4

Transitions

Will reached his office at 10:58 a.m., barely two minutes before the Lescovs were scheduled to arrive. He pushed a button on his attaché and the screen sprang alive; he had several messages from Earth, including one from his friend David Alaoui, a member of the Columbus 1 expedition to Mars, the Venus 1 expedition that set up a permanent station in Venus orbit, and now assistant commissioner of the Venus-Mercury Commission. He was about to push “activate” when he heard a knock at the door. It was Alexandra and Yevgeny.

“Come in. Good morning.”

“Thanks, Will,” said Yevgeny. Then he saw the patch. “What happened to your eye?”

“Oh, I just had cataract surgery on it. I was Dr. Lee’s first patient this morning. Arieh was there to assist; he’s learning the technique. They implanted a new kind of lens that is flexible, so I no longer will have trouble focusing my eyes close up.”

“No more bifocals. I’m scheduled for lasik next week,” said Yevgeny. “I’m tired of wearing glasses.”

“About forty people are scheduled for eye work,” said Will. “It should help productivity; we have a lot of people doing jobs that are supposed to be done without glasses, but now they have to wear them.”

“Didn’t Dr. Lee have a lot of trouble on the flight out?” asked Alexandra.

Will nodded. “He was unable to adjust to five revolutions per minute; the coriolis made him sick for almost three months.” Will tapped the patch. “This is for twenty-four hours, then I’ll see what I can see. How did dinner go last night, do you think?”

“Pretty well,” replied Yevgeny. “Your speech has given everyone a lot to think about, and I hear parts of it were carried by several television networks.”

“I haven’t seen the report from Louisa Turner, yet, but yes, I saw a bit of it on CNN. It’s good to see Mars getting coverage of that sort.”

“How much longer before a new Commissioner’s chosen?” asked Alexandra.

“The process is so political, it’s hard to say. The United States has been making it very complicated and everyone else has been retaliating with their own unreasonable demands. Meanwhile, I am free as Acting Commissioner to do what I think is best, since I am not in the running for Commissioner.”

“I wish you’d change your mind about that,” said Alexandra.

“I won’t.”

“What if they offered it to you anyway?” asked Yevgeny.

“I’d have to think about it. The position is highly political, and I do not get involved in partisanship, period. Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. How can I help you?”

Yevgeny closed the office door and the three of them sat around a table. “We thought we should tell you what’s going on,” said Alexandra. “I’m pregnant, and we’ve been agonizing about what to do. We don’t want to keep the baby; we’ve never wanted to be parents or have a family. I’ve been talking to Martha and Arieh. He’s willing to give me an abortion. We’ve considered putting the child up for adoption, but I don’t think I want to see a child around the Outpost who looks like me.”

Will nodded. Alexandra’s body language was unambiguous; she didn’t want to be there and didn’t want to be told what to do. “Well, the decision belongs to you and Yevgeny,” said Will. “We have no law banning abortion here. Have you talked to Madhu as well?”

“No, I’ve been working with Martha instead.” Will knew he couldn’t argue with that; Martha was their psychiatrist, and Madhu, as a conservative Protestant, was opposed to abortion.

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Maybe two months? I’m curious why you haven’t had an abortion yet.”

“I’ve still got at least a month. I’ve needed to take time to decide.”

“Have you looked at studies on women who had abortions? Most have had serious regrets afterward.”

“So I’ve heard. But some of that’s cultural, Will. The abortion rate among Russians has been high for decades; we’ve adjusted culturally to it, to some extent.”

“Probably true. But even so, whether you regard it as murder or not, there’s no doubt that a human potential is being eliminated. And Mars needs humans; that potential is pretty precious here.”

“I know. And I know I’m something of a role model here, since I’m the head of a department. But Will, I can’t let that sway me.”

“Do we know whether there are couples who will adopt? And maybe they’ll live at a different Outpost. You may not see much of the kid.”

