Asteropia: Book 2 of the Lunar Series

© 2009 Joseth Moore. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 5/11/2009

ISBN: 978-1-4389-7928-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4678-5865-6 (ebk)

Contents

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 23

CHAPTER 24

CHAPTER 25

CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER 27

CHAPTER 28

CHAPTER 29

CHAPTER 30

CHAPTER 31

CHAPTER 32

CHAPTER 33

CHAPTER 34

CHAPTER 35

CHAPTER 36

CHAPTER 37

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

To my two little bright points in this otherwise sullied bioship, Shash and Goose.

CHAPTER 1

WITHIN THE VICINITY OF AN ANONYMOUS ASTEROID, AMONG THE ASTEROID BELT, BETWEEN MARS AND JUPITER: 2110

Nin’thoosa’s Tellmondonian Moon Fighter’s proximity alarm sounded. It had awoken her out of her deep sleep. She had set the alarm for several hours and programmed the craft on auto. She simply would have been too bored to stay awake for the rest of the flight to her destination.

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Nin’thoosa took manual control of the Moon Fighter with the punch of a button. She yawned. She was not exactly excited about this mysterious meeting that she was having with a few of her friends—on a useless asteroid, no less! Which, by the way, was clearly in sight as she approached it at a slowing speed. The shape of the planetoid was of the typical potato-like silhouette that asteroids often have. The Sun’s light, even this far out in the solar system, sharply defined one side of it, while the shadowed areas were as black as space itself. It would take several more minutes before she saw the beacon, denoting her rendezvous point.

Dayshine, Ninna, the voice of a young man greeted her over the communications link. The greeting was of the Old Ways from the all-but dead civilization of Tellmondo, that once-thriving metropolis of thirteen million people that secretly existed miles beneath the Moon’s surface for a little more than half a century. How was your trip?

Uneventful, I’m grateful to say.

Good…everyone’s here. We’re just waiting for you.

All right, it’ll take me about twenty more minutes, she said as she glanced at her telemetry reading on her console to her TMF.

Okay. See you in a bit.

Right. See you, PunJon.

Nin’thoosa had parked her Moon Fighter in the same area where her friends had clustered their vehicles. She noticed that all the crafts were resting in a small opening to a hole on the side of a medium-sized crater on the asteroid. She wondered why her friends would not simply park their TMFs on the surface. Perhaps all those decades of the Tellmondonian culture living within the Moon, some atavistic response to being exposed to the surface that was passed down to our generation, she surmised.

She walked down into the small, shallow cave and found her five friends, all nicely bundled in their spacesuits—just as she was, of course—standing as they watched her approach. The others were PunJon, the leader of the small band, Veen, Jessica Hanssen, Qatan, and Mondosuumy. Of all six in the group Jessica had been the most assimilated within the Erthen culture, as one could gage by her name.

Okay, you whackos, Nin’thoosa quipped over the link within their spacesuits, what’s so important about this meeting that we have to congregate way out here?

The other five shared a long glance between each other. PunJon finally stepped up closer to Nin’thoosa.

Tell me, my sister, are you feeling…comfortable on Mars lately?

Nin’thoosa shot her eyes toward the others as she frowned.

You called me way out here to ask me that?

Ninna, Jessica, the only other female in the group, said to her softly, remember our conversations lately, about how more and more bureaucratic life has become on Mars? We’re almost like Erth now, in many ways! And remember how we talked about with each passing generation there are less Tellmondonians to carry on our ways…?

Jessica peered at her for a while after her rhetorical statement.

Yeah…so what?

Ninna, PunJon came back in as he held up both of his arms and swiveled around on his waist, take a look around you. You’re looking at the next foundation for the Tellmondonian homeworld!

As shocking as the declaration was to Nin’thoosa, the first thing that shot through her mind was, But our homeworld is planet Erth…have you learned nothing of The Days of Relocation from the history books and from your parents and grandparents?

Ninna, Qatan prompted her out of her temporary sleep.

Yeah—I, I heard you…are you guys serious?

They all glanced at each other and laughed.

Of course we’re serious, Ninna, Jessica said as she patted her friend on a shoulder.

