Gone to Mars to Stay

By Marvin Hobson

Overview coming soon

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 26, 2013
• ISBN: 9781493102020

Marvin Hobson

Author Bio Coming Soon

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

GRADUATION

It was Friday and the year was 3019 Graduation would be Sunday afternoon. Bobby Jennings sat in his dorm room, pondering his speech. He was valedictorian and he had a speech to make in front of the graduating class of approximately 500. It just seemed like there were more until the dean told him. They were scattered out in other dorms and took other classes. There were not that many in engineering. It had not been taught as long as law and other classes. It started out as Harvard Law. Then they kept adding on. He was sure there were twice that many when he started. He had been in the dean’s office for a little talk. Harvard is the oldest college in the USA. So that’s why he had been contacted by Boeing and NASA. To graduate from Harvard, you had to be good. Now that made him a little nervous. That’s the way the football scouts do. He played baseball his freshman year but it was more for fun than to build a profession. These scouts were not looking for ball players.

He had two days to prepare his speech and he wanted to do it right even though he knew no one would remember it after a week. Later he would have time to figure out what the scouts wanted with him. He took engineering. Maybe that’s it. If he went with either one of them it would be NASA. He had studied US and Russian History with a special interest in the space programs. The US had gotten themselves involved in the Mars Program. space travel was so much faster with the new technology to warp space. Russia says they came up with the technology to warp space and shared it with the US. The US says they came up with it and shared it with Russia. Bobby didn’t think either one would share it if they had it. Travel to far planets in our solar system could be accomplished in months instead of years. That’s why we have been able to do so much on Mars. That and the Anti Gravity Technology we are not sure whether Russia has Anti Gravity or not. In fact he was not even sure they could warp space. It might just be some propaganda. Bobby had always been interested in the base on Mars and had read everything he could find on it. Any way back to the speech.

His roommate John, also an engineering student, was out celebrating while Bobby was in the dorm working on his speech. Bobby didn’t drink and John had a history of going out after he got his work done. That’s good. But if you go out and drink first, you don’t get your work done. John did alright but when he got his work done he didn’t hang around. Why should he? The finals were over and he passed everything. Bobby usually stayed and studied some more. That accounts for his higher grades. That left him with no distractions. So now he could write his speech. That took about an hour. He would come back to it later to add things he thought of and to polish it up.

He went to the Library and found it mostly deserted. Hey Bobby came a familiar voice. It was Cathy. She was a student who worked there after class. to earn extra money. She didn’t have the look of a librarian. Not the way he had always pictured them. She looked good with long blond hair and blue eyes and a good figure. She usually wore those tight blue jeans. He heard her but he didn’t see her.

Where are You? He had been in there so much, she knew his name.

Over here. she was looking between the shelves.

I see you now. What are you doing here now? He wanted to check out the latest on Mars.

I could ask you the same question.

They let me work and work it’s money. they’ve been turning in stuff all day and I am still trying to put it in order. See that pile on the desk? somebody will have to work Tomorrow before it’s done.

Why don’t they put stuff on flash drives in the library? he asked. It would be so much easier. I could just check one out and put it in my pocket on the way to class and I would have it.

That my friend is why we don’t have them. From what I hear, they tried them some fifty years or so ago and they were too easy to steal, so they went back to discs.

Well whatever. He checked out a disc and went back to his room and stuck it in his computer. He had his standard desk top which did everything. He was writing his speech on it. He had a voice program on the desk top it would recognize his voice and instead of the keyboard he used a mike he could just talk to it and it would do the typing. The first one worked good as long as he was alone in the room. But if John came in and said anything, it would type that too. Or a radio or anyone talking loud in the hall. He finally got a program that would recognize his voice and ignore any other sounds. All the dorms had wireless for the computers and it worked about anywhere on campus. He watched TV on his computer some. Then the digital laptop, he kept with him all the time. The computer had pretty much made the printing press obsolete. everything was on disc now. The libraries could hold at least 10 times the information per square meter as they could with books and they did.

He read some about the dome which he had read earlier. It went slow but the new space suits were much better than the old ones. The sections were glass and plastic with a hollow between with a gas for insulation triangular shaped on an aluminum frame. Now that they had plenty of water, they started making oxygen on a large scale. They released the oxygen in the dome and bottled the hydrogen and used it for cooking and jettisoned the extra to the outside.

