Welcome Aboard Air Marineris
Chapter Sixteen: Pulling Away from the Station

I met Dini in the cafeteria for croissants the next morning. We added strawberry preserves from the farms up top and cloned butter. A favorite for both of us, if overly rich. Klara just happened to be there. It was probably a coincidence, but she had a similar problem to me, and we were due a conference anyway. I had to tell her about my triumphs, but first she had to vent.

“Dini tells me about your new friend. I have that box on my desk now too. He is a very creepy guy. It was love at first sight. He’s got nothing bad to say about me. It’s embarrassing. Even my mother didn’t love me that much. He just wants to be helpful. I feel like I’m being love bombed. There’s nothing that pisses me off more than that. If he thinks so much of me, why do I need him? He’s the assistant Director of the colonial section of Starward. He is a very imposing individual if his vid is a faithful rendering of his true appearance. He certainly appears to be real, but I know these things can easily be faked. He tells me he is Solomon Langa, from South Africa. His voice is stentorian. It resonates in the air even after he closes his mouth. The speaker on those things is remarkably good.

“I talked to him for an hour after I placed my radio. I don’t think he knows anything about civil administration, and he certainly doesn’t know anything about the physical plant of Lowell. He’s presented to me as an expert, but I haven’t heard one word of sense out of him yet. I asked him for help on a few problems we are having, mostly acquiring specialist personnel. Like the psychiatrist we still need. He says go through channels. I have the impression he is some nonentity delegated to spy on me because he can’t do anything else. If they had procured someone competent, with some working connections, I could have accepted that on a cost/benefit basis. This guy just wastes my time and irritates me. Is yours any better, Mo?”

“In a word, No. My problems are different. My minder isn’t completely incompetent. I think that’s the best I can say. I just finished a test on our rail design he ordered me to conduct even though I had already done one when we were building Borealis. I don’t know why I took the trouble. Once you start thinking about the problem, the answer is obvious. I don’t know why I missed it in the first place. Duh! Airships lift! I guess, though, if I missed it, I should expect others might do the same.

“That’s what my minder Linus did. No big deal. But engineering is reality based. We’re not about speculative theory. We do what works. That’s why I expected Linus’ ears to perk up when I told him I had run real live tests. They proved light rails did not work for speeding airships because of turbulence. Remember, I wasted some of your money on it. You said, for such a short line, make them heavy. Not much extra cost. You humored my engineering mind, though. I was wrong, and I proved it.”

“Yeah, I remember that. I’m glad now that you did it. It will make a real difference on this line. Sorry you have the same problem I have. Yours may be worse because it is obviously slowing us down. I can just ignore my fool. See whether you can get him to do more watching and less talking. Is there any way you can go elsewhere? I suspect we are going to be better pals than I thought we would be. They essentially took over my office, so I am going to do these conferences here. I told Solomon that I was having breakfast with my girlfriends! He just gave me one of those superior grins. I love it! He thinks we’re discussing makeface and recipes! Male chauvinism working for us!”

“I’ve got an item for another office buried in our estimates. I am going to go farther afield than I ever did. As we get more workers, I may need to spend more time out in field administration. I don’t even have a field! But at least I won’t be in my home office as much. If Linus complains to you, don’t worry. I’ll be home for supper.

“I’ve just heard from Boris by text. It’s brief and cryptic, but it is strange. He’s met Zainab Musa as he said he would do. She’s still at Cecilia Payne, but he says he had a nice visit with both people who have offices there. There used to be about six hundred astronomers and techs. It was a major research facility. He also says they are doing alterations to it to turn it into commercial offices. He doesn’t say the Institute has moved elsewhere. That’s where it still is. I reread the text several times. Boris is a technical writer, and he means what he writes. And he omits what he doesn’t want to say.”

“Cecilia Payne used to be the lynchpin of Lunar economics. The EarthWatch program they ran was one of the major reasons for the colony in the first place. Survival. Isn’t that why we are all here Mo? Why would they disband it? Where did all those people go? You can’t do that work on Earth. But Dr. Musa is still there. Why would she be alone there? And who is the other person?”

“Boris just calls him the Librarian. He’s not a scientist, but he’s operating some kind of radio, and running a database. He is collecting information. From where is he collecting it? Certainly not from Payne anymore. The astronomers who produce the data are mostly gone. What’s going on, Klara? Have you heard anything? I’ve checked the webs. There’s no mention of it. Yet there are big things happening. Boris says a ‘radio.’ Is it the same kind of radio we have? And why aren’t there more of them? Imagine what a difference they could make to the space community! Why confine their use to irritating minders for you and me?

