First Steps (Founding of the Federation) (7 page)

She
adjusted her glasses. "Liquid Nitrogen. CO two isn't cold
enough," she replied, looking down at her notes. "Five
contacts?"

He
looked up. "For redundancy in case dust fouls one or more of
them."

She
nodded. "They are easy to use; you just plug it into a piece of
equipment, or a suit."

She
picked up a belt from the table. "That looks like batman's
utility belt actually," Mario said with a laugh.

She
smiled. "Yeah, we get that a lot. It is a bit like it." She
strapped it around her waist over her.

"On
each hip we have a battery port. We can also store one on the back
here and here." She pointed the positions out. "We've added
clips for the safety harness, and for hanging tools. The computer
module is here." She pointed to a box the size of a pack of
cigarettes. "Each superconductor battery can give a suit enough
power for heating, life support, electronics, and lights for two
hours. You'll have to swap them when they get low." She showed
him how the battery unclips. "Now, we added a port here, on the
left hip so you can plug in manually as you specified. We even added
a power cable that can retract."

She
pulled the plug out, then pushed a button on the belt and it
retracted. "Neat. Good, so two hours per, and we have two
plugged in so, say four hours before we need a charge? And we can
have what about two more batteries with us?" Mario asked. He
looked over to the tech then to Dr. Roberts.

"Yeah,
that's about it, but we haven't had time to fully test it,"
Roberts cautioned. He wasn't happy about that, the simulated tests
were all fine but they needed field time to do a real test.

Mario
raised a hand. "Not to worry Doc, we know no time estimate
survived real world conditions," he said and then smiled. It was
something every good engineer learned, that there was a big
difference between the bench and the real world. A bench was clean
and neat, the real world was messy with a lot of additional variables
you just overlooked on the bench.

The
tech tentatively smiled as well. "This is amazing, a little
dollar coin sized superconductor..." She shook her head. "The
refrigeration, insulation, and electronics for it weigh more!"
She shook her head as she held up the disk.

"Yeah,
but now we have a couple questions, battery life, and how many can
you make before we launch?" Luigi asked. Luigi came in and sat
down on a stool.

"Mornin
little bro, decided to wake up?" Mario teased as he handed him a
cup of coffee.

"For
your information, I had a late night. I crashed...." He looked
up at the clock. "Three hours ago," he replied dryly. He
shook his head.

Mario
sighed. "Yeah, been there done that. Dr. Roberts and Mrs.
Johnston were telling me about the battery life... It is about the
same as the O two re-breather. So when we change the breather, swap
the batteries too," he explained.

Luigi
yawned as he nodded. "Sorry. Yeah, I got the memo. Good to
know," he sighed and stretched. "I take it the solar cells
on the backpack and helmet won't help much?"

He
turned to Roberts who shook his head in confirmation. "No,
they'll give you a trickle charge, enough to run a fan and maybe some
electronics, but we did a motion study, the only way they will do a
lot of good will be if the person held still facing the sun,"
Roberts said shaking his head as he sat down.

"Okay,
it was a nice idea. Should we pull them?" Mario asked.

"Yeah,
we can save some weight," Luigi sighed and scratched a little.
Mrs. Johnston looked away. "We'll keep the solar cells on the
roof of the hab and rovers, but make the hab ones modular so we can
pull them or adjust them," Luigi ordered. He nodded to his
brother who nodded back.

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

Mario
hefted the log and grunted. He looked over to the other side of the
log and snarled. "Remind me to thank you good and proper for
this," he grunted again as Luigi shifted his weight. All the
teams were grumbling over this latest brainstorm. If he was lucky
there would be a mutiny and his brother would be strung up.

"Yeah.
Yeah," Luigi sighed. He was aching in some unusual places. He
had just
thought
he'd been fit.

"All
right you pussies, time to move!" The DI walked beside them. "I
want a trot up the hill
move
it!"

Luigi
grunted. It was difficult compensating for Mario's shorter body. The
teams were switching out as people were injured or exhausted. Several
people had quit. He was sorry to see them go, but in a way glad. It
was better that they quit now, when the project was beginning, then
half way into their training. Of course the grueling training was
starting to hit the public.

