“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?
I still had this analogue after the catastrophe of the ISA mission, but I did not possess the equipment to do any significant analysis on it. And, to be honest… I was a bit… preoccupied with being stranded alone, as I thought at the time, on Mars.
It was only after the discovery of the clone population in the mining outpost, and the upheavals that ensued, that I had the time and the resources to investigate it fully. We had extended the medlab in Colony One, and I had equipped a secret, subterranean sector with the necessary equipment. That’s where I found the same Janus bacteria, still lurking in the soil processing facility. So now I had an isolated sample and the analogue. I could do my tests and try to get an understanding of its workings.
What came as a huge surprise to me was when I infected the biology of the analogue with the bacteria, it grew and multiplied just as in any other human. So there seemed to be nothing special about it. The only way I could control it, and kill it, was by pressure and oxygen. Then I would try again, and again, and again. But each time it was the same result.
Eventually I thought, Maybe it wasn’t Langthorp’s analogue that was significant, maybe it was Nills himself. It was his biology. That started me thinking about what environmental factors he had been exposed to—like low pressure, or saturated oxygen. I looked at his diet, what he ingested: plants, fish, the water he drank. Then it struck me. He was the only one of us to smoke a lot of weed.
There had to be some environmental factor that had eliminated the bacterial infection in him. And certain cannabinoids were known to have antibiotic properties. Particularly the non-psychotropic ones. Some studies I remembered had shown positive results against the superbug MRSA. So, it seemed like a distinct possibility that this could be effective. At that time we still had some growing in the biodome so I harvested a batch and set about breaking it down into the various cannabinoid elements. The one I thought most promising, cannabigerol, turned out to be the most effective, eradicating all traces of the bacteria in the sample within twenty-four hours.”
In the end, the efficacy of Jann’s breakthrough prescription was verified in a very short period of time. Within seven Earth days of it being revealed, the pandemic had virtually stopped due to widespread availability of synthetic cannabinoids. It took only a further twenty-one days to fully eradicate it, such was the global effort applied to the task. This made Dr. Jann Malbec a figure of heroic stature in the eyes of many. Savior of the planet. Calls were made for the highest honors known to humankind to be bestowed upon her. But others didn’t quite see her in such glowing terms. To some she was a diabolical and duplicitous schemer. A person to be vilified, not hero worshiped. There were also those who felt that Earth had just been conned out of its dominion of Mars, and, true to form, agitation commenced to have the UN resolution reversed. But as Jann had correctly assessed, possession was nine tenths of the law. And, once a treaty was enshrined in the statute books, it was damn hard to undo it.
The only caveat, if you could call it that, was that a representative of the new government of Mars would be required to accept the resolution, in person, at the UN general assembly, before conclusion of the current session. That gave the colonists about five months.
They had considered simply using an AsterX board member as a representative. But Lane was not eager to be seen to be so involved. The optics of such a scenario did not look good, too much corporate involvement. So, after much discussion among the council it was unanimously agreed, Dr. Jann Malbec would go. She would take off from Mars onboard the AsterX MAV, rendezvous with the now salvaged ISA Odyssey orbiter, and return to Earth. Rachel particularly liked this touch as she could spin the story as Jann, the ISA astronaut, finally returning from her mission to Mars.
However, Nills did not take this news very well.
27
A New Flag
The main entrance cavern in Colony Two was a hive of industrious activity. Groups of colonists were knotted around several large fabrication projects. Jann could make out a new flying bed being built, its skeletal frame rising up from the workshop floor. It was the first of two projects being fabricated for AsterX, the second being a robotic exploration craft. It would launch from Mars and head out to the asteroid belt. Jann was not sure of the technical details of the mission, but she could see it was taking shape. On the side of the small craft was emblazoned the newly designed Mars flag. It was not unlike the Japanese flag, a red disk on a white background. However, this had two smaller disks, one on either side of the main one. These represented Phobos and Deimos.
Some were concerned that it was too similar to Japan’s national symbol. But Rachel argued that to gain acceptance people generally acted more favorably to what was familiar. It would be like it had always existed. It seemed to work, as the emblem now popped up everywhere. A number of colonists had already scratched the flag out on the surface of the crater. Large enough to be seen by hi-res satellite. Images of the colony were now flooding back to Earth to feed the insatiable interest in Mars, which had now reached fever pitch since the UN resolution.
