The crew repairs the Marius using parts and components cannibalized from The Horns of Ammon. With new nuclear rocket motors and full tanks of fuel, the Marius departs for the long journey to Mars, anticipating adding one more crew member in transit.
The Space Cruiser USS Marius, CS-1
In orbit around Europa
January thru May 2057
To say the last five months in orbit were busy—well, saying that was an understatement was an understatement. Chief Jemison took no time in demanding designs from me. Fortunately, she respected my condition and allowed me to sleep. The docs said the baby was doing just fine, but I couldn’t take any chances, so they locked me up in the gravity wheel.
We’d prioritized getting the big nukes swapped out, but that was no simple matter. Sure, we’d cut one loose and let it go critical during the big space battle defending the Jupes. But disconnecting one, with the nuclear pile intact, and moving it without a meltdown—that was a whole other thing.
Part of the challenge was that although Space Systems & Technology had built most of the Marius, and constructed The Horns, nothing seemed to match. Sure, why not have different mounting brackets, different control armatures, different whatever? The fabricators kept the machine shops on the Marius running round the clock modifying parts or manufacturing whole new assemblies. It took almost two months to move the nukes, all the while wondering if Seth was going to light them off and move his ship. I guess the credit for that not happening should go to my sister, Celina, and her digital friend, Lexi.
Lexi had convinced her “brother” to help us. She even managed a “motherly” message from Jessa back in New Mexico to convince Seth. From what the moms had told me, the three AIs formed something of a family bond. Celina and mother Kate ran them through a learning cycle on family data, including ours. I wondered about that, but it actually seemed to make a point with the AIs that families can take many forms, even two moms and two daughters created with the help of modern science, or three artificial entities that don’t really have bodies. Regardless, Seth remained cooperative as the crews stripped him down to his bare bones. They left the power plant up and running. Seth would continue to operate and the science team had installed sensors. Seth could at least monitor space around Jupiter and send back useful data—something to keep him occupied.
The last step that went smoothly was transferring the fuel. Go figure that all the connections matched, even the additional ones on the fuel tanks we moved from The Horns. Thankfully, the fuel transfer pumps responded to the commands from the Marius. Fuel management turned out to be about the only thing that didn’t require reprogramming the command functions.
After many months, we were ready to go. Fuel tanks were full for the nukes and the continuous thrust engines. The maneuvering thrusters were all refurbished and fuel topped off. Marco had even had the crews add tanks for sewage storage and drinking water—no more pumping crappy fuel to the nukes.
The captain had a final engineering task for me that needed to stay out of any data or communications that Seth might access. We needed to prevent Seth from mining the water from Europa after we left. Under that guise of fuel movement, the tug crews physically welded the mining tanks to the main spine of The Horns. We knew that if Seth attempted to launch one, it could destroy his primary structure. We’d tell him that after we left.
#
The Martian Outpost at Lyot
May 2057
Mavis Buckley sat in her office reading the latest update from Jessa at the First Contact Facility in New Mexico. As much as she had come to grips with the idea that sentient energy beings were living on Jupiter and Saturn, the news from New Mexico was unsettling. She hit a contact that sealed the hatch to her office, opened the bottom drawer of her desk, and pulled out probably the only bottle of bourbon on Mars. She reached for a shot glass, thought better of it, and extracted a tumbler instead.
Right here on Mars, they’re living right here on Mars and literally, under our feet.
Jessa could tell the modulated signals were language but couldn’t translate them. New Mexico had sent the data from Curiosity and Perseverance to the Marius, and Kate Watson had begun development of a new AI, based on advanced architecture. Kate was building Saphir specifically to talk to the Martians. Kate had enlisted help from Jessa, Lexi, and even Seth to develop the new architecture.
It was a new day, thought Mavis. AIs were part of the family now, not merely tools.
Only time would tell what the Martians had to say.
#
The Space Cruiser USS Marius, CS-1
In orbit around Europa
May 2057
At long last, it was time to leave. All systems had been checked and rechecked. The nukes and the subsidiary engines had been test fired—all performance was nominal.
Marco had strapped me back into my bubble suit that should cushion the effects of acceleration from the nukes. Of course, the suit needed some modification with my midsection growing. Marco was just too amused at that, and he earned more than one scowl. But he was excited about being a father and about meeting our son, Jason, in a month or so.
Imagine—parents to the first space baby.
And finally. “All hands. This is the captain. It’s time to say farewell to our temporary home and head back to our home base. I’d give some speech, but we have a year or more of travel time, so I’ll save it for a later date. Ignition in five-four-three-two-one-engage.”
And we were off.