September 23rd, 2018

Roger’s Blog

by Bill Holbrook

BABY MARIA
Samantha’s pregnancy had gone completely smoothly right up until the finish line when her baby found herself coming down the birth canal looking up instead of down. That resulted in her getting stuck for almost an hour. Finally, Maria ordered Jenny to create two forceps on the 3D printer that Luis had set up. (The forceps were already in the system under the Medical Equipment folder.)
Maria deftly used them to turn the baby around, and she came out soon after. The first human born someplace other than Earth.
Let’s let that sink in.
Dave and Samantha were so grateful to Maria for being there, especially since it meant Maria would be separated from her son Leonardo for over a year. In honor of her selflessness, they named the baby Maria Argus Hamper. (No hyphen; Argus is her middle name.)
As I write this she is one week old in Earth time and doing fine. Samantha is making the command decisions as the crew on the surface prepares to explore Mars.