Volume XIX, Issue XIII: Special Book Section
Apollonius
By Bob Kirchman
Copyright © 2020, The Kirchman Studio, all rights reserved
Chapter 10: Settlement on Mars
Shuttle 001 returned safely to Great Northern three days after it landed on the surface, having established the beginnings of the colony. The final shuttles down to the planet Mars would be piloted by settlers. The shuttles would remain on the planet as ‘lifeboats’ in the event that a speedy return to Earth became necessary. That would allow for emergency evacuation of the entire population if the need arose and they could safely reach Earth orbit and rescue. This required the flight crew to train the landing crew… and hours and hours of simulation. Sarah was the sharpest pilot in the crew according to the astronaut scoring system and she was also gifted as a teacher. Sadly, the settlers were tough students, having been recruited from a part of society that did not necessarily prize high achievement in the sciences. Sarah was especially adept at recasting the lessons for them though and the training kept them too busy for mischief… or at least that is how it seemed. Sarah was not enjoying the hours in zero-gravity necessary to work with the pilots of the craft. You see, though she had never had problems with queasiness or space-sickness before, there was a new reason for her unsettled stomach… one that would have been a happy one had she been safely in a house on Earth, but here approaching an unknown ball of red rock, it was an uncertain one. More than once the seasoned astronaut had to grab the upchuck bag as she taught. It was embarrassing but it was quickly passed off as space-sickness to the unsuspecting students.
Though she had tried to learn the names of the 29 settlers when they came aboard, Cohen found it somewhat distressing that the settlers were of late referring to each other by their badge numbers. “How odd!” she wondered to herself. “Going off to build a new community, new lives and a new civilization and they’re talking to each other like they’re part of some bland Twentieth Century bureaucracy!” If she’d distrusted Apollonius before, she now grew to loath him. “No doubt, this is HIS doing… making them into cogs in his machine. The settlement will take on the personality of Apollonius but suppress the spirit of its occupants.” She longed to confront the billionaire on this but orders were to transport without comment. Besides, she had a new reason to be concerned stirring within her. “Get them delivered, get home. Retire!” She longed for the time the settlers could be deposited safely on Mars and it would be just them again… just the tight little crew of the Great Northern. Then it would be safe to tell Abiyah he was going to be a father!
With relatively few mishaps, thirty settlers in ten little craft set down in a precise circle on the Martian plane. They set to work extracting more shelters from the shuttles, more life support modules, more pieces of a colossal puzzle. Apollonius was supposed to be their leader but thankfully Ben Gurion’s crew had trained the settlers well enough that they could assemble the colony quite without him. That is exactly what they did. George Apollonius had something on his mind… but it was not the colony.
(to be continued)
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Copyright © 2020, The Kirchman Studio, all rights reserved
