She loved both her husbands. Polygyny was still practiced by some Muslims on Earth, but here on Mars where women were far outnumbered by men, polyandry was the norm. Imre she’d married four years ago. His paunch had grown and his hair was going, but none of that mattered. He still made her laugh every day, just like the day when they’d first met at the Hellas Planitia Cybernetics Conference. Haruki she’d married two years later. It had been a chance encounter, she’d literally bumped into him while working in one of the greenhouses on the edge of the city. They’d hardly stopped talking since. As much as she loved them both, she was ready for a third husband, maybe even a fourth. Her friend Chloe had six and Anna had nine but Gabriela thought that four would be more her style. Kunawo and Sigurd were the most likely candidates, but there was certainly no lack of options.
There was a feeling about the place, but it wasn’t what you’d expect. Like most people her age, Gabriela hadn’t been born on Mars. Most had been born on Earth and had to adapt to the lower gravity of Mars. But Gabriela has been born on the Moon and had adapted to the higher gravity of Mars. Even after ten years on Mars, she still occasionally felt the strain of the higher G forces; she had no idea how the Lunans who’d emigrated to Earth managed. Not only how, but why. There were plenty of opportunities on Mars or Titan, why would anyone move to Earth of their own free will?
Her grandmother still lived back on Earth in Bogotá and had never even used the Steem-Powered Space Elevator to visit any of the Earth-orbit stations that SPSE (“spuzzy”) made it so easy to get to. She was such a Luddite that she still sent letters to people. Gabriela couldn’t help but laugh at the stamp on the envelope. It celebrated the anniversary of the founding of the Pony Express. Did grandma think it was still delivering mail in a mochila? One thing was sure. If any of her husbands got her pregnant, great-grandma wasn’t going to be riding spuzzy to see the baby.
