The Mission From Mars-Richard Mentor

Richard Mentor was the head of Industrial Sciences for almost seven years. He had developed the Mars Space program from the ground up when he first became an executive in the company. The model was simple: take the existing spaceships from the Mars History Museum and strip down all useful technology from them, analyze the fuel structure of the ships in order to power the ship, and finally get the funding through both public and private sources.

After years of hard work, Mentor was able to get into a position of power where he could push his space program to its full potential. He launched a number of satellites into orbit around Mars and was beginning to think about building a space station. The boldest plan of course was his idea of sending a ship to Earth. The government was not about to spend billions of dollars in building a space station unless it could find something worth of value in space.

In looking at his plans, the trip to Earth had the most potential. The selling point was that if Mars could reopen communication with Earth and create some kind of trade between the two planets, the economy of Mars would get a new boost in revenue. Naturally, the business community leaped at the opportunity to have exports sent not only to another country, but another planet. The government was intrigued by the idea of having communications set up between two planets. There seemed to be plenty of upsides to this mission.

The chime went off in his office. Mentor looked up and press the speak button on his desk. “Yes,” he said.

“General Tyler and Senator Williams is here to see you,” replied Mentor’s secretary.

“Send them in.”

The doors to his office opened. Unlike most businessmen’s offices, Mentor had his doors blend in with the walls. By having this happen, visitors to the room would quickly lose sight of where the doors were and could never be sure where they came in. General Josiah Tyler was a third generation military man in Mars. His grandfather, Lewis Tyler, had been in charge of creating an army for Mars.

The new uniform of Martian soldiers had been a light red. Tyler wore the more formalized version of it, with his three stars sewn close to the neck on the uniform. He was athletic looking and for a man nearing middle age, he could still fight any man entering his twenties and take him to the mat.

As for his associate, Senator Thomas C. Williams was almost the complete opposite of the general. He was overweight, loud, obnoxious, and had no real sense of timing. The only good thing about him was that he had the ears of many politicians in the Martian government. This meeting was designed to hammer out some of the final details of the mission.

“So gentlemen, how soon can I expect you to give me the final funds necessary for me to get the Earth mission underway?”

“With a little luck,” said Williams, “you could be looking at the government giving you your funds by the end of the month.”

General Tyler coughed. Mentor knew this would mean trouble. “Is there a problem General?”

Tyler shifted in his chair and said, “The concern on the part of the military is that since we have not heard anything from Earth for so long, then there is a chance something bad could have happened. Maybe the situation on the planet is hostile. I want to send soldiers with the ship to make sure the situation there is safe.”

Mentor had heard this argument before. As a whole, the ship could only hold about a dozen people on it. The original transports that brought the Founders to Mars could carry a group of almost two thousand people. The difference between those ships and the one Mentor built was that the older vessels were designed to only go one way. This one was meant to go to Earth and back again to Mars. As a result of this, the size of the vessel need to be considered, along with fuel storage and other supplies. In the end, the engineers designing the ship only allowed a crew of thirty.

“Now Josiah, we both know the ship has a limited number of people allowed on it.”

General Tyler leaned forward and said, “I have looked over the schematics of the ship. You need a pilot, two engineers, four scientists, and someone to captain the vessel. After that, there are twenty spots still open. I can have a small platoon of men ready to go in a week and have them ready to be deployed to your ship in under a day.”

Williams decided to take this moment to grunt. Mentor turned his attention to the Senator. “There are a number of people in the government that agree on the notion of sending some military men with you.”

Mentor had heard these rumors. It was his original hope to gain a little extra money by auctioning off a few of those seats to the highest bidder. There would be a couple of charity seats, but overall Mentor wanted to make a profit on this trip. He even considered going himself. Why not? He was the brains behind all of this. He might as well go for it. Perhaps a compromise strategy was needed.

“Gentlemen,” said Mentor, “I understand your concern. If it means I am able to get the money I need for this mission, I am willing to compromise on some things.”

Williams smiled at the prospect of moving things forward. General Tyler on the other hand was a little skeptical. Tyler opened his mouth, but Williams prevented him from speaking. “I think the government can have a vote passed by the end of the month. I will propose having a few soldiers added on to the mission, so as to make General Tyler feel better, and recommend that the delay in creating a historical moment like this cannot be done anymore. I believe the need for nationalism will more than make the government give you your money.”

Grunting, Tyler said, “If you take soldiers with you, then the military will also give you some funds to help you out.”

Mentor slowly nodded, but in his head he was grinning from ear to ear. Instead of doing a long drawn out compromise, he just opened the gates and let the two men in. He would need to remember this for future reference in other dealings with the government. General Tyler stood and said, “I need to leave gentlemen.”

Both Mentor and Williams stood. After Tyler left the two men faced each other. “How soon will the vote occur?”

“When do you want it?” asked Williams.

“The sooner the better,” replied Mentor. “We both know I want to use this as a spring board into politics. A successful trip to Earth, or at least a claim to a successful trip.”

Williams laughed. “Will the ship make it there?”

“It can, but I won’t let it land on the planet.”

“Why not?” asked Williams.

Mentor poured a glass of water and sat down behind his desk. “Years ago, when I first took over this position, I was told about how when the Founders first came to the planet, Earth suffered some kind of natural disaster. My predecessor wasn’t really too sure of the details, but according to him it was just some kind of disaster. If I had to guess, it was probably a volcano or two or more that exploded and sent up ash and dust into the air, causing life on the planet to virtually be wiped out. So, if we send the ship, we announce that the planet had suffered some kind of cataclysm and that the planet will need a few more years to be prepared for terra forming and other procedures for our use in exports. While the mission is not seen as a complete success, it will allow business industries to look at new futures and the opportunity to allow us to make the best out of certain portions of the Earth.”

Williams nodded and asked, “Does anyone else know about this?”

Mentor shook his head. “No. The schools, if you can remember that far back, just tell the children that contact between ourselves and Earth was cut off for no real reason. The Founders only said Earth didn’t want to help us anymore. As a result, they said we were going to start a new chapter in the history of humanity. It is a good story for kids. As far as they know, they are a new page in history.”

“I can see my speech right now,” said Williams. “I will call on the pride of the planet. Once that happens, a stirring speech that appeals to the adventurous spirits of our people will get the vote through.”

“Good. I want the vote in a week.”

“A week?” replied Williams. “That will be a little tricky.”

“Do it,” snapped Mentor.

Williams was taken aback. He did a long, dry swallow and slowly nodded his head. “Alright.”