“To replace out what is happening is one of the reasons we sent Boris. It must be significant, though. I’ll tell you it makes me more afraid for him. Obviously, the reason they sent these radios is to spy on us. Maybe it’s just about the project. It certainly is a lot of money they have at risk, and maybe that’s reason enough. But, if that’s the reason, why not hook us up to some useful people, rather than the second raters they have set on us? If I had some good administrative talent on tap, or even a psychiatrist so we could relieve our doctors when we have more people coming in each month, it would be more help.

“Now, I am afraid we will be pushed into something before we are ready. We don’t want trouble with anyone. We don’t have enemies. We just want to handle our own affairs. If bad things happen, it won’t be the first-time revolution is precipitated from the top. Tell Boris again, Mo, that we just want him to stick to business. I can’t tell him not to contact his family, but I wish I could. Even covert contact might put them in danger too. I’ve had enough sending people to die for my lifetime, Mo. That thing with Alex and those murders was overload for me. I still get dreams about that scene with Alex. And the one with Khloe was no better. I should have known Boris was half off his mind.”

“You seemed so cool then, Klara. I was thinking at the time that you were enjoying the excitement too much. I thought you were too tough!”

“I thought Boris might be falling apart, and he almost did. Someone had to be the spine. You were all over him, the loving and supportive sister. I had to be the strong one. Don’t fault me. That was my job. I’ve texted Linh. I wanted to replace out what she made of this. I’m not a scientist, but I took a physics course in university, and they said that light-speed was a limit. How can they have simultaneous communication with an Earth that averages twenty light minutes away?”

Linh must have been free because I saw her walking over to our table. Her gait was so smooth she seemed to be gliding over to us. She was sure some graceful fem. Not like me. I announce my arrival with footfalls that are unmistakable. Dini told me I am as subtle as an avalanche. And she loves me. Maybe it’s just the effect I have on her. Linh flowed into her seat.

“I’ve been trying to replace something on your radio for two hours. I have a crawler on it too. Nothing available. When I looked at Klara’s set, I could see no antenna, nor could I detect one. There are no radio signals going in or out of that radio. If there were neutrinos, or some other basic particle, they could be there, but they would still need to travel, even if someone has discovered how to get particles to travel at superluminal speeds. These radios offer instant communication. There is a possible way to explain that. Entanglement of particles and action at a distance is possible. But that is for individual particles. For clouds of them it is unproven. Someone would need to be able to entangle a system of particles with another system and be able to separate them and then encode them to transfer useful information.

“Science works in cooperative groups these days. It is very rare for one scientist to discover something basic and be able to develop a technology based on that in one step. The UN’s requirement is for universal publication of all research. That’s followed because it benefits everyone. What secret project could be big enough and escape all notice? That is very unlikely. So, where did this radio come from? I don’t know. With the current knowledge we have, it is unexplainable. I am truly stumped. This is magic. It cannot be possible. But it is. I might be able to understand better if I could open it.

“Being that it is sealed on purpose, and we can’t even diagnose what power it uses, that is out of the question. And there may be no way to image it without detection. All we do know for sure is that it is new and totally unprecedented. You both know of the story of the bug I found in Klara’s office. It was a standard tech bug with a radio connection to some receiver in a warehouse at the rear. The transmitter it used to send the data out seemed to be similar to your radios in that I couldn’t detect a signal. Maybe it was the same kind as yours and maybe it wasn’t. It doesn’t matter now. Dieter smashed it in place and left it there. If they ever look, we will argue inadvertent accident. Since it was not on our manifest, we cannot be faulted for not knowing it was there and damaging it by accident. If it was one of the magic radios, they have had them for several years. Yet they haven’t revealed them until now. That says something.”

She was silent and Klara interrupted.

“Well, Boris will be back in three weeks. I agree on the importance they are attaching to keeping tabs on us. Maybe he can offer a clue why. They’ve never been so interested in how we think before. As for the speculation on why they are doing that and what it means, we have only that. We can study his surveillance when it comes in, but we can’t ask him inconvenient questions. Has anybody had any communication from the contacts we set up for Boris?”

“No, there’s nothing.”And I wouldn’t be initiating any.

Klara finished it. “There’s nothing more to say, then. Let’s get back to work and convince them we are good little employees. Any more recipes to discuss? Hair styles for our bald heads?”

We all got up to leave. I gave Dini a kiss goodbye. I felt a bit guilty for involving her in all this stuff, but it was a perfect cover for a social occasion. Spymasters need to act the part.

I went back up top and checked in with the Linus image. There was no action there. They might have been looking at me, but I certainly wasn’t looking at them. I just ignored the monitor and got back to work.

“Lou, how are we doing on the assembly? Do we have the ship ready to go out planting pylons yet?”

