MARS: Renaissance

by Matthew Ellis

  Jordan said, “We’re going to need a lot more equipment than that.”

  Scout said, “We’ll make what we need from the metal we mine. Other things we’ll need are coming on the supply ship.”

  Becky said, “When do we actually get to work and stop talking about the work?”

  Scout said, “Right now.”

  Scout jumped out of his seat and motioned for the group to follow him. Everyone followed him outside and got into their cars. They drove to Main Street and then toward the refinery, which was at the east end of Main. Once at the refinery, they got out of their cars and walked inside. They could see the mine just 500 meters away, and it had lots of rocks arranged into neat piles. The robots had done that so that the crew could work quickly once they arrived.

  Scout said, “Let’s get this stuff hooked up.”

  Jordan said, “There are plugs for all of the electrical equipment, but we still don’t have the power hooked up.”

  Scout said, “That’s our second objective for today. We’ll install the power collectors and activate the power grid.”

  Jordan said, “Okay, then let’s hook this stuff up.”

  Jordan and Lane moved all of the machines so they could access the electrical sockets. They plugged the machines into the outlets and put them back in place.

  Scout said, “We need fire for the kiln, but we need the oxygen in the tanks for life support. I hadn’t thought about that.”

  Jordan said, “I’ve noticed that the planet’s atmosphere has way more oxygen than it should. When this planet was explored years ago, it only had point two percent oxygen. Now it’s grown to whole number percentages.”

  Scout said, “I saw that on the ship. The oxygen content was 11%, and the only thing we did to change the environment was restore the magnetosphere.”

  Jordan said, “We also put a lot of water on the planet from Earth. Maybe we contaminated the planet with life from Earth.”

  Scout said, “But we trapped that water in concrete. Any life would be killed.”

  Jordan said, “That’s not entirely true. Many bacteria and other small life forms can survive in tiny amounts of water, even in harsh chemicals.”

  Scout said, “We need to analyze the air, and see how much oxygen is in it.”

  Jordan said, “The reason I brought that up is that there should be enough oxygen in the atmosphere to supply fuel for a fire.”

  Scout said, “Of course. Just because we can’t breathe it at such a low percentage doesn’t mean that a fire can’t burn. We can still use the oxygen in the tanks for life support.”

  Jordan said, “If the oxygen continues the way it’s going, we may not even need the tanks.”

  Scout said, “There is still way too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to breathe safely.”

  Jordan said, “And the methane levels are still too high. We need to find a way to introduce nitrogen into the atmosphere.”

  Scout said, “If the oxygen continues on, then the only thing we’ll need to add is nitrogen. There’s plenty of it in the solar system.”

  Jordan said, “Are you suggesting a mining mission to some distant moon to harvest ammonia so that we can separate the nitrogen and hydrogen?”

  Scout said, “That’s one idea.”

  Jordan said, “We better get back to work.”

  The crew spent the next two hours assembling the refinery’s equipment. Then they tested the equipment, and everything worked properly.

  Scout said, “Now that we’re finished here, let’s go install the power.”

  Becky said, “Finally! I’m freezing. I want to turn the heat on in the buildings. It’s freezing here, and I hate wearing the environmental suit to bed.”

  Kathy said, “And we’ll finally be able to communicate with the others back on Earth. We won’t be cut off any more.”

  The crew walked back out to their vehicles and drove down Main until they reached West 3rd, where they turned north. They drove to the end of the road and parked at the hangar. Scout, Kathy, Jordan and Lane got out of their cars. They used the semi-tractor to move the massive solar array and the cosmic electric collector out of the hangar. Then they drove the semi to the electrical grid’s center as the rest of the group followed them.

  Once at the power center, Scout motioned to the others to get out of their cars. They obeyed and moved toward the massive structures.

  Scout said, “The cosmic electric collector is the easy one to install. We just need to put it on the ground and connect it to the grid wires.”

  The crew all heaved the generator from the tractor and moved it to its concrete base. The concrete had a bluish tint that the crew didn’t understand. The robots had laid the concrete in the standard way, and they assumed that the concrete would turn white when it dried. The crew attached the wires from the electrical grid, which ended in a pile near the base, to the collector.

  Kathy said, “The hard part is next. We’re going to need help moving the solar array into place. It’s very heavy, and there isn’t a pulley like we had in the hangar.”

  Scout said, “I’ll call the robots to assist us with this heavy work.”

  Scout radioed the robots to come to them. The robots had been busily working on building the high walls of the biodome, so they had to come down first. This took a few minutes, but once they were down, they moved toward the crew.

  While they waited, Scout had the rest of the crew study the base of the cosmic electric collector. They wanted to know what could turn the concrete blue. They all got close to it, and Jordan took a small chunk from one of the corners. He found a blueness that penetrated to the middle of the sample.

  Jordan said, “This looks like mold or algae.”

  Scout said, “That doesn’t seem right. We filtered the dickens out of the water. Maybe we brought something from Earth when we brought the water over.”

