A Colony on Mars

by Cliff Roehr

  After their chat they al showed up for their exercise class in the gym, it wouldn't ordinarily have been conducted as a class but since they were all new at it the instructor lead them al through the exercise routine for the first time together. They learned that they had to move slow in low gravity and set the machines for high resistance, if they moved fast they could hurt themselves. If they set the machines for ordinary gravity they wouldn't feel any resistance at al . Even doing calisthenics you have to move slowly the instructor told them. Right now that doesn't a apply because we are presently at 82% gravity but on Mars it will be very true.

  July 11, 2107: Tim and the others had started their training, Carla had continued her training and they sort of fel into a routine. After her first day of starting at 0400 hours they had changed Carla's reporting hour to 0530 so she would be there in time to help in getting the breakfast line set up to serve breakfast. Her classes ran from 0700 to 1130 when she helped with lunch then she was off until it was time to set up for dinner at 1630, she was al through for the day at 2000 hours. Tim attended classes from 0800 to 1200 then from 1300 until they had finished with the lesson plan for the day. They began to make new acquaintances and friends within the group that would remain on Mars with for years to come. Everyone had taken a liking to Hilda, she was real people. One couple that they spent a lot of time with were Juan and Lupe Rivera, who were also recruited as a couple. Juan was an MD with a specialty Space Medicine. Lupe was a Registered Nurse Practitioner, specializing in family health care. Both of them had degrees from UCLA Medical School in Los Angeles. They had both been working at L.A. County General when they were selected for this job. Juan had made several journey's into space for NASA as resident physician. “I'll bet that The Company paid dearly to get you two, “ Tim remarked shortly after they had met. “Not as much as you might imagine,” Juan responded, “I guess it was because we wanted this gig so badly, we were wil ing to sell out cheap.” Juan told them that there were at least three other physicians and half a dozen other nurses on this flight that The Company had hired to care for their employees. “We have a whole clinic in the hold of this ship. I am hoping that you construction boys give us a priority when it comes to setting up our clinic.” “I don't have anything to say about priorities” said Tim “but I wil sure put in a good word for you, and on my day off I could help with some of the setup, Just think Juan, if they put it to a vote most of these folks would want the kitchen and dining room set up first. Only the sick ones would want the clinic. Besides the Government already has their clinic set up and you could work out of there until your clinic is up and running.” “I heard that they don't even have a roof over their head at that clinic”, said Juan. “Nobody on Mars has a roof over their head Juan, just walls, doors and windows, that's the way buildings go up on Mars, they are all indoors, anyway, so who needs a roof? I hear that most of the people there now just put up four walls and put their air mattress and bedding inside. They each have a wire framed sheet plastic set of drawers to keep their clothing and other belongings in. That is about all they have for now. We have light weight furniture on board for each person and couple and air mattresses for all the new employees but it is up to them to make their own wal s. This life style is going to take some getting used to. I have no idea what you pictured as a clinic but it won't be anything like what you imagine. I know that some of us in construction will be making Martian cement blocks and putting up walls for people. We have some plastic sheeting in the hold that folks wil be able to use for windows but so far no one has figured out how to make doors. So far the best idea has been to make the wal s so you have to enter then turn left and take about three steps before you can turn right and actually enter the room. Remember there is no need for protection from the weather which is always perfect and there are no personal lamps to light a room. Most people just have reading lamps and flash lights to see things after lights out in the caverns. They turn the lights out every night at 2200 and turn them back on at 0600. Public buildings like the kitchen and your clinic wil have auxiliary lighting that can be turned or off at any hour.” “Where did you hear all this? Tim.” Classes, I have been going to class every day for the last ten days. I have been learning a lot about the living conditions that we wil find there.”

  July 20, 2107: About 1730 they heard a knock on their door, it was Juan and Lupe, “You guys ready yet?” Tim and Carla were dressed in their best civilian clothes, well actually their only civilian clothes, Tim had on his sports coat, shirt tie and slacks and civilian shoes, Carla was wearing her dress. These were the clothes they were wearing when they left Earth, was it just two weeks ago, it seemed like months. Tim said, “You guys shouldn't be doing this, buying our dinner at those prices.” “Don't give it a thought, Tim, you guys signed up for this job for the chance to become mil ionaire's but I was born into money. Those prices don't even seem high to me, we frequently spent that amount for a dinner in a good restaurant in L.A..” Juan had made their reservations at the restaurant and just informed Tim and Carla that they were going to dinner as his guest the day before.

