Hab jumpers get time out in orbit
Noctis residents say sentences too light
TITHONIA, Feb. 3 - The three men charged with invading a remote Noctis Labyrinthus family hab after stealing a rover from Ares Port will spend the next one to three annos (2 to 5-1/2 years) in orbit, the Tithonia Superior Court ruled Friday.
The sentence drew criticism from Noctis officials and residents, who said a stricter penalty would have sent a much stronger message to prevent any future hab-jumping attempts.
“It’s hard enough living out here without having to worry that drunken strangers might move into your family hab, “ said Noctis Councillor Icario Fletcher, whose team helped capture the three men after a long, slowmotion chase through the Labyrinth. “We expected more than a job transfer from the court.”
Ares Port senior mechanic Murgo Sonestro was found guilty of stealing a rover, endangerment for the hab invasion, and violation of corporate alcohol policies.
Sonestro was sentenced to spend at least three annos in orbital work at reduced pay, without permission to visit the Mars Carousel orbital. He declined to comment when asked by the court.
His accomplices, Cosmo Izar and Elio Gizan were sentenced to one annos of orbital work after changing their pleas to guilty last week and testifying against Sonestro.
The two logistics specialists at the Fabrica industrial area claimed that they did not realize that Sonestro had intended to take the rover to Noctis instead of a nearby facility, but admitted that they had brought and drank a copious amount of alcohol.
Izar testified that they had not intended any harm to the hab residents, a family of five who were absent when they entered the remote hab about 120 km west of the Grange Hall.
“We just needed a place to rest,” Izar said, admitting under questioning that they had made that decision after running out of alcohol.
Izar told the court that they had left the hab willingly after the family returned on Jan. 6 from the Noctis New Annos celebration.
The court-appointed attorney for Izar and Gizen admitted that they were partly persuaded to do so by a mobile laser drill mounted to the family’s tractor.
Asked where the men had planned to go after reaching the hab, Gizen said he didn’t know.
“I guess we were going to go back somewhere, maybe Ius, there’s nothing west of Noctis except a few Tharsis research stations about 800 kims (km) west,” Gizen said.
Total violation of trust
Hab resident Hobart Talia had returned to the remote home with his family after a three-sol drive from the Grange Hall to find the three men in the hab and their rover outside.
“We knew it wasn’t a local rover,” Talia testified remotely. “They refused to identify themselves and didn’t leave until after we sealed the interior hatches, turned down the heat and threatened to destroy their rover with a laser drill. We had to demonstrate a few times.”
The three men left, heading west. They were arrested after a slow three-week pursuit through the Labyrinth on Jan. 27, a week after they crashed the rover on a remote slope about 225 km west of the Noctis Grange Hall.
Sonestro, who was injured when the rover rolled down a long slope and landed wheels up, was taken from the court after sentencing along with his accomplices directly to an Ares Port orbital shuttle that brought them to the Mars Carousel for transfer to the cargo and shipyards.
The case has been very closely followed across the entire Valles Marineris, particularly among the homesteading communities in Noctis and Orson Welles.
Noctis Councillor Blythe Gunther also criticized the sentences as too lenient.
“It was a total violation of the trust that helps keeps us alive in the Labyrinth,” Gunther said. “Everyone out here is ready to help their neighbors because they know they might need the help someday. This just creates potentially deadly mistrust.”
Noctis resident Jules D’Orsay said the three men were fortunate to be tried in Tithonia, and noted that a City man who was found by local residents with four stolen surfsuits in June was left to walk back to Ares Port with just a surfsuit.
“They’re lucky the family only aimed the laser drill at their rover,” said D’Orsay, a former Noctis council candidate. “We might have just left them upside down in their tractor.”
D’Orsay called the incident an unacceptable danger.
“We’re surrounded by deadly perils out here all day every day,” D’Orsay said. “We have to rely on each other without wondering if someone has bad intentions.”
With Eun Isil, Noctis Correspondent
Mars City goes semi-dry on alcohol
Council okays brewpub, keeps liquor off the bar
TITHONIA, Feb. 2 - The City Council voted 4-3 to permit establishment of a brew pub near the new Terrace One Arena despite safety and health concerns about officially approving alcoholic beverages in Mars’ largest city.
The Council, however, did not take action on allowing the serving of other alcoholic drinks at the City Speakeasy nightclub, meaning that liquor is officially off the bar for now.
The Council had planned a vote on both items, but decided to separate them after councillors expressed concerns about the difficulty of testing small batches of home-made liquor.
“It comes down to safety,” Councillor Shira Chang said in opposing the serving of liquor. “We can test the beer for safety and alcoholic content right at the source, but we can’t test jars of homebrew at the nightclub-nor does the city intend to open a distillery.”
