Mars Journey: Call to Action: Book 1: A SciFi Thriller Series

by Bill Hargenrader

  ”Hmm. Yeah… I guess, in a way, I am. Wanting to be an astronaut, to go out to the farthest reaches of human exploration, requires you to be the best of humanity.”

  “I don’t know if I can do that. It sounds like hard work.”

  “Well, it is hard work… But it’s also one of the most natural things in the world, if you want it bad enough. And I think you will be an excellent astronaut.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh yeah. One of the best. What’s your name?”

  “Jacques,” said the boy. “Jacques Toussaint.” He snapped to attention and saluted with the rocket ship still in his hand.

  “Excellent,” said Brent, laughing.

  Jacques’s face turned quizzical. He looked up into Brent’s eyes. “So, if to be an astronaut you have to be a good person, are you no longer an astronaut because you aren’t a good person?”

  Brent felt as though a donkey had kicked him in the stomach. He hadn’t been expecting that question, and he didn’t like the resounding answer that filled his mind.

  “Are you alright, monsieur?” asked Jacques.

  “Yeah,” said Brent. “Say, you want to get a picture with me and your dad?”

  “Sure!”

  Jacques’s father walked over and as they posed for a group selfie, Brent felt like he had never wanted a drink more in his life.

  Chapter 9

  Andrea entered her office with a feeling of dread sinking into her stomach. Reluctantly, she set up a video conference call with the GradenTech COO, Vanessa Dorn. Dorn answered with a strained look on her face.

  “Graden would like to speak with you,” she said. “Personally.”

  “Wait, why?” stammered Andrea, but Dorn disappeared and the screen went black.

  Why are you acting like a scared little girl? Steel your nerves, Andrea mentally reassured herself.

  “That was a very effective press conference,” said Graden unexpectedly, the screen still dark. His voice had a very slight electronic quality to it. Andrea thought for a second that it was a bad connection, but she remembered reading Graden had sustained a throat injury as a child making it difficult to speak. He created an advanced cybernetic implant to overcome his limitation, and then made billions licensing the technology.

  “Thank you,” she said swallowing. “I hope it had the effect you were looking for.”

  “It did. However, I was not expecting you to promote your book launch. Last I heard, that wasn’t for many months.”

  “Well, I figured I’d take advantage of the occasion.”

  “I don’t like deviations from the plan, especially without being informed.”

  “Now look, I only agreed to this partnership for the resources to get to Mars, not because I wanted someone watching over my shoulder—”

  “The reasons you agreed to the partnership are inconsequential,” said Graden, cutting her off. “The relevant fact is that you agreed. As did I. We are contributing considerable sums. And the nature of this venture requires a bit of over-the-shoulder watching, as you say… You should normalize yourself to that aspect quickly.”

  “And why are you contributing so much?”

  “Once again,” said Graden, “the why is inconsequential. What does bear consequences is if anyone in the partnership decides not to honor their side of the agreement, which is not something that would be taken lightly.”

  “Of course,” said Andrea. “I am nothing if not a business-minded woman. To Mars, then. Thank you for the assistance, it will really—”

  “That will be all,” interrupted Graden, and then the connection went dead.

  “Be helpful…” said Andrea, letting the words trail off.

  As Graden cut out, Andrea found herself thinking back to the words of Brent Carlson, and she wondered, What the hell kind of deal with the devil did I make?

  Chapter 10 - Location: Beijing, China

  The flight from Paris to Beijing was long. It’s way more comfortable strapped in an advanced space capsule then it is flying economy for 12 hours, thought Brent.

  The thing that amazed him the most about China was the sheer number of people there. The airport and streets were so crowded. Like New York City on steroids. But the scene that was laid out before him at the Mars Journey Program Taikonauts recruitment ceremony was unlike anything he had ever seen.

