Red Mars, Grey Moon, Green Earth - Chapter 3

Mars, 2098

Kavya, Chintu’s mother, was looking out of the window. The red color stretched to the horizon. She had gotten used to the color by now. It was her last night on Mars. 

She saw a grid of robots mining for hematite, which gave Mars its red color. The ore was carried in concealed robotic vehicles to the factories to make steel. The steel would be used to make even more robots and the infrastructure needed on Mars. 

Shankar, Chintu’s father, and Kavya’s husband, worked in one of those mining robots. Shankar had been a blue-collar worker in Orissa’s mines. When Earth got over-polluted, they passed laws to outlaw mining on Earth. Mining would happen in space.

The government gave Shankar the choice to move to Mars. He had moved to Mars twenty years ago. He returned to Earth after five years and refused to return to Mars. He spent five years trying to work on a farm, plantation, and with a hand loom.  He had met and married Kavya while working in a loom shop a decade and a half ago. 

Chintu was born two years later. The costs of getting things on Earth had risen and they found it harder to make ends meet. Shankar’s friends who had gone to Mars with him returned rich. They had enough money now to live the rest of their lives on Earth. 

They encouraged him to return to Mars. Shankar asked Kavya about moving to Mars. She said yes. 

Shankar, Kavya, and Chintu moved to Mars later that year. They sold their loom shop to one of his rich friends who also arranged a job for him on Mars as a robot operator. 

Kavya had set up her homemade tiffin shop for Shankar’s co-workers. In a year, she started bringing in more than Shankar did. She used the money to educate Chintu. Shankar’s salary paid for other necessities. They had an easier life than on Earth. Kavya yearned to return to Earth but felt that they might never return. 

Chintu hung around his mother after school. He delivered the food that Kavya made and met interesting people on these trips. He would talk to them sometimes and did not realize how the time passed. 

Kavya ran a tight ship. She was good with collecting money from her customers at the end of the month. She started selling her food to people from other nationalities. Since they did not buy daily from her, she would charge them a higher price. She also began supplying food for the festivals that the Indians celebrated. 

Five years ago, the Martian Government mandated that daemons be installed in humans. The daemons would operate the robotic machinery while humans sat inside the Martian Operations Base. Several human deaths while working on the surface prompted the mandate. 

But, this also meant that one daemon could operate five similar vehicles. The number of humans needed to do the job would decrease. Protests were not allowed. People were deported to Earth or the Moon in droves. Shankar did not protest. He did not lose his job but the pay was reduced drastically. 

Kavya also lost many customers. Many Indians chose to go to the Moon. Mars was going through hard times. 

Chintu turned fourteen last year. Kavya tried postponing the installation of the daemon as much as possible. But, Shankar needed the extra help to earn more money. They had begun fighting over this. No one asked Chintu’s opinion. 

One of Kavya’s old customers, Manoharan visited them on Mars. He had brought sad news. Shankar’s parents had passed away on Earth. They had been working on a farm when they caught a strange disease. Both of them passed away on the same night that they were diagnosed. They could not be taken to the hospital. 

“Why don’t you come back to Earth?”

“We haven’t earned enough. I don’t think we can afford to return to Earth.” 

“My business on the Moon takes me to Earth and Mars. We are trying to buy some steel to build infrastructure on the Moon.”

“How is the business going?”

“Moon is having a great time.”

They broke for lunch. Manoharan praised Kavya’s cooking. He handed over some gifts for Chintu. 

“Why don’t you send Chintu to me on the Moon?”

Shankar and Kavya discussed the matter in their bedroom at night. While Shankar did not want to stay away from Chintu, Kavya wanted Chintu to leave Mars and work under better conditions on the Moon.

“Let at least one of us escape, dear.”

“I was already separated from my parents. I do not want to be separated from my only child.” 

“Don’t be selfish, dear. Chintu will have a good life on the Moon. If he does well, he may be able to rescue us from here. He can go with Manoharan.” 

Shankar refused to part with Chintu. Kavya could not win him over with her arguments. 

Shankar began to worry incessantly about how the family would survive on Mars. Since his daemon did all the work, he started doing home repairs around the house and for others. This helped pay to complete Chintu’s education. 

At the end of that year, Shankar died. He had a massive heart attack while working at a height. They took him to a hospital but it was too late. 

Kavya and Chintu cried that night. They only had each other. A week after Shankar’s death, Manoharan visited their home. 

“My condolences.  Kavya, I think you should reconsider my offer of giving Chintu a job on the Moon. You should return to Earth to look after your ailing parents.” 

“I will send him to the Moon.” 

Martian bureaucracy was slower than Earth. There was a two-year waiting time to get a clearance to leave Mars. Kavya could not wait that long. A month later one of her customers told her about an illegal route to leave Mars. She could never return to Mars. 

Kavya handed over the kitchen to one of the women who had helped her with the cooking. She had sold all her assets to pay for the illegal journey to Earth. 

They left on one of the many cargo ships that carried steel for Earth. The journey was longer than if they had traveled in passenger ships but they had the company of the other illegals. The ship’s crew helped with food and other supplies they would need on the fourteen-month journey to the Moon. Gafur picked up Chintu on the Moon as Manoharan promised. Kavya continued with the cargo ship to Earth. She thought that Chintu would be safe with Manoharan. 

Gafur knew Shankar back on Earth. He told Chintu that Manoharan was a drug dealer who used children as mules to distribute and bring drugs from Earth. He suggested that Chintu join a crew trying to break into the Indian lunar base at Shiv Shakti Point. Chintu agreed. He despised Manoharan and did not plan to work with him.

No one had asked Chintu what he wanted. 

Gafur gave Chintu a device that would help open the base’s doors and join the crew. Gafur knew that by doing this he would repay a debt he owed Shankar for saving his life on Mars.