Crystals on Mars

By John Sechrist

Bob and Betty working together at the National Space Exploration Center, discovered something in a core sample from Mars that completely changes their world and the world they live in. That is, until the Government steps in!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 4, 2019
• ISBN: 9780359567935

Book preview

Crystals on Mars

Crystals on Mars

Bob Link sat at his desk going over some files he had. Being a Geologist with all the exploring on the Moon and now Mars exploration, it has increased his workload. Last night he had a dream and when he woke up this morning, he remembered parts of the dream, but there were so many areas of the dream that he could not connect them to any one thing. He looked at his alarm and decided to turn it off and go into work early. He drove to work and parked his Auto Flyer Mark Two and went in the building at the National Space Exploration Center. He signed in at the security desk and went up to his office and settled in at his desk. He decided to go through some of the files that he was working on lately and maybe see what may have caused his dream last night. He had been working on the construction on a new designed Tunnel Boring Machine on Moon Base Alpha to use on Mars. He sat there going over all aspects of the special head assembly. They need a boring tool that will take very little water usage for the mud pumps since it will be used in outer space. So far, after reviewing the last few months, they were assembling parts of the tool and everything seemed to be ok. So that wasn’t what made him have the dream last night.

He was sitting there thinking what else would cause him to have this dream. It was so vivid and he could remember the site of the digging in his dream and he remembered that the depth of the excavation was only half what they proposed. He remembered something in his dream happened while digging. That was when he woke up sitting straight up in bed. What worried him was that he remembered being scared and he was sweating. It was so real to him. Just then Betty Crane came into the room. She noticed the lights were on in one of the offices down from hers. She walked over to check who was there this early in the morning. When she peeked in, she saw it was Bob Link. She had talked to him off and on before. What little he knew about her, she always seemed happy and he had to admit, she always looked good.

He turned and said, Hi Bet! What brought you to work so early? You usually don’t show up until nine. She said, I was just about to ask you the same thing. I didn’t have a good night sleep last night, so I figured I’d come in to work and have a cup of coffee here. I saw you lights on and wondered if you would like one too? Bob said, Great. I could use one right now. I take mine black. Thanks Betty went and got each of them a cup of coffee and came back and pulled up a chair next to his desk and said, I was surprised that you were here early! I see you are checking the Mole you are assembling on Moon Alpha. Something wrong? Bob laughed and said, I sure hope not! I just wanted to review where we are sitting right now with the Mole construction since this is a new Direct Beam Laser connected to a three head boring head that we will be using. Betty asked, Are they having a problem with it? He said, The power unit and variable suction unit is in its final stages and will be ready for testing very soon. Betty said, Well, seems everything is on schedule! What are you worried about?"

Bob looked back at some paperwork he was holding and said, Not sure. I want to be sure when we start drilling on Mars, I don’t want any problems. to show up. I should go to Alpha and check on everything myself and make sure everything is ok there. Betty said, I remember reading in the history books about the first landing on the Moon. It took eight days there and back to accomplish that, but that was back in 1969. Then in 2085 they finally completed the Moon Base Alpha. It’s hard to believe that they were able to build a Moon base under those conditions. Now since 2100 with the new technology, it only takes just over one day to the Moon and now, after three major upgrades of the Variable Specific Magnetoplasma engines that we use to go to Mars from the Moon, it only takes us about two months to get there. Bob said, yes, we have improved. But in comparison from here to the Moon it is still slow due to our atmosphere. We can’t use the same system here on earth due to the environment and the size if the ship, but I have to admit, a day trip to Alpha is a lot faster than what it was back then. That was a jump in space travel. I know that they are working on a completely new design of an engine that will even be faster and more efficient, but that won’t be tested until 2165. At least we now have completed a landing area on mars so we don’t have to shuttle back and forth from the ship to Mars surface. Before I head out to Alpha, I want to do some more research here on earth first.  Betty said, "Well good luck! Hope you find what you’re looking for.

He asked Betty, So Bet, what brought you here this early in the morning? He usually called her Bet when they were alone. She got a kick out of it. Betty said, I woke up from a bad dream last night, that’s all. Since I was awake, I figured I might as well get ready and come to work. Bob laughed and said, That’s why I came in early today. Do you remember what you were dreaming about? Betty smiled and said, Not much. It was just something that must have been disturbing me. All I can remember, is I was on Base M2 on the Moon reading something on Mars and something happened. That’s when I woke up. Bob laughed and said, You were probably thinking of our project E6 on Mars. I think that was what I had been dreaming of too. Betty asked, How is it going there? Have they had any results yet? He said, No. That’s what is bothering me. We figured that since 2145, they have covered most of Perserve Valley that the north pole area would be where we would find different types of rocks. But so far, we did find some with traces of nickel and iron and silicate, but nothing earth shaking. They are so busy building the colony enclosure on mars. Betty said, Well I guess I’d better get to my desk. Time to start in on my paperwork. See you later!

