First Steps (Founding of the Federation) (25 page)

“Oh!
I get it.” Mario caught the next series of bricks and moved
them off to the sun. Tess went over and picked up a brick and
crumbled it in her hands.

“If
is no good, why make a batch?” she asked.

He
sighed and looked back to her. “Testing. We can test them, then
test the ones with nylon in them and compare the difference,”
he explained. He shrugged.

“Actually
the tests are already on file. The Mars Foundation and the Mars
society used simulated Martian clay to discover the best brick making
method. This is the result.” He caught the next batch and
carefully set them down. “I'm just being thorough.”

“Why
the holes in the centers?” She pointed to the three holes.

“To
make them lighter, and so we can run things through them easier.”
He caught the next trio then shut the machine off. “Okay, I
will be back in a bit. If you get done your chores early can you
shred some nylon?”

She
looked up then nodded. “My pleasure.”

He
waved as he walked off hand held high. “Mario's brick pizza
delivery...” He hammed it with his trademark Italian accent.
She giggled over the net.

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

"How
do we use cement?" Tess asked a few hours later. She was
starting to catch on to the project and was getting interested in it.
As an engineer their part was mostly done. Now all they had to do was
maintain the machinery. Which, with computers in just about
everything wasn't all that hard. The computers reported exactly what
was wrong and where most of the time. The day to day preventive
maintenance of getting the dust out or off of everything was a
different story though.

"Well,
Luigi sent instructions. We can turn the brick extruder down and
bypass the mold and it will create slurry we can use. The Martian
soil is high in Gypsum, the main ingredient in mortar. Once it dries
we will coat the inside and outside of the bricks with a spray on
plastic epoxy resin."

Tess
nodded. "The resin will bond to the brick?" she asked.

He
nodded. "But it is elastic, so it can flex as the building
settles, or if there is a Mars quake," he explained. She nodded.

"I
wanted the self sealing version, but it was horridly complex to make
and a royal pain to apply so we went with the next best thing,"
he sighed. “Our big problem is the mortar, in these
temperatures the water will start to freeze the moment it comes out
of the extruder. We will have to be fast. If it freezes too fast it
will not bond or it will crack.” He waved to a brick. “We're
going to need to keep the heater coils on and nearby to keep the
bricks warm,” he finished.

Tess
nodded. “We have same problem in Russia, have to keep mortar
from freezing.” she said thoughtfully. “It is tough,”
she sighed in return.

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

Mario
grunted as he extended the pole. The pole was tipped with an air
sprayer and brush so he could clean each of the habs out of reach
places. He scrubbed the exterior walls, and then moved on to
carefully blow away, then gently brush away dust from the porthole
windows. The air wasn't oxygen of course, just the local atmosphere
he'd pressurized in a bottle with a hand pump before starting out on
this little project.

"Somehow
I do not see you as a window man Mario," a familiar voice
teased. Li waved from the window he had just finished. "There
are streaks."

Mario
sighed and shook his head. "There will be, some of them are
scratches. Trying to clean the dust off can grind the sharp little
things into the glass." He moved over to the next area.

"I
wish they had built ultrasonic’s into each window. I could whip
one up with a couple spare transducers..." Tess grumped.

Mario
grunted. "We can't. Ultrasonic’s would have weakened the
caulking and caused a potential blow out over time."

She
grunted. "I'm done with the rovers."

He
grunted as he finished the first Hab. "One down three to go,"
he said.

"Want
some help?" she asked.

"No,
go check on the bricks," he ordered. He waved to the brick
maker.

"You
make a lot of brick Mario," Li teased. He'd checked them for
tensile and compression strength as the engineer had asked.

"Yeah
well, the first couple batches didn't come out right. We took them
out of the kiln too early and they shattered," Mario replied.

"Yes,
I remember, strength not good," Li said.

Mario
nodded. "Yeah, we were in so much of a hurry we were only
putting a few in at a time, then running the kiln for an hour and not
letting it cool down slowly like the directions said too do," he
sighed as he finished the connector. He'd had to learn patience the
hard way. Patience in making a full load for the kiln and letting it
cool overnight. Now they had the routine down.

