First Steps (Founding of the Federation) (37 page)

"What
else?" Doctor Waldecker asked.

"Petri
dishes, plastic manipulators, forceps, tweezers, a plastic stand, all
sorts of useful things." Mario smiled at his wife. "It is
really coming in handy with outfitting the vault." He waved to
the window.

"Oh?
When do we get a tour of that?" Joyce asked.

"Well,
it is nearly dark so we'll have to wait till tomorrow. We haven't
tied it into these habs yet. Now that you are here we can look into
doing just that," Tess replied.

Mario
nodded. "Let's get you folks out of those skin suits and settled
in before we take the ten cent tour," Mario said. He for one
wanted out, he had an itch he couldn't scratch. Wanda gave her
husband and Tess a warning look.

"Why
the tour? It's not like they don't know where everything is anyway,"
Tess said and then shrugged. Which was true, everything was on the
web these days.

"Yeah,
but you two have made some changes since then," Wanda smiled to
Joyce as she handed her helmet to Mario. She knew Mario was proud of
everything they had done and wanted a chance to show off.

"Good
idea, my back itches something fierce!" Joyce said. She shrugged
then shivered.

"Oh
here!" Tess reached over and picked up a plastic pole. On the
tip was a scratcher hand.

"Cute.
Reprap again?" Joyce smiled at Tess. She nodded. "Comes in
handy." She chuckled. "I'll wait to use this until I am out
of this monkey suit." She followed the group to their quarters
twirling the scratcher.

"So,
we need to get a home for these babies right away," Sergei waved
to the package. The others had broken up to their various rooms to
change but then had met again in Hab 1's living room.

"The
fish?" Mario asked.

"Yes,
is fish, many fish and shrimp. They will start to eat each other
soon," Sergei looked concerned.

Mario
nodded. "How big a tank?" Sergei put the box down and
measured with his hands.

"About
here, maybe is two meter cube?" Sergei asked. He looked to Tess
who nodded.

"Does
it have to be a cube? We could cut a tank in half. Though I would
hate to lose a tank," Mario sighed.

"What
about cutting one of the cylindrical ones? Cut it down the side from
top to bottom to form a bathtub?" Joyce asked.

"Might
work." Mario responded rubbing his chin. "In fact, we have
a tank that might work, one of the cracked ones from the MAV that
crashed," he mused. He looked over to Tess who nodded. They had
patched the crack with resin but didn't want to store anything other
than water in it.

"Is
good for beginning, but fish need lots of space." Sergei
extended his hands then wiggled his fingers.

“We
have five species of fish, two of Tilapia, one salmoniod, one carp,
and one trout,” Sergei explained and then patted the box. “Plus
two different shrimp species. Is why I am here, marine biology,”
he said and then smiled. Mario had wondered why he was, he didn't
have the qualifications. Now he knew, he thought. “Will need
separate tanks soon,” Sergei frowned. “We must also
separate males from females for some,” he sighed.

“Okay...”

"Some
we take in name of science to measure growth, but some you want to
eat," Sergei finished explaining.

Mario
nodded. "Yeah. Where do we get a tank that big?"

Tess
chuckled. They looked over to her. "It is easy Mario! I am
surprised you didn't think of it sooner! Bricks!"

Mario
looked startled then slapped his knee. "By Jove I think she's
got it!"

Latisha
grimaced. "Why don't you leave the British jokes for those
raised to appreciate them mate," she said dryly.

He
smiled. "I never messed with a woman and her beliefs." She
smiled.

"A
koi pond?" Tess suggested, ignoring his humor.

Mario
rubbed his chin in thought. "Hmmm... Yeah. We can use the water
pumps, brick for the outer walls, set it against one of the inner
walls and spray inside and out with sealant..."

Sergei
nodded. "May work. Will need to test toxicity of plastic to fish
and shrimp though," he cautioned.

Mario
grimaced. "Good point. Still it would add a sense of elegance to
the vault." He smiled.

Wanda
came in. "So what are we talking about?"

Tess
grinned. "Home and garden." Wanda looked at her confused.

"Come
again?"

Joyce
chuckled. "We're talking about setting up a koi pond in the
vault. More than one probably."

Sergei
nodded. "Must have. As fish get bigger will try to eat um...”
He held his hands apart.

