First Steps (Founding of the Federation)

by Hechtl, Chris

  Mario patted her arm she clutched at it for a moment then let go. "We have a lot to do inside anyway. We need to finish the vault interiors. Sergei, Joyce, and I can work on the next set while you handle some of that and the interior chores." Mario tried to comfort her. She sighed and nodded.

  He shook his head. "Think of it as getting ready for the baby. You’re going to want to decorate the room, make the materials for the baby, toys, blankets, bottles, and crib..." Tess looked up, suddenly interested. He smiled. "I have a ton of stuff you can look through, and you can contact the Thingyverse people to see if they have anything on file too."

  She nodded. "Maybe, maybe is not going to be so bad," she replied. Sergei rubbed her shoulders. She patted his hands.

  "I'll just give you two some alone time. Enjoy it, once this little one comes, you’re not going to have much time at all." Mario chuckled. He sighed as he left.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  “Well ladies and gentlemen; the Marsnauts have done it again. We have just received word that Russian cosmonaut Contessa Reshenkov is pregnant.” The news anchor sat back and looked at her co-anchor. “This opens a whole can of worms doesn't it Miguel?”

  The male anchor nodded. “Indeed it does. For one thing, they cannot return home to Earth. They have nine months and two days until the MAV is due to launch, and if they decided to return, it would kill the child.” He looked over to a panel of talking heads. “Doctor Jenkins can you comment about the condition of the pregnancy or of the child when it is born?” he asked.

  The Doctor nodded. “Why certainly. Although I haven't seen her medical reports, I believe the cosmonaut is six weeks pregnant and still in her first trimester,” he said and then paused.

  The female anchor picked up her cue. “So she can have an abortion?” she asked.

  The Doctor nodded. “It is within the realm of possibility, however from her actions that does not seem to be her intention,” he said and then smiled.

  “We can all be relieved that the first pregnancy on another world will not be murdered in cold blood,” the female anchor said piously and then nodded.

  Miguel nodded as well. “Ahem, anyway, the problem is that pregnancy on another world comes with its own inherent risks.” The Doctor tried to get them off the abortion track.

  “Such as?” Miguel asked.

  “Such as deficiencies in her diet. We know that the Mars astronauts and cosmonauts diets are heavily regulated and carefully structured to meet their dietary needs. However, all that goes out the window when a woman is pregnant. She will need things that they may not be able to supply. Calcium for bone generation for one...”

  The female Doctor sighed. “Yes and that aggravates another problem. Sorry to step on your toes Bill.” She held up a hand and he nodded.

  Miguel nodded. “Right, ladies and gentlemen Doctor Lisa Suebert, OB GYN at John Hopkins. Thank you for being with us tonight Doctor.” He nodded to her. “You were saying that there is another problem?” he prompted.

  “Yes, the fetus is developing in a non Earth environment. There is no telling what radiation or chemicals the mother is exposed too. Also the lower gravity quotient is a factor. The baby could be born with lower bone density and less muscle mass, preventing it from ever leaving the planet.” She shook her head.

  The anchors gasped. “So their stuck there? The child could be a mutant?”

  The Doctors sighed. “That is a distinct possibility...”

  Mario growled and shut the feed off. “Damn idiots. Who needs them,” he muttered as he left the room.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  "I and everyone who has been watching the program have concluded I have enough rope to hang myself with," Luigi said and then chuckled. "Senator, I know after the scandal with the vaults and the asteroid, and the latest debacle with the breach that I am persona non grata in DC. I know this." Luigi rested his hand on his chest. "I never intended to make friends, only to get a job done as fast as I could. I am sorry if that offended some people." The senators watched stone faced.

  "Now we are embarking on a new journey, a new phase in our civilization. In three days God willing, I and the other eleven astronauts will be heading to space, and to Mars." He smiled at them and the cameras. "We have come a long way in a short time. Six years ago when we launched Commander Bower's first team it took one hundred eighty days to get to Mars. Now we have the Columbus trio, and they can get us there in fifty days. Next year when the Drake launches it will be cut down to thirty five. Ladies and gentlemen time marches on," Luigi smiled.