“Well, we’ve finished the erection of the Quonsets, and we are outfitting the interiors. We need to install dozens of hoists and manipulators to facilitate our installations. The ship was job one. It is outside and tied down. We can move the constructors now and start the track installation. We have the supplies in the ship already. All we need to do is mix the concrete. The mixer is already on the ship. We can start constructing ship two as soon as we get the supplies from up north. No reason we can’t do both operations at once.”

“Since we only have you to operate a constructor, I’d like to check myself out on one too. The two of us would be more than twice as fast as one. I’d like to replace out whether there are any variables to building a line in this location. I don’t expect any, but there are always surprises. I’d enjoy getting back to using my hands. Don’t wrinkle your brow, Lou. Remember I was the one who developed the protocol in the first place. Besides, it will settle me. We’ve had a lot to deal with lately.”

Chantelle appeared in the doorway:

“Why not let me check out on a constructor too, Mo? I’ve put the fanpage to bed with the train ride from Borealis. I hate to admit it, but I have some free time. If you could take a few minutes to check me out on a constructor, I am sure I could pick it up fast. I’ve been a gamer for years, and the skills are very similar. I could help you out. I could set up some cams on the constructor. I need footage of that aspect anyway. The launch of anything like this is noteworthy. First spike and all that. Mo, I’d like to get my hand in on this.”

“Welcome to the construction crew, then, Chantelle. Grab a hard hat. As for training, under the circumstances, we’d better use virtual controls.”

I was talking directly to Lou and Chantelle and I turned my head towards Linus’ location in his cloud above the magic radio.

“Is that OK with you, Linus? We’ll get the line finished faster and cheaper.”

No response from our peerless leader. He remained completely impassive. That was the way I liked them.

“OK, let’s get going. Lou, unload number three. Chantelle let’s buddy up our screens. Load up the constructor tool tray. No point in the display until you’re on the ground. Have you hooked up your peripheral control set?”

“Yeah, I have it hooked up now. I’ve secured the trackspeed wheels to my desk. Ready.”

“You probably replace this familiar already if you’ve played military games. They’re standard for tracked vehicles. It coordinates for you. Left pull on the wheel is the left track and the right, the right. It only takes a minute to get used to it. At the bottom of the screen is your tool tray, and just in front of your trackspeed is your manipulator control. The tool tray has the peripherals you can attach to your manipulator. There’s a drill, hammer chisel, grip tool, adjustable wrench, laser cutting tool, welding torch, and a grinder. To the left of the drill are spare bits, and the shotcrete nozzle. Above that is your cam. You can hook it up to your headsup sensor to make the cam look at whatever you shift to, but mostly I don’t bother with that except for detail work. The wide range cam on top of the constructor is enough most of the time. You’ll pick up the rest as you use it. Since there’s no one out there, you can’t do much harm.”

“Lou must have unloaded the constructor already because the view from my cam is showing on the screen. Look at it. It’s amazing! I’ve never seen it up so close! Even on the train! This is great! What a feeling of freedom! I feel like I’m on the surface. Why didn’t you tell me? Is it ok if I run it a meter or so? This is going to be a hoot! You’ll have to pull me away from this!

If all our workers were so enthusiastic, we’d be finished in no time. I’d have to temper her enthusiasm. I crossed the hall to her cubby to put my hand on her shoulder to restrain her. As I approached, her dark skin sparkled with a sheen of light perspiration. She was excited. Most people are pleased with the prospect of being outside but have a residual anxiety about it since they have spent their entire lives inside. For some, however, the desire for physical freedom is deep-seated enough to overcome conditioning. Chantelle must be one of those.

As I approached her, I said, “Whoa girl, hold your horses. A step at a time, please. We don’t want that little pony to buck you off.”

“Don’t tell me that, Mo. I’m getting the tee shirt and the hat. Seriously, I want to spend at least part of my time on this permanently. It will really connect me to the work. I think it will improve the other things I do. Certainly, the fanpage. I want to do a vlog of what it’s like to put this monster together.”

Lou piped in from his cubby: “You’ve got it all worked out, huh? You want to be in there with the big boys?”

“Hey, little man. Don’t get me started with that. I’m double your weight and four times your strength.”

“Chantelle, it’s depressing how quickly you revert to facts to make your arguments. I give up. The girls can play with my construction toys. I want dibs on your dolls, though.”

“Grow up, Lou. We just want to have fun like the boys. Capiche?”

Just some banter from the kids. A good sign. They were pumped.

And then I heard a plaintive call from my own office. Linus. The snowflake boss man had developed a new insecurity.

“The ghostly image hung above the black magic radio.

“What is this I see that you have activated three constructors. You don’t have the staff for that. Why bother?”

