by Keith Martin
Ashley started to laugh.
“I want to sit on a porch and watch the grass grow. And I’m going to start this life on your families’ ranch. Ma can teach me to be a real country woman.”
“She could do that for sure!” Ashley assured her.
“You’re the daughter I was always too busy to birth Ashley.”
“And you have been like a mother to me Karen.” Ashley was feeling better about all of this now that she knew Karen supported her plans.
“Well I’m cutting the apron strings young lady. I’m done growing you now go out and find us the cure to this virus. Also, I would like a man before I die, so get me one. I will pray for you every day, you think of me when you have the time. Do call every once in a while. I love to hear your voice. Ok?”
Ashley knew she was passing a stage in her life. She was being forced to grow up just a little more. “I will Karen.” She was being pushed from the nest to test her wings.
“Now you get to it. This old woman has to pack and get out to the ranch before I go and change my mind.” Karen didn’t even say goodbye. The line went dead and Ashley was left to think about what had just been said.
* * *
She sat with Shianne there next to The Seekers thruster bell talking about all that was said. They both agreed that Mars was the next logical place to look for the origin of the virus.
Shianne agreed to design her sister the transports it would take to explore Mars properly. She knew that being able to truly travel upon Mars would be the only way to find the cure if it was there.
Their conversation grew deep. Others on the team that Shianne was forming to help with the retrofitting of The Seeker got involved. All agreed that the first thing was to design a base that could withstand the Martian storms. At first Ashley couldn’t even grasp what humans could build that would be stronger then the forces of the red planet. She was giving it all of her thoughts when one of the team said that she was going to go to acquire a sample of the new fuel for Shianne to test.
It hit her all at once. All she needed for a safe base on Mars was to talk with Ton. “Ton and Steve.” She said out loud.
“There she goes.” Shianne said as she watched Ashley head for the hanger door. “She has that under control now. Lets get to work on this thruster bell ladies. We have a mission to fly!”
She had no idea her father and the Commanders of S.M.B. were way ahead of her and plans were being put in place to reestablish the base on Mars.
22 A Hole on Mars
Ashley dialed Ton first. “You found Ton here.”
“Ashley here… we need to talk. Do you have time?”
“What’s up girl?” He asked jovially.
“We need to talk…about the base on Mars.”
“I am working on the gas chamber airlocks right now Ashmo. But Steve is home and willing to chat with you if you need mining info.”
“Thanks Ton. I’ll go visit him then, you be safe down there.”
“Don’t plan on blowing us up woman. You play nice with Steve now. He’s not used to a woman like you Chisholms.”
Ashley knew what he meant and she was complimented by it. “I’ll be nice.” She assured him, and they got back to their work.
“Otto said you would figure it out on your own. How dose he do that?” Ton shot back then hung up to get back to work.
* * *
Ashley took the long walk to the main chamber and headed toward the ramp up to the base with a light heart. Her mind running a sprint working out all that would be needed to pull this off. She was no longer rechecking tests that didn’t work. She was done spinning her wheels and wasting time. She had a direction to go in and it was full steam ahead.
Rovers, probes, hot air balloons, solar powered planes and tire marks all across the Martian surface and mankind had found a skull and femur after all this time and expense. Forty years and more of searching for the signs of life that most didn’t believe were there.
Now the proof had been seen. She was going to help establish the new base on Mars and no storm would ever touch it. Mars had reclaimed herself, in a defiant attempt to be rid of mankind, for the last time. It was Ashley’s turn to fight back now.
She stopped off at the chow hall before heading down to Steve’s to get a pizza and a few beers to bring him for lunch. She knew the way to his heart was through his stomach. She was going to use every trick to bring him onto her team and get this base started in his minds eye.
* * *
She made her order then she spotted Vic in his seat watching the door with his back to a wall. She decided to pay her respects as she waited for the pizza to be finished.
Vic watched as Ashley made her way thought the tables toward him. She moved like a cat, smooth and flowing. No motion wasted, her hourglass figure moving with ease and grace. He thought of how beautiful she really was. He loved watching her anytime she was near.
“Hi Vic.” She greeted him.
“Good afternoon Ashley. And how are you this fine day?” He asked gallantly. He moved out a chair across from him with his foot and motioned for her to take the seat.
She took the offered seat and asked. “So how’s the crime rate? Bust anyone this year.”
“With a crime wave like this I’m thinking of getting a new job.” He stated with conviction. “What are you up to?”
“Going to Mars…”
He didn’t like the sound of this at all. He knew the base on Mars had been wiped out by storms. He wasn’t going to just sit by and watch her get killed on some far off planet. “Mars…?”
“You know me, looking for a cure, signs of life, a bone or two if they can be found again. Things like that.”
He figured he would let her take him along with her. That way he could keep an eye on her. “Do you need a cop?”
