Homeworld Bound: Red Eden, #1

By Michael E. Vigil

In the year 2085, Enon Truss, Father of Mars, led our ancestors to the red planet in pursuit of liberty. One hundred years after the Exodus, Martian satellites detected multiple nuclear detonations across the homeworld. For the first time since dawn of the twentieth century, Earth fell into total radio silence.

But on Mars, our ancestors endured. They thrived.

Today, two hundred years after the Exodus, our population is eleven million strong and growing. We stand ready to retake our homeworld. In preparation for our journey across deep space, we have sent drones to monitor Earth. To our surprise, we have discovered that human society has re-emerged from the ashes of nuclear war. These societies are in the earliest stages of development. It is as if time has been set back five thousand years.

My name is Jack Hanlon, and I'll be joining the First Expedition. Our mission: to rebuild human civilization and lead humanity to the stars.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael E. Vigil
• Release date: Jul 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386628354

Michael E. Vigil

Michael E. Vigil was born and raised in the Arctic City of iqaluit, Canada. He attended Inuksuk High School where he discovered his love for literature, philosophy, and science. After graduating high school, he worked in the fishing and sealing industries. He now resides in Edmonton, Alberta, and spends his off-days exploring the Canadian frontier. 

Book preview

Michael E. Vigil

Copyright © 2018 Michael E. Vigil

All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 9781983165474

Contents

C = Codex entry / M = Miscellaneous

PROLOGUE

John Hanlon wore white on the day he was to make first contact with an alien civilization. Actually, he and his crew were the aliens as they were visitors from another world, Mars to be exact. His people had lived in exile from Earth for over two hundred years. Now they were back, and they were here to stay.

He sat alone on a cliff overlooking a fjord located on the eastern shore of an island once known as Iceland. A flock of puffins few in circles above an ancient cruise ship, which dwarfed the fishing village that hosted it. Bird guano caked the ship's deck, and mussels clung to the hull near the waterline.

He brushed a speck of dirt off his EVA suit, which resembled a workman's coverall. It wasn't his best outfit – that was still in his trunk awaiting the day of his daughter's wedding – but he figured the primitive Earth natives wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

He glanced down at the village where his crew of engineers worked on a power transformer station. Solar Express had sent them here to restore the island's hydroelectric infrastructure, a necessary first step for establishing a new colony here. They had chosen this island because of its geographic remoteness. They hadn't expected any visitors... until their satellites detected a large fleet of longboats departing from the British Isles.

He patted his Kinetoshock P500 Gauss-rifle, which rested on the ground next to him. Nobody wanted a violent first contact. Nevertheless, they must be prepared for the worst. 

Far in the horizon, he spotted a red sail rising above the grey ocean. He grabbed his radio off his utility belt and spoke into it. Boys, get ready. They're here. He grabbed his gun and made his way towards the edge of the cliff. He picked up the safety line that he had affixed to the ground, attached it to his suit and rappelled down to the village. He detached the safety line and joined his crew of twenty men.

Each man carried a Gauss-rifle. And no, they didn't care that they would come off as aggressive and unfriendly. They weren't here to make friends. They were here to build a new home and defend it. They walked towards the harbour in single file. They stood in a row and pointed their rifles at the foreign sails.

HALF AN HOUR LATER, the longboats ground ashore. Hairy men clad in rusty chain-mail leaped off the side of their boats. They formed a shield wall and banged their axes against their shields, roaring like the savages they were.

John glanced at his crew and gave them a subtle nod. They aimed their rifles at the ground in front of the Viking-wannabes and opened fire. A thunderous clap rolled down the Martian line. The ground exploded before the feet of the native warriors. They jumped back with a startled cry. To their credit, they held their line, but they were quiet now. They watched with cold eyes partially veiled behind their steel helmets. 

A moment of silence followed, punctuated only by the squawk of frightened puffins.

