MarsX3
MarsX Series
Book 3
D.W.
PATTERSON
Copyright © 2025 D.W. Patterson
All rights
reserved.
First
Printing – October 2025
Future Chron
Publishing
Cover –
Copyright © 2025 D.W. Patterson
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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