Turning A Frontier Into A Home

Author : Ben Ellis

Liam slouched over his drink, a ‘Lost Beagle’, jabbing the sliced raspberries with his straw. Passengers poured into the cocktail bar as another evening on the first ever commercial flight to Mars mixed everyone together amongst the rocks and stars. A month in, halfway through the journey, novelty and excitement had been suffocated by the boredom and frustration of floating in space. Both pioneering entrepreneur and government contractor could achieve little in transit, so as they waited for their feet to touch the ground, they let Liam keep their heads in the clouds.

Liam flicked through his catalogue of beautiful, copyright-expired women from yesteryear on his device, selecting those appealing most to the group of young miners brashly entering the bar. Launching the first ‘Dead Sexy’ personal leisure facility on Mars was not only a great opportunity but a responsibility; where men had discovered new lands, the landlord and madam were not far behind, satiating the trailblazers, enabling them to settle, turning a frontier into a home.

Single women on Mars were in shorter supply than oxygen or a decent steak and with nothing more tangible than holomovies or 3D experiences, these men would welcome the promise of a real, beautiful women to escape the cycle of work, sleep and loneliness. Many miles away from maternal Earth, anti-cloning beliefs or marital guilt would fade into the desolation between the green grass of home and the red rocks of Mars.

Approaching the miners, Liam enlarged the screen, “This round’s on me boys.”

The miners quickly focused on the selection of ladies; with the group firmly placed in the palm of his hand, Liam drilled into his sales patter.

Selling beautiful ladies to lonely men isn’t hard. The hard part is researching which models, singers, actresses and porn stars to clone first to maximise profit. Already spotting his counterparts from ‘Olde Fashioned Girls’ and ‘Clone Alone’; the race was on to analyse the sexual desires of this new Martian population. The one who best utilised their library of DNA would be the one remembered for turning this new frontier into a home.