A Mars Odyssey by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 13 – VACATION TIME

 

07:25 (Jakarta Time)

Sunday, June 19, 2050

Soekarno-Hatta International Airport

Jakarta, Island of Java, Indonesia

 

The Indonesian customs and immigration officer working at one of the international arrivals control booths of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport gave back to the Australian tourist his passport after stamping it.

‘’Thank you and have a good time in Indonesia, sir. NEXT!’’

The couple in their mid to late thirties with a young preteen girl could easily have passed as Indonesians at a quick look. The woman, a very pretty and graceful one, proved effectively to hold an Indonesian passport, which the officer quickly sifted through, before stamping it.

‘’Welcome back to Indonesia, Miss Sukarno.’’

Next, the officer took the man’s passport, a Thai one, and opened it.

‘’Are you married to Miss Sukarno, Mister Batrang?’’ asked politely the customs and immigration agent, making the man smile.

‘’Yes, I am, Officer. We came with our daughter May to visit my wife’s parents.’’

The officer nodded his head and stamped Teerapat Batrang’s passport, giving it back to him before smiling to the young Asian girl holding the hand of her father.

‘’Hello, May! May I have your passport for a moment, please?’’

‘’Here you are, mister.’’ replied the girl, who had to be around five or six but who also was quite tall for her age, with long, fine legs. The officer took the passport she presented to him and was about to open it to stamp it when he froze in confusion and surprise before looking up with some irritation at her father.

‘’Is this some kind of a joke, Mister Batrang? A Martian passport?’’

‘’Look, Officer, this may appear strange and most unusual to you, but our daughter was actually born on Mars and has lived there for all of her five years. Me and my wife are astronauts and are part of the Mars Home Project. This is the first time that we have returned to Earth since the start of our mission in 2043 and we are on a three-month vacation, at the end of which we will be returning to Mars. Three other children were born on Mars, like May, and Mars is their official place of residence, as certified by the United Nations.’’

‘’Uh, just give me a moment, please.’’

The Indonesian official then picked up his telephone and did a quick call before looking again at Gita and Teerapat.

‘’My supervisor is coming to this booth and will bring you to a private interview room with your daughter. Don’t worry: it will not be the kind of interview room where they bodily search you.’’

Another Indonesian customs and immigration officer, this one with graying hair, effectively showed up within a minute and smiled to the couple after a quick glance at little May.

‘’If you may follow me please.’’

Still a bit worried, the couple followed the official while both holding the hands of May. Passing through a glass door marked as reserved for airport staff, they finally ended up in a small, windowless room, where they sat on chairs opposite a table, behind which the official sat. Teerapat’s eyes didn’t miss the discrete camera fixed to one corner of the room’s ceiling. However, the official kept a polite, friendly tone then.

‘’Could I see all of your passports, please?’’

Teerapat quickly collected the three passports of his family and then put them on the small table.

‘’Here you are, sir.’’

‘’Thank you!’’

The official scrutinized the passports for a moment, then started punching the keyboard of the computer integrated to the table. He apparently visited a couple of Internet sites and read a number of articles online, then looked up from his computer screen and smiled to Teerapat and Gita.

‘’Well, it seems that your story is a true one. To be frank, while I heard before about children having been born on Mars, I was kind of expecting those children to show some visible differences, due to the different environment of Mars.’’

‘’Oh, Mars is certainly quite different from Earth, sir.’’ said Gita, who was secretly blowing air in relief. ‘’However, we did everything to make sure that May stayed as similar as Earth children while growing up. The astronauts and their children living and working on Mars routinely wear what we call ‘fat suits’, coveralls weighed down with weights in order to make them exert the same physical efforts they would have to on Earth, despite the weak gravity of Mars, which is equal to 37% of Earth’s gravity. As a result, May has the same muscular strength, bone resistance and cardiovascular capacity than any other child of her age. The only difference noted up to now is that she, like the other Martian children, has a bit longer legs than usual, probably due to the fact that we take off our fat suits before going to sleep, thus spend seven to nine hours a day in reduced felt gravity.’’

‘’Fascinating! Well, I see no reasons to further delay your vacation. I will now escort you back to the entry registration booth, so that your daughter’s passport could be stamped.’’

‘’Thank you very much for your understanding, sir.’’ said a pleased Gita. ‘’We are so anxious to bring May to a beach, so that she could swim in the sea for the first time.’’

‘’I can understand her: not being able to enjoy the natural beauties of Earth for so long must be hard.’’

