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CHAPTER 21:
...and Portents



Gavin T @TaketaniDoc

Marsbase Two crew is on the ground at Marsbase! This is a historic moment as we prepare to hand over Marsbase. Previous missions were transients; but Marsbase crew are *residents*!
—Gavin Taketani, Ph.D., Marsbase One Commander

USSF Office of Scientific Integration

@OSIGenBoatright

US Space Force announces a new division organized within OSI named ‘Moon, Mars and Beyond.’ MoMaB will provide infrastructure support for Moonbase, Heinlein Station and now Marsbase. We are here to assist civilian exploration and colonization missions by NASA, MarsX, and allied international space programs. The high frontier has a new home at Space Force OSI!

ChirpChat, May 2043


“Somewhat as a voice in the wilderness, I would like to pass on a few thoughts . . .”

That wasn’t the exact wording Glenn used in his most recent report to MarsX Mission Medical Command, but he’d paraphrased it. That phrase was a legend within the NASA community; in 1961, engineer John Houbolt jumped chain of command and wrote the phrase in a letter to NASA associate administrator Robert Seamans detailing a plan to deliver astronauts to the Moon via a controversial method. The concept, lunar orbit rendezvous, became the actual method used by the Apollo program. If Houbolt’s letter had not got the attention it deserved, the Apollo program likely would not have achieved success. The man—and phrase—were a legend, and Glenn wondered whether or not he would have to do something similar in order to call attention to his concerns.

Thus, it came as a surprise when he received a call from NASA medical division regarding the readings from Percheron. “Hey Glenn, I want you to take a look at something. We’re starting to see an increased incidence of headaches, blurriness of vision, and dizziness among the Percheron crew.”

“Juan, thanks for sending this. I’ve been concentrating mostly on the Marsbase crew—and that’s been doubled for the past month. I haven’t really looked at Percheron, but I’ll go over this and get back with you. Who’s been affected?”

“It’s the female crew for the most part. Captain LeBlanc is the one who’s first complained, but several others as well—navigator Katou, hydroponics engineer Takeda.”

“All female?”

“So far. Bialik, the ship’s medic, reported a few other crewmembers affected showing the headaches, but mostly it’s the women. It’s got us scratching our heads down here. Doc Shelhamer suggested we look for something hormonal, thinking that if it was air quality, it should be affecting everybody equally.”

“That’s true, but there’s always some differential sensitivity. I’ve got a model here that I can run it through and see what I come up with.”

“A model? What kind of model?”

“It’s actually a metabolic model that was designed to monitor my health up here in the Moonbase environment. Since my blood volume and oxygen needs have been so severely altered, the guys back at the bionic shop put together a model to try to figure out my oxygen requirements in a spacesuit. It’s a really good closed environment model, so I’ll see if I can tweak some of the genetic and hormonal factors. That should give us a model of oh-two and cee-oh-two flux in Percheron among the crewmembers. It might be just as simple as turning up the oxygen and checking the carbon dioxide scrubbers. You know how much trouble that was for Apollo and Mir.”

“That was actually the first thing we thought of. Takeda has been running diagnostics of the air system every six hours since the reports started coming in. Also, it’s not all bottled air, the hydroponic plant provides about half of the breathable air, scrubs it, and supplements the food. In fact, carbon dioxide imbalances would affect the algae tanks right away. Since there’s been no change, we’re not entirely sure where this could be coming from.”

“Well, it is a new ship. This is the maiden voyage and you built it to be used for multiple trips back and forth. Six months out, three months at Mars, six months back, then wait for a year in Earth orbit. You know what they say about complex systems; ‘the more they fancy up the plumbing, the easier it is to gum up the works.’”

“Don’t go quoting Scotty on me, Glenn. I’m the one who’s been monitoring this the whole time while you’ve been sitting on your ass up there.”

“‘Smile when you say that, pardner . . .’ There’s not a whole lot of sitting being done up here, yet no one seems to be paying any attention to the reports I’m sending.”

