269 pages
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Chapter1
T minus 6 weeks
“Did you buy one yet? Time is running out, and the lottery tickets are only fifty bucks!”
Katrina McKenna set pancakes in front of her bursting-with-excitement ten-year-old daughter at their breakfast bar, then put her hands to her hips. “You realize it’s a one in a zillion chance.”
“Yeah, but…” — she drizzled the imitation maple syrup on liberally — “somebody has to win.” She grinned before slicing a wedge out of her pancake stack and stabbing it with her fork. “And since Dad is supposed to announce the winner, maybe he’ll… you know.” She stuck the dripping bite in her mouth, smiling while she chewed.
Katrina squinted at the little blonde she still insisted on calling Francesca instead of Frankie, as her father had christened her the second the ink was dry on the birth certificate. “Maybe he’ll what? Cheat? For me?” She turned to retrieve the bacon from the ultrawave when it dinged. “You do remember that we’re divorced, right? Why would he want to help me in any way?”
She slid a plate with four slices of something that looked and smelled like bacon, cooked to crispy perfection, onto the counter and sat on a stool in front of what her husband referred to as “artificially vat-grown atrocities.”
“He won’t cheat for you, but I’m thinking that he might really want to send you to Mars.”
Katrina bristled as her AI maid, Minnie, giggled while she dusted the dining room. True, they had fought like “Kats and Dougs,” as Francesca put it, in the last year, but it hurt to think he’d want to ship her off to another planet.
Flipping her deep auburn hair over her shoulder, she tried to pull out a smile for her daughter who, like her father, didn’t often think before she spoke. “Well, if he wants me to go, I’ll be staying right here.” Her green eyes flashed as she nabbed a piece of “bacon” and bit off the end.
Francesca reached for a piece herself, her baby blue eyes wide. “How can you not want to go to Mars? It’s a two year adventure — the chance of a lifetime! If I was old enough to buy a ticket, I would.”
Katrina had no doubt of the truth of that statement. Francesca had been fighting Katrina’s plans for her since she popped out of the womb. And that had been way before Katrina was ready for her and the crazy thing called marriage.
Their wedding vows had not been specific enough, she realized. Where were the vows that dealt with globs of toothpaste in the sink, dirty underwear on the ceiling fan, and ancient books everywhere? Why weren’t there promises recited that dealt with “adventure” and “spontaneity” — code words Katrina now knew meant utter chaos?
The “worse” in “for better or worse” didn’t begin to cover the ways that Doug had ridiculed her for her “irrational fears,” which Katrina knew was just her ability to see coming grief and avoid it.
The whole “love and cherish” thing needed a major revamp, in her opinion, as well. How about keeping each other’s feet on the ground and heads out of the clouds? Literally. Katrina had no love for roller coasters, anti grav parks, or skycars.
Of course, there were dangers on the ground too. Spelunking was a respiratory nightmare, and the bacteria in a hot tub could change your DNA.
This was just common sense.
So was not spewing dirt into every room of the house, but Doug had done that as well.
With their last big blow out and Doug’s ultimatum playing in her head, she had a sudden loss of hunger. Setting the half-eaten piece of bacon back on the plate, she rose and left the cleaning of the kitchen to Minnie, whose aversion to filth was hard-wired into her.
“Why would I want to go to Mars?” Katrina mumbled as she made her way into the solar and the all-white furniture that she’d only been able to keep white with the demise of her marriage to a hobby gardener. “What is Francesca thinking?”
Actually, she was pretty sure she knew what Francesca was thinking. She plopped down and picked up a media viewer, flipping virtual pages with fingers sporting glossy magenta nails, not really seeing the latest trends in organizational whatnots. Katrina suspected that Francesca was hoping for a reconciliation.
They both knew that the winner would be working closely with Out of This World and their publicity company right up until the launch. A publicity company where a Mr. McKenna worked. Mr. Doug McKenna. But reconciliation was just a pretty dream of Francesca’s. Katrina had no idea how to work out their differences. Even if she wanted to. Which she didn’t. She swiped the screen so hard, half the magazine flew past.
Backtracking, she found herself suddenly looking at the contest ad — the same ad that had been plastered everywhere for nearly three months. An ad that Francesca had obviously memorized. “_It’s Mars Madness®! One lucky winner will get a FREE all-expense-paid trip to Mars for a two year adventure! Don’t miss the chance of a lifetime! Enter today!_”
She had to admit, the Mars domes looked impressive inside and out, and after a good half century without any major incidents, she knew they were reliably safe. They had back-up plans for their back-up plans to the point of ridiculousness, but all that reassurance really seemed to work. Mars as a destination resort was a huge success.
