Is There Life On Mars? (part eight)

Note: This is the eighth part of the story Is There Life on Mars? If you missed the beginning, maybe you should start there (just click on the link.)

 

Day 214

Well… No…

Today’s entry is still written from space.

Barely. We’re in low orbit now and will be landing in a few hours, but I had to take some time to write.

We’ve all been taking turns at the portholes – luckily the ship has quite a few – to look at the Martian landscape from low orbit, because some of us will never get back into space. It’s weird when you think about it. Also, don’t tell anyone, but I have my own private window in the cargo hold – Cédric is the only one who knows about it. Two minutes ago, I looked out and… I saw our base! With my own eyes! I couldn’t believe it.

That’s why I had to write this entry before we landed.

I saw our base. The landing pad, the above ground buildings, as well as the hangars, the solar panel fields, and of course the dome.

The dome will be our “outside” since Mars will not be terraformed enough for humans to go outside without proper equipment for a lifetime or two. Some people say that Noel’s new secret project has to do with speeding up the process. Perhaps?

But in the meantime, the dome will be our “outside,” where plants will grow and animals will live (Stanley says he’s heard some noises coming from the pigpen, but let’s not talk about that now). There will be parks, a mini sports center, and more.

The dome seemed to have more Martian dust on it than the live feed showed yesterday. It looks much more orange than expected. 

Was there a mini dust storm during the night?

We’ve been trained to deal with them, especially those of us who will be going outside (the real outside) from time to time. As a driver, I’m one of them. Yes, I’m one of the few who will get to wear a spacesuit, go outside and walk on Martian soil from time to time. Most passengers never will. Not even right after landing. They’ll just walk from the spacecraft to the Big Wheels through a passenger boarding bridge, just like you board an airplane.

Even after we land and get settled into our base, I’ll be going out on regular driving assignments. For the first few weeks, I’ll also be part of the team dismantling the landers. They will become spare parts, mostly for when we need to build more living quarters. In fact, some sections of the Susan Constant were designed to be reusable with minimal modifications.

Also, I didn’t want to mention it at the time, but two weeks ago we elected a group of temporary leaders.

To avoid the pitfalls of Terran democracies – they failed in part because of this, and Noel learned from them – no one “ran” to be elected. Everyone just put in the names of the people they thought would make good leaders to run things while we got settled and before a real governing council was formed.

Somehow, I ended up in the final top ten. Yes, I will be a member of this temporary government once we’re all in the base.

Apparently, people were grateful for my negotiating skills and the role I played during the farmers’ strike.

Yes, I didn’t have time to mention it, though perhaps that event deserves its own entry. I’m also the one who came up with the idea of using spare mattresses to muffle the noise coming from the pigpen.

This new status will give me certain privileges, including direct access to Noel. That’s almost the most exciting part.

But I have to stop here; we’re starting the descent in an hour. Finally!

 

(to be continued)

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