“Oh, I can assure you that they are paying attention, Glenn. This is . . . well . . . It’s not that they’re ignoring you, but I’m not entirely sure they’re ready to face what you’re trying to tell them. Either all of the models are wrong, or the crew has been slacking off on their conditioning. I’ve seen the telemetry, and it certainly doesn’t look like anybody slacking off.”

“Which leads to a question of whether the data is being falsified.”

“Hey!”

“Easy, Juan, I’m not saying it is. It’s just the next thing on a long list of possibilities to check.”

“Yeah, well, nobody’s going to be ready to accept that, either. Just keep the thought to yourself right now and keep your eyes open for further development. You’re doing good work and some of us are paying attention. You need to know that.”

“Yeah, I do, thanks. As I’ve said before, I feel like I’m shouting into the wind.”

“Oh, gee, thanks, I had almost managed to forget about that one.”

“What, my last report?”

“Yes, that one. It caused a bit of a stir among the NASA liaison team. A few execs were not entirely amused. Of course, that’s because they are well aware of what happened the last time someone used the phrase in a report and made certain other individuals look like fools.”

“That was not my intent, Juan. I hope they understand that. It’s just that I think whatever’s wrong with the data could mean serious consequences—at the very least, extended rehabilitation when they get back to Earth.”

“Right, and at least one of our advisors suggested maybe they don’t come back to Earth and just stay on Moonbase.”

“I can’t believe they’re serious. Some of these people have family. We have no right to keep them separated for the rest of their lives.”

“No, no, that’s not it at all. The conversation was simply that there’s no need to bring them down to Earth—yet. We could keep them on Moonbase or send them up to O’Neill or Clarke. Given Percheron’s ring plus the multiple gravity decks, at O’Neill we can put them at one-third gravity, then move them up to one-half, then three-quarters and finally, full gravity to allow them to gradually reacclimate before we bring them back down to Earth.”

“That could take years, Juan. Are they seriously talking about years?”

“Yes . . . possibly. Look, I know it’s not ideal, but we’ll figure it out. Just . . . keep sending me copies of your analyses. I’m on your side and there’s a few more here that think the same way. If you can figure out this headache thing that might help to raise your status.”

“Raise my status. That’s a laugh. I had status once. Look at me now.”

“Quit your bitching, Glenn. You know that the half-life of bureaucratic memory is the election cycle; it’s only been one cycle since you got injured.”

“That’s not much consolation. No one seems to remember anything anymore.”

“Not just there. Here, too. Run this data through your model. For that matter, run the Marsbase data through your model as well. I’m hoping you find something that the rest of us are missing. Work the problem, Glenn.”

“Got it. Juan, I’m on this. Shepard out.”


Percheron had eight crew who operated the ship throughout the entire round-trip from Earth to Mars and back. Lieutenant Colonel Gee LeBlanc, Percheron’s captain; Second Lieutenant Mila Katou, navigator and third officer; Master Sergeant Marta Bialik, medic; and Technical Sergeant Hana Takeda, hydrology technician—all of the females—showed the first symptoms of headache and nausea. Technical Sergeant Jonas Christensen, drive-systems technician, was the first male to report neurological symptoms, progressing to nausea and vertigo. Major Maxim Dvorak, the first officer and pilot, was next, but never seemed to progress much past a headache, while Technical Sergeant Eric Philips, engineering, reported headaches and insomnia, and Captain Angus Scott, the chief engineer, hadn’t reported anything other than mild headache. On the other hand, a note from the captain said that Scott had been quite irritable and argumentative.

All of Percheron’s permanent crew were affected to various degrees, with the females much more severe than the men. Glenn looked closer into the oxygen and carbon-dioxide levels on Percheron. Unlike early space vessels and orbital stations, the craft was pressurized to an atmosphere close to Earth normal, although it was similar to airliners, with internal air pressure equivalent to a seven-thousand-foot elevation on Earth. It was only about twenty percent less than sea level pressure and oxygen. That meant it wouldn’t be necessary to fine-tune it to anything different from normal atmospheric composition. Still, that didn’t mean they couldn’t be tweaked a little. Both the scrubbers and hydroponic air system were handling the balance. The only adjustment Glenn really had to recommend was a slight increase in partial pressure of oxygen. NASA and Space Force recommended the same thing, and a few weeks of the new mix seemed to have alleviated most of the headaches.

