City seeks missing Martians
The ultimate adventure
URBS VALLIS, July 38 - Hundreds of residents registered in the Tithonium habtube no longer live there, a gap that has been widening over the last two annos, City Councillor Karina Hermetta said at Thursday’s council meeting.
The number of missing Martians, as she called them, now stands at several hundred, Hermetta said, while declining to provide exact figures.
Council President Claude Paddingbury said the Council would investigate the matter further, but that it was not a scheduled agenda item and moved the council on to other business.
After the meeting Hermetta and Councillor Tiberia Hernandez provided more details.
“Many of these residents simply stopped showing up for work, and their habs have been found empty,” Hermetta said. “We’re concerned about their safety, first of all, and we are concerned that many are in violation of their work contracts.”
Hermetta first broached the topic at the July 16 meeting where the City Council voted to go ahead with the fourth planned 1.6 km section of the habitational tube. (Issue 07)
The City Labor Council, which includes City Councillor Tiberia Hernandez, asked work supervisors on July 24 (Issue 08) to be more proactive in reporting contractors who have stopped reporting for work.
“It’s problem,” Hernandez said after the Council adjourned. “Some contractors have simply stopped reporting for work, and it can take some time before the Labor Council hears about it.”
While Hernandez declined to provide official figures, public Labor Council records indicate that reports of more than 80 missing workers were being investigated at the beginning of July. Hernandez stressed that other chasmata have a duty to report missing contract workers.
It’s dangerous outside
Workers who are insufficiently trained for outdoor travel risk serious injury and death. In addition, even seemingly routine jobs, like air scrubber maintenance, play a vital role in maintaining a closed system like the habtube.
“That’s a danger to those workers, and a danger for the City. Those jobs need to be done, especially in a closed system like the habtube,” Hernandez said. “Mars isn’t Earth, yet. You can’t just wander around.”
Still, the City and Ares Port have excellent safety records inside and for outdoor shuttle, transit, supply train and construction crews. Instances of accidental death remain very rare, according to City records.
It’s not just workers leaving before their contract term has expired, but rather that the City faces more competition for highly skilled workers able to operate in a demanding environment.
"We all hear the rumors that it's better in Ius or Candor, that there’s more opportunity," said construction specialist Isabella Hayes, who arrived in May 98. “Yes, it’s beautiful, but still it’s a bit like living in a large shopping galleria, without the shops or restaurants. There’s this great big world out there, and you can feel really penned in. Everything is so planned here.”
The City population is estimated at 58,000 with 43,000 in the three habtube sections and 15,000 in the terraced WestHill habitations. Census Mars declines to provide exact figures.
While a housing official would not comment on the number of missing residents, the official did not disagree with Hermetta’s estimate.
Utility and environmental staff, however, estimated that the number could be around 500. The staff continuously monitors use of resources, such as water and power, as well as recycling demand as it is a crucial part of overall environmental control.
“Our systems don’t monitor individual units, but even at a terrace level, you notice when a few habitations stop using water. The rest is just math,” said one habtube environmental staffer who declined to be identified. Other environmental and utility staff agreed with the estimate.
Adventure wanted
More than 7,000 City residents are still working under 3-annos transport contracts, with roughly about a third of them scheduled to go ex-contract in January, and some 2,500 new contract workers are expected to arrive on the November supply train.
Immigrants arrive with 2-1/2 annos remaining on their contracts, which provide a half-annos offset for the roughly 260-day journey from Earth. Except in special cases, transport contracts only cover workers in the City, Ares Port, and the Mars Carousel. Shipyard specialists generally work under individually negotiated contracts.
While workers from Luna, L5 and Earth orbitals are used to the City’s living constraints, the transition can be jarring for those who have come from Earth itself.
"They tell you one story when they're selling Mars back on Earth," said aquaculturist Roberto Munda, who arrived in July 99. "Yes it’s better here for most of us who signed the deal, and we’re doing something transformational, but it's not quite the adventure they’re selling,” Munda said. “We saw some of Mars, but mostly we’re here in the City and that’s it.”
Housing may be a reason for dissatisfaction for some workers. Workers who have been here for two annos and are still living in the dorms, or cubbies, are aware that there are vacancies in habtube 3, and aware that not every apartment resident still lives there, Munda said.
Habtube 2 resident Eos Dao, a load specialist for supply trains to Ius, Melas and Coprates, said she and her husband, a mining and construction engineer, were planning to move to Melas, or even Orson Welles.
