by Paul Reaver
The cause, as it turned out, was one of the Martian domiciles. It was easy to see why Abigail had had such a reaction. This was the first actual Martian building the Terrans had seen from the outside. All the rest of the living quarters they’d had contact with so far were the ones being occupied underground at the Mars base, and of course, there was no ‘outside’ to see.
Actually, the domicile should not have been that much of a surprise. All of the other Martian designs that the people from Earth had seen so far appeared organic in shape and design. This was no exception. The base building at ground level was approximately 300 feet wide, 50 feet tall, and oval in shape. They did not have a good view of the depth of the building because they were viewing it from an angle, but it appeared to be about 100 feet in depth. The outer layer of the structure looked much like leaves and bark. Obviously, this was not the case; the Martians would have used much stronger material. But it was obvious that the Martians had borrowed the building’s look from nature. As they approached, it became clear that the structure’s oval base had a rounded top. From the top of this base, there extended tubular structures that gave the impression of branches. At the end of each branch were egg-shaped pods that featured large oval windows. Each branch had only one pod, and each pod was high enough to afford an excellent view. Though there wasn’t much to see inside the dome, the structure was designed to make the area seem more spacious. And since the dome was transparent, the length of the view would effectively be as far as the eye could see, except that the view beyond the dome was the typical barren Mars landscape. What seemed odd to the Earth team was that the parts of the building that appeared to be branches were a light blue. The pods, which resembled leaf clusters, were dark blue. The Terrans interpreted the overall shape of the building as being tree-like; hence, the colors seemed odd. The “branch” of the tree-like part of the building seemed as though it should have been some shade of green or brown. The “branch cluster/leaf” domiciles at the top, meaning the pods, similarly seemed as though they should have been green. This desire by the Terrans to make the structure match the color of Earth-like trees was the reason that the blue colors were disconcerting. However, they were getting used to adapting to the Martians’ different sense of architecture. Within just a few minutes, they had accepted the structure as normal. They had mentally adjusted to accept the alien surroundings. And again, it became apparent that the Martian buildings were a mixture of interwoven art and architecture, with an underlying organic feel to the whole building environment. And in a sense, the structure was semi-organic. If damaged, it would repair itself via nanotechnology. The Martians had mastered being one with nature; this made the complete loss of the civilization’s existence on the planet’s surface even more disturbing.
Kirlin said, “The base of the building houses the heating and cooling system for the structure including the pods. This works in conjunction with the heat exchangers’ control of the ambient temperature. It allows you to adjust the temperature within the pods, or living quarters, to the level of comfort that you desire. There is also some fairly sophisticated technology in the base, and it contains the controls. For example, once you enter the building, to reach the pods you will be using short-range transporters. We felt as though these structures would resemble trees to Terrans. In fact, it is modeled after a tree that was native to Mars at one time. The pole-like parts of the building, the parts that probably appear to you like the tree branches, not only support the pods but contain ladders should the transporter system fail. The base of the building also serves as a storage facility for food and other supplies. Let’s go in, and I’ll show you how the transporters work.”
Once inside the structure, the humans could see that it was a sophisticated collection of various controls at one end with storage areas at the other end.
“Let’s go ahead and transport up to one of the pods,” said Kirlin. “If everyone would please stand on the platform, I’ll activate the transporter. Jose taught me how to use it.” She gave an oval Martian smile.
The platform she referred to was at the same end of the room as the controls, and plenty large enough to accommodate them all. Once they were all in place, the room disappeared and suddenly, they were looking through a large oval window; the view was outwards over the trees in the dome and onto the Mars landscape. Kirlin had activated the transporter telepathically, and here they were.
It took several minutes before anyone said anything. It was a bit unnerving to have the surroundings change so quickly, and the view they saw was somewhat vertiginous to most. However, any sense of vertigo passed quickly. Not only did they have the view from the window to survey, but they also had the inside of the pod to take in. It contained at least several separate rooms; the area they were in now was a lounge and relaxation area.
“This is the part of the pod that someone would typically use for socializing and entertainment,” said Kirlin. “I have become familiar enough with Earth architecture to know that you would use this area to read, relax, entertain guests, and experience various types of electronic entertainment. Let’s take a walk through the rest of the pod, which by the way, I know would be considered an apartment of sorts on Earth.”
