Ell Donsaii 12: Impact! Read Online Free Page A

inflow ports under their chins that were bringing them air. Their suit pressures stayed up, thus proving they didn’t have leaks. Leaks wouldn’t be the end of the world because they could simply open more ports back to earth. Ports could bring in enough air to make up for anything but a huge rip; they weren’t dependent on tanks. Nonetheless, it was only good practice to be sure their suits were airtight before they started.
    The last balloon sealing them into the habitat deflated the rest of the way and they headed out on to the surface. Once they were out on the ledge, they stopped to stare out over the Valles. Where they stood it was 150 km wide and 5 km deep, dwarfing the Grand Canyon’s 29 by 1.8 kilometers back home. “Well,” Carol said after a moment, “probably not a good idea to just stand here soaking up radiation all day. Let’s go exploring.”
    Phil extended his arms and had his AI fire the jets under his upper arms. He lifted a meter or so and practiced moving back and forth on the jets to make sure he really knew how to fly them here in Mars’ low gravity before he turned and flew back up onto the plateau behind him. Landing, he felt a combination of exhilaration and depression. He was on Mars! However, all he could see was an unending flat, dirty brown plain, littered with unexciting dirty brown rocks…
     
    ***
     
    Olympic Stadium, Rome, Italy —Traditionally, the lighting of the Olympic flame honors an Olympic athlete of the host country. The athlete who will carry the torch on the final leg and use it to light the flame is kept secret until the torch is handed to them in the stadium. This year a great deal of excitement has swirled around the ceremony. It is rumored that the flame will not be lit by an Italian, though no one seems to know who it might be…
     
    Shan lifted Zage and carried him into the living room. “Kid, I swear you get heavier every time I pick you up!”
    Zage turned to look up at him and said curiously, “I am getting bigger. Don’t children normally do that?”
    “Um…” Shan grinned down at his serious son, “they do…” He thought for a moment. He didn’t want to injure his son’s self-esteem, but on the other hand the kid was overweight and was probably going to catch flak about it from other children soon. At two and three-quarters years old, he seemed too young to have to worry about his weight, but Shan worried about it. Kids could be mean and wishing it wasn’t so didn’t make them treat each other nicely. With resolve, he decided to be as straight with his son as he could. “But you’re heavier than most kids your age.” He shrugged, “People everywhere have been getting heavier and heavier for quite a while now.”
    “Do you mean I’m fat?”
    Shan glanced down at him, wondering if Zage had been insulted and said that in anger. However, Zage looked as if he were merely curious. Shan said, “Well, ‘fat’ is kind of a rude term, but yeah, a lot of your weight is fat. You’re not taller than other kids, just heavier. ‘Obese,’ is the medical term for it. They say there’s an ‘obesity epidemic’ because a lot more people are obese nowadays than there used to be.” Shan glanced up at the big screen in the living room and asked his AI to bring up the opening ceremony at the Olympics.
    Zage said, “Why am I fat?”
    Shan shrugged and looked back at his son, “Well, the short answer is that it’s because you eat more than you need to. When you eat, your body uses the food to help you grow and to give you the energy to do things. If you eat more than it takes for you to grow and do the things you do that day, your body stores the leftover food energy as fat.”
    Shan felt really weird to be talking to a child who wasn’t even three about something like this. He felt uncomfortable that he’d even brought it up because it seemed like Zage shouldn’t even have to think about dieting at his age. On the other hand the kid didn’t run