Missing Martian: The call of Candor Chaos
Epic journey brings a bit of home
CANDOR CHASMA, Oct. 30 - Self-described tinkerer, inventor and adventurer, Artemis Tungolwys walked along the rainbow colored house-fronts inside the sandglass residential gallery here and talked about his journey through space and chaos to his new home.
“When I first saw the bright reds and yellows and blues of the habs here, it brought me back 40 years and a few hundred million miles to when I was a boy growing up in a little port on a northern sea,” said Tungol. “Sailing in on the grey, foggy days, the bright colors let you know you were home, and so it was for me here.”
Tungolwys, who has created a smaller, more efficient dust removal system for cargo cabs and residential habs since coming to Candor, is among the Missing Martians.
That’s what City (Urbs Vallis) officials have called, workers who left their jobs and habs in Mars’ biggest settlement without notice.
The environmental engineer left the City to see more of Mars and to indulge his passion for invention.
In Candor, he has found a welcome environment for his skills in the community’s inventors “sandbox” that has nurtured projects such as the BarVoom compact fusion units.
“I got here as soon as I could, as they say, but I took the roundabout route,” said Tungolwys, who left the City soon after his transport contract ended nearly 2 annos ago in late 99.
High plains drifter
That slow journey overland across the high plains gave Tungolwys plenty of time to think about how the vexing dust problem.
While a few people travel by air shuttle, most take the land routes through the Valles Marineris between Mars’ biggest towns.
From the City and Ares Port, that route leads southwest to Noctis Labyrinthus, and then east to Ius and Geryon, Melas and then north to Candor or further east to Coprates, some 1,600 km from the City.
Instead, Tungolwys traveled 500 km east from the City through Tithonium Chasma and climbed nearly 3 km up onto the high plains to reach the research station in Perrotin Crater north of the Valley.
“Got a job as a mechanic, well the title was engineer on the supply train. Crawled up a landslide onto the high plains and found a different world,” Tungolwys said of the nearly 40-sol, 800 km trop that marked the first part of his journey.
While Valley dwellers are used to the towering chasma walls, there are few landmarks except craters up on the high plain.
“Up there, it’s just you and the dusty sky,” Tungolwys said. “It feels like one bump could send you into space.”
At Perrotin, Tungolwys swapped jobs with the engineer on a hopper tractor, which can jump in and out of the chasmata, as part of a Mars Survey group going further east.
They explored the length of Hebes Chasma to the north of Perrotin before dropping south into Ophir Chasma, directly north of Candor Chasma.
“After we hopped down into Ophir, we lost our hop, and that slowed us down some,” Tungolwys said.
Some 50 sols later after picking their way through the maze of Candor Chaos, Tungolwys finally reached Candor.
When he walked along Candor’s main residential gallery, he thought he’d found home again.
“After all that rusty red dust and dirt, you’re ready for a little color, and the bright houses reminded me of home back on Earth, so I stayed,” Tungolwys said.
Sailing seas and space
His overland trip from the City marked the latest part of a long journey from Earth up to work in the industrial orbitals and then in Luna’s mining and manufacturing facilities, and finally Mars more than 4 annos ago.
“In 18 sols, I’ll have been off contract for two annos,” said Tungolwys, who decided to leave the city because he wanted a more freedom to “tinker a bit.”
“Mostly, we were tweaking things around the edges, but they knew what worked and they didn’t want to change that, even if you saw a better way,” Tungolwys said. “That’s why Sven Surtrsson came here to Candor. He knew he could make a better, smaller fusion system.”
Surtrsson’s compact BarVoom fusion systems are widely used among homesteading communities and for larger overland cargo trains and are credited as a major factor in the expanding settlements on Mars.
Using that as inspiration, Tungolwys developed his Dust Magnet for small airlocks for habs and mobile units that replaces bulkier and less efficient systems.
“I had plenty of time to contemplate dust,” Tungolwys said. “How it sticks to everything, how it gets in, how to get it out, and I sketched out an idea.”
What Tungolwys needed was a place to make that idea real, which he says wasn’t possible in his City job,
“I didn’t want to keep doing what I already knew how to do,” Tungolwys said. “So when I got the chance to take a temporary job to Perrotin, I did. Only the temporary became permanent.”
Candor’s inventors “sandbox” tuned out to be just the place Tungolwys needed to build and refine his Dust Magnet system, which have become increasingly popular among cargo trains and in habs here and in Melas and Coprates.
“We’re filling orders for Ius now, and hope to add Noctis and the City soon,” Tungolwys said of his nascent enterprise.
And he’s using it in the hab he’s homesteading just past the north end of the Candor terrace with the bright house fronts, and which will be brought under an extended sandglass gallery over time.
“When that’s done, I’m going to paint my housefront red, like my old home.”
