11

The rank of Major, for the most part, was excluded from the surrender treaty. Major Whitman, then, probably is still on Mars. So's Jerricks.

I can watch the news, at least. It doesn't tell me much.

There were food riots yesterday. A lot of veterans were involved. Every time there's a story, on the television, I'm searching the crowd for people I know.

If Whitman is alive - he might be there. He might be one of the people fighting for their right to eat, to survive. If Jerricks is alive, he's definitely out there. He wouldn't be a ringleader, like Whitman might, but he wouldn't just be fighting for himself, either.

God, I miss it. I wish I were there.

Since General Angilo himself has assured me that this journal will no longer be read by the Martian authorities, I suppose I should be open with my feelings, now. I should confess.

Not a huge chance of that, I think.

But, then, I suppose this is something that I don't mind anyone knowing. I wish I were home. Back there, the Martian military uniform is outlawed; here, it's used shamelessly as a social badge of shame, the scarlet "A" of the twenty-third century. It's a low trick.