9
Equinox
Long sunbeams stretched
across Yalta Biome as Will, Ethel, Marshall, and Lizzie headed for the function
room in the basement of the north building. Ironically, it was located in their
old flat; they had been the first occupants of the space when the building had
been finished.
“What great decorations!” said Will to Kim and
Ananda, who had devoted the afternoon to beautify the space for their Bahá'í
new year’s party, or Naw-Rúz.
“Thanks,” replied Ananda. “It was made much easier
by the impending equinox celebration.” March 27 was the northern spring equinox
on Mars and a big holiday; Bahá'í new years was always on the Earth’s northern
hemisphere vernal equinox, or March 21. All of Yalta was festively decorated
with banners and lights for the secular holiday.
“It does feel right for Naw-ruz,” agreed Will.
“Actually, Tomas did most of the work making the
banners,” said Kim. “He was here much of the afternoon; he’s at the cafeteria
right now to get the food for us.”
“He was at our house last night until midnight asking
questions,” added Ananda. “I think he’s ready to declare.”
“Really?” said Ethel. She looked at Will. “That
should be interesting.”
“It’s a free world,” replied Will, shrugging. “We
didn’t ram it down his throat. When Enrique declared, no one was upset.”
“He wasn’t the cousin of the priest,” replied Ethel.
“We’ll see. What are you doing for tomorrow?”
“Us?” replied Kim. “I think we’ll play a round of
golf, then come in and rest.”
“If you want to come to our place in the afternoon,
feel free,” said Will. “I’m devoting the morning to cooking a turkey dinner.”
“Really? I didn’t know you could cook!” replied
Ananda.
“Will’s incredibly good,” replied Ethel. “It’s one
reason I married him. His cooking saved Columbus 1 from social disaster.”
“Really?” asked Kim, intrigued.
“I guess it’s something I can go back to, if I ever
retire as Governor,” Will said with a smile.
The door opened and in came Tomas and Enrique
bearing large trays of refreshments: vegetables, cold cuts, bread, salad, cakes,
cookies, fruit. Tomas seemed to be beaming. “Come on, say something,” Enrique
said to him, nudging Tomas a bit.
“Oh, alright,” replied Tomas. He looked at the
others and shrugged. “I’m a Bahá'í! I have a signed card with me!”
“Really! Congratulations!” said Will, and the others
followed. They all came up and hugged him.
“There are now six of us on Mars,” said Ethel. “This
is very good news. Welcome, Tomas.”
“Thanks. But let’s not make it very public. I have
to tell Greg and Anna, and I need to wait a month or so, I think.”
“However you want it,” replied Will.
“Thanks. Is there anything else I have to do?”
“Give the card to Ethel,” replied Will. “She’s our
correspondent. But I think we can enroll you easily enough; we know that your
heart’s in the right place, and you have the basic knowledge.”
“There’s so much to learn!” exclaimed Tomas.
“A lifetime of learning,” agreed Enrique. “No one
ever learns it all.”
“It’s a process,” agreed Will. “Ananda and I were
raised in Bahá'í families and we’re still learning.”
“I was wondering whether I could invite people to
the Satursol institute class,” said Tomas. “I was talking to Robert Wairimu and
he’s interested. I think Toru Takahashi might come, too. The Bahá'í teachings
are so obvious; I don’t know why everyone doesn’t accept them!”
“Maybe it’s us,” replied Ethel. “We’ve been very
quiet telling others about the Faith. Maybe we should be more active.”
“Well, it’s a new year,” replied Will. “We can make
a New Year’s resolution to be more active. I think we should start strengthening
our devotional meeting by adding some food after it, and discussion.”
“I like that idea,” agreed Kim. She was beaming;
they were all immensely excited that someone else had accepted their Faith.
Their new year’s celebration had an energy it had never had before.
----------------------------------
The afternoon sunshine was
beginning to slant across the floor of Mars Control’s conference room when Will
and his senior staff began to gather there. “This should be a pretty fast
meeting,” Will said. “I’m glad I ran into the two of you, Yevgeny and
Alexandra; I’ve wanted for us to have a quick chance to update each other.”
“It had better be fast; Equinox starts in four and a
half hours, and I have a few things to do,” said Yevgeny, a bit unhappy.
“It will be,” replied Will.
