MARS: Renaissance

by Matthew Ellis

  He dialed the phone and waited for an answer. He had forgotten about the time difference, and Scout was fast asleep. Lane waited for the answer to come, and finally it came.

  “Hello,” said Scout, still half-asleep.

  “Hi, this is Lane Blake. Captain Jordan Green gave me your number. I’m interested in joining your group.”

  Scout was already wary of accepting a new person who called in the middle of the night. He knew that somehow information was leaking to the authorities, so he didn’t want to allow anyone to join without being thoroughly vetted. A call in the middle of the night seemed suspicious. He asked Lane many questions about Jordan and why he wanted to join the group. Scout didn’t feel comfortable for forty-five minutes while he interrogated this potential candidate. He needed to make sure that Lane really wanted to help the group, and not destroy it. Finally, Scout had heard enough to know that Lane was serious and began the process for initiating new members into the group.

  Scout said, “Did Jordan tell what all that entails?”

  Mr. Blake replied, “Yeah, he said you were going to Mars to form a society that doesn’t use money. I’m very interested in joining you. This is just the sort of challenge the human race needs.”

  Scout said, “We also require money while on Earth to gather supplies and fund our lives while we wait to leave. Can you contribute to the group?”

  Lane said, “I can give you a little, but I’m not a rich man. I don’t have a lot of assets to give you. But I’m willing to put what I can toward the mission.”

  Scout said, “No one in the group is rich. Most people who are rich don’t want to see an end to their comfortable lifestyle.”

  Blake said, “That makes sense. Why would you want to contribute to society if you can do nothing and live a comfortable life?”

  Scout said, “That’s what we’re against. We want everyone to contribute what they can to make life better for everyone. We want a society where everyone is compensated equally for their work and no one is exempt from contributing simply because they’ve amassed enough money to live comfortably while their neighbors struggle.”

  Blake said, “Sounds kind of like the old utopias.”

  Scout responded, “It has elements in common. But even those had people using money. We want to have everyone contribute based on what they are good at and also provide creative outlets so people can explore their souls.”

  Blake said, “Well, count me in. I want to come to your next meeting. Just tell me when and where.”

  Scout said, “We’re in Portland, Oregon. We meet about once a week. Come by anytime and I’ll introduce you to the rest of the group.”

  Scout gave Lane the address, and told him to come by as soon as he could so that he could show him the details that had been worked out so far. Lane agreed to visit soon and boarded his plane. He set a course for Oregon and took off.

  Scout thought, “I hope that I can trust this guy, even though he is contacting me in the middle of the night and over the phone. I don’t think Jordan would send me someone that he didn’t believe was serious. Jordan’s my brother, and I trust him implicitly.”

  A little while later, Notah came to Scout’s home. He rang the doorbell and Scout jumped out of bed.

  Scout thought, “Who the hell is ringing my bell at this hour?” He then said sarcastically, “This is in no way suspicious.”

  Scout opened the door. Notah stood in front of him for a moment, unsure how to begin.

  Scout finally said, “Can I help you?”

  Notah said, “My name is Notah Yazzie. I spoke to you before. I really want to get more information about your group. I think that it might be right up my alley.”

  Scout said, “You do realize that it’s a little suspicious to show up in the middle of the night. Why don’t you come by my office tomorrow night at a decent hour and I’ll give the details that you need to make your decision. I’ll also need some information from you. I need to make sure that you’re sincere in your desire to join us.”

  Notah said, “That’s to be expected. You’re considered a revolutionary. People feel threatened by your beliefs, and so you need to make sure that I’m not a mole being planted to infiltrate your group.”

  Scout said, “It’s comments like the one you just made that make me think that you are the aforementioned mole.”

  Notah said, “I assure you that I’m not. I’m fully willing to undergo a background check and a full investigation of all of my dealings. I’m also willing to commit to full disclosure of all of my personal belongings and dealings. I will be completely transparent with you.”

  Scout said, “Okay, but I don’t think that I can commit to allowing you into our inner sanctum just yet. We’ll meet in the city and not at the central office.”

  Notah asked, “That sounds more than fair to me. Where do you want to meet?”

  Scout replied, “We’ll meet at a Blazers game. Meet me at the ticket office at 7:15 tomorrow.”

  Notah said, “I’ll be there.”

  Scout then called Jordan. He needed to verify that Notah was not a spy or a mole.

  Scout told Jordan, “I need you to do a little bit of detective work on a potential candidate for me.”

  Jordan asked, “Is this someone you don’t completely trust?”

  Scout answered, “Not yet. I need to know that he’s not working for anyone who opposes to our group.”

  Jordan said, “Tell me his name and other basic information and I’ll do some investigating for you.”

  Scout said, “His name is Notah Yazzie. He’s a Navajo, and he claims that he still holds to the traditional Navajo way of life.”

  Jordan said, “There are very few that still do. The vote to dissolve the Navajo Nation was a landslide victory for those who wanted statehood.”

  Scout said, “That fact aside, there are still some Navajos who are disgruntled by being forced to abandon their entire way of life to have access to basic services.”

