The more we look to the stars, the more we wonder if we’re alone. There’s a thing that happens when we look at the night sky from a city, with its scattered stars hanging in a lonely darkness. But the James Webb Space Telescope has shown us that space is far more dense than we imagine. A square centimeter of sky holds thousands of galaxies, an an unimaginable number of stars. Only the most anthropocentric mind would not think that we have neighbors, however distant. Here’s more from Tor.com:
There is the possibility that N could be high enough that occasional conversations are possible but rare. Even if the average distribution is too widespread for routine conversation, some pairs of civilizations will be closer than the average, while some civilizations may possess time-binding abilities that facilitate two-way communication carried out over surprisingly lengthy intervals.
As far as the humans of Der-Shing Helmer’s Mare Internum (2019) know, Mars is a dead world. Appearances can be deceiving. Mars was not merely the abode of life well before Earth but home to an advanced civilization as well—human astronauts owe their existence to careless Martians spreading life to young Earth. Indeed, life still exists within a last refuge deep beneath Mars’ surface. Thanks to some very poor life choices, Doctors Mike Fisher and Rebekah “Bex” Egunsola will experience the wonders of lost Mars in person.