Continued from the September 2018 edition of Nonahood News…

I was on Mars. The human race had been living here for the past 500 years. For some reason, Earth had diminished into nothing. It was ruined. I wished things hadn’t turned out this way, but they did.

I connected with my friend Pach here on Mars. He was the only one left besides myself who was from Earth. Everyone else here was born on Mars.

We entered a dark room with a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. A small table sat in the corner of the room with a cup on top. On the opposite end lay a small mattress on the floor. There was no on else but us.

“Welcome to my home”, said Pach. “This is where I live.”

“It doesn’t look so high tech here, taking into consideration it’s the year 3005,” I said with a chuckle.

Pach smiled and gave me a look as if I were about to ask a million questions as once.

“Have a seat, please,” he said, as he pointed to a couch I hadn’t noticed.

As I sat down, my mouth spilled words everywhere. “So what happened? Why doesn’t anyone seem to care about Earth anymore? How are people living here? Who is in charge of this place? Does other life exist?”

“Well, I remember the day … the day Earth had fallen. It was the year 2505. The planet was bound to have its day of total extinction. Scientists began to pick up on the clues back in 2300. Every summer seemed hotter and hotter, no matter where you were. All the ice from the glaciers up north had finally finished melting away, and the oceans would rise in sea level, yes, but the waters began to dry out eventually due to the heat. The planet faced many dry spells for many years. Crops and plantations were failing. Different species of animals began to die off. Ecosystems failed. Scientists had to move more toward their alternative way of growing grain and fruit, which was in labs. However, not everywhere in the world was fortunate enough to have growing labs. Population was overpowering the output of food. The high demand caused the death rate to skyrocket in many parts of the world.

“Innovators had to think. The earth’s soil was almost dust. The air was so dry, and it was very hazy. It was almost like the Dust Bowl all over again. Our only way was out of there. So, all the inventors and scientists of the world came together for a solution due to our dying planet. They worked closely with NASA. It was the largest humanitarian effort in the world’s history.

“When 2460 came, the world’s population had sunk to a lame 300,000 as opposed to the near 8 billion you knew. We were dying out. By 2505, we were only 1,000 people left. The project, known as Project X, was finished. Several spacecrafts were built and set for Mars. We would learn how to survive there over the years.

“Months before our launch, several fires began simultaneously around the world. It hit Africa, then the U.K and North America. Before we knew it, our world was burning, and it was out of our control. No one was ready for that launch, but we had no make a run for it. The fires were out of control. We all left with what the spaceships had packed prior in preparation for launch, but it wasn’t everything. Our recorded history was gone.

“Eventually, years later, we got back on our feet. We were able to build Mars the way Earth used to look. It’s our new Mother Earth.”

I was speechless. I had no words to say.

“Is that really what happened to Earth? So, it was natural disaster … but by human error?” I finally asked, after a few moments of silence as I processed what Pach told me.

“Yes, it was. With all the air pollution that kept up over the years, it took a major toll on the global climate. We’ve taken precautions here on Mars to prevent any major climate changes from happening. The red crystals I gave you play a huge part in the picture. It wasn’t until I came to Mars that I realized they had the power to equalize a planet’s climate. If I had realized this before the Earth’s disaster, it could have been saved.”

Then, all at once, it came to me! I still had crystals! I could use my time machine to go back in time and save Earth to avoid the disaster that would come hundreds of years later.

I quickly got up. Pach had a confused look on his face and asked where I was going.

“Come with me. I have an idea. Earth still has hope,” I said.

Tune in next month for Part Five, the final chapter, of the A Million Miles Away series.