First Steps (Founding of the Federation) (26 page)

The
commander whistled. "Damn." He took a brick and buttered
it, then set it in place. Mario chuckled as he handed another to
Tess.

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

"How
are we going to go so high?" Tess asked looking up the trench
wall. They were at about one point five meters high, and she was
starting to get concerned.

"Well,
remember when I made that thing?" Mario pointed to the set of
pipes he had carefully cut and welded together from the parts of the
aero shells.

Tess
nodded. "Is scaffold?" she asked smiling in understanding.

He
nodded. "Got it right away. Give me a hand." He waved to
her as he walked over to the pipes.

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

"Is
working well," Tess smiled and waved to the first test cell. The
three cubic meter vault was set up as with an airlock door on both
ends. Shaping the bricks to fit had been an interesting challenge.
This air test would decide if the two days of effort were worth it.
Getting the airlocks out of the fallen MAV had been a challenge.

"I
hope this works. Are you ready?" Mario turned to Tess who nodded
finger over the button.

"Let's
get this show on the road then." She smiled and pushed the
button. Eagerly they watched the gauges. "Air coming in... looks
good. Small leak maybe? I thought it would climb faster," Tess
commented.

"Too
soon to tell. With it partially buried we will have a hard time
checking. My money is if it is going to leak it will be around one of
the doors," Mario replied. The test crew back on Earth had
determined that that area would be a major weak point.

"What's
going on?" Commander Bower asked. Mario turned.

"We're
doing a test on the first cell. Sort of a proof of concept," he
replied. The air level climbed to twenty percent.

"Oh."
The commander came over and checked the airlock door over. "Is
it working?" he finally asked. He was starting to realize
something was going on a bit more than what he'd originally planned
on or seen in the flight plan. The flight plan was flexible, with
dozens of supplementary plans for various contingencies. He'd have to
look this particular one up sometime soon. Mario nodded. "Well,
I can tell from here you have a leak," the commander pointed.

"How
can you tell?" Tess asked.

Mario
grimaced. "The dust right?" he asked, catching on when he
saw a puff.

The
commander knelt then picked up a handful of dirt. Gently he let it
slip through his fist around the door. Near the bottom right edge it
started to blow outward. "Yeah here's one," Mario sighed.

"Should
we stop?" Tess asked.

"No,
let's see if we can find any more," Mario replied. He ran his
hand around the seal trying to feel a leak.

"Careful
there Mario, if that door blows out under the pressure..." The
commander cautioned.

"We
used guy wires to wire it into the structure," Mario replied.
Still he wasn't going to stand directly in front of the thing. He
grimaced. "I can't feel anything. I need a strip of paper or
plastic to act as a probe." he sighed and picked up a handful of
dirt. If water would stay liquid he'd try the soapy water test.
Unfortunately that wasn't an option here.

Carefully
he let it go around the right side of the door jam. "Yeah,
several leaks." He looked over the Tess.

"Is
holding at twenty percent," she reported.

Mario
shook his head. "Well, I can't find any more on the left side,"
The commander said. "We can check the other door then call it,"
he said. Mario and the commander moved to the other side. "I
have one, no two leaks here, one on the bottom, and one on the lower
left," the commander said a few minutes later.

"Damn!"
Mario sighed.

"You
did not expect it to work perfect first time did you?" the
commander asked.

"I
was hoping," Mario grumped.

"Well,
the good news is you only have four leaks we can detect. Plug them,
add another layer of caulking to be sure and then try again,"
Bower said. The commander got up and stretched. "I'm going out
with Wanda to check a ridge east of here. We'll be back by
nightfall," he said. He waved to them.

Tess
was already cutting the life support. "Plastic?" she asked.

"Yeah.
Enjoy playing taxi driver Commander." Mario waved to the
commander and Wanda as they climbed into the rover. "Okay, Lets
go eat and see if we can load a caulking gun with some goop and give
it a shot."

