First Steps (Founding of the Federation) (28 page)

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

"What's
this about DOD putting the kibosh to the cargo SSTO?" Luigi
asked Dr. Zubrin.

"Well,
it hits pretty close to some classified design I guess, and since we
have to share everything with our international partners, they
started squeezing some people on the hill," Zubrin sighed. He
knew Luigi was going to be a bit put out over that.

Nick
nodded. "It's an elegant design really, three aero spike engines
on either side of a stern clam shell door... I was looking forward to
seeing it in flight," he sighed.

Luigi
frowned. "Yeah, me too," he said bitterly. He was fully
back on his feet, ready to go on the next flight. He didn't have the
heart to bump anyone though so he might have to wait for Mario's
original seat.

He
and Betsy were doing well; they had a few bumpy patches but were
settling down nicely. It felt a little odd to be in a permanent
relationship. There was still a lot for both of them to get used to
as well.

"Well,
so much for that for now, we can't even keep the paper study; they've
locked it down and slapped a classified sticker all over it,"
Zubrin sighed frustrated.

"Okay,
that really sucks. I still don't get it; it's designed to fly on Mars
not Earth." Luigi shook his head.

"Yeah,
well, try telling them that. We spent two hours going around in
circles," Nick groaned. "Damn spooks wouldn't budge. They
threatened to yank all funding so we had to fold." Nick
finished.

"Crap."
Luigi sighed.

"They
did throw us a bone, we can have the two SSTO's we've built, plus two
cargo Landers. We're going to load them with vehicles and industrial
equipment and send them as soon as they are built and the window
opens," Zubrin smiled.

"Great.
Good to know," Luigi nodded.

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

Tess
smiled as she watched Wanda dance in the lab. She had a set of
headphones on and was not paying attention to the doorway. She was
singing too. "...one step at a time...Na Na na..." Tess
knocked on the door jam. Wanda didn't notice. "....You know you
can, in the face your door slams..." She turned to see Tess
standing there and stopped hands going to her headphones. "Oh!"
She shut it off and blushed.

Tess
chuckled. "What are you listening to?" she asked politely.
She nodded to the headphones as

Wanda
took them off and wrapped them around her neck. "Jordan Sparks
One step at a time." Wanda blushed looking away.

"I
fixed the computer, was faulty CPU. Mario is working on the MAV
outside. I can't go out. Can I help?" she asked. She motioned to
the lab. "I can't do much with these fingers..." She
grimaced holding up the splinted hand.

"How
did you do that?" Wanda asked.

"Machine
caught me as we were moving it. Broke it and the middle finger a
couple weeks ago while you were out," Tess grimaced. "At
least it was a clean break, and it didn't breach my glove," she
sighed. "But with the splint on I can't put my gloves on now
that the swelling is down, so I still can't go out."

Wanda
nodded. "So you can't use your hand." She waved to the
rocks. "Well, if you remember a little of your geology, you can
do a prelim sort of these samples over here..." She pointed.

Tess
smiled. "Thanks Wanda." She moved in to help cradling her
injured hand against her chest.

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

Tess
looked the plans over and turned the tablet first one way, then
another. "Which way is up?" she asked looking at Mario.

He
sighed. "Yeah, remind me to thank my brother for sending us
this... this horridly complex plan." He waved his tablet.

"Da
is complex." Tess studied the plan. "We have buttresses?
What is that?" She looked up at him.

"A
support," Mario replied looking at his own copy. "Yeah,
okay, see, here and here they go down at a diagonal. But they have
cuts on each level to allow a passage through them," he
explained, catching on finally. He nodded thoughtfully. He'd have to
ask Luigi to break it down like Lego directions or something. Sub
assemblies or something easier to understand.

"And
dis?" Tess pointed.

He
looked over her shoulder. "Cross brace... no, it has an arch,"
he sighed. "Yeah, okay, so it is also floor bracing. We're going
to have to have a chat with Luigi about this. Maybe he can send us a
cad file so we can look it over and take it apart." He looked
over to the stack of materials. The first two vaults were complete.
Now they had this headache, the Gallery. That was what they were
puzzling over now. He nodded, determined to get it done. Hopefully it
would stay under the radar a little while longer so he could surprise
Wanda properly.

