by Cliff Roehr
“Just from the conversation we have just had I think I already know the plan we are al going to agree on,” said Tim. You should take the two ships that you have already provisioned and continue on to Arton. Tell them what happened on Earth and return to Mars with as many of them as want to return. That way those that remain on Arton given a hundred thousand years or so may come up with what man had on Earth at one time, hopefully it won't end the same way. I suspect that you in this room and your crews will prefer life on Mars, but the ones that went to Arton in the first place are the kind of people that are seeking thril s and high adventure. A lot of them will want to remain, and they should. Once you get back to Mars you wil want to put your ships into a parking orbit around the planet and live your lives out here. That should be left up to each individual. Be sure when you travel to Arton that you have enough extra crewmen to handle your ship on your return. Only you people know how much fuel you have and how many more trips you can make but I suggest that you make none just in case your ability to fly is needed to travel from Mars to Earth and back on several occasions.” That evening all 14,000 guests were put up in the reception center. Al were fed a hearty meal. July 6, 2125: The newly arrived people all 14,000 of them were taken on Guided tours of Mars. They visited the ranch and saw al the animals, they visited the orchards and the farms and the vineyards and the city. They were taken to Paradise and shown the campgrounds and the rivers and lakes teeming with fish, they were shown some of the tamed but unused caverns, one larger than New Phoenix and Utopia combined. They toured the industrial complex and tasted the Martian wine and beer. They were shown the Ski Lodge. They had all been very interested in the tour and most of them realized by the end of the day that Mars was not only a better place to live than Arton, Mars was a better place to live than Earth had been a month ago, before they blew themselves up. After the tours were completed they were returned to the reception center.
July7, 2125: The ship's officers met with Tim around 0900. They concurred with his plan of action. An announcement was issued that anyone on Mars who wanted to spend their lives on Arton should assemble at the Utility Cavern the next morning at 0600 to board one of the space cruisers. That went for the crews of the space ships as wel . Al other crew members were asked to stand by in the tunnel leading to the Utility Cavern so that if there were any crewmen that wanted to remain on Arton there would still be sufficient crew to return the ships to Mars.
July 8, 2125: 0600, there exactly twelve people standing in the Utility Cavern waiting to board a ship to Arton. Al of the crew members from all four ships were in the tunnel. It seems that they all wanted to live their lives out on Mars, not Arton. All four vessels left port that morning. Two headed for Arton with the last load of supplies that would be delivered to the planet for some time to come. The other two headed for Earth and the Moon to rescue survivors.
July 9, 2125: The Mars Unified Counsel of Elected Representatives met to discuss the future of Mars. Particular attention was given to the problem of how to keep the economy of Mars from collapsing, resulting in chaos. After listening to some fifty speakers and hundreds of ideas the following consensus emerged and voted into law. The first Colonial bank had agreed to honor all existing accounts and to continue to credit those accounts with all regular deposits, such as wages. The bank would evaluate al stock and bond portfolios that the Citizens of Mars had on April 2, 2125 in Earth held securities and credit the accounts of those people with the appropriate amounts of cash, just as though they had they had sold their securities on that day. The price of gold on Earth on April 2, had been $2,242.00 per ounce. The Gold in the vaults of the bank amounted to 2,186 metric tons. That gold was the property of Mars Colony, Inc. and would remain the property of Mars, Inc. Everyone had always known that diamonds and other precious stones had kept turning up in small quantities but no one had ever admitted it. It was just a kind of a bonus when someone found a stone. Most of those stones were now in Paul Silverman, safe at the jewelery store, but Paul had bought and paid for them so they were his and would remain so. Paul had readily agreed that all future diamond finds should be the property of Mars, Inc. and should be turned in to the company. Diamonds of course now had little value except that Mars was being put on a Gold and Diamond based economy. The value of Diamonds had arbitrarily been set at $3,000.00 per carrot which the bank agreed to credit to The Company account. Mars Unified Counsel of Elected Representatives authorized the bank to mint and put into circulation iron and nickel coins in the amounts of one, five, ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred, and one thousand dol ar denominations. These would bear the inscription, pay to bearer on demand the value of this coin in gold. Everyone knew that in actuality, the