Julie approached the ridge of Noctis Labyrinthus, near to where she had stood all those months ago and looked down at the devastation caused by the crashed asteroid. It had all been swept away with the remaining pieces of the rock removed to salvage the nickel and iron contained within them. In their place was a new and impressively large research station which sprouted various satellite and radio receivers from the top of its roof. In front of the building were the arching transparent domes of greenhouses where some plant experiments would take place. At a distance, they looked to be empty, but she imagined they would soon be full of adapted plants which the scientists hoped would have enough resilience to survive in the harsh climate. Perhaps they would be strong enough to live outside of the greenhouses where the canyon’s own natural geography would help protect them from the worst that Mars had to offer.
Julie took a few more steps further down the ridge to get a better look at where Noctis City was gradually emerging out of the bedrock. ThorGate had managed to wrestle back control of the project after the discovery of life on Mars was proved to be a hoax. It had set ThorGate back some considerable time and other corporations had used that to their advantage so there were now many more plans in the pipeline for cities to be built in that region of Mars.
Nevertheless, ThorGate was still determined that Noctis City would be the most impressive of them all and hints of its future grandeur could already be seen in the construction. Struts of a new magnesium-steel alloy rose out of the ground in a skeleton of what would soon be homes and workplaces and recreation facilities. There would even be, in the center, a large park to rival the Oasis. At the far end, where machines and migrant workers in rad-suits busied themselves around the construction, they had begun to fill in some of the walls to form embryonic buildings and streets. It would be, she hoped, for the sake of every human being who would eventually live there, a triumph of engineering and design.
As she stared at it, she realized she had been out there for longer than intended. She needed to get back to Tharsis City because that night – her last night on Mars – was to be the night that Deimos was brought down. If she was to see the impressive sight from the best vantage point possible, she needed to claim her place on Bard’s “party bus” .
•••
As the sun was getting low in the sky, the vehicle that Bard had specially built for the occasion left Tharsis City and traveled out into the Martian desert where it was to witness the amazing spectacle of bringing Deimos down.
The bus consisted of two decks. The lower one was reserved for the driver and support crew, plus a team of caterers who were in charge of the all-important refreshments. The upper deck was where the privileged guests could mingle under a transparent roof with windshields on all four sides to give them an unhindered view of the stricken moon’s fall from grace.
Everyone who was anyone was on Bard’s party bus. Rufus was there, as were the leaders of all the other political parties which made up the Terraforming Committee, along with all the heads of the corporations and a select number of CrediCor personnel. All of whom were mingling and chatting as if it were a corporate event on Earth. It was all very surreal. They were even serving real wine, as Julie discovered when she took a sip from the glass of pale yellow liquid passed to her by one of the staff. It must have cost Bard an absolute fortune to bring it out from Earth.
They reached Sinai Planum just as the daylight faded and the sky went dark. Even without the spectacle of a descending moon, it was beautiful. Mars still had no clouds and no pollution to speak of, so the stars were as clear as if Julie were looking through the portal of a spaceship. Thousands of individual pinpricks of light from thousands of suns many light years away gazed down on them while the hazy band which made up the milky way snaked through the middle of the sky. It was an awe-inspiring backdrop to the night’s events. Julie gazed up at the wondrous sight, sipped her wine and felt a little dizzy at the enormity of it all.
“Julie!” Bard came up to her holding out his hands to clasp Julie’s fingers between his two palms.
“You’re looking handsome tonight,” she said, admiring the black suit he was wearing which contrasted rather effectively with his white cap.
“Thank you,” he smiled. “You also look stunning.”
Julie was wearing her one and only dress which she brought out for special occasions. It was deep blue velvet with a slanting line of sparkles which ran in a wave from her left shoulder to her right hip, very much like the stars of the milky way. “It’s my last chance to wear it. I have a limited payload for my journey back to Earth and I can’t take it with me.”
“You’re leaving soon?”
“Tomorrow.”
“I hope all goes well.”
“As things seem to be going well for you,” Julie suggested.
