by Cliff Roehr
“SOS This is USS Patrick Hudson, does anybody copy. SOS” “Patrick Hudson this is USSS Arton Two, we are in Arctic orbit around Earth. What is your location?” “We are just below the ice cap near the North Pole, at 69 degrees North Latitude, the air is not, I repeat, not contaminated.” over.”
“Patrick Hudson, please proceed south until you find ice thin enough to break through. Then surface but keep the vessel sealed. We wil spot you and pick you up once you have surfaced. How many of you are there?” “There are 92 in our crew, we were under the pole on maneuvers when things went bad.” “Arton Four launched the three Shuttle which headed for the North Pole and made radio contact. We have three Shuttle looking now they wil be near your location an prox one hour. They should be able to spot you but they are on this radio connection now. Shuttle one to Patrick Hudson do you know the approximate coordinates where you wil be able to surface?” “The skipper of the sub gave them a coordinates then said we wil surface in prox one hour, just about the time you arrive.” “This is Shuttle One, we wil get readings before you surface.” “This is Patrick Hudson, we are in place to surface, our exact coordinates is, and he gave the coordinates.” “Copy that, Patrick Hudson, our three Shuttle are approaching now, We are only getting a trace of radiation, You couldn't live in it for years but it wont hurt you to be exposed for a few minutes.”
“Surface, surface surface.” Then the pilots saw the Ice mound and saw the Patrick Hudson. They maneuvered their so as to pull up within 50 feet of the sub. “Get your people out now and make a run for our shuttle. Send your people in three groups and have each group go to a different Shuttle .” “Roger that” The main hatch popped open and the 92 crew members made a beeline for the Shuttle's. Once inside the ships were sealed and took off. Little over an hour later they were docked beside the Arton Four and Air locks were secured.
“The crew of the sub were the happiest people the crew of the Arton Four had ever seen. During debriefing they said they had picked up scattered radio traffic after the destruction but one by one over the next several days the radio chatter had stopped as the people had died of radiation poisoning. “The only people on the planet who could have survived would be people that were in sealed chambers such as we were in the Patrick Hudson. “There may be other submarine crews but I doubt it. Once they surfaced anywhere on Earth anywhere other than where we surfaced they were exposed to a lethal dose of radiation, and were goners in a few days. We know that from the radio contacts that we had. Also most of the ocean is also pol uted with radiation. It was working it's way North but hadn't reached us yet. If you hadn't come along when you did we would have been dead in two weeks, or less. Even the people in the Ant Arctic would have a lethal dose by now.” “My question is what do we do now?” “We are returning to Mars, I think our work here is done.” Two hours later the Arton Four pulled out of orbit and headed for Mars.”
“Boy are we ever glad to see you guys, but now that you have rescued us where can you take us, Arton?” “Hardly, We, and you, I am afraid are going to have to live out our lives in those miserable caves on Mars.” With that remark said the questions began to fly at Captain Sorenson from all the leaders from Barrow, the vil ages and the Patrick Hudson that had met in the dining room for the briefing that Captain Sorenson had requested. “Does the colony on Mars have room for us?” “Wil they share their food with us?” “What will happen when they run out of food and there are no more supply ships coming from earth?” “I would hate the thought of living out my life in a cramped little cave!” “Well I am afraid that is just going to have to be your fate” The answers to your other questions are “yes they wil share their food with us, yes, they have enough room for us. The two Mars Supply ships were retired five years ago but Mars Runner stil makes regular runs to Mars, they haul more people to Mars and Mars exports back to Earth. They also have been hauling luxury items to Mars on their way up. Things Martians have ordered off the internet and paid for. You wil just have to wait and see your new home when you arrive on Mars.”
It was agreed that the four ships should engage Warp Speed only briefly on the return to Mars, in the interest of Safety. The Arton One used warp longer than the other ships because they had to drop their people off on Mars and then return for the people stranded on the Earth Orbiter and Moon Base. April 8, 2125: “A1to Mars comm we are entering Mars orbit with five thousand refugees. We need to transport these people as quickly as possible because there are another three thousand six hundred people stranded on the Earth Orbiter and Moon Base.” By the time that The A1settled into Mars orbit there were seventeen shuttles waiting to off load refugees. Eight hours later The A1was headed back to Earth once again they used Warp Speed briefly. April 9, 2125: The A1made Earth orbit and took on the refugees from the Earth Orbiter. They then established Moon orbit, dispatched their 15 shuttle and took on the refugees from Moon Base. A team of six people remained behind to maintain Moon Base knowing ful wel that it might be a long time before another ship from Mars would return.