“We’ve never needed an adoption list before, so no, there isn’t one. Even if they live elsewhere, they’ll have to come here for shopping and other things. So far, the only baby living elsewhere is Emily and Muhammad’s boy.”

“What do you think you’ll feel if you see the face of a biological child you’ve given up?”

“Oh, Will, I wouldn’t want to be reminded of the whole situation.”

“I can understand that. But couldn’t you see in the face of such a child a precious chance to give life to another human being and a family to another couple? One can see the child as a loss and a source of personal pain or as a gift and an opportunity.”

“I. . . know what you’re saying, but it would be very, very difficult.”

“Oh, I didn’t say it would be easy. There are no easy choices in this situation. I feel terrible about your dilemma, I really do. What can I do to help you, Alexandra?”

She was surprised by that. “I. . . don’t know. I think I need someone to just give comfort. That’s the main thing I need.”

Will turned to Yevgeny. “And you? What help can I give you?”

“I think you’ve been a great help already.”

“I’m glad. Alexandra, are you worried that the pregnancy or maternity leave afterward will put you at a disadvantage where Dimitri and his ideas are concerned? Yes, he wants to meet with me about all sorts of ideas. I was in videophone touch with him often when he was in Moscow and even when he was flying out. Please let me assure you that your position here is in no way is compromised, regardless of your decision. Your dedication to the work is unequaled and your experience makes your advice essential for all aspects of administration and planning. I mean this quite sincerely, too.”

She smiled. “Thank you. I wasn’t fishing for a complement. But it is good to know that if I decide to. . . makes some personal sacrifices, it won’t undermine my seniority.”

“Of course not. Alexandra, you have sacrificed for Mars. Not everyone can say that. I wish more people had the devotion you and Yevgeny have demonstrated again and again. You are my personal friends, too. I can’t judge you for whatever decision you make. You know my feelings; I don’t have to repeat them. But whatever decision you make, I will support you.”

Alexandra’s face brightened. “I’m really touched, Will. I’m. . . very moved.” And a tear came out of one eye. Will reached over and put his arm on her shoulder. Yevgeny smiled and he had a tear in his eye as well.

“I can’t tell you how difficult this has been,” he said. “We feel terrible anguish about the situation. We have always been very careful about birth control also.”

“So were Ethel and I, and things took a different course,” replied Will. “Marshall will be eleven in three months. And he has been a blessing for us. He was a blessing for Mars; if we hadn’t gotten pregnant accidentally, I don’t think Mars would have 226 people right now, or 37 children. It was an emotional watershed for this place. Anyway, it shows how surprising and difficult accidental events can be.”

“And how they can bring good results, in spite of everything,” added Yevgeny. He looked at Alexandra. “Shall we go?”

She looked at him, then nodded. “Yes, I think so. Thanks, Will. I’m not sure you’ve helped us with the decision we have to make, but then, it is our decision anyway. But I feel much better.”

“Good. Let me give both of you a hug before you leave.” They all stood and Will hugged both of his close friends. Then they headed out of the office.

He sat behind his desk and closed his eyes, wondering whether he had said and done the right thing. Abortions on Mars. They were inevitable, of course; but in addition to the tragedy of snuffing out a life that already existed, Mars needed children, and Mars had a lot of adults whose fertility had declined. It was difficult to say that radiation was the cause; their population was still too small for the data to yield statistically significant results. The average parent on Mars was in their mid to late thirties at the birth of their first child, at least a decade older than the average on Earth. Reproductive efficiency inevitably was lower. There were several couples that would be happy to adopt a baby.

But Alexandra was proud and stubborn. He could not push her; his intuition said that the best way to persuade was indirectly. Yevgeny’s smile at the end seemed to suggest he, too, wanted Alexandra to carry the baby. Maybe Will’s voice had succeeded.

Will looked out the window in front of him. One advantage of having an office on the top floor of a building was that he could look outside over the biome’s north building at Aurorae Valley’s northern escarpment, a wall of rock fifteen hundred meters high. He looked at the stony cliffs for a minute. Then he remembered David Alaoui had sent him a message. He reached over and pushed the icon on the screen of his attaché.

