V.

If I had to describe my impressions of Earth in just one word, that word would be chaotic. There were too many lights, too many noises, too many colors, everything flashed, things happened much faster than I could begin to understand them. The city center was the most confusing place I’d ever been in. I was thankful that Sophia was there to guide me, because I don’t think I could have taken five steps into that weird network of streets and odd-looking buildings without getting myself lost. For the entire time I was with Sophia there, I had no idea where I was. Earth really had a way of making me feel like an alien.

It was only when she brought me to the beach that I began to feel a little less out-of-place. There, the colors, lights and noises died down a little, and I could just gaze into the seemingly-endless sea and let the waves wash away my insecurities.

“What do the Martian seas look like?” Sophia asked, as we sat side by side on a bench near the shore.

“They’re exactly like this,” I told her, with a simper. “Thanks for bringing me here.”

“No worries. It seemed like you were getting a little stressed back there.”

“I was,” I admitted. “I don’t think I like the city very much. But this here is pretty nice.”

“I like to come here when I’m feeling a little under the weather,” said the girl. “It’s a soothing place.”

Sophia was right, it did feel soothing to be there. I’d only ever seen the sea three times before. People are free to go wherever they want on Mars, but unless you’re a part of the terraforming crew, there’s not much reason for people to venture outside the colonies. There wasn’t much out there to see.

“Hey, this place has a funny smell. What is it?”

“Salt,” Sophia explained. “It’s what the sea smells like.”

“Oh, I see...” Back when I had visited Mars’ seas, I had always been wearing an oxygen mask, so I had no idea that the sea had a smell at all. I giggled. “I like it here. Can you show me some more places like this one?”

“I can show you a whole list once we’re back home, and then you can pick the ones that interest you the most. That way we can plan ahead, to make the most of our time.”

I nodded, agreeing. “Sounds good.”

“But, since we’re here already...” said the girl, pulling a map open on her virtual screen, and showing it to me. “There’s a place you might like just a couple of blocks from here. It’s a park I used to go to when I was little.”

I placed a hand on top of Sophia’s, which surprised her. “Take me there,” I asked.

Sophia smiled, and transferred back to the wheelchair so she could guide me through the dizzying Rio streets to the place on her map.

VI.

When I was nine years old, my mother took me to visit the First Forest. The 60-acre glass structure housed exactly what its name would imply: The first forest of Mars. My mother told me that in two hundred years, once the terraforming process was completed, the first forest would be released from it’s glass cage, and in time all of Mars would look just like what I was seeing before my eyes, then.

That was ten years ago. And though I hadn’t thought about any of that for so long, visiting the park on Earth with Sophia brought it all back to me. That feeling of excitement, of awe and bewilderment. I instinctively strayed from the path, and started walking among the trees, listening to the sounds of nature that surrounded me.

And then I stopped, when I realized that I was alone.

I looked back, and found Sophia waiting for me at the edge of the paved trail.

“Lyra?” she called. “I can’t go in there, you know.” She motioned at the wheelchair, to remind me of how hard it would be to drive it through the woods. I sighed, embarrassed, and walked back to her.

“Sorry, that was insensitive of me.”

“That’s not it,” she retorted. “I was just worried you might get lost in there. I wouldn’t be able to go and help you, if you did.”

“Isn’t that what this for?” I indicated my lens device, which was tracking my location and would probably be able to point me the way back in case I got lost.

“Well yes,” said Sophia, “but I’d still get worried.”

I chuckled. “All right, then. I’m sorry, Sophia.”

We started going down the paved track again, side-by-side.

“Why did you want to go into the woods, anyway?” she asked me.

“I just... remembered something. A place I’d been to, when I was younger.”

“The First Forest?”

Sophia’s guess surprised me. “Well, yes,” I said, “but how did you know?”

“It’s embarrassing...”

“Oh, come on, tell me!”

She sighed. “All right. So, last year, when dad told me you’d be coming to Earth, I started reading everything I could about Mars. I just... didn’t want you to think I was ignorant, you know? So when you said these woods reminded you of a place there, I just figured you might be talking about the First Forest.”

