Chapter 18: Welcome to Mars

Daria sat at her desk in the library using VR goggles to see the view from Tom's rover. He was leading the welcoming committee for the new arrivals. She could also hear the chatter over the radio. The landing craft had just touched down and the crew was going through the arrival checklist before opening the hatch and exiting the craft.

Daria's mind wandered thinking about the absolute explosion of video data recently. Since the battle the colony had a swarm of drones flying almost constantly with powerful AI packages to detect any type of movement or deviation from the norm within a radius of 500 km (310 miles). She had a long talk with Commander Ramirez and the Council about just how much video needed to be archived. Once they had super detailed images of the entire area there was little incentive to keep all the images, unless something changed. On Mars most of the observed changes had to do with the way sand or regolith formed a dune or piled up by some rocks. Now the fear was always that more stealth spaceships would show up.

Daria watched as the dozen new colonists one-by-one came down the ladder of the landing craft. It was somewhat of a delicate process, because the new arrivals were all in spacesuits. Tom and Darren Choi, another rover driver, were there in surface suits. This made the two of them much more agile than the people disembarking in full spacesuits.

Tom walked up and greeted each of the first six out of the landing craft with a handshake. "Welcome to Mars," he said to each one. Then one at a time Jimmy Reynolds – Tom's co-pilot for this mission – helped them to their rover and made certain they were properly seated and hooked into the life-support system. He also stowed their luggage. Once Tom's rover was loaded, he and Jimmy drove off with their six new arrivals.

Daria switched her camera source to the other rover. Darren was paired with his wife Marcie. As Singaporeans they spoke English and Cantonese. However, both were also quite fluent in Mandarin. While it was expected that the arriving taikonauts would speak English, Commander Ramirez wanted the colony's only Mandarin speakers there to welcome them and make them feel at ease.

The taikonauts came down one at a time just like the earlier arrivals. Darren greeted them, shook their hands, and Marcie escorted them to the rover and made certain they were secured. It was Darren's job to stow their gear. Then they started back toward the habitat. Darren drove slower than Tom did in order to give more time to process the first arrivals into the colony before the second group arrived.

Darren drove over the small hill which provided the first full view of the colony. Daylight was beginning to fade and the lights were on in the main habitat's vehicle area, which was under a transparent half-dome. There were also lights along the passages to the agriculture area and the old habitat modules. The exterior of the old habitat modules were particularly flooded with light.

Darren pulled up to the old habitats behind Tom's rover. Then he made the announcement to his passengers, "We are going to get out here and you will go into Habitat 2. We will guide you into the airlock. Once inside the airlock and following pressurization there is a cleaning protocol for all arriving personnel in space suits. This ensures that no disease organisms are brought into the colony. Do not remove your helmets while in the airlock. When the light turns green you can open the door and enter the dressing area. Once you have all exited the airlock the door will close and secure automatically. There are lockers for each of you and clothes inside the lockers. Remove your spacesuits and get dressed. There are chairs in there as well. Please be seated until your name is called."

"Why are we doing it like this?" Hua Gao asked.

Darren answered, "We do a quick medical check on all arrivals. Our policy is that medical checks are private and so we do them one-by-one. It is not invasive. They take your temperature, pulse, blood pressure, listen to your heart and lungs. They also check your coordination. Mainly it is to be certain that you do not have any significant health problems after being couped up in the MTV for so long."

Li Xu asked, "What would you do if you found someone had a problem? Say pneumonia?"

Marcie replied to that one, "Well, we have a very well equipped infirmary and two excellent doctors. We have the ability to do most of what a hospital on Earth can do. If you were found to have pneumonia, then you would be taken to the infirmary and treated."

Darren added, "Once you are cleared through medical, then you will receive your quarters assignment. You will be able to pick up your luggage and someone will escort you to your quarters so that you can get settled. Then in a couple of hours you will be introduced to the individuals who will help you understand our operations and guide you to your work assignments. Oh, and you will have two days to rest and get used to Martian gravity – we have a great gym. I highly recommend it. So, in three days you will be ready to get to work."

"Where do you enter?" Li Xu asked.

Marcie responded, "We will be taking the rovers over to the main habitat vehicle area. We enter directly."

Darren and Marcie unbuckled and began assisted the newcomers in getting out of their seats and helped them into the airlock. Once it was shut on the outside, Darren and Marcie followed Tom and Jimmy driving their vehicles to the main habitat and entering the vehicle airlock. It cycled, they parked, and then headed inside.

'++++++'

The six Chinese taikonauts changed into the clothes provided for them in the lockers. They looked them over carefully and noted that the flag patch, name strip, and assignment patch were correct and in the proper locations. They dressed and waited.

After about five minutes the door opened and a woman said, "Mr. Liu, would you please come with me." He followed her into a very plain room with a chair, table, and a counter with what appeared to be some medical instruments on it.

A man with a laboratory coat turned and looked at him. He said, "Hello Mr. Liu. I am Dr. Walter. You can call me Max. We are all on a first name basis here."

"Thank you doctor. I mean Max. Please call me Donghai." He had to control himself. This informality was going to have to change.

"Certainly! Welcome to Mars. Now I just need to make a few checks and I will be asking you for a sample. You understand that living so close together we need to be certain everyone is healthy. We would not want a virus or other infection to run rampant through the colony!"

"Of course not," Donghai stated.

Dr. Walter went about checking Donghai's temperature, thoroughly checked his lymph nodes, throat, and asked him several questions about how he had felt over the past few days. Donghai had to control himself as this was getting rather long. He had to remember that it was necessary to try to blend in, even if he detested this American informal style of address that seemed to be the norm here.

"Finally," Dr. Walter stated. "I am giving you this mild laxative. I need a stool sample and it should work within a few minutes."

Though he was getting a bit suspicious, Donghai went ahead and drank the small cup of liquid. It really had no taste. A few seconds later he realized he could no longer move or speak!

Two large men entered the room and grabbed him under each arm. He could not resist and he could not respond. They took him to what looked like a bedroom and laid him on the bed. It was a nice enough room. It looked like something from a cheap hotel. Donghai kept willing his arms and legs to move. Nothing happened. He still could not speak either. As hard as he tried he was unable to do anything or resist the fatigue that washed over him. It did not take very many minutes for him to lose consciousness.

'++++++'

In the exterior hallway Commander Ramirez said to the doctor and the men with him, "Good. We have one down. Let's get this over with and put our 'guests' in their 'rooms' as quickly as possible.