  "That's a nice speech son, but are you telling us you’re going to stay on Mars?" Senator Byrd leaned forward eagerly.

  "If it is humanely possible to do so yes sir, my wife and I would like to emigrate," he replied simply.

  Senator Friday looked at him as if he had grown a second head. "For heaven sake why?" she asked stunned.

  He chuckled. "For the adventure of a life time ma'am. We will be building a new world with our bare hands." He held his hands up so they could see. "Sure it will be tough, but with your support we will turn Mars into a new home for humanity." The observers began to murmur behind him.

  "Settle down people, settle down," Senator Byrd called. "We'll need to talk about this for a while." Byrd cautioned Luigi.

  "Yes sir, but as long as you are done with me by midnight, I have a flight to catch," he said simply but firmly. Byrd glared but several people chuckled.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Luigi climbed into the space plane and followed the stewardess to his seat. "So, we get peanuts on this flight?" He joked. She looked back at him with a small smile but rolled her eyes. "What too cliché?" he asked smiling back.

  "A little," she replied as she motioned for them to sit. He climbed into the window seat then Betsy sat down next to him. Carefully they began to strap in. "Don't forget the submarine strap." The stewardess cautioned.

  Luigi grimaced and connected it to the belt. "I feel like a baby in a car seat." He grumped.

  "Think of it as sitting in the passenger seat of a formula one car," a voice behind him said. He craned his neck to see a balding man behind him.

  "Doctor McGee? That you? Who let you on our flight?" Luigi chuckled raising his hand over his shoulder. McGee shook it.

  "Just heading up to the Bigelow station resort with my wife," McGee smiled.

  "Hello!" a chipper female voice replied.

  "Hello," Betsy called back.

  "I didn't get a chance to thank you for the shell and help you've been providing for the STTO and the hopper," Luigi said.

  McGee chuckled. "Don't think anything of it. If it can fly on Mars, I want to see it."

  Luigi chuckled. "Well, we didn't have room for it on this flight, it's going out with Benny on the Columbus, but I can't wait to get a chance to use it," he said and then grinned. My how things had changed. Space planes were now becoming common place. The crew of the latest Mars mission didn't even rate a private flight; they flew up coach like everyone else. They had caught the last flight because of his delay in Washington.

  "Joyce Longfeather is pestering us almost daily to send it. She even tried to get us to strap it on the outside of the Hudson," Betsy said with a laugh.

  McGee and his wife chuckled. "Yeah, that's a pilot for you." They could hear the smile in his voice. "We've put in for a shot to Mars you know."

  Luigi looked up in surprise. "You did?"

  Betsy was equally startled. "Yes, but since we're old fogies, I doubt we'll get in. We may have to fly commercial." McGee laughed.

  "Well, if you can get to Mars, I will get Joyce and Mario to give you as much stick time in your hopper as you want," Luigi promised.

  "It's a deal," McGee replied. They shook hands once more as the stewardess helped the Treadwell’s buckle in. "We're the last," Bruce said with a smile. "This is going to be fun." He gripped his wife's hand.

  She smiled at the Irons. "I can't wait to get to Mars! So much to explore!" She gush
ed.

  McGee chuckled. "Just leave some for the rest of us," he teased.

  Bruce looked over his shoulder. "Well then, get your fanny out there and check things out!" he teased right back.

  Luigi chuckled. "Watch it, I just might!" McGee laughed back.

  "See that you do, see that you do." Bruce nodded.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  "The first three ferry craft, tugs really, the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria are out doing other jobs or lost. Nina and Pinta were lost when Luigi redirected that asteroid to miss Earth and hit us instead,” Mario sighed. “Santa Maria is running cargo to the moon base and the gas giant platform," Mario scowled.

  "Some morons insisted on reviving that idiotic moon base idea, so we are competing with them for resources now," he sighed in frustration, running his hands through his thinning hair. "Luigi is coming out on the Hudson, the first of the second generation plasma tugs," he reported and then grinned. "The Columbus and Drake are being held up on the ground by a funding issue. From what Luigi told me it is pure cussedness and political intrigue."

  Wanda sighed. "At least he got the SSTO off the ground. That should be arriving in a month, and the cargo Landers right along the same time." They had already processed the two cargo landers that had come with team two.

