The Man Who Sold Mars

by K Anderson Yancy

  Laughing we went back to work.

  Tatyana continued. ”If they leave substantially earlier with the Stolen Prometheus their actual transit would be longer, they’ll have a greater distance to travel because of the relative orbits, and they'll need more food and related life-support items, and this will increase their weight and reduce their speed.”

  George added. “Not much. But somewhat. The greater distance and longer transit are the greatest problems.”

  I explained. “The physics is complicated and simple. “It’s a paradox of sorts. For us, leaving later under these parameters guarantees a shorter trip and earlier arrival.

  “The planets don’t follow circular orbits around the Sun; they’re actually travelling in ellipses, like two cars travelling at different speeds on two different racetracks.

  “Sometimes they’re at their closest point to the Sun, a perihelion, and at other times they’re at the furthest point from the Sun, aphelion. To get the closest point between Earth and Mars, you need to imagine a situation where Earth and Mars are located on the same side of the Sun. Furthermore, you want a situation where Earth is at aphelion, at its most distant point from the Sun, and Mars is at perihelion, the closest point to the Sun. Under this optimal situation, the minimum distance from Earth to Mars is about 54.6 million kilometers. The farthest apart they can be is about 401 million km and the average distance is about 225 million km.

  “So, the greater the distance between the two. The longer the transit.”

  Tot was optimistic we could use physics to our advantage. “We have an advantage in that we can launch earlier and with reduced weight and by allowing longer burn times on the boosters we can use all this for a speed advantage over the S-Prometheus.”

  I added. “Plus our engines will be much, much faster. They don’t know we’re coming. So they won’t redesign the engineering plant for greater speed.”

  Tatyana made a note. “I’ll put our propulsion people on that.”

  Gardner asked. “How much of a staff do we have?”

  I grinned. “Probably all. I’m going to double the salaries of all who come to work for us on our “new venture” and given them a year’s signing bonus.

  “Quadruple their salaries if you have too”. George smiled. “That will bring our talent back to us where they belong and put our usurpers even further behind.” And he made a more than valid point. “But preventing us from launching is an option they have and I have no doubt they will consider it when they become aware of our plans.”

  I’d thought about that too. “We will not show our hand in advance. So, we’ll launch robotic mining missions of the same payload and shape as our Prometheus to the Moon.”

  Gardner saw where I was going. “Set up a regular schedule of launches—“

  And so did Tot, “And one day one will be irregular in payload.”

  And Kevin, “Precisely.”

  George expressed a major concern, “Those are huge payloads for the moon and too easy for them to see we’re not using them or using most of them.”

  Selena too was wary, “They’ll suspect something.”

  I wasn’t worried, “We’ll find a public reason. A massive mining operation on the dark side of the moon.”

  Hemmingson’s voice came from one of the papers. “Sorry, but the dark side of the moon is off limits. That’s where the aliens are who told us we couldn’t come back until 2025. I’ll tell you more later.”

  We laughed.

  “I’m serious.”

  We laughed some more and Hemmingson went back to “work” and so did we.

  Tot grinned, loving the challenges of the project and overcoming them. “With the lunar launches, we can work out the kinks in the booster system. We can reconfigure some of the massive Soviet 100 megaton solid propellant Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles for booster rockets. They’re all over the place and in pretty decent condition. We can use a more powerful liquid propellant. The old U.S. space shuttle boosters may be an option too. They’re selling them for salvage and giving them away to museums. And the technology to make both are readily available if needed. We have so much to do and so little time.”

  I was more than confident we could do it. “Rome wasn’t built in a day. But it could be.”

  George held up his glass to toast and we joined him.

  “Cheers.”

  Along with Hemmingson and his friends. “Cheers”

  We all laughed.

  Tot was loving this so much, she was glowing, and looking for more, “In time, we’ll develop our own heavy boosters—“

  And Kevin, “And a space station.”