While alcohol has been banned in the City since its founding, many residents have the knowledge and experience to make their own, often from fruit grown in hab wall gardens.
“We have a lot of scientists here, and we know that scientists like to experiment,” Councillor Luca Matteo said to laughs from the audience. “It’s one thing to have friends and family enjoy their creations at home, but it’s an entirely different thing to serve untested drinks over the bar to strangers.”
The brewpub will be established in an unfinished canteen near the new Terrace One Arena at the north end of the third HabTube section on the first level terrace above the ground level farms and aquaculture ponds.
That’s just one level down and a couple hundred meters north of the Speakeasy, which operates on weekends in a city canteen on the second level terrace near the bamboo garden.
Still bringing their own
The Speakeasy had operated as a clandestine nightclub in an unfinished city canteen until it was shut down by the City in September.
The nightclub, re-opened last month under City oversight, offering a more varied menu and a cabaret atmosphere of live music and dancing that has proved very popular, especially with younger, single residents, Tithonia Food Service Chief Luca Creon told the meeting.
“Some bring their own alcohol, and we try to discourage it, but we don’t handle it under any circumstances,” Creon said. “We’ll remind people of the liquor policy, and City Safety usually has someone here to handle any difficulties.”
Difficulties are to be expected with permitting alcohol or even taking a laissez faire attitude, mayoral candidate and Council President Claude Paddingbury said.
“Alcohol is banned under labor contracts, and workers can be penalized for consuming it,” Paddingbury said, and brought up the Noctis Labyrinthus hab jumping trial taking place in the City.
“It’s clear alcohol was involved in the whole episode, from stealing a rover to driving down to Noctis and only stopping when the drink ran out,” Paddingbury said. “We’re just creating more trouble than it’s worth.”
Still residents are making their own, and much of the trouble involved with homemade liquor could be averted by providing moderately alcoholic beer and ale under supervised conditions, WestHill Councillor Beata Bakken said.
“It’s a lot easier and safer than making your own in the hab kitchenette,” Bakken said. “The beer will be tested, and the staff can keep an eye on the customers to make sure they’re having a safe, enjoyable evening.”
The brew pub will be run by canteen manager Jorgen Juhl, who is managing the buildout of the City-run dining hall that will host it on Thursday through Saturday evenings. Farmer and nutritionist Mette Ernsthof will serve as part-time brewmaster.
“We’ll test the beer for quality and potency as part of the process, and the city can monitor that,” Ernsthof said. “We aim for something that will add enjoyment to the food and allow people to relax.”
Second-section resident Jaspar Jackson said the Thursday night opening would be particularly welcome, adding, “That way we can all go have a beer after City Council meetings.”
Scientific outpost or real city?
Mayoral candidates lay out visions for the City
TITHONIA, Feb. 1 - The three candidates seeking to become the City’s first elected mayor presented different visions for the future at a moderated discussion in front of nearly 700 residents here Wednesday.
Council President Claude Paddingbury suggested the City take a cautious approach toward new initiatives, former Councillor Marcus Wu argued that the Council had already gone too far in repurposing public spaces for uses such as entertainment, while Logistics Chief Helen Matara said she shared to new Council’s vision of a vibrant city that’s “more than a company town.“
The election on Tuesday comes just under five weeks after the Council voted to add an elected mayor to city government instead of hiring a city manager due to opposition from residents to adding an unelected official.
That decision followed the announcement by Mars DevCo, now Martius Endeavours, that it was handing over all civic responsibility for Tithonia, Mars’ largest city, which the company built from a tiny scientific outpost over more than two (Martian) decades (40 years).
Since that announcement, the Council has substantially reorganized city departments, such as environmental systems, agriculture and utilities that now fall under its purview.
The mayor’s job will be to manage city departments on a daily basis under the oversight of the Council, which retains overall authority, Councillor Luca Matteo said in introducing the candidates.
Paddingbury led off by saying that while Tithonia will naturally have to change as it grows and takes over greater responsibility for its own affairs, changes should be made cautiously to ensure that the city runs well and meets its obligations to Martius.
“Some people argue that we can survive without Martius, and that is true to a point,” Paddingbury said. “But we cannot thrive and grow without them. So, how does the mayor figure in that equation?”
The mayor’s role would be to manage the City departments to provide the best services, including food and housing for residents, and to meet the city’s obligations to Martius, Paddingbury said.
The long-time Council President said he would not hesitate to advise the Council if he disagrees with their decisions.
