City agrees to buy itself in amicable split with corporate parent
Does everyone get a share?
TITHONIA, Jan. 28 - The City of Tithonia will buy itself from the company that built it under an agreement approved unanimously at Thursday’s City Council meeting.
“This is a very clean break on this issue,” Council President Claude Paddingbury said. “We’re grateful to corporate leadership for this agreement, which is in both our best interests.”
While rumors had spread about potential Earth buyers, the main issue for Martius Endeavours, the former Mars DevCo, was ensuring that its workers would continue to receive appropriate accommodations, Councillor Luca Matteo said.
“They could have gotten a quick pop on their results with another buyer, but they recognize that Tithonia feeds their workers on Mars and in orbit, provides housing and all the other necessities and amenities for their employees on the surface,” Matteo said. “There’s no need to antagonize the people feeding them, and it’ll come out as a wash for them anyway after the write-offs.”
The agreement comes just four weeks after Martius announced that it was handing over total civic control for Mars’ largest city to the Tithonia council and relinquishing control of its over residential holdings in the other Valles Marineris cities.
The move comes as part of a wider restructuring for the storied corporation, founded nearly an Earth century ago by a “small group of visionaries with a few empty hulls in Earth orbit,” according to its official history.
The restructuring of the renamed Mars DevCo includes tens of thousands of job cuts and a retrenchment of its Mars operations to focus on its resource and industrial facilities on the surface and in orbit.
Under the agreement, the corporation will officially transfer its title to the City in return for a release from all liabilities and a contract to provide lodging, meals, healthcare and recreation opportunities for its workers on an equal basis with all Tithonia residents.
“That was pretty easy,” Matteo said. “Most residents still work for the corporation, anyway, except for direct City services—the farmers, the environmentals, schools, healthcare, housing and things like that.”
Make everyone an owner
The deal makes sense for both sides, Martius Planetary Manager Elric Balvicar told the Chaos Courier.
“Our industrial facilities on the surface, are profitable. Our orbital facilities and factories are very profitable and the value of trade with Earth continues to grow,” Balvicar said. “Those are things we do very well. Running a city is not one of our core competencies.”
Asked whether the November council elections played a role in the decision, Balvicar said the vote showed that Martians strongly wanted a bigger role in running their own communities.
“From a corporate perspective, the civic side is a cost center and a liability rather than a profit center. We’d rather let residents manage their own civic affairs, and we’ll focus on the growth sectors,” Balvicar said.
A proposal that would see all City residents become equal owners of their hometown was scheduled for discussion in two weeks at the Jan. 42 meeting.
Councillor Tiberia Hernandez introduced the proposal and was seconded by Councillors Beata Bakken and Herald Severus.
“Rather than have the council substitute for the corporation, let’s have the people really own it,” Hernandez said. “That’ll be highly motivating for everyone.”
Nothing divided by 61 thousand equals . . .
Under that proposal, each City resident older than 10 annos (19 years), would receive one, equal share in the City.
That would exclude roughly 6,000 residents still finishing their transport contracts.
Those residents would receive their share when their contracts are completed. Workers who arrived in July 99 go ex-contract Feb. 16 or just under seven weeks, and Sept. 100 arrivals go ex-contract in March 103.
Most November 101 arrivals go off contract in April 104, except for the 250 forced to evacuate from the Wandering Star starliner, who were given a half-annos contract reduction to November 103.
Paddingbury had argued that all residents who are eligible to vote should be given shares.
In October, the previous Council had voted to allow all contract employees who have been living in the City for at least one full annos (1.88 years) to vote, adding 3,000 voters to the rolls.
“If they can vote, they should get a share,” Paddingbury told the meeting.
It makes more sense to wait until the contracts are completed, when workers can decide to relocate to other chasmata, Hernandez argued.
“Would we revoke the share, or buy it back if they chose to move?” Hernandez asked.
The shares would be non-transferrable, that is they could not be bought or sold, and would entitle residents to an equal share of profits generated by the City in its various specialties.
“Right now, that profit is about nothing, and we’re lucky that we’re not starting out in debt,” Paddingbury said. “We should address the possibility that residents might end up with an equal share of losses as well.”
Noctis hab jumpers surrender after crashing stolen rover
Right side up after a week in a wheels-up rover
LABYRINTHIA, Jan. 27 - The three men who attempted to take over a remote family hab in the Labyrinth three weeks ago were arrested Wednesday after a four-sol standoff and a week after they crashed a stolen rover on a steep slope.
The men, who spent a week in the upside down rover, were taken into custody by a Noctis rescue crew after their rover was righted by the tractor’s crane at the site about 225 km west of the Noctis Grange Hall.
One was unconscious in a stasis suit after suffering serious injuries, and the other two had moderate injuries, Noctis officials said.
