Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1)

by Gregory Gates

  As Jeff began frying the eggs and sausage, he was greeted with a cheery “Good morning,” from just behind. He glanced over his shoulder to find Susan standing next to the island, looking fresh and radiant.

  “Good morning! Sorry, didn’t hear you come in.” She defined ‘reserve’, a wisp, a breath, almost ghost-like, in spite of her bright yellow cherry blossom blouse and blue jeans. Everything she did, right down to her movement, was delicate and quiet. Jeff figured she could probably walk the length of the great room’s teak floor in tap shoes, and not make a sound. “How’d you sleep? Accommodations satisfactory?”

  “Oh, wonderful. The room is lovely. The whole house is lovely! What can I do to help?”

  “Not a thing. I think I’ve got it under control here. There’s coffee, water for tea and juice there on the counter. Should be about ready now. Help yourself.”

  “Thank you. Tea would be great.”

  “I laid out a few teas, had no idea what anyone might like. There’s more in the cupboard above.”

  Susan chose an Oolong and brewed up a cup. Jeff could smell it, even over the eggs and sausage, “Now that smells nice.”

  She smiled, “My favorite. You have excellent taste, Mr. Grey.”

  He laughed, “Uh, not really. But fortunately I know how to read.” He shoveled eggs and sausage into the warming trays, set them on the serving cart and covered them. “I saw Abby a bit earlier, returning from her early morning jog – not sure she’s entirely sane – but, did you happen to notice if Gabe’s up and about?”

  She laughed at Abby’s expense, “I think so. Thought I heard some activity in her room.”

  “Ah, good. The house has an intercom system but it’s so intrusive. I hate to use it.” Jeff set the coffee and hot water carafes on the serving cart hot plates, and juice in an iced bowl then, breakfast ready, unplugged the cart, rolled it into the dining room, and plugged it back in to keep things warm. “That should do.”

  Susan looked around the room and shook her head, “This is beautiful. I’ve stayed in a few bed and breakfasts during short vacations, but nothing like this. If you’re trying to impress me, you’re doing a very good job of it.”

  Jeff grinned, “You were kind enough to come, so I guess I better make you comfortable.”

  “Good morning,” said Gabe walking into the dining room, wearing what may have been the same jeans and sweatshirt she wore when he met her. “It smells wonderful.”

  “Ah, good morning,” Jeff said, greeting her with a big smile. “Thank you. Breakfast’s ready, Abby should be down shortly. Sleep alright?”

  Gabe shrugged, “Okay. I seldom sleep well, but that’s not your fault. Over-active brain, I think.”

  Jeff nodded and smiled knowingly, “I know that feeling. Been there, done that.”

  Abby appeared a moment later, looking considerably less disheveled than earlier, and they all sat down to breakfast.

  When they had finished, Jeff rose and started to clear the dishes. Susan immediately jumped up, “Here, you cooked, we can do that,” with which Abby and Gabe immediately rose to join her.

  Jeff, a bit embarrassed, said, “Just stack them on the counter, I’ll deal with it later.”

  “Dishwasher?” Asked Abby, carrying a stack of plates toward the kitchen.

  “Under the counter, just right of the sink. Thanks.”

  All was cleared quickly and the women rejoined Jeff in the dining room.

  “Thank you. You’re my guests and that wasn’t necessary.”

  They smiled and shook it off, “No problem.”

  Jeff smiled and nodded and, in turn, looked each in the eyes, “Alright then, shall we get started? Follow me.”

  The four proceeded downstairs to the former bedroom that Jeff had reconfigured as a small conference room.

  Jeff took a seat with his back to the wall of porcelain dry-erase boards and motioned to the others to take seats. Susan seated herself to his left, Abby to his right, and Gabe across the table between them.

  Jeff looked at each of them in turn then took a deep breath. “I want to once again thank all of you for coming. You don’t know me from Adam, it’s an, admittedly, wild idea, and, frankly, you’d be fully justified in thinking me perhaps a bit off my rocker.”

  They all smiled and shook their heads, with Abby offering, “Hell, if we’re crazy enough to be here, I think we’re all on the same page.” Susan and Gabe nodded in agreement.