  And Gardner, “With shuttles and a dock.”

  Hemmingson spoke from a paper, “Don’t forget hotels”

  I asked, “Hotels?” realizing that was the answer as the word left my mouth.

  Hemmingson’s voice moved to a paper in front of Selena, “We need to shore up, well boost our share prices. They took a tumble.”

  She answered him back, “Like us.”

  Hemingson continued. “Yep. We need to get back in the news in a good way. And we need to explain why we’re sending tremendous amounts of material to the “light side” of the moon.”

  Kevin saw the future and was loving it. “Lunar tourism.”

  And Gardner, “Can you imagine how much Hilton would pay to manage the first hotel on the moon?”

  George added. “Or Hyatt, Marriott, Nikko, Microsoft, McDonald’s and Google for that matter.”

  Hemmingson spoke from a paper in front of Tot, “And how much people would pay to go? Hey Tot. I don’t know why. But every time I see you, I always think of milk.”

  She laughed, “Funny.” and her laughter joined all the waitresses now sitting and drinking away with Hemmingson and his two new friends.

  Kevin was mentally doing the math, “They’re paying over $20 million just to ride into space”?

  Selena made a very good point, “And there’s the ocean too. We can build the prototype for the first lunar hotel on the ocean floor.”

  Hemmingson was seeing his paradise. “Include a casino and some two legged entertainment.”

  The Asian waitress said through a paper, “Just two.”

  Hemmingson corrected himself, “I mean four. Math was not my strong suit. BUT!!! I once did it with this woman who had no legs. That was—“

  I cut him off. “Mr. Hemmingson. We’re empire building right now.”

  “Oh, sorry.”

  “Not a problem.”

  Gardner’s wheels were spinning, “And we’ll have two of the trendiest hot spots in the world.”

  Tot joked, “And out of it.”

  And we and the papers laughed.

  Hemmingson said from a paper in front of Selena. “OK. We are back to normal. Let’s do this—Hey Selena. I meant to mention earlier. You’re glowing. You have that look like you’ve been freshly fu—“

  Blushing she crumpled the paper and brushed it onto the floor and we lost his words as they rustled to the ground, but we all knew what they were.

  From another paper on the table, as well as the one on the floor we heard Hemmingson. “Hey, Selena. Burgundy. Yum”

  She turned beat red, slammed her legs shut, stood up, and picked up the paper from the floor in front of her as we struggled to keep our laughter in.

  Playing but not, she said. “I think somebody’s back to abnormal.”

  Hemmingson laughed and we joined him.

  21. Young Sea Resources

  An Anchor sat in the Bloomberg News studio, talking to the audience while airing video displaying computer generated prototypes of Young Sea Resources’, YSeR, mineral harvesting techniques, equipment, and infrastructure.

  “Young Stellar Resources’ stocks were buoyed by its announcement of the formation of its subsidiary, Young Sea Resources. The division will not only be charged with exploration of the seas’ mineral wealth, it will develop large scale aquaculture farms and undersea resorts. For more o
n the subject we go to Erica Dalby.”

  The camera moved through an impoverished New York City neighborhood stopping at the steps of PS 32 Samuel Mills Sprole where Selena, looking classic, beautiful, and regal addressed the press before her. On the video below her a caption read, “Selena Luce Board of Directors YSeR, Young Sea Resources”.

  Erica Dalby, reporting, mic in hand told her audience, “Today, at what was formally New York City’s PS 32, Public School 32 Samuel Mills Sprole School, YSR made announcements continuing to demonstrate the resiliency and resolve that has made it the darling of Wall Street.”

  On cue, Selena beamed and spoke, “Harrah’s Casinos resorts will manage, Young Sea Resources’, YSeR’s first undersea resort.”