  Jordan said, “Or maybe this planet wasn’t as dead as everyone thought.”

  Kathy asked, “Are you suggesting that there’s native life on Mars? NASA sent a lot of missions, manned and unmanned, to this planet. No life was ever found. In fact, it was determined that this planet was not capable of supporting life on its own.”

  Scout said, “Then we must assume that the life we are seeing here is from Earth. We brought it here, and inadvertently sped up our terraforming process.”

  Jordan said, “If we want to keep it that way, we need to give the blue areas of the concrete in town some water to help keep whatever it is alive.”

  Scout said, “But only drops. We can’t afford to lose too much water. We don’t know if Martian water is safe yet.”

  The robots arrived as Jordan placed the sample of concrete in his pocket. They assisted the crew in moving the solar panel array from the back of the semi-tractor to its designated place next to the cosmic electric collector. Once the solar array was in place, the robots returned to the biodome construction site and continued work on that structure. The crew then attached the solar array to the base with sixteen bolts and nuts.

  Scout said, “It’s time to activate the cosmic electric power.”

  He pushed the button marked, “On,” and the collector began to hum. It sounded like the power was flowing.

  Kathy said, “Now it’s time to unshield the photovoltaic collectors.”

  Scout said, “You mean the solar array?”

  Kathy said, “Yes, the solar panels.”

  Jordan removed the protective coating from the solar array and watched the meter move from zero to somewhere in the middle of the gauge. Then the crew went home for the day to enjoy the new electric power.

  Jack decided to email his parents and tell them what he was doing. He was nervous as he typed the words.

  He typed, “Mom and Dad, I’ve decided to join the Mars Research Corporation and study Mars. It’s too late to stop me as I’m already there.”

  He had to wait several minutes for a reply because even if his parents were waiting by their email, it takes eight
minutes for a message sent from Mars to reach Earth. So he walked away from his screen and watched television for a while. A little later, he was notified of a response.

  It said, “What are you thinking? We’ve heard of the man you’ve chosen to follow. It’s nothing more than a shadow corporation formed to subvert the developed way of life. We love you, but we can’t deal with you becoming a hippie. Until you change your mind, you’re not allowed to contact us.”

  Jack looked at the screen. He read the words and started to cry.

  He thought, “That’s what I was afraid of. They’ll never understand. They’re too indoctrinated into the corporate culture.”

  At the same time, Kathy sent her father a message and received pretty much the same response that Jack did.

  The next day, Scout held the daily briefing at his home just like he used to do back on Earth. He sat at the head of the table and called the meeting to order.

  Scout said, “We have a lot to get done today, but I need to address a couple issues.”

  The group fell silent as they listened intently to their leader.

  He continued, “I realize that the energy is all from renewable sources. I further recognize that we are a small group. We are not, however, supposed to test the limits of the system by using every power-using device we own all at once. Can we please take it easy on the energy consumption?”

  Kathy said, “I noticed that nearly every light was on deep into the night, and most of us were online with either each other or people on Earth for a good portion of the night. I know it’s been a while, but we don’t need to do everything at once. We also need to make sure that we don’t accidentally give away any of the colony’s secrets. Remember that we still have enemies on Earth, so don’t send anything that has our location or our plans for the future. ”

  Scout said, “Just because we’re receiving television signals doesn’t mean that we have to try to see all of them. That’s a big drain on the power, because the signals need to be boosted both in space and from our satellite receivers on the surface. So go easy on the TV. Remember that we’ll have our own signals once the colonists arrive.”

  Becky asked, “Does that mean that there will be no more signals from Earth?”

  Scout said, “There will be as long as the signals from Earth aren’t blocked. I hope this doesn’t happen, but it might.”

  Becky asked, “So who’s paying for us to have access to all of this stuff from Earth?”

  Scout said, “That’s why we need internet access. Our fake corporation paid for ten years of access before we left. The servers on Earth check our equipment every 7 days to make sure that they’re still legit.”

  Becky asked, “So the corporations that sold us their stuff check up on it?”

  Scout said, “It’s been that way for a long time. Software companies were the first ones to do it on a large scale, but now everyone does it. So when we break from Earth, they’ll be able to say that we’ve breached the contract and cut us off.”

  Jordan said, “That’ll be the first thing that happens once the war begins.”

  Scout said, “Yes, cutting off communication is always a primary war tactic. I hope we can avoid it. Now let’s get to work. Today, we’re all miners. The neat little piles of rocks need to be collected and transported to the refinery.”

  The group left Scout’s quarters and got into their vehicles. They drove to the refinery and parked their cars. Then they walked to the mine and began to collect rocks. They would take the rocks to the refinery and extract the metals from them. Then they would use those metals to build their civilization. The collecting of rocks and melting metals continued for the next six months, and every night the only meal that the crew ate was some variation on fish and chips.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  The Operative

  The Operative marched into General Rich’s office. He had intelligence that the Martian ship would be returning to Earth later that week. NASA satellites had seen it, but it was difficult to ascertain its speed. The ship would arrive on Earth in two to six days.

