Nora’s wild brown hair was frizzed, pulled into a ponytail. She limped in using crutches that clacked on the tile. Paul had shot her clean through the leg before leaving Earth.
Anna’s eyes snagged on the bandages. She had nothing to do with Paul’s actions, but seeing her injury still made her stomach churn.
“Glad it’s you.” She forced a smile. “I just finished cleaning.”
Nora slowly lowered herself to the bench. “Hey Anna-cakes. Still baking?”
Anna leaned her shoulder back against the window. “Always and forever.”
“What happened here?” Nora tapped the top of Anna’s yellow hands. “Did Tilly get her paints on you?”
“No. One of the spices stained them.” Anna held out her fingers in front of her. “Anything exciting happening with the androids today?”
Nora put her crutches to the side. “Atlas stopped by a few minutes ago. He’s fixing up that machine, that ultrasound thing? The one that tells you all about the baby.”
Anna’s breath caught. “Does he think he can get it working again?”
“Yeah. He said he would come by later once he does and we can try it out.”
“Sure.” Anna’s fingers pressed into her belly. “That would be like magic.”
“You made brownies?” Nora looked around the kitchen. “Smells like brownies. Tilly came in with a bowl she was licking. Her face is a mess.”
“Yeah.”
Nora picked through the baked goods on the counter.
Anna settled back against the window. If she closed her eyes, it was almost like a normal day in her bakery back on Earth. Only nothing was normal here. “Does any of this get to you, Nora?”
Nora took two cookies from the tray. “Does what get to me?”
“Going to Mars? Living with androids? A month ago we didn’t even know any of this existed.” She side-eyed Nora. “And you’re dating an android now.”
Nora patted her hands. “Simon was an upgrade.”
“Upgrade?” Anna snorted. “From who? There was no competition.”
“He is the competition all on his own.”
Anna laughed. She turned her head to the stars. “Here, this zooms in.” She palmed a control on the side of the window and tapped the feed. “See this? I mean, look at Mars. Doesn’t it seem unreal?”
A bright blue planet was displayed, clouds dotting the surface, perfect after being terraformed. Earth apparently looked that beautiful once, but now was a decaying yellow mass. Mars was too beautiful to be real.
“I see it alright.” Nora waved out the window. “Simon shows me the pictures of Mars, but none of this feels real. I still think I’m gonna wake up back home, worried about food.”
“Me too.”
Nora propped her injured leg on the ledge. “I think once we get there we can settle in and start to live again. It will feel more normal.”
“You really think so?” Anna shuddered. “I can’t tell . . .” She glanced up at the camera, then leaned in close to Nora and whispered, “I can’t tell if I’m being paranoid, or if they’re watching us for some reason.”
“Actually, I brought that up to Simon already.” Nora glanced up to the cameras. “He just said that we’re interesting humans.”
Interesting.Anna huffed. “Part of the reason I keep baking is that I want them to see me trying. I keep asking them what kind of jobs we can do there on Mars, and no one will answer me.”
“Honestly, I don’t think they really know what to do with us.”
Anna slowly nodded. That made sense.The only android she actually knew was Simon. She bit her lip, thinking hard. “None of these androids are like Simon, Nora. I can’t put my finger on it.”
