First Steps (Founding of the Federation) (21 page)

“Good.
They say we need to check the pins and other spars when you’re
done for damage.”

The
commander grunted. “Okay. One thing at a time shall we?”
he asked. He set his feet under the motor mount to give himself
leverage then pulled the spar down to the motor mount then pushed its
opposite end out. The shell moved, and then locked out like it was
supposed to be. “Got it.” Carefully he maneuvered the end
back into place. “Okay Tess, I can't hold this in place and put
the pin in. Can you do the honors?”

Tess
moved over until she was blocking his light. “Here.” She
clicked her lights on. She straddled the spar and held it in place.

“You
have the pins in your bag. Go for it.” He clicked twice.

“Okay
first one...”

After
a few minutes he was finished. “Still missing one. Any ideas?”

Mario
cleared his throat over the net. “I grabbed something similar
from the spare parts. It is in the lock now,” he replied.

Tess
moved off the spar. “I'll get it.” She maneuvered around
the commander then grabbed his safety line. He watched her line wrap
around his side.

“Easy
Tess, we're fouling lines here,” he ordered, forcing his
professional voice into a light tone. She unclipped hers.

“What
are you doing?” he asked alarmed.

“Relax
commander, I am at the door.” He turned to see her holding onto
the door. She pulled the door open then picked the bolt out. “Got
it.”

She
pulled herself hand over hand back to him. “Lock back in,”
The commander growled.

“I
was planning too,” she replied calmly. She handed him the bolt
with one hand, then used it to snag the free end of her tether. She
carefully clicked it onto her belt. “All set.” She moved
over him to the other side.

“Okay
last bolt is in place. Looks good. Proceeding with inspection,”
The commander reported a few minutes later.

“Roger
that. You have two hours of air remaining,” Mario replied.

On Mars:

“And
three...two....one... Leg One has contact, leg Two contact, three...
four... five we are down. Engines off! Welcome to Mars mankind!”
The commander said triumphantly the following day. It had been a
bumpy fiery ride down but now they were safe and soundly on the
ground.

Tess
grinned as she unbuckled her harness. With cat like grace she twisted
to view out the porthole window. “Is beautiful! Magnificent! So
red!” She murmured.

“Post
checks Tess, play tourist later,” The commander called teasing
her.

“Right.”
She looked over her control tablet. “Five by five, engines off
and safe. Position stable, auto level engaged. No sign of leaks.”
She walked through the post checklist, but burned to be outside.

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

Mario
climbed down onto the last step, then reached out and grabbed the
landing leg. "Got it." He pulled himself over and then
carefully turned. "You gotta love these new suits, so much
easier to move around in then the Apollo ones," he muttered as
he turned around to face outward. Tess had moved off the leg to the
opposite leg. The Hans stood on the last step.

"Are
we ready?" The commander asked. Mario grunted.

"We
do this for all mankind." With that signal they each stepped off
in choreographed unison. Mario felt his sole dig into the soil. Tess
took a second step, and then waved to the robotic camera. "YES!"
The commander chuckled. "And now that the grandstanding is over,
let’s get busy people, we have a base to set up and we are
burning daylight!"

Mario
chuckled as they moved out. The Hans were last; they stood together
and bowed deeply to the cameras. "Every group has a hot dog or
two," he muttered.

"What
was that?" Li Han asked. The Hans looked up and over to him.

"Oops,
sorry, hot mike," he said. He cut the channel.

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

“Ladies
and gentlemen of Earth we would like you to consider the grand
achievement today. Our countries worked together and did the
impossible. They put us your representatives on a distant world in
less time than anyone thought possible. With less money than anyone
thought possible.” The commander droned on through his
carefully scripted speech. Mario tried not to squirm. He wanted to
get the speeches over with so they could dig in and get to work. All
this yapping was burning daylight. He sighed softly, wanting to blow
a raspberry, do something, anything to get this over with. Wanda
leaned over and gave him a warning look. He tried not to roll his
eyes at her glare.

