14:40 (Universal Time)
Thursday, January 13, 1977 ‘C’
Mars Base Alpha cavern complex
Melas Chasma region of Valles Marineris
Mars
‘’How are you doing in your packing and storing away, Julie?’’
Julie Lecomte stopped for a moment her packing of small plant specimens she had grown on Mars and smiled to Neil Armstrong, the commander of Base Alpha.
‘’I’m nearly finished here, Colonel. Keiko and Régine helped me quite a lot here.’’
‘’Excellent! So, you will be ready for our departure from the surface in four hours?’’
‘’I will be.’’ replied the French agronomist, her voice showing some sadness. ‘’I must say that the year spent on Mars was one of the most fruitful years of my professional life. I wish that I could have continued my experiments on plant growth in Martian soil for another year. I will also be sad to leave behind my poor little Kiki VIII.’’
Neil Armstrong nodded his head in comprehension at those last words from the agronomist. Julie had brought with her from Earth a tiny Siberian hamster that was her favorite pet and which had quickly gained the affection and attention of the rest of be Base Alpha crew as their only resident pet. Unfortunately, with Siberian hamsters having a very short life expectancy from two to three years only, Kiki VIII had died some three months ago, leaving Julie Lecomte nearly inconsolable for days. The base crew had then helped Julie go over her pain by organizing a funeral and burial in a corner of the huge cavern sheltering Base Alpha, with a small engraved plaque done by Samantha Wilde, the base’s spacesuit repair technician. Some would have laughed at the notion of having an official burial for a pet hamster but, in truth, Julie Lecomte had won the affection of everybody in the base with her sweetness, sensitivity and cheerful view of life. Neil gently patted Julie’s back before continuing his inspection round, as he had still a lot to do before the base crew left the cavern and flew back to the U.S.S. LIBERTY aboard the ship’s shuttlecraft. All four of the expedition’s big lander-rovers were now parked inside the cavern, their systems put in dormant mode, so that they could be reused by a third expedition to Mars. The same thing would be done with the four cargo landers, which now formed an intrinsic part of the infrastructure of Base Alpha, along with the ten interconnected prefabricated modules brought from orbit. As for when such a third expedition would come to Mars, it was still anybody’s guess. However, Neil was certain that it would come one day, not too far in the future. There was still so much to explore and study on Mars and the planet had proved to be of immense scientific value, with solid proofs that life and water had once been abundant on the Red Planet, although life had never evolved past primitive marine lifeforms and plants. The biggest plus for Neil had been the fact that, if sufficient efforts and means were put in it, a Human colony could one day be established on Mars. Neil couldn’t help form a picture of such a future colony in his head as he continued his inspection tour.
19:08 (Universal Time)
Shuttlecraft ARES, valley floor outside of Base Alpha’s cavern
Melas Chasma region
‘’Do we have a full count? I sure wouldn’t want to take off now while leaving someone behind.’’
‘’The count is good, Alexis.’’ replied Pierre Vadeboncoeur, his tone serious. He knew that the pilot of their shuttlecraft had asked that question seriously, as joking on that subject would be of very bad taste indeed: they now had 73 passengers aboard their shuttlecraft, with their lives effectively in the hands of Alexis Leonov and Pierre Vadeboncoeur. Unfortunately, they were now leaving Mars with eleven less live people than when they had arrived a year earlier.
‘’Then, let’s start the pre-flight check.’’ said the Soviet cosmonaut, who had proved to all to be an excellent pilot and also a gifted artist. In fact, some of his paintings were now decorating the crew cafeteria of the U.S.S. LIBERTY.
In the large cargo cabin, which had been reconfigured into a passenger cabin for this flight, Julie Lecomte, wearing like the others her spacesuit, pressed the hand of Edward Stokes, who was sitting in the adjacent seat. She had first met the big American prospector and geologist some thirteen years ago, when they had traveled together to the Moon as part of Moon Mission 11 and had worked at Moon Base Alpha for a full year. Stokes was 53-years-old, nine years more than Julie, but he was still a physically fit, healthy and solidly-built man whom Julie also found quite handsome.
