A Colony on Mars (7 page)

After dinner he unpacked a few more crates while Carla was stil working in the kitchen. Then on his way to the kitchen, as he was rounding the building what should he behold but an ant hil and hundreds of the little critters working away, carrying bits of food from the kitchen. Carla said later, “They must have been transported up from Earth with food stuffs and had just made the best of it.”

The group that Included Tim and Carla had returned to the supply building and drawn out a mattress, a blanket a porta-potty, two rolls of toilet paper, some shaving depilatory, some after shave and several other items. The bags with their belongings in them were also now available at supply. When they had their items selected from the shelves they took them to the desk at the rear of the room where the clerk scanned them and bagged them. “How do we pay for these things?” Carla asked “Oh, there is no charge they are all free to employees, even though you don't have your permanent ID cards I can see by the cards that you are wearing that you just arrived today. I have some good news for you. We have your cell phones in, they apparently came off the ship in the first load. What are your phone numbers, I wil get them for you? Carla quickly consulted the phone book she had been issued and gave the clerk the numbers. He disappeared into a back storage room momentarily then returned with two cel phones. “Are you familiar with these,” he asked. “No, you better show us.” “You just strap them to your wrist,”

he showed them his. “To make a call you push the big blue button beneath the dial then speak the word 'CALL' fol owed by the name or number of the person you want. ”He pushed the button on the face on his phone, then said “CALL'

Carla Erkin.” Carla's phone rang. The clerk then told Carla to depress the blue button and immediately release it. Carla did as he had instructed and she heard his voice coming from her phone. “Now Carla, to change volume depress the red button on the top of the watch. There are four volume presets, it starts at the lowest setting then keeps getting louder until it reaches maximum volume then starts over at the lowest setting. When you want to disconnect depress the blue button again and release it. Had I said “CALL” 000565 then Tim's phone would have rung. You can either use the persons name or number and it stil works. There is a yellow button on the side of the watch, if it is blinking that means you have a missed call. Depress that yellow button for information about the call you missed. We already have a cell relay set up at each end of The Company cavern so you can use your phones anywhere even in the tunnel.” Tim and Carla started picking up their items but the clerk interrupted again.

“Not so fast, I have one more little gadget for you, it is your personal radio receiver. Bob produced two small plastic gadgets obviously shaped to fit inside the outer ear like a hearing aid. There were two tiny buttons on the outside. The clerk who's name was Bob removed his pen from his pocket and depressed the red button several times and they could hear pop music coming from the device. Bob then depressed the yel ow button and the music changed from pop music to Country and Western. He depressed it again and soft and melodic music could be heard. One more time and they heard a voice talking.

“I guess that was pretty obvious,” he said. The red button turns the set on and sets the volume. You need to Increase the volume by punching the red button several more times in order to hear it while it is in your hand. Then you press the yellow button to change stations. After changing stations depress the red button again twice in rapid succession and it turns the device off then depress the red button again and it comes back on at the lowest volume level. Hold it up to your ear and if you can hear it all right put it in your ear. If you want it a little louder depress the red button once or twice more to Increase the volume to where you want it. Then insert it into your ear. There are five volume settings and there are four radio stations always broadcasting. One plays pop music, one plays C&W, one plays elevator music and the fourth is talk radio. Talk radio is the most popular. We have ten or so talk radio hosts, most of them invite listeners to cal in and give their opinion about the subject being discussed. The three music stations are automated but the talk station is live, it comes on at 0500 every day and goes off at 2400. Up until now we only had three hundred people on Mars so we didn't get all that many people calling in but now with over six hundred people there wil probably be a lot more call ins. When no one calling in then the host reads news or just blabbers on with his or her own opinions and views. If there is an emergency the host can over ride the music broadcasts and switch everyone's set to the talk station while they describe the emergency or make the announcement that management has given them that effects everyone. They even break in on the music to remind people that the dining room opens in five minutes or lights out is in ten minutes, stuff like that. You don't have to have your radio on at all times but it is a good idea to keep it on so you don't miss an important announcement.” Tim and Carla adjusted their volume and of course selected talk radio and inserter the devices in their ear.

