Martian Legacy Chapter 3

 Bethany Howell and Clive Aziz walked side by side down the hall toward the housing units. She had long light brown hair with just a little waviness, and a lean athletic build to go along with her girl next door good looks. They were both sweating profusely and breathing heavily. Bethany quipped, “Who would have thought we'd have to work so hard getting in shape just to sit on our butts for the whole space trip. “Well,” said Clive, “I suspect we'll put most of this training to good use once we reach our destination. I have a feeling just walking around in space suits will be quite strenuous indeed.” He was dark complected and stout with just a hint of softness starting to show. Bethany mopped her brow with a towel as she replied, “Yeah, I know we need it. I just wish there was an easier way to get it.” As they got to their rooms they parted company and went to get cleaned up before dinner. Bethany was not very happy with the military discipline of the space center. She was at heart a free spirit and hated to endure the structure of the training program. She had to keep reminding herself of the awesome opportunity that had befallen her.

 

Bethany had been written about by her reporter friend who needed a human interest story for the local paper. The reporter felt the story of a small town girl turned paleontologist would be an interesting read for most people because it was an uncommon profession. Most people wouldn't even have a clue as to what it really was. For some unexplained reason the story got picked up by a wire service and appeared in several papers with space to fill. One of the directors of the space station read the story, and later when someone mentioned that a paleontologist was needed her name just happened to get mentioned. Nothing but sheer luck was responsible for her being here on the project of a lifetime, and she had no intentions of complaining about it. She truly believed that sometimes it was better to be lucky than good.

 

She checked her voice mail as she fired up her computer to check email. She was allotted only five minutes for this task before a generous six minute shower. Her trainer told her that most new recruits get a three minute shower, but she was allowed an extra three since she was a civilian. She was going to have to cut some corners somewhere, because six minutes was just not enough time to perform all the tasks that were a part of her shower routine. Conditioner was definitely out. Most of the time her hair was in a helmet or drenched with sweat anyway. Maybe she could alternate shaving areas so that everything got hit on a three or four day rotation. She decided to experiment with the shaving rotation and see how well she fared. She hoped it would not come down to a soaping rotation as well. She started to undress as she walked toward the bathroom, but her thoughts were far away on the surface of Mars.