The Commonwealth
by Robert H. Stockman
Table of Contents
1. Miners
Columbus 6 arrives. Will meets Bruce Curry and Gerhard Bach, representatives of Consolidated Mining and Muller Mining, respectively. The two men distrust each other but are united that Cassini must have a biome.
Date: 14 September 2031
2. Beginnings
The rest of Columbus 6 arrives. At the inaugural dinner on Frisol, Emily tells Will of the romances on C-6 and remarks about the diversity but the high cost of food. Ananda Thanarat introduces himself to Will as a Bahá'í and they welcome him. They talk to Fatima and Husni Hijazi about Muslim prayer and fasting on Mars. Andries complains about Curry. Will gives a welcoming speech. On Monsol Will and Ethel drop Marshall off at first grade, then go to the inauguration of the Mariner Institute of Technology, where Curry nearly demands and begs to go to Cassini immediately. Alexandra proposes a simplified Cassini biome.
Date: 16-20 Sept. 2031
3. Debates
Will and his heads of staff meet and debate how much staffing to send to Cassini. Arieh, John, Greg, and Emily debate the sacred on Mars and hear two bits of news: Madhu’s lung operation has detected cancer; and Radha’s baby has Down’s syndrome. Will and others debate the implications of these mortal facts on a Sunsol afternoon.
Date: late Sept. and early Oct. 2031
4. Settlement
Emily Scoville leads an expedition of 18 people, 2 Mobilhabs, and 3 reactors, to Cassini to set up the Outpost and start gold production. They set up the two bubbles and get started on the biome. Will exchanges emails with David and Sebastian about future exploration of Mercury, development of lunar ice, and expansion of lunar tourism. Michiko calls and tells Will that dust storms are on their way to Aurorae.
Date: late Oct. 2031
5. Crime
Will, Alexandra, Lisa tour Catalina, which is now finished. They see a dust devil. After discussion, Alexandra agrees to take a crew to Cassini to finish the biome there. A few days later a Mobilhab arrives from Cassini. Will hears from Eliseo and Louise that conditions are really rough. Chester Stoughton echoes their assessment. Two days later, Satursol/Sunsol night, Chester is accused of raping Sheila Burns. He is taken to the hospital for examination.
Date: late Dec.
6. Trial
A town meeting is held and many issues about justice and court procedures are discussed. Will and a group of associates discuss the implications of the town meeting; Mars-wide organization clearly is needed. The trial itself is swift. Will, Alexandra, and Silvio discuss the implications afterward.
DATE: late Dec. 2031
7. Proposals
The Secretary of the Interior calls Will to tell him about the Bio-Archive project. He talks to Lisa about it. The next day he puts on the first pair of pants made on Mars; Marshall makes fun of them and asks probing questions about Bio-Archive. Ruhullah offers his services for administration, as he plans to settle on Mars. Morgan says they will pursue Bio-Archive as a way to develop capacities to make domes and solar cells, and the reactor project will have to wait a bit.
DATE: early March, 2032
8. Vacation
Will lobbies Senators to favor bio-archive. Sebastian Langlais calls about coordinating the moon’s needs for biomes with Mars’s. Will replies that Phobos’s carbon and nitrogen and Martian uranium are natural supports for the moon as well. But Bio-archive gets tied to building Dawes Outpost as well. Will notes the strange discrepancies in gold production and asks Yevgeny and Silvio to audit. At supper, they talk about vacation, and arrangements to run things in Will’s absence. The next morning three families go to the Dacha. The boys go outside with parents to hike around. In the afternoon, while the kids are napping, the parents talk about the future. Meanwhile, down at the Outpost, communications with Earth collapse from overload because of conjunction, then internal communications collapse as well. At supper, Kevin makes a scene with Jennie over her new boyfriend. After dealing with that, Alexandra learns that Silvio has figured out that Dan Shapiro has been embezzling gold. Will finds out when he returns from vacation.
DATE: Conjunction (early June, 2032)
9. Organization
The trial raises issues of Mars’s legal system, now that two boroughs exist. The Commission is upset with two criminal acts in six months; Mars now has a distopian reputation. Morgan pushes for exploration of Elysium and an asteroid mission. Will pushes for a constitutional convention. Morgan agrees to a Mars planning conference. Two weeks later, July 5, Will goes to Cassini. The residents agree to a borough government. The situation there is improved and gold production is strong.
DATE: late June, 2032
10. Conference
Will argues with Morgan and Turner about whether to postpone the conference again because the landowners are split. They agree to hold the conference and invite the corporate land owners to it. Will calls Heather Kimball and pushes her to push the land owners to compromise. Will explains the problems among the land owners between the “utopians” of various stripes and the corporate landowners. Then a small nuke destroys a European Union building in the Defence, forcing evacuation of half of Paris. The next morning Will gives a speech condemning partisanship and terrorism. It is immensely controversial on Earth, but on Mars the residents think seriously about non-partisan ways of resolving differences and building a different model for civil authority.
DATE: late Sept. 2032
11. Celebrations
Ananda and Kim get married. Will talks about all the marriages being planned, the plans for Columbus7, and other matters. Then the news is announced that the land owners have settled their disputes and resolved their participation in the Mars Assembly. The Mars civil government is now complete. After everyone sings the informal anthem of Mars, Kim suggests they go outside and raise the Mars flag over the Outpost. The entire outpost suits up and goes out.
DATE: early Jan. 2033
© 2004 Robert H. Stockman