Mars Attracts
Flash fiction, 500 words. For IAM's Nov. 7 prompt. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
It was appropriate that the Red Planet’s Miss Universe candidate was a redhead, not that you could tell from the poster.
“I can’t help but notice that it’s not my face on prominent display,” drawled newly crowned Miss Mars Laina Darly.
“Really? Your cheeks look rosy to me,” laughed her manager-brother, Dan Darly.
“Gross, Dan. Is this really what we’re going with?”
Photographer Lam Cor, famous by local standards and pretentious by anyone’s standards, clucked his tongue.
“The composition is just right. If you look at the foreground ratio to the Mall’s domed …”
“We want people to come to Mars. That’s what we’re selling,” interrupted Association Vice President Shockly. He was an android, so his words were curt, but Laina didn’t think he was unsympathetic. “You have a well-structured face, Darly, but it’s Olympus Mons that’s going to fill hotels.”
“Olympus Mons!” Dan howled, slapping his knee. He never took anything seriously.
“Olympus Mons isn’t even on the poster.”
“It’s impossible to photograph from ground-level,” Lam Cor sniffed. “I’ve tried.”
“Beautiful, athletic girls, state-of-the-art shopping facilities, rugged landscape, unearthly sunsets. That’s what we’re selling,” Shockly said. “It’s just one poster, not the whole campaign. Your figure is rating a 9.5 in my system. What’s not to like?”
“Oh, as long as my figure rates a 9.5,” muttered Laina.
“You have three interviews lined up this week. Plenty of face-time,” Shockly assured her.
“Plenty of time in a low-cut blouse.”
Shockly chuckled in a mechanical way. Dan giggled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like “O-laina-mpus Mons.”
“You get to pick your own wardrobe,” Shockly reminded her mildly. “It’s in your contract.”
“I never said I didn’t want to win,” Laina laughed. “And I said I’d do my part to help the economy. Didn’t I say that?”
“You did, and we all appreciate it.”
“Then we’re all happy with the poster?” Dan had recovered his composure. “We’ll go with it? I don’t want to rush things, but we’ve got that appearance at the Flight School for Young Ladies at 2, Lain.”
“If you leave in fifteen minutes, you’ll arrive no later than …” Shockly was checking all manner of variables available to every android on the planet and inaccessible to everyone else. “One-thirty. Time left over for lunch.”
They all shook hands. Lam Cor’s grip was half-hearted. Laina appreciated his distaste for having to stoop to this kind of thing, but she disliked him enough to hold it against him. Shockly’s grip was cold and firm. Him she liked – Mars needed a steady hand to rehabilitate its reputation after the foolishness of the Golger Debacle.
Mars needed tourist dollars, and the jobs that raked them in.
“Keep the rangesuit from the photoshoot,” Shockly told Laina on their way out. “It’s fitted for you already. Call it a perk.”
“Perk!” gasped Dan.
“Thanks,” Laina said, elbowing her brother in his ribs. “It’ll come in handy next week at the Explorer’s Club meet.”
“Ah, perfect. Goodness to Betsy, if you inspire enough young ladies to become pilots and enough enthusiasts to become explorers, we may not need tourists at all.”
“But the Mall of Mars will always need shoppers,” Laina grinned, deciding to use her lunch break to buy a brand-new blouse.