Star of Fire 火星 Mars Space People

Chapter 51. Moonlight to Music

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Chapter 51. Moonlight to Music

The Russians at Star City had planned the mission to Phobos from Yellowstone. Anatoly and Sergei were trying to get the Fire Star ready for the flight. The administration and NASA approved of the plans after putting their fingerprints all over them as long as the commander was American. Tim knew that Reggie was the best man to be the commander so he subtly stroked Reggie’s interest in the flight. Reggie volunteered and became the loudest advocate for the mission. Reggie’s Russian and his tolerance for vodka improved steadily as the training for the mission progressed. The American and Russian camps as well as the Chinese reviewed the evolving plans. The crew trained on the old Grasshopper while the newest Grasshopper, which had been christened the Cricket and then rechristened the Fire Star, was prepared for the launch.
Phobos and Deimos are too small to be spherical and are most likely captured asteroids. The discovery of additional Martian satellites brought a hypothesis of a Moon-type collision genesis into vogue. Phobos is so low that its orbital period is less than eight hours, about a third of the orbital rotation period of Mars. Thus we have the well-known phenomena of Phobos rising in the west, instead of the normal rising of a satellite, the sun or stars due to the rotation of the viewing planet.

Phobos

Sergei gazed up at Mars. They had selected a landing site close to the center of Phobos’ face which was gravitationally-linked towards Mars, on a high spot near the sub-Mars point. The selection site would limit the usefulness of the sensors for astronomical observations – its purpose was to study Martian resources. The cosmonauts kept an open mind on whether the moons of Mars were captured asteroids or the debris from a massive collision like the earth-lunar system. The results from their boring would add fuel to the debate soon enough.
They hopped the Fire Star using the auxiliary thrusters into the nearby Stickney Crater to collect rock samples and examine the deepest visible areas of Phobos. Twenty five-foot cores of ice and rock were obtained using the small Requinto borer. The spectrometers on the drill were blocked by organic material so the chemical logging function was lost. The crew continued to collect the cores without the instantaneous monitoring of the chemical layers. Reggie would have liked to have the complete Requinto drilling rig on Phobos.
The excursion was limited to two days by their supplies and the weight of the borer. Leaving the borer on Phobos allowed the crew to maximize the weight of the cores that could be brought back to Yellowstone. The essays found a larger proportion of organic materials than had been anticipated. It was impossible to determine if the dark life found on the spectrometers was contamination from Mars or from Phobos. Bucky Lawrence had missed the publication of his geological life.
The guests at the celebration of the success of the Phobos mission toasted the icy moons of Jupiter as the Marsnauts looked outward, away from the Earth and the sun. The Brill nuclear tug would make a manned tour of the outer moons of Jupiter outside of Jupiter’s radiation belts possible.
Art Chriskus drove the rover to the Shreveport Overview for the tenth time. He climbed down the path he had prepared to the bajada in the valley below. He was sure that he could drive a tractor down the bajada to the level area below. Arthur installed ladders and spikes at critical points on the descent. He built up a cache of food and oxygen on a ledge 100 meters below the rim.

