2118: There really weren't that many qualified people left on Earth that
wanted to migrate to Mars. Arton was where the action was now. The two
Mars Supply ships were beginning to show their age and there was talk of
retiring them. That would only leave Mars Runner in active service. If they did
retire the two older ships then they would have the ships returning from Arton
stop at Mars and load up with supplies destined for Earth from Mars. In that
way the population of Mars would continue to grow by about twelve hundred
immigrants and six or seven hundred natives per year. That would be a
sustainable growth rate that Tim figured Mars could live with for a thousand
years.
March 4, 2118: Instead of retiring the Mars Supply One and the Mars
Supply Two the company had received a very attractive offer from Regency
Cruise Lines out of London. If Mars Colony Inc. would sell Regency the two
ships for one dollar each Regency would extensively remodel them and keep
them in service as tourist cruise ships. Regency agreed to transport up to ten
passengers each way to and from Mars for as long as the ships stayed in
service, at no cost to Mars Colony, Inc. Regency also wanted at no cost to them
a five acre site in New Phoenix where they could construct a top rate hotel.
Mars Colony Inc. figured out that would be tantamount to selling the ships to
Regency for one hundred million dollars and it wouldn't cost Mars Colony, Inc.
for keeping the ships in moth balls or dismantling them. The head office of
Mars Colony, Inc. in San Francisco made the deal without even consulting Tim
on Mars.
April 15, 2118: Regency had committed three billion dollars to this deal.
They figured that it would cost them one billion dollars each to remodel the two
ships, one half billion to build the hotel in New Phoenix and another half billion
to buy the ski cavern on Mars.
Tim couldn't believe his eyes when he received the offer from Regency
Cruise Lines to buy the ski resort for five hundred million dollars. Tim had built
the whole project out of his own cash accounts in his various corporations. All
he owed was about nine hundred thousand to First Colonial Bank, on the real
estate. He had paid cash for all the improvements. Not only that but he had
already recovered most of his original investment. Tim didn't even try to get
them to increase their offer, he just accepted it. Most of what he received was
paid in the form of stock in Regency Cruises, Inc. When the transaction
became known on Wall Street the value of Regency stock immediately doubled
in value and Tim sold. The funds were transferred to Tim's various accounts at
First Colonial.
June 4, 2120: Tim later saw an ad on the internet for Mars eighteen
month Mars ski vacation packages and first class accommodations. This
package included taking a first class cruise ship to Mars and back and up to six
months on the planet with option to stay at the Grand Regency in New Phoenix
and or The Ski Lodge plus many other perks. Packages started at two and a
half million dollars or four million for two people. Apparently word had filtered
back to Earth about how much more fun it was to ski in low gravity. Tim was
forever amazed at how many people had the time and the money to take one of
these cruises. More than a thousand tourists arrived on either the Regency
King or the Regency Prince twice a year. Apparently Regency had made a
good investment. Regency even cut the price that Tim had been charging Mars
Locals to use the ski lift facilities and to stay at the lodge although staying at the
Regency Lodge was on a space available basis for the locals. That didn't matter
much because anyone on Mars could reach the resort by golf cart in less than
two hours.
Earth type electric cars had never taken hold on Mars. They were
cumbersome to get in and out of and no one ever needed the heater or air
conditioner that they offered. The driving distances were so short that anyone
that wanted private transportation just bought a six passenger golf cart. The
golf carts would go 40 miles per hour and that was faster than anyone on Mars
ever drove anyway. There were dealerships in Phoenix that sold several
different brands of golf carts. They also sold electric bicycles and tricycles,
which were very popular for personal transportation.
The daily workouts at the gym were a drag, everyone hated and dreaded
them. Still they feared the consequences of not working out more. One thing
that could be said for the workouts was that the population of Mars was fit.
There just weren't any obese people to be found on the planet. The people did
get some relief though, The daily vitamins and the monthly shots were no longer
required. The vitamins and medication that they had been receiving was now
available from the atmosphere. Just the act of breathing provided a person,
and perhaps even more importantly the animals with all their required nutrients
and medications. In fact the atmosphere program proved so effective that the
requirement for one hours exercise per day had been officially reduced to one
half hour four days per week. A few people kept up with one hour per day
because they were so accustomed to it but most cut back to the new minimum.
Little progress had been made converting the atmosphere on the surface
of Mars. A new hearty plant that could resist the intense UV rays, had been
developed that was super efficient at photosynthesis, converting CO2 glucose
and oxygen. They had figured out how to plant in a saturated mulch rich in
nitrates that supplied water to the roots. The water had to be replaced annually.
They had almost a million of these bushes now growing on the Mars surface. In
order to make the atmosphere on the surface breathable they would need
billions of them. There were over twenty full time gardeners that did nothing but
tend these plants. It was a job that nobody wanted because you had to work
full time in a Mars suit. As a result of just these plants they had noticed a one
percent in oxygen a five percent Increase in nitrogen and a six percent
decrease in CO2 in just five years. The best sign of improvement so far though
is that an ozone layer is beginning to form and some of the UV rays are
beginning to lessen. At that rate the atmosphere on the surface might be
breathable in two hundred years without a Mars suit, or at least it wouldn't be
instantly lethal.
There was a belt that had been designed for use on Earth's moon that
would completely encircle the moon and with the aid of counter balanced
runners inside the belt begin to Increase the spin of the planetoid. Tim didn't
really understand how it would work but the scientists and engineers working on
the project insisted that it would. The object was to get the moon spinning fast
enough to retain an atmosphere. If that worked then they would try it on Mars.
If Mars revolved a little faster, raising the gravity to 50% of Earth's then Mars
would be able to sustain an atmosphere of Nitrogen and oxygen and the
surface would become inhabitable. That however was, at best more than a
hundred years off. It was a good plan but it never got off the drawing board
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar