Excerpt: The Mars Experiment

For the first time, all of them could eat dinner together, in the same place, with no one monitoring the ship or watching a computer. They celebrated by drinking the horrible first batch of beer brewed in the makeshift still in their garden, then laid back on plastic folding couches and stared at the curved, artificial sky.
"I propose a vote!" Matt called out. "Carl, it's time for a civilian leader."
"Here, here!" Hannah cheered.
But Jake said, "Wait a minute, a vote? Can't we do better than that?"
Half the crew demanded to know what was wrong with voting. The others sided with Jake, ticking off the problems.
"If you're gonna vote, I can get you on my side by lying about myself, or lying about my opponent, or just plain lying about what I'm gonna do with the power you'll give me," Jake said.
A growl of approval.
"I'll waste a lot of your money trying to lie to as many people as possible, and if my opponent has more money than me, his lies will be heard by more people, so he's more likely to win," Jake went on.
"Hey!" Hannah said. "What about research? Good voters study the candidates and figure out who they can trust."
"Oh yeah?" Jake said. "And you've never known anybody who just walked into the voting booth and pulled the lever for the name they recognized?"
"Or didn't even know what positions were up for election and picked names at random," Carl added. "Or voted for the woman, or the black man, or whoever it was that looked just like them."
"Or the kids who voted for whoever their parents wanted. Or the old people who vote the way their pastors tell them to?" Jake said. "And don't forget about the one-issue voters -- they would pick Hitler if he said he was pro-life."
"Or vote for a socialist because he'll support gay marriage," Carl said in disgust. "To cite one recent example."
Matt digested this.
"So, if voting is no good -- how are we going to choose a president?" he asked.
"Oh, voting is fine," Jake said. "It's the way you vote that's wrong. The US lets all the idiots vote. Give me two hours and I'll show you."
Carl rapped his knuckles on his plastic beer mug and said, "This meeting is adjourned for two hours."
Jake headed for the control room, where they'd hooked up the computers that controlled four of the earliest parachuted supply drops. Most of the crew followed him.
"What am I, a rock star?" he asked when he turned around at the door.
"You're the only entertainment in town," Carl said cheerfully. "We all want to see your wizardry."
"Fine, if you want to help..." Jake began. "Hannah, if you were president of our new nation, what would you do?"
Hannah was taken aback. "What? You want a campaign platform or something?"
Jake snapped his fingers. "Come on, hurry it up."
"I don't even know if I want to be president," Hannah delayed.
"If you were," Jake said.
"Well..." Hannah thought a moment. "I suppose I'd appoint a sheriff, just in case, and... Ask everybody to start work on their missions -- mining and farming and everything."
Jake was typing madly. "Good, good," he said. "What else? I need something else."
"Something more? Um... I'd start a newspaper?"
Jake nodded. "Great, that's great. Matt, what's your policy?"
"Huh?" Matt, squeezed back in the doorway, called out, "When did I start running against Hannah?"
"It's just a demonstration!" Jake said. "Come on, what would your top priorities be?"
"Same as Hannah's, I guess," Matt began.
"No, no, no," Jake said. "I need differences! Details!"
"Okay, okay," Matt said hurriedly. "I wouldn't start a newspaper. Is that good enough?"
"Two more," Jake said, typing again.
"Right. Um. I'd have us eat dinner together every night so we can all hear the progress reports."
"That's a good idea," Hannah said.
"That's how I'm gonna beat you!" Matt said cheerfully. "I need one more. I like your idea of a sheriff, by the way... So how about if I'm president, I'll make myself sheriff. That way we can keep government small, right from the get-go."
Jake nodded. "Thanks. Come back in two hours."
"Hey! You only have 90 minutes left!" Hannah said, needling him good-naturedly. But they all trooped out when he cheerfully flipped her off, and waited outside, speculating about his "better voting" plan.
When he opened the door, precisely 90 minutes later, he said dramatically, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Smart Voter Booth."
They looked in and saw blinking on the screen: "Who do you prefer for president?"
The curser was blinking beneath it.
"Where are the names?" Matt asked.
"There aren't any," Jake said. "You can't vote unless you know who you're voting for."
"But politicians will just drum their names into people's heads," Emily objected.
Jake clucked his tongue.
"I'm smarter than that," he said. "Go ahead, Emily, give it a try."
As she sat down, he added ominously, "Oh, and I hope you were paying attention earlier."
"Paying attention to what?" she asked anxiously.
"Just type in your candidate," he said.
She hesitated a moment, then shrugged an apology at Matt and typed in HANNAH (LASTNAME).
The screen faded away, to be replaced with another question: What new position would Hannah LastName create?
Emily blinked, then typed, "Sheriff."
The question vanished. Next, the screen said, "What new industry would Hannah LastName start?"
Emily typed "Newspaper" and watched that answer vanish, too.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR VOTE, the screen said.
"What would've happened if I'd answered wrong?" she asked.
"Oh, you'd get the same message," Jake said. "The idiots will never know -- but if they can't answer two basic questions about their chosen candidate, their vote is disqualified."
Emily grinned.
"Brilliant!"
***
Later I'll add a part from the mine...and maybe from when they discover some of the problems of their new voting system.