gold and diamonds had no intrinsic value but just their universal acceptance bestowed on them their value. That public faith was enough to keep the economy running. It was agreed that The Company structure would not change, The Company would henceforth be known as Mars, Inc. Corporation papers were filed at the recording office of the Federal building noting this change and establishing a board of Directors listing Tim Erkin as Chairman and a dozen other company officers as members of the board of directors. They all, Including Tim agreed to a fifty percent pay cut. In fact every employee of The Company was notified of a fifty percent pay cut. Al employment contracts that employees had with The Company were canceled. No one would be laid off, The Company had many jobs to be done in their various enterprises. Including the ranch, the farms, the orchards and the manufacturing plants. The Company also was the owner of record of all the real property on Mars. Tim addressed the Counsel announced that The Company would form a real estate branch to sel off a lot of the property that The Company would identify and list for sale in coming months. Tim said that monopolies were, in his opinion not good for any economy and he wanted to see many of the companies employees strike out on their own and start private corporations and open small business establishment of al sorts.
As more jobs were created and more business and manufacturing started the number of people in the reception center began to dwindle. More homes were being constructed, schools built. Since Arizona had been opened tunneling crews had opened a dozen more smaller caverns that had been sealed and pressurized but were lying unused. One after another people began finding uses for them. Some for raising livestock, some for agriculture, some for industry. They stil had their ace in the hole, Utopia, if more land was ever needed.
Ten years from now I would hope that Mars Inc. could be just another successful corporation on Mars and not necessarily even the largest corporation. Tim was a whole hearted believer in the free enterprise system and in a democratic form of government. Over the next two years there were fifty two smal business opened on Mars. There were twenty six new corporations started. There was even an over the counter stock exchange being operated by Paul and his two employees. Since the disappearance of the Earth, Paul's Jewelery had little demand. Paul transitioned easily into running and controlling the Mars stock exchange. Prices were published daily on MARS-TV and on Mars.com. At first there were some wild fluctuations but eventually they leveled out and were the backbone of the young economy. After five years Mars Inc. was down to 1,800 employees but stil owned and operated much of Mars. Tim had sold the lower half of the Hour Glass to the lessors, Austin, Byron and Glen, who now employed over two hundred people and were Incorporated. The bank was Incorporated on Mars and now had three branches and over one hundred employees. The Counsel had formed all sorts of new bureaucracies and employed over two hundred fifty civil servants. One thing that the counsel had done that nobody cared much for was that they had imposed a flat rate ten percent Income tax, a one percent property tax and a five percent sales tax. Like I said no one liked it much but they all knew that it had to be done. The Government had obligations to meet like everyone else and the money had to come from somewhere. On Mars as it had been on Earth the money would have to come from taxes, permits, licenses fees and fines.
If anything the disappearance of
the Earth had strengthened the economy of Mars and had broken the stranglehold that Mars Colony, Inc had on the planet. The Federal Government of the United States had been abolished and the employees terminated. In short order a new corporation of scientists had formed and Incorporated. They had more work than they could handle. Al tunneling had been temporarily stopped until such time as population reassure created a demand for more land, which wouldn't be for many years. Some of the new companies were buying real estate from Mars Inc. that was located in undeveloped caverns. Many of the newly developed caverns were unique and they all had their own personalities. Tim had already decided to develop the largest of them to a long term timber project and had crews leveling the bottom of the cavern and readying the soil. Grow lights had already been installed that would be adequate to grow trees. Tim had also planned to plant wheat on the land and raise goats . There was plenty of water and they had already installed a new large generator and two atmosphere machines before the Earth had col apsed. Tim's plans had not changed with the loss of the earth. Seedlings had been planted and the young trees had thrived. By March of 2125 The trees were already the size of Christmas trees and goats were roaming the range. This was a 54 square mile monster cavern. Eventually, Tim supposed this land would have a higher and better purpose but for now it would make a great goats ranch and forest. Especially since the loss of Earth Mars would have to meet their own demand for timber.
