It's okay.
If you'd rather....because Jon and all that.
It isn't this guy's fault. It's okay....thanks, anyway. Marcia didn't try to explain: the only real enemy was on the inside, not these boys playing soldier.
It was a prison and depressingly so. Not as bad as the filthy pits she rememberred in California, but a terrible place to be. The bars, the identity checks, gates, rechecks, bars, locks.
Doug Watkins. He was still laying in a bunk. Marcia checked his wrist tag. It's okay, Doug, it's over. If you want to rest, okay, I can wait. She settled on another bunk. He rolled over and openned his eyes. Marcia smiled.
What do you want, lady?
To help you. The fighting is over, but you're not going home. You owe DPR money, about thirty thousand dollars. You can go home after you pay up. I'm here to help you get a job, a place to live, and all that sort of thing.
Who's DPR?
Us. Our new country, the December-Pacific Republic. The Assembly added December to commenorate our revolution.
You're all a bunch of traitors.
Marcia shrugged. So what if we are? Let's deal with specifics. Specifically you're not going to leave until you pay up. And if you can't find a means of paying up, the government will find a means for you. You're going to live by our rules whether you like or not. So....why not accept the rules and make a good life for yourself.
He lay back down. Where I come from we have laws about cruel and unusual punishment.
So do we. Which makes me wonder how you justify locking a man in a little hole for twenty years. You conspired to kill a human being, one of your own soldiers. We cannot allow that behaviour to go unchallenged. Unpunished. If this was your country, your pain and degradation would only now be starting. Instead it's over.
Are you willing to stand guard again?
I didn't know they were going to kill him.
Will you?
No.
Then it worked.
He looked at her name tag. Marsha?
Marsia. Marsha sounds to mushy to me. Marsia Rand.
Who are you, Marsia?
I'm me.
Well, I'm me too.
If you're me and I'm me, we must be the same person.
Doug managed a smile. Marsia smiled back.