  Jordan said, “Well, I’ll let you know what I find out once my investigation is complete. I’ll tell you if he’s a traditional Navajo and whether he is committed to our ideals or not.”

  Scout said, “Don’t forget the most important part. We need to know if he’s working for our enemies. We can’t afford to give our enemies any information.”

  Jordan said, “Understood. It’ll be done soon. Give me about three days.”

  Scout said, “I can’t give you that much time. You have until 7:00 tomorrow. I’m already scheduled to meet with him at tomorrow’s basketball game.”

  Jordan said, “I’ll get a rush on it.”

  Jordan got to work investigating Notah’s background. He called his old army buddies, and found out that Notah had met with General Rich. This raised red flags in Jordan’s mind, but he needed to go to Scout with more evidence than a simple meeting with their arch-nemesis. The next thing he did was run a credit check. This told Jordan that Notah worked for a bank as a teller. More red flags were raised in Jordan’s mind, and some of them were waving. He also saw that Notah’s credit was clear.

  He said, “That’s odd. For someone who doesn’t want to deal with money, he sure does use it effectively. There are no debts on this report, and all of his accounts are perfect.”

  Then he saw that the report had been recently altered. Notah had been in debt, but now all of his accounts were paid in the last week or so. More waving red flags were raised in Jordan’s mind. He had seen enough to report his findings to Scout.

  Scout said, “What did you find out, Jordan?”

  Jordan answered, “Hello to you, too, Scout.”

  Scout said, “I just really need to know what you found out before I allow this person into our fold.”

  Jordan said, “I don’t think that allowing him into our group would be the most prudent move. The investigation raised many, many red flags. He’s working in the financial sector. He has recently met with General Rich, and he suddenly has a perfect credit report. There’s
too much going on with this guy to trust him.”

  Scout said, “Thank you for your input, but I still need to meet with him to make the judgment for myself.”

  Jordan said, “Just be careful, Scout. Our enemies aren’t playing with us, and many of them want to see us killed. There have already been assassination attempts on you.”

  Scout said, “I’ll be careful. See you at the auction.”

  Scout hung up the phone and began to prepare for his meeting with Notah. He needed to figure out if he could trust this man before he could allow him into the group.

  Chapter Eleven

  Robots

  Scout and Kathy wanted to make their first date a productive outing. They decided to use the time to find and purchase the robots for the preparations on Mars before the team arrived. They went to a store called “Androids & Robots Cheaper!” Scout and Kathy walked around the store looking at the robots and comparing features and prices. They narrowed the list down to only robots that cost $70,000 or less. They needed two robots and one android. The android would be the pilot of the ship in the absence of the crew, and the robots would do the bulk of the preparatory work on Mars while the colonists’ gathered supplies and funding for the journey.

  Several of the robots that had all of the features that they needed were priced well beyond $100,000, which was well out of their robot budget. They eventually narrowed the list down to six robots and two models of android. The six robots had very similar features, but the physical strength of each robot varied greatly among the six. They had to choose the strongest ones, as the mission involved very heavy work that couldn’t be done without extreme strength.

  Scout told Kathy, “We need to pick the perfect robots. They’re going to be our eyes, ears, hands and feet on Mars while we prepare to leave.”

  Kathy replied, “The perfect one would be that quarter of a million dollar model in the corner, but we can’t afford even one of those.”

  She was referring to a hardened steel model, which was reinforced with titanium. It had a long life solar panel, and was self-cleaning. It had wipers that activated whenever the panels were obstructed. It was as strong as three semis and came with every possible attachment. It also had a memory equivalent to all but the most expensive android. This robot was perfect, but perfection is never cheap.

  Scout said, “I’m sure we can find a couple of robots that’ll work for us and be in our budget.”

  Kathy said, “I’m not giving up, but it is frustrating to see the perfect robot and not be able to afford it.”

  Scout said, “Let’s just look for one we can afford.”

  Scout and Kathy decided on a set of robots that were light, but still strong. They were made of titanium, and had a few important attachments.

  Scout said, “Whatever they don’t have can be made. If it can’t be made, then we can find a used one and refurbish it. There’s always a solution. You just have to find it.”

  Kathy said, “I love your resourcefulness. I’m glad I found you.”

  Scout asked, “I’m happy about that as well. Are you serious about our cause, though?”

  Kathy answered, “I’ve thought of nothing else since the very first time I read your book.”

  Scout said, “Good, because this’ll only work if we’re in complete agreement about the mission.”

  Kathy said, “I don’t think that I could agree with you any more. I hate this world’s system, and I’ve wanted a better one for most of my life.”

  Scout said, “You might make me fall in love with you if you keep talking like that.”

  They took the tags from the robot display to the register and told the clerk that they had decided on the robots. They also told her that they weren’t ready yet because they needed to decide on an android as well.

  As the cashier took the card, his suspicions were raised. He ran a customer check on Scout to make sure that he was authorized to own robots. He took a secret picture and sent it to the clearinghouse. Scout had made sure that everything would pass any investigation, and it did.