Think of it, Ninna, Veen now said. Like PunJon, he and Mondosuumy had very long hair, as was the tradition of Tellmondo. Veen’s was in the fashion of dreadlocks. Being this far from Erth and Mars…no one to bother us, not the Erth Industrial Alliance, none of the space corporations…if you ask me, it’s even a better location than the Moon!

Aren’t you guys forgetting something, Nin’thoosa pointed out.. There’s this little detail called the Lunar Abatement Treaty! Remember, the last official Respects of Tellmondo had signed it with the EIA back in 2063. No sooner than you guys break out the shovels on this piece of rock the Erth Alliance will have you all arrested and tried for—

The Abatement Treaty does not cover solar system bodies such as asteroids, or even comets, for that matter, Mondosuumy informed her. He was a lawyer for a local government in the nation of Japan.

Nin’thoosa’s eyes looked to the other four to confirm Mondosuumy’s statement. Most of them nodded.

There’s a reason, Mondosuumy went on, why they call it the Lunar Abatement Treaty. Apparently, the drafters of the law didn’t think that anyone would even try to settle the Asteroid Belt.

Either that, or they believed that developing a colony on the asteroids was of little significance to our solar system’s ecosystem, PunJon put in. He continued, now diverting his eyes to Nin’thoosa. And, my sister, it’s not just this piece of rock—as you put it—that we plan on re-establishing the Old Ways… He then looked at her through his spacesuit’s faceplate with a maniacal grin, leaving Nin’thoosa to fill in the rest.

Instinctively, Nin’thoosa shifted her head toward the cave’s small mouth and quickly scanned the opened space around the relatively small asteroid. There were three other asteroids she could see with the naked eyes in that small field of vision, mostly resembling large, bright spots in the asteroid’s sky. But it was the concept of the entire asteroid belt that was really registering with her.

You’ve got to be kidding me, Nin’thoosa exclaimed, yet looking out of the cave. Do you know how hard the logistics of pulling that off will be? On the Moon, our ancestors a hundred years ago had the advantage of the body of the Moon itself to mine from, not to mention the security of Erth only being a quarter of a million miles away…but this! The entire belt system?

Well, as much as possible, PunJon said, his smile gone. As you said, Ninna, the logistics are challenging. There are scientists who’ve calculated that the size of the asteroid belt—if consolidated—would be that of a mid-sized, terrestrial planet. A whole planet, Ninna! A whole planet for the Tellmondonians!

Yeah, but a planet that’s been broken up probably since the formation of our solar system, with several hundred thousand miles between each asteroid…at least! Nin’thoosa turned from her friends as she, once again, took a look outside of the cave at the surrounding area of the asteroid they were on. She shook her head. I wonder how long it would take us to settle the Belt?

Mmm, probably a hundred years, Veen responded as he, now, joined Nin’thoosa in looking at the black sky.

Well, PunJon interjected, if you think about it, Tellmondo’s peak was reached in about fifty years since its founding in the 1990s! Look, most of us here are in our thirties. We’re still young. It’s conceivable that we could still be alive to see the majority of New Tellmondo built up!

Yeah, sure, Jessica added, we’d be some very old farts by then, but, hey, I’m all for it!

So, is that what we’ll call it; New Tellmondo, Qatan inquired excitedly.

No, no, no, Mondosuumy came in. It should reflect our new reality in the 22nd century within the asteroid belt…something like, Asteropia!

Everyone else in the small cave voiced his or her approval of Mondosuumy’s suggestion. That is, everyone except for Nin’thoosa. Noticing this, they all stopped their ebullient exchange and sobered as PunJon walked up to her.

Jon, this is crazy, she said to him as she shook her head before he even had a chance to speak. Listen, I know we’re a bunch of pretty well-educated people here, plus with your years of activism for our people and the Foundation that you set up, Jon, but…we’re just six Tellmondonian descendents with grudges toward the current solar order. All of us Tell’s complain about how we’re treated on Erth, in the colonies on Mars, and even within the space stations! But that doesn’t mean we start packing up our bags and start ghettoizing ourselves! That’s just what many of those nationalistic Erthens want us to do anyway. They would truly win then, because—to them—we would be out of sight, out of mind.

Well, I would prefer being out of their sight compared to being oppressed by them, PunJon shot back with an indignant glare. The others, aside from Nin’thoosa, voiced their consensus to PunJon’s statement.

