Name - J. B. Shepherd

Background -

• City planner/developer - New Chicago, earth's moon,
• Environmental consultant - Earth Orbiting Space Facility,
• Nairobi Reclamation Project, Earth
• North Pacific Enviro Bubble, Alaskan Seas

Assignment - City Center Developer/Planner, Mars Endurance Base

Our ship has just touched down when the pilot intones the customary greeting: "Welcome to Mars Endurance Base." Stepping out onto the landing platform, we see a sky of pale pink hues and a landscape of red. We're not in Kansas anymore.

After numerous expeditions to the Earth Orbiting Space Facility and the lunar cities, my team of city planners took on a different set of challenges. The development of Mars' first major base was just the incentive we needed…

We boarded a shuttle headed through the atmosphere, first stop - a week in orbit on the EOSF, to get our papers, equipment and permits, then on to New Chicago, the lunar spaceport. After few days "staging time," we prepared to board our pod. After the passenger pod was loaded we prepared to join with the long-range freighter, the "Robinson." The trip was uneventful, the only break from the monotony being our young spacer Cussler getting sick during the transition phase, with jokes and friendly derision all around.

Mars Endurance Base. Navigating the spaceport becomes our first challenge. We are steered through a sea of equipment and supplies going into the port, and mountains of ore and other valuables heading space-bound for manufacturing facilities in orbit. Our destination, the "terminal building" a small dome,…

At last, with baggage and instruments in hand, we board a repulsor shuttle for the ten-minute trip to the main building. These transports really scoot, but as our body weight is thirty eight percent of Earth normal, the ride eases our transition to Mars gravity, and will hopefully allow us to get used to our own body movements. It's hard enough to move in these light pressure suits.

Travelling down Main Street, we take in the foreign landscape. Red sand, red dirt, red rocks, red sky. Mars Endurance Base is a bona-fide base-site now. What started as a landing site has already progressed into a village, with the beginnings of commerce - just as in the old American West - a saloon.

Our approved plan includes developing the seed of a city. We are here to create a city base - a specialized city pressure dome - it will be shaped like a nautilus laying sideways, half embedded in the ground. The radial layout is an adaptation of the original designer's plans. Above ground will be living quarters, agriculture, entertainment and more. Below ground will be engineering plants - the water reclamation, air purification, waste disposal, and other functions that will make the space habitable.

Our challenges are great. Our predecessors have determined that, within a few generations, the humans on Mars will change dramatically, as gravity-sensitive genes respond to the differences in available sunlight, cosmic radiation, and engineered atmosphere. The human skeleton, muscles and some organs (lungs and heart) will certainly change. We are aware that any radical changes may make Martian humans genetically different, and they would find it very difficult to return to Earth -- they would be truly native Martians. In time, an entirely Martian ecosystem will evolve from original Earth organisms. So we're challenged with designing for the next generations and the diverse generations to follow. Additionally, shuttle experiments in Earth orbit, close to the turn of the century, uncovered some unexpected problems. For example, it is known that lowered gravity changes the surface tension of water, making it harder for some plant seedlings to absorb nutrients. We will be employing botanists with lunar-genetic experience to help us design plants for the Martian city.

The original plans were made nearly a century ago, but not realized until the revival of our benefactor. In the words of the original planner:

"It will be a planned, controlled community, a showcase for (Martian) industry and research, schools, cultural and educational opportunities. (The nautilus shell design allows for expansion and growth on a radial pattern)

Inside the dome, the climate will be perfectly regulated…

…the futuristic city will be laid out like a wheel, the hub containing a city center, with stores, theaters, restaurants, nightclubs and office buildings. It will have a completely closed environment with a minimum of above ground traffic. The heavy traffic is designed to take place underground on two levels, one for cars and another for trucks. By keeping traffic below ground inside the city, "the pedestrian will be king…

Outside the central hub, will lie areas of high-density apartments, green-belt residential districts and low-density living areas. Once inside the city, workers will move on electric conveyor-type cabs or "people-movers"…

High-speed monorails would transport workers to the hub of the city from three out-lying areas."

It's our job to lay the foundations for this plan, but for now, it's simply a big, red, rock, covered with red dirt, under a red sky. I look at my team, with our tools, plans and holograms, and can see that we're all thinking the same thing. How do we turn Mars Endurance Base into a city? It starts with a newly designed pressure dome, designed and engineered for lower gravities, created from Martian ores. Those ores, and the plant that will produce those building products are the brainchild of my cohort, Dr. S. Jameson. The same freighter that deposited us here, also landed tons of materiel and supplies to make this part of the process a reality.

Week 2: We've been on site for several days now, taking core samples, surveying, testing equipment. We've encountered mixed responses from the locals - some want to see complete development, some are here for the opportunities provided in building a city center, and some are here to get away from "something."

I've learned today that our benefactor will be joining us on the site of the city center in the next few days. My heart jumps into my throat…can it be… that he will arrive and I'll meet him face to face? After nearly a century in cryogenic freeze, his dream - his "non-corrupted" dream - will be come a reality…and I'm the builder!

I'm nervous, excited, and anxious. The man is a legend. I remember as a young boy, wanting to meet his "child…" I remember the statue of him and the mouse on the park bench…and learning of his dreams for a better world. I was fascinated and challenged. Now, with sweaty palms, I'll reach out and shake the great man's hand, and say…

"Hello Mr. Disney"