MARS: Renaissance

by Matthew Ellis

  Notah said, “I wouldn’t call our injuries emergencies, but they’re urgent.”

  Mark said, “Then let’s take a look, and see what I can do for you.”

  Notah said, “I think that Joanne got the worst of it. She’s limping, so she might have a broken leg.”

  Mark said, “I’ll take x-rays of her leg and see what we need to do.”

  Mark assisted Joanne to the x-ray machine. Joanne sat and waited while Mark set it up. He placed the lead vest on her so that only her leg would be exposed to the radiation. He took the x-ray and waited for the results. While he waited, he called Lin and Notah into the exam room.

  Mark asked, “So what’s wrong with the two of you?”

  Notah said, “I have a splitting headache and I keep losing my balance. I’m not sure what’s wrong with Lin.”

  Lin said, “Same thing here. We might have the same problem.”

  Mark said, “Sounds like the two of you were shaken by the attack. I’ll need to observe both of you overnight, just to make sure.”

  Lin said, “Sounds like a plan to me.”

  Mark instructed them to change into a gown for the night. Then he retrieved the x-ray. There were no broken bones, and nothing that Mark could see by studying the x-ray. He ordered Joanne to stay with the others overnight for observation.

  Jordan, Clive and Lane put on their space suits. The men attached their suits to the ship via magnetized metallic ropes. The ropes were held close to the ship so that they would not fly into space. The shoes the men wore were also magnetized. They turned on their radios so they could stay in constant communication with each other.

  Jordan said, “Okay, we’re all in the hatch zone. Close the barrier to the rest of the ship.”

  Lane and Clive closed the door separating the hatch zone from the rest of the ship. They locked the door to prevent the other crewmembers from being sucked into the vacuum of space.

  Lane told Jordan, “The hatch zone is locked. Open the hatch.”

  Jordan opened the hatch. All of the remaining air in the hatch zone was evacuated into space when the hatch was opened. The hatch zone had no life support, so no excess air was lost when the hatch was open.

  The ship couldn’t stop, and it didn’t slow down for the necessary repairs, so the men needed to be careful while they worked on the ship. The Renaissance was moving at a very fast 108,000 kilometers per hour.

  Jordan said, “Okay, men, follow me.”

  Lane and Clive followed Jordan through the hatch and onto the hull of the ship. Walking on the outside of a moving spaceship was unsettling at first, but they focused on their job and adjusted.

  Lane said, “I see the laser. It looks like toast.”

  The laser weapon had shards of metal and plastic hanging from the base. It had wires completely exposed. It was clearly no longer operational. Jordan and Clive walked over to the laser weapon while Lane stayed to provide safety monitoring.

  Jordan said, “Let me take a look at that. Maybe we can salvage something.”

  Jordan examined the laser weapon. He saw the damage that the missile had caused and decided that it was beyond salvaging.

  Jordan said, “We’ll have to get rid of it. It’s nothing but dead weight now. It’ll only slow us down.”

  Clive said, “Can we recycle anything?”

  Jordan said, “No, even the wires are fried. We can’t even melt them down. We’ll just disassemble it and throw it into space.”

  Jordan and Clive then took the base of the laser apart and sealed the hole in the ship. The bolts were only two centimeters wide, but they would allow valuable life support gasses to escape. To seal the holes, they used the same Sta-Kul spray that had been used on the rest of the hull. It was well known that Sta-Kul could be used as a temporary sealant.

  Lane said, “Okay, that’s the first repair. Now, let’s go and see what the missile did to the ship.”

  Clive replied, “Yes, sir.”

  The two men walked over to the area of the hull breach while Jordan made sure that the safety equipment stayed tethered to the ship. They walked about sixteen meters, being careful not to look up. They came to the place where the missile struck the ship. There was a ten-centimeter hole in the hull of the ship. The hole didn’t penetrate completely into the cabin, but it significantly weakened the ship’s structural integrity. They would need a small piece of sheet metal from the storage trailer inside the ship.