"Pick
it up!" The DI yelled in his ear. He grunted and shifted the
load, trying to get it off the painful spot on his collarbone. Mario
snarled something but the rain washed the sound out. They had two
more days of this before they went back to shuffling papers. That is
if they survived.

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

“All
right, so both men and women are getting implants to sterilize them
for five years. That will make it easier to regulate our periods
too,” Wanda said, propping her wrapped ankle up. Wanda looked
up at Latisha who grimaced but nodded. They'd gone through the
training like the men and were heartily glad it was mostly over. They
still had weekly exercises but now the teams were really coming
together.

"Should
we make it mandatory that everyone get their appendix removed prior
to flight?" Wanda looked over to the medical director who
nodded.

Latisha
wrinkled her nose. "Maybe, but there was that study in 2009 that
the appendix is actually a useful organ... Wait." She pulled out
her Iphone and checked the web. "Got it. Yeah, it is a haven for
friendly bacteria, and it is used to restock the intestinal tract
after being flushed with diarrhea. It is also used in conjunction
with the immune system." She looked up.

"So
that's a maybe," Wanda nodded. "Okay, good to know."

Doctor
Shelby shrugged. "Yeah, we need to know more, I'll have my
assistant draw up a paper to go over later in the week," she
said. Wanda nodded.

 ...*...*...*...*...

"Commander
Joyce Longfeather?" Mario looked up to the aid as she waved the
short broad faced woman forward. She had a mocha skin, with classic
American Indian facial structure. He was surprised that she had
entered the military, and even more surprised that she had applied
for and been accepted for the Mars program. Either someone was trying
to keep a broad racial type in the crew, or she was an exceptional
woman. Most likely both.

He
nodded and then turned. "Mario right?" her soft contralto
asked. He smiled as he got up. "I'm Commander Longfeather,
commander of the team. I think we crossed paths in basic training,
but the teams weren't settled then," she said as they shook
hands. Mario nodded. Wanda had tripped and twisted her ankle during
basic, forcing him back to team three. Her recovery had put them back
on team two, the backup team.

"Nice
to finally meet you officially Commander."

She
smiled. "Call me Joyce." She nodded to the aid. "I
take it Latisha is already in the Sim?” she asked turning to
the aid.

The
aid nodded. "She's been in there since team one cut out for
lunch ma'am."

The
commander chuckled. "Yeah, she can't wait to get flight time,
even if it is in a sim." She looked Mario over. "So what
are you in for?" she asked.

He
shrugged. "The usual. All of us are getting a short run through
the Sims to get a feel for the craft even if we aren't a pilot."

She
nodded. "Yeah, but it takes a pilot to do what I do." He
nodded trying to keep a straight face. In truth computers were flying
many missions. Remote piloted craft were even making inroads onto the
battlefield, making many throttle jocks uneasy. You didn't need an
aeronautical degree to fly, just a basic understanding and a heading
now a days. "Well, let's see how you do." She waved him to
the sim door.

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

"What's
this all about? Fitting?" Mario grumbled, tugging at the tight
fitting body stocking.

"Cut
it out Mario your stretching it," Wanda ordered. He stopped and
sighed.

"Mario,
chill. We're getting fitted for our skin suits," Commander
Longfeather replied, sitting back.

"Skin
suits. Great," Mario grumbled. "Better not give me a
wedgie," he grumbled. Wanda snickered; she knew he preferred
boxers over briefs.

"You
better pay more attention to the front end mate, too many late night
pizzas and you'll burst first time you try the suit on," Latisha
teased. He grimaced as Wanda and Joyce chuckled.

"Oh
ha ha," he sighed. "So we’re going to get what? Laser
scanned she said?"

He
looked over to Wanda who nodded confirmation. "They're also
going to use the data for our avatars and our video game characters,"
she replied.

