First Steps (Founding of the Federation) (2 page)

“This
isn't a pie in the sky paper study? You’re really planning
this?” Luigi asked, totally sober now.

Doctor
Zubrin nodded. “With everything we can. We need to hit the
ground running if it has a hope of ever flying. If and I do stress IF
we can get a clean plan before congress, we might get funding.
Politics are a major factor as many of you know.” Luigi nodded,
retaking his seat.

“What
are the chances of some of us walking on Mars?” someone in the
back asked. Doctor Zubrin seemed to relax a little; he was now on
more familiar ground he had trodden before. “Well, the first
missions will need scientists and engineers. If you have a background
in geology, biogeochemistry, mechanics, aerospace engineering, and
sideline subjects like medicine, piloting, and command experience you
are half way there. Does anyone here qualify for any of those?”

Mario
and Luigi shared a look. Wanda poked Mario, and then leaned over and
poked Luigi. “I take it you three qualify? In what, mechanical
engineering?” Doctor Zubrin asked focusing on them.

“Oh
no, well, I have my masters in Geology, but Mario is the mechanic and
engineer. Luigi is the genius, Doctorates in Geology, Aerospace
engineering, and Physics. He even has a masters in computer
programming,” Wanda answered proudly as the Mario brothers
squirmed.

Doctor
Zubrin's eyes were wide as he crossed his arms. “Really. You
don't say.” He looked the young man over.

“The
Mario brothers are quite a team. Did you see their aerospace
engineering thesis project? A plasma drive. They blew out the
university power grid the first time they tested it,” Wanda
smiled, thoroughly enjoying tormenting the two of them.

Mario
squirmed. “That's enough Wanda. Besides, it was just one
building, not the entire University,” he sighed.

“You’re
not helping...” Luigi grumbled blushing.

“They
did, it had a bit more power than anyone expected. Blew off the test
stand too,” the professor said when Doctor Zubrin turned to
him. The professor smiled at the young men. “I know both are
interested in space careers, but then again I know DARPA, Lockheed,
Boeing, and Space X are also chasing them.” The professor
smiled at the two men.

Doctor
Zubrin nodded and turned back to the trio. “Boys, come work for
me and you can write your own ticket.”

The
brothers looked at each other. Wanda's eyes were wide. “First
to Mars?” Luigi asked as he stood, then sat on the edge of his
brother's desk.

Doctor
Zubrin nodded. “As long as you pass the physicals.”

Luigi
nodded. “We're in.” He nudged Mario. “Right big
brother?” Mario looked up at him.

“What,
like you had something better planned? Sit in an office wearing a
tie?” Luigi demanded when Mario didn't say anything. Mario
scowled. He knew his brother was pushing his buttons, Luigi knew he
hated to dress up. He loved getting his hands dirty. “I'm in!”
Wanda raised her hand then looked at Mario. He sighed. That tore it.

“I
am in on one condition. NO TIE!” he said firmly. Doctor Zubrin
chuckled then shrugged. “Looks like I don't have much of a
choice. Gotta keep the trio together,” Mario shook his head.

“Come
on,” Luigi said. Mario looked up to see Luigi with his fist
raised. He chuckled as they fist bumped. It was their trademark
thing, something they'd done forever.

“One
of you will be the first on Mars, the other will be on another crew,
I can't put you both on one team, the politician's will have a fit,”
Zubrin cautioned. He wasn't sure at all he could keep that promise
but he intended to try if they were half as good as he'd heard.

Wanda
nodded as she hugged Mario. “As long as I go with Mario, I'm
good.” He patted her arm as she kissed his cheek. “Thanks
Mario.”

“Guess
we're getting married huh princess?” he teased.

She
smiled. “Eventually.”

Luigi
chuckled. “If the lady is willing to put up with your
tinkering, she is worth her weight in gold big bro, better latch onto
her tight,” Luigi responded. Mario smiled.

“Yeah,
but now he
is
going to have to wear a tie, at least for our
wedding,” Wanda teased once more. Mario groaned dropping his
head into his hands. The class chuckled.

Doctor
Zubrin smiled. “Glad that's settled. Those three can be a
handful, but they are brilliant when they get their feet under them,”
the professor leaned over and spoke softly to Doctor Zubrin.

“Good,
we need the best,” Zubrin replied.

