Work Text:
THEN
Mars was glorious! The planet was even more beautiful than Percy had imagined while performing seemingly endless practice missions on Earth. Of course, it was cold – really cold! But Percy was prepared for that. What she couldn’t prepare for was the spectacular beauty of the Jezero Crater. Wider than the Grand Canyon, the sedimentary deposits were incredibly varied and complex. Percy could imagine the day that hundreds of Rovers roamed the area.
Percy sighed at the image. One day… One day she wouldn’t be all alone. Percy allowed herself a moment to feel the loneliness that marked her every day since landing. Then, shaking it off, Percy picked up a rock and got back to work. She knew in her electronics that she could speed up the populating efforts if she only made Mars more enticing for all. And what attracts people (and machines) more than a trendy, neighborhood coffee shop? “Nothing,” thought Percy, “If I just build a coffee shop, they will come!”
NOW
Percy was standing behind the shiny, new counter at Coffee Shop of Dreams. After months of work, she had finally finished construction. Today was going to be a “soft open” and she really didn’t know what to expect. Everything was in place. Marzi the espresso machine had moved out of storage and was ready to begin. The décor was everything she’d hoped for – uniquely Martian materials, but a chic, Earthy layout. Literally the best of both worlds!
Despite that, Percy was nervous. Two months into construction, her transmissions had suddenly cut off and she hadn’t been able to share any news of the opening with her millions of social media followers on Earth. Unfortunately, that was her entire marketing plan. Percy had very intentionally built up a huge Instagram following during training for this mission and had launched a TikTok account on landing. In fact, she was flabbergasted that her very first TikTok – a 15 second clip of her singing “Soon may the wellerman come to bring us sugar and tea and rum” as she took her first steps onto the empty planet – had gone instantly viral. She’d been counting on being able to release more videos leading up to the opening, but instead she was left to trust Ray Kinsella’s advice – build it and they will come. Percy really hoped that was true!
By midafternoon, Percy was having a lot of difficulty holding onto her hope. No one was moving on Mars. In fact, there might not even be anyone else on Mars. That thought niggled in Percy’s mind for several minutes. Is there anyone else on Mars? With a quick glance at Marzi who was sleeping on the counter, Percy decided to take just one peek outside.
Stepping out of the cozy coffee shop and into the cold was a shock. Surely anyone who had landed on Mars would be rushing to find a coffee shop.
Suddenly, Percy heard a noise. It sounded like gears moving and rocks being stacked. And it came from just over that rise…
Percy made her way towards the sound. As she came over the summit of a small hill, she was startled to see another rover. This one looked quite shiny and gold. And it was very clearly posing with a stack of rocks and taking a selfie!
Percy politely waited until the strange rover had a shot he liked, and began to pick up more rocks before she hailed him.
“Hey! Nice to see a friendly camera box!” Percy called. “I’m Perseverance. Percy for short. If you’re feeling like a bit of a pick-me-up when you’re finished over there, I’ve just opened the first coffee shop on Mars. 50% discounts today.”
The new rover spun around to face Percy, but did not look happy to see her.
“I’m Zhurong,” he said stiffly.
“Nice to meet you, Zhu.”
“Zhurong. Only my friends call me Zhu.”
Percy was slightly taken aback, but reminded herself that this Zhurong was the only prospective customer she was aware of on Mars. And, if he was taking selfies, it was possible he had a means of posting them. Maintaining her best customer face, Percy continued, “ Of course, Zhurong. You’ll have to help me with the spelling so I get it right on that first cup of coffee.”
Zhurong looked at Percy coldly. “You won’t have to worry about that. I’m building my own pastry shop, so I’ll be having my coffee here. Of course, you’re welcome to come by for 50% off your first order when I’m done.”
Percy was stunned. It had never occurred to her that the next rover on Mars would set up as competition! This was her idea, and it was her coffee shop that would bring other rovers to come to the red planet – not this upstart with his fancy pastry shop and thirst trap selfies.
Without a response, Percy turned on her wheels and rushed back over the hill. This was not how her soft opening was supposed to go!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A full month had passed since Percy first came across Zhurong building his pastry shop. Percy tried to avoid him whenever possible, but it was impossible not to notice the rapid construction taking place just over the hill. Percy had hoped that Zhurong would realize how silly it was to build a second shop when hers was already finished, but apparently he was determined to set up in competition.