“I could use a strong man to help run the base once it’s constructed!”
“Interesting… I will give this some thought. Pizza and beer?” The waitress brought her order. “You’re having a party?”
“I’m buttering up Steve so I can pick his brains.” She stood and took the meal from the server.
“Well, keep me in the loop. I would like to be in on a project like this.”
“OK Vic. Will do… but I’m willing to bet it will take a couple of years to get it all arranged for.”
“You play nice with Steve. He is still on the injured list.”
“I’ll be nice Vic.” She shot back with a smile as she walked away.
Vic only had eyes for her as she made her way across the chow hall. As the doors closed behind her he chastised himself for being a fool. She was so young and he was just a cop, besides the fact she was Otto’s daughter. He shouldn’t even be thinking about her as he was. But he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He tried, and it didn’t work.
* * *
She caught a ride down the ramp to the lift by a passing crew transport. Everyone knew who she was and she didn’t even have to ask for a ride. The driver just pulled up, told the rider in the front seat to move to the back, and told her to have a seat.
He dropped her at the lift room and said his goodbyes. On her way up she got to see all the work that was going on in the chamber. The housing units were being carved out of the rock and this chamber was soon going to be a living city. She was amazed at the scope of the work. It was just what she wanted to see on Mars.
As she exited the lift at Ton’s place she was startled by Steve’s shouted words. “Pizza and beer, what do I have to do for this?”
“Steve I could have dropped this.” Ashley chastised him.
“Don’t do that. Then you might cook for us and we could both die from food poisoning.” Steve didn’t let up a bit.
Ashley grabbed the lift door and started to get back on the lift. “Say you’re sorry or I’m gone.” She demanded.
He knew he couldn’t fight her at all. Her will was too strong to play with. “Ok, ok, ok. I’m sorry. Now let’s eat. I’m starving. Ton won’t
feed me at all.” He complained trying to get some sympathy.
“Yea right. And Terry hasn’t been down from the chow hall looking after you either right?” She gave him a look that could kill. She knew Terry was taking good care of him while he was healing up.
“But she hits me.” He shot back jokingly.
“That’s it, I’m telling Terry you said that. And I’m telling Ton you where mean to me and I’m telling Dad that you hit me. So there! Now what are you going to do?” She gave him her most hurt look with lots of pouting thrown in for good measure. She tried to hold it for as long as she could without busting up.
Steve just stood there waiting for her to bust. He didn’t have a long wait. They both had a good chuckle, and Ashley took the pizza to the kitchen for warming. “Beer…?”
“Please. Now tell me what’s up?” He responded.
Ton might be the boss of the miners. But Steve was a true genius when it came to mining engineering.
Their parents had passed away when Ton was just nineteen years old; Steve was only twelve at the time. Ton stepped up to the plate and raised his brother. Ton devoted his life to making sure Steve would have the education to keep him out of the mines. For more than a hundred years the Terry men had mined it all, and on almost every continent.
Ton was determined to end the tradition of working in the dark, for another man’s gold, silver, and coal, salt, and iron, borax, copper and tin. They had ripped it all out of the bowls of the planet.
Ton worked twelve on and twelve off for six years to afford to send Steve to MIT. Even with his four point Zero grade average in high school and the grants that he earned when he graduated... The cost of sending him to MIT where staggering.
With a Master’s Degree in hand in Mechanical Engineering, what was the first thing Steve did? He started to design mining equipment.
Now he had ten years of designing and building mining systems under his belt. He was one of the tops in his field. He was the man to have on the project.
* * *
She popped the top from his beer for him and handed it to him as she took a seat to wait for the pizza.
Steve took a long deep pull from his brew and then asked. “Shoot?” to get the ball rolling.
“Well Steve… I want a hole…” She pointed to the cavern. “That big. It has to have an entrance tunnel large enough to land a transport shuttle in and it has to be able to survive a thousand mile an hour wind…on Mars. What will you need and when can I get it?”
Steve set down his beer, placed his fingertips together, looked over to her with genuine disbelief in his eyes and asked. “Are you out of your little girly mind?”
She didn’t respond at all. She could see that he was thinking. His question was just his way of venting his thoughts. “I would need a hundred miners, thirty G-Class shuttles full of supplies, and a re-supply mission every week for a year or so. At least! Why do you ask?”
“Can you be ready to go from here in two years?” She asked trying to make him understand that this was not just some information-fishing trip.
“You’re not kidding around? You want me to work this up for you?” Steve couldn’t believe she was on the level.
“Absolutely!” She assured him. “When can you start putting it all together?”
He was already starting to get his mind around it, but he was trying to catch up to the reality of it. “You’re not kidding… your really going to do this?”
