Detailing the world of Martian Law from the the77 comic
Article by Brendon Wright
Historical revisionism is nothing new. In fact, were we to look back with the “eyeglass of truth” we may discover a slight… divergence from the world as we knew it for the last 80 years. IN FACT, when mankind finally populates Mars will we find our predecessors have beaten us to it by a century?
Before we begin we must ask ourselves these questions:
1. Why did NASA suddenly reverse course in 1972, no longer sending manned missions into deep space?
2. Where did the spate of missing persons in the 50’s and 60’s REALLY go and did the Men In Black REALLY exist as an arm of governmental bureaucracy in the United States?
The 1940’s was an era of unprecedented discovery. Were your great grandfather alive today, had he been a military scientist of the old school, and was he not sworn to secrecy at the risk of your parent’s lives, he would tell you that Science fiction in the 1950’s wasn’t so far fetched. In fact he might admit that a good deal of it was actually true.
Concerted bureaucratic effort since then has managed to obscure the facts from the fiction. Now in 2021 we are seeing the edges of that long maintained cover story fraying like crazy around the edges. Now truth and lies are blurred, evil replaces good.
But why change it all in the first place?
The technology at the end of World War II was considered far too dangerous to remain in development. Even nuclear armament was small change compared to some of the things discovered during that time. The most worrying of scientific personalities and the most problematic of their ideas were, in fact, shipped off planet in great, nigh-invisible silver darts.
The hardships of their ensuing lives made certain these people would turn their minds to creative survival instead of the hubris of destruction, and ensured the rest of us were deprived of developments we were not ready for.
Our planet developed technology along QUITE a different path as a result.
These exiled engineers found themselves on Mars. A planet rich in ancient vulcanology.
Where spent volcanoes reside there are lava tubes… caves whose skylights dot the surface like woodworm holes. It was within these the first settlers sheltered and built the first sealed cities. It’s also where many interesting pathogens were discovered, but those will be discussed another time.
Alongside the engineers were the first settlers, some were men and women officially missing in action during World War II, Korea and Viet Nam, some were unsolved abductions during peace time, cold cases shut down by government men in black, and some were just folks who naturally fell through the cracks of society. Not all were volunteers, but they all built and lived what we’ll call the 50’s future.
At first our own tech aimed to reach the stars but with key portions of knowledge removed the path had been slowed and eventually, for a time, extinguished.
Space travel had to be restricted to allow the colonies on Mars time to develop. Our successful quest for moon landings was soon guided towards a more inward looking vision: first the space shuttle confined man to the orbit of the earth, and then the problem of climate change was developed to keep man firmly planted on the ground… and busy.
The popular imagination also had to be addressed: the forward looking Science Fiction of the fifties was, with immense effort, replaced by sword and sorcery in the nineteen eighties. Fantasy by nature focussed on the distant past rather than developing the near future.
Not much evidence of the original conspiracy still exists. Our great grandfather’s generation is long gone. Their Paperwork was destroyed long before the end of their working lives, there were no heirs to that knowledge. As in all bureaucracies nobody understands why the rules are what they are. Nobody knows who set the rules (there’s always some other department responsible), and certainly nobody has the “bigger picture.”
The now corrupted function of politicians is not dissimilar to the robed priesthood of the dark ages when a similar systemic collapse ocurred.
It’s curious that when we get to Mars we may actually meet relatives 40 to 80 years removed from us.
…to be continued!