“Have you ever wanted to go to Mars?” I asked Dannie one day. We were sitting on the patio behind our house, enjoying a bright, perfect garden on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. “Mars?” she replied looking perplexed. “I guess I haven’t really thought much about it. Why do you ask?” “I just realized that it has been awhile since we took some time for ourselves, to just see what’s out there.” “But what about work? And your classes? We can’t just pick up and leave can we?” “Why not?” I challenged. “Its still going to be there when we get back. Its always going to be there.” Dannie grinned at me slowly. “Okay.” “Okay?” “Okay. Let’s go to Mars. I could use a vacation. Go book the tickets while I pack. You know what? While we’re at it, let’s tour all of Earth too. All six continents – Atlantis, California – All of the underwater cities, Antarctica, the jungle, everything.” “You got it.” “Let me just take care of a few things first” “Don’t bother. We’ll take care of them when we get back.” One of my favorite memories of Dannie is from our trip to the Great Barrier Reef. The reef had just recently recovered from all of the oil spills and pollution that humanity had subjected it to before it switched over to renewable energy. Luckily, it was one of the beautiful, natural areas that we managed to save. At this point, Dannie and I had settled on not going home. While on our visit to Antarctica, I made sure that we sold off our house, I dropped out of my classes at the University, and Dannie transferred all of her court cases to an associate and submitted her resignation. We’d lost our head and been swept up in adventure. Every day was something different, thanks to the teleportation technologies that were finally implemented at the turn of the fourth millennium. I remember the Barrier Reef because Dannie was completely happy there. She was the Dannie I fell in love with, completely filled with the wonder that comes from experiencing something new. She wasn’t stressed out or depressed because of work, and she was smiling.
Reality Hackers : Transhuman : Unthinkable (Short fiction)
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