OLIVER: We start with name and age, usually.

ISABELLA: My name is Isabella, and I am 8 years old, 4 in Martian years.

OLIVER: What did your parents do?

ISABELLA: My dad worked in Building 4, food production.  That's where they would make the kind of food we used to have before the Evacuation, like the stuff made from supplies from Earth.  I think they also grew some stuff, but it wasn't plants like in Building 3.  It was stuff like yeast, where each one is too tiny to see without a microscope, but you grow it in big vats it can get big enough to eat.  They would bake bread whenever there was flour from Earth.

My mom worked in Building 7, the power plant.  I never got to see that, but apparently they had stuff there that would get hot all the time, and they would use it to boil water, the steam from that would turn a turbine, and that would make electricity.  It got shut down before the Evacuation.  It also didn't look like there were going to be any more supplies from Earth to use in Building 4 to make food, so dad went back to Earth and left me with mom.

OLIVER: Did you ever see them at work?

ISABELLA: I got to see my dad at work occasionally.  It was in some ways like watching him cook at home, but in other ways really different.  All the equipment was way bigger.  But the smells were usually good, and you could watch what was happening.  I never got to see mom at work, because apparently they were worried about safety stuff.  Radiation, I think they said?  But mom said there wasn't any radiation, really, it was all contained, but there were rules about no kids going into Building 7.  She said there wasn't really anything you could see except monitor screens, anyway.  It all got shut down around the time of the Evacuation.  I think Mom got kind of sad about that, because it was what she had been working on since she came to Mars and they shut it down.

OLIVER: Do you know why it got shut down?

ISABELLA: It was pretty old, about as old as the Colony, so it was only a few years away from being shut down anyway.  It was supposed to provide power while they built out the solar farm, and some other thing called neothermal, I think?  Once they had other ways to produce power, it was intended to shut it down eventually.  That was going to be in a couple years, but when the Evacuation happened they decided to shut it down early.  I think mom was kind of depressed about it, towards the end.  Except when I would sing to her, then she would smile and laugh sometimes.  But it made her sad when the thing she worked on got shut down.  Also dad leaving made her sad.

OLIVER: I've never heard of 'neothermal', do you know what that is?

ISABELLA: I don't know, I might not have that name right.  It was something like that.  I don't really know anything about it.

OLIVER: Is there anything you would like us to ask Earth?

ISABELLA: It would be good if they sent more recipe songs.  I like the ones we sing, but they might have some good ones also.

OLIVER: I'm not sure that recipe songs is a thing on Earth, that might be just a Martian thing, but I'll ask.

ISABELLA: Oh, maybe we should send them ours, then.

OLIVER: Maybe.  Is there anything else you would like to ask them?

ISABELLA: Maybe we could ask if Dad is ok?  Also, we could ask how to sew.  I read once that they could just take strings, and they could sew clothes out of that.  It would be good to be able to do that.

OLIVER: We did that on Mars, too, in Building 16.  It got shut down after the Evacuation, because we had enough clothes for a while.  But you're right, we'll need that eventually.  I'll ask.

ISABELLA: Also, we will need to know some plays.  Like, the scripts for plays.

OLIVER: Plays?

ISABELLA: Yeah, we haven't done any plays since the Electrocution.  Charlotte's parents had us do plays, remember?  I think they would want us to keep doing plays, now.  I think we're almost ready to start doing plays again.  But, I'm not sure if we have any scripts here, so maybe Earth could send some?

OLIVER: Plays?

ISABELLA: Yes, you know, like when you dress up and say your memorized lines and people watch you do it.  I remember hearing that they have plays on Earth also, so maybe they have some good scripts they could send us.

OLIVER: Oh.  Uh, I suppose that's probably true.  We might even have them already in the library files here.  I'll look.  Anything else?

ISABELLA: Not for Earth.  But I do have a question for you.

OLIVER: For me?

ISABELLA: Yeah, um, like, do you think we're going to live for a while?  I think we might, but then sometimes I'm not sure.  What do you think?

OLIVER: Why do you ask me that, instead of Earth?

ISABELLA: Because you're the one who thinks about this stuff the most, like the big picture stuff, and you're here on Mars.  Earth doesn't know, they're not here to see what we can do.  You're the one who's here to see what we can do.  Do you think we can live?  I think we can live, but sometimes I'm not sure if everybody here knows that.