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

“And
here we take you to Union square were people are celebrating the
landing of the first team on Mars!” An excited reporter turned
to see the multitudes as they partied. There were hundreds of
thousands of people there in various outfits and completely oblivious
to the rain. “I think this is an achievement for all mankind
and we should all be proud.” She turned to the camera. “Back
to you in the studio Bob...”

 ...*...*...*...*...

After
the landing they took the time to finish the usual publicity shots
and speeches to the camera's then went to what each termed the real
work. Mario and the commander broke out the open rover and tested it.
Before they were finished Wanda and Li were climbing in. "Okay
so much for a test drive, I guess they are doing it for us."
Mario waved as they departed.

"Keep
in sight of the base!" the commander called.

Wanda
waved her hand up in the air. "They must be pretty excited,"
Tess observed.

"Yah
think? Let’s move on. We need to unpack the other rovers then
survey the route for the habs to connect," Mario asked. The
commander was already moving out a few hundred meters and looking
around. "Okay, looks like I get the next rover." Mario
climbed the ramp.

"I'll
just go check the MAV nearby," Tess said and waved in the
indicated direction.

"Don't
stray too far Tess," the commander cautioned. "Mrs. Han do
you have a lock on each of us?" He looked up to the Hab.

After
a moment Yung Lin came on. "Yes. Reading all of you. My
husband's vitals seem a little high, he must be excited," she
observed dryly. The commander chuckled.

"Yeah,
I think we all are. Mario let me give you a hand here." He took
the line and eased the rover to the ground. "I'll just take her
out for a test drive and pick up Tess."

Mario
waved. "Two down, one to go," he sighed looking over the
giant enclosed rover. "All right whinny, let’s see if we
can get you out where you belong." He removed the wheel stops
and started removing the tie downs.

"Why
whinny?" Tess asked over the comm. channel.

"Short
for Winnebago."

She
chuckled. "Ah, I see."

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

Mario
waved his arms forward. Slowly the Hab moved in toward him. When the
rover came within a few meters of him he turned and moved out another
forty meters. "I think we should have this done by tomorrow,"
Mario said. He looked over to Wanda and Li digging nearby.

"Eyes
on the job Mario," the commander called.

"Right."
Mario checked their alignment. "You're okay, about twenty
centimeters too far to the right, but this far out I'm not sweating
it." The commander tapped the joystick and the rover moved
slightly to the left.

"Okay.
Commander, it is way too early to get fussy wait until we are within
a hundred meters or so," Mario said and then sighed as the
commander straightened out. He looked over the wheels. A rock sprang
out from a tire as its edge went to roll on top. "It is weird
not hearing this thing crunch," he said. He shook his head.
"Looking good." Mario moved out another thirty meters to
where Tess was looking at things with a surveyor's tripod.
"Everything okay?" he asked her.

She
looked up and gave him a thumbs up. "So far so good as you
American's say." She smiled as she adjusted the laser pointer.
"This is simple, point and shoot." She checked the read
outs. "I don't know why we need to read it now though, changes
in elevation are useless data this far apart."

He
chuckled. "Why don't you ignore that part and go check to make
sure the parking spot is level and free of boulders," he
suggested. She gave him another thumbs up and moved off.

"Where
is she going?" the commander asked.

"She's
going to check our parking spot and make sure it is level and clear
of obstacle Commander," Mario reported as he sighted the laser
onto the target. "You're doing good. Keep her coming." He
waved the Commander forward.

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

Mario
and the Commander wrestled with the billboard stakes. "Did they
have to make it this big?" Bower complained.

Mario
chuckled. "Everything was in the contract down to the nuts we
had to use." He looked up as he finished bolting his side
together. "I'm done. Need a hand?" he asked.

"No,
I got it." The commander fumbled the nut, hastily caught it then
carefully threaded it onto the bolt. "This thing is plastic,
what's to stop the wind from chewing it up? Or the sun?" he
asked as he tightened the nut.