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

Wanda
looked over Li's shoulder as he tapped at a rock. "Is it just me
or does this entire area look like fossilized coral?" she asked.
She much preferred going out with Li or Yung Lin. No offense to Bower
or the others but they just didn't have the training or experience.
They tolerated the work but were more interested in getting it over
with so had to be watched in case they overlooked something
important.

He
shrugged. "We don't know. No proof. Must have tests."

Wanda
sighed. "We need a dedicated Paleontologist and Paleobotonist
here you mean." She bit her lip, now regretting not having a
full degree.

Li
tapped for a moment then looked up. "In my opinion, is true, is
coral." He waved to the ridge line. "There is shore. We are
within forty meters of it, so possible."

Wanda
nodded. "But we can't say it is because there is no conclusive
proof," she sighed. Li nodded. "We’re Marvin Martian
when you need him?" she asked. She looked around as Li smiled
catching her humor.

"We
will keep working," Li said and then shrugged.

She
nodded. "Right, I'll go get some more evidence bags." She
went back to the rover.

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

"How
do we make the arch?" Tess asked nibbling on an apple slice.

"The
arch? Oh you mean for the full size vaults?" Mario asked sitting
back. They were alone in Hab one; Doctor Han was in the hab two lab
while the others were out exploring and gathering samples.

"Vaults?
As in plural?" Tess looked at him in surprise.

He
smiled. "What? Like you thought we would just stop at one? Why
make one when we can make more?"

She
smiled. "Okay, if you think you are up to it. Shoot. It still
does not answer my question though. Using an empty cylinder tank
worked for the test, but for something full scale?" They had
finally licked the test cylinder. It still wasn't perfect but it did
work. Spraying both the inside and out with the plastic resin would
hopefully keep it from leaking over time.

Mario
had given her some literature to go over. According to the article
she had screened any water vapor would freeze against the walls. That
could be bad, the expansion could weaken the structure... or good in
that it filled any voids and sealed them. They'd have to see what
time said about the project.

He
chuckled. "Okay, we had this problem back on Earth. The
Mackenzie discussion group looked over how the Romans and other
ancient builders worked it out. They built a scaffold form then
placed the bricks on top." She nodded as he used his hands to
pantomime the design. "We can use sections of the MAV hull. The
lower panels actually. They will limit our width to an eight meter
diameter arch though," he explained.

Her
eyes were wide as she looked out the window to the MAV nearby. Now
she understood why he wanted a nine meter wide trench. "I didn't
think of that. Can it work?"

He
smiled. "Luigi and I tested it with a few others. It will, but
getting it together can be tricky. We will need six panels to form an
arch, along with attending hardware. Fortunately panels E1 to F3
should work," he said slyly. He handed her a computer tablet.

She
looked at the plan. "I thought that the truss here was
structural."

He
smiled. "Oh it is, but it is redundant bracing used in case of a
hard landing. No problem now." He waved. "We can get two of
the panels from the crashed MAV, the rest from the other two."

She
nodded. "Okay. So we bolt them together, what about lateral
bracing?" she asked. She motioned with her finger across the
arch.

"That
is the tricky part I mentioned. We talked about taping some tool
handles together..."

She
shook her head. "No, will not work. Tape compresses together, is
not what is needed. Need..." She motioned with her hands.

"Compressive
strength in the other plane you mean?" he asked. She nodded.
"Yeah, I get you. Any ideas?" he asked. This was where they
had an obvious void in their plan.

She
thought. "Let us take out panels, perhaps something will pop up.
Maybe wire?"

He
rubbed his chin as he she set the tablet down and followed him to the
lock. "Maybe. Maybe..."

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

"Well,
this stinks," The Commander grumped as he sipped his coffee and
looked at his tablet.

"Oh?
Sorry, Wanda's hogging the shower again." Mario came in and
rolled his shoulders. He had a towel over one shoulder.

"Just
finished your morning workout?" the Commander asked.

"Yeah,
both of them," Mario grinned. The Commander chuckled. It wasn't
like Mario needed a work out, or like any of them did. But NASA
insisted. Something about getting readings from the sensors they wore
while working out and comparing it to their base line and to their
suit telemetry.