Eden

Arthur drove the rover to the Shreveport Overview. The cliff was about 175 meters from the bajada below. Arthur lowered the tractor to the ground from its stowed position on the front of the rover. He had welded a hundred-meter reel of cable to the tractor. He attached the rover to the cable and unreeled the cable inland from the rim. Arthur returned to the tractor and moved it so that it hung over the rim. He returned to the rover and drove it to the bitter end of the cable. He returned to the tractor and pushed it over the edge. He returned to the rover and lowered the tractor to the largest extent possible with of the first cable. Then he engaged the reel and lowered the tractor until the line went slack. He reeled an additional ten meters to allow him to detach the cable from the tractor and secure the cable. Arthur secured the parking brake and attached the portable environment attaché case to supplement the oxygen and power in his suit. This whole trip would have been easier with help, but none of his friends wanted to be involved in an unauthorized expedition with commandeered community assets.
The climb down to the bajada was difficult but well charted. His climb carrying cinema equipment at Villa Luz had been harder. He reached the ledge and discarded the spent attaché case. He continued his descent after a fifteen-minute rest, locating the tractor resting facedown on the bajada. He tugged on the front of the tractor until it crashed to the bajada, resting on its wheels. He retrieved an attaché case from the tractor and discarded his spent case. The trip down the bajada was tedious but unmarred by any problems or mechanical failures. Arthur drove out of the small valley descending into the main channel of Valles Marineris. He was now beyond the radio relay capabilities of the rover. Then he passed the point of safe return with the supplies he had brought with him. His valley was only ten miles away.
Arthur could see the source of the methane and dark blue-green coloration seen on the satellite photographs – trees and ground cover. The forest was only twenty kilometers from the solitary red tree found during the first Valles Marineris expedition. The only thing that was missing was a stream or lake. I’m right, he confirmed to himself, and everybody else was wrong.
Arthur walked over to a tree and by habit he leaned close to a blossom as if to smell its fragrance. I wonder what happened to that beautiful girl that I saw at the Blaue Gans in Salzburg.
She had gazed deeply into his eyes for moments, intimacy in public, and then had left without a smile. Insects and birds flew around the blossoms. Arthur noticed a bed of yellow flowers breaking up the expanse of the blue-green undercover foliage. Arthur set his portable environment case on the ground and sat on a rock. Had his father escaped his earthly demons in heaven?
Arthur gazed up the valley. He couldn’t bring himself to pick a single blossom or flower. Did Dimitri, a chef and the husband of his first love, appreciate Alicia?
The sun set and the stars came out. Will any of us get back to Earth?
The four bright stars of his stellar kite popped up first. The two upper right stars were Betelgeuse and Rigel in Orion the Hunter, his old friend. The other two stars in the kite were Sirius and nearby Procyon. Aldebaran or Adhara could be tails on his kite. I’ve had a full life.
Arthur felt himself drifting above his body, bathed in light from a tunnel on the horizon. He tried to locate home and its beautiful twin star, the Moon, as his oxygen ran out.
The Fire Star landed on the level valley below where Arthur had parked the rover. Tania and Kay unloaded the tractor and drove it into the narrow canyon. Arthur’ tractor was immersed in the forest but the women immediately knew that this was where Arthur was. Kay drove up the middle of the canyon and they soon saw the tractor. Arthur had been dead for two days.
The women moved Arthur to the rear of the tractor and then Kay reported to the Fire Star that they would be returning with Arthur’s body. Arthur’s tractor still had fuel so Tania transferred her tote bags and spare oxygen bottles to the tractor and the pair returned to the Fire Star.
Reggie and Norm retrieved the discarded environmental cases at the ledge and at Arthur’s launch point at the top of the bajada. The cables were rewound and stowed in the rover used by Arthur and the small caravan returned to Yellowstone.
Arthur’s latest promotion photograph joined the photographs of Mong, Hollis, Leavitt and Thiessen displayed on the Mars wall at Rolfo’s Cantina at the Southwest Regional Spaceport in Upham, New Mexico.

