MARS: Baroque Revolution

by Matthew Ellis

  ***

  General Rich didn’t believe in tradition. He believed in profit, wealth and power. He banged a metal trashcan with a rifle to wake his people. The sound was jarring, and it scared most of the people. They woke afraid they were under attack. When they realized it was a jerk banging on a trashcan, they tried to go back to sleep. The General screamed to wake them up.

  He screamed, “Get your asses out of bed and get cleaned up. Then police your area. Be ready for inspection in twenty minutes. Anyone who doesn’t pass inspection doesn’t get breakfast. Move!”

  The crew jumped out of bed and frantically made their beds. Everyone wanted to take a shower and made sure they looked presentable. They found the shower room locked. Not knowing what to do, they skipped that step in their routine. They put on a clean uniform and put their laundry in their hampers. Then they made sure their areas were immaculately clean. The General was a nitpicker about morning inspection. They knew he wasn’t kidding when he said anyone who didn’t pass inspection wouldn’t get breakfast.

  General Rich came back into the dormitory and performed the morning inspection. He found everything in order. His people were the most disciplined in the world.

  He said, “I know you’re all wondering why I didn’t let you take showers. It’s because on the way to Mars, there won’t be any showers. So you might as well get used to it. I’ll let you take one tomorrow, but they’ll be less frequent as the time to leave gets near. We’ve got six weeks to train for our mission, and I want everyone to be ready.”

  No one moved as the General spoke. They were all so highly disciplined that when Rich spoke, they immediately obeyed without thinking about it. It was a trained reflex Rich wanted everyone he trained to have.

  ***

  The Operative took his team outside the lunar base. He had them take off their helmets to see what a life support failure felt like. Everyone partnered with another soldier, and one person took their helmet off for 15 seconds. The other person made sure their partner didn’t lose consciousness. The helmets had a safety shut off that killed the oxygen feed so none would be wasted if the helmet were dislodged.

  Fortner said, “When you take your helmet off, make sure your partner is there to make sure you can put it back on.”

  Richter added, “This exercise makes sure you know how to react in an emergency. If something fails in space, you’ll have a couple minutes at most to make a decision. You have to be able to think clearly.”

  Fortner continued, “So you need to remain calm, even under pressure. Don’t panic. Panicking is bad, and I guarantee it’ll lead to your death.”

  One at a time, they removed their helmets and counted to 15. Their partners made sure nothing went wrong during that time. Then they had to replace their helmets and reset the life support system. In case they had trouble, their partner was to help them.

  ***

  General Rich took his people to the shooting range for target practice. They shot rifles, handguns, grenades, mortars, and missiles at moving targets. Every person had to hit a minimum number of targets to earn the right to take a lunch break. The lunch break was nine hours into the day. Most of the crew were hungry by then because breakfast was light M.R.E.’s and packets of liquid that no one could quite identify. The nutritional content was bare minimum.

  A corporal asked, “Are we going to get any real food?”

  Rich said, “You have two choices. You can eat it or starve.”

  The corporal said, “Yes, sir.”

  Rich barked, “You’ll have to get used to this. In space, we’ll have a limited food supply. There’s no way to get more food except for a supply ship. If the mission goes on longer than we anticipate, we may have to ration food.”

  No one said anything. They understood Rich’s logic, and they were starting to realize how dangerous and uncomfortable this mission was going to be. The bonus didn’t seem as good now that they understood why it was offered.

  The corporal thought, “I’ll bet the weasel banks will find some way to fuck us out of the bonus.”

  ***

  The Operative had his crew break for lunch five hours into their day. They needed to eat quickly because the schedule was tight. They spent the afternoon training on low orbit battle ships. They needed to learn how to fly them and how to use the weapons effectively. Then they needed to become proficient at evasive maneuvers within three days. They spent the rest of their time doing training runs in the battle ships.

  A few of the crew were doing tricks in the ships. The Operative saw this and got angry.

  He said, “Those ships cost three million dollars apiece. If you crash it, I’ll make you pay for it and send your ass to the brig.”

  Richter added, “If you hurt anyone, I’ll make sure you never work again after you’re out of the army. You won’t be in very much longer, either. I’ll have you court-marshaled.”

  The threats were enough to make the daredevils rethink their antics. The offending parties stopped trick flying and returned to their training.

  ***

  General Rich spent the next few days training his crew to conserve resources. They were issued rationed water and food, and had to make it last until the next rations were issued. This would be the norm on the way to Mars. General Rich, while outwardly telling his crew that the mission was a simple arrest, expected a long and bloody battle in which resources would need to be rationed. The Operative expected the same thing.

  The Operative told his people, “We’ll be in space where supplies are limited. We can only bring so much food and water with us, so what we take has to last a long time. Supply ships can support us, but we might be at war. They’ll be subject to attack by the enemy, and they take a long time to get to Mars from Earth.”

  The Operative began a mandatory diet for his people. He only provided them with two meals per day for the next two weeks. During the last weeks, he only provided one meal. The crew needed to be used to food rationing by the time they left for Mars. The meals also became less filling over time. He needed his crew to have a high tolerance for hunger.

