Contrary to Earth, Mars did not have a multifunctional Orbital Ring. However, it was equipped in much cheaper docking stations placed at the top of gigantic pylons located in close distance from the biggest agglomerations on the planet. The reason for selecting this solution was quite simple.
While Mars was in the process of long-term terraforming and creating the inhabitable atmosphere, the resources planet had held a high importance for the whole humanity, therefore mining was started despite rough conditions.
Everyone, who wanted to live and work on Mars had to meet a number of restrictive requirements. Colonists were not only to have skills in specific fields needed in mining and agriculture to grow food to sustain the population, but also good health, age within a specified range, and absolutely no criminal record. Additionally, each candidate had to go through a series of endurance tests. As a result, only few were granted a permission to work on the planet, though there were also special cases of whole families passing the tests and living together. Still, such cases were in minority, and most of the families living on Mars now was started not on Earth, but already on Mars.
Said demographic factors, combined with costs of building cities under the domes, limited the possibilities of colonial expansion, resulting in slightly above a dozen of cities being present on the planet, of which only two could be referred to as agglomeration. With that in mind, building an Orbital Ring made no sense because the current population had no chance of using its potential.
Unfortunately, this state of things made quite a bit of trouble for the Future. Taking into consideration the overall size of the ship after combining all modules, the standard port could not possibly dock it and only modification of the biggest Martian port made it possible to moor the moloch.
The port was placed on top of the pylon of New Earth City, the first and the biggest human settlement established on Mars over two hundred years ago. This city was the only one among colonies from back then still functioning nowadays, owing to years of hard work and sacrifices from pioneers, allowing the town to develop much faster than any newer settlements. Of course, richness of natural resources played a great role in the city's success - deposits were located all around the town. Its status made the New Earth City into official capital of Mars.
Despite the great influence, gigantic extraction of resources and the biggest production on the planet, it turned out this colony was unable to meet all the needs of Future, resulting in another delay, this time caused by the need to involve other Martian cities. The situation got even more complicated due to the New Earth City's port modification, which forced majority of its transport ships to be stationed in other cities' ports. With all the commotion, loading planned to take maximum of two weeks was expected to be extended, and take minimum of one month.
Having learned about circumstances, Mathias Kaller - after performing additional calculations - decided to deploy part of the crew to help on the planet's surface. Considering the most recent safety standards, it was definitely a controversial decision to be made by the project's chief, but no one protested in the end - most of people assigned to this job actually seemed happy by this turn of events, after all only chosen ones could visit the planet in normal circumstances.
Among the people delegated to the Mars surface, John Marlow was selected alongside his recent crew, including Martin Johnson and other mechanics. Not all of them worked directly with each other, as they were divided into groups based on their main fields of expertise.
When it comes to John, he was assigned to collecting machine parts with Martin by his side. All parts were supposed to be first gathered, then assembled on board under John's supervision. In Marlow's opinion, it was one of the easiest assignments he ever received since joining the project. Of course, they were working long shifts, often reaching up to twelve hours, spending most of the time in hangars, but in return had about two hours of free time daily which they could use they saw fit. Since none of them had a chance to visit Mars before, favorite activity of John and Martin was sightseeing, on which they were often joined by several other people.
New Earth City fully deserved to be called Mars' biggest city - with its size, it could easily be compared to some of platform countries, and its economic power was at the level of whole Earth regions. While having a considerable strength in its own regard, this Martian colony was still under the control of several Earth countries and corporations, therefore its ability to make independent actions was greatly limited. This was supposed to be the way to avoid power abuse from the local governors, but in the end, the Earth superiors were the ones to get the upper hand in that regard. Fortunately, this division of powers did not affect the regular lives of colonists that much.
In their daily lives, inhabitants of Mars were not that different from people living on Earth, and even time count was not much different, only fourty minutes more than on Earth. They had fast foods, pubs, cafes, cinemas, factories and office buildings. People were walking around, using public transportation, or even driving their own vehicles, though the latter were still uncommon and less popular - after all, one had limited amount of places to go within the colony.
If someone from Earth was transported here in their sleep without knowing it is a different planet, they would be likely unable to tell this place apart from the Earth metropolis. Looking at the cityscape, and wandering around, John felt as if being in New York, such vibe the New Earth City had. And Marlow was not far from the truth since the original center of the colony was based on twenty-first-century Manhattan. The only thing that could distinguish this colonial city from the Earth's megacities were people, and - more precisely - their fashion sense - for some reason, trends around the colonoly were still stuck in the first half of twenty third century.
- Novelties probably get here with delay - suggested Martin as they started this topic during one of their sightseeing trips - Even if they are watching tv, using the internet, and see what's happening on Earth, how long do you think does it take for the products to get here? These are manufacturing facilities, they are mainly exporting, right?
