CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

THE MESSAGE HOME

The night before the civilian launch, Shaw recorded a message for the passengers.

She sat alone in the communications room.

The first version sounded like an order.

She deleted it.

The second sounded like a speech.

She deleted that too.

On the third attempt she looked directly into the camera.

“You are coming to a place that is unfinished.”

She paused.

“That is not a warning. It is the reason you are coming.”

She described the settlement plainly.

The spaceport.

The central spine.

The Mechanical Dome.

Agriculture.

Chinatown.

The mining routes.

The Big Room.

She told them their private quarters were small and the coffee machine leaked less than it used to.

She told them the work would be difficult.

Then she said the thing she had not intended to say.

“Do not come here expecting to find a finished Mars. The settlement you are coming to did not exist two years ago. What it becomes next will depend partly on you.”

She stopped recording.

The message entered the transmission queue.

It would reach Earth before launch.

Whether the passengers heard it before boarding depended on schedules.

On Mars, schedules remained suggestions.