The next morning, the crew returned to the hangar to begin work on the ship. It was 5:10 a.m. when they arrived. They wanted to add two decks to the 50 meter-long ship. They had enough sheet metal to get the job done, along with bags of nuts and bolts close to their workstations. The men and women attached the sheet metal to the frame of the ship. The two people on either end screwed the bolts into the metal while the rest of the crew held the sheet metal in place. Then the workers in the middle attached their bolts to the frame. The process was repeated on the other side of the ship. Then the top section was installed the same way.
Scout said, “Let’s put the divider for the two floors in now. We carved a groove into the metal to allow the floor separator to fit snugly in place.”
The workers slid the divider into place, which was easy because the end sheets had not yet been installed. The workers then secured the floor to the frame with welded joints and bolted brackets. The welders also welded a seam between each deck to provide extra stability while in flight. Then everyone pitched in and sprayed the ship with Sta-Kul heat shield. The Sta-Kul was used to deflect and absorb heat while entering and exiting any planet’s atmosphere. The ship now had three decks, with three distinct floors, but no sides.
Kathy said, “What’s next, Scout?”
Scout said, “Let’s cut the holes for the elevator.”
The crew began cutting holes in the floors of the second and third decks for an elevator. This would be the primary way for the crew to reach the upper decks of the ship. They cut holes four meters wide and six meters deep into the floors of the top two decks. They did this with an arc-welding torch. The flame was so hot that the metal liquefied around the flame, leaving a hole where the metal had been heated. The workers held the middle of the metal with a magnet to prevent it from falling onto the deck below. They then moved the pieces of metal off of the ship to be used for other purposes.
The elevator would be delivered the next day along with the rest of the equipment for the first voyage to Mars. Once the holes had been created, a shaft was installed. The shaft was made of wood because it was more aesthetically appealing than a metal shaft. The crew screwed planks of alder wood to the ship with bolts to create the new elevator shaft.
Lane had labeled the elevator shaft on both levels “Turbolift and this did not make Scout very happy.
Scout yelled at Lane, “What did I tell you about naming things without checking with me first?”
Lane replied, “You said that I should check with you first.”
Scout asked, “Didn’t you promise to check with me before you named anything?”
Lane replied, “Yes, I did.”
Scout told Lane, “This is not Star Trek. If it was, then we’d be able to travel at warp speed, beam from place to place using a transporter beam, and we would have encountered Vulcans twenty years ago.”
Lane said, “Sorry about that. I was just trying to be cute.”
Scout said, “Well, it’s on there now. The label you used is pretty much permanent.”
Lane said, “I’ll consult with you in the future. What do you want us to work on now?”
Scout replied, “Let’s attach this top panel of the ship to the sides.”
The crew attached the new roof of the ship to the side panels. They had to bend the metal of the roof to make the ship more aerodynamic. Jordan heated the metal while Kathy and Lane shaped it. Once the roof was installed, they sprayed it with Sta-Kul. The ship now had three complete decks and no sides on the second and third decks.
Scout said, “Let’s attach the sides to the ship now.”
It was now well past three in the afternoon. The crew was beginning to tire, but they wanted to complete the ship in one day rather than having to do more hard labor the next day. They attached the sides of the ship to the upper decks the same way that the other additions were made. When they were done, it was dark and the crew was exhausted.
The crew went to the motel that night and slept late the next day. Scout had told them that they didn’t need to return to the hangar until noon. Every member of the crew, including Scout was physically exhausted from all of the demanding work. The next day’s work was far less physical, and involved only programming the android, two robots, and the ship for the next mission. The only physical labor remaining would be done by the delivery service when they brought the supplies for the next part of the mission.
The next afternoon, the crew returned to the hangar to complete their work. Just after the workers arrived, the FedEx delivery people showed up at the hangar.
Scout told them, “We need to have all of this stuff loaded onto the ship in an organized and logical manner. I want the water in the back of the ship. I want the mixer next to the water.”
The delivery person asked, “What about the rest of the stuff?”
Scout replied, “I’ll give you those instructions when we get there.”
The delivery people began to move the water with a forklift. The forklift made light work of the 170,000 liters of ocean water. The water didn’t need to be desalinated, because it was for construction and maintenance. It was placed on the first deck adjacent to the cockpit. Then the delivery person drove the mixer up the ramp and parked it on the second deck of the ship. The second deck floor was quite strong as it was the former outer hull of the ship.
The crewmembers all had programming duties to perform while the deliveries were being made. Kathy was programming the android with its new mission. Jordan was installing the weapons systems on the ship, which was quite demanding. He was the only person who still had the physical strength to install the weapons. Bob and Cindy were running systems checks on the ship. Lane was unpacking and labeling the robots. Mark and Leona were writing the program for the robots. They would install the program into the robots’ processor when the ship was ready to go to Mars. Scout was overseeing the whole operation and directing the delivery people.
“The water’s in place and so’s the mixer. Where do you want all of this concrete and sheet metal?” asked the delivery person.
Scout replied, “The concrete goes on the second deck next to the mixer. I want the concrete and the mixer fastened very securely.”
