On a well-settled Mars, the five
major city Council regimes struggle to meld into a stable, working government.
Embracing an official Unified Faith In Humanity, the Councils are teetering on
the verge of pogrom directed against Christians, Molesters , Jews, Rapists,
Buddhists, Murderers, Muslims, Thieves, Hindu, Embezzlers and Artificial Humans
– anyone who threatens the official Faith and the consolidating power of the
Councils. It makes good sense, right – get rid of religion and Human divisiveness
on a societal level will disappear? An instrument of such a pogrom might just
be a Roman holiday...To see the rest of the chapters and I’m sorry, but a number of them got
deleted from the blog – go to SCIENCE FICTION: Martian Holiday on the
right and scroll to the bottom for the first story. If you’d like to read it
from beginning to end (26,000 words as of now), drop me a line and I’ll send
you the unedited version.
Aster Theilen
took the most direct route to the Mayor’s Aerie – no one stopped her. No one
slowed her down. By the time she reached the Apex – the part of the Aerie that
poked through the dome – she was unsurprised when the door stood open. She stood
for a moment on the threshold when she heard his distant voice. “Come on in,
Aster!” said his secretary.
She was a
vividly purple Artificial Human, smiled and nodded. Aster said, “FardusAH! How
are you today?”
FardusAH’s face
lit up as she said, “Hey, woman! What brings you here today?” He eyes darted
right, accessing the eye-implant data screen and she nodded. “Ah.” She frowned
and said, “You don’t have to work anymore, woman? Why would you want to?”
Aster raised an
eyebrow. He’d gotten to her applications, too, eh? “I was raised by a dad who
made sure my brother and I were violently allergic to getting a free ride to
anywhere.” FardusAH nodded, wide-eyed. Aster continued, “I think I’ve got a
couple of things to discuss with his Honor, the Mayor.”
FardusAH said, “Nothing
gets through that doesn’t have a priority flag. Would that there were more
workers in the party.”
Aster said, “Sounds
like a mantra.”
FardusAH
feigned horror and said, “If I was a Buddhist, it would be. But I’m a
programmed member of the Unified Faith In Humanity.” She waved Aster through. “You
can see the Mayor now.”
Aster walked
into the office. The wall screen blinked off, but she still knew it was Hanam
vo’Maddux who’d been there. The Mayor’s Chief of Security had glanced at Aster
and while she didn’t think the other woman had seen her, she wouldn’t be
surprised if she knew Aster was there.
Mayor Etaraxis
stood to greet her and they hugged and he kissed her before they sat down. He
was famed for being honest and direct, so he said, “Why would you want to work
when you can just party? That is one
of the perks of being the Mayor’s Consort, you know.”
“Like I said to
FardusAH – Dad raised us to be workers, not riders.”
He nodded, “I’d
have liked FardusAH’s comment better if it hadn’t had religious overtones.” He sat
back and studied her and said, “What is it you’d want to do?”
“My old job,
Sir?”
He snorted then
said, “Sorry, I don’t want job-envy stirring up the hornet’s nest of the unattached
assistant’s pool. They get enough drama from their every-day lives without me
giving them some real ammunition! Aster glanced up at the view screen and
Etaraxis scowled then said, “vo’Maddux doesn’t like you much, does she?”
Aster paused,
considered, then said, “She think she would be a better Mayoral Consort than
Chief of Security.”
“I know.”
“Why don’t you
promote her then?”
“I’d sooner
sleep with a furry anaconda.”
“I thought they
were a Martian myth?”
“Unfortunately,”
he sighed, “They aren’t. They are quite real, hideously deadly, and nearly
impossible to trap.” He paused, adding, “Remarkably like my Chief of Security.”
He shook his head, “No, sleeping with anacondas has no appeal to me.” He turned
a bit, tapped his desk screen, studied it for a while then said, “But if you insist on working, I have a tough
geode I’ve been trying to crack for six years.”
Aster looked
up, suddenly tense. “What’s that?”
“Make my
fundraiser for the Orphan Fund something that people want to contribute to – it’s
an ugly issue...but I feel that Humanity made tried to meddle with the genome
to create true Martians and we were left with a legacy of twisted Humans and we
need to do something about it. The undercity is beginning to look Post-Industrial
England.”
“Dickens-ish.”
He stared at
her with an open mouth. “I’ve never met anyone on Mars who could parse my
reference!”
“I did, Sir. My
dad had me and my brother read all of Dicken’s short stories and between the
two of us, we got through everything except TALE OF TWO CITIES, though I read
it as an adult and amused myself by memorizing the actual first sentence. I can
say it if you’d like?” She smiled sweetly.
Etaraxis held up
both hands, laughing. “I’d like to meet this man who makes his children read
Dickens!”
Aster smiled, “I
think that can be arranged, Sir.”
He nodded, “And
I think I’ve gotten myself an irreplaceable new fund-raising coordinator.” He
paused, adding, “Depending on how well you pull this one off.”
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