Alien Equivalent
Chester Farrell emerged from the narrow alley and paused before the barbed wire fence.
Behind him, the Martian city was a maze of strange sounds, angular buildings, acrid odors and dark shadows.
Before him, beyond the fence, three spaceships pointed their bows toward a star-studded sky. The slender ships gleamed dully in the starlight as they rested on the red desert.
He touched the money in his pocket to reassure himself that at last, he had the fare for the trip to Earth.
His eyes scanned the heavens, searched for the bright light that was Earth.
Earth! In itself, the planet meant little to him. The seas, mountains, valleys and forests did not cause the burning desire inside him.
He closed his eyes and remembered a brick house in Cleveland and the brown-haired woman and chubby boy who lived there. He recalled slender, soft fingers that touched him gently and a small form that waddled uncertainly across their living room floor.
Three years ago, he had left Louise and Sammy on Earth. He had come to Mars to make a small fortune.
The dream had not materialized: the Mars Mining Corporation didn't want to pay their employees good salaries although the ores transported to Earth sold for tremendous profits. They paid their employees as little as possible.
It was simple: Governments wanted colonists on Mars to exploit the planet. Mars Mining wanted colonists to remain and operate their mines. The two groups, political and business, collaborated and ... while the trip to Mars cost only a hundred dollars, the return trip to Earth cost one thousand dollars.
Because of the high price of living on Mars and the low salaries, the fee was an encouragement to remain on the planet.
It had taken him three years to save enough money to rejoin his family.
Bitterness filled him as he studied the motionless ships. Convertible spaceships. The bulkheads inside the hull were collapsible and the space in a ship was constantly adjusted into different size storage holds and passenger compartments.
During the voyage to Earth, he would be the only passenger and would occupy a coffin-like compartment. Every other available foot of space would be filled with valuable ores.
When the ship returned to Mars, the passenger compartments would be spacious, luxurious and comfortable. They would be filled with hundreds of propaganda-fed, eager colonists who were unaware of the economic trap before them.
As he turned and followed the fence