  Video played of architectural renderings and a computer generated model of the Harrah’s Casino Resort complex as it would appear underwater, lit by multi-colored lighting, amidst a wealth of aquatic life, submerged attractions, divers working and playing and submarines of various types and sizes from individual subs, cruise subs, tugs, utility, supply, large military, . . .arriving, offloading, onloading, playing, . . . departing.

  Selena continued, “Young Sea Resources’, YSeR’s Kamilla will be the ultimate playground of the rich and famous. An opulent 100 room casino. The most exclusive place under the stars and seas. Young Stellar Resources’, YSR’s, first lunar resort and casino, Luna Prime, is expected to be completed within a year of Kamilla.”

  Video played of architectural renderings and a computer generated model of the Luna Prime casino resort complex as it would appear, lit by multi-colored prismatic lighting, amidst various attractions, space suited clad people working and playing and various types, of surface and aerial vehicles arriving, offloading, onloading, playing, . . . departing.”

  A news correspondent asked Selena, “Why would you make such an announcement amidst one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in New York City?”

  Selena grinned, “I’d like to tell you, but then Stephen Young would have nothing to say at his press conference inside.”

  Video played, showing me standing on the elementary school stage with a large scale model of my sea resort on one side and my lunar resort on the other. In the front row, the other players of YSR, looking dignified, Selena, Tot, George, Kevin, Gardner and even Hemmingson who as monogamous as he could possibly be was sitting book ended by his Asian and European princesses who’d long ago gone from waitresses to sugar babies.

  I addressed the audience, “The stars and the seas are our destinations. These children are our future. The resorts are our first step to playing in the oceans and stars. Not much later we will begin living there with permanent colonies. All of this ties into why I’m here today to award Jeannette Jones a four year all expenses paid scholarship to the university of her choice, followed by the graduate program of her choice for providing the name of our launch complex from which, we will develop our lunar enterprise. She and her classmates near and extended provided a number of excellent choices, but we thought hers was the most appropriate. It’s your turn Jeannette.”

  Jeannette Jones, a very shy school girl walked up to the front of the auditorium, joining me.

  A news correspondent on the stage near me held a mic to young Ms. Jones, “Jeannette, please tell us your winning name.”

  She blushed and said, “Eden. Because that’s where we all came from.”

  I applauded and everyone joined me.

  Amidst the applause I presented her with a gigantic certificate nearly as long as she was tall, evidencing her award and the applause thundered. Blushing uncontrollably the girl accepted it, shook my hand and nearly ran off the stage.

  Grinning I continued, “Today, Jeannette Jones made all her classmates a winner. The New York City school board has allowed me to adopt and like Jeannette Jones rename her school. It is now, Young Stellar Resource’s PS 32 Samuel Mills Sprole School.”

  The audience applauded.

  “If we wanted to, Young Stellar Resources could have its name plastered on stadiums around the world where wealthy athletes and entertainers perform for billions whom can afford the ticket prices. But these children truly are our future. They are a resource to be developed just like the seas and stars. Excuse me. They are a very precious resource to be developed even more so than the seas and stars. They are a commitment that I hope our corporate brothers and sisters will join in as they adopt schools of their own. And like YSR, join our pledge to continually put our resources into this school and neighborhood and a plethora of others world-wide to ensure that whatever star these children reach for, be it literal or figurative, they will grasp it and in turn reach for others beyond it.”

  The audience exploded with more applause.

  22. The Indian Complex

  Over the coast of India, helicopter rotor blades in flight, reverberated in the sky as a helicopter emblazoned with the YSR insignia skimmed over the waters of India’s coast, approaching its shoreline where a massive compound was unfolding at an amazing pace.

  In the helicopter, George sat up front in the co-pilot’s chair and I sat in the back with Sunny while we surveyed the unfurling construction of our Young Sea Resources headquarters, as the pilot maneuvered the craft over this domain.

  Sunny joking and serious said, “It’s about time you corrected your oversight and moved your operations to India.”

