White mars by Brian W. Aldiss & Roger Penrose. Chapter 3, 4, 5

‘It’s contradictory. You’re entirely isolated – you could be the only person who ever lived, ever – and yet you are an intense part of everything. You know you’re – what’s the word? – well, somehow you’re an integral part of the universe. You are its consciousness.

‘Like being the seeing eye of this incalculably vast thingme out there…

‘I say it’s contradictory. What I mean is the perception feels contradictory, because you’ve never experienced it before. You’ll never forget it, either. It’s a tattoo on your soul, sort of…

‘Oh, sure, there were things I missed out there. Things I did without but didn’t miss, and things I missed. What things? Oh, I missed trees. I missed trees quite badly at first.

‘But my life has changed since I was there. I can never go again but I’ll never ever forget it. I try to live a better life because of it.

That’s no joke in the muddle we’re in here, downstairs on Earth.’

END TAPE.

The ‘fancy-shaped domes’ to which Maria Gaia Augusta refers are the linked spicules, constructed from a small number of repetitive sections, which formed the basis of what was eventually to become Mars City or Areopolis. The monotony of this structure was relieved by conjoined tetrahedral structures, rather similar to those erected in the north of Siberia a few years previously.

From orbit, this sprawling structure, white-painted against the tawny Martian regolith, made a striking pattern.

4

Broken Deals, Broken Legs

Looking back, I see how silly I was in my early days – silly and shy. I worked in the biogas chamber unit, and practically took refuge there. Everyone else seemed so clever. Kathi was clever. Why did she seek out my company?

Her interest at this time was in politics, about which she talked endlessly. Placements within the YEA and DOP brackets were systematically arranged through the Mars Department, under Secretary Thomas Gunther. Kathi had a particular dislike of Gunther, saying he was radically corrupt.

Whether that was true or not – many people praised Gunther – there was always bad feeling over the placements. Who was accepted or not as a YEA was open to local manipulation. I thought the system worked pretty well, enabling as many people as possible to visit the Red Planet. The United States insisted that matrix travel (the term ‘space travel’ had become old-fashioned) was a democratic right.

Kathi’s main complaint concerned the whole business of selection as a YEA. To qualify within the 16-28 years age bracket we had to undergo a rigorous Genetic and Superficial Health Test as well as a GIQ Exam. The General Intelligence was supposedly free from cultural and sexual bias and intended to establish the emotional stability of the examinee. Kathi was one-eighth Aborigine, and swore this was held against her at the Sydney board.

‘I came up against a filthy little man who gave me the final interview. Do you know what he said? Only my granting him sexual favours would get me through! Can you imagine?’

I hardly dared ask what she had done.

She tossed her hair back. ‘What the hell do you think? I wasn’t going to let him stop me. I let him screw me. Next day my boyfriend broke both his stinking legs in his back yard…’

By far the greatest percentage of YEAs had no means by which to cover the exorbitant costs of interplanetary travel. Nor was financial payment allowed – although Kathi said this too could be arranged if you were one of the Megarich. Funding poured through the UN Matrix Tax to EUPACUS. Gunther was pocketing a ‘whole river’ of this money, according to Kathi. I had seen pix of Gunther and thought he looked nice.

Having passed their exams, the young educated adults were allocated to stations in which to spend a year of community service. Some got lucky, some lived like slaves, as I did. Some laboured on newly established fish farms in Scapa Flow, or the anchovy nurseries off the west coast of South America. Some served in the great new bird ranges of the taiga, or in satellite manufactories, 2,000 miles above Earth. Some were sent to Luna to work on the underground systems as technicians. Kathi was lucky and went to Darwin and the Water Resources.

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