For a few moments, we just hemmed and hawed in the darkness.

"Well, this is awkward," Walt finally said, breaking the silence. "So, why are you here, Mavis?"

"Runnin' away," I answered. "I ain't gonna let them hitch me to some no-account stranger. You?"

"Same."

"Huh?"

Walt let out a long sigh. "I found out my parents were setting me up with an arranged marriage. It was supposed to be a surprise. Some surprise." He let out a snort. "Told them hell no, and if I was to get married, it would be with a woman I chose, not them. They said they paid big money to get me a wife and things got heated. Then some low-life brute called the Broker locked me in a room."

"Yeah. Me and the Broker had our own meaningful encounter."

"So, what are you going to do now?" Walt asked.

"Umm..." I answered. "Didn't think that far ahead. What about you?"

"My parents had my life all laid out for me. But I'm going to make my own path, and prove that I can make it on my own. Do you know what I mean?"

My head bobbed up and down. "I'm with you on that, Walt."

"The Mars Provisional Government has a land grant program to attract colonists, and I'm thinking of making my claim. I know business from helping in my parent's trading company, but the thing is, I don't know much about farming or ranching. Might be a steep learning curve."

Right away, a light bulb came on in my mind. "I know farmin'. My Pa and I raised chickens and some crops together. And I did mechanics, too — got so I could take apart our old tractor, then put it back together again."

Walt said nothing for a moment, but I could almost hear the brain gears grinding. "Hmm, so are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Maybe we work together?"

"Yeah. And if we were married, we get a better claim deal."

My eyes shot full open and I put hands on hips. "I told ya, I ain't getting' hitched!"

"Oh, no, no..." Walt replied, waving his hands. "We just pretend to be married when we go into the claim office."

"So, just business?"

"No romancing, not even friends with benefits. That only complicates things."

"Okay, then," I said, then extended my hand. "Partners?"

Walt grasped my hand and shook, sealing the deal. "Partners."

*****

The horizon glowed orange with my very first Martian sunrise, and the brand-new day made me all hopeful-like. We got to the Mars Land Bank office when it first opened.

The red-haired woman who helped us fill out the forms was friendly enough, but when we said we were married, she wrinkled her forehead while searching through a database. "I can't find any record of your marriage certificate."

I scooted close to Walt and let him put an arm around me — had to admit, it felt kinda good, but we agreed to no such entanglements. "We just got married," I said while gazing at him with my best dreamy eyes. "So, the record might not be entered yet."

"Oh, congratulations," the woman said with a bright smile. Her fingers fluttered across a tablet viewer for a few moments, then nodded. "Alright, we're all set. All you have to do now is select your new homesite."

I almost couldn't believe that worked. Thank God for lax rule following.

The woman left us alone within a nearby cubical to choose. As Walt scrolled through the available properties displayed on a view panel, I asked, "How do we choose?"

"Well, for one thing, let's get far away from here," Walt answered. "There's several in the Olympus Mons area."

Being near the tallest volcano in the whole solar system was pretty cool, and fortunately, it was inactive. As Walt flipped through the aerial photos, I stopped him. "How 'bout that one?" We gazed at the survey data. "The soil profile looks good, and the climate data is okay, although a bit cool. There's a little stream we could dam up for a pond."

Every claim came with a small adobe-type house and shed. A truck, tractor, and some supplies were provided on deferred loan to get us started. After a Martian year, the claim becomes ours as long as we stay there. Because we were a 'married' couple, we got two-hundred hectares, rather than a hundred, and the loan payback terms were better.

Walt put a hand to his chin. "Hmm... Not too far from the town, good roads, and it's got piped-in water." He turned toward me and lifted an eyebrow. "Shall we go for it?"

I held my breath as we finalized the deal with our thumbs on a biometric scanner, doing it before I lost my nerve.

"You have a bank credit line for anything else you need," the woman explained. "Just remember, repayment begins after a year. Some people forget that. Good luck to you both."

I walked away fuzzy headed. This Oklahoma farm girl just became a Martian land owner. What were the odds of that?

"You all right, Mavis?" Walt said, noticing my blank, far-away expression.

