America One: War of the Worlds (4 page)

“The same big space shark my mother talks about?”

“Yep!” replied Jonesy, and VIN rolled his eyes. He knew it wouldn’t be long before the space shark reared its ugly head.

“All you boys heard about the space shark?” Jonesy asked the four boys in front of him with a menacing look, and they all nodded silently that they had. “What is your name astronaut?” Jonesy then asked poor Johnny who looked like he wasn’t having much fun. “You had better speak because the space shark goes for the quiet kids first.”

“Johnny Noble, I’m six, and I don’t like space sharks,” he replied looking scared.

“Then your tall grandfather will have to make sure that the space shark doesn’t get you,” Jonesy replied.

Maggie was introduced to the boys by Saturn and they seemed to accept her easier than they had done Jonesy. Once everybody had been introduced to everybody’s children and grandchildren Jonesy got going again speaking to the growing group of boys in front of him.

“You boys started flight simulator yet?’ Jonesy asked while the ladies congregated and chatted over baby Titan.

“Yes, sir,” admitted Little Mikey the eldest. “I’m in Year Three and about to fly jets. I always beat James in propeller dogfights, but he normally beats me in attack helicopters.”

“I can get a C-5 Galaxy off the ground in 800 yards,” added young James Richmond Price proudly.

“Not bad kid,” smiled Jonesy. “I know a guy who can get a real C-5 off the ground in less than 700 yards.”

“Impossible, sir,” replied James not believing what he was being told. “Who is that?”

“Bob Mathews,” replied Jonesy.

“Uncle Bob can do that? How come he never told me? How come you know Uncle Bob, sir?”

“Because you never asked him” Jonesy smiled as he replied “and I taught Uncle Bob how to fly his C-5.”

“That’s not possible,” returned young Mark Allen Richmond price shaking his head and thinking hard. “He is much older than you are.”

Over the usual poolside party that night, with Jonesy finally getting his first evening’s cold beer in his hand, the talking and discussions were loud for an hour or two before Dr. Nancy gave orders to get all the wheelchairs walked off to their rooms for the night. It was also the kids’ bedtime and the pool area became quiet with just a few still of the NextGeners enjoying the cool water until the night cooled, and it was time to sleep.

The next morning the wheelchairs were walked around the hangars in a long line and the still-weak astronauts were introduced to the engineers and scientists.

Dr. Smidt naturally knew all the returning crewmembers, as did about half of the ground crew designing and building parts for
America Three
. There were many mentions of those who had passed on and Ryan with Kathy in the lead of the wheelchair convoy spoke to everyone who worked for Astermine.

“What was wrong with JD2030 buddy?” asked Ryan his good friend Jack Dempsey when he was wheeled into Jack’s department.

“Ryan, DX2014 was one of a kind. JD2030 was just another plain, ordinary asteroid. Remember thirty years ago when many American companies were keen to head out asteroid mining?” Ryan nodded that he did. “I reckon they had a one in 50 chance of finding an asteroid as rich as JD2030, and a one in a million chance of ever finding a DX2014. I reckon that they would have gone broke asteroid mining with what they knew in 2015.”

“When is the next opposition with Mars, Jack?” was Ryan’s next question. If anybody knew down to the exact day, it was Jack Dempsey and then Dr. Smidt.

“Funny I did my math just yesterday. I thought that would be your first question to me, not your second. Three hundred and eleven days, and it had better hurry up, we are so short of the necessary metals down here to continue the next ship. I was thinking that you might leave a month or two early and try to complete a round trip within a 360 day window. Dr. Smidt and I, and the rest of the crew have worked out a possibility for a return flight, and giving the crew 6 days on Mars to load metal.”

“A real fast cruise speed?” asked Ryan.

“It is possible in one of the shuttles with a second taking fuel reserves with, and it remaining around Mars while the other returned,” Jack replied. “Dr. Smidt thinks that with unlimited fuel reserves, the two new shuttles could reach Mars in a 143-day flight with their current thruster output, and going into orbit three weeks before perfect opposition. One of the shuttles will return 10 days later fully refueled from the other’s cargo bay. Return flight will be 197 days. For every day we delay after the ten-day period will mean four extra days of travel at 89,600 knots. Faster than we have ever travelled before in any of our ships. We are still working on that scenario, but it is going to need three times the usual amount of fuel to get there, and back. We are still working on numbers to bring both shuttles back, though.”

