Thomas was looking around the crowd, searching.
“He’s looking for a seat,” said Gwyneth.
“Or you.”
Mary was elbowed by her friend.
The light went out and a spotlight lit up the woman on the stage.
“Welcome to the Taurus One. My name is Leila Campbell. My job on the mothership is to direct operations and research for the whole human group, that is: you. I hope that you have recovered from your journey on the shuttles. If not, give yourself time and, if you don’t get better, go to the sick bay nearest to your room.”
The screen lit up showing a map of the stars, the route they would take, the duration of the journey and the phases of the project that would take place on board the ship.
“You know very well that these are not paid holidays, nor has anyone forced you to be here. Therefore, from Stafford Research, we expect one hundred percent cooperation. As you know very well, laws have not yet been written for the planet that we are going to live on, although there are already some preliminary drafts on legislation that will grant rights and responsibilities to all the inhabitants of the red planet. This is why you should know in advance that, until these laws are finalised, the maximum authorities in the place will be those appointed by the Stafford family. The same thing applies to this ship. Here, I am the maximum authority. I hope that you will remember that. You will learn and you will demonstrate your worth, virtues and defects. There will be five months for us to give you particular jobs on Mars. Jobs that you will perform at the Stafford Research facilities, of course.”
“Learn? Demonstrate? Jesus, this is worse than a prison,” muttered Mary. “This is a school.”
Miss Campbell continued with her Welcome Speech. Some attendees fell asleep, lots of others seemed to develop nervous tics, and you could even hear some groans of regret at being there at all.
“And now, to finish up: the Stafford family would like to offer participants some words of encouragement.”
Emotional music began to play. Shots of the plains of Mars were seen in panoramic images which were reminiscent of the most luxurious cinema productions. In them, hundreds of bionic cows were crossing the dusty surface of Mars. Far off, on the horizon, you could make out an enormous mansion which oscillated between ostenticity, high technology and Texan architecture from the end of the 20th century. The camera accompanied the audience’s gaze towards the door of the mansion, which opened as if by art of magic. It went down a long corridor until it came to a spacious drawing room, crowned with a great fireplace which was, in turn, surrounded by plush sofas and almost the entire Stafford family. Mrs Stafford spoke:
“You are welcome to our home. From our mansion’s main drawing room, I, my husband – Mr Stafford, and our children, Claudia and Andrew, would like to wish you a happy voyage on board the Taurus One. I hope that you will take advantage of the time you will spend on it to reflect on your past and fight for your future. Because the past is behind you, ended, cloaked in darkness on that planet that just spat you out into this new world: the immediate future. Your future – a word that means so many things, which are all so personal, and for which I hope you will all find your desired meaning on this planet. A place for starting a new life from scratch.”
Just then, a mechanical horse’s whinnying was heard. The surprise on Mr Stafford’s face was obvious and Claudia smiled as she saw someone else come into the room, attracting Andrew’s attention too. Walking quickly, James crossed into the camera’s range and sat down, apologising to his mother.
“As I was saying, it is a marvellous place that is yet to be discovered. Don’t fear the unknown... By the way, this is my other son, James, who is always busy with the livestock. Let’s continue...”
Her boring, sugar-sweet, false words were lost amongst the attendees. Mary let Mrs Stafford’s uneven voice fade into the background as she stared at James. That man looked wild – a little unkempt compared to the rest of the family. His angular face oozed strength, with its incipient beard full of red dust and fresh sweat. His look was reinforced by black eyebrows that gave him a rough air. The smile on his lips was the smile of a man who knew he was powerful – capable of subjugating anyone to his desires. The confidence of his attitude as he sat down, his strong arms and his hands, bruised from working with the cattle, defined James Stafford as a hard, attractive country man.
“Mary... Mary...” hissed Gwyneth. “What’s wrong? You’re not even blinking.”
“What?” she said, coming back to herself. “I was thinking about... about my geese! If that idiot, Samuel, doesn’t give them their food on time, they get really irritable.”
“Ah... God, you’re strange...”
Chapter 6
Each and every one of the space travellers was watched closely. They didn’t realise it, but they were. Cameras and microphones were witness to their new lives, their routines, their happiness and their sorrows.
As they had already been told, they had five months to spit out their talent. From that selection process, the different jobs that they would have once they arrived on Mars would be chosen. But getting the best out of oneself wasn’t always something that happened immediately or was effortless. They all had to try different disciplines, from simple arithmetic to complex chemistry, or even more mundane tasks, such as sewing. A group of auditors would later write reports so that the management of Stafford Research could decide which floor each person would occupy in the company’s business pyramid.
“How long before we finish?” asked Gwyneth.
“Not long. Let me finish these transactions – I almost have the final balance...”
“How do you know so much? I thought that a farmer would only...”
“Know how to milk cows and feed pigs.”
“Well, yes, but don’t get annoyed.”
“Gwyneth, after milking, you have to count how many litres you have, sell them and pay tax on them, you know? If I knew nothing, I’d have nothing – and the farm would have been a total failure.”
