Chapter 14

"Please report to room A2W," the AI informed me the following morning. I blanched but did as I was told. Remembering what Percy had told me reassured me slightly, but I was still nervous.

"Lootenant Carter. To what do I owe this displeasure?" the major asked, when I arrived. He held up a piece of paper, gingerly, between his thumb and forefinger, a completely blank, expressionless, look on his face.

"Sir?"

As I stood to attention, my eyes were drawn to a photograph on the wall behind him. I'd noticed it last time I was in here, but I now knew a tiny bit more about Major Wilkerson than I did then, and the uniforms of the two men caught my attention. It was a photograph of two men, both in uniform, and obviously very close friends. One was clearly Wilkerson as a much younger man. The uniform of the other had the red and white Canadian maple leaf flag on it. Underneath I spotted the names Donald Wilkerson and Jonathan Whitefeather. Both men were wearing the badges of a parachute-trained soldier. Wilkerson had been in the 82nd Airborne at least thirty years previously: this must have been taken then.

"I have been ordered to promote you, though heaven knows why I should."

Promote me? My heart gave a little jump, and I managed, though with some difficulty, to hold back a smile of joy.

Wilkerson noticed my poker face. "Yes. I see you agree with me. Well, we'll just have to tear it up."

What he actually did though was to let the paper float, slowly, down into the waste paper basket by his desk. My eyes followed its slow fall all the way, his eyes boring into mine, waiting for any response or complaint I might make.

"You, Lootenant, are to report to Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Harper, on Mars, in five days time," he told me once my eyes had returned to his.

"Er, yes sir."

"Good. Dismissed."

Once in the corridor I asked the AI to put me in contact with Matt Harding, who until that moment was still my line manager, and we arranged to meet in the mess hall a short while later.

I told him what Wilkerson had said, and he just laughed, but I noticed there was a strange look in his eyes. "He doesn't have the authority to do that, he just wanted to test you, to see your reaction. If your promotion doesn't come through, get in touch with me, and I'll sort it out. You have the promotion. Congratulations, you are now a commander, same as me." There was a funny look on his face that I couldn't identify, but it quickly vanished again.

When I told him about my reporting to Mars, he informed me there was a regular shuttle between Earth and Mars, and how to arrange passage.

I shook Matt's hand, and we parted on friendly terms.

My family, when I told them, were both pleased and saddened. They had made friends with a few of the other concubines, but since we had spent much of our time apart, they on Daedalus, me on Lipskiy, we were all just hopeful that the new posting would mean we got to spend a bit more time together.

My first experience of Steven Harper reminded me very much of my initial experience of Budd Wilkerson. Though unlike Wilkerson, who was a little overweight, Harper was thin almost to the point of emaciation. However, given what I had now been told about Wilkerson, I reserved judgement on Harper. Maybe he had a similar story.

"I don't think Major Wilkerson knew you were involved with that ridiculous mass extraction in London, but you were, weren't you?" were Lieutenant-Colonel Harper's first words to me once I had reported to him and identified myself.

"Yes sir."

"And you think it was a good idea?"

"Yes sir. I do."

His lip curled very slightly. "Well I'm keeping you here, out of sight, and out of mind. You will not cause trouble, you will do only the work you are given, and you will do it when you are told. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. This is Major Thornby. You report to him on a day-to-day basis. Dismissed."

The Major and I left, and Thornby, in silence, took me to a small office with two desks. "That's your desk," he told me calmly. "I'll get someone to come and tell you what you need to do. Stay out of Harper's way. Stay out of my way. Got that?"

"Yes sir."

There couldn't be three all the same could there? I wondered. I was worried. I knew from my experience on board the Isaac Newton that not all Americans were like that. I smiled fondly as I remembered Hank and his sisters, and Danny and Joan.

I was almost two years, two Martian years, on the red planet. I hated most of it, but there were some good moments. By the end of it I had lost four concubines, and I had gained two unexpectedly.

Two evenings after I arrived, I got a message. To my surprise, it was from Melissa West.

"Hello," I said, "this is a nice surprise. How are you doing?"

"Okay. Can I come see you?"

"Sure. Now?"

"If you don't mind."

"Come on over." I told her how to find my pod, and disconnected.

It took her twenty minutes to get to me, and I took her into the office I had created in my pod, as it was evident that this was not entirely a social call.

I offered her a drink, and we sat, coffees in hand, and chatted briefly. She had, she told me, been assigned to Mars as soon as she'd got to the moon. Her concubines hadn't even set foot on the moon.

"You were lucky," I told her. "It's a dump. At least, as far as living there goes."

She nodded. "It's not too bad here, and there's a fair amount of turnover. For some this is a training ground, for others it's a punishment posting."

"Oh shit!" I looked at her. "You?"

She shrugged. "Not sure, hope not. What that buffoon on the moon said was right, and I knew that as soon as he said it."

"You did better than me then," I said softly. "Took me a year to twig. And someone else had to beat it into me."

