Colony Mars Ultimate Edition

by Gerald M. Kilby

  “So the deal is you get to land on Mars and they get their spacecraft back?” said Jann.

  “That, and they get to bring their astronaut home.”

  “And what makes you think I want to go back?”

  Lane shrugged. “That’s up to you.”

  Jann placed the now cold coffee back down on the table. She was a bit uncoordinated, it spilled when she set it down too hard. “I’m tired… I need to rest again.” She moved the wheelchair back. “Nills, can you help me?”

  Dr. Foster stood up to help as well. “I’m okay.” Jann raised a hand to her. “Just Nills.”

  He lifted her into the bed in the medlab. “We should move you into an accommodation pod and out of here.”

  “It’s fine for the moment.” She was propped up with a multitude of pillows. “Do you trust this guy, Zebos?”

  Nills sat down on the edge of the bed. “Insofar as I trust anyone. He is genuinely interested in exploring the asteroid belt. Deep down he’s just an engineering nerd. I can relate to that. We’ve been talking a lot about it. How Mars could work as a waypoint.” Jann’s eyes closed. “Anyway, enough of my rambling. You need to rest before the council meeting.”

  Her eyes popped open again. “No, go on, I’m interested to hear it, don’t stop.”

  “Well, we think we can build the craft here, on Mars. They would be robotic, initially. Simple enough engineering, although we would need specialist components from Earth. But it could be done in Colony Two. The one-third gravity here makes it considerably easier. Once a suitable asteroid is identified by one of the robotic scout missions, we send up harvester robots. The ore would be shipped back here for processing in Colony Two, we do a lot of that already. Then the final product would be shipped back to Earth.”

  “Do you think this is actually possible, I mean, in reality?”

  “Absolutely, and it could be very lucrative.”

  “For AsterX.”

  “And for us. The main thing, though, is it would give us a future, Jann.”

  “Yes, I can see it would.” Her eyes closed again.

  “Jann, I’m sorry but I have to ask.”

  Her eyes opened again and her hand went to his. “Sure, what is it?”

  “Are you really going to go back to Earth?”

  She looked at him and squeezed his fingers. Her grip was weak. “I don’t know, Nills. I can’t say because I really don’t know where home is anymore. Anyway, if the WHO is correct then there may not be an Earth to return to, at least not the same one I left.”

  “But you know how to kill this thing, don’t you?”

  “Yes, I do. But before I tell them, I want to know what’s in it for us, for Mars.”

  25

  Ultimatum

  Jann emerged several hours later into the common room, now full of colonists. What constituted the governing body on Mars was now assembled. Nills, Xenon, Anika, Rachel, and several others that had been added to the council by merit of their knowledge. The only one that was missing was Gizmo. Not that the little robot was a council member but, it had always been a kind of counselor to Jann. Able to analyze a complex situation and present her with the decision forks and their respective consequences. She missed Gizmo, and felt a deep pang for its loss.

  Also at the meeting were the crew of the AsterX mission, at Jann’s request. No one was quite sure what was going down but the anticipation was palpable. When everyone was seated Xenon called the meeting to order. He stood. “The colony council session will now commence.” He paused. “The only item currently on the agenda is a general discussion of the epidemic that now afflicts Earth. I would ask Rachel to update us on the latest media analysis.” He sat down.

  “There’s a very confused picture evolving. Rumor, counter-rumor, and conspiracy theories abound, reflecting a fragmented message being disseminated by the various governing authorities. Reading between the lines, I would say the situation regarding the spread of the infection is worse than anyone is admitting to. The general population is trending towards panic. I’m monitoring the intensity and frequency of several keywords and using these as a measure of general levels of anarchy. Best guess, I would say ten Earth days, maybe two weeks at most before the start of civil breakdown.”

  Chuck Goldswater jumped up. “This is crazy, if you know how to stop this pandemic then you must tell us now.”

  Lane grabbed him by the arm. “Sit down and keep quiet.”

  “But…”

  “Now!”

  Chuck sat down and folded his arms.

  “Please forgive my associate’s emotional outburst. It’s a stressful time for all. Please continue.”

  Jann now took up the baton. “I think you are under the mistaken illusion that any of us here actually give a shit about Earth. Apart from myself and two others no one else has connections to Earth. And to you, they’re all just clones.” She looked Goldswater straight in the eye. “One could argue they are products of the machine, a machine whose only concern is the acquisition of ever greater wealth, and the self-aggrandizement of the egos that control it. What is happening on Earth, right now, is an unfortunate by-product. It is a self-inflicted wound, not of our making. Yet, by an ironic twist of fate it seems that the tables have turned and it is we who have the power of life and death on those who seek to enslave this place, these people—my people.” Jann moved the wheelchair back from the table, and stood up, placing both her hands on the table for a moment as she established her balance. She stood up straight and scanned the council.

  “That said, we’re not monsters. We will not sit idly by and see Earth destroyed. That would be immoral.” She directed this last word at Goldswater. “No, we will do what’s right, but first there is something Earth can do for us. In two Earth days time there is a UN meeting in New York. Is this correct?” She directed her question at Lane.

