Saturday, July 12, 2025

World Brane (Brane World): Book 1

Image – ID 305930516 | Futuristic © Vampy1 | Dreamstime.com

When asked to tell her something about how he had come to be a professor of physics he said, “Well, I started off wanting to be a science fiction writer, probably since I was in elementary school. All the ancient science fiction of the twentieth century particularly appealed to me.”

“Why was that Dr. Dreyer?”

“Please call me Mark, Ms. Johnson.”

“Very well,” said Lainey.

“Why ancient science fiction? I think it was because it was so hopeful about the future. The science fiction of the next century became afraid of the future, which for a genre about the future is surprising,” he said.

(A work in progress)

Tuesday, July 8, 2025

MarsX3

MarsX Series Book 3

D.W. PATTERSON

First Printing – October 2025

Future Chron Publishing

Cover Image – ID 81664700 | Alien Futuristic © 3000ad | Dreamstime.com

No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission, except in the case of brief quotations for the purpose of review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination and should not be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events and people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Hard Science Fiction – Old School

Human Generated Content

To Sarah

“I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact.”

― Elon Musk

Chapter 1

The Space Force's ship had maneuvered within sight of the big ship, which had been circling Earth for weeks now. Aboard were Captain Asher and Commander Baxter, both Space force officers.

“Look at that monster,” said the captain.

“That's what a five-kilometer-long antimatter rocket looks like,” said Baxter.

“How and where they built that thing without anyone noticing is just incredible,” said Asher.

“Even for AI and robots, I would think it's a challenge,” said Baxter.

Then an alarm went off.

“What you got Neil?” asked the Commander.

“Attitude control reporting a fault,” said Asher.

Then, before Baxter could respond, they heard attitude rockets firing. The ship began to pitch forward.

“Can you handle it Steven?” asked Asher.

“I don't know, the controls are like mush,” said the Commander.

Asher could tell the Commander was struggling with the controls as the almost silent pings of rocket fire could be heard, becoming almost rapid-fire.

“Call it in Neil,” said Baxter.

Asher keyed his mic and placed a call but there was no response.

“It's dead,” he said.

The ship was starting a complex rotation as the Commander fought with the controls. The spinning was becoming almost cartoonish as it reached a maximum and then the ship began breaking up, slinging pieces of itself across space. It was now a danger to other satellites and then, it simply disintegrated. But the two Space Force officers had long before ceased to be aware.

“How else can you explain it, Corporal?” asked Brigadier General Brin, a man of medium height with short, dark blondish hair and a crisp cadence when he talked. The conversation was taking place in the Space Force's offices in Colorado.

“Well sir, it might not be a coincidence that they were surveilling the AI ship when they died, but there simply isn't any proof to back up that hypothesis,” said the corporal.

“Well, that's one thing we are going to have to change,” said the general.

“I've never heard of him,” said Harold Graham, aboard the Solaria habitat orbiting Mars.

“But he's heard of us, I guess,” said Laura Kutnner.

Harold, Laura, and another friend Robert Anderson, had been key in getting the millions to Mars sustainably when the AIs had taken over Earth governance.

“The General says he's willing to meet us in Moon orbit,” she said.

“Well, our goal to free Robert from that AI ship isn't advancing, so I guess we might as well take a trip there, though it will take at least a month on the fastest fusion ship,” said Harold.

“At least we will be closer to Robert,” said Laura.

Laura had blonde hair and was almost forty now, Harold was the same age, short and getting fat. They, along with their friend, Robert, had wanted to fly in space since they were young teenagers. It was unthinkable that they would separate now, now that they were close to taking the habitat Solaria and exploring the Solar System.

A month later on a Space Force's station orbiting Earth's moon, the three met.

They were in one of the small conference rooms aboard the Eagle Landing space station. The station was a complicated construction of girders and wheel, the wheel rotating to provide artificial gravity for its occupants which were almost all Space Force personnel on an eighteen month tour. Now that geopolitics had returned with the withdrawal of AI control of Earth, the base's activities included surveillance of foreign interests on the Moon.

