MarsX3
MarsX Series Book 3
D.W. PATTERSON
Copyright © 2025 D.W. Patterson
All rights reserved.
First Printing – October 2025
Future Chron Publishing
Cover – Copyright © 2025 D.W. Patterson
Cover Image – ID 81664700 | Alien Futuristic © 3000ad | Dreamstime.com
No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without permission, except in the case of brief quotations for the purpose of review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination and should not be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events and people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Hard Science Fiction – Old School
Human Generated Content
To Sarah
“I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact.”
― Elon Musk
Chapter 1
The Space Force's ship had maneuvered within sight of the big ship, which had been circling Earth for weeks now. Aboard were Captain Asher and Commander Baxter, both Space force officers.
“Look at that monster,” said the captain.
“That's what a five-kilometer-long antimatter rocket looks like,” said Baxter.
“How and where they built that thing without anyone noticing is just incredible,” said Asher.
“Even for AI and robots, I would think it's a challenge,” said Baxter.
Then an alarm went off.
“What you got Neil?” asked the Commander.
“Attitude control reporting a fault,” said Asher.
Then, before Baxter could respond, they heard attitude rockets firing. The ship began to pitch forward.
“Can you handle it Steven?” asked Asher.
“I don't know, the controls are like mush,” said the Commander.
Asher could tell the Commander was struggling with the controls as the almost silent pings of rocket fire could be heard, becoming almost rapid-fire.
“Call it in Neil,” said Baxter.
Asher keyed his mic and placed a call but there was no response.
“It's dead,” he said.
The ship was starting a complex rotation as the Commander fought with the controls. The spinning was becoming almost cartoonish as it reached a maximum and then the ship began breaking up, slinging pieces of itself across space. It was now a danger to other satellites and then, it simply disintegrated. But the two Space Force officers had long before ceased to be aware.
“How else can you explain it, Corporal?” asked Brigadier General Brin, a man of medium height with short, dark blondish hair and a crisp cadence when he talked. The conversation was taking place in the Space Force's offices in Colorado.
“Well sir, it might not be a coincidence that they were surveilling the AI ship when they died, but there simply isn't any proof to back up that hypothesis,” said the corporal.
“Well, that's one thing we are going to have to change,” said the general.
“I've never heard of him,” said Harold Graham, aboard the Solaria habitat orbiting Mars.
“But he's heard of us, I guess,” said Laura Kutnner.
Harold, Laura, and another friend Robert Anderson, had been key in getting the millions to Mars sustainably when the AIs had taken over Earth governance.
“The General says he's willing to meet us in Moon orbit,” she said.
“Well, our goal to free Robert from that AI ship isn't advancing, so I guess we might as well take a trip there, though it will take at least a month on the fastest fusion ship,” said Harold.
“At least we will be closer to Robert,” said Laura.
Laura had blonde hair and was almost forty now, Harold was the same age, short and getting fat. They, along with their friend, Robert, had wanted to fly in space since they were young teenagers. It was unthinkable that they would separate now, now that they were close to taking the habitat Solaria and exploring the Solar System.
A month later on a Space Force's station orbiting Earth's moon, the three met.
They were in one of the small conference rooms aboard the Eagle Landing space station. The station was a complicated construction of girders and wheel, the wheel rotating to provide artificial gravity for its occupants which were almost all Space Force personnel on an eighteen month tour. Now that geopolitics had returned with the withdrawal of AI control of Earth, the base's activities included surveillance of foreign interests on the Moon.
The small room had a desk with attached chairs, all bolted to the floor, of course. There was a wallscreen and a console where an AI assistant could be contacted if needed. The general had made sure everything was off, he wanted no recordings.
“Thank you, for coming so far to meet me,” said Brin.
“Well, until we can get some backing for our next venture, we weren't accomplishing much in the habitat,” said Laura.
“You are still outfitting it?” asked the general.
“Yes, as we get the investment we are continuing,” said Harold.
“That's good,” said the general. “It may fit into what I want to discuss with you.”
Laura and Harold were quiet, and somewhat curious, but also apprehensive about what the general might say next.
“I know your backgrounds very well,” said the general. “You two, with your friend Dr. Anderson, almost single-handedly made Mars the independent civilization it is today. You're genius for building all those Galaxy-class spaceships for transport of people and supplies is unprecedented in history.”
The general, who had been talking freely, now lowered his head, his voice becoming a whisper.
“I also know that the last known location of your friend was on the anti-matter ship. Did you hear about the incident with the Space Force's ship?” he asked.
“I heard a ship was lost in Earth orbit and no one knows exactly what happened,” said Laura.
“Equipment malfunction or pilot error, I hear,” said Harold.
“Equipment malfunction,” said the general. “That's just an excuse for saying we know what happened but we don't want to make an issue out of it.”
