1 Prologue: The Traveler’s Light

The year was 2025.

Humanity was at the height of a new space age. The Mars One project was well underway, and the people of Earth were making preparations to send the first team of astronauts to Mars. We were on the cusp of a global-- no-- a cosmic triumph, when news came forward that pushed us ever closer towards a new age.

Astronomers tasked with mapping the trek to Mars discovered something...alarming. A massive object appeared-- seemingly out of nowhere, just outside the Martian orbit, and was causing strange atmospheric activity. Data from the rovers on the red planet showed something was happening that no one could have ever predicted.

It was raining on Mars.

Over the course of a year, society was on edge as governments tried to formulate a plan of action to respond to the turn of events. The public was baffled and anxious. What was this interstellar object? Aliens? God? Or something else entirely...The only way we could know for sure what was happening on our neighboring planet was to see for ourselves, and we did.

In a joint effort between the Chinese, Russian, and American governments, a team of three astronauts was sent to Mars to investigate. On what was once a dead world, they arrived in the middle of a heavy rainstorm. As they moved through the weather, the three astronauts could hear a faint whisper in the wind,

"Come, see."

Answering the call, they moved toward the sound of the whispers. They wandered for what seemed like a lifetime, and just as they prepared to turn back, they saw it. Over the horizon was a bright sphere slightly smaller than a moon. It radiated the purest of Light. It was affecting the atmosphere, and beneath the floating entity sat a pool of liquid water. With this sight, it was clear what this object was doing.

It was terraforming, changing the geophysical nature of the planet to make it suitable for life. It was astonishing. With another faint whisper the entity asked,

"What do you think?"

They called it the Traveller, and its arrival changed us forever...