John had some doubts on that matter.
- They are sending several dozens of transports each month from every colony, and have them return empty? No new goods? Martin, most of the people living here did not see Earth with their own eyes, they were born here and never left this planet. Don't you think at least some of them would like to try things that are common on Earth?
Martin took a sip of coffee and leaned back in his chair.
- In my humble opinion, they have nothing to envy. Quite the contrary, after several days spent here I think I may be liking Mars more than Earth. John, through all this time we are here, have you seen any slums?
That was a fact, over the time they were on Mars, they never faced such poverty as on Earth. Of course, they saw people who could have been beggars based on their apparel, some shady ones who could be potential thieves, and prostitutes, but by no means they could compare it to what they knew from their home planet. Now that Johnson mentioned it, life here seemed much nicer than on Earth indeed.
- Maybe that's an effect of this whole selection - Marlow pointed out - New employees have all these tests to pass, and those who were born here, if don't show results within a couple of years after graduating school, they will be deported to Earth. And from Earth, they could only go to space mining facilities.
- True, that's why our world is so fucked up. If this terraformation went better, a lot of population could move here.
Undoubtedly, possibility of settling the whole surface of Mars would change a lot, but still...
- Mars itself is not enough though. How big is it? About half the Earth size. It would be hard to find a place for everyone. Besides, let's think what would have happened if several billions were sent here now? How would this orderly society look like?
Martin nodded and sighed deeply.
- Damn it all - he said with sour face - I get how it is, John, but it would still take a huge load from Earth, right? If Mars could solve current overpopulation problem, we wouldn't have to go to this New Gaia, leaving everyone behind. At least, such rush wouldn't be needed.
Well, he had people to leave back on Earth, contrary to John who had no one blood-related, or even close, someone considered a friend. Sure, he could probably count in Jessica, Martin's sister, who liked him a lot for some reason, but honestly, he could not be completely sure if she really planned to wait for him - besides, there was also Keira who was part of the expedition. Marlow always had issues with women, so maybe some of them still hoped he would return, but if he had option to choose, he would rather not met any of them.
- Sorry about that, I forgot - Johnson realized how his previous words could be taken - I meant that...
- Easy, I'm not so delicate. But you are absolutely right about the New Gaia. If Mars were of such size, we wouldn't have to go there. For now, of course, since at some point even such planet will end up to small.
- Well, it means that all of this is just a fool's errand - summed up Julian, who was not joining in the talk until now - Feels like a Sisyphean work. Back in twenty first century, when people started to hurt from overpopulation, the very first colony has been established on Mars to target this problem alongside several other solutions. Now, when we have both Earth and Mars, though the latter still in terraformation process, it's still not enough so we leave for another planet, this time out of our system. And if we manage to get there and settle, after some time New Gaia will also populate, and end up to small, so humanity will have to search again. That's insane...
Other sitting by the table with them nodded.
- Sadly, that's how our lovely humanity is - sighed Rashid, one of African scientists, who was a botanist assigned to watch over plaint strains transported on Future - For thousand of years we have no natural enemies on Earth. We have invented vaccines and the ways to cure diseases, so the main causes of death nowaday are the age, poverty and starvation, because even with advanced medicine, it doesn't matter if you can't afford the treatment. Even so, there are no such things as natural selection or competition for us. That's why our population is continuously growing, contrary to other species, which are also being destroyed because of us. How many species came to past because of humanity?
Without a doubt, humans were exploiting Earth's environment to the limit, destroyin fauna and flora. Since the end of twenty first century, many animals and plants went extinct, of which the most well-known examples were rhinos, tigers and pandas.
- Would you prefer to have humanity go extinct? - Julian was moved by his colleague's words - Isn't it good thay humanity advances? Though, I agree we should consider the environment.
Rashid sighed.
- Well, you are still young after all. Development of our civilization negates the natural order of things, that's why we are going down the road of this Sisyphean work. It's true humanity developed a great deal, but at what cost? Besides, does it really mean people live better lives? Just look how many hurt from starvation and lives in bad conditions.
Julian was hurt by the way this over eighty-years-old addressed him. Obviously, to this elder African, everyone sitting by the table felt like youngster. Still, Julian looked as if wanting to get back at him, but John managed to notice that and jump in before they ended up having an argument.
- So why did you decide to participate, Rashid? - Marlow asked the man - You seem to be completely against the ways of current humanity, and yet you ended up joining a project which is like a manifest of the world you criticize.
The older scientist nodded.