The delivery person said, “No problem. I’ll finish that up and come back for more instructions.”
The delivery person placed the pallets of concrete on the forklift and then moved them onto the ship. He secured the concrete and the mixer to the floor of the ship with chains and bolts. Then he went back to Scout.
Scout told him, “I want the sheet metal on the top deck. It’ll probably take up the whole deck. Go ahead and stack it to the top, and if it needs to be secured then go ahead and secure it.”
The sheet metal took the entire top deck of the ship and fit snugly. It didn’t need to be secured. The next thing to be loaded was the elevator. Scout instructed the delivery person to install it in the shaft marked “Turbolift.”
The delivery person said, “Really, a ‘Turbolift’?”
Scout said, “Yeah, that’s what I said. Just install the damn thing. This is the voice activated model, right?”
The delivery person said, “It responds to voice commands. It also announces where you are when you get there. This model also has a digital display and automatic sensors for the doors, and a sensor for calling the car that is activated when a person stands in front of the sensor for more than three seconds.”
The delivery person moved the elevator into place and installed the car and cables. He then installed the circuitry and safety catches. The elevator was the most advanced model available. Scout then dismissed the delivery person and instructed Jordan to load the secret cargo.
Jordan said, “Give me about two minutes. I’m just bolting the last of the lasers to the ship.”
Two minutes later, Jordan was placing the secret cargo on a forklift. He was making a lot of noise, but no one was allowed to see what he was doing in the ship. Jordan was making sure that customs agents wouldn’t de
tect the secret cargo. He also needed to make sure that the cargo would be stable in transit.
Lane had been preparing the robots for the voyage. He unpacked them and prepared them to receive the program that the Blacks had written. He also labeled the robots with names: Skittle and Snicker.
When Scout saw the labels, he became irritated.
He screamed, “You’ve promised me twice to run names by me before you label something.”
Lane said, “I know, I couldn’t help myself.”
Scout yelled, “You’d better learn how to help yourself real quick. Otherwise, you’ll be out on your ear.”
Lane said, “Yes, sir.”
Scout said, “Why’d you give them candy names?”
Lane said, “I wanted to be cute. There’s three machines, like the three musketeers. They’re going to Mars, so what could be cuter than giving them candy names?”
Scout said, “This is stupid, especially after I warned you about the Star Trek thing, but I can’t see a problem with just being cute. My problem is that you labeled them unilaterally.”
Lane said, “Thank you. We need a name for the android, though.”
Scout said, “He can be Heath Goodbar. That keeps your candy theme going.”
Lane said, “I knew you weren’t all business. You do have a cute bone in your body.”
Scout said, “Don’t tell anyone else. I’ve got an image to keep. If anyone asks, all the names are your doing. I had nothing to do with it.”
Lane said, “Understood, sir.”
The names were labeled with a reflective tape, which also had an adhesive capable of withstanding 500 kilometer per hour winds and very fine dust particles. The names were on the robots to stay.
Jordan emerged from the ship with the crates attached to the forklift. He had hidden the secret cargo in a place that no one would look. He placed the bombs in the concrete mixer. When the customs officers inspected the mixer, it would look like two lumps of concrete were inside.
Scout asked, “Where are the former contents of those crates?”
Jordan whispered in Scout’s ear, “They’re in the cement mixer. They’ll avoid detection because they look like concrete.”
Scout said, “What if they get scanned?”
Jordan responded, “They’re actually covered in concrete for that very reason.”
Scout asked, “Doesn’t that make them useless?”
Jordan replied, “No, the robots can clear the concrete pretty easily with their claw arms.”
Scout asked, “But won’t that detonate the bombs?”
Jordan replied, “No, they only detonate when they fall a distance of at least five kilometers.”
Scout said, “But they’ll need to fall three thousand kilometers.”
Jordan said, “They’ll only detonate when they hit rock, so they should be fine if we program the robots to drill the hole correctly.”
Scout said, “It better be fine. There’s too much riding on this to allow any mistakes.”
Jordan said, “Understood.”
Jordan took the crates to the hangar. The crew would be able to use them for future missions, and no one wanted anything to go to waste. Recycling had become part of their core beliefs, and a requirement for the mission to Mars.
Kathy had been busy programming the android, now named “Heath Goodbar,” for its new mission. Heath was programmed to fly the ship to Mars, land the ship on a reasonably smooth surface that was not a mountaintop, and not in a deep crater. He was then to open the cargo doors and activate the robots. The robots would unload the cargo on the surface of Mars, and begin working on the landing strip. Heath was then to return the ship to Earth and go to the hangar to await further instructions.
The ship’s systems were in perfect working order, as Bob and Cindy reported to Scout. The only problem was that the ship did not recognize the two new decks, but a bit of minor programming fixed that. The ship was now loaded and ready to go.
After the ship was loaded, Scout needed to announce the plan for the mission. The crew was still unsure of his plans to build this colony on Mars.
Scout said, “Can I get everyone to gather around the hangar for a moment?”
