CHAPTER 19 – A TIME TO CELEBRATE
11:52 (GMT)
Wednesday, May 14, 2127 (Mars Year 83)
Mars Base One (‘The Nest’), Melas Chasma, Valles Marineris
Mars
‘’Everything is ready, sir. You may step behind the lectern now.’’
‘’Thank you!’’
The octogenarian man climbed the steps to the small podium and took place behind the lectern, where he adjusted its microphone and loaded his planned speech in its teleprompter via a flash drive. The old man was still solid and healthy for his age and, remarkably, kept wearing his ‘fat suit’ under his well-adjusted executive suit, something many elderly Martian residents eschewed in order to lower the loads and stress on their aging bodies. With still a couple of minutes available before his broadcasted address was due to start, he looked behind him to examine with a pang of emotion the brand new spaceship that would form the background to his address. The ‘M.S.S. DENISE WATTLING’ was a thermonuclear-powered spaceship meant to shuttle to Mars orbit and back both heavy cargo loads and up to 400 passengers at a time. If absolutely needed, it could also act as a fast courier ship and do a sprint to Earth, where it could enter its atmosphere and land. In pure technological terms, the DENISE WATTLING represented the most sophisticated level of spaceship building ever achieved by Humanity. However, the most important point about it in the mind of the octogenarian was the fact that it had been built here on Mars, with all its parts and systems also produced on Mars, thus its designation as a Mars Spaceship, or M.S.S., before its name. The ship, which only needed small final internal touches before it could be ready to fly, had been built at the underground shipyard complex of the Melas Chasma Space Yards, itself an annex of the old Mars Base One complex, now better known as ‘The Nest’. The space yards complex had been completed some sixteen years ago and had until now concentrated on building flying rovers and other small flying craft, which were then used to provide transportation services between the various installations and settlements dispersed around Mars. Mars now counted five major population centers, 23 separate mining complexes, three spaceports and a dozen small, varied outposts and research installations. The Nest was one of the five major population centers, along with Elysium City, Tharsis City, Alba Mons City and Ares City. However, what had been Mars Base One, the first permanent Human installation on Mars, would now be nearly unrecognizable to its first occupants. The cavern containing it had been gradually enlarged and its original installations either upgraded or replaced by larger, more modern and permanent buildings. Today, its population stood at over 9,400 residents who worked in the various industrial annexes of the underground complex, of which the Melas Chasma Space Yards was a part.
On the signal of the video manager, the octogenarian cleared his throat, then started speaking as soon as a red light lit up on the camera facing him.
‘’To all my fellow Martian citizens, good day! We are here, at the Melas Chasma Space Yards, to celebrate the completion of the first spaceship to be fully built on Mars, with components produced on this planet. As such, the M.S.S. DENISE WATTLING represents the ultimate achievement of decades of hard work meant to colonize Mars and make it a second home to Humanity. It also honors the legacy of an extraordinary woman who led the first Human exploration team to walk on Mars, then acted as the commander of our first permanent base, Mars Base One, which we now know as ‘The Nest’. That woman, along with her companions, started building what was then still a dream, with many unknowns and uncertainties facing that dream. Those pioneers, helped with more volunteers from Earth, multiplied along the decades while progressively building our colony and what we now call our home.’’
The old man then had to stop for a second, a big ball forming in his throat and with tears about to burst from his eyes. He however overcame his emotions and continued his speech, his voice becoming stronger in volume and tone.
‘’Denise Wattling was also my mother, a role in which she proved to be as devoted and kind as she had been in her role as our first leader. Now, I, Michel Ponichnikov, as your newly-elected governor, am proud to celebrate her memory and that of her fellow pioneers. I am also proud to be able to proclaim today to all of you and to the people of Earth the achievement of a dream we worked so hard for over eight decades to attain. Today, the United Nations, with the approval and acknowledgement of all the governments on Earth, proclaimed Mars as a self-sufficient colony, where Humanity will be able to expand and live in both peace and harmony. Today, we can proudly call ourselves Martians!’’