First Steps (Founding of the Federation)

by Hechtl, Chris

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Mario and the Commander wrestled with the billboard stakes. "Did they have to make it this big?" Bower complained.

  Mario chuckled. "Everything was in the contract down to the nuts we had to use." He looked up as he finished bolting his side together. "I'm done. Need a hand?" he asked.

  "No, I got it." The commander fumbled the nut, hastily caught it then carefully threaded it onto the bolt. "This thing is plastic, what's to stop the wind from chewing it up? Or the sun?" he asked as he tightened the nut.

  "It has a UV coating to protect it from the sun, and reinforced slits to let the wind through so it doesn't get chewed up," Mario replied as he put his tools back in the rover. "All done?" He looked over to Tess who nodded.

  "How did I get the hard job?" she asked panting.

  He shrugged. "Feminism at work?" he teased. Tess had insisted on doing the parts sledge.

  She shook her head. "Is not funny." She dropped the improvised sledge. "Is done anyway," she said mulishly. He nodded.

  "Good, we can get this thing up and then move on to the next chore," the commander said straightening.

  Together the three of them hoisted the billboard up then secured it to the stakes with bolts and guy wires. "It should read Wal-Mart coming soon," Mario joked as they finished.

  The commander laughed. "Don't tempt them, they just might do it." He shook his head. "What's next McDonalds? Pizza hut?" he asked and then laughed.

  Tess shook her head. "Don't care. It pays the bills," she said and then shrugged.

  "Yeah, one hundred million pays a lot of bills. I am going to move the cameras so we can get a clear view of it." Mario waved as they climbed into the rover. Wanda waved back.

  "Looks like she is having the time of her life," the commander chuckled.

  "Are you kidding me? She's like a kid in a candy store with an unlimited credit card and a free pass from the dentist," Mario laughed.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  "Crap." Mario surveyed the fallen MAV. They'd finally worked their way through the chore list for the first two day and he finally had time to take a look at the thing. What he saw didn't so much as surprise him as it did dismay him.

  "I knew we should have gone with five legs," Tess sighed.

  "Think there is anything worth salvaging?" the commander asked.

  "Well, from the looks of the discoloration of the surrounding soil most of the hydrazine and fluids have leaked out," Mario observed. Mario knelt and touched the soil.

  "Is there chance of a fire?" the commander asked, suddenly concerned.

  "In a carbon dioxide atmosphere? Get real." Tess shook her head.

  The commander grimaced. "I forgot that," he muttered. He cleared his throat noisily. "Carry on." Mario tapped the landing leg sticking out the back.

  “Thruster nozzle and two legs are a loss, most likely the entire side paneling." He climbed up onto the top side. "No sign of damage here."

  The commander looked at him. "She'll never fly again. Come on; let's go finish moving the Habs together."

  Mario waved. "Just a minute. Just because she can't fly doesn't mean all of her cargo is a write off." He took out a driver gun from his tool bag and started removing bolts. Carefully he caught and bagged each one.

  "What are you doing?" Tess asked.

  "Here," Mario said grunting. Mario picked the panel up and handed it down to her.

  "Put it over there. We will have to sort the good from the bad." He turned and looked inside. "Not bad. No sign of corrosion. A lot of dust though," he sighed.

  "Okay well, twenty minutes then we need to get back on schedule," the commander called moving off to the habs.

  "Yup." Mario pulled open a door. "Ah gotcha." He recognized the markings for the plastic extruder and Reprap.

  Tess waved. "Ah hello? Next panel?"

  He chuckled. "Yup, here." He reached in and pulled out a box then handed it down.

  "What is this? Parts?"

  He chuckled. "Something like that. We need everything we can get. Never know when something breaks. Save every washer, nut, and bolt," he cautioned her. She nodded as she moved off to set it down. She was Russian, she'd spent plenty of time in Siberia on rigs, and she knew the drill.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Wanda watched as Tess drove the open rover, dozer blade down scraping at the regolith. "I don't get it, why did your team put the tools on the open rovers? Why winches on the long range, but the tools on the open rover?" She turned to Mario who grimaced.