“People are leaving because they want more interesting jobs, more personal space, or they want to explore and homestead. That’s what we want. We want to live that adventure and Mars is the ultimate adventure. “
Scout Boudicca bringing rest of Caraval passengers back
Beansí, Jove headed to Carousel
ARES PORT, July 39 - The six remaining passengers from the Caraval have boarded the explorer scout Boudicca and are en route to the Mars Carousel as two other ships chase the fast packet to either repair its engine troubles or return with the crew.
“We’re going for Option A, repair,” Mission Control Cmdr. Ceres Piazzi said. “But regardless, we will get everyone home.”
Nine people remain aboard the Caraval, including Capt. Peregrinus Aeolus, four of his crew and four crew from the privately owned scouts Beansí and Boudicca, who swapped places with the passengers traveling from the Astra Earth orbital station.
The Caraval docked with the Boudicca on Thursday as it made its closest pass to Mars. Mission Control has sent its scout Jove to rendezvous with the Caraval on Monday, and the privately owned scout Beansí is expected to catch the two ships on Thursday.
The Beansí, which picked up six passengers on Wednesday July 28, dropped them off at the Mars Carousel early Thursday, re-supplied and refueled and left late Thursday after a brief stop at the shipyard to pick up unspecified parts and equipment.
“We’re going to make more attempts at repair,” Piazzi said, but declined to go into detail on what those repairs might be.
Once the Boudicca drops off the remaining passengers, it would return to the Caraval if warranted, Piazzi said.
The Beansí and Boudicca, captained by Electra and Attracta O’Ceileachair, respectively, were scheduled to return to Mars in early July after a two-annos exploration of the asteroid belt, but diverted to the Caraval to render assistance and to retrieve the passengers.
Caraval Capt. Aeolus, an accomplished flight commander and engineer who has piloted lunar and research voyages, first reported thruster trouble five weeks ago and was only able to make a minor course adjustment rather than a scheduled deceleration burn to bring it into Mars orbit.
The last manned ship to miss Mars was the Planitus Barsoom 32 annos ago which left Earth orbit with 97 people on board, most of them scientists.
The ship went silent before it neared Mars and continued past, sparking a variety of theories, including a significant hull breach. The Carousel was just a collection of used spaceships at the time and there were no ships to chase the Planitus.
The Caraval's troubles have spurred Mars Carousel (Pontus Caelestis) management to establish a dedicated rescue capability ahead of the November arrival of the latest supply train from Earth.
Carousel management has proposed acquiring and outfitting one ship by November for rescue missions, and another one the following year, so that two rescue ships are available or in action all times.
“We were lucky that the two scouts were in the area and that they were able to get to the Caraval so quickly,” Pontus Caelestis Manager Johannes Tycho said. “Space travel has always been dangerous, but we’re not going to depend on luck going forward.”
Explorer heads back to Shalbatana caverns
The future is now on mars
SHALBATANA VALLIS, July 38 - A ginger cat, resting on his shoulder, celebrated Mars explorer Eustace Saint-Lazare looked out from the cab of a heavy duty tractor at the sunlit west wall of this ancient valley rising nearly 3 km to the rim.
“That’s why I’m out here,” Saint-Lazare said. “Mars is awe inspiring. Even this little valley is nearly twice as deep as the Grand Canyon on Earth—yeah, it’s just dust and rocks, but think about how much water had to flow through here to the Northern Ocean—and it all didn’t just disappear into space.”
Saint-Lazare was headed north in the tractor driven by a former explorer teammate, Orson Welles-based Perpetua Heathering to revisit the underground settlement his crew accidentally discovered in a deep cavern northeast of Welles.
“Officially, I’m on leave after getting stuck in that cave for six weeks, but I got a personal invite to come back and I want to see what they’re building, and Pep (Heathering) agreed to take me,” Saint-Lazare said.
He and his crew were rescued after six weeks in the cavern by a Welles crew led by Heathering and a rescue crew sent by Survey Mars.
The crew’s tractor fell in a collapse of the floor of a tunnel about 4km from the cavern entrance and nearly 1 km below the surface that came as a marsquake shook the complex June 35, or 15 sols after the survey crew entered.
Saint-Lazare talked about some of his journeys with Survey Mars crews in explorations from Olympus and Arsia Mons to the Corprates and Margaritifer quadrangles,
“When you look up at a 6 km cliff across from Geryon, or wander the Labyrinth, a maze with walls 2 km and 3 km high, it’s awe-some in the true meaning of the word. It’s other worldly.”
The latest journey wasn’t the first time, one of his crews got stuck. He was stranded near Arisa Mons in a pit chain field and had to winch one of the tractors away from a potential drop of hundreds of meters.
Now in Heathering’s tractor and headed back to the underground settlement, the cat, Meteor, hissed and jumped into a passenger’s lap when the vehicle lurched to the left on a decline.