CHAPTER – The rescue mission to Earth
April 5, 2125: The A1immediately established radio communications with the Earth orbiter and the moon base. Various other manned satellites had been checking in with the Earth Orbiter and were told to send everyone there. The orbiter had no Shuttle on station when the bombs started going off so they could not pick up the survivors and have them all waiting in one place. One by one shuttle started showing up at the orbiter. Of the forty seven shuttle on Earth all but nine had managed to grab the nearest sixty people and head out to space. One by one the shuttles were able to discharge their passengers at the orbiter. The first shuttle to arrive at the orbiter went to gather the people working at the other satel ites. By the time the A1contacted the orbiter there were 2,454 survivors waiting for rescue. The A1loaded the passengers from the orbiter and 20 shuttles that they had room for in their cargo hold. They were preparing to enter moon orbit when they were contacted by radio, It was the Arton Four that had just made Earth orbit.
“What is the situation here?” “Better put Captain Sorenson on, please get him and as many of the ships officers as are available, I only want to go through this once.” “Captain Sorenson, this is Captain Davis, I have here with me Captain Al en from the Earth Orbiter I think Captain Al en should begin.”
Captain Al en talked for better than an hour describing everything that had happened in the last thirty six hours, then he turned the mike back to Captain Davis. “Here is where we stand now, we have taken 2,454 survivors on board from the shuttles that escaped Earth when the shooting started, from al of the satellite stations and from the Earth Orbiter. We are now going to set an orbit around the Moon and launch enough shuttles to bring their one thousand one hundred sixty people on board. Once they are safe we wil return to Mars. Our cargo hold is ful with twenty shuttles. There are twenty more moored to the Earth Orbiter. I suggest that you continue to search Earth for survivors that have not been contaminated yet. I don't know how long you should do that but you will know when your job is done. You have a heartbreaking task because there are still at least five bil ion people alive on Earth that have received a lethal dose of radiation and there is nothing you can do for them. If you try to rescue them some of your people could become contaminated and the ones you were trying to rescue would be dead in a few days at the most. I suggest that for the first week to ten days that you not respond to calls for help. After that any calls you get could very well be from people that are in sealed environment s that have not been contaminated. In the meantime you could gather what radiation suits you have and load them onto one of your shuttles. I am sending you the radiation suits that we have by shuttle, that should give you forty suits that could be lowered or dropped to any survivors that have not been exposed. If they are in a sealed environment I don't know how they would be able to reach the suits but maybe they wil be able to work it out. Even a ten second exposure would probably be fatal so they might have to even sacrifice one of their own to get the suits. I just don't know. Once your job is done then pick up the remaining twenty shuttles at the Earth Orbiter before returning to Mars.” I don't see how we could improve on that plan, we wil do what ever we can and just play it by ear. See you back on Mars, Arton Four out.”
The Moon Base was another story, They had their own Shuttle but preferred to wait it out on the Moon because they were fully stocked with supplies and could hold out longer there than they could at the orbiter. There was also the logistical problem of transporting 1160 people in one shuttle. The A1received a radio message from Moon Base. “This is Admiral Johnson at Moon Base, what is your status?” “We are presently in Earth Orbit with 2,454 survivors on board from the Earth Orbiter. We are preparing to move to Moon Orbit to pick up the people on Moon Base. We should be there in about four hours.” “That is negative Arton One” We have just been hearing traffic from Barrow, Alaska. Contamination has not yet crossed the Arctic Circle. We know that everything south of there is contaminated. There are approximately eighteen thousand people North of the Arctic Circle who have not been contaminated. We are fine here on Moon Base. Suggest you return your 2454 survivors to Earth Orbiter with enough supplies to hold them over until you see how many you can find in the Arctic Circle. We can accommodate five thousand people total on Moon Base. Where is Arton Two, Arton Three and Arton Four?” “Arton Four is presently in Earth Orbit, A1and Arton Two are in Mars orbit unloading Cargo.” “We will contact Mars and have them dispatch A and Arton Two immediately to Earth whether they have been unloaded or not.”