“Really, Mary Ackerson, you make me feel bad. The two of us are twenty years old, and the most I’ve managed to do is... work in a supermarket.”
“That’s not bad,” said Mary, without listening much. “You might have sold some litres of milk from the Ackerson farm without even knowing it.”
“Excuse me,” scolded another young woman, “you’re stopping me from concentrating.”
“Sorry,” said Gwyneth, going back to her accounts. “Bah, this is impossible...”
“Finished!” exclaimed Mary in a low voice as she stood up.
“How I hate you, Ackerson...”
Mary returned the look, screwing up her eyes with a winner’s smile. A few minutes later, when it was time for the exam to finish, Gwyneth handed in her balance sheet covered in hearts and little stars, and ran outside.
“Come on, Mary, we still have time...”
“Time for what?” she asked as she was pulled along by the hand.
“To see Thomas.”
“Oh, fabulous! That really thrills me,” muttered Mary.
“You know I’m embarrassed to go alone.”
“Okay, I’m coming...”
They got to the gym. Gwyneth found Thomas with her eyes and began to warm up. Mary pretended to do sit-ups.
“It stinks of sweat here,” said Mary. “I’ve been in stables that smell better.”
“But look at those muscles,” Gwyneth whispered between short breaths, which Mary didn’t know if were a consequence of her friend’s warming up – or overheating.
“What are all these people doing here?” Mary wondered. “Are there going to be Olympics on Mars by any chance?”
Suddenly, the same woman who had just scolded them a few minutes earlier in the calculus class came in. All the men watched how she moved on the abs bench. Her body, perfectly defined by those tight leggings, stretched and tightened, tensing her muscles and pushing her chest out.
“I’m sure, Gwyneth, rea
lly sure. When I get to Mars, I’m going to start a drool farm,” said Mary sarcastically. “Gwyneth, where are you going? Don’t leave me on my own beside her – it’ll look like a before and after ad for weight loss!”
Gwyneth had caught wonderful Thomas in her blue gaze. Instead of wasting time on impossible wet dreams admiring what was never going to happen, he had turned his desire to find someone to talk into a reality. He dried off his forehead with a towel, and then his neck. From afar, Mary tried to read Gwyneth’s lips to see how she had approached him so bravely. She couldn’t believe it: she was asking him for advice on doing exercise.
Thomas took her to a weights bench. Gwyneth lay down. He positioned himself behind her at head height and put a bar without any weights on it into Gwyneth’s feeble grasp. She said simply, “Is that okay?”
He smiled and showed her how to do it better.
“In some states, what they’re doing would be illegal,” thought Mary.
As she could see that Gwyneth was in very good hands, and she wasn’t particularly interested in sweating for no reason, Mary decided to shower off in the gym changing-rooms. The showers on the mothership were not hot water and soap ones. No. A sprayed substance cleaned your skin leaving no trace of any dirt or impurities. It had a more than pleasant smell and enticed you to stay a while longer. Mary closed her eyes and leant her hands against the tiled walls.
Something woke her. It was the goddess from earlier:
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you.”
“You’re not bothering me,” said Mary, waking up. “I’m finished.”
“The teacher seems delighted with you.”
Mary stopped walking towards the changing-room.
“You’re Ackerson, aren’t you?”
“Yes, the one and only at your service. Well, not quite - give me a moment to get dressed and I’m all yours.”
“I’m Angie Dickinson. Pleased to meet you.”
They shook hands.
“Can I ask you what you’re looking for on Mars?” asked Angie.
“Nothing... and everything, I suppose. And you?”
“It’s a new land and I’m ambitious by nature – I won’t deny it. I’ve been preparing mind and body for a long time in order to start off on the right foot at the Stafford Company.”
“You’ve definitely dominated the body part,” said Mary, looking her up and down.
“Well, I assure you I’m not even a little stupid either.”
“I’m glad for you. Good luck.”
“Don’t be glad. It’s not necessary. We may have to compete at some point.”
“Well, Angie, you see: I’m not the competitive type. I might make an effort, but it won’t be to step on you or anyone else. Whatever happens will be because of my work, not because of my smile or tight trousers. If you want to step on me, go ahead. I won’t try to stop you. But just remember that a bad weed will always pop up again wherever you least expect it.”
Mary raised her eyebrows in a mock threat and then laughed as she made to leave.
“What a face!” she said laughing. “Joking – I was only joking. ‘Compete’ you say... Where do you think we are?”
That night (which you couldn’t really be sure if it was or not as there were no sunsets or sunrises at that point of the universe), Mary lay back on her pillow against the little skylight in her room. The stars seemed to accompany her on her journey. Sometimes, she began to feel scared at how tiny they were in comparison with the immensity of space, and then she searched her memories for moments of calm and peace. But, curiously, these thoughts were always invaded by an unexpected visitor. She found it strange that every memory seemed to intertwine with the image of that man with his virile presence so that it blinded everything else her mind thought of. She didn’t know him, yet she wanted to; she couldn’t wait to meet him face to face. Nonetheless, she knew that he would never notice someone like her, and she tried to find reasons to hate him before meeting him. But she couldn’t, and she fell asleep with a silly smile of hopeful desire.