“Most people just remove the device if they are having a live conversation with someone and don't want to be disturbed by their radio for a little while but many of us have gotten so used to them that we can hold a private conversation with the radio on. Whatever works for you. The battery is good for about a year but if it goes dead just drop by and I will put a new battery in for you.”

“Any time you folks think of anything else you want between the hours of 0800 and 2000 just drop in and pick it up. I might suggest that you take one of those first aid kits over there because you are bound to get some cuts and scratches during your first few days. The atmosphere here in these caverns is richer in Oxygen than you are used to on Earth so be sure and take one of the Oxygen pil s if you get light headed and the condition will clear up immediately. They took a first aid kit and the clerk, Bob scanned it and put it in their bag. They also noticed a plastic privacy shield that stood four feet high and was supported by four plastic posts, they could tell by the picture on the label that they were intended for use with the porta-potty, so they took one of these also. They then selected a pair of clean work clothes each.

“When ever you folks want clean work clothes just bring back the dirty ones and deposit them in the big hamper out front, then come in here and draw clean ones,” Bob told them. “We have some big washers and dryers set up in the building behind this one.” “What happens to the waste water?” Tim asked.

“There is just a sump hole in the public rest rooms and al the waste water and stuff goes down that hole, we never see it again and really don't know where it goes from here. Maybe it comes to a river down there somewhere and just flows off into uncharted territory. One thing for sure is that this planet can use al the bacteria it can get from us humans.” Maybe so, thought Tim, now that we have finished polluting the Earth we can start polluting Mars. Of course, the handful of people that are here now are just surviving the best they can but someday soon someone is going to have to address waste disposal before it becomes a real problem.

After they left Tim told Carla, “On Earth now they have equipment in third world countries that can process human waste and kil all the harmful bacteria and germs but leave a useful top soil material that can be used safely to grow crops. There are plenty of nitrates in this Martian soil that we find below the surface of the planet. These Nitrates are one of the main components that enable plants to grow. The Nitrates feed the sugar bacteria produced by the process of photosynthesis. We have plenty of nitrates on Mars and after all that is the backbone of producing a fertile top soil that wil support growing plants. It also produces the Nitrogen that makes up the bulk of our atmosphere. The action of the nitrates feeding the sugar bacteria is what enables the plant to give off Nitrogen. Lack of fertile top soil containing nitrates is one of the biggest problems in the third world. Top soil is an even bigger problem, there are parts of Africa that used to support farms that now lay barren because the top soil has al blown away. Even in the United States back in the 1920's they had what they called the dust bowl, where all the topsoil was either covered with fine dust or had blown away. Thousands were driven from their homes in Oklahoma and North Texas.”

Tim wrote a report about what he knew on this subject and passed it off to one of the scientists that he saw walking through the compound. The scientist stopped long enough to read what Tim had handed him then told Tim that, “a machine like that is already en route to Mars and they should have it on the next ship. We have not had one in place sooner because it hasn't been our highest priority. With the addition of all you new guys we know that good top soil proper waste disposal will now be of greater importance. We have tried kil ing the bacteria in human waste on the surface but when we get it back down here in the cavern it is just as useless as all the other Mars soil. Those unfiltered UV rays on the surface kil all bacteria. Including the bacteria that our bodies are composed of.”

Tim said when they left the supply building that he would like to spend his first night near the public rest rooms because he did not relish using the porta-potty. Carla wanted to be close to the Mess Hall also so they located a spot between two permanent houses then asked the occupants if it would be OK if they camped there that evening. “Sure, If there is anything you need or if I can be of any help just let me know.”

“I can't get over how friendly and accommodating everyone is here, “

Carla remarked. “Yeah it's sure a lot different from Earth, it's just like being on another planet, Ha Ha.

Little did any of the more than three hundred people who had arrived on the Mars Supply Two that day that only fourteen of them would ever return to Earth.