“That happened in the cavern,” Saint-Lazare said. “We lurched one way, then the other and then down. We just fell. It still feels kind of leisurely to me, even 20 annos after I left Earth. You fall a bit quicker there. That fall would have been 3 seconds on Earth and about 8 here on Mars. You get a little more time to think about it. We still hit the ground pretty hard. And we brought the roof down with us. That’s what knocked out our comms.”
Meteor mewed.
“Course the cat, led us to the homestead. We saw it running to a hole in the wall. That was good for us and good for them, cause we sealed up the crack that was letting all their air out,” said Saint-Lazare, who worked with explorer crews on the moon before moving to Mars in the early 80s.
The exploration crew met about ten of the people from the deep settlement, but it wasn’t clear how many people total were living there.
“They weren’t overly chatty and they didn’t give us the grand tour, but they did feed us, pretty well, and gave us some fine coffee. Still, we made a good enough impression ‘cause they invited me back, with a few friends—and you (this reporter),” Saint-Lazare said.
The homesteaders also provided directions for a more direct route to the settlement using a different entrance to the caverns, where Survey Mars recently observed some work clearing the opening along the valley wall and not far from a large crater.
“I expect they’re looking to get ahead of whatever Survey Mars and Mars DevCo might have in mind. If they’re self-sustaining, they’re likely fine, but still there’s going to be a bit of a discussion. I’m happy to help work with them if it’s the right thing. But we won’t know until we see.”
While Mars DevCo has focused on Valley settlements and long-term plans for orbital factories, it has also sought to nurture settlements further off.
The company sponsored the City, fostering its growth from a scientific outpost into the first sustainable community on Mars, and also Ius, Melas and Coprates, which have taken a more independent path.
Noctis has been a homesteader community from the start.
“It takes a special kind of person to live in the Labyrinth,” Saint-Lazare said, looking toward Heathering, who lived in Noctis before moving to Welles. “That landscape can make you crazy.”
Candor has grown more organically, like Noctis and Welles, first with homesteaders and now with a growing independent industrial base.
“Then Sven Surtrsson figured out how to put fusion in a smaller jar, and Candor grew from there, making what people need to homestead,” Saint-Lazare said. “If you’ve got a couple of BarVoom power packs, food, balloon habs and the right supplies and equipment, you can pretty much build whatever you need.”
Still, having identified the potential resources in Shalbatana, Mars DevCo and Survey Mars aren’t likely to just let them go, particularly water, without “a kerfuffle,” Saint-Lazare said.
“They don’t send us out joy-riding. They’ve got a good idea of what they want to check out. They have a good idea of what the potential resources might be,” Saint-Lazare said.
City Council President Claude Paddingbury last week called for greater oversight of homesteading within and outside the Valley following the discovery of the unknown settlement, but officials from other chasmata argue the City is exceeding its authority.
Survey Mars sent the explorers to investigate the potential for very significant water resources as well as the suitability of the deep caverns for habitation.
“Survey Mars figured that’d be sometime in the future for the habitation,” Saint-Lazare said, “but it’s Mars and the future is now.”
Contract Choas - Traveling Show
URBS VALLIS, July 38 - The City Labor Council added a 100-sol extension to a contract for a logistics worker who was absent for nearly 50 sols.
Logistics specialist Constance Echo argued that the absence was a clerical error, and that she had been assigned to staff a supply train to Ius and Geryon.
“They were short a cargo specialist and had to leave right away. I asked my supervisor and got permission to do so. I dropped everything and left to help them out,” Echo argued. “I wasn’t expecting to be punished for it.”
The Council, in consultation with management, found that the absence had not been properly approved or reported.
- Mirihi Merced
Calendar
City mulls a little more business
The City Council will discuss expanding private business space at the Industrial Tube Terminal between the City and Ares Port and invites residents to present proposals. Council Meeting Hall 1900 Thursday July 44
A long road ahead?
Noctis and Ius to consider road printing project to connect Ares Port and Ius. Noctis Grange Hall, Ius Council room Ius Forum Wednesday July 43 7 p.m
Books our parents brought to Mars
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. Only ten days left. Through end-July. East Terrace 12
"Dust Devils" The ultimate Mars fright threedee is back. Stage 3. Hab 1. Terrace 8 July 44-50, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00
Geryon Pub Crawl Real Home brews brewed at home. Open table area. Geryon Agora. Saturday 17:00,
City Social. Mix and mingle with new arrivals and old hands. Hab 2. Terrace 4, by Tithonia Gardens. Acoustic due Harris and Fitz find the island of the lost and found. Every Friday 17:00
- Merry Grace, lifestyle correspondent
The Chaos Courier helps you over the rough spots.
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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