A stunningly beautiful woman wearing a red dress and a fur cloak threw herself between the native warriors and the Martian engineers. She had jet-black hair, snow-white skin and tattoos on her face and arms. She held her palm to each side. Stop. We did not come here to fight. She looked to the Martians. We seek our Goddess.

As if that meant anything to the Martians.

John lowered his rifle. Good. You speak English. Ain’t no goddess here. Now get off our island.

A husky warrior stepped forward and growled.

The woman motioned for the warrior to back off. She turned her gaze back to John. Who are you?

We're the Sons of Mars.

Who?

Had these Earthlings lost so much of their culture and history that they didn't even know who or what Mars was? John walked forward and loomed over her. He's the Roman God of War. 

The woman held her ground, unfazed by his intimidation tactic. Our Goddess is the Mother of All Creation. If Mars is your god, then he is her child.

John chuckled. Mars is also the name of our world. We have returned to Earth to reclaim it for our people.

The woman arched her left eyebrow. There are people living on other worlds?

Liar! The husky warrior shouted.

Quiet! The woman snapped. To John, she asked, Will you permit us to explore this island?

John glanced at the husky warrior whose face was beet red. Not with that army. Leave our island and never come back. 

What makes this your island? You're not even from this world. 

My crew and I have restored power and running water to this piece of rock. That labour makes it ours. Also, we've got boom-sticks. John patted his Kinetoshock P500. 

The husky warrior pointed his axe at John. There's only twenty of you and a thousand of us.

Twenty that you can see, John said, and that's all we need to turn you into fish-bait. 

The native warriors shouted indignantly at John and his crew.

The woman cut her hand across the air, and the warriors fell silent. She glared at John. We are not leaving until we find our Goddess. If you're willing to harm innocent women and children, then by all means do what you must to stop us. Sisters, with me!

Dozens of women came running out from behind the line of warriors. They gathered around the first woman. They all had jet-black hair, snow-white skin and tattoos on their faces. Their tattoos were each unique, but beneath all that ink, their faces looked identical to one another. John could no longer tell who was the first woman he had talked to.

One of the engineers threw off his radio headset with a pained cry. A piercing shriek screamed from his headphones. Chief, he said with gasp, something’s jamming our radio.

John shuddered as fifty women turned their identical faces towards him. Their eyes seemed to glow under the glare of the sun. We shall awaken our Goddess, they chanted in unison. Eden will be restored and humanity punished for your sins...

CHAPTER 1: MEET'N'GREET

Jack Hanlon grabbed the pull-up bar with both his hands and lifted his 95-kg body weight plus the weight of his 190-kg tungsten suit. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten!

His smart-visor sounded a ping and projected his girlfriend’s profile-pic into his eyes. Without skipping a beat, he answered the call. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen. Sixteen!

A chat-window popped into view. Vicenta sat in the backseat of her car with her legs curled underneath her. Jack, what are you doing? 

Building my core, Snow White. Jack lost count of how many reps he had done. Fortunately, he had an app on his smart-visor that kept track for him. Gotta be strong for Earth.

Yeah, about that... She bit her lower lip and averted her gaze from the camera. I don’t think I can go through with it.

Jack’s blood pressure spiked by thirty points according to the stats scrolling across the bottom of his virtual interface. His hands slipped from the pull-up bar, and he landed on the floor with a heavy clank. Oh no-no-no. I already paid your fare. A hundred thousand runits, and there ain’t no refund.

Jack, I’m sorry. I’ll... I’ll pay you back.

You don’t even have a job.

My agent just got me a modelling gig. I swear I’ll make it up to you.

Forget the money. Why you bailing on me?

I just... She pulled a handheld mirror out of her purse along with an eyelash curler. She proceeded to curl her eyelashes. I just didn’t think it through when I agreed. You made it sound so romantic and all, but...

He waited for her to finish. But...?

She applied lipstick to her already rosy lips then pressed her lips together. Earth is no place for a lady.

He scoffed. Your agent, Sally, had something to do with this, didn’t she?

She and I had a long chat.

She just wants to sell that pretty face of yours.