 ...*...*...*...*...

"Hurry
up and wait. Never changes," Mario grumped as he sat in the
waiting room. "God I hate sitting and waiting." He got up
and paced. He'd been through it through the entire vetting process.
Security checks, everything down to checking his underwear size...
which was one of the things they would probably mark down now. In
triplicate of course, he thought with a grimace.

"Mario
Irons?"

He
looked over to the nurse. "Yes?"

She
pointed to the seat. "Have a seat; we'll be with you in a
moment," she told him firmly. He sighed and flopped down.

"God
damn bureaucrats are everywhere." Frustrated he picked up a
nearby magazine. "Air and space...um... 1999. Figures." He
tossed it away. "Women's health. What the hell is this?" he
sighed. "God damn this is so annoying." He looked over to
the nurse trying to stifle a smile.

"Yeah
yeah, yuck it up," he muttered. The far door opened.

"Mr.
Irons? Um Doctor Irons?"

He
waved. "I have three masters, not a Doctorate," he said as
he stood.

She
shrugged. "Okay, the nurse will see you now."

He
followed her in. "General check up? Why not get my records?"
he asked.

"Oh
no, this is a bit more comprehensive than that. You'll be here all
day." His stomach groaned. "Good, I take it you fasted like
we told you too?" she asked.

He
sighed. "Yes, Wanda made sure I did."

She
checked it off. "Okay, let's go check your weight and get your
vitals, then we can start the testing."

He
groaned. "This
is
going to be a long day," he
sighed.

"Oh,
you don't know the half of it. But if you have patience you'll
survive," the nurse replied.

"Great,"
he sighed blowing out a breath.

 ...*...*...*...*...

“You’re
taking a chance with these two; they have literally no experience
with the program,” Nick said. Nick was an aging astronaut
turned bureaucrat. Middle management, perfect in his position. Zubrin
however wanted young faces, young people that had the zest and energy
to inspire people. Mario wasn't much of a looker but his fiancé
was and so was his brother. Their Facebook pages were already going
viral.

Nick
looked at Doctor Zubrin and shook his head. “You’re
putting them in place above some senior people, people with decades
of experience who have built careers in the program,” he
cautioned.

Zubrin
chuckled. “That's the whole point. You and I will have to keep
an eye out for someone to sabotage them, but I want to shake things
up. We have a tight window, and we need go getters,” he
grinned. Luigi had already started digging into the program and had
e-mailed him his first presentation before they'd gotten to Florida.
He chuckled. “I checked into both of them, Luigi is twenty,
Mario is twenty three. Luigi... for someone to get three, count em,
three Doctorates and a masters at his age?” Zubrin shook his
head. “Their plasma drive research is also first rate. They cut
a few corners, and I am a bit concerned about some of the safety they
left out, but overall the project was top notch.” Zubrin smiled
as Nick nodded grudgingly.

“Yeah.”

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

Mario
and Luigi filed into Doctor Zubrin's Spartan office. He didn't bother
looking around, he had been in it once before. A few paintings were
on the wall, all of Mars. No surprise there. A man in a gray suit
looked up from his magazine and smiled. “Nick Teutopolis, the
Mario brothers.” Nick got up and shook their hands chuckling.

“THE
Mario brothers?” Nick asked teasing. Mario smiled.

Luigi
chuckled. “Not quite, but close. What can I say; our parents
have a strange and sick sense of humor.” Mario nodded
confirmation.

“Wanda
is still with the vampires. What's up doc?” Mario turned to
Doctor Zubrin behind his desk. Zubrin scowled a bit, but in good
humor.

Luigi
and Nick groaned. “Oh god here he goes again.” Luigi
grumbled out.

Nick
chuckled as Mario turned to scowl at him. “Aren't brother’s
fun? I see we will have to keep an eye on them, or the media will
have a field day,” Zubrin chuckled.

Luigi
smirked. “They don't know the half of it. So, as my goof ball
tinkering big brother was saying, what do you have for us?”

Doctor
Zubrin smiled. “Well, now that you two have been checked out,
we need you to go through orientation then get started. Nick here is
our liaison with NASA admin. He was a shuttle mission specialist
before they retired the fleet.” Nick wiggled his fingers in
hello again. Mario nodded. “Nick is a bit of a Joat, Jack of
all trades. He will be helping out with paperwork, public relations,
and engineering. Just toss him a bone or two and he is good,”
Zubrin said.

