Chapter 16 - The Best Laid Plans
John was still settling into his new role at New Worlds Exploration. He had a good team. They knew their stuff and they got along, which was a godsend. He had briefings from all of them except Trevor. His was one of the hardest sub projects for the habitation on Mars. Trevor's speciality was also computational biology. "Ok Trevor what've you got for me"
"Astronaut faeces is the LUCA, the Last Universal Common Ancestor for the E. coli strains on Mars, because it's so easy to produce.." he lowered his voice "... especially after Simon has downed a few burgers too many." referring to their gluttonous colleague. His voice returned to normal. "So we take this E. coli and we modify it to perform the particular task at hand. The latest success story is EC485A. This measures the atmosphere in the enclosure. If their is too much carbon dioxide it starts fixing this to produce chitin fibres which is used for light construction or if there's too much oxygen is starts munching its way through the chitin to burn up the oxygen."
"OK, lets back up here a second. You've got this LUCA E. coli, how are you going to get that transformed into the strain you want?"
"We have a base virus, which can be breed in the base E. coli. By itself all that you get is more viruses, so we don't run out of them either. Now you can take one individual virus and mutate it in a predetermined fashion with a computer controlled ultraviolet laser. When this modified virus infects the E. coli it mutates the E. coli to have the properties that we have designed. A mutation to cause a mutation. We can take all the strains we think we are going to need with us and multiply each strain to whatever quantities we desire when we get to Mars or where ever. However from time to time we are going to have to create completely new strains or by reason of accident recreate existing strains of viruses from scratch. Once I've got the refinements in the computer controlled ultraviolet laser done it will be a lot smaller and the mission can take it with them. It takes very little energy to mutate a single virus."
"So what kind of expertise is needed with the mission to operate this machine? I mean some of these missions are going to start off small. We can't have an expert for every facet of technology.", queried John.
"That's the good bit. The mutations can be pre programmed into the machine and the user selects which program to run to replace a lost virus. Even better additional programs can be uploaded via comms from Earth or another colony and once uploaded the new program can be run just as easily and voila - you have your new strain of E coli. The machine even has its own web server so I can control all aspects of it through my Android. So getting back to EC485A, it can be behind clear plastic panelling forming part of the decor and if the internal atmosphere drifts out of predetermined parameters, due to the bacteria being unable to maintain it, then the bacteria will change colour. So instead of having electronic sensors the bacteria itself is a colour coded sensor to the crew."
John was deeply impressed by this man. Just then Lü Zhi walked into the room and asked John for a word in private. The both went to Lü's office and closed the door. This was the most secure room in the building, possibly more so than the Situation Room of the Whitehouse. There was only one way anything could leave this room and that was through Lü Zhi personally. "How are you finding this", she asked simply.
John took a deep breath. "You have come further than many would have imagined possible and it is with such progress that one is able to perceive the true enormity of the task before us. However I don't think the domes on the surface of Mars are a good idea. They are too vulnerable on the surface and it is more difficult to protect the colonists from radiation. Also the mind boggles at the threat of colonial terrorism. Blow a hole in the dome and you have a disaster. A bomb proof dome would take far too much energy to produce."
"Your points are valid, but do you have an alternative."
"We can construct our own underground caverns. As you know Mars has lots of salty water. By passing an electric current it is possible to precipitate calcium carbonate, or limestone, from the salty water to construct underground caves. Biorock International is already ahead of us in this area, they specialise in reconstructing coral reefs. If we could get them on board?"
"I can guarantee you access to their knowledge when you consider it necessary, through undisclosed methods if need be. How are you going to determine the shape of the caverns?"
"I was thinking something along the lines of swarms of nanobots with the shape of the cavern programmed into them. The problems are of course the size of the nanobots and the porosity of the regolith for the nanobots to crawl in between and what density of them are needed for a timely precipitation."
"Regolith?"
"The dust, sand, earth, rocks - the dirt of Mars"
"Research shall continue with the domes until you can prove the viability of caverns. I want your methods to produce a functioning cavern 5 metres under the surface of the Atacama desert before research on the domes stops. Sure your criticism of them is sound but you need an alternative that is sound as well." Her voice became more cold and harsh than usual, it sent a chill down his spine. "Tell me what do you know of EC666HC", she asked.
He felt of quick wave of panic shoot through him, but he forced himself to stay calm. "I'm sorry. This is completely new to me."