“Any competent manager has to be willing to speak candidly and argue against ill-considered moves that would prove counterproductive,” Paddingbury said. “I will listen and I will disagree when necessary.”
Company town?
Without the corporation, Tithona is just a solitary outpost on a hostile planet, Wu said.
“Most people in this room work directly for Martius, and the rest work in City roles that support the company’s industrial and export businesses on the surface an in orbit as well as its exploration efforts,” Wu told the audience. “As mayor, I will strive to provide the best services for our citizens, but our futures are tightly linked to the corporation.”
While Tithonia has grown to more than 61,000 residents, many of them first- and second-generation Martians, it remains largely a scientific outpost.
“We are still conducting a grand experiment of settling a new and hostile planet, and that requires focus, discipline and rigor in everything we do,” Wu said. “To that end, the City council was originally formed to advise the corporation on various topics, not take over.”
Focusing too much on amenities such as coffee shops, brew pubs and entertainment venues can distract residents from the main mission, Wu said.
“We’re still at a critical stage. Some things would be nice to have, but we need to continue to on what’s necessary for our mission,” Wu said. “We can survive without the corporation, but we will not thrive and grow.”
Matara noted that the City had lost hundreds of residents and highly skilled workers over the last annos alone to settlements such as Ius and Geryon, which together form the second largest city on Mars.
“We’re sitting in this new arena for sports and other performances, and this to me is a part of what the City needs to become if we are going to remain a thriving, growing community,” Matara said. “It behooves the Council and mayor to adapt to these changing circumstances.”
Matara said she sees the job of mayor as helping the Council to take a new direction in City life, which she said would strengthen its ability to meet its corporate obligations.
“That’s a vision I share with the most of the current Council who won election by promising broader opportunities for residents to make this an even more vibrant community,” Matara said. “That includes offering space for independent businesses like a coffee shop.”
That was an allusion to the decision by the Wu-led Planning Commission in June to turn down a request to turn an underutilized City canteen into a café, serving coffee, and light meals.
Matara added, “People will continue to leave, taking their families and skills with them if we don’t become a real city instead of just a company town.”
Oudemans joins Noctis Council
Gets advisory seat
LABYRINTHIA, Feb. 4 - The Noctis Labrythinus Council agreed Saturday to represent Oudemans Crater residents in interchasmata matters and in some dealings with Martius Endeavours, which runs the research and survey station in the crater.
Under the agreement, approved by a 5-0 vote at Saturday’s council meeting at the Grange Hall, Oudemans residents can elect one non-voting advisor to the Noctis council, which manages community functions for the 6,200 residents of the Labyrinth.
The request from Oudemans, which has 217 residents, came after the former Mars DevCo, renamed Martius, announced at the start of the annos that it was handing over civic control to the local councils.
“That left us in a kind of limbo,” said Oudemans Station Manager Dalton Steele, who is a long-time resident of the surrounding community. “We’re fairly self sufficient as a remote outpost, but we still need to deal with the company and the other cities.”
Residents of Oudemans, which is 225 km overland from the Grange Hall, generally work as support staff for the Survey Mars station or on the surrounding farms.
“We also have a growing number of households that we have welcomed to homestead here,” Steele said. “We have excess farm capacity, and they’ll add to our agricultural and aquaculture capacity and variety.”
The community also provides temporary housing for visitors as well as supplies for long-distance supply trains, survey and mining crews.
Oudemans Station serves as a base for Survey Mars expeditions south and west in the Phoenicis Lacus quadrangle to Sinai and Syria Planum and as far as Arsia Mons, the southernmost of the Tharsis volcanos.
While Noctis spans more than 1,200 km, most of residents live in relatively small communities within a few days drive from the Grange Hall, which is 150 km southwest of Ares Port.
The Noctis Council welcomes the partnership with Oudemans, Noctis Councillor Francesco Pereira said.
“We have growing communities about 40 and 75 kilometers to the south,” Pereira said. “So this fits right in with our natural growth.
Orbits rise over Dust Devils
TITHONIA, Feb. 2- The WestHill Pulsars scored their third straight victory with a last period barrage of comets against the Fabrica Sprockets with a 68-67 win to lead off the third City Marsball round.
The Pulsars remain the only unbeaten team, scoring their third victory at the Terrace One Arena in front of 329 fans.
“They played to their strength, and we struggled with our shooting before the intermission,” Pulsars Captain Jerome Takahashi. “We only found our rhythm toward the end.”
The Sprockets relied on their inside strength with consistent one-point shooting, bolstered by the occasional two-point comet to lead 63-57 at the start of the final period.
But their short-game focus couldn't keep pace with the Pulsars' two pointers from outside.
