Consequential Detritus

Mars

20,025

Xenoarchaeological Survey Team Epsilon for Galactic Central Command

Captain Mandible?

Yes? What is it?

Come and look at this.

By the Nine Orbits of Nastra, is that a snake?

Yes. It is, in fact, the symbol of the Ophidian Order.

But… I thought the humans only put those on their health temples! What’s it doing out here on an expedition craft sent to a neighbouring planet?

Ah, recent studies suggest that snakes might have been their true rulers. We only assumed that the bipeds were dominant. Perhaps they were mere servants, marking everything with their overlords’ sacred symbol.

Well, that would explain a lot… I mean, why else would they have built so many winding asphalted pathways? Perfect for serpentine movement.

~~~

Earth

2025

Sabah, North Borneo

In a haberdashery at the edge of a sleepy backwater town, a dusty shelf holds a bag of small metal discs, each about the size of a penny. Gaudy and shiny like the rest of the stock, they bear a regal profile on both sides: A woman with styled hair, a vague crown, and a swan-like neck (literally; it’s a bit disturbing). Faint lettering around the edge suggests that this is Queen Elizabeth II.

But what is she doing way out here?

This particular piece of colonial detritus stems from when Sabah was a British Crown Colony (1946-1963). At the time, the more fashion-conscious ladies of the interior liked to accessorise with currency. Nowadays, it’s easier to sew these mass-produced discs to one’s traditional outfit than it is to find and drill holes in real British pennies.

We could ask ourselves whether, a mere hundred years from now, people will look at these discs and understand what they represent. Will the lettering have morphed beyond recognition? Will the Queen be wearing a hat? Will her neck have stretched to emu-like lengths?

When NASA assembled the Mars Perseverance rover in 2020, they decided to honour pandemic healthcare workers by adding a plaque showing Earth supported by the Rod of Asclepius. A snake wrapped around a stick — meaningful to us, baffling to everyone else — now sits permanently on another planet. Future visitors may need to understand Western medical tradition and the circumstances of the pandemic to make sense of why we sent a snake to Mars.

Let’s hope we leave more than unexplained serpents.