CostLess Cosmos

I sighed.

"I love you, babe, and... I'm sorry my grand adventure into space is injecting complication into our lives, but on the plus side, aside from this craptastic news - about her, I celebrate all life even if it's born of a broken person - aside from that, it's amazing and beautiful and life-changing to be here, so thank you for letting me be able to do it."

I had to wait.

Her answer came in ten minutes later.

"Kevin. I know you. You're not the kind to shack up with some 2-bit hussy... on purpose. So, well, if we welcome a half-sibling to Kermit's life, that's how it is. If the mother is broken, as you say, well, no one is perfect. I'm not. I looked at LT the other day and really wanted certain things. I'm not going to act on that, but I did have a certain _want_. I want you back. You're doing human work on a nonhuman planet. Do what you need to do. I'll support you. You support me. Let me know if I can help in any way. I can pretend to get the news later and be shocked, or be fake-mad, if you want, but I'm really all there, in your heart, and you're in mine. You're probably busy, go do that. Send me confirmation you got this, and go do that work. I love you!"

She kissed her hand and held it up.

I recorded a quick thanks bye and I'd call again in a Sol - 24 hours 36 minutes, the Mars version of a day.

I came out of the comms room and queued up a double-encrypted version (my key as well) on Dr. Shri's vid of her questioning/telling me.

== ==

Catherine was immediately invited to Dr. Shri's office. There was no hiding my suit, that I was there also.

Dr. Shri didn't beat around the bush. She said, "So. You're pregnant. It's Kevin's. This is a mystery. He did not participate."

Unapologetically, she said, "Fun. I thought I had another 3 weeks."

I was kind of stunned.

She looked at me. "Sir," [they mostly called me sir, sometimes Kevin] "You're clearly super-smart. I wanted a super smart baby. Flying here, it seemed to me, I had time to think. I decided, I'm not gonna find anyone, and I'm getting older, I'm 28. I can't ask anyone here, much less you. It's too hard. Exactly the right day? Even if I get them drunk? We're working too frickin' hard, there's zero chance."

She was smiling, trying to be charismatic, but I didn't smile. I was not amused.

Seeing my reaction, she continued, "So, I have good hearing. I can tell when you guys are letting off some pressure, heck, most of us girls do, too. You used a sock, I saw that, and just came over and got it right after you were done using it, it was just visible past your covers, so I pulled it and went back to my bunk. I put it back in your bunk so it wouldn't go missing. So, yeah. Not too hard to do."

Dr. Shri said, "And you thought you had another 3 weeks why?"

"I've been irregular when I'm stressed, and this is Way stressful, so... I figured I'd try again next week. Or, it'd take you that long to run a blood test that included markers. Guess it doesn't matter."

I asked, "What are your plans? You have to have a plan."

She shook her head, "No plan. Just, see the problem, solve the problem. Find it, fix it. Needed sperm, you're the best possible person I could think of ever, I got lucky, you're leaving it lying around. Easy-peasy."

"You'll have the child?"

"I hope so! And, no one has to know whose it was. I can say I was pregnant before we left, and it's only off by a month. Pretty close."

Dr. Shri said, "This is a crime."

"Nope. I looked it up. As an expedition, we're under the laws of Canada. We even assert this is Canadian territory. No explicit crime exists under Canadian law - there's a bunch of people talking about it online, it's kind of common knowledge, the legality of it."

I was aggravated. "I'm not paying child support for a child created by the theft of my semen."

Catherine looked at me and said, "Oh, I think that's also automatic. Court doesn't care if you were willing or unwilling. Cases on this already. I looked that part up, too. I think my baby will be a billionaire, too." She was clear, and emotionless on this front, maybe even slightly happy about things.

This was pissing me off.

I looked at Dr. Shri and a whole lot of thoughts went through my head, most of them surrounding ideas that would never work, one after another.

Finally, I said, "Thank you for coming in here today. Dr. Shri, can I ask you some questions?"

Dr. Shri said, "Of course. They cannot be about Catherine, though, on anything more than a cursory level. Catherine is my patient, and is entitled to her privacy. Only medical topics that affect mission safety."

Fuck.

"Very well. I have some other topics to discuss."