“I’m ready,” added Ruhullah. He had six or seven
sheets of electronic paper spread out in front of him. Each one had a wireless
link to his attaché and could serve as a display screen, or he could take notes
longhand on them and the computer would convert the images to text. He clicked
on the corner of one with his stylus to call up a blank page. Everyone
chuckled; Ruhullah had become a master note-taker.
“Alexandra, I think you have the most to report,”
said Will.
“Right,” she replied. “Construction is pretty much
on schedule. Shenandoah—our last ‘traditional’ biome design this columbiad—is
now inflated, but we will be focusing on its agricultural aspect for the next
year rather than starting on housing because our agricultural needs are so
great. A foundation for buildings has been installed, and we will get the
frames up gradually between other tasks.”
“How can you do construction in an agricultural
area?” asked Ruhullah, curious.
“The sites of the future buildings are not covered
with soil; they’re occupied by large planter boxes we can move easily,” she
replied. “Dakota—our first purely agricultural biome—will inflate in three
months, or late June, and Oregon will follow three months after that, or late September.
It appears that with our larger construction crew, the new equipment we got
last fall, the vastly simplified work preparing the foundation, and with the
lower air pressure in the agricultural biomes, which simplifies the enclosure, we
will be able to complete a sixty-meter agricultural biome every three months
and a seventy-five-meter biome every four months. After Oregon will be Kauai, which
will pressurize in late December. Then we’ll install the foundation of
Columbia, a housing biome, which we think can be pressurized in late May or
early June of next year. We will then start on our first seventy-five meter
biome, Cochabamba, which will be a housing enclosure north of Catalina and
Shikoku. It should be ready in December 2037, when Columbus 9 arrives. At that
point Aurorae Outpost will be transformed. Right now we have almost 12,000
square meters of enclosed and pressurized space in a scattering of small
greenhouses and six biomes. After we complete these six much larger biomes, Aurorae
will have over 30,000 square meters of pressurized space.”
She stopped to let it sink in; everyone was
impressed. “But we won’t be able to walk around in the agricultural biomes,
right?” asked Érico.
“It won’t be that bad. The air pressure in them will
be half standard; 0.16 atmospheres. When the effect of humidity is included, you’ll
get half the oxygen of terrestrial sea level and two thirds what you’re getting
in this room right now. You could stroll, but I wouldn’t jog. We could make the
biomes with much lower pressures, but they need insects, and workers have to
work in them.”
“And how much space for bio-archive?” asked Lisa.
“About five thousand square meters, scattered among
six biomes. We can give them more once we build more biomes. They are another
reason for the thicker atmosphere; birds and insects have to be able to fly and
mammals have to be able to live in them. In two years we’ll be able to start
building biomes exclusively for bio-archive.”
“How many square meters will be devoted to agriculture
per capita?” asked Ruhullah.
“When this expansion is complete, we’ll have 100
square meters of interior space per person. Some will be parkland and
transportation space, though. I think agriculture will get 88 square meters,
which is ten percent over the minimum.”
“That will give us a lot more flexibility,” added
Lisa. “The biome space will provide some products as well, such as plant waste,
herbs, fruits and nuts, maybe even a little meat.”
“And that doesn’t include Cassini and Dawes,” added
Alexandra. “They’ll both have two biomes and together they have 7,200 square
meters of pressurized space, but they have a combined population of only 58.”
“Which is the reason the agriculture there is
focusing on meat production; chickens at Cassini, beef at Dawes,” said Lisa.
“They’ve got the space to raise animal feed.”
“Yes, the other sol I got an email saying Dawes planned
to export a tonne of beef to the moon!” Yevgeny laughed. “I replied that they
should sell it to Aurorae for a million bucks a tonne!”
They all laughed; meat was pretty rare. Lisa reacted
defensively, though. “We’ve been trying to increase the special meals days, and
we’re now consuming 500 kg of beef a month here. When Columbus 8 arrived we
were temporarily down to 65 square meters of agriculture per person, so we were
focusing on the high-productivity staples, like tomatoes and potatoes, were
raising no cotton or oil seeds, cut back on sugar beets, and we were serving
three lunches a week of dehydrated food imported from Earth. With 88 square
meters per person we may have the opposite concern; meat and sugar consumption
will go up a lot. It’ll be nice, but we’ll also get a bit fat!”
“I think I’ll prefer that!” replied Yevgeny. People
laughed again.
“The bottom line is that with the B-75s, we’ll be
able to enclose 6,000 square meters every four months,” concluded Alexandra.