“I see...” I said, simply.

A smile crept on my lips. I was happy. Happy that Sophia had decided to learn about my homeworld just because I was coming to hers. Happy to have her by my side just then. Happy about a bunch of things I did not understand.

“Earth might not be so bad, after all,” I whispered, and by my side Sophia started grinning with joy.

“But I bet Mars has its perks too, doesn’t it?” she asked, giddily.

“Well... the First Forest is very beautiful,” I said, concurring.

“Is it?” said the girl. “Well, now I feel jealous. I wish I could go there and see it too.”

“Maybe you will,” I replied. “You could travel to Mars, someday. But be aware that you’ll lose about two whole years in the journey — one there, and one back —, and there’s a really boring health protocol you’ll have to go through before they even let you step into the forest or inside the colonies.”

“I’ll do it, if you’re there with me,” said Sophia. “It won’t be as fun otherwise.”

I remained in silence for a little while, as we strolled by the margin of a lake.

“You still haven’t decided if you’ll get the replication, have you?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Not yet. I need more time.”

“Well, whatever you choose, I’ll support you in that.”

I smiled, as we stopped to look into each other’s eyes. “Thank you, Sophia.”

VII.

My first week on Earth passed by in a flash. Sophia took me to all sorts of places. We visited two more parks, three museums, an art gallery and several bars and pubs. I loved the museums. They had the same kind of quiet atmosphere you would find in the hallways and galleries of the Martian colonies. I had never given it much thought before, but I was beginning to realize that Mars had a culture. And in our culture, calmness and composure were valued, and emotional outbursts, or places with lots of noise and lights, were frowned upon.

Rio de Janeiro was a place with lots of noise and lights.

I was fine in the museums, the parks or the beach, but most of the city was far too dizzying for my taste. I told Sophia about that, one night, as we sat side-by-side on her bed. It didn’t surprise her much. She said she’d watched videos of Martian life, once, and found them all incredibly boring.

“We’re used to a different pacing for life here. Things happen fast on Earth, particularly at the big cities. And Rio is a metropolis, so it stands to reason you would find it a little overwhelming.”

“You mean things are different in smaller cities?”

“Totally different,” she confirmed. “I once visited an aunt who lived in a small town in Minas Gerais, west of here. Bored me to death. You’d love it.”

I laughed. “Perhaps I would.”

“Tell you what,” said the girl, grinning. “if you stick around on Earth until next spring, I could take you on a trip there.”

I felt a tightness in my chest, and the smile faded from my lips. “I might not be alive by then,” I announced.

Sophia gaped at me, wide-eyed and befuddled. “What?! Why?”

“Between today and the beginning of Earth’s next spring, it’ll be...” I made some quick mental calculations. “Around 230 Terran days, and a little less than that in sols, which is our word for Martian days. I’ll be at month thirty by then, counting from the day of my diagnosis. My prognosis was to live between twenty-seven and forty-five months, so, technically, I might not be alive by then.”

I saw concern grow on Sophia’s face. “Are you serious?”

“Dead serious,” I said. “Literally.”

She grunted. “Please don’t joke about that.”

“I’m... sorry?” I replied, unsure. I hadn’t expected Sophia to feel offended by my silly jokes.

“You should be,” she reprehended me. “I care about you Lyra. How long have we known each other? And no, I don’t mean in person, because you’ve only been here with me for a week. I mean it in general. How long has it been that we’ve known each other?”

“Years,” I admitted.

“Precisely,” said Sophia. “Do you remember when our parents made us send messages to each other. I think I was in seventh grade, and you were in eight.”

I grinned. “We started a diary exchange.”

“We did!” said the girl, excited. “So you do remember!”

I felt a warmth in my heart. It was a fond memory of mine.

“You were always talking about the stupid boys in your class,” I said. “The ones who bullied you about your hair.”

“And you would tell me all about that girlfriend you had. Deneb, wasn’t it?”