"Catherine, you may go. Thank you for being so honest. I'll want to run blood work on you and maybe other tests going forward, to safeguard your pregnancy."

"Thank you." She looked at me. "Sir. See you at dinner."

I was thin-lipped. "Yeah."

Catherine got her suit back on and left. I didn't touch her in the process. If she decided to kill herself, it'd be a murder charge for me, guaranteed.

Dr. Shri and I packaged up the video feed of that interview and sent it to Ellen and Jason, though we left the monitor-cams going. I wanted to trap the following info.

"I don't mind being a dad. I'm a dad already. I want to be a dad, LOTS more times over, I love kids, I want a lot of them. THIS, this was not how I wanted to get them. Generally... the more the merrier. For sure. I am fine, great, even, with supporting the kid, growing up. If they're my kid? Absolutely I'm gonna make sure they have enough to eat, a good school, whatever. But, I don't like being tricked. Trouble is, looks like I can't do anything about it."

"You can send her home."

I thought about that part. "I'm not an HR attorney, but I'm pretty sure I can't do that."

"Endangering the mission?"

I laughed, "We already have one pregnant person on this mission, I would have had to send her home, too. This would be seen as... retribution, and I'm pretty sure I watched an HR training video about how I can't do things to employees because of their health status."

"She's proved she's not trustworthy. She stole your..."

"Yeah, there is that. If it's not legally stealing, then... I might not be able to. Gotta get the lawyers churning on this. They can tell me what to do, and I'm covered."

She nodded.

I just sat there, still somewhat stunned.

I asked, "Can you append this to the feed you send Ellen? Up to when I walk out of here. From now on, every interaction you have with any crew, including... especially, me or Catherine, have multiple video feeds. If you're out of office, please keep a voice recorder going 24x7 so we have perfect coverage on you. I don't want any part of this situation to come back to bite us, and I think having evidence of our clear, ethical, good-faith actions is... our best defense."

She said okay, and I got my suit on and left.

== ==

That night, I got a video message from Jason-Lawyer, and watched it in another well- soundproofed comms room off the big kitchens.

"Kevin. Recording this to get it right. You are in a minefield. The only option you have is to stop walking. Take no action, make no announcement, ensure there are always 2 people around you, and even then, have a bodycam going. All Catherine's job assignments should be handled by someone else, and you should give zero opinions. Zero. NONE. Technically, she has committed no crime under Canadian law, she is correct."

He took a deep breath.

"Two additional factors. One, she's entitled to child support of equal measure to Kermit, and any other kids Ellen or any other woman has with you, or of a measure deemed appropriate by Canadian family-court child support guidelines. The only way you can decrease the amount this child gets is to have more kids, at which point you can set an arbitrary cap on child support and it all pays from the same bucket. After that, you can spend whatever you want on Ellen and Kermit, as your dependents. Ellen was an employee until not so long ago, but it gets troublesome for HR to have married couples where one is a direct supervisor."

I nodded. I got that. But, it was a recording.

"We have one more out. While technically not illegal, there is a 'morals' clause in the contract and NDA packet she signed, and I'm pretty sure her actions are solidly objectionable, regardless of whether it was you or another crew member she did this to, or even anyone back home. Since she's now a diagnosed psychopath, for crew safety, we can consider it a medical event that we, well... you, have to send her home."

"Oddly, we have a solid but VERY oddball option, almost a recommendation, for you. This would be to prevent her from getting special fame or fortune with this stunt, which may be her goal, or not, but we've got to protect against it. We would recommend that you impregnate all the women currently on your mission."

I gasped and then burst out laughing. Lawyers!

"Under Canadian law, it's possible to solicit a third party to act as a surrogate mother, for emotional or practical reasons as well as medical ones. You can sweeten the pot by paying each and every one of your women employees for their participation in this process. Under employment law, they'd have to agree to it without knowing who you were, otherwise it might be coercive. So, I can draft a proffer to each of them for a fixed amount, to get pregnant while they are there, with sperm carried along on the trip, as a separate party from the corporation. Perhaps Ellen happens to own a separate corporation who could do that. I'm not sure, it's a _hypothetical_."

The wink was fulsome. I loved it.