Again, Nin’thoosa was shaking her head. Obviously an indication of just how adamant she opposed the whole idea.

My brothers and my sister… Nin’thoosa said this with sadness in her voice. Unconsciously, she picked up a rock and tossed it back and forth from gloved-hand to gloved-hand as she spoke over the com-link, her back to the group of five. Surprisingly, there was a tiny amount of gravity that slightly dragged down the rock. Even on a small astronomical body such as an asteroid there was some gravity generated. She continued.

I don’t know, to me I would have thought that we’ve learned our lesson from sixty years ago when Tellmondo had to evacuate its citizens to Erth because of the Moon advancing toward the Erth…also, that, even though we are Tellmondonians and that we are proud of our heritage, we can’t forget that we originated from Erth! I mean, come on, it wasn’t that long ago that our ancestors left Erth for the Moon!

No one said otherwise, Nin’thoosa, Jessica reminded her with a little more tension in her tone.

Nin’thoosa thought on something as she let the rock finally rest in one of her hands, and finally dropped it to the ground. As fast as she could in near-zero gravity, she swung around to face her friends.

You guys found someone, or some people—some government, ngo, or something, to fund this, didn’t you?

The radical five stood in silence, some had a smirk on their faces, others glanced around the cave.

I know you, PunJon, she persisted, you wouldn’t proceed with something this big unless you had something to back you up!

Since I see how you feel about re-establishing Tellmondo, Ninna, I don’t know if I should even tell you, PunJon responded.

Then you’re not denying it. You did find a patron! Come on, guys, who is it? One of those underground Tellmondonian organizations? One of the nations that are un-aligned with the Erth Alliance…?

For a long while the cave remained silent.

The EIA, Qatan mumbled, barely audible over the com-link.

Nin’thoosa’s mouth gaped slightly as she stared at Qatan through her spacesuit’s faceplate.

What did you say?

It’s the Erth Alliance, all right, PunJon said harshly, apparently with some embarrassment.

And he had every right to be embarrassed, Nin’thoosa thought. For PunJon was quite the patriotic Tellmondonian, if not, outright nationalistic! He had created the Foundation for Tellmondonian Preservation back on Erth when he was still in his early twenties. He had gone to jail for various civil disobedience activities on Erth, on several space stations, and even on Mars…he had several thousand Tellmondonian descendents and a few non-Tellmondonian sympathizers with him on those activities. The acts ranged from simple things like graffitied space station embassies to an actual physical confrontation with EIA authorities at a Martian ceremony, during a dedication for a monument to the absorption of the Tellmondonian civilization back into Erth in the late-21st century.

And, now, this same young radical—and some of his friends and colleagues—were looking to that same industrial super-alliance on the planet Erth for the re-building of that defunct lunar society…I couldn’t have written a better piece of fiction if I tried, Nin’thoosa thought inside herself. She must have been smiling at such irony, because PunJon’s next response was terse.

Well, up yours, Ninna! You don’t have to gloat about it!

Jon, she finally said with a slight chuckle, you have to admit, there’s a bit of comedy in all this! It would be like the Native Americans back in 1776 going to the newly-formed Americans and asking for help in re-establishing an Indian homeland somewhere on the North American continent!

You know, Jessica stated, one of her hands waving in the low-gravity, that basically did happen, only we call them reservations.

Yeah, after the U.S. government broke every treaty with the American aboriginals and exiled them to those reservations, Veen said quite seriously.

All right, that’s enough, PunJon demanded.

But, Jon, Nin’thoosa suggested. Jessica and Veen are absolutely right…do you really think you can trust the EIA to fund the re-founding of another Tellmondonian city-state? Let’s face it, the EIA and our ancestors were both pretty much at each other’s throats during the Lunar War! And do you think the Alliance has a policy of forgive and forget?

PunJon looked around at the other four in the group with an engaging smile.

What do you know; she’s starting to sound as cynical as I am!

Everyone, this time including Nin’thoosa, got a laugh out of that comment. After the laughs died down, PunJon, once again, took another step to Nin’thoosa. This time he gently placed one of his hands on one of Nin’thoosa’s shoulders. Not in a sexual way, rather, more like the way that politicians did when they were communicating with the public during a one-on-one session. Everyone else in the small cave could see that PunJon was very likely a politician in the making. But for now, he was still that radical that needed some polishing of the sharp edges.