“I don’t know,” said Bard, rubbing his leg where it had been trapped under the rover. “I’m having to have physiotherapy twice a week.”
“I was more referring to Luka Schäfer’s conviction and Anita Andreassen facing charges of murder. Whereas you are standing on a party bus serving expensive wine to your friends.”
“That’s because Luka and Anita are criminals, whereas I, as you know, am innocent.”
“Of course,” said Julie, placating him. She sipped at her wine. “As I say, things seem to be going very well for you.”
He chuckled. “You’re a very funny woman, Julie. Maybe when I return to Earth, we could meet up somewhere and chat about old times.”
“That would be…” Julie considered which word she should choose to end the sentence. “Interesting.”
He gave her a knowing smile, then abruptly turned, limping slightly, and walked to the front of the bus where he had spotted the Chair of the Terraforming Committee.
“Rufus!” Bard declared and clasped the politician’s hand between his two palms, causing him to break away from the people he had been talking to. “How’s it going?”
“I like your bus, Bard,” said Rufus. “How much did this wine cost you?”
Julie stopped listening. She had had enough of schmoozing politicians and corporate heads for one lifetime and was glad to be soon leaving it all behind.
“Look! Phobos!” shouted a woman on the left side of the bus. Julie didn’t know who she was, and so imagined she must work for CrediCor. As the woman pointed up into the sky, everyone turned to look in the same direction. Julie could just about make out the knobbly celestial body against the black of the night.
“It’s so small!” said one of the partygoers.
“I can’t see it!” said another.
“Never mind Phobos, where’s Deimos?” said a third.
“The moon started its descent three days ago,” declared Bard, breaking away from Rufus to address the whole of the bus. “We have been bringing it lower and lower as it lapped the planet ever since. It means Deimos is set on its final journey and there’s nothing now that anyone can do to stop it.”
A sense of trepidation descended over the bus. Julie wondered how many people were thinking, like she was, about the asteroid disaster than had killed a man and destroyed a research station only months before.
“Before Deimos comes into view, I want to share something with you,” Bard looked around the faces of each and every partygoer gathered on the upper deck to ensure he held their full attention. “I’ve just had official confirmation that the average temperature on Mars at the equator is now minus twenty-seven degrees. That’s a whole three degrees warmer than when the Terraforming Committee was formed.”
The assembled dignitaries gasped and broke into a round of applause. Even Julie tucked her wine glass under her arm and clapped at the achievement.
“All thanks to the warming actions of CrediCor’s asteroid program.”
“And UNMI’s greenhouse gas emissions!” Julie shouted from the back.
Bard grinned. “As our friend from the United Nations Mars Initiative points out, hurling asteroids at Mars isn’t the only way we’re warming the planet – but let’s face it, it’s the main way!”
The assembled guests laughed. It wasn’t the funniest joke in the universe, but they were probably slightly drunk.
Julie had to admit to herself, however, that despite her reservations over inviting corporations to take part in the terraforming project, they had achieved far more than UNMI had before the Committee took over and in far shorter a time. It seemed that, for the sake of humanity’s future on Mars, it had been the right thing to do.
“I believe it’s almost time.” Bard turned to face the front windshield and pointed out into the night sky. “Deimos shall appear soon, coming low over the horizon, just there.”
He pointed out through the front windshield and people jostled to get a better view. Julie felt the anticipation quicken her heart as she waited, like everyone around her, for the moment they had all been told was inevitable.
She saw the glow before she saw the moon, looming up over the horizon like the first rays of the morning sun, tantalizing at the edge of the land. The glow turned to fire as Deimos rose above the surface of the planet in a huge, blazing ball of rock hurtling through the atmosphere. Others around her gasped as the fireball became brighter, traveling fast against the black and cutting through the air like a flaming arrow.
The fiery moon swooped to its death directly ahead of them, crashing into the distant plain with the energy of a nuclear missile. It exploded into an immense mushroom cloud which bellowed up into the night and was lit dramatically by the still glowing remnants of Deimos beneath.
