The Martian Lie

Interludes

Interludes

I – The Waitress

Selena Sully had a routine when she got off work. She'd go home, pour herself a glass of wine, and sip on while she took a quick shower and got ready to go back out for drinks with friends. She was single and lived a lonely life; staying at home after work bothered her - gave her an anxiety she couldn't quite pinpoint.

But tonight, after waiting on the Martians, she took a long shower. She stood there so long that when she finally made it out, her glass of wine, once chilled, was warm and covered in condensation. She absently rubbed markings in the condensation on the glass, only realizing after it was made that she had drawn an X.

She was thinking of the Martian's faces.

A chill went up her spine.

She hadn't immediately realized it. She thought they were foreign. Their accents were strange. In fact, it was more the absence of an accent at all that was strange. The speech was very proper, very controlled. Eventually, they had loosened up, but they had seemed to be trying so hard to fit in. Their clothes had the same effect.

But, she didn't consider herself to be racist, and although it bothered her, she served them anyway. They had tipped well. It had all been fine.

But she found herself using that tip money later that night on more drinks than she usually bought, trying to blot out the unclean feeling she got after seeing them.

They just didn't seem right to her.

II – Loss of Entertainment

Edna Montpellier was irritated by these commercials about these Martian Liars. Who even knew if they were real? Who cared?

Gerald certainly didn't care. When she asked if he did, he snorted and pressed the controls on the remote harder, as if he could will the advertisements away with pressure.

"I just want to watch the game." He complained.

"The game? Who cares about that? They've delayed the start of my show."

Her show was a silly dating show, in which men and women from different supply lines were put together in a relationship to see if they could make it work.

She was retired from the supply lines herself. She used to work making medicines on Supply Line 12. So had Gerald. She was glad to be done with all that. Just wanted to watch her TV.

But it looked like the TV had other ideas.

III – The Father

Official Minutes of the National Conference on Interstellar Travel

May 23rd, 2117

Cape Canaveral, FL

Old Business:

-Privatized companies have been more successful in launching spacecraft in recent years than NASA

-Disbandment or rejuvenation of NASA debate

New Business:

-Necessity of developing reusable spacecraft

Meeting Notes:

-The cost of space travel is prohibitive

-We must create reusable spacecraft to bring the cost down