First Steps (Founding of the Federation) (23 page)

...*...*...*...*...

"What
the devil do you think you’re doing Mario Jonathan Irons?"
Wanda asked. He didn't look up as he tightened the screw in front of
him.

"Uh
oh, full name, now I'm in trouble," he chuckled, surveying his
work. "What does it look like? I'm working." He finished
with that bolt and moved on to the next.

"Not
in my lab you’re not."

He
looked over to her standing with her hands on her hips. In one hand
was a plastic bag.

"Well,
I have to do it somewhere, the bedroom is too small," he
replied. He really should have done this when Wanda had been out and
about but he'd been too tied up with other projects at the time.

She
glared. "If you got grease on those sheets..." she growled
ominously.

He
held up a grimy hand. "Peace. No I didn't," he said. She
sighed in exaggerated relief.

"Now
get out," she ordered. She waved to the door. "And take
your toys with you."

He
sighed. "Where? I need to work on this." He answered as he
wiped his hands with a rag. She smiled. He raised a finger. "And
no, I can't play outside with them, this is a Reprap dear, it doesn't
work outside."

She
squinted and wrinkled her nose. "Reprap?"

He
sighed noisily. "Fabricator."

"Whatever
it is, get rid of it. I need to work." She moved over to the
counter and set the sample bag down. She pulled on her smock then put
her hands up over her head to put her hair up in a pony tail.

"Okay,
I will move to one of the empty bedrooms," He said, know a
losing battle when he saw one. "It isn't fair that you egg heads
have space to work but we engineers have to squeeze into a closet,"
he complained. He'd take it up with the design team but he had been
one of the designers. He got up and stretched.

She
turned from the counter to find him suddenly pinning her there. She
smiled up at him. "Be nice. I said I have to work."

He
smiled at her. "Oh I was planning on being nice," he
murmured. He kissed her.

She
grinned as he let her up for air. "Down boy, we both have work
to do." He chuckled as he let her go and hefted the Reprap.

"Okay
you get a reprieve...for now." He smiled as she blushed. "Let’s
see, room two in hab one might work...” He grunted as he
climbed the ladder carrying the box.

"Where
did this come from? And this?" Wanda asked holding up a plastic
comb. Since they had been stuck in the ship the entire trip out she
like the rest of the crew had become intimately familiar with
everything in the ship.

He
smiled. "Reprap," he said. She looked the comb over.

"Can
it make some tools for my lab?" she finally asked.

He
chuckled. "What, you banish me from the lab, but now you want me
to make you something?" he demanded. She gave him a look then
turned on her feminine charms. He chuckled as she sat on his lap and
wrapped her arms around his head.

"You
know I didn't mean it that way," she said with a wheedling tone.

He
continued to chuckle. "You're not playing fair you know that
right?" She felt his arms encircle her waist. She kissed him to
shut him up. "Okay you win. I have a few objects on file. Tell
me what you want and if I can I will make it. Plastic," he said.

She
nodded. "What if you don't have it on file?"

He
smiled. "I have a couple terabytes of models to choose from. I
also have a simple CAD modeling program. But if we don't happen to
have it... Well, that is why it is nice to have a brother in high
places. He can send us what we need." She chuckled and tried to
get up. "Now about that compensation..." he replied with a
smug leer. He chuckled as she squirmed then gave in.

"No
fair," she muttered chuckling softly. He stopped her complaints
with another kiss.

...*...*...*...*...

Mario
grumped as he entered the rover with the commander. "Why are we
going again?" he asked for the tenth time.

"Because,
Wanda and the Hans are in the lab, Tess is doing chores and your
lovely wife asked for more samples. You and me bub, road trip!"
The commander slapped his shoulder. Bower had seemed to be going stir
crazy in the base for a while.

Mario
winced. "Okay, but this sucks you know. We don't even have any
beer!" he replied with a growl. The commander chuckled as he
pulled out and away from the base.

"Couple
hours and we will be back to base, no worries," Bower replied.
He smiled as he drove down the worn path. Three and a half weeks and
they had already changed the Martian landscape. Trails where the
rovers frequently traveled were cropping up, with ruts to go with it.
He made a note to ask the geologists if they could put some of their
aggregate on the roads to keep the wear to a minimum.

