First Steps (Founding of the Federation)

by Hechtl, Chris

  "She is quite a handful now, but she was a gorgeous baby. Still is." Nick smiled. "Here she is as an infant... look at those eyes..."

  Luigi groaned. "You’re killing me here Nick honest." Julia wrinkled her nose at him then back down.

  "Here she is at her Halloween party last year. She was going for a punk Goth zombie mummy I think."

  "The tutu is a nice touch," Julia giggled.

  "Don't look at me; I just pay for it all. Somehow," Nick grumbled. Julia sat on Benny's arm rest. "Here's my most recent photo..."

  ...*...*...*...*...

  "So you finally met the Hans?" Zubrin looked Luigi over.

  "Yeah. Pretty reserved." Luigi picked up a beer and popped the cap.

  "Chinese usually are at first. Hell, we all are on unfamiliar ground and in unfamiliar situations. Give it time."

  Luigi nodded. "It is going to be interesting to see how they do in the exercises. I am not sure how well they can speak English."

  Zubrin chuckled. "Yeah. Just be glad you don't have a really mixed bag. Indians, Pakistani, Ugandan, French, Spanish... Portuguese..."

  Nick took a pull of his beer then sputtered. "Wait, Uganda? How did they get invited?"

  Zubrin smiled. "Politics. They didn't donate a lot, but they want in. They are pretty far down the list though."

  Nick shook his head. "As if we can get there."

  Zubrin smiled. "You never know..."

  "This cycler plan and SSTO aren't going over well." Zubrin grumped to Luigi. "I still say a single shot ground to Mars is a better way to go. At least for the first dozen missions." He sat back and sighed.

  "You and I both know we're only going to get one shot at this in our life time. Best to get as much as we can squeeze out of it." Luigi nodded to the mock up on Zubrin's desk.

  Zubrin picked it up. "It looks like the Venture star." He set it back down. "Will it fly?"

  Luigi nodded. "As long as we can keep the special interest groups from cutting funding. She'll fly only on Mars; we'll have to launch her with a special booster here on Earth. She'll dock with a ferry and it will transfer her and supplies to Mars," Luigi explained. Luigi sat back. "If the space planes on this end get off the ground then we will see the price drop to under a mil per person," he said. Zubrin nodded thoughtfully. Already space planes were getting more and more popular. Burtan's beauty, the Voyager series was ahead of the pack. But already there was talk of a deal with Fed Ex for a shipping craft, and some muttered about a few rich jet setters wanting their own versions. Getting from one side of the world to the other in a short time just got a lot more interesting.

  "I would love to see that happen," Nick sighed.

  "We took as much as we could from the X planes. Shape design, the aero spike engines, carbon skin, ceramics, new fuel tanks, state of the art flight suite... She'll fly herself and even dock with the AI on board." Luigi nodded to the model. "She's got the latest in diagnostics too, and she is designed for easy field repair on Mars...or at least as easy as we can make it." He shrugged.

  "If we can make a hangar there then we can extend her service life by a decade or two," he finished and then shrugged.

  Zubrin nodded. "Think that can be done?" he asked, thoroughly serious.

  Luigi sighed. "With a lot of work, and the right materials, and a healthy dose of luck, yes sir. I've got Dover industries working on an inflatable hangar." He shrugged. "But one step at a time."

  Nick saluted him with a beer. "Words to live by."

  · Chapter 4

  Testimony:

  "Don't worry about the crew from Texas; we have their support since ground control is in Houston. They may grandstand a bit for the cameras though," Nick leaned over and murmured to Luigi as they walked down the path to their table.

  "Oh is that all," Luigi sighed as they took their seats. "Grilled by a fan. Great," he sighed. He actually wouldn't mind signing an autograph but getting the third degree from someone who was supposed to be in your corner wasn't fun.

  "So you’re telling us, you’re going to launch a quarter of a billion dollars of tax payer's money into space, send it to Mars and then return it here?" The Texas senator drawled leaning over the podium.

  "No sir, the money will go to the people who build the craft, their families, and the shareholders of the companies responsible to build it." Luigi felt Nick kick his shin.