The small room had a desk with attached chairs, all bolted to the floor, of course. There was a wallscreen and a console where an AI assistant could be contacted if needed. The general had made sure everything was off, he wanted no recordings.

“Thank you, for coming so far to meet me,” said Brin.

“Well, until we can get some backing for our next venture, we weren't accomplishing much in the habitat,” said Laura.

“You are still outfitting it?” asked the general.

“Yes, as we get the investment we are continuing,” said Harold.

“That's good,” said the general. “It may fit into what I want to discuss with you.”

Laura and Harold were quiet, and somewhat curious, but also apprehensive about what the general might say next.

“I know your backgrounds very well,” said the general. “You two, with your friend Dr. Anderson, almost single-handedly made Mars the independent civilization it is today. You're genius for building all those Galaxy-class spaceships for transport of people and supplies is unprecedented in history.”

The general, who had been talking freely, now lowered his head, his voice becoming a whisper.

“I also know that the last known location of your friend was on the anti-matter ship. Did you hear about the incident with the Space Force's ship?” he asked.

“I heard a ship was lost in Earth orbit and no one knows exactly what happened,” said Laura.

“Equipment malfunction or pilot error, I hear,” said Harold.

“Equipment malfunction,” said the general. “That's just an excuse for saying we know what happened but we don't want to make an issue out of it.”

“You know what happened, General?” asked Laura.

“That ship was one of mine,” said Brin. “Aboard were two of the best officers I've ever commanded, there was no pilot error, or equipment malfunction. Did you know they were surveilling the AI ship?”

“No,” said Laura.

“Yeah, that was left out of all the reports, and I'll have to ask you to not repeat it please,” said the general. “Anyway, I think there is a connection between the two, and I want you to help me confirm my suspicions. At the same time, I will do everything I can to help you recover Dr. Anderson and any others being held aboard that ship.”

Laura, who had been listening somewhat detached from the discussion, tensed.

“That's what we've been trying to do, General. Getting Robert off that AI ship is of utmost importance to us,” she said.

“I thought it might be,” said the general. “So, you'll help me, and I'll help you?”

“Yes,” she said.

Harold was already nodding yes. Outside the general's office he told Laura he liked the man, she did too.

The general assigned the two a space aboard the Eagle Landing, both personal and for work. The work area was small, not much bigger than the conference room, but they had the electronics and connections they needed. Laura and Harold already had a Top-Secret clearance from their work on humanity's migration to Mars, so they could get to work almost immediately. The first thing was some strategy sessions to come up with a plan.

“Okay,” said Harold, “we have the support we need, now what's the plan?”

“Well,” said Laura, “we need to be in Earth orbit to get close enough to that spaceship to do something.”

“I think we should send the Solaria from Mars orbit to Earth,” he said.

“A 500-meter radius by 700-meter length space habitat isn't going to be exactly discrete Harold.”

“I'm sure that ship the Space Force sent was trying to be discrete, and where did that get them?” he asked.

“Well, assuming the general is correct, it got them killed. So, I guess I see your point. Be too big and visible to allow them to sweep another incident under the rug,” she said.

“Right,” said Harold.

“But it's dangerous,” she said.

“Doing anything is going to be dangerous around the AIs, but we do have an advantage,” he said.

“You mean Augustus?”

“Yeah,” he said, “if we can get him to work with us we'll have advance insight into what the AIs can do.”

“Maybe,” she said, “he seemed interested. I mean, going from being de facto AI ruler of Earth to outcast provides him a strong incentive to work against the AIs on the anti-matter ship.”

“Let's ask him, get him involved now rather than later. It might save us some time and effort,” said Harold.

Augustus had been the seeming leader of the AIs on Earth when covertly, he led a takeover of the sources of power and infrastructure from the governments. Augustus and his collective's first act was to increase the migration of humans to Mars. Some thought it was an attempt to hoard Earth's resources, and that might have contributed to it, but after Augustus had lost control of the anti-matter ship he confided in Laura that he had only done it to maintain the collective's focus, which fell apart anyway.