"Now
we do a thousand in a day, then run the kiln and let it cool off all
night," he explained absently and then winced. He wasn't
supposed to say that he realized. He grunted as the brush caught in a
crevice between legs. "Come on get out of there you...” he
sighed as the brush came out, minus a few bristles.

"A
thousand a day?" Li asked surprised. He moved to another window
so he could see Mario.

"Yeah.
Need them for the garages, sheds, and vaults. I underestimated how
many," Mario grumbled as he cleaned around the railing. "I
think we should cover these things. Sandbags on top, maybe stack them
up the sides." He blew on the window Li was looking out of then
brushed it.

"Yes,
it would make for less area to clean. But the instruments and antenna
on top..." Li pointed.

"Yeah,
I know. But it would help protect anyone in the Hab during a solar
flare, not to mention our daily dose of cosmic rays," Mario
replied.

Li
nodded. "Is good point. I will help when I can." He bowed
his head.

"Thanks
Li, I appreciate it," Mario said. Mario moved on to the next
area. "Oh me oh my it's a big pizza pie, that's amore..."
He sang.

Tess
groaned. "If you’re going to sing do it off channel
Mario?" she sounded testy.

"Sorry,"
he apologized and flicked the mike off with his free hand.

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

Wanda
took one look at the structure and then shook her head. “I
should have known.” She turned a scowl on Mario who had his
best innocent expression on. “Sure. Couldn't wait to build a
garage could you?” she accused him. The commander chuckled. She
waved a fist at him. “You’re no help,” she growled.
She threw her hands up in the air. “Boys and their toys!”
Tess looked affronted. Wanda caught the look. “Okay, and some
girls too. You just couldn't resist. Could you?”

Mario
chuckled and opened his mouth. “Well you said toys, now we have
a toy box,” Bower said. The commander beat him to the line.
Mario looked over to him and laughed.

“He
has a point. Safer to work on the vehicles and other bits out of the
weather,” Mario replied. “It also helps lengthen their
service life.”

Wanda
nodded. “Have at it,” she sighed and climbed in to the
open rover with Tess. “Just be careful okay?”

He
waved. “Go have fun playing in the dirt honey. Supper is at
five. We dug out a couple samples that the shields dug up for you to
look at later,” he said. She chuckled as Tess drove off.

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

"Crap!!
Cramp!" Wanda started to limp and hiss. She'd been so focused on
digging for so long when she got up she'd paid for it.

"Right
calf?" Tess asked turning to look.

"YESSS..."
Wanda hissed. She sat on a large flat rock and tried to massage the
muscles through her skin suit. "It's no good, I can't do
anything," she sighed frustrated. "Damn, like being locked
in a body cast and not being able to itch...” She threw her
head back and groaned.

"What's
wrong?" Mario called over the radio, sounding concerned.

"Wanda
has a leg cramp," Tess replied.

"Bad?"
Mario asked.

"Bad
enough," Wanda replied.

"Stretch
it. Walk on it, walk it out," Mario replied.

"Easy
for you to say, you’re not the one with your leg on fire..."
Wanda grimaced as Tess helped her to her feet. Gingerly she
straightened her leg, "Ah damn that hurts," she sighed,
trying hard not to bite her lip.

"Should
we go in?" Tess asked.

"May
have too," Mario replied, the over protective husband.

"No,
I'll be all right in a bit. Damn." Wanda limped over to a rock
and pulled out her hammer. "I'll just take out my frustrations
on our friend here...” She started tapping at the rock.

Tess
smiled. "She's on the mend," she reported.

"Roger,"
Mario replied with a sigh.

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

The
Commander piled the stack of bricks in front of the kiln and sighed
as he stood, rubbing the small of his back where he could reach.
"Damn, going to feel that. How can you two do this all day?"
he asked. He turned to see Mario carrying another flat of bricks.

"Practice.
We've been at it a while," Mario replied.

Bower
looked at the stack of bricks. "Seems like an awful lot for a
couple sheds and a garage."