  The android was a much harder decision. All of the androids had the same strength, as they were all identical in their composition. The difference among the models of android was how smart the individual machine was. The smarter the android, the higher the price of the machine will be. Their price of $70,000 was able to purchase an android with a storage memory of 700 gigabytes, a processing speed of 90 gigahertz, an access memory of 15 gigabytes, a battery life of 25 years, and an IQ of 108. The more expensive models had specifications that were 100 to 1000 times greater, but this android would have to work.

  Scout told Kathy, “I’m so glad we came here first. We got some great machines for cheap.”

  Kathy said, “And we got a bonus, getting to spend the day together just the two of us.”

  Scout said, “That was a big bonus. You’re cool to hang out with. I really like being with you.”

  Kathy said, “I want to spend every day with you. I don’t think you know how long I’ve been in love with you. I followed everything you ever said or did before I even showed up at the rally. I wanted to get to know you even on that day.”

  Scout said, “I know that I said that we need to be in agreement, but you’re not some stalker, are you?”

  Kathy said, “No, I’m not. I’m just a woman who loves the man standing beside her.”

  Scout kissed Kathy and grabbed her as he kissed her lips. He held her tightly as his kiss became longer and more intense.

  Someone came up beside them and said, “Get a room!”

  This caused them to both become self-conscious and stop the public display of affection before it got out of hand. They did not want to get arrested for public lewd behavior.

  As they waited, Kathy asked, “Did you talk with the new guy, what’s his name?”

  Scout replied, “I did. His name is Notah. We went to a Blazer game a few days ago. Jordan warned me that several red flags were raised, but I fully trust this guy.”

  Kathy asked, “Why’s that?”

  Scout replied, “I can’t tell you yet. You’re going to have to trust me on this one for right now.”

  Kathy said, “You’re withholding information from me, and I want to start a relationship based on trust. That doesn’t seem right to me. You should share what you learned from him with me.”

  Scout said, “I’m sorry if you see this as me being shady, but I really can’t allow anyone to know this secret just yet. It’s not a matter of trust; it is a matter of the security of our group. You’re going to have to just let this go.”

  Kathy said, “Just know that this is one major strike against you. I’m always going to know that you’re holding this secret from me, and I’m never going to quite trust you until I know what it is.”

  Scout said, “I know that, and I accept that as a consequence of this decision. I love you, and I want to take this farther, but I need to have you trust me that I can’t let you in on this secret.”

  Kathy said, “I’ll let this go, then. Let’s get on with our day and our lives. It’s now stuck in the back of my mind.”

  They checked out and packed the robots and the android in the back of Scout’s pickup truck. They decided to leave them in the boxes until they were ready to use them. They would remain in the boxes for months.

  Chapter Twelve

  Auction

  Scout, Kathy and Jordan arrived at the auction yard hours before the auction was scheduled to start. The check in process was a thorough investigation of his documents and him personally. The auction clerk took their IDs, bankcards, passports, and fingerprints. She checked their IDs against NCIC records. She verified their identities by running their fingerprints through the fingerprint database. Then she made sure that their corporation was authorized to own the items available for sale. The process took nearly an hour to complete, but they were cleared to participate. Unfortunately, this routine check’s results were available to General Rich. He was immediately aware that
Scout and his group were buying satellites and ships.

  The auction yard was nearly empty as Scout, Jordan, and Kathy perused the merchandise for sale. The auction would not begin for three hours, so they worried that too many people might show up and drive up the prices. They only needed one ship, but it needed to be a good one. They had raised $1,400,000 to purchase and modify the ship, so they had to keep the purchase price below about $1,000,000. Any more than that and they wouldn’t be able to repair and modify the ship the way that they wanted to.

  There was an old space shuttle and an orbiter, but those wouldn’t work. They needed a high capacity lander. Three lunar landers were on display, but all of them were meant for small missions, which lasted only a few days. They were all too small anyway. The colony would have major cargo. It didn’t have to be huge, because the group could modify it to enlarge the area. It did, however, need to be significantly larger than the ships that they were seeing.

  Then they saw the great ships; the ones that had been used to explore the surface of Mars 50 years earlier. They were gigantic beasts of machinery capable of doing anything the group could need. They had recently been decommissioned, so they were in decent condition. The older ships had been out of service for much longer, so their condition was worse than the ships in front of them.

  The one with the lower starting bid was called “Exploration” and was marked to start at $900,000. That was the one that the group decided they would attempt to purchase. The other was named “Renaissance” and its starting bid was $950,000. The group would only try and bid on that one if the price was kept low and if they failed in their attempt to purchase the “Exploration.”

  Three hours after the group arrived at the auction yard, the auctioneer began the auction. He stepped onto the stage as the first lunar lander was brought onto the pavement behind him. A bell signaled the beginning of the auction and people rushed to their seats.

  The auctioneer said, “The first item is this lunar lander used for the first mining missions to the moon sixty years ago. We'll start the bidding at $20,000.”