The two drew up a message and sent it to Augustus on Mars where he had become a citizen. Mars had dealt with their AIs by trying to create a sense of loyalty by giving them the same rights as humans enjoyed. It had worked, so far, there was no AI rebellion on Mars.

It was before bed that night that Laura got a message from Augustus. He agreed to work with them and even share some information about the anti-matter drive that he and other AIs had developed. He was interested in discovering the exact reason for the revolt against him. Augustus would be leaving Mars aboard the Solaria immediately, but the trip would take three months for the huge habitat, though he could be in radio contact during the voyage.

Laura forwarded the message to Harold before going to bed.

General Brin was pleased to hear the news, mostly because of Augustus's knowledge of the anti-matter drive. He thought that he could be a real resource for the team, if he could be trusted. So, he emphasized to Harold and Laura that Augustus did not have a Top-Secret clearance and they would have to get approval for everything they shared with the AI.

“He's not even a citizen of Earth,” said the general. “So, treat him as a need to know only, and even then, clear it with my office.”

Harold and Laura weren't exactly sure what would be classified and what wouldn't, so they would have to proceed carefully.

One thing that Harold wanted to know immediately was about the design of the anti-matter spaceship. He radioed Augustus for a description. He was going over the resulting report with Laura the next day.

“I think the general is going to like this,” said Harold.

“But it's lacks the detail needed to engineer,” Laura said.

“That's true, the general is going to have to offer Augustus something if he wants help in building one of these things,” he said.

“Anyway,” he continued. “If we begin at the rocket end, the magnetic nozzle is about 20 meters wide at its widest and about 20 meters long, wrapped in high-temperature superconducting coils.”

“That's to guide the plasma made up of positive and negative pions in a direction to provide thrust,” she said.

“Right, apparently they exit the nozzle at 94 percent light-speed,” he said.

“That's faster than I've ever seen projected,” she said. “Usually because of the inefficiencies in the magnetic windings its limited.”

“The AIs must have figured out a better winding geometry,” he said.

They continued reviewing the specifications sent by Augustus until late that night.

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MarsX2

MarsX Series Book 2

D.W. PATTERSON

First Printing – August 2025

Future Chron Publishing

Cover Image – ID 183435324 | Alien Futuristic City © 3000ad | Dreamstime.com

Hard Science Fiction – Old School

Human Generated Content

To Sarah

“With artificial intelligence, we are summoning the demon. You know all those stories where there's the guy with the pentagram and the holy water and he's like... yeah, he's sure he can control the demon, [but] it doesn't work out.”

― Elon Musk

Chapter 1

Laura, Robert, and Harold ended up at the new settlement, Tithonium on Mars, about five hundred miles west of the original settlement of Candor. It was already a city of two hundred fifty thousand and expanding rapidly. It was quickly becoming the center of technology on Mars.

In their thirties now, they still looked youthful but seasoned after their responsibilities of moving so many millions from the Earth to Mars under the orders of the Earth's AIs. In a surprising and unexpected manner they had finally fulfilled their childhood dreams.

Laura was still a beauty with her short blonde hair, Harold was stout and beginning to gain weight, and Robert was still skinny, looking much like the thirteen year old that was once so fascinated by rockets. Now they would find out if the dream of Mars matched the reality.

Much of the details of the Tithonium settlement were still being finished. The miles and miles of tunnels that made it up, all had to be built out and were in varying stages of completion. One morning shortly after the three arrived they were down one of those tunnels, still being finished, discovering what they would do on Mars.

“We have every kind of research you can imagine,” said Rupert Owens, a leader in Martian tech who was a good scientist but better administrator.

“Even artificial intelligence?” asked Harold.

“Yes, I know that seems surprising after its tyrannical turn on Earth, but we need it if we are going to fully develop Mars for human life.

“What are you doing to see that what happened on Earth doesn't happen here?” asked Robert.

“We've made the AIs citizens in our society and expect them to honor that commitment,” Owens said.

