by Cliff Roehr
“A paved concrete highway runs al the way from Abner's farm through Paradise, which is now a State campground. and the ocean cavern which has become a very popular salt water fishing resort, then through the Hour Glass and on in to New Phoenix. We now have over one hundred paved streets in New Phoenix and room for many more when they became necessary. The population of Mars is now 28,600 and growing because ten percent of the population is under eleven years of age. The downtown area has begun to look like the downtown area of any other small City. Now the workers that were here to see the new year in in 2108 have completed their contracts. They are eligible to return to Earth but few of them want to. Some of the Government people who had finished their ten year contracts and left Mars had returned within the year.” Rusty's ramblings got Tim to thinking of some of the other developments. There were six public bus routes running. There was one route from each quadrant of the city into city center. There was one from the city center out to the industrial area. There was one from Abner's farm through Paradise, Big Lake, the Hour Glass, the Ocean and on into city center. The Ski Lodge sent a bus back and forth to city center but that was not part of the public transportation system.
“Paul was stil on Mars but was no longer the Director of the Government operations he had opened a jewelery store and was making fantastic jewelery with Martian diamonds and gold, for sale on Earth. Tim and Carla had realized two and a half mil ion dollars from his find. There were no other diamonds found on Mars for almost six years and Paul was able to contain the news of those finds and had most of them in his vault at the jewelery store. So as not to ruin the diamond market on Earth. Actual y there weren't that many but there were enough to make Paul a very wealthy and happy man. Paul had two of his nephews brought up to Mars with their wives and children and they worked in the store with Paul. They weren't really his Nephews but he referred to them as his that. It looked as though there would always be a community of ascetic Jews in the diamond business on Mars,” Tim mused.
“In 2111 Carter Fredrick was diagnosed with cancer and died in 2112. Many types of cancer were now treatable and curable, but not the kind Carter had. Tim of course was selected to replace him as manager of Mars Colony, Inc. on Mars.
January 2, 2118: Tim's salary was raised to $65,000.00 per month. Over the last ten years the government's role on Mars had continued to diminish while the companies role had grown. Though Tim wouldn't admit it he was now the most powerful man on Mars. In effect he was the most powerful man in the universe, he ruled an entire planet, and his appointment was for life. The President of the United States had to be elected to a limited term of office. Hal Jonson was now Superintendent of construction.
CHAPTER – The new frontier, ARTON
A new planet was being developed and populated by man in the Alpha Centauri system that was almost identical to Earth in size and atmosphere but it was stil in the age of the dinosaurs. New space craft developed on Earth could accelerate to ten times the speed of light. It didn't take much longer to travel to the new planet Arton than it took to travel to Mars in one of the old ships. It looked like there would never be another Mars ship built and both Mars and Earth were satisfied with that arrangement. Mars had now reached the point of self sufficiency and could survive indefinitely without ever being visited by another space ship. The two Mars Supply ships and the Mars Runner were too slow to be put to use anywhere else so now they were just vehicles used for interplanetary trade between Mars and Earth and for transporting more colonists to Mars.
February 4, 2118: “Tim was curious about Arton and the ships that navigated deep space so he gave George Schultz a call and asked him,
“George, what can you tell me about Arton and the ships that fly people there?”
George said I am headed for the observatory right now so why don't you meet me at the elevator and I will give you the whole rundown. Tim met George a few minutes later. They got boarded the elevator and started their assent. George began, “When man succeeded conquering the the sound barrier it became common jargon to refer to the speed of sound as Mach One. Early Science Fiction Writers, well over one hundred years ago writing about ships that would exceed the speed of light dubbed the speed of light as Warp One and a ship traveling above that speed as traveling at Warp two or Warp five or whatever. That term stuck and today we refer to a ship traveling at eleven times the speed of light as traveling at Warp 11.”
I guess you know, Tim that Arton is an Earth like planet in the Alpha Centauri system. It was discovered about thirty years ago by an observatory orbiting around Earth. It has two suns visible so it has long days and short nights. It has no moon. The Alpha Centauri system is about 4.5 light years from Earth and is the nearest solar system to Earth. When they built the Mars Supply One they discovered that an atomic powered space ship could continue to accelerate indefinitely. They didn't want to put too much strain on the Mars Supply One but while it was in the testing stage they did on one occasion push it just over Warp one. They didn't exactly disprove Einstein's theory of Relativity but they did prove that it did not apply to traveling faster than the speed of light.”