With that problem solved, NASA and MarsX turned their attention to the next phase. It was approaching the three-month mark; Marsbase had been turned over to its new residents, and Percheron’s passengers were on their way up to board the transport for the return trip. After more than three years away from Earth, they were ready to come home.


Percheron no sooner started the engines to break Mars orbit when new medical problems started to crop up. This time it was the Mars personnel showing signs of headache, insomnia, and irritability. That argued for an infectious agent, and all of the medical advice sent from Earth assumed bacterial or viral contamination and/or infection.

MMC thought that it was norovirus, a stomach infection responsible for most of the symptoms of “stomach flu” or a “stomach bug.” Strangely, the females once again showed symptoms first. Rachel Amit, habitat engineer, Maia D’Cruz, geologist, and Melissa Green, dietician and botanist, were affected. Within a week, severe headaches were reported by the men: Gavin Taketani, mission commander, Steven Green, construction engineer and brother to Melissa Green, Victor Grigorescu, hydrologist, and Surya Mishra, who managed Marsbase’s remotely operated vehicles.

Surprisingly, Yvette Barbier seemed to be the only one who wasn’t affected. Since Percheron only had a medic, and not a doctor, she took over as senior medical officer and started treating the illness, assuming as before that it was some form of mild viral infection. Most of the crew responded to treatments, but there were lingering issues.

Neither MMC nor Yvette were saying anything yet, but Glenn began to doubt that they were dealing with a virus.

He continued to monitor crew health, and sent a message to Juan—If not viral . . . could it be food poisoning? NASA and Yvette seemed to have come to the same conclusion, since the next report stated that affected crew were started on medications to treat both possibilities, i.e., viral and bacterial contamination of the foods.

Again, the treatments worked for a short time, then new symptoms emerged. Many crew—particular those directly involved in the operation of Percheron (and thus those who had been on the ship the longest) reported much more severe headaches, and started to show signs of anxiety, agitation, nervousness. None of the symptoms were totally consistent with a foodborne illness. On the other hand, there was still a possibility of fungal growth or “ergot alkaloids” in spoiled food. The problem with both diagnosis and treatment was the increasing neurological symptoms which affected crew performance.

One of things that baffled the medical team was how the Percheron crew seemed to be suffering worse than the civilians who’d been picked up from Marsbase. As Glenn examined the data, his first thought was that there was a contaminant in the ship’s environmental systems. The Percheron crew could have been exposed to it for the six-month outward voyage and the three months in orbit at Mars. The Marsbase One crew would have only started their exposure in the last few weeks. A major limitation in his analysis was that the Marsbase Two team were not reporting anything unusual. He tried to contact several former colleagues at NASA and Space Force to request additional laboratory tests.

So far, none of his requests had been answered.


Glenn was in his small office outside the Moonbase sickbay when his wristcomm pinged at the same time the incoming message indicator lit up on the display of his desk computer. The header of the message confused him. Was this supposed to be for him? It wasn’t addressed to him, but rather to the Moonbase medical officer. Does she know I’m here?


To: Moonbase CMO

From: Marsbase One CMO

Subject: Crew illness.

I’m attaching new blood and serum tests from Percheron and Marsbase crew. The suspected stomach virus is not responding to conventional antivirals or antibacterials, nor to isolation of affected individuals. Symptoms now include anxiety, irritability, depression, and at least one instance of hallucination. It appears first—and worst—in females, but then males show similar symptoms, just not as severe. I am now examining the possibility that the issue could be chemical or hormonal in nature, but I’m just not seeing it in patient vitals. I’ve drawn blood and analyzed it for blood gases, electrolytes, trace elements, lipid profile. The reports are attached.

