Page 33

on August 22, 2016
Chapter:

And the other shoe drops. If you reverse everything in the first panel, you can decipher what was done to Maida’s ancestors when they moved to Mars. This would have been done on a genetic level to the first generation of babies born on Mars, working on the assumption that they were meant to be permanent immigrants, not mere tourists, and that it would be easiest for them to simply pass down their genes from then on. Maida was born a Martian. Everything described on this page is surgical, however. Which means, as far as her DNA is concerned, Maida is still a Martian. Even though an x-ray will now suggest otherwise.

As you can imagine, moving from planet to planet for long periods of time is serious business, and going for an extended holiday is something your doctor is going to advise against.

↓ Transcript
Panel 1: Maida's body is x-rayed with labels describing what was done to her. Maida's voice-over: "On Luna the medics made my lungs smaller and my heart stronger. They slowed down the replacement of bone tissue. They took out the anti-cancer nanites and replaced them with anti-virals. Mars doesn't have a magnetosphere to protect us from radiation, so we grow a layer of anti-rad plastic in our skin. That had to be removed."
Panel 2: Maida uses a walker to move through a hospital corridor. Voice-over: "Recovery was long and painful. I feel so weak, all the time."
Panel 3: Voice-over: "Or maybe that's just Earth gravity, I don't know. I just know I'm not strong enough, ever."
Panel 4: Maida: "Changing back would mean going through all of that again in reverse. I could never do it. I can never go home now."
Panel 5: Safia: "Are you worried people will find out you've bin aberrated?"