Name - Dick Stafford

Background

I’m a Class 3 Robotic Manipulator Operator in the Terraforming Directorate. It ain’t rocket science, but it pays well. I learned the trade at the bottom of the Atlantic living with my Pop. He learned it by working the oilfields in Alaska. Robotic operations sure have changed from those days. Well, Pop and I had our differences, so after I graduated I high-tailed it to Antarctica. Antarctica, man, those were the days.

Volunteering

When I heard MarsCorp was looking for operators, I couldn’t R-Mail my application fast enough. This was a perfect opportunity. Make some money and lay low until the heat was off. Anyway, life ain’t fun when you are hiding from a wife, a girlfriend, the cops, AND JoeyB. I can sweet talk the dames, pay off the heat, but JB ain’t known for his patience. I figured that once I saved a couple of year’s pay, I could square things with the big guy. There ain’t much to spend money on up there, I’ll be fine. And, after that one…er…incident, the company has stiffened security.

Assignment

My job is simple. Climb into a manipulator, walk out into the rose-colored desolation, and position 10,000 tons of machinery. With a robotic exoskeleton, the work itself ain’t physically tough, but it ain’t easy either. The techies have improved the control systems, but you try positioning 10 tons within half a millimeter. Then there’s the fact that you have to be alone for a 24 hour shift with nothing to keep you company but the sound of pneumatic manipulators. That sound is music to my ears, and that’s why MarsCorp didn’t ask too many questions.

My Story

So, you want to know what my day on Mars is like? I hope you have grabbed something to eat, we’re late for the shuttle!

Make yourself comfortable; it will take a half hour or so to get to the staging area. I usually read the newspaper on the console. If you’d like to, just push the start button and a virtual screen will be displayed. Just like on those fancy transit-cars on Terra, but here you don’t need an ID card to activate it. Now leave me be - I think I’ll catch a few winks. [smiling] I’m not sure I would have volunteered for this tour if had known I’d have to wake up an hour early.

Well here we are. This is Staging Depot-4, about 1500 miles from Mars Endurance Base. Once the main cargo ships land here on Mars, the pre-staged palates are taken to these staging areas by Anti-Grav tugs. >From here to the point of assembly, well, that’s where I come in. Now, these are the state of the art in robotic manipulators - the CAT Hercules Mark IV. They are the Cadillac of the heavy equipment industry. They have all the comforts of home. Of course, the so-and-sos in the Productivity Division have disabled the entertainment. It also has every tool you can think of, although I mostly just lift things. My favorite would be the HyperVel cannon, but they don’t let us civvies have those things. A Neuro-Receptor Helmet assists your muscles and neurons. You can’t have a nervous tic or shivers affect your work, now can you? Finally, the helmet is interfaced to the 4-D sonar array to get the positional accuracy we need.

Now, you go to airlock #3 and get fitted for a pressure suit. Once I check out the CAT, I’ll meet you outside. And don’t forget to check out a comm. unit.

Ahh, there you are. Can you hear me now? Good. Today I would have been assembling some gas generators and some auxiliary power units. Hey, now that I think of it, it will be nice have the day off. Forget what I said about getting up early. Anyway, both of these assemblies are pretty heavy and even though they self-interface, you have to get them perfectly aligned for the nanobots in the interfaces to begin doing their thing. With units this big, one miscalculation and you’ll do some serious damage. They tell me the nuclear APUs are safe until they are activated, but while I was in Antarctica, I saw what a APU does when it goes critical. After that man-made lake re-froze, I got to go in and clear out the mess.

A bit later I’ll assemble a couple of items so you can see this baby in action. For now we’ll stroll through the plant and I’ll show you around. The heat transfer facility? I knew you’d want to go there. A little unpleasantness and everyone wants to hear the whole story.

Well here we are. There isn’t really much to tell. Some guy managed to bribe his way on-planet and stow away on a shuttle. He was over there fiddling with something when I came up. He was obviously up to no good as he started taking pot-shots at me. Big mistake! That little plasma peashooter he had didn’t do much damage but I guess he could have breached my hull with a lucky shot. Like I said, this manipulator isn’t armed so I gave him a little whack with the load I was carrying. I ain’t a scientist, but I understand conservation of momentum! He’s recovering but he won’t get out of the brig any time soon. The corporate security folks ain’t as soft as the law back on Terra. Once he comes out of his coma, they’ll find out what he was up to. The corporate line is corporate terrorism, but my money’s on JoeyB. I sure hope not. They find I’m involved and I’ll be on the next transport back to Terra.

Well I hope you found this all interesting. Like I told you there ain’t much to this job. You know, it wasn’t bad having someone to talk to today. When we get back, how about we grab some grub and some of that good ol’ MarsCorp micro-brew?