Jonathan Strahan - Life on Mars: Tales from the New Frontier

Table of Contents

ANTHOLOGIES BY JONATHAN STRAHAN

Best Short Novels (2004 through 2007)
Fantasy: The Very Best of 2005
Science Fiction: The Very Best of 2005
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volumes 1 4
Eclipse One: New Science Fiction and Fantasy
Eclipse Two: New Science Fiction and Fantasy
Eclipse Three: New Science Fiction and Fantasy
The Starry Rift: Tales of New Tomorrows
Godlike Machines
Under My Hat

WITH LOU ANDERS
Swords and Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery (forthcoming)

WITH CHARLES N. BROWN
The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Fantasy and Science Fiction

WITH JEREMY G. BYRNE

The Years Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volumes 1 and 2 Eidolon 1

WITH TERRY DOWLING
The Jack Vance Treasury
The Jack Vance Reader
Wild Thyme, Green Magic
Hard Luck Diggings: The Early Jack Vance

WITH GARDNER DOZOIS
The New Space Opera
The New Space Opera 2

WITH KAREN HABER
Science Fiction: Best of 2003
Science Fiction: Best of 2004
Fantasy: Best of 2004

VIKING
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First published in 2011 by Viking, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Introduction, story notes, and arrangement copyright Jonathan Strahan, 2011

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eISBN : 978-1-101-51384-2

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The characters and events to be found in these pages are fictitious.
Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

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For my brother Stephen, again, with gratitude for his endless willingness to share his frontiers with me.

INTRODUCTION: LIFE ON MARS

Jonathan Strahan

M ars has traditionally been the setting for grand tales of romance and adventure: stories of powerful gods of war, beautiful maidens, and mysterious aliens. Tellingly, those tales have grown and changed with each passing year as what we know about the red planet has increased.

Our nearest planetary neighbor has had many names: the ancient Romans called it Mars, but it was known as Nergal by the Babylonians, Ares by the ancient Greeks, Mangala by the ancient Hindus, Maadim in Hebrew, Bahram by the ancient Persians, and Sakit by ancient Turks, while the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese cultures referred to the planet as the fire star, a name based on the ancient Chinese mythological cycle.

Although Mars was known to many of Earths ancient cultures, it is only in the past few centuriessince telescopes improved to the point where we could begin to make out its image clearlythat we have begun to learn much about it. The astronomers Giovanni Schiaparelli and Percival Lowell named Martian seas and continents in the late nineteenth century, creating a world that fired the imagination of H. G. Wells, who in The War of the Worlds described an ancient race casting envious eyes across the gulfs of space at our young and vibrant blue world. In A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs told of the swashbuckling adventures of a Virginian soldier on the sweeping plains of Barsoom, a savage frontier world filled with honor, noble sacrifice, and constant struggle, where martial prowess is paramount, and where strange Martian races fight over dwindling resources. Mars often appeared in early twentieth-century science fiction stories, providing either a threatening nemesis or an exotic locale for many, many classic tales.

Then, in 1964, the United States launched the space probe Mariner 4, followed by Mariner 9 in 1971, as well as Soviet probes Mars 2 and Mars 3, and then most significantly Viking 1 and Viking 2 in 1976. They sent back images that swept away any grand visions of a romantic world filled with ancient civilizations, replacing them with photographs of what may be the largest mountain in our solar systemso tall it reaches through the atmosphere into space itself!the longest, deepest valleys, and many other awe-inspiring sights.

Wonder after wonder... but no sign of life.

Our knowledge of the planet changed permanently, and this changed the kind of stories we told. Instead of stirring adventures with four-armed green giants fighting shoulder to shoulder with heroes on dead seabeds, we were treated to tales of shattered, isolated expeditions traversing cold, distant deserts, or epic visions of vast engineering projects to make Mars more Earthlike, with Mars turning first blue as its oceans filled and then green as its forests grew. But, alas, all of those tales were merely dreams.

Or were they?

In early 2004 the president of the United States, George W. Bush, announced that they would send astronauts to the moon by 2020, establish a permanent base on the surface of the moonand then turn its attention to Mars, with a goal of putting people on the planet. NASA now estimates it can send a manned mission to Mars by 2037. It was a grand vision, and one that looks like it could come true, if not quite as we might have anticipated. In 2001 the Mars Odyssey orbiter was launched, and remains in orbit as I write. It was followed by further probesthe European Space Agencys Mars Express Orbiter, the Spirit and Opportunity probes and then the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiterall of which added more and more to our knowledge of the planet. The European Space Agency announced that it too intended to put humans on Mars, sometime between 2030 and 2035. Theres even a Google Mars.

And yet nothings assured. Political plans change. Theres no way of knowing exactly when, or if, humans will land on Mars.

Whatever human exploration of Mars turns out to be like, though, we can be sure it wont be easy or safe. Half the size of Earth, Mars has almost no atmosphere, and what little it has is constantly being stripped away by the solar wind. Relentlessly bombarded by radiation, its gravity is about a third of Earths, and it receives only half the amount of light were used to, and...