Tatehan lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, his mind wandering through random thoughts.
He had left the commmader's office hoping to take a nap but he had been unable to do so since he entered the room. And by the way, he wasn't someone who slept in the afternoon.
Him wandering between thoughts finally led him to one:
How did Mars actually work?
Back on Earth, back in his time, there had been countries. Nations, governments with presidents, prime ministers, councils. Bureaucracies that controlled everything from trade to military to infrastructure. It was complicated, sometimes corrupt, but it was structured.
What of here on Mars?
He'd read about it in some of the sci-fi novels he'd been devouring over the past few weeks. Those books always had governors who ruled planets.
But the reality he'd encountered was nothing like that.
Here, there were just... cities.
Independent cities that governed themselves. Waython Hollow. Loenitt. New Helios. Reon Outpost. Ironhaven.
