MARTIAN HOLIDAY 143: Aster of Opportunity

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 (100,000+ words as of now), drop me a line and I’ll send you the unedited version.

In the crowded restaurant, Aster Theilen caught the eye of her friend and fellow-conspirator, FardusAH, leaning forward. FardusAH mirrored her stance. Aster whispered, “The game is called a confidence trick, or a ‘con’. The nut is here.” She opened her fist. “I slipped it out while I was shuffling the cups.”

“That’s…”

“If you were going to say ‘cheating’, that’s not entirely true. Every gamble requires taking a risk. But if the con artist is good enough, they can make the gambler believe whatever they want them to believe.” She leaned closer, “That’s why a good con takes lots of planning – and inside people.”

FardusAH leaned back, studying the Mayoral Consort. After several moments, she said, “Remind my never to play poker with you.” With a mirrored nod, they stood up and headed to their separate homes. Aster headed for the Surface lift while FardusAH headed for the Deeper lift. Her friend disappeared into one of the fast moving cars, but Aster had stopped, watching, abruptly startled by the thought that while she was certainly taking a risk with attempting to deceive Mayor-for-Life Etaraxis, to whom she was the current consort, FardusAH was taking the greater risk.

The import of her plan took her breath away for a moment. If she failed, certainly she would be punished, possibly even executed.

If FardusAH was even suspected of being complicit, not only would she be executed – “put down” as if she were a cancer-riddled old-fashioned Earth “pet” – but her entire issue of vat mates would also be located and destroyed. Thought patterns that led to true rebellion, Aster had been taught since she was old enough to listen, were purely genetic. Of course they could be influenced by environment, diet, and training, but clones grown in vats who rebelled against their managers were clearly defective. Aster felt as if a great weight had been lad across her shoulders. She looked around and found a public rest area.

Sitting abruptly, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply for several seconds. When she opened her eyes, her surroundings had come into focus so sharply the edges seemed made from shattered glass. While she was under the Mayor’s charge, she had a certain amount of freedom. Certainly, refusing the Mayor’s offer to be his consort had been her choice. But it was a choice made aware of possible consequences, disappointment of those around her had been a possibility. He might have been angry enough to have her harassed or stalked; she might have lost her job. The Strong Mayor system of government on Mars had been in place for over a century – he had authority to act within the law and be responsible to no one.

Even so, she hadn’t really thought that her life was in danger at any point. FardusAH’s cooperation was going to come to light eventually. If the Orphan’s Ball didn’t cause a paradigm shift in the politics of Opportunity Dome, in the religion of the Dome, then her life and the lives of all of her vatmates would be forfeit.

Aster might lose her life. FardusAH would lose hers for certain; those she both knew and didn’t know who shared the same germ plasm would be sterilized. She would vanish from history.

Aster stood up slowly. It seemed there was only one choice then. She had to stop being timid and start to make bold choices. She had to risk as much as FardusAH was. For some reason she trusted Aster; for some reason she felt that what Aster planned to do would make a difference. If what Aster did shattered the stranglehold grip “natural Humans” had over cloned Humans on Mars, then it would be revolution. It would change the face of Mars. Her pulse roared in her ears as she headed for the lift.

Was this where God had called her? To change the face of a world; to make a difference in the lives of Artificial Humans? While her life was limited on Mars, mostly because she was less interested in the sciences and math than many other women, she’d never really found a calling. It was how she drifted into government office work. While she’d applied for higher positions, none of them had ever materialized; her father had always suspected it was because she was his daughter.

But what if it was more? She’d been gifted with NOT the consortship with Etaraxis, but with an opportunity to wield poser for the first time in her life! On Earth, Inez Milholland Boissevain had fought and died for the rights of women to vote; FardusAH was risking her life for Artificial Human children. Her father risked his life for his faith.

How would her personal history remember her? What had she seriously risked her life for? Up until this moment, she’d been only semi-serious about her rebellion.

Now, it seemed, the moment had arrived. It was time for her to do something important for Mars; it was time to do something important for herself.

Image: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pv5BzHM3TJ8/hqdefault.jpg