  When they entered through the unmarked door it was like stepping into a different world. There were waiters in tuxedos and white table cloths. The head waiter seated them at a table for four to one side of the room. Their steaks were grilled to perfection and came with al the trimmings. They ate and talked and shared he two bottles of wine they were entitled to. “I wonder why they are so tight with the booze on this ship”, asked Tim. “It is probably because not enough is known about the effects of alcohol consumption in low gravity. We have a hard enough time standing up and not fal ing down in artificial gravity and alcohol could interact with your shots or some of those potent vitamins we take every day. The alcohol could intensify some vitamins that are already at maxim safe dosage levels and it could reduce the effects of other vitamins. There is really so little known that The Company figures it would be safe enough to have two drinks a week but they don't want to be held liable in a law suit if anyone suffers il effects from their shots or vitamins in combination with the alcohol. I intend to look into the matter in depth in my spare time once we are on Mars.” “In the meantime what do they have you doing on this flight, Juan, while the rest of us are attending classes?” “Since I am the only Dr. on board with a degree in space medicine and since I have worked in space on several occasions I am teaching classes on low gravity medicine to the other Dr's.” “I want you as our primary health care provider when we get to Mars, Juan” said Carla. “Not to be, Carla, I wil not have a family practice on Mars, in fact I have never had a family practice anywhere, my specialty is Space Medicine which I am now required to convert over to low gravity medicine. Lupe is my primary and I suggest you make your deal with her. What I wil be doing is taking on cases that are related to our unique environmental issues.” “OK, then Lupe would you consider being our primary health care provider?” “I'd love to Carla, I'l sign you up as soon as we arrive and I begin practice.” That evening Tim enjoyed an excellent USDA prime steak and Carla opted for a Maine Lobster tail. It was not difficult for them to hit upon interesting topics for conversation during the meal. They downed their last bit of wine and called it an evening.

  Juan continued to dine at the restaurant as often as he was allowed to but had different dinner guests on each occasion. The couples would meet periodically to shoot the breeze and update Juan on what was being taught in the Mars construction classes. Tim, had learned how to make Mars cement which was basically just mud made from a certain soil type found in the caverns mixed with surface sand. They dried it on the surface of the planet, they seemed to cure better and quicker when exposed to the UV rays on the surface. The cement blocks were then carried back inside. They where as hard as concrete and could be used in many ways. Some were used for building walls to give people the feeling of privacy. Because a man could easily lift heavier weights on Mars the standard size for cement blocks was the same length as those made on Earth but twice the wi
dth. By using these larger blocks steel reinforcement was unnecessary for wal s up to eight foot. Cement could be poured indoors but it took it several days to cure. When a floor was leveled in a cavern it was first leveled with dirt then covered with the blocks, it made for very attractive floors. It was a standard practice to add color to the blocks when the cement was being mixed. Blocks were manufactured in eight standard colors. The different colors served to break up the starkness of the caverns, that way everyone's house did not look identical to everyone else's house. They were even using the cement to make furniture. You could form a chair out of the cement then put inflatable cushions on the seat and the back,it could be quite comfortable and attractive when using contrasting or harmonizing colors.. Juan was interested in hearing al the things that Tim was learning in his daily classes.

  Tim, Carla and the rest continued with their daily routine for the next two months. Carla no longer had to attend classes but was doing some of the food preparation in the kitchen and stil serving and helping with the cleanup. Tim had finished his course and knew all the people on list 11 pretty well. They all seemed eager to learn al they could about each other and about the planet that would be their home. The instructors all seemed friendly and competent. They were speaking from first hand experience when they talked about living and working on the planet surface and in the caverns. The instructors liked their jobs because they earned excellent money and had lots of time off on the return trips to Earth. Most of them were already too old to be al owed to work on Mars again. Tim suggested to Carla that maybe they could be instructors on flights out to Mars after they had finished their stint working there. Carla said “Yeah, but they would have to hire both of us.”

  CHAPTER - Tim and Carla arrive on Mars

  September 28, 2107: Mars now loomed bright as they looked out through the port hole in their stateroom. It was mysterious and fascinating, they sat and stared at it for hours. They were notified by Damien their room steward to be prepared to disembark at 0800 the next morning. The Mars Orbiter was still not in view but they knew it was out there and the Captain was sure to find it. They were awakened by a loud clanking sound at 0345 They peered out their porthole and could see nothing but the planet rotating below them. It was an eerie feeling, like they were just hanging in space. Carla noted that the planet real y was Red. Carla went to work at her regular time but was told that al she had to do was serve at 0600 and they would handle the clean up. After breakfast they returned to their stateroom then went out and wandered in the hall. They had never seen the hall that crowded, everyone was out wandering. They were allowed to keep their work clothes which is what they were told to wear. Their meager luggage was turned over to the baggage crew to be off loaded to the orbiter. They were scheduled for 0800 departure. The Shuttle Craft which was much like the one that had carried them Las Vegas to the Earth Orbiter would be making round trips for the next week. When they boarded the Shuttle they noticed that it was designed more to ferry cargo than people. There were sixty people at a time loaded on to the Shuttle , Tim guessed that the others would have to wait for the Shuttle to deliver them to the surface then come back for more. They took a seat on a bench along one wal of the Shuttle. The Shuttle was equipped to handle 15 passengers along each wall and thirty more in the center sitting back to back. They located their seat belts and strapped themselves down. As they broke the connection and eased away from the orbiter they noticed another Shuttle arriving from the surface. The reentry flight took just over an hour. It was not scary at all, the Shuttle just glided into the hostile atmosphere and descended smoothly to the surface. On the way to the surface the passengers got a good look at the observatory. It was situated about two hundred yards from the freight elevator at the end of the runway. They also saw the giant radio telescope dishes mounted on the surrounding hil s. They landed on a long smooth runway and taxied to a small cement building adjacent to a platform that was apparently large freight elevator. Twenty feet above the freight elevator was a another platform that served as air lock when the freight platform was in the cavern. The airlock was connected to the shuttle and they disembarked into the elevator then the airlock was closed. Both the elevator and the Shuttle were pressurized. They stood as the elevator descended the equivalent of twenty five floors and came to an abrupt stop. The door slid smoothly open and they stepped out into a Mars cavern. Two hundred yards from where they had stepped off the elevator Tim noticed another elevator shaft running up the far wall and continuing on through the cavern ceiling.