I am not ruling out human-transmissible factors, and have directed crew to self-isolate as much as possible.

Please advise if you see anything I’ve missed.

Y. Barbier


After reading the message, Glenn looked at the header again—it was directed to the chief medical officer of Moonbase, but also contained a specific routing to him. The timestamps on basic text and this version didn’t match, though, so he wondered if this was a copy or forwarded to him as an afterthought. On the other hand, she probably didn’t even know he was here, despite his assignment being part of MarsX MMC’s official roster. It might be another example of being out of the decision loop, or avoiding a reaction to putting his name on the broader distribution.

She wasn’t specifically asking for his help, but someone was.

Reading between the lines suggested that she was out of her depth. On the other hand, this could be precisely the opening he needed. He opened the attachments and started looking at the data. It was all the data he would’ve asked the SF medic to collect on his behalf. That Yvette had done so and sent it to Moonbase and Earth, meant that she was at least thinking along some of the same lines. He needed to look at this very carefully to figure out what other tests or information they needed.

There simply was nothing in the blood tests—or any of the vitals—to explain the crew reactions. There were other tests and Glenn turned his attention to those results. Iron levels looked fine, electrolytes, the same. Some of the neurotransmitters were high, especially norepinephrine—often mistakenly called “adrenaline.” Dopamine levels were slightly reduced. That could explain the headaches, insomnia, and general irritability. On the other hand, headaches, and insomnia increased feelings of stress and that could elevate norepinephrine. So . . . cause? . . . or effect?

The neurotransmitter changes suggested a more systemic action. Glenn had a nagging suspicion he should recognize this, but it was just too indicative of an environmental contaminant. It had to be something in either the food, the water, or the air. Symptoms like these had been at the root of “sick building syndrome” back when office buildings and residences began to use totally sealed heating and air-conditioning systems. Recirculating the same air concentrated contaminants, and something as simple as a puddle of water in the bottom of an air shaft could make the entire population of a building sick. Allergies and chemical sensitivities were among the milder effects, as strange as that seemed, with Legionnaires’ Disease being one of the more severe examples.

The problem was that food and water supplies should have remained sealed since Percheron left Earth orbit. The food came from Earth, while the water was produced in orbit from asteroid ice using vacuum distillation. The bottled air had been produced by electrolysis from that same ice, then conditioned in the massive greenhouse and garden that served Moonbase. It was the purest air they could produce, without any of the potential pollutants or airborne contaminants of Earth’s atmosphere.

Given that Percheron’s own hydroponics suite seemed to be functioning normally, it had to be food or water, but he couldn’t figure out how. On the other hand, on Earth they would simply re-sterilize everything. Heat, pressure, and steam were often used to kill bacteria, degrade viral nucleic acids, and kill any remaining spores. There were also chemicals that would do the same—ethylene oxide, hydrogen peroxide vapor, nitrogen oxide or supercritical carbon dioxide. Chemical means were not an option, though. The sealed air system was too delicate to use any means that would upset the delicate balance of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor.

It also meant that high pressure steam similar to a hospital autoclave was also not ideal. On the other hand, the Earth-bound food industry increasingly used hard radiation for sterilization of food. It didn’t leave any residue and didn’t change the taste of the food.

There was plenty of radiation in space.


To: MarsX Mission Medical Command

From: medical consultant

Re: Potential food contamination

Has anyone considered vacuum and irradiation to sterilize the food? They can’t use vacuum on the water supply, but should be able to put it into radiation transparent vessels. It can all be put into a cargo hold, open the hatch to expose it to vacuum, and rotate the ship to expose the hold to full sunlight.

I’m not saying this is the only answer—and maybe not even the best answer—but it would certainly provide a way to eliminate food contamination.

The fact that this is showing up in the Percheron crew and in the women first certainly suggests that it’s something with a long exposure period. On that basis alone, I don’t see this being a contaminant brought back from Mars, but rather, inherent to the Percheron supplies.

—Shepard


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