Arsia Mons

Vivian awoke with a start but couldn’t identify the cause of her unease. The low rumble from the ground had returned. She slipped into her sweat suit and walked to the portal. Everything looked normal outside except for some strange clouds on the western horizon. Sergei came out of his workshop in a space suit, looked around, and then walked around the south end of the garage surveying the west. He focused on the strange clouds on the horizon. The communicator flashed. It was Wu.
“Did you feel the earthquake?” she wanted to know.
“I think so, I was sleeping,” Vivian responded.
“We think that it’s an earthquake, part of the rumbling that we’ve been hearing for weeks. What does Sergei think?”
“He’s outside looking at some strange clouds in the west. Can you see them?” Vivian asked.
“No. Something really strange is happening. I’ll call Houston and see what they have to say.”
The something as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was Arsia Mons erupting. The intense barrage of emails and video conferences that followed contributed to climate change on Earth as the planetologists woke up the next day. What should they have to do with the eruption?
Tim had an orbital photograph of the eruption by the end of the day and knew immediately what had to be done. He had the other Tim prepare the three best rovers for long-range travel. The Grasshoppers were put on stand-by with all training flights cancelled. Tim decided to drive the rover with the plow down the Pavonis Mons road as far as he could with the simple task of clearing the road. Wu was put in charge of the office. A feeling of purpose descended on the explorers as the photographs started to accumulate and emails for interviews started to come in. Mars was back on the evening news.
Tim emailed John Harrison at the University of Arizona Planetary Science Institute.
Dear John,
Still sorry about the reception our time dates with the Pavonis Mons lava and recent water erosion caused you. We’ve got some lava here that is solidifying so we’ll send you a time date to the hour and minute when it solidifies. Hopefully that’ll satisfy Stanford, but I doubt it.
We’re going to Arsia Mons so I need your advice on how and where to go. This is not official yet. I hate to press you but are there a few things that you’d like us to look at for you? We’ll try to use the Pavonis road as much as possible.
Don’t schedule any vacations.
Your out of this world friend,
Tim
A detailed trip route, stamped preliminary, full of potential sites to visit was returned that night. John described a general path that would lead into the northeast valley system which was an erosional pathway to a breach in the caldera wall on the northeast side of Arsia Mons. The southeast approach would also have been interesting because of its collapse structures. John wished for the millionth time that he could be on Mars.
Tim reported back at the end of the second day that they were 412 kilometers from Hollis and that they could use some fuel and food. The second rover was dispatched the next morning, reaching the first rover at the Socorro Arroyo. Both rovers stopped for dinner amid congratulation for the road improvements. The clouds from the eruption were larger but the summit was still very far away. The rovers continued westward to Burro’s Back where they stopped for the night. The plume looked purple that night before sunrise. The plow departed after breakfast but the second rover delayed their departure home until after lunch. The crew used the hang time to explore the local area, ticking off two of John’s points of interest. The tremors were even stronger here even though the volcano was still very far away. They stopped to converse with the crew of the third rover on the road, returning to Hollis after dark. The plow reported steady progress with just one wheel loosing a segment. Sergei Energia would have to get a commendation for its new wheels.
The second rover would stock the cache at Burro’s Back, without reaching the plow unless some emergency occurred. Their mission was easily accomplished and they stayed overnight hoping to see some fireworks. The clouds over the volcano glowed occasionally but nothing spectacular happened and the rover returned home after assurances from the plow that they were GO. Tim reported home that the distant part of the Pavonis road had been improved so little that they would follow the best route direct to Arsia Mons avoiding the river channel systems draining into Valles Marineris. Tim asked Wu to communicate to the Russians that they needed a truck with repair capability. Wu didn’t ask him about his sources of intelligence but she agreed. Tim told Wu to tell Sergei to work with Norm to put a camper with a kitchen on his truck.
“I think we’ll be roughing it for awhile,” he added.
A major tremor and eruption hit that night, lighting up the sky around the two rovers nearest to the volcano. Rain fell from the dark clouds over Arsia Mons. Hailstones joined the thunder and lightning coming from the clouds. NASA sent Tim a heads up email informing him that they would have a committee in place by next Friday to study the Arsia eruption. Their plan would most likely call for a comparative study of the Olympus, Arsia, Pavonis and Ascraeus Montes.

