Star of Fire 火星 Mars Space People

Green Eggs and Ham, 2014

Zhou had already done the first product placement ad on Mars with a large can of his family’s Apollo coffee prominently displayed on Charon’s desk during her first solo press conference from Mars.

Chapter 38. The Russians

The Russians had both medium boosters and the heavy boosters needed for putting large satellites into high geosynchronous orbits or manned interplanetary orbits. Russian participation in Mars exploration became limited to the commercially lucrative heavy-launch to Earth and Mars orbit business, with the exception of the contracted pilots for the Dallas. The twin launch towers in Kazakhstan had launches lined up back-to-back for the complete 2014 launch window.
Russia considers itself the world leader in long-term space psychology. Their experience (and crises) on Mir supports this viewpoint, including experiences in solving problems in space. Russia’s experience with the extremophiles deep within the Antarctic ice sheet over Lake Vostok (the coldest station of the Cold War) put Russia in the lead technically in the search for shutdown bacteria in the Polar Regions of Mars and on the icy Galilean [Jupiter] moon of Europa. The Americans had adapted a policy (and mindset) during the shuttle period of returning to Earth when there were system failures. Running home to mother wouldn’t be an option for the new Martians.
The Americans think that equipment should be proved to be safe; the Russians will stop using equipment that has been proved to be unsafe. The Russian approach to aerospace engineering emphasizes the reliability of the system as a whole; the Americans emphasize unit test and integration. Of course, all generalizations are false, including this one. Many of the circuits in spacecraft and the ISS in particular still would fail because of electrical discharges if the circuits were in a near vacuum or its equivalent – the atmosphere of Mars. The Americans are indoctrinated with their beliefs; the members of the former Soviet Republic are acculturated to theirs. The Russians had their Holocaust during the Second World War and Stalin purges. The 50-year Mexican standoff with nukes during the Cold war is baseline data. Americans will never understand the rationale for the tons of biological weapons that the Russians produced after signing a non-proliferation treaty for biological weapons. It’s impossible for outsiders to evaluate the effects of this socialization and predict how effective the two groups will and are performing in joint missions in space.
It depends on who is telling the story, thought Anatoly. The Russians claimed a 4 to 1 kill ratio in the first jet-to-jet combat between the Russian MiG-15s and the American Sabrejet F-86s during the Korean Conflict; the Americans claimed a 10 to 1 advantage. The Russians claimed that the introduction of the MiG-17 tipped the advantage to the Russians; the Americans claimed that their sidewinder air-to-air missile gave them the winning advantage. The MiGs had the advantage in performance while the Sabrejets were technically superior. The arguments continue with the pilots’ right hands chasing their left hands in Officers’ Clubs around the world as the Russians release their records and Russian pilots write their memoirs. Historians contend that the unsatisfactory conclusion of the Korean War was the result of a stalemate, both on the ground and in the air. The Soviets were only able to produce the MiG-15 after obtaining British jet engines. So much for the loyalties of the Merchants of War and British politics.

Chapter 39. The United States of America

Jerry looked at the working class commuters rushing to work, bumping into each other like marching army ants. The security people were right off the boat, the very same people Jerry wanted protection from. Three screeners were speaking some language from darkest Africa, treating the passengers like inanimate objects while talking loud enough to converse with their distant countrymen. The airport security at Logan had people with the same time of acculturation in America, many who had forged their citizenship papers to qualify for the airport security jobs. Logan was the airport of origin for two of the September 11 Boeing 767s. The first thing that the responsible officials at Logan did after 9/11 was to obtain publicly funded personal liability insurance. Some workers with problematic papers were fired but no heads rolled at the higher levels.

Nuclear Systems Initiative – Project Prometheus

Prometheus stole fire from the gods to give to man, the start of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The Orion project of the 50s for a 4000-ton vehicle powered by 2600 nuclear weapons has been relegated to history (the true believers at General Atomics think that they could do this mission even better today) along with von Braun’s Mars fleet. The successful detonation of hydrogen bombs resulted in an optimism that fusion reactors would be available in the near future as well as cheap clean fusion bombs (for propulsion). Hundreds of nuclear devices were tested in the atmosphere so there was no concern about launching a nuclear (including plutonium-based) propulsion device from the Earth in those days.
Nuclear power reactors on Mars will provide the large amounts of reliable power and heat needed by the colonists. Mars is the limit for manned exploration of the solar system using chemical rockets and the distances to the gas giants takes years even for unmanned probes. Nuclear propulsion will extend man’s reach beyond Mars and speed up the trip between the Earth and Mars.

Homeward Bound

The Yvonne Brill nuclear tug pushed the Grasshopper to low Martian orbit. The Grasshopper would remain on Mars, while the Brill could function as a standalone spacecraft or tug. The return trip of the Brill would fly close to Venus using Venus’ gravity to boost the speed of the returning Brill and Maverick (MAV). The solar flare season was four years off so that the risk of a solar flare was considered to be minimal.
Ironically, Charon would return Commander Hollis’ body to Earth as well as accompany the biosafety level 4 biological specimens from Mars. Scientists on Earth waited impatiently for the samples and data from their respective disciplines. The Grasshopper was supposed to function as a transport vessel for transferring people and supplies to and from low Martian orbit - instead it became a pacifier for the pilots stranded on Mars.

