and prepared to give a kick to his body, a kick that would fracture a few ribs and maybe puncture a lung or lacerate a spleen. Before he could do so however, he was grabbed roughly from behind at the elbows and twisted around. A second later he was facedown on the ground, his arm twisted painfully up behind him. He struggled for a moment, trying to rise and pressure was put on the arm, increasing the pain and compelling him to give up the fight in a second.
'Keep your ass down there, Waters,' he heard Woo say calmly from above him. 'If I break your arm I have to fill out paperwork.'
Meanwhile Hicks, sensing a chance to renew his own attack, got quickly to his feet and started forward. Before he made it two steps Corporal Vasquez, one of the assistant instructors, appeared as if by magic behind him and circled an arm around his neck. With a seemingly effortless maneuver, Vasquez pulled him backward and dumped him neatly onto his back, his arms splayed out to the side. Vasquez's boot then came to rest on his throat, keeping him from rising.
'Are you two done with your little high school scuffle now?' Woo asked conversationally. 'If not, Vasquez and I could maybe show you how real men fight. You want to learn that?'
Neither Jeff nor Hicks said anything. Nor did any of the other recruits.
The pressure was suddenly released from Jeff's arm. The boot was removed from Hicks' throat. The two instructors took a step backwards.
'Get your dumb asses up,' Woo told them. 'And if you lunge at each other again, you're gonna be right back down there and this time you're gonna be visiting the infirmary.'
Jeff, panting from the adrenaline of battle, his face flushed with anger and embarrassment, slowly got to his feet. Across from him, Hicks did the same.
'What the hell is the matter with you morons?' Woo asked, although it seemed he was addressing the entire class instead of merely the two combatants. 'What the hell are you fighting about?'
Again, like kids in a schoolyard, they stared ahead defiantly, refusing to answer.
'Goddammit,' Woo said, stepping forward and putting his face inches from Jeff's, 'I asked you a question! Waters, tell me what you two were fighting about!'
'He pushed me off the water cooler,' Jeff said.
'He pushed you off the water cooler?' Woo repeated.
'He put his fuckin hands on me,' Jeff confirmed. 'I ain't lettin him get away with that shit!'
'I see,' Woo responded thoughtfully. He turned towards Hicks. 'You pushed him off the water cooler? Is that true, Hicks?'
Hicks shrugged. 'He was standin in my way. I ain't gonna let no Capitalist faggot keep me from getting a drink.'
Woo looked from one to the other, his face showing mild disgust at what he was hearing. 'A gang rivalry huh?' he finally said. 'That's what you two idiots are fighting over? That's what most of the fights I've broken up these last three days have been over. A fucking gang rivalry.'
'They never said they'd be putting me in training with no fuckin Capitalist!' Hicks said.
Woo stepped up to Jeff and grabbed him by his hair, not quite violently, but not quite gently either. He twisted his head so that his face was looking at Hicks.
'Look at this man, Hicks!' Woo yelled at him. 'Look at him. What the hell does he look like to you?'
'He looks like a fuckin Capitalist bitch!' Hicks shot back angrily. 'And I ain't gonna train with none of them faggots!'
'Why did you join the MPG, Hicks?' Woo asked next. 'Why did you put your fingerprint on the line and agree to put on this uniform? Why?'
'To fight the Earthlings,' he said defiantly.
'To fight the Earthlings,' Woo said, nodding his head. 'Tell me something, Hicks. Does Waters here look like an Earthling? Does he sound like one?'
Hicks said nothing, just continued to stare forward defiantly.
'Waters,' Woo said, still holding onto his hair. 'Where were you born?'
'In the heights,' Jeff told him.
'That would be in Eden, right?'
'Right.'
'And where was your daddy born, Waters?'
'In the heights,' Jeff said.
'And where was your daddy's daddy born?'
'Heights.'
'So your family has been on Mars for at least three generations then, right?'
'Right.'
Woo looked at Hicks again. 'You hear that shit, Hicks?' he asked. 'Waters and his family have been on Mars for three fucking generations. I'd say that makes him a Martian, wouldn't you?'
Hicks continued to say nothing.
'Wouldn't you?' Woo repeated, raising his voice a little.
'I guess,' Hicks finally responded.
'And how long has your family been on Mars, Hicks?' he asked next. 'More than three generations as well?'
'Yeah.'
Woo finally let go of Jeff's hair. 'So what in the hell are you two morons fighting each other for? Because Hicks was a Thruster? Because Waters was a Capitalist? Give me a fucking break. You assholes are both Martians! You both have Martian blood flowing in your veins. And neither of you are each other's enemies!'
The two young men said nothing. Woo stepped back away from them, so that he was facing the entire group of recruits.
'People,' he said, 'we're here to learn how to fight the Earthlings. The Earthlings! They're gonna be here in about ten weeks or so and they're gonna have guns and tanks and hovers and they're gonna outnumber us by at least four to one. The cards are already stacked against us. We cannot waste our valuable training time picking at each other and fighting with each other. We need to work
Everyone stared at the ground at his words, a few of them shamefaced, most at least thoughtful looking. Even Hicks seemed to be pondering the words he had just heard.
'So here's the deal,' Woo went on. 'The next time that any of you assholes start fighting with each other over some stupid gang shit or any other petty difference of opinion or philosophy, you're out of here. I've been given the power to dismiss anyone who is not cutting it from the MPG and I will start using that power effective immediately. You hit each other, yell at each other, do any fucking thing at all with each other that cuts down on the efficiency of my training program and I will kick both of your stupid asses out of here. And don't think I'm bluffing because I'm not. I need to get the people who really want to take on the Earthlings through this program. I don't have the time to be acting like a goddamn playground monitor. Do I make myself clear?'
Again, in keeping with the practices of the MPG, there was no return of 'yes sir' or anything else. But all the same they seemed to get the message.
Woo looked at Waters and Hicks contemptuously. 'You two,' he said, 'will be my test of the program. I'm reassigning you, Hicks to fourth squad. Congratulations, lovers, you just became teammates.'
Both Hicks and Waters opened their mouths to protest this but Woo held up a hand, silencing them.
'Uh uh,' he said. 'That is my decision and it will stand. If you two want to stay around here long enough to graduate from this training class, I'd suggest you learn to get along with each other real quick.'
Less than a kilometer away at that very moment, Jeff's best friend Matt Mendez was struggling not to vomit. His stomach gurgled in a most unpleasant manner as his inner ears and sensory organs insisted that he was falling. He was sitting in the rear seat, the gunner's position, of a Mosquito that was idling in the airlock of the base. Just seconds before he had undergone the experience of lightening for the first time in his life.
'Not as pleasant as a blow job, is it?' asked Lieutenant Mike Dwyerson, who was strapped into the pilot's