They planted a garden with lots of corn. It grew fast and tall and released a lot of Oxygen. Since the seasons were the same inside the dome, they could plant another corn crop before the first one died. They planted seeds for plants that grew year round all around the perimeter. None of this would have been possible 200 or even 100 years ago before the eruption of a major volcano which increased the green house gasses which would warm the planet a bit. Nothing that anyone could breathe but the plants could tolerate.

Bobby knew about all of this. What he wanted to know about was the second dome, the 100 meter dome. Information on that was sketchy. But he knew it existed at least it was under construction and he wanted to know more. He found it once on the Internet but it had been deleted. It seems the dome is self sustaining. The workers walked around in regular clothes and slept in tents inside the 35 meter dome they cooked and sat at tables and ate. Some of them had their work inside the dome and others put on their space suits and went out to work. What were they doing outside? He wondered. They were working on the hundred meter dome. Yes, he knew. The one he couldn’t get any information about.

Bobby turned off the computer and walked outside. What a nice campus, he thought. He had been all around there many times but he was in a hurry, always going to class or somewhere and never took time to stop and smell the roses. It’s nice, it’s really nice, he thought. Why haven’t I discovered it before. Maybe it was because he was through with his studies and there was no longer any reason to be in a hurry. So why don’t I have a little fun, he thought, I know where the pub is where John goes. I could go there.

The music was loud and he saw John at a table with a girl. John saw him and motioned for him to come and sit. So he did. John introduced him to the girl Monica, this is Bobby, my roommate. She was real nice looking with long dark hair and dark eyes Asian he thought. Soon another girl came from being excused and sat. As a song ended, the first girl said, Bobby meet Sylvia, My roommate. This one also had long hair but sort of reddish brown and green eyes wearing a tight T-shirt with words in a foreign language showing nice boobs and a good figure.

Sylvia said, Pleased to meet you, Bobby do you want to dance?

"Yes maybe in a minute. That was quick. Then John bought a round. Bobby went ahead and drank with them, even though he didn’t drink.

A slow number started and she asked again, Do you want to dance? Bobby couldn’t figure an easy way to get out of it so he danced with her. He hadn’t danced since the High School prom and it was nice. He didn’t know if he did alright. She kissed him on the way back to the table. So she seemed to like it and Bobby liked it. So Bobby bought the next round. Bobby was so wrapped up in learning everything that he forgot how to have fun, if he ever did. A live band came on at 9:00 and they were pretty good. It was a local band that played for beer. But they were still good. Bobby and Silvia danced a lot. At 11:00 came the topless bikini contest. Then Bobby really knew he had been missing a lot. There were six girls in the contest.

Bobby said, I’m usually in bed by now unless I am studying but I don’t want to miss all this.

Monica said, Why is it always girls? I want to see some boys take it off.

OK, Said John, What do you want me to take off?

She said, Yes John, take it off. She didn’t say what and he didn’t ask.

Well, soon as the girls are done and they call for boys. Said John with a smile.

They never called for boys but the girl that won got a dozen roses and a hundred dollar bill. She must have thought it was worth her time. The other five girls got to show off.

It was a fun night and pretty late when they got back to the room. Now Bobby knew how John could sleep so well.

Bobby woke up and saw John smiling at him. You know, you’re letting life pass you by. John said. Didn’t you have fun last night?

Yes, I’m afraid I have missed some good times. That Sylvia is OK.

I’ve been telling you that you need to be getting something out of life. Those girls come in the place some times. They don’t appear to date any one. They are friendly if somebody buys.

That topless Bikini Contest was really nice. I never knew they had anything like that.

John said, Oh yes, they have different kinds of entertainment every weekend. I thought it was better than the wet T-shirt contest last week. I tried to get you to go lots of times but no, you had to study. I studied and also went and had a good time and still passed. I know you are smart. You are smarter than I am. You could have done it and still passed most likely with honors. You need to set priorities. All work and no play makes Bobby a dull boy.

I think that’s supposed to be Jack.

Not in this case it’s not. Let’s get some breakfast.

On the way, Bobby said, You sure picked a fine time to tell me after school’s out and the only thing left is graduation.

Now just hold on a minute old buddy. I’ve been telling you for the last two years at least. Why did you decide to come over last night? You just ran out of anything to study, didn’t you?

I guess that’s about the size of it. About the only thing going on at this time is a few make up tests. A few nice professors that allow some border line students to take a test over but most of the professors would just fail them and go home. Nothing to them and more money for the School if they decided to come back another year and do it over. They should have studied when they had the chance.

Oh give me a break Bob, every body’s not like you. Some study and still can’t make it.