  Clive said, “Jordan, we’re going to need to go back inside the ship. We need sheet metal to fix it.”

  Jordan asked, “How bad is it?”

  Clive said, “Hull integrity looks to be compromised by 95% in the spot. A small rock could puncture a hole in the ship.”

  Lane said, “It’s really bad. Sta-Kul isn’t going to be able to fix it. We’re going to need to weld up here.”

  Jordan said, “Okay, return to the hatch. We’ll re-seal it and then go and get the tools we need.”

  Lane and Clive walked back to the hatch and joined Jordan. The men re-entered the ship and closed the hatch.

  Jordan radioed, “Scout, we needed to re-enter the ship and we’ll need to leave again to make the repairs. It’s worse than we thought.”

  Scout replied, “Exactly what did you find up there?”

  Jordan said, “The laser weapon had to be tossed into space, and the missile reduced the hull’s strength by 95% at the point of impact.”

  Scout said, “Okay, hurry up and get what you need, but stay suited up. I don’t want any more delays than are absolutely necessary.”

  Jordan replied, “Understood, sir.”

  The repair crew opened the hatch zone barrier and walked toward the trailers. They needed to find a welding kit and enough sheet metal to repair the hole in the hull. They would also need more Sta-Kul than they had on hand. They reached the trailer and found what they needed. This was an easy task because everything they needed was clearly marked and neatly placed within the trailer. There was also a clearly defined walkway. The men gathered the supplies and walked back to the hatch zone.

  Jordan said, “Do we have everything we need?”

  Lane said, “We have a one meter square sheet of titanium, four bolts and nuts with washers, one arc welding kit, and three kilograms of Sta-Kul.”

  Jordan said, “Then we have everything we need. Let’s go.”

  They walked back to the hatch to finish their task. They opened the hatch and exited the ship once again. Clive and Jordan walked to the area of the hull damage while Lane kept watch. When the men reached the hull breach, they worked quickly to repair the ship. They placed the sheet metal onto the hull, and then bolted it down. As the power driver drove the bolt into the hull of the ship, Becky Garcia was on the other side securing a nut to the bolt. Then Lane welded it into place. Once the metal was securely attached to the ship, Clive sprayed the Sta-Kul onto the metal. He made sure to coat not only the new metal, but also the existing Sta-Kul. He wanted to make sure that the ship had no areas that were exposed to heat during an entry of a planet’s atmosphere.

  The men re-entered the ship and closed the hatch. They removed their environmental suits and placed them back into the storage area. They opened the barrier and walked back into the common area of the ship. Scout was waiting for them.

  Scout asked, “Did you guys get the ship repaired?”

  Jordan replied, “Yes, sir. We repaired the hull. But it’s not all good news.”

  Scout said, “I know. You told me we lost our laser defenses.”

  Jordan said, “We still have all the other weapons, but that one was in the best spot to destroy objects flying in from the front.”

  Scout said, “When we replace it, we need to replace it with one that can rotate and sense motion. That way we won’t need to worry about anything. The weapon will be able to defend itself as well as attack.”

  Jordan said, “I thought we didn’t want to go that route because of the safety concerns with the crew and robots.”

  Sc
out said, “We’ll just need to be careful and make sure to turn it off when we’re going to be close to the laser.”

  Jordan said, “Okay, sounds good to me.”

  Scout said, “You’re dismissed. You may return to your quarters.”

  The three men returned to their quarters and Scout returned to the bridge. They still had a very long journey ahead of them.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Space is Big

  Space is big. It’s really big. It is mind boggling just how big space is. People have arranged space into neat little packets with manageable numbers, but it’s still really big. The journey to Mars is about 154,000,000 kilometers. In 2088, the journey takes about 90 days, but it can be longer depending on where Mars and Earth are in their orbits. The vastness of space is incomprehensible. If the crew or Heath Goodbar, the android, made even a slight miscalculation in their course settings, the journey could take much longer. They might even pass Mars. If this happened, they wouldn’t realize it until they saw Jupiter or Saturn in the view screen.

