in whose footsteps I so often find myself walking For Dad
1 I’M AWAITING A TRANSMISSION when the moving van pulls up I can see it through my window The retrofitted tank used to fire mortar rounds but now that we Earthlings no longer fight wars with ourselves the Destination Mars program uses them to move our stuff But I’m not interested in moving I dive out of my desk chair and pull out the custom trunk I built to transport the JICC short for Jameson’s Interplanetary Communication Console I should have guessed that Mom was going to try to sneak-attack me She probably asked for a transfer so that I would have no choice but to leave the JICC behind Secretly I think she’s jealous that I spend more time messaging Dad than I do talking to her but I can’t say for sure Luckily I’ve planned for these kinds of contingencies I pop the trunk’s latches with one hand and initiate the shutdown with the other There’s the emitter to cool down and the high-voltage relay to switch off assuming I don’t want to start an electrical fire and if I don’t ground the antenna the whole thing might not restart I’m halfway through the shutdown protocol when my gaze drifts back over to the window The tank is just sitting there hulking an olive-green monstrosity that’s trying and failing to look friendly I can’t help but scowl until I notice that the men scurrying around like worker ants are lugging boxes out not in I reach blindly for the field glasses on the nightstand Dad used them in Panama before I was even born which means they’re practically antiques but he took such good care of them that they still work almost like new I zoom in on the tank’s ID which starts with KNX I’m not sure which base uses that specific
prefix but I know it isn’t ours If Mom had put in for a transfer they would have sent a tank from right here at Base Ripley prefix RPY Someone’s moving in not out I let out a deep breath and lean back against my desk chair If Mom had made up her mind to move I would’ve had no choice but to go and I would have taken the JICC with me but I wouldn’t have gone willingly I haven’t ventured off the base since we moved in back when I was one or two I haven’t seen a reason to The adrenaline leaks out of me in drips and dribbles so I don’t realize I’m slumping until I accidentally bump the chair and it rolls away from me As I drag myself back to my feet I see the prompt blinking on the screen ANTENNA SUCCESSFULLY GROUNDED DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE I climb back into my chair and type in NO with trembling fingers The monitor fuzzes out for a few seconds and then the cursor pops back up Sighing I punch in RESTART It will take another hour to reconnect to the satellite but an hour’s a lot less than the day it would have taken to reboot the whole system I can only hope that Dad doesn’t try to send a message in the next 59 minutes While the JICC restarts itself I let myself look out the window The tank is still crawling with ant-men but an Electrocar has joined it The Electrocar looks empty but it does explain the family that’s appeared on the sidewalk The man holding the preschooler looks neighborly enough but the girl standing next to them who’s much closer to my age looks the opposite of friendly Her hair’s been wound into two buns that make her look like Mickey Mouse and her jeans are old and frayed A permanent scowl completes her look I’m still staring at the girl when I realize she’s staring back I’m so startled by her gaze that I almost fumble Dad’s field glasses By the time I’ve re-secured them the girl is looking at the ground Jameson a loud voice asks This time I do fumble the field glasses Luckily they land on the carpet with a
soft thunk Why did Mom have to pick this moment to check on me Jameson Mom says again appearing in the hall outside my room Though she’s barely five feet tall she still manages to loom Be careful with your dad’s binoculars I was being careful I reply as I pick them up again The field glasses landed scope side up which is a relief Dad’s been colonizing Mars for the past couple of years but I’m sure he’ll want them back the next time he’s planet-side You shouldn’t play with those Mom says pushing her ash-blond hair behind her shoulder I was using them I say returning the field glasses to my nightstand What were you doing anyway Observing I reply as my eyes flick toward the window But the girl and her family have already gone inside Mom squints out the window Looks like someone’s moving into the Tripathis old place I guess that didn’t take long It never takes long to fill a slot here As the program’s command center Base Ripley is the most secure location in the world Everyone would move in if they could but the base can only feed and shelter seven hundred civilians That’s why it’s limited to astronauts families Mom squats down beside me Did you see who it was Well I don’t know their names I say They’ve only lived here for five minutes What did they look like she asks instead One girl one dad and one small child of uncertain gender They all had black hair and brown skin She nods decisively We should take them a plate of cookies I send her an outraged look But I thought you said we’ve used up our sugar allotment for the month The program only gives us two cups one for me and one for Mom I always save some she replies in case of an emergency