- You are not wrong, I'm not happy about this route. But it doesn't mean I want our civilization, and the planet which is our cradle, to be destroyed. Many people see the New Gaia as a source of natural resources, and a land for colonists to settle, to found new cities. However, to me it's a chance to go back to our roots. Aside from this gigantic, alien relic, the rest of the planet is still virgin, still intact, untouched by corrupt hands. By showing this new world to people, by managing it properly, I believe we can once again teach them to respect the nature.
- Well, I think that before trying to convince anyone else, one should first focus on politicians and boards of directors in mega-corps - Martin pointed out - After all, they are the ones making the key decisions, right?
- And the people make their businesses run by buying the goods they are offering.
John knew very well this kind of conversation leads to nowhere. None of people sitting by the table at the moment had power to do anything to change the current world, and quarrels could not help at all.
- Let's just drop it - he said finally - For now, the best thing we can do for humanity and Earth is to reach the New Gaia, and maybe establish a colony there. No matter what we believe in, our civilization will have it hard to survive without the space to live in.
What Marlow said were undisputed facts no one could argue with. There was an awkward silence for a moment, interrupted by several screams coming from the location of the bar, where screens showing some TV program, or news, were located.
Nowadays, people rarely kept TVs at home, mainly because of majority of programs being available on PECs, but places such as pubs, restaurants or cinemas were still often equipped with this kind of equipment, because these were still considered the easiest method for having a wider range of people to watch the same program at the same time. Obviously, implants also allowed screening of the same picture in direct display mode, but this kind of solution could result in thoughts mixing which was considered dangerous if performed by people without close relations, therefore it was usually used by familiy members or lovers. Another thing was that some people were disregarding their PECs, or not implanting them at all due to their convictions, like those calling themselves as naturals.
Such people were in minority among the current society, mainly because of problems one could face in daily life due to lack of the device, especially inability to find a decent job, or even to start studies. But situation differed a great deal between Earth and Mars, and the biggest difference was in culture. People working in colonies were all forced to go through tests before being granted permission to leave Earth, and many departed before implants became a compulsory device of everyone in modern society, so it was common for people of Mars to not have PEC, because these were not considered obligatory.
Nevertheless, something has just caused a huge commotion. Julian asked one of the girls from Future, who was coming from the direction where the screams originated:
- Excuse me, but what happened there?
The woman looked back.
- Some kind of accident in one of the mines. Apparently, many people died there. They've just started the rescue operation, so they don't know the exact number and the cause behind what happened. That's all I heard though.
- That's fine, thanks.
She nodded and smiled, before returning to the table she was sitting by several other females from the crew. Back in canteen, they were usually sitting in bigger groups, together, but it was not the case on Mars. Maybe it was because of the fact that alcohol was not limited as on Future's board and people behaving differently after drinking, or maybe simply because they still did not know each other too well, and preferred to stay in smaller groups? Either way, even though they were not sticking together that much, it did not mean they did not get along.
- I wonder what exactly happened - Martin looked worried - How can this be? After so many years mining without an accident, one suddenly happens days after we got here. Sounds fishy.
- Maybe it's precisely because of the time? - Rashid pointed out - When companies want to maximize the income, they often disregard investment in equipment, upgrades and maintenance. We all well know that machines tend to break down if unattended for a long time.
If what Rashid mentioned was really the case, it would have made the owners of the company total idiots. Of course, companies need to pay attention to costs, but they should be well aware what should be not saved on. Allowing usage of outdated equipment should have been penalized, as it was an utmost stupidity. While they could not say for sure without a proof, Rashid made a valid point - statistically speaking, similar incidents were in majority caused by management neglecting basic maintenance on the equipment. No wonder that was the first thing to come to mind when there was an information about this kind of accident.
Despite this being the most common cause, they could not rule out even worse possibilities. After all, conditions on Mars were never easy, especially outside of domes where most of mines were located. Moreover, Future's crew already faced some bad examples of deliberate interfering with the project. That is why mechanics immediately connected dots and became worried third party might be the reason behind this accident yet again. Rashid, on the other hand, was not involved in works in Orbital Ring's docks, therefore he was not in the know.
- Whatever the case, this kind of accident may also become a problem for us - John decided to focus on practical part of the situation - We are in the middle of loading the cargo, and we all well know portion of resources still had to be mined. If this mine was the one which was supposed to supply us...
- ...we may expect another delay - Julian was the one who end the sentence - Damn, this seems too much of a coincidence, for real.
They looked around each other. Marlow was sure that guys still remember about previous situation, and likely think this may be another sabotage. No one could blame, and John was also wondering if it was yet again an attempt to either made them cancel the expedition, or slow it down at least. He was betting on planned delay rather than attempt to ruin the project, not only owing to what he heard from Mathias Kaller, but logically - there were other ways to ground them than cutting them from the supplies. No matter what was happening, it was indeed suspicious.
