Page 35 of The Red Woman on Mars

“Caspian sent me a letter.” Delilah brandished a sheet of paper the same cream color as the brief note that had accompanied Vivian’s reader. “He and Ivey have left Arcadia with Xavier and are on their way to visit the far domes. He says that Xavier wants to see his sister who is studying music in another dome.”

“Fucking Xavier,” Vivian muttered, relieved for the chance to replace her muddled mix of emotions with pure anger. “He found an excuse to take Caspian away from you. He only needs to keep you apart for six weeks.”And maybe he needed to find an excuse to keep himself away, a treacherous part of her mind wondered. She pushed the thought away.

“I didn’t—Vivian, I … I didn’t think I cared. I have so many suitors.” She sank down beside Vivian on her bed. “Why does it hurt so much for one to leave me?”

Vivian tucked a lock of hair behind her sister’s ear. “I’m sorry.”

“I should have told him that he was the one I wanted. I should have made him feel special. I thought—” Delilah hiccupped. “I thought he’d be waiting for me when I was ready.”

Still standing, Luz crossed her arms. “You both need to cut the crap. Pick someone. Anyone. Do it as soon as our eggs are harvested. There’s no reason to draw this out.”

“I haven’t seen you pick anyone,” Delilah shot back. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

Luz had an odd look on her face as she replied, “Watch me.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

43 Sols to Presentation Day

“What are you doing?” From her elevated position on the wheeled medical bed, Vivian peered down to watch the top of Dr. Chavez’s close-cropped brown hair bent over Vivian’s hand.

“Placing an IV to administer propofol. To put you to sleep.” She rubbed the skin on Vivian’s hand and, without warning, pressed a needle into the blue vein.

Vivan closed her eyes against the pinch of sharp pain. “And then?”

“I’ll perform a transvaginal ultrasound aspiration,” Dr. Chavez replied crisply. She didn’t seem to care that the words were like a foreign language to Vivian.

“Could you explain it to me?”

Dr. Chavez sighed. “Alright. I’ll insert a needle into an ultrasound device to find follicles. The needle passes through the vaginal wall and into the follicle to retrieve the egg. I’ll then collect the egg with suction.”

“Oh.” Vivian weighed her next question for a moment. But she had to know. “How large is the needle?”

With one gloved hand, the doctor held up a needle wrapped in sterile packaging. It was very, very long.

“Can I ask you something?”

Dr. Chavez grunted.

“What are the side effects of the treatment?”

The doctor paused before saying, “We’ll have to find out, won’t we? You will be the first patients to receive the in-utero calcium treatments.”

“I heard—I heard they will be painful. And perhaps lifelong.”

“Have you been speaking to Counselor Dorsey?”

Vivian saw no reason to deny her source. “Yes.”

Dr. Chavez let out a slow breath. “An excess of calcium can lead to nausea, vomiting, muscle and bone weakness, kidney stones, and confusion, among other things. We don’t know what impact the in utero treatments will have on your bodies yet.”

“Kidney stones,” Vivian repeated. “My dad passed a kidney stone once. I’ve never seen him in so much agony.”

Dr. Chavez turned toward the screen and didn’t meet her eyes. “Martian painkillers are potent and fast-acting.”

“Counselor Dorsey told me that you couldn’t recruit Earther women who’d already immigrated to Mars to the Red Mother’s program.”

“Counselor Dorsey talks too much.”