Ninna, there’s a very old saying; that there are not permanent friends, only permanent interests. Sometimes a society has to form alliances that are good for its existence. Just look at the EIA…do you really think all those nineteen nations and federations of nations all completely love one another and agree with each other on every issue and policy? I know, Ninna; this will likely hurt my reputation among our people.

That’s why we’re asking you to keep quiet about it, Mondosuumy said over the link as he, now, stepped up to her. Our sisters and brothers don’t need to know about this detail. At least, not yet.

Nin’thoosa blew a hard, sarcastic sigh.

Mondosuumy, they’re going to find out eventually! We all know how these kinds of political circuses play out. If it’s not some reporter that’s digging through the trash it’s a legislator’s aide that has busy lips…hiding it will only backfire on your cause.

All five of her friends gazed at her for a brief moment.

What, Nin’thoosa asked as she shifted her eyes between all five of them.

Your cause, Ninna, Jessica repeated with a low voice.

Ninna, Qatan was now saying, are you sure you know where your allegiance is? Because a true Tellmondonian would know when to help tow the line in support for our civilization!

She looked at him with disgust.

A true Tellmondonian, huh? Haven’t I always been there with you all? I’ve done things for all of you that I wouldn’t even do for my own family!

Now, see, PunJon stated, a bit more animated than he had been since being in the cave, that’s where I find the disconnect, Ninna. We thank you for being with us throughout the years of the movement, but, as Qatan asked you, what have you done for Tellmondo? Not for us!

Nin’thoosa relaxed her muscles and her poster became more slumpish, now that she understood what they were getting at. PunJon went on.

You, see, my sister, we are in this because we believe in the values and philosophy of Tellmondo: we believe in the human-spirit will; we believe that no government or any other organization or people should stifle an individual’s desires and needs, as well as the individual’s inherent ownership of the Self; we believe that we should have the right to propagate our culture to the very depths of this solar system—

—Even if that means destroying another astronomical ecosystem and finding ourselves at risk of danger, Nin’thoosa cut in very sharply, like we did with Erth’s moon!

The Moon’s a dead piece of rock, Veen countered. It’s not some ecosystem! My word, Ninna, you should listen to yourself, you’re starting to sound like an Erthen!

The Moon helps keep Erth’s solar system rhythm, Nin’thoosa rebutted, with the Erth’s tides and its rotation, which affects its climate—hence, the Erth’s ecosystem. The Moon itself may be dead, but it’s apart of Erth, so it may as well have an ecosystem.

You know, Ninna, Mondosuumy said in his calm demeanor, in fact, he was being down right patronizing, there’s always some apologist in every oppressed group of people. I know we’ve had our political differences over the years, my sister, but I’d sure hate to think of you as one of those—

—Go ahead and say it, Nin’thoosa threw at him, her face now in full-fledge war mask.

You think I’m some Uncle Tom, don’t you? You all do! I’ve told you all several times for years now…just because some of our Tellmondonian brothers and sisters may disagree with each other on the Erth issue does not necessarily mean we are some kind of sell-outs! We’re just as patriotic as you are, we just see things differently! She then thought for a few more seconds before she went on.

Say, doesn’t that contradict what we say Tellmondo is all about? You know, the worth of the individual, non-conformity to any governmental rules!

You are thinking like an Erthen, Veen, once again, jabbed at Nin’thoosa as his head went back and forth, as he looked to his four friends. Only blue imperialists would confuse Tellmondo as totally not having rules at all…we have customs, Nin’thoosa! Or did you forget about that while working at your fancy job as an engineer for that Erthen corporation?

Hey…! PunJon had to clamp down on the discussion that had quickly dissolved into a holier-than-thou spat. Things were getting personal.

No one said a word for about a full minute. Nin’thoosa went back to looking out of the mouth of the small cave. How on Erth did I ever become friends with these people, she puzzled over. The others just stood there, glancing private looks toward each other.

Right, Nin’thoosa finally said as she barely turned to look at them. I, I’m going back now…I hope things go well for you guys.