You know what, I think I will change my speech a little. John didn’t understand. He didn’t know what it was about in the first place. Bobby went on to say I think I will entitle it it All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. I think I will talk about the importance of balancing work and recreation. I played baseball in my Freshman year and I did good and made just as good a grades and had fun too. Then I didn’t do any recreation. That was not good.

You going to talk about the Boob contest?

No probably not. But that is a good way to get them to remember what they heard. The boys will for sure. I’ll think about it.

No. I don’t think you should.

Whatever you think. But I know I will have to change my speech.

It was a leisurely Saturday with no pressure and Bobby decided to go back with John Saturday Night. They sat around and later a band showed up but the girls never showed. So about 10:00 Bobby decided to go polish up his speech. He decided to re write the whole thing to make it interesting for everyone. The first one was interesting to him but would hold the attention of less than 10% of the class. Now he had something. Something about how to succeed and enjoy life at the same time.

When the time came, the Dean was first with his little talk, then Bobby’s speech, then the diplomas were handed out which Bobby thought took up too much time. But then It took four years to get where he was so what’s a few more minutes. Then it was over and every body was throwing their hats in the air and now they could go home and start their careers.

Most of the students were packed and were leaving. But Bobby and John had made no preparation. They both went out Friday and Saturday nights and Bobby had his speech to do. Now they were ready to pack up. Bobby couldn’t get everything in his car but his Mother and Daddy came to Graduation and they could get the rest in their car.

CHAPTER 2

HOMEWARD BOUND

After saying their good byes, Bobby noticed for the first time he was hungry. So when he stopped for fuel he went inside to snack while the attendant hooked up the Hydrogen hose to his car tightening the bezel and opened the valve. He had his sniffer and went over the connection. They had to be certified to fill up cars it was high pressure in order to have liquid hydrogen, and you had to fill up. There was non of this so many dollars worth. It took time for the attendant to hook up and unhook. Meanwhile Bobby got a Pepsi and a sandwich out of the cooler. Bobby ate as he waited for his car to be filled. He watched the numbers go by and felt the plastic shrinking in his wallet and hoped it would stop before it got to the end of the money. He thought he had enough hydrogen to get home any way and if it did run out, he could go the last 75 KM or so on battery power. The manufacture advertises 100 KM with the lithium batteries. But that’s pushing it. Besides his was seven years old. So he would go ahead and fill up in case. He noticed his Daddy had pulled in behind him to get hydrogen too. Bobby had the internal combustion engine which was one of the old hybrids, a hand-me-down from his Daddy. His Daddy’s had fuel cells and his was all electric and a lot more fuel efficient. His Daddy came in the store and saw him eating and said, Didn’t you have any Dinner? We ate before the Graduation Exercise.

Actually no. I was going over my speech and never thought about it. But this’ll do me a while.

Well, don’t eat too much. We will stop and eat again after while.

Bobby thought that would be nice. He would be anxious to catch up on things at home and he was sure they would be anxious to catch up on his life on campus. Yes this will do me a while. Whenever you want to eat, I’ll be ready. Just lead the way. He started to pay for the fuel and Daddy stepped up and got it. Well that’s nice, thought Bobby. Bobby just realized this is the first thing he had to eat since Breakfast and it’s already 4:00 O’clock. He would be ready to eat wherever Daddy stops.

Daddy stopped after about 30 KM along and by then everybody was hungry. It was a nice Restaurant and they all had Rib eye Steaks and it was about time. Bobby related the time when the dean wanted to see him. He couldn’t figure out what he had done wrong and the dean just wanted to congratulate him that he had made the highest grade point average since the college had been founded. Then he talked about how he neglected recreation to study as if it was everything. But one needs a balance of both.

Daddy said, That’s what your speech was about, Wasn’t it?

Yes I played baseball as a Freshman and I did alright. Then I thought I needed to put all my time on my studies and I still did alright. Now I think maybe I have been missing a lot.

Daddy talked about funerals. There’s one nearly every day. He said. In a town as small as Smithtown, it’s not right. There’s something going on. Most of them would be in good health and start feeling bad and didn’t want to go to work and then in a week or so were dead.

