Solar Umbrella (Book 1)

Chapter 20: Red Planet

PARKER WOKE UP early the next day, hoping to get a call. He was back with his parents and as nice as that was, he was looking to get out on his own. He turned on his tablet to check for messages or calls—nothing yet. He checked the news and saw there was a Mars update. A company had sent a team of twelve there and they landed a few months ago. It was a mix of rich assholes, former astronauts and cosmonauts and a few other scientists. Even for Parker, the updates had proved uninteresting. The company had hoped to build off the success of LunaOne, but they were discovering that people really didn't care. The draw of LunaOne wasn't really about the moon, it was about the Earth. Getting to look back at home, gaining perspective, and taking that perfect social media pic. Combine all that with the luxury of LunaOne and a relatively short flight, and you had a money maker. Mars, well, it sucks. It takes forever to get there, the Earth looks like another point in the sky and there's nothing to do there. The team on Mars were spending time in inflated domes and trying to avoid sandstorms. Compared to swimming in a moon pool, it wasn't exactly a luxury voyage. NASA and other space agencies had already greatly pulled back on any manned missions to anywhere. Whatever scientific value the team on Mars brought, it was nothing robots couldn't already do. It was theatre more than anything. Parker thought back to his talks with Kate, about how the moon was just living off Earth's umbilical cord. Mars was even worse, and much further away. No wonder public interest had died.

The other news of the day, unfortunately, was more of the same. Heat records shattered, forest fires out of control, food insecurity at all time highs. Another religious cult had committed mass suicide in Oregon thinking it got them on some fast track to nirvana or whatever. The biggest killer this year was human migration. The closer to the equator, the harder it was becoming to live. With agriculture being the primary employer and way of life in much of the world near the equator, the intense heat and sun was making life there untenable. People were flocking north or south, trying to find a new life. They were often moving on foot, in huge groups. They often didn't make it. Thousands died every day, and no one seemed to have a solution. There was only so much food and water in the world and too many people. It ate at the back of Parker's mind, but he didn't know what to do about it either. Parker shut off the tablet and got ready for the day.

Parker was tired of waiting, so he went out for a walk. His parent's neighbourhood was well covered with trees and rest spots where you could escape the sun and heat, so Parker only needed minimal sunblock and a big hat. It was early enough that the intense heat of the day was still a few hours off. After walking for a while, his tablet vibrated. He connected to the call through his headphones immediately and jogged to a nearby shelter while answering, "Parker Varia here."

"Parker! Greetings, this is Frank Williams from NASA, we met yesterday. I'm calling with good news. Is this a good time?" the caller asked.

Parker recognized the voice immediately. He had gone over his interview and time in the simulation over and over. He wondered if he had made the right choice, or if there was another option to save both of his simulated crewmates. He couldn't think of anything. "Hi Frank, I've got time to talk."

The line clicked and a second voice joined them. "Hi Parker, this is John Bernard, director at NASA and I've been speaking with Frank for most of this morning about your interview results."

"Oh, hey...er, good morning Mr. Bernard," Parker stammered out. The director? The guy was a bit of a legend. They called him "the Bear", and he looked like one too. He had been on one of the first manned missions to mine an asteroid and he had pulled two of his crewmates unconscious bodies onto a ship minutes before it left for home. They made a fucking movie about him!

"Hey kid, call me John. We're going to be working closely enough," the Bear told him. "Listen, Frank only has great things to say about you, and your experience is off the charts for someone just out of college. I remember that contest. Do you know there's a few cities in Europe who've adopted that software you guys came up with for harvesting fruit from municipal parks? Pretty wild."

"Uh, thank you sir. John," Parker replied, getting more flustered by the second.

Bernard laughed on the other end of the phone, "good god Parker, we're not a military organization. It's John! I understand from Frank that your psych results lined you up for our leadership simulation. That's a tough one. I've run it myself a few times. I've managed to act fast enough to save that poor son of a bitch who's floating off to god knows where, and I've picked up the other one like you did, but I've never been able to get them both. I guess that's the point the eggheads were going for. A lot of guys try and end up killing the whole team. I'll let Frank give you the rest of the results, but I thought I'd mention that to help put you at ease a bit."

Parker could tell he was going to get along with John "the Bear" Bernard just fine. "Thank you for that. The simulation was tough, and I admit it took me a while to get back to reality, but it's an amazing piece of machinery," Parker told him.

"Indeed it is," Bernard replied with pride in his voice. "Cost us a pretty penny to code and build, but it'll be worth it in the long run. Listen, I've got a job for you if you're interested..."

Parker didn't need to hear anymore. He knew he wanted to work for NASA, and he could tell that Bernard was the real deal already. "I'm in," he replied.

"God damn kid, let me finish," Bernard continued, but with a jovial tone. "I'm sure you've heard about the space elevator in the Pacific. It's getting close to finished, and all the groups involved are leaning towards a government administration to run it. We won't own it, since we didn't contribute much. Hell, they'll probably call it the Doritos Cool Ranch Space Elevator or some bullshit, but they want a group of space administration types to work schedules, help fix any issues and massage the egos of the various groups. It's an important gig, and I want you to be a part of it on the NASA end."

Parker processed what he was hearing. It did sound like a great opportunity, and he'd be right on the cutting edge of space research. He would be able to help make sure that the elevator was being used to get the right kind of things in space. "That sounds amazing, and I'd love to do it, but why me?" he asked.

"A few reasons, Parker," Bernard replied. "First, your evaluation tells me you like to meet challenges and solve problems in interesting ways. There'll be a lot of that. Secondly, the Europeans are setting a bit of a ball buster on their end. She's been around almost as long as these old bones, and I think some fresh ideas will add to the team. Third, I understand you know Alexander Euguene, the Russian?"

Parker swallowed his surprise and replied, "Alex is going?!" He was already excited about the opportunity to do the actual job, but having a friend on the team would make it even better. "You just made my year, my decade! You can count on me John, absolutely."

"Great kid. Frank here will give you the rest of the details. I've got to finish putting our crew together. We'll have you all meet up tonight on video and start talking strategy. Talk to you soon," Bernard finished.

"Hey Parker? I'll give you a call back in about an hour and email you some documents to sign. Just so you know, I've asked for a transfer to the elevator myself. I'm looking for something different and this sounds like work worth doing. Anyways, see you soon," Frank finished.

Parker heard a double click on his end and hung up as well. He took a minute to sit and process all that had been said. His head was spinning with ideas. He couldn't believe he was getting in on the ground floor on a project like this. The space elevator opened up a lot of options for space travel. Suddenly, getting anything to space became a lot easier, not to mention getting it back to Earth. True, a lot of the applications were really just for business—sending down the stuff they mined to sell, but it would also create a launch point for pretty much any future mission. It was a lot easier to just build a ship in space to travel around up there. Not needing to escape gravity or come back through an atmosphere opened a lot of doors. And Alex! What a lucky turn of events. He was sure no matter who else was on the team from various national agencies, he and Alex would see eye to eye on a lot of issues. He couldn't remember feeling this good in a long time.

He took off for home to share the news with his family.