This is a Test

Ch. 2 - Part II - Day One

The rest raised their bottles or glasses as well. Miranda smiled and made eye contact with each before speaking. "On the subject of firsts, I thought it would be nice to wonder about all the firsts Mars will experience. Beyond the first person to step foot on the planet, what else?" She sighed with a dreamy air. "I can imagine the first birth as being one of the greatest moments in human history."

"First wedding," Dante suggested, smiling. "A couple that met on the Red Planet and fall in love..."

"First crime," Karina said, shrugging one shoulder and she sniffed the air heavily.

Lia spoke into her translator and a moment later, they heard the synthetic voice say, "The first song that is written. The first concert that is performed."

Cashe nodded to her, acknowledging that those were unique choices early in the game. Eyes turned towards himself and Roger, so Cashe looked the geologist's way. The man was in mid-sip when he found himself the center of attention, so he lowered his bottle, wiped his bottom lip, and offered, "Uh, I got it. First food."

"Huh?" Karina said with a turn of her head.

"Yeah, sure," and Roger's excitement grew with the idea. "A brand-new food that has never existed before."

Miranda tried to help. "Do you mean like hybrid ingredients that are produced using elements found on Mars?"

"No. Nothing high bred. Just regular food, like we don't got here."

"You mean Martian-grown products?" Dante tried. "Like carrots and peas from carrots and peas grown on Mars?"

"No," Roger snapped. "I mean you take a bunch of ingredients from Earth and you put them together in a way that never been seen before."

"A recipe," Karina said with a God-you're-terrible stare. "You mean a recipe."

Yeah, right. You take all the ingredients and mix them together up there so that it's the first Martian food." He decided to start listing all sorts of unpalatable combinations, none involving anything grown in a garden. Lia tried following Roger's ramblings for a time before looking to the others in confusion. When her gaze turned to Cashe, he scowled and shook his head to convey that she shouldn't waste battery power translating idiocy.

"What about you, Randall?" Miranda asked. "What firsts can you imagine?"

This was a game for elementary schoolers and Cashe was never one for games. However, without knowing the criteria for his bonus, he didn't want to lose points for non-participation. "First piece of litter, where something is held and an unexpected wind gust carries it away."

"Interesting," she said. She looked around the table. "Anything—"

"First graveyard," Cashe continued. "If settlers move there, they will eventually die and a place will be needed to plant them. First pornography found in the computer systems, because someone's going to do it. First suicide when someone can no longer take the unending pressure of pressurized suits."

Miranda squirmed in her chair. "Talk of suicide could distress--"

"First shooting, with or without injuries."

"There will not be any shootings because there will be no guns."

"Then how are the police going to enforce law and order?"

"There won't be any police. Or soldiers."

What a numbnut. "Then who is going to keep the peace? The corporations?"

"There won't be any corporations." Miranda closed her eyes momentarily for a deep breath before, "Mars is a new start. Mankind now understands the past mistakes of colonization and will not repeat them. Those sent to Mars will be paragons of society because so few will be able to go. A Martian colony will be developed by scientists and presided over by international bodies." She waved a hand in the direction of the others. "I think we were all looking for something a little more hopeful."