- Maybe it would have been better to stay on Earth - said Thorsten, who just returned to the table and sat down - You probably heard already. There was an explosion in one of the mines. We will have to wait for the backup fuel for our reactor.
It could have been just a pure coincidence, or another sabotage, but regardless of that, it was a bad scenario for the whole expedition. The questions was: how much longer will they have to stay there? Even before this incident, they had about a month of delay, so it was likely they were facing another several weeks of stay on Mars. Unless another mine could take over this order, or the one affected could return to functioning within a short amount of time.
As it turned out, one of the main paths was nearly completely destroyed, about ten kilometers of the underground passage got buried. In the full scope, taking the size of the mine into account, it was likely to lower the output to fifteen or twenty percent of the maximum, which was sure to cause significant delays to all orders.
According to original assessment, breaking through the goaf was supposed to take about five days, but due to various problems on the way, it extended to a full week. During that time, only emergency paths could be used for transportation, and another three days were needed to make the main path functional again.
When works were in progress, Future's crew delegated to help on Mars surface were assigned to different tasks related to loading and some additional construction works. For the group to which John Marlow belonged, it did not change much, aside from the fact they received more hands to work. Initially, those people caused slight delays though, mainly because of their inexperience, but improved on the following days, ending up in saving about two days in relation to original plan.
Unfortunately, it was not enough to solve the problem caused by the accident. While the passage became functional again, staff losses were high at nearly five hundred miners dead or heavily wounded. Even with current health care, bringing some of the wounded back to work would take another several days.
Similar situations happened in humanity's history, though in this very case there were still many unknows, including not only the moment of accident, but also subsequent incidents that took place during a rescue. Malfunctions of the equipment used by rescuers happened exactly on that day, and even some of the parts disappeared mysteriously. As if that was not enough, other mines also faced emergency situations, though with no such severe consequences, mainly owing to state of alert being called after the first disaster. It was made public that several dozens of people were detained for questioning following the accident. Many speculated about possibility of the planned action to disable the mining industry.
Contrary to incident at Orbital Ring's dock, on Mars there was no information lock in relation to what happened and news services were covering the topic live, and details concerning the situation quickly spread not only on Mars, but also reached the Earth.
This turn of events was definitely troublesome for Earth Council as transmissions from hearings of potential terrorists were quickly blocked, but it did not mean these events were forgotten. What gets into the net, stays in the net - this was obviously the case for current situation on Mars. Of course, the main information channel got blocked, but people still managed to share news using other means, therefore news from mines and courts were reaching public opinion. Especially details coming from courts were unusual to circulate, given the security - high tier hackers must have gotten involved in the matter.
This whole situation affected the whole Future project. After the initial, official statement about the expedition, none of the news services was permitted to cover the topic of construction works' progress and only after the ship was completed, another statement was released. Coverage of subsequent project phases was supposed to be handled a similar way - according to the plan, no materials could be made public until the crew reaches the New Gaia and spends two weeks on the surface of the planet. Such approach was chosen to ensure not only security of project-related data, but most of all - safety of the staff. After all, any knowledge concerning the ship's position or any personal information of the crew members could be used by terrorist organization, or by anyone wanting to disrupt the expedition.
Unfortunately, due to frankness of Martian media and people's curiosity, even intervention from the Earth Council did not manage to conceal the information to the level considered acceptable.
Soon after the strict regulations were applied in relation to news related to Future, including gag orders concerning specific data, Mathias contacted John. This time he did not suggest the usage of secure connection with the chip he gave to Marlow, but straightforwardly gave him an offer:
- John, could you join the committee investigating the cause of the mine incident?
This request came out of nowhere. Hearing this question, Marlow became speechless for a longer moment. He, to investgate the incident? John was a scientist, and an engineer specialized at mechanics and electronics. Technology in gerneral was something he was interested in, and major hoped to be involved in this field throughout the expedition. He was not an inspector, or a detective, he did not consider himself to be prepared for investigating causes of suspicious incidents. Of course, being an engineer he had some knowledge about atchitecture, but geology and ground works were not his thing. Besides, even if Marlow had better background for such works, he would still preferred to stay away from this.
- Listen, Mathias, I'm grateful for your trust in me, wanting to assign me to such task - he started, showing gratitude and trying to be as delicate as possible - Still, I don't think I'm a good pick for his kind of work. I have no such knowledge.
- You don't have to. I don't expect you to uncover technical details, I only need you to be there and supervise, nothing else. This matter will no longer be our concern once we leave Mars, but I think we may be able to learn something useful about those who play with the project.
- And what exactly is that supposed to be? I doubt that investigating the rocks will help us foresee when someone damages engines or decides to make the coffee machine explode.