The Men with the Long Eyes

The Tribal Council of the Tohono O’odhan [formerly called the Papago Indians by the round eyes] Nation allowed the National Science Foundation astronomers to use 200 acres of their second most sacred mountain, Kitt Peak, for astronomical sites. Kitt Peak has about twenty-five telescopes, mainly optical, including the McMath-Pierce Telescope Facility for monitoring solar activity.

Eight to Five Astronomy

The optical astronomers call the solar astronomers the one-star astronomers, or the astronomers who study a star with their one remaining good eye. Solar astronomers refer to themselves as day viewers. The plasma astronomers using the space-based Chandra X-ray Observatory are more interested in millions of degrees Kelvin than the thousands of degrees, which only generate visible light from the sun. To be fair, with a high-speed optical internet, all astronomy is around the clock and an astronomer can search the globe for an available device with clear sky (actually obtain a session and have software search for a clear day).

Day Sleepers – Quiet Please

“What is the main thing that astronomers are looking for?” asked Chuck, a volunteer at the Kitt Peak public night observation session. Life was the expected answer.
“A job?” answered one of the female visitors.
It’s all done with mirrors. Objects in the mirror are further away than they appear. “Days on the [JPL/NASA] calendar are closer than they look.”

Chapter 40. Space Travel

Venus Fry-by

Bucky, Kay, Reggie and Tim flew Charon, Roswell (“My mother is an alien.”) and Mike back to the Brill. The cargo was limited by the size of the Grasshopper. Captain Dickson waited patiently in orbit, babysitting the Yvonne Brill’s systems. The Brill crew wanted to have the surface of Mars entered in their logbooks as a destination. Bucky, Kay, Reggie and Tim returned with Captain Dickson to Yellowstone after the departure of the Brill.
Mission Control warned the Brill crew that a large sunspot had just rotated out of sight. Mike opted to accelerate the Brill to speed up the transition close to the sun. The flare intensity was very high. Hard particles, which fly slower than x-ray radiation, would be arriving soon. The flare was large enough to expose the crew to high levels of radiation, but had a short duration. The American astronauts and Charon took megavitamin supplements of vitamins A and C. Charon decided that she wouldn’t inject herself with any atropine. The solar flashes increased. [Cosmic rays and solar particles cause the sensation of flashes and rays in spacefarers when the energetic particles penetrate the visual cortex of the brain.] Mike sent Charon to the storm shelter and Roswell joined her for half an hour, before relieving Mike. Roswell and Charon made love in the airlock.
Roswell returned to the flight deck as the astronauts took turns at the controls. They administered atropine to each other and hoped for the best. Mike never got to the shelter. Charon waited for an hour and decided to return to the flight deck. The flare was over and both astronauts were in their seats. Mike was dead and Roswell was slumped over his controls. The Brill was flying on autopilot. Charon reduced the thrust and commanded the navigation computer to recalculate the flight plan to Earth.
Charon unstrapped Mike and secured his body to the bench in the kitchen. She carried Roswell to the storm shelter and secured him to the ladder. As Charon strapped herself in, she could hear Mission Control in the earphones hung on the center console. She put the communication link on the speaker.
Charon: Brill here, Charon Li. Commander Jervis is dead from radiation exposure. Captain Valenzuela is very sick and is in the storm shelter. I am alone at the controls flying coupled to an economy flight plan to Earth. The ship seems okay. My radiation exposure level meter reads 1,270 milliSieverts (mSvs) since we left Mars, over.
Capcom at Mission Control: Houston, Roger that, uh, Charon. Proceed at your discretion. Please maintain communications. How do you feel? Over.
Charon: Feeling a little exhausted but otherwise I’m okay. I don’t believe my capacity to perform has been compromised. I feel well enough to fly. I was in the shelter during the worst part of the solar flare. I will inform you if my condition deteriorates. Over.
Charon waited for the response from Mission Control.