  Tim and Carla took a deep breath, “Do you smell the stench, Carla?”

  “Yes, sure I do but they say you won't notice it after a while thank goodness.”

  “To me it smells like a sewer,” Tim added.

  The lighting was a little dimmer than expected, otherwise, thanks to his classes everything seemed as he had imagined it. They were greeted by both a Government representative and a Company Executive. The Government man appropriately declared, “Welcome to Mars, My name is Walter Potts, I am the project director and this is Thelma Potts, the Mars Colony, Inc. manager, she is also my wife of seventeen years. We both came up here with the Corps. Of Engineers twelve years ago, when we had to live in our Mars suits at all times. We are the oldest living residents of Mars and we are only in our forties. We are over age for being here but our duties require little physical exertion, you young folks are here to do the hard work. Do you want to add anything Thelma?” “No I just want to welcome these nice people to Mars and I hope to get to know you all personally as time goes by. I would like to tell you folks right now that things are different here.” As timing would have it just as Thelma said that a chicken flew by over their heads. “See what I mean,” she added. “Don't worry about the chickens, they come and go as they please but always go home to roost,eat and to lay their eggs.”

  “Do any of you have any questions that you would like to ask us now?”

  “Yes, I do, my name is John Prince, I played a lot of baseball up until the time I took this job. It never occurred to me that Earth sports just would not work on Mars, my question is are there any sports that you have here that we had on Earth?” True there are a lot of sports that can not be played in low gravity but there are several that do work and we play them, these include chipping a golf ball and putting, croquet, shuffle board and horseshoe pitching. There are some modifications to al of these sports to take low gravity into account but they all work and are interesting to play.”

  “There is one more but it really isn't a sport, it's low stakes poker, which is a very popular pass time. We started out playing no limit games but things got out of hand because everyone here has so much money. Some people were getting hurt badly at no limit poker so we set a five dol ar limit on any bet. It is enforced on the honor system but I have heard that higher stakes games stil go on. If caught playing in a game that allows higher stakes you could be facing a $5,000.00 fine. If anyone was actually fined the money would go into the recreation fund.”

  “Now if you wil please fol ow me and I wil take you on a brief tour of the facility,” said Walter. The Government facility was quite large, about 320 acres, or about the size of six tournament golf courses on Earth. There were several hundred cement buildings, of various bright colors, some bore signs declaring their purpose, others just numbers, “Look at that Carla they even have street addresses.” “Watch out!” Carla yelled and yanked Tim aside, as a man in his thirties skipped by.” “That is what I have been interested in seeing and trying as soon as we got here,” Tim said, “We learned about it in class and I can't wait to find my own gate.” As they looked at the people moving about in the clearing they noticed that no one walked as people did on Earth. They each seemed to have developed their own way of moving along. Some skipped, some hopped like a rabbit. The kangaroo gate seemed to be popular but they were all moving about as fast as an athlete could run on Earth. “I meant to tell you folks about getting around down here, it is different than on Earth there are thin
gs you can do here that you can't do there and visa versa. Here it is easy to jump up but you must be careful not to injure yourself when you come down. My advise is to just cautiously experiment with moving around until you find out just what your capabilities are and what works for you. If you jump down off of something you don't land as hard as you would on Earth but it is easy to fal into the trap of thinking you can jump down from three times the height that you could on Earth and you can but we do get a lot of serious sprains and broken bones that way. Here you can jump high enough to be pretty certain that you are going to injure yourself on your landing. The human body was designed to move around safely in one g of gravity. Here things are different, all things considered I think I like this atmosphere and gravity better but it takes some getting used to. For the first month you are liable to accumulate quite a few black and blue marks from bumping objects too hard. Watch how other people, who have been here a while are moving and then try some of the maneuvers you see them performing. Whatever you do don't hit anyone else and don't try any Martial Arts moves on anyone else. Serious injury is inevitable if you do. Just be vary cautious while you acclimate and you will do just fine.”