I was in an impossible position but it was my own damn fault.
But who, in their right mind, would give up on an opportunity to be part of the first Mars colony?!
ALOM had made their selection process without bias, except for one. For the foreseeable future, only those who could ensure new generations of colonists would be sent to the Red Planet.
Extensive medical examinations had concluded that I was very fertile and that my genes were considered "favourable". That word always creeped me out for some reason.
My problem was that I wasn't even remotely interested in the opposite sex and just the thought of having to father children made me very nervous.
I'd been hand-picked for my expertise in industrial robotics. It was my responsibility to maintain the automated crawlers and mining smartbots. Luckily, I was able to perform most of my duties in relative isolation.
Despite trying to stay away from the rest of the colonists, Maria was contiously making advances. I didn't want to lead her on but I also didn't want her to give up just yet.
Wasn't it absurd that we were sophisticated enough to colonise another planet, yet I had to once again hide who I was. I knew this situation was my own fault but it felt like the early 2020's all over again.
Things got infinitely more complicated when the second round of colonists arrived. Pyotr Kalinko caught my eye from the moment he stepped through the airlock.
He was ruggedly handsome and had a tendency to walk-around in the gympod bare chested. One of his arms was covered in intricate tattoos; a rare artform that few still dabbled in. Sometimes, I risked sneaking a peak to try and figure out what they meant.
Everytime, I crossed paths with Pyotr, he smiled at me politely. I tried to avoid contact as much as possible, despite the confinement of our new world. I couldn't afford to feel anything towards him or I'd be done for.
***
Eventhough we based the passage of time on Martian sols, we still celebrated all of Earth's traditional holidays according to the terrestrial calendar.
It was almost Christmas and we had used the Secret Santa system to select a person for whom to make a gift. Much to my chagrin, I'd picked the most impossible person out of the total twenty four.
Valerie was all work and no play. I'd spoken to five different people to discover what she liked and came up completely empty handed.
I felt sorry for whoever had picked her last year because their hard work was still decorating the mess hall.
My epiphany came when I was replacing one of the bot's arms. The biggest gift anyone could receive was TerraTime.
We all had family back on Earth and communicating with them was a major event. The question was, how could I gift a portion of my personal TerraTime anonymously?
***
When Valerie opened her gift, she seemed confused at first. As she read the accompanying note, however, her expression went from neutral to overjoyed.
I was completely caught off guard when my own Christmas gift turned out to be what looked like an old fashioned lockbox key! There was no note, nothing!
"Thank you, Secret Santa!" I said out loud, hoping to see someone in the small crowd react.
