Hopefully this chapter will help explain some things that caused problems last time (or will take confusion to a whole new level).

Chapter 3

Dead Woman Walking

Mars is definitely the place to be. I once went to a five star restaurant on the Moon; it had great food but no atmosphere.

Deep underground in the Mars Base colony, head of Xenobiology April Dias was hurrying past too many people in a corridor not built to handle their number.

"Here at last" she gasped as she slid open the door to the councils outer office and almost fell inside.

"APRIL WAIT!" Luis called out for about the fifteenth time.

He had just chased his wife halfway across the complex for the last ten minutes. Prior to this pursuit, Luis was happily helping their two daughters with their studies while April worked on the last month's crop growth figures. Suddenly a message had popped up in the corner of her computer screen causing April to literally squeal with joy before she stuffed two tablet screens in a satchel and ran out the front door.

"You girls stay here" Luis barked as he followed his wife "Abigail is in charge so Saffy, you listen to your sister."

Both young girls stared wide eyed as their father hurried off before they looked back at each other.

"Okay then if you're in charge, do you think we've done enough study for today?" Saffron asked.

"Yes; yes I do. I have to go to Spaceflight Training in ten minutes anyway so till then..." Abigail grinned as she arose to put some loud music on.

"LET'S BOOGIE!"

Luis did not manage to catch up to his wife until she finally stopped running at the council offices but when he did, she was quite surprised to see him.

"You followed me?" she asked "Why didn't you wait with the girls?"

"Oh Dios mío April; you ran off without a word" he exclaimed still slightly out of breath.

"Did I? Sorry about that but I have to talk to Olive urgently" she smirked as she continued walking into the outer office.

"But why dearest; is something wrong?"

"Oh no babe" April declared as she approached a computer terminal and began to type her request to see Olive Roux "In fact, things are looking up."

When April had completed her message, she pressed enter and began typing another to Florian Klein. With the second message done and sent she led her husband to a couch by the wall and handed him one of the tablets from her satchel.

"Take a butchers at this" she said.

Luis often had trouble understanding his wife's strange British slang terms, but it was quite obvious she wanted him to read what was just put into his hand. The screen was divided into two columns with the wide one on the left of screen containing a list of items needed printed in black, while the narrow right column simply had a colour and a number. Most of the items had a green square alongside them but as Luis scrolled down, he saw several were yellow and a few were red. As his mind began to link the meaning of the different items, he realised he was looking at a copy of the original supply list of all thing sent to Mars ahead of the first construction crew.

"This list makes it look like you want to start another colony" Luis noted as the Wood Duck of Curiosity began pecking at his head.

"Well there's a perfectly logical explanation for that babe."

"Oh, and what is it?"

"I want to start another colony" April grinned.

"You're leaving me? Whatever I've done wrong dearest, I promise I can change."

"Don't be silly" April punched Luis playfully on the arm "you and the girls would come too."

"Just the four of us?"

"Luis, are you trying to annoy me or is it just working out that way?"

"I'm trying to find out what is going on inside that extremely gorgeous little head of yours."

"I suppose you'd better come in when we talk to Olive then, but don't you interrupt and ask silly questions."

Luis gave his wife a surprised 'Who, me?' kind of look as the door from the corridor slid opened and Florian Klein stepped in; April was not pleased to see he was alone.

"Why isn't Professor Topolski with you" she snapped.

"Don't worry April" Florian tried to calm her "he just stopped off at his classroom for his base notes. Do you know how long we will have to wait before we get in?"

"And good afternoon to you too Florian" Luis interrupted.

"Sorry Luis but April jumped down my throat as soon as I walked in."

"Look here, I'm a bit on edge right now so give me some slack" April explained "And Luis; behave yourself."

"Yes dearest" he smirked.

April and Florian compared notes for a few minutes until another man appeared from an inner office.

"Sorry to keep you waiting but we weren't really expecting any new business today" Vikram Mandal said honestly. "The council are just finishing up discussion on the Chicken Report."