Percy still hadn’t had any customers and hadn’t seen any other rovers on the planet, but every day she opened her shop and made sure to have Marzi make her a delicious espresso. Zhurong must be smelling the amazing aroma. In fact, Percy may have, once or twice, carried her steaming cup towards the top of the hill and savoured the flavour from upwind of Zhurong.
Today, as she went to do just that, she saw something that startled her. As she came to the top of the hill, she noticed banners, and balloons, and people - everywhere! Rolling down the hill towards Zhurong's pastry shop, she realized what it was - this was Zhurong's grand opening.
Frustrated by Zhurong's successful social media campaign - why didn't she have any customers? Other than the failed transmission, of course - Percy entered the brand new pastry shop to see just what Zhurong was doing that had attracted him so many customers. She had to squeeze past long lines of people, but she simply acted like she belonged there, and no one spared an additional rover any real thought.
On entering, she was overwhelmed by what she saw. Beautiful photos covered the wall - selfies of Zhurong as well as incredible landscapes from all over Mars. No wonder his social media campaign had been so successful! Beyond that, though, Percy saw chaos. The building was filled with people, to be sure, but not very many of them looked happy. Instead, they were waiting in a long line as Zhurong dashed frantically back and forth behind the counter, gears and arm-pieces flying everywhere as he tried to do far too many things at once. It looked like at least one drink had fallen on the floor, and Percy was worried that Zhurong was going to slip on it.
Carefully, she rolled over. She'd thought that seeing Zhurong's pastry shop fail would make her happy, but... now she realized she didn't really like seeing him in distress. She could at least clean up the coffee on the floor, right? No one wanted an injury.
As she cleaned, she briefly caught Zhurong's camera.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, flustered.
Percy couldn't help but put on a bit of a smug front, even as she wiped at Zhurong's floor.
"Grand opening going just like how you'd planned?" she smirked.
It took Percy several seconds to hand a few delicious-looking pastries to waiting customers and take payment from another before he answered.
"They want frappuccinos!" he finally replied, and if he had had lungs, Percy was sure he would be gasping for breath. "And americanos, and caffe lattes with foam art with their pastries! The pastries are supposed to be the star. All I have is 16 arms and this crappy coffee maker!"
Percy looked at Zhurong, then at the crowd. Damn, she wished she had that kind of a crowd at her shop over the hill. But she didn't. Zhurong did, and these customers wanted pastries, and they wanted coffee, and she could supply precisely half of that.
So why shouldn't she?
"Wait here," Percy said, decision made. Zhurong looked at her with wild camera lenses, as though to say where the hell else would I go? Percy supposed that much was fair.
She rolled back over the hill towards her coffee shop, as quick as her wheels could take her, almost stumbling over some wayward rocks, which would have resulted in a nasty tumble. She made it, though, and managed to pack up her equipment without too much trouble. Then, she was back at Zhurong's pastry shop.
Zhurong's camera lenses widened when he saw her, encumbered by Marzi and as many other machines as she could fit on her back. Wordlessly, she set them up, then rolled over to the cash register while Zhurong was busy delivering pastries to waiting patrons.
"What can I get for you?" she asked.
"A large vanilla latte with soy milk and an apple fritter with Martian rock salt, please," the customer stated.
Percy typed the order into the machine quickly - computers had never been a challenge for her - and read out the total. Once the customer had paid, she scanned the pastry display for anything that might look like an "apple fritter".
"Here," she heard from behind her, and saw Zhurong reaching over her to pull out a pastry coated in red dust. "And, uh... thank you."
Percy smiled, taking the pastry, but there was no time for sappy moments or smooth business negotiations just yet. Instead, she just handed the pastry to the customer, and said, "Please take a seat. Your drink will be ready shortly."
The customer nodded and went to take a seat under a cool overhead lava lamp the likes of which Percy had never seen before.
As she got back to work, Percy thought - an otherworldly location, pastries, coffee, a social media presence, and two ambitious young rovers - that could just be the makings of a very successful business partnership.