...*...*...*...*...

The
rover began to sputter and pull to the right after a couple of hours.
"We have a problem, one of the drive motors quit." The
commander grumped as he looked at the controls.

"Rear
one right?" Mario asked, feeling the pull of the rover.

Bower
nodded, hands on the yoke. "Yeah, she is fishtailing now. I
think we are dragging that wheel."

Mario
flicked through the camera feeds. "No doubt about it, we are.
Looks like we have a nice drag mark. Better stop before we do anymore
damage," he sighed. "Nice day for an outing." He
looked the engineering feed over.

"Stopping.
Base this is Rover two; we are stopping because of a mechanical
breakdown. Rear drive motor quit," The commander said over the
long range radio. The commander looked up as he flicked the motors to
safe.

"Roger
Rover two, we have your location. You're two kilometers from the
gully it is due south east of your current position," Wanda
replied.

Mario
nodded. "Okay, I will get into my Mars suit." He started to
pull the skin suit out of the locker.

"Why
use that? We have to depressurize the cabin, then get out, fix it and
then back in, why not use the suits on the back?"

Mario
looked over to the back hatches. "I hate those things," he
grumped. Whinny had a pair of built in pressure suits that could be
used in an emergency. Each was a half hard suit and was thus a pain
in the ass to move around in.

"Twenty
minutes or two hours of prebreathing?" The commander asked,
raising an eyebrow.

"Okay,
sold." Mario put the suit back and latched the cabinet door. "I
can fix the motor, are you going to check out the rut for samples?"
Mario asked.

The
commander nodded. "Not a bad idea. A lot better than standing
around looking important," he joked. The commander smiled.

Mario
smiled as they opened the hatch doors. "Or standing over my
shoulder breathing down my neck," Mario replied dryly. The
commander chuckled.

"Damn
dust! You have got to be kidding me!" Mario grumped as he looked
at the frozen motor.

“A
little frustration is good for the soul Mario,” the commander
teased.

“Masochist,”
Mario replied.

"Magnetic
field sucked them in I bet. Should have gone with a gas engine,"
Bower replied. Mario looked up annoyed. "Just saying." The
commander said with a shrug. He continued taking samples.

"Get
me a rag and some cleaner. I am going to have to clean it, and if I
can't fix it in the field I may have to yank it." He grumbled as
he wiped it down. "We really need a clean place to work, field
repairs is for the birds. The moment I drop this new motor in it will
be covered in fines and dust." He sat on the blanket and used a
brush to clean the hard to reach crevices. "There. Try it."
The commander pushed the button on his remote control. Nothing
happened.

"Nope.
Okay, shut it down," Mario ordered. The commander cut the power.
"Damn."

Mario
pulled out his driver and then set in with a will. In four minutes he
had the motor out. "Hand me the spar will you?" he
demanded, hand out, not even looking back to the Commander. The
commander handed him the motor. Mario looked up in surprise. "That
was fast!"

The
commander grinned. "Learn to anticipate, it could save your
life." He watched as Mario swapped the motor and made the
connections. Carefully Mario cleaned off the dust that was starting
to build up already.

"Okay
go try it now," he finally said. The commander pulled out his
remote control and flipped a switch. The motor turned slowly. "Okay
good." Mario replaced the brake caliper and regenerative braking
flywheel assembly, then the hub. He cleaned each as he placed them in
and bolted them down. Last came the tire.

"Here."
The commander helped him torque it down.

They
heard a scratchy sound over their suit speakers. The commander looked
up. "Solar event! Get to cover!"

Mario
looked up as his radiation alert went off. "Damn!" Get the
gear inside while I get these last two." The commander was
already gathering the tools.

"Time
to impact?" he called in.

“Sixteen
minutes twenty seconds. Get your butts inside!" Wanda said,
voice intent with worry.

Mario
fumbled the last nut. "Damn dropped it," he snarled,
furious about his lax handling. Now of all times was not the time to
get fumble fingered! He scrambled for it.