‘’I always thought before coming here that my year on the Moon had been the most extraordinary one in my life, but I must say that I will miss Mars.’’
‘’Me too, Julie. Mars has to be the most fascinating planet for a geologist and prospector like me, with vistas and terrain features without equal on Earth.’’
Julie nearly asked Edward if he was anxious to see again his family but remembered in time that Edward had told him in the past months that his wife had died one year before his departure to Mars and that his children were now all grown up and had left the family home. So, she asked another question as the noise of the shuttlecraft’s engines coming to life at idle power filled the cabin.
‘’What are you going to do after this, Ed? I suppose that prospecting in Alaska will feel lame for you after Mars.’’
‘’In a way, it will be, but I do love the wild life, forests and mountains of Alaska. It is a truly magnificent place for nature lovers. I am certain that you would love Alaska as well, Julie.’’
In reply, the French woman looked gently into the American’s eyes.
‘’I would like very much to see Alaska with you, Ed. Would you be my guide there?’’
Edward read the silent message Julie was sending him and smiled to her. Unfortunately, a kiss right now was impossible, due to their spacesuits’ helmets.
‘’I would really love showing Alaska to you, Julie.’’
The roar of the rocket engines spooling up to full power then made conversations nearly impossible. Looking at the small television screens fixed to the back of the seats ahead of their seats, the couple saw and felt the shuttlecraft do a clean vertical takeoff, to then take up forward speed while climbing towards space. Tellingly, there were no cheers from the passengers then: they had contributed the best of themselves to their mission on Mars and would keep fond souvenirs of their mission for the years to come. A minute later, as they could see the curvature of Mars’ orb, they heard the voice of their copilot.
‘’Your attention, ladies and gentlemen. The U.S.S. LIBERTY has advised us that, in prevision of our return on board after a year spent in Martian gravity, the habitat carrousels of the ship will slow down their rotation, so that the felt gravity in them will go from 0.9 G down to 0.4 G. The rotation will then be gradually increased back to normal Earth gravity over the next four months while we travel back to Earth. We will thus have time for our bodies to regain their normal stamina and bone and muscle structure by the time we arrive back in Earth orbit. In another piece of news, the U.S.S. CONSTITUTION has left Earth orbit today, on its way to Venus and Mercury for a year-long mission to map and study both planets from orbit. Due to the infernal temperatures on the surface of both planets, only unmanned probes will be sent down. That is all for the moment. Thank you for flying with the Ares Space Lines.’’
There were a few giggles at that last sentence. On their part, Julie and Edward kept their hands pressed together during the whole trip to orbit.
11:05 (Washington Time)
Tuesday, January 25, 1977 ‘C’
The Oval Office, the White House
Washington, D.C.
Ingrid, wearing her Space Corps going-out uniform, came to attention and saluted after entering the Oval Office, where President Ronald Reagan was sitting behind the big presidential work desk. She noticed at once and with some surprise that there was no one else present in the office.
‘’You asked to see me, Mister President?’’
‘’I sure did, General Dows. But please, sit down! Let’s use those sofas.’’
‘’Thank you, Mister President!’’
Ingrid walked to a corner of the room furnished with a number of sofas and easy chairs surrounding a low coffee table, sitting in one of the sofas. Ronald Reagan sat opposite from her on another sofa and eyed her for a couple of seconds before speaking.
‘’I suppose that you must be wondering why you were called to the White House, General.’’
‘’I am, but I am mostly wondering why nobody else is present, Mister President. I was somehow expecting to see General Brown or Secretary of Defense Weinberger here, at the least.’’
‘’Well, I wanted to talk with you in private about a few things, General Dows. Before leaving office, President Kennedy swore me in on a few secrets concerning you, secrets which were quite astounding, I must say. I already knew about your ability to remember your past incarnations and the fact that you were either healed or even resurrected two times already by the being you call ‘The One’ and which furiously sounds like God to me. Robert Kennedy has told me that you are what you call a ‘Chosen’ and that you hold a number of superpowers.’’