"Okay,
we have the ceiling to do, and these buttresses to hold vault two
in." He looked up to the sky then shook his head. "We're
going to have to do the buttresses; no way can we go without them.
The air pressure alone could pop that wall out." He waved. The
exterior of the gallery wall was double thick, but the interior wall
was not. "I wish we could add glass to the tops." Mario
pointed to the arch on one side.

Tess
nodded. "Maybe material from MAV? Porthole under roof overhang?"
she asked thoughtfully.

He
sighed. "Maybe, but I am a bit concerned about the stress. If we
have it in, that means we need to leave that area uncovered, so we
have a stress problem."

She
sighed catching on immediately. "Da, is a bit over head. Need
architect." Mario chuckled.

"Can
we help?" a familiar voice asked. They turned to see Li and Yung
Han in the entryway. Both were looking around. Yung was chattering in
Chinese. Mario wasn't sure if it bode good or not.

"Sure.
We're trying to hash out these plans. Care to take a look?" He
handed his copy to Li.

Li
looked. "I made bricks with my family when was a child. My
grandfather built many of the buildings in our village," he
said. He smiled looking over the plans. "Yes is nice, good
design, nice. We can have bricks different ways to make look good
too." He held his hand and the tablet to demonstrate.

Mario
nodded. "Okay." Yung looked over to Li and then grabbed his
bicep. Li smiled to her she nodded.

"I
have a test running so I will need to check on it in an hour,"
she smiled. Her eyes were bright with interest. "But I can help
until then. I need the exercise."

Mario
chuckled. "Okay, well, your husband is in charge, so I will go
start fetching bricks." He walked off with a wave as the three
began to plan out where to lay the bricks. He felt immense relief. He
wasn't sure why.

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

Mario
came into the foyer and took his helmet off. He looked down at the
dust in the airlock. The vacuum system kicked on, sucking the
remaining particles out through the grid. "I need a shower and
take out," he muttered rolling his shoulders.

"I
don't think they deliver this far out," Wanda teased.

"God
what I wouldn't give for a pizza right about now," Mario sighed.

Wanda
smiled mischievously. "Well, it's not Pizza Hut but..." She
waved to her husband. He looked confused. She grabbed him by the hand
and dragged him into the kitchenette.

Tess
was sitting on a stool with a slice of pizza half way to her lips.
She grinned. "Is good!" The commander held up a thumbs up.
Li and Yung chuckled.

"Hot
damn, how did you pull this one off?" Mario asked as he turned
to his wife.

She
grinned. "It's easy dummy. Tomatoes, parsley, yeast...
mushrooms, peppers...the hardest was the cheese, cornmeal, and
wheat," she explained. She smiled.

He
hugged her to his side. "Thanks," he said gruffly.

She
smiled. "Happy birthday Mario," she said as he looked down
at her startled. "Don't tell me you forgot again," she
teased.

He
chuckled looking bewildered. "Too be honest, yeah. We've been
kinda busy..." The crew laughed.

"Yung
and Li are going to show us how to make some traditional Chinese
dishes next week," Wanda informed him as he sat back rubbing his
tummy. He looked over to the two who bowed smiling politely.

"Great!"
He smiled. "Chinese is my second favorite food, besides
Italian." He looked at his wife who rolled her eyes.

"With
a name like Mario I would never had guessed," she deadpanned
wryly. He chuckled.

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

"Mario
can you do anything to extend the range of the rovers? Three hundred
fifty kilometers out and back is getting a little limiting you know?"
Wanda asked him as he stacked bricks.

"What
about setting up a way station?" he grunted as he picked the
stack up and hefted it over to the kiln.

"Way
station?" Wanda asked, pausing.

"Yeah,
we can build an equipment shed with bricks two hundred fifty or so
kilometers out. Put an inflatable tank or two of ethylene. Water, and
O two out there with it. You could stop there, refuel and move on
extending your range by half. Then come back refuel and return to
base."

