Mars Needs Women

Epilogue - Wrap-Up

Sitting in the studio, I squinted as the bright lights came on. But my eyes adjusted enough to watch as Amos counted down the seconds with his fingers. When he got to zero, the little red light on the camera came on.

"Welcome to the final wrap-up of the popular series, The Martian Brides. I am your host, Jordan McVee," he said with a big cheesy smile. "I would like to take this moment to thank all our viewers for making The Martian Chronicles the most watched blog-vid on this entire world." He blew a kiss to the camera. "Love you all."

The camera zoomed out, showing little ol' me awkwardly sitting beside Jordan, shifting hands from my lap, to my side, and back to my lap again.

He continued, "Today, in a live broadcast, we welcome Mavis Jones, who some say was the chief troublemaker of the whole bride debacle."

"That wasn't the nicest way of puttin' it," I replied. "But yeah. Trouble and me have a long history together."

"It's been almost a full year since you arrived on Mars, Mavis, and we want to hear your story, too. Tell our viewers, what led you here."

"Well, like all the brides, I wanted to get away. I was an Oklahoma farm girl, but my situation wasn't as bad as most of the gals."

"Did you realized coming to Mars required an arranged marriage?"

"No," I huffed. "I kinda didn't read the fine print. And that's when the fun started..."

I spent the next thirty-minutes or so retelling my tale, but dancing around the points that Jyn said to leave out for legal reasons, or something like that. I had learned to trust her advice.

"Fascinating!" Jordan exclaimed, scooting to the edge of seat. "I hadn't realized how much happened behind the scenes."

I snorted. "It wasn't so fascinating when I was neck deep in the swamp." Relaxing my face, I added, "But still, just about everything turned out good."

"Speaking of that, the recent actions by the Mars Council on emigration reform must have felt satisfying. Your testimony before the Council played a big part."

"Yeah, that gave me a big case of warm fuzzies. It ain't right that marriage would be required by any contract, 'specially not to someone you didn't choose. The Land Bank took advantage of those poor gals. The next batch of gals won't have to worry 'bout that. There's plenty of good men if they want to find a husband, though. But it wasn't just me, Jordan. You played a bigger part by puttin' it out there with your blogs. Secret dealin's hate light."

Jordan puffed up with my compliment, but he earned it. "Why, thank you, Mavis. Exposure of hidden secrets is what we do here. But you must be disappointed in the lack of accountability by Fleming Barnes?"

"Yeah, bless his little dark heart, but I ain't gonna sling a bunch of accusations on-air." Jyn warned me not to say something that would get me into more legal trouble. "He did lose his high-powered Land Bank job, though. And who knows? Sometimes karma works slow."

Jyn did convince the Land Bank to pay for the Olympus wildfire losses by threatening a big lawsuit. The Marshals still haven't caught the arsonists, but when they do, there might be more reckoning 'round here.

"So true," Jordon said, nodding. "But let's shift to happier themes. Tell us more about the Martian brides."

"Lots of happy endings, Jordan," I said as a smile came to my face. "Riya — you remember Riya?"

"How can we forget? She started the whole Martian Bride series."

"She did get hitched — err, I mean married — right in the Olympus gatherin' area. The whole cooperative turned out, and I'll tell you what, it was some shindig. She lives with Kiran on his farm now, and even has her own little business selling naan at the general store."

"That was a happy ending. What about some of the other brides?" Jordan asked.

"Let's see... Well, you know about Elena?"

Jordan let out a chuckle. "I think everyone does. She launched a highly successful modeling career, perhaps Mars' first supermodel."

Don't think Elena will ever get married, though. She's having too much fun playing the field.

Amahli was training to become a marshal, but she didn't want me to say anything on camera. She was a private person, and I respected that. Rumor had it, though, that she found a special girlfriend.

"Janus still runs the Red Dawn Pub with her husband, and she's doin' good. Robyn and Ming are still happily married to their husbands. Oh, and Robyn's baby is due soon, along with several more of the brides. A little Martian baby boom is a-comin'." Robyn was so excited, and she let me tell the world. "Sofia started her own accounting firm, and even does some contract work for the Land Bank. Happy endings for just about everyone, Jordan."

"How about you and your husband, Mavis? What is in your future?" Jordan asked.

"Sometime we'll pop out some kiddos, but not yet. I always knew farmin' was hard work, and Walt figured that out too, so we're gonna make a big career change. We sold the farm to our neighbors Enrique and Mia. They plan to expand their dairy operation."

As I paused for a moment to consider my next words, Jordan got impatient, and said, "Mavis, you can't leave us like that. What is the career change?"

"Well, we're startin' a tavern up on the new Phobos Transit Space Station. We figured with all the people passin' through — the emigrants, the asteroid miners, and all — a bunch of 'em will want a drink. Janus and her husband said they'd help us get it goin'."

"That is a big change." A smirk formed on Jordan's face. "Do you think trouble will follow you into space?"

"Bound to," I replied. "But that'll be a whole 'nother story."