“That means in twenty-six months we can enclose enough space to feed 390
people, and we won’t get close to that level of immigration for a long time. So
we can anticipate a lot more enclosed space in the future, greatly improved
quality in our food, and entire biomes dedicated to bioarchive.”
“Great,” said Will. “Yevgeny, update us on gold
production.”
“Okay. So far, production is down; it’s running
eight tonnes per month, whereas during Columbus 7 we averaged eleven. There are
several reasons: everyone exploited the richest deposits and worked long hours
before the last flight back to Earth, and since the flight everyone’s been busy
putting together the new equipment and learning how to use it. But production
should start to pick up with the new equipment, which will allow exploitation
of the next richest deposits.”
“Which are still much richer than anything on
Earth,” commented Lisa.
“Oh, yes. The level of scrutiny of the surface
deposits is unprecedented; an army of technicians on Earth has been putting
together gold deposit maps for each company. They know exactly what lies within
five meters of the surface, and what order they want to dig the deposits. That’s
how they can produce so much. And every time the top five meters is peeled off
and exploited, the neutron activation sensors are run over the new surface and
the map’s updated. But the word on everyone’s lips is ‘Meridiani.’ The Trail is
almost finished through the gold fields, which are scattered and small but
rich. Ginger told me we’ll be putting them up for bid next month, and it’s
predictable that mobilhabs and gold processing equipment will be on their way a
month later. Everyone says Meridiani, if exploited intensively, could yield a
lot, though maybe not for very long.”
“Are we defining a borough there or not?” asked
Ruhullah, looking at Will.
“Good question. It’s probably safe to assume that
once gold recovery starts there, it’ll continue for a decade or two, so we
aren’t looking at a ghost town. But the gold is scattered across an area larger
than a typical borough, and the deposits are so scattered a single outpost may
not be the best arrangement. We may want a series of small outposts or
stations. The sale of the land will determine that, too; if there is no single
deposit large enough to split between two or three companies, the companies may
not be able to agree on a central location for an outpost.”
“So we’ll know in a few months,” said Ruhullah,
nodding.
“Will, are we getting a larger shuttle?” asked Lisa.
“Yes. Columbus 9 will arrive with three Hermes-class
shuttles; two of them are actually modifications of existing vehicles, since
there are no significant changes above the cargo holds.”
Ruhullah scowled. “How’s that possible? Cut the
vehicles apart and weld in a new cargo hold?”
“Almost. The fuel tanks above the hold are one big set
of pieces and the hold is a ring of metal pieces welded to the tanks on top and
the engine platform on the bottom, so the ring is being replaced. The engines
are being replaced as well, but that’s easy because they can be removed and replaced
as complete units. The Hermes engines will have more testing on ethylene fuel
as well, which gives lower performance than methane but is denser, so it offers
advantages for launching large cargos to low Mars orbit. And the landing system
will be stronger. I was thinking we should name the shuttles of the new model
for Martian valleys.”
“Kasei, Nirgal. . . that would be good,” agreed
Ruhullah. “We’ve run out of significant volcanoes.”
“What about the rest of Columbus 9?” asked Érico.
“Have the plans been finalized with the government representatives?”
Will nodded. “Yes, it appears everyone agrees with
the plan. Columbus 9 will consist of two separate complexes, each with a
shuttle, four ITVs, and four annexes, with a spare shuttle to go between them.
They will fly to Mars about a kilometer apart to provide each other with backup
until a month before arrival, then one complex will slow down a bit and the
other will speed up a bit so that they arrive three days apart; that will
simplify our support of arrival. We’re getting about 100 arrivals.”
“One hundred!” said Alexandra. “Wow!”
“It’s hard to believe,” added Lisa.
“And three hundred fifty tonnes of cargo,” added
Yevgeny. “We hope to export more, plus a hundred tonnes of methane from the
moons.”
“And we’re finally prepared to export more,” said
Will. “It only took 17 years! About half the gold will be making a direct
descent to landing areas in Siberia, Australia, and eastern New Mexico; the
capsules will hit the ground at 200 kilometers per hour and split open, but
that won’t harm the gold.”
“That means all the space on the automated cargo
vehicles can go to exporting other things, like argon, nitrogen, deuterium,
platinum-group metals, beef, furniture, copper. . . we’ll have about one
hundred tonnes of orders from the moon alone,” exclaimed Yevgeny, obviously
pleased with the situation.
“Will, what’s the situation with the U.S.?” asked
Ruhullah. “Are they cooperating?”
