Free People of Mars by Rita Carla Francesca Monticelli Page A

starving.”
    “Leave it to me,” she
said, caressing his face. It was such a tender family portrait, but
it struck no chord with Anna. She had the facts.
    As soon as Dennis left
the kitchen, Michelle put aside her joyous expression. What a great
actress.
    “What are you doing?
You shouldn’t drink alone.” Her voice tone sounded more sarcastic
than worried. “It isn’t a good sign at all. What’s going on with
you?” She took a glass, poured some vodka and sat beside her. She
was trying to play the friend role. “Aren’t you glad about the
news? You can relax now, the launch will be confirmed. A new crew
will arrive. It’ll be fun. Maybe there will be some nice guy …”
    Anna shot an icy glare
in her direction.
    “I mean, for you,”
Michelle specified and gulped the whole content of her glass. “I’m
good.” And she laughed again.
    “Oh, yeah,” she got as
answer.
    “Come on, I’m
serious.” Michelle poked at her with an elbow. “Aren’t you curious?
There were some remarkable ones during the training, weren’t
there?”
    “I didn’t notice
that.”
    “Well, of course,
Robert would become jealous.”
    That latest statement
roused Anna from her apathy. “What the hell are you talking
about?”
    “Hey, don’t act
scandalised. I see the two of you are buddy-buddy, I thought there
was something more …” She winked in a conspiratorial way.
    “There’s nothing
between Robert and me.”
    “Then what’s wrong
with me wanting to find you a fiancé?” And here she was laughing
again. “I know, I shouldn’t drink with an empty stomach. I guess
I’m already drunk.” She stood up. “I’ll better prepare something to
eat.”
    “I’d like to go,” Anna
murmured.
    “Go?” Michelle asked,
as she opened the fridge and started looking for something
inside.
    “Back to Earth.”
    The other woman turned
to her, perplexed.
    “I want to ask Houston
for the authorisation to get on the return spacecraft.”
    The Isis 2 mission included a return spacecraft, to take back some
Martian rocky samples to Earth for the very first time. She was
remotely operated, but her interior was arranged with accommodation
for up to three persons, in case of the need to take someone home
for medical reasons. Actually, it was too early to ask to leave the
mission, although such option was contemplated in exceptional
circumstances. Lately Anna had reached the decision to try it
anyway. She was sick, perhaps not physically, but surely at a
psychological level. She was going to suggest that she kept on
working on the mission on Earth. Maybe they would listen to her.
She had to try.
    “There’s nothing more
for me here.”
    Michelle stopped what
she was doing and sat back. Her concern seemed genuine. For the
first time in many months, Anna believed she glimpsed in her face
the dear friend she had once been.
    “Forgive me. I didn’t
know you were feeling so bad.” She placed a hand on her arm. “No,
what am I saying? I supposed so, but I was so wrapped up in my
business that I preferred not to see.”
    There was a long
waiting pause, but nothing happened.
    “I’d like you to talk
to me.”
    “There’s not much to
say.”
    “Is it because of Jan?
Have you contacted him in the end?”
    Anna shook her head.
“He made a new life for himself where there’s no room for me.”
    “And so, why?”
    “I want to breathe
again in an open place. Go about and meet other people.” The memory
of her first encounter with Jan forced its way into her mind, but
she shooed it to a remote corner. Instead, she concentrated on the
sea in front of Stockholm City Hall, the cries of the seagulls. “I
want some peace.”
    “What’s happening?”
Anna’s words didn’t seem to convince the other woman. Even she had
realised it was an umpteenth desire to escape from something.
    “You know very well
what’s happening!” She couldn’t pretend not to see. “We can keep on
saying we are family, but the truth is that life here is