‘’That is correct, Mister President. I actually confessed in succession and in private to Presidents Dewey, John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy of having those superpowers. Basically, apart from seeing my aging slow down dramatically, my powers of Chosen of The One include telepathy, telekinesis, levitation, touch healing, superhuman strength and endurance and the ability to throw balls of pure energy.’’
Even though he had been forewarned by Robert Kennedy, Reagan still stiffened on hearing her.
‘’You could read my mind, General?’’
‘’I could, but I won’t, Mister President. I do not read other people’s minds, unless I suspect them to be planning something hostile against me. I however can communicate mentally with someone if need be.’’
Her last sentence was said telepathically, without her lips moving. In response, Reagan looked at her somberly in silence for a moment before nodding his head once.
‘’I would probably have taken those powers of yours in a very negative way, General…if not for your extraordinary and unimpeachable service record and decades of loyal service to the United States. You are certainly someone completely out of the ordinary but you are also someone I can have full confidence in. While we may not share similar political views, you have proved yourself to be above politics and served loyally both democrat and republican presidents. You also proved repeatedly, including recently, that your advice on military and geo-political matters is both judicious and trustworthy. For these reasons, I will keep you as a special presidential advisor, like Presidents Martin, Dewey, John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy did.’’
‘’Thank you for your confidence in me, Mister President.’’ replied Ingrid, feeling part of her prior anxiety evaporate.
‘’I am the one who needs to thank you for your decades of loyal and competent service, General. About your service, don’t worry about being forced into retirement because of your age. I have already agreed with General Brown that the standard military retirement age is simply irrelevant in your case, which has no precedent, really.’’
‘’Thank you again, Mister President. I am sure that all the headhunters from the various major aerospace companies in the United States will swear in frustration on hearing that. Lockheed in particular is ready to build a golden bridge for me the moment I will leave the service.’’
‘’I bet they are!’’ said Reagan, smiling in amusement before becoming serious again. ‘’On the subject of aerospace matters, I have also taken a decision concerning you. Nobody but a liar or a fool would dare to deny all that you have accomplished while directing our space program. In fact, our space program is what you made it to be what it is now: the envy of the World and a shining example of American technological and scientific prowess. I am thus also keeping you in your post of Director of National Space Programs.’’
‘’Again, thank you, Mister President.’’
‘’Don’t thank me too quickly, General: I do have objections about a part of your space program.’’
‘’Let me guess, Mister President: you don’t like the fact that I have been inviting Soviet cosmonauts and scientists to participate in our various space missions, including our missions to the Moon and to Mars.’’
‘’Bingo! Before I take a final decision on that matter, I would like you to explain to me your reasons to be cozying up like this with the Soviets in space. Don’t be afraid to speak frankly, General.’’
‘’Very well, Mister President. First, I must insist that my motives in this are not political one bit. If someone ever insinuates to you that I invited Soviets on our space missions because I have some supposed sympathy towards communism, then feel free to laugh in their face. My reasons are actually quite simple and straightforward, Mister President: by pushing for international participation in our space program, I am simply hoping to encourage peaceful cooperation in a domain that benefits the whole of Humanity and, at the same time, promote peaceful relations and goodwill between our two countries. God knows that I have bashed both the Soviets and the Communist Chinese hard in the past and personally shot down dozens of their planes, but I do not hate Soviets or Chinese on an individual basis. Yes, their political system can be said to be evil, but can we say the same about all or even a majority of their citizens? Take for example Colonel Lilya Litvyak, a Soviet cosmonaut and fighter pilot who is presently part of our second Mars expedition, which just left Mars orbit to return to Earth. We actually first crossed path during the war in Indochina, when she was shot down by us and captured. Later on, I went into orbit to go rescue her and her partner when their Soviet spacecraft malfunctioned. I was then shot down by British missiles over Australia while bringing her and her comrade back to Earth, an event that actually made the United States and the Soviet Union cooperate militarily to force the British to back off.’’