"Once we get agreement, and I'd suggest it be all of them at once, then you can arrange for a set of 'sperm donation events' where they acquire the sperm donation, that has been carried along for safety purposes only."

I was thinking about how Ellen would never go for this and laughing.

"Ellen is a third party and in any lawsuits concerning this, all communications with her would be subject to discovery and subpoena. Thus, you can't talk with her about it. With this is mind, and knowing that any action involving Ellen might represent diverging legal interests, I've engaged separate counsel for her and described this hypothetical scenario to the attorney to solicit advice. Hypothetically, one result might be that this attorney would suggest Ellen let you know her decision to proceed with this or say no, just based on the usage of specific word or phrase known to you. If that happened, golly, with all these hypotheticals, I couldn't be sure, but you might hear the word 'breastfeeding' - as 'berr-yes-tfeeding' - and Just Know she was approving of something and had put wheels in motion. Or, hearing the word 'nursing' - as 'no-ersting' - you'd know she wasn't. Of course, I'm an idiot and probably this whole thing is irrelevant."

"So, thanks. I suggest you wait for a message in about an hour from Ellen, and she'll use a variety of words to describe things that are happening, as people do."

"Thanks."

Jason finished and waved to sign off, and I sat back to think.

Did I want to do this?

Ellen sent me a video message about 45 minutes later. She started by making a bunch of small talk, starting with being amazed we had a problem with Catherine, but she hoped it worked out. She was, "sure the lawyers would make sure we were okay, though."

After about another ten minutes, she added, "I should add, Kermit has been breastfeeding a LOT. He REALLY likes it. I mean, sure, I'm all in favor of him breastfeeding just as much as he wants, of course! What baby wouldn't? It's just, sometimes, when I'm away from him, I just want to know that he's okay, and that he's getting the things he needs. So when I can't breastfeed, I make sure whatever I pump is available for whoever can hand him a bottle, so, yeah, it all works out, and everybody's happy."

There followed another ten minutes of stuff about neighbors and how she was taking a course in materials science and it was super-fun.

So, that was it.

It was definitely unambiguous. She wanted me to go for it.

I went back and collapsed in my bunk, a small voice recorder (we had them for dictating lab notes) going in the top of my bunk. It'd been a hell of a day.

Chapter: Expanding Operations

Our camp was divided really into two sections. One was the original crew of the Elmond with just the few of us, including Catherine, in one hab area.

When the other crew from the Oakdale had arrived, it'd greatly expanded our team, adding 75 people. Of those, most were geologists, scientists, engineers, and a mix of other professions. Of those 75, though, 59 were women.

Originally we'd all lived together in the containers. As time went on, though we shifted to a set of prefab origami-folded kevlar and metal structures, complete with an outer balloon.

The brick production was a key to safe living quarters, at this point we'd just barely started making bricks by scooping regolith ("dirt", lol) packing it into a shape, pouring water on it, and then letting it freeze.

A 10 meter tall caternary arch truss system held in a high-pressure (CO2) kevlar balloon, giving it structure enough to brace brickwork long enough for it to be laid over the top and joined with a keystone. Since the mortar was more needed for construction and not at all once the arch was completed, a simple water spray froze the bricks in place.

Once an arch was complete, a second layer was place over the top with long strands of rope to lock the pieces in place laterally.

The structure had to hold up a really prodigious weight, enough to shield us from radiation damage while we lived there. If you've ever worked against a clock knowing that every minute until you finish, there's more risk of your dying, yeah, we worked as fast and as hard as we could getting that shield in place.

== ==

That's the background of the third day after we found out Catherine's status.

She'd said nothing out loud to the others, thus far, so she was keeping things quiet. Based on miscarriage stats, this was reasonable, everyone knows it happens more than people generally talk about.

Coincident with the approximate date (yes it was a result) of learning about Catherine, we'd announced a new development corporation called MMG, Mars Materials Group.

MMG was ostensibly formed to exploit ores found during the mission, separate from the overall BardSpace operations. I was a shareholder, for sure, Bard had a stake, but I was a minority shareholder.

Most MMG shares were sold to institutional investors, and it technically had no more ability to get materials than my company did. The base we were on was Bard land, but the mineral strikes were shifted to be owned by MMG.