“A much larger ship than Mars Supply One was the next space ship constructed. It carried a reactor that put out ten times the the power of the one on Mars Supply One and carried engines more than ten times as powerful. It was dubbed the Arton One, after the planet and the planet was named after the man who had discovered it, Jose Arton. After a maiden voyage to Mars and back it went on a mission to Arton. On that first mission they were able to accelerate to a speed of eleven times the speed of light and on the trip out the ship averaged a speed of nine times the speed of light. The speed of light never turned out to be the barrier that man had always thought it would be. The part of Einstein's equation that dealt with time travel commencing when the speed of light was exceeded has stil never been put to the test. It is kind of like the question “If a tree fal s over in a forest does it make any noise if there is no one to hear it” The crew of the ship found out that a voyage that should take six months took six months. When they made Arton orbit they never knew what day it was back on Earth and had no way to find out. Radio waves traveling at the speed of light would take four and a half years to reach Earth and they would be back on Earth in six and a half months. Since completion of the A1the United States has completed a total of four Arton ships, they have been dubbed the Arton One, the Arton Two, the Arton Three and the Arton Four.” The ships have more formal names but no one uses them.
Tim asked, “What would happen if a ship traveling at that speed hit an object in space?” “So far an Arton ship has never hit a space object while traveling at warp speed, or if it has it never knew it. We suppose that if a ship traveling at warp speed were to collide with an object, say the size of Earth's moon it might penetrate the surface to considerable depth and when the speed was no longer greater than the speed of light the ship would just come to a stop and be lodged forever in the moon sized object. Apparently, since large objects in space are rare and far apart the men piloting the ship can see them light years away, in plenty of time to avoid a collision. There is a lot of space junk in our solar system so when a ship enters the solar system it reduces speed and proceeds through at sub-warp speeds. Instruments then warn of any object in plenty of time to avoid hitting it. The Arton ships are gaining more confidence in navigating within the solar system and are constantly Increasing their speed. The Arton ships have also been fitted with new retro engines that can slow them from near warp one to 86 thousand miles an hour in less than one hour without causing the crew any distress. It is marvelous what they are doing with those ships now, Tim.”
“Communications is the biggest problem. We have never figured out how to make radio waves travel faster than the speed of light. Virtually the only way for us to communicate with Arton and the colony that is thriving there now is by space ship. It would take nine years for you to send a radio message to Arton and receive an answer, so every outgoing ship carries hundred
s of messages for Arton and every Incoming ship carries replies. There is no way to communicate with a ship traveling at warp speed, radio waves would never catch up to them.”
“We have been colonizing Arton for over eight years. The population is now in the thousands. They need people more than anything else. It is a planet rich in plants and minerals. Of course they have transported a lot of machinery and tools to Arton but mostly people. Each ship the A1and now the Arton Two make one round trip a year. They have at times carried up to three thousand people on one flight. Without cargo they can be rigged to carry five thousand people because the cargo hold can be pressurized.”
Tim already knew that there were many varieties of mineral ore becoming scarce on Earth fortunately they were plentiful on Mars. Several were being successful y mined on Mars and shipped back to Earth on the empty ships returning from Arton.
While he was talking George had been making adjustments on the telescope. George said “Watch that monitor on the wall over there Tim.” The twelve foot by eight foot screen flickered briefly then displayed a group of stars. George activated a hand held pointer that projected a red arrow on the screen. He moved it to near the center of the screen. “You see that double star right there Tim, Arton orbits the sun on the left, Arton passes between the suns once a year. This causes long periods of daylight during that season. Fortunately they are far enough from the sun on the right so that the heat does not increase significantly it just stays daylight or what we would cal twilight for a couple months a year.
“This light right here” George said as he pointed to a dim light just to the left of the sun on the left. “This is Arton.” Tim studied the view of that part of the heavens briefly. “Thanks George, thanks to you I can now picture things much better.”
CHAPTER – Mars is being slighted
2118: There really weren't that many qualified people left on Earth that wanted to migrate to Mars. Arton was where the action was now. The two Mars Supply ships were beginning to show their age and there was talk of retiring them. That would only leave Mars Runner in active service. If they did retire the two older ships then they would have the ships returning from Arton stop at Mars and load up with supplies destined for Earth from Mars. In that way the population of Mars would continue to grow by about twelve hundred immigrants and six or seven hundred natives per year. That would be a sustainable growth rate that Tim figured Mars could live with for a thousand years.
March 4, 2118: Instead of retiring the Mars Supply One and the Mars Supply Two the company had received a very attractive offer from Regency Cruise Lines out of London. If Mars Colony Inc. would sell Regency the two ships for one dollar each Regency would extensively remodel them and keep them in service as tourist cruise ships. Regency agreed to transport up to ten passengers each way to and from Mars for as long as the ships stayed in service, at no cost to Mars Colony, Inc. Regency also wanted at no cost to them a five acre site in New Phoenix where they could construct a top rate hotel. Mars Colony Inc. figured out that would be tantamount to selling the ships to Regency for one hundred mil ion dollars and it wouldn't cost Mars Colony, Inc. for keeping the ships in moth balls or dismantling them. The head office of Mars Colony, Inc. in San Francisco made the deal without even consulting Tim on Mars.
April 15, 2118: Regency had committed three billion dollars to this deal. They figured that it would cost them one bil ion dollars each to remodel the two ships, one half bil ion to build the hotel in New Phoenix and another half bil ion to buy the ski cavern on Mars.
