A Visitor to the Future - 141 - The Toll of Mars
We spent more time than we planned in Mizcur, so Sarkona and I ended up sleeping there. It wasn't right to say we spent the night, as we hadn't - our sleep cycles weren't aligned with the actual rotation of Mars. They never really would, at least not naturally, as the Mars day was 37 minutes longer than that of Earth. Thankfully, asking the Consortium for somewhere to sleep was far easier than booking a hotel had ever been.
The small cafe where we were eating breakfast had offered us seats on a balcony, which I'd accepted, hoping to enjoy the view across Mizcur. Sarkona had other ideas - the elevated position was perfect for one of Sarkona's favorite breakfast activities - people-watching. Sarkona liked to speculate about what random passers-by were up to, and I liked the excuse to come up with outlandish suggestions.
"Secret mission," I said, pointing to someone who was clearly in a hurry, "Late for a meeting with their informant. Secretly plotting the end of the Consortium."
"Late for a birthday party," my friend said, determined, "I'm almost certain. Look, there's a present under their arm. It's quite common to have birthday parties in the morning on Mars."
"That's far too normal," I said, but Sarkona sounded so sure that I didn't dare suggest anything else. The last time I'd done that, Sarkona had outright asked the person to confirm it.
Sarkona smiled wryly, having won this round. "Ah, the person in the long coat over there. I'm super sure this is another biodev appointment. Look, eyes fixed on the biodev workspace over there - yes! I'm right."
"That's the fourth person you've picked out heading there!" I said.
"Being a biodev helps. And knowing the toll that Mars takes on the body."
Sarkona didn't elaborate further, so I looked at them pointedly. It took a moment for them to notice, as fixated as they were on the people passing by.
"Oh," they said, "Living here is something of a burden from a biodev perspective. Or a blessing, if you're a biodev looking for something to do! Bodies need more maintenance in this sort of environment."
"Standard spacing adaptations don't do the job?"
Sarkona's eyes focused on me, ignoring the people for a moment, "Not with how the environment is set up. You remember yesterday, how I said that some Orgs police their airlocks? The vast majority of Mars doesn't do that anymore. Which means regolith gets tracked inside. That's what causes the distinctive smell." They crinkled their nose at the last statement.
"And how does that relate to more biodev work?"
"Right. Regolith is toxic and abrasive."
I blinked. "It's toxic?" I suddenly felt a little reluctant to breathe.
"Ah, right, sorry - more details required. The Consortium performs the bulk of what is needed in terms of filter air at airlocks and so on - that gets the bulk of the regolith out of circulation. But unless you're actively policing your airlocks and forcing full decontamination protocols, some regolith makes its way into the habitats. Obviously, that's not good enough, so that's why things like these exist. Have a smell."
My friend pointed to a terracotta-colored flowerpot on the balcony next to us. A small, wiry, shrub with a few delicate flowers was within. At their prompting, I leaned over and smelled one of them. I drew my head back quickly, as the scent was pungent and intense, but not unpleasant. Not the sort of scent I'd willingly seek out, but not one I'd actively avoid either. I went back for a second whiff, trying to put the scent into words. I found that I couldn't.
"Unusual, isn't it?" Sarkona commented, "It sometimes reminds me of cinder toffee, but that fails to account for the tangy or chemical scents. That plant, and the developed bacteria it lives in a symbiotic relationship with, absorb some of the harmful regolith content like perchlorates, and use them as part of their growth and life cycles. There will be other siblings of this plant and bacteria spaced throughout Mizcur that do the same job, but for different chemicals - the wispy, silica-capturing ones are particularly clever. This gets the overall air content to safe enough levels. I say safe enough, and not safe, because these traces have to actually get to the plants to be filtered out, meaning you could easily breathe them in, or accidentally eat them if they get onto your food."
"So why not just do as you say, and get everyone to decontaminate at the airlocks?"
Sarkona smiled, "Let me ask you a question. In the house we lived in on Earth, do you always wipe your feet and take off your shoes when you come in the door?"
"You know I do. I seem to remember you making more messes than me."
"No comment. Alright, so here's another question - would you install an airlock at the front door, and force all visitors to go through decontamination?"
I felt my brown furrowing, "No, why would I?"
"There's any number of potential threats to your health in the air on Earth - viruses, pollen, even insects. Yet you'd consider it unreasonable to impose unnecessary burdens every time you step through that door, because these threats aren't that serious."
"Yeah, I suppose that's fair to say," I said, "But the air on Earth isn't toxic."
Sarkona nodded, "The people of Mars see the toxic aspects of trace regolith in exactly the same way. It may be toxic, but only in a minor sense - because of biodev. Unless you were to bring lots of it inside and roll around in it, there's no urgent harm caused by it that we can't remedy. It means that you have to have more regular biodev appointments and treatments than a typical person on Earth, but it isn't really troublesome. Second question - what does living like this enable?"
I wasn't sure what Sarkona was getting at. "I'm drawing a blank," I said.
