Free First Steps (Founding of the Federation) by Chris Hechtl Page A

he looked skyward.
    "Drop
test. One quarter scale. We're testing the MAV sink rate, stall,
chute deployment, landing gear, and retro thrusters," he
responded. "Tomorrow we are doing the Hab, two days later the
SSTO." The first test flights with the rocket had gone over
well, without a hitch. They were still digesting the sensory data
now.
    Mario
nodded. "Got it all planned out right?"
    Luigi
nodded. "There's the C-5 now." He pointed. "Wish I had
my binoculars," he grumbled. He'd forgotten them in the car in
his excitement. A pair was thrust in front of his face. He reared
back and then took them. "Ah thanks," he replied.
    "No
problem." He turned to see Betsy, the New Zealand geologist.
"Betsy right?" Luigi asked.
    "You
should know by now," she teased. He sighed.
    "The
Mario brothers are known for their engineering skills, not their
ability to remember names or their social skills," Wanda teased
hugging her husband. They'd gotten married in a small ceremony and
this was their honeymoon. Mario had teased her about having a real
honeymoon on Mars.
    "Unless
it is game related of course," Mario responded, watching the
aircraft.
    "There
she goes!" Luigi pointed. They all looked as the MAV fell.
"Damn, like a rock." Luigi watched through the binoculars.
"There is the drag chute... and the mains... Okay she's
slowing..."
    They
watched as the craft swung back and forth like a pendulum and then
suddenly the chute fluttered off and it sank like a stone. "Damn!
It’s going to smear itself all over the desert!" Mario
groaned.
    "Nope.
It was supposed to do that," Luigi replied, not taking his eyes
off the craft. He was surprised though that his brother didn't know
about this part. "Three... two... one... There's the retro's."
The retros fired, making a few blink away.
    "Brighter
than I thought. I'm glad you brought doctors McKay, Newman, and
Hudson on board," Zubrin replied from behind them. Mario turned
and nodded to him then returned to watching the craft. Gently the
craft slowed to a stop in the air, then drifted to one side, tipped,
then straightened and drifted back.
    "Well,
maneuvering works," Mario chuckled.
    The
craft began to fall faster. "Looks like it is running low on
fuel though," Luigi cautioned. He should have known, the ham
handed twits in the control room had pushed it too hard grandstanding
and now it was coming down. The press was going to have a field day.
    "Yup."
The craft's flares died out a few meters above the ground. It fell
like a stone. Mario winced as the landing gear pistoned until the
thrusters were crushed. "Please don't spring... Please don't..."
The craft came back up and bounced teetered then fell to the ground.
    "Damn!"
Luigi dropped the glasses from his face and slapped his thigh with
his cap. He was going to ream some ass he vowed.
    "Crap!"
Mario echoed.
    "I
think that was more the fault of the crew then the craft,"
Zubrin observed. "They left it for too long and misjudged her,"
he sighed. "Going to catch some flack though," he said
shaking his head.
    "Not
to mention we just lost a prototype and all its recording hardware,"
Luigi sighed. "Going back to Congress with our cap in our hand
is going to suck." He shook his head clearly frustrated.
    Zubrin
patted his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. It was a success
anyway."
    ...*...*...*...*...
    Mario
scowled at the selection of tiles. "Why tile? And white?"
He shook his head.
    The
psychologist stared at him. "We determined white is the optimal
color for the floor based on exhaustive case studies. The tile is for
easy cleaning."
    Mario
grimaced. "You've obviously never cleaned tile then."
    Betsy
Lawless grimaced. Mario looked over to her. She shrugged. "We
had tile in my home. It was a pain to clean; the grout sucks up dirt
and traps it," she explained.
    "Yeah,
I know." He shrugged and looked over the trio of psychologists.
    "Tile
is out. We're going to be in a dirty, grimy place folks, constantly
tracking dirt in."
    One
of the psychologists started to