“Boris, our second operator, is on assignment. We have the materials, such as they are, ready to go. We have completed the design. We thought it would be helpful if our staff were multi-skilled so that we could have more operational flexibility. We have both Lou and me ready for instruction of additional personnel, and now we have Chantelle. Some people really like working with the constructors. I am thinking we could solicit volunteers from the community. We could get under way more quickly with more people. Time is money in this work.”

“You should have requested authorization from me. I am concerned that you are impeding your management team with tasks that could be performed by others. We are presently recruiting people on Earth for that very task. With such a large project, we must always follow procedure. As for Boris, with our new technology, expensive trips will no longer be necessary.”

It was all so breathtakingly stupid that I just held my tongue. I didn’t want to draw attention to Bee, either. Limiting communication between cooperating groups like ours and the other colonies made no sense. There were no arguments to be made in favor of any of his positions save the protection of the reach of his authority. To await detailed direction on every niggling detail would defeat the benefits of having an onsite manager. From his peephole, he could never acquire the comprehensive knowledge of the project necessary for effective management. Despite the magic radio, that was self-evident. No need to dispute it. Then, he remounted his rail hobby horse. I would have thought that the disastrous experiment we had just conducted would have warned him off. He may not have had any other significant talents, but he was determined. He was going to make his point.

“Monica, I see from Lou’s production records that you have gone back to manufacturing rails to your original design. This was contrary to my earlier direction. I have instructed our engineers to design a light rail that will compensate for the extra stresses our tests revealed. Please discontinue the unauthorized production.”

“Linus, we need those rails. The first rails functioned without failure. That’s why I restarted production with the original design. The thinner rails just didn’t work. And that was the first time we used the light design. On their first run, we barely escaped having an untethered car that would have been expensive to recapture. Not to mention the additional damage that might have been caused if it had suffered failure before the final car.

“As it was, it was a touchy landing. It doesn’t make sense to save on material. Ore is relatively cheap here. Our deposits are richer than anything you have on Earth. In this environment, the processing is cheap. It’s the fabrication of the hardware that’s expensive. It’s cheaper to forge heavier, plain pieces than sophisticated, sinuously shaped ones. Bottom line, your design doesn’t save any real money. But it does introduce risk. That’s proven. Between you and me, Linus, let’s just drop it. It upsets me to put it so frankly, but you have given me little choice. Your design tested out as a spectacular failure. I won’t say any more about it if you won’t. We appreciate your good intentions, Linus. Can’t we just keep it to the original communication function that was stated for your involvement?”

Ours is a very small office, and the conversation I was having with Linus had attracted the attention of Lou and Chantelle. They stood in the door of my office, out of Linus’ sight. Their eyes were wide. They knew what was coming.

But Linus backed off again. I could see his pale skin reddening, his eyebrows flattening, and his lips pursing, but he held his temper and merely said: “Keep me advised. I want regular reports.”

He flashed off, and his screen went back to the familiar avuncular default screen. It still had that slight smile on a confident face.

Chantelle just smirked. Lou said “Wow!” Nothing else. Then they went back to work.

I felt a bit like I was telling tales out of school, but Linus was the one who refused to bury the hatchet. He didn’t feel that he had to keep anything secret, and I felt obliged to give Klara a heads up. She was probably going to be carrying the can for me.

“Klara, how about some coffee?

I got on the elevator and went down to the cafeteria. Ridiculous waste of time, of course, but necessary then.

“Klara, I am sorry to add to your problems, but I just had a bit of difference of opinion with Linus. He thinks I am an insubordinate troublemaker who can’t take orders. Considering that I didn’t think it was his function to exercise detailed control over our project, he may just be right. He insisted that we continue with his rail concept, and I had to point out his rail design almost put us in the ditch. But he still thinks he’s right. He is insisting.”

“Just ignore it, Mo. I’ve still got trouble with Solomon, my minder. If I had wanted this senior partner stuff, I’d have married and saved myself the trip. After seven years of running this colony, it escapes me how I managed without the help and comfort of the ignorant. He doesn’t even know what we have done, and he makes suggestions for me to do things I did years ago, and others that I discarded long since. It’s like he’s not even interested. I’ve gotten to the point of making jokes about him to Duc. I’m sure you’ve figured out that they haven’t improved on fon headsup tech for their fancy radio. Out of his narrow envelope, he’s deaf and blind. That was a major error. They should have put a magic display into that thing. It makes their shortcomings ridiculous.

“I’d just slough it off, Mo. There’s nothing they can do, you know. Neither of our male supervisors is in good enough shape to come up here, and they will never be able to replace us from where they are without cooperation from us. And more, they’ve made the mistake of alienating us all along. They’ve got no friends here. Except for money, all the cooperation has been at this end. Voluntary, of course, because we want all this development, and we want to be here. We have no ulterior plans except that we want home rule. That too is going to be a bonus for them. If we do it gratis, it will save them precious money. They can keep their stuff, no problem. It’s all they have, anyway.