‘’True, but how long will we be able to enjoy those natural beauties at the present rhythm?’’ replied Teerapat, most serious.

 

Some 25 minutes later, after collecting their luggage and clearing the customs checks, where the official that had interviewed them made sure that they went through without further delay, the small family took place in a taxi in order to get to downtown Jakarta, twenty kilometers away to the Southeast. All three sighed with relief as the vehicle’s air conditioning system helped them cool down a bit. The oppressive humidity and heat of the local climate had hit them like a hard slap in the face when they had walked out of the controlled environment of the airport’s terminal building. Even Gita, who was born in Java, vented herself.

‘’Ooof! I didn’t remember Jakarta being this hot and humid.’’

The taxi driver, on hearing her, smiled to her via his rear view mirror.

‘’How long has it been since the last time you visited Jakarta, miss?’’

‘’Over six years. Why?’’

‘’Well, the local average temperature has climbed by nearly two degrees Celsius in the last six to seven years, miss, and they predict that it will continue to rise at the same rate in the next few years.’’

‘’A rise of two degrees in six years?! But, Indonesia will quickly become too hot to live in, if this is allowed to go on.’’

Those words made the taxi driver nod his head grimly.

‘’That is what many people around here are afraid of, miss. With the rising seas and increasing temperatures, Indonesia may just end up like Bangladesh within a few decades. Fortunately, Jakarta is situated high enough to avoid for the moment the fate of New York, which had to surround itself with flood protection walls.’’

Gita and Teerapat exchanged a quick, silent glance then: if they needed a reason to believe in the Mars Home Project, this was certainly a good one.

 

Some 25 minutes later, the taxi dropped them at the foot of a residential tower surrounded by similar towers and situated in an apparently well-to-do district of Jakarta. Leaving with regret the air-conditioned environment of their taxi, the small family hurried inside the reception lobby of the residential tower, where they found themselves back into fresh air. Little May wiped away with one hand the sweat running down her forehead and looked up at her mother.

‘’Is it always this hot here, Mother?’’

‘’I am afraid so, darling.’’

Holding May’s hand, Gita went to the banks of elevators of the condo tower and called a cabin, watched by a private security guard sitting at the reception desk of the lobby. Teerapat noticed the man’s pistol before entering the elevator cabin behind Gita and May. The ride up to the eight floor proved smooth and quick and they soon were knocking on a door along the main hallway. A man in his sixties opened the door after a few seconds and, on seeing Gita, shouted with joy.

‘’GITA!’’

The man then pressed her in his arms while she also hugged him. They finally separated, with the man looking at Teerapat and May.

‘’And this must be your husband, Teerapat, and your daughter May. May is absolutely adorable, I must say. Can I hug her?’’

‘’Of course you can, Father! May, this is your grand-father Angga.’’

May timidly approached the graying man and shared a hug with him before Angga straightened up and shook hands with Teerapat.

‘’So, you are the man who had the luck and good taste to marry my daughter?’’

‘’Guilty as charged!’’ replied Teerapat, grinning. Angga then showed them inside his condo.

‘’But come in, please! I am going to get my wife Shinta: she was so anxious for your visit.’’

Once inside, Angga closed the door first before opening the folding doors of a closet, so that they could store their luggage in it, then disappeared towards the kitchen. He came back a few seconds later with an equally graying but still very pretty woman who opened her eyes wide at the sight of her visitors.

‘’GITA, YOU’RE HOME AT LAST!’’

Gita took the time to share a hug and kisses with her mother before replying to her remark.

‘’Well, it is only for a relatively short visit, Mother. We intend to go visit a few more places after Jakarta, then will fly back to Mars in three months. Let me now present to you my husband Teerapat and our daughter May, your grand-daughter.’’

Shinta briefly hugged her son-in-law, then pressed May in her arms, covering her with kisses.

‘’May, you are so cute! I hope that your mother will allow me to spoil you a bit before you leave.’’

‘’A bit but not too much, Mother. I want her to be able to fit back in her spacesuit once back on Mars.’’

‘’She has been wearing a spacesuit already?’’

‘’Of course, Mother! She made her first walk outside the base at the age of three, with me and Teerapat, of course.’’

‘’What a fantastic story! You are indeed very special, May. But let’s go sit in the lounge: we have so much to talk about. Would you like some tea?’’

‘’Me and Teerapat will certainly accept your tea with gratitude. As for May, would you have some papaya juice for her?’’