‘’I remember that: it made quite a splash in the news at the time and the British ended up with pie all over their faces. I now see the point that you are trying to make, General, and I accept your reasons for doing so. You thus can continue your program of peaceful space cooperation with the Soviets, as long as you don’t let them steal the glory from us and don’t compromise American national or military secrets in the process.’’
‘’I promise you to do so, Mister President.’’
‘’Now,’’ said Reagan while visibly relaxing and smiling to Ingrid, ‘’tell me what you have in store for us in your space program. I can’t wait to hear what is your next proposed goal in space, especially after sending a spaceship to Venus and Mercury.’’
‘’Well, it will mostly depend on how my next budgetary requests for our space program will fare in Congress, Mister President. However, if my budgets are accepted, then our next goal in space turns around one word: Jupiter!’’
Ronald Reagan was left frozen in stupor and speechless on hearing that last word.
‘’Jupiter? But such a mission may cost many billions of dollars. It will be a hard pill indeed to swallow for Congress.’’
‘’I agree that it won’t be cheap, Mister President, but it also won’t be as expensive as many would think. We already have the technologies and the building facilities for a Jupiter mission ship, which I intend to name the U.S.S. PROMETHEUS. We also have a permanent orbital space station which will greatly simplify refueling it after it will be launched into orbit. The U.S.S. CONSTITUTION, which is now on its way to Venus, was completely refitted during the last two years and one of the modifications made to it was the addition of a new type of propulsion system, what I call a magneto-plasma rocket engine, which is ten times more efficient in terms of fuel consumption than even our nuclear rocket engines. Such magneto-plasma engines will greatly cut the travel time to distant planets like Jupiter and Saturn and our future PROMETHEUS will be equipped with them. From the preliminary reports from the CONSTITUTION, those magneto-plasma engines are working perfectly and we are now working on building full scale models for our future spaceship.’’
Ronald Reagan slowly shook his head in disbelief at her words.
‘’Where do you get all these ideas and concepts, General? Do you still use the data from those old ATHENA files brought from the future by your dead adoptive mother?’’
‘’To some extent, Mister President, but we are now, in 1977, at a point of our space program where we are starting to attain or even surpass the level of knowledge about our Solar System that was known in the 2012 of Nancy Laplante’s timeline. For example, in her time, no human had yet walked on Mars, yet we now have sent two full expeditions to its surface. As for our project to go to Jupiter, I am using the basic astronomical data and photos taken by unmanned probe in or prior to 2012 to select our mission objectives in the Jupiter and Saturn Systems. However, I can assure you that most of the space concepts we presently use for spaceships and space shuttles come from my mind. In Nancy’s time, American space programs were afflicted by two major hurdles: designs and decisions by committee and political interference. As you may well know already, decisions by committee, while giving the illusion of democracy in problem-solving, too often result in tremendous time wasting, timidity in design and compromises. A unique mind directing a project may sound like a dictatorship, but if that single mind is a visionary one and also a technologically competent one, it will move the project it directs much faster and much more efficiently than a committee in which members constantly push their individual ideas and concepts.’’
‘’I will buy that, General. The same could be said of a good film script: too many cooks tend to spoil the sauce. What about that political interference you mentioned?’’
‘’Well, in Nancy’s time, NASA, the national body that administered the American space program, had grown to become a bureaucratic monster where development and production contracts had been dispersed among thousands of companies, not for efficiency but in order to satisfy the wishes of congressmen and senators who wanted industries and think tanks in their districts or states to feed at the through. Also, the policy of ‘lowest bidder gets the contract’ is a perfect recipe for future disaster in space. As a result, a lot of money and time was being wasted for little results at the end. I know that reining in Congress sounds impossible, but I want to continue to direct personally our space program and be able to choose which company can provide the best product at an affordable cost. For this, I will need your support, Mister President.’’
‘’And you will have it, General Dows. Nobody in Washington is foolish enough to claim that he or she could do better than what you did already and I doubt that you will find a single person doubting your competences as Director of National Space Program. Anything else?’’
