11.30.25: Martian Tourism

One day, Mars has tourism. Shuttles full of people in matching jumpsuits, snapping selfies with the red dust. Companies build domes with “authentic Martian experiences,” which is just Earth food under tinted glass. At first, everyone’s excited. But soon, the novelty fades. The planet is harsh, the air unbreathable, the silence deafening. Tourists go once, then never again. It becomes the ultimate flex: “I’ve been to Mars.” And maybe that’s all it ever is. Not colonization, not escape. Just another box to check, another photo on social feeds, proof that humans will travel anywhere just to say they did.