They wandered up and down the rows for a few minutes until Jeff recognized Andrew and Carla Mendez — Matt's parents — sitting in one of the chairs. He headed over, his two companions trailing behind. Andrew saw him first. His eyes lit up and he stood, rushing over to greet him. Jeff was startled to see how much weight Matt's dad had lost. He looked almost fit now.
"Jeffery Creek, you little punk dust runner!" Andrew said, holding out his hand for the traditional Capitalist handshake.
Jeff gave it to him and then pulled him into a hug. "How the fuck are you, pops?" he asked. "What you been doing? Working out or something?"
Carla came forward and gave him a hug as well. "We've been working in the agricultural fields ever since you two dumb-asses signed up for the MPG," she said. "We figured we might as well see what this whole working thing is all about."
"Goddamn right," Andrew said. "We got almost four hundred of them credits in the bank now. Thanks to you and Matt, they'll still be worth something tomorrow."
"We kicked their fuckin' asses, didn't we?" Jeff asked. He broke the embrace and walked over to the bed, looking down at his best friend since childhood. "What the fuck happened to you?"
"Just a little skin off my ass is all," Matt told him, leaning forward. They hugged, forgoing the Capitalist handshake by unspoken consent. "How the fuck are you? Glad to see you made it. We heard you ground pounders took a hell of a beating out there."
"I'm too fuckin' smart to die out in the field," Jeff said, releasing him. "I'm glad to see you made it too." He stood up. "Let me introduce you to some really static people I met. This is Xenia and Belinda. They were on one of the tank crews in my ACR."
Matt nodded at them and told them he was pleased to make their acquaintance. He then turned back to Jeff. "Are these two the reason you smell like you've been bathed in pussy?"
Jeff actually blushed a little. Xenia answered for him. "We're the reason," she confirmed. "We couldn't contain ourselves on the train ride over here and... well... you know how it is?"
"I know how it is," he said. "The nurses and even a few of the doctors have been real thankful to me since I got here."
"Hell," said Andrew, "I even got a blowjob from one and I'm just his dad."
"No sense in bragging, Andy," Carla said with a frown.
"The fuck there ain't," Andrew shot back.
They talked for a few minutes, telling their tales of their part in the war. Jeff was amazed that such a minor wound had almost killed his friend and had resulted in the death of both of his kidneys.
"So what happens now?" he asked him. "You doing that dialysis thing?"
"Yep," Matt confirmed. "Once every two days for two hours. It sucks ass. They tell me that once things settle down around here they're gonna grow me some new kidneys."
"How much is that gonna cost you?" Jeff asked.
"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."