First Steps (Founding of the Federation) (50 page)

"You
still have to wear a skin suit to get into it, and trust me; the
airlock portion is a pain!" he sighed and shook his head. "Like
wrestling with a blanket." He shook his head. "But anyway,
we can improve it now that our industry is picking up. I was thinking
about a duracrete form."

Luigi
rubbed his chin. "Have to reinforce it with rebar otherwise the
constant changes in pressure would breech it."

Mario
nodded. "Rebar isn't a big problem now, since we have our
industry online we're using magnets to sort out iron particles. We
have some pretty good steel now, though we can only make small
quantities," he replied. Luigi grinned.

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

"Yeah!
Wahoo! I bet Latisha is going to eat crow because she missed this!"
Joyce crowed as the SSTO rocketed down the runway and leapt off the
ramp and into the sky. "Go baby go!" She smiled triumphant.
"Looking good base, all gauges are green." She smiled as
she pulled the yoke back. "Nice handling, better than the
simulator," she observed. She felt her cheeks burn, she knew she
was grinning so hard she was going to feel it later. Toshi was
chuckling beside her. She throttled up.

"Throttling
up to one hundred percent now. Pitch is at eighty seven percent."
They felt the craft climb through the dust and grime.

"Beautiful,
just beautiful," Toshi murmured.

"You
betcha hon." Joyce chuckled. "Okay folks, looks like we
have a winner. We'll be docking with the station in three hours."

She
looked over to her husband and reached for his hand. He held it for a
moment then nodded. "Worth every damn joke about the flying
brick," she said. He chuckled once more.

"This
place is amazing," Joyce called over the communication channel
after they arrived at the station.

Luigi
chuckled. "You can thank Bigelow industries. They put it
together. We just shipped it out here."

Joyce
looked around. "I'm surprised it is still whole, I would have
thought some of the debris from the asteroid would have punctured it
by now." She ran her hands along the Kevlar walls.

"Nope."
Luigi shook his head. "We checked when we were up there, she's
good to go. Just needs a fill up and she will remain on station for a
couple more years," Luigi hinted.

"Okay
okay, I'm going. No time to play tourist," Joyce grumbled as she
dodged her husband as he floated by with a package. "Food, fuel,
I wish we could expand this place." She grabbed a box and pushed
it out into the airlock with her finger.

Toshi
chuckled. "One thing at a time, one thing at a time."

"There
are orbital hotels on Earth now... or at least above it," Luigi
said into the link.

"We
heard a little about that. So Bigelow, Space X, Rocketplane Kistler,
and the others finally got their collective acts together?"
Joyce asked.

Luigi
chuckled. "They were still working on expanding the first hotel
when we left. There is even a casino about to be launched, and the
Chinese and Japanese are getting into the act. Now that they have the
space planes working we can get people to orbit and to a station
easier and cheaper. Once there, it is a ferry ride to the Cycler
ships," Luigi sighed. "If we can keep things moving."

Joyce
smiled. "Well, things are looking good on this end finally."

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

“This
is Hudson. Countdown to burn in three...two....one... Ignition!”
the metallic voice said. The Plasma drive kicked to life lifting the
craft out of orbit to return to Earth.

“God
speed Hudson, we hope to see you soon,” Joyce said softly then
cut the channel.

“Regrets?”
Toshi asked rubbing her shoulders. It had taken them a week to unload
the Hudson and then service and refuel it. She was going back empty;
everyone who wanted to stay was here.

She
patted his hand. “Not on your life,” she smiled.

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

Mario
smiled to the Treadwell’s. "We've been going a bit slower
with the second set of vaults. There are five, an industrial complex,
workshops, labs, barn, and atrium. Each is the size of the gallery
vault." He waved in the direction of the vaults. "We've
upgraded to a cinder block sized brick, they are a little harder to
make, but they take up a lot more space," Mario waved. He didn't
bother to explain that he now used the forklift to move pallets of
bricks between the fabricator, the kilns, and the job sites. No way
was he going to tote them on a plate anymore, his back couldn't take
it.