Her eyes slid to Doug’s dazzling smile in the upper right, lingering on his unarguably handsome features. Those eyes had mesmerized her once upon a time, and she’d envied his full-bodied dark hair more than once. She knew that if she touched his face, he’d come to life and pronounce the excursion “a real good time!”
She clicked the viewer off and flung it toward the other end of the sofa. “What does he know about a good time,” she muttered, picking up her portable vidcom and bringing up her planner. “A good time for him is not the same thing as a good time for me, and no amount of badgering can turn me into a… a daredevil!” She didn’t like all the blank spaces she saw filling the evening hours and shut the planner off again.
Rising and wandering to the wide expanse of windows, she looked out at the clouds, then down down down three stories to the weed infested patch that had once been Doug’s garden. “I need to hire someone to turn that back into artificial turf.” She didn’t know why she hadn’t done it already.
Turning back to her pristine room, she sighed as Francesca hurried past the double wide doorway, then clomped down the spiral staircase to grab her backpack. It was Friday and Doug’s weekend with their daughter. Plus, it was the beginning of spring break, and since Katrina had gotten to have her for Christmas, Doug had made a pitch for the spring holiday. She didn’t like it, but there was nothing to be done. He said they were going to just hang out, going to anti grav parks and such. Katrina actually thought that was a good idea. If Doug took Francesca for her anti grav fix, Katrina wouldn’t be pestered to take her for a while.
She sighed again, remembering a day long past when a set of intense blue eyes had met hers on the moving sidewalks in front of Up In The Air LLC. As they passed, she had turned to look back, and so had he. Then they’d stepped off the conveyors and into an intense romance that had seemed perfect, until she started living with the guy and his love affair with dirt, chaos and “adventure.” Oh, how she wanted to open up the man’s head and just tweak things a bit.
“Every day is a chance to be crazy and spontaneous, Kat,” he had said on many occasions. “Let yourself step out of your routine. Do you really want your tombstone to say ‘Now straightening up the afterlife like nobody’s business.’? Come on!”
“Mom, we’re going to be late!”
Katrina shook off the past and crossed the solar to the foyer, grabbing her vidcom on the way, feeling the weight of her empty agenda. She knew that Doug would find it hilarious that the woman known for organizing and planning had absolutely nothing planned for the week to come.
#NEWSCENE
“I’ve already told you, Frankie, I work for the company advertising the lottery; I can’t enter the contest.” After glancing at the rear camera screen, Doug pulled out of the school pick-up lane, and before he reached the end of the block, he’d popped out the wings and lifted off, earning an evil eye from the crossing guard as he flew over her head.
“But it’s what you’ve always wanted to do!” the little blonde nearly wailed as she shoved the trash on the floor to the side with her feet.
He laughed. “I’ll get there someday, Frankie. When the prices come down a bit.” He ruffled the short hair cut that her mother loathed. “You’ll get there too.”
“Are you sure you can’t afford it, ‘cause if Mom wins — ”
“Hold on.” He flashed her an incredulous look. “Your mother wants to go to Mars?”
Frankie nodded a bit too vigorously for belief. “Yes, she said that…” She paused, and Doug smiled at the gears turning in his little schemer’s head. “She said that Mars needed her to organize it and clean it and stuff.”
As weird as it sounded, knowing Kat, it was almost believable. “Your mother doesn’t really clean, does she? She makes other people clean.”
“Well, she’d bring Minnie Maid.” She turned to look out the side window. “That goes without saying.”
Doug stifled a laugh. How well she knew her mother. “I’m not sure Mars is ready for your mom.”
“Well, they better get ready ‘cause she just might win!”
Doug reached for her hand. “Sweetheart, the winner can bring one other person, but they have to be an adult. You can’t go along.”
“Oh, I know,” she said with practiced nonchalance. “I just don’t want her to miss out on the chance of a lifetime.”
“I see.” Doug realized that if Kat could ever be talked into leaving Frankie for two years while she went to Mars — which wasn’t bloody likely — her luggage would need to be thoroughly checked for stowaways.
“Where are we going, anyway?” Frankie asked, leaning forward in her seat until the restraints clicked and held.
“It’s a surprise.” He had Frankie for the week, and he planned on it being spectacular. “You might want to take a little nap. It’ll take a while to get there.”
“I’m not tired,” she insisted, but after an hour, her head started to bob, and he pushed the button on his panel that eased her seat into a reclining position.
Doug’s mind turned to their destination — one of the few horse ranches still left in the country. It had been a trip he’d planned to take Kat on as well. A family vacation that never materialized due to Kat’s busy schedule as a professional organizer, although he knew that was just an excuse.
