A Colony on Mars (30 page)

“Gentlemen, may I sit with you for a moment there are several things that I would like to tell you.” The officers invited him to sit down. “Let me introduce myself, since I can't even pronounce my name in your language you can just cal me Ben.” “Ben then produced a copy of the “UPDATED INFORMATION ON

ARTON” report from his fanny pack. There are several places in this report where I could take exception but that is not why I am here. One thing that I do agree with is that we have have a retention problem when we are not motivated. I was born into what you describe as a first century culture. Fortunately for me your people provided me with access to a twenty second century culture. I was motivated early in life to learn to read write and think in the English Language. My parents (plural), yes I was raised in a home with a mother and a father, were both fluent in English. In our home we did not use the native language and I do not speak it fluently. As I grew older I was strongly motivated to close the gap, to catch up. I was a prolific reader and have read hundreds of scientific books in English. Since I was motivated to remember what I read I did remember it. I was determined to close the gap from being a first century man to becoming a twenty second century man. I accomplished that goal years ago. Let me tel you a little more about my species. I found out that when properly motivated we have better memories than your people have. Not only is this true of me but it is true of all of the people in my group which you have brought on this ship. There were only about three hundred of us on Arton. We figured that if you knew who we were you would not remove us from Arton. Now that we are well underway it would be highly impractical for you to return us to Arton. Besides there are stil a little more than one hundred of us stil on Arton. From what I know of evolution we are the next step up the ladder but I have some sobering news for you, we skipped a rung in that ladder. The common people that live among your people on several Islands are truly Neanderthals, I had original y assumed that I was Cro-Magnun on the evolutionary scale but since every one of my people on this ship has scored over 165 on human IQ tests we have adopted a new classification term for your evolutionary scale. We classify ourselves as homo-futures. We are present day living examples of what the future holds for mankind. Gentlemen, the charade is over, you can quit treating us like children now. If my you are correct in thinking that my people are motivationally challenged then then I am here to tell you that we have met the challenge. Most of us made the dietary change early in life and started cooking our food. As you know, on Arton it would be inappropriate to eat any of the animals inhabit the planet. They are too intelligent to slaughter for their flesh, and besides that their meat tastes terrible. On several occasions I have had the opportunity to taste the flesh of your farm animals and I love it. I myself am particularly fond of Chicken Tacos. I hereby request that from now on we be al owed to eat what you eat and eat it right here in your dining room. We would like access to all parts of the ship that a human passenger would have access to, Including the ships library. We would like instruction in the use of computers which we have never had access to. That concludes my spiel gentlemen, what do you think?”

“I would like for you to accompany us to our science lab and I would like to hear how you come off talking to scientists in various disciplines. I want to listen in while you discuss science with scientists. I would also like to choose one other member of your group, at random to join in on this challenge.”

Captain Horn responded.

Ben accompanied the officers to the floor where the Artonian passengers were billeted. Captain Horn selected the first passenger they encountered and the five of them headed for the science lab.

The first scientist that they encountered was a theoretical physicist named Myron Ashton. The Captain explained the situation and Myron started cutting loose with the jargon. He went on for about one full minute and Ben held up the palm of his hand to Myron. “What is it,“ Captain Horn asked Ben. Ben responded “Does this guy have all his marbles, Captain?” “He is talking as though he did not realize that he was addressing an orangutan.” With that Ben busted out laughing, Ben's companion also busted out laughing. The door to the lab swung open and five other Artonians entered the room almost in tears from their laughter. Ben said, “You gotta, admit that I had you going there for a few minutes didn't I Cap.” At that point the captain and the other two officers realized that they had been the butt of an Artonian practical joke and they busted out laughing.

