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Different
Gravities
    by Ryan M. Williams
     
     
    Coming to Mars Kyle Rader never imagined
this, this waiting. We're hardly on another planet but we've
already managed to recreate waiting rooms. You would have thought
we could do better.
    A slight man with a kind smile and epicanthic
folds that revealed his mixed heritage. He smoothed the legs of his
blue overalls and waited for the doctor to return while keeping an
eye on Jon, his son. A small room, by necessity most of the rooms
in the outpost were small. It wasn't really a waiting room, but
also an examination room. Native red brick walls, an examination
bed made from aluminum and recycled fibers. Jon lay on the bed
looking up at the lights above. He loved lights. A touch screen
hung on the wall and a portable supplies cabinet sat in the corner.
No magazines, of course, but the screen did offer a menu of
entertainment options. Kyle ignored the screen.
    Barsoom only housed a hundred people. A
hundred and one now. His son. A pregnancy that had caused a great
deal of consternation back on Earth when they discovered eight
weeks into the trip that Jenny had gotten pregnant. There had been
a lot of concern about whether or not she could handle the landing
on Mars at eight months pregnant. The Mars Colonization Project
Administration hadn't been pleased that their carefully selected
Governor had been the first to get pregnant but what could they
do?
    Jon turned his head and grinned broadly at
his father, showing his six teeth.
    "Hey buddy," Kyle murmured. "Bored yet?"
    Jon rolled and sat up. He waved his arms in
the air.
    "It won't be long."
    As if on cue the door slid aside and Dr.
Ayres stepped into the space. A slight woman with her red hair
braided back and very pale skin. She served as the chief medical
officer for the colony. Kyle stood up.
    "Doctor."
    She smiled. "Call me Amanda, Kyle. It's good
to see you." She looked at Jon and her smile grew. "Hi Jon! My, you
are the cutest baby!"
    Jon smiled back at her. He loved everyone in
the colony. They all fused over him. The first Martian. He was a
celebrity before he'd even been born. "Baa. Daa. Ni!"
    Dr. Ayres, Amanda, went to the other side of
the bed. She crouched to put her head at Jon's height. He happily
batted at her face with pudgy fingers. "He looks good. How's he
doing?"
    "Good. Very good. He's eating well. He's
gotten sitting up down and crawling but he hasn't been able to walk
yet."
    Dr. Ayres pulled out a tablet from her
pocket. She tapped and flicked her way through the screens and
wrote a quick note with her finger. She pocketed the tablet. "Does
he try to walk? Is he pulling himself up on furniture?"
    "Yes. He'll pull himself up, and a few times
he's tried to take a step away but he can't keep his balance." Kyle
put a hand on Jon's back. His son beamed at him. "I think he's
worried about falling."
    "Did he get hurt?"
    "No. He didn't fall that hard."
    "And he gets around fine crawling?"
    "Yes." Kyle looked at his son. He loved Jon
more than anything. They hadn't planned this to happen but he
couldn't imagine life without him. "He's all over the place
crawling."
    As if to prove it Jon lunged forward onto his
hands. Kyle scooped him up in his arms. His son hardly weighed
anything. Around 8 pounds. He still had to do the math in his head
and convert that to weight on Earth, but even then Jon didn't weigh
much. It kept all sorts of scientists busy watching his
development.
    "So you don't think we have anything to worry
about?"
    Amanda shook her head. "People learn to walk
at their own pace. Be patient. He's only a year old."
    "But back on Earth he should be walking by
now, at least most children would be but he doesn't seem to be
showing any progress."
    "He's not on Earth," Amanda said. "We have to
give him time. He's the first person to grow up on Mars. Jon is
going to be teaching us a great deal."
     
    #
     
    On Jon's third Earthday, what would have been
his third birthday on Earth, Kyle watched his son unwrap his