He
pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand, closing his eyes
and trying not to think of that. "Great. Guess I can't ask them
to cut a few pounds off here and there and make me all muscles can
I?" he finally asked, striking a weight lifters pose. "Not
that I already don't have the build of a Greek god," he joked.
Latisha snorted. Wanda chuckled. He mock glowered. "It's not
nice to pop men's fantasies ladies," he mock growled. Latisha
looked over to Wanda who started to grin.

"But
it's so much fun!" Wanda chuckled turning the grin on him. He
sighed.

 ...*...*...*...*...

"Did
I miss the intro?" Luigi asked coming up behind Mario. Now that
fittings were over they were getting to the little things. They still
had a couple of test flights to go. So far the basic hardware had
passed. Nothing critical had been in need of redesign, just tweaking.

Mario
scowled. "No, you just made it," he answered. He looked
around the desert area. Arid Arizona, go figure.

Luigi
sighed in relief. "Good, I got lost." He shook his head.
"Way out in the boonies!" He looked around to the barren
landscape. Some hills in the distance, the vehicles, a tent, chairs,
porta potty, and a pile of bricks were the only landmarks.

"Why
are we here again?" Joyce asked. Mario chuckled.

"Mars
Foundation is running a homesteader workshop on building a base,"
Mario replied. He shrugged as he looked around. About twenty people
were in the audience. They were the die hards, the people who really
wanted to make this happen.

"Ladies
and gentlemen, welcome to the Mars Foundation's hands on presentation
on building a Mars vault. Some of you will be walking on the red
planet, and it is our hope that you will open the way to future
generations by employing some of the techniques we are about to show
you..." Bruce Mackenzie waved to the pile of bricks. "We've
set up two demonstrations; the first is how to make bricks if you'll
follow me..."

He
paused. "Oh, you may want to change if you’re not dressed
for it, you’re going to get dirty," he grinned. Mario
chuckled rolling up his sleeves. His brother took his jacket off and
hung it on the back of a chair.

"Just
the way we like it," Luigi started rolling up his own sleeves.

"Solar
kiln?" Joyce asked as he fiddled with the Mylar covered sheets.
She seemed to be getting the hang of it all. She was glad they were
doing this out of their suits though.

Mario
grimaced. "Yeah, but getting the angles right is a pain. The
energy may be free, but we still have to expend user energy moving
the damn panels," he sighed as he adjusted a panel.

"We're
taking a small one to Mars; I don't think it will work out though. It
needs way too much user input every ten to twenty minutes," he
grumbled. He sat back on his haunches and sighed.

"It
is good to know. Testing here is good. Now we know not to bring it to
Mars." She waved to the sky and surrounding area.

He
nodded. "Right. Okay, well, I have a whopping eight minutes
before they have to be adjusted again, let me see if I can make a
couple bricks in that time..." He walked off to the pile of
bricks.

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

Wendy
looked up a little nervous. Luigi nodded politely to her. "Wendy
do you have something?" She nodded. The weekly meetings were
starting to bear fruit, slowly, ever too slowly to Luigi's way of
thinking.

"Yes,
we've been getting some interest from the business sector. Several
companies have approached us with advertising contracts," she
replied. Mario grimaced.

"What
sort of advertising?" Luigi asked.

"Well,
for instance patches and brands on the skin suits and vehicles."
She looked down at her notes then back up. "Ad links on
websites, testing and promoting commercial products, and even a
rather large inducement to build the first billboard on another
planet," Wendy finished.

How
large?" Nick asked amused.

"One
hundred million," Wendy replied.

"You're
kidding me!" Nick's eyebrows rose comically and then he turned
to her as everyone goggled. "One hundred million?!"

She
nodded. "For the first mission. It has to be in plain sight, and
seen by camera's at least three times a day," she said, checking
the note. Luigi whistled softly.

"We'll
get some headache from the hill Luigi..." Zubrin cautioned.

"If
it cuts down on cost?" Nick asked. "Still, I'm not too
happy about being someone's poster child, whoring myself to get the
money," he sighed.

Mario
chuckled. "Let's face it; we'd sell our own grandmother's to
make this work if we had too," he said. Some of the people
looked startled at that.

Luigi
shook his head. "I wouldn't tell Nana that, she's put you over
her knee in a second." Most of the staff chuckled.