Most of the population live underground in subterranean tunnels and caverns with thousands of miles of high speed rail tubes hurtling people at several times the speed of sound. We could reach the opposite end of Mars in a matter of minutes.
Unlike the other colonies, Mars enjoys food independence from Earth and only trades in luxuries. They produce sufficient surplus to supply their own trade routes with the inner and stations and are highly regarded for their low gravity crops. The size of an average Martian grape is closer in size to a large Earth watermelon.
A Karl Knutmudsen paradise and Martians pride themselves as the greatest adherents of the Neo-Artesian ways, hailing their cities as the perfect archetype of the Knut. The sisters leave Mars largely alone and maintain a small chapter in the Capital Domes, less than a hundred members, but a dozen high ranking madams.
Mars is the burial ground of madam Olivia and her mausoleum rests beneath the sisters main compound north of the main government buildings. Most of the madams are descendants of Olivia and were very interested in meeting me. They welcomed and embraced me as one of their own and showed me the delights and pleasures of Mars.
Pei took the opportunity to soon leave us in the care of our sisters. She briefly met with one of the madams to discuss her mission and she dispatched a pair of sister marines to accompany Pei as they were well aware of the target and she had a reputation with several dead sisters in her wake.
The madams brought me to see Olivia laying in state beneath a transparent blue crystal coffin. She was dead, but her skin and and hair was kept alive as they fed a nutrient gel to maintain her physical appearance. Around the bottom of the large antechamber were a hundred smaller alcoves and each held small urns containing the ash of each of Olivia's descendants for three centuries. New alcoves were carved out of the Martian rock and could conceivable stretch for miles downwards to hold several millennia worth of descendants.
Valhalla as they described this chamber devoted to Olivia. Two new alcoves had already been made for Enya and myself and were prepared the day we each were born. I touched the polished tiles and rubbed my fingertips on the etched plaque with my name.
Sophia, one of the younger madams barely aged 30 brought me to another room that was filled with hundreds of various urns stacked on heavy shelves. There were a great variety of choices in color, material and shape. She asked me to select one that would rest on my shelf and someday be my final resting place. Descendants of Olivia frequently change their choice throughout their lifetime and I settled on a simple white marble square box. She complimented my choice and another sister took the box to place on my alcove.
I counted twenty more open alcoves and she smiled at my astute observation. Most were reserved for the daughters of the various madams, including Sophia's daughter Sylvia, but at least three were for unknown descendants who remained hidden, even to the madams.
Madam Naoka is entrusted with their identities and they live also on Io Station. This was the ways of the sisters and always a few descendants are kept hidden. Sophia also shared my bloodline was the highest of all sisters present as I am from the direct line of Ninya, Olivia's most favored daughter. It had been some time since they had a sister from Ninya's namesake and to have two in the same generation was a cause for celebration.
She encouraged me to continue my training and sister Pei was the best. My sister Enya was training with another sister marine and the elder daughter of Naoka on Earth and it was hoped at least one of us would become a full fledged sister marine, quite rare and possibly the first known daughter of Ninya to achieve that distinction.
I was shown to a large apartment room within the sister's compound. And found my luggage and things already waiting and my clothes placed in the closet. Sophia then explained, that my time on the Grand Traveler was coming to an end and I would remain on Mars to complete my training as a sister. This was already decided by Naoka and Marina. Kallos would depart on the Grand Traveler in a few days when Captain Gregor concludes the naval summit. The heart grows fonder when apart and I would have to earn the privilege to serve again on the Grand Traveler at Kallos side.
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