  While space is really big and requires precise calculations to travel through it, it can also be very boring. There is nothing to look at but the stars, and they’re light years away. The exception is the sun, but looking at it is a very bad idea. Going mad is a possibility when travelling through a monotonous area, and space is very monotonous. There are the occasional asteroids or comets to avoid and look at, but they’re rare in the path between Earth and Mars.

  Scout told his crew on the fourth day of the journey, “We’re travelling through space. It can be maddening, so take advantage of the counseling services available. Leona Black is very good at helping you in your rough patches.”

  Leona Black said, “No one will ever know that you came to see me. I know that everyone here is aware of the stigma of visiting a counselor or psychiatrist, but no one ever has to know unless you tell them.”

  Jordan said, “Counselors have helped me a lot. I fought in the war a few years ago, so I have some demons to get over. This woman and her husband, although he’s more of a physician, can really help you.”

  Scout said, “I know you all think you’ll be fine. You may be right, but I don’t want to lose any one of you. The first explorers on Mars 60 years ago had lots of problems dealing with the journey and the loneliness. They lost a third of their people. I don’t want to continue that trend.”

  Most of the crew thought they were impervious to mental breakdown. They didn’t think they would need the doctors’ services. After all, the journey was only 90 days. They could surely maintain their sanity for three months.

  Scout continued, “I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that the journey is so short that you won’t need to visit the good doctors. But you’re forgetting that we’re taking on a daunting task on a new planet. We’re beginning a brand new civilization from scratch. That’s not going to be easy. I want you to bear that in mind when you’re deciding whether or not to visit the doctor or the counselor.”

  Scout dismissed the crew, and they returned to their quarters. Most of them thought that they didn’t need the services of the Dr.’s Black. Most of them were wrong.

  Anyone can deal with something new and unusual for a week, maybe even two. When weeks turn into months, though, people sometimes crack under the pressure. Scout tried to break up the monotony by assigning tasks to the crew, so the work took their minds off of the boredom for a while. The danger, however, was constantly on everyone’s mind. As the ship moved farther from Earth, it was clearer to the crew that no one would be able to rescue them if something went wrong. This danger was compounded by the knowledge that any error could trigger a disaster. Every task was assigned to multiple crewmembers. There was no way that Scout would allow a single person to put the ship in danger without giving someone else a chance to correct it.

  This went on for the first three weeks without a hitch. Everyone was still excited about the new society they were going to create on Mars. The teams worked like well-oiled machines. Time, however, was the enemy of the crew. As time wore on, people became skittish about the tasks they were performing. They were more aware with each passing day that any small error could derail the mission entirely or, at least severely delay completion.

  The first person to succumb to the pressure was Becky Garcia. She had been assigned to monitor the path for asteroids and other space debris. After three weeks of seeing nothing, she began to see things that were not actually there. Her mind began creating danger to deal with the boredom. Scout ordered her to visit the ship’s counselor after the third false asteroid sighting in two days. She was reticent, but she obeyed the order.

  Leona Black welcomed Becky into her office, and Becky slowly entered.

  Becky said, “Scout ordered me to come see you.”

  Leona replied, “I know, he told me you were on your way. What’s going on?”

  Becky said, “I guess I’m seeing things that aren’t there. I’ve seen three asteroids in the last two days, but no one else can verify that they’re actually there.”

  Leona said, “That’s probably your mind dealing with watching the emptiness of space. This was common among the first deep space travelers in the twenties.”

  Becky said, “But how do I make it stop?”

  Leona said, “I think that you should ask Scout for a different assignment for a while. That might break up the monotony.”

  Becky asked, “But won’t that just lead to the same problem with the new assignment?”