She smiled slightly. "Maybe. I think, for me, it's just a posting like any other, and I'll get out. Hopefully. Eventually."

"Phew," I muttered. "Hope that's true for me then."

She nodded but didn't say anything. I guessed she was trying to work out what to say next. She obviously had something she thought I needed to know.

"Look," she said eventually. "Harper is an arse. An arse of the first degree. And you need to know that."

"I thought that of Wilkerson. But I've subsequently been told different."

"Wilkerson. That was his name. Yeah. Wilkerson." She took a deep breath. "Everything Wilkerson said in that first meeting was right. We were in the wrong. I at least should have known better, even if you didn't. You're still only a teenager really aren't you?"

I nodded. "Eighteen. Nineteen next month."

"Mmm. Harper is different. If he's in the wrong, makes a mistake, and you catch him out, he won't thank you for it. He is here as punishment. Harper's been sidelined and he knows it, and he's bitter and angry about it."

"Oh fuck, what'd he do?"

Melissa looked at me. "Have you heard of a planet called Rek?"

I nodded. I must have shown some sort of physical reaction as well because Melissa gave me a half sympathetic smile.

"Harper spotted what was happening on Rek some months before anyone else, and he did nothing. He took the AI line that it was nothing to do with anybody else, that the rest of the Confederacy should just let them get on with it, just so long as they kept producing good combat battalions. Which of course they did.

"Thornby was his two IC, his second in command. Apparently he did try to do something, but the court martial decided he hadn't tried hard enough."

"Oh dear. Is Thornby anything like Harper? He told me to stay away from him."

"Harper would have told you to stay away because he's bitter and angry and doesn't like you. Thornby would have said it so that you didn't get contaminated by association. He's actually a really nice guy."

I frowned. "Why doesn't Harper like me?"

"It's not personal, he just doesn't like anybody who he thinks might get promoted over him. You must have a higher CAP than he has, simply because you had six concubines, so must have at least an eight point aught, he only has four, but two were taken off him as part of his punishment."

I looked at her, a frown on my face. "You only had two concubines. You're not bothered I outrank you? I must be at least ten years younger than you."

She gave me an odd smile. "Actually, no. There are things that do bother me, but that's not one of them. I always knew I wouldn't get very high. Even now I'm still only a corporal." She grinned at me. "You didn't know that did you?"

"No."

"I started as a private. Became a lance-corporal a few months after I'd finished my training, and was promoted to corporal only a few weeks ago. I'm doing work that mostly I enjoy. Working with a nice bunch of people." She shrugged. "Apart from the fact I want to get off Mars, life is better than it was on Earth. For me anyway."

I nodded. "Okay. Cheers. Well, if and when you get back to Lipskiy, I'm told Wilkerson is a good guy too." I smiled slightly. "Nobody's said he's 'nice' or 'likeable' but he is someone you want on your side."

Melissa nodded. "I didn't know that. I guess I just thought he and Harper were the same."

"Mmm. Okay, well thanks for the warning."

"There's one other thing you need to know."

"Go on," I said when she paused.

"This base is very much about training as well as administration and analysis. Look out for training courses being announced. They usually announce courses then wait for people to volunteer, but sometimes they wait for people to suggest courses they want before putting them on. Get yourself on some, not too many, but not too few either. Look up the available courses and see what you fancy, but don't just pick a course because the idea interests you, and especially don't pick one just to get you out of the office. That'll piss people off. So make sure it's also useful as well."

"Thank you. I will."

She nodded, and our talk turned to Mars base, but there wasn't much she could tell me that I hadn't already learned by now, and she left not long after. I did find out she lived and worked at the opposite end of the base, so it was unlikely we would see each other by chance, but we did arrange to get together 'sometime soon' and have a meal together and a proper catch up.

Over the months and years I was on Mars, I did spot interesting and useful courses, and I took a number, but I couldn't think of a reason to take the EVA course I really wanted. All training courses were a mixture of practical lessons, and sleep-trainer learning, and though I did the sleep-trainer side of an EVA course, there was no way I'd have been allowed to do the practical side, so it seemed a bit pointless.

Nearly two months after that meeting with Melissa, I got a message from the AI asking me to report to one of the new Civil Service areas. I turned up to find a CS officer waiting for me with Melissa's concubines, David and Joanne. Joanne was carrying a small baby in her arms.

I nodded to the CS officer. I'd never bothered to work out the CS rank structure or insignia so I had no idea what rank she was.

"Hello." I asked of Joanne. "What are you doing here?"

"Melissa is dead. Apparently she left us to you."

"She left us to you in her will," David said.

"Oh. Ah. Yes, I remember that."

I looked at the CS officer. "Melissa West is dead?"

"Uh huh. Four days ago. We've been waiting for you to collect them. There was some confusion as to where you were, and we were about to send them to Luna, until we got confirmation this morning that you were here. These two are now yours. If you will accept them."