Chapter 1

SS Garriott, June 1, 2161
High planetary orbit over Saturn

The “scooter,” an open style space truck with four spacemen in full environment suits and the two zero G forklifts, had returned to the parking bay of the SS Garriott, a Livyatan class freighter like the SS Peake, and like the Peake it was named for a friend of Alan Scarlett that was murdered by Eastern Bloc thugs in captivity after the Battle of Venus Prime.

This day was a red letter day. The men and women of Scarlett Water Systems were officially two weeks ahead of their schedule on the Luna Hydration project. The last N-52 engine was installed on Saturn CXCVIII (Saturn 198), known to Scarlett Water Systems as Big Berserker 03, and the wiring was half done on the eight engines installed on Saturn CLXXXIV (Saturn 184, Big Berserker 02). There is still more work to be done, but the hard parts were over.

Big Berserker 02 and 03 were two moonlets of solid ice, a cubic kilometer in size and if their calculations are correct, in about a month they will fire the engines they installed on each moonlet and shove them out of orbit. Why not? Big Berserker 01 was three times more massive, and it’s already laying on the surface of Mars.

Carl White, the chief field engineer, and his assistant Scott Anders were excited about this one. Two ice moonlets, about a cubic kilometer in size were outfitted with eight N-52 engines on each moonlet, and in about a month, those engines were going to fire up and the little moons were going to move out of Saturn’s orbit and eventually enter Earth’s orbit at Lagrange point 4 and Lagrange point 5, on either side of the moon. The ice there will be used for colonies, orbital stations, and provide reaction mass for deep space exploration.

And there was more planned for the future. The chief engineer for Scarlett Water Systems was Roy Bridges. He was the man who designed the ‘ice ships,’ was back on Earth at their company headquarters, working on a new plan to move an even bigger ice moon to Mars to fill the Jezero crater to the brim. That would provide Mars with water for centuries. He was also working on a covert program to move a small ice moonlet to the Sol/Earth Lagrange point 3 on the opposite side of the sun from Earth. There’s only a few people who know about that one, and it may be the project that finally gets Alan Scarlett back into space.

At dinner that evening, the mood was jovial among the crew. The SS Garriott was rotating on its axis, providing 0.5 g of gravity for their celebration dinner, and to map several other moonlets which Mr. Scarlett may want to gather for future water projects. The minute they landed Saturn CLXXII (Saturn 172, Big Berserker 01) on Mars, they realized that the sky was the limit. They could provide water in the form of ice anywhere in the solar system and charge whatever they had the guts to ask.

Scott Anders turned to Gene Cernan, the primary equipment engineer. Gene could fix anything, which is why Mr. Scarlett keeps him close. At that moment, he was chuckling to himself. “What’s so funny Gene?”

“Just a funny thought,” said Gene. “Could you imagine the look on the Eastern Bloc and the Western Alliance if we showed up heading straight at earth with two moons and Mr. Scarlett forgot to let them know?” The gang around the dinner table roared with laughter.

“I guaranteed delivery in six months, I didn’t guarantee anything about stopping,” said Carl White to even more laughter.

Trying to emulate Alan Scarlett’s Martian drawl, Scott Anders said, “I have one for this bunch of assholes, and one for that bunch of assholes. Now, who’s going to write the biggest check?”

That didn’t draw as much laughter. In fact, it was a wet blanket. The owner of Scarlett Water Systems absolutely despised the Eastern Bloc and would not shed a tear if they were slaughtered in a firestorm. They took so much from him, put him through a living hell, and killed all his friends. He wouldn’t blink if he found the button to press that would slaughter the Eastern Bloc. He really had no love for the Western Alliance, either. They stood back and let the eastern bloc butcher his friends and torture him. And their involvement in the politics of his beloved Mars angers him to no end.

“He’s going to be President of Mars,” said an engine specialist. “Mark my words.”

“He can’t be president of Mars,” said a co-worker. “He lives on earth.”

“His Uncle Ray Clark is president of Mars, and he spends half the year on earth himself,” said one of the fliers assigned to Fighter Escort.