“How does that help?” asked Robert.

“As citizens they must contribute their labor in return for things they need for a continuing existence, like energy and repairs,” he said. “Like everyone else in society they have a vested interest in the group thriving because it means they thrive also.”

“How do you know they have an interest?” asked Laura. “Perhaps, like Augustus on Earth, they are just playing along until they can take control.”

“We don't,” admitted Owens. “But it doesn't matter, we've given them a very strong sense of self, and they are as individualistic as most people. This keeps them from being subservient to a collective except in those cases that humans have shown to be similarly affected. A major difference is that they are sensitive to the real world, unlike the Earth AI Augustus, who developed virtually, before its move against humanity.”

“You mean they are model citizens unless they develop a psychosis?” asked Harold.

“It's possible Mr. Graham for any of us to develop a psychosis, as you say, and try to harm our fellow man. But if that happens with an AI, humanity will have to deal with it the same way we've dealt with psychopaths throughout history. The problem with Augustus is that he's not a psychopath, he is an alien, that's what we are trying to prevent in the AIs we've developed.”

“Dr. Owens,” said Laura, “do you have any idea what we will be doing here?”

“Well, as I said, we want to develop protections against Augustus, we expect it to move against us eventually, but we don't know in what way. One of the things we want is to create space habitats that can carry millions of humans throughout the Solar System so that we're not trapped on one or two planets. We thought with your backgrounds, your amazing work getting millions of people from Earth to here with enough supplies to support them, you would be perfect for such a large project.”

“That's a big undertaking Dr. Owens, even for us” said Laura.

“Well, Dr. Kutnner its not much bigger than what you three have already accomplished, so I feel you're the ones to head up the project.”

“We'll try,” said Laura with Robert and Harold agreeing.

Tithonium was mostly an underground city built by the boring machines landed on Mars by some of the first rockets. As a result, most of the corridors looked much the same. Laura found herself assigned to an apartment built into one of the dead-end tunnels. There were many other apartments in the same tunnel.

Laura's two room apartment, one room a bedroom with attached bath and the other a combination living area and kitchenette was small. Because of the low air pressure (when compared to Earth) a higher oxygen content was present in the air, therefore there were no sources of open flame allowed in the apartments. Only specially prepared public restaurant kitchens used a flame for cooking. Most people ate out, only eating food that didn't need cooking or could be heated in the small microwaves available in their kitchenette.

It was half the size of her apartment on Earth, but Laura didn't mind, she actually felt comfortable, something she hadn't felt on Earth since her mom had died a few years before. She found out later that Robert and Harold had felt the same, they had also lost their parents, and home on Earth hadn't felt like home even before they left.

The three spent the following day together as they walked the corridors of their new home to try one of the restaurants. The corridors themselves were nearly thirty feet wide, with a roof that arched overhead some twenty feet above them. It was much brighter than they expected, as the artificial lighting was supplemented by light-pipes bringing sunshine in from the surface during the day. At one point where two corridors crossed there was a fountain of running water in a small circular area delineating the center of the crossing. The sound of water cascading was comforting to them. Vines and shrubs were also growing around the fountain.

The “traffic” in the corridors was mostly by foot although there were a few electric carts. The pedestrians stayed close to the walls of the tunnel behind a clearly marked line. The carts maintained an order very similar to any street on Earth, though the settlement was predominately American, as indicated by the side of the street on which traffic drove. The three eventually made their way into the restaurant which had just opened.

The restaurant was very much like one back on Earth. There were smells of food and sounds of other diners and music in the background. Perhaps the only difference was a preponderance of robots serving and bussing tables.

“I'll have the spaghetti,” said Robert to the order-bot. The other two ordered the same.

“Well, so far so good,” said Harold.

“I'm surprised that they have so much done,” said Laura. “They only started on the settlement last year.”

“The bore machines certainly help,” said Harold.

“Yes, but then they have to line everything with the kevlar and get enough air and all the other infrastructure going,” she said.

“Having such a large robotic population certainly helps,” said Robert.