  A virtual sea of people swarmed and swirled, focused intently on the stage like spectators at a massive festival rock concert. Chinese National Space Agency security detail estimated the participants at over 100,000. They’d been waiting all day for the main act. Rockets were featured prominently to the left and right of the stage, dominating the view and displaying the evolution of this proud nation’s space exploration history.

  The crowd was charged with anticipation, surging back and forth with the sound of national songs being broadcast. Hard to know how anybody could see the stage from the back, but that wasn’t important. What was important was that they were here to demonstrate their pride and to be present when the announcement was made. The announcement that China was going to Mars.

  They filed out onto the stage. Dignitary after dignitary. Some of China’s greatest leaders, ambassador Jiang, some delegates from America, NASA Administrator Johnson, and Ming Han, the country’s greatest taikonaut. This was good company to be in.

  The crowd soared and surged at the mere glimpse of Han. He was their nation’s finest, best, and brightest. Marching out behind him, seemingly unnoticed by the crowd, was Ling Li.

  Brent noticed the contrast in reaction from Han to Li. That was the difference between being number one and number two. Li was probably one of top 100 most qualified individuals on the planet to fly to Mars, but that didn’t matter in the eyes of the people. They only cared about the best.

  Tough break, kid, Brent thought to himself, as he made his way to the row of seats at the back of the stage.

  Li had been to space, aced all his tests. He was an avid watcher and reader of western books and movies. That sometimes got him in trouble. Everyone did it, but Li did it more than others. What was more amazing was his ability to deal with the culture over a long period of time, which was one of the reasons he’d been selected.

  China was sending their best two taikonauts for the two-year training mission. Only one would actually get to go on the fourteen-month Mars journey, the first ever human flyby of the red planet, followed by fame and glory, as the first speaker at the podium was now saying to the enormous crowd.

  Ambassador Jiang gave a speech. Fortitude. Cooperation.

  Blah, blah, blah, thought Brent.

  Not that he disagreed with it. It was just you could only hear the same catchphrases and clichés so many times. Well, in this case, he was reading the English translation that the monitors were broadcasting towards the English-speaking delegates.

  Now, NASA Administrator Johnson was up. Unity. Exploration. Brent actually had heard this speech word-for-word before. It was translated by an interpreter.

  Next up was Han. Brent had never met the man, but his reputation was legendary across the members of the elite group of men and women who had the job of going to space. His stamina was off the charts. He seemingly didn’t need to sleep on long missions, and had the mind and dexterity of a hi-speed factory floor sorting machine. If Li was top one hundred in the world, Han was top five, maybe even number one, as many of his fellow astronauts ranked him. The existence of such rankings were a closely guarded secret, of course.

  Brent watched Han approach the mic. The entire crowd quieted. Dignitaries watched awestruck. The crowd looked on in anticipation, and Han began. From the crowd’s reaction Brent could tell it was a rousing speech. A damn good speech. The interpreter screen kept showing the key points. Honor. Pride. Sacrifice. Excellence.

  Brent looked to his left to where Li was sitting. Li’s face dropped. His mouth hung open like a comic book character. He kept mouthing the words, “No, no, no.”

  Brent bumped him with his elbow, and
whispered sharply, “Hey, you alright?”

  Li just turned to Brent and said, “No. No, I am not. That’s… my speech.”

  The crowd roared to life, and the sound was deafening. Han raised his hand and waved to the crowd and made his way back to the chairs without addressing anyone.

  Is that a grin on his face? thought Brent.

  “And now, presenting, Ling Li,” said the announcer in Chinese.

  Li stood slowly. The crowd went from high decibel to quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

  Li adjusted the microphone, and it squealed with feedback.

  “Well, how do I follow that, right?” said Li with a nervous chuckle.

  The crowd’s reaction was muted, not a sound.

  “Well, Han covered a lot of what I was gonna say, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he copied my speech.”

  The crowd responded with some murmurs.

  “Well, I mean seriously, almost word for word. It was good speech though, right?”

