“I doubt it. It’s more likely to have been Morelli or Jeffries.”
“I wish she wasn’t going.” Scarlet patted her belly. “I wanted her to see her grandson when he’s born: Shelby Junior.”
“You’ll be able to talk and video-cam with her. Mars is only five light minutes away.”
“I want to say goodbye.”
Shelby handed her his communicator.
She activated the communicator. “Mother?”
Shelby heard the shocked response on the speaker. “Scarlet… Can’t talk, I’m travelling at the moment. I’ll call you back when I arrive. It may be a while… Where are you?”
“I’m watching you boarding the shuttle for the Mars Adventurer.”
Her mother turned and saw them. Scarlet waved to her, and she waved back.
“He’s with you — the marshal?”
“Don’t worry. He’s not going to arrest you.”
She sighed. “Good… Can’t stop to chat at the moment. They’ve called my flight. Speak to you when I get to Mars.”
“Wait. Mum, I’m pregnant.”
“Congratulations. Let’s hope you do a better job as a mum than I did… Bye for now.”
Scarlet laughed. “Mum was never one for small talk. At least I know she’s alive and well. Will she be safe on Mars?”
“There’s quite a community there now: billionaires, scientists and terraformers. And they’ll be someone to keep an eye on her.”
“Who?”
Shelby waved. And Jess waved back to them?
“Jess is going to Mars too?”
“That was the deal Jess made with your mother when she found her. They both have a new start in a new world.”
They watched her mother and Jess board the shuttle together.
“Won’t you miss Jess?”
“Yeah, of course, but it’s what she wanted. It took me a while to figure it out. Jess is the first of her kind — a sentient android. Earth’s not ready for her kind yet. Maybe on Mars she’ll thrive and discover her own philosophy of life and existence.”
“You know, sending her to Mars won’t stop technology advancing on Earth. Sooner or later sentient Androids will emerge. And then what?”
“I don’t know. I’ve always viewed technology as a good thing. But I’m not sure anymore. Androids more intelligent than we are can’t be a good thing.”
Scarlet slipped her hand into his. “Technology is not the problem. It’s never been the problem. The problem is about how mankind use it. It’s us.”
He smiled at her. “Maybe Mars is the new frontier to show how androids and humans can live and work together in harmony. I hope it works out.”
“Me too.”
After he lost his wife and daughter, he never thought he would ever find love and happiness again. He was wrong. He promised to hang around for as long as he was welcome. And they were still together after three months. He took a deep breath. The world wasn’t perfect, and never would be. But the only thing that mattered to him was standing beside him.
He put his arm around her and she looked up at him. He kissed her on her forehead. Shelby had everything he wanted in life again.
The countdown on the huge video screen in the complex was reaching its conclusion. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1 lift off.”
“There she goes,” he said.
As the sun rose on the horizon signalling the dawn of a new day, the shuttle’s engines thundered and the shuttle rose into the sky.
THE END
About the Author
John Williamson grew up in York, graduated in economics from Hull University, and made a career in accounting, working in the City of London for one of the world's largest firms of chartered accountants, specialising in clients in the finance sector. He is now retired from accounting and living in Bedfordshire, pursuing what he loves most — writing. His official website can be found at:
www.jmjwilliamson.com
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Also by the author:
Collision
This is a story about corporate greed, espionage and time travel. But it’s also a love story about two scientists from different times, who are caught up in events.
A UFO collides with a US spy plane at 150,000 feet, but survives. US military intelligence track the path of the UFO to a beach in northern England before they lose sight of it. After a call from the White House to Downing Street, MI6 are tasked to work with the CIA to investigate the UFO. But with the UFO now gone, the only clue to its whereabouts is a mysterious cat woman seen by a witness on the beach.
The morning after the incident, a young woman wakes up in a service station after sleeping there overnight. Traumatic memories of her escape from the night before flood into her mind. Now her only chance of returning home is to find the scientist who shares her field of research and persuade him to help her before the security forces catch her.
Alien Hothouse
This is a story about Josie Carpenter, an unmarried mother with a sixteen-year-old daughter, trying to run a small country spa hotel in a village in North Yorkshire. What makes Josie different is that she has a secret. Her best friend is an alien from the Orion Nebula. In fact, she has twelve alien friends living peacefully in a hippie commune on her neighbour’s farmland. They were found by her neighbour, Adam, who took them in when they were stranded on Earth some years ago. Adam helped them establish a self-sufficient hydroponic farm to support them until they could be rescued. To the outside world, the aliens just look like average hippy types: a bit strange, but harmless. Only Adam and Josie know their true origin.
Our story starts in the period following Adam’s death with Josie having to cope with supporting the aliens on her own. Oliver Saunders, Adam’s nephew, has inherited the farm, and is about to arrive at the village. All Oliver wants to do is sell the farm and return to London to resume his investment banking career, which he lost in the credit crunch. How is Josie going to keep her the origin of her friends secret, and how is she going to deal with Oliver, who she hasn’t seen since her school days? And what is going to happen when the alien rescuers arrive?
This is not your usual alien invasion story: nor is it ET.
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