Seventeen Crimes

Eighteen

- What follows are my transcribed notes from my conversation with the founder of MARS Trading Company. What I have not disclosed for his safety, for the safety of the Martian Embassy and its staff, and for myself, is the actual date that this conversation took place.

Since the apparent suicide attack that nearly ended the life of the Martian ambassador to the United Nations in New York last week and killed seven more people, I am sure that my caution can be understood.

I trust that when you began researching your father, you stumbled your way to the Martian information site that we run as a side project of the the historical documentation of what we have done and what we have accomplished on Mars.

Honestly, I am quite proud of what we have done in terms of colonizing the red planet; and the truth is that it was not me. I provided much of the funding, had dreams of being among the first settlers with my wife, Judith.

Providence – as I am more comfortable describing God in than manner than under any other name or banner – had other ideas.

Early on, Stephan Hodges was not an interesting candidate to me. He had impressive interests in science – he had completed his undergraduate degree in several scientific disciplines that interested us in the early planning stages and had plans to continue his education. Raw enough that we could work with him – and we did work with him after he joined the program – but at the time, we also had several other candidates that fit the same criteria.

You probably don't want to talk about her, and I shall keep it to as much of a minimum as I can. But, you can't talk about why Stephan Hodges was selected without talking about Gin Koperniak.

Gin is, in short, such a powerhouse that from the moment my wife laid eyes on her, Judith had to have her in the program.

- What was it about Gin that your wife had to have Gin in the program?

Her viewpoint.

Mind you, at the time of her video, Gin was seventeen years old, and under her birth surname, was known around the world as Ginnifer Bonaparte. Her family had a massive online presence in social media for their homesteading, both in their education, means to obtain education and in their desire to create a self-sustaining lifestyle that put, among a great deal of things, a proper emphasis on Biblical care taking of the world.

- I have heard of the Bonapartes. Christian right-wing fanatics.

That is a miss-guided assessment, but we aren't here to delve into that.

No, Gin had a refreshing take on the idea of colonization, one that in the scientific depth we were delving and researching, suddenly shot right through our work. It was the trigger and the ignition source that set our work and directive on fire and through it, what we have seen has come to fruition.

Such a viewpoint that my marriage nearly came to an end.

- Why such a drastic change?

Because, in short, Gin was right.

She hypothesized – and she wasn't the only one – that any colonization effort on Mars would have to come to two realizations before the crews left Earth.

The First Realization: Any individual going to Mars had to come to the realization that traveling to and settling the colony wouldn't be like hopping on a plane and traveling to Japan in 24 hours, staying a week, and returning back.

At its closest, Mars is more of a two and a half year journey; at its furthermost, assuming a three-year trip would be far safer and far wiser.

At least, at the beginning.