Billions of years ago, Venus might have had conditions that could support liquid water, a thick atmosphere, and a more temperate climate, making it a potentially habitable environment. Venus was a lush planet, where early human-like species thrived in dense jungles and wetlands. However, volcanic activity and increasing solar radiation began to intensify, leading to a greenhouse effect that trapped heat and turned Venus into the blazing, acidic world we know today.
As conditions became harsher, humans (or their predecessors) were forced to adapt rapidly. Survival demanded resilience and technological advancements, ultimately leading them to develop early space travel. In a final effort to save their species, they constructed interplanetary ships and set their sights on the next potential oasis—Earth.
The journey to Earth took generations, with ships carrying stasis chambers and extensive genetic material to ensure the species could repopulate on arrival. Upon landing, they found a planet rich in resources, abundant with water, and ripe for cultivation. Here, humans (the descendants of the Venusian settlers) flourished, eventually forgetting much of their past on Venus as they evolved and adapted to their new environment.
Over millennia, Earth became their home, but as the Sun’s intensity increased, human life had to adapt again. Earth began warming beyond sustainable levels, echoing the fate of Venus. The population turned once more to the stars, seeking a way to survive as conditions worsened.
“This is how it all began, and how it will end,” she begins, her gaze distant.
“We weren’t always here, on Earth. We were once creatures of Venus, a world not so different from what we see now on Earth: lush, warm, and teeming with life. But Venus began to change. It grew hotter and hotter until it was no longer able to support life, forcing our ancestors to leave. They journeyed across the void to Earth, finding it green and vibrant. Here, we flourished, adapting to Earth’s cycles, forgetting Venus with each generation.
“But Earth’s days are numbered too,” Katarina continues. “As the Sun grows older, it burns brighter and hotter. In a billion years, Earth will be much hotter than it is now—so hot, in fact, that the oceans will boil, and life as we know it will be impossible. The Earth will become a Venus of sorts, transformed by the same forces that destroyed our original home.”
Katarina leans in, her voice softer. “And then, Mars will take its turn. As Earth becomes uninhabitable, Mars will drift into what they call the ‘habitable zone.’ With the right help—maybe a touch of the terraforming secrets from ancient Venus—Mars could flourish with forests and oceans. We may live there for a time, but Mars’s fate will eventually mirror Earth’s. The Sun’s power will keep growing, pushing Mars into a fiery end just as it has every world before it.
“The funny thing is, planets don’t normally move closer to the Sun,” she muses. “In fact, they’re drifting slightly away as the Sun loses mass over time. But cosmic forces—maybe a slight nudge from Jupiter’s gravity, or an unpredictable shift in orbits—could change that, bringing each world a little closer, bit by bit. It’s rare, but possible. And it’s in these tiny movements that each planet may pass through its own brief period of Earth-like habitability before spiraling into the Sun’s fiery embrace.”
Katarina’s eyes shine with something between awe and sadness. “So, if Mars becomes like Earth, it will only be for a fleeting moment. Solar radiation will strip away any atmosphere we manage to create there. Mars may hold us for a time, but not forever. We will watch its skies grow brighter and its red sands grow hotter until it becomes our last redoubt, a final paradise consumed by an unstoppable fire.”
She pauses, letting the weight of the story settle. “Some say we’ll find a new planet beyond Mars, and perhaps even beyond our Sun, another oasis among the stars. But even those worlds will only hold us for a time. The cycle of life, death, and migration is written in the stars. Our story began on Venus, continued here on Earth, and will unfold on every world we find. In each place, we live, adapt, and move on, like wanderers driven forward by the light of a dying star.”
With that, Katarina sits back, her story woven with both truth and myth, leaving us with an image of humanity as cosmic nomads, endlessly moving to escape the encroaching fire.