Page 66 of The Lottery

She answers only with a smile in her eyes and a quick squeeze of my hand. It is all the motivation I need.

With a flutter in my heart, I turn the wheel that will unlock and dislodge the door.

This is it.

The moment we meet Mars.

19

ZAE

“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”

– Carl Sagan

* * *

A cold blast of air sprinkled with feather-light snowflakes hits my face, and I blink.

One lands on my lips and I lick it off without thinking.

Then I realize.

I just tasted Mars.

How wild.

I blink again, and through a gentle snowfall I soak up the sight of my new home.

“Marek…” I whisper, my words catching on the emotion welling in my throat.

Our fingers brush against each other’s, the zing of that contact grounding me to him, despite our lack of privacy.

“Azalea. It is…”

He sounds as wonder-struck as I feel.

“Awe-inspiring.” I finish both our thoughts as we gaze at the world that awaits.

It’s the cusp of winter, with a scattering of snow creating small pockets of white on the bushes.

Bushes. And trees.

A deep green I haven’t seen since setting foot on the shuttle.

Actual shrubbery

Big and wild.

Everything seems much larger here than Earth. Or rather, taller. So much taller. I’d expected this, of course. It’s the lower gravity. Our children and their children will all grow taller than us.

I put a hand on my stomach, imagining such a future. Giving birth to a child on Mars. Raising a Martian.

When I fantasize about a baby, the man I see holding our child, love glowing in his eyes, is never Robert.

I glance to the man at my side. His strong jawline and aquiline nose. Large, intelligent eyes, dimpled chin. I shake my head.

I am on a strange planet, with a broken ship and missing cargo, and my biggest problem is that I am in love with the wrong billionaire.

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