The Pulsars faltered about a minute into the fourth period, losing three points with a careless comet that saw the Sprockets lead increase to nine.
The WestHill side rallied from there, blocking three meteor attempts in a row by the Fabrica team, and then piling on with a seven 2-point comets.
The Sprockets closed up too late with four meteors but missed the tying shot at the buzzer.
“Their defense kind of woke up at the end, and we couldn’t place enough of our shots,” said Sprockets forward Kiernan Shah.
Next week, the Hab 2 Dust Devils (1-1) meet the Hab 1 Rockets (1-1).
- Deroy Duval, Sports Correspondent.
Calendar
City election day. Don't forget to vote
Just log in and take your pick of Candidates Claude Paddingbury, Marcus Wu and Helen Matara. Tuesday 06:00 to 20:00.
“Sail Away”
“Sail Away” Fun scifi threedee about solar powered ships sailing the future far heavens Stage 3 Hab 1 Terrace 8, Jan. 2-Feb. 9-15, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00
City Strings
Features an engaging rendition of Pachelbel’s Canon among other selections. Mariners Hall. WestHill Terrace 4. Thursday. Friday 1300, 1600 and 1900.
The Rosettas
Get ready to dance. The Rosettas bring their Marsbeat sound to the WesHill Sky Terrace. It's up at the top. Saturday 1600-1800.
Rock Hounds
Old Earth style trio, guitar bass and drums at the Ius Forum. Friday 21:00
Geryon Song Share
Acoustic players swap songs. Geryon Agora. Two sessions. Saturday 16:00, 20:00
Coprates Swing Session
Kick up your heels at Schiapparelli Hall. Friday 18:00
Coprates Raas / Garba
Dance troupe takes it to outer space. Only one more week. Don't miss it. Schiapparelli Hall. Saturday 16:00
Dance at the Cubbies
City Residence hosts a weekly dance party outside the Cubbies, or contract worker dormitories Friday, Cubby Terrace at 18:00 Friday. Hab 1 Terrace 3. All resident are welcome.
Melas Karaoke
Brush up on all your favorite songs and get ready to sing solo, in groups or just sing to yourself at the Bottom of the Sea cantina. Friday 20:00. Melas.
City Social
Mix and mingle with new arrivals and old hands. Hab 2. Terrace 4, by Tithonia Gardens. Friday 17:00
City Farmer’s Market
Saturday. Stalls available by appointment. Fabrica (Industrial) Tube Terminal Saturday 0900-1500
Marsball Week 8
the Hab 2 Dust Devils (1-1) meet the Hab 1 Rockets (1-1). Thursday 20:00 Hab 3 Terrace One Arena
- Merry Grace, lifestyle correspondent
Classified Ads
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BORING HEADS Diamond durable. Get the job done. CANDOR 286 49762
JUMP START. Tractor Repair. Mobile unit available. If we can reach it, we can fix it. NOCTIS 260-22098
DUST BUNNIES. Turn dust into dirt. Best for plants. MELAS 285-78329
SURFSUIT Refurbishing. Fabric and boot repair, seal replacement, visor refurbishing, comms upgrades. COPRATES 297-14210
SHUTTLE AGENTS, MECHANICS for InterChasma terminals. PONTUS 100 763
CARGO HANDLERS. Space experience required. Contract exemptions considered. PONTUS 100 419
WELDERS. Experienced welders seeking space yard qualification. Ex-contract only. PONTUS 100 639
CONSTRUCTION All specialties. Some outside. Ex-contract only. GERYON 278 68034
AG ENGINEERS Hydroponics, aeroponics. Ex-contract only. IUS 278-71892
APPRENTICES Recycling systems. 8 annos and up. IUS 278 98559
APPRENTICES Metal smith, forging, casting, 8 annos (14 years) and up. URBS 269-37728
APPRENTICES Fabrics production, design. 8 annos and up. URBS 269-98523
APPRENTICES Ceramics. 8 annos and up. URBS 269-98523
APPRENTICES Environmental systems. URBS 269 81447
SPACE CAMP. Get ready for orbital work. All ages. ARES PORT 268 00910
BALLROOM DANCING Let's Rumba! URBS 269 49144
YOGA. Get the kinks out. IUS 278-43256
DANCING. All styles for adults. Hab 3 Rec Center. URBS 269 10311
STRENGTH Training for trainers. COPRATES 295 04716
The header photo is the iconic mosaic of the Valles Marineris hemisphere of Mars from 2,500 km above the surface taken by the Viking Orbiter. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The Candor Chaos Courier, Candor Chaos, Valles Marineris, Mars
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Photomosaic: Viking Orbiter: NASA/JPL-Caltech