Everyone moved inside to the shelter and privacy of the hangar.
Scout said, “Now that everyone’s inside, I need to go over a few things with you. You should know what the plan is before we go off and leave anyone uninformed. First, I want everyone to know that we’re working toward a new society on a new world and not a colony of any Earth nation. We’re also not forming a new colony that is just a new nation. This will be a revolution, and there may be people who try to stop us.”
Jordan said, “You mean like General Rich and his cronies?”
Scout said, “That’s one group that is trying to derail our mission, but I’m sure that there will be others. We’re claiming the entire planet of Mars for our new society, so a lot of corporations won’t be happy to lose future profits from raping that world. There will also be those who don’t like us taking the resources of this planet with us.”
Kathy said, “Most of us already know that. We need to know what your plan is. I’m your fiancée, and I have no idea what the details of the plan are. I only have the general idea.”
Scout said, “First, we’re going to send robots and supplies to the surface of the planet. They’ll build roads and some important buildings. The next step will be to go to Mars and terraform the surface. That will require physical presence on the planet. It’ll be dangerous, and anyone who comes for that portion of the mission will do so voluntarily.”
Lane asked, “So no one has to go to Mars and work? How will anything get done if no one volunteers?”
Scout answered, “I hope to have some people volunteer for the initial stage of the mission. I know that danger doesn’t bother everyone, especially if the rewards outweigh the risks. The reward in this case is a new society where people all work for the benefit of the society, and what could be better than that?”
Lane said, “I didn’t say I wouldn’t go. I was just wondering what the rest of the group wanted to do.”
Scout asked, “Does that mean that I have your commitment to volunteer for the terraforming mission?”
Lane said, “You’ve got my commitment. Do you have any other volunteers?”
Scout said, “Let me tell you the rest of the plan before anyone else commits. The next two to three years will be spent on Mars with only the terraforming crew. You’ll have very limited contact with people on Earth, and most of our colony won’t be on Mars. There will need to be a support team here on Earth to send supplies to us on Mars. We’ll have help from the robots and the ship, but it’ll be a lot of hard work for the people who volunteer. While we terraform, there will be no compensation for the labor. We’ll all be working to prepare the planet for the colony, and the only rest will be to eat and sleep. However, there will be a wonderful opportunity to discover things for the very first time. Maybe you can discover things that the official missions to Mars missed.”
Kathy said, “You can count me in.”
Jordan said, “Who didn’t see that coming?”
Scout said, “Leave her alone. She loves me and wants to see my dream succeed.”
Jordan said, “You have my commitment, too. But not because I’m in love with you.”
Scout said, “Good, anyone else want to volunteer?”
Everyone except for the Iranians volunteered to go along on the terraforming mission. The Iranians told Scout that they felt that they could be of greater assistance by staying on Earth and creating diversions for the support team.
Scout said, “The Iranians will stay on Earth and act as diversions. When we need a terror attack to distract the general populace of the planet from what we’re doing, we’ll rely on them.”
Jordan said, “That sounds like a very good idea. The whole world will ignore what we’re doing and focus on the perceived threat.”
Scout said, “We’
re not their real threat, anyway. Their real threat is themselves. Their greed will destroy them.”
The group emerged from the hangar and walked to their vehicles. The ship, piloted by Heath Goodbar, would fly to Mars in a few hours.
Chapter Sixteen
Constitution
The group needed a written set of rules to govern themselves on Mars. Scout called everyone into the group’s office to create a set of laws. The group met around five in the evening as the heat of the sun was beginning to wane.
Scout asked, “Is everyone here who wants a voice in our laws?”
Jordan said, “If they’re not here, they don’t get a voice. You called us all here at this moment, so the people present are the ones who care.”
Scout replied, “For now, we’ll carry on with the people here. If others want to join, they’ll be allowed to speak once they’re here.”
The people at the meeting were Scout Ellison and his fiancée, Kathy Jones, Bob and Cindy Fink, Jordan Green, Lane Blake, Shai Jackson, John Johnson and his sister, Jane Johnson, Mark and Leona Black, and Becky Garcia. The rest of the group either did not care to join the meeting, or they had enough trust in the ones who did attend to stay home.
Scout said, “Alright, our primary belief is that money creates evil. How do we make sure that everyone contributes to the society while not using money?”
Jordan said, “I suggest work credits. Every hour worked earns one work credit.”
Kathy said, “That just sounds like a different form of money. You still have the financial needs of Earth that way, and people can still abuse the system.”
Scout said, “Not if we make the work credits a one-time use. The credits earned could evaporate once they’re used. That would prevent them from being traded or abused.
Kathy said, “That just really sounds like a modified version of money. How is it different?”
Jordan said, “Well, for starters, there’s no way to raise prices. The work credits will always be worth the same, and they’ll only trade hands once. The government office will issue the credits, and the vendor will accept it as payment. The biggest difference is that when the payment is accepted, the credit goes away. No one is able to accumulate the work credits for simply producing things and selling them. Work credits are only issued for work, and then used to purchase things that are needed or wanted.”
MARS: Renaissance Page 13