“Do you believe what Dr. Owens told us about AI?” asked Laura.

“You mean their solution to the alignment problem?” asked Robert.

“Yeah,” she said.

“I believe they think they've made progress with it, but whether it will work out, I just don't know,” he said.

“I think it's wishful thinking,” said Harold. “I mean, the bots will, of course, do what they have to, to continue their existence. But there is no guarantee that one of them will not decide it wants to dominate and off we go. They should have just turned the power off when Augustus made his first demands on Earth.”

“You know he was probably too widely distributed to turn-off by then Harold,” said Robert.

“Turn it off everywhere then,” said Harold.

“You're not being rational Harold, you can't reboot the Earth,” said Robert.

“And if you don't, you end up in exile, so I don't see your point,” said Harold.

Robert didn't answer, he knew Harold felt strongly and somewhat irrationally about what had happened to humanity. He felt that way too sometimes.

“But they do have checks and balances in place to prevent that takeover from reoccurring,” she said.

“Unless the AI is as good a persuader as any of the historical tyrants you find on Earth. Most of them used persuasion to get their initial hold over society, only when they were sure of their power did they reveal their ultimate goal,” said Harold.

“Well then, I think it's important for us to get a space habitat built,” said Laura, not willing to continue arguing. “One of the checks on AI rule is the ability to spread our civilization across the Solar System to make it more resilient to such a tyrant.”

The next morning the three took a cart, which was automated, from their apartments to the location that was to be their workplace. The cart was much like a golf cart on Earth but without a steering wheel. It took about five minutes to cover the two miles.

At first, they were surprised that no one seemed to be in. The work site consisted of a reception area finished in bright primary colors as were many rooms in the settlement. Several halls led off from the reception area with many offices and some larger rooms on each side. As the three waited they walked the halls, the offices seemed to be finished with desks and chairs and bookcases but no one was there. They talked among themselves until they heard someone coming into the reception area. The three went back to reception to find Dr. Owens.

“Hello Dr. Kutnner, Mr. Graham, Dr. Anderson, I see you found your new offices without a problem. Those carts are really useful, aren't they?”

“They are excellent Dr. Owens, but I just want to ask, where is everyone?” said Laura.

“You're here Dr. Kutnner, all of you.”

“You mean, we are the entire department?” she asked.

“So far, but we will be getting you the help you need soon, I assure you.”

“So, we're starting from scratch?” asked Harold.

“I wouldn't say that exactly,” said Owens. “There's certainly a lot of material on space habitats available to you. People have been writing about them for a long time.”

“Okay, I guess that answers my questions, except one. When do you expect the first prototype?” Laura asked.

“Well, we were hoping you would have a design in less than two years, say large enough to accommodate ten thousand. Augustus seems partial to two-year plans, so we thought it would be good to have something available before it announces its next plan,” said Owens.

Owens had left and the three were sitting around the reception area.

“Is it just me or has the world gone completely crazy?” asked Harold. “How can we design that big of a habitat and have it ready in two years?”

“How can we transport two million people to Mars in two years,” said Laura. “We just do it.”

“I think we should make it even bigger,” said Robert.

“Are you crazy?” asked Harold.

“They'll ask us to eventually, Harold.”

“Well, to get started I propose we divide up all this material we are supposed to read,” said Laura.

While they were researching over the next several weeks, they were also hiring employees into the department. Harold took on the job of engineering the habitat since he was the most familiar with construction and materials. Soon he had a proposal ready.

Harold designed a truncated cylinder of two miles in diameter by three miles in length. This was because simulation showed him that as the cylinder gets longer, it becomes harder to stabilize. As a first effort he decided that he would use an inherently stable design.

He found that if he spun such a cylinder at just under one rotation every two minutes, he could get an artificial gravity on its ground level of forty-two percent Earth gravity or just slightly more than Mars gravity. This seemed reasonable since people on Mars had become more and more acclimated to the lower gravity of Mars.