The men didn’t answer repeated calls from the rescue crew, including warning that they were about to flip the rover back onto its wheels, Noctis Councillor and Supply Capt. Icario Fletcher told the Chaos Courier in the rescue tractor.
“We flipped them over with the crane. The rover bounced a bit, and then we waited a few hours,” Fletcher said. “We had just about decided they were dead, when they radioed back.”
Fletcher told the men that the rescue crew would take them back, or if they declined the rescue, would leave them in the damaged rover on the cliff shelf.
“I explained that Noctis residents wouldn’t stand any hab-jumping attempts, that they were a hundred kims (km) from the nearest village, which wasn’t likely to welcome them, and 800 kims from the Survey Mars station at Pavonis Mons, and that they could expect no other help,” Fletcher said.
Besides two rescue tractors, three rovers with volunteer Noctis crews were at the site, blocking any exit.
“Finally, they radioed back. Two of them came out in surf suits and surrendered. We carried the other one out,” Fletcher said
To be tried in City court
The men were taken to a level spot just at the bottom of the south-facing cliff, where they were picked up by a Survey Mars air crew and flown to Tithonia.
Two were expected to appear for an initial hearing in Tithonia Superior Court next week, and the third when his condition improves, Fletcher said.
The names of the three men were not released pending a court hearing in Tithonia, but one was identified as an Ares Port employee and the other two as logistics workers at the industrial area between Ares Port and Tithonia, at the western end of Tithonium Chasma.
The arrests followed a three-week slow-motion chase west through a main graben (channel) in the Labyrinth and then south in a landscape with steep cliffs.
The chase ended after the rover tumbled down half of a 1,900 m slope, Jan. 20 and sent out an automatic emergency signal.
That was the first signal from the rover since it was taken from Ares Port Jan. 2, when the men cut off comms soon after getting clear from the port.
The rover rolled more than a dozen times before crashing to a halt on a shelf near the bottom of the slope, Survey Mars reported.
“They were attempting a difficult switchback descent and pushed the rover a little too far,” Survey Mars Geographer Stella Regina told the Chaos Courier.
While the safety harnesses would have protected the men as the rover rolled, their situation would have become increasingly difficult with the rover wheels up. Regina said.
“We’ve built in a lot of redundancies, but not everything would work well upside down. It’s not built for Zero G,” Regina said. “They’d have environmentals, and food, but the sanitation facilities would be a bit tricky. It was probably getting a little stinky.”
Clock ticking on Earth immigrants
Valley cities want talent, but won't go into debt for it
COPRATES CHASMA, Jan. 26 - While some of the smartest people on Earth want to come to Mars on the next supply fleet slated to arrive in just under one Martian year (annos), Valles Marineris cities are strongly against going into debt to bring them here.
“The question isn’t really whether it would good to have more very bright, ambitious and entrepreneurial people in our cities, because it would be very good,” Candor Councillor Antonia Quick said in a threedee meeting of the Valley councils Tuesday. “The question is how can we pay for it, and the answer is we can’t.”
“Nor will we put our children and their children into debt to pay for that. We’ll make do with what we have,” Quick said to strong agreements from the other councillors from Tithonia, Ius, Melas and Candor.
Until last month, Martius Endeavours had borne the costs for vetting and bringing immigrants to Mars to work in its surface and orbital operations or as support staff, typically on three-annos (5 year) transport contracts that allowed workers to pay off the cost of the voyage.
As part of its restructuring, the former Mars DevCo is ending its larger transport program that brought nearly all the Earth-born to Mars over the past 30 annos (56 years), and will now only bring in a smaller number of dedicated workers for specific roles.
“With more second- and third-generation Martians, we don’t need to bring in people for support roles,” Martius Endeavours Transportation Chief Hartley Adams told the councillors. “We’re mostly hiring individuals with very specific skills for our surface industrial and mining facilities and for our orbital operations.”
Martius, which plans to bring in 500 new workers for its surface and orbital operations in two spaceliners in the next supply fleet, has offered to bring up to a thousand for the Valley cities at a cost of roughly 300 kilocredits per person, or up to a total of 300 megacredits.
Roughly a thousand people on Earth, its orbitals and Luna that have been thoroughly vetted by Martius may be left behind if the Valles Marineris cities can’t agree on how many, if any, to sponsor for the Earth fleet departing in about 400 sols and arriving at Mars just under one annos from now.
“These are people that, absent our restructuring, we would have brought to Mars,” Adams said. “We’ll bring as many of those as you are willing to sponsor.”
Each spaceliner can carry a total of 250 passengers, and the corporation will hold up to four in reserve for about 90 sols. The spaceliners can be quickly reconfigured to carry cargo.
About 800 of the people that came in on the November fleet, which carried a total of 2,500 immigrants plus about 300 crew, are now working for the City on transport contracts with Martius. The rest are working directly for the company’s surface and orbital operations.