Just for curiosity, I went over to the display opposite the building site to see how things were doing from ground level. There was a crowd along the window, watching the constructors dive and swivel preparing to install the first components. I thought that the project would become a very popular subject of conversation. I saw what must have been Lou’s constructor drilling a pylon hole. The creative activity was very exciting. I made a mental note to ask Chantelle to paint them with an overlay in different colours with the name of the operator. That should add more interest. Maybe even a picture on the side.

When I got back up there. Chantelle was back at her desk, and I could hear her chuckling. I don’t know whether she even knew I was gone. She was having so much fun. Over the intercom, she was saying “I can see everything. I can even see through the dust I kick up. How is that?’

“That’s Linh’s idea. That girl is wasted on us. She changed the calibration of the screens on the constructors to transpose infra-red light to visible light. It can see through dust. You’ll appreciate that when we have a sandstorm. Thanks to her, we’ll be able to work right through them. How does your machine feel, Chantelle? I went down to talk to Klara about that tiff with Linus, and I saw you from among a crowd down in the cafeteria. Could you put skins on the karts to identify them with color and name them?”

“Sure, but I’m going to need to wait until I come home, Mo. I’m in the canyon now.”

She was really into it.

“Ok, look me up when you get back, dearie. It’s time. Lou, lay the line out.”

And Lou hit a radio button to lay out the line in virtual definition on the screen. It was superimposed on the images cobbled together from the spyeyes high on the rim. They had been set every twenty-five meters for several hundred kilometers out. The rest would be set as we proceeded with our work. You could blow up the image to show the scene from five meters up. Every hole and every pylon was precisely placed. It also showed every other detail of the line as it was to be assembled. All you needed to do was line it up. When parts were put in place, the overlay showed them in green rather than outline. Eventually it would show every meter of the line between here and Burroughs, even though not a shovel had been turned at that end of the line.

Time for me to get back into my own machine. I activated the screen controller. The peripherals were already hooked up and my crawler was lined up with one other beside the ship where Lou had unloaded them. I turned on the power and checked the status. It ran through a few tests, including track tests and jolted the cab a bit. I couldn’t feel it, of course, but I could see the slight back and forth movement on the screen. Status showed up normal and the charge was up to full. I had eight hours of power. The screen showed a patch of red, dusty regolith ahead of me. Off to the left was Lou, and just beside him was Chantelle. They weren’t labelled yet, but I could recognize the smooth movements of Lou, more experienced, against the less confident operation of Chantelle. She would get better fast. She had just started. No matter how talented, she was going to be a bit rough for a while. I wasn’t as good as Lou, but certainly a lot better than Chantelle. Everyone was on their intercom.

“Chantelle, use your claw to hold the pylon upright. There is a two-way level on the screen to help you orient it. It needs to be perfectly vertical to reach maximum effective strength. I’m going back to the ship to get a charge of concrete. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“I’m right by the ship, Lou. I’ve just activated my machine. The deck of the ship is just a few centimeters from me. I’ll bring the mixer bucket to you right now.”

“Thanks, Mo. With three people, we can speed up the work quite a bit. As soon as I pour Chantelle, you go on and start digging another hole with your drill. I’ll follow up with another pylon. The mixer is remote, so I can start another concrete capsule now so it will be ready when you finish the hole. We can keep this up because the regolith around here is quite soft. Debris is strewn on the canyon floor. This used to be a vast river. Pick up another pylon with your claw before you leave, and I’ll follow. You can leapfrog us, Mo, and get started on another hole. With three holes we can set our first rail. We’re on our way. When we get the first line laid for a klick or so, we can start the companion lines. It’s a lot easier with a secured ship. We just need to swivel the crane to work the other side. We have enough water in the tank to make concrete for a while. Once you get in the rhythm, it goes fast. This is way easier than building a roadbed.”

We put in four hours before we knew it and installed ten rails. They were twenty-five meters each, so we went two hundred and fifty meters on the first day. Only three years left. We were almost there!

Chantelle was pleased on more than one account.

“Not only did I get outside, but I’ve got great footage for my vlog. And I can truthfully say I was one of the team. Gives me creds, don’t you know? I’m a construction girl now. I think if my parents were still alive, I would have trouble telling them. They always wanted me to be a professional. Being a blue-collar worker would have shamed my proper middle-class parents. Doing it on Mars using software operated remotes might have fixed it though. Too bad I can’t tell them.”

This time, the sparkles around her dark eyes were not perspiration, but tears. I had come to love these people. I would not lead them to failure and humiliation. My eyes were getting itchy.

