If you were on Mars and wanted to get to the next bigger town you would take a rover or a suborbital. If you were poor you would take the rover. A Rover with over 500 Seats. Mars economy wasnt good enough to support subsurface Maglev like the Moon nor was its athmosphrere dense enough to harbor sizeable aerial vehicles. Admitedly there were a few railways nowadays but the expansion wasnt the quickest. So the Marsians opted for Rovers that could make irregular trips to the Various settlements shipping tradegoods, food and people.
Jessica, like a few hundred of other wannabe Recruits took the Rover sitting in the growded restaurant of the 4 story mechanical beast. On the outside she could see the red clouds rise from the threads that plowed through the sand as she thought back.
Days earlyer."The Military!" Elaine asked, looking at her daughter shocked. "Child i can get you a job, even on earth but please dont go to the Military!" The slender Titanian Woman winced.
"Why not Mom?" Jessica shot back to her mother which was so much unlike her. Tall, thin with very petite yet gracefull outlines. "Did you see the benefits? Tax-cuts for the Families, cutting edge Medicin, a steady PAY."
"But for what? They will break you! And then remake you into one of theyr mindless drones. There are studies that say it dumbs you down, makes you aggressive. Is that what you want for yourself? Is that what i raised you for?"
"No you raised me to be assertive, to help people, to make the best of my skills. And i think the Military can give me the opportunity! I can go out with the Construction battalion and build dykes in New Orleans or clear minefields in Afghaistan. Or i could be part of a science Vessel exploring space."
At those words Elaine flinched but returned with a stern expression. "You could step on those Mines, you could be blown up up there. Do you listen to the news? How many private ships and transports explode because of bad maintenance. Despite Woman arent made for space."
"Aww common, you know SPACE is equal opportunity! There are almost as many Woman as Man in Uniform! And when was the Last time anything of SPACE blew up?"
"How long will it till they run into the next Aliens? Or jump into a black hole or next to a pulsar that irradiates you? I want to know that my nerdy little Girl is safe! I want even some grandchildren some day!"
"Mom its not about what you want! And what i do with my womb is my thing. And heck i can get Stemmcells and eggs frozen."
The fight dragged on for a few hours her Mother deflecting and ignoring arguments till both went to bed to cool of neither side satisfied.
A day later Jessica boarded the Rover on her way to Curiosity Rock, Elaine was there too unhappy with the decission but upstanding enough to let her daugter go, including a lunchpaket she made.
Jessica was reading. Since the Military chartered the Rover to pick up new recruits they also supplemented the library of the vehicle with Films and more infomaterial.
*The military had rules on everything* she though unsure if she should be comfortable with that.
Rules were good but in some situations they were constricting. Also they did go in quite some detail. The bedding for example: Not only was the size and type of your bed regulated but also how you had to make it, how much time you need for it, what material the sheets and blankets were, to which form you should shape your pillow (Square and fluffy), how to fold your blankets even down to almost absurd rules like how to position your stuffed animals, that was 90° rotated towards the edge of the pillow, middled in between pillow and the folded Blanket, based of an Ancient case**.
There were Antimilitaristic works in there too, surprisingly, for example the studies her Mother mentioned* as well as rebuttals from SPACE and examples on updated regulations.
"The collected works of Mahatma Ghandi" were right next to Sun Tzu's "The art of War" and Ueshibas "The essence of Aikido".
"Peaceful resolution of conflicts" was an class to be taken by any member of SPACE armed forces, her Pad informed Jessica as she clicked through the categories and primers.
Jessica sighted she was in for 8 hard weeks of "Introductions" and weeding out the ones that werent made for the challenges the Interstellar age presented.
Another day the Rover rolled through the Marsian deserts visiting tents, domed cities and tunneldwellings before Curiosity Rock was reached. The small settlement was an SPACE heritage site, domed and paid by SPACE it was a kilometer and a half in radius with boxy prefabricated building on the outside stretching for a few kilometres further.
From what Jessica had read the site included huge underground facilities as well in which food was grown making this tiny speck on Mars maps mostly self sufficient.
Swept up in a wave of bodies she was moved through security checks and Airlocks finding herself suddenly on the well trimmed lawn under the with Alon*** windows of the Geodesic dome. Next to her were hundreds of young Marsians Man, woman, Intersex and Herms of all Races unified under the Banner of SPACE.
In front of them a big Podium was errected with sizeable OLED screens behind it showing the SPACE flag and assorted SPACE ads.
A loud "Attention" roared sharply over the crowd somehow silencing it immedietly. The words came from private Walker on a mic as Jessica noticed as he continued "Please welcome Colonel Judah Thone."
.....
OOC:
*http://pss.sagepub.com/content/23/3/270
** in the German "Bundeswehr" in the early 2000's regarding a stuffed Lioness
*** Aluminium oxynitride sometimes callad "Transparent Aluminium" (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_oxynitride)
Also not my best. i got a bit of an coldish thing to deal with here.