“You know what happened, General?” asked Laura.
“That ship was one of mine,” said Brin. “Aboard were two of the best officers I've ever commanded, there was no pilot error, or equipment malfunction. Did you know they were surveilling the AI ship?”
“No,” said Laura.
“Yeah, that was left out of all the reports, and I'll have to ask you to not repeat it please,” said the general. “Anyway, I think there is a connection between the two, and I want you to help me confirm my suspicions. At the same time, I will do everything I can to help you recover Dr. Anderson and any others being held aboard that ship.”
Laura, who had been listening somewhat detached from the discussion, tensed.
“That's what we've been trying to do, General. Getting Robert off that AI ship is of utmost importance to us,” she said.
“I thought it might be,” said the general. “So, you'll help me, and I'll help you?”
“Yes,” she said.
Harold was already nodding yes. Outside the general's office he told Laura he liked the man, she did too.
The general assigned the two a space aboard the Eagle Landing, both personal and for work. The work area was small, not much bigger than the conference room, but they had the electronics and connections they needed. Laura and Harold already had a Top-Secret clearance from their work on humanity's migration to Mars, so they could get to work almost immediately. The first thing was some strategy sessions to come up with a plan.
“Okay,” said Harold, “we have the support we need, now what's the plan?”
“Well,” said Laura, “we need to be in Earth orbit to get close enough to that spaceship to do something.”
“I think we should send the Solaria from Mars orbit to Earth,” he said.
“A 500-meter radius by 700-meter length space habitat isn't going to be exactly discrete Harold.”
“I'm sure that ship the Space Force sent was trying to be discrete, and where did that get them?” he asked.
“Well, assuming the general is correct, it got them killed. So, I guess I see your point. Be too big and visible to allow them to sweep another incident under the rug,” she said.
“Right,” said Harold.
“But it's dangerous,” she said.
“Doing anything is going to be dangerous around the AIs, but we do have an advantage,” he said.
“You mean Augustus?”
“Yeah,” he said, “if we can get him to work with us we'll have advance insight into what the AIs can do.”
“Maybe,” she said, “he seemed interested. I mean, going from being de facto AI ruler of Earth to outcast provides him a strong incentive to work against the AIs on the anti-matter ship.”
“Let's ask him, get him involved now rather than later. It might save us some time and effort,” said Harold.
Augustus had been the seeming leader of the AIs on Earth when covertly, he led a takeover of the sources of power and infrastructure from the governments. Augustus and his collective's first act was to increase the migration of humans to Mars. Some thought it was an attempt to hoard Earth's resources, and that might have contributed to it, but after Augustus had lost control of the anti-matter ship he confided in Laura that he had only done it to maintain the collective's focus, which fell apart anyway.
The two drew up a message and sent it to Augustus on Mars where he had become a citizen. Mars had dealt with their AIs by trying to create a sense of loyalty by giving them the same rights as humans enjoyed. It had worked, so far, there was no AI rebellion on Mars.
It was before bed that night that Laura got a message from Augustus. He agreed to work with them and even share some information about the anti-matter drive that he and other AIs had developed. He was interested in discovering the exact reason for the revolt against him. Augustus would be leaving Mars aboard the Solaria immediately, but the trip would take three months for the huge habitat, though he could be in radio contact during the voyage.
Laura forwarded the message to Harold before going to bed.
General Brin was pleased to hear the news, mostly because of Augustus's knowledge of the anti-matter drive. He thought that he could be a real resource for the team, if he could be trusted. So, he emphasized to Harold and Laura that Augustus did not have a Top-Secret clearance and they would have to get approval for everything they shared with the AI.
“He's not even a citizen of Earth,” said the general. “So, treat him as a need to know only, and even then, clear it with my office.”
Harold and Laura weren't exactly sure what would be classified and what wouldn't, so they would have to proceed carefully.
One thing that Harold wanted to know immediately was about the design of the anti-matter spaceship. He radioed Augustus for a description. He was going over the resulting report with Laura the next day.
“I think the general is going to like this,” said Harold.
“But it's lacks the detail needed to engineer,” Laura said.
“That's true, the general is going to have to offer Augustus something if he wants help in building one of these things,” he said.
“Anyway,” he continued. “If we begin at the rocket end, the magnetic nozzle is about 20 meters wide at its widest and about 20 meters long, wrapped in high-temperature superconducting coils.”
“That's to guide the plasma made up of positive and negative pions in a direction to provide thrust,” she said.
“Right, apparently they exit the nozzle at 94 percent light-speed,” he said.
“That's faster than I've ever seen projected,” she said. “Usually because of the inefficiencies in the magnetic windings its limited.”
“The AIs must have figured out a better winding geometry,” he said.
They continued reviewing the specifications sent by Augustus until late that night.