April 15, 2125: The A1made Mars orbit. Mars sent up shuttles to offload refugees. By the end of that day the population of Mars stood at just over 80,000 people, almost 22,000 of them were housed in the reception center. The people of Mars that had room in their homes were urged to take refugees from the reception center into their homes. The reception center just could not accommodate 22,000 people.
July 24, 2125: Mars Comm sent and received messages frequently to and from Moon Base, if for no other reason to keep the skeleton crew on Moon Base from feeling detached from humanity. The Inuit Eskimo people from the Arctic blended in well with the population of Mars. Almost all of them spoke English, the few that didn't were mostly elderly and became home makers for their families, which was pretty much the role that they had played in their Arctic villages. Despite the authorities desire that everyone speak only English they were occasionally irritated by occasionally hearing people conversing in the Inuit language.
It amazed everyone how quickly the vibrant young economy of Mars absorbed the newcomers. Within less than a year there was ful employment on Mars. Tim had once again decided not to develop Utopia. The equipment that Mars had recently received for that purpose was put to other uses in the development of more of the small caverns that had been discovered. CHAPTER – Mars Runner returns to Mars
August one 2125: Mars Runner docks at Mars orbiter 1,238 passengers and crew were transferred to the planet by the Mars shuttles where they were provided temporary accommodations in the reception center. The seventeen operating shuttles then made short work of transporting the cargo to the planet. Three people remained on board to maintain the ship and the orbiter. They would be rotated once a month. There stil remained the 15 shuttles on The A1and 20 shuttles on the Arton Four, that no one knew what to do with. It was finally decided to leave five shuttles on each ship and dismantle the remaining 15 shuttles for spare parts.
September 14, 2125: The reception center was closed down. Everyone had found gainful employment and made other housing arrangements. CHAPTER – Immigrants from Arton
May 12, 2126: Arton Four enters Mars orbit with 1,261 passengers and crew who were transferred to the planet. Five crew members remained on board to maintain the ship.
June 14, 2126: Arton Three enters Mars orbit with 1,284 passengers and crew who were transferred to the planet. Again Five crew members remained on board to maintain the ship.
June 14, 2126: The total population of the Human race was estimated to be 136,000 people. With roughly 54,000 of them living on Arton and 82,000 thousand on Mars. It had been resolved to send one of the Arton ships back to Arton, because they had powerful radios on board that could communicate with each other even at a distance of four and a half light years. Once a month Arton Four would send the news from Mars to Arton and once a month the Arton three would send news from Arton to Mars. Arton Four would remain in a parking orbit around Arton and become in fact a orbiter. They would have seven Shuttle They would be mann
ed by volunteers from Mars who would be selected from the general population and agree to live their lives out on Arton. The word went out and barely enough volunteers consented to go. Over the next two months these people were trained to do the jobs that the crew of an Arton ship had performed. The ship was not loaded with any cargo because Arton was already a self sufficient planet. They would have their work cut out for them in learning to produce for themselves all the things that had formerly been shipped to them from Earth but there was no doubt that they would survive and prosper over the coming centuries.
CHAPTER – Earth Recovers
August 21, 2126: Arton Three departed for Arton, not to return to Mars for many years. The four remaining ships in orbit around Mars would remain there until Earth was once again habitable, except that one of them would be dispatched to Earth every ten years to gather data. This always coincided with Mars closest position to Earths orbit.
March 7, 2136: It had been ten years since the destruction on Earth . Mars had prospered and the population had grown to over 125,000 soles. It was time to dispatch Mars Runner to determine the status of Earth. Mars Runner departed amongst much fan fare with only the crew and a couple dozen scientists aboard and a cargo of food and other supplies for Moon Base. Mars Runner carried four Shuttle in their hold.