  Nick grimaced. "Sir, the money will be well spent. With the plasma rocket we can fly a payload to Mars or vice versa in under forty days."

  Senator Friday leaned forward. The woman adjusted her glasses then smiled tightly. "So you’re telling me young man that you’re going to aim a nuclear tipped rocket at the Earth?? Are you nuts?" she demanded. Nick and Luigi sighed.

  Luigi covered the microphone with his hand. "It's going to be one of those days. Let me handle this one."

  Nick nodded. "By all means, be my guest."

  Luigi took the microphone. "Senator, the program's hardware is designed to return our astronauts to Earth. After all, why go there if it is a one way trip?" Several people chuckled at this. "And no ma'am we are not going to aim it at the Earth, we are going to aim it at where the Earth will be. Half way there the ship will coast, then flip over. Then the plasma engine will re-ignite, slowing the craft until it can enter orbit and dock with the space station."

  Senator Graham from Maine nodded. "But isn't that risky, you’re talking about a potential for disaster to the station and the public."

  Luigi shook his head. "Not at all senator, we have built layers of safe guards into the ship, including a smart AI. If we lose control of the craft and it cannot restore contact with us it will aim the ship to the sun."

  The senator nodded. "So is that what you plan to do with it once it returns to the station? Send it to the sun?"

  Luigi shook his head. "No sir, we plan on refueling it, restocking or repairing it if necessary, then have it dock with another payload and send it back to Mars."

  Senator Friday sat back amazed. "So, it will go what, a couple times?"

  Luigi nodded. "The reactor has a twenty year power supply. With it and fuel we can move thousands of tons of cargo and people to Mars or any other destination in the system." he explained patiently. The murmurs in the gallery began to pick up and grow.

  Senator Branth clacked the gavel twice. "Let's just settle folks."

  Luigi nodded. "The Columbus and her sister ships can be used for any mission we can think of, including intercepting asteroids like the one projected to possibly impact Earth in four years."

  Senator Grantham nodded. He'd heard the report about that last week. It was one of the reasons they were now having this discussion, the public was now firmly focused on space. "But didn't I hear it was supposed to miss us?"

  Senator Friday held her hand over his mike. "Now Bill, we need to stay on track here."

  He waved her off. "Yes Jen, but this is important."

  Senator Branth nodded. "I want to hear more on this too, let’s take a few minutes,” he said. He turned his attention to Luigi. "Doctor, didn't we receive a report that the rock is projected to miss by, what a thousand miles?"

  Luigi nodded. "Yes Senator, you did, but that has a fudge factor of plus or minus ten percent."

  Senator Friday chuckled sitting back and toying with her stylus. "I just love accountants and mathematicians who do that."

  He smiled. "Well ma'am, it is rather difficult to project at this junction, if say a small asteroid impacts it, or it gets closer to another large body, any of those or other variables could change its course."

  Branth nodded. "But we're talking a minor thing."

  Luigi shook his head vehemently. "No sir, it is the difference between a graze and an impact. Ten percent is pretty a pretty wide margin for change over a three and a half year period. We are trying to narrow it now."

  The senator nodded. "So what exactly are we looking at? A meteor shower?"

  "Haven't you watched Armageddon or Deep Impact?" Branth sighed sh
aking his head. "My grandson made me watch both over the weekend. Scary. I am glad it is only in science fiction. Nothing like that has happened since the dinosaurs," he said. Friday frowned.

  "Actually Senator, the last major recorded impact was the Tunguska impact in Siberia in 1918. It leveled an area the size of New York city," Luigi interjected, leaning forward to the microphone. A few gasped at this.

  "So it must have been big," the Senator replied and then nodded.

  Luigi however shook his head. "No it was an air burst, about the power of a ten megaton fission bomb. Our most recent computer models estimate the rock was about the twenty meters in size." Some in the crowd gasped and murmured.

  Grantham tapped the gavel. "And just how big is this rock that you say will come close to us?" Friday asked.

  "About two point five kilometers ma'am."

  She shrugged. "So if it hits land we are in trouble. The Earth is seventy percent ocean. I wouldn't worry about it." She dismissed it with a wave. "Can we get on with this?" she asked pointedly to the chairman.