Despite the proven inaccuracy of Ben's claims Captain Horn had gotten the point of Ben's joke. For the remainder of the Journey Captain Horn and the officers of the ship saw Ben's people in a whole new light. The Artonians did get the run of the passenger section of the ship, people began to treat them with a modicum of respect. When they were offered the opportunity to actually eat human food they respectfully declined but suggested that the Artonian food be served on the food line and they be allowed to dine with the other passengers and crew. That request was also granted. It was interesting to note that at al future meals the Artonians did not congregate as a ghetto but would ask politely if they could join humans that were dining. Ben had not lied about one thing the Artonians on the ship were a cut above the rest of the Artonian civilization. They did read a lot of books, and they were motivated to learn, they did have an above average retention rate when motivated . It would still take more than one generation to leap 22 centuries ahead in time. Captain Horn requested that all Artonians be given a standard IQ test. The average score was 98 but Ben scored 131, which is just below the genius level for humans.

CHAPTER – Artonians arrive on Mars

February 12, 2176: Arton Three makes Mars Orbit. The the fol owing day the other ships made Mars orbit For the remainder of the journey Ben and several of his companions were taught various jobs that were being performed by the crew. When they reached Mars approach Ben and his people were at the controls and made Mars orbit without a hitch. Of course they had competent human supervision, but not once did a human have to intervene. The little Artonian space men had performed their assigned jobs to perfection. Ben had been on the bridge and fil ed the role as Captain with Captain Horn looking intently over his shoulder.

The Artonians destined for Mars had traveled on Arton Four. They proved very popular on Mars. While the Arton ships had been gone nothing big had transpired on Mars. Mars had pleaded their case successfully with Earth that even though they stil had fifty thousand population the people who remained were mostly past their child bearing years and if they didn't get some young people back from Earth Mars could eventually die out. Even though Josh had a thousand things that had to be done for every worker he saw the reason and logic behind Mars argument. A trade was negotiated to trade two thousand five hundred older Martians for two thousand five hundred younger people from Earth who stil had their child bearing years in front of them. The ones that Mars sent to Earth were all accomplished journeymen in their trades and could be of immediate use on Earth. The two thousand five hundred young people that Mars got in return were mostly stil in school. They were not worth all that much to Earth at the moment. The people who transferred were al volunteers. A lot of the parents on Earth sent their children to Mars to live with their grandparents, a lot of the people from Mars going to Earth had a chance to see their children and grandchildren. Now that Mars Runner was not overcrowded nor overworked and now that the ticket price was just a nominal service charge for travel in either direction there were more people moving back and forth. There were even some people traveling as tourists between the two planets. The journey between Mars and Earth in the twenty second century had become tantamount to travel between Europe and the Americas in the nineteenth century.

Mars launched a communication to Earth every evening at 1800. Earth launched one to Mars every morning at 0600. The latest news from each camp was always Included with every transmission along with personal messages, photos, film footage, Including home videos. There was of course no charge for this service. They hoped at both ends to one day have the internet working on Earth again so they could reestablish the direct internet connection but for now twice a day radio communication would have to do.

The Artonians were a big hit with the Martians. These adorable little imps won their hearts immediately. When the Martians finally realized that the Artonians were were actually sentient beings and not animals they were welcomed into the Martian society. There were plenty of vacant houses available because of all the Martians who had been sent to Earth. The Artonians were given their choice of where they wanted to live. Most of them elected to settle in New Phoenix. All of them had numerous job offers. The Artonians had come to Mars prepared for a new life style. For their first six months on Mars they would all be working with Carl Jacobs, Abner's son who now ran the farm operations on Mars, in establishing the Artonian plants on Mars. Carl thought it would be better if they were scattered throughout the many caverns rather than to be located all in the same place. Within two months there were over a mil ion Artonian plants growing on Mars. Within six months they were harvesting fruits, vegetables, nuts and greens. At first the Martians thought so many plants was overkil but once they tasted them they were almost ready to let the Earth plants die out. Everyone preferred the Artonian products. The winery even started experimenting with making wine from Artonian fruit. Within little over a year there were new wines on the market different from any they had ever produced before. There was some concern whether or not the Earth Bees would pollinate the Arton plants but not to worry the Bees couldn't tel the difference, they just pol inated all the plants. Five hundred of the one thousand Artonians made it their life's work tending plants and trees for the farm. The other five hundred found various other employment within the Mars Community. The Artonians loved the reduced gravity but kept jumping too high and spraining ankles when they came down. A monument had been erected in New Phoenix in memory of Tim Erkin, a true pioneer who had become known as the father of Mars. Tim had a place in the history of Mars equal to that occupied by George Washington, in the United States. The inscription at the base of the statue read “In Loving Memory of Timothy Farnsworth Erkin, Born in Houston, Texas July 14, 2082 arrived on Mars September 28, 2107. Died in New Phoenix, Mars September 28, 2167 at the age of 85. He spent the last 60 years of his life developing Mars. Tim had lived long enough to see settlers leaving Mars returning to Earth.

