Out
A series about Mars
by Daniel
E. Machado
Chapter 4
Stuffing a yawn into his fist Fred still
finds himself leaning against a dwarf redwood just outside Atlantis Corp,
instead of in bed where he belongs. His handtablet chiming a livelink request
at 02:14 Local was enough to wreck Fred’s night, but Blade’s worried expression,
not to mention the tangle of blonde hair down around her face, had really
thrown Fred's thought processes for a loop.
"Fredy, will you share quarters with
Roselene and me on out to Mars?"
Fortunately Fred’s brain farts, giving
Blade ample time to lay out her twisted plot; a plot specifically excluding
any and all forms of sexual interaction.
"But," Her sexy bed-disheveled image
had smiled. "It’s got to be a whole lot better than berthing up in Crew.
I mean, don’t you have to share a bunk with a ship’s crewman, or something?"
"Yah." Fred remembers mumbling. "A
hot-bunk berth."
That thought and that thought alone
is the only explanation Fred finds for standing out in D-Section’s main
mall at 07:00 Local. An entire year playing musical bunks with a stranger
who may or may not turn out to be the biggest asshole to ever draw breath.
Strong motivation to consider a few small restrictions in his personal
freedom in exchange for a dramatic increase in his personal comfort. Now,
as to whether Blade’s crazy scheme will actually work, that’s a different
story.
"Fredy?" Blade’s voice shatters Fred’s
sleepy muse. Looking up he finds Blade leading Roselene out of Atlantis
Corp's quarters. They remind him of clones, or maybe fractaled twins; one
a third-power smaller than the other. Two extremely beautiful, almost identical
faces, each with wide blue eyes and high round cheek, and their hair pulled
back into short identical blonde ponytails; Roselene's plus bangs. Both
in identical crisp sky-blue Atlantis Corp jumpers.
"So, you didn’t worm out on us?"
Blade’s smile quickly bolsters Fred’s
groggy resolve.
"Nope. You know us Davii. We often
confuse stupidity with stubbornness."
Blade's smile grows even wider.
Yes, Blade's smile really helps Fred
a lot.
"Well, let’s go then." Blade leads
Roselene across the D-section common. The small leggy girl seems accustomed
to her mother’s pace, her tiny pant legs swishing briskly at two steps
to her mother's one. Fred finds himself nearly straining to keep up.
"Now, I already have a copy of our
current Lineage Certifications and all our Genetic Comparisons." Blade
waves her handtablet up over her shoulder at Fred. "So I made an appointment
with TransOrbital last night right after we got offline. I talked to my
people at Atlantis Corp and they said that as long as they’re not directly
involved they really don’t care what sort of transportation arrangements
I make."
"Even ones that include personnel
from other corporations?" Fred asks finally finding his pace.
"As long as you’re not contracted
to one of the other Martian bio-production or power-tower corporations
they could care less. How about AeroDynamic?"
Roselene quietly attends the adult
conversation above, somewhat confused by this sudden unexpected commotion
after all her mother’s careful planning .
"AeroDyn says that if I can arrange
for alternate passage they’d be more than happy to reassign my hot-berth."
"Then, everything's go?"
"Looks like." A smile cracks Fred’s
face for the first time today. "When's our appointment with TransOrbital?"
"07:45. We’ve got about forty minuets."
Blade looks down at her handtablet. "It’ll take us about fifteen minutes
to get to TransOrbital’s Assignments office. Think we should get some breakfast
first?"
"At the very least." Fred nods.
"I want to go to McDonalds!" Roselene
pipes up. "I want a Happy Breakfast."
"Better let her." Fred leans in. "The
Burger King's and Pizza Hut's get sort of scarce from here on out."
"Okay. But I want you to know, I really
hate that stuff. Intentionally ingesting processed food is totally beyond
me."
Having located her favorite franchise
vendors before leaving their quarters this morning, something Roselene
wishes she’d done last night before dinner, the small girl leads both grownups
straight to the nearest McDonalds. Either of them could have just as easily
found the place in seconds, but both let the girl lead. Blade because she
likes to let her daughter take command whenever practical, and Fred because
he figures he’s just along for the ride.
At the familiar red and yellow children’s
cafeteria with playful holotoons frolicking around its enclosed jumble
of kinetic learning toys Fred quickly consumes two roboticly prepared breakfast
sandwiches, several small packages of hash browns, and three refills of
creamy sweetened coffee. Slowly Fred's body feels somewhat more satisfied
with the morning. And as they eat, Blade continues to rehearse them.
"Now, tell it to me again?"
"Mommy!" Roselene squints up, this
meal like her last looking more disrupted than consumed. "We already know
it!"
"I'm sure you do, Sweety, but tell
me again anyway."
"Oh… all right. Let’s see… Cousin
Fred is Grandma’s…" Roselene’s eyes rolls up in thought. "Grandma’s grand-nephew
and I’ve known him ever since I was way little."
"Very young." Her mother corrects.
"Way young." Roselene grins back.
"Okay, stinker." Blade squints down.
"So tell me; why we want cousin Fred to quarter out with us to Mars?"
"Well, because he’s really nice and
because we really like him." Roselene recites quickly, sending Fred’s grin
nearly convulsing into a snicker. "And, because Cousin Fred is almost like
my uncle Larry."
"And, you sir." Blade notes Fred’s
amusement with apparent disdain. "What are your intentions?"
"Well," He grins. "You and me, we
grew up together; sort of." Fred winks down at Roselene.
"Fred." Blade's brow knots at him.
"Oh, all right." Fred continues in
a quick bored monotone. "So, because we’re all such close family, and can
easily pass the minimum genetics requirement, and are all going out to
Mars on the Flying Jib, we are entitled to and therefore
request a collective upgrade into Family Quarters."
"And, have you any other intentions
toward your long lost cousin?" Blade plays devil's advocate. TransOrbital’s
shrinks will be evaluating the archive inputs, and they’ve been known to
stress challenge un-married couples before quartering them in Family.
"Oh, no." Fred waves his hands in
front of him as if refusing rancid meat. "Heaven forbid! No, why my cousin
Blade is just like first-family to me. We’re almost like siblings. Why,
I even changed her diapers once way back when she pissed..."
"Fred! This is serious!"
"Yah, yah. I know. But, Roselene’s
right. We both already know all this stuff, so relax. This'll either work
or it won’t. There's nothing left to do but do it."
"Yah, Mommy. Let’s go."
"Okay, but you two just better remember,
this next hour could mean the difference between living next year somewhere
down comfy in some great big roomy .5g cabin, or up in a tiny little .3g
closet. Or worse." Blade squints at Fred. "Now, you two with me on this,
or what?"
"Yes, Mommy."
"Yes, Ma’am."
"Good." Blade smiles back. "So, pick
up your trays and let’s go."