  "Winches were needed by the team remember? In case you want to climb or need to pull yourself out of a ditch or rut?" he asked. She nodded.

  "The other modules, dozer blade, digging arm, and crane we had to stick onto the open rovers. They weight a lot too," he explained.

  She sighed. "Yeah, but that means we can't use any of that equipment outside of base camp remember? The open rover's don't have much range." She waved exasperated.

  He shrugged. "Best we can do with the limited time. I suggest you make the best of it. That's a low spot, so Tess, the commander and I can work on digging a trench. You and Li can take samples where ever you need to." He waved to the trench Tess had started.

  Wanda nodded. "Okay. I guess that can do. Maybe we can tow an open rover?"

  Mario looked the open rover over. "We'll see."

  ...*...*...*...*...

  They used one of the open rovers to drag the green house out of the cargo bay of hab one and over to the docking port. "Glad we swapped this out. It isn't like we each need another car." Mario grunted as he hooked up the seals. "Looks good." He stepped back to watch the clear plastic cylinder begin to inflate. Nothing happened.

  "Um, Wanda? Do you want to press the button?" he asked plaintively. He looked around and up to the Hab.

  "What?" Wanda asked, sounding distracted.

  "Wanda? The button? You’re supposed to fill the greenhouse with air?" he suggested patiently.

  "Oh, sorry, I was looking at a sample of salts we brought in yesterday. Fascinating! The sodium chloride levels are through the roof!"

  He sighed in exasperation. "That's nice dear, now the air?"

  She kept pattering on about the rock. "Here you go Mario." Tess leaned out the window and waved as the greenhouse started to inflate.

  "Thanks Tess." He watched as the greenhouse inflated. "Looks good." He tweaked a wrinkle, straightening it out. "Hopefully the wrinkles come out; I left my iron at home." He watched as the cylinder expanded and the skin tightened.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  “I feel like a damn hamster in a habitrail,” the commander grumped as he examined the tunnel seals.

  Wanda laughed as she passed him. “Hamster in a habitrail? I'll have to remember that one.” She shook her head as she continued to chuckle. “Maybe we can get Mario and Tess to make a hamster wheel?” she teased as she carried the seedlings into the airlock.

  The commander laughed. “I think the treadmill fits the bill just fine.”

  She looked up and smiled. “Yeah.”

  He shook his head. “Need a hand?” he offered straightening.

  “Sure, I need to finish so I can take meet Mario to get more samples...” She waved at him outside. He waved back then went back to what he was doing.

  “I'm glad Mario and Tess plowed that dirt under the tunnels, saves us having to climb up and down stairs everywhere,” The commander said as he hefted a flat of seedlings. Gently he placed them on their designated rack. Now that they had the basic greenhouse set up and inflated they'd turned to planting. It was imperative that they get the seeds off immediately if they were going to see any results in a timely manner.

  “Yeah, he can be useful from time to time,” Wanda replied absently as she continued to plant the next flat. They had taken soil samples and then run the soil through a microwave to remove any possibility of contamination and then adjusted the PH and other factors so it wouldn't burn the plants. A little of their precious water a
nd it would hopefully work.

  “Well, such a simple thing, we could have saved a lot of weight if we had thought of it before, we could have left out all those stairs and ladders. We would have had room for more gear,” the commander said. The Commander set up the drip lines then placed a temperature probe into the soil. “I wonder what they are going to do with all those ladders and stairs?” he asked softly.

  Wanda shrugged. “Knowing those two they will figure something out.” She handed him the completed flat. “There, we have eight more soil flats, the two control flats, and then the rest are hydroponic and aeroponic.” She wiggled her fingers to get the kinks out.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  "Okay, I give up, how the devil do you get this bag open?" Mario looked the flopping piece of plastic over. He was out with Wanda, taking soil samples away from camp. It was only their third day on the planet and they were already heading out five kilometers to do this. He just wasn't sure he was up for it. Yung Lin should have been the one but she was excitedly working in the lab on something she'd found yesterday.

