The school doors slid open upon recognition of Astrid’s fingertips as she pushed them out of her way. Back in her role as ‘girl on a mission’, she strode toward the computer room, with Jodi almost running along behind her.
Lights glowed brighter as they entered the room. Motion sensors. Jodi registered the fact distantly as she settled herself in front of the wallscreen. Astrid tapped into action. She plugged Jodi’s drive into the unit built into the desktop and clicked the prompts to set it running.
Jodi waited patiently until her code appeared on the screen.
“So I saved your program to a different stick in case you didn’t like my work. Then I tried to figure out what you needed. Something to scrape and clean arteries, right?”
Astrid nodded, her eyes scanning the lines of script on the screen.
“I figure you’ve basically created a tiny, weeny, cleaner bot right? So I pretty much cloned the instructions for Anphobosite cleaner bots.”
Astrid’s mouth fell open and she transferred her full attention to Jodi.
“I know!” She raised her hands to fend off Astrid’s words. “It may be a simplistic approach, but we can change it and refine it according to what you need. We just have a really good base to work from now.”
Large hazel eyes blinked slowly closed. Astrid drew a deep breath through her nostrils before she started speaking in a slow, exaggerated fashion. “You got cleaner bot programming?”
“Ye-es … but I …”
The eyes opened again. “How did you get that?”
“Oh … well … yes … that. It wasn’t that hard. I figured it’s only cleaner bot programming. I’m not like, stealing state secrets or anything. And I did warn you that I was being a bit evil … sort of.” She gulped and rushed on. “But if we change it enough, nobody will recognise it. Well, it’s highly unlikely they will, especially if they’re just physics teachers and not, ummm, council programmers or something.”
Astrid’s perfectly formed mouth spread ever so slowly, to become a giant smile. “You’ve been here less than a month …”
“Less than a fortnight, actually …”
A finger waved her quiet. “Let me finish. You’ve been here less than a month, and you’ve hacked city programming work and cloned cleaner bot programs to help me with a physics project?”
Jodi grinned. “And I get more than five minutes of hot water per shower!”
“HA!” Astrid started laughing and clapping her hands. “Oh,” she sniffled and delicately wiped her eyes. “That’s too perfect!”
“Well, not exactly perfect. It could be better. I was thinking we could actually merge bits of bot programs. Give your little machine some super powers.” She shrugged. “But it’s your bot, so only if you want.”
When she’d gathered her wits and found some words, Astrid blinked at Jodi, for all the world a playful kitten who’d just found a vat of cream. “Teach me.”
Other than her near-death-almost-space-crash, there were not many moments in Jodi’s life she considered mind bending. Certainly none that she thought she might like to keep forever. But shocking and impressing Astrid Forbes – she of the perfect face and gigantic brain – well, that was a keeper.
Jodi smiled as her fingers began their work on the supersensitive keyboard. She was almost instantly in the zone. The second she started, her anger from the previous night sparked up. She had things to prove, and now seemed like a good time to start.
* * *
“So, you want to go gaming, shopping or picnicking?” Astrid had turned out to be a fast learner. No surprises there. What had surprised Jodi was how much fun it was to work with her. They’d fallen almost instantly into the kind of camaraderie that only appears when people combine their focus. That’s what she’d loved most about her house of hats. That sense of fit.
Jodi unplugged her stick drive and spun around on her chair to face her protégé. “Enough screens, no money, no food.”
“You Eartherners! So difficult to please!”
“Besides, it’s late.” She checked the clock, still unable to tell time by the light inside Anphobos. “Mum will start fretting if I don’t get home soon.”
Truth be told, if her mum and dad were fighting again, her mum probably wouldn’t notice if she walked in at midnight wearing a nanotat and a gaming console for a head.
“You could ring her and come to my place for dinner.”
Jodi shrugged. Somehow, sitting down to a meal with Mary Forbes was not entirely appetising.
“Nah. I should go home. Besides, my phone is out of credit.”
Astrid tilted her head and waggled her eyebrows. “Did ET phone home?”
“Ha! I wish!”
Astrid grinned, “I’d lend you mine but …” She waggled her finger at her ear.
“You Anphobosites! So selfish!”
Astrid giggled. “That’s not fair. If I could take the chips out of me and put them in you I would. You really should get at least a phone chip you know. It’s painless, not even like getting a piercing.”
“I wouldn’t know.” Jodi did not ask how much Astrid knew about piercings. “Maybe one day. I don’t like the feeling of having alien things in my body.”
Astrid laughed out loud at that. “I am an alien. That makes the technology pieces of me! Seriously though, please let me do something. I need to say thank you.”
Jodi threw her the drive she’d been tap-tapping on her thigh.
“You can say ‘thank you’ when I need help with something, okay?”
Astrid nodded and her raven hair slipped back and forth past her jawline.
“Sure. Don’t think I’ll forget, though. I’ll pay you back when you least expect it.”
“That could be fun. I’m getting better with surprises.”
They walked in companionable silence through the school. Lights dimmed to darkness behind them as they went. The streetscape glowed gently blue and Jodi stopped at the top of the travelator to look.
