Zed was surprised by how quickly he fell into the rhythm of life on Mars. Exploring Naug with Miranda and George was proving to be surprisingly fun. Knowing that, as isolated as they were, they had each other as friends and weren’t going to be packing up and moving on in the foreseeable future felt like a luxury none of them had ever experienced.

  Eventually, Zed picked up his high school lessons again. There was no avoiding it. As little as his parents paid attention most of the time, he couldn’t slack off indefinitely.

  Aside from school, Zed found himself sinking most of his free time into the mess hall overlay art project. He had to admit he was having a blast. Working with the CIG was like getting a set of new paintbrushes when, until that point, all he’d had to work with was a toothbrush. Being able to reach out and feel the things he was creating added a whole new layer to creating and animating 3D objects. Everything felt alive.

  He hadn’t put off the Andy project entirely, but he’d certainly been dragging his feet. It had been almost a month since he started working on the mess overlay; it was more or less finished. The "gift" (Zed still shuddered at the concept) for Andy was also mostly done, but he really wasn’t looking forward to the actual giving part. He couldn’t even imagine how that would go. Scratch that; he could definitely imagine a lot of scenarios, and they were all bad. Very bad.

  Zed sighed and pressed his fists into his eye sockets until he saw stars. There was no point in delaying. He might as well kill two birds with one stone today.

  A few hours later, with the final polish finished on both projects, Zed sent Commander Jones a message.

  Hey Commander,

  I’m sure you’re busy and all, but if you want to check out the new mess hall overlay I’ve been working on, I’ve attached a preview. Let me know if you’re good with it, and I’ll make it public!

  Also, I was wondering if I could request the overlay code for the quarters of Andy Foster. Before you ask, no, it’s not for a prank or something, just a gift I made.

  Anyway, thanks!

  - Zed

  To Zed’s surprise, a reply popped up just a few minutes later.

  Zed,

  Excellent work on the mess hall overlay. I was not expecting dinosaurs, or any of the rest of it for that matter, but you made it work beautifully. Well done.

  In light of that, I’m going to grant you access to not only Andy Foster’s room overlay but also the whole colony. I have a feeling you’re going to start getting a lot of requests from other colonists, and I can’t be bothered to approve every one. Just don’t let me discover you’ve been putting virtual strippers in the corridors, understood?

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Again, excellent work.

  Sincerely,

  Commander Thabisa Jones

  Zed smiled. While artists often insisted that they didn’t create for anyone else but only for the joy of creation itself, Zed had to admit that a compliment about his art from Commander Jones was definitely the highlight of his day.

  The smile faded somewhat when Zed realized he now had no excuses for not going through with the whole Andy thing. He debated asking George and Miranda to go with him for moral support but ultimately decided against it. What if it did go as badly as he feared? No, he was fine. He could do this. It’d be fine.

  ***

  The hangar was stacked with vehicle bays and smelled of metal and sweat, much like any garage back on Earth. It struck Zed as a little funny that he should be making this attempt at a noble gesture in the very place where Andy’s dislike of him had started.

  There were fewer people here than on the day Zed had arrived. He hadn’t been back since. He knew Andy worked here and hadn’t been inclined to risk a chance meeting if he could avoid it.

  Zed spotted Andy leaning against a Monstro’s massive tire. The young woman Zed had assumed was Andy’s girlfriend was straining to break something loose with a wrench. Andy seemed to be telling her a story, though Zed got the impression from the radioactive glances she was throwing his way that a hand would have been far more appreciated.

  The rest of Andy’s groupies were gathered around—some working, some goofing off. One of them spotted Zed approaching and whistled for Andy’s attention. At first, Andy seemed annoyed at the interruption, but when he saw Zed, his face settled into an unpleasant grin.

  Well, no turning back now.

  “Hey, uh, all.” Zed stammered.

  No one spoke. They just stopped what they were doing and turned toward him. Andy crossed his arms and took a small step forward.

  Zed cleared his throat, which now felt as dry as the bluffs outside the massive airlock doors.

  “I have something for you, uh, Andy.”

  Zed held up a small storage drive.

  “I know we’re not exactly each other’s favorite people, but it’s a small town and all that, and I just thought maybe—well anyway, I made you something that you can use on your quarters’ overlay, if you want.”

  Zed held the drive a little higher. Andy glanced at it but made no move to accept it. Zed set it on the nearby workbench with care.

  “I’m kind of an artist or whatever, and Commander Jones has had me working on the overlay for the mess hall, and I thought maybe you missed stuff from Earth like a lot of people do, so I looked into places you might have been or liked.”

  Andy’s face went flat, which was somehow worse than the grin.

  “You’ve been looking into my history?”

  “Yeah, I mean there wasn’t much there. Some weird gaps, actually, but I saw you went to MIT and looked happy there, so I recreated one of the dorm rooms with a view of the campus. If you assign it to your overlay, you can look out of a virtual window and see it whenever you want. A little taste of home, ya know?”

  Andy hadn’t moved, but Zed could see the muscles in his jaw straining. This hadn’t gone how he’d hoped, but Andy hadn’t flat-out refused or hit him, so win?

  “Anyway, I’ll just get back to, uh, whatever. Hope you like it. Let me know what you think if you use it. No pressure, though.”

  Zed turned to leave. He was halfway to the door when he heard Andy call out.

  “Hey, Zed.”

  Zed half-turned without moving his feet. Andy uncrossed his arms and walked over to the workbench where the storage drive was sitting. He picked it up and rubbed it between his fingers as if he thought he could feel what was on it.

  “Thanks a bunch,” Andy said, then flicked the drive into a pan of waste oil.

  Zed felt his heart freeze in his chest. Andy’s goons laughed as if this act of cruelty was the funniest punchline they’d ever heard. The woman who’d been working on the tire didn’t join in. She marched over to Andy and said something in a low voice Zed didn’t catch.

  “Oh, grow a pair, Janice,” was Andy’s reply.

  Zed slowly turned back toward the door and finished his exit to the sound of laughter and jeers that followed him down the corridor.