David’s face appeared. At 50, he was a year older than Will, but in the last decade he had lost much of his hair and thus had lost much of the youthfulness Will still retained. Yet David’s friendly expressions and determined enthusiasm were unchanged. “Good sol, Will. I wanted to pass some news on to you, because it has political implications for you and it opens the door to an opportunity for collaboration. The Venus-Mercury Commission, after months of deadlock, has finally decided to abandon its negotiations with the United States over the use of LOX-Augmented Nuclear Thermal Rockets. The U.S. has been making unreasonable demands about use of their LANTRS, and we never wanted to use them that much anyway. Instead, we’ll send Mercury missions via Venus, which is what we wanted to do all along, and we’ll use solar-powered ion propulsion, which is practical because of Mercury’s proximity to the sun. We’re also initiating an effort to develop large solar sails; a three square kilometer sail can push a thirty-tonne cargo to Mercury in about a year. We may be able to develop a sail for moving crews as well. Every nineteen months, a pair of tugs will depart for Mercury with crew and cargo, to return and be reused at the next launch opportunity.

“Implications: We anticipate diplomatic retaliation by the United States, and possibly by the Chinese as well, who will have their own LANTR tug flying in another year and pressured us to use it instead. Since the Europeans and Russians are the major players in the Venus-Mercury Commission and major players in the Mars Commission, inevitably this will effect the already high levels of partisanship on the latter’s governing Board. I suspect it means the deadlock over replacing Morgan will continue and you will be acting Commissioner even longer. I don’t know what it will mean in terms of your freedom to run things.

“Opportunities: These are more interesting. The Mercury Project will require additional Lifter-Bs to fly hydrogen and oxygen fuel to Gateway from Shackleton, and to launch the mission on its way to Venus, since the ion tugs will be used near Mercury only. We’ll have spare launch capacity and we’d be glad to sell it to you. Launching cargo to Mars via a Venus gravity assist has two advantages for you; the delta-v is less than a direct course to Mars, and the cargo will arrive at a different time. The cargo will also have human supervision all the way to Venus.

“Another thing: we want to build up a supply of extra fuel in both Venus and Mercury orbit in order to make the transportation system more robust, and Mars should put in a bid for the job, because you can get fuel to either destination for less energy than the moon can.

“And there’s one more important implication: our transportation system will have a lot of commonalities with the Mars system, which means we’ll be able to lease existing equipment from you and we’ll be able to share development costs for new equipment. Go check out the transportation plan on our website, but I can summarize it quickly for you. We’ll always send two missions to Mercury so that one vehicle can rescue the other. The crew will travel in a standard interplanetary transit vehicle, but with considerable radiation shielding. After the ion tug puts them into orbit around Mercury, the crew will transfer to a Mercury shuttle, which will land them and thirty tonnes of supplies on the surface. The Mercury shuttle will be the same size as the Mars shuttle, in terms of the volume of the fuel tanks, to accomplish this, so we are basically modifying the Mars shuttle design. The Mercury shuttle will be able to use hydrogen/oxygen or methane/oxygen, just like the Mars shuttle, though initially it will use hydrogen/oxygen because that’s what’s plentiful at the Mercury poles; the ice sheets are downright glacial. The heat shield for the return to Earth will be detachable and will remain in Mercury orbit, just like the Mars shuttle’s, but the cargo hold will be twice as large, which means the Mercury shuttle will be two and a half meters longer.

“I know one problem with the Mars shuttles is the small size of the cargo hold, which was not designed to carry out all the cargo missions it has to perform now. So we have the opportunity to design a larger vehicle that will benefit both worlds. Mercury lacks an atmosphere, but its gravity is about the same as Mars’s, so the engines and structure have to be designed about the same. With the advances in materials over the last twenty years, a shuttle with a cargo bay twice as large should mass the same as the Mars shuttle does now.

