illphated
Digging for Tomorrow on the Shores of Mars
By Illphated | illphated.com
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The tide lapped gently against the red sands, humming with the low resonance of faraway frequencies. Above, twin moons hovered like watchful eyes over the Martian coast, casting long shadows that shimmered in the neon reflection of the Blade Runner cityscape beyond. The sea—engineered, saltless, and oxygen-fed—glowed a soft electric blue under the vaporwave sky.
A child named Oren knelt at the edge of it all, shoveling Martian sand with the fierce dedication only a child could summon. His hair, a mess of brilliant copper, stood out against the pinks and purples of the fading day. Freckles dusted his cheeks like constellations, and his tiny hands gripped a faded shovel as he dug deeper and deeper into the orange dune.
“What are you building?” a drone asked, hovering nearby, its synthetic voice tinged with curiosity.
“A portal,” Oren replied simply.
“To where?”
He shrugged. “Wherever the hole goes.”
Adults didn’t ask questions like that anymore. Adults negotiated oxygen rations and programmed rainfall schedules. But children? They still believed Mars might hide treasure. That maybe, if you dug deep enough, you’d find something Earth left behind—like a buried memory or a forgotten secret.
The neon wind whistled through the towers behind him. The city pulsed with synthetic life, holograms dancing over chrome and steel, but here on the beach, Oren’s world was simpler. Each handful of sand flung behind him felt like rebellion—a quiet protest against the sterilized future he’d inherited.
And though he didn’t know it, the hole he dug would be found years later by archaeologists, puzzled by its depth and precision. They’d argue over its purpose, its symbolism. But none would guess the truth:
That a child named Oren had once come to this shore… and dreamed.
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