The Sounds of Stories presents Mars the mission to acquire residents inside this solar system.
Episode one, Landing home, gentlemen, is everyone present with suits and
helmets on? Aye, let's do roll call? Major Paul Howard, Yes,
Commander, Sergeant John Miller, Ah, Commander Astronaut Peter Lawson A.
Commander Astronaut David McCann, yes, commander. All right, man, we'll
be landing on Mars in roughly thirty minutes. Will be the first five people
to step foot on this planet in order to pave the way for interplanetary civilization.
It's up to us. Gentlemen, take a moment. Imagine with me,
if you will, decades from now, all civilization on Mars will see
our five faces carved into the edge of the Cassini c It'll be Mars's rendition
of Mount Rushmore. Oh yeah, I could see you with you, Commander.
How would they carve something so big as Pete's nose? Oh? You're
just jealous of this thing. The ladies love it all right, man,
let's focus. Let's see here. First things first, let's go over the
landing itinerary. The first stage is to move all the machinery out from this
spaceship and place everything around Station Alpha. Major Howard, Hi, Commander,
pilot the excavator to the north side of Alpha. Once you've completed that,
open the northeast hatch of Alpha and decompress the main station. But remember,
man, Alpha was built and tested only robotically. Let's keep on high alert
until we know for sure everything was done correctly, Sergeant Miller. Yes,
Commander, load the convoy truck and open the south hatch of Alpha and start
setting up the conveyor belt near the tunnel entrance of Alpha. Yes, Commander,
you're referring to the tunnel entrance that it's towards station Bravo. Correct,
that's correct, Sergeant Pete David. Yes, Commander, start pulling provisions from
the ship and getting them into Station Alpha. Use the west entrance. Nice,
Commander. Remember gentlemen, do not, and I repeat this for the
last time, do not remove any of your gear until all twelve green lights
are received from the station sensors. Yes, Commander, it sure is nice
to be out of those space suits. Yes it is, Hey, Serge,
how long is this tunnel going to be well private? The tunnel leads
from the third level of the bunker under Station Alpha to the second level of
the bunker under Station Bravo. So I think the tunnel is just over half
a mile, man, that's going to take a while to excavate. It
should take the machines roughly sixty hours to excavate. Commander, I didn't hear
you approaching Pattie's private You don't have to salute me every time you see me,
sorry, sir. Just a bad habit, or maybe it's a good
habit. Yeah, we'll call it a good habit. Anyways, it should
take roughly sixty hours for this tunnel, and just about two hundred hours for
the tunnel that connects Station Alpha to Station Charlie. Two hundred hours. Let's
see here, that's just a it's a little over seven days, well eight
dons to be precise. Oh that's right, my mistake. I forgot.
We use the word down instead of day. They're pretty much the same thing,
only about a forty minute difference. Really. Some agencies call these days
souls, some call them dens. We refer to them as dons. Anyways,
Sergeant Miller, how are the machines holding up so far? So good?
Commander, I haven't seen any system malfunction reports coming up through our analytical
scanners. We should be in the clear all the way through the main tunnel.
Commander, why is the tunnel connected to the third level on Alpha and
the second level on Bravo. Why not just have the tunnel connected to the
second level on each well private loss and imagine the three stations from a bird's
point of view. You would have our small area of three stations about one
hundred miles west of the Cassini Crater. Now, for comparison's sake, let's
say that Station Alpha is the capital of Mars. That's our biggest and deepest
station. It has a three level bunker. Now, Bravo, the station
half a mile north of Alpha would be a main city with a two level
bunker, and Charlie, the station two miles west of Alpha would be like
a small town with just a one level bunker. Now, why are we
digging into Mars rather than building on top of it. Well, bunkers are
exponentially safer if something were to happen to the surface. It's more guarded and
secured to be in a bunker than a building. Oh, you must be
referring to the windstones. Oh yes, and no, because Mars's atmosphere is
thinner, the wind isn't as violent as it is on Earth. I was
referring to far more dangerous things like exposure to radiation, severely cold weather,
low pressure. Shall I go on? Oh no, cir Commander, I
guess my knot. Mariares are already gonna be bad from that list. Now,
Pete, to get back to your question of why the tunnels are at
different levels, we wanted all tunnels to be pointed downward as they approach Station
Alpha. In the event of an emergency, I'll rescue attempts from station's Bravo
and Charlie would only have to descend to Station Alpha and not us send.