  General Rich also began to ration food as he trained his crew. He had been reducing the food supplied to the crew since the first day.

  Rich thought, “If I slowly acclimate them to less food, they won’t notice it. They’ll adjust more easily until they’re just used to food rationing.”

  Six weeks after they began training for fighting in space, the crews were ready to confront Scout and his group. General Rich’s crew left Earth to join The Operative’s crew on the moon. They would train for the journey in space for the next two weeks.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Declaration of War

  The Martian constitution required both the chambers of Parliament to vote on a declaration of war. Both chambers had to pass the resolution with a 75% majority to offer the consuls the opportunity to approve or deny the declaration of war. Once the resolution passed, both consuls had to agree to the declaration of war.

  There were 25 members of congress and one senator. The consuls were Scout and Jordan. Most of the other members of Parliament were members of the terraforming team, but Scott, Rebecca, Quannah and Rose were also elected.

  Scott said, “We only have one issue on the agenda.”

  The item on the agenda was an official declaration of war against the corrupt governments of Earth. The declaration of independence had already been approved and sent to Earth’s authorities, and they rejected it. Now the Martian government needed an official declaration of war to engage the military in an extended conflict.

  John said, “I move to declare war on Earth.”

  Jane said, “I second the motion.”

  Bob said, “I object. We cannot declare war on a whole planet. We are declaring war on a particular segment of the population of Earth.”

  John said, “I move to declare war on the evil segment of Earth’s population.”

  Jane said, “I second the motion.”

  Cind
y stood to speak, but she wasn’t fast enough. The government of Mars was too new to follow established parliamentary procedures.

  Becky said, “Then we’ll take a vote. All in favor, raise your markers.”

  All 25 representatives raised their markers. The motion passed unanimously.

  Scott said, “We need to word it so we can give the military clear orders.”

  Jane said, “Why can’t we just say ‘we declare war on Earth and its governments?’”

  Scott said, “Because, as Bob said, we’re not declaring war on a whole planet. We’re declaring war on a particular set of people.”

  Jane said, “How about if we just declare war on DeNoPE?”

  Scott answered, “That only works as long as DeNoPE exists. If they disband for some reason, we’ll have to reword the declaration. If we do it right the first time, we can focus on winning our freedom.”

  The debate went on for a while, but they came up with a straightforward document. It declared war on actual developed nations of Earth and specific corporate associations. The vote on the document, once it was drafted and printed, was unanimous.

  Becky forwarded the resolution to the Senate by both email and a physical copy. Loni Williams, the lone senator, received the email resolution a few seconds after Becky sent it to her. The paper copy took a few minutes to print before it could be delivered.

  Jordan, the Second Consul, was in the chambers during the debate. He decided not to influence the vote, although there was nothing forbidding him in the constitution. He was not happy. He hoped for a diplomatic resolution to the problem of independence.

  Jane asked, “So what happens now?”

  Scout replied, “You weren’t paying attention at the meeting where we drafted the constitution, were you?”

  Jane said, “I was paying attention, but that was a long time ago, I’ve slept since then.”

  Jack interjected, “Mostly with me.”

  Jane said, “Don’t be crass here. This is a sacred place.”

  Jack said, “This is Parliament, not a church.”

  Jane said, “I think it’s just as sacred. Can I suggest a resolution to declare that?”

  Scout said, “If that’s how you feel, we’ll bring it up at a meeting when we’re not considering a declaration of war. Now, I’d better get to my consul chambers before Jordan thinks I ditched him.”

  Scout ran down the corridor from the Chamber of Congress’ hall to the Office of the First Consul. He was supposed to be in there to confer with Jordan once the Senate passed the resolution, so he had to hurry.

  He thought, “That guy probably thinks I’m not taking this seriously enough.”

  Once he arrived at his office, Jordan was waiting for him with a stern look on his face. Scout could tell Jordan wasn’t happy.

  Jordan said, “Where the hell have you been?”

  Scout replied, “In the Chamber of Congress. I was listening in on their debate.”

  Jordan said, “You’re not supposed to be in there. You’re not a member of congress.”

  Scout said, “There’s nothing in the constitution preventing me from seeing what congress is doing.”

  Jordan said, “I’ll bring that up when we start making changes to the constitution.”

  Scout said, “You do that. Right now, we have bigger fish to fry than trivial changes to our constitution.”

  Loni received the resolution shortly after the Congress sent it to her computer. The Martian Parliament was completely paperless except for supremely important documents. Mostly this was to conserve resources, but partly it was because there was not very much paper available. She looked at the resolution and then looked around at the empty Senate chamber. She was the only Senator because the Martian constitution required one Senator per city. Since there was only one city on Mars, she was the only member of the Senate.

  Loni thought, “I have way too much power. I could bring the whole colony to its knees. All I’d have to do is not approve this resolution. It’s a good thing for everyone else I agree with the declaration of war. We really need to have more than one senator.”