Instructions from Earth

Twenty days had gone by since the initial tremor. Sergei’s truck had been converted to Norm’s Roach Coach and was sitting on the summit of a small volcanic cinder cone recently christened Cerberus’ Couch. They were seventy kilometers from the cliffs of Arsia on an island in the main outflow from Arsia – an excellent site for photographing the volcanic plume even though the caldera was over the horizon. Several photographs of the eruptions were being cleaned up to send to Earth.
The plow had cut a road to the cliffs of Arsia Mons but further advance by rover in the riverbed would be difficult.
NASA administrator Hans Hubschrauber came over the video link to announce that they had a plan to go to Arsia Mons to get some better data and to implant some sensors. The video stream was unidirectional by nature.
“Greetings, Captain, I hope you’re fine. We’ve come up with a scenario to go to Arsia Mons and want to get the approval of your husband and the people on site.”
“Good day, Hans,” answered Captain Wu without pausing for Hans to answer “Colonel Perry is reconning the Pavonis road.”
The administrator kept talking. “We’re having problems with the Russian premier so it would be better not to include any Russians in the Arsia mission. Some photographs from the ground would be nice. Do you have enough data for a video conference to Earth? Some newscasters are saying that we’re covering up something like a nuclear test or accident on Mars so we have to give them more than orbital photographs.”
Sonja started the transfer of their best photographs of the eruption with a shake of her head towards the administrator. She turned the video back on after the transmission was complete. The text-based plan for Arsia Mons exploration started scrolling on her monitor screen.
“Still receiving you 5-by,” answered Wu. “The commander anticipated such a plan and will review it when he gets back with our people. This eruption has kept us busy. What does NASA think the risk to the crews approaching the volcano is?”
Sonja injected, “Does NASA agree that photographs from the Grasshopper will be too far away to be useful? We have dropped all other exploration anticipating NASA’s interest in the eruption. Awaiting your answer.”
Hans rambled on until he caught Sonja’s reply and he thanked her for the photographs.
“Very impressive. Is it snowing or raining over the eruption? We seem to be detecting a lot of ice in the atmosphere. Oh, and maybe we could have a video conference on Thursday. Will you have anything by then?”
Wu answered, “It’s better to give out some firm answers and not just some pretty pictures.” Sonja knew that this wasn’t the way Washington or Houston operated.
Hans continued unabated, “The president would like to have a few words with you. Are you ready, Mr. President?”
Sonja grimaced as President Randy Dumaine started to speak.
“How’s it going, little lady. I have to congratulate your crew for the excellent work that you’re doing on Mars and with Arso.”
Wu clicked the mike and said, “Arsia Mons,” without thinking.
“I’m sure that getting a few people up on the volcano will be accomplished as well. Anything to get the damn press off our backs.”
Sonja thought that this was the hardest part of the job. Just like Tim and Reggie to wimp out of the office.
“Let me know if there’s anything else that you folks need,” the president said in closing.
Sure, thought Sonja. Cut the negative thoughts.
After what seemed to be hours but was only fifteen minutes, the former senator from Louisiana was finished, having promised among other things some of his Mere-mere’s seafood and sausage gumbo. Sonja broke the video connection with relief, laughing with gusto and slapping a surprised Wu on the back. Wu joined in with the laughter without knowing why. She still didn’t understand the Americans. She started to understand when she saw how the two video streams were edited for use by news commentators and by the bloggers on the Web.

Fire and Ice

The average temperature of Mars slowly increased over a period of ten years. Mars’ axis achieved a tilt of twenty-five degrees and a mantle plume of magma declared Arsia Mons as it. Magma accumulated under the caldera softening and then melting the water trapped in the caldera sediment. Steam and carbon dioxide vented periodically from faults but the vapor pressure continued to build. One day Arsia Mons popped and the vapor broke loose throwing rock and ash into the Martian sky. Boiling water built up along the caldera wall and saturated the soil above the northeast outflow.

Big Sur, the Sequel

Reggie and Sergei took samples from the riverbed, its banks and fifteen layers of lava exposed by erosion. He wasn’t going to play the unidentified sample source game any more. Every sample was photographed or videoed with a an automatic time and position stamp. He watched the stream of subliming water in the riverbed without comprehension and then experience kicked in.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” he yelled. “Everybody in the rover, NOW.”
Janice radioed back, “I haven’t connected the power to the seismometers yet.”
Reggie told Sergei to drag her back to the rover and he did. The rover took off downstream as fast as Reggie dared to drive in the riverbed. The steaming water increased to a torrent as Reggie drove higher up the bank. A wall of water appeared upstream. Reggie spotted a ramp off the riverbed and he drove the rover up the slope, bouncing of rocks until the rover slide to a stop with two wheels spinning in the air. The river of water flew by followed by a slurry of mud. The mud slide went by steadily increasing in depth as it approached the rover. Reggie punched the blue emergence stores release button and heard the assembly slide down the side of the rover. Reggie told Heidi to take the child, Peng Lian, and to run up the slope.
“This is everyman for himself,” he said. “Anybody that wants to bail had better do it at this time.”
Reggie looked into each person’s eyes as they held their positions transfixed.
“I’m serious,” he said.
Sergei slowly walked to the ramp door, closing and securing the door as he watched the approaching mud. Reggie was on the radio.
Heidi told Lian to grab two environmental units off the rover as she dragged the pod up the hill. Lian was taking photographs of the mud licking up against the rear of the rover as it started to turn. The rover spun out into the mainstream and its rear turned skyward as the front end dropped into the mud. Lian continued to photograph the rover as it went around a bend in the river.
A wall of water rushed by Anatoly’s volcanic cone. Anatoly was glued to the eyepiece of the sighting scope as he caught sight of the approaching mud. The mud approached his position but seemed to be slowing down. The mudslide ran out of steam and he could see the rover’s rear end about five miles upstream. He called the second rover to advise the crew of the situation. He thought that he could see a person climbing out of the ramp door. It would be dark in a few hours.
Heidi dragged the fluorescent orange pod to a sheltered depression that led to a cave. Securing the pod took Heidi and Lian about a half an hour. They could see that the mud slide was slowing down. Help would be a long time coming.
The wind picked up as the sky darkened. The pod was made for a single man but they fit in it nicely. The pod’s photovoltaics wouldn’t produce any power until morning; they were stuck with the power from the pod’s batteries. Heidi activated the heat packs and plugged her suit and Lian’s into the pod’s batteries to conserve their environmental batteries. Lian fell asleep looking out the plastic window.

