Kathy said, “Is it just oxygen?”
Scout said, “No, it’s compressed air, an oxygen tank that extracts oxygen from water, and a filtration system. The robots should have installed a place to put the filters, and the tanks should just hook into the vents via the hoses. The oxygen tanks won’t work until we install the water tanks and hook up the desalination chambers.”
Jordan said, “I’ve studied the diagrams, but I realized that there’s no need. It’s pretty self-explanatory.”
Scout said, “If any of you need any help, our cell phones work here. The robots installed towers, and I had all of the phones switched to our own service back on the ship.”
Becky asked, “Aren’t we going to take our stuff with us to our quarters?”
Scout said, “I forgot about that. Luckily, I see that the living quarter’s trailers are parked close to the front door. Everyone that brought a truck, which is most of you, I need you to help those of us who didn’t.”
Jordan said, “We should only take our beds and clothes for tomorrow right now. We can unload the rest of our stuff tomorrow.”
Scout said, “Yeah, it’s pretty late now. We’ve been working all day. Just unload the beds and clothes for tomorrow. That’ll be enough for now.”
Everyone went to the trailer that held their personal belongings. They all removed their beds and one set of clothes for the next day. The people who brought trucks loaded their belongings in the beds of their trucks and loaded one other person’s belongings into the truck. Then everyone put their protective suits on. Scout turned the life support system in the hangar off. The robots opened the doors to the hangar, and the crew headed toward the living quarters. The robots closed the hangar doors once the crew left.
Scout and his crew drove down the roads toward the housing area of town. Once they arrived, each person who didn’t own a truck was helped with their possessions so that the people who did have trucks could get home and set up their beds. Everyone was at home and sleeping two hours after they left the hangar.
The next day, the crew woke up and found themselves on an alien world for the first time in their lives. Many of them became disoriented and called other members of the crew to reassure themselves that they were not alone in this new environment.
Becky called John and said, “Oh my God! I woke up this morning and had no idea where I was. I thought I was going crazy.”
John said, “You’re not the only one. A lot of people have already called me and told me the same thing. I guess they thought I was immune, but I had the same experience.”
Becky said, “Okay, we should get ready and go to the daily briefing.”
They hung up their phones and got dressed. There was no water available for showers or baths yet, so everyone just got dressed and headed to the hangar for the daily briefing.
Scout began the briefing by saying, “I know that all of you have grown accustomed to taking a shower every day before you report to work. Water will be our first priority today. The robots already have all of the water systems ready to go, so all we have to do is add the water that we brought from Earth.”
Kathy said, “I know that many of you think that you stink because you sweated hard yesterday, but none of us are going to complain. Once we get the water hooked up, the same restrictions that were in force on the ship will be continued here.”
Scout continued, “There’s a limited supply of water, so we have to ration it. You get to take a 90-second shower, and you’re only allowed to use five gallons of water. You’re also not allowed to come out of your quarters wet. All water must stay in the system, and any water that evaporates hurts our chances.”
Kathy added, “There’s some other rules for the water system, too. First, you’re never allowed to drain any kind of oil into the drains. That’ll clog them, and we don’t have a way to unclog them except for complete replacement. All hair and other bodily soils must be kept out of the drains. This, again, will clog the system. We’re not going to allow chemicals to be used in the drains because our supply of water is extremely low and we can’t afford to contaminate any of it.”
Lane asked, “Are we going to bring more water from Earth?”
Scout answered, “Yes we are. The ship will bring more ocean water on both of its supply trips, so our water won’t be limited to what we have on hand right now. It will be doubled with the next supply ship, tripled with the second one, and quadrupled with the arrival of the first colonists.”
Jordan asked, “Do we have any other orders for today?”
Scout answered, “Yes. We need to take the remainder of our personal belongings to our quarters. That should be enough for today. I need everyone to help me with the water first. That’ll take a few hours, and you’ll need to wear your protective suits.”
Everyone replaced the helmets of their suits. Then they all helped Scout and the robots put the water tank on wheels. The tractor, driven by Jordan, took the water tank to the place that the robots had prepared for it. The tank had three large access hatches at the bottom, middle, and top of the tank. Lane connected the first pipe to the ports on the bottom, which was marked “Outflow.” This one allowed the water in the tank to flow into the system and supply all water needs. It was connected to the desalination chamber so that it could be filtered and have any salt removed. The next hatch was the one in the middle. It was marked, “Secondary.” The crew did not attach anything to this one as it was primarily used for the ship’s system and was not required on the planet. The final hatch was on the top of the tank, and it was marked, “In.” This was attached to the second pipe, the one that allowed the water to return after it had flowed through the system. After Lane attached the final pipe to the water tank, Jordan activated the solar powered water pump to release water into the network of pipes. The water had to be filtered, so it took about six minutes for water to begin flowing through the first set of pipes ever to be placed on the surface of Mars.
