I Am a Missionary to Mars: Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Shadowing
Dear Journal,
Something interesting happened this morning. When I glanced in the mirror I saw something . The mirror here is more clear than the one in our old 2003 home on earth. It could be the lighting. Anyway, there was my pale, freckled, longish face with large hazel eyes, dark brown bangs, and a mouth that, like my mom’s, sometimes has a “Mona Lisa” smile. But there was something else-on my cheek. There, as plain as could be, was a cross imprinted on my skin with pink lines. It must have come from my sheet or cushion while I was sleeping. Of course it faded later in the morning. If I check the cabin safety surveillance logs I can see it again and show it to my parents.
It caused me to think about Jesus. Jesus wasn’t angry at the people who put him on the cross. He knew they were oblivious, completely unaware of their sin. Jesus petitioned our Heavenly Father for their forgiveness. How much more should I intercede for Dr. Duke, Julius , Amber… sigh.
Let’s get to the fascinating part of the day. I will explain some background info first (for Grandpa because I know you will read this sometime).
There are currently only ten settlements here and they’re called “Sets” for short. They have names from the letters of the Greek alphabet. We mostly stay on Set Gamma but Dad travels around to other sets for day trips. Often he’s at Set Theta because that’s where much of his work is.
Set Gamma is built like a wheel with enclosed concentric circles and a fairly large hub in the center. Mom works in the center where the Chief Science Officer, Lieutenant Shapiro (who is really nice and is the first pregnant woman on Mars), and some other people serve.
The outermost rim is for our water reclamation machinery.
Set Gamma is the largest Set and is also the oldest set that is functional.
Much of the inside is white, silvery, or gray, but there are also accents of vivid green, deep royal blue, and light yellow and orange. Our family’s living quarters includes a small fish tank in the wall. It’s tempting to get distracted and just stare endlessly at the shiny, peaceful fish instead of praying, reading the Bible, or doing something useful like exercising, so I try to ignore the tank.
Let’s see, what else?
As I mentioned, the food on the speedplane was delightful. The food on the hypersonic shutttle was slightly less so. The food here is much less so. Don’t think that I’m complaining though. I’m just being factual.
So, where were we?
First, I shadowed Dad and then I briefly shadowed Mom.
Dad showed me around a tiny, bright room in Set Gamma that has corn plants. At one point he counted all of the leaves on each plant. Later he examined roots through the transparent containers where they’re planted. He thought that the root architecture of one in particular was noteworthy. He examined silks. Using a magnifying glass he inspected one ear of corn. He counted how many ears are on each plant. All of this monitoring and recording data could be done by others he said, but he prefers to do it himself for quality control. Later he will interpret his data and draw conclusions. To be honest, I relished being with dad even if the activities were, well, corny!
OK, so next, after eating with dad in our quarters, Mom came and took me to The Center. We had to enter a password and pass through biometric surveillance first. Mom had to enter me into the system so the machines would let me in. She put forth so much effort just so I could come in one time for half an hour. It felt special to be let in and to think that, now that I’m in the system, I could come again to visit her sometime if it’s allowed. That’s just wishful thinking I know.
You may be curious what it was like in The Center. It seemed much smaller than I would have guessed. The place was covered in buttons and dashboards and devices of all kinds. There were VR headsets too and a holoboard.
Mom sits in the center of the room in a white chair. She has a small personal holoboard where she does some of her work but she also has a physical monitoring panel with dials to change habitat settings.
She pointed to the far right,
“Look at that, Simon. That’s the temperature control for Set Gamma. I must overcompensate every day because of a misreading on the control panel.”
“Why is there a misreading?” It seemed like a logical question.
“See this hairline crack here? It’s affecting it enough to throw off the readings.” She sounded almost sad.
“Can they fix this panel?” I asked naively.
“Yes, they can, but they don’t. Someone is trying to make my job more difficult here, and this is one of the ways that it happens.”
“But why?”
“Because there is evil in this universe, Simon. But there is also God, on his throne, reigning on high. And his word commands us to overcome evil with good. It was hoped that someone’s sister would get this post this month, but I’ve received more training and have more qualifications. I didn’t realize what kind of work environment I was signing up for when I applied to accompany your father.”
“Can we fix it ourselves?”
“Oh, son. You don’t know how many times that same thought has crossed my mind. You see this little screwdriver I keep under here? I know exactly where the replacement panel is. It’s in that shelf near the bottom by the corner.”
Mom motioned to a wall of shelves. They were all behind a glass that had a lock on it.
“Nearly everything in this room can be replaced-including me.”
“No, Mom, there’s no replacement for you!” I protested.
She put her hand on the back of my head.
“I’m grateful for your love, sweet Simon. And I love you too. Please pray that Chief Science Officer Fuller will replace this panel before the crack grows and affects other habitat controls- like the oxygen.”
Mom pointed and showed me that the Oxygen monitor is adjacent to the Temperature monitor.
Somehow finding out that the circumstances are difficult for Mom too helps. I guess I was getting pretty self-absorbed thinking about my little classroom drama. Mom’s problems seem weightier. Dear Lord, please help the Temperature panel get fixed. Please don’t let Set Gamma have oxygen issues. In Jesus’s Name, Amen.