Tim couldn't believe his eyes when he received the offer from Regency Cruise Lines to buy the ski resort for five hundred mil ion dol ars. Tim had built the whole project out of his own cash accounts in his various corporations. Al he owed was about nine hundred thousand to First Colonial Bank, on the real estate. He had paid cash for all the improvements. Not only that but he had already recovered most of his original investment. Tim didn't even try to get them to increase their offer, he just accepted it. Most of what he received was paid in the form of stock in Regency Cruises, Inc. When the transaction became known on Wal Street the value of Regency stock immediately doubled in value and Tim sold. The funds were transferred to Tim's various accounts at First Colonial.
June 4, 2120: Tim later saw an ad on the internet for Mars eighteen month Mars ski vacation packages and first class accommodations. This package included taking a first class cruise ship to Mars and back and up to six months on the planet with option to stay at the Grand Regency in New Phoenix and or The Ski Lodge plus many other perks. Packages started at two and a half million dol ars or four mil ion for two people. Apparently word had filtered back to Earth about how much more fun it was to ski in low gravity. Tim was forever amazed at how many people had the time and the money to take one of these cruises. More than a thousand tourists arrived on either the Regency King or the Regency Prince twice a year. Apparently Regency had made a good investment. Regency even cut the price that Tim had been charging Mars Locals to use the ski lift facilities and to stay at the lodge although staying at the Regency Lodge was on a space available basis for the locals. That didn't matter much because anyone on Mars could reach the resort by golf cart in less than two hours.
Earth type electric cars had never taken hold on Mars. They were cumbersome to get in and out of and no one ever needed the heater or air conditioner that they offered. The driving distances were so short that anyone that wanted private transportation just bought a six passenger golf cart. The golf carts would go 40 miles per hour and that was faster than anyone on Mars ever drove anyway. There were dealerships in Phoenix that sold several different brands of golf carts. They also sold electric bicycles and tricycles, which were very popular for personal transportation.
The daily workouts at the gym were a drag, everyone hated and dreaded them. Stil they feared the consequences of not working out more. One thing that could be said for the workouts was that the population of Mars was fit. There just weren't any obese people to be found on the planet. The people did get some relief though, The daily vitamins and the monthly shots were no longer required. The vitamins and medication that they had been receiving was now available from the atmosphere. Just the act of breathing provided a person, and perhaps even more importantly the animals with al their required nutrients and medications. In fact the atmosphere program proved so effective that the requirement for one hours exercise per day had been officially reduced to one half hour four days per week. A few people kept up with one hour per day because they were so accustomed to it but most cut back to the new minimum. Little progress had been made converting the atmosphere on the surface of Mars. A new hearty plant that could resist the intense UV rays, had been developed that was super efficient at photosynthesis, converting CO2 glucose and oxygen. They had figured out how to plant in a saturated mulch rich in nitrates that supplied water to the roots. The water had to be replaced annual y. They had almost a mil ion of these bushes now growing on the Mars surface. In order to make the atmosphere on the surface breathable they would need billions of them. There were over twenty ful time gardeners that did nothing but tend these plants. It was a job that nobody wanted because you had to work ful time in a Mars suit. As a result of just these plants they had noticed a one percent in oxygen a five percent Increase in nitrogen and a six percent decrease in CO2 in just five years. The best sign of improvement so far though is that an ozone layer is beginning to form and some of the UV rays are beginning to lessen. At that rate the atmosphere on the surface might be breathable in two hundred years without a Mars suit, or at least it wouldn't be instantly lethal.
There was a belt that had been designed for use on Earth's moon that would completely encircle the moon and with the aid of counter balanced runners inside the belt begin to Increase the spin of the planetoid. Tim didn't really understand how it would work but the scientists and engineers working on the project insisted that it would. The object was to get the moon spinning fast enough to retain an atmosphere. If th
at worked then they would try it on Mars. If Mars revolved a little faster, raising the gravity to 50% of Earth's then Mars would be able to sustain an atmosphere of Nitrogen and oxygen and the surface would become inhabitable. That however was, at best more than a hundred years off. It was a good plan but it never got off the drawing board. CHAPTER – President of United States wants Utopia developed September 10, 2124: The President of the United States had been wondering ever since he was in high school why they had never developed the Utopia cavern on Mars. He contacted the current Mars Council Chairman by email and asked about developing the huge cavern. The President of the council explained by return email that “Yes, Mr. President, we would love to develop Utopia but there are several reasons that we haven't. One we don't have the necessary generators to light it; we don't have the atmosphere equipment to pressurize it; we do not have the population pressure to require it. The President discussed it with his cabinet and the senate and the house of representatives. Then he went public and discussed it with the press. Articles appeared on the internet and on TV. Suddenly there was a new interest in Mars. Polls were taken and Congress appropriated funds and it was decided that Utopia should be opened and developed.