Moving Mars (19 page)

I felt wrapped in luxury, examining my private cabintwo meters by three by two, private vapor bag and vacuum toilet. If I wanted, I could turn almost the entire cabin into a LitVid screen and be surrounded by any scenery I chose.

I pulled out the desk, ported my slate, and selected my scheme. The desk became the color and texture of stone and wood with gold inlay. I ran my fingers along the tactile surface; the sensations of polished oak, cold marble, and smooth metal were flawless.

It was traditional for passengers to gather for the boost. I wanted to have a seat, so I quickly unpacked my few things and went aft.

Allen Pak-Lee followed and hooked himself to a seat beside me. Nervous? he asked.

I dont think so, I said.

God, I am. Dont misunderstand. I have a lot of respect for Bithras. But hes very demanding. I took a brief from his assistant on the last trip. He said he spent several months in hell. There was a crisis and Bithras insisted on hogging the waves.

Bithras returned to the lounge and sat beside us with a curt nod. Damn them, he said.

Who? I inquired.

This ship reeks of progress, he said.

The lounge filled as the gong sounded. The steward, with the aid of a few slim, graceful octoped arbeiters, served drinks and explained the procedure to the uninitiated. The boost would be comfortable, no more than one-third g. For a few hours, we would have a lazy sense of up and down. Actually, one-third g was just below Mars standardnot quite full weight for a red rabbit.

The passengers in the lounge who had claimed seats settled in, and those who drifted found grips and hooks and arranged for a place to drop their feet. I looked them over curiously our companions for eight months. One family would be in our cylinder, a handsome man and woman with a daughter whom I judged to be about seventeen Earth years oldnative Terries, by their appearance. The daughter, too beautiful to be completely natural, played with a faux mouse.

Acre looked at the ceremonial wristwatch on his left arm, raised his hand, and we counted backwards

At five, the ship vibrated like a struck bell. At four, the ceiling projected a full-width view aft. Everybody looked up, jaws gaping. The drive funnels flexed. A methane-oxygen kicker motor would take us out of Martian orbit.

Streamers of violet played against the blackness and the limb of sunrise Mars: warmup and test. Then the kicker fired full thrust, throwing a long orange cone that quickly turned translucent blue.

Gently, we acquired weight. The weight grew until it almost felt as if we were on Mars again. The unseated passengers laughed and stood on the floor, and a few even did a little jig, slapping hands.

We severed our bonds with the world of my birth.

In my cabin, just before sleep, I studied diagrams from the ships operations manual, things I normally wouldnt give dust for Charles would, however, and I felt again a perverse obligation to think about him. I attributed these thoughts to simple fright and homesickness.

Twelve of the passengers in our cylinder would enter warm sleep after the ship had extended its booms for cruising. That would leave twenty-three of us awake for the entire voyage mostly Martians, ten female, thirteen male, six of them eligible, though I suspected, given contemporary Earth attitudes, even the unaccompanied and married males were fair game for travel liaisons. I was not interested, however.

I did not feel any immediate affection for Allen, and Bithras was still a threatening ciphernot so much a human being as an unfulfilled potential for difficulty. I had never been exceptionally gregarious, a reaction to my diverse and noisy blood relations, and even now was avoiding a First Night Out mixer in the lounge and dining cabin

Chemical reaction motors and ion thrusters, used to direct the craft out of planetary orbit and accelerate to just below cruising speed, leave negligible amounts of debris. However, the plume of fusion-heated reaction mass from the main drive contains radioactive engine-surface ablation. The fusion drive must be fired with due regard for vehicles which may cross these orbits for as long as four days afterward, as required by Triple Navigational Standards

The ship would switch on its main drives ten million kilometers out from Mars.

Solar wind must be able to clear all fusion debris from a region ten million kilometers above and below the plane within two weeks (the manual informed me). This gives sufficient leeway for most times of the solar cycle, but at periods of minimum solar activity, debris may not be cleared for as long as forty-five days, and special permission from Triple Navigation Control must be obtained if fusion-driven ships are to be launched in this period.