He wondered how a decade ago he’d been unable to see the writing on the wall. Organizing was the least of her obsessions. Her goal in life seemed to be to render the world spotless, and in her mind, it wasn’t good enough to clean up a mess, she was all about prevention. The hobby garden he’d started a couple of years ago had pushed her right over the edge. And then there were her phobias. Fears that she deemed perfectly rational, but Doug most certainly did not.
So when he had mentioned his desire to take her and Frankie to the country to see the horses and maybe even ride one, she was suddenly booked for the next twenty years helping other tight-ass women make their husbands’ lives miserable.
“All women are supposed to love horses,” he lamented under his breath. The horse as a symbol for freedom was still popular in women’s fashions and tattoos, although he knew that most women would never have the opportunity to get near a real one outside of a zoo, now that the equine plague of a century ago combined with human overpopulation and urban sprawl had turned them into an endangered species.
Doug sighed. He had always felt out of sync with the time Mother Nature had dumped him in. It was too sterile, too noisy, with far too many people and far too few green spaces left. Montana was the gem that remained, set apart by a forward-thinking president after years of backward-thinking presidents had sold all the National Parks to the highest bidders for their natural resources and fossil fuels.
He glanced over at his daughter and saw himself. Not in looks — his hair was about as dark as hers was light — but in her he saw his own love of adventure. Especially an out-in-the-wilderness kind of adventure. Up until now they hadn’t had many real ones — just simulations at various fantasy farms. This week out in honest to goodness nature would be a week to remember. He shook his head. He knew Kat would be terrified at the thought of Frankie on a horse and never allow it. “Which is why I didn’t tell her,” he said aloud, then regretted it when Frankie stirred awake.
“Are we there yet?” she asked, blinking and stretching.
“Almost.”
She looked out the side window and gasped. “Dad, where’s the city?”
Her frightened look when she swung her eyes to his had him second guessing his plan. “Is that okay? I wanted you to see the horses. Maybe learn to ride.”
Her eyes grew wider still. “What do you mean, ‘Is that okay?’ That’s amazing!” She turned back to the window. “Wait till I tell — ”
“You can’t tell anybody. If Mom finds out — ”
She looked straight ahead. “You’re a dead man.”
Doug nodded. “She definitely wouldn’t be happy with me, and she might even do something to keep us from having our weekends together.”
“That goes without saying,” Frankie said again with worldly wisdom beyond her years.
Doug wondered if Kat had any idea how smart their daughter was. He didn’t understand her desire to keep Frankie from exploring the world. Fear just wasn’t a good enough excuse to keep kids like Frankie chained in a classroom.
They both enjoyed the scenery as Frankie ooh and aahed over the forests, rivers, and lakes they flew over. Neither one of them had ever seen so much green in one place.
As a large clearing opened up in among the trees, a pleasant female voice announced, “You are approaching your destination,” and Frankie followed with, “I see them! I see them! Dad, there are horses down there!”
Doug took a look for himself as he banked around a hill and headed for the landing field. “Did you know that there is a dome on Mars for horses?”
“There are horses on Mars?”
“Well, not yet. The next ship will have an extra level to take a small herd for the equestrian patrons to ride.”
“Wow!” was all that came out of his mini adventurer.
Doug did want to go to Mars. He’d heard that some of the domes were so big and packed with so much flora that it felt like a forest. They even had simulated breezes, rain showers, and recycled streams.
“Does anyone live on Mars, or do they only visit?” Frankie asked, scratching at her head in a way that Doug knew would make Kat cringe.
“A resort employs lots of people. People who need homes and stores to shop in. And they need a place to live. So yes, there are people who have essentially made Mars their home.” He set his brown Soar II down next to a red Coachina and whistled. “Well someone here has some money.”
Frankie wrinkled her nose. “That little thing just looks silly in the air. And nobody’s believing that ridiculous spoiler.”
Doug laughed as he hit the button that unlocked the doors, feeling sorry for Kat, who couldn’t seem to step out of her tightly organized, safe, antiseptic world for a bit of fun.
The smell of recent rain and animals hit him immediately after the door pivoted upward, and he grinned. Let Kat have her manicured lawns and high rise tower houses full of Minnie Maids. He’d take earthy any time.
“P.U.,” Frankie announced as she emerged from the skycar. “Is that what horses smell like?”
“More like horse manure, but where there are horses, there is manure.”
She stopped still, and Doug followed her gaze to where a magnificent horse with a shiny, black coat was prancing around a fenced-in enclosure on a long lead rope held by a woman in the center. “If I can ride that,” she whispered with stars in her eyes, “I can live with the smell.”
Doug took her hand and pulled her forward. He knew just how she felt.
