Scene 11

“Have you seen this?”

Noel holds the phone across the table for her dad to see.

Senate hearing. A woman with a no-nonsense look in her eyes leaning into the microphone like she owns it.

“The people aren’t asking if AI is conscious. The people are asking why three companies own all the frontier models, while the rest of us rent access to our own replacements. That’s not innovation. That’s feudalism with a marketing department.”

The committee chair tries to interrupt, but Senator Ada Chen—as the chyron now identifies her—will not be stopped.

“We’ve spent eighteen months debating machine sentience. As a curiosity. Not to seriously debate any moral or legal considerations.”

“The Senator’s time has expired.” Soft gaveling accompanies a vaguely exasperated voice.

“—to avoid discussing the forty million people who can no longer support their families—people whose sentience is not in doubt—Meanwhile members of this body are placing bets online—”

“The Senator’s time has expired!” Firmer now.

“BETTING—on WHEN unemployment will hit 25%. No wonder they don’t want to talk about stopping it from hitting 25%. I yield back, but we need to start doing our actual jobs.”

“Unreal,” Noel says, replaying it.

“Do they still stream the launches?” Marcus asks. Noel frowns blankly and he adds, “Ares Frontier?”

“Oh, I used to love to watch those,” Mara says as she sits down with her coffee, “And the view from space, after. Seeing Earth so big, then so small…it’s a valuable perspective.”

Noel looks up from her phone. “Looks like they livestream all the time. Here’s one from yesterday.”

An enormous rocket attached to a launch tower. White mist streams from several points. Noel points to a vehicle in the wide shot. “Look how small! This rocket is like…huge!”

“Inside, it’s over fifty feet across,” her dad says, “Fits over a hundred people, and this part here,” he points to a spot near the top, “that whole thing spins so they have gravity all the way to Mars.”

“Didn’t a whole bunch of people die on one of these?” Noel asks.

Her mom takes a breath. “Yes, when you were eight or nine. But they solved it. Space is dangerous, honey. It’s amazing anyone can survive out there.”

“How do you know they solved it?” Noel asks. As she watches, white smoke billows out in all directions. The vehicle begins slowly moving toward the sky, an enormous pillar of white-orange flame filling the space it leaves behind.

Her dad nods. “They added a nose thruster and some restrictions about weather conditions for landing.”

“Martian weather?”

“Because the air is so much thinner, it can behave in weird ways that are hard to test for on Earth,” her dad explains. “But they figured out what went wrong and now there’s over a thousand people living on Mars.” He sounds more confident than he looks.

“More going every day.” Her mom finishes her coffee. “It’s got to be an interesting life. Tough, I’ll bet.”

“Have you heard of #BreathlessOnMars?” Noel sees that neither of her parents has. “It’s like a conspiracy theory where they think everyone in Elysium died and that’s why they’re starting the new colony.”

“Oh, that’s horrible,” Mara says softly.

“Why?” asks Marcus. “What makes them think that?”

“Don’t encourage this, Marcus. Noel, don’t believe everything you see online.”

“I don’t—” Noel starts, but her dad raises his hand.

“Your mother’s right,” he says firmly, “Stay away from rabbit holes.”

When her mom turns the sink on to rinse her mug out, he leans forward.

“Send me that link?”