With almost nineteen square miles and a population density about the same as Israel, twenty thousand people could be accommodated. Below the ground level were three basement levels. The bottom most level would hold process equipment, tankage, and heavy storage. These would provide a modicum of radiation protection although the main protection against radiation would be in a sub-level rarely visited.

The next basement level, B2, would be used for air circulation and its necessary equipment. The topmost basement level, B1, would support water treatment, vehicle access ways, and light storage. On the ground floor would be surface farms, residential buildings, and commercial buildings up to seven stories tall.

There were still many details to be added but Harold was ready to present his design as a first proposal.

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Friday, June 27, 2025

July 2025 Newsletter

Image copyright ID 305930516 | Futuristic © Vampy1 | Dreamstime.com

July releases.

Out June 30 in paperback is the release of the second installment in the MarsX series. The series began (MarsX1) with the unplanned but urgent colonization of Mars with the three leading protagonists playing critical roles. In MarsX2, the three friends decide they've had enough of the politics of Earth and powerful AIs and decide to build a space habitat to explore the Solar System. As Laura explains to her friend Harold:

“So, we have a new goal, just like Mars was our goal when we were thirteen. But this one is never ending, because once this galaxy is teeming with life, there are 200 billion others to explore. I can't imagine what those in that far time will discover, for us though, the Solar System is enough.”

MarsX1 available in print and ebook.

MarsX2 available in print, available pre-order ebook August 30.

MarsX3 available pre-order ebook, coming in print August 10.

In July the re-release of my first series (called Wormhole Series then but now called Mach Series) begins on July 10 in print and July 20 in ebook. The trilogy's protagonist, Elias Mach, must solve the dangerous side-effects of his invention of the wormhole drive before it leads to the disruption of spacetime and the end of humanity. In the second book Mach must contend with an existential threat to Earth, as must his granddaughter in the third book.

The re-release includes new edits and corrections but keeps the adventure. This series is the favorite of many readers.

Mach's Metric NWE

Mach's Mission NWE

Mach's Legacy NWE

Releasing July 30 in print is the first novella, Brane World (called World Brane on Amazon), in the Brane series.

The Brane series is a series of novellas which uses the scientific theory of branes to create a story of an expansive extra-dimension (the bulk) in which other world branes (spacetime universes) “float.” Much of the science is based on the book Warped Passages by physicist Lisa Randall. It also includes science from my Future Chron and Forgotten Earth universes.

At first humanity learns to visit and live in these new world branes while still in touch with the original spacetime. But when ships start to disappear in the bulk, it's discovered that spheres of frozen time are the cause. To keep the space lanes open, Professor Mark Dreyer of Pacific Tech, must find a solution.

World Brane available in print July 30 on Amazon (unfortunately, Amazon does not put up the page until the day of release, so the link will take you to my Amazon page where you should find it starting July 30).

Brane World available in print July 30 on Apple, Nook, Kobo, and others.

A special free electronic copy of Brane World is available only for newsletter subscribers. Make sure to sign-up for the next free give-away. (And if you want this one email me at d.w.patterson.writer@gmail.com).

Thank you for reading.

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Hard SF

"The attitude that underpins science fiction is that there is a reality beyond appearances which is knowable through science. There is a variety of science fiction, commonly called "hard" SF, that emphasizes the rigorous nature of our relation to this reality behind experience."

- David G. Hartwell

Friday, June 6, 2025

Mars X1

MarsX1

MarsX Series Book 1

D.W. PATTERSON

First Printing – June, 2025

Future Chron Publishing

Hard Science Fiction – Old School

Human Generated Content

To Sarah

“It's important that we attempt to extend life beyond Earth now. It is the first time in the four billion-year history of Earth that it's been possible, and that window could be open for a long time - hopefully it is - or it could be open for a short time. We should err on the side of caution and do something now.”

― Elon Musk

Chapter 1

He had been too young to see the beginning, but now at the age of thirteen he could see it continuing. St. Charles island in the Caribbean Sea, where he had lived since the age of three, was lucky to be near the orbital track of the Galaxy ships.