“Don’t we all, Chantelle. My mother died in Cuzco. We didn’t get along, and I was eager to get out of there, but I dearly wish I could tell her too. I’m not sure she would believe where her little girl wound up. That’s why we need to do this right. I’m not going to let some suit divert us from what we know is right. It seems that the main interest is in saving money. They are there and we are here, so risks don’t seem to matter to them. They think they are playing it smart. If something goes wrong, though, we will need to clean up the mess. We’ve had the failures already, and we’ve been lucky not to lose anyone. Even if you ignore the expense, it will leave people exposed if something breaks down. We’re connected to the people who may be at risk. I will not contribute to losing them. I know they may be listening in from Earth, but I don’t care.”

“Damn right Mo. We’re all orphans here. We all know what it means to lose people. Mine died in Italy when I was a kid, and I was raised in France by cousins. They raised me, but they didn’t like it. It’s a long time ago, but it still hurts. I remember my real family all the time. My mother always thought I walked on water. It certainly wasn’t Jesus who did that for her. I still remember that halo of black hair over me. My father was okay, but he wasn’t around much. Gave my mother a hard time when he was.”

“We’re waxing sentimental here, and no one has had even a whiff of soma or alchy. If this is going to happen after every day of work, I’m quitting before they fire me.”

Chantelle shot back: “We thought we had touched your soft side, Mo, and now we replace you don’t have one. Boo Hoo!”

Of course, they had been listening from Earth. I was expecting it. I was almost welcoming it. I am not a tip toe person. I don’t like dancing around sensitive subjects. I like to have it out. They weren’t quite so direct in return. It was a two-pronged assault. Too bad for them, their themes were depressingly familiar. They had chosen the wrong methods and were trying them at the wrong time. It just did not occur to them that location is all. They were used to power and unquestioning obedience. Even though they had selected us for some independent temperament, they didn’t recognize the implications of that. We and they were oncoming trains, but we were on top. Their choices were limited, but they just couldn’t recognize that. So, they rolled on toward us. I almost pitied them.

The first gambit was made through Lou, whom they thought was one of the pawns. Perhaps they thought we would sacrifice him. They sent him an amended design for the rails. This design was laughable also, but in a different way. It was swoopy and sophisticated. Someone had spent a lot of time on stresses and dissipation of those stresses in sufficient mass. No sharp corners to concentrate the stress. It was beautiful. If I had one, I would have put it on my desktop.

One small problem. While they could make it easily on Earth, with additional fabrication expense, of course, it could not be made on Mars. The machines we had were basic stamping units. We didn’t have the fancy presses to make those beauties. The sinuous rills and compound curves would be impossible. And it would make no sense to bring something up from Earth when we could easily produce something that worked as well, at no additional expense. Lou put it more succinctly than I could.

“What universe are they living in? They shipped us the machines we have. It cost them a mint. I can’t make that stuff. And we’ve got more than good enough already. Don’t they understand that material is cheaper here? We don’t need to conserve it.’

“Lou, they are proposing an elegant solution to a problem we don’t have. Somebody wants to show us up as incompetent, and the rest don’t know any better. I say they can knock themselves out. We will still need to say no. Let me respond to them. I’m going to use a familiar refrain. You are my lowly subordinate, Lou. It’s not appropriate to submit an order to you. By their own protocol, this needs to pass down the chain of command. Don’t you think I should play at being as authoritarian as they are?”

He had that sardonic curl on his lips. He had a better idea.

“No, that’s not you, Mo. You wouldn’t go over as a dictator. You’re badass. Be badass. You know where this is headed as well as we do. Right, Chantelle? They are not going to take this from you as long as they think they have a choice. That’s what the radio was for. You’re going to come back from this because you’re right Mo. You are the fem. If you even appear to compromise your own principles, it will be harder to get back. Flame out. That’s the way my people do it. It works well if you’re not afraid of burns. Passion over right is what wins the day. You have it in spades. Use it. If it’s any comfort, I’m behind you all the way. We are doing something good here.”

Chantelle said only one word, hoarsely shouted from her cubby: “Yeah.”

Lou said something else. “No more subterfuge either. They’re listening. So be it. We don’t want anything they shouldn’t want if they understood what we are doing here. Screw them if they don’t.”

That was the way the revolution began. With a bunch of inconsequential people being pushed a little too far. Like most revolutions, it shouldn’t have happened that way, but it did.

I didn’t do it subtly. I just shut down my console for a minute. I had been checking our standard of work using direct measurement. This was in addition to the visuals the overlay cams were collecting. I wanted to make sure we were starting off right. The spyeyes turned out to be amazingly accurate notwithstanding their perches on the cliffs four kilometers up. The measurements and angles I took on the ground were within a few tens of micrometers of design dimensions. That’s one hundredth of a millimeter, and it’s a small measurement. The angles had a similar precision. We were meeting exacting standards. I was proud and confident of our abilities. The overlay system let us do that. That hardened me a bit.

