Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (102 page)

Gabe sighed and shook her head. “Of
course it works. It was designed and constructed by the three finest minds on
this planet.”

He laughed and nodded. “Right.” He
stared at the tub for a moment. “It’s not quite as big as the one at home.”

Abby rolled her eyes. “You think?”

Jeff frowned. “Looks like a pretty
tight squeeze.”

“Gabe did the math. According to
our Body Mass Indices, we’ll all fit.”

He chuckled. “Oh great! Sounds like
a tin of smoked oysters. Gabe, once we’re all in, will
there
be any room left for water
?”

She shrugged. “I think so.
A couple liters.
”

Abby glanced at her and grinned.
“What if once we’re in he brings up oysters again.”

Gabe frowned at her.
“If you’re talking about what I think you’re talking
about, the volumetric increase would be inconsequential.”

Abby and
Susan howled with laughter.

Jeff
shook his head. “Oh gee, thanks.”

Gabe
continued to frown while staring at the floor. “Um, I don’t think that came out
the way I meant it.”

“Really?”

“What I
meant was...”

“Never
mind.”

Susan
got
her laughter under control, then
pointed at the tub. “Okay, it’ll feel a
bit cooler than you might expect. Boiling Gabe in her present state would be a
very bad idea. So, the thermostat is set to 98ºF rather than the usual 104º. We
do not want her body temp going above 102º, and keeping it well below that
would be much better.” She glanced at Gabe. “And for the time being, you’re
limited to 10 minutes. Hot tubs are not recommended for pregnant women,
certainly not in the first trimester. And don’t think I won’t be watching the
clock.”

Gabe groaned. “I know, you already
told me.”

“And I’ll probably tell you again.
Until I tell you otherwise, before you get in, always
check the thermometer and thermostat. If either is above 99ºF, keep out. And
once
you step in, you’re on the clock.”

She sighed. “Got it.”

Abby grinned and glanced at each of
them. “Well, now that we have all that settled, shall we?”

Jeff stepped back, leaned against
the wall, folded his arms, and smiled. “Ladies first.”

Gabe frowned at him. “And what are
you doing?”

“Watching.”

“Watching what?”

“The three of you strip.”

Susan glanced at Gabe and Abby, and
shook her head. “We could just kill him. No one would ever know.”

Abby sighed. “Yeah, but then there
wouldn’t be
any
men on the planet.”

Susan shrugged. “Good point.”

Jeff grinned. “Well?”

Abby rolled her eyes. “Whatever,”
and began undressing. Gabe and Susan followed suit.

When all three were naked, Gabe
gave Jeff a smirk. “Happy?”

He grinned. “Oh yeah. Very.”

“Well?”

He nodded, and likewise began
undressing.

Gabe pointed at the tub. “Now, the
overflow line has limited capacity. We need to get in one at a time and let the
water level settle. Otherwise we’ll flood the greenhouse.”

“Alright,” said Abby, as she
climbed into the tub. “Ahhh. Oh my god, this is great.”

Then Susan climbed in, followed by
Gabe.

Gabe moaned. “Mmmm. Oh gosh, this
is wonderful.”

Jeff climbed over the rim, squeezed
in between Gabe and Susan, and tried to find a place for his legs. “Uh, this is
cozy.”

Susan smiled. “Isn’t it?”

He twisted and turned for a moment,
trying to find a little more shoulder room. He gently elbowed some flesh out of
his way. “What’s that?”

Susan giggled. “What do you think?”

He groped around for a second.
“Oops. Sorry.” Once comfortable, he leaned his head back and sighed. “Ohhh,
that’s great. You guys placed this jet at just the right place for my back.
Mmmm.”

“Actually,” said Abby, “we put it
there for another reason.” She smiled. “But glad you like it.”

“Dare I ask what that other reason
might be?” He held up his hand and chuckled. “Um, never mind. I think I know.”

She grinned.

Jeff nodded, then glanced at Gabe.
“Did this involve an engineering study?”

She smiled sheepishly. “Um, not
exactly.”

Abby wiggled around a bit and
smiled. “Mmmm, that’s, uh… nice.”