  Luigi sighed. "Ma'am, if it hits the ocean it is ten times worse. A tsunami that would travel one hundred miles inland, wiping out cities, towns, and villages. The sea water would contaminate the soil for years. It would make the one in India look minor."

  She looked shocked. "So it is a big deal," Senator Branth said before she recovered. Branth nodded in satisfaction. "Thank you Doctor, why don't we adjourn and take a twenty minute recess. This old body isn't as flexible as it used to be." Senator Friday shook her head. He looked over to his colleagues who nodded. Senator Friday was staring at Luigi.

  "Twenty minutes folks," Branth said. He tapped the gavel and got up.

  "Think we should send the Senator a copy of Deep Impact?" Nick commented, and then hastily covered his microphone. "Crap. Forgot it was on," he frowned.

  Luigi shut is off, and then turned off Nick. "Might be something good for her, if you could get her to watch it." He chuckled as the Senator stared at her brief. "I think she just got an earful as it is," he said. Friday seemed the type that was into the Senate to represent a power and not to govern. Now she had a lot to think about. He nodded to Nick. "I need to use the John, see you in a bit." He waved and walked off.

  Nick chuckled. "Bet there is a line to use it, you just made a lot of people scared," he sighed. "Including me," he murmured to himself.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  "So, the MAV test shot is carrying twelve tons of hydrogen, two tons of ethylene, plus what is this? Point four tons of miscellaneous tools; point four tons for plastic extrusion equipment, a Sabatier reactor set, and a one hundred pound Reprap. What is this thing?" Nick leaned over and pointed.

  Luigi looked. "Transhab. It is an inflatable dome with airlock. I managed to get Dover industries to make one and did a switch in accounting."

  Nick frowned. "Transhab right. A greenhouse?" he asked.

  Luigi nodded. "And airlock, oh, and accordion connecting tunnels."

  "Right greenhouse. Okay, and a rover robot, to what, test the robot that will move the nuke for the MAV right?"

  Luigi nodded. "And an open rover with attachments. We shoe horned as much as we could into it."

  Nick nodded. "I'll say! The Transhab thing, it is small, only three tons but you've got all sorts of miscellaneous gear listed with it."

  Luigi waved it off. "Well, we need furniture for it right? Plus the normal life support stuff. Don't worry about it." He let that last drop into a mock Italian drawl.

  Nick snorted. "Okay, your funeral. And mine," he sighed. The penny pinchers were watching the program like a hawk. "You've got it all planned right?" Luigi smiled over behind his cup. "Zubrin too I bet." Nick sat back. "Care to share?"

  Luigi chuckled. "You know as well as I do that the administration is only as good as its next election. Their term is up in four years now that they won re-election. We figure we can get maybe three manned missions in flight. Hopefully it all works out." Luigi grimaced. "If they would let us fly on the plasma rocket we could do ten missions in that time."

  Nick shook his head. "You know that would never fly on the first go. Unproven tech? Are you kidding? The compromise will work. Just give it time and once it proves itself you can fly on it."

  Mario knocked on the door. Luigi looked up and waved him in. "I see you've got him riled again, he still on about the plasma rocket?" Mario asked.

  Nick sighed. "Yes, and like a bulldog he won't let it go."

  Mario chuckled. "He just told me you’re only planning three missions?" Mario looked at his brother then sat down. "Well, we are planning a continuous mission, with a crew every time we get a window, but you know how congress is with funding. Once we have a first team, public interest will drop, then people will whine to shift funding..." he sighed.

  "Yeah, I see where that happening too," Nick grimaced as he took a sip from his cup. That last congressional hearing had been interesting. "So, we're planning to get as much there as we can, and let the teams stay as long as possible." Nick nodded. "So that explains the tilapia research, the mushroom ranch, I get it now. You’re planning a colony. Nice. Can I join? Fewer politicians there to screw things up."

  Mario chuckled. "Oh, they have a long enough reach, they can mess it up from long distance just fine."

  Luigi grimaced. "Don't remind me, we have another meeting on the hill tomorrow," he sighed. His little bombshell had backfired, now he was facing meeting after meeting.

  "You know you'll never get them to grant you the SSTO funding, why don't you drop it in favor of another mission?" Nick asked.