Kaller laughed gloomily.
- John, this investigation is not only about the rocks or pebbles, it's mainly about the people that were detained and are suspects for terrorist activities.
"Well, that's even better" - Marlow thought to himself. The more Mathias continued explaining, the more confident John was about staying away from this matter. When he was joining this project, he only considered his scientific work, and military duties to some extent. No one ever mentioned investigation or spying on others. He did not like the idea at all.
- Sorry, Mathias, but I don't feel up for this, don't want to take more risks than I have to - John had intention of getting involved in any shady intrigues, and paying attention to fishy stuff for project's chief was more than enough - I'm sure you have someone better for such things.
He first heard a long "hm", after which Kaller's voice reached him:
- It's not about the education or major. It's a matter of trust and, to put it bluntly, predisposition. I just think you are the perfect person for this task.
Mathias was good with words, and obviously had experience in bending people to his needs, to convince them to do what he needs them to do, but in this case, it was not enough to get Marlow to help.
- Sorry, but I don't want to risk - John said in all honesty - What you want from me is sticking my neck out. I know that I complain a lot, but generally speaking, I still like my life and don't want to let it end early.
- I agree you are right, to some extent...
- To some extent? Mathias, please. If the same people who caused the accident in the dock are involved in this mining business, I don't think any potential contact with them can be considered safe.
Professor was not talking for a longer while, definitely thinking about something.
- So, what do you want in exchange for your help? - he finally asked.
This question confused John. It was a fact he never considered himself an idealist, since he cared a great deal about money and profits in general, but in this request, he did not feel any financial compensation would have been enough.
- I don't want anything in exchange, Mathias. I want to return from this expedition alive, nothing more.
- Then you say I have no chance to convince you?
- None. I can't think about anything that would make me agree.
- Alright then. I'll try to handle this without involving you.
Final decision made by project's chief satisfied John. To be honest, he was surprised it was enough to end the conversation and professor Kaller gave up that fast.
About the solution professor chose, Marlow learned from one of unofficial news portals supported by Earth Council's opposition. According to them, the person to join the investigation committee was Shirley McPhaerson about whom John knew only that she was a part of science team, specialized at geology, so it meant Kaller selected a person qualified for the job.
Marlow, knowing about moves professor made, continued with his duties on Mars, not forgetting to follow news. These were not bringing in much facts on most occasions, until the day when one of suspects suggested there was a connection between the incident in Orbital Ring's dock and the one on Mars, involving one of the known terrorist groups. If that was indeed true, suspicions made by people knowing about the situation that took place on Orbital Ring would turn out to be right - it would have been no coincidence that there were people intentionally working to harm the expedition.
Still, the question remained why would they only use half measures? Since they managed to do damage to engines, what blocked them from destroying the whole ship? And why would another incident happen not on the ship, but within Mars mine? The most logical explanation was that someone needed the expedition to be delayed, but for what reason exactly?
Only several days of stay on Mars was enough for John to get accustomed to the new environment. In that regard, what helped him was the fact that New Earth City was planned based on Earth cities, mainly New York, which John managed to visit several times in the past, and the Old City - main template for the Martian colony - was his favorite district. What made New Earth City different from current cities on Earth was lack of platform so common nowadays, only skyscrapers and apartment buildings. While strolling around, one could think they moved back in time and lives in twenty-first century. Obviously, the main reasons for such a feeling were architecture and people wearing clothing from these times. When it comes to other elements of cityscape, people could come upon technologies which were not even available on Earth yet. The reason behind this were factories on Mars specializing in producing specific goods, which only later got delivered to Earth.
Regardless of the fact that they were originally supposed to stay on Mars much shorter, Marlow felt really good on this planet, despite of all the commotion caused by this mine incident. In his opinion, Future was the reason for current unrest happening in New Earth city, and the life on Mars would be passing differently, with much slower pace, should they leave.
- I didn't expect to say that, but I could definitely live here - he told his colleagues as they walked towards their favorite pub in the area - They don't have such crowds and it's clean here in comparison to Earth, and it's calmer in general.
This time the group was bigger, mainly because of the women from administration and those working as machine operators. With that, the usual team of ten at maximum grew up to over twenty.
- I couldn't agree more - said one of women, Marta - How nice would it be to have Earth look like that. Peace, quiet, and even the sky has a nicer shade of blue, air is cleaner.
- The major factor for that is that they have less people here - pointed out Rashid - Lower population density, less buildings means there is no need for utilizing platforms, and they have a lot of plants around. Besides, all harmful gases and waste are cleaned using the vacuum systems, outside of the artificial atmosphere under the dome.
