Urbs renewal? Residents to vote on City name change
Discussion spurs wider debate about City future
URBS VALLIS, July 23 - City residents will get to decide what to call their hometown.
The City Council voted unanimously Thursday to let residents decide whether to change their hometown’s name in a wide-ranging meeting that spurred a general discussion about the future of the valley’s largest city.
Residents will be able to choose among the current name, Tithonia, Tithonium, Tithonia City or write in their own suggestions in the November City elections.
“We’ve spoken to many residents formally and informally, received messages from many, many others, and found that for the most part, City residents want to make the decision themselves,” Council President Claude Paddingbury said. “The name was originally chosen by the city founders as an alternative to PeeVeeBee One (Permanent Valley Habitation Base One), and we think this time that City residents themselves should decide.”
Scores of City residents filling the council hall cheered when the council voted to put the question on the ballot.
“I’m kind of partial to WestHill because I live on the slope beside the HabTube, and I know we’re outnumbered three-to-one, but it would be nice to have that as a specific choice on the ballot since our section was the city before the habtube,” WestHill resident Beata Bakken said.
About 15,000 people live in the terraced WestHill settlements that climb the east-facing slope alongside the 4.8 km habtube, which counts about 43,000 residents in its three sections.
The vote to put the City name question on the ballot reined in what promised to be a lengthy and lively meeting, but residents took the opportunity to quiz the council on a wider range of issues.
“Since we’re talking about the city’s future and choice, can we look into having a bit more choice in our own habitations?” first-section resident Veronica Desiderius said.
Desiderius noted that Geryon Montes in Ius Chasma provides the walls and ceilings for the habitations and leaves the furnishing to the residents, while chasma floor habitations in both Ius and Coprates can be built in a variety of configurations.
“Yes, we can walk out our doors and into the open air with plants and all, but inside it’s a bit like living in a college apartment where everyone has the exact same things down to the crockery and linens,” Desiderius said.
Paddingbury replied that not all residents are able to supply their own furnishings, nor are a number of needed items readily available for purchase from independent providers, and so the City is doing its best to ensure that residents have what they need.
“Those of us who came to Mars arrived with about a kilo of personal effects, though new arrivals can bring more. It’s not like we brought our dishes and linens,” Paddingbury said. “That means the City has to provide those things and it’s easier if we standardize.”
To that end, the Council has focused on ensuring that habitations provide essential supplies and equipment, while the city prioritizes what Paddingbury called “very livable, shared spaces.”
“We have a beautiful city from the top terrace of WestHill to the north end of the third habtube section,” Paddingbury said. “There’s nowhere else on Mars where you can walk for kilometers in the open air and enjoy the gardens, the woods, the farms and ponds.”
Third-section resident Antonia Coyoacan asked whether the city has given any thought to providing more flexibility in the design of the habitations so that residents could have a choice of layouts or more easily modify them to adapt to the space to their own family needs.
“That would be handy when families have another child or two,” Coyoacan said. “Surely, we could program the wall printer models to build a variety of layouts, or provide a bigger open space that we can divide into the spaces we need.”
The standardization is a conscious choice the city had made to ensure enough residential space was available to meet the expected growth for at least five annos ahead and to provide a better city-wide environment, Councillor and City Planning Commission chief Marcus Wu said.
“You can design your own space in Ius and Geryon, but they’re more like WestHill with smaller open spaces. At least in WestHill, you can walk into the open space of the Habtube,” Wu said. “Outside the City and the main settlements, you can bore out a space to your liking, but you’ll still be living in a cave with at best a skylight.”
A second-section resident asked whether the City had considered providing open retail space that could be used for residents wishing to start independent businesses or for open markets for crafts and home-farmed vegetables such as in the Ius Forum, or the Geryon Agora, where an expansion plan has just been approved.
“We’re not all scientists now,” Joshua Asta said. “We have a growing support community and they have families, not all of whom are going to become scientists. More people are making the kinds of household goods, from linens to dishes, that residents want, but they have to do it in their homes.”
The City does provide space for small businesses, such as surfsuit repair, and crafts including fabric and ceramics in the industrial area between the City and Ares Port, in addition to a weekly swap market in the main tube station, but generally does not want to mix residential areas and business, Councillor Tiberia Hernandez said.
“We recognize that means taking the Tube from the City, but even then, you don’t have to put on a surfsuit to reach those areas unless you’re planning on going outside,” Hernandez said.