‘’I certainly do, Gita. Just give me a minute.’’

As Shinta disappeared back in her kitchen, Angga led Gita, Teerapat and May to the lounge, where they sat in opposite sofas.

‘’So, Gita, how was your trip back to Earth?’’

‘’It was actually very comfortable, Father. The H.S.S. MIR’s facilities are excellent. In fact, I used our trip back to Earth to start teaching to May how to swim.’’

‘’How to swim? On a spaceship?’’

‘’It’s true! The MIR being a sister ship to the FRIENDSHIP, it had the same kind of water-filled anti-radiation compartment than the one on the FRIENDSHIP, which was routinely used to do scuba diving. Mind you, May still has a lot to learn about swimming, but I intend to bring her to the beach as often as possible during our vacation. Another thing me and Teerapat hope to do is to show her about the animal life on Earth. As you know, Mars is nearly empty of life, apart from us astronauts, our farm animals and Martian fish.’’

‘’Ah yes, those Martian fish. I saw pictures of them, back when their existence was revealed. Quite ugly creatures, I must say.’’

‘’I won’t dispute that, Father. Talking of animals, is the Ragunan Zoo still in business? I would love to be able to bring May to it.’’

‘’Of course it is still in business, Gita!’’ replied her father, smiling. ‘’It is still the second largest zoo in the World and has been open for nearly 200 years now. However, it is closed on Mondays, so I would counsel you to go visit it today. That should start your vacation on the right foot.’’

‘’Will there be insects in that zoo, Grandfather?’’ asked May in her little voice, making Angga smile to her.

‘’Of course there will, my sweet May! They have about any animal species in Ragunan Zoo, except for large sea mammals. Do you like insects?’’

May shook her head at that, confusing a bit Angga.

‘’No! We don’t have insects on Mars, but here they keep biting and buzzing me.’’

‘’Hum, I didn’t think about that. Well, I do have insect repellant cream here: we will be able to apply some of it on you before you go visit the zoo.’’

Angga then looked at Gita and pointed a firm index at her.

‘’And I insist on going with you to the zoo! There is no way that I will let you selfishly keep this little treasure just for you during your time in Jakarta.’’

 

16:08 (Irkutsk Time)

Friday, June 24, 2050

The Great Baikal Trail, near Listvyanka, Irkutsk Oblast

Western shores of Lake Baikal, Siberia

Russian Federation

 

‘’Here you are, my son: natural beauty at its best!’’

Five year-old Michel Ponichnikov looked slowly around him at the huge lake, at its densely wooded shore and at the thick forest extending beyond the horizon, obviously liking what he saw. The boy then sniffed the fresh air, which was at a temperature of fourteen degrees Celsius.

‘’I smell something in the air, something that tickles a bit the nose but is pleasant, Father.’’

Viktor, standing on one side of his son while Denise stood on the other side, smiled down to Michel.

‘’What you smell is the perfume of the firs and pines we are walking by, my Son. That is the smell of the Taiga, the smell of life. You can’t smell the animals and birds living in the forest, but these woods are full of them. This region is where I grew up, where I did much of my geological prospecting before going to Mars. As for this lake in front of us, you are looking at the largest volume of fresh water on Earth, covering 31,722 square kilometers and with a maximum depth of 1,642 meters.’’

‘’Are there fish in it, Father?’’

‘’Of course! Lake Baikal, like the region surrounding it, is full of life. There are even seals in the lake. Thankfully, it was mostly spared the ravages of pollution and its waters are still pure enough for us to drink from…if you stay away from the few villages and resorts along its shores.’’

‘’Could we swim in the lake, Father?’’

That question made Viktor laugh.

‘’Of course you can…if you like cold water. Right now, the temperature of the water along the shore must be turning around twelve degrees Celsius, not exactly warm for a dip. But, if you are brave enough, then I will accompany you for a swim. What about you, Denise?’’

Denise repressed a shiver as she looked at the clear waters of the lake.

‘’Twelve degrees, you said? That’s pretty cold.’’

‘’Come on, you’re a tough girl! Beside, would you chicken out in front of our own son?’’

Denise sighed after a moment of hesitation.

‘’Alright, let’s try this!’’

The trio then left the trail, which followed closely the shoreline at this point, and walked past the last few trees before stepping on the pebbles of a narrow beach. The beach was part of a small cove surrounded by thick woods, so afforded good privacy to the site. Viktor then chose a corner where trees were very close to the water and put down his big backpack and semi-automatic shotgun behind a bush, where they would be hard to spot. Denise noticed that and gave him a worried look.