February 22, 2176: Arton One and Two break Mars orbit bound for Earth.

PART III

CHAPTER – Contact with Dedov

One of the scientists had shown a couple of Artonians how to operate the now abandoned Telescope in the observatory and the Radio telescope there. They were fascinated by the optical telescope and began spending their free time searching the heavens.

March 18, 2176: One evening while they were searching for Pluto they caught a spaceship coming out of Warp and entering the solar system. Since the four Arton ships were accounted for this had to be from some unknown location. They immediately had the presence of mind to hit the record button and caught the event on video. One of them continued to monitor the ship while the other used his cell phone to call for assistance. When the scientists arrived they couldn't believe that these two little people had just made the biggest discovery in history. From that minute on every move the vassal made was caught on tape. The space ship established orbit around one planet after another working their way in toward Mercury. They would remain at a planet for a day or two then move on in to the next planet toward the sun. Eventually they reached Mars and made orbit behind the Arton Two. By the time they arrived the two space ships had been fully crewed. The Aliens apparently mistook the Arton Space craft for orbiters, they paid the ships little attention. They then launched four shuttle from their ship. The Shuttle made methodical passes over the entire surface of Mars. Seeing the few buildings on the surface and the now inactive mining operations and apparently reading the atmosphere and finding it unusable they returned to their ship. Three beings wearing space suits then boarded one of the shuttles and flew toward the Mars Orbiter. Their docking equipment was a large suction device that would match up with any object that they found in space.

Since the ship was first spotted in the solar system the communications crew in the Arton Three had been recording all their radio transmissions and feeding them into translator equipment. It was determined from the way they spoke that these were very humanoid beings. Their language was very difficult for the translator to do much with. Two of the communications crew members were Artonian. They were doing better than the electronic device. When the translator made an error in translating a word the Artonians were beginning to pick up on it and correct the translator. The crew had determined that the visitors meant them no harm and that they carried no weapons. They were amazed when they entered the Orbiter and saw the two Fred Harley and Alvin Jones on duty. The beings acted very excited. They were definitely humanoid. They had two arms and two legs and were actually so similar to Human Beings that one of them could pass as a human but if you were to see a group of them together you would notice that their heads were a little higher in back and a little wider and the skull protruded about half an Inch further in back. Later analysis showed that their internal organs were almost identical to humans. They were on an average two Inches shorter then humans and weighed on an average seventeen pounds less. Some of them had dark blue hair that could pass for black. Their blood types and teeth were identical to humans.

Fred and Alvin had known they were coming so they showed no alarm when the aliens entered the orbiter. Fred merely looked up and nodded a greeting to them then continued with what he was working on for a minute or so. Alvin just more or less ignored them. The aliens had consulted a hand held instrument then removed their space helmets. The Earthlings noticed that the older of the three aliens had positioned himself in front of the other two. both Earth men left their work stations, moved slowly over to the one that was obviously the boss. It had earlier been discussed and decided that they should the little traditional Japanese bow rather than to offer to shake hands. Alvin, standing just slightly behind Fred held the translator in his left hand. Fred addressed the Alien first, “Welcome to Mars,” he said slowly and distInctly. The machine uttered four syl ables that were Incomprehensible to Fred and Alvin but it brought a smile to the faces of the aliens. The leader then uttered three syl ables and and the alien translator said “Thank you.” “The translator parroted the same three syl ables that the alien had just uttered. Alvin kind of chuckled, switched his machine off and laid it on the table beside him. This could get confusing using two machines. It was obvious that both machines had the same function.