  "No key tool?" Wanda asked. He looked over to her. She held up her pinky. A piece of plastic was taped to it.

  "Okay, not what I expected." He went over to her and had her open the bag. Once it was open he used his fingers to keep it open so she could set the soil samples inside.

  "Expecting a ten thousand dollar fix?" she teased.

  "Something like that," he grumped.

  "No, I caught it on the science channel. Mars Society figured it would be a problem and someone came up with a fix. Neat solution."

  He chuckled. "And all this time I thought it was for picking your teeth."

  She sighed and shook her head mournfully. "Neanderthals. Forty five million miles from Earth and they send a Neanderthal." He chuckled.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Mario looked over the extra tanks and nodded in satisfaction. It had taken a bit of effort over several days, but Tess and the commander had helped him to get the tanks out and over to the growing industrial plant. "All hooked up." He checked the readouts.

  "Why the extra?" the commander asked. Mario looked over to the commander.

  "Always good to have a healthy reserve commander, besides, we can use it for plastics."

  The commander nodded. "Yes, having extra in the reserve is good. Though Wanda and Li will want to extend their trips," he replied dryly. Which was true, both of the geologists were going nuts taking samples. They wanted to go further and further out and resented the restrictions.

  Mario chuckled. "Price we pay." He waved to the great outdoors.

  "Do we have enough to make more?" the commander asked. He tapped the empty tank. "I seem to remember the first crashing."

  Mario smiled. "Well, we left the cracked tanks out, but these will work. We have more than enough water from the compressors and extractors to supply us for four years," he explained. He pointed to the water tanks.

  "We left the hydrogen tanks over there. I want to bury them when we get the time that will add to their insulation factor." He pointed to the next set of tanks. "These are the ethylene tanks. With these we can run the rovers... or make plastics."

  The commander chuckled. "You think it will work?" he asked.

  Mario smiled. "That's the next thing. I want to get it started but I have chores to do. I was hoping I can get to it next shift."

  The commander chuckled. "Well check that fabricator out first, no point on having plastic if we can't use it."

  Mario nodded. "Good point. I may do that," he sighed. "If I can find a spot."

  The commander nodded. "Yes space is limited."

  Mario snorted. "Were working on it. One step at a time." He waved as he went back to work.

  "Now I wonder what he meant by that?" The commander muttered.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Wanda wiped herself with a towel and grimaced. "How are we for water?" she asked the commander.

  "Water? So far so good, we could always use more though." He gave her a long appraising look. "You want a longer shower?" he teased. They recycled all their water of course but they had a water ration anyway.

  Wanda chuckled. "Yeah, something like that. And a hot tub," she joked and then waved. "There are signs of a possible aquifer directly below us. I bet if we drilled we could run a pipeline to the base and be set for water." She smiled.

  "We're what, two clicks from base? Long haul for pipe," the commander observed. News that the team had definitely confirmed the presence of water had hit the world back home with little fan fair. After all, it had been hypothesized and hemmed and hawed about for decades.

  Wanda grimaced. "Yeah, it’s most likely under pressure, so we wouldn't have to pump it. I'd like to get a look; we could get some useful data by checking it for water solubles and signs of life," she sighed.

  "How did you pick it up? Dousing fork?" the commander teased.

  "No, GPR," she replied. She waved to the Doppler screen. “Ground Penetrating Radar. Mario hooked it up last time he was working on the rovers for me. We can get a read on underground rock formations."

  The commander nodded, suddenly serious. "So, what about drilling a well and tapping it with a tanker truck?" he asked. Having additional water would be a good reserve. Though he was cautious about any contaminants it might bring along with it.

  She sat down. "Yeah, that could work. It would be easier then compressors and electrolysis," she sighed.

  "Yeah, but the greens and nut jobs back home will have a field day, we'll have to test it carefully before it enters the supply," the commander cautioned.

