Starship: Free Mars

Part 9: Conclusion

“Dad?” Tate’s pulse still thrummed in his ears. He had once again drifted off reliving his heady first year on Mars. “Dad, are you comfortable?” His daughter, Galicia, tucked the blanket in around his legs.

Reluctantly he looked up at her. “Exquisitely comfortable considering how they had to haul me all this way up from Hellas. We could have seen this from home.”

“Now don’t you go getting all crotchety with me. I know you love the attention.” She kissed the top of his head and tucked a strand of his thin gray hair back in place. There was a table beside the podium, and she wheeled his chair up to the table. A large box with a big red button sat on the table.

“Dr. Tate Richardson,” the speaker announced and gestured for the assemble crowd to join him in applause. Tate looked at the man as he acknowledged the applause. Aram Xanthe, President of Mars. Just a kid. Of course everyone was “just a kid” when you are older than dirt.

He looked around at the crowd assembled under the temporary protective bubble way out in the wilds of Meridiani Planum, right where the prime meridian crossed the equator. Totally arbitrary point, of course, but the planners of the Carlson Space Elevator loved symbolism.

“Dr. Richardson?”

Tate looked up at the President. “Can’t start without me, huh?”

The President chuckled and handed him the box with the button. Was he still as witty as the thought he was, or were they just humoring him more these days? Whatever, it was time to push the button. He pushed it but did not feel anything. He pushed it again. Hearing a stirring in the crowd, he looked up towards where everyone was pointing.

Four points of light had bloomed in the dark, midday sky of Mars. Four fusion engines, quarter-class, embedded in the remains of Phobos. The small moon had to go. Since it orbited below the aero-synchronus orbit the space elevator would access, it was a danger. Move it or drop it? That had been the debate for several years. Finally they did both. Stripping off usable metals and volatiles, the rest of the rocky material was now on its way to the asteroid belt from whence it came.

He took his daughter’s hand and squeezed it. “Hope Manx was paying attention up there.” His son was supervising the on-orbit part of the project today.

She squeezed back. “He’ll be fine.”

“Of course he will,” he replied. “I just hope he’s got it lined up right.”

The President made a few more remarks, and the ceremony was over. There was sort of a reception afterwards. A few people stopped by to say hello to Tate, but there were only a few he knew. Most of them introduced themselves as children or grandchildren of people he had known. Just what he deserved, more reminders of how old he was.

Although he was tired, he kept on greeting people and shaking hands. The crowd thinned rapidly as surface shuttles started taking people back to the cities. President Xanthe came over to say goodbye before he left.

“Do you want to go now, Dad?” his daughter asked after the last person had finished talking with him.

He glanced at his watch. “How about just a little longer?”

She smiled and took his hand. Kneeling beside his wheel chair she said, “You want to see her, don’t you?”

He did not reply right away. His throat choked up, and his eyes watered. Glory had died too young—all those years ago. Finally he said, “Of course.”

In a few minutes, Galicia pointed just above the eastern horizon. Tate looked, but with his weak eyes, it took him a moment to find it. There it was—a spark in the sky. Nearly finished now, the huge starship in its distant orbit was a sunlit dot of light in the sky. Soon, it would leave for the stars and continue the human race’s exploration of the galaxy.

“Do you wish you could go along?” his daughter asked.

“No,” Tate snapped, but then he chuckled. “I’m way too old to have that much fun. I’m satisfied to watch her go.” Watch her go. The one thing he had asked of the Martian government when they had asked him what they could do to honor his contributions to Mars was the right to chose the starship’s name. He was satisfied. The starship, Glory, would go to the stars.