  Luigi sighed. "We need it. With that we can take people and cargo to and from orbit," he explained. Mario glanced at his brother. "He knows," Luigi replied to his brother's unspoken question. Luigi spread his hands apart.

  "Knows what? You're cockamamie plan? Not all of it, you have one heck of a poker face and you keep to many cards close to your chest," Nick said in disgust. He really couldn't believe... but no, Zubrin was involved wasn't he? Zubrin wasn't the type for a single glorious photo op. Nick sat back then sat forward fast as a thought struck him. "Damn! That Transhab you had me mention in the briefing! It's a space station module!" He looked over to Luigi and whistled. "How did you get that!" he asked looking dazed.

  "Rob Bigelow sent it over to me gratis. Of course it has his logo all over it and we have to credit him when the station is announced," Luigi smiled tiredly.

  "Amazing. And that extra payload you said, satellites and gear?" Nick demanded.

  Mario nodded. "Four satellites and a core module for the station. Once the satellites are released they will each move to geosynchronous orbit. The core module will then dock with the hab and unfold solar panels and radiators."

  Luigi nodded. "Then the ERV will do a test dock. The ground Mars shuttle will also do it as well."

  Nick smiled. "Damn, I didn't know. Wheels within wheels within wheels. This is...deep." He shakily took a sip. "Damn, all gone. I need something stronger anyway for some reason."

  Luigi chuckled. "At ten AM?"

  Nick smiled an urchin grin. "It's five o'clock somewhere."

  Luigi laughed. "Next window the second group will launch. When it does, we will have the makings of a permanent self sustaining Mars base."

  Mario nodded. "He thinks big, hell we both do. Need all the space I can get." He patted his belly.

  Luigi glowered. "You wouldn't if you would just lay off the pasta once and a while."

  Mario grinned. "What's with you, that's a Mario tradition!" He hammed the Italian line.

  Nick chuckled with them. "So, first crew gets there, they can stay longer?"

  Mario nodded and then glanced at Luigi. "He catches on quick."

  Luigi sighed. "Never mind my brother; he has the charm of a goat sometimes." Mario glowered. "Yes, some may elect to remain. Since we are sending two of everything, they can take a later ship," Luigi continued.

  Nick nodded then turned an eye on Luigi. "You wou
ldn't be one of them would you?"

  Luigi gave him an innocent look. "We have a deal; we do a fist bump on Mars," Mario replied.

  "Oh, like that is ever going to happen," Nick sighed. The brothers gave each other a small smile. Nick eyed them and then snorted softly. "Well, with you two anything is possible. I'm in. Hell, I've been in and didn't know it. Fish, shrimp, greenhouse, mushrooms. I heard about a new food thing, not the algae, but a spinoff of the whole stem cell thing..."

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Luigi sat across from the reporter and smiled politely. "Sir, isn't it true were spending fifty Billion, that's right Billion with a B dollars to send six people to Mars and back? Couldn't our hard earned money be used somewhere else? Like to pay down the deficit?"

  Luigi cocked his head. "Well, first off it is forty five Billion at the last count, and it that is to send thirty six people to Mars, not a measly six." He looked at the reporter for a minute as she nodded politely. "Now I want you to try a little mental stretching exercise with me." He looked into the camera. "You at home can try this as well. When man first built a ship. Not the ones we have now, but the very first ship, what do you think it cost? In man power? Energy expended? Safety? Reliability?" He looked at the reporter who looked a little confused.

  "Now translate that into today's dollars if you can. The first missions will be hard, using off the shelf technology taking three years round trip. But after that, when we get the next generation of craft online we will see a quantum leap in speed and amount we can transfer, for a one hundred or even thousand fold drop in cost." He sat back. "For the bean counters who are listening, it is costing about one billion per person to send each of those thirty six people right? Wrong. The first missions will cost ten Billion dollars. But tacked onto the Mars mission is a gas giant project, fusion reactor research, and six plasma ferries."

  He looked at the reporter and took a sip of water then set the glass down. "Once we get the first plasma ferry in space it will cost less than a million per person to get to Mars. Maybe less." He shrugged. "We are doing everything in our power to make that happen."