Classical: MARS: Book 3 of MARS by Matthew Ellis

Author:Matthew Ellis [Ellis, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Watermelon Mountain
Published: 2016-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Alliance

Wendy and John sat at a table. Bob, Cindy, and Lin joined them. Wendy opened a channel to the other colonists so they could monitor the negotiations.

Wendy asked, “Can everyone in Mars Colony hear the conference?”

Kevin answered, “We hear you loud and clear.”

Wendy said, “Then we can get started.”

Bob said, “We’re here to negotiate a treaty between the original Mars colony and the Republic of Mars. “

Wendy said, “We know that. Can we dispense with the formalities and just get on with it?”

Bob replied, “We’re recording this, so I’d like to have an official record of what we say.”

John asked, “Isn’t this just a preliminary negotiation?”

Bob answered, “Yes, the full government must approve the final version of the treaty.”

Wendy asked, “So where is the rest of the government?”

Cindy answered, “They’re dealing with two other situations. The fugitive search is about to begin, and there’s a major engineering project going on in orbit around the planet.”

John asked, “Why is the government dealing with the engineering project?”

Lin replied, “Because our leaders are more ‘hands on’ type leaders.”

John said, “We know how that goes, but we’re that way out of necessity. There are very few of us.”

Lin said, “We’ve come here in waves. There’s a few thousand of us now, but in the beginning, it was 22 terraformers.”

Wendy asked, “So when can we expect a full negotiation with Scout and the rest of the government?”

Bob replied, “As soon as they get back from space.”

Cindy asked, “Can we begin?”

Wendy said, “Please.”

Bob opened a legal tablet and started writing. He wrote the date, everyone’s name and started two columns.

Cindy said, “I haven’t seen anyone use paper since we ran out twenty years ago. Everything’s been electronic, and those soldiers did everything that way, too.”

Bob said, “We only use paper for official documents. It’s a precious resource.”

Cindy said, “I’d like to start by asking for your territorial boundaries.”

Wendy said, “I don’t have traditional coordinates. We never needed them because we never went far from our colony.”

Lin projected a holographic map of their colony.

John was shocked and said, “You’ve been spying on us!”

Lin said, “No, we spied on the soldiers. We didn’t know you were there until we went looking for the fugitives.”

Wendy said, “They’re not fugitives. They’re refugees running from DeNoPE.”

Lin said, “Sorry about that. Anyway, before that, we didn’t realize we weren’t alone on this planet.”

Wendy said, “We didn’t want you to know. We liked being alone, but that is apparently changing among the rest of the colony.”

Lin pointed to the hologram’s information bar.

Lin said, “So it looks like your colony is at these coordinates, and extends two kilometers in every direction.”

Kevin said, “Don’t let them forget about our food production area.”

Wendy said, “You trusted us to be your leaders, so let us conduct these negotiations.”

Kevin said, “Okay, but we’re all listening to you. If you hurt us, you’re going to be in trouble with the colony.”

Wendy said, “I’m looking out for our interests.”

Lin asked, “May we continue?’

John answered, “Please.”

Lin said, “Your food production area isn’t on this hologram, but the team that followed you made a note of its location.

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