“We need to talk about this matter pretty soon. As you know, Hermes 1 leaves for Mercury in four months. It consists of a vehicle, the Caloris, identical to a Mars shuttle, filled with hydrogen and oxygen fuel and carrying thirty tonnes of cargo. Some of that cargo is located in exterior cargo pods, which pushed us to consider the redesign. If we are to have an enlarged shuttle ready for Hermes 2, which will carry crew, we have to start now, because it has to be ready to go in late 2038. So get back to me as soon as you can.

“I hope all is well up there. I was pleased to see that Columbus 8 arrived safe and sound and that the new annexes worked out so well, even if they proved bulky to take apart and deorbit. It’s amazing what capacities we are developing in the inner solar system. Pretty soon the asteroid belt will be open, and then Jupiter. Mars, Venus, and Mercury all have important roles to play, and I hope we can work together, my friend. Bye.”

Will smiled broadly, very pleased by David’s message. He hit reply. “Good sol, my dear David. What would we do without you. Yes, you’re right; we could use a larger cargo hold. There are some other modifications to the Mars shuttle we have been considering, such as improving the heat shield. And solar sails for cargo are a good idea for us as well. If you heard my speech last night, you’d know we are rethinking our transportation system, so this is the time. I’ll talk to my people and get back to you in a few days. I hope your family is well; we are all fine up here. With Columbus 8’s safe arrival, we’re all pretty happy, too. Bye.”

------------------------------------

Helmut arrived at the Patio for lunch a bit late; he had been taking a group of arrivals on a geological hike of Snow Crater, complete with a practice safety drill. As soon as he entered he was surprised to note that he was looking around for Clara. After two years of being the youngest adult on Mars and having no one to go out with who wasn’t at least five years older, she was water in the desert. The fact that she had similar interests, a pleasant personality, and was physically attractive made it even better.

Clara was seated with John Hunter and Vanessa Smith, who was so pregnant she looked like she could pop. Helmut grabbed a tray full of lunch and joined them.

“John and Vanessa were telling me about their plans to raise their son,” Clara said, after they exchanged greetings. “He’s American and New Zealander, Lakota and Maori, and Marsian all at once.”

“When’s he due?” asked Helmut.

“Tomorrow!” replied Vanessa. “But he’ll probably be a few sols late.”

“I was also telling Clara more about the Meridiani Project,” said John. “I think she should put in. There is no systems engineer along, and a case could be made for one. The project involves eight road construction personnel in two bulldozer/grader trucks, eight construction folks in two more rangers, six geologists in two more rangers, a cook, two mobilhabs, and three nukes. The cook’s supposed to keep inventory as well, but that’s too much work. There will be construction supplies arriving by robotic truck three times a month. There will be work schedules to update. And there will be a lot of data to monitor; eight vehicles with life support systems requiring maintenance, for example.”

“A real variety of tasks,” said Clara.

“I’ll go with you to talk to Lal Shankaraman, if you’d like,” volunteered John. “He’s in charge of the project and would be the one to talk to Elliott.”

“Okay,” said Clara, with a smile. “Thank you, I’d appreciate the help!”

Helmut looked at John as if to say thanks, and John’s expression seemed to convey understanding. “I think you’ll enjoy the expedition,” Helmut said. “We’ll see a different area every sol, we’ll probably find gold—we’ll visit several potential gold fields—and the comraderie on expeditions like this is always special.”

“It won’t be boring,” agreed Vanessa. “And this is more than twice as large as a typical geology expedition; lots of folks to associate with, especially since there will be personnel rotation.” She sighed. “I’m afraid my days on trips like that are over for a few years.”

“And I won’t be going out for a while, either,” added John. “So enjoy, and come back to tell us what you experienced.”

“Alright, I will,” agreed Clara. “And I’d like to babysit.”

“Great!” replied Vanessa.