“So far, so good. The President really has changed
his tune; he fired half his cabinet, ended the trade war with Europe, appointed
a new ambassador to the United Nations, and is pulling the troops out of
Turanistan. He really has no choice because the policies have made him
extremely unpopular and he’s up for reelection. The Lunar Commission met last
week and Sebastian told me that it went well, with the U.S. pledging to restore
a billion in funds for the lunar interferometric optical telescope system. We’ve
been told privately the U.S. will restore two billion dollars a year in Mars
funding, especially if we agree to a south polar station where materials and
systems can be tested in the extreme cold, and if we beef up our commitment to
bioarchive. They’re investing one hundred billion over ten years to develop a
compact twenty-tonne, five-megawatt space power reactor, and they will consider
selling or giving us one. They’re also investing five billion over the next
five years in VASIMR—variable specific impulse magnetoplasma rockets—which can
generate reasonable thrusts and high performance if they have power levels of five
to ten megawatts.”
“That might help us, as well as making missions to
Jupiter possible,” said Érico. “And they aren’t opposing the Hermes shuttle any
more, or the Mercury mission?”
“No, in fact they’ve reapplied for membership in the
Venus-Mercury Commission, and it’s possible American astronauts will be going
back to Venus orbit in a few years. They’ve accepted the Hermes and will
probably contribute some money to the development so that some contracts have
to be awarded to American firms. My guess is that the second or third Mercury
mission will include an American. In return, it’s likely the next Argo will
include a European, and Argo is being expanded to the asteroid belt, so the
first mission to Ceres or Vesta will probably be multinational. I’m hoping that
mission will come via Mars, or that we’ll play a support role to provide
supplies, and so far they seem eager for support from us. Columbus 9 may
include hardware for Ceres or Vesta that will refuel in orbit here.”
“A contract for habs or biomes would be good, too,”
reminded Alexandra. “We could fulfill them pretty well. We have the capacity.”
“We’ll be sure to propose them; give me a memo about
capacities,” replied Will.
“Any idea when we’ll have a new Commissioner?” asked
Yevgeny.
“Probably a month to six weeks. The negotiations
have started. The U.S. is still holding out for an American, but the candidates
have not worked out for various reasons.”
“You’re an American,” observed Alexandra.
Will smiled. “Yes, but I’m still the enemy;
remember, they had me audited by the I.R.S. I was hoping Jerry McCord would
accept, but he hasn’t. Maybe a Canadian will be the compromise.” He glanced at
his watch. “One more thing I should mention. I plan to make an announcement
tomorrow that some of our work rules are changing. I’m increasing family leave
to one year, total, to be split between the parents as they see fit. I hope
that will push our birth rate up a bit; I’d like to see it reach two children
for couple, though I suppose that’s unlikely. Second, I’m announcing a free
return flight to Earth and back to Mars to anyone who has resided here nine columbiads
or nineteen years. That will mean our college-age kids will be able to go to
Earth for university and return if they want, and if they want to marry, their
spouse can fly here for free if someone gives up their ticket. This policy is
predicated on people flying back to Earth on a fifteen-month trajectory if the
fast trajectory’s seats are all filled.”
Everyone was surprised. “I’d worry whether it will
encourage people to leave permanently,” mused Érico.
“It’ll be
expensive,” observed Ruhullah.
“That’s why
I’m announcing it while I’m still acting Commissioner, and before a new one’s
appointed! Actually, I think it’ll prove manageable if our flights keep getting
larger. No one’s eligible yet. There will be times when a return to Earth via
Venus is followed by a flight to Mars via Venus and the stay on Earth is just fifteen
months. It’d make a nice vacation opportunity or a Sabbatical.” He looked at
the others. “Anything else?”
“I have an announcement, too,” said Érico. “At the
town meeting next week, I plan to resign as Clerk of the Borough. I’ve done the
job a decade and it’s been long enough.”
“Really?” said Alexandra. “I’ve been thinking of
resigning as Borough Chair because of the baby.”
“I thought you were giving it up?” said Lisa,
surprised.
Alexandra hesitated, so Yevgeny spoke up. “I think
we’ll keep him, though we aren’t sure yet. If so, I’ll be taking most of that
parental leave Will has extended.”
“Congratulations,” said Will, trying not to look too
pleased, as that could appear to be interference. “Children are a real
blessing.”
“In between the pain,” added Érico.
“It sounds like the elections
next month will be exciting,” said Will.
© 2005 Robert H. Stockman