34. Orange planet

Years peacefully continued to go by.

The consolidation of economic powers behind us and our forward projects was steady.

However the economic sense of terraforming another planet was actually zero.

So I didn't waste the world economy on the Kardashev endeavours of growth. Only mine.

Earth was secured then, and I had that dream of mine. So I left to the other sages and humanity the duties of managing itself in terms of economy and society. That was no longer my concern.

I kept looking and longing to somewhere further in space and time.

I always had that dream budding in me. And ever since I met the dragons, I knew where I would need to heed, to make it turn to a reality.

Solving Drake’s equation and activating panspermia without transhumanism, but a symbiosis of diversity.

But more importantly...

I kept thinking of the barren fields beyond the gate, the red desert of that abandoned world.

And how much it made me ache in that dream, for the future of Mars.

I established the Mizunashi corporation to funnel the resources that would work toward establishing the new system out there too. I had become the main ambassador to the dragons over this age, and eventually our wills aligned.

To train the future and our wider reality to turn even such dead worlds into thriving gardens.

The Mars system had turned out of breath.

Now I wanted to prepare for that too.

S - Maybe if we went to collect the Jovian moons of Titan, Io, Ganymede and Calisto and crashed them over Mars... It would bring more iron for the core, and water for the surface.

D - You can’t do that! That would destroy worlds we still don’t know much about! And possibly wreck the balance of the solar system beyond repair!

S - Okay, okay... I’ll find another way once the system is established over there. We’ll find a way to terraform Mars.

My child too would carry on my dream in time.

To see a steady ocean on Mars.

~

The space dragons helped assembling more massive ships with artificial gravity, and eventually we were about to sail toward the red planet.

At long last.

I was already a slightly beyond mature woman, when I was walking these low gravity corridors, waiting for the journey to reach its end. I no longer needed a sword on my side.

People saluted me gently when they saw me by. Dragons too. They were crawling outside the ship like giant lizards, but nodded to me when they noticed me through a window.

I waved at them with a smile.

On our way to extend the system I had shut.

The planet I had seen, and what we had believed was the far future of Earth.

I still had a lingering doubt to myself.

So I wanted to see. I wanted to see the Martian deserts.

To see if by unfathomable chance, I would not stumble upon the relic of another age when things had poorly ended.

Our satellite surveys had noticed some oddities, and the dragons already orbiting the red planet were scanning it continuously. We had not found any system node protruding anywhere so far.

But I still had that doubt in my heart.

That what I had disabled perhaps was not a broken future, but a previous failed dream of Mars.

Something another me or previous sage could have made not unlike I was doing now.

There was no solid evidence found yet, but I had that impression that in the past, someone might have sent their last chance to ever see life on Mars come to be as an extension of the Earth system. And it failed very sadly.

But as everything dies, there is room for another flower to bloom afterward.

That was a piece of another philosophy.

I wanted to see it for myself.

Whether the red planet had seen the failure of someone like myself. If that frightening future had not been anywhere else. Either way, we would prepare.

And in any case, now I would help flowers to bloom on Mars.

Even though the dragons were already doing their part.

I was along the first inhabited ship by humans. But throwing dragons to fly across the oceanic sea had become a far easier enterprise over time.

The space station hive in orbit around Earth at first, then Luna, was regularly birthing a new space faring dragon. The existing ones were eagerly upgraded similarly on the ground to reincarnate for better longevity in space. And gradually, we spread a population of artificial winged lizard over the moon, space, and a migratory flock heading for Mars.

Like birds, now able to survive from just a bit of harsh temperature differential and sunlight. The dragons flew with our helps toward Mars.

They colonised Deimos a while back already. It’s their main nest and the first stop for spaceships heading to the red planet.

Phobos is a bit more risky to approach, so the colony ship where I travel won’t head for that second stop. But a few dragons still built some satellite installation there.

Landing on Mars is an otherwise high challenge than it is on Luna for both machines and dragons.

But the Earth manufactures of my corporation have a unit dedicated to building Mars landing wings for them. And we’ve shipped plenty of them.

So dragons turn into immensely winged dragonflies in order to ease their slow down and then landing.

It worked well. And now the first structures are made of these beautiful architectures they no longer need when they decide to settle.

The lizards colonised the old lava tubes and built for us the early infrastructures to settle.

Still, the planet may not be big, but it remains wide.

I will spend a good stay between common launch windows to explore it along with them. Riding dragons across the Martian deserts was a bit fun. And more importantly the landscapes were awe inspiring.

I couldn’t wait until we would reach the bigger asteroids of the belt, the Jovian moons, or even in harsher challenges, Venus and Mercury themselves.

With the dragons helping on the red planet, I would see how to prepare for its future terraforming.

Whether it’s with another run of the system or otherwise. Time would tell!

~

More years and eventually decades flew by.

The Mizunashi corporation was exploring the solar system and beyond, working onto bringing higher gravity and a new magnetic field on the red planet. Ambitious. It would probably consume all the magic power the nanites held on Earth. But that was fine, we could live on without their spells.

Slowly but steadily, the solar system was turning well and all the species fared gently toward their equilibrium.

Me I sank our family wealth into that dream of a blue Mars, and embarked about as much as the old system and world economy allowed. The dragons were with me. They too wanted to see another sky. Although they were really looking further than I was, and dreamt of flying even more freely and far, making the entire solar system their sky. And perhaps even further over time.

My dream stopped on the warm planet I had an odd taste for.

Dreaming we would be able to walk and sail freely out there on Mars under a new sky. To see the orange and red colours no longer a threat and suffocation, but a gentle warmth.

Until then, we would keep looking up to the stars, and the nanites would help melt and accelerate the planetary heart. It would take longer than my life to achieve. Currently that was how Mars was slowly being terraformed.

The draconic and fairies space stations were beginning to spread in the solar system. Big enough to accommodate the other species freely.

We were not among them, though our daughter was. She had inherited that form of Icarus syndrome from me. The ground was not enough. The cradle of humanity and dragons was not meant to see us remain inside forever.

So the younger one was working her best to bring more iron and water back to Mars, carrying my will now that I had aged enough to fade back. She pushed the boundaries with the dragons, sending back asteroids to crash rather than postcards. She was my good girl!

Every return of an iron asteroid or water comet redirected to Mars by the dragons was a celebration like rockets lift off had been in the past.

It would take time. More than I would live, but it would gradually get done.

Aster and I remained in our peaceful winter resort in our twilight years, when we were not travelling like wandering knights.

The sages had already returned to history discreetly, we had nowhere else to be.

We were enjoying our old age peaceful holidays out there, without a care in the world, letting the days slowly slip by. My dream lived on and would eventually blossom.

Someone knocked at the door.

That was mostly unusual.

I went to open, and found a good looking boy. He was young enough to be my son at least, smiling gently and standing with an aura of dignity.

I had a feeling I’d met him before, but where and why?

Ah.

K - Hello Yuu Mizunashi... Long time no see. If I could have a moment of your time?

A shiver in my spine.
And another playful smile blooming for him.

~