Mario
chuckled. "You have no idea how much of a headache it is to not
have enough when you need it. Easier to be safe than sorry," he
replied flippantly. He smiled at Tess. Tess winked.

"Well,
we are also planning on other projects if weather and schedule
permitting," Tess responded.

The
commander chuckled. "Well, you should find another way of making
bricks; it seems you've got a bottle neck here at this thing."
He tapped the kiln. Mario sighed.

"Da,
we know. I try to convince Mario to make another, but he is not
doing," Tess waved disgustedly at Mario.

"What's
the problem?" Bower turned to Mario.

"Well,
it needs heater coils. I want to save them for other projects,"
Mario said slowly.

Bower
frowned thoughtfully. "Oh. From the tanks?"

Mario
nodded. "They are a pain to get out too. We may need them in the
tanks if we decide to use them." The commander nodded as they
trudged back to the extruder. Tess had another pair of flats ready.

"I
think your right, we should use the rover." The commander looked
at the flats.

"Yeah,
we were, but Wanda started complaining about our fuel use." He
threw his hands up in the air. "It's not like we can't make
more, we have the materials," he grumbled. "In fact we are,
it just tapped it faster than we were making it for a while."

Bower
nodded. "Okay, so let's go back to the rovers. Can you rig a
trailer?"

Tess
looked up. "Da, we have one I can use." She left to go get
the rover and trailer.

"As
far as the heater coils..." The commander took Tess's station.

"Yeah?
You have an idea oh glorious leader?" Mario teased.

"Well,
I was thinking... what about the heaters in the parachute packs?"
Bower asked thoughtfully.

Mario
blinked, totally taken aback. "Did I hear right? Parachutes?"
Tess asked as she pulled up with the nearest rover.

"Yeah,
the parachutes need heaters to keep them warm so they can open."
Bower waved to the Habs and fallen MAV. "Take the eight from
those they won't be needing them anymore," the commander said.
The Commander pointed to the MAV.

Tess
looked triumphantly at Mario who was feeling rather sheepish. "Damn,
sometimes..." he sighed and shook his head ruefully.

"Sometimes
you’re so close to a problem you need an outside view?"
the commander teased.

"Yeah.
Thanks commander. I'll get on it." Mario nodded.

"I
do it. I have to fix antenna anyway," Tess waved.

"Take
a few sandbags up with you while you’re at it!" The
commander waved to her. She waved back. Li and Mario had decided to
take a chance and put a few sand bags on the roof of each of the
vehicles.

"Commander,
I can handle this if you want to give her a hand. There are some
explosive bolts that she should look out for," Mario cautioned.

The
commander nodded. "Okay. I'll check in on you in a bit." He
waved as he trotted off to catch up with the retreating Russian.

"Okay,
going to need to call home and get my genius little brother to whip
up a blueprint," Mario said looking up to the sky.

"I
heard that," Tess replied. He smiled.

 ...*...*...*...*...

The
commander watched them from the lip of the trench wall. The trench
had taken on a life of its own, it was over nine meters wide, eight
deep, and fifty meters long. "I think you got carried away,"
he said dryly and then chuckled.

Tess
looked up after she set a brick in place. "Nyet. Is for
purpose." She indicated the growing brick wall. Stakes were
driven in marking areas.

"What
are you doing?" the commander asked.

"We're
laying in a test cell," Mario replied.

"Test
cell?" the commander echoed as he walked around the edge to the
ramp down into the pit.

"Yes,
we're testing in situ brick making for a possible Martian habitat."
Mario pointed it out.

"The
Mackenzie Roman vaults?" the commander asked. Mario looked up.

"Right.
It's in our mission plan," Mario replied cautiously. Mario
finished buttering a brick with mortar and then handed it to Tess.
She carefully set it down on top of the wall.

"How
are you going to top it? A flat roof will cave in," Bower
reminded him as he inspected the thing. The commander looked the wall
over.

"Arch,"
Mario replied as he finished another brick. "We're going to use
part of that broken tank to form a preform so we can lay brick on
top." He used his hands to mime out the arch.

"How
big is this?" the commander finally asked.

"Three
meters on a side," Mario replied.