Nick
turned a mock scowl onto Doctor Zubrin who smiled. “He did a
couple summers at the arctic Mars station, so he is up to speed on
the hardware.”

Nick
nodded. “You two have a lot to catch up on,” Nick
cautioned. Luigi frowned.

“I
read your book on flight over,” Luigi said looking at Doctor
Zubrin.

Zubrin
nodded. “Case for Mars?” he asked.

Mario
nodded. “I have it in my own library, the brat nicked it.”

Luigi
held it up. “I have your other books as well, but that one is
the place to start.” Mario nodded to Luigi as Doctor Zubrin
motioned them to take a seat. The trio did.

“Are
you still planning the chemical power plant for transit delta V?”
Luigi asked.

Zubrin
nodded. “At least for the first series of missions.”

Luigi
pulled out a dog eared paper. “Well, Professor Albert told you
about our plasma engine right?” Luigi asked. Zubrin nodded.

Nick
whistled. “Wait that was you that blacked out the university?
Oh boy, I take it back; working with you is going to get REALLY
interesting,” he said. Mario blushed.

“Well,
we were wondering about this.” Luigi handed Doctor Zubrin the
paper. He looked it over for a moment, flipped to the second page,
and then handed it to Nick.

“Is
this for real?” Nick asked.

“Yes,
the Russians have their new generation of Topaz reactors up and
running. For obvious reasons they haven't flight tested them, but we
can work on that with a bit of political smooching.”

Zubrin
sat back. “Well, we've been getting some flak for being a
strictly American mission. If we go international, we could lose some
support from the conservatives, but pick up international support and
funding... and smooth over some hard feelings...I was planning on
doing it anyway but this is an extra bonus.” Luigi nodded.

Mario
shrugged. “Politics. Way over my head.”

Luigi
smirked. “If it doesn't bolt together or have a certain sine
wave curve to it, most things are.” Mario chuckled.

“I
don't know how this would fly,” Nick said examining the paper.
“Well if we can get with Boeing or GE, we can build the test
bed plasma rocket in a couple months. Getting funding is the tricky
bit. But once we do, and if we can get the Russians on board, we can
fly a lot faster than one hundred eighty days to Mars...”

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

"How
is the chain of command supposed to work out? Do I report to Nick or
vice versa?" Luigi asked as he looked over to Dr. Zubrin. Nick
and Mario had left to go about their duties.

"He
reports to you. I brought you on as the program director. Think of
him as a liaison and a partner. He knows where the bodies are buried;
he has a wealth of knowledge. Someone upstairs has been grooming him
for political office. I expect him to jump ship in a few years."

Luigi
shook his head. "Good to know. Working for someone half your age
must suck."

Doctor
Zubrin shrugged. "He'll get over it. You are both adults, I
expect you two to work it out as adults. He knows you’re a
genius."

Luigi
smiled. "Why thanks."

"But
he knows all geniuses are idiots when it comes to the public and
politicians." Luigi's face fell into a polite mask until he
caught Zubrin's smile.

"Oh
ha ha," he smiled.

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

“So
Nick, can I call you Nick?” Luigi looked over to the man who
nodded.

“As
long as I can call you Luigi,” Nick replied.

Luigi
smiled running a hand through his hair. “Are you in the running
for the Mars crew?” Nick shook his head.

“My
wife and daughter would kill me. SLOWWWLY.”

Luigi
shook his head. “Why?” Luigi asked.

Nick
sighed. “Do you have any idea what you’re in for? Sixteen
to twenty hour days seven days a week are the norm. Time all over the
country, weeks, months away from your family. And that is just the
training! The mission is projected for
three
years!”

Luigi
grimaced. “Yeah. I can see where they wouldn't be happy.”

Nick
scowled. “It's not just the mission or the danger; it is the
whole moving around. Moving from Texas to Alabama, to Florida, back
to Texas, and now DC.” He shook his head. “They are still
in Texas by the way; I am supposed to be finding a place to live in
my copious free time.”

Luigi
chuckled. “They will find a way to punish you later.”

Nick
groaned. “Don't remind me. I never heard a credit card cry
before,” Nick grumbled. Luigi laughed, slapping him on the
shoulder.