Sentinels of the Cosmos Trilogy (31 page)

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in the Sentinels of the Galaxy Trilogy:
The Departure

The Martinez family stood in line waiting to board
their bullet shuttle to the first Space Ark leaving for
Mars in less than two weeks. Juan was 80 years old
and as he stood with Esperanza and Maria they were
joined by Sam Nichols who was 110 years old. None
of them looked a day over 60 and Maria looked about
40. Chase had helped them develop a way of living
that retarded aging. The genes that end life had been
altered and Nano-bots were programmed to live
permanently in the human body protecting it from any
afflictions. It had taken years to develop the space
cannon that shoot the bullet shuttles into orbit to be
picked up by the Space Ark. The problem of moving
billions of people from all over the world to Mars was
beyond comprehension. The space-cannon loomed
over a mile high and worked with simple air pressure
on a monumental scale to launch the shuttles. It also
had helped that the entire system was based on use of
an anti-gravity material called Gravelastic that the
Kalactins had used for millennia to reduce the effects
of gravity. It rendered itself and its content neutrally
buoyant.
For the current program each person was placed in an
individual reusable pod. Shuttle bullets carried up to
1000 pods each. Tests had shown that being awake
for the first trip into orbit had proven to be too
traumatic for many people and so they were sedated
for the trip. The shuttles were shot up through spacecannons in 3 locations world-wide. They took a
predetermined orbit and were picked up by the Space
Arks. These great ships already in orbit could even be
seen from the ground on a clear night.
This first operational voyage was scheduled to leave
for Mars in just fourteen days. It was a global event.
People from almost every country and religion would
be on board. The whole Martinez family was to be on
board. Chase had asked them to be on the first shuttle
with Sam. Much had to be done during the 14 month
trip to the formerly red, now blue planet. The name
had been changed to Barsoom out of respect to Edgar
Rice Boroughs’ name for Mars which in this time was
considered just too military sounding.

*****
General William Kind stood looking at the gigantic
space cannon in Canyonlands Utah. His great frame
and hard features did not soften the permanent sneer
on his face. Hands behind his back he stood next to
General Nombe from Iraq and General Alimande
from South Africa. "I don't want that shuttle to reach
Mars - are we all on the same page? General Kind
opens.
"It won't," says General Nombe with a smirk.”
"Everything is in place," adds General Alimande.
"Those godless aliens are not sending us earthlings
anywhere," says General Kind and continues, "They
may think they have everything under control, but I
have made agreements that will assure us the earth is
ours and not the plaything for some alien succubae."
"Who is helping us?" asks General Alimande.
"Not now, in time all will become clear," General
Kind says with a wry smile.

*****
Sam sat on the bunk in his room on the Mars 177
Space Ark. At 110 years old Sam was very hearty. A
healthy life style had made a big difference to his
quality of life. It was unusual for someone Sam’s age
to travel to Mars as generally people over 75 were
being left on earth, to use the remaining supplies of
food and potable water and assist in ways to help and
receive the Klacknels when they returned from Mars
to begin re-terraforming earth.
Sam sat watching the preparations for the journey
being covered in depth on the television above his
head. Each family traveling to Mars was given a
module in the large ship. Modules were like small
houses; completely self-contained. These modules
would not only be each family's home for the trip but
also their home on Mars. Sam would be living with
Juan and his family.
People were being discouraged to have children
before arrival. It was discussed at long length whether
people should be put to sleep for the fourteen month
journey, but it was decided that it would be better to
deal with the social issues of the new order on the trip
rather than wait to arrive on Mars. They would also
be trained to carry out the jobs they would do and the
social order that would exist on Mars. In other words,
the trip would be a long educational experience for
the travelers. The governments they had all known
were gone. There were no longer countries or
nationalities. There was no rich, no poor, everyone
started the same way. You all ate the same food, wore
the same clothes, lived in identical housing, and had
the same conditions. The new order was not a natural
order for people and the trip itself was going to put
the human condition to the test.
Each module also had its own life support system.
And it was the responsibility of the family to keep it
in good running condition. The modules we're
actually quite comfortable, they were plain but
pleasant. After all, people were probably going to
spend their entire lives in one. All the walls of the
rooms were magnetic matter. You could move them
anywhere walk through them and were able to be
made any color, photograph, or video you wished. If
you wanted your room to be in the woods you could
program that scene into them. Each community of
modules had its own Klacknel that controlled
everything according to the humans’ wishes. They
were not considered servants, if anything they were in
charge. There was no cooking in the modules - meals
were available in giant cafeterias that served the
community which included gymnasiums, sports
arenas and a shopping mall.
Sam saw Chase appear on the wall in front of him.
"Are you coming with us? "Sam asked.
"I'm not sure, Ally is not much in favor of our going,"
Chase replies.
"Too bad, how are your daughter and son?
"Diana and Daniel are busy, very involved with the
exodus," Chase replies.
"Good, why are you calling me?" Sam asks.
"I'm concerned. I wanted both you and Juan on this
first flight. We’re picking up chatter that indicates
that there may be even more and perhaps unknown
forces against this entire endeavor. I'm not even sure I
understand some of the opposition. But both Ally and
I are concerned. There are many forces in the
universe that even we don't understand. You must be
very watchful and keep me posted," Chase continues.
"So you're not coming?" Sam presses.
"I didn't say that," Chase replies as Ally appears on
the screen and says, "Hi Sam! We can't make that
decision right now. There are forces appearing that
we don't understand." Ally explains.
"Can you give me any hints or hard information?"
Sam asks.
"Yes, be watchful as I suggested and keep us
informed," said Chase.
"I will," Sam says uneasily. He thought to himself,
“What is going on?” He was becoming very nervous.
He changed the view on the wall in front of him to
view the shuttle parked in the giant space station. It
was a massive undertaking and Charles Dean was in
charge. That would make anyone nervous.