‘’Are you afraid that someone could attack or rob us here, Viktor?’’

‘’Well, let’s say that the Taiga is full of rugged, independent-minded individuals, Denise. Most of them will be decent, honest people, but you always have a few who harbor few scruples, while others are not too sociable. However, we haven’t seen anyone along the trail all day, so we are probably alone on this part of the shore.’’

Viktor then quickly undressed, imitated by Denise and little Michel. Viktor smiled when he saw Denise’s nipples become hardened and erect from the fresh wind blowing from the lake. He however didn’t comment on it, since his young son was near him. With their clothes also hidden in the bushes, the small family walked the few steps to the water, holding hands together and with Michel in the middle. He, like Denise, squirmed when the first waves of cold water washed over their feet.

‘’EEEEK! THAT’S COLD, FATHER!’’

‘’Of course it is, my Son : we’re in Siberia after all. Come on, you can do it!’’

‘’Is it better to go in gradually or to dive in it, Viktor? asked Denise, already shivering. Viktor’s answer was to launch at a run, diving in the lake after a few steps while screaming with joy.

‘It is now official: my husband is nuts!’ thought Denise before arming herself with courage and running herself into the water while holding her son’s hand. The shock of entering the cold water made her and Michel scream out loud, something that made Viktor grin to them as he swam on the surface.

‘’Welcome to Lake Baikal! You will feel much reinvigorated after this.’’

‘’What I feel like is ‘frozen’, Viktor.’’ replied Denise. Viktor smiled at that and came to her, hugging her tight while putting little Michel between the two of them.

‘’One lesson from Siberia: use others’ body heat to keep warm when needed…or when you’re having fun.’’

‘’Living around here in Winter must be really tough, no?’’

‘’Oh, I certainly won’t deny that, Denise. In the past, whole armies froze to death while trying to cross the open expanses of the lake in Winter. However, if you know what to do and use experience and common sense, you can survive and even make a fair living around here. The lake is full of fish, the woods are full of animals and you could engage in fishing, hunting, fur trapping and the like to earn a living.

‘’Could we come out of the water now, Father?’’ asked Michel, his teeth chattering together. Viktor nodded his head at that and grabbed his son by one arm.

‘’Yes, my son: you passed the test like a man.’’

‘’And me? Am I a man now?’’ asked Denise in jest and making her husband grin.

‘’Of course not! Thank God for that! I like too much this beautiful female body of yours.’’

Viktor then walked out of the water, Michel under one arm. The trio then took towels out of their backpacks and started drying themselves, with both parents first toweling their little boy dry before toweling themselves. Once they were clothed, Denise took the time to admire the view they had of the lake from the small cove they were in.

‘’This is a nice place, Viktor, and the Sun is starting to come down. What do you say that we spend the evening and night here?’’

‘’I would say that it is a fine idea, my dear wife. That will give me a chance to show some of my survival skills to Michel. Start unpacking our tent while I make a small clearing among the trees near the shore. Michel, you come with me.’’

 

Entering the forest but staying close to the shoreline while being able to see the water through the trees, Viktor looked around for a moment before selecting a space between five fir trees.

‘’Well, this looks like a good spot for our tent, Son: large enough to accommodate it and a small camp fire but also sheltered enough from wind and rain. Just stand aside for a moment while I swing my machete around to cut away the few bushes and young trees, to clear a spot for our tent.’’

As soon as little Michel was safely out of the way, Viktor then started vigorously swinging his machete, cutting the long grass and few bushes down to ground level. After three minutes of work, he used his son’s help to gather the cut vegetation and dump it out of the small clearing he had just created. Seeing that Denise was standing ready nearby with their dismounted dome tent, Viktor then signaled her to bring the tent to one corner of the new clearing.

‘’Okay, let’s erect our tent in this corner here. We want to leave enough free space in the clearing to be able to light safely a camp fire: we don’t want to start a forest fire by accident.’’

‘’Right!’’

Putting up their dome tent was the matter of a few minutes only. Viktor then pushed it as close as he could to one corner of the clearing, stopping only when one side touched two of the trees surrounding the clearing. To help that, he used again his hatchet, this time to cut off the lower branches of the two adjacent fir trees. Gathering the cut fir branches, Viktor showed them to Michel.