"Good, that is the answer I wanted to hear. Only Trevor, yourself and I know about it and Trevor was told to keep it from you. If you had of known about it would have been instant dismissal to Trevor. Any study of world history will show that people in different places of the world lived in different environments with different opportunities and threats. This in turn caused them to develop different systems of morality and values, at times incompatible with each other resulting in war.
The colonists, whether on Mars, Europa or anywhere else, will be living in extremely different and bizarre environments to what you and I are accustomed to. So far this is very easy to intellectualise and forget about. Bigger differences in environment means we and them are at logger heads more often, an unpleasant but easy conclusion and you file it away and think you'll cross that bridge when you get there.
Allow me to give you a practical concrete example. Cadaver disposal. In the West you guys have these fancy funerals followed by either energy guzzling cremation or a space wasting burial. Both methods disrespect the value of nutrients. In Tibet they have what is known as sky burials. The cadaver is left on the mountain side and the flesh is eaten by scavenging birds. This is perceived as a final act of generosity by the deceased since his dead body is providing sustenance to living beings. Has Evelyn shared her thoughts with you on chickens in space?"
The phrase 'chickens in space' sounded like something from a B grade comedy movie, but he could tell from the expression on her face that she was being perfectly serious. "Evelyn's work, by itself, does not justify the cost of transporting these creatures but there are other far more important reasons for their presence which we can discuss later. However since the chickens will be there already they are to be used in cadaver disposal. First the body is put on a conveyor belt leading from the funeral ceremony to the laceration machine. This makes it easy for the Australorp chickens to eat. These are both good meat and egg producers. In large colonies people will be dying from a number of causes on a steady and predicable basis, just like they do on Earth. The number of chickens required can be matched to the human population so that the flesh can be eaten before it starts to rot."
Johns mind was reeling from this, but he forced himself to think. "Ok, so the chickens get the nutrients from the flesh what about the chicken manure and the bones. Will hyena's be used to crush them?"
Lü Zhi held her hands in front of her parallel to each other. "Think of each hand as a thin sheet of fungi grown chitin being used in the construction of a wall. The bones, both human and chicken, along with the hair and feathers will be used as packing for the inside of the walls. On top of this is poured sand and a nutrient solution for calcium carbonate precipitating bacteria to solidify. The result is a wall far stronger than Gyprock with an extremely low energy cost. To give you a precedent the Great Wall of China used cadavers as part of its packing."
"Have you factored in the loss of bone density since Mars' gravity is only 38% of Earths?"
"Of course"
"And the chicken manure what about that?"
"There has been discovered, in all kinds of environments on Earth, bacteria which can use electricity directly as an energy source. Since Mars' atmosphere is mainly carbon dioxide the bacteria can fix this out of the air to produce polysaccharides. These carbon rich bacteria will consume the manure for the mineral content. Earthworms consume the bacteria and the chickens consume the earthworms and everything gets recycled. Excess bacteria can be used in vermiponics to grow plants. Not only will the bacteria be consuming the chicken manure but also the human sewage. The energy to produce the electricity will come from thorium nuclear reactors. This will also supply energy for the lighting for the plants."
"Have you tested the earthworms on these electricity powered microbes?"
"There have been problems, of which solutions have been found, but chickens have evolved to configure the surrounding decomposing bacteria to be just right for plant growth. This is good news for the chickens since in the long term they are dependant on vegetation to rot down. Its also good news for the earthworms and the vegetables we are going to grow. This brings us to the real reason why we will be taking the chickens with us. In the distant future when we colonise an earth like planet populated with its own creatures we may well choose to reconfigure its ecosystems to be more compatible with Earths to a degree of our choosing. Chickens can do this from the ground up, by re-configuring the bacteria to be friendly to Earths organisms. All ecosystems flow from their bacteria."
"By then we will have all our problems of colonising barren planets figured out down pat. What would be the point?"
"Power. As their ecosystems move away from supporting them towards supporting us we create amongst them scarcity. Once these stupid innocent birds have established themselves our food producing plants will out compete their food producing plants. Our animals that in turn feed from them will out compete their animals. Once we have scarcity exploitation is possible. Once we have exploitation the campaign can begin to turn a profit. Thousands of years ago Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War. In it he says supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."
