History

“By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were on fire. Whether this is literal or not is up to you. I spent months under the gun, and all I could think about was getting out on the streets again. I knew it was dangerous, and I was afraid, but it didn’t seem real. I wanted to go and see my favorite stops, have a drink at the cafe. As soon as I got outside that just vanished. It was chaos, and I ran for it as quick as I could. All I could think about that whole time was being out in the city, and as soon as I was in the city all I could think of was getting off of the planet.”

The old man paused, and the younger man handling him cut in. “You say it’s up to us, but our audience are interested in the details of what happened. Are you saying there was a fire?”

“Look,” said the old man, “you look at the pictures of Mars after their revolution and you tell me if there was a fire. I worked on that biome for ten years out of my life. A lot of people don’t stay at a job for a year these days, but I put ten years of my life into those, all I thought about was those trees.”

“And the bugs?” asked the younger man. 

“The older man threw up his hands, but he was smiling. “Everyone wants to ask about the bugs. It’s like, this whole project is too good, and people don’t want to have good things anymore. You can’t say it’s against god anymore, so people pretend to be interested in the gross part. The bugs are part of the trees, it’s a package deal and it’s beautiful. Or it was beautiful.”

“Sorry but, I want to ask about the listening devices.”

The old man sighed. “Oh, that.” 

---

Climbing the stairwell, Lars took two steps for every one that the rest of the group did, but he moved only slightly faster because of their difference in height. 

“We’re almost there.” he said, turning back to the other theatrically. 

Gabrielle raised one fist, wrapped in caution tape, and shouted joyfully without words. Timor didn’t react but kept climbing, absentmindedly fingering the straps of his backpack. Simon just smiled at his phone. 

When they reached the top, they spread out across the roof. They had an unobstructed view of the entire city, and it was almost silent except for the little wind from the air filtration system and the sounds of voices. The machines at the heart of the city were still. Their view of the Martian landscape was filtered through the tent, but past the last buildings they could see the rocks and mountains of the desert planet. 

Timor let down his backpack near the center of the roof, and began to rummage. “Alright, line up by the edge so I can get everyone in the shot.” 

“Not too close to the edge though, I didn’t tear down the caution tape just for foreshadowing.” said Gabrielle. 

They gathered with the city and the Martian desert to their backs and took the picture for the whole of both worlds to see with the rest of their feeds. 

“Let’s get to the woods.” said Simon, staring at his phone again. “It sounds like people are meeting there to decide what happens next.” 

“The Mars-grad Soviet begins.” said Gabrielle in a forced Russian accent.

“Ominous but I like the energy.” said Simon, as they filed back into the stairwell. 

A bug landed on Timor’s wrist, and he swatted it away. 

---

The tree in the center of town was dead. There was no doubting that. She limped limped through the square, not in a straight line. Her injured leg slowed her down, but her shaken thoughts kept her from moving even as fast as she could have. The square was mostly deserted, but rubble and a few injured or dead people added to the sense of disorder. 

“Zero!” 

She kept walking, and when the hand was on her shoulder she realized someone had called her name. 

“Zero, where are you going?” asked her sister. 

“Elle?” asked Zero. They both stood, waiting for the other to answer, until Zero realized she’d been asked a question. “The main street, I think. That’s where everyone gathered last.”

“There’s no one in the street. We need to get inside.” said Elle, sternly. Zero shook her head, and Elle grabbed her with both arms. “We need to go back to the office. 

Zero threw Elle off, staggered and fell down. “I’m not going back to work. We need to stay together, otherwise...” she didn’t want to say what she thought next. 

Elle helped Zero up, and they left the square. When they made it to their office, their boss, Morell, was waiting with the police for them. 

---

“I wasn’t involved with any of that.” said the old man, quiet. “I don’t really know anything about it.”

The young man leaned back. “Did you suspect it?”

“Did I know my work was being used to listen for sedition? No. I suspected, I don’t know what I suspected. I thought maybe someone was using my work for something vague. But I didn’t let that bother me.” 

“Does it bother you now?”

“No.” The old man shook his head.

The young man paused, unmoved. When the old man didn’t continue, he asked another question. “Do you think the massacre was justified?” 

The old man spread his hands, and huffed wordlessly. “That’s a loaded question. People want to point at you and say ‘this guy is pro-masacre!’ and what, 20 people died? And look, that’s too many. I think that’s too many and I wish no one died. But look, today we’re free now. There’s no government messing around with us like there used to be. The people at the gardens that day didn’t want that.” 

There was a beat of silence, then the young man sprung up, smiling. “That’s a great answer, and that’s all our time. Thanks for coming on man.” 

The old man sighed and stood up with a half smile on his face, and the two of them embraced. 

“Suit and tie man? Really? That’s before your time too isn’t it?” asked the young man as they shook hands and faced the camera. 

The old man chuckled, and turned back and forth. “I think I look good in it.” 

“It looks great man, I really love it. Thanks again for coming on.”

His payment was processed promptly.