  Jeff smiled, “Point conceded.” He took a deep breath, forcibly exhaled, and rubbed his chin. “That said, uh… well, I haven’t been entirely forthcoming with all of you. And I sincerely apologize for that and I’m going to lay all the cards on the table right now and, after that, you can do what you think is best.”

  There were furrowed brows, and faces full of concern and apprehension around the table.

  Jeff shook his head and mentally kicked himself, thinking this could have been handled a lot better. He was a rank amateur at this kind of thing, and he knew it. “Alright, here’s the first part. I led each of you to believe, improperly so, that I wanted you to work for me as part of a team to plan, organize and execute this mission. And that is true. But, with the exception of Abby, what I didn’t tell you is… I want all three of you to go with me. I want you as my crew.”

  Abby looked on quietly, but Gabe’s and Susan’s eyes suddenly opened wide as they glared at Jeff with bewilderment.

  He quickly raised his hand to still them, “Please, before you say or do anything… there’s more.” He had their attention, there was no doubting that, so he went on. “Part two is, I wish for one of you to conceive and bear a child on Mars.”

  All three women gaped at him in stunned silence.

  Jeff, half expecting one of them to leap over the table and gouge his eyes out, struggled to look calm. “You may fire when you are ready, Gridley.”

  Gabe suddenly leaped from her chair, sending it tumbling behind her, “Are you insane! You’re a fucking lunatic!” She stormed away from the table and paced in a tight circle. “I thought you were a decent guy: your nice house and big piano and silver tongue, but you’re a nut… and some kind of fucking pervert!”

  Jeff sat quietly, trying to appear stoic. Her reaction was not entirely unanticipated, and he decided to give her all the time she needed to vent.

  Gabe stopped pacing and turned to Abby, “You’re not seriously considering this bullshit, are you?” Pointing at Jeff, “He’s crazy! This’ll never get off the ground. And even if it does, even if he takes all his money and buys some rockets, it’s still insanity. NASA can’t do this. What on God’s green earth makes you think this dumbshit can? You’re gonna die!”

  Abby stared at the floor for a moment then looked up at her, “I’m a pilot. I get paid to take chances. If he wants me to have his baby on Mars… okay, fine, whatever. I don’t care. But I’m going. Because I want this.”

  Gabe screamed at her, “You’re insane too!” She turned to Susan, “Come on Sue, let’s get out of here. You, of the three of us, have to know this is depraved lunacy!”

  Susan sat quietly, pensive, rubbing her finger across her lips. “I’m thinking.” Then, turning back to Jeff, “I can’t say as I like this but, I promised to listen, and I will. And then I’ll decide.”

  Jeff bowed his head to her in thankfulness and appreciation.

  Gabe threw her hands in the air, “You’re all mad. That’s it. I’m done. I’m out of here!” And she stormed out the door and headed upstairs.

  For a long moment, the three of them sat stock-still, watching the door where Gabe had exited.

  Finally, Abby swung back around in her chair and faced Jeff, “That could have gone better.”

  Jeff forced a smile, shook his head and stood up. “Yeah. Wait here. I’ll be back in a minute.” He walked to the door then stopped and turned back to them, “Thanks. Thanks for at least listening.” Then he took off up the stairs after Gabe.

  As he hit the main floor landing, Jeff knew where
Gabe was. It wasn’t hard to figure out; the stream of profanities from the second floor were a pretty good clue. Wrentham House was large, but not large enough to conceal Gabe’s discontent. Jeff figured she was packing, walked over to a small bureau in the foyer, and withdrew an envelope from one drawer with Gabe’s name on it.

  When Gabe hit the bottom of the stairs, she stopped short, seemingly surprised to see Jeff holding the front door open for her. He tried to appear kindly, even understanding. “I can drive you to the airport, or anywhere else you’d like.”

  Gabe’s face was flushed and streaked with tears, “Just stay away from me. I already called a cab.”

  “As you wish. But Gabe, know this, I wish you no ill will. If I were you, I’d think I was crazy to. It’s been my blessing to have known you, and I wish you nothing but the best, and god speed.”

