292 Terraforming Mars Part 4

DIARY ENTRY SOL 22,102

It’s pretty amazing that these ferropods, simple as they were, ushered in such a cultural upheaval: there was life elsewhere in the universe! The fact that it was just next door on Mars implied that it was probably everywhere in the universe.

Everyone freaked. In typical bureaucratic overreaction, a Cultural Psychology Committee was legislated into existence, bringing to Mars a panel of distinguished psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers to assess and, if possible, implement responses to the colonists’ difficulties in “grasping the gravity of the situation.”

I don’t really get it. Life elsewhere? I mean, it’s nice to know—even exciting—but I wasn’t going to blow my brains out over it. And “grasping the gravity of the situation”? I think that already being on Mars was already as surrealistic a life choice that no surprise could nonplus.

Back on Mother Earth, a lot of philosophers sold books, a lot of evangelists sermonized, a lot mental health workers evaluated, a lot of politicians strategized, and a whole lot of ball bearing tycoons became very rich. I guess Big Balls joined the other Big This and Big That megacorporations.

Since we still needed ball bearings, our ball bearing-dependent colony on Mars retrofitted and recovered. Slowly but surely the infrastructure re-structured with little non-living balls. Once the population again surged to over 2500, there was new talent: a Botany and Biology Consortium, along with its Veterinary Studies Division, or VSD.

The ferropod was apprehended, studied, and even appreciated in existential terms. It was also feared: knowing that when its globular attitude stretched out into a linear, shiny, slug-like shape, snapping back into a ball released enough kinetic energy to make the re-formed ball ballistic. So far, three humans, including Dr. Cooke, had suffered strikes to their heads, with varied results.

One remained catatonic, as if something alien were running the show. Another had abdicated from life altogether, choosing to end it all for him and whatever that thing in his head was conjuring. The third, Dr. Christopher Cooke, only wondered. I'm sure he wondered if there was another shoe to drop, if a shoe metaphor was even approriate. Then I remember it's a ferro-"pod."