The Want of Money
The problem for the Valley cities is that they have not been credit-generating endeavours, with much of the trade between cities done on a barter basis.
“We’ve been very busy building our homes and towns, and while we’re rich in those, we haven’t exactly piled up the megacredits,” Coprates Councillor Angus Raju said. “Most of our investment has been in labor, whether human or mechanical.”
Among the seven Valley cities, including Orson Welles which is outside the Valley proper, only Tithonia and Ius currently have adequate financial reserves from trading with the corporation.
Both of those might be willing to sponsor migrants for other chasmata on the basis of trade barter agreements.
“Tithonia might be willing to sponsor people in trade agreements with chasmata that can supply crucial mechanical, food and other supplies,” City Councillor Tiberia Hernandez said.
Hernandez and Ius Councillor Brynn Gibby have been tasked with identifying crucial positions that must be filled for each of the Valley cities.
“All of the chasmata would welcome highly talented and skilled people,” Gibby said. “But we get back to the credits that we don’t have.”
At best, Tithonia and Ius would be jointly able to sponsor 250 people, enough for one starliner.
Martius would transport immigrants who pay their own way, but would only bring those that have been assigned jobs on Mars, Adams said.
“We’re not simply going to stack people up at Ares Port or Mars Carousel (orbital station),” Adams told the councillors. “We’d have to get an official guarantee with the local council.”
Melas Councillor Vita Ravenhill suggested asking the potential immigrants whether or not they would pay for the voyage themselves in return for a guaranteed job on Mars in the city of their choice, but making it clear that they could not choose their assigned position.
“It would have to be the same terms that every immigrant so far has agreed - a job in their speciality but not a specific job,” Ravenhill said, adding, “If Martius has the ships and we have the habs and the jobs, let’s see if they’re willing to invest in themselves for a new life on Mars.”
Corrects total cost for 1,000 passengers to 300 megacredits (Jan. 38).
Dust Devils crater Quasars in Marsball match
TITHONIA, Jan. 28 - The Hab 2 Dust Devils forced the Hab 3 Quasars into untimely and costly errors late in Thursday’s match, leaving their opponents in the dust in the second half to win 64-49 in their first Marsball match-up.
The Quasars shone through the first half, hitting a series of two-point comets from outside and putting them ahead by four points at the intermission.
The Devils dimmed their opponents lights after the break with a flurry of comets and close defense that saw the Quasars lose ground from midway in the third period as 278 spectators watched at the new Terrace One Arena in Hab 3.
The Hab 3 team lost 9 points in the last 20 minutes with three forced craters, and only made up some of that with an occasional one-point meteor from close in.
“They were aggressive on offense for the whole match, but their passing wasn’t as precise as it could have been in the second half,” Dust Devil guard Preston Quintana said. ‘We took advantage of that and forced the craters.”
Next week, the six-team league completes its opening round with the match up of the Ares Port Orbits and the industrial area Sprockets.
- Deroy Duval, Sports Correspondent.
Arrivals
MARS CAROUSEL, Jan. 27 - The private explorer scout Fortuna, captained by Bartolomeo Vasco, arrives in Mars orbit Jan. 40 after a 3 annos (5 year) exploration of the asteroid belt, particularly Vesta, the second largest asteroid after Ceres.
Calendar
Valley councils expect final decision on Earth immigration strategy
Representatives of all the Valles Marineris Councils expect to make a final decision on how many Earth immigrants to sponsor, which may include job offers for vetted immigrants willing to pay their own way. live on council video. 18:00 Tuesday Jan. 33
City Council to take up proposal for elected mayor
The Tithonia Council will discuss a proposal for an elected mayor, held over after last week's discussion of the agreement to buy the City from Martius. . Council Hall. 19:00 Council Hall. Hab 1 Terrace 8
Dance at the Cubbies
City Residence hosts a weekly dance party outside the Cubbies, or contract worker dormitories Friday, Jan. 29, Cubby Terrace at 18:00 Friday. Hab 1 Terrace 3. All resident are welcome.
“Landslide”
Early explorers stranded after aking a long, long tumble down a Valley wall. Adventure threedee Stage 3 Hab 1 Terrace 8, Jan. 35-41, 18:00, 20:00, 22:00
City Social
Mix and mingle with new arrivals and old hands. Acoustic music by acoustic duo Harris and Fitz. Hab 2. Terrace 4, by Tithonia Gardens. Friday 17:00
Dance in the Garden
The Rosettas bring their Marsbeat sound to the Bamboo Garden. You'll dance and have fun. Terrace 2 HabTube 3 Saturday 1600-1800.
Marsball Week 3
The Orbits (Ares Port) v. Sprockets (Fabrica-Industrial Area). 20:00 Thursday Hab 3 Terrace One Arena
- Merry Grace, lifestyle correspondent
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APPRENTICES Aquaculture. 8 annos and up. URBS 62128
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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