The Red Planet

The Red Planet is in another galaxy with a star system similar to ours. It has a moon and a sun. The earth there is red because it is mostly iron rust. It has been inhabited by a race of animals similar to humans and just as intelligent. Redites have been thought to be far advanced to earthlings. In fact, in the distant past of earth they may have colonized this planet and evolved into us. Redites may be the visitors to earth that are the gods who were teachers of the Greeks, Egyptians, Mayans and Aztecs.

There used to be many groups of Redites on the Red Planet. These groups were called Settiles and each Settile had its own name like the countries of earth. Not like earth on the Red Planet there are only ten other creatures and one hundred plants. Once there were many kinds of plants and animals. The population of Redites grew so much that there was no room for the many plants and animals. The only ones that were left were the pet animals and plants that the Redites needed for their personal survival.

Population growth was the main reason for the lack of other animals and constant wars. Each time there was not enough resources to support the population of the Red Planet there was a war. After the war there would be a time of near peace until the next war. Sometimes it was religion that started the war. The inhabitants of each Settile had a primary religion that the leaders imposed on its inhabitants. They used religion to control their populations. It was easy to claim for the leaders to claim only their form of worship was the real religion. That made it easy to start a war with other Settiles.

Each of the Settiles claimed to be better and more right than the other Settiles. Instead of trying to work together they exaggerated their differences. The Extrantes prayed facing the east. The Plantiles prayed facing to the west. The Plantiles hated any Settile that had temples. Extrantes had one God. The Justerites would join the Neveyrights at times to try to rule all of the Red Planet. The lesser Settiles would join any Settile they felt would be the strongest to protect to be on the winning side. One war would be against a Settile that would be an ally in the next war. War was a continuous state of affairs on the Red Planet. The planet was either at war or preparing for the next war.

Each time there was a war the weapons became more deadly to the inhabitants and the survival of the Red Planet itself. As the population grew so large between wars, war was seen as a way to control the population. The time came when the next war would destroy every living thing on the Red Planet. First they tried to limit the production and use of the worst of the weapons they possessed. But the large Settiles built up stockpiles of the destructinators. The small Settiles wanted destructinators for self-defense. Several succeeded to get the plans and build their own destructinators. Small Settiles against rules made by the large Settiles tested destructinators.

All the inhabitants of the Red Planet were afraid that some small Settile would shoot off a destructinator and kill the planet. A Settile might use one to settle a dispute with another Settile instead of talking to each other. Treaties between Settiles made it impossible to stop a war it there was any attack by any Settile against another one. Any use of force between any Settiles would put the entire Red Planet at war. Tensions grew to a breaking point. The Settile of Igostaso constantly treated to shoot of a missile in retaliation for an insult to its Great Leader. The situation grew so bad that some inhabitants of the Red Planet wished that the final war would come soon.

All the leaders except the leader of the Settile of Igostaso met for a counsel to seek a solution to the problems. Because the leader of the Settile of Igostaso was not liked by any of the other leaders he was not invited to the conference. They thought that he was a loud fool who would only disrupt the conference. As the leaders at the conference argued about how to save the planet, Igostaso took action. That leader sent a destructinator missile that hit the building where the conference was being held. All the leaders were killed. As each Settile had readies with each other for defense all the Settiles fired their missiles at a suspected enemy. For the first time in the history of the Red Planet there is peace there. To this day there is no life on the Red Planet and for many thousands of years there will not be any life there.

Note: This story was called the Death of Mars when I first told it. It was a time when the world had enough nukes to kill every creature on earth ten times. Nuclear powers were afraid to give up their bombs. We knew little of the climate of Mars and some believed we could live there. This story was one guess of why there was no life on Mars. For today's audience I moved Mars far far away and changed the names of the characters to modernize it.