  The crowd began to boo.

  The kid is bombing and choking all at once, thought Brent. This just got interesting.

  “I’m kidding, I’m just kidding,” Li responded desperately.

  Now, a louder chorus of boos.

  “Really?” said Li in English, squinting out at the crowd. “Who’s booing me? Who is doing that?”

  Just when the crowd was about to unleash their displeasure, Han appeared at Li’s side and took the mic.

  “Taikonaut Li may not have the social graces of an elite world leader,” Han said to the crowd, “or the wisdom of an experienced sage.”

  The crowd was quiet and curious now. Li, who was staring a hole into the side Han’s head, whispered under his breath, “Where are you going with this?”

  “I can attest that Li does have the heart of a warrior,” said Han to some cheers from the crowd. “I can personally vouch that Li does have the discipline of a champion taikonaut.”

  The crowd grew louder as Han whipped them up into a frenzy.

  “And I have no doubt that if called to, Li will lay his life on the line to advance our great nation.”

  At this, the crowd roared. Han grabbed Li’s hand and raised it, and the crowd roared louder. Li couldn’t help but let a smile wash over his face. Li walked off to their seats with Han’s arm around his shoulder.

  “Thanks for the save,” said Li.

  “Thanks for the speech notes,” said Han.

  “You sonnofa—”

  “You shouldn’t leave them lying around,” Han said, cutting him off.

  They hugged and laughed louder than before, and that was the end of the ceremony. The crowd was being told that they were the people of the future.

  The dignitaries rose to their feet as the crowd was told to begin dispersing peacefully and in disciplined fashion. Han and Li shook hands with the Chinese leaders and ambassadors, Jiang, and Johnson.

  When Han got around to shake Carlson’s hand, he just looked down at it, then back at Carlson, and said in Chinese, “You disgraced the greatest role a man can play on this planet. I don’t even know why they let you stand here amongst us.”

  Brent, sensing the anger in his words, said, “So no hand shake then?”

  Han looked him in the eyes and said in English, “You don’t look so good. I don’t want to catch whatever you have.” Then, he turned and marched off the stage.

  Li stepped in and shook Brent’s hand, saying, “Pleased to meet you.”

  “Great to meet you, as well,” said Brent. “You wouldn’t happen to know what all that was about, would you?”

  “Han is just a very honorable person,” said Li, “and he may feel that your actions were less than honorable.”

  “I see. And do you feel my actions were less than honorable?”

  “Hard to say. You pretty much denigrated your entire chain of command, from the bottom up to the president, and everywhere in between. You lashed out at the entire astronaut corps for not having your back, and then leveled horrible allegations of murder and deceit at the titans of industry who create the hardware and systems that got you to space.”

  “When you put it that way,” said Brent, “it doesn’t sound that good.”

  “But…” said Li. “You might be right, and if you’re right about all that, and everyone is wrong, that means you are the most honorable of all, because you are willing to do and say what no one else will.”

  “Holy crap, you certainly put a lot of thought into this.”

  “Well, the answer to your question is simple. I don’t know if you were less than honorable, and I have no way of telling, so I choose to take the best of what you have to offer and ignore the rest. And what you have to offer in regards to Mars travel is extraordinary.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “From you and your wife’s book, the Unified Mars Path Papers, and other sources...”

  Brent raised his eyebrows at that. “I’m not sure I like the sound of other sources.”

  “Look,” said Li. “In your Mars Fitness study papers, you postulate that Greco-Roman wrestling, Brazilian jujitsu, and submission grappling in general may be the best sports to be taken up in preparation for long-term flights in space.”

  “Correct,” said Brent. “These forms of exercise, as long as they are performed with discipline and safety in mind, should be the best exercises to maintain muscle mass, bone density, and cardiovascular capacity. The additional point is that these activities can be fun, and taken on as a group activity, they rank above any other.”