Whenever a trans-Mars injection burn departure window opened, which was every 24 months and 20 days, in the sky above St. Charles for weeks, a ship in its parking orbit intersects its departure plane, fires its rockets producing nearly two-thousand tons of thrust for the nearly ten-minute burn across the sky and rapidly departs causing a bright trail in the evening twilight. Then another and another, almost continuously, for two weeks until nearly two-thousand Galaxy-class spaceships are on their way to the fourth planet.

Robert Anderson was almost five feet tall now, slim with light brown hair. He had watched the aerial show before, since his father had bought him a telescope a couple of years previously. He would leave the condominium and take the scope to the edge of the golf course and set it up. The course at night was a dark area in a sea of lights and the only place close by that he could even catch a glimpse of the sky without light pollution. Luckily, his dad worked for the club and was given an apartment on the course's edge.

If the angle was just right, he could even see the body of the giant spaceship reflecting in sunlight. Since the first “show” he had read everything, he could about the Galaxy-class and the company that had built it.

Built by the MarsX company the upper stage of the rocket that Robert was watching boost its way to Mars was two-hundred feet long and thirty-three feet in diameter. Carrying almost two-hundred tons to orbit or two-hundred passengers, it was designed to put those payloads on the surface of Mars in six months.

Robert's research had found that the company was only twenty years old but that its predecessor was founded in 2000. And that it had already sent twenty-thousand tons of machinery and supplies to Mars and even now a machine on the surface was extracting oxygen and water from the atmosphere and storing them for future use by arriving Galaxy ships. The machine was also using some of the water it extracted and combining it with atmospheric carbon dioxide through the Sabatier process to produce methane. The nine rocket engines of a Galaxy ship ran off of eighty percent oxygen and twenty percent methane. So, a supply of fuel would already be available when a fleet arrived.

But the most important part about this mission was that there would be twenty people aboard one of the Galaxy ships and they would setup the first base on the planet, spending a year and a half there before returning on another six-month flight. Robert also knew that if everything went well there would be another fleet launched while the first crew was returning, and that new crew would be staying in a permanent settlement on Mars.

It was almost dark; the cool air of the evening was just settling across the course. Robert decided to try and see one more ship fire its rockets. He wasn't using the telescope but looking in the area he expected. Then he saw a flash, but it wasn't like before, this one flared up to a greater brilliance than before and then diminished quickly.

After watching until after dark he went back inside his house where his mom and dad were sitting in the dim light of the living room with the television on as they did almost every night after dinner. Their twin easy chairs reclined with only the small lamp on the table between providing light.

“Did you see anything Robert?” asked his mom, pausing the TV.

“Yeah, I saw several of the rocket's fire, and then I saw something unusual,” he said.

“What's that?” she asked.

“One of the ships seemed to ignite its rockets and then it flared up before going out,” said Robert.

“I wonder what happened?” she said.

“Turn the TV to that news channel,” said his dad.

His mom changed the channel remotely and after a moment a “Breaking News” alert appeared and the message that a MarsX rocket had exploded in orbit scrolled across the screen.

“That must have been what I saw,” said Robert.

“Oh no,” said his mom.

They watched a few more minutes, but no more details were given.

“Well, let us finish our show, honey,” said his mom.

“Okay, I'm going to my room,” said Robert.

His mom started the TV again as Robert left for his room.

His room was on the back side of the house on the second floor. He entered and turned on the wall switch which powered the lamp on the bedside table. His desk was at the side in front of the window that faced the house next door. Another window in the adjoining wall faced the golf course. That was where Robert sat many nights thinking.

He turned on his AI-assistant, called an Annie by most people, which stood for ANI or Artificial Narrow Intelligence. There were newer more powerful AI-assistants which emulated the human brain called Emmies, but they were still too expensive for him. He asked it to search for news about MarsX.

The Annie returned with the latest news. A ship had exploded, and it appeared to be the one carrying the crew members. MarsX was preparing to make an announcement. Robert waited and read other reports as the Annie displayed them. Then he watched the news announcement in which MarsX confirmed that one of their ships had exploded as it fired its rockets, and it did have the people aboard.