- I thought we are also using such methods back on Earth - this time Jeanne joined in - Orbital Ring is involved in the process.
Rashid was visibly surprised by anyone else around him knowing anything about the current environmental protection. Nevertheless, propaganda was still the thing in media, so it was not unusual for people to have incomplete knowledge.
- You are right, there are such systems on Earth too - he agreed - but using them costs money. Not all countries and corporations obey the regulations. Putting tonnes of waste somewhere else, different methods of getting rid of these, all to save money, is a common practice.
- And they don't do that here? - Sveta asked with doubt in her voice - I can't believe they could keep everything in check here on Mars, while it's not the case on Earth.
Rashid shrugged, and wanted to say something, but Julian joined in the very same moment.
- Probably they have same situations here. And if it's not the case, I can think of several reasons why that's possible. First of all, this whole selection thing. People don't get here randomly, all these test aren't for show. I heard that, if a child is born here but is unable to get adjusted to the life on Mars, they can end up deported as adults.
- That's actually a fact - confirmed Martin - I have a chance to meet such people who couldn't meet the Martian standards. There's no mercy, even money won't stop the deportation order.
Others looked at each other.
- To think this place seems so perfect - said Jeanne - If I didn't learn about all these things, I'd likely believe this place is some kind of Utopia.
John was listening to this talk in complete silence for some time now. Some of mentioned stories he had a chance to hear before and in some cases he was rather sceptic. Even now, when once again someone told stories with full certainty, he stayed that way. Whatever they said, Marlow was not the type to take words for granted, and preferred to see things by himself. However, in case of deportation part, he knew the law and considered such approach to be not such a bad idea.
- That's why there's no such thing as Utopia - he concluded - Such place would have no chance of survival. The longer I live, the more I think it has to work that way, and you need to pay with one thing for another. It's always give and take. It would have been great if everything could work as if we see it, but under this beautiful cover things may be happening that we wouldn't like to see. Still, to me the scale on Mars is nothing in comparison to Earth. They didn't have enough time to get corrupted to the same extent yet. So, if I were given a chance to stay here longer, I'd give it a shot.
- You might be right, sometimes one has to make a sacrifice - Marta agreed to his point of view - I believe each of us had give up on something.
People in the group nodded with agreement. Obviously, no one gave specific examples - after all, you could be outgoing among colleagues, but talking about the problems meant uncovering one's weaknesses, and any kind of weakness was taken negatively. When you were planning to bring up this type of topic, it was better to talk within a small, trusted circle.
Despite the outer impression, Mars was not such an ideal place as many would think. Under pretty appearance, the insides were often rotten. While the person walked around the clean streets, visiting restaurants and pubs, they often missed some small details like an older man wearing a nice suit being taken somewhere by some people wearing uniforms, trash being taken to one of the factories based on thermal energy, possibly to be burned there, or the only son being forced to leave his parents because his results were not satisfactory. So perfect, but so sad. Knowing about all of this, it was hard to believe people managed to survive such amount of stress. Unless they have learned to ignore it, but then again it would probably made them a sad bunch. Such a bittersweet place, and yet it had some strange appeal to pull people in.
Undoubtedly, the New Earth City was causing some contradictory feelings. Despite that, John attempted to visit as many places around the town as possible. In his time out of work, but also during breaks, he was visiting the most interesting places around, at least to him. From the engineer's perspective, visiting local factories was a great experience, especially knowing that many of the technologies used on Mars were completely new or no longer used on Earth - quite a contradiction again, but useful to engineer's mind.
Though novelties are always interesting, to learn about the biggest Martian colony one needed many years, and Marlow knew he did not have enough time for that before the departure. While he should be feeling impatience due to delays, John was actually using this time like holidays. At times, he even wondered if decision to decline the last Mathias' offer was a good idea. Maybe that way he could see more sides of Mars?
However, soon it turned out that he made a good decision, at least in terms of his health and maybe even life. About a week after information was published about McPhaerson joining the investigation, her whole group was involved in another accident. Still, there were no details provided how serious this situation was, only mention about people getting wounded. Marlow wondered what will Kaller say about that.
John had no intention of being the first person to contact professor and start the topic, he preferred for project's chief contact him either on this very topic or even a different matter, just to have occasion. After all, if it was not for John declining, he would likely became one of the victims, maybe even dead.
A request to help? Yeah, right. It was rather exploiting and putting a person at risk. He had no idea what was on professor's mind, but Kaller's recent decisions caused a lot of commotion, and most of all - resulted in his subordinates getting hurt.
Mathias himself was staying at his office on Future, letting others take care of things. As project's chief he could not put his life at risk, so he was excused to large extent, but many still criticized him since in situations where there were security concerns, it seemed logical for professor to get involved, show concern and work on preventing accidents. And here he only delegated. Even Marlow, who understood the need to share workload, started to think that Kaller makes decisions hastily.
