New Horizons
by Robert H. Stockman
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Table of Contents
1. Arrival
Will and Marshall welcome Helmut Langlais and Skip Carson to Aurorae Outpost, show them around, and get to know them. Then Will returns to his office and meets Brian Stark, who was sent by the U.S. Navy on a secret mission to see whether Mars is a good site for a uranium enrichment facility.
Date: 18 October 2033
2. Dinner
At dinner, Greg Harris meets an ex-nun who is now a physical therapist and John Hunter meets a Maori exobiologist. Will welcomes everyone.
Date: 20 October 2033
3. Developments
Will talks to commander of Columbus 7 about his return flight to Earth. At an informal gathering of staff, they discuss exploration of near-Mars asteroids. Rosa Stroger complains to Will about Stark. The three of them go out in a ranger to see “the Tower” and Will makes Stark explain his mission to Stroger.
Date: 3 November 2033
4. Quake
An Aurorae-Houston Heads of Staff meeting approves three Columbus 8 flights and three asteroid missions from Mars. Afterward, Will talks to Irina and she notes she is pregnant with her fifth child. She feels bad; he reassures her. Then a 3.9 earthquake hits Aurorae and everything leaks air a little bit.
DATE: 3 December 2033
5. Aster-1
The Aster-1 probe is launched toward an asteroid. Rudenkov proposes larger annexes that can be used on the surface for housing as well. Carson talks politics and tries to get Will to take a position. Anna tells Greg she’s going to Dawes for a few months so they can think about their relationship.
Date: early March 2034
6. Election
Aster-1 fires its engine and prepares for a landing on 2019 XA. Helmut learns he needs an operation in Aurorae for damage to his knee cartilage. Borough meetings are held on the eve of the elections.
Date: late May 2034
7. Meridiani
Helmut, Érico, Anna, and Skip take a Sunwing-4 flight from Dawes to Aurorae and it crashes.
Date: late May 2034 (three days after the election)
8. Landfall
Recovery from the crash. The emergency teams are sucking up staffing; Lisa Kok complains she can’t maintain food production and bioarchive research. Will goes to the hospital to meet with everyone. Carson wants to start Survival: Mars. The day Aster-1 lands on 2019XA, Van de Velde dies.
Date: early June 2034
9. Proposals
Will meets with the geologists and agrees to a lottery for one position on the Gradivus expedition. Talks to Helmut about his plans. Sees Carson’s facility. Anna and Greg meet with Suzanne van de Velde and she proposes an immigration grant in her husband’s honor.
Date: early July 2034
10. Hellas
Helmut gets to go to Hellas. Greg proposes to Anna and she accepts. Scandal in the Presidential campaign. John and Vanessa spend time together in Hellas. Stark gets mad about the solar power units; Will asks him about Pentagon plans to buy Martian uranium for weapons systems.
Date: early Aug. through Sept. 2034
11. Ice Chimney
Skip Carson’s happy with Stark, who proves to be quite an actor. The ice chimneys are reached and one has life in it; but it’s terrestrial, not Martian. Launch of Aster-2 to Eureka. More about Aster-1. Sudden change in the mission to Gradivus; Helmut gets selected.
12. Launch
Greg and Anna set wedding date; John and Vanessa decide to marry; Suzanne incorporates the immigrant society. Carson movie is progressing. Presidential election is a shocker and the stock market dips. Launch.
Date: late Oct/early Nov.
13. New Year
Will and Thierry debate the Christian manger scene and the role of religion in public life; Will and Lisa discuss the murky waters of Riviera pool; White elected president after many delays of delay; Will philosophizes about it privately with a few friends. White makes a very conciliatory speech; but Will decides to shift personal investments anyway.
Date: late December/early Jan 2035
14. Virus
Will talks to Skip about politics, then flies to Dawes to get a tour. Will tells Ethel David says because of deteriorating relations between US and Europe, the Mercury mission is likely to be suspended because it needs American nukes, or shifted to Chinese nukes. On his way to Cassini a computer virus is unleashed that destroys most computers in North America.
DATE: Late Jan 2035
15. Gradivus
White invades Turanistan. Marshall’s tenth birthday. President attacks Commission and Mars as too foreign. Gradivus mission lands in spite of damage. Helmut finds a fragment of Venus on the asteroid’s surface.
DATE: Jan 25- Feb. 1, 2035
16. Marsians
Gradivus mission returns safely.
Reports about the chimney bacteria come back: they are ancient Earth
colonizers. Will gives a speech about the Mars example and the US President
ridicules it as “Martian.” US gradually recovers from the computer virus, but
the stock market is down forty percent and the GDP is predicted to shrink ten
percent that year. Turanistan is conquered completely by the US but criticism
of the act rises when the US accidentally bombs a mosque.
Date: March 1-3, 2035
17. Houston
Houston gets nuked when the
passenger plane is diverted there from Dallas. Columbus 7 ready to depart.
Columbus 8 is in advanced planning stages. Communications collapse; Commission
headquarters destroyed; Morgan blinded. NASA demands that Will accept NASA authority
over Mars and he refuses carefully.
Date: Apr. 2035
18. Demonstration
Roger, Brian, and Neal are
offered command and refuse. Will’s mom is visited by the FBI; Will’s being
audited by the IRS; Ruhullah’s sister is visited by the FBI, too. The Martians
demonstrate in Yalta against the US government.
Date: Late Apr. 2035
19. Equinox
Alexandra gives Will a tour of
the Colorado Biome’s pit, which had a minor cave in. They discuss the lawsuit,
the development of biomes, and the equinox.
Date: May 28, 2035
© 2004 Robert H. Stockman