Remedial safety classes ahead in Mars' biggest city
"Missing Martians" add up
URBS VALLIS, Oct. 28 - Irene Vedra missed having to take remedial safety classes by three seconds.
With her three children staring up at her through the visors in their safety suits, Vedra struggled to get her right arm into her own suit before its alert sounded.
A helping hand from a passerby helped her get the suit fully on and sealed 87 seconds into the breach test in Hab 1 on Tuesday.
Her children clapped in their suited hands.
"The kids were in their suits in like 10 seconds,” Vedra said over her radio. “I put the wrong leg in first, had to pull it out, nearly tripped, and then the kids all started to help at once, all of them saying ‘left leg, left arm, helmet, right leg right arm, seal’ all at once.”
Three more seconds and Vedra would have been required to spend a couple Saturday mornings in remedial safety classes along with 981 other City residents from WestHill Terraces and all three HabTube sections who weren’t quite fast enough.
“It’s a 98 percent pass rate, which is good, but it’s nearly a thousand people who would have needed help or been in real danger,” City Safety Inspector Irwin Mather said.
The drills took place at different times throughout the week in sealed off terraces in WestHill and through each of the three 1.6 km HabTube sections.
“Most of the people just need to get into their suits quicker, but some didn’t get into a suit at all, whether because they couldn’t get to one fast enough or didn’t bother,” Mather said.
“Safety suits are stored in public closets throughout the City and no one should be more than a minute from a suit at any time,” Mather said.
Outside, Mars is always trying to kill you
Eli Lota is one of the people who’s headed for remedial class.
“I was on a run way out at the end of Hab 3 when the alarm went off. That’s the unfinished part,” Lota said. “I ran to one closet, but it wasn’t actually finished, so no suits. I ran to the next one, and got my left leg and arm in a suit, when time ran out.”
Lota said he’s hoping that they’ll let him test out of the remedial class.
“I’m pretty sure I can get in a suit in less than 20 seconds, and it’s not my fault the closet was empty,” Lota said.
The drills also answered a question that’s been of keen interest since City Councillor Karina Hermetta mentioned the problem of what she called the “Missing Martians” in a City Council meeting in July.
Hermetta noted that hundreds of people registered as living in the Tithonium HabTubes no longer live there
“We’re in the process of checking on 319 non-responses,” Mather said. “That means we’re going to their habs and jobs to verify if they are still here or have left. If they’re here, they’re going to remedial class.”
Asked why that count isn’t automatic, Mather called it a question of privacy.
“People can turn off the suit trackers completely. They can set the trackers to just family and exclude their bosses in non-work hours. Yes, we can go back to the exit videos, but if someone’s going to the cargo depot and getting on a train, they may not be back for a hundred sols.”
Still, very, very few people choose to go outside without a live tracker, Mather said
“Surfsuits are supposed to ping their positions automatically when sense the exterior pressure drop,” Mather said. “But in perimeter areas, we automatically check video of people outdoors against tracking in case someone’s tracker went off.”
Those efforts save a few people every annos, Mather said.
“We have saved people who were getting into trouble with their suits, but almost no one turns off their pinger outdoors,” Mather said. ”One, it’s not easy, and two, Mars is always trying to kill you outside.”
Mars City needs a nightclub, councillor says
Proposal comes three weeks before election
URBS VALLIS, Oct. 27 - After shutting down an unapproved nightclub last month, the City should consider reopening it under the supervision of its own dining and recreation staff, Councillor Luca Matteo proposed at Thursday’s council meeting.
Since the 'City Speakeasy' club was shut down, scores of residents have continued to meet every Saturday on the nearby terrace in the third Habtube section, for informal music and dance sessions.
“Clearly, residents want a little bit of nightlife,” Matteo said, drawing sustained applause from the audience. “They want a place to meet up outside of work and outside of official venues. They want a place where they can dance and socialize.”
Matteo, whose proposal comes just three weeks ahead of the November election, said the nightclub could be easily reopened in the space that is slated to become a City-run cafeteria.
“All the work has been done at no cost to the City. We just need to turn the lights back on,” Matteo said. “We could bring in the people who were running it for themselves to run it at no cost.”
Like much of the northern part of the third Habtube section, the future canteen has not been officially completed but had been equipped with working kitchens and refrigerated storage.
The speakeasy’s six partners, whose names have not yet released, were referred to Tithonia Superior Court in September, but the court is not expected to take any action before the November election.
“They’ll do it to avoid having an extra annos or two added to their labor contract,” Matteo said. “And they’ll have fun doing it. They can mix drinks without alcohol.”
The City already offers a variety of social, recreation and entertainment programs including the weekly Social, threedees, and concerts, Council President Claude Paddingbury noted.
“We should not in any way condone what was a serious misuse of City facilities, nor ignore the associated safety considerations,” Paddingbury said.