"The answer is easy and convenient access to the outside. You can head to any airlock, pull on an EV suit, quickly cycle the airlock and leave whenever."
"That's important enough that the exposure and increased upkeep is worth it?" I asked, then realised the answer to my own question, "Wait - yes, of course it is. I know exactly how cooped up I've felt on the Boiling Point these past few months."
Sarkona smiled enthusiastically, "Right! And not only at a personal level, easy access to the outside is a key part of Mars culture itself. What do you imagine living on Mars was like pre-biodev?"
"That's something I'm hoping to learn more about while I'm here," I said, "I guess you'd have to flip everything you've just said on its head, right? Without biodev, toxic regolith... It'd be a threat to life? You'd have to be careful every time you stepped through an airlock."
"Not only for yourself," said Sarkona, "But to protect every human living in every habitat you visited. That was once the burden and price of living on Mars and accessing the outside - for entire generations! The second that biodev made those worries inconsequential, it became one of the fundamental freedoms of each Mars resident - the ability to put on an EV suit and go outside anytime you wanted without fear. Must have been unreal to live that change."
"That makes sense," I said, "But if it's possible to filter out the harmful products of regolith, why not go a step further and filter out the rest of the Mars smell? Or cover it up with a scent?"
"Good questions, with a two-part answer," said Sarkona, "For filtering it out entirely - there's really no need. Like I said before, you'll be used to the Mars smell soon. It'd be an exercise only useful for outsiders to Mars - who don't live here. But covering it up with a scent... the answer to that question is also cultural in nature. Before biodev, filtering the atmosphere of habitats was primarily an engineering dilemma - machines were doing the job, for the most part. Imagine you've just traveled to a habitat, you take off your EV suit, and you smell the strong scent of raw regolith - what does that tell you?"
"Raw regolith, not filtered? That the filtering isn't working?"
"Correct. A reason to be super concerned! You wouldn't want to be breathing that in. So, imagine another scenario - you enter a habitat, and all you can smell is the wonderful scent of lilies and perfume..."
"Ah, you couldn't tell whether the filters were working."
"Not necessary in our day and age with Consortium oversight of course, but the idea has a strong place in Mars culture, because that is exactly what some habitats used to do. Oh, ignore the fact you're being slowly killed, here's the scent of lavender. Not very comforting. By the way, some residents of Mars consider gifts of strongly smelling items offensive for that reason. There's no practical reason for it now - it's just tradition! Be super mindful when you're dealing with the more traditional Orgs."
"Noted," I said, "I've got a lot to learn about Mars culture, haven't I?"
"Don't worry," Sarkona said, "That is why you're here, after all!"
The owner of the cafe briefly interupted us to present us with two small glasses of cyan liquid and take the empty plates of our breakfast away. They had four arms - which must have been very useful when the cafe was busy. I thanked them as they went to move away, but this only earned me a look of confusion - so I corrected myself, repeating the message in Human. Fluency in English wasn't as common on Mars as it was on Earth.
As I watched a group of tall Martians pass by, a further thought occurred to me, "Could you make biodev modifications so the body can process regolith traces without issue? Like the plants?"
"Yes, and some people do precisely that. Though unlike spacing modifications, these aren't minor tweaks - it's fundamentally altering the biochemistry of the body, which has all sorts of side-effects and provides a different lived experience. Those sort of changes don't fit into the well-known and traveled areas of human biodev and require substantial monitoring and upkeep. I've worked with some of the people who have these changes, and they probably spend more time in biodev checkups than if they managed without. Thanks to people like them our knowledge grows, though - and perhaps one day those modifications will be as common as spacing modifications. Compressed - there's a good reason why the Abnormals, who are pushing the limits of what biodev are capable of, live in a society filled almost entirely with biodevs. They look after each other's bespoke modifications."
Sarkona picked up their glass, hesitated, and then swiftly downed its contents in a single gulp. Their face cringed, and they let out a breath, showing that the drink was very strong.
I picked up my own glass and sniffed it, picking up the scent of something both minty and spicy. "Sarkona," I asked, "What is this? I don't remember ordering it."
"It's Adroc! You know how in some Earth cultures, you're provided with a mint after a meal? Similar idea. It's a blend of spices, vitamins, and water. I think there's some turmeric in there, and the rest are Mars-native cultivars. The original batches used alcohol - typically spirits - but that practice didn't last long."
"If you don't mind me saying, that did not look nice."
Sarkona laughed, "No, it wasn't! But it is good for you, and the aftertaste is both pleasant and lingers. There's nothing worse than being stuck in an EV suit with bad breath. Try it!"
I followed Sarkona's example - both intentionally in drinking it in a single gulp, and unintentionally in the face I made after. It burned the top of the mouth and throat - and I found myself coughing. Thankfully, and true to Sarkona's word, the sensation soon died down, leaving a smoky mint flavor.
"Not bad for your first try!" Sarkona said.
I coughed one final time and cleared my throat, which took longer than expected. "Well," I said, "If we're following Mars tradition by drinking Adroc, how about we go outside? It's been a while since I've gone for a walk outdoors."
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