“When will we need to leave for the red planet Dr. Smidt?” Asked Ryan as the older-looking doctor approached the conversation.

“Ja Herr Richmond, in 311 days minus 143 days for travel. Fuel usage goes ballistic for any journey under 143 days. It is possible, I believe to reach Mars in 142.9 days and my latest numbers show a 268 percent use of fuel compared to a normal two-year flight.”

“I’m glad to be back. Dr. Smidt, Mr. Dempsey, Briefing room at 10 sharp tomorrow morning, directly after the astronaut briefing. You may attend the 8 meeting if you wish, and tell your teams to bring your latest numbers to the 10 ‘o clock meeting,” replied Ryan and nodded that he was ready for Jenny Burgos to push him to the next department. It was good to be home.

“Good morning all,” stated Ryan exactly at eight sharp the next morning. He was able to walk again, although in short bursts and had rested well the night before. All the crew were now out of their wheelchairs and had better skin color, but were still very thin. Even Igor and Boris, who had fared the worst from the 14 years of sleep, walked around unaided. Ryan continued. “I’ve asked Dr. Smidt and Jack Dempsey to join us for our next mission briefing to the red planet. It seems that the world is not going to survive electronically unless we return to The Martian Club Retreat and collect another cargo of the metal Commander Mars Noble found outside the
Matt
tunnel. Due to the last encounter with the Matts who don’t like us very much, we need to go in under heavy protection, and be ready for an attack while we are there. Commander Lunar Richmond spoke to Dave Black at the Retreat a week ago and the weather for you Mars lovers is clear, no storms, and they have had no sight of the enemy since our ships were there. I will be speaking to Dave shortly. Their radios are down due to maintenance and once we get communications again we can get an update on their supplies. Commander Noble, young Mars, what water and fuel reserves did you leave them with?”

“We completed two water collection missions to the crater before we left,” replied Mars. “We were interrupted by the attack, and a nearing storm. We collected one full load of 60 canisters and a part load of 23 canisters to be exact. My aim was to give the crew staying behind at least six years supply of water in case we didn’t return on time. My second idea was to have 500 gallons of emergency fuel at the retreat, enough to top up tanks in one shuttle to head back to earth. The crew have used up the previous six-year supply, I know Dave Black would always keep a supply of water for a longer stay, so I will suggest that we only have about 200 gallons of fuel on the red planet, enough for one water supply mission.”

“Dr. Smidt, a response on fuel needs for your 143 day flight scenario please,” stated Ryan.

“As Commander Noble has just stated, 200 gallons will be of no use to us to aid our next mission in a return flight to earth. Even 500 gallons would not have been a great help. We have to take 100 percent of our fuel with us for an immediate return flight. Somehow, we must increase our fuel supplies on Mars in the near future to get our planned trading flights active and running on a regular basis. I have studied two possible scenarios. Scenario A: two shuttles head to Mars, only one returns. Total fuel usage: 101,168 gallons with a 6-day loading period. Scenario B: both shuttles return after 12 days filling both cargo holds with the Matt metal—147,998 gallons of liquid hydrogen for the round trip, plus 17,000 pounds of oxidizer and other fuel materials. This large increase is due to the delayed, extra flight time back to earth. In other words, the cargo holds of both shuttles will be full with fuel on the outward bound flight, and we will be able to leave 1,000 gallons of fuel on Mars to increase our supplies there. With full fuel tanks, and completely full cargo holds, I estimate our fuel needs to be 150,000 gallons. Just to let you astronauts understand this task ahead, it will take seven launches in the larger shuttles to get 150,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and the oxidizer to our orbital build station. Scenario B means we have to find another 25,000 gallons on top of the 100,000 gallons of fuel we need to find for Scenario A. Where are we going to obtain all this fuel?”

“We still have 10,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen on the island,” stated Lunar.

“And 3,000 gallons at the Pig’s Snout,” added Saturn.

“And 9,000 gallons in reserve here in Nevada,” stated Mars.

“Two thousand gallons up on the orbital station,” added Jenny Burgos.

“Yes, I have calculated what we have, meinen damen and herren,” replied Dr. Smidt, but we will still be short by 125,000 gallons.”

