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
I follow Mom down the hall through the dining room and into the kitchen It doesn’t take long I can walk the length of the whole house in fifteen or twenty steps Mom whips up the cookies while I heat up yesterday’s soup She won’t let me anywhere near them probably because she doesn’t trust me not to snitch some of the dough As soon as we’ve gulped down some of our lukewarm minestrone we slide on our solar jacks short for solar-resistant jackets and shuffle out the door Mine crinkles like the brittle grass we have to crunch across The program keeps saying they’ll replace it but they’ve been saying that for years Not that I blame them for delaying They’re kind of busy settling Mars to ensure humanity’s survival Besides if they did plant new grass it would probably just die too Do we really have to wear these things I ask pointing at my solar jack Halfway down Armstrong Street the Cooper twins are playing hide-and-seek in their front yard without their solar jacks and even Abbott Nash who has celiac disease and some kind of skin condition is playing astronauts and aliens in the middle of his driveway also without his solar jack I don’t know Mom says too brightly Do you really want to get sun poisoning But it’s almost sunset I reply as beads of sweat drip down my back It only feels like 85 down from the day’s high in the mid-nineties Abbott doesn’t have his solar jack I’m not Abbott’s mom I’m yours and I say we’re wearing them A sharp wind whips down the street sneaking through the ventilation slits built into my solar jack ruffling the strawlike hairs that aren’t plastered to my neck Mom says it used to freeze this time of year in Minnesota where Base Ripley is located She’s even described this stuff called snow I’m not sure I believe her though It sounds too much like a fairy tale We approach the Tripathis old place which looks exactly like our house and every other one on Base Ripley The tank has disappeared but the new Electrocar is still parked along the curb It makes the house look alien like
someone from the outside lives there now The Tripathis old grass is just as dead as ours is but Mom still makes us walk around the lawn and up the driveway The east side of Armstrong Street sits slightly higher than the west so the driveway’s less of a driveway and more of an inclined plane It doesn’t take long for my shins to start burning Once we reach the porch Mom stops Do you want to do the knocking or the talking The knocking I reply I’m not here to make new friends I just want to drop these cookies off and get back over to the JICC She motions toward the door All right then Go ahead I squeeze my hand into a fist then before I can chicken out thump the door once in the middle I lower my fist but no one bothers to answer Even if they didn’t hear me I don’t want to knock again I’m just starting to think I should have agreed to do the talking when the bio lock hums softly there are thumb pads on both sides and the door swings slowly inward I was hoping for the dad but it’s the angry-looking girl Mom puts on her kilowatt smile Are your parents here she asks Mom’s not and Dad’s busy I may not be an expert on interpersonal communication but I know a brushoff when I hear one I start to turn around but before I can retreat Mom holds out the plate of cookies Then we’ll give these to you Mom says When the girl just stands there glaring Mom hurries to add We’re the O’Malleys by the way I’m Mina and this is Jameson We live across the street The girl pokes the plastic wrap camouflaging the cookies Are these chocolate chip she asks They’re butter cookies Mom replies But I made them with sugar grown right here in our shadehouses I’m not sure why Mom thinks the sugar’s origins will be a selling point Ever since the sun turned on us everything is grown in the shadehouses