I spoke at the ghostly unmoving image. By this time, I was sure they were monitoring the scene in my office twenty-four seven. They had advised me it was continuously operating.

“Linus, I think we’re going to need to settle this thing about design parameters. This back and forth is hindering our work. We really need to concentrate on manufacturing. Once we run out of components, we will need to stop the construction. I don’t want to lose momentum. Please advise me when you are ready to talk. I can answer you almost immediately anytime. I am mostly at my desk during working hours, even though I may be directing my attention to my constructor. We are doing well, installing an average of twelve rails a day now. We’ve gone almost a kilometer already. Everything is right on spec.”

I left that and went back to my drive screen, back to my colleagues.

“All right children. Play nice. Momma is back. You were right, Chantelle. You’re getting better fast. I’m thinking I can go sit under a tree, if I can replace one, and have a beer. I don’t want you to get swelled heads, but I checked the work and its very close to perfect. If we have any problems, they’re not going to be able to blame them on installation defects.”

We had pulled Marineris One almost to our latest installation sight. Since the linear motors were mounted at the base of the ship’s forward and aft tether lines, they could move the ship as soon as we tensioned them on the rails. The ship was moved and stabilized by the interaction of the two motors. At the crawling speed of our installation, we hadn’t tested anything. Yet, as we had expected from our previous experience up north, things went smoothly. Even in the canyon, where the wind was sometimes even more unruly than it was on the plains up top, the force of it was much too low to cause any disturbance to the ship. Yes, dust devils and windblown dust sometimes obscured the view, but not too often. One of the planet wide dust storms that covered Mars every couple of years might do more, but the stats did not make it likely any time soon. I was confident that if they let us do the job, it would perform just the way we all hoped. And it would certainly open things up.

They let me stew a bit that day. Either that, or Linus was the busiest man ever. It seemed a trifle strange that the designated operations manager would keep me waiting longer than did the chairman of the company on the day they had hired me for Marineris. Maybe they were starting to think that they had made a mistake with me, but I didn’t agree. I was then, and remain now, totally convinced that I was born to do this job. All the experiences I had, including being consigned to jobs in isolated places, being given work that others preferred not to do, distilled abilities to allow me the best mix of skills to be there and do that.

Then, when they must have thought me bemused by my handiwork, work that they never would have done themselves, they called me. I heard him, of course. I was at my desk, after all. But I was in the middle of setting a post with Lou. Chantelle was getting another load of concrete. I had my manipulator on the pylon while Lou poured and capped it to cure. We had rigged up a cap that would seal and retain the moisture in the concrete until it set. After that, it was impervious since the chemicals had combined. It was very good stuff. Something else they had suggested weakening that time with perchlorate. Circumstances were making me a tougher fem. While I was working, I said:

“Linus, I’ll be with you in a minute. We’re just setting a post.”

When I finished, I keyed the screen to put my constructor into standby. When I raised my head, he was centered above the radio in his flickering and slightly insubstantial way. The way it looked to me that day, I was reminded of the Wizard in that old vid, complete with silver hair and beard. It helped me. I smiled at Linus. I could see that my inappropriate mood troubled him. He had serious matters in mind.

“Monica, your message did not indicate that you and your staff are following instructions. I agree that we must make progress on the road asap, but there is a table of organization, and you are bound to follow my orders. We need to get that straight. Now how are you doing getting the new design ready? I want you to start fabricating it in quantity as soon as possible.”

“That’s one of the subjects I wanted to cover. Those rails are not going to be fabricated on Mars. Lou tells me that we don’t have the equipment to make such complicated shapes. You would need to ship us new equipment to do that. Time and expense for nothing because we already have a proven design. A design like yours has failed spectacularly already. We won’t do it again with live people. We are building a line passengers will use, Linus. The second point to discuss is your position. I am your manager, appointed by the Chairman of Starward. You are the consultant.”

His face went from a dull pink to a darker color. What I had said didn’t seem to meet with his approval.

“What did you just say - won’t? You said that to me? I am your superior. You will follow orders, or I will replace you. I have determined that the new rails are safe. And they are more economical than yours. It is your job, and that of your semi-competent subordinates, to do what I say. You are advertised as professionals. Do the job or I will replace someone who will.”

Our shouting had attracted some attention in the adjacent offices. Both Lou and Chantelle had closed down their stations, and appeared in the doorway, listening.