Lian

Lian woke up chilled but thankful to be alive. Her battery low light was on so she knew she was in trouble. The river was quiet and solid looking. Heidi was lying down so she went over to wake her up. Heidi was immobile – dead. The terrible truth hit Lian as she removed Heidi’s battery and used it to replace her own. Heidi’s oxygen was only half used. She arranged Heidi in a sitting position and snapped a few pictures. She slung the unused environmental unit and Heidi’s over her shoulder and headed out on the firm mud. Lian had two days of food and water but she would be out of oxygen by nightfall.
Tim could see one of the kids walking down the wash, carrying her environmental case. The figure started snapping photographs as the rover approached. The rest of the crew of the second rover was already on their way to Hollis. Now only Heidi was unaccounted for. Tim had no way of knowing that Heidi’s sacrifice had allowed Lian to survive. The joy of finding Lian was tempered as the mission turned into a recovery mission of Heidi’s body.
Arsia Mons would become Heidi’s volcano to the Europeans. The Gemini constellation (the Twins) became the Lovers in pidgin Martian. The lovers were Arthur and Heidi.
Access to the caldera and most of Arsia Mons was out of reach. Some surveying and sensor placement was accomplished but the crews were overextended. The third rover and Anatoly would have to clean up the scientific details as Tim decided it was time to go home. The colony had expended a lot of its resources and the long Martian winter was just around the corner.

Springtime on Mars

Anatoly awakened and sleepily looked out the portal at the bright, white clouds. The clouds were no longer ominous, filled with rain, thunder and lightning. Vivian was sleeping fitfully. Her head and arm moved spasmodically.
Bad dreams, my love, he thought. Mars was not as benign as we thought. Dead planet, my ass.
He got up, performed ten squats, seven pushups and ten sit-ups. His nominal finger exercises on the guitar would have to wait until Vivian and the crew got up. He prepared some hot drinks and oatmeal for Vivian and himself. He had learned that a hot drink in the morning evoked a magnificent smile from Vivian. Maybe the worst is past.
A purple haze hung over the gorge. The water and mud flow had stopped, at least for now, but Arsia rumbled on.
Purple?
“What the hell?” he exclaimed.
Vivian’s eyes opened and she smiled at him.
“And what’s my husband up to this morning?” she asked.
Anatoly was staring with awe out the portal. He turned to her saying, “Shut your eyes. I have a surprise for you.”
Vivian heard Anatoly going to the stove and pouring drinks. She felt the warmth of the cup even before Anatoly pressed it against her hand. She continued the ritual, taking a sip and rewarding Anatoly with a smile. Anatoly pulled her to her feet and walked her to the large window.
“This had better not be any of your doing. Did you do this?” he asked.
Vivian opened her eyes. Her mouth slowly opened. She turned and hugged Anatoly.
“This is simply wonderful,” she said.
The gorge and riverbed were covered with splotches of yellow and magenta flowers.

