The lights in the room suddenly dimmed, and behind them the walls lit up with holographic pictures of Mars, so detailed and layered that it seemed you could reach your fingers in and pull out handfuls of the red dust. They were engulfed in a landscape full of enormous mountains, dizzyingly deep craters, and enormous boulders.
A moment later a man entered the room, trailed by a circle of light. A hush fell over the room as they all turned to look at Lamont Bell—midforties, dressed in a slick navy blue suit. He exuded authority, confidence, and excitement.
He laid a tablet down on the desk in front of him, swiped at the screen for a moment or two—completely unfazed by the room full of staring people—and then looked up at them all.
“I know all your faces, but it’s great to meet you all in person. I want to congratulate you again on making it here; we’re very happy to have you. You’ve been selected based not only on your abilities but also on the strength of your character, as we have been able to assess you. We want and need good people for this project. And in this room, we’ve got some of the best. Now, flattery out of the way, let’s get to it.”
He swiped at his tablet. The three-dimensional landscape shifted, its images orbiting around them.
“Let me go over some of what you already know. Mars is a beautiful place. It contains the biggest volcanoes known to exist in the solar system, craters that make the Grand Canyon look like a pothole, breathtaking riverbeds—dry for now, but we hope not forever—and ice fields that stretch for miles.”
As he spoke, he zeroed in on the features he mentioned, each image taking over the expanse of the room, making people literally take in their breath as he toggled from one thing to the next.
“It has all the elements we need to make clothes, plastic, steel, and fuel, and of course—the golden ticket—water. To date, it’s relatively empty of human life, but that will change. We have four hundred and twenty-two people working on Mars, soon to be”—he looked around the room—“four-hundred and thirty-eight. These folks live in one habitat, about the size of a shopping mall.” Now a dollhouse view into an elliptical dome appeared in the center of the room, with floor upon floor exposed: an apartment looking out on a dry landscape with two moons hovering above, a swimming pool, a movie theater. The next image showed a woman growing beans and cabbage under a domed Kevlar ceiling hundreds of yards above her. Then a cheesy image of a couple, each flashing the thumbs-up sign, holding a baby. People tittered.
“We’ve had fourteen marriages to date since the program began, and, so far, nine babies have been born extraterrestrially. We’ve chosen you all with compatibility in mind. I don’t want to be too technical about it, I’m just saying, we think you’ll jell.”
Adri shifted uncomfortably in her seat because she was allergic to jelling.
“It’s truly a magnificent future you are helping to create. One day we’ll have transformed the atmosphere so we can walk and breathe freely anywhere on the planet. One day we’ll leave the domes and take off the helmets. We are counting on you to plant these seeds.
“I’ll be meeting each of you individually. At that point we’ll sign contracts saying that we commit to each other: we commit that we’re happy with you as a recruit and want to keep you, you commit to seeing the expedition through. This is how we protect our investment. In the next two-plus months, you’ll be training with us for your new jobs. But in the meantime, we have a cheesy Vid for you. I’ll see you all at Personal Sessions.”
He started the Vid, the first image—of the shuttle—stretched glowingly above the room, floating three-dimensionally in the air. And then he left the room.
The Vid covered things Adri already knew: technical information about the ship, the chemical makeup of Mars, some major ways the Bubble Habitats functioned, how nature on Mars would one day be possible.
When it was over, the regular overhead lights flickered on, but an image of a one-day terra-formed Martian forest lingered in the center of the room. Adri would miss forests. Suddenly it dawned on her how many things she’d miss.
People lingered and chatted and trickled into the hallway. Across the circle, two people laughed with each other. Self-conscious, Adri tried to follow a group out, but they hovered in the doorway talking, with her awkwardly tacked to their edge. Then someone—Saba, she thought—turned and smiled at her.
Adri tried to think of something to say. She had zero ability to engage in small talk, but she knew she was supposed to jell, so she glanced at the holographic forest and then, grasping for straws, said, “I like nature.”
She wished she could swallow the words, and embarrassment flamed her face. I like nature?
Saba just looked confused, and Adri tried to pretend she was bored.
“See you,” she muttered irritably, then slid past the group and out the door.
On the way home, Adri insisted on driving. Lily’s maps didn’t work, and they got lost leaving the city. They drove past the Endangered Animals Habitat, which Lily kept calling the zoo, and the same government buildings two or three times. Finally Adri managed to weave into the outskirts: green suburbs full of pleasant old houses.
Lily looked out the window, hmming and huhing to herself, clearly turning something over in her mind.
“What?” Adri asked finally, irritated. She’d tried to shake off the embarrassment back at the Center. But now she was only annoyed with herself.
“Well, I don’t know how you all do it,” Lily said. “I don’t even know why you’d want to go to Mars in the first place.”
“I want to do something that means something,” Adri shot back, more tersely than she meant to. She took a breath and let it out. “People may need to live on Mars someday soon.”
Lily nodded politely. She looked a little disinterested, or at least it seemed that way. “Huh,” she said.
“It’s like starting the world over,” Adri pressed, trying to drive the point home, “but with more brains. Like doing it right.”
Lily thought for a minute. “I’m just wondering who you’re saving the world for. Since you don’t seem that into people.”
Adri cast a blank glance at her then turned her eyes back to the road.
“I’m just saying it’s a big sacrifice,” Lily mused. “It’s a loving act.”
Adri tried to think how to express herself. “It serves our interests to rely on each other. Love is a survival mechanism; it’s evolution.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Oh geez.”
It irked Adri that Lily didn’t get that Colonists were envied by everyone, and deserved to be envied.
“There are huge perks,” she said, her hands tense on the steering wheel. “I’ll get to live for hundreds of years.”
“Psh. You couldn’t pay me a million dollars to live that long.” Lily pushed her hands through the air as if pushing away a gift.
“Well that’s good, because they only want younger people,” Adri shot back.
Lily looked amused, as if she didn’t know they were arguing. “Well and what’s so great about younger people?” she teased.