Tremors shook the bus and people screamed as some of them staggered sideways and others grabbed onto whatever was to hand to stop them from falling. Several people dropped their wine glasses and the sound of them smashing on the deck were like cymbal crashes in the great orchestral movement that was Bard’s grand gesture in terraforming.
The maverick CEO – who had been holding onto a handrail at the side the whole time – whooped at his triumph and began dancing around the bus, hopping on his good leg and engaging everyone who was prepared to look foolish in a victory dance. Taking their cue from him after realizing they weren’t going to be killed by the falling moon or the resulting earthquake, the partygoers laughed and clapped along.
Eventually Bard calmed down a bit and returned to the front of the bus where he addressed the assembled, slightly drunk people once again. “I’m glad you were all able to come to celebrate this milestone of Mars terraforming tonight, but I wanted to remind everyone that this is only one step on a very long journey. We have warmed the planet by three degrees, but we still have thirty-five degrees to go before we reach our goal of an average temperature of plus eight. It is, as my grandfather might say, still a bit nippy out there.”
He waited for his audience to laugh at his joke, and they obliged.
“The amount of oxygen on Mars remains at near zero, but air pressure has increased and we are making progress. That progress will mean that, one day, forests will grow out on the planet’s surface without the need for a greenhouse or a protective dome. The trees and plants will produce oxygen to enrich the atmosphere so we can breathe, and it will be warm enough for water to exist as liquid on the surface for long periods. These amazing things will not happen in our lifetimes, but they will happen if we persevere. In the future, our descendants will walk on Mars without the need for rad-suits and they will do so within a self-sustaining ecosystem that flourishes with oceans and fish and mammals and birds.
“But we can only do this,” he continued. “If we cooperate. I know to some of you corporate heads, this may seem like a fanciful notion. We are rivals in a competitive world, after all. But if I have learnt anything from my short time on this planet, it is that the global warming I am able to achieve today is the global warming that will benefit you tomorrow. The oxygen that you produce tomorrow will be the oxygen that people working for all corporations will breathe the day after. We all have our individual goals and our individual projects, and it is right that we pursue them. But, in doing so, we must remember that we are sharing the same planet and working towards the same, ultimate end.”
He paused and glanced down to gather his thoughts. His captivated audience remained quiet in anticipation. “I debated with myself whether to share something else with you, tonight. Something personal. After due consideration, witnessing the amazing thing we have just seen and drinking two glasses of wine, I have decided that I will.
“I remember that when I was trapped under a rover out on the Martian surface all those months ago, it was the head of a rival corporation – UNMI – who sent out a distress call while she sat next to me in a dust storm and told me not to give up hope. It was workers from a rival corporation – ThorGate – who heard that distress call and came to save my life. Without my rivals, I wouldn’t be standing here speaking to you today. So, I ask you to think about the benefits of cooperation when you plan your various schemes to harness the resources of this planet and be grateful that you don’t have to have the painful experience of a rover falling on top of you to learn this very valuable lesson.”
He waited for his message to be absorbed by every single person in front of him.
“Now,” he said, taking hold of the brim of his white cap. “Let’s party!”
He threw his cap spinning into the air and it came down on a tray of wine glasses being carried by an unsuspecting member of staff who was so startled he nearly dropped the tray. The moment broke the tension, everyone laughed and the party began again.
It was a rousing speech and Julie couldn’t help being moved by it. Bard was an expert at playing a crowd and he wouldn’t let a little thing like truth stand in the way of making a good impression. But, on this occasion, she believed he was being sincere.
It affected her more because, in the morning, when the sun rose again on the dusty Martian plain to reveal a huge crater with the remains of a crashed moon in the middle of it, the bus would return to Tharsis City and she would make her way to the spaceship that was due to carry her home. She would leave Mars behind her forever, but the work would continue. It would take many generations, much hard work and many scientific endeavors, but one day she was certain they would succeed in their goal of terraforming Mars.