Back home, Bobby hung around a week thinking things out. He had both cards from the men that had contacted him earlier. He knew that Boeing had the contract for the next space craft and he wanted to see the operation. He thought he would go there first and check it out but not commit to anything. He scanned the man’s card in the phone and the call went directly to the man’s desk. The same man that talked to him at Harvard. They were happy to furnish transportation for him to come to the main office. It was like a reverse Job Interview. Most Job Interviews, the person tries to sell himself to the Company. These people were trying to sell him on the Company and a big Company like Boeing, this was unheard of, But they wanted engineers and from his grades, they figured he was the best. He didn’t know it then but one of their best engineers had recently died. After a day of listening to their pep talks, he asked if he could see where they were building the space craft. After a bit of discussion among themselves, they decided it wouldn’t do any harm.

He was not impressed because the construction was at this point of the components. Work had not started on the main fuselage. However they did show him drawings and explained some things about it. The drawings related similar to the old space shuttle of a hundred years ago but about twice as big With longer wings. There were five jets, two in each wing and a big one in the tail. An engineer explained, The one on the tail will be a solid rocket booster since the jet engines won’t function above the atmosphere. That is one thing we haven’t determined yet. They explained that with anti gravity, it would take off like a conventional air plane on a sharp angle and turn straight up until it broke free from the gravitational pull. When it reached warp speed it could coast the rest of the way with a few minor adjustments in attitude thus eliminating the need for the large rocket boosters and save millions on every take off.

One of them said, It took three trips to get the aluminum for the domes to the moon base and to Mars. This one would take it all in one trip on less fuel. We have had Anti Gravity for over a hundred years but we have perfected it.

He thought they might be giving away some classified information but then he could probably find all of it on the internet. He understood every thing they talked about. In fact he thought he understood better than the men that were telling him about it. Bobby asked, "What good are the longer wings to take off on Mars. You need atmosphere. Wings won’t hold you up on nothing. And nothing is about what you got on Mars.

One of the Boeing engineers said, A good point. The wings pivot and the thrust goes straight down. You have perhaps noticed that the wings are at the center of the craft. Where most air planes have the wings located toward the rear. That is the balance point. With that and the lower gravity on Mars it’s going to weigh about a third and with the anti gravity generator on, It will practically jump off the ground. This will eliminate the need for long runways which we don’t have the equipment on Mars to build. Coming back will be easier than going. Mars is just the beginning, we will be visiting lots of planets in the near future.

So will you be using Jet Fuel or Hydrogen?

The research is not in on that yet. It could be either one. We will need to add liquid oxygen in the higher altitudes so we have more research to do in that area. My personal opinion is Hydrogen because of the weight. But that’s just my opinion. That’s up to the chemists.

How will you slow it down when it comes back to earth?

We will use reverse thrusters like on regular air planes when it gets in to the thin atmosphere and a little oxygen. An other thing which has not been determined. When it gets into enough air for the jet engines to operate they will turn the reverse thrusters on and slow it enough so that it will not burn in re entry eliminating the need for tiles which always gave trouble. We have tested lots of configurations in the wind tunnel, one of which had a rocket engine in the nose. We have not entirely discarded that one.

Bobby went home thinking he probably asked the right questions. But some of those guys don’t know or don’t want to give out much information. I think they know a lot more than they are telling.

So if things don’t work out at NASA, there was always Boeing. He took the NASA man’s card and pondered it for a week. He wondered what they wanted with him. Why Boeing? Why NASA? Did they have spy ware on his computer? How did they find him? It had to be his searches. He was interested in Mars. He wanted to go there. How did they know? Or did they?

He picked up the phone and laid it back down. What if it turns out that they are not looking for someone like me? he thought. He picked up the phone again and took the NASA man’s card and scanned it in the phone. The call went directly to the same Gentleman that talked to him at Harvard who greeted him and ask him when he wanted to come to Texas. Well, Bobby thought, that was easy. I’m not really pushed for time right now. I guess I can go any time.

How about Monday week?

I can do that.

How would you like to go to Mars?

You’re joking, Right?

No, I’m serious. We need people like you.

I would definitely like to go to Mars. It’s been my dream as long as I can remember.

I’ll send you a ticket and I want you here at the Johnson Space Center in Huston a week from Monday. We will pick you up at the airport. He didn’t ask Bobby’s address, NASA already knew more about Bobby than he knew about himself.

I will be there. Bobby thought the Johnson Space Center was at the Airport but maybe that’s a private Airport. Bobby was so excited. He was going to Mars. It was a dream come true. Was he dreaming? he wasn’t sure. He would know when the ticket came. He wouldn’t tell his parents. He would tell them he was going to NASA to see about a job or something like that. They wanted to talk to him, that’s it. There would be all kinds of tests and he would get turned down.