Phobos

The Russians started looking at Phobos after their Grasshopper flights like teenagers eyeing a homecoming queen. They didn’t want anything permanent, just a one-night stand sort of conquest. Venus had been nice to the Russian space probes; Mars had rejected Mother Russia’s advances. Two thirds of all space probes fail, as had the two Russian probes to Phobos. Mars would become the breadbasket for the colonies beyond Earth orbit with Phobos becoming a low escape velocity source of (hopefully) water and minerals, a convenience store in Martian orbit. The nocturnal flirtation of Phobos, which had twice rejected the approaches of Russian space probes, made her all the more enticing to Anatoly and Sergei. Would Phobos want to go for three out of five?
Sergei had brought updated versions of the remote-sensing instruments, which the Russians had tried and failed to place on Phobos on his flight. Janice and Jane wanted to be included on the flight. Now all he and Anatoly had to do was talk the Chinese and Americans out of the newest Grasshopper.
All of the astronaut pilots were like fish out of water, once the initial excitement of being on Mars had waned. Pilots flew airplanes, rockets flew astronauts. Likewise an airplane was assembled at an airport, taxied to a runway, accelerated down the runway to flying speed and flew from point A to point B, under the control of a pilot. In a rocket, things happened too fast for an astronaut to control manually. Things happened too fast and the situation was too complex for the astronaut to monitor and troubleshoot all of the systems. Pilots were used to periodic fixes of adrenalin, flying on the edge in control of their aircraft. As automated as its systems were, the Grasshopper was flown. Pilots aren’t explorers or wet-bench technicians. The intense interest of the pilots in the Grasshopper hadn’t been anticipated. This oversight by NASA is hard to explain, given the nature of the astronauts’ training and the large part flying has in their self-image. The training schedule set up by the astronauts came up with additional missions like rescue training and supply flights from Yellowstone Caverns to Plymouth.
Another Grasshopper would be needed just to give the astronauts their periodic need for flight time. The use of liquid hydrocarbons for fuel would be simpler than cryogenic methane or propane – for the rovers as well as the rocket engines. Grasshopper training degenerated into low cost and low risk flights between Plymouth and Yellowstone.

You can’t go home again.

The movement started with a small group of anti-government activists in Bremenhafen. What had started as a protest opposing Germany’s participation in NATO’s missile shield expanded into a platform protesting Mars exploration and the return of disease or Martian biologically contaminated imports from Mars. The Golden Girls became the symbol of their campaign to make Mars a one-way trip for the Marsnauts. The protesters of Frankenfood – genetically modified food, now protested the Frankengirls. Frankensex was considered politically incorrect.

Planetary Protection

“First, do no harm…” Hippocrates warned medical practitioners not to harm the patients they were treating. Other disciplines should have similar oaths to err on the side of caution, avoiding unintended consequences.
John Rummel’s job of NASA’s Planetary Protection Officer involves insuring that organisms from the Earth do not contaminate Mars and more importantly that there is no back-contamination from Mars. John is involved in designing the biocontainment facilities for any samples brought back from Mars.
Astronauts and cosmonauts are quarantined before flights to prevent them from being exposed to communicable diseases that might be debilitating during their flights. The Apollo astronauts were quarantined on their return from the moon to insure that they wouldn’t bring any microscopic life back to Earth from the moon. A bioprotected crew IVA’d (internal vehicular activity) to the Brill docked to the International Space Station and removed its precious cargo. Captain Roswell Valenzuela and Charon were told that they would be quarantined in the Brill docked to the International Space Station for six months. Captain Valenzuela’s health had improved slightly although treatment on Earth would have been better. Charon thought that Roswell’s continued exposure to radiation in orbit was a bad decision. As Fate would have it, the Earth was struck by two major solar eruptions during Charon and Roswell’s quarantine. So near to Shanghai, yet so far.
Three months after their arrival at the ISS, Roswell and Charon were allowed to leave the Brill and work in the science stations and habitat. The Brill was decontaminated and commandeered for another unnamed mission, rumored to be a flyby of Jupiter with transits through the asteroid belt. The view ports of the Canary allowed spectacular views of the Earth and Roswell often joined Charon at a dining table with a large view port.
The Americans wanted to return Roswell to Earth before Charon but feared that the stress of landing might be fatal to Roswell. Charon was allowed to return to the Earth’s surface with the sole limitation that she couldn’t donate blood for a year. Why would anybody who’s been in a space program willingly give blood later on in life?
Roswell died of infectious pneumonia three months after he returned to Houston. The horrific flu pandemic that ravaged the North American continent and southeastern Asia during the winter of 2014 was referred to in the popular press as the Martian Flu. Jet-setting Chinese businessmen, epidemiologists studying the disease and H1B biotech workers were heavily implicated in spreading the flu around the world.

