'Not a fuckin' thing, they say. According to Laura Whiting, all healthcare for soldiers is free.'
'She's even saying she wants to make it that way for everyone,' Andrew put in.
'Free health care?' Xenia said. 'Goddamn. She is a fuckin' radical, isn't she?'
They parted ways a few minutes later after much hugging, handshaking, and profane declarations of their fighting prowess. They promised to get together as soon as possible once things settled down. The three of them then made their way back to the elevators and down to street level where they entered the Bangkok Building.
They found Zen Valentine in an equally crowded room on the second floor. He was lying on a sheet, shirtless, a large bandage covering a good portion of his back and chest. Two intravenous lines were dripping into his arms and a tube snaked out from his side. Sitting next to his bed was an elderly woman wearing denim shorts and a cropped half-shirt.
Zen saw them approaching and his eyes lit up. 'Xenia! Creek! Belinda!' He leaned forward. 'You made it through the war!'
'Fuckin' aye, we did,' Xenia said, leaning in and giving him a big hug and then slipping him some tongue in the finest Martian tradition.
'You taste like pussy,' he said knowingly. 'Does that mean you made your choice?'
'My choice was not to choose,' she said. 'I'm stuck with both of them.'
'No shit?' he asked, raising his eyebrows a bit.
'No shit,' Belinda said. She leaned and gave him a hug and some tongue as well.
Jeff gave him a hug. He held back on the tongue portion. Zen didn't seem to mind.
The elderly woman coughed politely. 'Not to interrupt this little reunion,' she said. 'But don't you think some introductions are in order, Zenny?'
'Zenny?' Jeff said with a smirk.
'Not a fuckin' word about that to anyone,' he warned, blushing.
Belinda and Xenia chuckled.
'Guys,' said Zen, 'I'd like you to meet my grandmother, Dr. Marjorie Valentine. Gram, this is Xenia, Jeff, and Belinda. Jeff here is one of the infantry guys we fought with in the gap. X and B were in my tank with me. They're the ones who hauled my ass out of the wastelands and got me to the medics.'
'You're the ones,' Marjorie said, beaming at the two women. 'I thank you for what you did, for the planet and especially for my Zenny.' She hugged each of them furiously, kissing them on the lips. She then turned to Jeff. 'You're a hot piece of ass, ain't you? Let me thank you for your service.' And before he realized what was happening, her lips were on his and her tongue was in his mouth. He was squeamish at first until he realized she was an extremely good kisser.
'Thanks,' he said, a little breathless, once she released him.
'Anytime,' she said, gazing at him lustfully. 'And in any case, I'm not Dr. Valentine anymore. The WestHem fucks took my license away back in 2108. I'm just plain old Marjorie now.'
'I heard about how you got fucked,' Xenia said. 'Just like those corporate assholes, ain't it?'
'It was the way of the solar system,' Marjorie replied. 'At least until now. Now you youngsters have given Mars a brand new chance. We're free because of you and everyone like you. Free to pursue our own course. I never thought I'd live to see it, but now that I have, I'm determined to live to see what becomes of us next. I think this Laura Whiting bitch has got us on the right path.'
'So you don't think she's Queen Laura the First?' Belinda asked.
'Setting herself up to be just like the old bosses?' Marjorie asked.
'Yeah,' Belinda replied. 'That's what some of the people are afraid of. That we'll end up even worse off then we were before the revolution.'
'An interesting question,' she said, pondering, seemingly pleased that they were trying to tap into her wisdom. 'Why don't we burn one and talk about that?'
'Burn one?' Jeff asked.
'Fuckin' aye,' she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a silver case. She opened it and pulled out a fat joint. 'I hope everyone likes Libby Lowdown. I've always been partial to that shit.' She pulled out a laser lighter, sparked up the joint, and took a tremendous hit of it. While holding the hit in her lungs she passed the joint to Jeff. 'Here you go, lover,' she squeaked.
'Wow,' Jeff said, taking it. He took a hit of his own, drawing deeply of the sweet smoke. Halfway through Marjorie hit him in the shoulder.
'Watch the spit on the end of the joint,' she yelled. 'If I want your spit I'll suck it off your tongue again.'
'Sorry,' Jeff squeaked, blushing.
'Youngsters these days,' Marjorie huffed. 'Always using pipes and bongs to smoke their shit. There's no fucking joint etiquette anymore. They really should teach that in school.'
The joint was passed around until it was but a roach. Everyone watched his or her spit at the end, not wanting to incur the wrath of Marjorie. It was very good shit, almost as good as Agricorp Green. All five of them were in the stratosphere.
'Now then,' Marjorie said after putting the roach into a separate case full of other such roaches. 'You were concerned about the Queen Laura thing. I won't deny it's possible that we're dealing with a potential fascist dictator here. I won't deny that everything she has done to this point could have been an elaborate plan to seize power from the WestHems and set herself up as supreme ruler of this planet. It is possible that we could end up worse off than we were before.'
'That's kind of a depressing thought, Gram,' Zen said. 'I thought you were in favor of Laura Whiting.'
'I was and I am,' Marjorie said. 'My God, what I wouldn't give for a nice glass of Chardonnay right now. Oh well... the price of being free. Anyway, I was just trying to point out the worst-case scenario from this chain of events Laura Whiting has set in motion. I don't think we'll come to that. I can't explain why I feel what I do but I trust our governor. She is different. She actually seems to care about us. If this has all been a power scheme for her, it was an elaborate and far-reaching one. I honestly think that she is exactly what she seems to be.'
'That's a relief to hear you say that,' Belinda said.
'Well, don't be too relieved,' Marjorie said. 'Even if Whiting is exactly what she purports to be, we're still in for some rankin times in the next few years.'
'What do you mean?' Jeff asked.
'The quest for power and for rule is a very powerful narcotic,' Marjorie said. 'There is a power vacuum in place on Mars right now. Laura Whiting is the governor of this now free planet. She has twenty-two former legislature members who joined her at the beginning of the revolt. These twenty-three people are all who are running the planet now. Others are going to try to get in on this ruling thing. Many of them will have nothing but their own self-interest in mind. And, if I read my history correctly, those who are the most charismatic will be the ones who are actually the most snake-like. We Martians are going to have to be very careful to avoid letting any of these people obtain positions of high power.'
'What can we do to avoid that?' asked Belinda, terrified at the images that Marjorie was invoking.
'You can be diligent, you can use your common sense, and you can speak your mind when you need to,' Marjorie replied. 'You need to realize that there will be attempts to betray this revolution by small groups of people or individuals who just want to rule. You have to filter through their lies, examine every political person who tries to insert themselves into the power structure in your name. History is full of betrayed revolutions. I hope before all that is holy that you people who won this one for us won't let it be betrayed as well.'
Martian Capital Building, New Pittsburgh
September 25, 2146
0900 hours
Governor Laura Whiting — who was technically only the acting Governor — called the meeting of the fledgling Martian government to order. They were in the legislature chambers, which had been designed to seat one hundred members in comfort and had accommodations for up to six hundred visitors in bleacher style seating in the rear. With only twenty-three people present, the large chambers seemed almost empty.
'Good morning,' she told everyone from her podium at the front of the room. 'The first order of business on the agenda is the reply to our offer to open negotiations for an armistice we received from the WestHem Executive Council early this morning. I'm sure you can all guess what the jest of that reply is.'