  Mario nodded. “Actually sixty days, and sixty two days. Cargo landers will get here first." He smiled at his wife. Tess was quite beautiful, and very very pregnant now.

  "We cannot wait to get our hands on the gear from the cargo lander; with it we can finally finish the vaults and begin expanding things," Sergei grinned. They had already started on another set of vaults near the first set. Unfortunately they had to use a different area because the first set were now occupied. If they had dug them out it would have been a problem.

  "I like plastic sheet maker, is great for making greenhouses!" Tess waved to the pair of greenhouses outside. "No more small tiny garden!"

  Mario nodded. "And don't forget we can make entire domes as well," he said. Joyce smiled at that.

  Toshi looked up. "That is right we can!" He looked at his new wife.

  "At home in a dome?" She smiled back at him. "That sounds nice. I always wanted a view of the stars." They smiled at each other. Wanda watched, dripping envy.

  Mario chuckled. "What are you envious about? You have me remember?" he whispered to her.

  She smiled. "Yeah, that's right." She hugged him.

  "And don't you forget it," he growled gruffly.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Mario surveyed the site and nodded. "Looks good. Damn, almost perfect." He knelt and picked up a handful of regolith, then let it filter through his hands. "Not much there, it's pretty hard." He looked up to Wanda who nodded. "Okay, so need to bring the trenching gear, spare life support, one of the reactors, solar cells, crap the brick extruder...” He shook his head. "Damn, going to be a bitch to haul all that out here then back," he sighed.

  "We'll need a fuel system and tankage to go with it," Joyce reminded him. She was eager to get her hands on that SSTO.

  "Great." Mario shook his head.

  "Well, put it this way, it is only twenty three kilometers from base, so getting it here shouldn't be too hard. A lot easier than running back and forth with loads of bricks," Joyce replied. He sighed noisily at that idea.

  "Don't forget, we want a dome too," Toshi smiled.

  "Yeah, I know. I don't know how to do that. I have an idea, but we'll have to wait until Luigi makes an appearance to try it," Mario replied as he waved.

  He pulled out a tablet computer. It was one of the few computers that could function in the native environment. "Okay, so here is the runway in, runway out, ski ramp is here." He looked up and pointed. “So taxiway is over here that makes ground control over here, with hangars and workshops next door,” he said as waved in the indicated direction.

  "Right." Joyce held up a bundle of stakes. "Toshi and I will work on marking out ground control. Why don't you and Wanda work on the runway?" Joyce suggested. Mario looked over to Wanda who nodded.

  "Right. Let's get started then." He went over to the back of the rover and pulled out another bundle of stakes and a mallet. "You have the survey equipment?"

  Wanda smiled and hefted the tripod. "Of course."

  He chuckled. "For a minute there I thought you were giving me the strong silent treatment," he teased.

  "No, I was admiring the view. This is more your project then mine."

  Mario chuckled. "Yeah, well, not exactly. More Joyce, Toshi's and Luigi's." He waved to Joyce and Toshi as Toshi set up the survey equipment and Joyce laid out plumb lines.

  "She's pretty excited isn't she?" Wanda asked quietly.

  He chuckled. "Yeah think? Come on; let’s get busy before she finds more for us to do," Mario replied.

  "You know I heard that right?" Joyce asked. Wanda giggled as she caught Mario's hand.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  “Okay, I gotta admit, this is a lot easier than building with brick,” Mario said. He shook his head as he watched the building inflate. “ILC Dover does good work. First the greenhouses now this? We've got a ground control building, Hab, greenhouse, airlock...Wait airlock? A balloon airlock?” Mario turned and looked over to Joyce.

  “It has multiple layers,” she explained, surprised he hadn't taken the time to look over the plans. She smiled as she spread her hands. “It self assembles on site too. Once we add air it will expand the outer skin and assemble its inner core. We're adding some plastic struts inside that will act as tent poles to keep it rigid too.” She hefted a bundle of plastic rods.

  “Okay...” He shook his head. “They did that with the hangar too? Isn't anyone a tad concerned about pressurizing the thing with the door?” He waved to the massive balloon Toshi was examining.