NASA Arsia Mons Conference at Moffett Field

Tim told John Harrison that he had better get his wife a dress good enough for a White House reception and to polish up his PowerPoint presentation. John ordered his wife to purchase an expensive dress. She protested about the expense and not knowing what was going on, purchased a modestly-priced cocktail outfit.
John set up a three by four foot canvas as he looked at the photograph of Arsia Gorge. No, that wouldn’t do.
He went to the back garage and pulled out a ten by twelve foot canvas. Unable to control himself, he exaggerated the size of the plume and volcanic eruption. Sarah found him in the morning sitting on the garage couch facing a massive Alpine scene.
John was spending too many nights alone at the Kitt Peak telescopes.
John was told that his paper was being embargoed until the meeting in California next Thursday. Professor Elroy Bennington of Stanford would be chairing the conference/press releases. No, he wouldn’t be presenting but his paper would be published in the proceedings. John mentioned his chagrin to Tim during their nightly email exchange and Tim was enraged. He didn’t even know who Bennington was. Anyway, the embargoed photograph of Arsia Gorge belonged to Sergei. All right. This time it’s going to be different. Game time.

Premier Andrei Kupperek’s Dacha, Black Sea

Prime Minister Kupperek woke up feeling great. The hot spas and a new mistress had pulled the vodka poisons out of his rotund body. He felt like having a good day sailing or lying in the sun as soon as General Kravenko briefed him on the Mars expedition. The Americans were getting more cantankerous every day about supporting the Russian space program. Where would they be without Russian or even Chinese help?
America was getting to be more and more like an assortment of militia warlords, each group not knowing or caring what the other groups were doing or were up to with their own personal quest for power and wealth. Democracy!
The informal briefing started with Kravenko mentioning that Sergei’s friend in America was being cheated out of the credit for his assistance in the Arsia expedition. This brought a smile to Andrei’s bulldog features.
“Give me the details, Nickolai, my old friend,” Andrei encouraged. “You know what I want to know. Should we send him up to the International Space Station?”
“No, nothing that dramatic is called for, but that was a good idea. I think that a few medals for Sergei, Anatoly and the American will be enough.” He filled in details including how the unbidded Protorover contract for the next generation of rovers was going to President Dumaine’s constituency (contributors) in Louisiana and Southern California. Bennington had recently been appointed to the Board of Directors of Protorover. Now Andrei didn’t understand frozen aquifers and magmas but he hated it when somebody else besides him abused his power, especially against the powerless. Life is good. Andrei ordered a large breakfast, heavy on the caviar, for two.
Andrei invited John and his wife to the Russian Mars Conference which just happened to meet three days before the American press conference. The arrangements were made by noon and John received a joint invitation from Tim and Sergei to attend the Moscow Mars Conference with his wife and kids. A special diplomatic military transport, based in Havana, was required to transport John’s painting with the surprised couple and their NASA watchdog. The giddy NASA director was needed to expedite the visa approvals. John politically renamed his painting Sergei’s Gorge. There seemed to be a lot of equipment racks full of electronic gear covered by black satin sheets in the aircraft.
The clouds over Arsia Mons thinned out during the day exposing the flowers to the sun and their seed pods quickly dried out. The eruptions at Arsia Mons tapered off, the newscasters moved on to the crystal factory accident in Monterrey and Sergei and Anatoly went back to working on their RV. The riverbed returned to normal after the first dust storm scattered the flower seeds over the Tharsis region. Man was not around when Arsia Mons last bloomed, …

Smile – the end of the world is near.