Chapter 41. The Biopirates

Angin wanted to partner with the Swiss pharma Novella to send a biomedical habitat to the Yellowstone Caverns complex. The biotech giants would license petrochemical technologies from Requinto Petroleum. Now Requinto wanted a bigger piece of the biotech action and the Dallas habitat was added to the mission. Four of Zhou’s people would deliver the habitat and crew to Mars and to serve as advisers until the two Angin bioprospectors, a Swiss microbiologist and a Canadian metallurgist, felt comfortable living on Mars. Zhou’s people would remain on retainer to perform minor maintenance to the Dallas and Phoenix habitats. The habitats had evolved to facilities designed for work on Mars, sacrificing their deep space capabilities. As usual, the Russians were subcontracted for the heavy lift portion of the launch. Personnel and mission got confused as Requinto Petroleum and the biotech firms negotiated what they were trying to do on Mars. Kelly was cut from the team. It would have been better not to have been selected in the first place.
Being cut from the Phoenix/Dallas team was shattering but Kelly felt she didn’t need to go to Mars to study nanolife. The $100K contract termination settlement allowed her to start her own la boratory. She took out an equity loan on the house/motel complex she had inherited from her parents. She financed the best electron microscopy/informatics databases optimized for studying archaeabacteria that she could afford. Kelly was already one of the best EM specimen preparers in the world; specimen preparation is considered to be mundane, something that old fogies did several generations ago before biology got sexy. Kelly’s notoriety, earned by her acceptance and later removal from the Marsnauts, resulted in a steady stream of highly documented specimens and visitors. Speaking engagements brought in some hard cash and well-deserved publicity. She would have to increase the number and amenities of the units at her motel. The professional and amateur astrobiologists of the world seemed to want to help finance her company by staying at her motel and paying for micropictures of the bugs on their rocks.
Kelly retained the adult size teeter, swing and slide that came with the motel, adding a cable slide-for-life and a 10-meter tall jungle gym. The cliff and crevices of the boulder behind her outside cabaña had to be placed off limits an hour into happy hour on New Year’s Eve after one rock climber fell, breaking his ankle. The 8-meter horizontal ladder from the jungle gym to the boulder was only installed on special occasions.
Owners of meteors for sale have to authenticate their rights to ownership. Bioprospectors have the burden of proof in proving ownership of bugs and their genetic information if it results in any valuable intellectual property. Registration of a bug at the Bright Life [Institute] Motel and Café was a cheap way of joining the bioprospectors of the world, sort of like finding and naming a comet.
Kelly selected a search for Frye on the Bright Life Institute website. The page popped up with a three by five picture of an outhouse with the snow-covered flooded, frozen swamp whose water level had risen almost to the doorknob. The outhouse door was ajar enough to permit an average sized man to enter by turning sideward. A large white mountain seemed ready to engulf the outhouse and any possible occupants thereof. Nine thumb nail micrographs expanded to display a plethora of bacterial and nanobacterial life. The two-botton right micrographs were locator shots of the specimens. The lymphoma-fighting Frye bug had come from this outhouse whose running water came from the swamp with an embedded 200-foot high sawdust pile. A mythical swamp monster had claimed the sawmill generations ago.
Kelly began to wonder whether the bugs were as benign as everyone assumed – should she be concerned about biocontainment? To Kelly, the use of disinfectants was like throwing salt over one’s shoulder. What bugs had the cavers been drinking all these years in the Renegade drink that they made with Lecheguilla cave water? The Hot Springs, Arkansas water had been considered to be sterile and now the common consensus is that since the bacteria did not co-evolve with humanity they cannot be pathogenic to man. Most of her bugs were bright life bugs – more closely related to humans. After all, before the avian flu crises it had been common wisdom that pathogens do not jump between species. The HIV virus evolved from SIM virus in primates which man was susceptible to. Was the HIV/AIDS pandemic the result of a pathogen that had escaped from a medical laboratory or even worse, was it a non-lethal weapon to thin out Blacks and homosexuals?

Angin

Jerry Littlefield jogged through the neighborhood behind his motel onto a small hill overlooking Highway 101, the old Camino Real or Royal Highway in California. The Borg cubes of Angin offices and laboratories continued their march up the golden hills of Camarillo, an assault that had begun when Jerry first started coming to Malibu. Jerry had even seen one of the cubes with a green skirt in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a part of the Alpha Quadrant. Angin was one of the most successful biotechnology companies in the world and was still independent of the voracious sharks that are the big pharmaceutical companies. Angin was becoming a baby pharma itself, gobbling up some of the smaller fish in biotech.
Now Angin was interested in buying ten of his electrolysis machines. Puffin Engineering was in the black because Jerry refused to spend more money than he had coming in. He couldn’t keep getting premium prices for the hand-made units and would have to transition to commodity units with mass production techniques. Jerry, cautious as ever in self-defense and preservation of his company, limited his expenditures on cutting-edge manufacturing machines. Jerry would need Norm, his production technician, back to fill the order. The hydrogen economy is still in the distant future, just disinformation at the present time from the large energy corporations to obtain federal research subsidies and tax credits. Was it time to sell his company, grab the money and run? And why would a biotech company want to produce its own hydrogen?
Craig Venter, formerly of Celera, was trying to design a microbe to manufacture hydrogen from water, carbon dioxide and sunlight using his own money.

Anime

Doyle Laughton looked around at the biggest bunch of geeks and nerds he had ever seen in one location. He had been attending the Friday night Anime Club meetings at MIT regularly, all semester, because of his interest in the graphics and sound tracks of the anime films. Doyle preferred the German productions, but as a musician he was fascinated by the lyrics based on Japanese folklore and fantasy. Doyle organized and led a Blues band whose name had evolved from White Trash to White Noise. The oriental harmonics, tempos and emphasis were different from western music. He would have to attend one of the Japanimation Society meetings above the Harvest Coop at Central Square.
Doyle attended Boston Latin and Rindge in Cambridge and played on the school’s baseball team. Doyle hadn’t inherited his musical skills from his biological father, Tim Perry – he was a much better musician.