Nin’thoosa, PunJon called out to her over the com-link. It made her stop and turn around to peer upon him. She did notice how formal he addressed her, without the Ninna or the sister. Beyond that, she did not like his frigid tone. Remember what we said about telling the others…

It took her a moment to remember.

Oh, you mean about the Alliance?

No one in the small group said anything else to her, only the eyes that she was able to see through their faceplates. Even then, they were not very welcoming looks. It was definitely time to go.

CHAPTER 2

The Erth Industrial Alliance continued its strong presence in the Sol system. Indeed, the Erthen super-conglomerate had increased its power on the solar system, for there were now five planetary gates. Each one, enormous military space stations, were charged with the protection of the planets and their accompanying moons. They were stationed equidistantly between orbiting bodies, that way they could dispatch Alliance fighter ships or any other crafts to two planets if they needed to.

Alliance Watch no. 1 was stationed between Erth and Mars, Alliance Watch no. 2 was between Mars and Sol’s Asteroid Belt system, Alliance Watch no. 3 (rebuilt after an unfortunate encounter with an, as of yet, unknown assailant in the Jovian proper) was between the asteroid ring and Jupiter, Alliance Watch no. 4 was between Jupiter and Saturn, and Alliance Watch no. 5 was stationed between Saturn and Uranus. Plans were being drafted for planetary gates for the last leg of the solar system…that is to say, a Watch station for an orbit between Uranus and Neptune and the last for the orbit between Neptune and the planetoid of Pluto. Sol’s tenth planet was so far out in the solar system that many EIA. officials and even some scientists thought it too inaccessible to consider placing a planetary gate there. The Erth Alliance would leave that decision for future generations to deal with.

The other two bodies that were outside of the power of the EIA were Mercury and Venus. Humans were a long way off from having the technology to withstand the intense heat of the Sun that is so nearby those two planets.

It was an irony that Humans could not develop the solar system on the two closest planets to the Sun, nor could they reach their collective arms far enough to significantly touch the tenth planet, with the exception of a few satellites at the time. The universal happy-medium applied, even in science and solar politics.

Humans were also leaving their footprints all over the solar system in other ways. The traffic rings, or planetary traffic, that laced planet Erth hundreds of miles above its atmosphere were as bright as ever. The criss-crossing of the two Saturn-like rings (one running vertically), though closer to the planet than what Saturn’s rings were to it, were streaming lights from the traffic of Human spaceships, space stations, and satellites. Very seldom did traffic veer off those rings. The rings of traffic were a way for the Erth Industrial Alliance to organize the over-crowded space around the planet. To late-21st century and early-22nd century Humans that lived on Erth, those traffic rings were just as natural in the night sky to them as the Moon and the stars were at night to Humans that were alive before that era. Only, to that late-generation of Humans, those stars moved in the night sky!

Mars had its own planetary traffic rings as well. However, since the Human population on Mars was considerably less than the 13 billion Humans on Erth (actually down from around 15 billion decades earlier!), Mars’ traffic rings were far less bright and had patchy spots. Basically, Mars was a small town and Erth was a huge metropolis.

More recently, other footprints Humans were leaving on the astronomical wilderness were the faint lanes of traffic that originated out from Erth and lanced out toward Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Of course, the farther out from Erth, the dimmer those traffic lights were. Now that Humans had the technology to reach such distances in the solar system and, more importantly, the will to do so, more private endeavors were being realized at Sol’s other planets and their moons. That was in addition to various Erth government space projects that made them possible in the first place. Hence, more traffic.

I hate this traffic, Nin’thoosa said aloud to herself as her TMF and several other spacecrafts were ordered to wait in orbit within the Martian proper.

She was on her way home and was in no mood to sit in Mars’ increasingly dense traffic. She was still riled up from her meeting with PunJon and the five others three days previously and the flight back to Mars.

Incoming traffic for Settlement Hawking may now approach at recommended velocity, came a synthesized male voice over Nin’thoosa’s TMF console.

The computer-generated voice was emitted by Erth Alliance’s planetary gate, Alliance Watch no. 2; stationed between Mars and the asteroid belt. The message automatically went out to all spacecrafts that were en route to one of Mars’ largest cities, Settlement Hawking. Named after the famed English physicist from the 20th and 21st century, Stephen Hawking. The recommended speed and direction mentioned by the computer flashed on the console of Nin’thoosa’s Moon Fighter, which, of course, like most people, she tended to ignore. The Erth Alliance organized the solar system-wide space traffic; they did not police it.