  “It's temporary. We'll have to make something stronger and longer lasting down the road,” Joyce explained with a shrug. “It has truss spars we have to put together. Bit like playing with over sized tinker toys,” she explained. Mario grunted as they got down to work.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Tess looked around shyly. "I never had baby." She looked to Wanda and Joyce for help.

  "Don't worry, we couldn't do bridal showers, but I think we can arrange a baby shower," Joyce smiled softly.

  "We need crib..." Tess started. She'd printed a few things but hadn't been happy about the quality of the binky and was a bit suspicious of the bottle.

  Wanda laughed. "Oh a lot more than that honey, tons more. Bottles, a rocker, suckers. Binkies, diapers, ointment, baby powder, toys... The list goes on and on. When my sister had her brood it was a regular three ring circus," Wanda chuckled.

  Tess looked alarmed. "Is all that?" She started to look depressed.

  "One thing at a time. We can replicate a lot of the plastics remember?" Joyce reminded her, giving Wanda a warning look. Wanda nodded.

  "Yeah, we can go through the model files like Mario suggested get a lot of things, and if it isn't in there?" She made a brushing motion. "I bet Toshi could whip up a model and you and Mario can make it." She shrugged. Tess started to look relieved.

  "Now, let's start in on the vault..." Joyce nodded. "I wish we had some granite or marble," Joyce sighed. Tess and Sergei were roughing it in the vault. It was cool and dark; apparently they liked snuggling together in their makeshift pile of bedding.

  "Why?" Wanda asked suddenly interested.

  "Well for counter tops...and floors. We could do marble floors or granite counters or something," Joyce said and then waved to the counters.

  "Well, I can see we can whip something up... As long as we get the men to do the grunt work of course," Wanda grinned with the other girls. After all, she had plenty of diamond saws.

  "Oh of course!" They chuckled together.

  "Marble on the floor?" Wanda waved to it. "I do not know if we have a glaze..." She shook her head. "We'll see. We might get away with ceramic." She nodded. "What about the cabinets?" Sh
e looked around. There were several cabinets; most were from the fallen MAV. Four were from the kits from the last delivery.

  "Is two more, but Mario say to have in bathrooms for sinks." Tess waved to the bathroom and to the ceiling above.

  Wanda nodded. "I wonder if they can do anything with plastics yet?" she asked thoughtfully.

  Tess shook her head. "Is small stuff or sheets, nothing this big." She indicated the cabinet door.

  "Hmmm. Going to have to have a chat with Mario," Wanda murmured. "Let's look upstairs." They went up the spiral stairs to the living area. "Okay, what about carpets up here? It's just plastic thread right?" Wanda asked.

  Tess frowned. "No machinery to make," she finally said and then shrugged.

  "Don't count it out just yet; we might be able to make the machinery. I for one would love carpet in my bedroom," Joyce answered. She didn't like tile expect in a bathroom or kitchen. She much preferred wood or carpet.

  "Okay so this is your room? And next door is the nursery?" Wanda waved.

  "Da." They looked at the first door. "Is plastic sheets around metal frame I know." Tess shrugged.

  "Well, it does offer some privacy." Joyce shrugged. They opened the door. "Oh wow, I didn't know they were this big! Wow! You could land the SSTO in here!" Joyce joked.

  "No, but a king sized bed would fit just nicely Mario said. Is why we made so big." Tess waved her arms. “Is for us, so why not?”

  "Oh, okay, gotcha." Joyce chuckled.

  Wanda started to get increasingly excited. "I told Mario we could paint the walls, I could do a mural in the baby’s room." She opened the nursery door.

  "Is good," Tess said.

  "We can do a baby monitor with walkie talkies... not that you will want to let the baby out of your sight for the first couple weeks Tess," Joyce said. Tess smiled.

  "We can put crib over there, maybe a changing table here?" Wanda blocked out the room with her hands. "Closet here, chest of draws here?" She looked to Tess who nodded.

  "Am not sure we can make all that," Tess admitted.

  Wanda waved. "Don't worry about that, that is what yelling at men is for."

  Joyce chuckled. "I think Toshi is going to be glad he specializes in computers."