The crew visually inspected every part of the network of pipes for leaks, but found none. The water supply was too important to have any failures in the system, so they were very thorough. The robots had done a very good job installing the pipes. The network had been very well designed. Everything was flowing according to the master plan. The inspection process had taken two hours to complete. The return water system was attached to the main system. The loop of pipes was now complete and water was available for the colony to use.
As the crew walked from the final inspection point to their vehicles, a few of them were discussing the new colony.
Becky said, “We should have a name for this town. We can’t just call it the colony forever.”
Notah said, “We need a way to represent ourselves as well.”
Scout said, “Then we should return to the office and have a discussion. Deciding on a name and symbol shouldn’t take very long.”
Kathy said, “If you believe that, then you’re delusional. Finding a symbol and name can take months.”
Scout said, “But we can expedite that process. There’s only a few of us, and we need to do this before the colonists arrive.”
The crew headed to Scout’s home to discuss the name and symbols of the colony. They were all very excited to do something that didn’t involve physical labor. Once they arrived at Scout’s house, they gathered around the table just as at the morning briefing.
Scout said, “We’re here to discuss the name and symbols of this colony.”
Kathy said, “If you have any ideas, let’s hear them.”
Jordan said, “I think we should name the city Mars City.”
Kathy said, “Are there any other suggestions?”
Becky said, “I don’t like names that end in ‘city,’ so I think it should be something else.”
Kathy asked, “Like what?”
Becky responded, “I think Aires is a good name. It’s the Greek equivalent to the Roman Mars.”
Kathy said, “That’s very creative. Anyone else have any sugg
estions?”
Lane said, “I happen to like the name ‘Freedom.’ It really is what we’re all about.”
Kathy said, “Anyone else have any suggestions?”
Scout said, “I’d like to propose that we call this town ‘New Earth.’ That way we keep grounded to our roots.”
Becky said, “I hate ‘new’ even more than ‘city.’”
Kathy said, “Does anyone else have any other suggestions?”
Kathy waited for a couple of minutes for someone else to make a suggestion. No one else spoke, so the group now had a few names to vote on.
Kathy said, “How many of you like ‘Mars City’?”
Jordan raised his hand, but no one else did.
Kathy said, “It looks like that idea fails. We’re not going to call this town that. The next name suggested was Aires. How many of you like that name?”
Becky raised her hand, and John raised his hand in support of his girlfriend. No one else liked that name, so no other hands were raised.
Kathy said, “Two votes aren’t enough to carry that, so it fails. We won’t take that name. The next name up for a vote is ‘Freedom’.”
Fourteen people raised their hands. Scout shot Kathy a cross look as soon as her hand went up. He was a little upset that she didn’t like his idea as much as John liked Becky’s idea. He felt that she should support him even if she didn’t like the name that he picked.
Kathy said, “Sorry, babe, but I agree with Becky on the whole ‘city’ and ‘new’ names. I just think that ‘Freedom’ is a great name.”
Scout said, “Alright, we’re now occupying freedom. That’ll be the name of the capital of Mars for all time.”
Kathy said, “The next thing we need to decide is how we’re going to represent ourselves. We need symbols. Who has a suggestion?”
Notah said, “Well, we don’t have animals to use as symbols. None of them are native to Mars anyway, so there would be no point to that.”
Lane said, “The same thing goes for plants. There aren’t any native plants on this planet, so we don’t have any plants to symbolize us.”
John said, “Now that we’ve established what we don’t have, maybe we can find something that does exist to use as a symbol.”
Becky said, “What we need is a flag.”
Kathy said, “Then the only thing we need to determine is how to symbolize our civilization on a banner.”
Scout said, “Any suggestions?”
Leona suggested, “I think that we shouldn’t have a traditional flag. We should try a new shape.”
Kathy said, “But then we’ll have to easily reproduce the flag once the design is decided. I think that’s the reason that flags are rectangle in the first place.”
Scout said, “I agree. We should have a rectangle shape. It’s just easier to make.”
Leona said, “Then we need to decide what goes on the flag.”
Mark said, “Beginning with the color.”
Kathy said, “Let’s take suggestions for the color of the flag.”
Notah said, “We could go with red to match the planet.”
Kathy said, “Anyone else?”
Lin said, “I don’t like red. It was the color of every communist flag, and that was the antithesis of freedom. I prefer any other color.”
Kathy said, “We could just go with white. It’s the easiest color to create.”
Scout said, “That sounds perfect. How many of you agree to have a white flag?”
Jordan asked, “Won’t that suggest that we easily surrender?”
Scout replied, “No, because we’re not going to have a plain white flag. There’ll be a design on it.”
Kathy said, “Can I have a show of hands to show your support of the white flag?”
Everyone in the room raised their hands, and white was chosen as the primary color on the Martian flag.
Kathy said, “The next vote is for the design of the flag. Do I have any suggestions?”
Jordan suggested, “Why don’t we have a traditional representation of the planet?”
Mark said, “There are too many to choose from.”
John said, “Mark has a point. Which one do we choose?”
Scout said, “I’d like to suggest that we use the astrological symbol for the planet.”