Vicenta held up her glossy-black lipstick tube. Jack, where am I gonna find a Cha-Cha Chic on Earth?

Just bring your lipsticks with you.

And what happens when I run out?

Who cares? You don’t need that stuff.

What about clothes? Will we have to shoot innocent animals and skin them for their fur? Like savages?

You don’t wanna give up shopping? Is that your problem?

We won’t even able to shop for toilet paper. I can’t live without toilet paper, Jack.

Then we’ll bring a bunch with us. And it’s not like we’ll never make our own.

Vicenta shook her head. Why do we have to be the first? In fact, why do we have to go at all? We have a good life here. You have a hugely successful career making Mars adventure videos for DeepCast. Why are you throwing it all away? 

You know my father is already on Earth. My whole family is moving there. This has been my dream since I was a kid.

And my family and all my friends are staying here on Mars. Stay with me, Jack. I’m worth more to you than a wild, untamed planet populated by primitive brutes. Right?

Jack couldn’t believe the conceit of this woman. When I was a child, my father and I went adventuring through the Martian outback every other weekend. Then one day, the adventures stopped. When I asked him ‘why?’ you know what he told me? 

Vicenta rolled her eyes with a sigh, a subtle non-verbal queue which stung Jack more than he would like to admit. 

"He told me he was saving up for the ultimate adventure. Earth. I’ve waited over fifteen years for this, and in that time, my dad and I worked hard to save up enough money for this voyage. And you just pissed away a hundred thousand runits of that hard work along with whatever feelings I had for you. It’s over, Vicenta. Take a hike." 

Ja-!

Jack took off his smart-visor and cast it onto his unkempt bed. His mother had disliked Vicenta from the beginning. Ma had even warned him that Vicenta was going to get cold feet, but he had a terrible weakness for beautiful women, and this wasn’t the first time he’d been hurt by one. 

He paced around his three hundred and fifty square foot single-room habitat, brooding over how he was going to salvage that one hundred thousand runit ticket that he had bought for his ex, that inconsiderate bitch. He only had a month to find somebody-anybody who was willing to fill that gaping hole she’d carved into his heart. But who? 

His smart-visor beeped.

Could it be Vicenta? Had she changed her mind?

He grabbed his visor and slipped it on. He had just received a text message from his little brother, Ray. You coming to tonight's meet'n'greet?

Right. That little get-together organized by Solar Express. It was the perfect opportunity to scout the ladies and call dibs on the hottest one he could find.

He pulled up the virtual keyboard and typed his response to his brother. Fingers crossed it's not a sausage fest. According to online polls, more men than women wanted to be the first to move to Earth. Hopefully, Solar Express had taken steps to even out the sex ratio during the booking process.

He walked over to his armour stand, which stood next to his carbon-fibre wardrobe. He removed each piece of his tungsten suit and placed it on the stand. He had worked up a heavy sweat wearing that suit all day. Nobody else he knew, aside from Derek, who was his best buddy and future brother-in-law, had bothered to go through such lengths to train for Earth gravity.

Jack took off his sweaty clothes and hopped into his tiny one square-metre shower. After he rinsed off his sweat, he towelled himself off and walked over to his wardrobe. He picked out a body-fitting, smoky-grey t-shirt and a black pair of Armano denims. He completed his getup with a black carbon nanoweave jacket and red running shoes.

He took the elevator down to the lobby of his building, located on the underground level 10, and exited to the street. Electric cars sped down the road, each one travelling at the precise speed determined by the Standard Traffic Protocol, the autonomous navigation software installed on every vehicle.

He screened his eyes from the artificial sunlight beaming down on him. Visor, increase shade to fifty percent. His smart-visor darkened the tint on the glass. He lowered his hand and gazed at the fluffy white clouds drifting across the brilliant blue sky. A yellow biplane flew overhead, a white banner streaming behind it. The banner read, 'Virtu-Sky brought to you by Hyun-Sung Electronics.' A red dragon chased after the biplane. The dragon blew out a huge breath of fire, which left a fiery message that