"Leave
it we gotta haul butt!" The commander yanked him by the arm. "A
bolt isn't worth your life Mario come on!" Mario climbed onto
the back of the craft and latched his suit into the porthole. "Go
go!" The commander used the remote to drive the rover.

"Backwards?"
Mario asked as the rover started moving.

"You
have a better idea?" The commander bit back.

"Actually
I do." Mario tapped a control with his right hand.

"What?"

"Just
drive," Mario said. The hatch opened behind him. "Okay, Now
for the hard part." Mario pulled at his right arm, and then used
his left to pull his hand out of his glove.

"What
may I ask are you doing?" the commander asked. He swerved around
a boulder.

"Do
you know where we are going?" Mario asked as he managed to
wrestle his arm out of the suit and into his torso area.

“Yeah,
that gully with the hill about two clicks from here," the
commander said. Mario felt pain in his shoulder but only grunted.

"Okay,
got it." He pulled at the latch on his right side. He felt the
door release. "Okay." He groaned as he fell backwards. He
reached for the bar and snarled as pain stabbed through his right
shoulder. "Damn.” He wiggled until his left arm was free,
and then pulled it up over his head to grab the bar. The rover
swerved smacking the door into his head.

"Owe!"

"Sorry."
The commander said.

"Yeah,"
Mario said, feeling the pain in the shoulder. Mario pulled himself
out of the suit while favoring his shoulder and into the narrow
cabin. "I'm in." He favored his shoulder as he got to the
cockpit. Intense pain radiated from it and into his chest. It felt
dead, like it wasn't there. He could no longer move it.

"Got
it." He jiggled the controls.

"Okay,
I'll just sit here." The commander grunted as Mario spun the
rover and ran flat out for the gully. Now that they were facing in
the right direction they could move three times faster. "Ten
minutes, not good. I hope the hill is on the right side, or we are
cooked," Bower said.

Mario
twisted the joystick to maneuver around a boulder. "Oy. Wish
this sucker had more power." He felt a clank. "What was
that?" he asked as he entered the slope to the ravine. Four
minutes.

"The
motor fell off," the commander replied.

"Shit,"
Mario slowed to avoid a rut.

"Don't
stop for it!" the commander called, voice rising in anxiety.

"I'm
not, oh never mind! Stop back deck driving!" Mario replied. He
pulled up to the center of the ravine and tried to judge the shadows.
After a moment he twisted the joystick. The wheels turned
perpendicular and the rover drove sideways until its side hugged the
bluff. "Best we can do, let me get you in here." Mario shut
down the engine and got out of the seat. He unlatched the commander's
door, then opened it and unlatched his life support pack. "Got
it." He helped the commander out of the suit and into the cabin,
trying not to shake as his right arm twisted painfully.

"Damn."
They shut the doors to the suits and pulled out the water bags from
the floor cabinets. The commander noted Mario was favoring his right
arm and shoulder but didn't say anything as they taped the water bags
to the ceiling. When they finished the klaxon burped.

"Just
in time," Bower said. He looked Mario over as the squat engineer
sat down heavily panting.

"Yeah."
Mario looked up to the bags on the ceiling. "So much for a
drink." He chuckled.

"Yeah,"
Bower replied. He was sweaty and tired. The commander sat across from
him. "Shoulder?"

Mario
grunted as he favored his right arm, holding it against his abdomen.
"Yeah. Pulled it getting in."

"Dislocated
it?" the commander asked concerned.

"Maybe.
Hope not." He grunted in pain as he tried to shift and get
comfortable.

"I'll
get the medical scanner...”

Mario
waved it off. "It'll keep for now."

...*...*...*...*...

Doctor
Han frowned. "Each of you has been exposed to an additional ten
rem's of radiation. You were lucky there. You should feel mild nausea
and possible diarrhea for several days." She had given them anti
radiation medication as well as had them flushing themselves with
fluids for hours. She looked down at her notes then back to Mario.
"Mario Irons, you have dislocated your shoulder,” she said
unnecessarily. Mario grunted.

"Yeah.
Swelling and pain gave that away doc." His right arm was in a
sling.