MARS: Renaissance

by Matthew Ellis

  The bids came in fast and furiously until the lander sold for $179,000. The group was a little nervous, as the starting bid was far below the final price.

  Scout said, “Well, that sucks. The asking price was tons below what it sold for. Hopefully everyone’s tapped by the time that the big ships come up for auction.”

  Kathy said, “Maybe no one will bid on the one we want.”

  Jordan said, “That never happens. Every time I’ve ever wanted something in one of these auctions, fifty other people want the same thing.”

  Scout said, “Well, let’s just watch until our ship comes up for sale.”

  The auction went on for another two hours before the “Exploration” came up for auction. The trio went and had lunch in the snack bar while they waited for their item’s auction. They kept their eyes on the monitors the entire time to make sure that they didn’t miss their ship. They had to be physically present at the pavement to make a bid on any item available for sale, so they made sure not to get too comfortable at the snack bar. The group had just returned to their seats when the ship they wanted came up for sale.

  Scout said, “This is it! Now do not go above $1,000,000. If it gets above that price, we’ll try for the other one.”

  Jordan said, “Agreed.”

  The auctioneer waited for the ship to be wheeled to a position thirty feet behind him before he began the bidding.

  He said, “Nine hundred thousand is the starting bid on this unit. Do I have an offer?”

  Jordan raised his marker.

  “One taker, now at 910, anyone?” asked the auctioneer.

  Another marker was raised.

  “Now at 920, any takers?” continued the auctioneer.

  Jordan raised his marker again, hoping that it would be the last time he would need to raise his hand.

  “Now at 925, do I have any bids?”

  A third marker was raised.

  “Bid at 925, now 950, any takers?”

  Jordan raised his marker yet again, now feeling nervous as the price continued to increase. He could feel this slipping away.

  “Now at 950, do I have 960?”

  Another marker went up in the air.

  “Nine sixty do I have 975?”

  Jordan cautiously raised his marker, and began to pray that the others would not want to continue the bidding war.

  “Now at 975, can you give me 990?”

  Another marker shot up into the air.

  “Exploration now at 990, can anyone do one million?”

  Jordan raised the marker for the final time on this item. The limit was $1,000,000, so he couldn’t go higher.

  The auctioneer said, “I have one million, can anyone give one point one?”

  Another marker went up, and the group fell flat as their hopes for the “Exploration” were crushed. The bidding continued until the final selling price was reached. It finally sold for $2,200,000. That was more than their entire ship budget. The winning bid came from The Virgin Galactic Corporation. Their last hope was the second ship, the “Renaissance.”

  The ship looked to be in better shape than the “Exploration” was in, so the group figured that this would be an exercise in futility. The ship was in position and the auctioneer began the bidding again.

  “This ships minimum bid is $950,000, do I have any takers?”

  Jordan raised his marker without the vigor that he had raised it in the previous auction.

  “I have 950, do I have 960?”

  Another marker went up, with even less enthusiasm.

  “How about 970?” the auctioneer said, trying to create some excitement.

  Jordan raised his marker again.

  “Do I have 980?”

  Something remarkable happened at this point. No one else bid on the ship. Not a single marker went up. Scout, Kathy and Jordan had won the ship.

  “Nine eighty going once,”

  No one moved. The tension in the air was thick.

  “Going twice,”

  Still nothing happened. They could sense it happening.

  Then the auctioneer said, “Sold for $980,000. Go see the cashier to pay for your purchase, and congratulations.”

  The three members of the Mars team walked over to the cashier. Jordan presented her with his bankcard to pay for the ship. The purchase of the “Renaissance” only took 70% of their budget, so there would still be plenty of money for repairs and upgrades. Scout kissed Kathy to celebrate the temporary victory. They walked over to the ship to inspect it.

  Five minutes into the inspection, Jordan had found no immediate damage to the ship. Kathy also inspected the ship and found no significant damage. It looked as though the ship was in pristine condition. Jordan arranged to have the ship hangared at his secret location in New Mexico.

  Jordan asked Scout, “Doesn’t it seem odd to you that no one bid on this nearly perfect ship?”

  Scout replied, “It did seem strange that such a good ship went unwanted when the earlier ship sold for so much.”

  Kathy said, “Yeah, but it was just you and one other guy bidding for the first one, and I’m pretty sure he was tapped out after his purchase.”

  Jordan said, “It can’t be that simple. Something is going on with this ship, and I intend to find out what it is.”

  Kathy replied, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” in an angry, threatening tone.

  Scout said, “Jordan, I think you’d better drop this one. Just accept that it happened and be happy.”

  Jordan said, “Okay, boss.”

  Since the group was already at the auction, they decided to hang around and wait for the satellites to come up for bids in the second half. It began forty minutes after the first half ended, so it wouldn’t start for a while.

  While they waited, Scout and Kathy slipped away for a few moments alone. Scout wanted to discuss something very important with Kathy, and she wanted to be alone with her boyfriend. The couple went to a secluded area of the lobby near the registration desk. No one was around since the registration deadline had already passed.