He
missed having Tess on the line. Tess was champing at the bit to get
outside, trapped inside or in a P suit. Sergei tried to fill in but
he was only good for grunt work. Which, right now was fine; there was
a lot of grunt work.

"Now
that we produce our own plastics, we can recycle waste plastic into
the mix to give the blocks additional tensile strength. The duracrete
works well; we've gotten about half way through the first vault. It
is slow going I admit, we've been a bit distracted, and the weather
hasn't helped any," Mario sighed. "The industrial equipment
you folks brought along should make things easier. We've been saving
our waste iron slag and other metals, now we can feed them into the
smelter and start producing steel. With steel we can create rebar to
aide in the construction." Mario waved to the structure.

"That
should help with any problems with Mars quakes or other unforeseen
problems," Mr. Treadwell nodded.

"Yes,
we've had some concerns in that regard." Mario looked at his
wife nearby showing Luigi a rock formation. "The other major
hurdle has been the doors, these doors will be larger than the garage
doors, and will allow us to move large pieces of equipment in and out
of the vaults when needed," Mario said and pointed to the
openings. "Until we got your equipment, we were stalled on that
front. Tess, Toshi, Joyce, Sergei, and I were about to refocus on the
labs, barn, and atrium." He nodded to Tess who waved inside her
old fashioned pressure suit.

"Can
we help?" Mr. Treadwell asked.

"Sure.
I know you’re going to be busy preparing for the Olympus Mons
trip, but I never turn down a helping hand." Mario smiled as he
held out a hand.

Mr.
Treadwell took it and shook it firmly. "Glad to oblige. Least we
can do." Bruce said with a smile. Mario chuckled.

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

Luigi
smiled as Doctor Zubrin finished his report. He looked up to his
brother standing in the doorway arms crossed. "What are you all
smug about?" Mario asked.

"Well,
remember I mentioned a conglomerate wanting to buy out the gas giant
mining? Well another was formed to compete with them. And another was
formed by mining companies interested in exploiting the belt. They
are negotiating with the space agency to lease one of the ferries to
deliver cargo and crew to an asteroid they’ve even plunked down
twenty mil to do a joint study program to build the hardware!"
Luigi grinned.

"Good.
Glad it's working out," Mario said and then nodded. One of his
fondest dreams, hell one of his father's, his mother's, and his
brother's was to see space industry take root and for mankind to take
that next great step into the unknown.

Luigi
sighed. "Mario, you just don't get it, with more explorers and
industry we can expand! We can export things! Bob had the idea of a
triangle trade, with the Earth providing electronics and hardware,
while we provide fuel and food. The belters and other colonies
provide metals... See, we can do this," he said firmly.

Mario
nodded. "And keeping the ferries in flight will keep us in
business," he replied. Luigi nodded.

"And
don't forget, the only way we're ever going to get fusion and other
technologies off the ground are to build them into space craft,"
Luigi replied.

Mario
nodded. "Yeah, I remember Prof Kembly talking about that. How
steam and fission power really got their starts in ships." Mario
shrugged. "It's a bit different in our time."

Luigi
shook his head. "Where there is a will there is a way."

Mario
smiled bitterly. "You're forgetting the greens little bro. I am
going to work on the barn; we need to get those goats out of the
vaults, their driving Tess nuts trying to eat everything." He
waved as he left.

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

A
young woman came up to Doctor Zubrin and handed him a blue slip of
paper. "What's this?" he asked. She grinned and walked off.
"What the hell? A subpoena? For what?" Zubrin demanded. He
looked up but the woman was gone. "You are ordered to attend a
deposition in the following lawsuit. The Anti Mars conspiracy group
versus Doctor Zubrin and the Mario brothers," he read out loud
in disbelief.

Nick
came over and looked at Bob. "What's so funny boss?" Zubrin
handed him the subpoena. "You’re kidding right?" Nick
read the subpoena and then laughed. "This has got to be some
sort of joke...” He shook his head.

"Nope,
I don't think so," Bob sighed. "Time to call out the dogs,
or at least the lawyers." He reached into his pocket and pulled
out his phone. "Stacy? Yes, I need to speak with the head of
legal.
Now
."

