Earth has an irreversibly toxic and unmanageable atmosphere. Its death is an inevitability beyond our control. Technological and scientific booms redefined space travel, allowing us to terraform Mars, but our choices interfered with our planet’s natural processes. We were far from sci-fi cinema, but we had meddled with everything from gravitational energies to harmful methods of agriculture. Many of our eventual developments were positive, particularly our dependence on clean energies and all-electric vehicles, but it was the fragile road leading to our greatest accomplishments that hurt us the most.

When Earth’s fate could no longer be denied, falling prey to our mistakes as landscapes and climates suffered irreversible changes, our world’s leaders revealed controversial plans of evacuation. Mars was now a habitable beacon of hope and a new home destined for the human race. But fear and anger spread like wildfires with knowledge that so few could leave, that we lacked sufficient time and resources to transfer the entirety of mankind. More than 95% of Earth’s population would be abandoned, powerless and at the mercy of nature. Our darkest day, the binds of our fate were sealed, and our civil world crumbled into a sandy slum of sickness, famine, and violence.

They illuminated the sky with a million lights, like stars beneath stars. They were known collectively as The Ark, hundreds of enormous spaceships with a mission for Mars. Many of them had no relation beyond their travel capabilities. As long as they could transport the necessary life-forms or resources, they were enlisted for duty. But one particular human passenger ship failed to meet said duty. The Endeavour Six, one of the largest ships housing a gargantuan number of passengers, was rumoured to have malfunctioned at launch. Others tell of a giant being shot down out of the skies. For most, its presence is no more than a myth.

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The Endeavour Six (or E-6), also known as the Oasis of the Stars, is a luxurious space-liner designed for maximum comfort and extensive trips in space. Like other revolutionary space vehicles, it incorporates a solar shell and self-perpetuating power sources. Along with a large store of nutritious micro-meals that serve as full meal replacements, the ship’s atmosphere is self-moderated to ease the body’s demand for sustenance. There is also an atmospheric water generator in place to collect and filter drinking water from the air. It is accurate to describe this ship as a safe haven and a blessing for those in its comfort.

It is now the North American summer of 2051. Seasons are not what they used to be, mostly cold and dry with unpredictable fluctuations. Sand has consumed much of our once lush landscapes, and the peculiar prevalence of rust has aggressively swept the planet. It has been six months since The Ark abandoned Earth, eighteen months since the first evacuation announcement, and four years since we opened our eyes to our planet’s dying state. Earth had been noticeably different for a decade, but some things never change, and we ignored it until it was too late.

Life is now a fight for survival, futile though it may be. People live, trade, and hang on to what little of their communities remain. But sanctuaries, these are not. There are more gangs than memory serves, newly formed militaries and militias. There are those hopelessly collaborating for cures to our problems, while others embrace the chaos of our dying world.

Many continue to question the rust that has scarred our planet. It was one of Earth’s first noticeable changes, leading to the development of specially protective metals for the likes of vehicles, weapons, and modern technological devices. Without around the clock maintenance, however, this unfathomable rust would disrupt most susceptible objects over time, even in the driest of regions despite its unlikelihood. So many of our creations have suffered, including the millions of solar panels we had come to rely on. As far as weapons are concerned, many people still operate old weaponry despite its unreliability, as advanced weaponry with its superior protection against the elements is rare, sought after like new gold.

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Excerpts from unknown’s journal (Present Day).

‘Although my end is upon me, likely my final words, another story begins in the patchy deserts of Canada. A concentration camp formed by a newly established military-power has just been ignited into an explosion of flames. The military-power, known as Novus Ordo, seeks to oppress those who reject its desires for dominance over the land. They had gathered sufficient weaponry and resources to be of influence, but accumulated more enemies than they had anticipated. They disregarded the fact that in the face of end times with nothing to lose, people would be more willing to fight back and more resilient to oppressive tactics. It’s almost funny, even with our planet nearing death, how humans still try to rule the world.

There are also rumours circulating of the E-6’s presence on Earth, and that a second launch may be imminent. No longer do I discount it as myth. The ship is thought by few to be located at a military airbase within a circle of mountains and dying forests, heavily guarded by soldiers known as ‘Defenders’. Word is spreading, and activity is beginning to blossom in old towns at the foot of mountains throughout Canada. But there is one old Alberta town in particular that earns special attention, where two weeks prior its neighbouring mountains emitted a distant and short lived flash of light. That night, there was not a cloud in the sky and not a boom to be heard. Something illuminated the mountains, and I saw it with my own two eyes widened in amazement. I know the rumours are true, and that while I personally cannot make it, for someone it will mean freedom. The E-6 is out there.’