Days were passing by and there was no contact from Kaller, therefore John only continued with his current duties. Since the time incident involving investigation group was made public, it became quiet, as there were no updates, no news. It was as if storm came to an end without leaving any traces. The most likely scenario here was that Earth Council got involved yet again. After all, it was hard to believe that terrorists - one could not think about another way to call them - simply let it go.
Should lack of news be unrelated to political intervention, possible assumption would be to expect further accidents. The world might have changed, but one fact remained unchanged - terrorist acts were always planned to catch people by surprise, and wreak havoc. On the other hand, declarations from terrorist groups, popular for centuries, became a relic of the past - due to availability of advanced security systems, and possibilities technology was giving to prevent such acts, threats were equal to shooting one's own foot.
Nevertheless, lack of news for over a week was worrisome, but at the same time it allowed work to be returned to previous flow, making it possible to resume mining and transportation of resources at original pace. While it was the case, and many felt relieved everything could be resumed, knowing that culprits of recent accident were not caught, a certain unrest remained, especially with investigation team being out of work.
From what John managed to learn on his own, one person from investigation group died, but not miss McPhaerson. Still, she and others from her group could not continue their work for now, and there were even speculations some will be unable to perform their duties for another several months, including inability to space travel, meaning they have lost another group of crewmates. If that turned out to be true, the total number of people they have lost on Mars would be over thirty. In most of these additional cases, Marlow had no idea about the reason why those other people dropped out, what were the causes.
No wonder new precautions were introduced in recent days to protect both the Future's staff and miners. John had no idea who was behind suggesting these solutions, but it looked like this new approach had effect on terrorist activities and potential sabotage attempts, though many people could feel disturbed, including the project's crew. After all, a large portion of resources deployed to Mars was never planned to be used anywhere outside of the New Gaia, and here the equipment was already being exploited. Aside from exploiting the equipment prematurely, the staff could be anxious about the possibility of technologies being stolen, especially these never disclosed yet and known only by the people involved in Future project. While Marlow was well aware of all these facts, he could not help but be excited by the chance to observe new technologies in action - that is how his scientis nature was. And he was not alone in this approach since many mechanics also enjoyed these new "toys".
Technology that caught eyes of all mechanics were MTS - Mobile Tactical Suits, commonly referred to as mecha, based on their looks being similar to well-known vehicle robots originating from Japan, popular in human culture since several hundred years ago. MTS were coming in various models, and the main categories were related to machine's size - light, medium and heavy suits. In these terms, MTS-SVG delegated from Future to Mars surface were attracting the most attention - smaller than usual Light Suits, barely four-meters-tall (smallest lightweight were six-meters-tall), their frames could easily compete with Heavy Class, and their agility and mobility were of Medium Class. Of course, these details were what the producer claimed since mecha referred to by the crew as Savages did not participate in real combat yet. However, taking into account the size of paths inside the mines and traffic, Savages were definitely a much better choice than standard Stormers. No wonder the decision was made to deploy SVGs - among all MTS they had on board, these were the best choice, especially when compared to Polish Ursus machine.
Before joining the Future project, John saw many different Tactical Suits, but none of them gave him such chills as Ursus. This specific mecha was constructed in Poland, and was originally a civil machine used in heavy duty jobs, mainly in construction, but its durability and effectiveness were quickly noticed by the military, resulting in turning the machine into a weapon of war. Three decades have passed since its introduction, and Ursus went through the series of modifications since then. It was never counted as non-standard MTS like SVG, and was considered a role-model to all Heavy Suits produced around the world. Ursus was commonly called a walking fortress, and anyone who saw the mecha in action could easily tell why - it was fifteen-meters-tall, weight over eight times more than Savage, and its main function was artillery support. When referring to classic division of forces, SVG were a multi-purpose infantry, while Ursi were like a ultra-heavy tanks.
- Good thing they sent Savages here - Martin commented on the deployment of mecha - Now we don't need to worry about collapsed paths. Even damage to the dome wouldn't be a problem.
Of course, the size, mobility and sturdiness were important factors in choosing MTS-SVG, but what most even more important was the matter of transportation and assembling - Savages could be moved to the surface after being fully assembled on board of Future, while Ursi would have to be transported in parts or dropped directly from the orbit.
Leaving admiration for the equipment out, Marlow still had some doubts if that was enough for additional security measures. Obviously, presence of military with MTS would easily cheer many people up, but it could not ensure there will not be any accidents from then on. With all due respect to all these technologies which were supposed to detect acts of terror early or even prevent them from happening, there were scenarios that could not be foreseen.