Colorful 3-D diagrams unfolded in the air to supplement the text.

Earth-Mars passages launched when the planets are not in their most favorable configurations require more fusion boosts and higher speeds. Elongated, faster ship coursesas opposed to fatter and slower coursestake liners within the orbit of Venus, and occasionally within the orbit of Mercury, with greater exposure to solar radiation. Medical nano has advanced to where radiation damage in passengers can be repaired quickly and efficiently, eliminating ill effects from even the closest sun-graving passages

What if I wasnt cut out for space flight? I had passed the examinations well enoughbut there were instances of space-intolerant passengers having to be sedated if warm sleep cubicles werent available.

Eight months of horror seemed to stretch before me. The cabin closed in, the air tasted stale. I imagined Bithras pawing me. I would clobber him. He wouldnt be nearly as understanding as he should be, and I would be fired before reaching Earth. I would have no option but to return at the next available opportunity, another ten or even twelve months in space I would go insane and start screaming. The ships medical arbeiter would pump me full of drugs and I would enter that horrid state described in pop LitVids, caught between worlds, mind drifting free of my body with nowhere to go, away from the humanized spheres, forced to consort with elder monstrosities.

I started to giggle. The elder monstrosities would find me inexpressibly boring and reject me. Absolutely nobody and nothing to talk to, career ruined, I would end up counseling asteroid miners in how to program their prosthetutes for more lifelike behavior.

The giggles turned to laughter. I rolled over in my bunk and stifled the noise. The laughter was not pleasantit sounded forced and harsh-but it was effective. I rolled on my back, fears quelled.

Acre and his fellow steward in charge of the opposite cylinder held a party for Half-Degree Day. Acre was a master at giving parties; he never seemed bored, was never at a loss for polite conversation. His only time alone came when the rest of the passengers were asleep. His sole defense seemed to be a certain blankness that did not encourage long conversations. I was pretty sure he wasnt an Earth-made android, but the suspicion never passed completely.

Passengers gathered in the lounge from both cylinders, still mingling freely, and watched Mars become the size of Earths Moon, as seen from Earth. The Terrestrials found the sight entrancing, and there were songs of Harvest Mars, though the planet was only one-third full. The Captain broke out a glass bottle of French champagne, one of five, he said.

The young girl introduced herself to me at breakfast on our third day out; her name was Orianna, and her parents were citizens of the United States and Eurocon. Her face fascinated me. Eyes uplifted at the corners, slightly asymmetric, pupils the fiery red-brown color of Arcadia opal, her skin flawless multiracial brown, she seemed perfectly at home in micro-g and floated like a cat. She recommended the best sims available on the ship, and seemed amused when I told her I didnt go in for sims.

Martians are lovely curious, she said. Youll be a big draw on Earth. Terries love Martians.

I was prepared not to like Orianna very much.

For the first week, Bithras spent much of his time exercising, working in his cabin, or waiting impatiently to communicate with Mars. He rarely even spoke to us. Allen and I spent some time in each others company at first, exercising or studying together, but we did not hit it off personally, and soon drifted to other passengers for conversation.

I knew the public interior of our cylinder fore and aft, and despite my reticence, had spoken to almost everybody. Not much chance of shipboard romance; the men were all older than me, and none seemed interesting; all, like Bithras, were movers and shakers and much absorbed in things they really couldnt talk about.

I fantasized being aboard an immigrant ship, with men of diverse background, whose hidden pasts they would suddenly feel the urge to confess Dangerous people, intriguing, passionate.

Mounted on the hull was a four-meter telescope, kept collapsed and hidden away for the first few million kilometers, then unfurled for the use of passengers. I had signed up for a few hours. The free hours aboard Tuamotu were wonderful for catching up on subjects I had neglected, including astronomy.

The viewing station for our cylinder was in the observation lounge, a small cubicle with room for four. I had hoped to study alone, try my hand at celestial navigation and object finding, tracking a few of the near stars known to have planetary systems. I wanted to rediscover at least the most prominent and closest examples. But in the lounge I met Orianna.