  Gabe stood for a moment staring at him, perhaps a bit confused but none-the-less determined to go. She half trotted to the front door and past him.

  “Gabe!” Jeff hollered, “Please, take this,” holding out the envelope toward her, “just something for your trouble.”

  “You’re one sick son of a bitch! You think your money can placate me?”

  “No, I don’t. But neither will it harm you.”

  She tore the envelope from his hand and hurried off down the drive.

  He shouted after her, “Gabe! Please. At least wait here.” She neither slowed down nor looked back.

  Jeff watched her until she was out of sight then hung his head, “Damn!” This was not exactly how he’d planned the weekend. He sighed and, leaning against the doorjamb, stared off into space for a while, thinking of what might have been. “I’m sorry.” He closed the door and slowly headed downstairs to rejoin Abby and Susan.

  Jeff walked back into the conference room and took his seat without saying anything.

  Abby leaned forward, “She leave?”

  “Yes.”

  Susan viewed him curiously, “What will you do now?”

  “Find a replacement.” They sat in nervous silence for a minute. “I’m sorry. I really am. This isn’t what I wanted.”

  Abby softly slapped her hand on the table. “Well, we’re still here. You want to tell us the rest?”

  “Okay.” He took a deep breath and forced it out, “I was counting on Gabe to validate what I’m about to propose. But, for the time being, without our astronautics expert you’ll just have to take my word for it.”

  Jeff got up, walked to one corner of the room and began writing on the dry erase board as he spoke, “There are lots of plans and theories for a manned mission to Mars. NASA has ideas, the ‘Mars Direct’ plan and Mars Society are full of ideas, and countless individuals have offered proposals. All of them have some good ideas and, in my opinion, some not so good ideas. Fact is, all the plans and ideas are complex, dangerous, expensive, and take a long time. My plan involves picking and choosing from this smorgasbord of original, and some not so original thinking and fundamentally attempts to minimize all those factors. It begins with the choice of tested and proven, off-the-shelf, commercially available technologies and procedures. There is no ‘to be invented,’ or ‘we think this should work.’ And that – essentially eliminating the need for research and development – combined with a three-launch strategy involving slow, i.e., cheap, cargo transit, and fast, that is, more comfortable, crew transit, will dramatically reduce the overall cost. It took NASA more than five years and three billion dollars to put the unmanned Mars Science Lab on the planet. My plan puts four of us on Mars and gets us back for about the same price, and we will do it in less than four years from drawing board to crew launch.”

  For nearly three hours Jeff explained the plan in detail, drawing diagrams, jotting down figures and formulas and costs, working his way around the room, filling nearly every square inch of the dry erase boards. Abby and Susan asked a few questions here and there but mostly sat mesmerized as the enormous plan unfolded before them.

  “And we splash down in the south Pacific, on or about November 1, 2018, hopefully to be rescued courtesy of the United States Navy, but we’ll see about that later.”

  Abby sat shaking her head, “Wow.” She scratched her head and thought for a minute. “You’re counting on a awful lot of other folks getting onboard. Are you sure they will?”

  “Of course I’m not sure. But I think it all depends on the success of the first cargo launch. That will be the proof of concept. If we can actually land our first packages on the planet and demonstrate that all is working according to plan, I think the world will beat a path to our front door, trying to get a piece of the action. And they’d be foolish not to. If we can actually pull this off, the eventual publicity and marketing will be…” he paused and laughed softly, “… earth shaking. No one will want to be left behind.”

  “Okay, that makes sense. But, what about what Gabe said, that even NASA couldn’t do this in four years?”

  “She’s right, they couldn’t, but not because they don’t have the means. NASA has resources far greater than mine, and they know a lot more than I do. But NASA has two huge problems. First, it’s a giant government bureaucracy that, like all bureaucracies, moves very slowly. Which, in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing. But it’s also pulled in a hundred directions every day by conflicting agendas, many of which are politically – and economically – driven. And, as a result of that, NASA’s second problem is that it hasn’t the will or the mandate to go to Mars. So they could do it, but they can’t and won’t. Thus, from a certain perspective, Gabe is absolutely correct.”