July 19, 2136: Mars Runner carried seven volunteers who agreed to remain on Moon Base for the next ten years, it just seemed like such a shame to abandon one of mankind's greatest achievements. Upon their arrival Captain Lomax accompanied the volunteers to Moon Base for a look around the facility. Mars Runner had brought along enough supplies to keep the crew in food, water, atmosphere and other necessities of life for another ten years. The seven people who had been on Moon Base for the last ten years were ready to leave. These people had been in radio communication with Mars for their entire stay and had nothing new to report. Actually over the last ten years they had nothing new to report. They stil constantly monitored all radio frequencies but had heard nothing worth investigating for the last nine years and eleven months.
July 22, 2136: Mars Runner secured orbit around Earth and even docked at the long deserted Earth Orbiter. The place seemed no worse for the ware and the crew soon had it back in ful operation. The four Shuttle were unloaded and had also docked at the Earth Orbiter.
July 24, 2136: The Shuttle flew their first sorties close to earth. Mars Runner had been monitoring all radio frequencies since their arrival and had found nothing. The Shuttle had flown low over the United States looking for signs of habitation but had seen nothing encouraging. One of them had landed at what used to be, Edwards Air force base in the California, Mojave Desert. They got out of their craft cloaked in radiation suits and took several readings of the soil and the atmosphere. There was good news, the air was breathable and though there was stil a lot of radiation it was below the lethal level. Anyone living in this environment could live but would be very susceptible to developing cancer and other diseases. I would not recommend long exposure to this part of the planet. They got the same result from checking out various other parts of the planet and the only life form they encountered were some red ants in what used to be Kenya. On a hunch they tried the top of Mt. McKinley in Alaska. It was clean down to the 6,000 foot level. No radiation reading at all. There were plants and trees still growing in abundance. They had seen what might have been a flock of birds from a distance but when they got closer they found only leaves blowing around. They then checked the Ocean at several locations, There was stil some sea life but not much The deeper they took readings the more sea life they found. Before leaving Earth they visited a number of locations on Earth to take additional readings. In Juneau, Alaska, they came across a huge quantity of cut lumber that tested clean because it had been wrapped in plastic when the catastrophe had occurred. They filled the hold of their ship with the lumber. Their trip would not be a total wasted effort. There was always need for wood on Mars.
November 23, 2136: The ship made Mars Orbit with a mixed message. The good news was that Earth was not a dead planet, trees some plants, red ants and some deep see life were adapting. They had found at least one place on Earth that was now completely free of radiation, the top of Mt. McKinley above 6,000 feet and they suspected that all locations above 6,000 feet in elevation were also free of radiation. Those places were still not habitable because winds kept blowing in contaminated air. The atmosphere was no longer instantly lethal. The bad news was that they had found no people at al or any signs of people since the catastrophe.
July 24, 2146: This time A1made the trip to Earth. They rotated the crews at Moon Base and resupplied the facility. Things were looking up. The atmosphere was breathable in most locations although there were still some hot spots. At elevations above three thousand feet they found no contamination of soil or rocks. They stil found no signs of human life. They observed several varieties of insects, life in the Oceans could be found in water as shallow as one hundred feet. In the Amazon basin they cut some choice hardwood and just loaded the logs onto the ship. Wood was stil the most precious commodity on Mars even though they had been harvesting some softwoods grown on Mars for several years. Most of the Mars harvest had been chipped up and used to manufacture press board. The A1carried no surplus food on this trip. Their conclusion was that Earth was beginning to recover.
July 24, 2156: The Arton Two made the trip to Earth, In most respects the planet was as it had been before the catastrophe. They real y had to look to find any signs of the nuclear Holocaust other than abandoned buildings and visible signs of destruction. The air was good to breathe and the only hot spots that they found were at ground zero where the bombs had detonated. There was stil trace contamination in the atmosphere but not near so much as there had been ten years earlier.
November 23, 2166: Tim was 74 years old when Arton Two returned from Earth with more hardwood. Carla had passed on the year before, their four children were in mid life and there grandchildren were either in college or out on their own. Tim had retired from company service in 2158 and now just puttered around the house. Tim had spent the bulk of his personal wealth in assisting the refugees from Earth when they were brought to Mars 40 years earlier.