  The Operative said, “Sir, I have important news.”

  General Rich replied, “I hope you know where the Martian ship is.”

  The Operative said, “Yes, sir. It is on its way back to Earth, and it’s empty.”

  General Rich asked, “How’s it being controlled if it’s empty?”

  The Operative replied, “Its pilot is an android.”

  Genera l Rich asked, “How intelligent is the android?”

  The Operative replied, “It is almost impossible to know. When it was purchased, it had a high IQ, but it could’ve been modified.”

  Rich said, “Any modifications would only serve to make it stronger or smarter, or both. We’ll have to assume that this robot is as smart as that one on Star Trek was.”

  The Operative said, “Then we’re in deep trouble. We can’t outthink an android that smart.”

  Rich said, “Proceed according to the original plan. I want to see just how good this android is. We can adjust next time if we fail.”

  The Operative asked, “How do you know there’ll be a next time?”

  Rich said, “They’re trying to begin a whole new society from scratch. They’re going to need at least three ships worth of resources.”

  The Operative said, “Okay, but I don’t want to hear how badly I failed when this doesn’t end well.”

  Rich said, “Consider this an intelligence collecting mission with a bonus if you happen to accomplish the primary mission.”

  The Operative said, “I knew there’d be a catch. This could go on forever.”

  Rich said, “Why do you think I offered it to you?”

  The Operative said, “You’re sadistic.”

  The Operative left the General’s office and called his team to action. He had been very upset with them after their massive failure in Albuquerque a couple months earlier. He would demand no less than perfection for the rest of the mission.

  He stood in front of them and said, “Men, we’ve been given the opportunity to save the Earth from those who would pillage its resources for their own gains. The group that we’re fighting is trying to destroy the prosperity we’ve nurtured for the past century. We need to continue the system where work is done by lesser people while the proper people enjoy their God given wealth. If the workers weren’t so lazy, they’d have the same blessings. This group wants to strip that away and make everyone equal. That’ll never work; people aren’t motivated to work without a reward. They might destroy themselves, but by that time, our way of life will be gone. Besides that, these criminals are stealing our resources. We must stop them. Are there any questions?”

  A soldier asked, “Sir, how do you intend to accomplish this?”

  The Operative said, “I’ve been instructed to attack their ship. However, the ship is piloted by an advanced android, so we might need to gather intelligence before launching an all-out attack. We’ll try to accomplish the primary mission, but we’re not expected to do so this time. The next time that this ship arrives, however, we are fully expected to stop it.”

  The same soldier asked, “So we have a free pass, right?”

  The operative replied, “No, you don’t. I’ve assembled a covert team of the very best the United States Armed Forces has to offer. You come from all five branches of the military for a reason. I’ve planned for every contingency. I don’t want to fail again.”

  They spent the next two days going over strategies for the mission. The plans included everything that could go wrong, and every evasive maneuver that they believed the android could perform. The Navy Seals considered a water battle if it should become necessary. The Army Rangers considered ground battle strategies if the android allowed himself to become vulnerable. The bulk of the strategizing, though, was done with the Air Force and NASA. They wanted a viable plan to destroy the ship in the air or in orbit. They knew that the ship had superior capabilities to any military ship. But they discu
ssed ways to prevent it from achieving its maximum velocity. They also talked about ways to destroy or disable the ship from afar.

  Two days after the meeting with General Rich, the operative’s team headed for New Mexico. They were determined to accomplish their mission, and their leader had a great motivator behind him. They all boarded a jet bound for the Albuquerque International Sunport and talked amongst themselves as they flew.

  The operative said, “Look at the prosperity below you. That was paid for in blood by past generations.”

  A soldier said, “It’s a shame that there are some who would have us all enslaved by equality. People are meant to be divided into classes. It’s God’s will.”

  A naval officer added, “The beauty below is what we’re all fighting for. I’ll be keeping that in mind when we’re in the heat of battle.”

  The conversation continued for a while until the group fell silent. They were pondering the impending battle. Some of the men were confident and motivated. Others were fearful, but they would never let the rest of the group to know it.

  As the group flew toward Albuquerque, the Renaissance landed at the spaceport. Heath Goodbar very quickly loaded the supplies into the ship. The support crew helped him. Scott and the rest of the support team moved the trailers into the ship as quickly as they could. They drove the trailers up the ramps to the decks just as the terraforming crew had done a few months earlier, except that there was no need for life support or living quarters on this trip. So the crew placed everything they could on the ship until it could not hold any more cargo. The crew finished loading the ship fifteen minutes after The Operative’s crew landed in Albuquerque.

  Once the elite military force landed in Albuquerque, they were ordered to drive armed military vehicles the rest of the way to the spaceport. They were a very intimidating sight to anyone passing them on I-25. Many people thought the sight of nine armored and armed vehicles traveling down the interstate during peacetime was inappropriate. A few people called the military leaders and elected officials to complain about the Nazi style show of force. The people fielding the calls were unaware of the events until they were shown pictures and videos of the events.