Nin’thoosa slowly walked to her compartment within one of the neighborhoods of Settlement Hawking. It was an organized jumble of large boxes that was twenty stories high. This was pretty much standard architecture for Mars. Since terraforming had been engaged on the red planet back in the 2060s (after Humans learned the Moon was about to collide with the Erth, and they had nowhere else to go, until they stopped the Moon’s descent many years later!), a light, breathable atmosphere was slowly developing each year.. This made it easy for the Martian cities to look more Erthen than they normally would have been. The Martian Humans were able to walk around without helmets on, but the temperature on Mars was yet too cold to go frolicking without a warm spacesuit. That would come, perhaps, forty to fifty years later.

Nin’thoosa saw one of her neighbors as she was leaving the complex. She was younger, a student at one of Mars’ universities.

Hey, Ashley, Nin’thoosa greeted her.

Hey, Ninna!

They both stopped just outside of the compartment, as the Martians call apartments. After all, the rooms and apartment buildings on Mars were hardly ever apart from each other.

How are your parents, the student asked Nin’thoosa.

Oh, pretty good. I think my mom’s taking retirement a lot better than my dad is!

They both laugh.

I would love to live on one of those ocean cities on Erth, Ashley said, her carrier of books clutched in her gloved hand.

Mmm, I don’t know, Ashley. I have too much of my father in me. I couldn’t take the constant presence of ocean all around me…I’d get sea sick everyday!

Again, some chuckles. They both started to proceed to their respective destinations when Ashley called out to Nin’thoosa.

By the way, Ashley said, you had a visitor today.

Nin’thoosa thought for a moment.

Really? One of my brothers?

For sure, no. He was a younger guy; probably about my age…to be honest with you, Hon, he kind of iced me out!

Nin’thoosa felt a tightening within her gut.

Are you going to be okay, Ashley inquired after Nin’thoosa’s absent voice. She had the concern in her voice that people often have when they feel something was not quite right with a neighbor, but did not know them well enough to be direct about it.

Yeah…say, what did he do while he was here?

I’m not sure. I just got a peep of him while I was taking out the recycle. You know; I didn’t want to stare. He seemed to be waiting for you.

Now that did not seem right.

Okay, Ashley, I appreciate it…I don’t want to make you late for class.

Are you sure you’ll be all right?

Oh, yeah…probably just someone looking for a friend’s room and got the wrong address.

Like you really buy that, she told herself.

Ashley finally went about her business, leaving Nin’thoosa to herself, except for a few other people walking around the compartment’s perimeter. Still tired from the long trip and with a bit of caution, Nin’thoosa slowly stepped into an elevator that took her to her floor. Again, more of her neighbors walked the hallways…no one else seemed out of place.

As it turned out, Nin’thoosa had a very uneventful evening. She made herself dinner, flicked on a contraption very similar to a television set, and she fell asleep.

The next day, Nin’thoosa was back at work at Engine-uity Corps Interplanetary (or, Engine Corps). The private, Erth-based company did various engineering projects on Erth, Mars, and several space stations. Nin’thoosa was one of many engineers for the corporation. On this particular day, she was scheduled to do a working tour for one of Engine Corps’ top projects that won them interplanetary fame. It was a new line of terraforming super-machinery that helped made Mars’ air more hospitable for Humans.

They were called the Atmospheric Terra Converters, or, ATCs. They loomed upwards to three thousand feet—over half a mile high! They were, by far, the greatest Human-made structures on Mars. They resembled the large cylindrical structures that had once been used on Erth as nuclear power plants.. But these edifices had several wide holes doting all around the cylinders.. The holes were actually part of an intake ventilation system that sucked up the carbon dioxide that was produced by Humans on the Martian surface and, then, the ATCs would pump the CO2 into the air. Of course, the CO2 was mixed with other chemicals necessary for Humans to breathe, such as oxygen, plus some hydrogen—, which, of course, helped formulate water, and, thus helped with the building of a new Martian atmosphere. But it was the carbon dioxide that was steadily warming