  George making mental notes of things he saw and needed to address later answered, “We moved some of them. Sea architecture, harvesting—“

  I added, “Farming, mining, - extra terrestrial architecture.”

  George explained that the, “Capital markets and issues of credibility dictated that the operations begin in the US.”

  Sunny proud of his nation smiled, “Now those same issues bring you here.”

  George nodded, “That and more.”

  I noted a structure nearly completed that should not have been for months. I was very pleased we were way ahead of schedule. “Sunny, you turn out more engineers in a day than other countries do in a year.”

  George glanced at the time on his watch, “We’re also tapping into the same pools in Eastern Europe, Romania, Hungary, The Ukraine, the Philippines, Thailand, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Central and South America in general.”

  Sunny knew what our agenda was, “Well educated populations where money buys more in intellect and investments in infrastructure.”

  I confirmed his words, “Precisely. This is the headquarters of our sea and lunar operations. The Philippines our command and control center.

  George saw something he wanted to get a better look at. He turned to the pilot. “May I?” The pilot nodded yes and George took the controls and flew us off in a new direction. “We’ve licensed Russian space shuttle technology to build a fleet of shuttles so we can build our own space station and space dry docks.”

  I told him, “We’ve contracted through the US shuttle prime contractor to build our shuttles in Russia. Granted, the US shuttle program is antiquated, but it worked and it would unnecessarily delay us to wait until the shuttles we designed were tested and made operational.”

  George placed us in hover over an inlet from the sea we’d incorporated into the complexes design and spoke while studying the ground below. “We gave them a blank check to incorporate all the advanced shuttle technology they wanted to in the US shuttle program, but couldn’t due to government bureaucracy.”

  Sunny’s eyes widened, “Blank check? That’s dangerous.”

  I winked, “Blank check in the corporate sense.”

  He laughed, “Oh you mean one cent on ten thousand government dollars.”

  George and I joined him in laughter, “Exactly.”

  Then George continued, “Besides, we’re still buying controlling interest in all our vendors so essentially we’ll get the money back.”

  Proud of his nation, Sunny said, “Here in India, you’ll make—“

  Equally proud of all we’d done, George and I finished Sunny’s
words, “History.”

  23. Private Military Company ( PMC )

  In our YSR’s Philippine’s Corporate offices, Dennis Bert of The Private Military Company sat discussing grave issues with us in his South African accent. “Thank you for the opportunity to do business with you again. “

  Sincere, I spoke. “Your work for us during our last venture was more than appreciated.”

  “Yes, we saw that from the size of the bonus you gave us. Thank you again.”

  “You’re welcome. As you know, the US and other governments took something from us of extreme value. That will not happen again by any government, anyone or anything.”

  “Not with us providing security.”

  “I know.”

  Dennis removed some binders from his catalog bag and distributed them to us. “Let’s review the plan I submitted to you earlier. At every one of your facilities we’ll have heavy infantry units composed of special ops forces based on the size of the nearest credible threats. Of course we will monitor military movements in those areas and provide additional troops as a preemptive measure when necessary.”

  “Good.”

  “For your large scale production and launch facilities we’ll establish a large defensive barrier between the facility and possible aggressors, so that combat operations if needed take place safely outside of your facility. In those areas, we’ll also provide fighter jets, transport and assault helicopters, patrol missile boats and any other tactical armament necessary.”

  Gardner rapidly looked through his binder searching for something. “How much is this going to cost?”

  I answered for Dennis. “Much. But unfortunately, it’s as necessary as ACCO Fasteners and Xerox copiers.”

  Selena disagreed. “Do you think all this is really necessary? The US Government and the other governments are going to pay us.”

  Kevin shook his head no. “Eventually, after a ten year legal battle.”

  Hemmingson laughed. “It won't take that long. Believe me. The powers that be, realize that we are a power "that be" making them pay in more than just money. I've been scorching earths like crazy. And those still standing want to settle for BIG dollars before I get to them.”