In Flanders fields

The beginning

No one truly remembers how it started. No one truly remembers who opposed who. Italians were found in both camps, French, Americans, Canadians, British, Algerians, Koreans, Chinese, Iraqi... Countries do not exist anymore, borders are but ancient memories, governments but a nest of vipers, who fled at the very first opportunity.

But, if it's a wold war, how can they flee?

Let, me, your very own narrator, explain. I am omniscient, I might as well abuse my powers. 

For a long time, humanity has been searching for a trace of extraterrestrial life out in the rest of the solar system. To do that, one needs to understand what makes a planet habitable. Well, looking at all the various living beings on the planet, a common point vas discovered. Now, one may think it is oxygen, for breathing, or temperature, but bacteria do not need to breathe, they have a system called fermentation to produce their own energy -humans actually do it too, in situations like sprints where you do not breathe, but it does not last long - and life can adapt to temperatures, even extreme (though certain species can't). No, the common point was the necessity of liquid water. 

Now water is liquid depending on two variables, temperature, and atmospheric pressure. There are special pots made to heighten the pressure so water can still be liquid at more than a hundred degrees Celsius. At the pressure of the Earth, one bar, water freezes at 0 degrees C, and its boiling point is a hundred C. So, calculate atmospheric pressure and average temperature,  and you know if liquid water is possible. 

On Mars, tracks, greatly reassembling old riverbeds, were found. But the atmospheric pressure is way too low for liquid water, it goes from ice to vapor. Scientists investigated:  turns out solar winds were ripping off the atmosphere. 

Now is when things get tricky. Climate change is a horrible thing, destroying Earth, and population is not stopping it's growth. Add to that the facts the Sun is getting larger, it's natural to want to escape to Mars. So, scientists, collectively, using all the greatest minds of the Earth no matter of race or political views or nationality, developed a shield to protect and repair Mars' atmosphere. Mars became habitable. They also tweaked it so it became breathable. 

However, no one felt the need to go there just yet: no buildings were erected to protect inhabitants from the cold, and the ships were still expensive even if the were mass produced. So only an Elite left to colonize the planet enough to live comfortably when the rest comes. 

But everything changed when the war broke out. Only escaping to Mars could guarantee your safety and the safety of your child. Thousands, millions of ships left from all countries, but, in an effort to cease discrimination, you did not need tickets to board, so the boarding itself was chaos. Many people were separated, parents and children and siblings and friends. However, because of the lack of price and frequency of the boarding, many of those separated simply reunited once on Mars. 

That was not the case with the "Fall Of Eden". When she left the atmosphere, a natural phenomena, unseen before, and caused by a mix of global warming and chemical and nuclear warfare, made it impossible to exit or enter the atmosphere. Not for ships, not for messages or transmissions. Think of it as the the universe's way to make sure humanity's crap stays on Earth. It didn't even let light in, but the many bolts of lightening trough and from it, like electric veins, provided sufficient light for the war.  

So, everyone separated and left on Earth after the "Fall of Eden", were left neck deep in shit creek with no paddle in sight. That day, that fateful day, ensured no civilians were left on Earth. 

In this war, everyone on Earth were soldiers, literally. Five year olds have killed with knife and gun. Ten year olds were in the infirmary as nurses and apprentice doctors,  fifteen year olds were in encryption, decrypting and translation. 

Amongst the children separated from their family is our main character, a six year old named Eleanor by her parents. 

She saw the ship departing with her parents and brother in it. She saw the sky darken to its pitch black, cutting all access to the stars. She saw the threatening veins of lighting form and erupt and disperse like the blood on her hands after a knife kill. She saw it all.

But her story on Earth is not what we care about. What is truly important is her story on Mars.

So, dear reader, let me take you on a trip. A trip to the future, a trip to the past. A trip to the calm after the storm, a trip in an unreal reality. 

Are you ready?