When Tori got to Airlock Seven the next morning, Jari was already waiting there. “Don’t you feel like we’re just going on a field trip?” she said, holding up her lunchbox. She’d really brought one. “Except for the cryo-suits, of course.” Jari laughed. “Best field trip yet,” he said. “The furthest I ever got as a Helsinki Uni student was the moon. And it’s kind of a bummer when you realize the surface is literally covered in footsteps made by former astronauts. Nothing ever gets erased there.” Tori smiled. “Wasn’t it weird to see all those old United States flags up there?” “Well, the biggest one fluttering in the non-breeze now is the Great German flag,” Jari replied, sounding a bit sullen. Tori nodded curtly. She knew Finland and Germany hadn’t exactly been on friendly terms before the wars. Nor had Croatia and Germany, for that matter. Having lived on Mars for most of her life, she often forgot about the tension in former Europe, now called Great Germany.