‘’There is one last thing, Mister President. You must have heard that I have the reputation of being a woman who likes her fun, correct?’’
That made Reagan grin in amusement.
‘’General, I was until recently Governor of California and was also a Hollywood actor, so I heard plenty about you and the parties you participated to. If that can reassure you, I still consider your moral values and conduct better than those of many actors and actresses I frequented in Hollywood, while I won’t even talk about the dirty secrets concerning too many of our politicians. So, what are you driving at?’’
‘’You may be surprised but I have a moral dilemma about our future, long-term space missions, Mister President. Please understand that, even with our newest engines, a return mission to Jupiter and Saturn will take easily four to five years before our ship will be back in Earth orbit. That is a very long time in Space, even for trained astronauts, and especially for the married ones, who will not see their families for at least four years. You know what such a long separation can do to a marriage, or how lonely someone can feel if not offered at least an opportunity to enter in a relationship for four years or more. Our astronauts are mostly young, highly fit and also highly intelligent. They are also human, with all the natural needs of a human being. I know that you are by reputation rather conservative when it comes to views about sexuality, Mister President, but what I want to say is that running a spaceship crew like a monastery during four years while being isolated in Space, far from Earth, is a recipe for a host of psychological troubles. What I want from you is the permission to give more freedom of personal conduct to the crewmembers of my spaceships on long missions. I have no intentions to turn my ships into space bordellos, but my crewmembers must have a way to blow steam from time to time.’’
By then, Reagan’s expression had turned very serious indeed and he stayed silent for long seconds after Ingrid finished speaking.
‘’General, you were right about my ‘conservative views’ on sex and morality, but I have seen enough in my life to believe in the importance of the problem you are exposing to me. If we only take for example our Navy crews who spend months at sea, away from their families, seeing their deportment while visiting foreign ports is enough to educate about the most rigid religious zealot. So, what specific measures do you have in mind to counter that problem, General?’’
Ingrid took a deep breath before answering the President: at least he had not dismissed outright her concerns on this difficult subject.
‘’First, I would like to relax the no-fraternization rule aboard our spaceships, at least concerning unmarried crewmembers, so they would have permission to date other crewmembers as they wish, as long as they conduct their affairs in private, in their cabins.’’
‘’That sounds reasonable enough to me, as long as no reporters start exploiting such relationships to create false scandals in the medias.’’
‘’Oh, I have no intentions to invite reporters on such deep space missions, Mister President.’’
‘’Good! What else?’’
‘’Second, I would like to try as much as possible to permit the spouses of astronauts or scientists without kids or whose kids are already adults to accompany their spouses in Space, ideally by using them as non-technical crewmembers, like stewards in the ship’s cafeteria or bar-lounge, or as cooks or cleaning staff. Such a measure would understandably have to be managed very tightly but I will make it my personal responsibility to choose which spouses would go into Space.’’
‘’That is indeed a delicate matter, General. Do you mind if I ask the counsel of my wife first before answering that?’’
‘’Not at all, Mister President. Finally, there is one last concern I have: possible pregnancies during a deep space mission. I know that your favored way to prevent unwanted pregnancies is sexual abstinence, but I suspect that someone is bound to break such a policy eventually. As you must know from experience and as the popular saying goes: shit happens. I thus am planning to incorporate some limited, basic facilities aboard our deep space ships, to accommodate possible pregnancies and births during the mission. In case you didn’t know, a boy was born in space aboard the U.S.S. CONSTITUTION during its trip to Mars four years ago. That pregnancy and birth had not been a planned one and was the accidental result of a husband and wife night together just before departure into Space.’’
Reagan opened his eyes wide on hearing that.
‘’A baby was born in Space? I didn’t know about that, General. And how is that boy doing these days?’’
