It’s been five years since the cataclysm. The Earth is a wretched wasteland and mankind is a species on the brink of extinction. Witnessing this final act, orbiting high above the devastated continents, the battered and leaking hulk of a space station and three marooned souls who can do little more then observe firsthand the death of their kind. But within their dire plight lies a spark of hope and perhaps a chance to change the course of Natural Selection.
 

     Mars exploded at exactly 11:16 AM, Eastern Standard Time.

     In Houston it was hot and humid, but that was nothing compared to the steamy conditions in Mission Control when the initial readings were confirmed. Within hours, headlines heralding the approach of the Apocalypse raced around the globe, inciting hysteria and mass panic.

     From our position onboard Freedom, we had a fantastic view of the entire process… all five-point-four seconds of it. In that moment of time, a miniature version of the sun abruptly appeared in the vacuum of deep space. Of course no sound was recorded but the video was enough to shock our entire world.

     That was over four years ago.