“It’s still weird, you know.”
For the first time since their meeting, Astrid’s features softened. “No. I don’t know. But I’m sorry it feels strange for you. Do you think one day it will feel like home for you?”
Jodi felt her shoulders slump. In the two or three hours they’d just spent together, they’d laughed, joked, teased and admired each other’s work. Somehow, she’d learned not to ask after Astrid’s dad and Astrid had wheedled information from her about her past life on Earth. They’d bonded. Shoulder to shoulder, with barely a glance away from the flat screen. And now, the person who’d done more to make her feel safe on this weird planet, with its red dust and blue glow, had looked her straight in the eye and empathised.
If her father had used Astrid’s words on her mother, they would be on friendly, perhaps even speaking terms by now. Somehow a virtual stranger had found perfect words, when two lovers – at least she presumed her parents were still at least a little in love – could find no common ground.
She didn’t answer Astrid’s question. She blinked, gulped and threw her arm around Astrid’s shoulders. That would have to do. Unlike her father, she wasn’t going to make any false promises.
Neither of them spoke again until they were on the monorail. Astrid led her along like the dislocated puppy she felt. A hand to turn or move her onto the path and out of the way of oncoming travel pods. A nudge and a nod in the direction of some cute guy slouching against a tree trunk. Until finally, she was led by the hand to her own front stairs.
“You didn’t have to bring me all the way home. I can find my way from the station.”
“I know you can. I felt like walking you home. My mum will be busily preparing, organising and obsessing. I’ll just be in her way.”
It was a hint. Jodi knew it and sighed. “I’d invite you up, but things are … unpredictable … in our house at the moment.” Appallingly, Jodi felt her face crumple in that ugly, pre-cry way it had. She breathed deeply and looked up to the roof-sky. Rapid blinking and Anphobosite chill kept tears from actually falling.
Astrid’s hand caught hers and squeezed tightly. “There’s nothing to worry about you know. Your parents are just being normal. I bet they didn’t tell you to expect this at the migration training centres did they?”
Jodi shook her head, kept blinking and sniffed. Why did niceness always make her feel worse? And why had her parents waited until she was so very far from home before they decided to desert her? So much for being in control of her environment. She couldn’t even control her tear ducts. She flicked at her face with her free hand. Astrid didn’t let go of the other.
“Think about it. Your parents have been apart for a year or more right?”
Jodi nodded.
“So, first your shuttle nearly crashes. Then Anphobos is more different than most people imagine. And on top of that, your parents have to figure out how to live with each other again.”
Jodi laughed and snuffled. “When you put it like that, coming here just sounds like such a great idea!”
Astrid shrugged, “Of all the surprises you’ve had since entering Martian atmosphere, your parents fighting isn’t one of them. That’s no surprise at all. That’s boringly normal.”
Jodi wiped her nose on her sleeve and patted at her eyes with her fingers. “God I hate that you’re right so often.”
Astrid winked.“You’d be amazed how often that really is. Now smile. You never know what’s going on behind that door. They might surprise you!” With that, she let go of Jodi’s hand, spun on her heel and moved into the shadows. “See you in the morning. And thanks again for the help with the program. Our genius is going to frighten the daylights out of those sad old fogey markers on the education panel. They’ll want to hire us before we’ve even finished school!”
“You’re welcome. Happy to be of service.”
“Silver service!” came the reply.
Jodi smiled into the dark, evening blue. Of all the surprises she’d had since arriving in Martian atmosphere, Astrid was the biggest.
* * *
Jodi took no chances coming through the front door. She banged her bag into the door before opening it, stomped through, slammed it behind her and bellowed.
“I’m home!”
“So it would seem,” her mother smiled from the hallway. Jodi sighed, Astrid had been right again. Her mother still had some surprises up her sleeve, too. A very white, baggy sleeve. Indeed, Marilyn Scarfield wore the same pale, baggy clothing that Mary Forbes had worn during her speech.
“What’s with the pyjamas?”
“Ha! Shows what you know, Daughter! You might be making friends, but I’m making a fashion statement.”
“Hmmm.” Jodi eyed her mother up and down while peeling the bananas that had obviously just arrived as they still sat alongside the credit checker her mother had used to pay. “If ‘relaxed’ is the look you’re going for, I’d say you got it perfect.”
“Bah hah, very funny. This is the finest and first in a range of Anphobos-made clothing. I am supporting a uniquely Martian fashion industry.”
“Uh huh. PJs are Martian-only now?” She examined her mum again. “I can see why.”
Marilyn slapped her hand on the benchtop. “I will have you know, young woman, that this …” she plucked at the off-white fabric “… is the very first fabric ever made from genetically modified hemp, spun and woven by bots and all in a completely environmental fashion. This is fabric that wasn’t touched by human hands once until I bought it.” Marilyn waggled her eyebrows and put on her snobbiest face. “I’m told they’ve become quite the Martian trademark and are destined to become the item, even on Earth!”
“And you care about the statement they make on Earth because …?”
Her mother sighed and flopped onto one of the tall stools at the breakfast bench. “It may be where I end up.”