“Ten Four that, we will get Arton Four on the Horn and dispatch them to Barrow immediately. “This is Captain Barstow of The Earth Orbiter, Admiral. If The A1sets off the 2,454 refugees from on board back on Earth Orbiter we could sustain for approximately ten days without additional supplies.” “This is Captain Davis again Admiral. We broke a cardinal rule when we just made the trip from Mars to Earth. We used warp speed and got here from Mars within two hours. It can be done and now we know just how to do it, maybe not with utmost safety but using warp we could pick up five thousand of those eighteen thousand people in the Arctic, move half of them to Moon Base. Then reload the people from Earth Orbiter and take five thousand people to Mars then return and get the three thousand six hundred that you wil have on Moon Base. Captain Davis sent an officer to the com room immediately to notify the Arton Four to try the north polar region with shuttle as soon as possible. The Arton Four responded that they had already retrieved the shuttles from the Earth Orbiter because they did not have any on board. They would move to a North Polar orbit and launch shuttles within the next two hours. He then put an urgent message in to Mars. “There are apparently eighteen thousand people within the Arctic Circle that have not been contaminated. We need the Arton Two and Arton Three here immediately to take on Refugees.” “Moon Base contacted us a over an hour Arton Two and Arton Three are already en route to the Arctic Circle using Warp speed. They could arrive any time.”
April 6, 2125: “ The A1returned the 2,454 people on board, to the Earth Orbiter Including Captain Barstow. A1then topped off their supplies and headed for Barrow, Alaska.
The Arton Four launched all 20 shuttles to search all enclaves of mankind north of 50 degrees North latitude. Captain Sorenson told the pilots.
“If you see anyone on the ground that needs help then fly south until you find the first clear area, land and take a reading, if the atmosphere is clean stil then go back and pick them up, otherwise just leave them be. I know that sounds cold but if they are already walking dead men we can't help them.” “Shut
tle one to Arton Four I am taking a reading at 49 degrees North Latitude, the air is, I repeat, is contaminated.” “Shuttle two to Arton Four, I am taking a reading atfifty fivedegrees North Latitude, the air is, I repeat, is contaminated.” “Shuttle three to Arton Four, I am taking a reading at 62 degrees North Latitude, the air is, I repeat, is contaminated.” “Wel that lets out Anchorage and Fairbanks”
Captain Sorenson said to no one in particular. “Shuttle four to Arton Four I am taking a reading from 66 degrees North Latitude, just inside the Arctic Circle, the air is not, I repeat, is not contaminated.” “Shuttle five to Arton Four, I am taking a reading from Barrow, Alaska, 340 miles North of the Arctic Circle, the air is clean, I repeat, the air is clean. I see people on the ground, there must be three thousand of them, send more shuttles.” “Captain Sorenson sent all nineteen remaining shuttles to Barrow and they began to evacuate refugees. Within four hours they had received five thousand people on board the Arton Four. The Arton One, Arton Two and Arton Three all responded. The Arton Two and Arton Three stil had cargo on board but they could take on refugees. The Captains threw the safety book out the window and accelerated to Warp speed. The A1made Earth Polar orbit in just under three hours. The Arton Two and Arton Three weren't far behind. The A1immediately launched their 15 shuttles. Within six hours they had completed the evacuation of Barrow and some thirty seven Alaska villages. The radio room of the Arton Two picked up an SOS on a Navy frequency. Between the four ships they had rescued eighteen thousand people from the Arctic. They were all safely on board the ships within eight hours of when the rescue of Barrow had began and the air stil tested clean. There were traces of radiation showing up but the atmosphere was stil in the safe zone.