Gabe glanced at her. “What?”

“Well, there’s this big hard thing
pressed between my boobs.”

Gabe’s jaw dropped. “Huh?” She
glared at Jeff.

He shrugged. “What?”

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing. It’s my left knee.
There’s no place else to put it.”

She glanced back and forth between
he and Abby. “Uh, if your left knee is there, um, where’s your left foot?”

Jeff chuckled. “You don’t want to
know.”

Abby grinned. “Wiggle your toes.”
Her head suddenly snapped back. “Oh! Yeah! Just like that.”

Gabe gasped. “Would you two stop
that!”

Abby laughed. “Just kidding.” Then
she glanced at Jeff and whispered, “A little to the left.”

Gabe cocked her jaw and growled at
Jeff.

He laughed, shook his head, and
looked at Abby. “You know what’s gonna happen if you make her mad?”

“She’s already mad.”

“No, the other kind of mad.”

Gabe punched him in the shoulder,
hard.

“Ouch!”

She glared at him and bared her
teeth. “You mean, that kind of mad?”

Jeff rubbed his shoulder and
groaned. “Uh, yeah. Ow.”

Gabe
looked off into the greenhouse, frowning. “Do we have any wine thawed?”

“Yes,
there’s a couple liters of Chablis in the fridge,” said Susan. “But you can’t
have any.”

“Not even
a little?”

“No.
You’re pregnant.”

Gabe
raised her voice a notch. “Thank you! I know I’m pregnant.”

Jeff
turned to her. “Hey, what’s your problem?”

She leaped
to her feet, glared down at him, and screamed, “You’re my problem! You got me
pregnant!” She started crying. “And I’ve got morning sickness all day long, my
whole body feels weird, I can’t think, a month ago I thought we were all going
to die, Abby wants to have sex with you, you all think I’m crazy, I’ve got a
Martian growing in me, and you’re not going to want to make love with a fat
pregnant lady whose boobs are hanging down around her waist, Susan treats me
like a child, the nearest hospital is 150 million miles away, and I can’t even
have a drink!”

He stood
and reached for her.

“No!
Don’t touch me!” She covered her face with her hands and sobbed.

He gave
Susan a questioning glance.

She shook
her head. “It’s her hormones, they’re raging. She probably hasn’t felt like
this since she reached puberty.”

Gabe
glared at her. “And we all know what happened then.”

Jeff
snapped at her. “Gabriel! That wasn’t hormones. You were driven to that, and
you know it.”

She
looked away.

He
softened his tone. “Gabe, look at me.”

She
slowly looked up into his eyes.

He held
his arms out to her. She stepped into them and pressed against him. He held her
tight. “Do you really believe I would have brought a crazy person on this
trip?”

She
sniffed. “No. I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do this.”

He smiled
softly and kissed her cheek. “Of course you can. What you’re feeling will pass.
It’ll get better.”

She
rubbed her cheek against his. “When?”

He
glanced at Susan.

She
shrugged. “Oh, another three or four weeks. It’s the first trimester that’s the
hard part, particularly with a first pregnancy. Gabe, Jeff’s right, it will
pass.”

“Are you
sure?”

“Yes.
You’ll be feeling much better before you know it. In a month you’ll be used to
the hormonal increase, the morning sickness will subside, and as your estrogen
and progesterone levels continue to increase you’ll be a lot more comfortable
with the pregnancy, and happier with yourself. A month or so after that you’ll
start to see a little baby bump, and you’ll get used to the idea of motherhood,
and you’ll like it.”

“You
promise?”

“
Yes.
Oh, and you’ll just be pregnant, not fat, I won’t allow that. And your boobs
won’t be hanging down around your waist. They’ll look about like they do now,
just a bit bigger.” She chuckled. “Until the baby’s born and you start
breastfeeding, then they’ll get a lot bigger. You’ll probably be at least a D
cup, maybe a double-D by then.”

Gabe gasped and glanced down at her
breasts, then back into Jeff’s eyes, and smiled softly. “I guess having a
little bigger boobs wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

He
chuckled, and stared at her breasts. “Double-D? Wow.” He kissed her and wiped
the tears from her cheeks. “No, not a bad thing at all. And by the way, I’ve
heard that pregnant women are really hot lovers.”