Groupies and drugs

Doyle and his date Mona Sabine were invited to a party with the other members of Doyle’s band after attending a concert at Harvard Stadium. Both teenagers were too young to be drinking alcohol. Doyle had drunk some bourbon and Mona had taken some Ecstasy with her red wine. Doyle had making out, not drugs or jamming on his mind. The apartment was on the third story of a standalone house on Broadway between the Swiss Technical Consulate and Harvard. Doyle had maneuvered Monica out a window and up to the crow’s nest of the building on the pretence of looking for Saturn. They had managed to avoid the bust when the apartment was raided but had to avoid the forensic technicians in the apartment by climbing down a fire escape on the opposite end of the building. Doyle and Monica were not home free. An informant reported that they were in the apartment the night of the sweep.

Busted

Doyle was brought in for questioning but refused to incriminate himself or Monica. Monica, as the daughter of a prominent judge, was off the hook without the presence of any substantial evidence. Doyle was just too prominent a radical at the school to avoid the glare of scrutiny and the need for a lawyer. Tim went to Doyle’s lawyer’s office, to see how much trouble Doyle was in.

The Melody lingers on

Tim looked at Leona, Doyle’s mother – she had to be the most beautiful woman in the world and he would have married her in a minute. Tim was below Leona’s class; she married one of the Mayflower Laughtons. Tim had a small amount of Cherokee blood; obviously the Cherokee tribe was around way before the Mayflower had even set sail. The class differential wouldn’t disappear even if Tim were in charge of a planet. Leona married the well-scrubbed William Cabot Laughton, a professor of philosophy at Harvard specializing in Ethics of Politics and Military Force as well as Comparative Fundamental Religions. Leona couldn’t banish the irresponsible thought that sex had been more satisfying on the wild side. She had thought that sex would be as good with any man, as it had been with her first – Tim.
There was no hard evidence on Doyle but the consensus was that a cooling off period out of town would be best for everyone concerned. He could finish the school term online and would be legally under his biological father’s control. Tim had mixed feelings about the arrangement but hoped he could get to know his biological son on a day-to-day basis. Doyle pretended to go along with his punishment with considerable reluctance – he couldn’t believe his good luck. He was going to be around real musicians (and astronauts) (and groupies). Don’t throw me into the briar patch.

Chapter 42. Presidents, Kings, Entertainers and Holy People

Charon spent a whirlwind year of speaking engagements, fancy hotels and easy money. Three monarchs, an ayatollah and three prime ministers feted Charon during one nine-day stretch in the Middle East. Zhou finally put a stop to her extensive traveling. He wasn’t going to have Charon killed in a plane crash after surviving Mars, the sun and interplanetary space. After all, four American astronauts had died in T-38 jet trainers while traveling on trips for public relations. Russia had lost Gagarin and Komarov. Zhou wanted Charon to discover her own world and desires. He felt that Charon had done her share of public service for humanity and China.
The mysterious Dragon Lady raised her head again. Charon and the other women who were in space would be allowed to keep the earnings from their speaking engagements tax-free. Considering that the American astronauts could demand millions of dollars a year, for as long as they stayed on Mars, this was the least that the Chinese government could do. The American astronauts were paid multiples of the Russian salaries and the original seven American astronauts had done very well financially. The Russians weren’t sure how they would handle the offers to Anatoly and Sergei. Russian public opinion was that the proceeds from Sergei’s writings should belong to him. While none of the Russian cosmonauts had got rich in space, it had become customary in the new Russia to negotiate space contracts down to individual tasks – any effort beyond the contracted minimum should be compensated. Anatoly and Sergei, of course, only had their military contracts. Nobody in Russia had anticipated the need for a statement of work and the appropriate compensation for a landing on Phobos.

China

What does a person do after she’s walked on Mars? Go to Europe? Charon could travel, study to become a teacher and raise kids (?) and perhaps coffee. She had done the space thing and space’s siren call had receded. Zhou didn’t even want her to climb up on a chair without help; flying was out of the question.
An adult size bed was installed in the large sleeping room of the small children in the dormitory. Tables also appeared starting speculation about what was happening. Captain Wu made an appearance with five food handlers and the food was arranged (and guarded). Nine o’clock was lights-out and the children milled around, prepared for bed with the food untouched. General Zhou and Charon walked into the hall at exactly 9. The children surrounded Charon as she sat on the bed and bounced a little to test the firmness of the bed. Zhou started pouring the drinks and the braver kids approached the table, helping themselves to the food.
When Captain Wu put on her medical doctor’s cap she could see that Charon was recovering from the abuses her body had been subjected to in space – her bone structure and musculature were back within normal limits – but psychologically the spark was not there. The young Charon would vault every railing to the ground whereas this Charon walked down stairs with one hand on the railing. Old age and caution had set in too early. The immortality of youth had been banished too early for the mortality and caution (fear?) of old age. Captain Wu worried about Charon and the rest of the women and girls. Her conversation four months earlier with Zhou over whether they should actively try to select boy friends for the women had never been resolved.
Captain Wu brought Charon a plate and a drink. Little play-actor Charon, she thought. The only person of the original mission to return from Mars, sleeping in her own childhood dormitory. This night will become part of the legend.
A group photo was taken later during the evening and Charon personally signed a copy for each of the individuals present in the photograph, including the food servers.