Point-blank, she asked if she could join me. I havent signed up, and its full for a week! she said plaintively. I love astronomy. Id like to transform and go to the stars She separated her hands a few centimeters, suggesting the proposed size of humans designed for interstellar migration. Would you mind?

I did, but Martian manners kept me polite. I said of course she could join me, and with a smile, she did.

She was adept with the controls and ruined my game by tracking all my chosen objects expertly within a few minutes. I expressed my admiration.

Its nothing, she said. My parents gave me seven different enhancements. If I want, I can play nearly all musical instruments with just a few days practicenot like the best, of course, but enough to pass as a talented amateur. In a few years, if they make it legal, I could install a mini-thinker.

Doesnt it bother you, having so many talents? I asked.

Orianna curled into a ball and with one finger flicked herself upside down in relation to me. Her toe caught on a bar and she stopped spinning. Im used to it. Even on Earth, some people think my parents and I have gone too far. Ive asked for things, theyve given them to me I have to really ramp down to make friends.

Are you ramped down now? I asked.

You bet. I dont show off, ever. Good way to spoil any chance of connecting. Youre a natural, arent you?

I nodded.

Some of my friends would envy you. The chance to just be what you are. But it would slow me down too much. Do you ever feel slow?

I laughed. She was too ethereal to resent much, or for long. All the time, I said.

Then why not enhance? I mean, its possible, even on Mars. And youre from Majumdar, the finance BM arent you?

The inflection of her last question told me she knew very well I was from Majumdar.

Yes. How long have you been on Mars?

Just time for turnaround. Two months. We came on a fast passage, inside Venus. My parents had never been to Mars. My folks thought we should see what Mars and the Moon are really like. Camay. In the flesh.

Did you like it?

Its wonderful, she said. Such defiance. Beautiful, really. Like the whole planet is just hitting puberty.

I had never heard it described that way. Martians tended to think of themselves as old and established, perhaps confusing our own brief past with the planets obvious age. Where did you visit?

We were invited to stay in half a dozen towns and cities. We even went to a handful of extreme stations, new ones settled by immigrant Terries. My father and mother know quite a few Eloi. We didnt get to Again the introspective pause. Ylla or Jiddah. Thats your home, isnt it?

What are you referencing? I asked. My home address wasnt on the open manifest.

I sucked in the public directories, Orianna said. I havent dumped them yet.

Why would you want to do that? Any slate can carry them.

I dont use a slate, she said. I take it direct. No separation. I love being dipped.

Dipped?

She wrapped her arms around herself. Immersed. Its like I just go away, and theres only information and processing, pure and swift.

Oh.

Learning distilled into an essence. Education means being.

Oh. I closed my mouth.

I think I came on sharp for most Martians. I negged quite a few my own age, even. Martians are fashion locked, arent they?

Some think so.

You?

Im pretty conservative, I suppose.

She unfolded long arms and legs and gripped the holds in the booth with uncanny grace. I dont like anybody on the ship, for partners, I mean, she said. Do you?

No, I said.

Have you had many partners?

You mean, lovers?

She smiled wisely, anciently. Thats a good word, but not always accurate, is it?

A few, I said, hoping she would take a hint and not pry.

My parents were part of the early partner program. Ive been partnering since I was ten. Do you think thats too early?

I hid my shock; I had heard about early partnering, but it had certainly never taken on Mars. We think childhood is for children, I said.

Believe me, Orianna said, I havent been a child since I was five. Does that bother you?

You first had sex when you were ten? This conversation was making me very uncomfortable.

No! I havent had physical sex at all.

Sim? I asked meekly.

Sometimes. Partnering oh, I see your confusion. I mean sharing closeness mentally, finding so many kinds of pleasure together. I like whole-life sims. Ive experienced two Very expanding. So I know all about sex, of course. Even sex thats not physically possible. Sex between four-dimensional human forms. Suddenly she looked distressed, and she had such a charismatic presence that I immediately wanted to apologize, do anything to make her happy. My God, I thought. A planet full of people like her.