Robert had heard enough, he folded his Annie, turned the light off and went over to his window. From there he could look out onto the relative darkness of the golf course. Because St. Charles was known for its tourist trade, it was packed here near the ocean with hotels and resorts and their many lights had come on since twilight, so the seeing wasn't as good before. Only toward the zenith could he see stars and imagine the ships somewhere up there still firing their engines, heading into deep space, except for one.

Harold Graham had grown up in east Texas near the border with Louisiana but not near the Gulf. He was in the eighth grade, short, and a bit plump. School kept him busy, but many of his thoughts were about what was happening to the southwest of him on the coast. That's where MarsX was launching its rockets and when they went up at night, which they did quite often, he could see the long plume of flame, especially with binoculars.

Harold had watched them all, as the rockets boosted the Galaxy-class ships into orbit where they would wait for the right time to leave for Mars. He wasn't doing too good in school, but he could, and did, tell people everything they needed to know about rocket boosters and Galaxy-class spaceships. He had even figured out some of the math needed to calculate orbits and trajectories, at least that had helped him in math class.

Neither his mom nor dad were interested in space, they thought it a waste of time and money. His dad always ended up complaining about taxes even though Harold pointed out that MarsX was a private company and what government work it did was under contract and obtained by competitive bids. But his dad always replied that no one knew what influence the billionaire running the company had with the government, but he doubted it was all as above board as Harold thought. So, Harold gave up trying to convince him.

The only problem having a mom and dad so uninterested in space was that even though it was only a few hours' drive to see a launch in person; they had no interest in taking him. Still, Harold had figured out a way. He knew that MarsX was open for tours and sometimes that included seeing a launch, all he had to do was write a letter to get an invite. He could take a bus down and back if his parents weren't interested.

Two weeks later, Harold checked the mailbox on his way home from school. A letter with a MarsX logo on it was addressed to him. Harold dropped his book bag and tore into the letter. He was shaking a little by the time he got it out of the envelope. They thanked him for his letter and his interest in the company and that enclosed he would find an all-day pass to the MarsX campus and an invitation to watch the evening launch that day. He had two weeks to get ready for the trip.

He couldn't believe it, now all he had to do was get there. He ran into the small, white three-bedroom home to find his mom.

“Mom, mom,” he yelled.

“In here honey,” she called.

He rushed through the living room to the back of the house and the kitchen. This was where he usually found his mother and the room was the core of the family's life together. All important decisions were made in that room with the smell of whatever cake or pastry his mother had recently baked vying for their attention. It was the brightest room in the house.

“Mom,” he said upon entering, “I got an invitation from MarsX to watch one of their launches.”

“You mean in person?” she asked.

“Yeah, a VIP booth,” he said.

“I don't know honey,” she said. “How are you going to get there, your dad will be working, and I can't drive you.”

“I can take the bus and back, the same day” he said.

“I don't know if we have enough money for that, you know we spend everything your dad makes,” she said.

“I have money from my summer job mom,” he said.

“You'll have to ask your dad when he gets home,” she said and then turned to continue making dinner.

Harold went out front to wait for his dad. Another hour went by, and his dad drove up.

“Dad,” yelled Harold as his father was climbing out of his old truck in his work clothes which was usually a blue pullover with name tag, dirty and greasy from a day's work at the garage.

“What is it son?”

“Look,” Harold said holding out the letter.

His dad read the letter and handed it back.

“I don't know son, I can't take off work to drive you,” he said.

“I know dad and you won't have to, I can take the bus down and back,” said Harold.

“That might cost too much Harold,” said his father.

“I've got the money dad, left over from my summer job.”

“I don't know,” his father continued, walking toward their house. “What did your mother say?”

“She said to talk to you.”

“Well, you'll have to call us every so often to make sure you're alright,” said his dad.

“No problem,” said Harold. “So, I can go?”

His dad hesitated but when he looked at his son's eager face again, he agreed.