She led the way through the pod, revealing several large bedrooms, several bathrooms, a kitchen, and two rooms whose purpose was not immediately apparent.
Kirlin said, “You can modify these two rooms for any purposes you prefer. I encourage you to use your imaginations to make each pod fit your personal preferences.”
John noticed that, for the most part, the pod was very similar to the living spaces at the Martians’ underground base where they had been staying so far. He could see that it would be a natural fit to segue from that dwelling to this dwelling. However, he did notice some differences. He suspected that the differences were improvements. There would be time to learn about the enhancements as they went along. He was quite sure that the pods would interact with them telepathically just as their domiciles did back at the Martians’ underground base. However, one thing stood out and had become more evident as they made their way through the pod. The inside of the pod seemed noticeably larger than it looked from the outside! Others in the group were obviously also aware of this anomaly. He decided to address this.
“Kirlin,” he said, “it’s probably just my imagination, but the interior of the pod seems remarkably larger than it looks from the outside.” Others in the group indicated their agreement.
Kirlin smiled; only this time, she did it Earth-style, with the corners of her mouth turned up. John took it as a compliment that she would make the effort to do this. “No, it’s not your imagination. I’ve been waiting for someone to say something about it. The interior is larger. This is the culmination of experimental work that had been in progress here on Mars before the calamity on the planet’s surface. We were able to complete it before the loss of the atmosphere occurred, but we did not have much time to use it. We know that your scientists have discovered, as we did, that there are actually ten dimensions; 11 if you include time as a dimension. Both of our cultures had previously included it as the fourth dimension prior to the discovery of the additional seven. The difference between Earth’s research and ours is that Earth’s knowledge is purely theoretical. Earth scientists were pursuing a unified theory that made quantum physics agree with the theory of general relativity developed by the Earth scientist called Einstein. We know that he did not accept quantum physics as a reality and worked the rest of his life after its discovery, attempting to bring both technologies under the single umbrella of general relativity. He was unsuccessful because quantum physics, as we all now know, definitely exists but as an extension of general relativity, more or less. Yet your scientists know there are 11 dimensions because the existence of all of them was the only way to make quantum mechanics and general relativity coexist. In short, it was the only way to make their equations work.
“For us, the 11 dimensions are a reality. We have been working with them.
We know now that the 10th dimension allows for everything possible and imaginable to exist. Using that, we can make the inside of a structure larger than the outside. We may be able to do this with the domes themselves, but if we do, when we combine the domes, what will we do with that extra space? It’s not practical for us to use it with the domes in that way. However, it is nice to be able to use it in an environment such as this.”
Kirlin continued, “As I indicated before, the base of the building has centralized environmental capabilities that can be controlled on a pod-by-pod and even room-by-room basis to deliver the most comfortable environment as desired on an individual basis. Though the same capabilities are also available in your domiciles at the base, you don’t have as many rooms there like you do here, so it is more complicated. And just as with the residences you now occupy, there are both manual and telepathic controls. I think that all of you have switched to complete telepathic communication in this regard; after all, it is much faster, easier, and more precise. It also allows you to make changes on a moment’s notice.
“I had also mentioned that there are food supplies in the main building at the base as well. Since each of you will have different food preferences, I encourage you to stock your pantries and food preservation units with your favorite foods. You can peruse the available items using the holographic video interface, which is the same as the one you are familiar with back at the base. We’ve added a new feature to this structure, though; if you concentrate and allow your minds to connect with the food supply interface, you can visualize all available foods telepathically. Either way, when you make your choices, the supplies you choose will automatically be transported to the kitchen area. You even have another option: though you can transport the food to the counters in the kitchen and put the items away where you desire, the new feature is that the food transportation process can put the food away for you. This is a real convenience and something new. If you don’t like where the automatic storage puts your items, you can modify it to put things where you want. It will take a little experimentation, but you all have become quite familiar with Martian technology, and I feel sure you will master this process with little trouble. If you have any questions, of course, please ask.
“Let’s head back to the base. I think that our best course of action is to occupy these pods as soon as possible, so please gather everything you need for daily living in these new domiciles when we get back. The sooner we do, the sooner we can see how well our prototype dome works. We have set up a transporter between here and the base that you can use to transport directly to and from your domicile. If we find that all is well and we can move forward, I think we should begin an aggressive schedule of dome-building. After all, we ultimately have an entire planet to cover and colonize.”
