Zed wasn’t sure what he had imagined their quarters on Mars would look like, but whatever it had been, this was smaller. Their “suite” amounted to two small bedrooms connected to a small living room. The living room was really more of a hallway, if he was being honest. You could probably fit a couch lengthwise with a TV stand against the opposite wall, leaving enough room to walk between them, but little else. Needless to say, the room contained no TV or couch.

  Zed’s parents' room contained what looked like a queen-sized air mattress set into a bed frame that had been extruded from the floor itself. In fact, this whole place had been extruded from the ground up. Looking at the walls, he could see the ridges left by the 3D printer that had made them, but rather than plastic, they had been printed with some kind of Martian concrete that had then been sprayed with a smooth sealing agent. Aside from the bed, there was a small desk and chair, as well as some shelving and storage. These too had been extruded into or out of the wall.

  It made perfect sense, Zed thought. Why haul the weight and bulk of beds and desks when you could just print them with what you had on-site?

  They crowded in and made their way to Zed’s room.

  “And this here is the young master’s broom closet… er… bedroom,” Jonah said with a poke to Zed’s ribs.

  Zed was fairly certain their pantry on Earth had been considerably larger than the space he could now call his own. It had a bed with just enough room for one person, some more shelves and storage space extruded into the wall, and a sort of bench at the end of the bed.

  Jonah leaned closer and said, “Hey, trust me, this might not seem like much now, but once you get set up with your CIG tomorrow, you won’t care if you’re in a hangar or a water closet.”

  Zed nodded. This was what he’d signed up for, right? Well, technically he hadn’t signed up for anything; his parents had, but it made little difference now.

  “Alrighty, I’ll let you folks get settled in. Since you missed the initial tour with Thabisa, I believe she’s going to swing by at 0700 MT and show you around,” Jonah said, heading toward the door.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Ana and Ed nodded. To Zed, it looked like they were thrilled with the situation.

  “What’s MT?” Zed asked just as Jonah was about to close the front door.

  “Oh,” he laughed. “Right, yeah, that’s ‘Martian time.’ Since the Martian day is a little longer than an Earth day, we’ve just embraced it. If we stuck to Earth time, our days would be constantly shifting because of the difference.” He nodded at them with a final smile and made his exit.

  “Let’s get these cases to the bedrooms and unpack just what we need. I think we could all use some sleep,” Ana said. She glanced at Zed.

  He tried to mask whatever expression of concern he had as he stared at his closet of a room, but apparently he wasn’t quick enough.

  “You’ve been given a great privilege to be here, Zed. Every kid on Earth would kill to be in your place.” She shook her head. “I think you’ve disrupted this day quite enough. I recommend you spend the rest of the evening in your room. Maybe you’ll grow to appreciate it a little more.”

  Zed grabbed his luggage and did as he was told. This was a no-win situation that just needed to be escaped.

  “I’m sure you’re right,” he said flatly.

  Ana smiled as if that was all she wanted to hear, and Zed knew that to be true.

  “Well then, let's all get some rest. It’s been an incredibly full day, and I’m sure everything will look different after a good night’s sleep.”

  Ana turned and carried her cases into the other bedroom.

  Ed lingered a moment, looking at Zed. He seemed about to say something but then closed his mouth. He turned and left the room, closing the door behind him.

  Zed settled onto the bench at the foot of his bed and put his head in his hands. He was quickly reminded why that was a bad idea as his palm pressed into the stitches that ran through his eyebrow. He swore under his breath.

  He needed to just sit and process the day. The small room didn’t bother him that much, really. It was certainly more space and privacy than he’d had for the last few months. So what was it that bothered him?

  Maybe it was the feeling of permanence. Through training or the trip here, it was easy to accept things that weren’t ideal because he knew they’d be moving on to the next place, the next school, the next stage of training. This wasn’t going to change. This was going to be the same for several years, which was a first for Zed. Something about that brought his lack of choice into focus as he stared into this tiny room.

  Zed shook his head. He couldn’t deal with any of that now. His mother was right about one thing: he needed sleep. So without unpacking, he threw off his pants and blood-stained shirt and collapsed onto the bed. As he sank into a deep sleep, Zed’s last thought was of that all-too-brief glimpse he had gotten of the Martian landscape. It really had been worth the trip; he just wasn’t sure what came next. And then, for the second time that day, everything faded to black.