She
looked over to where he was stacking bricks on the rover. "Can
you do it?" she asked.

He
shrugged. "We can try it." He went back for another load.
Carefully she picked a brick up and handed it to him.

"Give
it a shot please?" she asked. He looked up to her. She was
smiling.

"Okay,
I'll put it on my to-do list," he said and smiled back.

She
patted his arm. "Thanks Hon." He shook his head as she
walked off. Mario went inside to clean up.

"Luigi,
what do you think?" Mario asked as he set his helmet down on the
desk and looked at the image of his brother.

"Not
going to change big brother?" Luigi asked. Mario snorted. There
was a time lag and obviously they were out of sync.

"Luigi,
Wanda wants us to build a way station or two out about three hundred
clicks to extend the range of the rovers. I was thinking they would
also act as shelters in case of a solar flare or break down."

He
checked his gear over as he waited for a reply. "Got that big
brother. Okay, Sounds good, you’ll have to bump a couple
missions to do it. You’re off mission anyway," Luigi
replied. Luigi sighed running his hand through his hair. "Yeah,
do it. Shoot me the plans when you get a chance."

Mario
smiled. "Thanks little bro, see you out here." He clicked
the channel off. "Now that we have permission I get to break it
to the crew," he sighed.

Vault:

Mario
finished his orange juice and looked up to see his wife coming in.
"Morning honey." She looked tired, and grumpy. "I know
you’re not tired because of me." He shook his head.

"Some
of us do real work, not just sitting around playing video games all
day," she snarled. His eyes widened.

Tess
looked up startled. She opened her mouth to defend him but he waved
her away. "Would you like some breakfast?" he asked. She
shook her head, one hand on her stomach and left.

"What
was that about?" Tess asked.

"You
should know. I am surprised your body clocks haven't synced up yet,"
Mario replied.

"Oh.
That time eh?” Yung asked.

"Yeah,
looks that way." Mario replied with a drawl, looking at the open
door. "Best thing to do is to stay out of her hair for a couple
days until she gets a handle on things," he sighed. "I'll
see you outside Tess." He waved as he left.

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

"Wanda
can you come in here for a moment?" She looked up then warily
followed the sound of her husband's voice.

"You're
not going to pounce on me are you? We have to plan something for this
anniversary dinner. I mean E-rats and limp veggies don't cut it,"
she answered testily. He chuckled. She honed in on the noise of his
laughter. "So what do you want?" She grumped.

He
turned to see her leaning against the door jam. He smiled. "Well,
since you’re the cook, I figured you should be the one to take
charge of this." He tapped a large canister on the desk.

"And
just what is this supposed to be?" she asked eyebrow arched.

He
smiled. "Open it and find out." He got up and moved aside.
She gave him an amused 'okay I'll humor you but this better be good'
look as she squeezed in next to him. He couldn't resist a little
horseplay of course.

She
slapped his hands away. "Down boy. Heel," she growled,
dimpling.

He
pretended to pout. "And after all the work we put into getting
you this."

She
looked at the can. "What is it motor oil? Is that brine?"
she asked. He sighed as he flipped the lid up. She sniffed.

"Okay,
sewage. Nice one."

He
stopped her from moving back. "Oh ye of little imagination."
He reached in and pulled. Turkey skin was exposed.

"What,
a turkey? A whole turkey?? No way!" She eagerly grabbed the can.

"Careful."

She
looked up eyes shining. "Damn."

He
chuckled. "Well, Luigi had it put in for this occasion. I am not
sure how the Han's will take to it, but it should be a nice change,"
he said. She smiled then kissed him long and thoroughly.

When
she let him up for air she grinned at his dazed expression. He ran a
hand down her side. "You’re a treasure you know that?"
she murmured.

"Well,
just need to keep my lady happy," he said, thoroughly enjoying
the moment. She kissed him again then let go and grabbed the can.
"I've got work to do. Expect a long work out later." She
smiled mischievously as she turned and walked out.

He
sighed happily and placed his hands behind his head. "It's a
rough job, but I think I can handle it," he said softly.

"I
heard that!" she called. He chuckled.