The red sands soak in the rays of the distant sun and expands
to the horizon undulating as dunes, gaping as ravines, raging in the dust
storms that scatter across the landscape.
‘My son, I understand your decision and accept it,’ John
said gazing at the sight that dominates the landscape for over a third of the
planet’s surface. Olympus Mons rising 27km above sheer cliffs of volcanic rock
as a dome passing through the thin atmosphere appearing to touch the very
heavens. From its apex stretches a line that does just that reaching 17,000km
high connected to a launching pad just above geosynchronous orbit.
‘Humanity’s future is here,’ James replied. ‘Father, this is
our new evolutionary step. I want to continue your work here. The line of
humility, the space elevator rising from Olympus Mons, the first of its kind
could not have been built without your supervision. Look, you can see the
lights from Hope the cavern city over there. You devised the method of
constructing its ice domes. You were even involved in the maglev project and
now look at that train breaking the sound barrier. The very air and ground of
this planet has been changed by your geoforming.’
‘And that train carries the last chance for you to visit
Earth for the next two years. It will take that long for our planets to
realign.’
‘I do not regret my decision,’ James replied as he absently
clipped and unclipped the magnetic bearings of his power-rings. ‘Here we can
reset humanity, fix its problems and evolve into what we should be. I’m glad
that I won’t be exposed to the primitive corruption of the people of Earth.’
‘This planet is no escape from humanity, for we cannot leave
behind that evil which is a part of what makes us human. That is one problem
that cannot be solved with science.’
‘Save it! I know you think Jesus is the answer but a 2600
year old dead peasant isn’t going to change anything. People can save
themselves, we just need to try harder. And those who can’t, well … too bad for
them, let natural selection do its work. This is our chance to evolve!’
‘I said I accept your decision but it isn’t the one I would
make. Not the one I made 35 years ago coming to Mars, coming to the great
unknown. I took the challenge to stretch my boundaries, to challenge my beliefs.
I thought you, my son, would be the same,’ and at that he turned to gaze at his
son just as deeply as he was at the landscape.
‘I know I’m right. I’m not running from anything,’ James
said outwardly, weakly. But he buckled under that gaze and glanced down to brush
the Martian dust off his power-rings.
‘You will never know, not now,’ and with that John left,
pressing one hand on his son’s shoulder as he passed by.
Though the horizon was wide and the view vast the only thing
James could see in that sea of dust he had known his entire life was the one
thing speeding away, driven on electromagnetic rails.
‘I know! I know it as fact, I’m not wrong! I’ll prove it to
him and nothing will stop me,’ and he smiled, he always liked a challenge. But
his father was right about one thing, at midday in 15 hours the last manned ship
to earth for the next two years would be launched from the top of the elevator.
No train meant that he had to improvise to get from the foot hills of Biblis
Patera over the 1200km of dunes, caverns, cliffs and dust storms. And again he
looked at his invention, the power-rings. Four of them half meter in diameter
lay magnetically clipped side by side at his feet. Each one boasted three
angled blades connected to a central hub, blades powered by the electromagnetic
tracks inset in the rim. The rim contained 500 lithium ion cells interspaced
with powerful electromagnets designed to propel the spokes forward as they
passed by.
He held one up contemplative, watching blades spin around
lazily. Its mirrored surface reflected the dome he called home and the
surrounds of his childhood. “No goodbyes” he resolved and with sudden
determination he gripped the centre hub and revved the outer rim, his mind was
set. He sped off with one ring in each hand after clipping a ring to the
outside of both his boots.
Seeing the dust cloud caused by his son speed off down the slope made the old man to smile. ‘Like father, like son after all.’
Thank you for reading!
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