Chapter 2- Living in a glass house... on Mars

The Martian landscape really is beautiful. All 8,000 residents have amazing views because of the domes that are constructed.  It's hard to believe my grandparents came here with almost nothing. People had been here before them, but they didn't build much, and they died out. They weren't really settlers. It was more like a suicide mission, but they did bring supplies and building materials. Before that there was only robots with solar power moving all over the planet and taking in information for scientists to figure out how to live here. Some of those are still out there, transmitting signals and exploring parts of the planet that we haven't been to yet. 

When my grandparents and the 200 other people all came here 75 earth years ago, they had the supplies they needed shipped in advance, plus the advantage of the people who died off and left storage units. The first years were spent in the ships they landed in and building the structures we call home. Sounds like a lot of work. Now our society dedicates people for everything, mining (for supplies, the planet is full of Iron), construction (new places to live), farming (for our food), and science studies (like communication, power, and technology). I work in that sector. At least I did until my parents insisted, and I had to get married and do technological work at home. Lately I've just been posting pictures of the landscape and sending them back to people on earth through the webmaster. They seem to love my pictures, even the bad ones. I guess I understand. Earth pictures amaze me. I've never seen a body of water and anything green, like in Colony- 3 amazes me. My communication with them exists solely through my AI assistant and the emails sent to me through the webmaster. 

The shock of getting the message I was chosen was upsetting for many reasons. 1- I didn't think I was eligible for this part of the reckoning, usually those chosen to eliminate are men. 2- The participation I give in community events is usually more of the domestic sort. 3- I like to pretend that this nasty little aspect of our community doesn't exist, even though everyone here has seen it at one time or another.  Having it be in public is a reminder to everyone this does still occur and keeps people inline. Usually, people do it at the Canteen, but I will get more information when I go to "training". 

The Remembrance Ritual is almost as bad as the killing. We celebrate with a dark fruit cake which in my opinion isn't very good. I was told on Earth they celebrated milestones with cake, but this is the only cake I've ever known. The victim is honored at the Remembrance Ritual but so is the killer. The person selected is very important because they continue the tradition and keep the population of the colony intact. Death for everyone is marked by a miniature snake plant in our remembrance dome, housing our continuance flame. It's a very depressing place, but because of the snake plants and oxygen it's great for walks and new smells. I go here frequently and even volunteer to repot some of the plants and make the new ones from old cuttings. 

I'm really not sure what to do with this new information. Do I tell Carl about this? Does he need to know? Is he even coming home tonight? Married people are allowed to talk about the civic duty they are given, but not in general until the job is done. The population must stay around 8,000 because this is what we can grow food, supply air, and recycle water to stay stable- so it is necessary to eliminate 20-30 people a year to stay in this mark, new children are born, but this is also kept in line as much as possible with the Law of the Quota. 

Our life span on this planet is about 45 Martian years (about 50-60 earth years) it's not as long as on earth because of our exposure to the sun's rays from lack of atmosphere and our medical skills aren't great. In fact, we have jokes about that with our hospital, we call it the place with the "Medical Kills" because they also keep the population in line with their accidents. It's hard for them to treat things when we have no new medical practices, and we have to make and repair our own medical equipment. New things from Earth rarely come and when they do they are usually outdated by then.  The doctor who first came here with my Grandparents started the first hospital. His name was Dr. John Bjorkman. My grandpa called him "Kevorkian" - I didn't get the joke until I looked it up, apparently, he was a suicide doctor from a long time ago on Earth, needless to say Dr. Bjorkman's patients never complained. Mostly because they couldn't. They died.  

I decided I'm not going to worry about it too much and maybe plan a lunch with Edgar or my sister this week. That would be ideal to getting my mind off it until I actually have to perform the dirty deed.... and I hear Carl at the door.