‘’Lesson number one, Son: fir branches make excellent ground mats and help keep you warm while sleeping, by reflecting your body heat. I will now show you how to spread them over the floor of our tent.’’

Crouching down, Viktor threw the branches inside the tent, then went in on his knees and hands and spread the branches around. He actually went out to cut more low branches and bring them inside the tent, making the floor mat thicker.

‘’Now, if we would be in Winter in this forest, without a tent, fir trees will again be your friend, Son. In Winter, snow will accumulate around the base of fir trees but will form a sort of donut around it, with an empty space around its trunk. If you choose a big fir tree as shelter, that empty space around the trunk will be big enough to allow one or two persons to rest in prone positions in that space. You can also cut low branches from other fir trees around to cover the ground of that empty space. You then finish the job by building a small snow wall to stop the wind from directly entering your shelter, with more cut branches to help further isolate it.’’

‘’Those branches smell good, Father.’’ Said Michel, sniffing inside the tent. ‘’Can they be used for other things as well?’’

‘’Yes! The resin from fir trees can be used as a sort of glue or to help caulk a hole in a boat. You can also boil fir needles as well as pine needles to make a hot drink. Well, now that our tent is up and ready, let’s take care of our future campfire.’’

 

Using again his hatchet, Viktor beat up a particular spot in the opening, a couple of meters from the tent, in order to cut the tangle of roots under the surface. Once that patch of ground was softened enough, he ripped and threw away the mixture of top soil and roots, forming a shallow cavity in the ground with a diameter of about fifty centimeters and a depth of maybe fifteen centimeters. His next move was to enlist the help of both Michel and Denise to go pick up medium-sized stones along the shoreline, with which they ringed the hole dug in the clearing, in order to make a stone firewall around the fire pit. At the end, Viktor contemplated his work, smiling.

‘’Well, I will now see if I can catch something for our supper, while you two gather dead wood for our campfire.’’

‘’Is there a lot of fish in this lake, Father?’’

‘’Oh yes, my dear Michel! Let’s just hope that I haven’t lost my touch at fishing during those six years on Mars. If I did, then we will be down to canned food.’’

 

Viktor was back at the tent a mere forty minutes later, a grin on his face and two big trout hooked to a stick.

‘’Well, it’s official now: I haven’t lost my touch as a fisherman. It’s going to be grilled trout for supper. I see that you have already started our campfire, honey. Well done!’’

‘’Gee, Viktor, I may be from California but I still know how to light a fire.’’

‘’Could I go fishing with you tomorrow, Father?’’ asked little Michel while looking with big eyes at the two trout. Viktor gave him a proud smile in return.

‘’Son, I will be happy to teach you how to fish. Furthermore, I intend to show you how to hunt as well before we have to leave for our next vacation location. I will make a good Siberian out of you, my Son.’’

 

16:55 (Irkutsk Time)

Thursday, July 14, 2050

The ‘Lake Baikal Lodge’, village of Listvyanka

Southwest shores of Lake Baikal, Irkutsk Oblast

Siberia, Russian Federation

 

Denise was tired but happy as she, Viktor and little Michel marched in the local lodge, their backpacks still on their backs. The three weeks of living in the woods along the shores of Lake Baikal had been a bit rough at times but having contact again with nature at its purest had been a delight after six years spent in space and on Mars. Furthermore, those three weeks had been a perfect occasion to show to her son what Earth’s nature was all about, while Viktor had reveled in diving back into a part of his past life that he had loved and cherished, while he had also enjoyed greatly teaching his nature survival skills to Michel.

 

The Lake Baikal Lodge, being by far the largest touristic establishment in the village of Listvyanka, on the shores of Lake Baikal, combined the functions of an inn with those of a general store, a bar-lounge and a restaurant. As such, it was pretty much the center of the social life in Listvyanka and the little family found a good thirty people in the bar-lounge of the lodge, most of them adult men, with a sprinkling of women and teenagers mixed in. Viktor went first to the reception desk of the lodge, to rent a room for the night before leaving for Irkutsk and its regional airport the next day. The room they got was the quintessential picture of what you would qualify as ‘rustic’ but, after three weeks spent in the woods and on the trail, it was more than adequate for their needs. Most importantly, it had a bathroom where the three of them were able to shower before changing into fresh clothes. Once that was done, the family went down to the ground floor and walked into the general store, where Viktor called up to the manager in a friendly tone.

‘’Hey, Sergei, we’re back!’’

The store manager, a medium-built man with clear Mongol blood in his veins, smiled back to Viktor.