Chapter 36
Once everyone had moved into their pods, they began monitoring all activities regarding the dome and pod environment. There was a bit of a learning curve for the Terrans with the new technology, but fortunately, they were quick studies.
John found that Kirlin was correct about food storage. It was amazing technology that allowed him to select his desired food items and have them transported directly into the storage spaces in his kitchen he had chosen for them. He had only been living in the pod for a week, but already it felt like home. He prepared himself for a meeting that Jenore had scheduled for this afternoon and transported to the Martian base’s transport room. Though the transport technology would allow him to go directly to the conference room for the meeting, Martian protocol was to travel to the specific transport room. For one thing, it guaranteed that he would not materialize inside another person that just happened to be standing there. Once he had materialized at the base, he traversed the hallways necessary to reach the conference room.
Jenore opened the meeting by saying, “Welcome, everyone. Let’s go around the room and have each person relay their experiences with living in the dome. Abigail, please go first.”
She said, “I feel very comfortable in my pod. I have mastered the telepathic interfaces, and it feels like home. The temperature has remained within the parameters I have requested. The atmosphere is consistent. The transporter has made it very convenient to travel to the base and back so that my work has not been interrupted. And although my domicile here at the base was quite comfortable, it can’t compare the feeling of freedom and openness that the pod environment gives me. I have even been going on walks in the evening with some of the other team members.”
“Excellent,” said Jenore. “Roberta, would you please go next?”
She did, followed in turn by the rest of the Terrans and Martians at the table. This included Kirlin and Jenore. The feedback was, for the most part, very positive. There were some minor issues reported, such as some of the human team members having problems with the ambient temperature. Still, it turned out that this was simply part of the expected learning curve from gaining familiarity with the telepathic controls. The other quasi-negative feedback also addressed minor items they had already resolved.
After everyone had contributed their feedback, Jenore said, “this is very good. It means that we can begin building new domes in earnest. As time goes on, we will not only steadily increase the number of domes we construct, we will continuously increase their size. We have created electronic devices to monitor each dome’s habitability factors, including the pod environments. We will gather all of this information via computer, and we will have a continuously updated dashboard to monitor our overall results. Starting tomorrow, we begin our ramped-up schedule for building the rest of the domes.
Chapter 37
The following day was the beginning of the reconstruction of Mars’ surface in earnest and in an ongoing and continuous basis. Though there would be pauses in the project, primarily to take the time to ensure that everything was progressing as planned, overall the work was non-stop.
Kirlin, John, and Jenore, as the management team, had taken on the task of updating the master plan for rebuilding the planet’s surface as changes presented themselves. They had chosen tasks for each of the team members and, in certain cases, organized them into specialized smaller teams. Each of the specialized teams worked in tandem with the others so that everything was where it needed to be at the right time. The management team could only do so much during the initial planning and building stages because they had to make sure that everything proceeded as expected from the start. The good news was that as more progress was made, they could build on the knowledge gathered from that work to expand their planning moving forward. Eventually, they would be able to extend the overall project blueprint to encompass the entire planet. For now, in the earlier stages, they needed to move slowly, albeit steadily, to gain the necessary experience to finish the project over time. So, to keep it simple, they planned to build another single dome first. (Everyone called them domes; but of course, in their minds, they visualized the actual rectangular shapes.) This first additional singular dome to be built would be approximately five miles from the first one. Both domes were steps in the overall dome project; at some point, they would become as one dome. This was especially true when force fields replaced the physical domes, which was the long-range plan.
The second dome was ten times larger than the first, encompassing 10 square miles where the first dome was only one square mile in size. At this point, they made their first pause. With this significant size increase, they had to be sure that everything would perform as planned. After a week of monitoring the new dome, they found that the results were well within the limits of the various measurements they were using to make sure it was viable. During the week, while they waited for the results from the dome’s monitoring, Kirlin and Jenore awakened an additional 25 Martians from stasis. The newly-revived Martians were surprised about the domes and the plans to make their planet habitable again, but they were also eager to start. After the first week’s monitoring brought its positive results, the 25 Martians were relocated into the new dome. Thus
began another week of supervision with the Martians inhabiting the new dome. At the end of this second week of monitoring, they had achieved results that were once again within the limits that had been set for the dome’s environment. The Martians living in the dome all gave positive reports with only minor issues experienced by a few.