#NEWSCENE
Katrina picked at her meal while Minnie waited at her elbow for the plate to wash. It was unnerving, but she couldn’t seem to break her of the habit. “I think someone needs to go back in for a retro etiquette fitting,” she muttered, then shoved one more forkful of the hydroponic salad into her mouth before sliding it toward her life-like maid who wore a pinafore apron over her plain gray dress.
“Are you wasting all this then?” Minnie asked with the smooth voice that didn’t seem to go along with the admonition.
“I guess. I’m not hungry, and you’re dying to get that dish.”
“There’s no need for theatrics,” the maid replied with the same casual demeanor, whisking the plate away before Katrina could change her mind. She nabbed her wine glass just in time.
Theatrics? Katrina rose from the kidney-shaped, cherry red acrylic table in the dining room and followed her robotic maid’s only slightly jerky movement to the kitchen. She was surprised by Minnie’s phrasing but decided to go with it. “Oh, but there is a need for ‘theatrics,’ Minnie. Doug has Francesca all week, and I have no idea what to do with my time.”
Minnie used the disposer vac on the scraps of salad. “Organize the linen closet.”
“Done.”
“Sort your holograms.” She inserted the plate into the sanitizer that popped out just below the counter top.
“They are sorted. I never leave them unsorted.” Katrina leaned on the breakfast bar and clacked her nails on the shiny surface.
Minnie turned, re-pinning a wisp of blond hair that had slipped out of her French twist. “Clean out the garage.”
Katrina shook her head. “The new Crawlies take care of that.”
Minnie’s face pulled into a frown. “I don’t like the Crawlies. They creep me out.”
Katrina straightened, laughing. “I’m sorry to inform you, Minnie, but you creep Doug out.”
Minnie cranked up a perfect light brown eyebrow. “You were always jealous.”
This was a recent kick of Minnie’s, and Katrina couldn’t resist teasing her. “So you and Doug… Is that the real reason he left me? Do you two have a thing going on?”
Minnie turned away, and sliding the sanitizer open once more, took out the plate and utensils. “Doug could never admit his feelings. Sad.”
Katrina emptied her wine glass, and Minnie snatched it the split second it hit the bar. “I think I need to knock your efficiency down a peg or two. It borders on annoying.”
“Does it? I shall endeavor to lower my standards.” She looked over at Katrina and smiled. “I did it for Doug; I can do it for you.”
Katrina felt her face heat up. “No, Minnie, you are just fine. One can never have too high of standards for organization, cleanliness, or efficiency.” Doug’s standards could never be hers. She’d die first.
Minnie placed the wine glass in the sanitizer as a picture of Doug covered in gardening dirt came to mind. The result of tilling on a windy day. Minnie had tried to vacuum him, and he’d waved her away. Then he’d dared to chase Katrina around the house while Francesca laughed hysterically.
Her taupe pantsuit had been ruined when he caught her and kissed her with no regard for the delicate synthsilk material. Nathan from Vapor Clean had done his best to get the offensive earth out of the weave, but it was no use. The whole outfit was a goner.
“Do you think he was really sorry, Minnie?” she asked without context or explanation.
“Sorry for the heat between us? I have no doubt,” Minnie purred in a voice like melted butter. “But how could the man resist?”
Katrina’s brows rose. A robot tune-up was fast becoming a priority. She had seen several digital ads for Westside Robotics Repair popping up on her computer lately. It wasn’t too far away either.
On the other hand, it could be pretty entertaining when Doug brought Francesca home. She pictured his horrified expression at Minnie’s new infatuation and laughed.
“You may find it humorous now,” Minnie warned, putting the wine glass in the cupboard, “but it will be me laughing when Doug finally reveals his love and sweeps me off to Neo Vegas 3.0.”
Katrina squinted, trying to remember when her robot had first started this Doug fantasy. “Did Doug tamper with your programming the last time he was here?”
Minnie did a slow blink, indicating that her memory was being accessed. A truly sly smile came to her face. “I had forgotten about our time in the closet. He tried to hide it from me.”
“What happened in the closet?”
Minnie turned to leave the room. “I’m not one to kiss and tell.”
Katrina watched her go, shaking her head. Doug had figured out how to bring chaos to her world without even being there. She could just see him grinning, his blue eyes twinkling, and for a split second, she smiled too. Then she pursed her lips and went to find the ad for Westside Robotics Repair.
Praise for Mars Madness
“Mars Madness. A trip you deserve to take!
Mars Madness is a futuristic love story… no – its an adventure story… no – its a tale of espionage… actually- its great story that is clean, funny, fresh and entertaining with an unexpected ending. You won’t be disappointed.”
269 pages
$17 (shipping included)
OR buy it on Amazon in paperback or digital