The phone rang and Bob picked it up. Some lady wanted to talk to his Mother. She said, What and then oh no three times. A pause, then what can we do? After she hung up, she said, The Preacher died.

Bobby didn’t know the Preacher. He had been gone to college four years. He decided to check on some of his old friends so he called. The first one, Joey’s phone had been disconnected. The second one, Jimmy was gone to work and his Mother answered. He asked about Joey and she told him the whole family was dead. He told her to have Jimmy to call when he got home.

He went to make a sandwich. He said, Mother, what’s going on with all these people dieing?

She said, I’m as baffled as every body else.

Well, Mom I called NASA and they want to talk to me. They want me to go to Texas.

Do you want to work for them?

"I think they want me. Mom, I don’t understand all those people dieing. What do the Doctors say?

The Doctors don’t say. But some of them refuse to treat any one with open cuts like from a wreck. I think they know something,but they don’t tell.

Later Jimmy called and Bobby said he would go over there. But Jimmy said, No we can talk on the phone. So they did. There was something strange. People were avoiding other people. He didn’t notice that in College but there was no reason to have contact with any body else. The only time he had actually touched any one was when he danced with Silvia. OMG when the Dean handed out the diplomas, he shook everybody’s hand. I wonder, he thought, no everybody seemed healthy. Besides, it takes around fifty years. But the dean was over fifty.

The tickets came and he knew it was no dream. So he took the plane. He might still go with Boeing if the deal with NASA didn’t work out.

CHAPTER 3

NASA

A car came for him at the airport just like the man said and took him swiftly to the Johnson Space Center where there were already three guys waiting. More came until there were 12 in all. Oh no he thought, I am competing against 11 others. Two men came and talked to all of them and the first one talked a while and summed it up as it’s no picnic but it’s a chance of a life time. The next one said, "Do you realize how few get to take a paid vacation and to such a far destination. You 12 are the top from 11 Colleges. Two of you are from Harvard. You won’t all make it but I wish you all the best.

Then there were the Doctors. They went one at a time. The first one asked about a hundred questions like what diseases have you had. What kind of treatment have you had. Do you have nanobots? Are you on any medications now? What about Mumps? He didn’t remember having Mumps and the Doctor said, it’s on your chart so you must have had it. Mumps can render you sterile. We need to check. Bobby was given a sample bottle and directed into a booth. They had all Bobby’s medical charts from the day he was born. Everything you can think of and about 75 more. He couldn’t figure out what being sterile or not being sterile had to do with anything.

They put them all up in a nice hotel while the testing was going on. Then the treadmill with all the sensors hooked up and it gets boring. But there was a week of tests physical and written. But the written tests were not written at all. They just called them that for some reason, they were on computer. Then the man named Cole who was an astronaut, short and stocky with short hair, real short like an astronaut with twinkling blue eyes came and congratulated them for passing. Now if you are still interested, you will be going to Mars. I don’t think there’s any job that pays anywhere near what you guys will be making. They were all interested and had no second thoughts. Bobby was interested in seeing that second dome which he never could get any information about. It would be a week before the launch but they didn’t want them going anywhere around people after they were examined as they might catch something.

They were eliminated one by one, but so far Bobby was still in. The last week was the physical testing like in a gym with weight machines to see how good they did. Then the centrifuge to see how they would cope with the G force and how much they could take. There was a seat on the end of a long pole. It went around faster and faster and he had a button in his hand to push when it was too much. They had already passed everything so maybe this was just to get them tired so they wouldn’t wonder out and around. The G test is very important however. They would be experiencing a lot of Gs on take off. They had already been checked by a battery of Doctors and were approved well and there were no provisions to take care of the sick on the trip or on Mars. Three had graduated the same year and had a lot to talk about. they had two rooms with wireless for the computer and HD-3D-TV and they could get anything from room service. So they made it pretty well. Bobby’s first roommate got eliminated. Now the guy that roomed with Bobby was Jimmy. That was easy to remember. Bobby’s best friend at home was Jimmy. The two in the other room were Tony and Billy. Tony was the other one from Harvard, he was older than the other three. He had graduated a few years ago and did internship in a hospital. Sometimes the four would get together for talking. Bobby sent emails home regularly as they all did to keep the folks at home informed. But Bobby still hadn’t told them that he was going to Mars yet. He told them there was a possibility. They were told they could send emails from Mars. There was a high power transmitter there. But probably not during the trip.

They were all top of their class and considered the best. They learned that Tony had been a medical student and he went to Harvard. Bobby