Bob went back to going through his files again. After about ten minutes, he stopped and found himself staring at the wall. Something in the back of his mind was still bothering him and he didn’t know what it was. He decided to go down to the research library and just walk around looking for something that might help him know what is bothering him. When he entered, he went to the computer and started looking at the files. Since the files were in alphabet order, he started at A and scrolled through its contents. When he finally got to the D files he laughed and said to himself, This is dumb!  What the heck am I looking for? Something is bothering me, but what! He decided that it had to be the new boring system he has been involved in. He sat there for a minute and decided to go back to his office and go through the files on the new system again. He said, That must be what is on my mine. I hope that it will work as advertised!

On the way back to his office, since he came in early and all he had so far was a cup of coffee with Betty, he decided to stop at the cafeteria and get a bite to eat. He went through the line and got a breakfast sandwich and another cup of coffee, and went out to the sitting area and found an empty table and sat down. He was sitting there for a few minutes just staring at nothing in particular, when a voice said, Mind if I sit here? He looked up and saw Betty standing there with a tray. He said, Sorry, I didn’t see you come in. Shure, have a seat. I don’t like to eat alone. As Betty sat down, she said, Seems you had the same idea I had. Since we both came in early, we wanted to get something to eat. I saw you sitting there and from the look on your face, your mind seemed to be somewhere else. I hope I’m not interfering with anything?  Bob smiled and said, No. I still have a feeling that I’m missing something. She asked, Is it something here at work or maybe something at home? Bob laughed and said, I wish I knew! It’s just a feeling I have somewhere in the back of my mind. They talked for a while and Bob asked, You’re are in the Archaeology department, aren’t you? She said, Yes, and also I’m a Geologist. I’m also a historian. I always loved delving into how it was and how and why things happened. I guess I’m a jack of all trades. Bob looked at her and was surprised when she told him her educational background. He said, Looking at you, I would never have thought you were so involved! Betty smiled and asked, Why, do I look different or what? Bob blushed and said, I wouldn’t think you had so many degrees. Then he said, I’m sorry! What I mean is you look so young to have so many degrees! Betty smiled and said, If that’s a compliment, thank you.  

Betty said to Bob, Changing the conversation, maybe what you are worried about is that new project I’ve heard that you are working on. He said, You’re probably right! It probably has something to do with the new boring system I’m working on. Since it is new technology in drilling in space that I want to try, I’m worried how it will work. Betty said, From what you said this morning, you are trying to cut the usage of water during digging. Bob said, Yes. Even though they have discovered water on Mars, it still is in critical demand until we discover another underground feed. Betty asked, What is so different in your design? Bob said, We will have a three-diamond head for drilling. But first, we will use a new laser drilling system that uses hydrogen gas that will melt anything. Betty asked, Why use the laser. Why not use the normal drilling, using the heads? Bob smiled and said, Two reasons. One, the laser will produce a small hole and hardly any slurry, the byproduct of water and debris. Also, we are designing a return system that will remove the water from the slurry and we will be able to reuse it. That way, we will be able to explore the crust and the mantle. That’s similar to how we found the water on Mars except reusing the water. If we find anything, we will then use a multi head to bore to what depth we need. He stopped, smiled and said, Speaking of boring, I hope I didn’t bore you with all that. When I get talking about the system, I can’t help myself! Betty laughed and said, No, not at all! I find it interesting. When do you expect to have it in place to try out? Bob said, Hopefully it should be ready to be transported to Mars in about a month. After they check it out on the Moon, they will have to disassemble it for shipping and then when it gets to Mars re-assemble it and then run a few tests on the head assembly. Betty asked, Why didn’t you just assemble it here on earth and test it here? Bob laughed and said, I wish we could, but it has to be tested in a weightless atmosphere. We thought about testing it here on earth, but the depth that we are going to work with it would be impossible to test it here and we want to test it in the atmosphere there. Our Moon is the best place for running the tests. Betty said, It sounds very interesting, but I’d better get back to work or they will be hunting for me. Good luck on the drill head and I hope you will remember whatever it is you are worried about. As she got up, Bob thanked her and smiled and said, From what you told me earlier, I hope you will remember why you couldn’t sleep last night. He sat there watching Betty as