  "Yeah, I almost forgot that part," Wanda sighed once more, wearily shaking her head.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  "This is so frustrating!" Wanda tossed the stylus down and ran her hands through her hair. "Argth! So close!" She'd just come back from her first week long excursion in Whinny with Dr. Li. It had been close quarters with no shower for six days too long. Fortunately the two of them had been so hyped about the various terrain that they had completely forgotten to gripe about the tight smelly living conditions.

  Tess hadn't been happy about the camper. She'd muttered something about airing the thing out when they'd returned. Hopefully she'd get it sorted out soon; they were planning another trip in a day or so if the weather continued to hold.

  But this... this was so frustrating! To be so close... but yet just out of reach. Fossils... that's what they needed. She clenched her hands a few times and then sighed in disgust. She felt hands on her shoulders and closed her eyes and dropped her chin to her chest. She sighed, and then purred softly. "Damn that feels nice," she said quietly, voice dropping into a satisfied purr. She heard her husband’s chuckle.

  "Glad you approve," he continued to rub at her shoulders and her neck.

  "I should get frustrated more often," she sighed in content.

  He chuckled again. "So what's so frustrating?"

  She grimaced. "We're getting signs of fossils, they are microscopic, but with this equipment we can’t be conclusive. It's like that Mars meteorite all over again."

  Mario chuckled. "Yeah, so close, yet so far. If you announce anything both sides will go berserk," he replied.

  She nodded. "Yeah, that's why we are putting it in the maybe but not sure column and saying we need more evidence," she sighed. She was disgusted with that; nuts of every shape were jumping over every finding they passed along now. "What we need is a fossilized fern or fish. That couldn't be denied," she said firmly.

  He chuckled. "You wanna bet? All sorts of nuts will fall out of the trees claiming we made it up."

  She grimaced. "You’re not helping..." She sing songed.

  He chuckled. "Sorry."

  She caught his hand and pulled. He reached around her and hugged her with his free hand. "Thanks Hon," she said softly.

  "You do realize it is one AM right?" he teased.

  She grimaced and rubbed her temples. "I'm sorry, let me finish this exper
iment and I'll go to bed like a good girl, I promise."

  His chuckle turned mischievous. "I'm not sure a good girl in bed was what I had in mind," he whispered in her ear. She blushed.

  "Flirt. Horny bastard," she chuckled. "Go on, go play with yourself while I do this," she growled. He laughed as he let her go.

  "I'll be waiting..." he teased as he left.

  She felt the blush make her ears burn. "This is what I get for being gone for a week at a time." she muttered to herself, and then smiled. "Maybe I should do it more often?" she asked herself. She chuckled as she set the next sample onto a slide.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Mario sat down with a sigh. The commander chuckled. "You're turn." He tossed Mario the body mike then took off.

  "Yeah, feed the lions," he grumbled as he clipped it to his front. "Show time I guess." He tapped the play button.

  "Mister Irons, we'd like to welcome you to the show. I would like to start by asking questions from our viewers. In a poll released this morning less than half believe that life will be found on Mars. Do you believe this to be true? Is your team skilled in the proper techniques to find signs of life past or present?" the reporter asked. Mario hit the pause button and chuckled.

  He hit record. "Good evening folks, it is a nice quiet evening on Mars. For your first question, I am not really the person you should be asking, my wife and the other scientists should be the one fielding these questions. However, I can say that my wife has a BA in paleontology, and Dr. Yung Lin Han has a minor degree in Paleobotany, so I know the team can spot life past or present if they come across it. So far we have found tantalizing hints of potential past life, but nothing that really reaches out and grabs you as conclusive proof," he said dryly. Mario chuckled.

  "Believe me; they are working hard to find that holy grail of science. Discovering life on another world would go a long way to proving that the rest of the universe isn't just gas and rock." He smiled briefly as he hit record pause, then clicked the next question link and hit the play button.

  "Thank you for your answer, our next question is about the habs, has there been any problems or design related issues..."