A courting we will go

Dr. Chu, Zhou now called him Wen in private, had requested an appointment. Zhou couldn’t imagine what this breach in his open door policy meant and his curiosity peaked.
Chu knocked on the sill of the open door at the agreed-upon time.
“Come on in,” greeted Zhou. “Have a seat.”
“Thanks,” responded Chu as he walked to the chair facing Zhou.
“And what can I do for you today?” asked Zhou.
“I’m asking for permission to court your daughter,” said Dr. Chu.
“Are you kidding? She’s only twelve years old,” said the general.
“General Zhou, I meant Charon,” answered Dr. Chu.
How much this young man had grown in the last six years, thought Zhou. But Chu hadn’t married; he and Major Wu had failed in this part of their mentoring. If Chu couldn’t find love, he should a least have kids.

Hawaii, 2015

General Zhou and Charon were driven in Senator Hing’s limo to Waikiki Beach. Several Hawaiian state troopers on motorcycles guarded another white limo. The senator stood on the sidewalk with his thirteen-year old daughter, Lisa. The Hings waved as the limo pulled into the no parking space bordering the beach sidewalk. Four surfboards were standing up, impaled in the sparse sand of Waikiki.
General Zhou took off his suit to reveal his brilliant Hawaiian bathing trunks. Lisa had already undressed and was jumping up and down near the boards in anticipation of going surfing. Senator Hing ceremoniously undressed, displaying his blue senatorial trunks. The four walked on the beach, everyone but Charon grabbing a surfboard. The Hings jumped on their surfboards as Zhou and Charon navigated the breaking waves.
Zhou gave Charon about thirty minutes of tutorials and then Hing and he went out to challenge the monstrous three-foot waves. Charon, accompanied by Lisa, caught the waves with increasing facility. When the surfing traffic started getting too heavy for beginners, the women called it a day. One of Hing’s drivers gave them beach towels to dry off with. The women dressed in the back of the limo and then left the vehicles, walking up the street for a shopping binge. The men continued to talk and surf.

Brazil

A committee of men had designed Lieutenant Aline Vargas full of bounty and goodness; long legs that went up to her shoulder blades, fabulous breasts, beautiful hazel brown eyes and jet-black, shiny hair. Aline was a postdoc in the Materials Science department at the São Paulo Politécnico Instituicão, potentially a mission specialist to Mars. Aline’s specialty was biologically resistant materials.
Aline gave Charon a bikini knockoff from the Sao Paulo Bikini festival just to see her reaction. She got Charon a spot on the Salvadorian Carneval float, right below her platform. The turquoise background, as well as her mask and dress clashed with Charon’s golden skin and hair. Charon got into the mood of the Jezebels on the float and soon her greeting wave was attracting as many admirers and photographers as Aline did with her surgically enhanced breasts. Her golden skin and hair were recognized as great innovations – there would be scores of golden girls in next year’s Carneval.
The Brazilian space program had got off to a rocky start with an explosion of Brazil’s Veiculo Lancador de Satellites (VLS) rocket on the launch pad at the Alcantara base near Marenhao, Brazil killing twenty one of Brazil’s space elite at the equatorial launch site. Now the base was being developed to reach out to rich tourists and young students. The site included a hotel/casino complex, a playground built around a habitat and a space museum. Aline’s university installed an extension school, heavy with ecological and biomaterial subjects. China’s contribution would be three Grasshoppers, a stripped ERV, simulators and space medical facilities. The interest of African and the Hispanic nations in training astronauts without the countries having the money for a space program amazed Aline and Charon.
Charon’s childhood friends, Maddie and Joan, were in the pilot chairs with Charon in the commander’s seat. Four Brazilian astronaut candidates, including Aline, sat in the four JAFO seats.
The right auxiliary rocket engine shut itself down at thirty-five miles of altitude and the Grasshopper tumbled in its ascent. The caution light panel and flight instrument panels lit up like an American Christmas tree as the alarms claxed. Maddie shut down the left auxiliary rocket engine and then throttled down the main engine to idle. Joan shut off the alarms. “Do you want the stick?” Maddie asked Charon.
“No, you got it,” was Charon’s answer. Charon hadn’t piloted a Grasshopper for seven years.
The Grasshopper coasted up into the dark black sky of space. Maddie slowed down the rotation and was enjoying the ride. Joan completed the emergency checklist and the pilots began the auxiliary engine shutdown checklist. Charon smiled to the Brazilians with a gesture of “that’s space travel for you.”
Maddie said to the flight deck, “I will deploy the small drogue chute now.”
Joan said, “I concur.”
Charon added, “I agree.”
I’m actually reducing the effectiveness of the crew by my presence.
The small drogue chute would have little effect until the Grasshopper was biting into thicker air. Experience had shown that the danger of the small drogue becoming entangled was minimal. The rotation slowed and the drogue chute streamlined the Grasshopper. They were 3 kilometers lateral to the preplanned flight path. Joan was communicating with the ground.
“Grasshopper here, Joan. We’ve lost our auxiliary engines so we’re landing at the airport instead of near the VIP bleachers. Grasshopper requesting a fire truck at the end of runway 06 Left. We don’t anticipate any further problems. Please repeat.” Major General Moreiros of the Brazilian Air Force repeated the instructions.
First Lieutenant Meireles was borrowing a second barf bag. His empty gastrointestinal system continued rejecting his lunch long after it was gone.
Maddie said, “I’m going to use the main parachutes for the landing.” Joan and Charon concurred in turn. The colorful triple parachute deployed to gasps from the VIP bleachers. An uncorrected descent would place the Grasshopper in the grass beyond the extension to the runway. Maddie increased the thrust from the main engine. Brazil rose to meet the Grasshopper. A final blast of loose dust and the Grasshopper caressed the Earth. Joan jettisoned the parachutes. Maddie monitored and acknowledged Joan’s actions as she performed the after landing checklist and rotated the Grasshopper to its bus orientation. The military fire engine and a tug truck arrived with a spectacular display of lights and sirens.
“Grasshopper here, Como vai? We don’t need the fire truck anymore. Agradecida!”
Charon signaled to Aline to come forward. “Tell the tug truck to escort us back to the bleachers,” she directed.
“Certamente, Major,” said Aline as she put on Charon’s helmet.
The Grasshopper followed the tug back to the VIP bleachers. Charon annotated the flight logs of both pilots, “Landed two kilometers from planned landing at Alcantara, Brazil August, 28, 2013, Charon.” Charon had become a first name celebrity.
Meireles went back to flying fighters, quitting the Brazilian space program.

