‘It isn’t just scavenging,’ said Mario. ‘Next they’ll be cuttmg down on everything else. We’ve got to stop them now.’
‘But we don’t need their water, anyway,’ said Dora. ‘We’re not the Moon or Venus. We pipe enough water down from the polar caps for ll we need. We have a water tap right in this apartment. There’s one m every apartment on this block.’
Long said, ‘Home use is the smallest part of it. The mmes use water. And what do we do about the hydroponic tanks?’
‘That’s right,’ said Swenson. ‘What about the hydroponic tanks, Dora? They’ve got to have water and it’s about time we arranged to grow our own fresh food instead of having to live on the condensed crud they ship us from Earth.’
‘Listen to him,’ said Dora scornfully. ‘What do you know about fresh food? You’ve never eaten any.’
‘I’ve eaten more than you think. Do you remember those carrots I picked up once?’
‘Well, what was so wonderful about them? If you ask me, good baked protomeal is much better. And healthier, too. It just seems to be the fashion now to be talking fresh vegetables because they’re increasing taxes for these hydroponics. Besides, all this will blow over.’
Long said, ‘I don’t think so. Not by itself, anyway. Hilder will probably be the next Co-ordinator, and then things may really get bad. If they cut down on food shipments, too—’
‘Well, then,’ shouted Rioz, ‘what do we do? I still say take it! Take the water!’
‘And I say we can’t do that, Mario. Don’t you see that what you’re suggesting is the Earth way, the Grounder way? You’re trying to hold on to the umbilical cord that ties Mars to Earth. Can’t you get away from that? Can’t you see the Martian way?’
‘No, I can’t. Suppose you tell me.’
‘I will, if you’ll listen. When we think about the Solar System, what do we think about? Mercury, Venus, Earth, Moon, Mars, Phobos, and Deimos. There you are-seven bodies, that’s all. But that doesn’t represent 1 per cent of the Solar System. We Martians are right at the edge of the other 99 per cent. Out there, farther from the Sun, there’s unbelievable amounts of water!’
The others stared.
Swenson said uncertainly, ‘You mean the layers of ice on Jupiter and Saturn?’
‘Not that specifically, but it is water, you’ll admit. A thousand-mile-thick layer of water is a lot of water.’
‘But it’s all covered up with layers of ammonia or-or something, isn’t it?’ asked Swenson. ‘Besides, we can’t land on the major planets.’
‘I know that,’ said Long, ‘but I haven’t said that was the answer. The major planets aren’t the only objects out there. What about the asteroids and the satellites? Vesta is a two-hundred-mile-diameter asteroid that’s hardly more than a chunk of ice. One of the moons of Saturn is mostly ice. How about that?’
Rioz said, ‘Haven’t you ever been in space, Ted?’
‘You know I have. Why do you ask?’
‘Sure, I know you have, but you still talk like a Grounder. Have you thought of the distances involved? The average asteroid is a hundred twenty million miles from Mars at the closest. That’s twice the Venus-Mars hop and you know that hardly any liners do even that in one jump. They usually stop off at Earth or the Moon. After all, how long do you expect anyone to stay in space, man?’
‘I don’t know. What’s your limit?’
‘You know the limit. You don’t have to ask me. It’s six months. That’s handbook data. After six months, if you’re still in space, you’re psycho-therapy meat. Right, Dick?’
Swenson nodded.
‘And that’s just the asteroids,’ Rioz went on. ‘From Mars to Jupiter is three hundred thirty million miles, and to Saturn it’s seven hundred million. How can anyone handle that kind of distance? Suppose you hit standard velocity or, to make it even, say you get up to a good two hundred kilomiles an hour. It would take you – let’s see, allowing time for acceleration and deceleration – about six or seven months to get to Jupiter and nearly a year to get to Saturn. Of course, you could hike the speed to a million miles an hour, theoretically, but where would you get the water to do that?’
‘Gee,’ said a small voice attached to a smutty nose and round eyes. ‘Saturn!’
Dora whirled in her chair. ‘Peter, march right back into your room!’
‘Aw, Ma.’
‘Don’t ‘Aw, Ma’ me.’ She began to get out of the chair, and Peter scuttled away.
Swenson said, ‘Say, Dora, why don’t you keep him company for a while? It’s hard to keep his mind on homework if we’re all out here talking.’
Dora smiled obstinately and stayed put. ‘I’ll sit right here until I find out what Ted Long is thinking of. I tell you right now I don’t like the sound of it.’
Swenson said nervously, ‘Well, never mind Jupiter and Saturn. I’m sure Ted isn’t figuring on that. But what about Vesta? We could make it in ten or twelve weeks there and the same back. And two hundred miles in diameter. That’s four million cubic miles of ice!’
‘So what?’ said Rioz. ‘What do we do on Vesta? Quarry the ice? Set up mining machinery? Say, do you know how long that would take?’
Long said, ‘I’m talking about Saturn, not Vesta.’
Rioz addressed an unseen audience. ‘I tell him seven hundred million miles and he keeps on talking.’
‘All right,’ said Long, ‘suppose you tell me how you know we can only stay in space six months, Mario?’
‘It’s common knowledge, damn it.’
‘Because it’s in the Handbook of Space Flight. It’s data compiled by Earth scientists from experience with Earth pilots and spacemen. You’re still thinking Grounder style. You won’t think the Martian way.’
‘A Martian may be a Martian, but he’s still a man.’
‘But how can you be so blind? How many times have you fellows been out for over six months without a break?’
Rioz said, ‘That’s different.’
