Read Online The Loss (Zombie Ocean Book 4) by Michael John Grist - Free Book Online
Authors: Michael John Grist
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confined conditions, essentially his MARS300 and MARS500 missions.
I knew something about these already; he'd been doing them for years, setting up underground 'biospheres' into which he put colonist-like volunteers, who would then have to live in the stressful, cramped and deprived conditions future voyagers to and colonists on Mars would have to undergo.
MARS300, for 300 days enclosed, had been held in a secret location later revealed to be North Dakota. MARS 500 was in a fantastic underground city cobbled together from old Cold War bunkers underneath the suburbs of Washington. In that one he'd upped his colonist count significantly, from just twenty people to a hundred. MARS3000 was far more hush hush than either of these forbears, but it was rumored up to 3000 people would be confined for nearly ten years, 3000 days, in a specially designed mega-bunker that some sources said was located in the mountains of Maine.
I rocked back in my seat.
The article didn't have a date for the experiment to begin, but theorized around the summer of 2018, right around the time of the apocalypse. Was it possible they were there now, under the hill in Maine, somehow accidentally riding out the zombie infection?
The bunker would have to be deep. I had no idea how deep, but deeper than any regular basement. Lots of people had been in their basements when the apocalypse first struck, but it hadn't saved them. Also, why in the hell was there a gun turret guarding the bunker?
This puzzled me terribly. It didn't make sense. Even the star power of this Lars Mecklarin wouldn't allow him to set up a gun to shoot any trespassers. It was true that secrecy was important to him, as the article explained, to avoid mishaps such as befell earlier efforts like Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Arizona. In that case, inhabitants of the previous Biosphere 1 experiment had breached the glass perimeter wall of Biosphere 2, believing the inhabitants were unfairly trapped and were being exploited. That breach had led to the entire experiment, which had been aiming for perfectly recycled sustainability of oxygen, water, carbon dioxide and so on to be completely compromised, as the internal atmosphere was vented and swapped for the air outside.
Damn, I thought.
I went straight to the nearest bookstore, out on Santa Monica Boulevard in the bright sun, smashed my way in, and found a whole section of Mecklarin's book 'Life on Mars' on display. The cover was a take on the American Gothic painting by Grant Wood, but with the homesteader background replaced with the domes and Habitation modules of a Mars colony.
The blurbs on the back touted the book's brilliance:
"Mecklarin exhibits insight so scintillating that I feel like I've just been born."
"'Life on Mars' is no less than a user handbook for the whole human experience, guiding us through every conceivable experience with powerful research data."
Impressive.
I cracked the spine and settled to read. I didn't come up again until dusk, by which time Lara had called me on the walkie then come to sit by my side, reading Mecklarin's insights with her mouth frequently widening into a surprised, revelatory 'O'.
"This shit can't be serious," she'd say sometimes.
It was. I was wowed too. Mecklarin's theory was that human beings were essentially simple computer programs, driven by motivating factors from our genetics, body chemistry, surroundings, interpersonal relations and personal history. The book was split into five sections with these areas as headings, and attempted to do for them a similar thing the original Biospheres had sought to do with oxygen, water and carbon dioxide.
"It's a closed system for human thought," I said, interrupting the stillness of hot, dead LA.
Lara looked up. "Don't spoil it for me. I'm only on chapter five."
"He said it all in the introduction. He thinks people are knowable. He thinks the mind is a closed system, and with perfect information any interaction can be wholly predicted, even
I knew something about these already; he'd been doing them for years, setting up underground 'biospheres' into which he put colonist-like volunteers, who would then have to live in the stressful, cramped and deprived conditions future voyagers to and colonists on Mars would have to undergo.
MARS300, for 300 days enclosed, had been held in a secret location later revealed to be North Dakota. MARS 500 was in a fantastic underground city cobbled together from old Cold War bunkers underneath the suburbs of Washington. In that one he'd upped his colonist count significantly, from just twenty people to a hundred. MARS3000 was far more hush hush than either of these forbears, but it was rumored up to 3000 people would be confined for nearly ten years, 3000 days, in a specially designed mega-bunker that some sources said was located in the mountains of Maine.
I rocked back in my seat.
The article didn't have a date for the experiment to begin, but theorized around the summer of 2018, right around the time of the apocalypse. Was it possible they were there now, under the hill in Maine, somehow accidentally riding out the zombie infection?
The bunker would have to be deep. I had no idea how deep, but deeper than any regular basement. Lots of people had been in their basements when the apocalypse first struck, but it hadn't saved them. Also, why in the hell was there a gun turret guarding the bunker?
This puzzled me terribly. It didn't make sense. Even the star power of this Lars Mecklarin wouldn't allow him to set up a gun to shoot any trespassers. It was true that secrecy was important to him, as the article explained, to avoid mishaps such as befell earlier efforts like Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Arizona. In that case, inhabitants of the previous Biosphere 1 experiment had breached the glass perimeter wall of Biosphere 2, believing the inhabitants were unfairly trapped and were being exploited. That breach had led to the entire experiment, which had been aiming for perfectly recycled sustainability of oxygen, water, carbon dioxide and so on to be completely compromised, as the internal atmosphere was vented and swapped for the air outside.
Damn, I thought.
I went straight to the nearest bookstore, out on Santa Monica Boulevard in the bright sun, smashed my way in, and found a whole section of Mecklarin's book 'Life on Mars' on display. The cover was a take on the American Gothic painting by Grant Wood, but with the homesteader background replaced with the domes and Habitation modules of a Mars colony.
The blurbs on the back touted the book's brilliance:
"Mecklarin exhibits insight so scintillating that I feel like I've just been born."
"'Life on Mars' is no less than a user handbook for the whole human experience, guiding us through every conceivable experience with powerful research data."
Impressive.
I cracked the spine and settled to read. I didn't come up again until dusk, by which time Lara had called me on the walkie then come to sit by my side, reading Mecklarin's insights with her mouth frequently widening into a surprised, revelatory 'O'.
"This shit can't be serious," she'd say sometimes.
It was. I was wowed too. Mecklarin's theory was that human beings were essentially simple computer programs, driven by motivating factors from our genetics, body chemistry, surroundings, interpersonal relations and personal history. The book was split into five sections with these areas as headings, and attempted to do for them a similar thing the original Biospheres had sought to do with oxygen, water and carbon dioxide.
"It's a closed system for human thought," I said, interrupting the stillness of hot, dead LA.
Lara looked up. "Don't spoil it for me. I'm only on chapter five."
"He said it all in the introduction. He thinks people are knowable. He thinks the mind is a closed system, and with perfect information any interaction can be wholly predicted, even
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