Very few people called the base by its official name, M-RR-19. Most people called it "The Martian Railroad", for the capital letter of each syllable agreed with its official designation. Or more simply it was called the Olympia Railroad. This spaceport was built on the caldera of the top of Mt. Olympus when ASF started to support the colonization of Mars. It had been a symbol of the colonization of Mars ever since.
Nowadays the Olympia railroad was one of the remnants of the Martian history. Even when the Martian Cities Alliance declared independence, there were no calls to transfer the management of the railroad from ASF to them. Olympia railroad was designed for the transportation of both freight and people. While the original equipment seemed a reasonable use of limited resources in the early stage of colonization, as the function of this port changed from servicing colonization center to an industrial center, some problems developed. The port was designed to handle both freight and people in the same carriers, so the acceleration was too low for economical freight transportation and too high for comfortable people transportation. Furthermore the location of the port, 19 degrees North, restricted its practical use.
Nowadays, most of the transportation between the orbit and the surface of Mars was handled through 2 stations in the equatorial region.
Syrian Railroad, which was no less than 500 kilometers long and provided a smooth gentle acceleration, was exclusively used for passengers and the other one near the top of Mt. Pavonis was exclusively used for freight. These two routes handled most of the private transportation.
These private ports also handled a part of military transport because they were not very far from Mt. Olympus and because theseports could boost into high orbit. While, most of the people conveyance of the military relied on Syrian railroad. It was partly because its MAX. 1.5G acceleration was far less wearing on personally. The main reason of it was that the main part of military transport was shifted to the gun which ASF was constructing to project goods the interplanet orbit near Mt. Pavonis.
The Olympia Railroad, at which cargo shuttle and ferries arrived and departed continually, was now used only to project cargo into low orbit or to retrieve them at the surface. Or it was used in support of other private routes in an emergency.
"But I like Olympia railroad. I had some opportunities to be a crewman on an interplanet shuttle, but I have never felt like leaving here."
Said Chief Zanak brightly, as if he had already forgotten the last surliness. It was not because he couldn't stand the silence,but because he was a naturally garrulous guy.
"My friends say that I am of no use at any route but this one, since shuttles require too much fuels to lift my heavy body.
The Ensign hesitated to reply. Zanak smiled and said.
"Well, you don't believe me now, but you will. Once you have experienced it, you won't be able to endure the low acceleration of the Syrian route. Here goes!"
Zanak operated the controls, and Yagisawa found the cockpit leaning.
He hadn't noticed due to the horizontal acceleration until he noticed the ground below sway and then returned to the same position.
The shuttle-cargo had a capacity of over 100 tons making it as big as the middle-sized interplanet transport. Indeed, it was an orbital transport with a landing system rather than a shuttle making return trips between orbit and surface. Now it had no goods and only a little fuel, but it was more than 100 meter long. Zanak spun the ship 180 degree as if it was a battleship and pointed the main engine forward. The horizontal acceleration reminded Yagisawa that he must adjust his seat-harness.
On the other side, Zanak didn't touch his harness. He watched the console while whistling nonchalantly. He had no duties, for the landing procedure had already programmed. If they entered the sandstorm, manual control would be necessary to steady craft.
However it was impossible to land by manual control only. While the relative velocity of the shuttle would decrease to less than 3.5 kilometers per second, but by manual operation no one could maneuver the shuttle within 1 meter margin of error.
The count-down indicated on the display showed less than 10 seconds. Zanak had already entered the "GO" signal on the key board. Yagisawa caught a glimpse of the ground. The wasteland of Amazon Plain flew past at a terrific speed. They were down to 20 thousand meters, but the velocity was still above 15 kilometers per second.
The speed was great enough to frighten him.
"Keep your head in the head-rest, or you will get a whiplash." Zanak said.
As Yagisawa set his back against the seat, a great shock hit the shuttle. At a same time, the jet sounded from the innermost part of the shuttle, sounding as if the ship caught in a storm. And soon it harmonized with the vibration enveloping the shuttle. The gravity in the shuttle increased gradually. Suddenly when Yagisawa felt a pain on his back, vanish.
"That was only the beginning. That equalized the potential energy gap between Valhalla-Station and Olympia Railroad. We'll have a more severe shock when landing." Said Zanak, quite casually.
Yagisawa wondered if his heart could support the strain without breaking down from overwork. His heart would be tough enough for his heavy body.
Before Yagisawa was aware of it, The display in front of their seat switched to a stern view showing the direction in which the shuttle flew. Because the fling path faced into the sun, the window at the bow remained dark. Further the window was much smaller than the display, so Yagisawa felt as if he were falling into the display.
"Am I really on Mars?"
Were his first thought when he saw the great mountain in the middle of the display. The mountain squatted against the background of the starry sky and gleamed palely with the cold light of Phobos. Its appearance suggested mountains of the earth lying in the moonlight. It certainly didn't look as strange as, for example, Coneaded Volcano on the earth. But that was because the mountain was extraordinarily big. Its dignified and imposing figure was enough to let it be called an excellent mountain.
It would be meaningless to compare this great mountain to mountains on Earth. The two were fundamentally different. The difference was its massiveness overwhelming whoever looked at this mountain and rising from the ground to the sky. In the presence of this impressive mountain, it was not too much to say that every mountain of the earth was no more than a hill.
----- This is the Olympus, the mount of gods...
Because the atmosphere was so thin, the light of Phobos was stronger and sharper than expected. With the airborne dust and a little moisture misting the mountain, the surface looked pale red. As they flew higher and higher, the faint color vanished into the emptiness of the space. The surface of the mountain was as pale as ice.
The summit gleamed white. The gleaming line extended along the outline of the mountain and finally it encompassed the horizon.
Deimos rises...
The edge of Mt. Olympus gleamed coldly with the backlight.
Watching the mountain, which grow bigger and bigger in the display, Yagisawa uttered a cry of admiration.
"Recently, I don't watch this image.", Suddenly Zanak said.
"I don't need to look at the display. I have flown here so many times that I can image how the mountain looks today given the condition of the atmosphere, the angle of the light, the amount of dust, the direction of the wind and so on. And...the mountain on the display is not the genuine thing."
When take off or landing, the shuttle always flies with its back toward the Mt. Olympus. If not, the forces would wreck the shuttle.
"I once saw mountain with my naked eyes. But I felt that it was not genuine, too. When I watch it from orbit, I realize that I exist on equal terms with the mountain. When I'm on the ground, I don't feel it. Well, the reason might be that air exists... I wish I could watch the mountain with my naked eyes from the orbit !"