Post by Renekin Skywalker on Dec 15, 2010 18:24:01 GMT -5
It wasn’t long before the four (Foreman, McKenna, Mengsk and Jessica) were on the tour bus leaving the Mar city dome. The city dome itself was something to see and the bus did some quick tours before leaving.
On the bus were a total of 18 people, 3 couples, the 4 of our heroes, the guide and driver, and 6 singles. It wasn’t much a singles trip, though, since everyone except our 4 was on Mars to be on Mars, and were very excited about the tour.
Everyone on the bus was rather impressed that 4 temporaries managed to get on tour. Usually it took about a month after landing to get any kind of welcome into the city. Especially since none, apparently, were climate engineers. Their boss must have been well-connected. The guide, a pretty young thing in a stewardess uniform, had explained this a new tour that the director had only just implemented, so they had to bear with them.
About six hours out of the dome, the bus continued plodding on as the guide talked about things like geological formations, landing sites, and the original planned locations for the city. At some point between mentions of atmospheric thinness and various craters, the guide pointed and mentioned something about the preserved 300-year old probe spirit, which helped early explorers understand Mars’s geological formations.
“OK.” She said, as the vehicle descended into a super-ancient dried riverbed. “Time to stretch our legs. Remember to seal your suits before you leave because the air pressure is still a little low, and the air very dry.” The suits – standard environmental bio-suits were pretty much the same as the ones medical people use when [DATED MOVIE REFERENCE]testing monkeys that are slowly killing villages and Dustin Hoffman’s ex-wife[/DATED MOVIE REFERENCE], just with an independent oxygen tank. They were not the classic space-suits. Mars is just that safe, now.
After some encouragement, even the ones that slept through the guide’s talks were outside (which includes the reticent among our heroes), and strolling around, the wind blowing on their suits. “Looks like we have a bit of a breeze folks, so make sure you stay tethered to the bus.” Said the guide through their helmets. “Alright, and here is what we’re talking about.” She said.
Wiping the sand away from a pre-dug area, it was clear as day: water ice! (Jessica, being the only one of the 4 who’s been worldly, would now that the buried ice would be worth a fortune beyond measure to someone who could mine it and sell it.) “We will soon be at the facility mining it and pumping it into the air with other greenhouse gases.” She explains. “And then we’ll see how this world looks with actual rivers instead of a dry basin. So, how about you all get acquainted with the bed for a little bit, and we’ll go in 15 minutes.”
That left the team to walk around. A lot of the tourists were snapping photos, or brushing more sand aside.
On the bus were a total of 18 people, 3 couples, the 4 of our heroes, the guide and driver, and 6 singles. It wasn’t much a singles trip, though, since everyone except our 4 was on Mars to be on Mars, and were very excited about the tour.
Everyone on the bus was rather impressed that 4 temporaries managed to get on tour. Usually it took about a month after landing to get any kind of welcome into the city. Especially since none, apparently, were climate engineers. Their boss must have been well-connected. The guide, a pretty young thing in a stewardess uniform, had explained this a new tour that the director had only just implemented, so they had to bear with them.
About six hours out of the dome, the bus continued plodding on as the guide talked about things like geological formations, landing sites, and the original planned locations for the city. At some point between mentions of atmospheric thinness and various craters, the guide pointed and mentioned something about the preserved 300-year old probe spirit, which helped early explorers understand Mars’s geological formations.
“OK.” She said, as the vehicle descended into a super-ancient dried riverbed. “Time to stretch our legs. Remember to seal your suits before you leave because the air pressure is still a little low, and the air very dry.” The suits – standard environmental bio-suits were pretty much the same as the ones medical people use when [DATED MOVIE REFERENCE]testing monkeys that are slowly killing villages and Dustin Hoffman’s ex-wife[/DATED MOVIE REFERENCE], just with an independent oxygen tank. They were not the classic space-suits. Mars is just that safe, now.
After some encouragement, even the ones that slept through the guide’s talks were outside (which includes the reticent among our heroes), and strolling around, the wind blowing on their suits. “Looks like we have a bit of a breeze folks, so make sure you stay tethered to the bus.” Said the guide through their helmets. “Alright, and here is what we’re talking about.” She said.
Wiping the sand away from a pre-dug area, it was clear as day: water ice! (Jessica, being the only one of the 4 who’s been worldly, would now that the buried ice would be worth a fortune beyond measure to someone who could mine it and sell it.) “We will soon be at the facility mining it and pumping it into the air with other greenhouse gases.” She explains. “And then we’ll see how this world looks with actual rivers instead of a dry basin. So, how about you all get acquainted with the bed for a little bit, and we’ll go in 15 minutes.”
That left the team to walk around. A lot of the tourists were snapping photos, or brushing more sand aside.