"Smaller
fish?" Tess suggested.

"Yes
but mean something..."

Wanda
smiled. "Late bloomers you mean."

Sergei's
face cleared and he nodded. "Right. Late bloomers." He
smiled his thanks to her.

"Okay,
let’s get to work." Mario got up.

...*...*...*...*...

"You
two flew F-35 Lightning’s?" Mario looked from Latisha to
Joyce. Both nodded. "No wonder you had a hard time landing the
hab!" he teased.

Joyce
sighed. "Give us a break, the thing is a brick!"

Mario
chuckled. "Yeah, definitely has that flight quality to it."

Joyce
nodded. "I flew the air force version of the Lightening two,"
Joyce said. She nodded to Latisha.

"I
flew the RAF version," Latisha replied. She picked up her cue.

"STOL
or VTOL version?" Mario asked.

"VTOL.
I flew off of carriers," Latisha responded with a smile.

"So
you two are looking forward to the SSTO?" he asked. Joyce
nodded.

Latisha
grimaced. "I'll be half way back to Earth when it passes us by,"
she sighed.

 ...*...*...*...*...

Joyce
came into the living room to see Mario, Toshi, and Tess studying a
shaky video of the Hab. "Rerun again?" Joyce asked, joking.
She sat down on a bar stool.

"No,
we uploaded this to Mission control, but we decided to get an idea on
what were going to need to do and what parts we will need to fix
her," Mario replied. He held up a tablet.

"What
do you have so far?" Joyce asked looking over to him. He handed
her the tablet.

"The
usual, three trucks, four landing gear struts, plasma torch, and a
sledge," he replied absently. She chuckled. "Vibrating
hammer would be good. The usual hand and power tools too of course,"
he said and waved. "We have the winches on the rovers, Tess and
Toshi were working out a way to rig block and tackle to get the hab
up so we can fix the broken wheel underneath," he sighed. "I'd
like to just cut it off; it can roll with four trucks."

Joyce
frowned thoughtfully. "Will it work?" she asked.

"Is
unstable if tip," Tess replied and motioned with her hands.

"Yeah,
the crater wall is a bit of a sticking point," Mario sighed.

"Yes,
we need to figure something out," Toshi replied. "A rover
can tow a hab over flat terrain, but I don't think anyone tried up a
slope. I don't want to burn the motors out," he cautioned. Toshi
looked over to Mario.

"Yeah,"
Mario said, gushing a sigh noisily.

"Okay,
why don't you three go take a break. Eat something and sleep on it.
Find out what mission control has for us in the morning over
breakfast," Joyce said.

Toshi
nodded getting up. "That sounds good to me." He looked over
to Tess who yawned.

"Da
is good for me too."

Mario
nodded. He looked over to see Wanda rubbing her eyes. "Okay, I
give. I should tuck my lady into bed anyway," he said. He smiled
at her. She smiled back. "Been busy?" he asked.

She
nodded. "You're dinner's cold you know," she told him with
just the right hint of disapproval in her voice.

He
shrugged as they filed out. "So I'll reheat it. That's what a
microwave is for," he teased.

"Sergei
and the Waldecker's settling in?" he asked.

She
grimaced. "Sergei is okay, but he is moaning about his fish. The
Waldeckers..." she grimaced and then shrugged. "Mrs.
Waldecker is a pain in the ass. Bitched about the labs nonstop till I
got out of there," she sighed running her hand through her
frazzled hair.

He
chuckled. "There's no pleasing some people. They will settle in,
they're in shock still, give them time."

She
nodded. "Yeah." She hugged herself to his side as they
walked to the tunnel.

"So
dinner and a movie?" he asked.

"You're
late for your date boy," she replied giving him a dirty look.

He
chuckled. "You're not going to let me off the hook easy are
you?"

She
smiled. "You'll find a way to make it up to me," she
replied with a hint of a smile. He chuckled.

Moving:

Tess
grimaced as she motioned for Joyce. She was her spotter, guiding her
with hand and verbal commands as Joyce drove the rover and its winch.
"Is okay, slow go slow." She watched as the Hab lifted
incrementally. The day before they had towed three trucks back to the
crash site, taking back loads of gear with them. Mario had tried to
point out that unloading the gear and moving it would waste time and
energy, but Toshi and Joyce had pointed out that it would lighten the
hab, making it easier to lift and easier to move.