  “Yes, you’re correct, two days.”

  “At that meeting I want them to declare Mars and the twin moons of Phobos and Deimos an independent, self-governing planet.”

  “Have you lost you mind? That’s totally crazy!” Goldswater jumped up. He was apoplectic.

  “Chuck, sit down, and don’t open your mouth again.”

  “Bullshit, Lane. I can’t listen to any more of this crap. It’s clear her mind is gone, the brain damage is affecting her thinking.”

  “Chuck, if you don’t stay quiet I will personally eject you. Now put a zip in it.”

  He reluctantly sat down.

  “Much as I hate to say this, but the AsterX dude has a point, Jann,” said Anika. “How do you suppose we get them to do that?”

  “Thank you.” Goldswater nodded at Anika.

  “Hey, don’t read too much into it, you’re still an asshole,” Anika hit back.

  “Well, it’s very simple, really. We withhold all information on how to kill the Janus bacteria until they do.” There was a momentary silence around the room.

  “Put yourself in their position,” she continued, “…they don’t really have any other choice.” Jann lowered herself back on to the chair and moved it into the table.

  By now the room was abuzz with astonished chatter. All except for Lane Zebos. He remained very quiet, staring intently at Jann.

  “Okay, let’s assume for a minute that they, whoever they are, were in agreement. An independent Mars in return for salvation. I still don’t think you fully understand the sheer political complexity of obtaining such a resolution to the treaty. There would be a multitude of parties that might see this as an opportunity to stick it to the superpowers of the US and China. There would have to be unanimous agreement.”

  “No, there doesn’t. You see, Lane, it was you who gave me the idea. And it’s you that is going to fast track this for us.”

  “Ah…” A laugh escaped from him, unintentionally it seemed. “I don’t mean to belittle your… proposal, but I think you have grossly overestimated the influence AsterX has in these matters.”

  “You’re a partner wit
h the International Space Agency. And, as you said so yourself, they may no longer be capable of getting people off the ground, but they still have political muscle. Through them we can go direct to the people who matter, the ones who can get this done, quick and painless.”

  Jann caught Nills’ eye. A wry smile broke across the corner of his face.

  “Jann’s right. You’ve told me this yourself, many times,” said Nills.

  Lane argued, “It’s just not that simple. I mean, the political and economic machinations of this proposal are labyrinthine. Not even a master analyst could fathom them.” He stood up and started to pace. “Okay, let’s say by some stroke of magic they agreed to this, and I can’t see how they would, but let’s say it actually happened. You give them whatever snake oil you’ve conjured up, they can just turn around and say, it wasn’t you after all it was us, and the whole deal is null and void. I mean, there’s no way on Earth, or Mars for that matter, that they will agree to this and then actually adhere to it. They’ll say, yeah sure, and then find a way to renege at the very first opportunity.”

  “Yes, I know that. But it will still be law. And if it’s law we can defend it. Not ideal but it means we have opened a new front.”

  Lane sat down again and looked at her.

  “Look we’re going to do this. You can help us if you want. If not, well, that’s fine too, it’s your decision. But just think about this for a moment. As a freely independent and self-governing planet, any requests to land on, even orbit, would require our approval. This, of course, would extend to mining rights. Particularly if Mars were to be used as a waypoint for the exploitation of the asteroid belt.”

  “Lane, you’re not seriously going to consider this insanity?” said Goldswater.

  Lane raised his hand again to silence his colleague. He stood up. “Let me see if I have this straight. You’re offering us landing rights?”

  “No, we’re offering you exclusive rights. With those, AsterX would have a significant commercial advantage, a virtual monopoly on the wealth of the asteroid belt.”

  Jann could see a change in even Goldswater’s body language. The sullenness was evaporating, his arms unfolded and he leaned in a little closer to the table. She had hit the mark.

  “For how long?” he said.

  “Long enough that it’s in your interest to see the treaty is not overturned. There will need to be a review period of some kind, but ultimately our opportunity is now your opportunity.”

  “I’ll agree, this is tempting, but what happens if you fail in this attempt to… blackmail Earth?” Lane rubbed his chin.

  “Then mining the asteroid belt isn’t going to matter, is it?”

  There was a muted silence around the table as the implications of this sank in.

  Finally, Dr. Foster spoke. “You’re playing a very dangerous game. Billions of lives are at stake here, you seem to forget that.”

  Jann leaned in to the table. “Did we create this monster that is raging across the planet? No, Earth did. Did we start this war of worlds? No, Earth did. Did we seek to enslave the people of Earth? No, but they want to do that to us. You’re right, Dr. Foster, this is a dangerous game. If you want to start a war, then you best be prepared for the consequences if you lose. We didn’t start this, but we’re sure as hell going to finish it.”

  Lane rose slowly from the table. “I need to confer with my colleagues for a moment, if I may.”

  Jann opened her hands. “By all means. But don’t take too long.”

