1.
“Cheer up,
babe.”
Tori grimaced at herself in the
mirror as she adjusted her silky, red hair, gathering some stray hairs into
the chignon in her neck. She didn’t like what she was seeing. The
official navy-blue skirt suit she was wearing wasn’t doing much for
her complexion. Then again, the poor overhead light wasn’t really
helping either. Nor was the fact that she hated these kinds of clothes.
Soon, however, she’d face the bright
flashes of multiple cameras pointed at her. Better practice her
sweet-and-innocent, yet professional smile while she
could.
Make sure you look presentable,
darling , her
mother’s voice trilled in her mind.
“ Yes, mom,” she mumbled at
her reflection in the mirror, pulling another face at herself
before re-applying her make-up.
In a way, l eaving Mars had been tough, but
it had also been a relief. It was the start of a new life – a life
she’d claim as her own. As soon as the cruiser had taken off and
left the surface of Earth’s red neighboring planet behind, Tori had
fled to her private quarters in the aft of the spacecraft to avoid
the hordes of journalists traveling on the same space line toward
Desida Two, the space station orbiting Saturn. The last thing she
needed was news-hungry paparazzi chasing her up and down the ship,
trying to get a few questions in with Victoria Weiss, daughter of
the Great German ambassador on Mars.
By now, s he was completely fed up with
being an Elite icon. Why couldn’t she have had an older sibling to
take the brunt of all the attention and be in the limelight? She’d
have loved someone’s shadow to disappear into, invisible to the
public eye, able to live her own life without having to be an
upstanding example of whatever it was her parents expected of
her.
Tori tentatively smiled, turning away from
the mirror on her high heels. Even though she was leaving her
entire life on Mars behind by taking up an internship in the
Astrobiology Department on Desida Two, she’d still have some
friends to welcome her on board when she got there. Anna and
Shirley – the two American girls her mother had always tried to
keep away from her, because they were ‘too different’. Like she was
only supposed to befriend exact clones of herself.
Anna had just graduated from
North Mars Uni with a degree in Geology. She was part of the
Cartography team mapping all of Saturn’ s moons for the first time in
history. She’d arranged for their friend Shirley to do her
internship there as well. If all went well, the three of them would
be sent out on multiple missions doing assignments on the moon
Enceladus together – Tori in her capacity of Astrobiology student,
taking samples of the subterranean waters hiding below the surface,
and her two friends as mapmakers. Desida Two was a multicultural
station with many scientists from Canadian Greenland and the Ten
States of America, so it was also a golden opportunity to practice
her English and make new, international friends.
“ Approaching Desida
Two ,” a
tinny voice above her head announced. “First docking point: Saturn
Boulevard. This cruiser will continue to Hydroponics and the Main
Cargo Hold, where this service terminates.”
Tori walked over to her trolley
bag to pack up, then stopped midway. The most convenient way
to get to
her quarters on Desida Two was by entering via Saturn Boulevard,
but all the journalists probably knew that too. Maybe she should
sit this one out. After all, nothing waiting for her in the Main
Cargo Hold could possibly be worse than vulture-reporters circling
her to get the latest scoop on why Ambassador Weiss’s only child
had moved out at age twenty, wanting to finish college as far away
from home as she could.
She whipped out her pad and
typed out a message to Anna: ‘don’t wait 4 me @ the blvd. dodging journalists.
will take cargo exit!!’ This was the most excellent idea she’d had
all day.
Grinning a self-congratulatory
smile, Tori sat back down
“Cheer up,
babe.”
Tori grimaced at herself in the
mirror as she adjusted her silky, red hair, gathering some stray hairs into
the chignon in her neck. She didn’t like what she was seeing. The
official navy-blue skirt suit she was wearing wasn’t doing much for
her complexion. Then again, the poor overhead light wasn’t really
helping either. Nor was the fact that she hated these kinds of clothes.
Soon, however, she’d face the bright
flashes of multiple cameras pointed at her. Better practice her
sweet-and-innocent, yet professional smile while she
could.
Make sure you look presentable,
darling , her
mother’s voice trilled in her mind.
“ Yes, mom,” she mumbled at
her reflection in the mirror, pulling another face at herself
before re-applying her make-up.
In a way, l eaving Mars had been tough, but
it had also been a relief. It was the start of a new life – a life
she’d claim as her own. As soon as the cruiser had taken off and
left the surface of Earth’s red neighboring planet behind, Tori had
fled to her private quarters in the aft of the spacecraft to avoid
the hordes of journalists traveling on the same space line toward
Desida Two, the space station orbiting Saturn. The last thing she
needed was news-hungry paparazzi chasing her up and down the ship,
trying to get a few questions in with Victoria Weiss, daughter of
the Great German ambassador on Mars.
By now, s he was completely fed up with
being an Elite icon. Why couldn’t she have had an older sibling to
take the brunt of all the attention and be in the limelight? She’d
have loved someone’s shadow to disappear into, invisible to the
public eye, able to live her own life without having to be an
upstanding example of whatever it was her parents expected of
her.
Tori tentatively smiled, turning away from
the mirror on her high heels. Even though she was leaving her
entire life on Mars behind by taking up an internship in the
Astrobiology Department on Desida Two, she’d still have some
friends to welcome her on board when she got there. Anna and
Shirley – the two American girls her mother had always tried to
keep away from her, because they were ‘too different’. Like she was
only supposed to befriend exact clones of herself.
Anna had just graduated from
North Mars Uni with a degree in Geology. She was part of the
Cartography team mapping all of Saturn’ s moons for the first time in
history. She’d arranged for their friend Shirley to do her
internship there as well. If all went well, the three of them would
be sent out on multiple missions doing assignments on the moon
Enceladus together – Tori in her capacity of Astrobiology student,
taking samples of the subterranean waters hiding below the surface,
and her two friends as mapmakers. Desida Two was a multicultural
station with many scientists from Canadian Greenland and the Ten
States of America, so it was also a golden opportunity to practice
her English and make new, international friends.
“ Approaching Desida
Two ,” a
tinny voice above her head announced. “First docking point: Saturn
Boulevard. This cruiser will continue to Hydroponics and the Main
Cargo Hold, where this service terminates.”
Tori walked over to her trolley
bag to pack up, then stopped midway. The most convenient way
to get to
her quarters on Desida Two was by entering via Saturn Boulevard,
but all the journalists probably knew that too. Maybe she should
sit this one out. After all, nothing waiting for her in the Main
Cargo Hold could possibly be worse than vulture-reporters circling
her to get the latest scoop on why Ambassador Weiss’s only child
had moved out at age twenty, wanting to finish college as far away
from home as she could.
She whipped out her pad and
typed out a message to Anna: ‘don’t wait 4 me @ the blvd. dodging journalists.
will take cargo exit!!’ This was the most excellent idea she’d had
all day.
Grinning a self-congratulatory
smile, Tori sat back down
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