"Yeah. It just feels unreal, like I'm dreamin'."

"Well, it'll get real enough when the hard work begins."

*****

Sleek lev-trains connected Ares Central to most outlying settlements. Even as fast as it zipped along on a magnetic cushion, it still took us six hours to reach the Olympus Cooperative. I took in the scenery along the way, moving from desert landscapes, grand mesas, the beginnings of forests, and finally, rolling hills of trees and tall grass like back home. There weren't much signs of people except for a few small towns where we stopped for a spell. Half the train carried cargo, so it took some time to unload. 

Land claims were grouped into cooperatives, which were like counties back home, only bigger. There was a town at the center of each — kinda like an old-time frontier outpost. But it was more than that. They also had jointly owned farm equipment that anyone in the cooperative could use, big things like harvesters and soil movers that most farmers couldn't afford on their own. The Mars planners really thought this through.

We arrived mid-afternoon at Olympus, the end of the line for this lev-train. After stopping beside a long concrete platform, the train turned off the mag-lift and dropped the last little bit with a jolting clunk. My heart pattered with anticipation as we stepped outside into the sunshine, each of us with only one bag. Gonna have to get some more clothes sometime.

A dark-skinned woman came up to us with a warm smile. "Walter and Mavis, I presume?"

"That's us," I said, shaking her extended hand.

"Call me Walt," my business partner said with a handshake.

"I'm Jyn Reed, the cooperative manager," she said. "Welcome to the Olympus."

Jyn was a tall, middle-aged woman, almost as tall as Walt. She wasn't fancy dressed at all, wearing dusty cargo pants, a long-sleeve t-shirt, and a red bandana tied around short black hair. Apparently, they go casual around here. A blonde, light-skinned woman toting two young ones, one at each hand, stood nearby. Both kids were about five Earth years old, but otherwise, they were different — one a rambunctious light-skinned, bushy-haired little boy, and the other a shy dark-skinned girl. The boy bounded up to Jyn and tugged on her leg.

"Oh, and this is my wife, Rey," she said, introducing the other woman. "And these are our kiddos, Luke and Leia."

I bit my lip to stop grinning at the names and wondered if they liked the old classic Star Wars movies.

"Pleased to meet you all," Walt said, tipping his head.

"I'm sure you are eager to see your new home," Jyn said. "Your new truck is parked around back. And we prepared a welcome basket at your home. Come back later and I will show you around town."

"That's mighty kind of you, Ms. Reed," I said with a slight bow.

"Oh, please, just call me Jyn. Everyone goes by their first names. And we all look out for each other here in the wild frontier."

I liked this place already.

Our new truck was a flat-bed style with a plain gray plas-steel body and twin power cells driving an electric motor. Not fancy, but it would do. After Jyn handed Walt the truck keys, I slid across the bench seat to the passenger side. The motor whirred as we took off, rumbling across graveled roads.

Olympus was a five-minute town, meaning that's how long to drive across it. Warehouses and domed crop bins surrounded the lev-train depot. A town hall, school, general store, tavern, and an outdoor gathering place with shade trees made up the town center, surrounded by homes with walled gardens. Every building was built in the same printed adobe style, although some were decorated with colorful murals. Someone around here had an artistic touch.

Took another fifteen-minutes through grassy hills to get to our claim. Little electric sparks of anticipation prickled my neck as we rounded the last hill.

"There it is!" I exclaimed, pointing ahead.

My heart danced a jig when we pulled in by the covered front porch, and a dry, sweet-smelling breeze mussed my hair as I jumped out. The house had the same domed style as the houses in town, except that the roof was covered with solar panels. Recesses in the thick walls held doors and square windows.

Back behind was a good-sized shed, open at one end with a brand-new, shiny tractor parked inside. More solar panels covered the roof.

As Walt reached for the front door lever, I couldn't help but to give him a big happy hug. And he returned the favor.

"Come on," Walt said with a big grin. "Let's go inside."

The house layout was simple and compact, with a combined open living room and dining room just inside the front door, a small kitchen area to the back through an open arched doorway, and a single bedroom and bathroom through doors to one side. Although, the bathroom wasn't much more than a half-barrel wash tub and a toilet, but I was happy it had indoor plumbing. Between the kitchen and the back door was a narrow mud-room with a built-in bench where you could take off dirty boots.