  Leona replied, “Eventually, yes. You can overcome this problem by alternating tasks. If you don’t always do the same thing, then your mind won’t get bored as easily.”

  Becky said, “I hope that works. Maybe then I can get my work done without going crazy.”

  Becky walked out of Leona’s office. She called the bridge and asked Scout to reassign her until her mind could readjust to the new tasks.

  Scout said, “Take some time off, first. Then you can start helping the maintenance crew.”

  Becky replied, “How much time off?”

  Scout said, “I think two days ought to clear your head. Take advantage of the game room; it might help.”

  Becky said, “Yes, sir,” and broke off the transmission.

  Over the course of the next few days, Becky took full advantage of the ship’s mental health facilities. She visited Dr. Black daily, and spent a lot of time in the game room. She found the games and the interaction with shipmates therapeutic. She returned to work on the third day, and her new assignment, however temporary, provided a nice change of pace.

  Leona discussed Becky’s sessions only with Scout. Even then, she only disclosed portions of the sessions that were pertinent to Becky’s duties. Everything else was kept completely confidential.

  Scout looked over the reports daily, and decided to keep Becky on her current assignments. He would move her again if anything disrupted her performance.

  Leona told Scout, “I think Becky’s going to do fine as long as you don’t keep her doing repetitive tasks for too long.”

  Scout replied, “So you don’t think she can stay where she is for extended periods?”

  Leona said, “I would advise against that. She’s still fragile, and the pressure of space travel is hitting her and a few others very hard.”

  Scout asked, “Who are the others?”

  Leona replied, “You know that I can’t tell you that if they come to me voluntarily. That would breach the confidential nature of my practice.”

  Scout said, “You’re right. I had no right to even ask that question. We want anyone who needs help to receive it without fear.”

  Leona said, “Especially fear of ruining their reputation. There is still a harsh stigma on mental health issues. People don’t like to discuss the psychiatric problems they have. Society doesn’t even like to discuss psychiatry at all; they would rather pretend it doesn’t exist.”

  Scout said, “Maybe if people stopped pretending that everythi
ng is hunky-dory, the Earth might be a better place.”

  Leona said, “I thought you believed that the Earth’s problems were all caused by money.”

  Scout replied, “Most of the problems are money, not all of them. Some problems are caused by society not dealing with its problems.”

  Leona said, “Okay, we’re in agreement about that. I need to get back to work. I have clients.”

  Scout said, “Go on about your secret business. I’ll check in with you later.”

  Leona returned to her office to continue with her parade of clients. When she arrived at the office, she found the Johnson siblings waiting for her. They were sitting in the waiting area, reading a Douglas Adams book together.

  Leona said, “I don’t usually do group sessions.”

  John asked, “Can you make an exception?”

  Leona said, “If the two of you are having a problem with each other, I really don’t want to get involved. I don’t like dealing with family feuds.”

  John said, “It’s nothing like that. We’re having trouble dealing with the separation from civilization. We’re finding it difficult to separate from each other.”

  Leona said, “You two know that you’re both adults, right? It’s not normal to live with your siblings as adults.”

  John said, “We didn’t until the ship.”

  Leona said, “Alright, come into the office.”

  John and Jane walked into the office and sat on the couch. They sat right next to each other, and held each other’s hand.

  Leona said, “Okay, that’s just weird. Normal siblings don’t hold each other’s hand when they’re grown up.”

  Jane said, “I know that. Don’t you think we know that this is an unhealthy codependence?”

  John said, “We’re just struggling with the separation.”

  Leona said, “So you think you’re suffering from separation anxiety?”

  Jane was crying as she said, “I don’t know what we’re suffering from. All I know is that I can’t stand to be apart from my brother.”

  John said, “My sister’s become my life. I don’t think that I could function without her anymore. I haven’t always felt this way. I think something must be wrong with me, or her, or both of us.”