Oceania League on Japan.

Tanika and her techno-rationalist colleagues could hear the rhythmic drumming, ritualistic singing and blood-curdling war cries of the tribal hordes encamped outside the walls of the citadel. The Oceania League islands of the former United Kingdom and New Zealand had already been overtaken by similar sieges. 

The continental tribalists of Asia had grown bold over the course of the last five years and had commenced their steady occupation of Japan. Under the agreement between the tribal cultures and the Oceania League, techno-rationalist robot weapons could only be used against the tribal cultures if the latter developed technologies that would lead to the creation of societies with colonial designs. Such societies could result in the thwarting of the balance of power that existed in tribal cultures on the African, American, and Eurasian continents. All necessary interventions were taken to follow the imperative to steward the Earth in a way that guaranteed homeostasis between the tribal cultures and ensured the colonization of Mars. Now that the techno-rationalist mission was nearly over, according to the Interplanetary Manifesto, drone and robot sentinels were not to be deployed against the occupying tribalists.  

“We must launch Omai before the tribalists storm the citadel’s gates.” Omai, the most physically formidable, naturally-selected and genetically complete male primate specimen on Earth, had been transported to Japan from Madagascar, where the violent contests between his kind were staged. The results of the matches were announced to the tribalists for their martial edification. The tribalists’ spiritualism preached reverence for the ur-primates who were competing to become the sole male progenitor of humanity on Mars. 

“There’s no need to worry, general commander, the natives want to enslave the last of the Oceania League’s citizens, but their spiritualism predicts that their god will reach the red planet before they vanquish us.”

“I simply worry we will not have the opportunity to terminate our own lives peaceably. The tribalists will see Omai blast into space, but they will slaughter or rape and enslave the remaining techno-rationalists as soon as the walls of the citadel are breached.”

“Perhaps that is part of the prophecy they intend to fulfill as well, general commander.”

Tanika had devoted her life to the Interplanetary Manifesto, committed herself from an early age to becoming a scientist and stateswoman responsible for transmitting all the necessary components required for the continuation of post-terrestrial life on Mars. As averse as techno-rationalists were to violence, the elements, and hard labor, Abe wanted to painlessly and mindfully self-administer euthanasia before being raped then enslaved by the tribal horde. It was a tragic way to end her life, but one which would allow her to do so with dignity as her mission on the Earth came to an end. She had long been conditioned to accept suicide as acceptable under the circumstances she was now facing.

The Oceania League had already sent hundreds of insect species, scores of aquatic animals, and dozens of reptiles and amphibians to Mars. The spaceships containing these lifeforms were followed by spacecraft carrying precious cargo of rodent species such as mice and rabbits. The biosensing cameras of robotic rovers documented whether the colonizing species successfully adapted to the red planet. Three hundred years previous to the conveyance of animal life, a multitude of plant species amenable to Mars’ arid soil conditions had been delivered to the red planet.  

It had taken four centuries for ecosystems that would sustain larger mammal species to evolve. A pair of genetically retro-engineered saber-tooth cats, original-wolves and paired assortments of various retro-engineered avian species and wild herd animals were sent after it was deemed viable to do so. 

Eventually, three genetically engineered post-human females were transported to the terraformed red planet. Whereas Omai was a product of savage natural selection, a paragon of primate aggression, the post-human females had all been created utilizing third millennium genetic technologies. Whereas Omai was embodied aggressive physicality, the engineered females were cerebral to the point of madness. 

The female colonists had successfully landed on the red planet and all three were using their landing capsules as shelters. Along with the ur-primate, the engineered females contained all the necessary genetic information to repopulate Mars in a way that over the course of millennia would ideally reproduce the human diversity that had been present on Earth. 

On the lenses of her communications eyewear, Tanika could see that technicians were moving Omai from a holding cage into the spacecraft. The ur-primate had been tranquilized using a potent concoction of herbal extracts. As he was placed in the cage, Tanika could see his pre-human primate facial features: prominent zygomatic arches, heavy brow ridges, a low forehead and a sagittal crest that gave him a cranial aspect that exaggerated the features typical of a neanderthal. Omai was barrel chested and long-armed, but had dwarfish legs caused by a genetic feature extremely rare in humans. He was also a hirsute albino, nearly covered by snow-white facial and body hair. 

Given that the size of accommodations available for living cargo during space travel had changed little since missions had started transporting biological species to Mars, Omai’s living quarters for the next four months would be cramped. It was not known how he would respond behaviorally to long-term removal from the insular jungles he had inhabited on the island-nation formerly known as Madagascar. He would be transported to the general region where the post-human females had landed, each within 6 kilometers of the other. If the ur-primate arrived unharmed by the impact of the transport capsule’s crash landing, it was expected that the post-human females would eventually investigate the impact site, arousing Omai’s carnal curiosity, which would, in turn, lead to the first copulative acts between the pre and post human beings.      

After Omai had been secured in the spacecraft, Tanika, knowing that there was little time to spare, ordered the commencement of the one hundred twenty second countdown to departure. At minus 5 seconds, the rocket engines of the spacecraft were ignited by a technician. At 0 seconds, liftoff was accomplished. The rumble of the engines was accompanied by the cacophonous hoots and cries of the invading tribalists. Their god was soon aloft within the close-quartered confines of the spacecraft designed to deliver him safely to Mars. 

Tanika Abe recorded herself speaking a dedication for any techno-rationalists who might hold out against the invading tribalists, "With Omai’s arrival to the red planet, the edicts of the Interplanetary Manifesto and the mission of the Oceania League are fulfilled. Let us hope human existence on Mars is no worse than it was on Earth. In fact, despite techno-rationalist atheism, let's pray that the joys of the ur-primate's and post-humans' progeny will be greater than that of Earthlings, that the stewardship of Mars will be more mindful and empathic, that the violence and unreason typical of Earthlings in the Interplanetary Age will not characterize Martians when the time arrives to occupy Jupiter."