MARS: Renaissance

by Matthew Ellis

  Scout said, “They’d better be, because I’ll throw you out on your ear if you’ve betrayed us.”

  Jordan said, “I would never betray you like that. I should’ve come to you first, but I needed to do this.”

  Scout said, “I appreciate your concern for the group, but I ‘m in charge. You will run all decisions by me in the future, is that understood?”

  Jordan said, “Yes, sir, it is.”

  Scout said, “This happens to be an area where I agree with Jordan. We can’t be defenseless if we’re attacked. From now on, all of our ships and outposts will be armed.”

  Bob said, “But we’re peaceful people. You’re inviting war among our ranks.”

  Scout replied, “No, I’m not. I’m just being realistic. There’s some evil people who want to bring chaos, harm, and destruction to everything they don’t understand. We need to be prepared for those people. We can’t leave ourselves defenseless.”

  Jordan said, “I knew that we needed to, but from now on I won’t do anything without your approval.”

  Scout said, “I appreciate that.”

  The android prepared the laser weapons on the satellites to fire a test shot at the surface. The android moved the ship to a position where it could safely observe the test fire. The laser fired, and struck the surface, leaving a mark visible to the android from the ship. His message to the group said, “Test successful.”

  The group received the message eight minutes after the android sent it. They sent a return transmission to the android that read,

  “Return to Earth and await farther instructions.”

  The android set a course for Earth and began the return journey. He was able to communicate with the home base in Oregon for the entire journey, as the satellites were now in constant contact with each other.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Water

  Scout and Kathy drove from Portland to join Jordan at the shore in Washington. They had never been on a ship before, and both were nervous about sailing into open water. Jordan, however, had been on many ships during his time in the army. He had traveled the world not only by air, but also by Navy ship. After Jordan retired from the army, he bought a former crab boat so that he could continue to travel the world. He had been tempted to sell the boat to help finance the mission, but he was encouraged to keep it so that he group could harvest water and fish.

  Kathy told Scout, “I’m nervous and excited. I’ve never been out on the water before, so this is exciting. But I’m so scared to be on a boat. What if something goes wrong?”

  Scout replied, “I feel the same way. I ‘m terrified to go out there, but I feel like I need to experience this. Maybe this experience is just what we need to prepare our minds for the long journey into space and into the unknown on Mars.”

  Kathy said, “I hope so, because I don’t want to be afraid for no reason.”

  They continued to drive down the highway toward the ocean. As they drove, they continued to talk about how their lives would change once on Mars. They talked about how they would be the first people to ever live on a planet other than Earth, and also that they would be married.

  Scout said, “Are you more excited about going to Mars, or about getting married?”

  Kathy said, “They’re both adventures. I don’t think I can answer the question for sure.”

  Scout said, “I can’t wait to marry you. I love you so much that I want to begin our life together. I also want to be the first people to get married on Mars.”

  Kathy said, “Why are you so determined to wait until we get to Mars?”

  Scout said, “Because I don’t want anything to get in the way of the mission. People may be less inclined to participate if they think I’m distracted.”

  Kathy said, “And you think that I’m a distraction?”

  Scout said, “No, I didn’t say that.”

  Kathy said, “Then what did you say, because I think you just said that I’m in your way.”

  Scout said, “No, that’s not what I said,” as his voice became uneven and raspy.

  Kathy said, “If you don’t want to marry me, just say so. I could’ve taken a rejection a lot better than I can take you leading me on.”

  Scout’s temper was beginning to get away from him. He loved Kathy, but this conversation was really making him angry. He wanted to marry her, but he was completely focused on the mission until its completion. He could not find a way to tell her this without hurting her feelings.

  Scout said, “I love you, and I do want to marry you. I just want to get to Mars first. Do you understand?”

  Kathy said, “So Mars is more important to you than I am?”

  Scout told her truly, “I am saying that. It’s not that I don’t love you, it’s that I love mankind more.”

  Kathy said, “Why didn’t you just tell me that in the first place?”

  Scout said, “Because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

  Kathy said, “Well, that backfired.”

  They continued on to the coast and made up from their tiff. In about ten minutes, they reached the ocean and the waiting ship.

  Jordan greeted them once they reached the port where the boat was docked. It was a former crab boat, and was double hulled for strength. It was 44 meters long and 15 meters wide. It was ten meters tall and its hold capacity was 300,000 kilograms. That meant that each trip could handle about 170,000 liters of water.

  Jordan said, “Welcome to the Mars. How cool is the name I gave this boat?”

  Scout said, “Why does everyone feel the need to be cute with all the names?”

  Jordan replied, “Because the mission is so serious that I feel the need to break up the tension. This is a lot of stress.”

  Scout then asked, “Where’d you get this boat?”

  Jordan answered, “It’s an old crab boat. It has a huge hold, and is designed to hold massive amounts of water and crab.”

  Scout said, “So that means that we should have absolutely no problem pumping water into the holding tanks.”

  Jordan said, “There should be no problems there unless the holds fail. This is an old ship, so I’m not going to rule that out.”

