When the first scientists ventured to Mars it was in nuclear powered spacecrafts which were constructed in the orbit of the Earth’s moon.  These spacecraft were the Orion class vehicles with a crew of 6 and that required 18 super-lift rocket launches just to get the 5400 metric tones of cargo into high Earth orbit for eventual transfer to the Moon.  These missions were daunting tasks due to the economic costs, the time costs (21 months in length but with only 3 months stay on Mars due to the minimum cost trajectory of the Hohman Transfer) and most importantly, the return on investment that the companies funding these modern day Lewis & Clark escapades were facing.

          All of this changed overnight with the perfection of a 20^th century technology called magbeam.  The principal of magbeam is simple: focus a high energy stream at a deflector on a spacecraft, and the spacecraft will accelerate and you just do the same at the opposite end of the journey to slow the spacecraft down.  It is the same idea as shooting a garden hose at a beach ball in a swimming pool.  The problem up to 2042 was the energy source.  The plasma generators could be powered by solar energy but the current family of photo-voltaic cells was not efficient enough.  Tens of square miles of panels would be required and just the maintenance issues alone would have the magbeam only operating 40% of the time. 

All that changed with the development of ormosilite, a nano-engineered, organically modified silica-like mineral.  The efficiency of solar panels was now near 98% and a 100 sq cm panel could produce the same DC current as a panel a thousand times as big.  The only drawback was that ormosilite was more toxic than plutonium and killed its inventor, Dr. John Marshe, within 30 minutes of its formulation.  Ventures Beyond, or VB as it was called, Dr. Marshe’s employer, viewed it as a cost of doing business.     

     Within 4 years, 6 magbeam generators were in place around the Earth’s moon and by 2050, 8 magbeam generators were around both the Earth’s moon and Mars.  By 2155, Mars was being administered by VB and by 2160, a shuttle service was put in place and a trip to Mars, thanks to magbeams accelerating the shuttle to about 29 kilometers per second, only took about 40 days - and without the need for waiting for proper planetary alignment.

     The Saturn class of shuttles could accommodate 45 passengers and 2000 metric tons of supplies, including food stores for the journey.  The biggest problem with the Saturn shuttles was that each had a crew of 43: 8 pilots, 2 nurses and 1 doctor, 12 maintenance engineers, 16 food service reps and 4 VB “hosts”.   With the advent of the magbeam, larger shuttles were built and the pride of the VB fleet was the new 980 meter long Erehwon-6 class.  These were enormous beasts of burden, accommodating 282 passengers and 22,000 metric tons of supplies, but with only a crew of 24 which consisted of 4 pilots, 1 nurse and 1 doctor, 6 maintenance engineers, 6 food service reps, and 6 VB “hosts”.  The “hosts” were actually armed VB security personnel who would dispatch any threat with a cold, exacting force.  Any disturbance during a spaceflight was dealt with quickly, usually with the cause of the trouble being ejected, dead or alive, into space.  This only had to happen once or twice before word spread amongst the passengers not to screw around.  

     The Erehwon-6 shuttles, pronounced “air one six”, were touted as being classless vessels for the journey from the Earth’s moon to Mars when in fact nothing was farther from the truth.  VB scientists, engineers, and security personal were allotted large spacious single occupancy cabins while the laborers and settlers were assigned 6 to a cabin…a cabin that slept 4.  Since VB decided to attract laborers by assuming their debt in exchange for 10 years of service on Mars, the greater the amount of debt VB assumed, translated directly to where you were on the class ladder: the greater the debt, the lower down you were.  Many of the semi-skilled laborers were placed 8 to a cabin and were provided only two meals per day and limited emergency medical treatment.  It was a common sight to see many laborers wandering around the bowels of the shuttle at all different times waiting for their turn to hop into a warm, dirty bunk.  Usually, the laborers would find a dark corner somewhere and get numb.   

     The official VB policy was no liquor or illegal drugs of any kind but that was a farce since VB security personnel sold the drugs and liquor aboard the shuttles.  The popular saying amongst the VB security personnel was “Make the Scum Numb” in the belief that an incapacitated troublemaker was no troublemaker at all.  100% grain alcohol was the beverage of choice and the various dealers and middle men would cut and step on it until many recipients were getting a 20% juice, they called space balls.  While it was only a little stronger than a wine, it was cheap and tolerated.  The drugs, however, were not tolerated since they were more lethal.  Pills or capsules were the only vehicle for drugs that were available.  Any drug requiring an IV or an ignition source was forbidden mainly because the VB folks weren’t selling it, needles were expensive, and fire aboard a ship is something that should be avoided.  The three drugs the VB folks sold were:  cannabidiol tetrahydrate, which is marijuana like drug with more sedative and euphoric effects than psychoactive and the locals called it BANGOO or COWBOY, if it was blended with a nicotine; delta hydroxybutyrate, another euphoric drug but with more of a sedative effect that the locals call GUDNITE; and the most dangerous: polydichloric euthima, an amphetamine like drug called MEBS by the locals who said it stood for methyl ethyl bad shit.  MEBS was only distributed when a large project had to get done quickly since the side effects were nasty.  After taking several doses and being able to stay awake for 4 or 5 days, the user would crash for sometimes an equal period.  A few people would get a form of psychosis that would usually lead to suicide.  VB officials felt this was the price of progress.

                                                              - David C. Gann, Senior Archivist / Cook