‘round.”
“Why not?” Shektar demanded.
“Gravity,” Trumball answered. “It’s a lot easier to blast a chunk of Mars rock loose and have it meander to Earth than it is to blast off a hunk of Earth and get it to Mars.”
“And Mars is much closer to the asteroid belt,” piped up Rodriguez, from the foot of the table. “It gets hit by meteoroids a lot more often than Earth does.”
“Yes, of course,” Hall said.
“Meteoroid strikes blast chunks of Martian rock into space,” Rodriguez went on doggedly. “Sonic of the rocks drift close enough to Earth for our gravity well to capture them and pull them down to the ground.”
They delved into a free-for-all about the chances that Mars life and Earth life were somehow related. Jamie listened with only half his attention, wondering about the links between Earth’s life and Mars. He forgot about Dex and his snide wisecracks, forgot about his worries of what the others thought of him. In his mind’s eye he saw the cliff dwelling in Mars’ Grand Canyon and others like it scattered throughout the southwestern desert.
He felt in his heart that there was a relationship, there had to be; two worlds close enough to be brothers and both of them bearing life. They had to be related. At some time, in some way, life seeded both the red world and the blue. How long ago? How did it come to pass?
That’s what we’re here to discover, his rational mind answered.
“We’d have to protect all the natural species, of course,” Trumball was saying. “Assuming there’s more than one species to be protected.”
Jamie snapped his full attention to their discussion.
“That’s rather far-fetched,” Hall said, “don’t you think?”
“No more far-fetched than finding life on the planet,” said Trumball, leaning back on the bench until his shoulders rested against the curving bulkhead.
Shektar was staring at him. “Do you really believe that we could alter the environment of the entire planet?”
“Make it so earthlike that people could walk out on the surface without suits?” Rodriguez looked clearly disbelieving.
“Why not?” Trumball replied easily. “There’s plenty of water in the permafrost. Heat it up, pump it out, and we can warm up the atmosphere. Use siderophile bacteria. Sow the atmosphere with blue-green algae and they’ll soak up the carbon dioxide in the air and give us a breathable oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere.”
“In a hundred thousand years or so,” Hall said.
“Don’t be a flathead,” Trumball snapped. “We’ve done studies that show you can do it in a century or two.”
Jamie saw the crooked, self-confident grin on Trumball’s face and remembered his sneering, What’s he ever contributed to the field of geology?
“And what happens to the native life-forms?” he asked quietly.
“They’ll have to be protected, like I said.”
“Assumin’ you can do all that,” Craig asked, “how’re you gonna pay for it?”
Trumball’s cocky grin widened. “That’s the beauty of it. The project pays for itself.”
“How?”
“Colonization.”
“Colonization?” several voices echoed.
“Sure, why not? They’ve got tourists taking flights to that orbital hotel, don’t they? And Moonbase is setting up facilities for retirees. Why not colonize Mars?”
“Very expensive, don’t you think?” said Dezhurova.
Jamie felt something like red-hot lava beginning to churn in his guts.
Trumball nonchalantly laced his fingers behind his head as he replied, “Look, you guys ought to get with the program. There are plenty of people right now who’d pay for a trip to Mars. So it costs ten million per person, what’s that to the CEO of Masterson Aerospace or the head of Yamagata Heavy Industries? Or to some video star? And the price’ll come down as we establish facilities here on Mars for refueling and growing food.”
“So you can build permanent colonies on Mars,” Rodriguez muttered.
“Sure,” Dex repeated. “Why the
“Why not?” Shektar demanded.
“Gravity,” Trumball answered. “It’s a lot easier to blast a chunk of Mars rock loose and have it meander to Earth than it is to blast off a hunk of Earth and get it to Mars.”
“And Mars is much closer to the asteroid belt,” piped up Rodriguez, from the foot of the table. “It gets hit by meteoroids a lot more often than Earth does.”
“Yes, of course,” Hall said.
“Meteoroid strikes blast chunks of Martian rock into space,” Rodriguez went on doggedly. “Sonic of the rocks drift close enough to Earth for our gravity well to capture them and pull them down to the ground.”
They delved into a free-for-all about the chances that Mars life and Earth life were somehow related. Jamie listened with only half his attention, wondering about the links between Earth’s life and Mars. He forgot about Dex and his snide wisecracks, forgot about his worries of what the others thought of him. In his mind’s eye he saw the cliff dwelling in Mars’ Grand Canyon and others like it scattered throughout the southwestern desert.
He felt in his heart that there was a relationship, there had to be; two worlds close enough to be brothers and both of them bearing life. They had to be related. At some time, in some way, life seeded both the red world and the blue. How long ago? How did it come to pass?
That’s what we’re here to discover, his rational mind answered.
“We’d have to protect all the natural species, of course,” Trumball was saying. “Assuming there’s more than one species to be protected.”
Jamie snapped his full attention to their discussion.
“That’s rather far-fetched,” Hall said, “don’t you think?”
“No more far-fetched than finding life on the planet,” said Trumball, leaning back on the bench until his shoulders rested against the curving bulkhead.
Shektar was staring at him. “Do you really believe that we could alter the environment of the entire planet?”
“Make it so earthlike that people could walk out on the surface without suits?” Rodriguez looked clearly disbelieving.
“Why not?” Trumball replied easily. “There’s plenty of water in the permafrost. Heat it up, pump it out, and we can warm up the atmosphere. Use siderophile bacteria. Sow the atmosphere with blue-green algae and they’ll soak up the carbon dioxide in the air and give us a breathable oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere.”
“In a hundred thousand years or so,” Hall said.
“Don’t be a flathead,” Trumball snapped. “We’ve done studies that show you can do it in a century or two.”
Jamie saw the crooked, self-confident grin on Trumball’s face and remembered his sneering, What’s he ever contributed to the field of geology?
“And what happens to the native life-forms?” he asked quietly.
“They’ll have to be protected, like I said.”
“Assumin’ you can do all that,” Craig asked, “how’re you gonna pay for it?”
Trumball’s cocky grin widened. “That’s the beauty of it. The project pays for itself.”
“How?”
“Colonization.”
“Colonization?” several voices echoed.
“Sure, why not? They’ve got tourists taking flights to that orbital hotel, don’t they? And Moonbase is setting up facilities for retirees. Why not colonize Mars?”
“Very expensive, don’t you think?” said Dezhurova.
Jamie felt something like red-hot lava beginning to churn in his guts.
Trumball nonchalantly laced his fingers behind his head as he replied, “Look, you guys ought to get with the program. There are plenty of people right now who’d pay for a trip to Mars. So it costs ten million per person, what’s that to the CEO of Masterson Aerospace or the head of Yamagata Heavy Industries? Or to some video star? And the price’ll come down as we establish facilities here on Mars for refueling and growing food.”
“So you can build permanent colonies on Mars,” Rodriguez muttered.
“Sure,” Dex repeated. “Why the
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