‘’So, how did your three weeks in the Taiga go? Did you catch anything?’’

‘’We sure did, Sergei. Apart from catching dozens of fish, we were also able to catch quite a few hares, ducks and even one fox. Your two rifles you rented to us worked just fine, by the way. Here they are, cleaned and oiled, along with our remaining ammunition.’’

Sergei quickly inspected the semi-automatic shotgun and the .22 caliber rifle Viktor put on the counter of the store, along with three partially used boxes of 12 gauge shells and one box of .22 caliber rounds. Finding the two guns well cleaned and oiled, Sergei put them back in the rack of weapons he rented to passing tourists and visitors, then stored away the ammunition before filling a bill for their use, presenting it to Viktor.

‘’It will be a total of 382 rubles for the guns rental and for the used ammunition, Viktor. By the way, you said that you caught a fox. Did you save its fur?’’

‘’Of course I did! My little Michel was very proud of his catch.’’

Sergei smiled down at Michel, standing on the other side of the counter with his father and mother.

‘’He shot a fox? Bravo! So, would he be ready to sell its fur to me?’’

‘’Uh, I don’t know! What do you think, Michel?’’

‘’I want to keep it as a souvenir, Father.’’ answered the boy without hesitation, making Sergei nod his head in approval.

‘’Exactly the answer I would have given at his age. I tell you what, boy: you can keep your fox fur, while I will give you another souvenir for you of your time in Siberia.’’

Watched by Viktor, Denise and an expectant Michel, Sergei went to a wall display behind the counter that supported a number of fur products. He then unhooked a small red fur hat with a tail hanging from its back, à la Davy Crocket, and presented it with a grin to Michel.

‘’Here is a nice red squirrel hat that you will be able to wear to show to others that you’re a true Siberian boy.’’

‘’Oh, thank you so much, mister!’’ said happily Michel while taking the hat presented to him. As Michel went to a nearby full length wall mirror to admire himself with the hat on his head, Sergei smiled to Viktor and Denise.

‘’Since squirrel skins are quite small, I use them mostly to make kids hats out of them: they are actually very popular with youngsters.’’

‘’That was very kind of you, mister.’’ said Denise, happy for her son. ‘’Are you sure that you don’t want us to pay for it?’’

Sergei shook his head vigorously in response.

‘’No need to! First, Viktor is an old friend of mine and I am most happy to be able to make his son happy. Second, business has been very good during the last few years, what with all the people wishing to escape for a while the climatic conditions and disasters plaguing their respective parts of the World. Siberia, from a land synonymous with ‘forced exile and labor’, is in the process of turning into a sought-after natural spa area, and rightly so. More and more rich people are having retirement houses and lodges built around the region, with many choosing the shores of Lake Baikal as spots to build their new homes. The problem now is to ensure that all those newcomers don’t end up polluting and ruining the lake and nature around it.’’

‘’A problem too often encountered these days, my friend.’’ said Viktor, thoughtful. He then shook hands with Sergei, imitated by Denise.

‘’It was nice to see you again after all these years, my friend. I wish you continued prosperity and a long life.’’

‘’Thank you, Viktor! Do you intend to return from Mars one day and establish yourself around here?’’

Viktor had to think over his answer for long seconds as Denise watched on.

‘’As much as I would love that, I intend to make Mars my permanent home and that of Michel. I will however be most happy to come back for more family vacation time in the years to come.’’

‘’Living on Mars… That is going to be a pioneering experience indeed.’’

‘’Indeed! Talking of pioneering experience, I have a little something for you, Sergei.’’

Watched by his now curious friend, Viktor took a small transparent bottle containing pink grains out of a cargo pocket of his hunting vest and gave it to Sergei.

‘’This bottle contains Martian sea salt, extracted from the underground lake situated under Mars Base One. We actually use some of that Martian sea salt to spice up our food, as it proved to be safe for human consumption. That salt has actually turned to be Mars’ first export item and is said to be very popular on Earth, both to season food and for therapeutic baths for people suffering from arthritis or from skin diseases.’’

‘’I know: it sells for a fortune actually, due to its rarity. This is great! Thank you, my friend! When are you leaving for Irkutsk?’’

‘’Early in the morning, by train. We will take a plane in the next evening to go to Japan, our next vacation spot.’’

‘’Well, I wish you a good vacation in Japan, you and your little family. Have a good evening!’’

‘’You too, Sergei!’’