Santa’s Martian Helpers

Lora was tired after a long day at her desk at Human Services. Christmas was coming and Santa wouldn’t be bringing much to her house. She just wanted to have a tea and read her romance magazine. Her two girls were asleep but she could hear Tim, her oldest, pacing in his bed and she could imagine his head following the movement of every shadow near the trees out back. The moon shone off the river just feet below the tar-papered shack that she had rented. The shack was cold and its roof leaked when it rained. Her landlord repaired the roof when the family moved out for the next occupant – a cow.
Lora started to sing. “The Martians are coming. Hoorah, hoorah. Little boys had better be sleeping, hoorah, hoorah.”
Tim dropped to the bed and pulled his security blanket over his head.

Amazon

Commander Tim ran out of the woods screaming, “I’m a dead man.”
Aline grabbed him and threw him to the ground. “What’s wrong, commander?” she asked.
“A rattler bit me. I’m dead.” He answered.
[There are no rattlesnakes in the Amazon.]
“Where were you bitten?” she asked.
Tim pointed to his inner thigh as Aline grabbed his belt buckle. A quick pull later and Tim’s fly was opened. Aline pulled the belt from Tim’s pants and rapped it around his upper thigh, using it as a tourniquet. That’s the fastest anybody’s got into my pants that I can remember, thought Tim. Jeeesus, where did that knife come from?
Aline cut Xs on the swelling fang puncture marks and then she spit out blood as she sucked the wounds. Tim focused his thoughts on his mother, grandmother and Madeleine Albright; it didn’t work, even with Aline’s withdrawal of some blood. He folded his hands over his crotch.
There was only room enough for two evacuees on the medical helicopter so Aline accompanied Tim to the medical hospital. Tim felt tired, probably a side effect of the anti venim drug he had been given. Tim was examined by the resident internist and assigned to an intensive care ward. The electrodes attached to his body were minimal by NASA standards. The doctor and nurse left, nodding to Aline, who was holding Tim’s hand.
“Are the lights fading?” Tim asked Aline.
“No, of course not,” she answered.
“Would you give a dying man his last request?” Tim asked.
“No way, you old fart. You’re not dying,” she replied.
“I’m fading fast,” said Tim, holding the back of his hand on his forehead. “The room’s spinning.”
Might as well start my astronaut collection, thought Aline. “Stop whining and let me check your cuts for inflammation,” she said as she pulled the sheet back to check out the stitches on his wound. Tim pulled her forward and she fell heavily on Tim. Time to show the gringo that this tiger fights back and who’s the boss around here.
Aline grabbed Tim’s wrists and pinned Tim to the bed. I’ve never seen such a strong girl, thought Tim. Tim arched his back and started to roll by reflex, but Aline was obviously in control. Resistance is futile, might as well accept the inevitable! His hands moved to Aline’s firm buttocks. Another question of his from junior high was answered. The Amazon legend is true.
[This episode will perpetuate currently wrong folk wisdom about the treatment of snakebites. Cutting Xs in a snakebite is likely to only increase the bleeding above that encouraged by the anticoagulant properties of the snake venom. Sucking of the wound is said to be ineffective and the normal use of a tourniquet is likely to cause more damage than lack of treatment. Most nonmedical treatments are useless and only encourage the victim to delay obtaining the only useful treatment, which is the use of the correct antivenin. Identification of the offending snake is helpful since the antivenin selected may not contain the proper antivenin for the snakebite.]