The even-greater recession of 2014 started like a dead man walking – the populace condemned to misery but ever faithful and hopeful. The Mayan calendar counted down in the Americas. It was the perfect storm unmitigated by economic dark energy – the genetic engineering, nanotech and energy bubbles burst at the same time, three galaxies colliding and disappearing into a megasol black hole spitting out debris in all directions. The middle class watched their retirement funds disappear with the corporate bankruptcies and the housing collapse. Hurricane Jordan hit Houston and Galveston, devastating the refineries on shore and inland as well as damaging NASA’s Houston facilities. The Muslim jihad continued using manufactured improvised rocket-assisted explosive devices for terrorist attacks in Europe, China and the Americas. The Wall Street Journal characterized this recession, as it had previous recessions, as a business downturn. The Wall Street Journal described the depth of the recession as a no-growth, swoosh recovery. Sheng speculated aloud whether his data really predicted the French and Russian Revolutions or if he was fitting his data to his curves. The curve predicted a world-wide nexus in 2020.
There was an outbreak of ticks at the Goddard Space Center, which DNA tests proved were of Martian origin. Four Soviet tactical nuclear warheads, designed to be used on torpedoes, disappeared during the confusion of the Bay of Pigs invasion. One of the devices was installed on an ocean bottom-crawling tractor in Lake Mead and detonated at the base of Hoover Dam. An embedded PC-104 board feed random security codes into the nuclear device until it got lucky, circumventing the primitive fail-safe access device on the weapon. The neon lights of Vegas and Tinsel Town blinked out.
By 2044, children outnumbered adults on Mars. In California, the kilodeath Ventura suicide by arroyo flooding signaled the peak of the Rapture of the Singularity, by surpassing the hundreds of suicides by brush fire in the Malibu Hills. China successfully landed a habitat in Hellas Planitia but its crew didn’t survive their first Martian winter. Climate change reduced the Euphrates River to a stream allowing a yellow horde of migrant farmers and soldiers to surge west. Two of the ERVs returned to Earth but no additional manned spacecraft went to Mars from the Earth until 2113. Plymouth became known as Tornado Alley because of the mountain winds that descended to the rocky planitia. The large underground structure at Plymouth was called Tornado Shelter, only partially in jest.

The Old Man

The large cave was full of the chatter of little children. Tim had 46 grandchildren, 42 whom were still alive. Tim couldn’t tell who belonged to who, which ones were his grandchildren (three were adopted) and who were their friends. It didn’t matter to Tim and he couldn’t keep track of the names anyway. The situation in Kansas with Sonja’s sisters was even more complex and convoluted. Doyle was three times a grandfather himself. Tim tuned up his acoustic guitar, which had been made on Earth. Liang was known as just Grammy or Nanny now and sat in her rocking chair with one of the children on her lap. Most of the kids had real or improvised musical instruments. They all knew the words to the first song, Show me a Man.

Blue Mars

The golden women disappeared from the human race except for one natural birth in San Francisco in 2158. Cities developed in the large cavern systems and large structures were built on the surface of Mars.
Microbes had converted the carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere to oxygen. The colonist eventually had large caves filled with breathable air, but it was not until the development of fusion reactors and the mining of astrofuel on the moon that Mars started being transformed to another Earth. The polar caps slowly melted, water filled small depressions and the carbon dioxide boiled from the caves was reduced to oxygen by designer archaea bugs.

The Way of Doyle, FC-784

His father was of the warrior caste that was the first to travel off world. Doyle was one of the first holy poets of musical wisdom on Otter [Mars]. Doyle wished that all the people be allowed to speak and be heard, from the oldest grandmother to the smallest baby. The people of Otter spoke in many programs and had varied instruments for vibration. Doyle’s synthesizer [guitar] spoke clearly in discourse, but he desired conversion of all of the voices. Different voices had to be integrated with varying degrees of discord – all were pleasant to Doyle as were all programs. Breath was not possible on the surface and Doyle’s people lived in the underground darkness, unwarmed by Mut [the sun]. Doyle and his disciples, Hong, Jin, and Robin created the Way, stone by stone, to remind his people of the huegots [stellar constellations] and to bring water into the light. – Book of Doyle, FC-784.
The springhouse had been enclosed with panes of transparent silene and one could sit on stone benches and watch the spring or look outside at the daytime sky or the bright stars of night. The tunnel up to the first level had been the hardest for the teenagers to construct and the last kilometer to the springhouse was strenuous since the work had to be done in spacesuits. The young people carried the heavy stones with only a small tractor and its manipulator. Occasionally volunteers helped the kids, especially if the obstacle was substantial – Anatoly provided metal ladders and rungs. Later, a cave with an elevator reached all the way to the springhouse and services were held during astronomical events.
Much later, two children climbed the stairs towards a blue sky. They had been told that teenagers had made the trail without machines and in space suits to ward off the cold and poisonous gases. Once a year all the youngsters of Hollis were required by custom to help the younger children in a project, following the example of Doyle, Hong, Jin and Robin.
Bath [God] had made Megantic [Earth] but the Transposers had made Otter Rube [Mars].
待续

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