They then parted after a last round of handshakes, with the family walking out of the general store to go to the bar-lounge/restaurant of the lodge.

 

On entering the bar-lounge/restaurant, a large-sized room built of wood logs, the family saw two dozen people in it, most of them having drinks at the bar or at tables near the bar counter. Since it was still a bit early for supper, Viktor led Denise and Michel towards the bar counter. A grizzled man sitting on one of the high stools of the bar saw them approach and immediately jumped off his stool to nearly run towards Viktor.

‘’VIKTOR, YOU OLD RASCAL! YOU’RE STILL ALIVE? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?’’

‘’On Mars!’’ replied Viktor before exchanging a manly hug with the newcomer. He then smiled at the surprised Denise. ‘’Denise, this is an old friend of mine, Piotr. We spent many years together in the Taiga as young men growing up. We however lost track of each other decades ago, when I moved to Moscow to study nuclear physics.’’

Denise nodded her head at that, then offered her hand to Piotr.

‘’Hi! I am Denise, Viktor’s wife, and this is our son, Michel. Pleased to meet you, Piotr.’’

‘’Pleased to meet you as well, Denise. Did you say Mars? That’s a joke, right?’’

‘’I was serious, Piotr.’’ replied Viktor. ‘’Me and Denise have been working on Mars for nearly six years now, while my son Michel was born on Mars. You should have heard about us. Where have you been in the last few years?’’

‘’Prospecting for gold and living in the Taiga mostly. Some would call me a hermit, since I disappear into the Taiga for months at a time in order to search for gold. But enough about me: you have to tell me about you and your family, Viktor. Let’s go sit at the bar: I am paying.’’

‘’Are you sure that you don’t want me to pay? You must not have found much gold, if you are still forced to live like a hermit.’’

Piotr lowered his voice to a near whisper then, speaking close to Viktor’s right ear.

‘’Keep this to yourself, but I found a very nice little stream with lots of gold nuggets in it.’’

Viktor nodded his head at once, his expression most serious: gold prospecting in Siberia, or anywhere else for that matter, was a cutthroat business where fair play didn’t count for much. Finding a good gold deposit often attracted quickly some unsavory characters to the prospectors who bragged too much about it.

‘’You can count on my silence, Piotr…but only if you let me pay the second round of drinks.’’

‘’Deal!’’

 

They had time to sit down at the bar and order their first drinks, with Michel getting a non-alcoholic wine cooler, when the television set fixed on the back wall of the bar started showing the six o’clock news on RussVision. Having been mostly cut off from the outside world for three weeks, Viktor and Denise listened to it while chatting with Piotr. Their level of attention suddenly went up sharply when pictures of hard urban fighting started showing, while the newscaster spoke in a grave voice.

‘’In Saudi Arabia, the forces of General al Fahd are now in full control of Riyadh and Medina. The Saudi royal family, which had been living mostly abroad in the last few years because of the volatile popular climate in Saudi Arabia, has now fled the country or has exiled itself for good in the various countries of Europe and Asia where they are said to have stashed tens of billions of dollars in secret bank accounts. General al Fahd has vowed to use all the means available to recuperate and repatriate those billions to Saudi Arabia, which he claims were stolen by the Saudi royals while the Saudi people was left to suffer in a country devastated by both nearly unbearable heat waves and by a national economy severely crippled by the drying out of Saudi oil fields. However, the remaining supporters of the royal family, mostly followers of the main Wahhabite religious preachers who had relied on the support of the royals to keep their influence on the population, are still resisting the forces of General al Fahd in a number of cities and towns. The United Nations Security Council…’’

Pyotr mostly resumed out loud the thoughts of Viktor and Denise as the reporter went on.

‘’Always the same scenario: first, the big people get big by exploiting the small people and by stealing the riches of the country. Then, when things sour up, they flee with their stolen money and leave the small people to deal with the mess they created.’’

‘’That’s certainly a scenario I have read before in history, many times.’’ added Denise, somber as she watched the scenes of urban fighting. ‘’The worst part is that, most of the time, those big people end up living the rest of their lives in luxury, hiding behind corrupt local officials and guarded by armies of bodyguards.’’

‘’And what kind of political system do you have on Mars, if I may ask?’’

Viktor took on him to answer Pyotr on that.

