Mars - Dorsa Argentea

December 3, 2558, C.E.

Prince Hedlund opened the door to his chambers to find an unmarked white envelope sitting on his bedside table. Jamie closed the door again as if he could convince himself it wasn’t there. His father told him it was coming, he still didn’t want to believe. He pulled the door ajar; the envelope was still there. In an era where holographic video chats and recorded holo-messages were the normal, physical letters were extremely rare. He stared at it unable to take his eyes off of it as he walked to his bed. As he picked up the letter he heard a rustling on the other side of the room. He spun around, looked up and saw the curtains blowing by his open window. It was not a long distance to cover, but Jamie didn’t do it fast enough. By the time he got there, the person was already well out of reach sliding down the side of the icy castle. Twisting around, the prince of Mars made sure he was alone.

The envelope was sealed and pristine. It appeared to have no openings at all. He had never seen an envelope that was airtight before. Using his index finger and thumb he flicked it. It sprung back into position quickly, a marking appeared where he made contact with the envelope. The marking appeared and red and quickly moved across the front of the envelope. The wording that appeared showed “TAMPERED” he was astounded about the amount of security that was involved in this situation. He walked back over to his bed and sat down. He took out the paper and started reading.

Jamie,

I am a friend of your father’s. We have worked together on many occasions. The reason I am reaching out to you goes beyond you, or me. I am worried for the future of our race. Humans, we are all humans after all, are not that different from each other. There is a natural course in humanity it seems to hate one another for reasons that are of our own creation. While our differences are skin deep, our similarities go to our very core. You have been watching the news, you have begun to understand the world around you. This is why I choose this moment to reach out to you. Believe it or not, you have the power to change the hearts and minds of your people, and mine.

I am sorry I am long-winded. Long story short, I work for the government of Venus. My sole goal is to open a path of communication between you, and us. If you ever have questions or concerns regarding anything, or if you every just want to talk to someone with a different opinion I am here. My courier has delivered not only this letter to you but a book. The book has been placed on the top shelf of your bookshelf on the very left.

Jamie stared at the letter. To think someone from Venus, in a position of power, was reaching out to him. Why? The edges of the paper were beginning to fray.

When this letter is exposed to Martian air it will begin to decay at that point it will only last about another hour. This is a security mechanism designed to keep this information secure. If and when you wish to contact me, use the book.

Jamie didn’t think he was capable of saving the world or changing minds, yet this person from Venus seemed to think so. He wondered if he was being used. This was too good to be true. Someone had a lot of faith in him, all of a sudden he felt small on the large scheme of things. He looked back at the book that was new to his shelves. It looked old and unremarkable. He looked around as if somebody was watching. He took the book off his shelf and looked at it. It was very thin. He opened it, it appeared to contain only five pages. They were all blank. He sat down in his plush reading chair perplexing at this mysterious, apparently blank, old, brown, unremarkable book. He stared into the blank pages and concentrated. He didn’t understand how a message could be sent through this useless thing.

It quickly warmed up. The more he concentrated the warmer it became. When it became too hot to touch he had to throw it to the ground. “This stupid book, it’s a trick.” When he looked down the brown book had turned black. He left it on the ground but couldn’t look away. Testing it by touch the book now felt normal. He hesitated then picked up and opened the book.

“Once you close this book it will reset, all the words will be erased.”

There was a great deal more written but he closed the book. The book instantly felt cold and turned brown again. “Shoot.” He already knew but he opened it up to confirm. The rest of what was written was lost. He felt frustrated with himself and put the brown book back on the shelf.