“That’s another thing to discuss, Linus. Have you ever heard of a little thing called the Creed for Engineers? A long time ago for you, I am sure. Quite a few years ago for me, too. But I still remember the meaning of it. After graduation, they made us recite it. I don’t recall the exact wording, but I do remember it exhorted us to avoid killing people. They let us put on the iron ring then. I’ve still got mine here, on my right hand. Have you got yours? From my point of view, we are violating several injunctions of the oath we both took if we do what you say. Not me. I will do it right or not at all. If you are still ordering me, you can ask for my resignation, I will proffer it. The resignation I offer, though, is only as supervising engineer, not as employee. All three of us are booked as constructor operators. We won’t quit those jobs and good luck firing us with the labor codes here. We also still run Martian Mining and Martian metals. That’s not within your jurisdiction. You still can’t do without us for constructing the line. Learn to love us, Linus.”

Both Lou and Chantelle stepped into view. “Me, too, as Monica’s assistant,” Chantelle said.

Lou, in his sardonic way, shouted “I am Spartacus! Do you speak Italian, Linus? I’ll translate. It means me too.”

There was a smile on my face as Lou finished off the conversation. I had been worrying about this moment since Linus had come on the scene. Not very many days for such a change of mood. It was a relief to let it go. Linus was even more upset if that were possible this side of apoplexy. I had put the poor old gentleman in a tough spot. To quote Chantelle ‘Boo Hoo.’

Linus didn’t say a word. He disappeared again and the default face, now comically inappropriate, appeared again. Who would have thought he was so afraid of conflict? What was the use of being an asshole if you didn’t have the balls to chew people like me out?

“Park the constructors boys and girls. Let’s concentrate on producing as many supplies as we can. We’re going to run out quick anyway. Now, I’ve got to report to the principal. I may get a strapping.”

I called Klara. She was quick to reply.

“They patched me into your conversation with Linus. Instant communications is marvelous. You get all the awful news right away. You really tore him one this time, Mo. I suppose it was coming no matter how much I wanted to put it off. Come down from your perch, tweety bird, we need to talk.”

I descended that four klicks with a lighter heart, as if I had left all my problems up top. It was out now. Others still had problems, but my way was clear. They had a new display on the elevator. When they put it in, I don’t know. They had installed a displayscreen on the canyon side wall, and it displayed the exterior view as you descended the five klicks to the ground. It was worth the price of admission. I’ll bet that people would ride the elevator for that alone. It wasn’t restricted at all, but it guess the word hadn’t gotten out. The next time I used it, I would probably need to wait in line.

I walked through the door into Klara’s office. Above her radio was another impressive male face. He had a powerful looking frame, kind of like Alex, our former psychiatrist and resident serial killer. This man had polished cocoa coloured skin and an impressive black beard. To that was added the full head of hair that seemed to be a necessary qualification for senior administrators on Earth. I sat in Klara’s right visitor’s chair and relaxed into it. This was going to be fun – for me.

“Yes, do have a seat, Mo. This gentleman is my friend Solomon Langa. He’s been listening with me to the fascinating exchange you’ve just had with his associate, Linus Weltmann. We’re wondering if there’s any way to untie the knots you’ve just tied round the whole project.

“You’ve heard it, Klara. He wants me to build a project with a rail design that I have proven won’t work. And the alternate he gives me won’t work either. One will break and the other one can’t be built. Lou says we don’t have the machines for the intricate design they have supplied. They say it will save material, but it isn’t material we are short of. We have a whole planet for that.

“It’s labor and its equivalent machines we are short of. They are heavy and inordinately expensive to ship. If we need to wait to build a plant to make that fancy stuff, we will need another six months at least. Meanwhile, we have a plant that can make the rails to a design we have proven will work. When you add in that we would be using an unproven design for a passenger train on a planet that kills you for making a mistake, I can see no merit in using another design. Linus just wants to prove himself. Let him do it on someone else’s planet. Not with Martian lives.

“What’s worse, he had ordered me to use the new design without testing it myself. You know I tested his first design. You got the picture. I offered him a way out, but he didn’t take it.”

“Oh yes, I heard your artful diplomatic double-talk, Mo. Sledgehammer subtle it was. Neither of you is going to get the Nobel Peace prize, even if they reinstate it.”

Solomon chimed in helpfully; “Your language sounded very uncompromising Ms. Chapita. You really didn’t give him much opportunity to retract.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Langa. My problem involves life and death, sir. He wants me to make killer rails in place of the ones I know will work, and I am unable to make these new rails that are a variation of the design that has already broken. How can I use them in good conscience, especially when there is no need for it? It makes no sense to me. And my associates feel the same. Can’t you get him to back off? I will be happy to apologize for my insubordination, as he calls it. I call it professional ethics. We can say that I misunderstood his enthusiasm to help on the project or something like that. Really anything. I’m not proud about that. As long as we don’t kill people. I still want to do the job very much.”

“All right, Mo, we’ll try.”