She bit
her lip and giggled. “Okay.”

“There’s
one way to find out.”

She
kissed him. “Yeah.”

“Okay.
You better now?”

“Uh huh.”

“Alright
then. Why don’t you sit back down and enjoy your bubble bath before Sue kicks
you out of the pool.”

She
smiled and nodded. “Okay.”

They retook
their seats.

Susan
stood and climbed out of the tub. “Nature calls, back in a minute.” She toweled
off, headed inside, but paused at the hatch. “And Gabe, I’m not treating you
like a child. I’m treating your child like a child, because he or she is.”

Gabe
nodded. “I know. I’m sorry.”

Susan
winked at her and went inside.

Gabe
looked at Abby. “I’m sorry I yelled.”

“Don’t
worry about it. And…” she yawned and stretched, “… as long as Jeff keeps
wiggling his toes, I’ll be fine.”

Gabe
giggled and nodded.

Jeff
sighed. “Eh, we’ll work something out.” He wrapped his arm around Gabe’s
shoulders. “We’re all in this together, aren’t we?”

She
leaned her head on his shoulder. “Yes.”

Five
minutes later Susan returned, carrying a tray with four plastic cups and a plastic
jug. “Gabriel, out of the pool.”

Gabe
whined, “Oh, just another couple minutes.”

“No,
now.”

“Damn.
Um, can I sit on the edge and dangle my legs in the water?”

“Oh,
alright. I suppose that won’t hurt anything.”

Gabe
stood, sat on the edge next to Jeff, and dangled her legs.

Susan set
the tray on a garden counter near the hot tub and poured four cups, then passed
them around.

“What’s
this?” said Gabe.

“Chablis.”

“I
thought you said I couldn’t have any.”

Susan
sighed. “Well, my guess is Martian’s are pretty rugged. And it’s only half a
cup. That probably won’t hurt you. Enjoy.”

Gabe gave
her a broad smile. “Thank you.”

“You’re
welcome. Just don’t ask for seconds.”

“Okay.”

“And
attitude counts.” Susan shook her head. “Blowing up like that isn’t good for
you, and it isn’t good for your baby. You need to maintain.”

“I know,
I’m sorry.”

“You’ve
got a wondrous thing growing in your belly. Enjoy it. Be happy about it. You’ll
feel a lot better, and your baby will feel a lot better too.”

Gabe hung
her head. “I’ll try.”

Susan
nodded. “Okay.”

Monday, January 16,
2017

MSD 50849.818 (Sol
100)

By Martian standards it was a
pretty small crater, a mere sixteen miles across and 4,000 feet deep, but it
was the biggest one they’d yet seen close up and Jeff and Abby were excited.
Jeff had hoped to cover the thirty miles from the station to the crater in
around three hours; it took six. The last ten miles had become a dune sea
intermingled with vast rock fields and Jeff had to delicately pick his way
along, carefully avoiding getting stuck in the sand or high-centered on the
rocks. It was a challenge. All the desert testing they had done on Earth with
the rovers and the Genesis trailer had not adequately prepared them for this.
Late in the afternoon Jeff finally pulled to a stop in a small level area about
a kilometer south of the rim.

They both disconnected from the
rover’s life support system and reconnected to their PLSSs. Abby climbed out
and stretched. “God Almighty! Maybe we should have gone to Gusev.”

“Yeah, well, at least it’s not as
bad as the Viking landing sites. We would have been stuck right where we landed
at either of those.”

“Jesus, look at that slope. That’s
got to be, what? A hundred meters?”

“Yeah, must have been quite a rock.
And this is the low part, the west rim is probably three times as high.”

“Do we have enough daylight left to
make it up there? I want to see it.”

“Um, I suppose. We may be coming back in the dark,
but no big deal. You sure you want to? We’ve been in these suits for seven
hours.”

“My diaper’s not full yet, let’s
go.”

“That was more information than I
needed.”

“Come on, slacker.”