  Scout told Kathy, “I have something I want to ask you.”

  Kathy responded, “Really? What’s up, babe?”

  Scout said, “I want to ask you something that’s been burning on my mind for a while.”

  Kathy had no idea what Scout had on his mind. They had only known each other for a few weeks, so nothing had been too serious so far. Scout reached into his pocket and pulled out a box.

  He opened the box and said, “Will you marry me, Kathy?” as he placed a ring on her finger.

  “Of course I will,” replied Kathy as tears streamed down her face. She had no idea that Scout had become that serious about her. She’d been serious about him since before the rally.

  They kissed each other, and then realized that the auction was about to begin. They found Jordan and took their seats.

  The first satellite was an old Russian model used for surveillance during the war. The starting bid was only $200, so the group decided to try their luck on it. The auctioneer started the bidding, and no one put a bid forward at $200, so the auctioneer dropped the price to $150. Scout raised his marker, and the auctioneer immediately declared him the winner of that auction. Scout called a runner over to his seat to take his information to the cashier, because he wasn’t finished bidding.

  The next four satellites were junk, and Scout knew there was absolutely nothing he could do with them just by looking at them. They looked like they’d fallen out of the sky and crashed into a mountain, so the group passed on all four.

  The fifth one, however, was magnificent. It sparkled in the sunlight, and it looked new. The asking bid was a little high at $10,000, but the group needed a satellite like this one. It was a communications satellite. The auctioneer started the bidding.

  He said, “We have a communications satellite from ten years ago, with very little use. It was replaced shortly after it was launched, as it was obsolete within nine months. We’ll start the bidd
ing at $10,000.”

  Scout raised his marker.

  The auctioneer said, “We have the opening bid. Can we get ten five?”

  A second marker was raised.

  “Eleven?”

  Scout raised his marker again.

  “Twelve?”

  No one else bid on the communications satellite, so Scout won it for $11,000. He was happy that his equipment was beginning to fall into place, but the price was getting a little steep. The budget for satellites had not even been discussed, but he had always intended to use his reserve funding to purchase them.

  The next few satellites that came up for auction didn’t interest Scout, so he didn’t bother to bid on them. They were mostly more of what he already had, and most of them were more expensive and not in as good repair as the two he already had. When he finally saw two satellites he needed, he bid on them until he won. He spent a total of $25,000 on satellites that day, which he thought was a great investment in the mission. The group would be able to accomplish the mission much more easily with the satellites he selected. At the end of the auction, the sun had just set and the group headed back to Scout’s kitchen.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Satellites

  The group had acquired enough supplies to start placing things in Martian orbit. The first things they needed to launch were satellites. They had four satellites that they purchased at the auction when they purchased the ship. The team loaded the satellites in a trailer that they rented, and headed for the spaceport in New Mexico. They would stop in Albuquerque to pick up the ship. They had a large truck to tow the ship to the spaceport waiting for them. The drive to Albuquerque took about twenty-six hours.

  When they arrived at the Albuquerque International Sunport, the ship was waiting near the hangar for them. On board the ship was the android, who would pilot the ship. The group loaded the satellites onto the ship.

  The journey to Mars would take about six months at maximum speed. The maximum speed of this vessel without any modifications was about 54,000 kilometers per hour. With proper modernization, the craft would be capable of travelling at twice that speed. The crew finished loading and inspected the ship, and then drove to the spaceport 200 miles south of Albuquerque.

  When they arrived at the spaceport, the android was taken out of the box. Kathy programmed him to pilot the ship and report to the group. He was to pilot the ship to Mars, then set the satellites in orbit around the planet. Then he would establish a link with those satellites and return to Earth. Once home, he would be given his next set of instructions.

  The android was switched on, and released to do his job. He walked to the cockpit and took his seat at the helm. This would be his only test. If he worked properly, he would be used for more missions. If not, the mission would surely fail. The entire mission was now in the hands of an artificial intelligence.

  Jordan told Scout, “I hope that General Rich leaves us alone. I don’t want to deal with him today.”

  Scout said, “I’ve taken care of that.”

  Jordan asked, “How’d you manage that?”

  Scout said, “You’re not the only one in the group who understands covert operations.”

  Jordan said, “Oh?”

  Scout said, “I had those Iranians you brought from your last mission stage a terrorist attack near the army base in Eugene. That should keep Rich busy for a while.”

  Jordan said, “You mean you put our own people in danger to protect the rest of us? That’s not how we do things.”

  Scout said, “Relax. It was their idea. I explained the situation with General Rich to them, and they came up with the idea. It seems to have worked like a charm. As you can see, there is no military presence here.”

  Jordan said, “Well, then, you and the Iranians are all geniuses.”

  Scout said, “Anyone can be a genius if given the opportunity.”