These craft, the flying bed and the robotic explorer, represented the first physical manifestation of their success in gaining independence from Earth. Already a new AsterX mission was departing Earth orbit with scientists and engineers as well as specialist raw materials and components to support the fledgling space industry that was now developing in the colony. Negotiations were also well advanced for a new batch of colonists for the red planet. Things were going to get very busy around here.
One of the rovers had been brought inside the main entrance cavern and prepared for the relatively short journey to the AsterX MAV. They had decided here was the best place to say their goodbyes as more colonists could be present to witness it than out on the surface.
Jann was already encased in her EVA suit. Over her left breast the new emblem of Mars had been stitched, beside the ISA logo. Xenon walked alongside, carrying her helmet and gloves. Jann shook hands, nodded acknowledgments and accepted the multitude of personal goodbyes from individual colonists. Rachel walked beside her holding Jann’s holo-tab. It contained, among other things, the text of the acceptance speech she was to give at the UN General Assembly. Rachel had rehearsed it with her, over and over, stressing the need to pause after certain statements, slow down or speed up her pace, all crafted to emphasize certain points. How Rachel knew all this Jann had no idea, but she was a natural born propagandist, as she jokingly liked to call herself. Jann speech was a jumping off point for a barrage of finely tuned messages that Rachel and her team would unleash through their now extensive media networks. Rachel now had three other colonists working full time, doing nothing else but managing the message. Already the executives of AsterX were picking Rachel’s brains as to how to do what she did. And to her great credit, she remained politely circumspect on her methodology.
In the background of all this was Xenon. His enigmatic personality left those who didn’t know him wondering what the hell went on in his head. He seldom spoke, but when he did it was generally profound. He seemed to have an uncanny ability to know exactly what everybody was thinking and hence the best move to make. Rachel and he got along very well, she seemed to be the only one that Xenon would engage with in long conversations. So it came as no surprise to everyone when she proposed him for the title of President. No one objected, although some suggested Jann should also stand. But she declined. Her role, as she saw it, was as envoy. Nills also had no interest in such office, preferring instead to focus on the development of the colony as both a manufacturing hub for spacecraft venturing in to the belt, and as a processing plant for the refinement of returning ore. So the day-to-day management of the colony, was given to Nills and Anika. Xenon would be the face and voice of the colony, man
aged ever so precisely, by Rachel. There were others of course, but these were the first leaders on the now independent Mars.
As Jann approached the rover she could see Dr. Foster and Chuck Goldswater were both fully suited up and waiting for her. Lane Zebos stood beside them, talking. But he was not going. He had given his place to Jann, preferring instead to spend more time here on Mars working with Nills to see their dream brought to fruition. When he saw her he approached, crossing the distance in a few long strides.
“Ready to rock?”
“No. Where’s Nills?”
Lane pointed across the cavern to a small workshop at the back. “Last I saw him he was in his workshop.”
“Okay, give me a minute.”
Lane nodded. “Sure.”
Jann pushed her way through the crowd and over to where Nills spent most of his time these days. The door was open. She walked in. Nills looked up from his bench. A filament of smoke corkscrewed up from a circuit board he was soldering.
“Oh Jann, sorry… I lost track of time.”
Are you sure you’re not trying to avoid me? she felt like saying, but resisted the temptation, it would serve no good purpose. They had been through all this, several times over the last few weeks, after it became clear that Jann was accepting Lane’s offer to take his place and return to Earth. Nills of course knew why. His head understood the necessity for her to return, but his heart had a hard time accepting it. Not that it was any easier for Jann. She knew what awaited her on arrival, it would be challenging, to say the least. But she was thinking of the practicalities. Nills, on the other hand, was clearly deep in emotional territory, something he had difficulty managing. There was no set of plans for him to follow, no schematic to help him make sense of his feelings. This was new and he struggled with it. Already his mood had rippled through the rainbow of emotions associated with loss: grief, incredulity, anger and finally acceptance. So she forgave him for hiding out in here. Close enough to see her leave, but far enough away that he could handle it.
Colony Three Mars (Colony Mars Book 3) Page 17