  “And what if the first launch fails?” Susan asked.

  “Well, that would depend upon how it failed. If it’s a launch failure, we’ll plan on having a backup cargo package ready for launch in the same window, and we simply try again. If, on the other hand, the problem is on Mars – our stuff burns up on entry or crashes, equipment fails to work, lands a thousand miles from our intended site… whatever, then it’s almost certainly over. We’re done. We shake hands, pat ourselves on the back for giving it the old college try, and you go back to Internal Medicine, and Abby goes back to flying bizjets, and I, somewhat poorer, find a job teaching 6th graders why there is air.”

  Just then the doorbell rang. Jeff instinctively looked toward the ceiling, “Who could that be? I need to hang out a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign. Be right back. We’ll break for lunch in just a minute. I know it’s been a long morning.”

  He trotted up the stairs and down the hall. As he turned the corner toward the front door he stopped in his tracks as there, beyond the glass panes, stood Gabriel. He slowly opened the door but said nothing.

  Gabe stood motionless, staring at the ground, her cheeks streaked with tears. “Swear to me you’re not just some eccentric millionaire with delusions of grandeur and an ego the size of Montana, whose real objective is just getting into the pants of a couple young women.”

  Jeff smiled, “I swear it Gabe. With my last breath I’d swear it.”

  Jeff held the door open and Gabe pulled herself together and came inside. “I guess I kind of lost it there.”

  Jeff shook his head, “I don’t want to hear any apologies from you. There’s nothing for you to apologize for.” He pointed down the hall, “Now, the powder room is right there, go wash your face.”

  She mustered a tiny laugh, “I guess I look a fright.”

  “You look just fine. But, uh, you could look a little better. Go.” He waited for her to freshen up a bit then led her back down to the conference room. “I don’t think I’m the only one who’ll be glad to see you.” In the room, Abby and Susan were up at the board discussing something. “Hey, look who I found.”

  “Gabe!” They both ran up and gave her a hug. “You came back!”

  “Yeah, I didn’t like the thought of Jeff renting out my room.”

  “Alright, break it up.” Jeff motioned to the door, “How about some lunch?”

  They began to file out the door
but Gabe stopped and slowly surveyed the data and drawings on the boards. Without a word she walked to the corner where Jeff had begun and slowly moved along, analyzing every mark as through interpreting some ancient hieroglyphics. Jeff, Abby and Susan came back into the room and stood silently, watching her.

  Gabe stopped and pointed at the board, “A bent biconic lifting body? I thought you said, ‘tested and proven’?”

  “Ah, yes. Well, mostly. The aerodynamics on bent biconic lifting bodies are solid and they’ve been adequately tested in wind tunnels. It should work. It just hasn’t been tried on Mars.”

  “Or anywhere else.”

  “Yeah, well, let’s try it. We’ll send one up with the first cargo launch and see what happens. If it works, viola, tested and proven, and we’re in business.”

  “And if it doesn’t work?”

  “I’m out $100 million, we push the schedule back 26 months and go back to the drawing board.”

  “That’s rather cavalier of you.”

  “It’s only money… at this point.”

  “What’s the mass?”

  “Oh, I dunno, full-up at atmospheric entry, about 30 tons.”

  “30 tons? The Mars Semi-Direct proposal calls for 46 tons? Traveling awfully light, aren’t you?”

  “No, there will probably be two, maybe three of them.”

  “60 to 90 tons? What are you taking? The Bank of England?”

  Jeff smiled. “No. The net payload is only about 30 tons, but it’ll take a whole lot more to land it. I don’t think it’s practical, maybe not even feasible, to land 50 tons on Mars in one chunk, given current technology. So what we do is use the lifting body simply as an aeroshell. Once it’s slowed to around mach two, we blow off the heat shield and aeroshell, break it apart into a dozen landing packages and set them all down separately just like the MSL or MERs.”

  Abby and Susan quietly went back to their seats at the table and listened intently to Jeff and Gabe’s back and forth exchange.