‘’Simple: we don’t have any political system on Mars. The Mars colony is and will stay a special territory under the control of the United Nations, until it is declared self-sufficient. Until then, the various countries which participate in the Mars Project finance it and make sure that, on top of supervising the planned development of the colony, the needed equipment and supplies are sent to Mars in a timely fashion. They also guarantee that no one country or group of countries will be able to claim parts of Mars for themselves. The one special political provision concerning the Mars Project is about the children born on Mars or in Mars orbit, like in the case of our son Michel, who was born in Mars Base One: they became at birth certified citizens of Mars, with distinct passports and with their rights as such guaranteed by the United Nations. Me and Denise, having elected to live permanently on Mars, have requested our own Martian passports, which should be ready for us before we leave back for Mars.’’

‘’Martian citizens… Wow!’’ said Pyotr before raising his glass high and raising his voice as well. ‘’TO MARS!’’

‘’TO MARS!’’

 

10:11 (California Time)

Tuesday, August 16, 2050

Space passenger terminal, Vandenberg Space Center

California, U.S.A.

 

The few reporters, press photographers and cameramen present in the space passenger terminal at Vandenberg to cover the latest departure for Mars smiled on seeing little Michel Ponichnikov, walking with his parents towards the last access control post: while he was wearing a custom-fitted spacesuit, like Viktor and Denise, he also wore proudly his red squirrel fur hat on his head, inside his opened helmet. Close behind the Ponichnikovs came the Batrangs, also wearing their spacesuits, with five year-old May holding hands with her parents. Two more families returning to Mars followed: Thor Valsung and Nadia Gorushkova, holding the hands of their five year-old daughter Ingrid; and Tim Garland and Jodi White, with Tim carrying four year-old Jason. Completing the group of passengers headed for space where sixteen new astronauts, all mining or metallurgical experts and technicians, accompanied by the young wives of three of the technicians.

 

Once past the last access control point, the 31 astronauts and dependants took place in a large, specially designed bus with seats large enough to accommodate persons wearing spacesuits, with the bus then rolling out of the garage of the terminal. As the bus drove towards a waiting orbital shuttle, Denise Wattling gently patted the gloved hand of one of the wives of the mining technicians, who was sitting across the aisle from her. The young woman was clearly nervous, close to fearful.

‘’Don’t worry, Misses Sotomayor: space travel is now quite safe, compared to forty years ago. May I ask in what capacity you will work on Mars?’’

‘’I am going to fill a new position as executive secretary for the colony’s resources manager. With the opening of our first mines and metal smelters and foundries on Mars, managing the colony’s growth will become increasingly complex. Anticipating the future needs of the colony and organizing their delivery will also mean a growing administrative load. While my husband worked in a mining complex in Amazonia, I was in charge of the day to day ordering and delivery of supplies for the complex. I suppose that the job on Mars will be quite different, however.’’

‘’Indeed! If anything, anticipating the needs in advance will be even more critical than in your mining complex in Brazil: filling orders and shipping them from Earth takes months, literally.’’

Angela Sotomayor then glanced at little Michel, who was chatting enthusiastically with May Batrang-Sukarno, exchanging vacation stories with her.

‘’Was raising your boy more difficult than usual because of the environment of Mars?’’

‘’Well, I would lie if I said that Michel didn’t suffer from time to time from severe cases of ‘cabin fever’. However, the building of a pressurized dome inside the cavern containing Mars Base One did a lot to alleviate that problem. Also, when he became really restless, I then took him out on a walk outside of the cavern, or on an ATV ride around Melas Chasma, something that he really likes. Our poultry, rabbit and dairy cow farms and our fish ponds do a lot as well to distract our children at Mars Base One. Did they tell you if you are going to work at Mars Base One or at our new mining base at the foot of Olympus Mons?’’

‘’At first, I will be going down to the Olympus Mons magnetite mine with my husband. Then, whenever I get pregnant and give birth to a child, I will be moved to Mars Base One, where I will continue my work online.’’

‘’Sounds like a plan! I sincerely hope that you will enjoy your job on Mars: the planet may be arid and next to lifeless, but the vistas are simply grandiose.’’

Angela nodded at those words, hiding her remaining anxiety: she was still not sure if she had made the right decision by accepting to follow Paulo to Mars. The noises of the shuttle’s systems powering up to prepare for takeoff then made her forget temporarily about her worries. Those noises changed six minutes later to a titanic roar, accompanied by a strong acceleration that pushed Angela hard in her padded seat as the shuttle took up speed along the runway, finally taking off after a 2,100 meter run and climbing towards space and the waiting H.S.S. FRIENDSHIP.