August 21, 2126: Arton Three departed for Arton, not to return to Mars for
many years. The four remaining ships in orbit around Mars would remain there
until Earth was once again habitable, except that one of them would be
dispatched to Earth every ten years to gather data. This always coincided with
Mars closest position to Earths orbit.
March 7, 2136: It had been ten years since the destruction on Earth .
Mars had prospered and the population had grown to over 125,000 soles. It
was time to dispatch Mars Runner to determine the status of Earth. Mars
Runner departed amongst much fan fare with only the crew and a couple dozen
scientists aboard and a cargo of food and other supplies for Moon Base. Mars
Runner carried four Shuttle in their hold.
July 19, 2136: Mars Runner carried seven volunteers who agreed to
remain on Moon Base for the next ten years, it just seemed like such a shame
to abandon one of mankind's greatest achievements. Upon their arrival Captain
Lomax accompanied the volunteers to Moon Base for a look around the facility.
Mars Runner had brought along enough supplies to keep the crew in food,
water, atmosphere and other necessities of life for another ten years. The
seven people who had been on Moon Base for the last ten years were ready to
leave. These people had been in radio communication with Mars for their entire
stay and had nothing new to report. Actually over the last ten years they had
nothing new to report. They still constantly monitored all radio frequencies but
had heard nothing worth investigating for the last nine years and eleven
months.
July 22, 2136: Mars Runner secured orbit around Earth and even docked
at the long deserted Earth Orbiter. The place seemed no worse for the ware
and the crew soon had it back in full operation. The four Shuttle were unloaded
and had also docked at the Earth Orbiter.
July 24, 2136: The Shuttle flew their first sorties close to earth. Mars
Runner had been monitoring all radio frequencies since their arrival and had
found nothing. The Shuttle had flown low over the United States looking for
signs of habitation but had seen nothing encouraging. One of them had landed
at what used to be, Edwards Air force base in the California, Mojave Desert.
They got out of their craft cloaked in radiation suits and took several readings of
the soil and the atmosphere. There was good news, the air was breathable and
though there was still a lot of radiation it was below the lethal level. Anyone
living in this environment could live but would be very susceptible to developing
cancer and other diseases. I would not recommend long exposure to this part
of the planet. They got the same result from checking out various other parts of
the planet and the only life form they encountered were some red ants in what
used to be Kenya. On a hunch they tried the top of Mt. McKinley in Alaska. It
was clean down to the 6,000 foot level. No radiation reading at all.
There were plants and trees still growing in abundance. They had seen
what might have been a flock of birds from a distance but when they got closer
they found only leaves blowing around. They then checked the Ocean at
several locations, There was still some sea life but not much The deeper they
took readings the more sea life they found. Before leaving Earth they visited a
number of locations on Earth to take additional readings. In Juneau, Alaska,
they came across a huge quantity of cut lumber that tested clean because it
had been wrapped in plastic when the catastrophe had occurred. They filled
the hold of their ship with the lumber. Their trip would not be a total wasted
effort. There was always need for wood on Mars.
November 23, 2136: The ship made Mars Orbit with a mixed message.
The good news was that Earth was not a dead planet, trees some plants, red
ants and some deep see life were adapting. They had found at least one place
on Earth that was now completely free of radiation, the top of Mt. McKinley
above 6,000 feet and they suspected that all locations above 6,000 feet in
elevation were also free of radiation. Those places were still not habitable
because winds kept blowing in contaminated air. The atmosphere was no
longer instantly lethal. The bad news was that they had found no people at all
or any signs of people since the catastrophe.
July 24, 2146: This time A1made the trip to Earth. They rotated the
crews at Moon Base and resupplied the facility. Things were looking up. The
atmosphere was breathable in most locations although there were still some hot
spots. At elevations above three thousand feet they found no contamination of
soil or rocks. They still found no signs of human life. They observed several
varieties of insects, life in the Oceans could be found in water as shallow as one
hundred feet. In the Amazon basin they cut some choice hardwood and just
loaded the logs onto the ship. Wood was still the most precious commodity on
Mars even though they had been harvesting some softwoods grown on Mars for
several years. Most of the Mars harvest had been chipped up and used to
manufacture press board. The A1carried no surplus food on this trip. Their
conclusion was that Earth was beginning to recover.
July 24, 2156: The Arton Two made the trip to Earth, In most respects the
planet was as it had been before the catastrophe. They really had to look to
find any signs of the nuclear Holocaust other than abandoned buildings and
visible signs of destruction. The air was good to breathe and the only hot spots
that they found were at ground zero where the bombs had detonated. There
was still trace contamination in the atmosphere but not near so much as there
had been ten years earlier.
November 23, 2166: Tim was 74 years old when Arton Two returned
from Earth with more hardwood. Carla had passed on the year before, their
four children were in mid life and there grandchildren were either in college or
out on their own. Tim had retired from company service in 2158 and now just
puttered around the house. Tim had spent the bulk of his personal wealth in
assisting the refugees from Earth when they were brought to Mars 40 years
earlier.
Tim's oldest grandson, Josh had been on the crew of the Arton Two
when it traveled to earth. He visited his grandfather and told him that Earth had
passed it's physical. It was once again a safe habitat for humanity. Tim just
grunted and went on tending his flower bed. “That means that man can return
to Earth, grandpa. “ “Perhaps you should introduce a resolution before the
Council Josh, propose the colonization of Earth and see if you can find any
volunteers. There are always young people looking for adventure in far away
lands, that would be willing to sign up. If that happened it would give mankind
the advantage of being present on at least three planets and we as a species
would still survive if something happened to any two of them. Arton now has
near one million population and Mars has over half a million. I suppose we
could find a hundred thousand or so that would be willing to establish an Earth
colony.
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