Their conversation turned to other matters. They paid little attention to the crowd that came, ate, and went. Will Elliott arrived and ate with his family. But just before Ethel and the children left, Will moved over to Érico Lopes’s table, then when Alexandra and Yevgeny arrived at the Patio he beckoned them over. The Lescovs looked like a weight had been lifted from their shoulders.

“We just finished talking to Martha,” said Alexandra. “She’ll be talking to several couples.”

“Good!” replied Will. “Wow, that’s . . . big.”

“And difficult,” added Yevgeny. He looked at Érico, a good friend, but offered no explanation.

“I need to talk to my Director of the Spaceport and Director of Imports and Exports,” Will said. “Actually, the Director of Construction will have something to say about this as well. We’ll need maybe two hours this afternoon, but I’ll summarize the matter briefly right now. I got a call from David Alaoui about two hours ago. The Mercury project is developing some new equipment and have asked whether we want to collaborate. One is a solar sailing cargo vessel; a three square kilometer sail for moving thirty tonnes of cargo from Earth to Mercury.”

Yevgeny’s eyebrows went up. “We could use that even if it took two years to move cargo from Earth orbit to Mars. The vessel wouldn’t be very expensive, it would never wear out, and it would move things between planets practically for free.”

“We could move Phobos water and methane just about anywhere,” agreed Érico.

“They also want to create a new shuttle that is a modification of a Mars shuttle; a ‘stretch’ version,” continued Will. “The mass of fuel will be the same; sixty-seven tonnes of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen or 155 tonnes of methane and oxygen. But the cargo capacity up or down will be thirty tonnes, so they need a cargo bay at least twice as large. David wanted to know whether we wanted to join the Mercury-Venus Commission in the redesign.”

“Hum,” said Érico, looking at Yevgeny and Alexandra. “We’d need a few other redesigns, too. The current bay has 65 cubic meters of volume, which is enough for as much as twenty-five tonnes of cargo. We really could use twice as much cargo storage space; we’d be able to bring much heavier loads down each time, which means fewer flights.”

“The shuttles are limited by cargo volume more than anything else,” agreed Yevgeny. “One hundred fifty tonnes of liquid methane and oxygen can lift sixty tonnes of cargo to low Mars orbit, but there’s no room inside for that much stuff, except for gold and other incredibly dense items. The engines and structure aren’t designed for extra cargo mass either, in consequence.”

“With the rapid growth in mass transported between the planets, we need more lift capacity,” added Érico. “The shuttles would need heavier aerobrakes to go into Mars orbit, but those are already developed and available. Heavier parachute systems are needed, and new software to handle the higher entry speeds. There’s also been a study about the value of variably deployed aerobrakes; they have strakes that extend outward from the base of the vehicle to increase its aerobraking surface and to steer the vehicle. We should work on that as well.”

“And ballutes,” exclaimed Yevgeny, referring to parachute-like devices for use in reentry.

“Would this mean each shuttle flight could deorbit two annexes instead of one?” asked Alexandra.

“I think so,” said Will. “Or one annex and a crew compartment. Or a larger load from an automated cargo vehicle.”

“The other thing to consider about the shuttles is that they have become more and more reliable over the last fifteen years,” added Érico. “The engines are better; repairs have become easier. If they had a bigger cargo compartment, I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t keep upgrading the basic vehicle and retiring the older models. Eventually we might need larger fuel tanks and a larger cargo bay to accommodate, say, fifty tonnes up and down, but we would still be scaling up the basic vehicle. A Mars shuttle is much simpler than a terrestrial shuttle because the needed delta-vee is less than half as much.”

“Still, we need to look at some other options,” said Alexandra. “A landing system for the annexes, for example.”

“It’ll cost more to develop than this option,” reminded Will. “But I agree, we need to look at our options further. Let’s all review the future options web pages and see how this offer changes things. Let’s reconvene at 3 p.m., shall we? I’ll get some of the folks in Houston on board as well. We need to pursue this opportunity.”

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