Page 38 of The Red Woman on Mars
There had been no birth control during this period of history either, Vivian thought glumly, but the debutante was not afraid of getting pregnant prematurely.Shewas not having flashbacks to her mother’s childhood lectures during a moment of passion.
Something is wrong with me.
“Vivian, I am glad to have found you.” Wim stood over her. He gave her a little bow, his red robes flapping around his ankles. “We are all liable to error.” He cleared his throat. “I certainly meant well. My only objective was to honor the wishes of the Intelligence and my patron, Secretary Yarrow. I should have listened to you when you first declined my proposal. If my behavior was inappropriate, I beg your pardon.”
Wim, apologize? It was so unexpected that Vivian could do nothing but stare at him in astonishment. Finally, she cleared her throat. “Thank you, Wim. I accept your apology.”
“Good, good.” He fingered one of the augmentations on his skull nervously. “I wanted to be the first to tell you the happy news that I have made an offer to Luz that she deems acceptable. The Intelligence has sanctioned our arrangement.”
Vivian opened her mouth and closed it several times before managing, “What?”
“I am most grateful to you for refusing me.” He gave another little Martian bow and departed.
Vivian set down her reader and went to find Luz, who was calmly preparing dinner in the shared kitchen. “You’re marrying Wim?” Vivian exclaimed. “Luz, that’s impossible! He’s rude and condescending and thinks too highly of himself.”
Luz snorted and continued chopping a carrot. “I’m aware.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will. Viv, you and I, we’re the same. We aren’t starry-eyed romantics like Delilah or Camille. This is about safety and security. Period.”
Vivian nodded in reluctant agreement. If the experience with Silas taught her anything, it was that being swept up in a moment of passion wasn’t going to happen for her. But if security was all she cared about, why had she turned Wim down?
“You know I don’t have time to waste to fulfill my part of the contract.” Luz put the knife down and turned to look at Vivian. “And Wim—” She faltered. “He knew things. The Intelligence told him. About … what’s happened to me. My life before. There’s so much I haven’t told you. Oh, Viv baby, I’ve seen some ugly shit.” Luz briskly wiped a tear from her cheek. “You can’t know what a gift it is to have someone know and understand without having to go through the horror of retelling.”
Ashamed of her quick judgment, Vivian placed her hand on Luz’s arm and squeezed.
Luz put her own hand on top of Vivian’s. “Wim told me he’s asexual. He—” Her hand tightened. “He said—he said he spoke with the Intelligence and in our situation there’s a high probability of successful co-parenting without us needing a sexual relationship.”
At least her friend wouldn’t need to discover what other body augmentations lay beneath Wim’s robes. “Is that really what you want? A life without sex? Without love? Without intimacy?”
Luz’s mouth quirked. “Viv, he doesn’t experience sexual attraction. He’s still capable of love. Not thatI’mcapable. I know I talk a good game, but, I swear, a life without sex is my ultimate fantasy. And who knows? Intimacy may come, in time.”
Vivian’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m happy for you. I really am. It’s only that I’ll miss you.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
23 Sols to Presentation Day
Change came for Luz bewilderingly quickly. The next morning, her meager possessions were packed, and she bade the Bowen sisters farewell with tight hugs, leaving for her new life on the far side of the dome.
“I don’t understand why they’re making you go now,” Delilah complained. “Shouldn’t you wait until you’re married on Presentation Day?”
Luz’s lips turned up. “You know why. They want these fancy-ass embryos implanted as soon as possible.” She touched Delilah’s shoulder. “Have you found someone else now that Caspian is gone?”
Delilah pasted on a bright smile that Vivian knew was fake. “I have so many suitors I think I’ll form a harem. I can hardly decide between picking the most beautiful, richest, or most powerful.”
Luz wrapped her arms around Vivian and murmured in her ear, “Good luck with her, Viv.”
Vivian snorted. “She’ll be okay.”
“Visit me?” Luz asked. “Once I’m settled in.”
“I’ll try.” Vivian embraced Luz one more time and tried to push down her overwhelming sense of dread.The next time I see her, she’ll be pregnant.
And so, thirty women became twenty-nine. Then twenty-five. Then seventeen. Finally, it was Delilah’s turn.
Vivian spent another evening party at the same banquet hall trapped behind the same high walls. She was hiding in a corner hoping to escape a third dance from a persistent suitor when Delilah shared the news, coming up to her arm-in-arm with the Martian woman who had treated Vivian with such disdain at her first luncheon.