  Kathy asked, “How are we going to get the water into the holds from the sea?”

  Jordan replied, “We have an industrial water pump installed on the deck where the crane used to be. So we’ll lower that huge hose in the corner into the ocean and pump water from the ocean into the holds through the pump.”

  He pointed to the rubber hose that was attached to the pump. It was one meter wide, and sitting in a coil five meters tall and four meters wide. It was attached to the pump on both sides, with the short side leading to the cargo holds and longer end leading into the sea.

  Scout said, “So you named the ship ‘Mars’ to break up the stress, huh?”

  Jordan replied, “We’re all under extreme pressure here, so I felt the need to break up the tension.”

  Kathy said, “Yeah, I know. We’re all about to crack. This is harder than I expected it to be.”

  Scout said, “I never said that this would be easy. This has never been done before for a reason. It’s hard, and it takes a lot of work to pull it off.”

  Jordan replied, “Especially when laws on Earth make it ten times harder than it really needs to be.”

  Kathy said, “But if it wasn’t for Earth’s ridiculous laws and the money-profit system, then we wouldn’t even need to go to Mars.”

  Scout said, “That’s right. It’s the business of money that’s making us seek an alternate life, or at least some relief.”

  Jordan said, “I hope that the General hasn’t been tipped off.”

  Scout said, “If he has, then we’ll evade him just like we always do. We can’t allow ourselves to get so caught up in worrying about one prick and his minions that we can’t do our job.”

  Jordan replied, “I don’t think you know how evil that man is. He’ll do anything to ensure our failure.”

  Scout said,
“All men are evil. It’s our very nature. We’re all selfish and do only what is in our own interests. The General is no exception.”

  Jordan said, “Well, just to give us some insurance, I’ve installed three canons on the boat.”

  Kathy said, “But we’re not violent people.”

  Scout said, “A very wise precaution. I hope we don’t need to use them.”

  Jordan said, “So do I.”

  Scout said, “Besides, we’re not doing anything illegal that he can legally arrest or kill us for. The water in the sea is free for the taking. The government and the corporations figure it’s useless, so they haven’t bothered to claim it yet. Moving it around is perfectly legal, too.”

  Jordan said, “I’m pretty sure that taking fish out of the water is illegal.”

  Scout replied, “Only if we get caught. I think that we’ll need tons of food for the long trip. Fish is easy to freeze and process.”

  Kathy asked, “Does that mean that we’re going to be stealing fish on this trip?”

  Scout said, “I have a fishing license, so we’re not stealing. We’ll just ignore the bag limit.”

  Jordan asked, “How many fish can we catch legally?”

  Scout answered, “About fifteen.”

  Kathy asked, “How many do you figure that we’ll catch?”

  Jordan said, “The amount of water we’re going to carry will hold about five thousand fish.”

  Scout said, “Like I said, it’s only illegal if we get caught.”

  The trio then boarded the ship and pulled up the anchor. Jordan activated the boat’s engines and began to navigate out of the harbor. The journey to free water took about twenty minutes.

  Jordan informed Scout that they had reached the boundary of the privately owned waters and the free water. Scout told Jordan to continue for another two kilometers just to make sure that they didn’t attract any attention while pumping the water onto the boat. Jordan obeyed.

  Jordan said, “Okay, Scout, we’re about seven kilometers from the shore. All of this water is free for the taking.”

  Scout said, “Drop the hose into the sea.”

  Kathy and Jordan dropped the hose over the side of the ship where the rail had been located when the boat had been a crab boat. Scout went to the pump and turned it on once the hose was submerged in the ocean. Water began to flow up, through the pump, and eventually into the holding tanks. The tanks began to fill with ocean water only seconds after the pump was activated. The group needed to gather fish for processing, so the hose had a filter to screen out small and medium sized marine life. The fish were sent to a processing tank, and the other life forms were put back into the water. The pump had a similar filter that ejected any foreign objects from it. As the water came into the holding tanks, small snails and plankton were ejected just above the holding tanks. Any other small life forms, most of which are invisible to the naked eye, were seen as beneficial to the mission as they would give Mars a beginning for life. These included algae, some bacteria, and other tiny life forms. These life forms were allowed to remain in the water. The filling of the tanks took about six hours, and by the time they were done, the sun was down. It was now dark, so no one noticed them anchoring their ship.

  The small crew spent the night in the boat, and it was beneficial to their psyche. They now knew that they could handle the solitude of a ship, and even though it was still on Earth, they got a taste of the emptiness of space. The solitude would be the same, and so would the danger. No one could help them in space, and no one was going to help an unregistered ship.

  They were unaware that the Coast Guard was keeping an eye on them through the night. The Pepsi Corporation was keeping an eye on them from another boat in the distance. They wanted to make sure that the ocean water being taken was only the water that was not owned by The Pepsi Corporation. Jordan noticed the boat in the distance, so he was very careful to only take ocean water. Fortunately, the Star-Kist Corporation was not in the area to notice all of the fish being taken out of the water. Jordan had a valid fishing license, but it only allowed him to take 15 fish out of the water. He was taking thousands. The Coast Guard wasn’t there to enforce the fishing license's bag limit because they had only been informed about the water.