"Did he just say what I think he say?" Luis asked his wife as the Rockhopper Penguin of Confusion laid an egg at his feet.

"One of the plant monitors in sector 7G wants to allow some chickens to roam free inside the Mars Soil Crop Tunnels, to see if there is any obvious differences in the levels of plant growth" April explained. "I did one of the risk/benefit analysis reports."

"Why would chickens be a risk? No wait; I don't want to know."

It was at time such as these when Luis Dias wished he was back on the Mars Transfer Vehicle.

"Sometimes I wish I was back on the Mars Transport Vehicle" he lamented.

"If you would all come this way" Vikram motioned.

At April's request, Luis waited in the outer office for Professor Topolski while the others went inside. While the group had only requested to see Council Chief Olive Roux, those who had been discussing the chicken report also remained seated and patiently waited to hear what April, Florian Klein and Topolski had to tell them' and so, Florian began.

"Over one hundred years ago, America had wrapped up its Apollo Moon Programme, the Soviet Union was developing technology for extended living in space with the Salyut space stations, and the launch systems of Asia and Europe were still only in their early stages. If we had been unfortunate enough to have encountered the Solf-4 Meteorites at that time, I think it is safe to say that the human race would have been facing inevitable extinction."

"I've got a feeling I know where you're going with this" Sage interrupted with a sigh.

"We have to face up to the facts Commander" April cut in. "Seismic event, viral outbreak, another meteorite; if something disastrous were to happen here on Mars, the entire project would fail and the human race would cease to exist."

"So I assume you're saying you want to start a second Mars base" Sage huffed.

"Commander, please!" Olive Roux attempted to stave off a fast approaching argument, but it was soon apparent Commander Sage was itching for a fight.

"I'm sorry Premiere but we've been through this before and nothing has changed since the last time. If we put people and resources on another site before we're ready..."

"I feel sure we are ready Commander" April took her turn to interrupt.

"And I suppose you think Martian gravity, lack of atmosphere and sand storms are just An INCONVENIENCE!"

"Sit down Commander Sage... and lower your voice" the Premier ordered through gritted teeth.

"I have been living here for almost twenty years Commander so I think I know what I'm talking about."

"THAT'S A LOAD OF CRAP! YOU AND THESE OTHER EGGHEADS HAVE BEEN LIVING IN THIS AIR CONDITIONED COMPLEX SINCE THE DAY YOU ARRIVED. YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT'S REALLY LIKE OUT THERE" Sage shouted as the Morepork of Blind Rage battled furiously with the Pelican of Everything going Down the Toilet.

He certainly would not have dared talk to April in that way if Luis had been in the room.

"Maybe she doesn't, but I do" Florian noted.

Commander Neville Sage fumed as he sank back in his seat. He had been so enraged by his ongoing battle with the head biologist, he had completely forgotten about the German man standing in front of him who had been a member of the first human crew to arrive on Mars. Back in the early days, the base was nothing more than a haphazard construction site, littered with supply landers, dead construction robots and dropped materials along with a few blackened sites where the cargo landers had failed to soft land.

At that very moment, Luis finally arrived with Professor Topolski. Luis could see the fury in April's eyes so it was plain to see the discussion had not gone well so far.

"Hello everyone" Topolski greeted while blissfully unaware of the tension in the room "Sorry to have kept you waiting, but I wanted to be sure I had everything ready to show you."

And so for the next twenty two and a half minutes, Sage bit his tongue while the good professor outlined the needs and advantages of commencing construction on a second Mars Base. All the other council members appeared to listen with open minds but as Florian caught Council Head Roux's eye and saw the look on her face, he realised there was still a long way to go before they would get their plans approved.

Florian also noticed the look of anger on April's face and he felt sorry for Luis, considering what awaited him when the couple arrived home later in the evening.

Good news: Today I finally worked out how Blue will learn about his heritage.

Bad news: You won't find out till about chapter 31. (Evil laugh)