MMG was publicly held but majority-controlled by Ellen.

Yes, this was a legal construct but the lawyers and finance people said it would help it get additional cash and spread risk, as well as spreading support since ordinary people in many countries could buy shares as well.

This was all pretty new and had happened with the lightning speed that Wall Street can bring to bear, especially when assisted by deep pockets and lawyers like mine.

To explain all this, Ellen put out a call that there was going to be an all-hands meeting on the 5th day post-Catherine, so we all had to make sure we were awake and presentable for any cameras, since it'd be recorded and played back.

Ellen got up in front of the Cameras and said, "Welcome, everyone!"

She paused, held up her hand to her ear as if she was waiting (nevermind lightspeed delay), then said, "What was that again?"

It was an old joke. Still, everyone played along and said/shouted, "Welcome, Ellen!!!!!" back at the screen, twice, louder the second time.

She continued, "You may have heard about the Mars Materials Group MMG, we're going to be doing some mining on Mars alongside the group of you setting up the base. Right now, there's just one employee, Dave Wick, wave hello, Dave?" She only paused a moment. "Right. So, it may still be secret, but I'm breaking the secrecy now. Men, we're sorry, but this is unavailable to you. Here's the situation."

She took a breath.

"Mars Needs Moms."

Her grimace was shared by everyone; we all knew the movie well since we had watched every movie ever made on or about Mars, on the way to Mars. There wasn't a lot to do on the trip outbound.

"Yes, I know, bad movie, oh my, a bad movie. But, we have a dilemma. The lawyers tell me that in order to establish title to a newly discovered island in the ocean, a person has to do several things to prove they own it. Mars is like this, as you know - descend and land there, plat of survey, mark boundaries, record boundaries and surveys on larger maps, register it the map and claims, build a temporary structure, a permanent one, one with running water, with pressure and heat, one with an address that mail can be delivered to, and one where there is a permanent habitation."

We all knew this, obviously.

"Maria is pregnant and will hopefully give birth here, but both she and her husband Dominic want to be re-united soon after that, when orbital mechanics says we can have a return voyage. We support this, because the child should have the opportunity to be with their father, and because, well, Mars is dangerous."

Okay. I could see where she was going.

"With that in mind, we have a strong interest, as a group, in making Mars a Permanent colony, cementing our land and mineral rights, by growing families there. This is one of the last chunks in the legal fortress, the 'Fortress of Legality' [she used air quotes and a funny voice], to assert that your base, our base, is Canadian territory. Thus, I have reached out to each of the women in this group, individually, under a strict signed and witnessed NDA, to make the following offer."

There were lots of smiles, as well as some nodding heads. The group as a whole was happy with this.

"All women on Mars have been offered the opportunity to be a surrogate parent for myself and Kevin. That is, we wish you to become pregnant by Kevin and have a child, born on Mars, and hopefully stay there long enough for other men and women, pregnant or not, to arrive and create families there."

The guys said, "Woah! Wow!" and other such surprised noises, so it sounded like it was a significant surprise.

"Child support would be capped, since we would renounce custody to the surrogate mothers, at $220m Canadian per child in today's dollars, payable as $10m per year per child, until they are 21 Earth years old. Further, the child and mother would receive newly issued shares in MMG, separate but held in trust, worth point-1 percent of MMG for every year spent working on MMG projects, payable monthly."

"As you might have guessed, this was a popular offer, and we - my lawyers and I - made it to each of the 78 women currently on Mars. Of those 78, only six have declined. We can say, there have been rumors of some people already being pregnant due to news of this leaking, though I don't have confirmation on that."

"Now, we know that you are all highly capable engineers, scientists, doctors of medicine or engineering or the sciences, professionals first and foremost, which is why you're there. This is the Very Very First thing we want - for you to be recognized for your hard work, brains, and talent. However, being an engineer doesn't get in the way of being a mother, they compliment each other, and the fact that we're willing to pay so much is a reflection of the fact that we're in a good financial situation and, well, why not."

"So, feel free to 'seduce my husband', as they say, since the goal is to give us beautiful bouncing Martian-territory-born, Canadian babies!"