  The next morning they returned to shore. Once docked, they emerged from the ship and began the long process of bottling all of the water into 1000-liter bottles. They filled the bottles and then moved them water onto a forklift. Jordan drove the forklift onto a truck that was waiting at the dock. They continued this process until all of the water had been offloaded from the boat. Then they disembarked and headed for Portland to begin the next phase of the mission.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Programming

  The crew was elated when the android-piloted ship returned to earth one year after it left. Now that the ship had returned, the group needed to make the necessary modifications to the ship to make it faster and able to haul more cargo. It needed to haul several tons of concrete and sheet metal so that the robots could build the buildings on Mars. It also needed to haul many tons of water in order to mix the concrete properly.

  Scout and the rest of the group came to the spaceport in New Mexico when the ship returned to Earth so they could begin modifying the ship. The core plus all of the people who volunteered to help work on the ship were present. These were Scout and Kathy, Bob and Cindy, Jordan, Lane, all four Iranians, and Mark and Leona Black. The Blacks were both doctors who were tired of the way the health care system was designed. They studied medicine to heal and help patients. Mark was a general practice doctor, and Leona was a psychiatrist.

  Once the group had assembled, tensions began to rise. They were afraid that General Rich or his operatives would show up and attempt to stop the work on the ship.

  Jordan told Scout, “I don’t trust this. It’s all going too smoothly.”

  Scout said, “You’re probably just working yourself up over nothing.”

  Jordan said, “I don’t think so. That man already knows about us. He probably has files on us by now.”

  Scout said, “If it makes you feel better, I’ve been following his movements.”

  Jordan asked, “How’d you pull that off?”

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

  Jordan then asked, “What was the General up to at your last check?”

  Scout said, “I have him on a few wild goose chases. Let’s just say that misinformation is easy to create and spread.”

  Jordan said, “The internet is a wonderful tool for those types of missions.”

  Scout said, “General Rich won’t come within 100 miles of New Mexico for the next few weeks.”

  Jordan said, “Another terrorist attack?”

  Scout said, “The Iranians are here. I don’t want to give up all of my secrets. Now, let’s get to work.”

  The first priority for the ship was a major upgrade to the engine. The maximum speed of the ship needed to be doubled. The crew installed the upgraded parts to make the engine more efficient, which resulted in a doubling of the power available for propulsion. The upgrades were straightforward and fairly simple. They were completed in just over four hours with Jordan, Kathy and Lane all working on them together. The maximum speed for the vessel in space was 108,000 kilometers per hour when it was finished.

  The second upgrade involved major additions to the ship’s body. The colonists wanted to increase the cargo capacity by adding two decks. The current design of the ship was a single deck, similar to that of a small airplane. They wanted to add a cargo deck, and living quarters for the crew when the voyage to Mars finally began. The volunteers brought all of the materials they would need to the hangar, and left for the night. The job at hand was too big to complete that day, so they would work on it the next day.

  Scout and Kathy rode together in the truck that Scout always drove. Kathy was falling more in love with Scout with each passing day, and Scout was already dee
ply in love. They enjoyed each other’s company and there was an attraction that transcended the physical. It was as if they were in love with each other’s souls, or at least their minds.

  Scout told Kathy, “I really enjoyed working with everyone today, but I especially liked being with you all day.”

  Kathy replied, “I can’t believe I get to work with the most beautiful man in the world every day.”

  Scout said, “I’m sure you’re exaggerating. There’s a lot of men who look better than me.”

  Kathy said, “Not to me.”

  Scout blushed and said, “Too bad we don’t have time to make out.”

  Kathy said, “Maybe we should talk about work, so that we don’t get too hot.”

  Scout said, “That may be a good idea,” as he wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.

  Kathy said, “I didn’t mean to get you all hot and bothered.”

  Scout said, “You seem to have that effect whether you’re trying or not.”

  Kathy said, “Okay, let’s really change the subject.”

  Scout said, “Now that we upgraded the engines, the round trip will only take six months. No more waiting a whole year to complete one leg of the journey. Now we can really get things moving.”

  Kathy said, “That means we’ll be taking off for Mars for real in about a year, right?”

  Scout said, “That’s right. We’ll also get married then.”

  Kathy said, “That was kind of sudden. Where’d that come from?”

  Scout said, “I‘ve wanted to set a date for quite a while, but I wanted to find the right time. I can’t imagine a better time than at the beginning of our new colony. We’ll start two new adventures at the same time.”

  Kathy said, “That sounds so romantic. We’ll be the first people to get married in space.”

  Scout said, “Well, we won’t be in space, because we’ll be on a planet. I should shut up and kiss you now, huh?”

  Kathy said, “That sounds like a good idea.”

  Scout kissed Kathy and pulled the truck over to the side of the road. He didn’t want to cause an accident while he made out with his fiancée. When he started the truck again, he drove quickly to the motel so that he and his fiancée could do a little more celebrating.