Journey to Mars
The Mars mission would launch in 21 days. Joseph, Fred, and a group of DAO members — Elisabeth, Ariel, Juan, and 16 others — were selected to travel. Greg, although proud of his friends, had been assigned to a new Earth project and would remain behind.
As Joseph packed, his father handed him a worn envelope. Inside was a letter from his great-great-grandfather.
“I may never reach Mars,” it read, “but I hope one day, someone who shares my blood will stand on its soil. Stack sats with purpose. Stack for something greater than yourself.”
Joseph folded the letter carefully and tucked it into his satchel. His heart filled with a quiet strength. This was no ordinary mission. This was legacy.
Fred sat nearby, reviewing teaching materials. “I want to help Martians understand individual liberty,” he said. “If they decentralize governance early, they could uplift Mars from the very beginning.”
Elisabeth, a kind-hearted Californian, disagreed. “Why bring Earth’s philosophy to Mars? Shouldn’t Martians discover their own way, without Earth’s shadow?”
The debate echoed through the StarHome space station, where all 21 delegates now gathered. A friendly, thoughtful argument sparked between them — would they uplift, or interfere?
No matter the answer, their journey had begun.
Outside the station, the sleek craft Aurora-9 hovered gently. It was docked with the StarHome station, connected through a magnetic vacuum seal. With final systems checks complete, the seal disengaged with a subtle hiss.
A high-frequency hum began to rise from the craft’s drive core. Inside, lights flickered in warm sequence as Aurora-9 initialized its Solar Fusion Pulse Transit — a propulsion system powered by compressed solar plasma and directed quantum pulses. This technology allowed spacecraft to reach Mars in just one month, making interplanetary travel feel more like an ocean voyage from centuries past.
The Aurora-9 detached slowly, drifting a few meters from StarHome before its drive ignited. In an instant, it accelerated forward — not quite light-speed, but closer than humanity had ever been.
Kids around the world watched live feeds, eyes wide, cheering as the silver craft vanished into the stars, Earth shrinking into a blue marble behind them.
Inside, Joseph gazed through the window, letter in hand. He wondered what currency Mars used. He had only heard rumors — whispers of a fiat Martian coin used in the domes. But how did it work? Was it honest? Was it decentralized?
As the stars wrapped them in silence, Joseph held on to the sats in his device and the dream in his heart.
Mars was no longer a destination.
It was a new beginning.
#2140 #interplanetary #mars #stacksats
