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Scenario 1Scenario 1

2005-06-23 - 11:46 a.m.
Dear Mom,

I�m sitting here in the ready room in Luna 1, with an hour to kill until we get suited up for our short trip to the Ares. I thought I�d take this time to write to you, just in case � well you know. This is the first manned mission to Mars after all, and we have to accept that there are risks.

Fortunately, dying of boredom won�t be one of the risks. Thanks to the Constant Thrust He3 Fission reactor, we are going to be in Mars orbit in less than six weeks!

It�s funny, but for the last few weeks of training, here on the moon, I�ve found myself wondering how we got to this point, and why it took us nearly a hundred years from the dawn of manned spaceflight to send humans to our nearest planetary neighbor. We live in a very different world from Neil Armstrong.

I suppose we�re lucky we reached this point at all. Things could have gone either way there for a while. When China and Brazil started their preparations for a manned base on the moon, we didn�t pay much attention at first, so busy were we with the search for oil � in other people�s countries.

But Vice-President Clinton, as head of the Space program in 2012, took seriously the concerns of her scientists and practically brow-beat President Richardson until he agreed to push congress to fund building a permanent base on the moon, with its own nuclear reactor.

Of course, a republican controlled congress had no intention of supporting the bill until Pakistan and India got into it (again), and went nuclear, which apart from killing 150 million people forced China to step in and annex Kashmir as a �humanitarian measure�. After that funding was easy � anything to slow down Chinese expansion.

So now we share the moon with China, like two frontier neighbors suspiciously eyeing one another across the fence. Strange � we always thought that Taiwan would bring us into a war with China, and yet now it�s the Taiwanese wanting reunification and China resisting, because they are spending every spare dime they have on the Space program and the military, and need Taiwan as a buffer zone.

I heard from Jerry the other day, did he tell you that he is getting new eyes? After ten years! Thank God the stem cell research funding got pushed through. I think a lot of it probably had to do with Senator Estafan getting caught in the same traffic jam in LA as Jerry that day. Who knew that Hydrogen Fuel cell cars and gasoline cars on the same road could cause such a thing as Formaldehyde poisoning! It seems every time we try and fix something, we just make it worse.

Jerry said he can�t wait so see Sophie again after so many years, but I worry, and I know Sophie worries too, because she�s aged about 20 years in the past ten. Partly from looking after Jerry, but mostly from the Leukemia. I wish there was more we could do for her. I wish I could go back in time five years and tell her to stay away from Wall Street just for that one day. I read the other day that it will be another twenty-five years before radiation levels drop enough for anyone to go back into the area.

But I can�t do anything about it. I can, however, help you with your other goofball son, Thomas. Please tell my idiot youngest brother that I am going to help him this time, but only because I think the charges are bogus. I will fund his defense, but the next time he gets caught indecently exposing his avatar on WorldNet he�s on his own.

Also, please tell him I seriously doubt that the only reason they are going to let the US Virgin Islands become a state is because if they just let Puerto Rico in it will screw up the flag. He really needs to start using some of those critical thinking skills we spend so much money on teaching kids these days! For his information, it wouldn�t really matter, since we maybe losing what�s left as Florida as a state anyway. Since their economy collapsed after the La Palma tidal wave and so many, many people died, there is serious talk about folding it into Louisiana.

Well, they just beeped me mom, so I guess it is time to go face the press one last time before launch. I love you mom. Please don�t be afraid, it will be alright.

Your loving son,

Jim Lewis
Cdr Ares Mission,
Luna 1
21st September, 2022

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