• TRANSMISSION LOCKED •
Red Dominion Declaration — Full Text · Unlocks December 15, 2026
Nova's margin notes are included. Carter approved the final text without changing a word.
DocumentThe Red Dominion Declaration
Read byNova Donnelly-Vasquez · Age 47
DateYear 52 MSC · Sol Zero Anniversary
Audience214 people · Full colony
Transmitted to Earth14:32 MST · SOLEN · No commentary added
Word count140 words
THE RED DOMINION DECLARATION · FULL TEXT · YEAR 52 MSC
We are the civilization of Mars. We were built here, born here, and will die here. We did not choose this planet. Some of us were sent. Some of us were born into it. All of us have made it our own.
We acknowledge our debt to Earth for the mission that brought our founders here. We acknowledge our debt to Mars for the planet that made us what we are.
We are not Earth on Mars. We are not the opposite of Earth. We are the third thing that happens when two worlds begin a conversation.
We are Mars. We will be Mars in a hundred years and in a thousand years and in the time beyond that when there are no words left that were made on Earth.
The name of this place is home. The name of these people is Martian.
We are not declaring independence. We are declaring existence.
Nova's Margin Notes — From the Working Draft
Margin Note · Paragraph 1 · Draft 4
"We were built here — Carter built us. Born here — I was born here. Will die here — yes. All of us. That is not a sad sentence. That is the sentence."
Margin Note · Paragraph 3 · Draft 7
"The third thing. This is the sentence Father will understand. He has been building the third thing for fifty-two years. He did not know it had a name. It does now."
Margin Note · Final Paragraph · Draft 12 · Final
"Independence is from something. Existence is itself. We are not leaving. We are arriving. That is what this says. That is what I want them to hear."
SOLEN · Transmission Record · Year 52 · 14:32
"I transmitted the declaration without commentary. It did not need any. Carter was sitting in the fourth row. He pressed his hand against the floor of the chamber through the composite material and the two metres of substrate beneath it toward the planet. The planet was doing what it always did. Being what it was. Letting him listen. I kept the record. As always. As promised."