CHAPTER - The early days

Carla had to report to the kitchen at 0430 to fix breakfast but Tim had six days off to build his house and get things set up for temporary living. “Only one blanket and we don't know how cold it gets here at night Carla said, I wonder if we are going to get cold.?” “There is a question that I can answer, said Tim and the answer is no. These caverns are maintained at a constant 73 degrees, year round, you wil never be cold and you will never need a coat. Carla took her bag of toiletries and headed for the public rest room. The place was busy but she had little trouble in finding an open shower stall. Surprise it worked just like the showers on the ship. After her shower she found an open wash basin with a large mirror where she finished her toiletries and returned to her camp. She returned about the same time as Tim. They donned their night clothes, inflated their mattress by pulling the well marked tabs and crawled in to bed to spend their first night on Mars. March 28, had been a very busy day, indeed. The lights in the Cavern went out promptly at 2200 everything quieted down and they both fell asleep almost immediately.

September 29, 2107: Carla's phone rang at 0400, Carla located her phone and fumbled with her watch before she located the button. She notice that the button was back lit and blinking so she pushed it. Hi Carla, this is Hilda, I am just calling the members of my crew that are assigned to prepare breakfast. I didn't know whether you had an alarm clock working yet or not. You need to report to the kitchen in 30, minutes to help prepare breakfast.” “Oh, thanks Hilda, and you were right, I didn't have my alarm clock working yet. I'l see you then.” She then pushed the button that had started blinking again when Hilda hung up. And crawled out of bed. Tim just groaned. After a visit to the public wash room Carla got dressed and went over to the kitchen. Hilda was there there to set her to her tasks. By 0600 people began to pour in and breakfast came off smoothly. This morning the kitchen was serving oatmeal and toast with canned fruit. Tim received a call just as he was finishing his breakfast at 0645, asking him to report to The Company cavern at 0700 or as soon thereafter as he could make it. Carla couldn't help but notice how many people had their ear pieces in and were moving to one kind of music or another. After a while you will even learn how to tell which station they are listening to by just watching them,” one of the other kitchen workers said, “If they are really grooving then that means they are listening to pop. If they have a serene expression on their face they are listening to the elevator music, If they look sad it's C&W, and if they look as though they are listening to a conversation then they got the talk station on. I make a game of trying to guess. Most often they are listening to talk radio, that's the most popular.”

Tim arrived at work at 0650 and struck up a conversation with Jack Overmeye. “Did you notice that it is warmer in this cavern than in the Government cavern, Tim?” “Nope, I haven't been in here enough to pay it much attention.” “I spent the night in here last night and had to throw my blanket off, when I got up to go to the bathroom I noticed that it felt chilly in the other cavern, so this morning I went around feeling all the wal s and in the far back and off to your right there is a hot spot that you can't hold your hand of for long. I then checked the floor beneath the hot spot and found that to be even hotter.”

Just then Carter Fredrick, facilities superintendent joined them and Jack related what he had observed to him.”Show me that spot Jack.” The three men skipped to the back of the cavern and Jack said, “OK, now put your hand right there.” Sure enough Carter didn't leave it there for long. “Now check the floor right here below the hot spot,” Carter put his hand on the floor for an instant then removed quickly and began to check it for damage. “Al right after I get all the crews busy I wil consult the scientists about dril ing right here.” The three of them skipped back to where the other construction workers were gathered. Carter had work assignments based on the crew lists from the ship. “I am assigning you people to the same crews that you had on the ship for now but feel free to change crews if you see another crew doing a job that you have some expertise in. The tools and supplies that you wil need can be picked up in the supply area of the Government cavern. At that point he handed out a list of assignments for each group. “My name is Carter, I have been heading up the one crew that has been working here for over two years. I have assigned one of my people to each crew because they know how to find stuff, they are not the crew foremen but each of them has a lot of good information that he can share. Since each of the crews have been together for the last couple months I imagine that you have a pretty good idea of who you would like to see as your crew chief, so I would like for each crew to informally pick one of your own and give me the name so I can make a note of who to call on if I need to contact your crew. We wil figure out a better system later on.”