"It
has a UV coating to protect it from the sun, and reinforced slits to
let the wind through so it doesn't get chewed up," Mario replied
as he put his tools back in the rover. "All done?" He
looked over to Tess who nodded.

"How
did I get the hard job?" she asked panting.

He
shrugged. "Feminism at work?" he teased. Tess had insisted
on doing the parts sledge.

She
shook her head. "Is not funny." She dropped the improvised
sledge. "Is done anyway," she said mulishly. He nodded.

"Good,
we can get this thing up and then move on to the next chore,"
the commander said straightening.

Together
the three of them hoisted the billboard up then secured it to the
stakes with bolts and guy wires. "It should read Wal-Mart coming
soon," Mario joked as they finished.

The
commander laughed. "Don't tempt them, they just might do it."
He shook his head. "What's next McDonalds? Pizza hut?" he
asked and then laughed.

Tess
shook her head. "Don't care. It pays the bills," she said
and then shrugged.

"Yeah,
one hundred million pays a lot of bills. I am going to move the
cameras so we can get a clear view of it." Mario waved as they
climbed into the rover. Wanda waved back.

"Looks
like she is having the time of her life," the commander
chuckled.

"Are
you kidding me? She's like a kid in a candy store with an unlimited
credit card and a free pass from the dentist," Mario laughed.

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

"Crap."
Mario surveyed the fallen MAV. They'd finally worked their way
through the chore list for the first two day and he finally had time
to take a look at the thing. What he saw didn't so much as surprise
him as it did dismay him.

"I
knew we should have gone with five legs," Tess sighed.

"Think
there is anything worth salvaging?" the commander asked.

"Well,
from the looks of the discoloration of the surrounding soil most of
the hydrazine and fluids have leaked out," Mario observed. Mario
knelt and touched the soil.

"Is
there chance of a fire?" the commander asked, suddenly
concerned.

"In
a carbon dioxide atmosphere? Get real." Tess shook her head.

The
commander grimaced. "I forgot that," he muttered. He
cleared his throat noisily. "Carry on." Mario tapped the
landing leg sticking out the back.

“Thruster
nozzle and two legs are a loss, most likely the entire side
paneling." He climbed up onto the top side. "No sign of
damage here."

The
commander looked at him. "She'll never fly again. Come on; let's
go finish moving the Habs together."

Mario
waved. "Just a minute. Just because she can't fly doesn't mean
all of her cargo is a write off." He took out a driver gun from
his tool bag and started removing bolts. Carefully he caught and
bagged each one.

"What
are you doing?" Tess asked.

"Here,"
Mario said grunting. Mario picked the panel up and handed it down to
her.

"Put
it over there. We will have to sort the good from the bad." He
turned and looked inside. "Not bad. No sign of corrosion. A lot
of dust though," he sighed.

"Okay
well, twenty minutes then we need to get back on schedule," the
commander called moving off to the habs.

"Yup."
Mario pulled open a door. "Ah gotcha." He recognized the
markings for the plastic extruder and Reprap.

Tess
waved. "Ah hello? Next panel?"

He
chuckled. "Yup, here." He reached in and pulled out a box
then handed it down.

"What
is this? Parts?"

He
chuckled. "Something like that. We need everything we can get.
Never know when something breaks. Save every washer, nut, and bolt,"
he cautioned her. She nodded as she moved off to set it down. She was
Russian, she'd spent plenty of time in Siberia on rigs, and she knew
the drill.

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

Wanda
watched as Tess drove the open rover, dozer blade down scraping at
the regolith. "I don't get it, why did your team put the tools
on the open rovers? Why winches on the long range, but the tools on
the open rover?" She turned to Mario who grimaced.

"Winches
were needed by the team remember? In case you want to climb or need
to pull yourself out of a ditch or rut?" he asked. She nodded.

"The
other modules, dozer blade, digging arm, and crane we had to stick
onto the open rovers. They weight a lot too," he explained.

She
sighed. "Yeah, but that means we can't use any of that equipment
outside of base camp remember? The open rover's don't have much
range." She waved exasperated.