Tim's oldest grandson, Josh had been on the crew of the Arton Two when it traveled to earth. He visited his grandfather and told him that Earth had passed it's physical. It was once again a safe habitat for humanity. Tim just grunted and went on tending his flower bed. “That means that man can return to Earth, grandpa. “ “Perhaps you should introduce a resolution before the Council Josh, propose the colonization of Earth and see if you can find any volunteers. There are always young people looking for adventure in far away lands, that would be wil ing to sign up. If that happened it would give mankind the advantage of being present on at least three planets and we as a species would stil survive if something happened to any two of them. Arton now has near one mil ion population and Mars has over half a mil ion. I suppose we could find a hundred thousand or so that would be wil ing to establish an Earth colony.
CHAPTER – Reclaiming Earth
April 24, 2167: Mars Runner, loaded to the gills with cargo and passengers, leave Mars Orbit, destination Earth.
July 25, 2167: The A1is loaded with cargo and passengers from Mars and departs for Earth. Five days later The Arton Four departs. August 1,2167: The Arton Two is loaded and departs Mars for Earth. The A1Makes Moon orbit. They rotated the staff at Moon Base and replenish their supplies.
August 5, 2167 : A1and Arton Two make Earth orbit and begin to offload passengers.
August 7, 2167: Mars Runner and the Arton Four make Earth orbit and begin offloading passengers.
It took them nearly a month for the seven Shuttle that they had brought along to offload their cargo of 10,222 humans, six thousand assorted farm animals, one mil ion fresh water fish, 500,000 salt water fish and five mil ion Earth worms to their chosen location. The new colony would be located at a place formerly known as Mission Bay, San Diego, Cali
fornia. The 1822 human beings all worked for the company, Earth Colony, Inc. The Company manager on Earth was Josh Erkin.
Somehow San Diego had been spared a direct hit during the brief war that had ended life on earth. In the intervening 42 years the corpses of all living beings that were on Earth had just disintegrated. At the very worst there were harmless piles of dust that had to be swept up and disposed of. Various metal objects that people had on their person were sometimes found in the little piles of dust.
The ocean water was once again clear of any contamination. One of the first orders of business was to close off a lagoon at Mission Bay and release the salt water fish that they had brought from Mars. There were several pristine little lakes and reservoirs to receive the fresh water fish. A crew of seven people was formed to make fish food and care for the fish. As it turned out life on Earth had not been completely destroyed. Many of the lower life forms in the ocean had adapted or survived in their original form. Bacteria, algae, single cel ed creatures of the ocean had not only survived but had prospered. These creatures were at the bottom end of the food chain. With all the sea creatures that had fed on them gone they had multiplied with gusto. The colony found that they did not have to feed the salt water fish. The colony had their choice of any number of Yachts and commercial vessels that had not fared too badly and could be restored. September 10, 2167 : The nuclear facility at Green Valley that Tom Eddy had left for them was found intact. Technicians from the ships who had been taught to tend the nuclear power plants in the ships were brought in to see if they could get the plant into operation. Tom had even left instructions as to how to reactivate the facility in anticipation of this day. An Ariel reconnaissance of other nuclear power plants in the Western United States had revealed that more than one hundred of them had been shut down properly. a supply of Nuclear fuel that had been waiting for instil ation and had not gone to critical mass. The protective containers were stil intact and the fuel rods they contained were stil in their new condition. Electric Helicopters were plentiful but none of them had usable batteries. New batteries from Mars were instal ed in a few of them. The new batteries did not fit but once the holders had been modified the batteries worked. Some old museum relics of air planes, helicopters, heavy equipment and automobiles that ran on gasoline were found. A refinery in Southern Nevada was found intact which stil had a huge amount of crude oil in tanks. Operation Manuals were also found there and intact. A crew of fifty had the refinery in production within a month and were producing gasoline and diesel fuel. The old choppers, aircraft and heavy equipment from the museum were brought back to operating condition and used to fil the gap until batteries could be manufactured on Earth once more. Near the Southern Nevada refinery stood Hoover Dam, still intact. Lake Mead was full and overflowing over the top of the dam. They sent a crew down that figured out how to open the spil ways and drain off a lot of the water from the lake into the Colorado River. The river flowed all the way to Yuma, Arizona and then spil ed off into Northern Mexico. In the process they had succeeded in restoring the water supply to The farms in the Imperial Valley. That gave them al the room and water they needed for growing crops. Crews harvested some of the fresh water fish that they had seeded around San Diego and restocked Lake Mead. Someday they would send in crews to get the hydro-electric generators functioning once again.