That
had pretty much sold Mario on the extra effort. Mario had come up
with a plan to repair the damages spars. He wanted to cut off the
broken ones then weld on scavenges struts from the lower stages of
MAV's one and three. Hopefully it would work Tess thought as she
waved Joyce forward. When the Hab was more or less level Mario
motioned for her to stop so he and Toshi could start piling sandbags
underneath. "This would be so much easier with a little more
help," Mario grumped again.

"Show
must go on Mario." Joyce called back.

They
had been forced to compromise with Wanda and the Waldecker’s,
they had the new rover and were out and about getting samples. Mario
had not been happy about it, and had been even more unhappy after
hearing the Waldecker’s had appealed to Mission control behind
his back to make it stick. He sighed. "I'll help," Tess
called as she came over. The formed a bucket chain, she passed the
load to Mario who passed it to Toshi who packed it under the Hab.

"Sure
about this?" Toshi asked.

"Yeah.
As long as we keep the bags from bursting, we should be okay,"
Mario replied.

It
took two hours of back breaking sweaty work to get the job done.
Toshi moved out from under the hab and Mario had Joyce ease off on
the winch slowly. The hab dropped a few centimeters then settled.
"Okay, it's up." Mario nodded as the line went slack.
"Let's take a break and then see if we can get leg one fixed.
It’s the least damaged one. If we can get it sorted out we will
have it on three legs and a lot more stable." He sat down on an
empty sandbag. "How is your life support?" He turned to
Tess.

"Good,
I have two hours," she replied.

He
turned to Toshi. "One hour forty three minutes," Toshi
reported. Mario nodded.

"I
have about two hours as well. I think we better go recharge then come
back fresh," he said and then groaned as he got up. His back was
aching. It had been a while since they'd tossed bricks and he'd
gotten out of shape.

"Getting
to old for this?" Tess teased.

He
chuckled. "Not on your life." He waved her forward. "Ladies
first." She climbed into the Hab and plugged herself into the
recharger unit.

"Did
you see the size of some of these dents? Hope nothing inside was
broken." Tess ran her hand over a series of meter long oval
dents along the bottom edge of the Hab.

"Careful,
there are some jagged pieces," Toshi cautioned.

"Yeah,
we heard that you poked your arm," Mario replied and nodded.

"Is
okay, no rips just dents here... rips near wheel two," Tess
reported.

...*...*...*...*...

"Almost
done here." Mario called as he cut the spar. "Watch out,
this thing may rebound," he cautioned. He wanted to get this
done and over with so they could get back to base but he knew they
had to get it right.

Joyce
ducked under the spar and came around the wheel truck to check on
Toshi. "Almost finished here?" she asked.

Toshi
looked up and gave her a thumbs up. "Just have this little
finger here. I love plasma cutters; it cuts through things like
butter," Toshi said. Mario chuckled.

"You’re
being careful of any dribbles or flash right?" Joyce asked.

"Yes,"
Toshi responded then returned to the cut. After a minute he was
through. "That's mine." He shut his air line off then the
plasma.

"Almost
done here," Mario called. He was above them, working on the
twisted down strut.

"I
think you two should get out of there," Tess told them.

"Why?"
Joyce asked turning to rest her hand on the above spar. "Seems
safe enooo..." Mario cut through the last of his spar and the
entire truck assembly tilted out away from the craft, then back.
Toshi grabbed Joyce and rolled between her and the truck. He grunted
as the wheel hit his pack. She slammed into the edge of the hab then
he cried in anguish. She tried to clear her vision and felt about as
she heard air leaking.

"Crap,
I got a leak," she said. She reached around and found a hole in
her left shoulder. The impact had ripped her suit against a ragged
edge. She felt the brutal cold and pressure suck at her. "Great,
Mars hicky," she growled. She kept her hand there and tried to
focus.

The
cries finally punched into her awareness. "Toshi?" she
asked. She looked down as her vision began to clear. Toshi was at her
feet. The spar he had just finished cutting through had slammed him
to the ground and was lying across his legs. "TOSHI!" She
quickly knelt and tried to roll him. He screamed. "Toshi's hurt
bad, get in here!" she called.