"I have heard", said John, "that the European earthworms are invading the North American forests and advancing at the rate of 5 metres per year. During the last ice age all native worms were killed by the ice and the forest adapted without them. So there are plenty of ecologically important species which rely on slowly decaying leaf litter. The earthworms move in and speed up the decomposition of the leaf litter and so the native critters are deprived of that leaf energy and so they die out. The forest is beginning to suffer and indigenous species are on the decline. However the diversity of European species is being increased due to the activities of the earthworm."
"This is well known", Lü Zhi continued. "The earthworms, of course, have never made a conscious decision to do this, its also true that if you put the earthworm in the octogen facing many of the creatures it is threatening the worm wouldn't stand a chance. The worm is winning because it is changing the bacteria and everything in the ecosystem is dependent on the bacteria."
"But what if the Aliens we are trying to conquer manage to figure this shit out. I mean look at it from their perspective, we are aliens who have figured this out!"
"Once again we look to Europe for guidance. We are a hierarchical species because of our ability to learn stupidity." She caught a glimmer of confusion in John's eye. "It goes by the more common name of political correctness. Anyone who opposes us will be called a racist."
Hoskins faced his class for history. "Ancient history is, unfortunately, a lot of speculation based on very little evidence. There are several problems with any kind of history. They are:
- History is written by victors
- Censorship
- Personal bias of the historian
- Rumours rather than facts are written down
- No one really knows at the time and fills in the gaps with their imagination
"They think that 80% of food came from women collecting roots and berries rather than men hunting."
"That possibly explains day to day living in the stone age but it doesn't explain the jump to civilization.", Jenkins answered.
Stevens responded. "It was agriculture. People learned to grow wheat and grains which freed up the population to do other things like building."
"The beginning of agriculture caused a 5cm drop in the height of adults and annual crops are more variable and lower in their yield than food forests. It was not advantages to those practicing it. In fact many ancient monuments like Göbekli Tepe pre date agriculture by a thousand years."
"Keep going Jenkins."
"For optimum neurological development the human brain needs certain minerals at certain stages of development or intelligence is permanently damaged. Since the jump to society would have required a whole range of new problems to be solved then the population undergoing this process must have had plenty of minerals at the time. Iron and iodine are two important ones. There are quite a few countries in the third world that are lacking minerals, which is why they are third world.
While its easy for us to buy iron pills and iodised salt, this would have been harder in the stone age. If you're close to the sea then you're OK because there are plenty of minerals there in the fish, including shellfish. At this time most women would have been pregnant for most of the time and wouldn't have been nimble on their feet when it comes to avoiding unexpected waves on slippery rocks. So getting the seafood would likely have been men."
Daniel continued, "Away from the ocean things get more interesting. Elephants are highly intelligent and they use their tusks to scrap salts from rocks. However we are not as strong. However essential minerals bioaccumulate up the food chain. So if you have grazing animals which spend their lives collecting minerals and you subsequently hunt those animals you can access their minerals. If you are hunting migratory animals then they are collecting minerals over a very large area. You bring the kill back to the women and children. Everyone pees and drops turds which fertilize the berries - and yes boys and girls the roots as well. So the minerals stay within the tribe and the members reach full physical and mental potential."
Imogen picked up the thread, "So there would have been disputes over prime land since migrating animals follow the same path predictably and makes such tasty food. Since those getting the meat would have been the strongest and smartest they would have, after several territorial disputes, sought a long term solution against the incursions. The logical step would have to enslave the surrounding population, burden them with the work that comes with maintaining annual crops while the crops themselves keep them stunted and stupid. Also the chopping down of trees and replacing them with annual crops means you can keep an eye on the serfs."
"So", asked Hopkins, "you have this controlling tribe as the elites subduing those around them. Building the occasional monument and sitting pretty. It's still not civilisation yet. What drove the technology?"
"Mainly social signalling", Imogen answered, "vain powerful women like delicate detailed clothing and jewelry. Their powerful men would have the authority to dedicate large resources and man power to develop the technology to make this possible. Once each new trend becomes common the women begin to apply pressure to rachet up the technology. That's it Sir. Hunting men and vain women built this world. The slaves were cast out of the food forests, aka the Garden of Eden, to work by the sweat of their brow. The ruling tribe would then have become priests to the other tribes, load them up with guilt, tell them its all part of God's plan and bingo there's your civilisation."
"This is good speculation class, the best I've heard. Your homework this week is to research any article that support or refute this hypothesis, alternatively you can come up with your own hypothesis, providing it's just as plausible. Dismissed."