Adding space for artisans and crafts would enhance the city environment, Asta said. “It would make it more like a little village or city neighborhood with everything within walking distance.”
This story was corrected July 38 to show the number of residents in the habtube at 43,000, rather than 48,000, which is the overall capacity.
Ius to expands Geryon Agora for crafts, shops, dining
French Cafe and brewpub on tap
IUS CHASMA, July 22 - The Geryon Agora will be getting a new look with small shops, dedicated stalls for arts and crafts as well as a brew pub and a restaurant.
The Ius Council adopted a proposal Wednesday to expand the Agora with dedicated individual and shared spaces for independent businesses, crafts and small restaurants as part of the larger expansion project to house an additional 10,000 people on Geryon Montes.
“Our city is growing, and and changing, and the expansion of the Agora will make sure we keep pace with those changes as well as provide an appealing and engaging community,” Ius Councillor Brynn Gibby said.
With its soaring skylit galleria on Geryon’s top terrace, the Agora has become a meeting place for residents of the Monte’s residential terraces and all of Ius as well with a number of activities from music to “pub crawls” hosted by local home brewers.
Among the first businesses will be a cooperative brew pub, led by Rick Zheng who hosts the regular Agora “pub crawl” and a French-style cafe, or casual restaurant.
The expansion project will add a skylight dome leading to a second galleria, with the retail and commercial spaces excavated out of the mountainside, and will serve as a link between the existing and newer sections of Geryon, Gibby said.
“We initially planned the Agora with a significant expansion in mind,” Gibby said. “Even in the existing galleria, there is plenty of undeveloped space that can be put to work.”
The wider expansion project, approved by Ius in June, would add terraced farms and enough residential space for 10,000 people along a 5km stretch of the north slope of Geryon Montes. About 11,000 people now live in Geryon and more than 12,000 in Ius, which spreads out along the lower slope and onto the chasma bottom.
The Geryon residential project in Ius Chasma, about 500 km SSE of Urbs Vallis, has sparked strong opposition from City officials who maintain that all such substantial projects require City approval. The Ius Council has flatly rejected that assertion as the entire project can be completed without any outside support.
The Agora expansion will create a bigger community space, with a spectacular view of the chasma, for the growing community, Ius Councillor Eugenia Velazquez said. It will provide a mix of dedicated and shared spaces.
“We can put the business part of the businesses into excavated spaces and provide space around the terrace for the public-facing parts, for instance tables outside the restaurants and stalls for farmer’s markets, crafts and artisans, and restaurants, Velazquez said. That includes, for instance, the brewery tanks and restaurant kitchens.
The city will lease space for varing uses on a daily, short and longer term basis, Velazquez said.
“The businesses will have to supply that equipment themselves, but we will provide a long enough lease so that their investments makes sense,” Velazquez said.
The brew pub coop will be called “Rick’s,” Zheng said, and provide local brewer and opportunity to showcase their craft on a rotating basis.
The Café du Monte, planned by agriculturist Janine Depaysage will serve light meals and beverages from coffee and baked goods at breakfast to lunch and dinner.
“I see the cafe as a community meeting place, really. People want to meet and chat and enjoy nice meals and maybe a glass of wine,” said Depaysage, a recent arrival in Geryon. The former City resident had proposed opening a cafe in an under-used canteen in the habtube’s second section, but was turned down by the planning commission in June.
“As a farmer who loves to cook, this is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” Depaysage said. “I’m grateful that Ius has made it possible.”
Fast packet Caraval expected to rendezvous with scout Beansí
Caraval to try course correction as thrusters remain out
ARES PORT, July 25 - The fast packet Caraval, which is struggling with stubborn engine trouble ahead of a needed braking burn as it approaches Mars, is expected to rendezvous with the scout-class explorer ship Beansí this week, both ships confirmed by radio.
The Caraval, with five crew and 12 passengers aboard, is scheduled to make trajectory adjustments in 9 sols that to bring it into a a wider, more eccentric orbit around Mars, but using stabilizers instead of thrusters, Mission Control Cmdr. Ceres Piazzi said Friday.
“It won’t be as pretty or as precise as we’d like, but we’ll bring them in,” Piazzi said.
The Caraval first reported thruster problems three weeks ago, but the engine trouble is not limited to the thrusters, sources who have been in contact with the Caraval said.
The ship, piloted by experienced Capt. Peregrinus Aeolus, is reported to be experiencing a system-wide issue, either digital or mechanical as it continues on a ballistic course for now.