“Lunar, have we used up all our financial resources?” asked Ryan.

“Yes, Dad, apart for the half dozen or so basketball size diamonds down in the underground storage chamber.”

“I’m sure Australia would be happy to lend a hand Commander Richmond,” stated Mark Price, Lunar’s husband staring at both his wife and father-in-law.

Martin Brusk could be squeezed to help out in return for some of the spoils,” added Saturn. “He is the one so desperate for us to get to Mars and back.”

“I’m sure the Canadian government could help pay the fuel tab for their fair share,” added Joanne Dithers Roo. “The current world price shows the realistic shortage of all fuels available around the world. Regular gasoline is still over $29 a gallon country-wide and extra electricity is virtually non-existent to produce liquid hydrogen until more cold fusion plants are delivered next year.

“Maybe the
Matt
idea of alcohol for fuel was a wise choice after all,” joked Jonesy getting an elbow in the ribs from Maggie as he winked at Ruler Roo.

“My friend General Jones and I are rather partial to rocket fuel,” stated Roo getting much laughter from everyone in the meeting other than Dr. Smidt. He wasn’t yet a member of the society, still didn’t get the inside joke, even though he had been on Mars and had watched the pair consume the same fuel used in the
Matt
craft. Some people just didn’t have a sense of humor.

“What is the current diamond price Joanne? Surely it has risen in financial trading value?” Ryan asked.

“Gold is still the currency of favor worldwide at $29,400 Canadian per ounce,” Joanne Dithers Roo replied. “Silver, oddly enough is second, currently selling at $3,190 per ounce, and all paper currency is making a comeback. The Canadian and Australian dollars are still worth triple to the U.S. dollar, but we are gaining ground. Diamonds are bought and sold for a lot of money, but only in the technology fields where they are most wanted. I haven’t seen the diamonds you speak of, but I’m sure Martin Brusk, or Mary Collins can help you with loans against them. Remember the cargo you are bringing back, six tons, or twelve tons with two shuttles will make you more fluid, and set you up for a much larger future cargo haul in
America Two
and
America Three
in a decade or so.”

“This whole country will still be short of any fossil fuels for farming and industry for at least another decade,” added Dr. Smidt. We still need another five years for fusion plants to be commonplace

“Five billion a shuttle cargo load. Funny that was what is cost me to start this base all those years ago,” reminisced Ryan.

“I cannot fathom how much 7,000 tons is worth?” added Mars Noble. “That is the weight Captain Pete and I reckoned there is to collect.”

“A lot of money,” suggested Jonesy.

“It will take more than our lifetimes to return with that amount,” laughed Ryan. “Dr. Smidt, what can
America Two
carry in space cargo?”

“Weight is not important in space, as you well know Herr Richmond. But getting the cargo into orbit from the red planet, and then down here onto the surface of earth would take much fuel. Commander Noble and Captain Pete hauled six tons into Martian orbit. It took us a week to load that amount into the shuttle’s cargo bays. With the two larger shuttles working, two loads a month could be transferred and offloaded into the mother ship’s cargo holds, maximum. The math is rather simple—192 tons per Opposition, or trading mission. That is if we have enough fuel to launch 32 shuttles in the 16 months we are there, and we have no attacks by either the Martian storms, or those
Matts
.”

“Martin Brusk reckons that he needs at least 5 tons a year of the rare earth metals,” added Joanne.

“The planet needs the gold just as much,” suggested Mars Noble, and the others nodded.

“Let us say we bring back 200 tons every two years,” added Lunar. “If there is 7,000 tons up there, and Mars reckoned that we only saw one half of the tunnel system, we will need our entire lifetimes to bring back what we have already found by flying a mother ship heading in opposite directions each Opposition.”

“Better than any asteroid I’ve ever found,” stated Jack Dempsey.

“I’m glad you kept up with our flight training program with our grandchildren, Lunar, Saturn, Mars,” stated Jonesy. “We are going to need as many astronauts as we can train.”

“Well, with two ships and unlimited fuel, we could double the return if Dr. Smidt’s numbers are correct,” stated Pluto Katherine. “We just need to take all five of the shuttles with us.”

There was a few seconds of silence as what Mars Noble had found on the red planet hit home. To return with this bounty would take the rest of their lives, and cost more than any project Astermine had done before.