“Yes... you are really going to do this. I want it just like this chamber. A mile long entrance tunnel with pressure doors and airlocks, a chamber so big that supplies for years could be stored and greenhouses to grow fresh veggies, it has to be able to sustain let’s say two hundred personnel at least, housing for said personnel, lab areas with bio airlocks, hangers for transports. I want a base of operation that will last for as long as we need it and the ability to take a direct hit from a storm and ride it out with our feet up to the fire.” She laid it all out for him in black and white. She went to fetch the pizza and a couple more beers when the alarm sounded the pizza was ready. She took her time to let him think in peace for a few minutes. She knew he was putting it all together in his mind.
“You know you’re asking for a lot, right?” He stated.
“I have something that will interest you but let’s eat first; this could chill your appetite, so let’s eat.”
He didn’t argue with her at all. He dug into the pizza like it was going to be his last meal. Ashley ate a single slice to show that this was a lunch for the two of them and not just a bribe to get him on her side. She waited for him to finish off half the pizza and two more beers before he belched and then asked. “Ok, let’s have it?”
She stood up and pulled a folded piece of paper from her back pocket, unfolded it and handed it to Steve.
* * *
Shianne was ordered to go to the hanger to meet Fred at The Seeker. There she found Fred and Hackett waiting with grinning faces. “What do you two want?” She knew something was up.
“We want this to go fast… real fast… far away… take pictures and then come back…. real fast. Slow down and wait for a pickup by G-1.” Hackett announced.
“How far and how fast…?” Shianne asked.
“The Seeker was on a recon mission to find a habitable planet Shi Blue. We believe she found it.” Fred filled her in.
“We need more input. We need close up photos and we need proper scanning.” Hackett added. “It was out in space for twenty years on its first mission. Tracking charts a course that took it out past Pluto, about ten years of flight time at max speed. We need to do this a lot faster. Only this time we have a location. We need this information as soon as possible Shianne.” Hackett was talking like the excited little girl that she was.
“Tell me what you’re going to need to pull this off and you will have it. This needs to be done right away!” Fred added letting her know she had an open checkbook on this project.
Shianne gave it some thought and then started to fire off her list. “First I would have to finish the modification of the thruster and its systems…” She gave it some thought. “She would need updated systems, scanners and imaging equipment. It would need a test flight; let’s say a thirty-minute blast to reach max speed and then a shuttle to go fetch it back to be rigged for the mission. But first we will have to do some ground tests. We still don’t know just how powerful the new fuel is. I’m going to have to test the fuel to find out just how much thrust it will generate with the new thruster design. We have to find the right mix to make the thruster do its job right. Too much of any one thing and it will melt the thruster right off the tail of the ship. What are we going to call the new stuff anyway? The new fuel sounds too first grade.”
“I will get it named forth with.” Fred barked; naming fuel was not high on his list of things to do right away. “But we still need your schedule Shianne.”
“When can we start the testing?” Hackett asked excitedly.
“We…?” Shianne gave her a knowing glance. She loved this little ladies energy. It reminded her of her.
“I want to help. I’m learning here… at school I only teach.” Hackett was adamant. She was not going to be taken out of the loop.
Shianne was having fun with her little friend now. “And how old are you?” She asked looking down her nose at Hackett. She had read Hackett’s full folder and she knew all that had been recorded about this brilliant young woman.
“I’ll be fifteen in seven months.” She said standing tall and proud.
Shianne had heard enough about this little walking PC to know she was going to be an asset to anyone she worked with. But she couldn’t just give in to her so easily. “Fred, do I teach her or send her packing?”
“I think we teach her everything we can, then she’s going to be teaching us all.” His words held truth, and he said them like a proud father putting a protective arm around her shoulders.
Shianne looked into Hackett’s eyes for any sign of
fear or hesitation. She found none. “Ok. We will start setting up for testing tonight, and we will be doing full power tests within a week or two. From there, we will have to see.”
Hackett lit up like a Christmas tree. She was reveling in her new life as a valued member of the team.
* * *
Joshua and Samantha finished their weeklong Honeymoon in a private little place in the main chamber. They lived on room service and stayed out of sight for the whole week. But they couldn’t vacation forever; it was time to get back to work.
They stopped at the chow hall for lunch. Terry and Connie both greeted them as soon as they walked in. They were guided to a small table for two and they ordered their first public meal as a married couple.
There was a line of well-wishers at their table until their meal arrived and Terry threatened to call out the guard if they were not left in peace. Everyone laughed at her but did as she asked and let them dine in peace. Terry even brought out a bottle of champagne to wash down their meal and keep the romance of their new lives together rolling.
On their way out Joshua realized that he had no place to take his new bride, his quarters where now a part of his father’s quarters. He had not been assigned quarters since he had tied the knot. He called his father for advice.
As Otto’s phone rang he sat in the sun next to the playground with Samantha. “Hi Dad…”