Chapter 7
Bodies passed over the holographic monitor at the speed of light as if a digital croupier was dealing out a hand of poker. James stopped the images as he felt like it – if he noticed full lips, sensuous curves or breasts that almost touched off his nose. He looked completely absent, caught up in his game of finding someone to seduce. In one second, he was capable of stopping an image, undressing her in the blink of an eye and moving on to another, and another, and yet another.
“Have you tired of the staff?”
James flicked off the monitor immediately at Claudia’s sudden appearance, and started doing something else.
“Don’t you know how to knock?” he asked irritably.
“No, I’ve forgotten. You’ll have to show me how to later,” she answered sarcastically. “I see how you waste your time when you’re so busy in here.”
“I was having a rest.”
“Hmm... And?”
“I don’t understand,” said James, narrowing his eyes.
“Have you found a new victim?”
“You mean... oh no, I wasn’t doing what you think I was doing.”
“James, we’ve known each other... forever. You can’t fool me. You were looking up women on the Taurus One directory.
“I was looking at their results. That’s all. I was glancing through the psychological assessments they’ve done on all the women...”
“And men.”
“Yes, and men!” James corrected himself.
“And... Is there anyone who stands out for any special reason: an IQ of 105? A D-cup?”
“Oh, stop it. You interrupted my search when you burst in so abruptly.”
“Abruptly? I came in like a gazelle approaching a river.”
“Okay, okay. Let’s look through the directory together.”
Claudia shook her head.
“No, thanks. I don’t like finding boyfriends in catalogues.”
“Come on; I’m sure there’s someone who can make you come out of your room and give up your fruitless relationship with that bottle of anti-depressants.”
“James, that ship is bringing a whole collection of people with psychological issues. I’m sure of it.”
“That’s not what the Taurus psychologists say.”
Claudia approached the table that James was talking to her from.
“Really?”
“Really,” he said. “They’re much saner than we could have hoped. In fact, most of them are looking at this as a renewal of life – nothing to do with depressing ideas about the meaning of existence.”
“I can’t deny that I’m surprised that there are people capable of leaving their homes to come here – to an inhospitable planet like this.”
James pressed the on button and opened the directory at random. Claudia looked out of the corner of her eye, but was interested. However, she didn’t pay as much attention to it as James.
“She’s nice,” said Claudia.
“A little old for me...”
“That other one. Look at her – bring her face closer... She’s very pretty.”
“She reminds me of Ruth.”
“The cook?”
“Uhuh.”
“Yes, her eyes are the same shape. Go on to the next one.”
So they continued through part of the directory until they came to Angie Dickinson.
“I don’t like her,” said Claudia.
James looked at her file, not paying attention to his sister.
“James Stafford, I know that look. I said I didn’t like her.”
“Claudia, you’re acting like my big sister.”
“James, I am your big sister. If it doesn’t mean that our parents will put me in charge of the company, at least it might mean that I can stop you making a mistake.”
“She’s gorgeous...”
“Gorgeous? She has a treacherous look about her,” was Claudia’s analysis.
“She’s been
assessed highly.”
“That’s easy if the interviewer’s a man,” Claudia pointed out sarcastically.
James smiled in silent desire and started writing a message to the Taurus One.
“Would you mind telling me what you’re doing, James?”
“Writing... Can’t you see?”
“Yes, perfectly. You’re writing a... recommendation?”
“Call it whatever you want.”
Resigned and a bundle of nerves, Claudia walked towards the exit.
“I had the stupid hope that someone would appear unexpectedly on the Taurus One who would be able to make you feel something more than just from your waist down – but I see I was wrong. You’re incorrigible. You can’t just recommend someone you don’t even know!”!
“Claudia, sorry,” said James, stopping typing. “What were you saying?”
The young woman slammed out and walked to her room, cursing her brother.
“And I was thinking of spending some time with you helping you find a partner...” he giggled to himself, going back to his childish game.
The mothership followed its slow course through starry black seas.
“Do you know that there is less gravity on Mars than on Earth?” reported Gwyneth reading an e-magazine as they ate.
“That means I’ll weigh less there,” said Mary. “You see, it’s all going to be good in the end.”
“Don’t you believe it! They have suits to simulate the Earth’s gravity,” said Gwyneth looking at a heavy mechanical shell on the screen.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake and I was thinking of stuffing myself with cheesecake. You’re a dream wrecker! Look, here comes Thomas.”
“Thomas!” exclaimed Gwyneth, changing the tone of her voice, to Mary’s surprise.
“Hi, girls. Nervous?”
They looked at each other confused.
“Tomorrow’s the big day,” said Thomas.
“The big day for...?” asked Mary.
“The results!” he exclaimed.
“Oh, you mean that,” said Mary without giving it much importance.
“Don’t you care?”
“Ackerson’s the clever one, I’m the dope,” explained Gwyneth. “I don’t think there’ll be many surprises.”
Love On Mars Page 3