Red Stars, the novel

Out of all of the autobiographies and documentaries that came out of the original five missions to Mars only Sergei’s autobiography Red Star on a Red Planet became a blockbuster best seller. Red Star was probably the most complete and truthful description of the early years that has been published. The Red Star description of the difficulties at Mars Site I was disputed by the United States and China while the official Russian response was a shrug of the shoulders. Sergei had been forced to conceal the names of the actual participants in the incident. Sergei settled into life on Mars with his extended family and completed his autobiography only for the million American dollars in upfront money. Sergei had a classical Russian author locked up inside, struggling to be free. Part poet, part Apollo astronaut/artist Alan Bean, Sergei transmitted the adventure that was Mars to the tax-paying couch potatoes on Earth. All of the new Martians became millionaires many times over during the bidding wars for their services after their obligatory terms of service were over. The new millionaires found that it was hard to eat Earth money on Mars.

Red Stars, the movie

The German producer, Gunter Wildenbach, threw away his old screenplay. He had spent 11 million euros to get the best (practically only) stock footage of Martian scenery and interviews with the people on Mars. He had acquired kilometers of space film including views of all the latest space platforms. Acquiring the screen rights to Red Star should have been the final brick in the wall. The Russian heartthrob, Alex Solonov, threw tantrums until he was given the leading role in the movie based on Sergei’s book. Something was missing. What had he overlooked? Gunter looked at the first takes of the scene where Vivian tells Sergei that she is pregnant. Marsha Kostov absolutely glowed in the role of Sergei’s golden wife. Maybe he could get Charon to act as an expert (used as much as and in the same manner as other space experts have been used by Hollywood). Maybe I can get Charon to make a cameo appearance.
It would cost him more to break his contract with Marsha Kostov than it had cost Boston University to stiff ex-NASA chief, Daniel Golden, for its position of BU president. Golden parachutes were costing more than divorces in Beantown. Charon had proved to be photogenic and naturally comfortable in front of a camera in her cursory screen test. Charon would play Vivian, the mother of Anatoly’s child. Alex and Charon’s fling only lasted through filming. Alex married 4 times in his short life, but the image he had making love until he died was the fluttering golden eyelashes of Charon’s partially shut reptilian eyes.

Moscow PlanetFest

Discovery Shuttle commander Eileen Collins, Air Force call sign “Mom”, commanded the return to flight of the space transport system on July 26, 2005. The shuttle fleet had been grounded for thirty-two months because of the Columbia disaster. Eileen used a trailer to introduce Charon. The trailer included the explosion at Yellowstone Caverns with a barely visible Charon being hurled down the slope by a torrent of water. A shot of Charon surfing one of the small waves at Waikiki was spliced in, followed by the main scene in Red Star.
Charon’s presentation was a simple slide and description show, the Martian landscape and man’s presence on Mars being a story not needing any hype or embellishment.
During the question period, Bob Hebert of the Kansas City Republican asked, “Are American or Russian men better in space?” The room went silent as Charon theatrically entertained the ambiguous question.
“I’d have to say Russian,” was her answer to a roar of laughter from the Russians crowd, followed by the crowd standing up and applauding. That should help ticket sales in Russia, she thought.

Hilo

Charon called the office in Shanghai and got Captain Wu. Catain Wu said that “Zhou will return your call when he gets back from his meeting.”
Charon told Zhou that she was tired and wanted to come home. Zhou approved but asked Charon to stop in at his family plantation in Hawaii to visit his family. Charon was on a red-eye flight to Hilo that night.
Hilo and the Apollo plantation were in a festive mood, anticipating the harvesting of the coffee crop. Bloody Mary showed Charon some Hawaiian dances, which she would never have the chance to show her old friends on Mars. Charon’s mind and body healed with the help of human (family?) companionship, Hawaiian fruits and vegetables and the sun and sea. Charon and her borrowed bicycle became a common sight on the roads and pathways navigating the hills of the big island.
Charon was awakened by the sound of commotion in the street outside of her room. The children were all boarding a school bus with lunch baskets. The picking of the coffee would begin today. Charon raced her borrowed bicycle down the dark streets, overtaking the bus as it turned into the coffee fields. The children in the back of the bus yelled to their aunt, encouraging the intercept.
The women and children picked the majority of the Apollo Coffee cherries by hand. The ancient harvesting machine could pick only about a fifth of the bushes in the rough volcanic terrain.
Charon was healthily exhausted, as she entered the old yellow school bus with the children for the final trip home of the season. Four of the children had adopted her and would sit as close to her on the bus as they could. Community and Family. The crop was in, life’s cycle completed. The work on the coffee had just begun, but the children could return to school and leave the rest of the processing and marketing to the adults. Bloody Mary drew a portrait of Charon, morphing Charon into the girl standing next to a coffee bush on the Apollo label. There was smoke rising from the volcano in the background that looked like Olympus Mons in spite of the blue sky. Apollo Coffee copyrighted the image of the Apollo girl in the United States to prevent its use by homesteading competitors.

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