- You think too much, John - said Martin, hearing his worries - If we were to worry about every such detail, we shouldn't get out of our beds. More than that, staying in bed also wouldn't be safe. Just don't get paranoid.
- Just like in case of what happened in the dock?
Martin winced hearing these words.
- Ok, I get your point. But you should remember how you behaved back then.
Marlow sighed.
- Our contract should include a clause about working in harmful conditions. It's hard to work in such circumstances. Whole world went crazy.
They were sitting in one of pubs in New Earth City's Old Town. Their group grew even bigger, including additional people deployed to help after recent events. Remaining seats were taken by the locals, of whom some were giving them curious looks from time to time.
- You shouldn't worry about that this much. Back when I was your age, we used to say the same thing, and think about the worst case scenarios, but here I am, still alive and kicking - said Rashid - Our current world is much bigger than Earth now, it's space, the universe. It means we have more options, and shouldn't limit our thinking to our home planet.
John was so engaged in his own story that he completely forgot about the rest of his group, including the possibility of them listening to his complaints.
- I think you strayed from the topic a bit - Julian joined in - Why would you look for the hidden meaning in old saying? Whole world went crazy. That's it, a metaphore.
Rashid sighed.
- And that's the problem. Even young people keep staying in the past. You don't even notice issues hidden in our language. Being tied to the past too much may block you from looking into the future. And not only that. The whole history...
- Okay, got it, it's enough - Martin interrupted him - You should consider drinking less, guys. You are mixing things up, and I cannot tell what you are going about. This stuff about language or the past, what's the point?
- So history is not important?
John was listening to their quarrel for a bit, trying to figure out what was the problem they had.
- Sorry, guys, but you are making no sense - he did not want them to fight over some stupid drunk talk - We are after hours, just enjoy yourselves instead of talking rubbish.
- I'd rather talk about something else, more interesting - suggested Marta - Why can't we talk about something fun, chill out, instead of talking work all the time?
This was a typical problem one could come upon during work-related delegation. They were all here because of work, and no one said you need to become friends with your colleagues. On the other hand, getting closer to others could be a good idea with perspective of spending next several years away from Earth. Bad relations could lead to tensions among the crew.
- We don't need to talk about personal stuff, obviously - Marta continued - We can talk about interesting places to visit her on Mars. We don't need to talk about our beliefs. After all, we will be spending several years together, right?
If Marlow was to be honest, he never aimed to have many close people around. He much preferred the current state of things, where he relied mainly on himself and had a limited number of people to trust. Despite that, he felt Marta made a valid point there. Of course, John thought about this before, but it was indeed going to be several years. For better or worse, they were going to see exactly the same faces all the time once they leave Mars. Back on Earth, he enjoyed his time alone, mainly because of how crowded the planet was, but this was not going to be the case on the New Gaia. Humans were social creatures, and they needed others around to not get crazy.
- You may be right, Martie - Jeanne gave her a pat - We need to know each other and learn how to talk, unless we want to kill each other - she looked at Rashid and Julian - You should behave like adults and not children arguing because of some toy. Still, sorry for that, Martie, but I actually have something I wanted to bring up today. I heard rumors that we are taking some additional people from here.
- Who told you that? - Marlow got immediately interested.
- I overheard some locals talking - she explained - It looks like higher-ups recruited some people from Mars. Probably because of all those who dropped out recently. But I wonder why are they keeping this in secret.
John could not imagine keeping something like this in secret had a point. He could not come with a reason that would make such approach logical.
- Finding people to fill in the spots makes sense.
- Yes, I can agree with that. But think how much we had to go through before we got here. How much time did we spend on trainings and for how long did we stay on Orbital Ring? And now, they are just picking up some people at the very last moment? Didn't we already have enough problems?
Marlow could not argue with that. He still remembered all these security measures, tests and trainings. And now, he finally realized what Kaller was going about some time ago. This is an important expedition, which can generate big profits. Those, who were unable to participate in the project with standard ways might have been trying different methods to get something out of it, and one of the ways was definitely putting your own people on board of the spaceship.
John did not like what he just thought about, especially since it sounded as something likely to happen.
- Without a doubt, a lot is happening around our little expedition - said Martin, smiling at it - I think we all know the weight of this project. It's obvious that even within our small group there are people from different fractions.
And that was it for staying away from controversial and problematic topics. What Johnson said was like playing with fire. They did not need any more conflicts within the crew. Marlow did not want any more quarrels around him.
- Well, who cares about fractions? - he shot down Martin with his eyes - We may have differences, but need to cooperate in the end - no one was arguing and atmosphere was quite calm - So, what places you mentioned are worth visiting, Marta?