  “Precisely! However, I’ve been thinking that you may have introduced a bias into your hypothesis. Since you are an expert in these areas, as well as chi gong, you are drawn to them and understand them better.”

  “That’s a good point, but you have to start with what you have, and bias seeps into almost everything. There is very rarely pure, unbiased science anywhere.”

  “That is why I plan on starting with what I know. I am a lifelong master of wushu, and a high level traditional kung fu practitioner. I believe that our training methods will be able to generate muscle mass and bone density retention with less risk of injury than submission grappling over a long duration space flight.”

  “There’s only really one way to test that,” said Brent. “And that’s on the trip to Mars. And unfortunately, neither myself, nor most likely you, are going to get to test that. And wait a minute, how do you know I studied chi gong? I only started training that after the Mars Fitness paper.”

  “Well…” said Li, scratching sheepishly at the back of his head. “There are quite a few fan websites set up that track your day-to-day activities.”

  Brent recovered from being momentarily stunned, “And you think it’s okay to spy on me?”

  “I’m not the one that’s actually doing the spying… and I don’t really read those for very long anyway, I just get the info I need and get out.”

  “Well that’s good you don’t read them very long. I guess they also list what I eat, and what my favorite drinks are.”

  “Lo mein and whiskey.”

  Brent stared with a look of horror and disgust. “I’m not too thrilled at the idea of having my entire life dissected. And I guess Han was right, I’m not feeling too well.” At that, Brent turned heel, and walked hurriedly towards the stage exit.

  “Wait! I had another question!” Li called after Brent.

  “Why don’t you just Google it? I’m sure someone out there has already figured out my answer on the matter.”

  As Brent left the stage, he barely made out Li’s parting words “Wow, what happened to that guy?”

  Chapter 11

  The sun was setting, and Li was kicking, punching, and sweating hard. He was in the third of five rows, each made up of twenty taikonauts, one hundred taikonauts en masse for martial arts training in the open air Chinese National Space Agency Sports Training Facility. Each of the taikonauts moved flawlessly in step with one another and in synchrony with the
rhythm of the count, following the wushu instructor at the head of the rows. It didn’t matter that Li or Han were the top picks for the Mars Journey program. When it came to training, they were the same as everyone else.

  Sweat dropped into Li’s eyes and stung. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was execution of the moves, in time, exactly at the right time. The instructor was too far away for him to really be followed, therefore, each practitioner had to memorize 100 steps for this taolu, or form as the westerners called them. Each form would flow into the next. There were ten master forms designed to keep discipline as part of the basics of the corps. Taikonauts didn’t get time in class to practice, so they practiced on their own time. Memorize these 1000 steps, practice them daily, and you rewired your brain and body to quickly memorize activities that would take days for most astronauts to memorize.

  A culture of discipline is just one of the reasons the Chinese are such a logical choice for space cooperation, Li thought. He realized he was breaking his concentration, and refocused on the moves.

  The second part of the equation was the iron will of China. China had made space travel and travel to Mars a top priority in their 100-year plan. Nothing would stop them, and so it made sense for other nations to team up rather than try to race against them.

  Li entered into a particularly challenging sequence of jumps, kicks, and whirlwind arm patterns. From a bird’s-eye view, it must have looked like magic. Li grinned, caught himself, and returned to neutral look.

  The third and most potent part of the cooperation equation is China’s massive wealth, Li thought as they all began the ninth form for the day. Two to go.

  China bought the best technology available. They hired and trained the best scientists and engineers. Problems that would take years to solve took less time because they would just integrate more people. And then there was the fact that China’s wealthy citizens gave freely to nonprofit projects that aligned with China’s goals to show their loyalty to the republic and gain popularity. Since Li’s father was a managing director of the world’s largest electronics manufacturing conglomerate, TechShareZ, and since he had donated large sums of money to space program projects, there was rampant speculation that was the reason Li had been selected for the Mars Journey Program over so many others.