Labyrinth: Excerpt from Chapter 6

For those unfamiliar with the novel, or who may have forgotten the synopsis from the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award entry some time back, Labyrinth of Night is a young adult science fiction novel following the struggles of Amber Jacobsen — the first and so far only child on Mars — to prove her value to […]

For those unfamiliar with the novel, or who may have forgotten the synopsis from the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award entry some time back, Labyrinth of Night is a young adult science fiction novel following the struggles of Amber Jacobsen — the first and so far only child on Mars — to prove her value to the other settlers by (among other things) resolving an old and largely forgotten mystery.

In this short excerpt, Amber and her parents are camping out in their beat-up rover, as they travel from their home (one of the old tuna-can habs left behind by the early exploratory missions) to the main settlement, Port Lowell. Amber, having just turned 14 a few days earlier, is finding herself increasingly bored with life on the frontier:

Amber awoke with a start, feeling dangerously exposed under the transparent curve of the rover’s front window.  She had lived all her life surrounded by walls or a suit, seeing the surface only through a small viewport or a helmet visor.  This broad, clear view of the sky always made her feel vulnerable.

She wondered what time it was — just above the horizon was one of the morning stars, which the daily astronomy report said would rise about an hour before the sun.  Dawn was near.

She reached out both hands towards the faintly blue star, touching her wrists together and forming a cup as if to cradle a precious jewel.  “Earth”, she whispered.

Aaron, lying on his reclined seat with his back to Amber, stirred.

“Dad?”

“Unh?”

“You awake?”

“I am now.”

Amber paused and collected her thoughts, feeling about her throat for the Earth pendant and remembering that she’d left her necklace behind at the hab.  “Why are we here?”

Aaron rolled onto his back.  “We’re going to Port Lowell.  You know…”

“No, not here here.  Mars.  Why are we on Mars?  Earth has everything.  Mars has nothing.  Why would anyone want to come here?”

He stretched, crossed his arms behind his head, and stared silently out the window for a time.  “Because we’re explorers.  That’s who we are.  That’s what we do.  From the time we are babies, able to crawl, we—”

“Right, right, okay, I know all that,” she interrupted.  “I’ve heard that speech a hundred times.  I’ve given that speech a hundred times, in my class videos.  I mean us:  you and me and Mom.  Why do we have to stay on Mars?  The planet’s being explored, and permanently settled — that’s what you wanted, why you stayed behind.  Right?”  She let the question hang for an instant, but her father didn’t take the bait.  “So why stay?  Don’t you want to go back to Earth now?”

“No,” he said simply.  “I used to think we’d go back some day, but now?  No.  There’s nothing back there for us — our lives are on Mars now.”  He sighed.  “Look, sweetheart…I know life on Mars isn’t everything we would like it to be.  But this world is growing and things will change for you.  Maybe sooner than you think.  You just need to tough it out for a while longer — Mars is bound to get a whole lot more interesting in the near future.”

“Yeah.  Sure, Dad.”

“Goodnight, sweetheart.”

“Goodnight.”

She drifted off to sleep, but Aaron sat awake, mulling over what to tell her, and when.  He knew Lindsay would be upset if he told Amber about the offer — there was no point bringing it up yet, when there might be no need.

It’ll all work out, he thought.  He checked the hab’s status on his MA before nodding off again, as the sky began to lighten in the east.

Excerpted from “Labyrinth of Night”, © Thomas L. James and Carl C. Carlsson

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McDonald’s on Mars

Commenter Wally expresses concern over the development of space: Besides, who wants to go to McDonald’s Restaurant on Mars? I do. Not because I find the food appealing, but because of what the fact of a McDonald’s on Mars would say about the planet’s level of development. Shipping in from a distribution center on Earth […]

Commenter Wally expresses concern over the development of space:

Besides, who wants to go to McDonald’s Restaurant on Mars?

I do.

Not because I find the food appealing, but because of what the fact of a McDonald’s on Mars would say about the planet’s level of development. Shipping in from a distribution center on Earth all the mystery meat, synthetic cheese, pickles, onions, buns, soft-drink syrup, shoestring potatoes, condiments, service items, and other consumable products a franchised fast-food restaurant would require would be prohibitively expensive, at least by the modes of transportation available in the near term, so the existence of a simple McDonald’s on Mars would imply a whole range of other complex economic activities:

  • the ranching (or decanting) of various types of meat;
  • agriculture capable of supplying oil seeds, wheat, cucumbers, onions, sugarcane/corn, potatoes, tomatoes, and assorted spices;
  • silviculture providing pulp stock for paper goods;
  • processing facilities for the meat and other raw agricultural goods;
  • secondary processing facilities, such as bakeries for the buns, plants for conversion of sugar or corn syrup into soft-drink concentrate, other plants producing ketchup, mustard, pickles, etc.;
  • transportation for moving the raw materials and processed items (not to mention the consumers);
  • a local construction industry capable of building a structure to house the restaurant, and a supply of building materials;
  • a local manufacturing industry with the ability to produce the various pieces of specialized machinery and fittings required to turn the aforementioned consumables into final product and deliver them to customers — freezers, refrigerators, fry vats, grills, microwave ovens, soft-drink dispensers, cash registers, communications systems, preparation tables, sinks, water heaters, icemakers, customer furnishings, etc.;
  • the constituent items (gears, motors, electromechanical elements, control devices, refrigerants, sheet metal, advanced plastics) that go into the production of such equipment;
  • the miscellaneous secondary items involved in the running of the primary business, such as cleaning equipment and supplies;
  • items taken for granted in a terrestrial McDonald’s: a supply of breathable air, potable water, and reliable electricity;
  • a reliable supply chain making all of the above available on short notice;
  • enough unskilled and surly teenagers to staff the restaurant;
  • all of the above available at a cost which still allows the restaurant to make a profit;
  • a trustworthy means of exchange (i.e.: money), and the financial infrastructure that goes with it;
  • applicable legal structures (contract law, property law, etc.) and appropriate enforcement institutions; and
  • enough customers to keep the restaurant profitable.

Not to mention the fact that a McDonald’s would be a pleasant alternative to a communal cafeteria that would be a more practical and efficient if drab means of providing meals. That is, the restaurant would indicate a level of development at which options for enjoyment are available, and people can concern themselves with quality of life (in this case the enjoyment of a simple pleasure) versus mere subsistence.

Who would go to a McDonald’s on Mars? I would — to celebrate the accomplishment that the existence of such a thing would symbolize.

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