February 12, 2176: Arton Three makes Mars Orbit. The the following
day the other ships made Mars orbit For the remainder of the journey Ben and
several of his companions were taught various jobs that were being performed
by the crew. When they reached Mars approach Ben and his people were at
the controls and made Mars orbit without a hitch. Of course they had
competent human supervision, but not once did a human have to intervene.
The little Artonian space men had performed their assigned jobs to perfection.
Ben had been on the bridge and filled the role as Captain with Captain Horn
looking intently over his shoulder.
The Artonians destined for Mars had traveled on Arton Four. They
proved very popular on Mars. While the Arton ships had been gone nothing big
had transpired on Mars. Mars had pleaded their case successfully with Earth
that even though they still had fifty thousand population the people who
remained were mostly past their child bearing years and if they didn't get some
young people back from Earth Mars could eventually die out. Even though
Josh had a thousand things that had to be done for every worker he saw the
reason and logic behind Mars argument. A trade was negotiated to trade two
thousand five hundred older Martians for two thousand five hundred younger
people from Earth who still had their child bearing years in front of them. The
ones that Mars sent to Earth were all accomplished journeymen in their trades
and could be of immediate use on Earth. The two thousand five hundred
young people that Mars got in return were mostly still in school. They were not
worth all that much to Earth at the moment. The people who transferred were
all volunteers. A lot of the parents on Earth sent their children to Mars to live
with their grandparents, a lot of the people from Mars going to Earth had a
chance to see their children and grandchildren. Now that Mars Runner was not
overcrowded nor overworked and now that the ticket price was just a nominal
service charge for travel in either direction there were more people moving back
and forth. There were even some people traveling as tourists between the two
planets. The journey between Mars and Earth in the twenty second century had
become tantamount to travel between Europe and the Americas in the
nineteenth century.
Mars launched a communication to Earth every evening at 1800. Earth
launched one to Mars every morning at 0600. The latest news from each camp
was always Included with every transmission along with personal messages,
photos, film footage, Including home videos. There was of course no charge for
this service. They hoped at both ends to one day have the internet working on
Earth again so they could reestablish the direct internet connection but for now
twice a day radio communication would have to do.
The Artonians were a big hit with the Martians. These adorable little
imps won their hearts immediately. When the Martians finally realized that the
Artonians were were actually sentient beings and not animals they were
welcomed into the Martian society. There were plenty of vacant houses
available because of all the Martians who had been sent to Earth. The
Artonians were given their choice of where they wanted to live. Most of them
elected to settle in New Phoenix. All of them had numerous job offers. The
Artonians had come to Mars prepared for a new life style. For their first six
months on Mars they would all be working with Carl Jacobs, Abner's son who
now ran the farm operations on Mars, in establishing the Artonian plants on
Mars. Carl thought it would be better if they were scattered throughout the
many caverns rather than to be located all in the same place. Within two
months there were over a million Artonian plants growing on Mars. Within six
months they were harvesting fruits, vegetables, nuts and greens. At first the
Martians thought so many plants was overkill but once they tasted them they
were almost ready to let the Earth plants die out. Everyone preferred the
Artonian products. The winery even started experimenting with making wine
from Artonian fruit. Within little over a year there were new wines on the market
different from any they had ever produced before. There was some concern
whether or not the Earth Bees would pollinate the Arton plants but not to worry
the Bees couldn't tell the difference, they just pollinated all the plants. Five
hundred of the one thousand Artonians made it their life's work tending plants
and trees for the farm. The other five hundred found various other employment
within the Mars Community. The Artonians loved the reduced gravity but kept
jumping too high and spraining ankles when they came down.
A monument had been erected in New Phoenix in memory of Tim Erkin,
a true pioneer who had become known as the father of Mars. Tim had a place
in the history of Mars equal to that occupied by George Washington, in the
United States. The inscription at the base of the statue read “In Loving Memory
of Timothy Farnsworth Erkin, Born in Houston, Texas July 14, 2082 arrived on
Mars September 28, 2107. Died in New Phoenix, Mars September 28, 2167 at
the age of 85. He spent the last 60 years of his life developing Mars.
Tim had lived long enough to see settlers leaving Mars returning to
Earth.
February 22, 2176: Arton One and Two break Mars orbit bound for Earth.
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