17

And so it was with downcast faces that they neared the planet, Mars, which they were to orbit to assist them on their way to Jupiter. With nothing else to do, Hood made a great show of bringing out all his camera equipment and spreading it across a large velcro pad. He wiped everything down with special cloths, and made minute adjustments. He claimed that he was going to be the first photographer to do justice to the red planet.

Mars remained just a tiny speck in the windows for several days, barely growing brighter. And then, in what felt like an instant, it became a great looming orb, filling every window. Hood secluded himself in the observation deck. Everyone ignored him, except Greenstockings.

When she knocked on the door to the observation deck, Hood yelled something indistinct. She entered anyway. The whole level was bathed in a brooding red light. Hood looked up from where he was hovering over his screens.

‘What the fuck is wrong with all of you? I’m trying to do something important here!’ he shouted.

Greenstockings pulled her shirt over her head.

‘Take pictures of me, instead,’ she said.

Some men might have been circumspect with such pictures, but Hood was not such a man. Greenstockings was well aware of this. She had decided to expand her field of play. The red planet had barely started to dwindle in their windows, when Hood started surreptitiously showing the pictures to everyone on board the Investigator. In these pictures, her body shines with the weird red light of that planet, and hides beneath the shadows of the Investigator. They really are amazing pictures.