Jodi rolled her eyes and sucked down water from the neat little dispenser near the sink. Exactly two hundred and fifty millilitres at a time, no more, no less. You had to admire the accuracy.
“Please Mum, it’s a bit early for that isn’t it? Besides, you were so excited about coming here. What happened?”
“Jodi,” her mother made her name sound like a plea, “I was excited because your dad was here. I thought everything would be just the way it always was.”
“On Mars?” The incredulous question was out of her mouth before Jodi could stop it.
“Stupid, I know. But I thought, you know, Mars was just another human colony. After all, there were going to be all these people on Mars weren’t there? Smart people, but people! I’ve hardly seen a person since I got here. Lots of bots, lots of architecture and landscaping, but very few humans. For the first human settlement in space, this is the most inhuman place I’ve ever been. Where are the old people? There aren’t enough children here. Everyone is some kind of science based brainiac. Even the people may as well be bots!”
Jodi drank her water, scanned the fridge’s menu before deciding she wasn’t really hungry, and let her mother’s criticisms roll past her. If only she knew, her mother would be amazed by the passion in some of these people.
“You’re just homesick, Mum. Maybe you need to do something. Join a club, get a job. I don’t know. Anything.”
“Now you just sound like your father. And your dinner is in the Hotpot. I cooked. Not that either of you seem to care.”
“Could be that I’m half him.” Jodi pulled her meal from the silver coated bag that had been keeping it warm, at the perfect antibacterial temperature, since who knew when. She lifted a fork from where her mother had set the table for three, a small frisson of guilt creeping into her conscience. She tasted just a little of the vegetable concoction and raised eyebrows to indicate approval. “Could be that I like it here … maybe.”
Her mother wrinkled her nose. “You just like it here because you can outsmart the computers, reprogram the bots and don’t have to go to school every day.”
Jodi smiled. “Yup!”
“I guess there are worse reasons, but don’t you wonder why no one else has done any of that yet? They’re pet scientists, these Anphobosites. It wouldn’t occur to them to question why they’re asked to program what they do. They’d never even feel the need to work around the system. They’re just blindly in it, happy to be fed and told what to do.”
Jodi chewed, thought about the silent flash of mirror applause and studiously avoided the topic.
“Seriously Mum, you should do something to make yourself feel better. Break a bot, crash a computer. Take control!” Jodi raised her fist and made her escape down the hall while her mother laughed after her.
“Glad you like the stew!” her mother called after her as she walked to her room. Jodi grimaced and put the bowl down on her bed. Her mother was still learning to cook here.
“Vision please, Room.”
The wall space lightened immediately but waited more specification.
What did she want? It had already become habit to ask for television as soon as she entered her room. It had almost become a greeting.
“Earth news?” Yes, it was a question. There wasn’t always recent news available. Updates came in cycles completely dependent upon where various satellites were floating and transmitters were situated. Sometimes, it came quickly. Other times there were black spots and dead space. News just didn’t travel through those.
“Earth news available, Miss.”
“View, please.”
A familiar head appeared on screen. Universal Television’s most popular newsreader was a dark haired, dark eyed woman. She spoke with no particular accent, schooled so that English speakers from every country could understand her. Even her facial features were perfectly Eurasian. According to her mother, news agencies used to be regional. Readers were chosen to appeal to local audiences. Jodi had never known a world where news hadn’t involved both planets. Only the most important issues were reported and only the news that everyone would care about. It comforted her to feel so close to home.
… Temperatures rose on Mars today … literally. Meetings between Dominic Rabana and his Anphobosite counterpart, Joshua Forbes, drew to a premature close when temperatures soared in the meeting room. Investigation showed that temperature programs for the government building in question had been hacked and someone had tampered with them. Diplomatic sources blame rebel activity on Anphobos. The group known as Fearless have also been responsible for the threat of physical retaliation if Anphobos is not granted Republic status. Talks have been suspended and will be resumed when both ministers meet on Earth.
The screen cut away to a man with Astrid’s eyes.
“This is not the outcome for which Anphobos had planned. This rebel activity has slowed negotiations to a standstill. Even the Fearless must see that their actions have had negative results for Anphobos at large.”
Jodi found it very hard to breathe. Astrid’s father was a diplomat. Astrid’s mother was a rebel. They lived together in the same house. Did he know what his wife was up to? How could he not? Did he agree that her actions were necessary? Were they colluding? The questions raced and jumbled in Jodi’s head, making so much noise she found herself physically trying to listen harder as the newsreader blathered on.
Then there was the man who had spent so much time during the ‘shuttle scuttle’, as the media had called it, screaming, wailing and demanding. Appearing just as obnoxious on-screen as in real life, Dominic Rabana tugged at his shirt collar as he spoke.
“Today only goes to support Earth’s belief that Anphobos is not ready for self-government. If rebels are willing to undermine even peaceful diplomatic negotiations, imagine what they might do with the power of Mars behind them.”
It was a stupid statement. Firstly, the only possible response from Mars was one of disgust and possible rage. Secondly, nobody in their right mind would have thought that all of Anphobos supported the Fearless … until he mentioned it.