Ceto was sitting in the back row of the undersea bus right near the toilets. She had been granted two nametags/locks, one which unlocked the air gap in the undersea city and one of which gave her a free pass to the bus up. She was a rare mutant that had both undersea mutations and space mutations that protected her from radiation and gave her the ability to take G forces with no problem. This was fortunate because her Dad lived on Mars. After a very high conflict divorce her mother and father had finally agreed to share custody of her. But since it took over 4 months to travel to Mars they had agreed that she would spend the first two years under the sea and then the next two years on Mars. Her Dad had moved under sea with her for the first year, but he didn’t have undersea genetic mutations, and he just wasn’t happy. Her mother, who was remarried, hadn’t mentioned that she would visit her daughter on Mars at all. Ceto was not expecting her.
Her mother was very invested in her young children with then new husband, and both of them were on the council for the Mars legislature and they were very happy with their social status in the undersea city. On Mars, the undersea city was seen as a backwater even but the limousine liberals and even their genetic mutations were regarded with some distain. The martians were more humanoid, because their mutations, the ones that Ceto shared as well, were less visible than the underwater ones. Ceto knew about this bigotry, but the last time she had been to Mars she had been too young to have been affected by it. Now that she was nearly 12 she knew that her Dad, who was a working class Martian, probably would not be able to shield her from some of the assumptions that kids and people in general would make.
She would be going to the Astra Alta two, the equivalent of public middle school. School started in 3 months, two days after her arrival. But for now, and for the next several hours she could just stare out the bus window, looking out onto the water world. When she got to the surface she had been instructed to take an air taxi to one of the few remaining hotels on earth. Even with her mutations, and with her youth, she had been advised that she should take a few days at the earths surface before subjecting her body to the other extremes of pressure. It had taken some bargaining to get her parents to agree. Earth on the surface these days carried its own dangers. Nearly everyone was desperate and nearly everyone carried a gun. The particulate matter in the atmosphere was at a dangerous level. But Ceto had a portable air filter and she was also trained in various defence arts. Because she was traveling alone, she also carried a gun.
— 7Roses
Her mother was very invested in her young children with then new husband, and both of them were on the council for the Mars legislature and they were very happy with their social status in the undersea city. On Mars, the undersea city was seen as a backwater even but the limousine liberals and even their genetic mutations were regarded with some distain. The martians were more humanoid, because their mutations, the ones that Ceto shared as well, were less visible than the underwater ones. Ceto knew about this bigotry, but the last time she had been to Mars she had been too young to have been affected by it. Now that she was nearly 12 she knew that her Dad, who was a working class Martian, probably would not be able to shield her from some of the assumptions that kids and people in general would make.
She would be going to the Astra Alta two, the equivalent of public middle school. School started in 3 months, two days after her arrival. But for now, and for the next several hours she could just stare out the bus window, looking out onto the water world. When she got to the surface she had been instructed to take an air taxi to one of the few remaining hotels on earth. Even with her mutations, and with her youth, she had been advised that she should take a few days at the earths surface before subjecting her body to the other extremes of pressure. It had taken some bargaining to get her parents to agree. Earth on the surface these days carried its own dangers. Nearly everyone was desperate and nearly everyone carried a gun. The particulate matter in the atmosphere was at a dangerous level. But Ceto had a portable air filter and she was also trained in various defence arts. Because she was traveling alone, she also carried a gun.
— 7Roses
This sentence struck me as funny because it's the first glimpse of a complicated situation: "This was fortunate because her Dad lived on Mars." What has the Earth come to? Only 7Roses knows! Hope this narrative will continue! ---Macoff
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