  It took only six minutes and forty-eight seconds, if any one was counting, for Lane Zebos and his crew to convince themselves that they had just been presented with the opportunity of the century. Complete and exclusive rights to the wealth of the asteroid belt. That was not to say that others couldn’t go there. But it was as far, if not farther, away again from Mars, as the red planet was from Earth. A direct journey was an enormous undertaking. Without Mars as a waypoint, it would be commercially unviable for anyone. And, it would take several decades at least before technology would catch up enough to make the figures stack up for a direct mission from Earth. But by then AsterX would be so far advanced, it might not be possible to up with catch them. Perhaps they might even be established on Ceres.

  In the common room, the colonists murmured and buzzed with a palpable excitement.

  “My only concern,” said Anika, “is that we are not going to end up like China giving Hong Kong to the British, or Macau to the Portuguese. We could be stuck with these guys.”

  “We’ll need a review clause, and one that ensures production and processing takes place here,” Nills chimed in.

  Jann could tell from their body language when they returned AsterX were in.

  “Okay, we’ll help you, but there are no guarantees that we can pull this off. The main problems we see are twofold. One, we need a mechanism to verify the UN treaty is authentic. And secondly, how do we make it stick?”

  “We may not have much clout in terms of political influence. But we can punch well above our weight on media spin. You need to remember that this colony was founded as a reality TV show. We’ve had our tendrils into Earthbound media for a very long time. We know how to spin a story, how to saturate the chatter, how to influence the masses. And, let’s face it, this is one of the most powerful weapons there are. The ability to manipulate and influence.

  This was Rachel’s territory, so she immediately jumped in. “We would need a live TV broadcast from the UN chamber of the passing of the resolution. We will get this twenty minutes later. To verify that what we are seeing has not been tampered with we will re-broadcast back to Earth. It will then be picked up by our media associates and we can verify its authenticity.”

  “What can we do about making the treaty stick?” said Xenon, it was the first time he spoke during the session.

  “Stories, Xenon. We need to disseminate the right stories. My gut instinct tells me we should herald this as a new opportunity for the Earthlings. Colonization is back on. Come to Mars, free and equal, land of opportunity… and all that. Make it like this treaty has made it possible for people to start a new life. That way any attempts to renege on it will be met with howls of protest.”

  “Very good, can you come work for us?” said Lane.

  She laughed. “Well, it’s just a first pass. We’ll need more themes and a multitude of variants, finessed for region, language, et cetera.”

  Jann looked over at Nills, he smiled back. As she scanned the others, she realized they were all on board. No going back now. It was game on.

  26

  UN

  After the initial shock, the UN had wasted no time in calling an emergency meeting of the general council. And, as Lane Zebos had reasoned, their thinking was, what did they have to lose? They could go though the motions, concede to the demands of Mars, until they could ascertain if the colonists really did have a solution to control the pandemic. Then they could simply backtrack.

  Since all of the five permanent members with a veto were affected, and fighting a losing battle to placate their respective populations, there was no problem getting their vote. Once they were secure, enough of the others fell into line to pass the resolution.

  But its success was in no small part due to the work that the AsterX lobbyists did on the ground. It couldn’t have happened without them. Yet, the colonists did not have it all their own way. Some argued that Mars was effectively a rogue nation, that they deliberately infected Earth, that they were being ruled by a maniac demi-god hell bent on the destruction of the planet. Others simply found the fact they had a gun put to their heads intolerable. But in the end, the resolution passed. Mars and its moons Phobos and Deimos were declared independent. However, there were some caveats. But for the colonists, it was enough. Perhaps not all that they had wished for but they had, at least, won the battle, if not quite the entire war. There would be more to fight for in future.

  The moment they verified the authenticity of the UN broadcast Jann released
a file, detailing how the bacteria could be annihilated, to seventy-four carefully selected media outlets, complete with notes on all her experiments and an extensive explanation of how to synthesize the active compound. She wanted the information in the public domain, not the preserve of some government agency or corporate entity that could control or profit from it. During the two days that preceded its release speculation was rife as to what information it would contain. When the denizens of Earth were finally put out of their misery, its revelations caused a shit storm of unprecedented proportions.

  Was she totally crazy? was the primary response from the vast majority of Earth’s population. Leaders were quick to call for the instant negation of the UN resolution that had just elevated Mars’ status to one of an independent nation. Nevertheless, those who had been fighting to contain the pandemic: doctors, chemists and the myriad of scientists working in labs all across the planet, knew instantly that what Jann had discovered could, at least in theory, work. You just had to get past its perception in popular culture and simply look at the science.

  Jann described how it was that she came to discover it in many of the interviews she did after the pandemic had been brought under control.

  “I always wondered what was so special about the biology of Nills Langthorp. My mission, the ISA, that is, was decimated by this bacterial infection. Yet, first officer Annis Romanov, working as an agent for the Colony One Mars consortium, had been tasked with bringing back to Earth the biological analogue of Nills Langthorp—even in the midst of this mayhem. Why? What was so special?

  Remember, this analogue was a kind of living biological facsimile, used by the COM geneticists as a test bed for tinkering with the human genome, testing retro-bacteria… altering DNA. But it was free of the bacteria, and so was the real Nills Langthorp. All the rest of us, me included, had some level of it raging around in our physiology. How was that so?