It would just make it that much easier to get to Alpha. Oh okay,
I guess that makes sense. Next time, Pete, we'll have the
head guys over there spell it all out for you from the beginning, and
that way you won't have to worry about a thing. Oh, Sergeant,
you watched that tunnel women. Now, Sergeant, what's going on? I'm
not sure, Commander. It looks like one of the pressure sensors on the
surface is malfunctioning. We better go have a look at it. No,
you gentlemen, stay down here. I'll get Private mcann on it. I
can do you copy? Go from a can? I need you to drop
what you're doing right now and go check one of the surface sensors. There
may have been a small dust storm or something outside that's malfunctioning one of these
machines. Hi, sir, just be careful. Private, hye sir,
All right, Commander, I'm outside the station. I should be approaching the
sensor here in a few moments. How's visibility, Private? Was there a
dust storm? Negative? Sir? Oh, there it is there. I
see your problem. One of the tripod legs is stuck in the ground.
Will you repeat that, Private? What do you mean stuck in the ground?
You can't get it to budget. I think all that really must have
caused some surface fractures. Let me try to remove that, right thoughts damn
coming worrying? Two? Three and all, my Private McCann. Do you
copy what happened? Commander. I'll head out there right now. Private McCann,
do you copy? David McCann. Do you read at may time?
Commander? It takes two minutes just to put that suit on. Pete better
hurry sergeant quickly shut everything down. I'm gonna go run and grab a gurney
and let's wait by the east side hatch. We need to be ready for
those guys when they get in. Warring by a little bit at a time.
Let it, Commander, Do you copy? Yes? Private, I
copy? What's your eta? My suit is pressurizing. It should be ready
in about thirty seconds. Well done, Private, that was a lot faster
than we expected. The sergeant and I'll be waiting by the east side door
hatch. Get there quickly, Warring estimated time. All right, Commander,
I'm outside. All right? Where are you? David? Come home?
Now? Where are you? Commander? I can't get eyes on him.
I have no idea where he is. Look for that censor he was attempting
to repair. Where are you, David, Private, you need to find
him. He's running out of time, worrying less estimating time, war Commander,
I got eyes on him. Keep bailing one of those surface fractures somehow.
I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but I gotta lift him
out of there. You've gotta hurry, Private, he doesn't have much time
left. Commander. It's Major Howard. I'm in Med Bay right now,
prepping for when you guys bring back Private McCann. I'm reading the bidles in
his suit. They're spiking. He'll be dead in the next thirty sevens if
you don't get him in the station. Come on, how were you this
heavy on Mars focus? Private? Get him to the east side. Hatch
door right now, warring, warring, warring, je zero, warring,
warming or I'm here, get the door open. Come on, guys,
let's get hm. Let him up on the gurney. Sergeant, remove his
helmet. Sergeant, is he gonna be out right? There's blood on his
mouth. Tell me he's gonna make it. I don't know, Private,
It just depends on how long he was breathing that air. All right,
gentlemen, this way to Med Bay. Commander Phillips, come in. What
is it? Major Howard? I was trying to communicate with the station back
home to let them know about McCann. But for the moment, Commander,
I'm not reading any signal coming from Earth. What do you mean one of
our relays was most likely damaged during Private McCann's mishap. See what you can
do about. Let us know if there's any repairs that are needed. The
four of us are coming to you right now. Corporal, You've got to
take a look at this. What am I looking at, Inspector? Is
that an asteroid? Yes, sir, it is. Why are we looking
at this? It doesn't appear to be that big. Well, by the
time it hits the surface, it'll be the size of a large pickup truck.
What do you mean hits the surface. I don't know how we missed
it, sir. But this asteroid will impact Mars in two days. Will
it impact anywhere near Station Alpha? Just under one hundred miles due east.
Notify the men on Mars immediately and tell them to be in the level three
bunker in Alpha. Can't get a hold of them, sir. Our connection
was disabled right after McCann's spacesuit was damaged. Notify the communication team and tell
them to get down here. See if there's anything we can do on our
end. May God help them. You have been listening to the Sounds of
Stories Original Mars, The Mission to Acquire Residents Inside This Solar System Episode one,
Landing Home Mars is written, narrated, edited, and produced by Bobby
Garrison and the Sounds of Stories music written by Dragon Tamer and Christopher Mo Diddlesman.
Join us every Monday and Thursday for a new episode.