"So
if it isn't me, what stinks?" Mario asked pouring himself a cup
of coffee.

"Oh,
Mission control. They are afraid another storm may be approaching so
they want us to stick close to base." The Commander sighed as
she scowled down at the tablet computer.

"So?
Wanda and the Hans can get caught up on all the samples they've spent
the past six months collecting," Mario replied and then
shrugged. He sort of missed his wife. Sort of. The whole absence
makes the heart grow fonder did make up for it though, he thought
with a smirk.

"Yeah,
but what about the rest of us?" the commander asked shaking his
head.

"Well,
If you want to split the chore list with me to keep busy, I wouldn't
mind," Mario suggested. Mario spun the chair around and sat down
so the back was in front of him.

"Chore
list?" The commander waved to the little roomba robot on the
floor. "The robot cleans the floors... We have a dishwasher..."
He waved.

Mario
shook his head. "They still need to be maintained, and loaded
and unloaded," he explained patiently. He pointed to the robot.
"The robot can clean the Hab, but it can't get into tight areas,
and it doesn't do windows." He pointed to the dishwasher. "The
dishwasher doesn't do any good unless it is loaded and unloaded."
He waved them aside. "There not my chores anyway, I have to
check out the hab and Mav electronics."

The
Commander's eyes widened. "Okay, I'm in," he replied. Maybe
he could get some Sim time in.

Mario
chuckled. "Yeah, I thought playing with the computer would get
your attention. If you want to check the MAV's out, that will free me
up to do some more bricks and get an early start on the next wall for
the vaults."

The
Commander nodded. "One of these times I should check them out,"
he replied. He hadn't checked it out since they'd finished the test
cell a month or so ago. He'd thought they had finished with it.
Gotten bored with it or something. Apparently not.

"Sure,
finish the diagnostics, clean the MAV windows, then come over and
give me a hand," Mario invited and then he smiled mysteriously.

"You're
on," the Commander replied getting up.

“Mario
do you have to spend so much time working on equipment?” Wanda
griped as he carried a cable stringing it out to the vaults. They
needed more light in the vault now that they were almost finished.

“Magnificent
desolation,” Mario answered absently as he moved along.

“No
I mean it!” She grabbed his arm and pointed up to the sky. He
looked up to the night sky to see Phobos passing overhead.

“Yeah,
Phobos.” He shrugged. “It passes west to east instead of
the usual east to west like other moons.” He shrugged as he
went back to work. “Something about it moving really fast. Ask
Luigi he knows.” He went back to work. He heard her sigh and
looked up.

“Look
at that rock formation, or this one!” she said. She picked up a
rock.

He
shook his head. “You're really going to go on about this aren't
you?” he asked. He shook his head. He understood that they had
different interests and accepted it. Apparently she didn't... or at
least right now she didn't.

“Well,
you just don't get it. That cable, the boxes, the ships, their just
things! This is what is important! The history of a new world!”
she replied heatedly and then waved the rock under his visor. He
reared back away from it.

“Watch
it those things can breach a suit,” he growled pushing it away.
“Look honey, it's a rock. Okay, it has some significance with
the history of Mars. BUT.” He held up the cable. “It
wouldn't matter a hill of beans without this. The equipment. It has
its own history and is making history. It is keeping us alive
remember?” He tossed the last coils to the vault's airlock door
then gave her his full attention.

“They
fighting again?” Commander Bower asked over the channel. The
others had noticed that Wanda had been picking fights with Mario when
she returned to camp. She didn't like his preoccupation with things
other than her when she was around apparently.

“Da,”
Tess replied.

Mario
grimaced. “Thank you peanut gallery.” He held up a hand.
“Switch to channel.” He held up three fingers. Dutifully
Wanda typed in the change so they could be on a more private
frequency.

“Wanda,
every solid object we have was once a part of Earth. Rocks before we
applied our imagination to it to shape it to our will.” He
waved to the Habs. She shrugged silent. “Just because we don't
share the same interests in the same intensity doesn't mean we can't
get along or appreciate each other's likes and dislikes. You should
know this by now,” he patiently tried to explain to her.