Becky asked, “Isn’t that the male symbol?”
Leona said, “It is. Isn’t this typical?”
Scout said, “I was in no way suggesting that we declare ourselves a male dominant society.”
Becky asked, “Aren’t you the one that wants every woman to get pregnant as often as possible to populate our society?”
Scout answered, “That is not a matter of male dominance. It’s merely pragmatic. We’re going to need a dense population in order to make this society work.”
Kathy said, “All of you knew that we would need to reproduce quickly before we left Earth. I don’t understand why you’re attacking my fiancée.”
Scout asked, “Why don’t we take a vote and see how many of us would agree to the Mars symbol as the representation of our society.”
Jordan spoke up and said, “I think that we should have something to show that it is Mars and not male on the flag.”
Scout asked, “Would that make you happier?”
Becky said, “I think it would. That way people could see that we’re Martian and not all males.”
Jordan said, “We could put two stars around the symbol. They would represent Phobos and Deimos.”
Scout said, “I like that idea. Let’s have a vote to see if the majority of you agree.”
Scout and Kathy raised their hands, and Mark, Jordan, Bob and Cindy, John, Becky, Notah, Lin, Jack, Joanne, and Clive joined them. The rest of the group did not agree with the proposal.
Kathy said, “That makes 13 of us. There’s a few dissenters, but the motion clearly passes. We’ll start making flags and paint the ship once it returns.”
Scout said, “I don’t think that we should paint the ship just yet. That might incite a war too soon.”
Jordan said, “We’ve already incited a war.”
Scout said, “But the war we’re fighting right now is with a rogue party. DeNoPE hasn’t been officially recognized yet. We don’t want to declare our independence until we’re complete. Let’s hold off on painting flags on the ship.”
Becky said, “What are we going to make the flags from?”
Kathy said, “We’ll need to allow the biodome to be completed and then we can use cotton or wool. For now, we can just paint it and put it in places where we can see it.”
Scout said, “Now that we’ve settled that, we can get to the work of gathering our belongings and taking a shower. We’re all starting to stink. Just go easy on the water. It’s very limited.”
The crew returned to the hangar to retrieve the rest of their personal belongings. They cleaned out the trailers that used to be the living quarters on the ship and took all of their possessions home with them. Then they all took showers and rested for the rest of the day.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Mining
Once the supplies were unloaded, Scout called a meeting in his quarters. Three days passed since the crew of the Renaissance landed on Mars. Everyone came to Scout’s home carrying a chair and took a seat at his kitchen table.
Scout said, “I want to operate this mission just like we ran the planning of it, so we’ll meet at my kitchen table just like we did back in Portland.”
Kathy said, “We’ll eventually have more chairs, so you won’t always have to bring your own.”
Scout said, “We have to decide several things today. First, we need to decide what we’re going to make. Then we need to decide how we’re going to use our resources.
Kathy said, “We need a list of products to serve as the basis of our society.”
Jordan said, “We need infrastructure before we start making products.”
Lane said, “We already have roads and highways. What more d
o we need?”
Jordan said, “We need a railroad. It’s the only way to move ore and metal to the refinery.”
Scout asked, “Did you set up the mining equipment already?”
Jordan answered, “We just put it in position. We haven’t actually connected any of it yet.”
Scout said, “Our first priority today is to get that stuff up and running. Since the biodome construction is still incomplete, we’ll need to work on mining the planet until we can shift our focus to the biodome.”
Shai asked, “How long until it’s ready?”
Scout replied, “It’s going to be a while. A few months, still. The robots are working at breakneck speed, but it’s a mammoth structure. They’re installing all the systems before they complete the actual structure.”
Shai said, “There’s a limited supply of food available, so they need to hurry up and finish.”
Scout said, “That’s why Jack and John aren’t here. They’re helping the robots with a few tasks to hurry the process along.”
Kathy said, “They’ll only help the rest of us when we do heavy lifting. Weren’t we discussing the possibility of a railroad?”
Scout said, “Yes we were. Let’s take a vote on the matter.”
Kathy said, “All those in favor, raise your hand.”
Everyone raised their hand, and the motion passed.
Scout said, “Okay, that’ll be our first priority once we get the mining underway. We have some equipment to extract iron and other metals from the rocks on the surface. We also have digging equipment, although it’s not heavy machinery.”
Lane asked, “Do you mean it’s shovels and axes?”
Scout said, “There are shovels, axes, hoes, and other hand tools. There’s a few power tools, but no heavy equipment. There wasn’t enough room on the ship. The first supply ship will have a couple of mining machines on board, so this is a temporary situation. Luckily, there’s a lot of loose rocks on the surface that you’ll just pick up and take to the refinery. They’re full of metals.”
Jordan asked, “What equipment does the refinery have?”
Scout answered, “We have a kiln for melting metal. We have a small crusher to break up large rocks. We have a second kiln that’ll be used to extract the metal once it’s gone through the crusher. We have twenty cooling barrels, and welding equipment.”
MARS: Renaissance Page 26