Mission Control has not commented on the extent or cause of the engine problems nor on the names of the passengers on board, though such flights are generally reserved for top-level managers and scientists.
In addition to the passengers, the fusion-powered craft is carrying high value cargo including nano- and quantum processors from Earth orbital factories.
The Beansí will shadow the Caraval as it approaches Mars, Beansí Capt. Electra O’Ceileachair radioed. The scout Boudicca also has diverted to accompany the Caraval, though no confirmation has been received as yet from Capt. Attracta O’Ceileachair,.
Separately Electra O’Ceileachair radios, “Oy, Courier, it’s Beansi with an ‘e’ like whiskey.” The editors regret the error and have made the necessary corrections in Issues 2, 3 and 6.
Rescued Xanthe Terra survey crew heads for Welles
ORSON WELLES, July 24 - The six-person survey crew rescued last week from a deep cavern collapse is on its way here for a rest break after discovering an unsuspected habitat nearly a kilometer underground.
Survey Mars officials said they plan an official inquiry into the settlement, but declined to comment further.
The six-person survey crew spent more than six weeks in the massive cavern complex where their tractor was trapped by a cave-in about 4 km from the cavern entrance and nearly 1 km below the surface in the Shalbatana Vallis north of Orson Welles crater and 2,800 km from the City.
The crew was initially rescued by a group of people who had carved out an independent habitation in the complex with farming, water and power resources. The number of people, the size of their habitation and their future plans were all unknown at this point, survey team leader Eustace Saint-Lazare said.
“We’ll make contact again and figure out what exactly it is they’re doing,” Saint-Lazare said, holding the ginger cat Meteor he was given by the underground Martians. “We can’t easily go back the way we came, but now that we’ve made contact, we’ll try to stay in touch.”
- Jenna Maris
Contract Choas - AWOL
URBS VALLIS, July 24 - The City Labor Council is asking work supervisors to be more proactive in reporting contractors who have stopped showing up at their posts as it can help prevent a number of safety problems as well as ensure that the city has the proper staffing in all its posts.
“Supervisors have a duty to their staff and to their own work sections to ensure that the City has the proper staffing, particularly in critical areas including environmental, recycling and maintenance functions. Absences can pose a direct health and safety threat to individuals and the community,” the council said in a statement.
A council official declined to comment on whether there has been an increase in unexplained absences but said, “We don’t bring people all the way from Earth for no reason. Every contractor has a necessary job that impacts everyone in the City. Untrained staff that leave the City can expose themselves to unnecessary danger.”
The council last week added an extra annos to the contract of a construction specialist who left his job and traveled to Noctis, only to be later found unconscious in a surfsuit on the border of the Labyrinth.
- Mirihi Merced
Calendar
Darling Dahlias
The big dahlias are coming into bloom at the Tithonia Gardens, adding to the stunning colors in its summer flower exhibit. Black-eyed susans, daisies, cosmos and zinnias, too. Through July. Habtube 2, Terrace 4 Through July. Habtube 2, Terrace 4
Books our parents brought from home
The Tithonia Museum is hosting an exhibition of some of the many hundreds of paper books that immigrants to Mars brought on their 500 million km journey to their new home. Owners are on hand to tell the stories of their books. Through end-July. East Terrace 12
"Landslide" Early explorers take a long tumble down a valley wall. Adventure threedee. Stage 3. Hab 1. Terrace 8 July 29-35, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00
Let's Swing Classic dance music with horns and strings. Geryon Agora. 1600 Saturday July 25
City Social. Mix and mingle with new arrivals and old hands. Hab 2. Terrace 4, by Tithonia Gardens. Every Friday 17:00
- Merry Grace, lifestyle correspondent
The Chaos Courier helps you over the rough spots.
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FUSION PLASMA SPECIALIST Compact designs. Ex-contract only. CANDOR 286 25120
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TUTORS. All subjects for all ages, part-time. Must travel. NOCTIS 260 10610
APPRENTICES Recycling systems. 8 annos (14 years) and up. IUS 278 98559
APPRENTICES Aquaculture. 8 annos and up. COPRATES 295 59953
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APPRENTICES Fabrics production, design. 8 annos and up. URBS 269 98523
APPRENTICES Interior design, fabrication, 8 annos and up IUS 278 42239
GUITAR, City Samba Troupe. Looking for the rhythm URBS 269-54391
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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)
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Photomosaic: Viking Orbiter: NASA/JPL-Caltech