  The members of the group that gathered for the launch watched as the ship shot down the runway. It was accelerating at the incredible rate of 50 kilometers per second per second. The ship took off just nine seconds after starting down the runway. At takeoff, the ship’s speed was 450 kilometers per second. Once in the air, the craft accelerated even faster. In the air, it could gain 100 kilometers per second per second. It was out of the Earth’s atmosphere within a minute, and circled the Earth once for gravity’s assistance. Then it shot off toward Mars at maximum speed.

  The people on the ground hoped that the ship would make it to Mars without any major malfunction. They could only track it until it reached the halfway point between the two planets. After that, the ship was on its own until it launched the satellites. The core members of the group returned to the highway and drove toward Portland. The drive back to Oregon was silent and pensive. They were all nervous about the ship. They wondered if it would be lost in transit between Earth and Mars, or if their android would prove his mettle.

  Upon arriving in Portland, the crew retreated to the “office” to begin planning the next stage of the mission. They needed to figure out how to send the robots and the nuclear bomb to Mars, along with the supplies to create a spaceport and the beginnings of a town.

  The ship hurtled through space at 54,000 kilometers per hour. The distance to Mars from Earth is approximately 154,000,000 kilometers on average. The trip should take the android no more than six months at maximum speed. The android did not have the ability to speak, but reasoning was part of his programming. He could have been upgraded for an additional $25,000, but the group saw no reason for the android to speak just yet. This portion of the mission would rely heavily on text messages from the android to the core members and satellite transmissions telling them where the ship was.

  Over the course of the next three months, the group monitored the progress of the ship with great interest. They needed to know that everything was going according to the plan. Up until day 92, that was easy because of the beacon on board the ship. On day 93, however, the signal stopped as the ship had passed out of range of their receivers. They no longer had any contact with either the ship or the android. The ship continued to follow the route, but only the android had any idea where it was.

  The android continued on its mission once it lost contact with the group. It had been told where to go and how to get there. It had to make minor course corrections to avoid debris in space and to make sure that the cosmic electric and solar circuits were constantly flooded with the particles they needed to produce power for the ship. If the android had been a human, it would have been terribly bored on the journey. But it was a machine and had no concept of boredom. It only had its programming.

  For the next ten weeks, the core members tried to spot the ship in their high-powered telescopes. They looked for the highly reflective solar panels and cosmic electric circuits attached to the ship to see it in space. They could see that the ship was well on its way to Mars. Any day now, they would be able to re-establish communication with the ship when the satellites were launched and linked with the satellites in Earth’s orbit.

  The next two weeks passed slowly. When the android arrived in Martian orbit, it left the cockpit and activated the gravity circuits on the ship. It walked to the first satellite and programmed it to take up a high Mars orbit at 900 kilometers above the surface. This would be the first communications satellite. The android activated the satellite’s circuits and opened the launch door. He then guided the satellite into orbit and verified that the satellite moved into orbit. Once the android was certain that the first satellite was working, it turned its attention to the second one. The second satellite was to take up a position on the opposite side of the first one, so that the colonists would always be able to communicate. The android programmed the satellite to Scout’s specifications, and when the ship was in place, it launched the second satellite. The second launch also went smoothly. At this point, communications were established with Earth satellites, and the colonists would soon receive data from the ship and the android.

  E
ight minutes after the first satellite took up its orbit, communications with Earth resumed. There is an eight-minute delay because Mars is eight light minutes from Earth. Scout and Kathy kissed when they received the first transmissions from Mars. For the next few hours, the core members of the group watched the data with great anxiety, hoping that nothing would go wrong with this phase of the mission.

  The android set its attention to the third satellite, a weather and mapping satellite. It would give the colonists the ability to predict the weather. They would also be able to plan their zoning decisions. The third satellite also had communications capabilities in case the need ever arose. The android programmed the satellite the same way it had programmed the first two, and launched it without any problem. It was working within six seconds of taking up its orbit.

  The final satellite was for local communications and energy transfer. It would take cosmic rays and solar rays and convert them to power, then transfer the power to a receiving station on the surface. All four satellites were now functioning the way they were programmed. The android was nearly finished.

  Back on Earth, the core members watched the data stream and were relieved that nothing had gone wrong. The data stream suddenly read, “Now activating SAT weapons.”

  Scout asked, “What weapons are on the satellites? I didn’t put any weapons on the satellites.”

  Jordan said, “I’m sorry, sir. That’s my fault. I was concerned that anyone who disagreed with us either in our premise, our escape from Earth, or our claim to Mars would come and try to sabotage the equipment before we got a chance to use it.”

  Bob said, “You can’t make unilateral decisions like that. You especially can’t do it when they contradict our peaceful nature.

  Scout said, “It’s okay, Bob. Jordan, you’re promising me that those weapons are only for defense. They are in no way set to fire on investigating craft?"

  Jordan said, “They’re purely defensive. They’ll only fire if they detect weapons either being fired or charged.”