The City officially bans alcohol though many residents with the appropriate skill sets make their own.
Councillor Marcus Wu, who is president of the City Planning Commission, argued that would make the canteen a quasi-independent business serving food and that the City had already rejected a proposal for an independent restaurant in June.
“We provide sufficient dining facilities for every resident,” Wu said. “There’s no need to set up businesses to compete with the canteens, but perhaps the councillor (Matteo) is more interested in drumming up votes at the moment.”
Paddingbury tapped his gavel in reproach at Wu’s comment and recognized Councillor Herald Severus, who replied that the Council should be paying attention to issues that cause dissatisfaction among city workers, hundreds of whom have left for the other chasmata.
“Without pandering,” Severus said, “we should give, at the very least, serious consideration to issues being raised by our workers and our residents. If there are easy solutions, we should evaluate them, or risk losing even more workers to the other chasmata.”
The City is changing, and growing from its roots as a scientific and pioneering settlement, said second section resident Joshua Asta, who is running for a Council seat.
“Certainly, almost all of us have some scientific background that brought us here and enables us to live in a very challenging environment, but we are more and more a small city with a wider variety of residents,” Asta said. “We should recognize and embrace that change.”
“If it would make our residents’ lives a bit better, then providing a nightclub venue at little cost to the City would seem a logical step,” Asta said.
While the City does provide a variety of entertainment options, a little nightlife would provide a needed venue for residents to meet new people outside of their normal work and residential circles, first section resident Veronica Desiderius said.
“While we all appreciate the string concerts and threedees, we also want a place to have a little fun,” Desiderius said. “Lots of people are taking dance lessons or joining dance clubs, let’s give them a place to use those skills. Making Mars biggest city a happier place, isn’t pandering.”
Calendar
Tea Time
Now we know what that odd structure is by the koi pond in Hab 3. City Engineer Shigeru Kashira and his wife, nutritionist Asana Kashira, have been building an open style tea house in the Japanese-style garden beside the pond.
Even better, they’ve been nursing tea plants for the last two annos in a shared garden plot. The Kashiras are inviting residents to join them for tea Saturday on the hour from 10:00 to 14;00,
Hab 3 Terrace 1, south side. RSVP essential as only 20 guests will be admitted for each session.
Sorry, no scones or cucumber sandwiches. That’s a different kind of tea time. Message City Parks to RSVP
Mmmmm Mums
The Tithonia Gardens chrysanthemum display is a rainbow of autumn colors, with great big masses of flowers. Stop by the fern forest greenhouse for hourly tours. Through end October. Habtube 2, Terrace 4
City farmers' market
Going green with veggie envy? Get to the City farmer's market. Stalls available by appointment. Industrial Tube Terminal. Saturday 0900-1500
City Strings Quartet
Quartet performs selections from Dvorak’s American Quartet. WestHill Terrace 4 Friday-Saturday 19:00
“Crater Crawler”
Scifi creature thriller threedee. You may jump out of your seat a time or two. Stage 3. Hab 1. Terrace 8 Oct. 34-Oct. 40, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00
Spike
Ready for some beach volley ball? Jump as high as you can off the sand. Learn to play volleyball at the new Hab3 beach. Saturday, Sunday sessions. 08:00, 10:00, 12:00. North Beach Hab 3 Terrace 1. Just show up dressed to play.
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
Classified Ads
JUMP START. Tractor Repair. Mobile unit available. If we can reach it, we can fix it. NOCTIS 260-22098
DUST MAGNET. Won’t let the dust get past the airlock. CANDOR 286 87919
FURNITURE Printer Stock. And cushions for a comfy seat IUS 278 58897
WALL PRINTERS All shapes and contours. MELAS 285 45672
SURFSUIT Refurbishing. Fabric and boot repair, seal replacement, visor refurbishing, comms upgrades. COPRATES 297-14210
ROCKET SCIENTIST. Engine upgrade project, Ex-contract only. PONTUS 100 637
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
DRILLING specialists, supervisors and crew. Ex-contract only MELAS 285 13941
APPRENTICES Environmental systems. URBS 269 81447
APPRENTICES Applied electrostatics CANDOR 286 22460
APPRENTICES Construction. Interior. GERYON 278 65689
APPRENTICES Fabrics production, design. 8 annos and up. URBS 269-98523
APPRENTICES Ceramics. 8 annos and up. URBS 269-98523
SPACE CAMP. Get ready for orbital work. All ages. ARES PORT 268 00910
RAAS / GARBA Dance performers for existing troupe. COPRATES 295 45788
BALLROOM DANCING Cha-cha, cha-cha-cha! URBS 269 49144
GUITARISTS Rumba, flamenco, mariachi GERYON 278 48190
YOUTH CHORUS. Want to sing? URBS 269 13930
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