Mars or Bust by Nick Pasta
Grains, Moos, and Martian Blues | A Tale of Hope, Heartache, and the Pursuit of Green Pastures on the Red Frontier
Music Credit The Traveler by Focus Entertainment
Mars or Bust
By Nick Pasta
John spent this morning just like every other morning. He looked over at his wife, Stacy, still fast asleep and kissed her on the forehead. John lurched out of bed with a huff and a groan.
“Oooahhhgg” He muttered.
He buttoned up his red plaid shirt over his undershirt, and slipped into his overalls. On the wall hung a poster “Mars, or bust!” He gave it a look and chuckled.
“Heh. Yeah right” he said to himself. “Some new manifest destiny this is.”
He worked his way downstairs and fixed himself some breakfast. As he did he looked out the window. Billowing crop fields as far as the eye could see. The stark red landscape of the ground contrasted with the yellows of grain, and the bright blue of the sky.
The sky, of course, was not actually blue. John and his wife lived in a community bubble on the surface of mars. This town was affectionately called Hermes’ landing.
Terraforming mars was far to expensive for any one government to fund. It also would take far too long. So, the governments of the world did what they do best. Propagandize. They labelled Mars as the next manifest destiny, and sold it to the working class. Terraforming it one town bubble at a time. The government would subsidize some of it, but a large amount of debt was taken on by those who sought for land on the next great frontier. They went to mars with the hope that one day, enough people would move over, and enough crops might be planted that they would one day remove the bubbles entirely.
John pulled a box of cereal out of the cupboard, poured some into a bowl, and topped it off with oat milk. Bran. Bran was not Johns favorite, but it was the cheapest. Considering the sizeable debt John had taken on in order to afford this homestead it would have to do.
John finished his breakfast and got to doing his chores. First thing he always did was check on the livestock.
In the barn holding the livestock there were monitors of all the vital signs of each cow. Since mars did not have the ground coverage of grass necessary for grazing, the barn was also equipped with automatic feeders to make sure the cows receive a proper diet.
John liked to walk through the barn and say hi to all the cows anyway. Cows are social animals after all, and John thought the least he could do was stop by and see them every morning.
“Mornin’ Bella", he said. He gave her a pat on the snout. “Ronda, Trixie, Marnie,” each cow affectionately presented itself as he passed, and he patted each of them in turn.
“How are y’all doing this morning?” He said.
“Yeah I’m doing well, thanks for asking.” Trixie snorted. “Hey, Trixie don’t give me that attitude. You know I’m working hard to get you grazing space! Grass is expensive around here.” He walked over to her and gave her a pat again. “Soon enough y’all ladies will be able to see the sunshine, and have space to stretch your legs. Just wait a little longer.”
He exited the barn and made his way over to the vast fields of grain. Still a couple of weeks till harvest.
The smell of bacon creeped its way from the house. Stacy was up. That meant chores were over for now. John made his way back to the house
John opened the door, and walked to the kitchen. “Mornin’ darlin’.”
“Mornin, sweetie,” she replied. *Knock knock knock*. They both swerved their heads towards the door. “Hmm, I wonder who that might be at this hour,” John said.
He walked over to the door and opened it. On the other side stood a clean looking young man in a brown suit.
“Is this the house of John Weir?” said the man.
“Why yes it is, who are you and how can I help you?” John asked in response.
“My name is Dennis Crocker, I’m a representative from the bank. I wanted to talk to you personally about your pending loan for an acre of grass.”
“Couldn’t you have called? I spent a fortune gettin’ our house wired up to the internet!” John said.
“Afraid not, the higher ups thought it would be best If I came and explained it to you personally.”
“Explained it?! Explained what?” John said, realizing the slip in language of the young man.
“Err, My apologies. I didn’t mean to come off…” John cut the boy off mid sentence, “Oh spit it out will ya?”
The boy looked shocked. He took a second to collect himself. He took a big deep breath, and with a huff he spit it out.
“Your loan for the grass has been declined.”
“Wha…” it was Johns turn to be speechless.
The boy continued “With your current outstanding debt still unpaid the bank was unable to see how shipping grass in from Earth would increase the output of your farm. So your loan was declined.”
John grew angry. “Of course the grass won’t increase the output of my farm! It’s for the cows. They need space to graze it keeps them happy!”
Dennis continued “That may be, but getting grass here is very expensive. Maintaining grass here is even more expensive. Like it or not your loan was declined.”
John’s rebuttal was fast “I bet you didn’t even bat an eye at the cost of shipping grass in to be ‘maintained’,” John imitated Dennis, “By the wealthy folks and their big techy townhouses!”
Dennis responded “That is none of my, or your concern at the moment. Have a good day.”
“Piss off.” John said dismissively as he slammed the door shut. He would figure out a way to get that grass. Somehow.
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