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

"So
you see your honor it is a legal subpoena and should be honored. The
so called Mars program should produce the Mario brothers for
depositions." The lawyer stood in front of his table and turned,
smiling for the cameras.

"Let
me get this straight counselor, you want the federal government to
produce the Mario brothers for a deposition in a timely manner,"
the judge asked, trying to suspend his disbelief and take the matter
seriously as proper etiquette required.

The
attorney nodded. "Yes your honor. We would like a speedy civil
trial," he said. Zubrin scowled.

"Counselor
you do realize they are over forty five million miles away, they
can't just hop a bus and be here in an hour," the judge scowled.

"Nether
the less, the subpoena is valid."

The
NASA attorney chuckled. "Point of order your honor, in fact it
is not a legal subpoena, it is addressed to the Mario brothers and
does not give a location. Nor was it presented to them, it was
presented to Doctor Zubrin." The attorney motioned to Bob. Bob
nodded.

"I
don't see the problem here," the judge said and then adjusted
his glasses.

"Well
your honor, a
legal
subpoena must have the actual
full
name of the participants, not a trademarked character name from
Nintendo." The judge looked confused. "I believe Nintendo
is doing all sorts of fascinating things with AI, but suing a pair of
game characters?" The attorney spread his hands. "Aren't we
going a little too far?" He shook his head.

"You’re
saying they are fake? Computer Sims? I knew it!" A woman in the
back started to get hyper.

The
judge tapped the gavel. "Quiet now. Miss, sit down and be quiet
or you will be found in contempt of court." He pointed to the
woman and then down. She reluctantly sat pouting.

"Now,
to the second point, there is no address listed on the form. Third,
it was presented to another party, not to the Irons," the
attorney finished.

"I
understand they don't have regular mail to Mars," the judge
joked.

"With
all due respect, yes they do. They have electronic mail, and packages
can be delivered every two years," The NASA attorney replied.

The
judge chuckled. "Talk about a long wait, I'm glad I don't have
their service problem. Must be hell to get a pizza." He shook
his head as the gallery tittered.

The
plaintiff started to object. "Over ruled. Have a seat counselor.
"I agree, the subpoena is not valid on its face. However I do
believe its intent was to get the Mario brothers to attend correct?"

The
Plaintiff Counselor stood and nodded. "Yes your honor." The
judge nodded.

"To
what end?" the judge asked. The suit was vague and laughable on
its face. By rights he should toss it but entertaining it meant he
received some face time. That might help his career down the road.

"Well,
if they can be here in a timely manner it proves they are not on
Mars. If they are not here in a timely manner they are in default and
in contempt," the Counselor replied smugly.

The
judge shook his head. "Talk about a catch twenty two. Well I
won’t have it. You'll get your discussion with the Mario
brothers. The dinosaur is another story.” Several tittered at
that.

The
NASA attorney raised his hand. "You're honor do you intend to
call Mario and Luigi Irons?"

The
judge nodded. "Yes, yes I do. We can do a video conference."
The plaintiff shook his head. "You have a problem with that?"
The judge asked looking at him.

"You're
honor they could easily use computers to falsify the Mario brothers!
We would have no proof that they were here!" the plaintiff
complained. Doctor Zubrin sighed.

"I
take your meaning, but not your intent counselor,” The judge
replied. He turned to Doctor Zubrin. "Mr. Zubrin," The
judge called.

Bob
looked up then stood. "Yes your honor?” Bob stood. He
wasn't happy about his title's being forgotten but decided not to
argue.

“Mr.
Zubrin, can you testify under oath that the video will be live?"
The judge asked.

Bob
shook his head. "You're honor; due to the speed of light
limitation no one can do that. There is an eight minute time lag
between us and Mars one way. So any conversation will have to be in
video files. Also any form of uncompressed conversation would be
prohibitively expensive to the agency," Dr. Zubrin explained
patiently.

The
judge harrumphed. "Sixteen minutes, no way to speed it up?
Bounce it off a satellite?" Bob shook his head. "All right,
then we'll have to do it your way." He waved the plaintiff's to
their seats. "We can have a computer expert determine if they
are valid," he sighed.