Weren't much furniture, though. Just a small round table, two chairs, and a built-in bench seat along one wall. Figured we'd have to use our bank credit line to get more furnishings.

The welcome basket Jyn mentioned sat on the table. It included food and most of the basic stuff we needed to get started, like kitchenware, toiletries, and even towels, pillows, and bedcovers. The thoughtfulness warmed my heart. 

Walking into the bedroom, we both stopped and stared.

"There's just one bed," Walt mumbled, stating the obvious.

"I ain't sleepin' on the floor," I said.

"Me neither."

I looked up at Walt with narrowed eyes. "No messin' around, then. You stay on your side and I stay on my side." Felt like we were living in a bad romance novel.

"Right. Partners without benefits."

While there was still daylight, we walked the land. Mostly, it was rolling grassland mixed with pretty wildflowers. Clumps of trees and brush hugged low-lying areas. Toward the back, a small stream lined with willows had carved out a mini rocky canyon. Just a trickle flowed between small pools, and it looked like it could go dry sometimes. Far beyond, white-topped Olympus Mons towered high, framing a big part of the horizon. Felt like we had a bit of paradise.

We spent the rest of the day getting situated, and by nighttime, we were done tuckered out.

Wearing a long t-shirt as a nightgown, I slipped under the covers beside Walt, making sure I didn't cross the imaginary line down the bed middle.

"Good night, Walt," I mumbled, fluffing my pillow.

"Good night, Mavis."

"I'm feelin' really good about all this," I added.

"Yeah. Me, too."

A little part of me wanted to snuggle up behind Walt and bask in his closeness. He might not even mind. But we ain't looking for romance. Nope, not going there. With that last thought, I started sawing wood.

An insistent buzz woke me in the middle of a chicken dream — thousands of chickens. More like a nightmare. After farming with Pa, I was so tired of chickens.

"What...?" I stammered through the brain fog as clucks became buzzes.

"It's your com," Walt grumbled, facing away from me.

"Oh, yeah." I reached over to the chair beside the bed where the infuriating device rattled and stared at it with blurry eyes. It was from Riya — we had exchanged com addresses before I ran away. What did she want so late in the night?

I grabbed the com-viewer and pushed the green icon. "Riya?"

"Mavis..." A single sob cut her words. The face shown on the screen was not the beautiful one I remembered. Rivers of tears flowed down her cheeks. One eye drooped, swollen and dark, and her upper lip was split and swelled up.

Heart racing, I shot up to a sitting position in bed. "Riya, what happened?"

"I'm sorry," she blubbered. "I know it's late, but I needed to talk to someone--" Another sob shook her.

"It's okay, Riya. What happened?"

"He hit me..."

"Who?"

"My husband..." Riya wiped water from her face and sniffed. "He... He was drunk, and I didn't want to let him... Then he became angry. I should have... I don't know."

Why was it that alcohol brought out the worst of bad people? "Listen, Riya. You don't deserve this, no one does. You have to get out."

"I know, but I don't have anywhere to go."

"You can stay with me. Can you catch a lev-train to the Olympus Cooperative?"

She shook her head. "I don't have money for a ticket. He won't let me have any."

"Then I'll come and get ya." By now, Walt had taken notice. He held up his com-viewer, showing me the train schedule. "If I take the early train, I can get to Ares Central by, umm, one-o'clock your time. Can you meet me at the train station?"

"I will try." Riya's head snapped to the side, and she whispered, "He is coming back. I have to go."

"Promise me, Riya," I insisted. "Promise me you will do whatever it takes to protect yourself. You are worth that."

The relieved smile that blossomed on her face lifted my heart. "I promise," she said, then disconnected.

But a pinch of guilt twinged my gut. To pay for the lev-train tickets, we would probably have to tap our credit line. And then we had to make room here for Riya in our little house. I turned to Walt. "Umm, I have to--" 

"It's okay," Walt replied, waving away any reservations. His caring eyes showing nothing but support. "Go help your friend."