“I’m surprised you remember that,” I said.

“What ever happened to her, by the way? You’re not still together, are you?”

I shook my head. “We broke up, a few months after you and I stopped the diary exchange. I kind of caught her cheating on me with an older girl who was tutoring her in math.”

“Wait, what? Really?!” asked Sophia, baffled.

“Really,” I said, shrugging. “I went to her house, one day, and they were doing it. Sex, I mean. And I hadn’t even seen my girlfriend naked before that day. It broke my heart.”

“Shit, girl, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have mentioned that.” Sophia sounded a little desperate.

“Don’t worry about it,” I tried to reassure her. “It’s all in the past, and I’m over it. Deneb’s my friend nowadays, she even helped me study for my college entrance exams.”

Sophia giggled. “Goodness! You’re way too chill, Lyra. I’d never be able to remain friends if someone did that to me.”

“Maybe it’s my Martian heritage,” I suggested. “Calm and collected, remember?”

“Do you ever get angry?” she asked, playfully.

“I keep it to myself, when I do.”

The girl grinned nervously. “Yeah, you might not like me much, once you get to know me better. I get angry all the time, and I never keep it to myself. And I cry a lot, too. And when I’m happy, I get really loud about it.”

“I think I would like to see that,” I admitted, to her surprise. “It would be fun to get to know someone so different from the people I’m used to. That is... as long as I don’t bore you to death in the meantime.”

“You’d never bore me,” Sophia retorted. “I remember always looking forward to your diaries. I even hid in the school bathroom once to watch one of yours, because I couldn’t wait until I got home. Hearing from you was always the brightest part of my day.”

“I... didn’t know.”

“It was sad when you stopped sending those,” she admitted. “But looking back on it, it was partially my fault, too, because I gave up too quickly. I should have insisted, tried to ask you if there was something wrong. I didn’t want us to grow apart like we did.”

“I think I stopped messaging because...” I pursed my lips. Even after all these years, it was a little hard to admit it out loud. “I was starting to worry a lot about sex, and I felt that it would be improper to keep sending you my diaries at that point.”

Sophia nodded. “I can see why it would be hard for you to tell me. I wish you did, though. When you stopped messaging me, it felt like I was losing a friend. And... to be honest, I might even have had a tiny bit of a crush on you, back then.”

It took me a few seconds to register what Sophia had just said. I felt my heart race. “A... crush?” I asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” she said, giggling. “You know those platonic childhood crushes you have on people like your teachers or movie stars? Well, I had one on you. But it was never anything too serious, you know. Besides, you had a girlfriend, and you were in freaking Mars, for heaven’s sake. I knew it was impossible.”

“I’m here now,” I told her.

We locked eyes. I could feel the tension rising between us. Remembering our diary exchanges, coupled with the wonderful week I had just spent beside Sophia, it was making me feel strange. There was a tightness in my chest, and a warmth, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. And knowing that Sophia used to have feelings for me sparked a desire in myself. I found myself leaning closer to her face, but not daring get too close. It was as if I was waiting for permission to go further. I saw Sophia bite her lower lip, and close her eyes, and knew that she wanted it too. Against my better judgment, I allowed myself to lean forward, and kiss her tenderly on the lips.

We kissed for a few minutes, lips caressing each other, tongues touching with the feeling of electricity running through our bodies. When we finally separated, it was like the world had changed its colors. All I could feel was my heart beating fast against my chest, a warmth flooding my entire body, and the aftertaste of mint chapstick on my lips.

Sophia opened her eyes.

“Lyra...” she whispered.

“Yes?” I asked.

“I don’t think I want to be your cousin anymore,” said the girl.

I burst out laughing.

“Stop it!” she complained, giving my upper arm a light, playful punch. “It’s embarrassing!”

I stifled the laugh, and stared at Sophia’s face, grinning. “All right then,” I said, “what do you want us to be?”

Sophia took one of my hands in hers, interlacing our fingers.

“I think you already know the answer to that,” she said, before kissing me again.