March 13th 2004

Ironwood

"Why is there a heart shaped island the size of California on Mars?"

Neil looked frustrated, but wasn't angry.

"I was offered a certain level of creative control."

"Is that why said Island has a collection of smaller islands that look like letters, is that why said letters spell out 'I love you.'?"

I leaned back.

"It was for my wife."

The man sighed and took a sip of coffee.

"And the Thinkers just allowed this to happen?"

"I put forward a hypothetical idea and was told that it wouldn't affect the terraformation process."

"Any other surprises?"

"I used up all of my creative leeway on that one project, sir."

Neil didn't look happy.

"So... now we have a massive heart shaped island on Mars, with the words 'I love you' under it, and it's big enough to be seen from space."

I shrugged.

"She's the mother of my children, sir."

He sipped his coffee and stared at it.

"Ugh fuck it, it's not a big deal, we have a brand new world, complete with oceans and islands, continents, rivers and everything. We're going to have to create a biosphere from the ground up, but that's a generational thing, or less if we get the resources."

He smirked.

"Honestly, the only reason I'm on your case about this is some Senator has his underwear in a snit."

"Really?"

"Yeah, asshole's been trying to cut our budget for decades, sorry successfully cutting our budget for decades. Now that we have a real success under our belts he's trying to find anything he can to fuck this all up."

"You think he?"

"Can do it? No, yesterday the public saw us physically terraform an entire planet, people can literally take a fucking boat to Mars. The resources from the Belt are already starting to arrive in larger amounts. The cat's out of the bag, it's a done deal and honestly, he's probably going to lose his seat."

He looked more comfortable.

"Look, NASA's dealt with worse PR then this, some people will probably think it's romantic and as you said, it's not going to hurt anyone."

"And the gold reserves should help."

"And the... what?"

I tilted my head.

"The gold reserves, the heart shaped island, I made sure it was rich in gold."

Neil blinked.

"How rich?"

"More gold then California and South Africa combined at their height."

He stared at me.

"Because she has a heart of gold."

He lifted a finger then put down his hands, then his face went into a smile and he just chuckled and then he laughed.

"Ok... Ok I... yeah we can use that, never change Woody."

I got up from my seat and left the room, June was waiting for me.

"So I heard about a certain island?"

I put my hand on her shoulder.

"I regret nothing."

"I love you too, big guy."

I held her close and we walked back home, I was probably going to have to pay some kind of price for this, but honestly as June blushed and beamed I felt like it was worth it.