  She approved the resolution because she was thoroughly committed to being a Martian. She sent an email of the resolution and the signed paper copy to the consuls for their consideration.

  Jordan received the email of the resolution in the consuls’ chambers after Loni forwarded it to him and Scout. Scout received both a paper copy and an email of the resolution. Once they both had it, the consuls discussed the resolution.

  Jordan said, “We clearly need to pass this resolution. It’s too important not to. If we don’t, the Martian society ends today.”

  Scout replied, “I hoped our first official legislation wouldn’t be a declaration of war. We’re still a peaceful group of people.”

  Jordan said, “I hoped Earth’s governments would just accept our independence and leave us alone, but they didn’t. We don’t always get what we want.”

  Scout said, “I hoped for that, too. I knew it wasn’t going to happen, but I still hoped. It’s unfortunate that our future is tied to Earth’s corporate greed.”

  Jordan said, “Well, my vote is to approve the resolution. I approve the declaration of war.”

  Jordan signed the paper copy and marked the electronic version with his seal of approval.

  Scout sighed and said, “I concur. The resolution is approved. We’re at war with Earth. I’ll leave it up to you to activate the military.”

  Scout signed both copies. He started crying once the documents were signed.

  Jordan said, “I’ll take the Army, but I’m delegating the Star Brigade to Lane and the Air Force to Clive. I don’t want to take complete responsibility for the whole military.”

  Scout said, “Someone has to oversee the big picture. Missions need to be coordinated so the military has the best possible chance for success. You’re the best person for the job.”

  Jordan said, “I don’t want it. You do it. That’s too much for me to handle.”

  Scout asked, “Doesn’t that seem like I’ll have too much power?”

  Jordan answered, “This is your brainchild. You should have a lot of control over how it’s run.”

  Scout said, “I don’t want to be a dictator. That’s the thing we hate most.”

  Jordan said, “I agree, but right now we need a strong leader.”

  Scout said, “Just don’t get used to it.”

  Mars declared war on the Developed Nations of Planet Earth. They wanted to avoid a conflict, but General Rich and DeNoPE would not allow that.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Progress

  Scott and his people began working on the new town Scout asked them to build. Scott picked a location fifty kilometers northeast of Freedom. The first thing that needed to be built was a spur rail line from the main line in Freedom. Scott recruited Becky Garcia and a few other heavy laborers to build the rail line.

  Scott told Becky, “I understand you have experience building railroads.”

  Becky replied, “I built the line from the mine to Freedom, and I helped with the commuter train in Freedom. I also developed the molds for the tracks and cars.”

  Scott asked, “Do you still have the molds? They’d be really helpful.”

  Becky answered, “Of course I do. I’ve also got a mold for the engine.”

  Scott said, “Good, we’ll need that, too.”

  Becky said, “The problem is we don’t have enough metal to make the cars. We only have enough to make the tracks.”

  Scott asked, “So how’re we going to get the metal for the cars?”

  Becky replied, “We have to mine for it. But for now, let’s start plotting a course and laying down tracks.”

  They spent the next three weeks pouring tracks and moving them to the new spur line. Scott and his crew took the rails to the new line by train. They used the train to go as far as the tracks reached, and built new tracks at the end of the old ones. They welded them together and secured t
hem to the ground with iron spikes. They requested help from the robots on days when they were shorthanded. Once they finished the new line, they had to mine for raw materials.

  The crew mined for metals, mostly iron, in the mines just outside of Freedom. They spent two months mining for metals and sending them to Becky at the refinery. She and her crew took the ore that Scott’s crew sent them and refined metals from them. Then Becky molded the metals into the rails, cars and engine they needed.

  Scott and his crew inspected the rail cars and engine when Becky delivered them. She moved them to the new rail line from the refinery via the main line.

  Scott said, “This doesn’t look like the other engines.”

  Becky said, “That’s because I wanted to differentiate it from the others. It has all the same specs, though.”

  Scott asked, “So the engine’s power and the cars’ strength are all the same?”

  Becky replied, “Of course they are. I don’t make junk.”

  Scott said, “Good, because we’re going to be using them a lot for the next few months. We’re building another town. We’ll need a lot of power to take all the materials to the new site.”

  Becky said, “We’ll need to gather the materials first. We don’t have enough concrete, metal or glass to make all the buildings Scout wants.”

  Scott said, “Then let’s start gathering those materials. We’ll make all the concrete and glass we need while we’re at it.”

  Scott’s crew spent the next nine weeks gathering the red Martian sand to make glass. Becky superheated it to make the strong glass they needed for the new town. Once they had enough glass, they switched to mining for metals.

  Scott said, “Do we have enough miners to dig up and refine enough metal for the new town and still have enough for Freedom’s use?”

  Becky answered, “Freedom doesn’t need all that much. Most of the metal we need is for small things like cans and cooking implements.”

  Scott said, “So there should be plenty of metal for Freedom, but what about the military? We did just declare war on Earth.”