‘’He is a perfectly healthy toddler boy who is developing normally, apart from having a highly-developed sense of equilibrium, a result of playing around the ship’s zero-gravity areas for months. Mind you, compared to what the Soviets have on their MIR space station, our crew accommodations are downright luxurious and our ship’s medical facilities are quite extensive, so taking care of a handful of pregnancies and births will not tax them. If I may play the Devil’s advocate, a few babies and toddlers aboard our spaceship would actually do miracles to bring some sense of normalcy to ship’s life, Mister President.’’
‘’Hum, you may be right, although I certainly am not hoping to see such space pregnancies.’’
‘’What about pregnancies from non-American couples, Mister President?’’ said Ingrid, mostly in jest. That made Reagan grin as he imagined that.
‘’Well, I certainly can see French or Italian couples ending up having babies during a four-year mission in Space on our ship: they are notorious for their sexual promiscuity, at least in reputation.’’
‘’Yes! Imagine the likes of Gina Lollobrigida and Marcelo Mastroianni spending four years on our ship, far away from Earth.’’
‘’Now, THAT would make an epic front-page article in the newspapers! Jokes aside, I can see the possibility of such space pregnancies happening so, while not encouraging them, I have no objections to you equipping your future spaceship with adequate facilities to care for babies.’’
‘’Thank you for your comprehension, Mister President. All these things will greatly improve the living conditions of our crewmembers heading for Jupiter.’’
‘’Anything else that I should know about, General?’’
‘’No, Mister President! That’s it for the surprises for the moment.’’
‘’Then, I wish you a good day, General.’’
‘’And a good day to you too, Mister President.’’
After saluting Reagan one last time, Ingrid then walked out of the Oval Office, a new spring in her gait and satisfaction painted on her face.
17:11 (Universal Time)
Wednesday, June 15, 1977 ‘C’
Zero-G bar-lounge, entertainment module
Hotel Sheraton Aurora, Aurora Space Station
Low Earth orbit
‘’Your attention, ladies and gentlemen! The U.S.S. LIBERTY, arriving from Mars, is about to dock with our station. Hotel customers who wish to watch its arrival can do so safely from the lower promenade of the station or from the hotel’s Zero-G bar-lounge.’’
John F. Kennedy, who was having a drink with his wife Jacqueline at a table of the Zero-G bar-lounge snapped his head around on hearing that announcement and looked through the large viewing port next to their table which gave them a good view of Earth and of Space. A big smile formed at once on his face when he saw in the distance the white silhouette of the interplanetary spaceship, approaching slowly the space station.
‘’My God! This is truly a spectacle that any American would be proud of, isn’t it, Jackie?’’
‘’It is indeed, John.’’ replied his wife as the other customers of the bar-lounge, most of them rich people or celebrities, rushed to the viewing ports to look at the approaching U.S.S. LIBERTY. Seeing that the spaceship was heading towards the lowest docking station of the space station, John gently patted his wife’s hand.
‘’Let’s go down and meet those heroes, Jacky.’’
Leaving first their unfinished zero-G glasses with the barmaid standing behind the counter of the bar, the ex-presidential couple walked out of the lounge, careful to let their magnetized slippers stick lightly to the deck, and took one of the elevators which linked the entertainment module with the centerline spine of the station. Going out of that elevator once inside the spine, a 600-meter-long, twenty-meter-wide cylinder to which the various modules of the station were attached, the Kennedys transferred to another elevator which ran up and down the centerline spine and headed down to the lowest docking port module, situated at the bottom of the space station and designed to receive large spaceships of the CONSTITUTION class. When they exited that elevator, they were politely confronted by a Space Corps Security Branch soldier standing near the elevators bank. However, the soldier came to attention and saluted as soon as he recognized John Kennedy.
‘’Mister President! I am sorry, but the South Docking Port Section is presently closed to the public.’’
‘’I understand, Senior Airman, but I wished to greet in person our heroes from Mars. Could I ask you to pass my request to your superiors?’’
‘’Of course, Mister President! One moment, please.’’
The young soldier then activated his helmet’s integrated radio headset and spoke with someone briefly before smiling to John.
‘’You are welcome to proceed to the South Docking Port airlock’s reception compartment, Mister President. I will lea